Revisions of Past Mistakes

by SC_Orion

Half Truths

"And I swear, it was one of the funniest things I had ever seen," Eclipse tried her hardest to stop from laughing as she recalled the memory, "Pinkie, just sitting there, on the couch, with a cake on a platter, motioning at Celestia to come sit with her. She was stroking the couch back and forth." Everypony present, including Pinkie Pie started laughing. Rainbow Dash had spit out some of her drink and was coughing.

After a few seconds, the laughter died down, allowing the low thumping of the music to once again reign. "And then what happened?" Rarity's face was swimming with glee, that quickly changed when Applejack lightly hit her with a hoof. Rarity scowled slightly at Applejack's brutish behavior.

Eclipse smiled, "And then... Oh yes. And then, Luna started laughing as Celestia's face was turning redder than an apple from embarrassment. She stormed out of the room almost immediately, and Pinkie looked around obliviously..." Eclipse laughed again. She completely left out a few details, such as what Pinkie had been wearing, and the state Celestia's wings were in. A single tear formed in her eye, from the combination of joy of telling that story, and sadness knowing that memory would never happen again.

"I'm surprised you'd share that with us." Twilight noted as she sipped her apple juice.

"I figured I might as well enjoy this while it lasts." Eclipse commented. She frowned ever so slightly. She had been paying close attention to how events were unfolding ever since her arrival. There was already significant deviation, for one, a filly had disappeared, and nopony had seen her since. Another point of deviation was that Twilight had beaten Starlight Glimmer and forced her to flee without losing her cutie mark, thus meaning Fluttershy didn't learn something important.

"Although," Twilight paused, "I'm not surprised Pinkie did that..." She smiled, then frowned at the sight of Eclipse frowning, "You okay?"

'No.' "Yes," she lied, "I'm fine." Applejack raised an eyebrow slightly, Eclipse shot her a quick glance, before looking back at Twilight. 'Right, Applejack definitely knows that was a lie. I'm going to have to work on lying to her. Or...' She smiled briefly, 'Or maybe half truths could work? I need to test that sometime.'

"Ooh ooh tell us another story!" Pinkie bounced with enthusiasm. The bubbly pink mare always seemed to make everypony smile, how she managed to do that still eluded Eclipse. Eclipse shook her head. "Aw, please?" Pinkie frowned. Her face... Her frown... How could anypony resist the urge to make her smile again?

"Alright... Fine..." Eclipse trailed off to think of another story. Since her last one had been about Pinkie Pie, and something embarrassing, which didn't seem to affect her at all, she would apply the same principle to the next story. 'Which one...' She looked left and right as she searched her happier memories for just the right memory to share, "Ah! I know!" Eclipse cleared her throat and leaned forwards over the table a bit, "This happened about... Ten years from now? I think that's right. So anyway, it was Hearth's Warming Eve, I had all of you over at the castle, along with your respective families, also had Princess Celestia and Princess Luna there." Eclipse began to break out into a smile, "So anyway, I had let Pinkie Pie do all the decorating for the castle, and Celestia knows where she put everything... I kept finding decorations placed randomly around the castle for over a year afterwards..." She chuckled.

"I had no clue where she put everything, because I was out assisting Rainbow finish up the storm that was scheduled for that evening. It took us a while, and it was dark and cold outside when we came back. We walked inside, and made our way to the study I was holding it in. It was one of the ones with a fireplace, I don't remember which one now. Somehow, we timed our entrance so poorly that we were both under the mistletoe at the same time... Pinkie also somehow timed her arrival perfectly to give us grief over that..." She trailed off with a slight smirk, then she shot a glance at Rainbow who was looking at her hooves with interest.

"So the rest of the evening passed mostly without incident-"

"Wait, you're not going to tell us what happened with the mistletoe?" Rarity was aghast.

Eclipse smiled, "Of course not." Rarity collapsed her face into her hooves. "Eventually, we got into a pillow fight with the princesses. Don't look at me like that... It got out of hand, I surprised Luna, and she cast the first spell that came to mind. We were all out cold until the next morning..." She started to laugh, "And so the next morning, when everypony woke up..." Eclipse was having a hard time keeping her composure, "I was the second to last to wake up for some reason, and I woke up lying on the couch. Rainbow was curled up on top of me. I never found out who put her there, because that's not where she had been when we were hit with that spell." All eyes were immediately drawn to Rainbow Dash.

"Oh ho ho, Rainbow..." Applejack patted a hoof on her back.

"S-stop it, guys..." Rainbow managed to say.

Twilight wasn't entirely sure what to say. She kept opening and closing her mouth. Eclipse managed to carefully levitate her glass to her mouth and took a sip, before gently setting it back down.

"Too much?" Eclipse asked as she looked around the group of assembled ponies. Everypony seemed to ignore her question, too focused on Rainbow and Twilight. Eclipse took another sip.

