"WHAT!? AN ELEMENTAL WARRIOR!? YOU DARE MOCK ME!?".
"N-n-no you excellence, our spy wouldn't dare lie to us for we have his family captive," Tric'co said as he whimpered on his knees before The Shadow, gripped with true fear. Silence filled the tent as The Shadow thought. Tric'co knew this as the ghostly apparition started to change colors, from it's usual deep blue to a light shade of red.
"If, this is true. We will need more troops. Tric'co you will go to the Gryphon lands to.. Convince their king to join us. I already have others recruiting the Dragons, Minotors and the Orc clans. All of which want to see Equestria fall."
"Orcs? Why if I might ask? They are just a bunch of savages that try to convert everything they touch".
"Fodder".
"A wise decision your excellence. I shall depart for the Gryphon lands immediately. May the night be eternal, may your rule last".
The Shadow watched Tric'co scurry from the tent, it was only a matter of time before she, Nightmare Moon, had enough power to take on a physical form. A week at best, but for the moment she is but a shadow of her true self. Like when she took possession of that, weakling, Luna. When she had returned from her thousand year banishment, Nightmare Moon was literally hours from having enough power to take on a physical form, only to be stopped be The Elements of Harmony. Foals, the lot of them. When I get my hooves on them all, I'll kill them. Slowly. Painfully.
------
"YOU DID WHAT TO THOSE GUARDS!?" asked a very surprised Dash.
"I told ya, I scared th' liven' hay out of 'em, and had one scream like a three year old filly with the biggest Hearth Warming presie' under th' tree with her name on it." Eclipse stated matter of factly with a cup of tea in hand. Dash couldn't contain it. She promptly fell on her side and began to laugh, while Eclipse shook his head.
"You know I'm still not impressed about you faking your ability to lift 1.5 tons," Chemical Analysis said as he glared at Eclipse, who gave a nervous glance and twitch expecting another chase around the palace.
---
Eclipse skidded around the corner, almost losing it on the slick marble floor nearly knocking over some servants just around the bend while hollering at the top of his lungs "I TOLD YOU IT WAS A JOKE AND WAS WILLING TO REDO THE TEST!". And also skidding around the corner came a rather, for lack of a better word, ticked unicorn.
"I DON'T CARE, YOU FALSIFIED THE RESULTS. JUST WAIT TILL I GET MY HOOVES ON YOU!".
Servants and nobles watched in utter bemusement at the sight of a winged bipedal creature being chased by a, literally, mad scientist over some test results. Unfortunately for Analysis, a tall biped like Eclipse is extremely agile in tight areas, making the only way to catch him was to wear him out. Kind of difficult if the chaser is less fit than the chasee, which Analysis was, but karma was on Analysis's side today. Eclipse had made a wrong turn, into a dead end. And you can probably guess what happened at that point, because karma is a bitch.
---
Eclipse lightly rubbed his sore cheek with his free hand at the memory, "Yeah I don't really wanna go through that again. I take back what I used to say 'bout academics".
"So.. How much can he really lift?" Twilight asked.
"Nearly 200 kilograms, WITHOUT a spell on the weights making them lighter than air," Analysis replied while giving Eclipse another glare.
"Hey don't look at ME like that, your the one who showed me the spell during my magics test".
"But his run on the treadmill? I take it he didn't fake that?" again Twilight asked.
"No, that was all true. I guess the years spent on the move did that to him".
"And what about his little, disappearing act?"
"Your looking at the reason at why Pinkie Pie can pop out of nowhere," Dash answered.
Twilights accusing eyes then set themselves onto Eclipse, who was slowly trying to slink his way under the table, "I admit it, I wasn't thinking straight that day. So in short, I gave the pony who doesn't even consider the laws of physics another advantage. Valuable lesson learned that day, shame I can't take it back".
"Excuse me if I may interrupt, But do you remember how to play?" asked Celestia.
"Play?.. Ooh, play. I think so. Why?"
