Twilight and Luna's Lessons in Teaching: Redux

by dracone

Getting to Better Know Rainbow and Pinkie, Also other Stuff

Author's Note:

Not gonna lie, writing some of this chapter gave me a heavy case of the feels. You have been warned.

Eclipse was digging into a breakfast banquet with fervor, Twilight had told the filly to slow down and consume her food at a more reasonable pace at least five times already. The lavender mare had read over the two spells she had copied, but not pleased with how they were designed, the spells assumed the pony casting them would be asserting a level dominance over the ponies the spell was being cast on, she was currently rewriting the memory spell to fall more in line with her understanding of magic.

It had been two days since Twilight and her friends had started their get together, Rainbow was coming over for a personal visit. Fluttershy had come over the day after their meet and greet to say hi to Eclipse and check up on Abal, much to the yellow mare's delight Eclipse was genuinely putting in what effort she could despite the otter's insistence on having a separate schedule than the filly she had showed interest in days prior. Twilight had high hopes for Eclipse and Rainbow forming some kind of positive connection, but she also knew that the filly had trouble with new ponies. Eclipse had been very apprehensive towards Rainbow and Pinkie, which Twilight accurately guessed was do to the filly's limited amount of time around the two mares, she was also aware the personalities of the two could be a little off putting for some ponies.

Just as Eclipse was about try her third guzzle of apple juice at the table a cyan blur flew in and landed next to Twilight revealing itself to be Rainbow Dash. Eclipse gave a startled yelp, that reminded both of the mares of Fluttershy, and dove under the table. “Oh, come on I'm not that scary,” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, “well, maybe on Nightmare Night, but that's it.”

“Rainbow,” said Twilight with a disapproving tone and glare, “she was uncomfortable around you and Pinkie when you met her, the only reason she seemed so calm is because of the rest of us there, she feels comfortable around us, especially me.”

“Oh,” said Rainbow with genuine surprise, “so, she's a unicorn with an early Flutters personality.”

“Can you blame me for being so timid?” Said Eclipse as she crawled back into her seat from under the table, “When my my mother turned me into display piece for her social events, and I wasn't given single break until there was nopony else in th room, but one they started returning it was back to being component of the centerpiece, I wasn't even allowed to talk to anypony.”

“She's exagerating, right?” Said Rainbow.

“She gave us access to a spell for viewing another pony's memories,” said Twilight with a quick glance at the academic materials on the table next her, thankfully she had cast a spell on all of her work pieces beforehoof to make sure they didn't go go flying about when Rainbow made and entrance. “I was just writing out an adjusted version that was more in line with Equestrian magical understandings, once I'm done with that I'll transcribe a copy and send it to some of Equestria's top magical minds for testing, A spell like this could beneficial if it works out, think about it actually seeing somepony else's memories instead of needing a spell like the one I used to snap you out it when Discord got free.

“Gonna stop you right there before you go super geek on me, Twi,” said Rainbow, “but what's the cautious approach? You usually can't wait to try a new spell out once you discover it.”

“The book I got the spell from tried to make me turn against the very principles I believe in,” said Twilight with a stern look at her friend, “I want to make sure a spell derived from one of the spells in that loathsome tome doesn't have similar effects when you cast it.”

“Whoa, did I just cross into some freaky alternate world?” Said Rainbow, “Twilight actually said something negative about a book.”

“No, you head me right,” said Twilight, “whatever enchantment was wrapped around the book I got the spell from was so foul it actually made me feel revolted to just look at it, fortuneately Princess Celestia had a solution for dealing with it.”

“You didn't try to destroy it yourself?” Said Rainbow with a smirk.

“We... we both did,” said Eclipse apprehensively, “I tried throwing into burning fireplace, it didn't affect the book at all. She had Spike try to burn it, his flames did noting to it.”

Rainbow stared from the filly to Twilight and back again several times before saying, “Wow, that means you weren't exaggerating about it attacking your mind. Those journals your brought with you didn't seem too bad.”

“Different author than the mind magic tome,” said Eclipse, “also from an era much further back than the mind magic book.”

“Did she just say 'mind magic'?” Inquired Rainbow, “That's a thing? How bad was it?”

“There was a spell for dominating the will of another pony,” said Twilight, “the book almost convinced me I needed a spell like that, there's some sort of twisted soul with an immense malevolence to it bound to the book that tries to corrupt you when you try reading the book. Eclipse's natural ability protects her, my understanding of magic could only ward it off a bit.”

“Oh, yikes,” said Rainbow, “to think that there were ponies all that time with access to a spell like that, makes me glad its out the hooves of whoever was the one who had it, it almost sounds like something out of Daring Do, which reminds me I have some errands to run after breakfast,” the cyan mare started piling a mass of breakfast items on to her plate. “So, did read any of the books each of us suggested to Spike?”

“I'm not entirely sure,” said Twilight, “last time I check she had them all in a pile that stated she wouldn't be reading them.”

“What?” Said Rainbow quite loudly as she flared her wings, which in turn caused the filly to dive back under the table, this caused Rainbow Dash to drop her voice to a much or acceptable level and say, “Oh, I'm sorry, Eclipse. Why didn't you want to read any of the books we suggested when Spike asked what kind of books we would recommend for a filly to read?”

Eclipse slid carefully back to her seat, and stared at the food before her a moment before saying, “It was how I was told academics are supposed to be,” she shook her head before timidly saying, “I haven't even been here full week and miss Twilight's shown me what being an academic means to her, I really do want to be like her.”

“No slips in calling you some form of 'mom' again,” said Rainbow under her breath to Twilight.

“Only in her sleep,” said Twilight back in the same level, with a soft smile. Turning her attention to Eclipse, and at a level intended for the filly to hear, “I'm glad I've set such a good example, but I would like to point out to you that I read all the books that Spike had tried to get you to read, some which when I was around your age. Besides academics add to existing knowledge, not just memorize what's there.”

“That's... not the way in Bridleton,” said Eclipse with a forlorn look at her plate, “I was completely accepting of it all until last year, same with Dream. If we had stayed there we couldn't have experienced any pieces of what we have, I really don't want to go back.”

“Do they at least have cider or pegasus air shows?” Asked Rainbow Dash.

Eclipse shook her head before saying, “To my knowledge, which very limited I'm afraid, Cider can only be made within a noble's manor and can only be consumed by unicorn nobles, I've never heard of an air show before today, what are they like?”

“Totally awesome,” said Rainbow with pride in her voice, “I'm a Wonderbolt, and they're totally the best and most awesome when it comes to putting on a show.”

“You're not one of the mains though, you're just a backup flier,” said Twilight.

“Yeah, well that could change at any time,” said Rainbow, “I got recognized for the awesome pony I am, and that's good enough for me these days.”

“Nice to see you're finally pacing yourself,” said Twilight with a smile, “how's Tank?”

“The usual,” said Rainbow, “I dropped him off at Fluttershy's place before heading over here, he seemed happy to see her again.”

“Who's Tank?” Said Eclipse.

