Revisions of Past Mistakes

by SC_Orion

You Had ONE Job, Bonbon!

The door to Twilight and Eclipse's room was thrown open by a panicking, hyperactive, bubbly, pink pony. Both formerly sleeping mares instantly shot up, wings spread out in surprise at the sudden, unexpected wake up call. "Twilight! Eclipse! I almost forgot what day today is! Oh my gosh how could I possibly forget something so special as today!?" Pinkie's exclamation ended up sounding more like one single word to both alicorns.

"Pinkie..." Twilight groaned. Twilight turned towards the clock, "What time is-" Twilight blinked. "Pinkie... Please tell me why you're waking us up at... Twelve-oh-one A.M.?

Eclipse found herself laughing, "The better question is why it took her sixty plus seconds to get here..." she shook her head, "Ugh... What is it, Pinkie?"

Pinkie zoomed over to Eclipse, shot up onto her bed, and pushed her nose to Eclipse's nose, and pushed her head down onto the pillow, "It's Cranky and Mitilda's wedding day! Ahh! How could I have forgoten!?"

Twilight groaned, "Ugh... Pinkie..."

"Oh... Right... That's today... And we're not in Ponyville... Because we're in Canterlot... And the train ride would take a few hours... And Mass teleporting... Not wise." Eclipse mulled the predicament over in her head for a few seconds, meanwhile Pinkie starred at her, and kept her nose on Eclipse's. Eclipse blinked, and moved the covers back with her wings, then placed her wings over Pinkie, and pulled her close. "Thank you for reminding me, Pinkie."

Pinkie nuzzled the alicorn's chest quickly, "You're welcome!" she said, then disappeared out the door.

Twilight rubbed her eyes, and blankly looked at Eclipse. She slowly pulled herself out of the covers and got to her hooves.

"A... Bugbear... Attacks Ponyville today." Eclipse said as she rose from her bed.

Twilight blinked. "A what?"

Eclipse nodded her head at Twilight, "That's exactly what I asked Celestia the first time."

"So I guess that means we're not going back to sleep, are we?" Twilight asked with a sigh.

"We can sleep on the train ride to Ponyville..." Eclipse pursed her lips, "Just don't tell Rarity that we're going to a wedding."

"Why-" Twilight started, realizing exactly why right as she asked.

Eclipse raised an eyebrow at her. "You have to ask?"

"Still brain, can't sleep." Twilight answered with a smile. Eclipse chuckled, then yawned. "Well I suppose we should go get the others."

"Counter proposal: you wake the others, I will get the train ready, and tell somepony where we're going. Sound good? Good." Eclipse disappeared in a flash of magic, leaving Twilight blinking as her night vision was disrupted from the bright light.

Twilight sighed, and looked at her bed, her oh-so-comfy bed, longingly, then looked to the door. Her ears fell to the side of her head as she made her way out of the room.

---

Eight ponies and a baby dragon sat in a special train car, slowly pushing its way towards Ponyville. Most of the ponies present sat close by each other, with the exception of Nightfall, who chose to sit in the very back, far away from everypony else. Her eyes constantly shifted between the ponies in front of her, while they occasionally glanced back at her and smiled awkwardly.

"Well, not that this isn't... Delightful... And all that, with being woken up at such a ungrateful hour... But do need my beauty sleep." Rarity said, immediately drawing everypony's attention.

Nightfall chose that moment to stand up and walk forwards, approach the group, "Ah yes. Sleeping arrangements, do tell, Eclipse? As fun as it is to listen to you all ramble on about your pointless lives, I think I'd prefer to prepare for tomorrow with sleep as well." Everypony present, including Spike, glared at her. She rolled her eyes.

"It doesn't really matter... Four rooms per car, three cars, so twelve rooms altogether. So wherever." Eclipse stated, eyes still fixed on Nightfall.

"Then I lay claim to the farthest back car as my own." Nightfall stated, then turned and made her way through the train car and into the next, opening the door and then closing it behind her sharply.

"I just wish she wasn't so rude..." Fluttershy sighed softly.

"I wish she wasn't so condescending." Rarity stated.

Twilight blankly stared at Rarity, who was oblivious to it.

"Anyway... Good night, everypony." Rarity said as she rose from her seat and made her way towards one of the closer compartments. She walked inside and closed the door behind her with her magic.

