Princess Celestia raised her head at the sound of a hoof lightly knocking on her door, she turned her head as the door opened, and Princess Luna peaked her head inside, "Sister?" she called.
"Yes, Luna?"
Luna pushed open the door with a hoof, and closed the door behind her, then walked over to her sister, and laid down on the floor beside her. Luna starred off into the flames of the fireplace for several seconds, leaving Celestia to wait expectantly for her to say something. "Are you sure it is wise to wait for the fallen Twilight to make her move, and then react accordingly?"
"It will give us a more thorough idea of what she plans, Luna... Although waiting on her may be dangerous." Celestia looked towards Luna, "What would you suggest?"
"I would like to go looking for her myself. I could take a couple squads of the Royal Guard, and Night Guard, and ascertain her location, gather intelligence, and act accordingly."
Celestia looked pained for a moment as she considered the option, it remained even as she spoke, "Luna, that would be dangerous. If she is as powerful as Eclipse claims..." Celestia trailed off.
"Eclipse and this fallen Twilight are both the same age, correct? Both of them went through the same general events, save for the ones which have caused the corruption of the fallen Twilight."
Celestia furrowed her brow, considering her sister's words. "What are you getting at, Luna?"
Luna smiled, "Eclipse is physically and magically weaker than she should be at her age, we both know she should be more powerful than both of us combined. But she is not."
Celestia nodded, "Yes. I believe I see what you are getting at. You think that the 'fallen Twilight', as you refer to her, may not be as powerful as she should be, despite having a massive boost of magic?"
"I do not believe she would be able to wield it all, even if she could access it all." Luna answered.
"I don't know, Luna..."
"I could likely beat her, sister! I have more experience with combat magic than you, and likely still more experience than Eclipse or the fallen Twilight."
"What if you fail? What then? How would we stop her, if she captured you, and took your magic? And what if she killed you, Luna? I can't lose you again..." Celestia's mask of confidence faltered.
"You, Eclipse, Twilight, and her friends should be more than enough to defeat her." Luna's voice was filled with confidence in her statement. She knew that they could beat her, even if she failed.
"Twilight is so, so young though... And her friends, they're not soldiers!" Celestia's voice lowered, and her head drooped downwards, "I don't know if Eclipse would be able to help us in that battle..." Celestia looked back to Luna, "If one of Twilight's friends were killed, how do you think Twilight and Eclipse would react?"
"I do not believe she would actually kill one of them, if she were face to face with them. She is still Twilight, even if it is a twisted version of her." Luna answered.
"I hope you're right, Luna..." Celestia sighed, "If you think you really need to do this, at least talk to Eclipse about it."
Luna bowed her head, then raised it. "Very well. I will, sister."
Eclipse stared at the ceiling, she had been lying awake for the past hour or so, unable to fall asleep. For some reason, Celestia had put Twilight in her room with her, she found herself wondering why. She turned her head towards the other bed, where Twilight slept. She was sound asleep, perhaps dreaming about her friends, one thing for sure however, she was not plagued by nightmares. She slept peacefully, unlike Eclipse would.
Eclipse looked back to the ceiling, raising a hoof to rub her temple. She laid there in stillness for several more minutes, still failing to feel drowsy. She quietly sighed, and slid out of bed, silently falling on the floor. Worry, doubt, and the desire to talk to somepony plagued the back of her mind. She quietly made her way to the balcony, and silently slid out the door. The starry night sky was beautiful, the mountain air held a slight chill, but it was not uncomfortable to her. It was still warm compared to... 'Stop.' She clenched her eyes tightly, willing the thoughts to leave her.
A few seconds later, she opened her eyes again, and regarded the night sky. Thousands of stars were visible, millions more were invisible to the naked eye, one aided by a telescope would see points of light everywhere. Eclipse's gaze slowly turned to the Moon, and her thoughts turned to her evil double. She sat down on her haunches, she spoke below her breath, "If you don't stop this, you'll end up there." She shook her head.
She sat in silence for several minutes, half expecting Luna or Discord to show up. Neither of them did. She sighed as she rose to her hooves, then silently slid back inside. She quietly drifted through the room and made her way to the bathroom. She entered and shut the door behind her with magic. The only light in the room came from the pale glow of her horn, and with it she made her way to the sink, turned on the faucet, and splashed her face with warm water. She rubbed her eyes with her hooves, then regarded the face she saw in the mirror. Her mane was dripping with water, and disheveled, her eyes looked darker than they should be, despite the poor lighting.
Her smile soon turned into a scowl, then into a sad frown.
After casting a quick spell to dry herself, she sighed, opened the door with a hoof, and walked back out into the bedroom. Her hooves began to carry her towards the door, through the door, and out into the castle's majestic hallways. She paid no mind to the guards she passed, nor any mind to where she was going.
Eventually she stopped. It took her a minute to realize she had stopped, when she did, she lifted her head and regarded the doors she stood in front of. She couldn't quite remember how she had arrived here, everything was a little fuzzy, but she had arrived here. She couldn't even tell what room it was, or who may be within it. She slowly, indecisively lifted a hoof to the door and lightly knocked on it. Surely whoever was inside would be asleep, and she did not really want to disturb whoever it may be.
Several seconds passed, and she had it in mind to turn to leave. As she turned to leave, the door opened. She turned her head back towards the open door.
"Eclipse?" Rainbow asked with confusion. Eclipse turned back towards her.
"I didn't wake you did I?" Eclipse shifted on her hooves.