---

Eclipse was pacing back and forth, she was awaiting the arrival of Celestia and Luna. She had been waiting for five minutes, and you could already start to see the line she was wearing into the floor from her nonstop pacing back and forth. 'Okay, calm down, and relax... It's fine, see?' Eclipse tried to force herself to be patient, 'Besides... They're not the same as the Celestia and Luna I knew... Just ask for access to the archives, get in, find the book, find the spell, and figure out how much magic it's going to take...' She was brought out of her train of thought as she heard the door squeak open at the hinges.

Celestia and Luna walked inside in unison. Celestia greeted Eclipse with a warm smile, while Luna seemed preoccupied. Eclipse thought about that for a moment, 'Oh, right. The Tantibus... Sorry Luna, it'll be a few months before that's over...'

Luna walked over to Eclipse, "You are the Twilight from the future, Eclipse, correct?" Eclipse nodded. "I see. It is most intriguing that you are still here. It truly must have been a powerful magic you used indeed." Luna turned and took a seat at the table. Celestia took a chair beside her, across from Eclipse.

The large dining table was nearly empty, having only three occupants. Eclipse wanted to speak with Celestia and Luna in private, without Twilight or the others. They had agreed to her request. Celestia lit her horn and teleported a large tea kettle and three teacups into the room, she poured everypony a cup and handed them out before taking a sip of her own.

Eclipse calmly took a sip of her tea, 'Okay keep it together...' "It's good to see you again, Celestia," her voice sounded more coolly, "Luna." Luna raised an eyebrow, the difference was very little, but it was there. Eclipse mentally winced.

"Do I offend you somehow, Eclipse?"

"No it's... It's not important." Eclipse took another sip of her tea to buy time to think, "You and I just... We had a falling out of sorts in the future..." 'Not a lie.' she mentally affirmed.

Luna pondered her response, "I... See..."

Celestia took this moment of silence to break in, "What happened? When you arrived you were hit by a spell that had followed you through the portal, I know that spell was Luna's work." Luna's eyes shot over to Celestia before quickly returning to rest on Eclipse's form. Celestia spoke in a conversational tone, "It must have been quite a falling out," Celestia calmly took another sip of tea, "for her to have tried to kill you." Luna didn't react.

Eclipse frowned, "So you did figure out that spell was Luna's doing? But, I digress, our falling out is not one of my proudest moments."

Luna spoke somewhat forcefully, "Perhaps you should explain what happened?"

Eclipse took a sip of tea and paused, "Come now, Luna, no need to be rude, We're supposed to be friends, remember?" Surprise momentarily flashed across Luna's face, before returning to normal.

"She has a point, Eclipse. I did say you would have to explain what happened eventually."

"And I have not come here to discuss such a topic. I need access to the Royal Archive."

Celestia began to speak, "You have-"

Eclipse cut her off, "The other. Archive. The one which I'm not supposed to know about." Luna's eyes widened slightly.

"You... Why would you need access to the Forbidden Archive?" Luna asked skeptically.

"It has a certain spell I need. One which I was unable to..." Eclipse paused, 'I need to be careful here.' "Figure out..." 'That should work.' "On my own."

Both Celestia and Luna eyed her skeptically. Eclipse remained calm and took another sip of tea.

Celestia answered firmly, "No."

Eclipse glared daggers at her, coldness and anger were evident in her voice, "That's what you said last time..." 'So much for plan A. Looks like I'll have to locate it and sneak in then.'

Celestia looked slightly taken aback by her reaction. Luna glared at Eclipse.

Eclipse sighed, 'I shouldn't have snapped at her like that... She's not the same Celestia...' "Sorry. I... Have some issues..."

Luna replied in a deadpan voice, "Clearly." Luna took a sip of her tea before speaking again, "I will be honest with you, Eclipse. I do not trust you."

"I trust you, at least enough to allow you to roam about without having somepony keep an eye on you."

Eclipse scoffed, "Hah! We both know that my staying with Twilight allows her to keep an eye on me." Her voice grew colder, "She's loyal to you to a fault..."

Celestia redirected the conversation with her next question, "Why do you want access to the Forbidden Archive?"

"Smooth redirect." Eclipse noted. Celestia pursed her lips. "I told you, I need a certain spell from it. One that I can use to fix everything."

"And which spell, pray tell, is that?"

Eclipse turned to Luna, she opened her moth, but closed it. She closed her eyes, inhaled, and exhaled. "I am not arguing about this. Last time this happened..." Eclipse shook her head. She felt her emotions would soon begin to betray her. "I messed up." Eclipse flatly stated, "I failed." She turned to Celestia, "I wasn't the only one who failed..." She shook her head, and took a more solemn tone, "I do have mixed feelings about both of you... It's hard... On one hoof, I know you've not... I know you're not the same, and I'm happy to see you again, yet on the other hoof, I have my memories..."

"You keep saying that you're happy to see me again whenever you talk to me. Why is that? Did something happen?"