“Rainbow's pet tortoise,” said Twilight, “she has a very strong attachment to him, in fact her first winter after getting him she...”

“Whoa, Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash, “I thought we agreed to not speak of that, I'm still pretty embarrassed about it.”

“You just wanted to spend more time with him, we aren't going to fault you for that,” said Twilight.

“So, Eclipse,” said Rainbow turning her attention towards the filly, “why are ya so nervous around me? I'm not that scary, usually.”

“Your boldness... is unfamiliar, I'm not very good around ponies with traits I haven't really encountered all that often. I never really got to know other ponies before now.”

“Why was that?” Said Twilight.

“I told that was the way of things, I didn't question it until last year,” she pulled her ears back in shame, “to be honest, I'm surprised that I did at all. I was told all ruling ponies, and future ruling ponies were not to form any connections with the servants, mostly because it would cause social problems. But here, miss Twilight is maintaining a close relationship with the ponies that work here, they're all glad be doing their jobs. In Bridleton ponies are told what jobs they have available to them and are forced into them, we're even told what jobs are best suited for stallions and mares. You'd never see a pegasus stallion as a gardener or grounds keeper there, for example.”

“Oh it couldn't be that bad, could it,” said Rainbow with dismissive wave of her hoof.

“Only pegasus stallions are allowed to serve in the military, and only as scouts and messengers,” said Eclipse, “just think about all that again unsettles my stomach.”

“What?” said both mares in unison.

“Do you have any sort of entertainment?” Said Rainbow.

“Only plays, as far as I know,” said Eclipse, “and even then all the actors can only be unicorns. Looking at what little I've gathered on Equestria I can still say with great certainty that Bridleton is archaic, and actually does everything it can to remain in the state it does. I don't really know whey, but seeing all this,” she gestured to all around and the mares themselves, “I can honestly say that I believe it's very unhealthy for a nation to intentionally halt its own progress.”

“And a very good assessment,” said Twilight, “you have a very good mind, it just needed the right conditions to start reaching its potential. I have some things I need to take care of, they came up rather suddenly,” she got out of her chair and made her way out, “you two see if there's something that can help establish some kind of connection between you,” with that she was gone, the book and papers floating with her, in addition to a variety of breakfast foods and a large glass and pitcher of orange juice.

“So, where do we start?” Asked Rainbow nervously.

Eclipse gave a nervous smile before saying, “My brother is a pegasus, Princess Celestia made some arrangements for him.”

“Oh, but you said you were from a family that rules over the nation, and you took great care to state that only unicorns are within the ruling class,” said Rainbow.

“That's been nothing other than unicorns for over a hundred generations,” said Eclipse with despondent look, “he's seen as nothing more than a stain on the family lineage, they do everything they can to keep others from learning he has the same parents as my sisters and I.”

“Whoa, holdup,” said Rainbow, “did you say sisters? You have more than one?”

“Dream's my twin, she's the elder of the two of us, we have an older sister named Sunshine Bottle. She's spent most of her life trying get Great Spell's approval, but it wasn't until a few years ago that she realized she'd never get the kind of approval she was after.”

“I remember Twi saying that is the name of your mother, why do refer to her by name.”

“Because,” Eclipse had the look being afraid, guilty and sad at the same time, “from what I've learned is a mother she lost the right to that title and role a long time ago.”

“That's kind of cold,” said Rainbow, “I was the bearer of loyalty, and now I'm the voice loyalty when Twilight needs hold her friendship court, and as loyalty I have to say turning your back on your mother is pretty bad.”

“I know,” said Eclipse, “I wanted to believe in the best when comes to her, but sitting back and looking at everything I remember of her with the eyes of an observer I can honestly say that she is not good pony, she's not even a teeny bit nice. I wanted to be loyal to all my family, but I just can't see her as family anymore, the same holds true with my grandmother and father. My siblings I can still feel are good ponies, but something just tells me that the adult of my life before coming here were just the most awful ponies to encounter.”

“You said were treated as a set piece for the fancy parties your folks threw, I doubt it was that bad. I know you're scared of what you ran from, but sometimes we make things worse in our minds about what we are most afraid of, Twilight and the rest of us are all guilty of that a few times over.”

“I... I'm afraid of the truth if that's the case, but at the same time I want to know the honest truth of my past. I... I want to be strong like you, and all your friends. I'm weak, I let my life be treated as somepony's personal war game and then the one moment I started to experience a clarity of mind I chose to run as far away from the place I thought was my home. Miss Dash, I don't want to go back to the place that holds all my painful memories.”

“It's your fear of those memories that makes them painful, stay loyal to who want to be when you face them and they won't have as great a power over you.”

“That's just it, I don't know what kind of pony I want to be. My entire life up to leaving those shores had been planned out, I wasn't just told what was expected of me, I was told what was demanded of me. I was told certain things were mandatory, my only freedom to do what I wanted came during very short period of time at night. All I wanted to do was read the journals, and when I read them I was fascinated by the life of the pony that wrote them.”

“Did they make you want to be like the pony that wrote those journals?”

“A little, but the desire to be like him flickered in and out in my mind. The first pony I've ever wanted to be like, genuinely, I honestly don't know. There are times the day I find my self wishing I was like miss Twilight, other I was like miss Fluttershy or Miss Rarity. I feel something like a desire to be like you by just hearing about your accomplishments, and I there are even things that make wish I was like miss Pinkie sometimes. In short I want to be like all of you, but at the same time I don't. I don't honestly know how to be my own pony, and I keep thinking that if I emulated you or any of your other friends I might find myself, but the same time I end telling myself that mimicking another pony won't help find something about me.”

“You're just like Twi, and bit like Rares too, in that you over think things. I'll admit the way you put yourself down is by giving yourself a dose of reality, something that not a lot of ponies can do, but sometimes you just have stop listening to your head and let your desires set the course.”

“I don't really know what my wants or desires are? Other than to be in situations that make feel safe and genuinely wanted by other ponies. The moment I saw miss Twilight my mind went blank and I felt something in me call her a sanctuary.”

“That's a beautiful sentiment,” said Twilight as she trotted back into the room, “referring to somepony as a sanctuary. Only two ponies in my young life have made me think that, my mother and Princess Celestia, when I realized that my friends were my friends that's also a thought that entered my mind, that these ponies are in fact a safe haven for me in some way.”

“You're the first to make me feel that way, Miss Twilight,” said Eclipse, “I'm sorry to say it's the honest truth, but it is. The mare I called my mother always felt like a cold tower I could never approach, the stallion I called my father was the same way, and the mare I called my grandmother was a frigid fortress that made me want to run the other way. My siblings were warm hearths that made afraid when the flames would die. But you, miss Twilight, you make me feel like I'm in wide open, inviting, summer meadow with the sun high in the sky and a gentle wind coursing all over my body, you make feel more than needed, you make me feel... I don't know what word I'm looking for.”

“You're saying I make you feel loved,” said Twilight with a smile, “you're siblings love you too, besides I just care about you and your needs.”