"Uh, no. Is something wrong?" Rainbow's question brought a mask of worry over her, she was genuinely concerned something bad had happened.
"No... I was just..." Eclipse shut her mouth, then sighed. "May I come in?"
"Sure." Rainbow answered as she stepped back, opening the door fully.
Eclipse hesitated a moment before stepping inside, Rainbow shut the door behind her.
"So what brings you here?" Rainbow asked as she walked towards the bed. Once she reached it, she jumped up, turned so that her back was facing the ground, leisurely flapped her wings a couple times, then gently landed on the bed.
"Well, I would either say fate, ma..." Eclipse stopped at the look Rainbow was giving her. "Right..." her head drooped downwards, "I don't know. I was having trouble sleeping, then found myself here."
"Well... You didn't want a lullaby right? Cause if that's the case, you should have went to Fluttershy. Not me."
Eclipse snickered at the comment, then fell to her haunches with a sigh. "I missed all of you, you know." Rainbow sat up on her bed. "So many years passed by without you... It was hard." She looked up at Rainbow, "Imagine for a moment, out living everypony you knew. Imagine now, that everypony now looks upwards to you. You've become a symbol, a strong leader, and a ruler. Ponies lose the ability to see passed your status and the crown upon your head. Instead of seeing a pony like them, they see a leader, a ruler, a symbol, or a means to get ahead."
Silence reigned for several seconds before Rainbow broke it, "Eclipse, I'm not the best pony to be talking to about this. I'm not good with sappy stuff like that."
"No, but you are loyal, and trustworthy." Eclipse's gaze fell downwards, "I did things... After you all passed, that I'm not proud of. Things nopony here knows about. It... The guilt..."
"Maybe you should talk with Twilight or Princess Celestia about it?" Rainbow's suggestion caused a pang of fear in Eclipse.
"I can't tell Twilight... This whole situation has affected her worse than she lets on, I can tell..." Eclipse paused. "Imagine, waking up one day, and finding a newspaper headline that says 'Rainbow Dash travels back in time from the future and kills thousands!'." Rainbow shrank back at that. "Since I came here, Twilight's found out that not one, but two versions of her from the future are responsible for so much pain..."
"Uh... Why are you talking to me about this?" Rainbow slowly slid off the bed and made her way over to Eclipse.
Eclipse pondered Rainbow's question for several seconds before answering, "Because I need somepony who I can talk to, and who won't betray me..."
"They wouldn't bet-"
"I know, it's just... It's complicated." Eclipse locked eyes with Rainbow, "Please promise me, that no matter what, you won't abandon Twilight or myself."
The look in Eclipse's eyes... She was desperate, and Rainbow could see it. Rainbow smiled, "Hey, you saved my life. It's a Pinkie Promise."
That elicited a small smile out of Eclipse, then it faded as quickly as it came. "What would you think of suddenly becoming an alicorn?"
"What do you mean?" Rainbow asked quizzically.
"Just suddenly becoming an alicorn, with no forewarning. Not knowing it's going to happen. It being thrust upon you in a moments notice..."
"Uh... I dunno, I've never really thought about that before. It would be totally awesome though. Why do you ask?"
"Just curious." she lied. Seconds passed before she spoke again, "How far are you willing to go to protect us?"
"As long as I'm still kicking, nopony's gonna hurt any of you." The brashness of the reply caught Eclipse off guard.
"What about the other me? She-"
"Twilight. Listen, we're going to beat her. We always do beat the bad guys." She smiled, "It's what we do, okay?"
Eclipse clenched her jaw. "That's the thing..." She looked at Rainbow, "I am the bad guy this time. You've said it before that I was the one that held our group together. We are going to have to face not just another bad guy. We're going to face myself. Twilight. Me." She lowered her head, "And it's my fault..."
"Come on, Twilight. Why would she want to hurt us? You've said it before, she is you."
Silence. Instead of getting an answer, Eclipse stood up, walked over to her, and wrapped her arms around her, hugging her tightly.
"Twilight?" Eclipse merely nuzzled her neck, after a second Rainbow reluctantly returned it.
"Be careful. The spell I used... She should want to kill you all, since I intend to prevent your deaths... But I don't honestly know if she will try to kill you. I'm hoping that she won't." Eclipsed sighed dejectedly, "The evidence points to her wanting to, however."
"She hasn't tried to hurt us yet though?"
"She broke into the Forbidden Archive, killing two guards in the process. And do I need to remind you she just eradicated the Changelings?" Her ears fell back, she sighed.
"I... I should go." Eclipse turned to leave, and started towards the door. She opened the door with her magic, "Goodnight, Rainbow."
"Night, Twilight." Rainbow called as Twilight shut the door with her magic behind her.
Eclipse sighed. 'Guess I'll go pay Discord a visit.' She yawned. 'On second thought, maybe-'
Eclipse saw something move out of the corner of her eye. When she turned to look at the area, there was nothing there. She narrowed her eyes, and slowly took a step towards the source of the disturbance. She thought she saw a faint blur where she was looking, then she noticed a slight shimmering.
It dawned on her all too late that the blur was distinctly pony shaped. A dark purple pulse of magic rushed towards her, and impacted her. Darkness overtook her as she fell the the floor. A dark purple aura took hold of her body before it impacted the floor, preventing her from making any sound.
A second later, and there was a flash of light, and a muffled popping sound. Two of the guards on patrol heard the sound and went to investigate, but nothing seemed to be amiss, so they shrugged it off and returned to their patrol.