Spike blinked. "So I guess I'm staying with Twilight tonight, then?"

Twilight turned to Spike and smiled gently, "Sure little guy..." She stood up, "We should probably get some sleep too."

"Yeah." Spike said nonchalantly.

Twilight extended a wing towards Spike, who grabbed on, expecting Twilight to pull him onto her back. Instead, the alicorn pulled Spike into a hug with her wings, and nuzzled him, then levitated him onto her back, and made her way into the next train car, smiling the entire way, leaving five ponies behind.

Eclipse laid back in her seat, "So..."

Fluttershy yawned, then blushed, "I am pretty tired..." she said as she stood up.

Pinkie jumped out of her seat, "I'm not-" and then fell to the floor, snoring. Everypony present lightly giggled.

"I better take care of her and get some shuteye myself." Applejack stood up, walked over to Pinkie as Fluttershy made her way to an unoccupied room. Applejack lifted Pinkie onto her back with a little magic help from Eclipse, then proceeded to leave the train car.

Rainbow fidgeted in her seat, but stayed sitting and silent.

Eclipse looked out the window, watching as the mountainside rolled by, the silence and gentle rhythm of the train threatening to lull her to sleep. She didn't particularly want to leave before Rainbow, not wanting to seem inconsiderate, but she didn't want a sore back tomorrow either. She pursed her lips, and looked at her reflection in the window as she thought about what to do.

The reflection in the window revealed Rainbow starting to get up, Eclipse hoped she was going to leave, instead, she walked over to the seat in front of her and sat down, ruffling her wings as she did so.

"Yes, Rainbow?" she asked without looking away from Rainbow's reflection.

"What? I can't just move over here for no reason?" Rainbow asked quickly. Too quickly.

Eclipse sighed, and turned towards Rainbow, "What's wrong, Rainbow?"

"Nothing's wrong!" she answered almost instinctually, "I... I mean uh..."

"It's Nightfall, isn't it?" Eclipse asked softly.

Rainbow winced, "Uh... Well... Yeah..."

Eclipse nodded her head thoughtfully, "You're afraid of her."

Rainbow shifted in her seat "No I'm not... Well... Just... Don't tell anypony, okay? I don't want them thinking I'm a coward..."

Eclipse looked at her softly, "Rainbow, none of us would ever think any less of you for admitting that, especially me. You know I won't think any less of you for admitting that... Right?"

"Applejack..." Rainbow said at length.

Eclipse frowned, "You know I won't let her hurt any of you... You believe that, don't you?"

Rainbow looked down at her hooves, "She beat you, Twilight and both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna alone..." Rainbow grimaced, "I uh... I don't know if you could stop her..."

Eclipse shook her head, "I'll protect you. I won't let her hurt any of you, even if it kills me. I promise..." Eclipse paused, then asked, "Does that make you feel better?"

Rainbow looked back up at Eclipse, "No. I believe you would do that, and that's kind of the problem... None of us want you to die... Especially if it's avoidable..."

"It may not be avoidable, Rainbow. There is a good chance I will die saving this reality from my mistakes." Eclipse spoke solemnly.

"I don't want that." Rainbow said firmly.

"I... I don't want to die either, Rainbow. But your lives are more important to me than my own." Eclipse looked away from Rainbow, "If I can fix things for Twilight, and all of you, it would be worth whatever I face after this."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Eclipse looked out the window, remembering what she had done... It still haunted her, but... Being around her friends again helped. She smiled, "That is a story for another time..."

Rainbow folded her arms and huffed, drawing Eclipse's attention, "Seriously?" Eclipse's smile widened.

Eclipse looked into her reflection in the window again, "Besides, I won't die just yet... I have a few promises to keep, after all."

"I want you to add another one to that list, promise that you won't get yourself killed if it's avoidable." Rainbow said. Eclipse turned to her and nodded, yawning as she did so. "Tired?" Rainbow asked with a smug smile.

Eclipse stared blankly at her, "I am at least one-thousand four-hundred years your elder, Rainbow. I am old enough to be your grandmother's grandmother's grandmother."

Rainbow smiled brashly, Eclipse rolled her eyes. "So what, you think of yourself as our protector or something then, because of your age?"

Eclipse bobbled her head as she mulled it over, "Something like that, maybe. That... Kind of is the main reason I came back, to protect you all and prevent myself from making the same mistake..."