Then at that moment, Celestia then pulled down a box from atop a large bookshelf. Twilight always wondered what was in that box, tonight she would find out. When the box came down to Eclipse, he undid the clips and pried open the lid, then he pulled out a strange looking instrument. It was as long as she was, with one end that was as wide as Eclipses shoulders with a hole cut in the middle, and the other just as wide as one of her legs with odd lengths of wire of varying thicknesses strung between the two ends, and it was made with very fine ash wood. Eclipse then absently plucked at the wires, while turning some odd knobs at the 'top' end of the contraption, "It's great to see you again ol' pal". Then Celestia levitated a randomly flat triangular-ish chip of plastic.
"Yes, it's been a long time since I heard your guitar in action".
A... Guitar? That's a guitar? I've never heard of them before, Twilight absently thought.
Eclipse started plucking the strings with his chip of plastic in one hand, while he placed his fingers on seemingly random spots with his other. All of which brought out a beautiful melody as he played. And yet again were Twilight, Luna and Analysis fascinated by the strange way in how the instrument was played. "Seriously guys, you three staring at my hands constantly is starting to creep me out. Lyra is bad enough as it is."
"I am truly sorry Eclipse, but it's such a stunning and harmonic sound. It's just so, hypnotizing," Luna confessed, as the other two nodded their heads in agreement.
"Fair enough".
And at that moment, the doors opened up to a few palace servants pushing some trollies filled with food. "Thank you, have a wonderful night," Celestia said as the servants left the room, and Eclipse was already cutting a slice of cake for himself. "Eclipse, I believe you are supposed to eat the mains BEFORE you have desert".
"Life is uncertain... Have desert first".
------
"MUM! DAD!"
Blood. Everywhere. On his clothes. On the floor. On his hands.
Tears leaving a wet trail down his cheeks, cutting through the grime from lunch at school. Jacob knew it was too late, but his love for his parents drove him on, to look for ANY sign of life. He refused the truth, he didn't want to listen to reason. Their bodies were cold to his touch, their lips were void of colour and their eyes portrayed a fear that was unrecognizable to the small child who kept nudging his beloved parents. His tears wet the fur on his mother, the clothes on his father and fell to the puddle of blood on the floor. A sign of their last act in their lives was his mother and father, hoof in hand with his fathers free one clutching a photo of Jacob as a baby, obviously smeared in blood, in full view of both parents. Jacob looked over to the knife that lay on the floor with the blade covered in his parents blood, with a note next to it.
Your true purpose cannot be fulfilled. Nobody has or ever will strike down our might. You cannot win, you never will. Deciding to exact revenge for our blood will be futile and foolish. But I have an offer to make.
Go into exile. If not, both you and those you hold dear will be slaughtered. Make no mistake, we can and will.
So run. Run away and never return, for yourself and your precious friends.
May the night be eternal. May her rule last. May her enemies perish.
Jacobs hands shook with a violent anger that he never knew. His tears of sorrow were now replaced by an utter and most pure hatred, that they almost burned as they fell from his cheeks. He picked up the knife so hard that the ivory handle was almost crushed in his small hands, 'I'll find you. I'll kill you with this very knife' "I'll make you suffer... I'LL KILL YOU!!!"
---
"I'LL KILL YOU!!!" Eclipse repeated a second time shooting into a sitting position on the bed, body dripping with a cold sweat that drenched the sheets. And next to the bed wearing a very concerned face was Celestia. It was still the middle of the night, Eclipse knew this because Celestia wasn't wearing her regalia.
"Eclipse... What's the matter?"
Taking a few deep breaths Eclipse settled down. Barely. "I had a nightmare," he replied bluntly.
"I gathered that when I could hear you screaming from inside my chambers. But it was no ordinary nightmare was it?," she asked as she climbed onto the bed, giving Eclipse a hug with her wing.
"No... It was when I found mum and dad dead... When I swore I would kill the one who did it with the same knife they used. As dad would say "God help em if I ever get my hands on them"," his voice was laced with that same hatred he used in his cries. Celestia flinched, but only slightly. Although she knew he could practically rip her in half, she wanted to comfort her friend. "You know you can leave if your scared of me. Sometimes I scare myself, but you have the option of leaving. But the things that scare and torment me most," Eclipse then put a finger to his temple, "Are the memories of what I have done. Horrible things. Things you would never even consider possible". Then he looked Celestia square in the eyes, "Governments and even entire civilizations have been flipped upside down because of what I have done and said. One such civilization called me 'The devourer of nations'."