“My most basic needs were saw too back in Bridleton, that just means food, shelter, and a place to sleep,” said Eclipse, “you don't just see to my needs, you indulge my senses with sensations they haven't experienced before.”

“I doubt what you ate before coming here was actually food,” said Twilight, “it's clear that whatever you were told to eat before arriving in Equestria wasn't able to meet your body's needs. When you arrived were a little smaller than the average filly your age, at first I surmised you just had an inherited condition that limited your growth, but the rapid growth you showed over the past week tells me you really weren't eating what you needed to.”

“Um, Twi,” said Rainbow, “this getting kind of awkward, I'm just gonna leave now.”

“Oh, sorry, Rainbow,” said Twilight, “go ahead, I'm sure you have some plans for today that don't involve me.”

“Um, yeah,” said Rainbow, “I'll be by again before I have to head out back to Cloudsdale. Have a good day you two.” After that she was gone.

“Um, miss Twilight, that was weird. I felt comfortable around her, but not. Does that... does that make any sense?”

“A little, you said you had a second innate ability, was it acting up on you?”

“I think that... I think that my canceling ability and ability sense intentions of other ponies are actually pieces of the same ability, the canceling is more noticeable because it's been forced to be more active in the past, but recently it hasn't been acting up as much, and my ability to sense intents has been flaring up more frequently. I'm... I'm scared, excited, nervous, happy and confused at the same time over it.”

“Well, I'd be worried if you didn't feel any of those regarding yourself,” said Twilight with a gentle smile, “it just means you're making realizations about yourself, and sometimes that sort of thing can be any one of those things. What's your take on Rainbow Dash, now that you've had some private time with her?”

“She has a lot of confidence, but in a good way,” said Eclipse, “her confidence isn't overbearing or imposing, unlike some ponies I thought I knew.”

“Your mother and grandmare?” Inquired Twilight. Eclipse just nodded. “It can't be that bad, can it?”

“Miss Dash's confidence comes from her understanding of herself, those two have confidence that comes from an unfounded superiority complex.”

“Oh,” said Twilight, “so they're like Canterlot nobility to the extreme?”

“If the Canterlot nobility is entirely composed of unicorns that like to boast about having a lineage that has consistently been unicorns for hundreds of generations in addition to treating their servants as tools of amusement in addition to their defined role at the nobility's places of residence and work, then yes,” said Eclipse with a guilty look, “I thought that was the way things has to be, but last year I started thinking that everything that I had been told was a certain could change.”

“That's not so bad,” said Twilight with a smile, “change is good, it's one of the few universal constants that chaos can't truly mess with, it's as if it is a law of the cosmos.”

“You don't understand,” said Eclipse in voice that kept getting quieter and quieter with each word, “in Bridleton change is seen as something bad, exceedingly bad.”

“It can't be that bad, can it?” Said Twilight with concern.

“They...they,” said Eclipse with tears in her eyes and face that was as scared as it was sad, she then shouted so loud she startled everyone that could hear her, “they publicly execute ponies for the crime of trying of trying to change any aspect of the nation,” then in a quieter sobbing voice said, “all ponies that publicly state something needs to change are denounced as enemy's of the state, it's like the nation wants to stay locked in certain mindset and point in time. I...I can't think of any reason why a nation would do that.”

Twilight stared at the filly before carefully saying, “did you see any of these?” Eclipse nodded, “how... how many did you see? What were the crimes of the ponies? How did they meet their end? I know you don't want to think about this, but I need to know how you know this.”

“It's part of our basic education,” said Eclipse with shame, “everypony was hung from a gallows, our family had one on the estates in full view of everything. One pony was executed for the crime of 'performing art in a style that is not endorsed by the state', another was executed for the crime of 'baking a bread style not recognized by the crown' and the third was executed for the crime of 'publicly suggesting changes in how the crown accords its business', just be glad no hippogriffs have been found.”

“Why? I've read up on them, they're rare and magnificent to behold.”

“Because the facility found housing one has all of its residents executed, the owners, the workers, and the foals in addition to the hippogriff. It's a standing law that ponies can not interbreed with anything that is not within their demographic. Unicorns can only be with unicorns, pegasi can only be with pegasi and earth ponies can only be with earth ponies.”

“That's... That's nuts,” said Twilight a bit louder than she intended, “why would your parent nation have so many rules to restrict ponies to such an extent?”

“I don't know,” said Eclipse with a forlorn voice, “I was even told I should be ashamed of the sight, I was told it was just the state dulling out justice on ponies that had earned their punishment. I... I always felt sick when I saw or heard anything related it all. I... I can't even look at rope without feeling like someopony is going to die.” It was at this point she just broke down and started crying.

All Twilight did was comfort her and kept on thinking about how to prove what she had just been told was the honest truth, she wanted believe Eclipse, but at the same time she wanted to believe that such horrific acts were not the work of a pony nation. “Are... are you sure about all this?”

Eclipse nodded her head a bit before saying, “I am very sure about it, but at the same time I'm sure I can genuinely trust my memories.”

“Or memories are always fallable,” said Twilight in comforting voice, “but I don't think that's what you meant.”

Eclipse just gave her a sorrowful look before saying in desondently downtrodden voice, “the mind magic book has spells or manipulating memories,” she gave the lavender mare a worried look before continuing, “and I'm not entirely sure my ability for disabling other magics can completely halt those kinds of spells. What if... what if all the deciding factors for our escape were fabricated? What if this was all planned? What if... something they say causes me to hurt the ponies I'm growing to care about? I know not everything is what it seems, I just want to know the honest truth about the place I came from.”

“I understand,” said Twilight, “I'm just having a hard time believing a place ruled by ponies could have such terrible, and sickening, practices.”

“I... I didn't want to believe such things either,” said Eclipse in a whisper barely heard to the mare, “but three months before planning our escape Grand Charm announced that a public execution of three ponies would be on our manor grounds, while Dream and I weren't allowed outside the manor we were forced to near windows that allowed us to witness the event. Frankly I'm surprised the two of us stayed as nice as we have because of that.”

“I... I need to send a note to Celestia and Luna, I'll be right back.”

Just as Twilight was getting up to leave Eclipse said, “could you wait a few weeks for that note.”

Twilight stopped and stared at the filly before saying, “Why should I hold off on something so potentially important?”

Eclipse gulped and said, “Because you should confirm that such a memory exists in my mind, also you need to be able to tell the difference between genuine and false memories before sending that message. I know it sounds cold, but...”

“We need more than your word on the subject for an accusation that intense,” finished Twilight. She looked over at Eclipse and said, “Can you tell me what an academic is?”

Eclipse was noticeably shocked at the question, but she answered with an uneasy, “Somepony who studies the works of other ponies and memorizes everything so that they can provide the information when needed,” she had an unsure confidence in what she said, mostly from not understanding why she had been asked the question.

“That's only part of it,” said Twilight as she noticed Eclipse relax a bit, “they also build off of the existing knowledge, sometimes even applying in ways others didn't consider.” Eclipse looked like she was ready ask questions Twilight said, “you insisted on being a true academic during our first few days, but you disregarded materials that were presented to you. You also seemed to have been lead to believe that the books Spike tried to get you to read were not academically valid. All books, no matter what their genre, are academically valid.”