"So what then, we were so awesome that you couldn't stop thinking about us?"

Eclipse nodded exaggeratedly, "That is... Basically what happened." She shook her head, "I should stop before I say something I'll regret..." she yawned.

"You can tell me anything, I can keep a secret!" Rainbow assured.

"So can I, Rainbow." Eclipse replied.

Rainbow looked at her, dumbfounded, "Huh?"

"In regards to you being afraid of Nightfall." Eclipse lied, adding a soft smile. Rainbow grimaced and sighed. "Well... I should rest. Tomorrow... Well, we'll just have to see how it goes, I suppose."

Rainbow beat her wings and hovered in the air, "You kidding me? We have three alicorns, it's not going to be a problem if we stay up all night long! We'll still beat the... Yeah, that thing."

"Well, we'll only have two alicorns if I don't get rest." Eclipse shook her head.

"Uh right..." Rainbow grimaced.

---

Nightfall, Eclipse, and Twilight stood side by side in the center of town, earning the attention of a group of ponies who were now watching them. Everytime a pony stepped forwards, Nightfall would immediately look at them, and they would decide not to continue walking forwards, rather, they would return to their previous position. Eclipse watched as Rainbow flew back and forth overhead, checking for any signs of the monster, leaving a faint rainbow trail in her wake. Twilight shifted on her hooves uneasily, unsure of what to expect. She glanced to her right, looking passed Eclipse at Nightfall. She looked back to the small crowd of ponies gathering, most of whom were more focused on Nightfall than Eclipse of herself.

She shifted uncomfortable beside her older selves. 'I wonder if we'll ever top this for weirdness...' She smiled lightly, 'This IS Ponyville... But still, this... Well, there was that one time when Pinkie used the Mirror Pool...' She knew that this was different however. She glanced back to the rest of her friends, standing a little ways behind them. Applejack smiled reassuringly, she returned it before looking back to the crowd.

Nightfall turned her head to Eclipse. She spoke in a low voice that was soaked with venom, "Do tell, how exactly do you plan on beating it this time?"

Eclipse continued scanning the sky, "There's three of us this time, we should be able to over power it easier than last time. Even if Twilight is still... Recovering..." She grimaced as she thought about it. "At least we should be able to stop it together, without anypony needlessly getting hurt."

Nightfall withheld her disgust with Eclipse. She grimaced, but felt compelled to inform Eclipse of something important, lest it come to bite them in the flank, "I will take this time to remind you that I am still recovering also."

Eclipse turned to Nightfall, "What?" Twilight turned her head towards Eclipse, and heard murmurs from the crowd. Eclipse shook her head, "Okay... Well, we'll figure something-" Eclipse's sentence was cut off by a shrill roar.

Everything went quiet, and the crowd immediately dispersed.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Rainbow cried as she fell out of the sky, heading towards a building. Eclipse lit her horn in preparation to catch her if it was necessary, Rainbow struggled for several seconds before righting herself, an action which brought a smile to Eclipse's muzzle. Once she recovered from her downwards spiral, she landed uneasily and coughed when she saw everypony looking at her. "Uh, it's here."

As if to punctuate her statement, a strange creature flew out from behind a house. Twilight blinked at the sight of the creature that she could only describe as a panda bee hybrid. She blinked again. "What?" she asked flatly. She looked over the creature, it's bottom was black, it's middle section was white, and then it's chest was black. It had four arms, two black ones, and then two white ones beneath them.

A cross-eyed grey pegasus with pale yellow mane and bubbles for a cutie mark flew passed Twilight, smiling with her mouth open. A few seconds later, she paused and looked at the three alicorns, and blinked. "Oh, hi Twilight!"

Twilight looked between the creature, her other two selves, who seemed to be sizing the creature up, and the pegasus. "Muffins? What are you doing here?"

"I acidently sent out invitations for Cranky and Matilda's wedding with the wrong date...." She sighed. "So now I'm trying to fix things so they can have it today!"

Rarity blinked upon hearing that, she looked at Twilight, "Twilight, what was that about a wedding?" she said in a threateningly singsong voice.

Both Muffins and Twilight turned towards Rarity, the latter was quicker, "Uh nothing Rar-"

"Oh, it's Cranky and Matilda's wedding day today... I still don't know how I'm going to fix this..." Muffins face scrunched up as she finished. She blinked as Twilight sent her a death glare. For a brief second, Rarity looked like she was going to faint, but the moment passed, and the unicorn remained upright.