"Eclipse, please stop."
"Countless gallons of blood, spilled by my hand."
"Eclipse!"
"The fear in their eyes as I took their lives."
"STOP PLEASE!"
"But also the good I've done. I've helped end corruptions. I've slain the most dangerous creatures to help those in need. I've defended the weak, helped the strong. A village I helped, their chief told me "Although it takes honor to wield the sword, it takes courage to wield the shield. But it takes both to die for the innocent"."
"Please... Just stop," Celestia asked in a hushed tone.
"But it's the memory of what happened to the ones I loved most that torture me. More than anypony could imagine, let alone dream," tears starting to make their way forwards.
Celestia was speechless. Sitting beside her was someone who could kill without thinking and could use the most destructive magic known to ponykind. And he was crying, and not in the way he did a few days ago. The tears he shed were of unimaginable pain to Celestia, but she knew the pain they carried. A pain that came with the loss of the ones he loved most in his life, and to be separated from the ones he cared about. Eclipse had once said, "I consider ALL of my friends as my family. You are all equal in my eyes, and my love to you is as equal to that of my parents". He was just six years old when he said that, making him more mature and wiser than any child of his age.
When he said that, Celestia had memories of when her mother told her the legends of the human race.
---
Long ago, there were three all powerful races. The Alicorns. The Dragonaquis. And the Humans. The Alicorns took possession of the heavens, and hence forth bringing the light of day and the beauty of the night. The Dragonaquis took possession of the earth, giving it life, but also taking it. But the most powerful of these three races were the Humans. A wise, noble and intelligent people, the Humans never took possession of any relm, but instead embraced life itself. Powerful in science, magic and technology, the Humans were the oldest of the three.
Their cities were majestic in every way, nearly double the biggest Dragonaquis city. Their medicine was nothing but the best, one Human nurse was worth three Alicorn doctors. And for every job imaginable, they had their machines. Technology. Although Humans could not fly themselves, they overcome this with flying machines known as airplanes, helicopters and gliders. The Humans were well known and well respected, and in return they kept the peace. But it was a fleeting peace.
A Human king got greedy, he wanted everything. Land, money. Power. Always power. The king corrupted the entire Human race, and went to war with the other two races. Countless lives lost, an entire race extinct. The Humans were so powerful in every way imaginable, that the Alicorns had no choice but to turn to the Creators and tell them of what the Humans were doing and asked for it all to stop. The Creators obliged, and sent the humans into another relm which they could fight amongst themselves and leave this one in peace. And so the Humans became legends, legends became myth. And eventually, the Human was seen as a deadly creature that was used as stories to young Alicorns to make them behave.
Then several millennium Later, some two thousand years before the Nightmare moon incident. All the Alicorns vanished. Without a single trace. To be found nowhere in the world, not even a corpse. The three legendary races, gone. Eternally.
---
"Eclipse?"
"Yeah?" his voice on the verge of breaking.
"... Let it out, let it all out. I'm here for you, cry on my shoulder, share the pain and get it off your chest," she said in a whisper before hugging him tightly with both wings while giving a small nuzzle. Eclipse basically latched onto her as if she were a piece of driftwood in an endless sea of torment and pain. Or an oasis in a desert of hopelessness and regrets. And he didn't let go as the floodgates of pain and sorrow opened up onto Celestia's shoulder. Then Celestia sung a lullaby that her own mother used to sing to her, hoping that can help a friend whom she had known since he was born. After an hour of sheared tears, he finally dozed off into a fitful sleep.
Celestia wiped her own tears away before heading for her personal chambers. Sunrise was in an hour, and tomorrow, Eclipse will have the time of his life. Once she got to her chambers, she started to write out a letter to the element of laughter.
Dear Pinkie Pie
I have a VERY special assignment for you.
Eclipse is now 26 years old.