“Oh, does that make me a bad scholar?”

“No, it makes you a confused aspiring scholar. There's nothing wrong with any of that. You should read some of the books Spike suggested, after all we will be having shorter classes this week. Oh, and Pinkie's going to be by tomorrow.”

*************************************

It was almost two hours since Rainbow Dash had left. Eclipse was getting ready to jot down notes from the board. “Today we'll be learning about the different kind of pony magic,” said Twilight as she drew outlines of a unicorn, pegasus, earth pony, and alicorn. Each different kind of pony has its own distinct kind of magic. We'll start with unicorns since they're the easiest for you to understand.”

The three hours saw Twilight's giddy teaching compounded with Eclipse's fervorous note taking. By the time it was over Eclipse had enough notes to write a book that could easily exceed a thousand pages, not that either was complaining.

“Eclipse,” said Twilight after the filly had amassed her small hoard of notes, “you didn't have to copy all of it, didn't you learn any of this before coming here?”

Eclipse just shook her head and looked guiltily at her notes.

After a few minutes Twilight said, “I still doubt things are as you said, but I'm willing to wait for the proof.”

Eclipse just looked over at the lavender mare and said in an unsure voice, “Do... Do you remember what I said my life policy after leaving Bridleton is?”

Twilight nodded and said, “You said you would be honest no matter what, or something to that effect. However, I still have doubts a nation could be so hostile, especially towards change, change is an inevitability in our world.”

“I don't know how else to describe it,” said Eclipse, “the most up to date maps are reprints of charts that predate Equestria. I don't know how or why, but when I was planning our escape to Equestria I noticed it all, it's more evident if you compare a Bridleton world map to one of Equestria's.”

“Which piece was that? I know you brought more than those books, but most of them are in care of Celestia and Luna.”

“There are two maps in my room,” said Eclipse, “they're both cloth and in my bottom drawer, Abble's care book is in the drawer just above them.”

Twilight dashed up stairs and came down a few seconds later with two cloth scrolls in her magic, “These are well maintained,” she said, “now let's see what you thought the world looked like.” Fortuneatly for the purple alicorn the first one she opened was the world map, she frowned and called out, “Mahogany Platter, I need a pre-Equestrian map, would you please fetch it.”

“At once princess,” came a bell like stallion's voice. A few minutes later a scroll floated into the room, stopping just in front of Twilight, in a pine tinted amber glow.

“Thank you,” said Twilight as she took the scroll in her own magic and the sound of hooves was heard leaving. She put the map she was staring at up on the board, then unfurled the map that she had been given by the staff and placed it on the board just below the other one. “Well, this is ominous,” she said with an unamused voice.

“The map she had requested looked similar, but had some minor differences from the world map that she had retrieved from Eclipse's room, “the one you had squirreled away in your room, which we'll discus in depth later, seems older than the one I requested from the castle library.

“Look at the dates they were printed,” said Eclipse.

Twilight knew exactly where to look, the date on her requested was a mere score before Equestria was founded, looking at the Bridleton world map she gasped when she realized what it said, “Copied from RB 159, this map was printed RA12 13,” I'm familiar with the Roaming Battle era, we studied it as a history of conflicts outside Equestria, that was eight thousand years ago, but I'm not familiar with the other date. Actually we don't know what happened after the Roaming Battle era, anything before, just that it was time that the world watched a major conflict. But the Roaming Battle Era ended a hundred and thirty years, this doesn't make sense.”

Eclipse gave a sorrowful, slow, drawn out breath, “No, it lasted a hundred and seventy-five years according Bridleton's history, the date it shows has is when the nation claims it was barely a decade old.”

“But our research didn't indicate the any new nations were formed during th conflicts,” said Twilight, “of course all research is incomplete.”

“This isn't about history,” said Twilight with sudden realization, “you're not scared of what that spell could have done to you, we both know that it couldn't have affected you. What's the real reason.”

Eclipse started to tremble in her seat before saying, “They did something to Dream's memories, I don't know what kind of spell they used, but whatever it was made so that she remembered an event differently than me, that around two years ago now. Now I'm not sure what I remember is real, what if somehow I ended up making my memories lineup with Dream's.”

“That's when you started making your realizations,” said Twilight, “you only came to a new sense of clarity last year,” Eclipse nodded, “but we still need to discuss this map, what is this date I don't understand?”

“The thirteenth year of the Reign of Artanus the twelfth. He's our current monarch, only the royal family is allowed to give their foals names like that.”

“My friends brought up a good point, and hearing you talk about it a bit helps really drive it home, laws that dictate how somepony can be named are frivolous and ultimately pointless. So, why have those laws never been repealed?”

“Those laws have been in place since the founding of the nation, and the country has a strong aversion to change. It needs to change, but there is a high level of safeguards in place within the governmental structure that make next to impossible for change to be brought on the level the nation needs. The nobility freaks out when there's an unscheduled delay in, well, everything. The nobility has control over everything, and I know I told you they're all unicorns.” Twilight nodded to the filly, also floating several notepads and writing materials around her in anticipation of what came next, she figured it would be important to have notes for comparison of what she found.

“Please continue.”

Eclipse took another sigh and said, “All the towns and cities are under the jurisdiction of the nobility, as are facilities, stores and farms. They don't really understand how to tend to plants, but they still have the authority to judge and berate ponies that have been told it is their job how to do the job. It's a system that now that I look back should have never happened to begin with. All the weather factories are in major cities and housed within the grounds of nobles, I've been told that learning spells that pertain to weather is pointless, we can't even learn a cloud walking spell.”

“How do you know?”

“I asked, and for my curiosity I a hoof wave on the matter three days of being locked in a small room with Grand Charm enjoying regular meals as he lectured me on why my curiosity was bad, I only got a half filled small glass of regular water once every six hours, but I was allowed to drink two glasses over the course of a day, and make matters worse Grand Charm would gulp down the glasses I left after five minutes before she crushed the glass in her magic next me. She... she tried to brainwash me when I started to act like a real scholar, but somehow I resisted what she was trying to do, it's almost like my ears would only be willing to hear the honest truth, I never showed signs of that ability after that, I told nopony about that experience until now, I just shared one of my most dire secrets with you. It all happened when things were starting to clear in my mind, why did I start notice all this last year? Why couldn't I have let myself be guided wander under the false sense of security? What was so special about the past five hundred days?”

“All good questions, but...”

“Your majesty,” came a young limerick type of female voice, “it sounded as if your student was distressed, is everything alright?”

“Yes, White Sonnet, everything is fine. Eclipse was just caught up in some bad memories, I think that she's calmed down now, hopefully she won't give the palace a fright like that again.”

“I don't want to do anything like that again,” said Eclipse with shame that was evident on her whole body.”

Quickly changing subjects Twilight said, “Sonnet, I hear you'll be the Equine languages aid this coming school term, I'm proud of you.”