Eclipse winced, and forced herself to not show her growing sadness, "Yes... But I don't want to talk about it..." Eclipse lowered her head, and swallowed her growing discomfort, 'I should go before I break down... Why did that have to happen...' She stood up, "I'm sorry, I can't do this right now." She lit her horn instinctually, preparing to teleport. She tightly closed her eyes in concentration as she tried to muster the magic, but the soft glow that surrounded her horn wasn't enough. She exhaled sharply after several seconds of concentration, and collapsed to the floor.

---

Eclipse groggily opened an eye, she took in her surroundings. She was in the room she was temporarily staying in at the castle in Canterlot. She laid on a red bed, with velvety covers and a plush white pillow. She turned her head towards the window, she could see the moon shinning in through the clouds. She turned to her left when she heard a soft snoring, she shared the room with Twilight, they had both agreed to that.

She lifted her head from the pillow, groaning when a massive headache slammed into her. She softly laid her head back down, and whimpered in pain from the headache. She fought through the pain and rolled over so that she was facing Twilight's bed. Twilight was laying on her side, slightly curled up into a ball, with her head resting on her forehooves, facing her. 'She must have fallen asleep while watching me...' Eclipse's mind was racketed with another wave of pain as she tried to remember what happened.

'There's no way I can sleep in this pain...' "Twilight?" Eclipse's voice was barely audible. She waited a few seconds, no response. She spoke in a conversational tone, "Twilight?" Still no response. Eclipse moaned, then started moving to the edge of the bed. She slowly got up and put her hooves on the floor, she tried to ignore the growing discomfort in her head, 'So far... So good...' She stood on weak legs, she lifted a hoof and stepped forwards. Her hoof soon found hold on the floor, her body closely followed with an audible 'thump'.

Eclipse groaned as she hit the floor hard. Twilight woke up at the sound of something heavy impacting the floor, she then heard a groan. It took her a second to process the groan, and realize that Eclipse wasn't in her bead. Her eyes widened and she shot to her hooves, almost immediately landing beside Eclipse, "Eclipse? What happened? Are you okay?" Eclipse moaned in equal measure pain and annoyance. Twilight lit her horn and gently levitated Eclipse back onto her bed.

"My head..." Eclipse mumbled.

Twilight used a quick spell to scan Eclipse's head, and cast a spell to heal her. The pain went away after a few seconds of stillness. "Eclipse... What happened?"

Eclipse rubbed her temples with her hooves, "I woke up and my head was killing me, I tried to stand up, and you saw how well that ended up."

Despite the only light coming from the soft glow of the moon, Eclipse could tell Twilight was exasperated. Her voice conveyed anger and concern, "You... Why... Why would you do that?"

Eclipse changed the subject, "What happened to me anyway?"

"Princess Celestia said you tried to teleport, and you did something wrong, or just didn't have enough magic... It almost killed you..."

Eclipse pondered that for a moment, her expression did not betray her feelings, or she felt nothing towards the fact she almost died. "That would be... Detrimental..." Eclipse finally spoke.

After a long, awkward silence, Twilight finally spoke up again, "She didn't tell me what you three talked about. She said it was up to you as to whether or not to tell me."

"Don't you think it's a little late to be talking?"

"Would it make you feel better?"

Eclipse grimaced, "Yeah..." Eclipse sighed, "I asked her for access to something that I need to fix everything. She said no... I... I kind of snapped at her..."

"But... Did you explain why you needed it, or what it was specifically?"

"No... That's the thing, I know, and at the same time I don't know what I need. I will know it when I find it... And Celestia won't be happy when I find it..." Eclipse trailed off.

"But she said no?"

Eclipse looked at Twilight, "This is something I have to do... To be honest, I don't even know if the spell is written down anywhere... I know Celestia knows it..."

"Then why didn't you ask her directly?"

"It would be repeating history." Eclipse felt certain memories resurfacing, "She would have said no... She said no even after it... Was... T-To... La-Late..." Eclipse closed her eyes, she felt tears begin to roll down her face. "And sh-she... Di-ied because of it..."

Twilight couldn't focus after hearing those words. The idea of Princess Celestia dying... It was so foreign to her, it was impossible. She was Princess Celestia, after all. "Eclipse... I... I'm so sorry..." Twilight sat down beside her and draped a wing around her body.

---

Luna walked into Celestia's bedroom, "Sister?"

"Yes, Luna? What is it?" Celestia beckoned her into her room with a nod of her head.

"I... I'm not quite sure what, but something is amiss. I believe I have found Eclipse's mind, but it is... Hidden from me. I can't enter her dreams... And there is another I found, whose dreams I cannot enter..."

Celestia pursed her lips, "If she is maintaining a spell to keep you out of her mind, it's no wonder her magic is coming back so slowly... But why would there be another who would be blocking you?"

"I do not know, sister, but it troubles me... I believe Eclipse is hiding something."

"She is, I can tell. She wasn't very forthcoming today, was she?"

Luna frowned, "That is... Not what I meant, sister. Also... Twilight's dreams last night troubled me..."

"How so?"

"She had a nightmare... In it, you died."

Author's Note:

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