Eclipse and Nightfall lit their horns in unison, and shot towards the panda-bee. Eclipse flapped her wings and jumped above Nightfall, going high to attack the creature from above, while Nightfall would attack from the ground. The panda-bee looked between the two alicorns with confusion, then cried out in rage as they attacked it in unison.

Twilight shook her head, ignoring the creature's cry. Muffins looked towards the panda-bee, "Hey, Twilight, since when have there been six of you? I mean, I know that two more of you showed up, both taller than you but..."

Twilight groaned, and then her expression went flat when she followed Muffin's gaze and saw Eclipse and Nightfall flying around the panda-bee, and fighting it. She spread her wings and lit her horn, "It's a long story!" She beat her wings and hovered in the air for a second before turning to look at her friends, "You going to help?"

"You sure you actually need it?" Pinkie asked. "It looks like between the six of you that you should be able to handle it!"

Twilight stared at Pinkie with confusion, "The six of me? What are..." Twilight facehoofed, "Pinkie..." she sighed, realizing the futility of arguing with the energetic pink mare. "Please help us?"

Rainbow jumped into the air, "Yeah! Let's go kick that..." she paused briefly, losing her brashness, "thing's... Flank?" She shrugged it off, and darted forwards, followed closely behind by the other mares, save for Fluttershy, who stayed with Spike.

"I'll just um... Stay with Spike." Fluttershy said softly, glancing between Twilight and Spike. Spike folded his arms and glared at Twilight, who smiled back.

"Keep him safe, Fluttershy! This shouldn't take us too long!" Twilight shouted as she flew towards the battle, which had moved higher up during the span in which she wasn't paying attention to it.

Spike looked towards the ground dejectedly, "She never lets me help with anything cool like this..." he grumbled grumbled.

Fluttershy smiled softly at Spike, and extended a wing to pull him closer to herself. She set her wing gently around Spike, and pulled him into a hug, "Spike... It's just because she loves you. She doesn't want you to get hurt, you know that right?"

Spike smiled at the pegasus's comforting embrace. He knew what Fluttershy had said was true, but he knew he could help too! ...If Twilight would just let him... "Yeah... I know that but... I just... I wish she would spend more time with me... I miss her. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed spending so much time with Rarity it's just... It's not the same, you know?"

Fluttershy nodded, ignoring the sounds of battle coming from somewhere overhead and off in the distance. "You should tell her, Spike. Both of them. I'm sure Rarity would understand you wanting to stay with Twilight again. I'm sure both Twilight and Eclipse would welcome the opportunity to spend more time with you too."

Spike grimaced. Not just at the thought of telling Rarity that he wanted to stay with Twilight and Eclipse rather than her, but also at causing Twilight and Eclipse any more discomfort or problems than necessary. Twilight already had so much to deal with, he didn't want to add to her list of problems... He sighed, "They're both so busy... I'd probably just mess things up for them..."

Fluttershy looked hurt at that suggestion, "Spike! You know that's not true! Twilight loves you very much, and so does Eclipse!"

Spike weakly nodded in agreement, "Yeah... Maybe..." Spike sighed. Fluttershy, not knowing what else to do, pulled Spike closer to her with her wing.

---

Twilight shot backwards, away from the panda-bee, dodging a swipe from its claw. She found herself equally parts grateful and concerned for Rainbow, who flew towards the creature's head while she flew back. Even considering the exhaustion Eclipse, Nightfall, and herself felt from not adequately recovering from their last major battle, she could tell they were all holding back. She knew she was. Despite their limited aggression, everypony was starting to slow down, but so was the panda-bee.

Despite her expectations, Nightfall was fighting at least as hard as Eclipse was to stop the creature.

Rainbow flew in close to the panda-bee's head, she struck out with a hoof, impacting the creature's head. Eclipse followed up on Rainbow's attack with a pulse of magic to it's back. The creature spun in the air at a rate that took even Rainbow by surprise. The pegasus momentarily faltered, giving the creature ample time to grab her in a paw, and start pulling her to his mouth. Nightfall glanced to Eclipse, who glanced back at her. Their eyes locked for a brief moment, then they returned their gaze towards the bugbear, now dragging Rainbow to its mouth.