“Thank you princess,” said Sonnet, “and I am appreciative that you afforded me the chance to work here, all those delegates two months ago visiting was a good chance to put my lessons, and talent to practice.” The sound of hooves leaving met the ears of the two, Eclipse hadn't even seen the pony.

After a long awkward silence Eclipse said, “I don't know why; but you, this place, everything I've experienced about Equestria has felt familiar... it has since we got here, but you've felt the most familiar and comfortable, you remember what I said when I first met you?”

Twilight gave a little giggle and said, “yes, and you ended with asking why I made you feel comfortable and safe despite having never encountered me before. I never told you what my title is, have I?”

Eclipse shook her head, “They all call you 'princess', but the highest power in land is princess.”

“That's right,” said Twilight with a smile, “Celestia and Luna jointly rule over the whole of Equestria as the princesses of the sun and moon, Cadance looks over the Crystal Empire and my duty is helping spread friendship across the nation and beyond. Cadance is the princess of love and I'm the princess of friendship.”

Eclipse began sniffling before getting up and going over to hug the lavender mare and said, “When I asked about love and friendship Great Spell, Great Seal and Grand Charm all said they were pointless and frivelous things that served no real purpose,” happy tears were flowing down her face, “I wanted for friends more than anything, I genuinely love my siblings, but sometimes you need somepony who isn't family to help you out.”

“That's not entirely true,” said Twilight before a tome like purple journal with six differently colored bookmarks over to in front of the filly, “Pinkie wrote an entry about how good friends can feel like family, this journal contains entries from me and all my best friends, and some of our family members as well. We call it the 'Friendship Journal' and it contains many of the lessons in friendship we learned, we haven't made any entries in years, but maybe it will get some entries from some new ponies when the time comes, I put a charm on it to make sure there are always enough pages for new entries. The rest of your lesson plan is to read some of the entries and try to gain a better understand what friendship means.”

“How many entries should I read and learn from? If it has more than one author where do I start?”

“That's all up to you!” Twilight gave the filly a little nuzzle, “I have some research you gave me to look over.”

****************************************************

It was few minutes to dinner, Twilight had been given the reminder, in a not so subtle manner, by one of her maids. She came down the stairs and looked in the library, inside she found Eclipse curled up next to the massive journal with a smaller, purple, notebook next her. Looking at the front it she saw the words “Diary” scrawled across it in a manner that she recognized as Eclipse's emerging writing style, the filly seemed to not be able to resist putting a bit of a flourish at the end of her name. Gingerly opening the notebook she saw a note on the first page that said, “This is a place for my private thoughts and special secrets only three ponies are allowed to read it and those are Me, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and my closest friend. — Eclipse Touch

Twilight gave a little smile, despite having known her for less than a week Eclipse had enough faith in the mare to allow her to read her diary, for now at least, she knew that could change at any point. She leafed to the first page expecting to start with the filly's first day in Equestria or with her, but was surprised to see the first page open with, “I don't know what the date was, but it was last year when I started questioning everything, they don't like when you ask questions in any form. That day I began making preparations for our escape, I know that looking back over an extended period of time means that the connection to the events isn't as tangible as it is that same day, but I have to say this if I'm to continue. The ponies that called themselves my parents and grandmother never showed me love or concern, all they were concerned about was their status and the rank the family held in society, it's been that way as long as anypony can remember. I've seen our family tree, almost two-hundred generations of unicorns stretching to the present. They believe in keeping the bloodline pure, which is their way of saying no lineages with non-unicorns are allowed to enter the lineage, which is why they have such disdain for my big brother. I just accepted it all before I started questioning it all, I don't know why I did. I've been nothing, but honest since coming here, even if it hurts to say it I'd tell my teacher the truth regardless of the consequnces, I read in one Myrraldin's journals that honesty will always show who are true friends and allies, that's why I've been nothing but honest with everypony here. I could see that whatever they did to Dream when they tried to alter her memories didn't go as planned, they hate it when that happens, I see glimmers of the memory that we truly share, almost like they laid their version of things over it like some kind of sheet, but what if I tried to make the memory be more like the falsehood they put on her memory, that day a year ago was when questions didn't bring confusion, the first time in my life questions brought a sense of enlightenment, which is odd because none of my questions were answered. I guess I just realized that the question is more important than the answer, I know that sounds silly and stupid. I hope nopony other than me sees what's in here for at least a week. After this first entry I'm never going to discuss Bridleton again, it's not that Bridleton makes me feel hurt and afraid now that I think about it, it's because I want to leave it's mindset behind me and embrace some of the mindsets in Equestria. I want to have something like the kind of inner strength Miss Twilight and her friends have.”

Twilight closed the book and looked at the filly wondering if Eclipse had really written that as something she truly thought or something for Twilight's benefit, considering the spell on the journals mentioned she decided to look through them again, after dinner. She nudged Eclipse, the filly shuffled a bit and gave the kind of cute yawn that all fillies will from time to time. “Come on,” said Twilight, “it's time to eat, what do you want to have for dinner?”

Eclipse's eyes snapped open before she said something incomprehensible, this caused Twilight to giggle a little before she said, “Come on, let's go have our evening meal,” Eclipse just groggily nodded and followed the mare to the dining table.

The staff placed a collection salads and vegetable paninis before the two, along with bowls for the salad and glasses with a large pitcher of a purple sloshing liquid with mucky consistency. Eclipse immediately seemed to be more alert and when the collection of various ponies of different tribes had left with a bidding a good evening Eclipse said, “What's the purple stuff?”

Twilight chuckled as she placed some salad in the filly's bowl and a couple of the sandwiches on the plate before the filly, “It's called a smoothie, in particular a blueberry and cranberry smoothie,” she poured some into Eclipse's glass before serving herself, “it's really yummy.”

“That hardly seems a proper objective term,” said Eclipse.

“We can't always be objective,” said Twilight, “sometimes we need to let our personal investments dictate our actions.”

Eclipse tested the food and drink before her with care, but quickly sped up her consumption of the food, while keeping a level of refinement in her mannerisms that clearly showed to have been carried over from Rarity's lessons. The two just enjoyed their meal in silence, Twilight mulling over everything she was told, but recalling what Eclipse had said and what she had read when she started reading the journals, after taking care of some things the time to test a theory would come.

After dinner Eclipse gave her condolences to the staff and excused herself, instead of heading back to the library the filly made her way to her room. Twilight followed out of curiosity. When she peered in she saw a little black otter curled up in a corner sleeping in a basket with bowls of food and water on opposing sides of the filly's bed, a neatly made bed with her doll self carefully set at the head near the pillow, she gave a little smile before looking to her side as she watched Eclipse check the food levels in its dish before going to a bag of dried food that Fluttershy had provided and carefully measured out a set level of food in the cup that had been in the food container. When that was done Twilight watched Eclipse move over to the desk she had been provided and levitated a checklist and pen and took a careful look at it before placing a check on it and setting the materials back down on the desk.

With a little smile Twilight withdrew from the room and carefully closed it behind her. And headed for her room, she had some reading of her own to do. Once in her room she levitated the first of the journals she had read and opened it, the words that were on that page were still there. “Alright, Myrraldin,” she said to herself, “if you were able to put an encryption spell as powerful and tribally sensitive as you said then you can answer a few of my questions.”

A set of glowing white letters floated above the pages saying, “It would seem you figured that much out, but information related to event far more recent can't be accessed through these works.”

“I'm fine with that,” said Twilight, “what were the words regarding honesty that Eclipse Touch read in these pages.”

“Sweet little filly,” said the rearranged words before reforming to say, “she read that 'honesty might hurt you if you use it, but it will also be the force that helps everypony willing to listen because it has a way of giving true freedom.”

“Okay,” said Twilight, “has she lied or omitted anything since coming into my care? Or is that beyond your extent?”

“Things tied to you and that filly are watched closely by the magic that maintains these journals, as why it is not entirely clear,” said the words, “as far as the magic here can tell she has been giving you honest truth no matter what, there are times she feels like it is hurting her, but she intends give you the genuine truth as she knows it regardless of the risks to her, she looks to you for guidance that is more than the role of a mentor. Eclipse can sense that there is something wrong, as a great event you know quite well draws ever closer her power will show you a truth that even she is not fully aware of. You have glimpsed at least one piece of it.”

“It would seem you were a pony with the ability to glimpse the future.”

“Only at intermittent points,” said the words, “I never did figure out how control it, visions I was shown were more abstract than anything else, it took me a while decipher them. I saw the image of one dragon's victory over another, among other sights I witnessed through my visions. The last vision I saw was an apple among a star, butterfly, lightning bolt, balloon, and a diamond. Truth be told, I never managed figure that one out.” Twilight smiled and looked to her cutie mark.

“It would seem you were a great unicorn in your time,” said Twilight, “possibly as great, or greater than Starswirl the bearded, he was a unicorn that advanced our understanding of magic. But I now have to ask, who was this Artanus that Eclipse mentioned?”

“An earth pony with a talent for governing that I tutored so that he would be a ruler that reigned with compassion, intelligence and justice. Those with his name that followed never had a connection to him, and those that claim me as part of their lineage are deluding themselves since my child was removed from the nation before they began their quest. I feel ashamed for what I did to my own daughter, my little filly, I cast a spell on her that make so that no unicorns would be born unto her descendants, a curse I am ashamed to have invoked upon anypony and especially saddened that I did it to my own daughter, the curse will be lifted when a power greater than mine is brought into the bloodline.”

Twilight stared at the floating letters before saying, “Was her name Abalonia?”

“Yes,” said the letters.

“Where did you send her?”

“I know not, the only destination I set was beyond the boarders of all the nations I knew, I am unsure of how long she lasted, she just gotten her cutie mark,” Twilight stared at the last words, an idea of proving a theory formed in her mind.

“What was it?” She said with the full intent of using as a guideline for her search, if she could compare known cutie marks to ponies of the pre-Equestrian and early Equestrian eras she might be able to prove the theory that had been exposited by Eclipse days earlier.

The letters just said, “Journal 72,” and were gone. Twilight closed the book, she wen over a mental checklist of the Journals she read, she realized she had only read on through journal 53, and had barely started journal 54. She really didn't like reading sets out of order, it usually meant you would end up missing an important piece from a prior volume, and sometimes context was everything. She could wait, with the rate she read the journals she calculated she'd be at her intended journal by the end of the month, and probably through the whole set by the Gala.

The fact alone that she was able to get the journals to use their adaptive spell to answer some of her questions was an accomplishment, but what surprised her the most was the fact that the spell had some minor ability to observe events in the present. This revelation added a whole new dimension to things, the enchantment on the journals not only had a way of reading a pony's character, but also had the power to observe their character changes. A special security spell like that was still being investigated by some of Equestria's top magical minds, her included. Despite being a princess Twilight had found herself doing mostly superficial things.

***********************************************

Twilight woke up to the sight of Pinkie staring at her in a way that was clearly violating her personal space. “Pinkie when I said today would your day for extended vising of me I didn't mean the crack of midnight or sunrise,” her voice was surprisingly calm, she took a look at the clock on her nightstand next to the small stack of journals she had been investigating, “It's three in the morning, what couldn't wait until after sunrise.”

“Well, you see,” said Pinkie, “I wanted to start the day with you and Eclipse off early, I'm gonna make some pies in the kitchen with her. Oh by the way that otter she got from Fluttershy is swimming in the bathtub.”

“I was wondering why she set up a pair ramps at the bathtub and filled it a twelfth the way up before calling it a night,” said Twilight, “she probably figured her new little friend could use more exercise than running around the palace.”

“Oh yeah, that otter's also snuggled up in her mane right now.”

Twilight gave a little giggle, “she was worried that Abal was starting to not like her.”

“Nah,” said Pinkie, “just getting used to all the new stuff.”

“Then why is Abal running around when Ecslipse is sleeping?”

“Plot convenience,” said Pinkie as she bounced out of the room.

Twilight just rolled her eyes and followed her friend out of the room. She stopped when she saw the form of Abal scurrying from the bathroom to Eclipse's room, the otter looked like she had spent some time getting soaked in the tub. Instead of following Pinkie to the kitchen she headed to the bathroom, what she saw when she poked her head in put a little smile on her face. The tub was partially filled with water in addition to having ramps at an optimal angle for a creature of Abal's size to scale the tub, the ramps had little grips every few inches to assist in their scaling. She also spotted a small bowl with a bit of the dry food Fluttershy had provided for Abal to eat.

Twilight moved out of the bathroom and did a quick check on Eclipse, the sight she saw brought a bigger smile to her face. The filly and otter were cuddled up next each other, the slumbering filly showed no signs of being concerned her sleeping space was being made wet by otter's post-swim coat, fortuneatly for Eclipse her Twilight plush doll was watching over her from the head rest, a sight that widened Twilight's smile for little bit. She trotted in to the room and looked at the work desk she had provided for the filly, she gave a little internal giggle when she saw what was on the desk.

An array of checklists covered the surface of the desk, with simple reminders like, “Eat Breakfast,” and “Check/Fill Abal's bowls” along with questions that Twilight recognized the filly had asked over their lessons, she saw the question, “What is a Mother?” with multiple check marks and a simple sketch of a smiling face. Just under it she spotted the question, “Why do I always want to call Princess Twilight Sparkle some variation of mother?— Don't ask this question if she doesn't specifically bring it up, have to find out why I don't feel this phantom pain in my chest when I don't think of Great Spell and Great Seal as my parents, but do at the thought of being separated from Miss Twilight, why does it hurt more than the thought of being separated from Dream?”

Twilight left the lists where she found them and headed down to the kitchen after gently, and silently, closing the door to Eclipse's door behind her. Once she was down the stairs and in the kitchen, which save Pinkie was empty. “So, how's our filly?” Said Pinkie in a happy, yet serious tone (it's Pinkie, don't question how it's possible).