Eclipse aimed her horn at the creature's stomach, and channeled a beam of magic at him. Rainbow winced and groaned as the paw tightened around her, squeezing air out of her lungs. Twilight fired a pulse of magic at the creature's head, the pulse hit right above it's eye, causing it to growl in pain. He turned towards Twilight, and put his stinger forwards, and started to rapidly accelerate towards her. Twilight tucked in her wings, and let herself start falling towards the ground to avoid the creature's assault.

It proved unnecessary, Nightfall aimed her horn at the creature's shoulder, and let loose a beam of dark magic. The sickly black beam rushed forth, and impacted the bugbear's shoulder. His arm immediately fell limp, releasing Rainbow, who fell a short distance before catching herself. Rainbow quickly flew over to Eclipse and hovered beside her, watching Nightfall engage the panda-bee.

The bugbear turned his head towards Nightfall, and roared in frustration. Nightfall felt a smile tug at her lips as she released a volley of spells towards the creature. The creature weaved through the barrage, but as it closed the distance, it had less time to react, allowing Nightfall to catch it's stomach with a pulse of dark magic. Nightfall rolled out of the way as the creature grabbed at it's stomach and flew passed her. She watched the creature slow down, and turn around. Their eyes met, she snorted, then turned to Eclipse, "If you desire my continued support, I would advise you to help me KILL this infernal creature!"

Despite being high in the air, Nightfall's voice carried down to the ground. Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie all flinched at hearing Nightfall's words. Eclipse shook her head, but flew towards Nightfall, followed by Twilight and Rainbow, and reengaged the bugbear. Twilight flew higher up into the sky, while Eclipse and Nightfall distracted the creature with spells so that Rainbow could continually fly around it and punch it at random intervals. Everytime the bugbear swiped a claw at Rainbow, Twilight and Eclipse winced, but none of them ever let up.

Finally Nightfall got a lucky shot in, the dark bolt of magic struck the base of one of the bugbears wings, and seemed to paralyze it. The creature roared and immediately changed tactics. Hitting the ground hard, the bugbear's arrival scattered the group of mares on the ground, and each pony immediately set out to slow it down in different ways.

The four ponies still flying regrouped, and dived towards the bugbear. The three alicorns locked onto the bugbear, and aimed their horns at the same general area, then released a beam of magic. All three beams of magic hit their mark and collided with the bugbear.

---

The Ponyville Town Hall stood filled to the brim with ponies, and other assorted creatures, all gathered to see the wedding of Cranky and Matilda. Towards the back of the hall sat three fillies, none of whom were cowering in fear from a changeling who was not there.

Nightfall, Eclipse, Twilight, Spike and company all sat outside the building, somehow still managing to be late.

"I guess it is destined no matter what, that we are not supposed to be inside during this wedding." Eclipse mused aloud, drawing stares from everypony present. Eclipse clarified, "The first time around I... We were too late also, I'm afraid. We were quicker this time, but apparently it's not meant to be."

"A pity." Nightfall said sarcastically.

Eclipse ignored Nightfall's sarcasm, "It is. It was... Will be... A beautiful ceremony. So much love and joy all went into this wedding, and so much joy and happiness came out of it." Eclipse smiled as she watched on.

"I still can't believe you didn't tell me..." Rarity whined, pouting as she looked at Twilight, who smiled apologetically.

Nightfall watched on, ignoring the rest of the words that went said in the group of ponies. She would occasionally glance at them, and she saw that they had bright smiles on her face. They were filled with happiness and joy, despite everything else that had went wrong. Despite Celestia and Luna being... Unavailable... Despite her own presence... Despite everything, they were happy. She slowly turned her head back towards the window, and gazed inside just in time to see the two kiss.

Seconds later the Doctor's flameless fireworks went off, just like last time.

She glanced towards Twilight and company, seeing them all smiling and happy, just like last time. Even Eclipse was smiling. A few seconds later, Twilight walked over to the guardrail, followed by the others.

Nightfall turned away, and looked back inside the window, attempting to ignore the words she knew were coming.

"I love you, all of you!"

Author's Note:

For some reason I keep wondering what the comment section would look like if this story had a romance tag. Haha...Ha...

Alright so, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I know I did.

Predictions as to where this is going, and where it will all lead to?