“More confused than I thought,” said Twilight as she seemed to wander through the kitchen lost in thought, “I spotted a question on one of her checklists, it gave me mixed feelings. On one hoof she really wants to call me mom, but tries not to because of her insistence of sticking to the facts. And on the other hoof she doesn't know why she doesn't feel guilty over ceasing to consider her parents as just that. She's unsure of not just herself, but the world around her. I think that...”

“Something is making her doubt reality,” finished Pinkie, “I've had those moments, but then seeing my friends with genuine smiles on their faces makes it so that sort of thing doesn't really matter.”

“But that's just it, Pinkie, she hasn't had a sense of that assurance that everything is fine, I think she doesn't even know how to recognize something like that. Whatever she and her siblings ran from seems to have deliberately stunted pieces of their development. Eclipse is emotionally confused, was academically misinformed and floundering in her understanding of what we take as basic things that everypony just knows.”

“Oh,” said the pink mare seeming to understand, and then, “where do you keep the baking sugar?”

Twilight was actually thankful for the topic change, she gave a sigh and a smile before saying, “We use raw sugar here, it's healthier, even if it is harder to get our hooves on than other kinds of sugar. The staff will routinely move it around several times a week, I honestly don't where in the kitchen it is right now.”

“Well there go my plans for pies, cupcakes and muffins in the morning. So, what ya see in her room?”

“Her cuddled up with a still dripping wet otter, her favorite toy within foreleg's reach, and a bunch of practice checklists,” she gave a smile at the last one, “but there was something on one of the checklists that has me concerned.”

“Is it the reason you talked about her development?”

The lavender mare only nodded. Twilight was now caught in thinking what it would could possibly trigger a similar journey for herself or any one of her friends. She was snapped out of it by Pinkie waving a hoof in front of her.

“You were lost in thought again,” said the pink mare, “what can we make for Eclipse to enjoy.”

Twilight smiled and said, “She seems to enjoy everything we put before her. Some low sugar apple strudel should do the trick, I know you memorized the kitchen, so get all the ingredients for the dough, I'll get the apples and slice them, you can do the rest.”

“That sounds great, but we still need some kind of sugar.”

“Substitute it with cinnamon.”

“Ooh good idea, maybe something gooey.”

“Let's save that for a different dish.”

“Okie, dokie, Loki.”

******************************************

When Eclipse finally came down the dining table was loaded with apple and cinnamon strudels, lemon stuffed Prench Toast, and chocolate chip waffles with whipped cream and caramel dipped fruits. She rubbed her nose and eyes with her foreleg to make sure she was taking the sights and smells before her. “Um, I think the health book I read the night before last said this sort of thing was a bad idea,” said eclipse with an unsure voice.

“Just enjoy your super sweet breakfast,” came Pinkie's voice from the kitchen, “Twilight probably didn't tell this, but she gave the kitchen staff the morning off, they won't be in until after noon.”

“Why did she do that?” Inquired the dark coated filly.

“Because Pinkie likes spending time in the kitchen and I didn't want the staff getting into a fight with her,” came Twilight's voice from the table.

Eclipse stared at the empty chairs as Twilight seemed to materialize at one of the chairs. She gave a little gasp and said, “I thought invisibility spells were impossible!”

“No, they're actually quite a simple illusion spell,” said Twilight gesturing to the table, Eclipse took a seat next her and Pinkie bounced out of the kitchen with what looked like little biscuits modeled after the cutie marks of Twilight and her on a wooden tray that also held a little green teapot and teacups, the teapot had steam coming out of it.

Seeing the biscuits caused Eclipse to temporarily look at the flanks of the two mares and give her plate a sad face as she was was clearly failing to load it up. “Is some something wrong, sweetie?” Came Twilight's voice with concern.

“I just want to have one too,” said Eclipse with a forlorn glance at her own flank.

“I can understand that,” said Twilight, “but having a cutie mark doesn't always mean you know what your special talent really is. I went a few years of having mine before realizing that magic is my talent. Your mark comes from realizing just what it is you want to do with your life, understanding your passions drive, it's your way of showing what you believe you're put in the world to do.”

“I kept being told it shows what you're meant to do?”

“Well in a way both those descriptions are right, but we'll discuss that at a later date, in honor of Pinkie spending the day with us we'll be playing some games. That means I'm going to give you a brief lesson in some spells that can be applied to just having fun, then we'll do just that. You're not quite ready for invisibility, but you should be ready for simpler illusions.”

Pinkie slid the tray on to the table, without disturbing anything else on the table. Twilight floated the cups to each of their seats as Pinkie took a seat across from Eclipse and produced her own plate from her mane. Once the plate was on the table the pink mare said, “You're so focused on the academic side of things you don't really take a break from it, that could easily lead to burnout. Twilight knows that better than anypony, but at least she takes time out of her research these days, it was a lot worse a few years ago.”

Twilight gave a sheepish look and said, “True, I have gotten better about that. Eclipse, you need some sort of recreation to give yourself a breather or two, while passing out in the middle research sounds like a hoot I can assure you it isn't, I've done so quite few times in the past and can assure you that I don't want to see such behavior from a filly your age. I'd rather see you passing out from exhaustion playing games with other foals,” she levitated some of the overly sweet breakfast items on to the filly's plate then poured a sweet smelling liquid into the cup, Eclipse wasn't looking so she didn't see it. Looking up she saw the pinkish amber of peach tea reflecting her downtrodden face.

The filly gave a sigh and started at her meal with slow care and didn't even seem to notice her near sloshing of her drink as she sipped daintily.

Both mares looked at each other and silently agreed it would be like watching a distraught Rarity if it weren't for the fact the filly stopped trying to eat or drink after a few bites or sips. “Why are you distraught about getting a cutie mark? It'll happen at the right moment, you at least have faith in that.”

“I feel a gnawing in my chest now,” said Eclipse without looking up.

“Have you ever felt it before?” Said Twilight. The filly shook her head, “That's called guilt,” she continued, it means you feel bad about something. Is it because of you not seeing your parents as just that?”

Eclipse gave the lavender mare a surprised look, shakily she said, “No, it's because... because I feel bad about the not being able to see them as my family anymore,” she took a deep sigh, “it happened the week before we arrived at Equestria's border. I probably would feel better about it if I knew why I'm feeling that way about them.”

“We'll figure something out,” said Twilight, “taking a look at your past with eyes that haven't experienced might give us some answers, but first I would like you to eat breakfast and report to the learning room for a quick lesson on some cantrips that should be simple, sometimes parlor tricks are all you really need because when you have ponies that trust in you you're using a magic more powerful than any other.”

“What's that?” Asked Eclipse with a less sorrowful voice.

“Friendship silly,” said Pinkie, “we all learned how powerful it can be.”

“Could it really be greater than anything Great Spell or Grand Charm use?” said Eclipse.

“It was so great a magic that it defeated a foe that had stolen all the magic of Equestria for himself,” said Twilight, “that includes the magic of four alicorns.”

“Oh,” said Eclipse as she started taking careful bites of her food.

“I know just what needs to be done,” said Pinkie all of a sudden with a big goofy smile.

“Will it make me feel better?” Asked Eclipse.

“Oh, most definitely,” said Twilight, “if it's one of Pinkie's plans then it's hard to feel sad, mad or bad.”

“Yuppers,” said Pinkie, “but first you need to finish your food, you'll your energy,” with that she just gulped what was left of the food on her plate with a single motion and gave a loud belch.

Twilight shot her friend an annoyed look, and Eclipse giggled a little before settling in to actually finish her food.

*************************************************

It had been a half hour since breakfast and Eclipse couldn't help but smile. For the past fifteen minutes she had been hiding in random places for this game she was told was called 'Hide and Seek Tag', a game Pinkie explained was a fusion of the games 'Hide and Seek' and 'Tag', the problem was she had never even heard of, much less played, either game and a result she needed a rundown of the rules for all three games. Which Pinkie provided, in one breath. Twilight decided to take over and explained each game in such detail that Pinkie had literally wandered off and made sandwiches for them all then came back and hoofed said sandwiches to the unicorn filly and alicorn mare while Twilight had continued the explanation, Eclipse didn't seem to mind, in fact she was fascinated with all the little details.

The whole town had been brought in for the game, much to everypony's delight. She had also gotten the chance to finally meet Pound Cake, whom she felt amazingly comfortable around. Mr and Mrs Cake had volunteered to be some of score keeping/referee ponies for the game, as did Twilight. It was disturbingly quiet in the town, last she had heard a pony named Scootaloo was it, what's worse is that she had no idea what this Scootaloo pony looked like and had yet to be told anything about her.

The game would break for lunch at noon, but that was hours away, the only way she knew that was because of a simple timekeeping spell Twilight had taught her in addition to the simple illusions.

“Found you,” came a prim sounding melodic voice that slightly reminded Eclipse of Rarity.

“Ah mare, came the voice a colt around her age with a bit of a dry edge to it, “you got me Sweetie Belle, I thought scoots was it.”

“She tagged me into being it five minutes ago,” came Sweetie's voice, “I'm off to get a drink now, have fun Dusty Rail.” Why anypony would think that's a good name for a pony was beyond Eclipse, and to be honest she wanted to keep it that way.

Eclipse didn't dare move, that would give away her position. She dare not giggle, that would give away her position. She really hoped her stomach or throat wouldn't decide to play against her. A few minutes after Dusty had left her general area the brash voice of Pound Cake sounded above her, “Hey, how's it going? You got yourself a nice hiding spot.”

“You can have it,” said Eclipse Eclipse said to the brown haired colt with a tan coat, “I'm moving on to the next optimal hiding spot.” She hopped out of the tree hole she'd been hiding in and made her way to Sugarcube Corner.

“Why are you heading for my home?”

“It houses the next optimal hiding place,” said Eclipse before galloping into the sweet shop and disappearing from the colt's sight. Once inside she quickly dived behind a loose board next to the register, her horn lit up just enough to light her new hiding cubbyhole without giving away her position.

Once she was settled into her new hiding spot she heard the distinct hoof falls of Pumpkin Cake and Pinkie Pie. Pinkie was also one of the score keeping referees, to keep her from being a player the citizens of Ponyville actually had a rule that stated that Pinkie specifically had to be a referee, the pink party mare didn't seem to mind that though.

“Okay Pumpkin,” said Pinkie, “it's already ten, that means Sugarcube Corner is a safe zone for an hour, Twilight's castle is the safe zone at eleven, last time we played this game the reverse was true.”

“Yeah, but Pound doesn't want to leave his hiding place,” said Pumpkin with worry in her voice, “he always seems to take his games seriously, sorry I had to miss the last game.”

“Hey, your mom had business in Canterlot and wanted you to be there with her,” said Pinkie, “I think that was sweet.”

“Well, that's what we thought,” said Pumpkin, “turns out somepony decided to prank us in that regard, at least they paid for our train tickets and all the train expenses.”

“And they arranged for your tickets to be the evening train,” said Pinkie with a giggle, “I wonder who did all that.”

Eclipse crawled out of her hiding place, “Oh, wow,” said Pumpkin, “I didn't think of hiding there, actually I didn't know about that hiding place. Did you Pinkie?”

The pink party pony shook her head and said, “Nopers, how did you know about that, Eclipse?”

“I don't know, I just sort of noticed it when I was here with Miss Twilight,” said Eclipse.

“You're gonna have to stop calling her that,” said Pinkie, “her mom has the same first part in her name, Twilight Velvet is such a nice pony.”

“But calling her Miss Sparkle doesn't feel right,” said Eclipse, “actually, a lot of things haven't felt right the past year.”

“We'll discuss all that after the game, with Twilight,” said Pinkie, “but how about you show Pumpkin how to optimize that hiding place, don't worry she's not it, last I checked that was Featherweight.”

“While I was hiding someone named Sweetie made Dusty Rail the one who's It,” said Eclipse.

“Yup and he got Featherweight a few minutes ago,” said Pinkie.

*****************************************************

It was noon and Everypony was eating lunch in an open field near Twilight's castle. During their eating Twilight suggested they do a quick score tally, after all it was time to decide which players were the one to beat.

“Okay,” said Rainbow, who also happened to be one of the refs, the players to take down by sundown are the Cake twins,” the two have a high hoof, “Scootaloo,” the orange pegasus gave a grin to the white unicorn and yellow earth mare next her, “Apple Bloom,” said yellow mare smirked, “and our newest player, Eclipse Touch,” Everypony looked over at the unicorn filly, who happened to be in the middle of a salad sandwich that Twilight had helped her make. “I have to say,” continued Rainbow, “I expected some of the vets of the game to get these kinds of titles, but for a newbie to get this far, I have to say I'm impressed.”

“Too be fair, I've only been cycling through the same five hiding spaces all game,” said Eclipse, “I'm just lucky nopony thinks to look where I am.”

“So, she's hide and seek prodigy or something,” said Pinkie with excitement.

“Um, no, I've just been applying the principle of actively being more observant,” said Eclipse, “it's a practice I've doing my best to practice for the past year,” she gave a little shiver, “it's how I managed to notice little things that just didn't feel like they were right. This place is so warm and inviting,” everypony gave a smile at this, “where I came from is cold and oppressive, I really don't want to return there.”

“Yikes, she's starting to bring down the mood,” said Pinkie, “we need a Super Smile Surprise, now!”

As if on cue a massive line of party cannons appeared of seemingly nowhere and fired all at once causing fireworks show to happen all around picnic, this caused Eclipse to start giggling, “They're so pretty, I've never seen anything like them before. There's only one thing I've seen more beautiful than them.”

“What's that?” Said Rarity.

“Everypony here,” said Eclipse with a Smile.

“That's one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard,” said Twilight and her friends at the same time.

Comments

[Dragon of Shadows]

7437607 all i really want is someone to kicks bridletons ass