Many ask questions that defy what is beyond their own understanding, about the possibility of the impossible, that there is an expanse of realms each unique in an endless sea of nothing. These worlds exist in a flash of a moment, both twinkling in one moment and in the next moment to be gone; all of them share one thing in common, the history and stories shared from generation to generation about the world they reside in. So in this vast expanse of heroic deeds, villainous acts, demonic forces and corrupted gods, lives a spark in this sea of nothing.
Here lives a world of harmony and magic, a place that has known peace for as long it could remember, as war and strife is nothing more than myth… It is here that our story begins; the story of someone who was the hero, who has fallen the path of the villain, has risen as the demon many seen him to be, and ruled as the mad deity he’s become… but this is a story about self-penitence, a bottomless rage from an age long gone, a life of unending torment and eternal madness…
This… is the story of the Deity of the Void… and his fall…
Another time, another place – Location Unknown; Time Unknown
...White… Whiter than the purest snow, clear of impurity and empty of everything… That was the best way to describe this world, as it extended as far as the eye could see. Where I am though wasn’t important, but rather what was happening… What was happening?
The clashing of metal, gunshots and spells being fired echoed silently across the wide expanse as explosions and smoke was the only things seen other than the pure white. A group consisting of various people wielded different weapons – swords, shields, spears, guns, staffs, and various other objects. The group while had their own reasons of being here, were all convinced by one single individual. The individual in question was blurry, with only two distinct features about this person, the colors red and blue.
Ah yes… I was fighting, it would have been the greatest… and most humiliating fight I’d be a part of; I was ready for everything, every possible outcome and even if I wasn’t ready, they’d soon understand why I was the Deity of the Void soon enough… If it weren’t for him.
The leader of the group seemed to have shouted something but the words were blurred and garbled as if what was happening, wasn’t happening. The group all stared with different expressions at the entity and monster they came to defeat; the one responsible for so much pain and suffering… of every problem being his own fault… even if he was a deity. The entity standing before them couldn’t be properly described, the closest description was of a humanoid entity shrouded in blackish flames, that swayed under a windless area wherever it was. It had no discernible pupils, but two white and bright eyes that gazed with a hateful look that seemed to devour everything within his sight.
The shadowy entity opened one of his hands, the palm facing upward, as a ball of pitch black energy began to coalesce together into one of the most terrifying things that the entity has seen through the many realms he’s seen – a black-hole. The black-hole began to consume anything within its sight, the entity unbothered by the slowly growing black ball; as the group tried to stand their ground, they ended up skidding or having to hold onto someone’s outstretching hand.
Victory would have been assured… but… I wasn’t just against simple mortals.
One of the members of the group stepped forward and with an outstretched hand clasped it close, causing the black-hole to be disintegrated by an unseen force. Many of those at that battle were from a creation of mine… one I would both regret… and become intrigued, that defied me to this day.
After the black-hole vanished, the leader charged forward with an interesting weapon – it was a sword made of white steel that glowed, with ten gems of varying colors embedded into the cross-guard. The weapon was one of twelve weapons, capable of actually slaying godly entities, going so far to wipe their existence too… one of ‘his’ weapons; his old weapons.
The shadowy entity dodged the sword easily… but as he was about to finish him off, he felt a blast of Void energy fired at him by a feminine figure that looked similar to the leader. The blast while not fatal was a good distraction… distracting enough to direct the entity’s attention toward the girl. With a sadistic gaze, the entity unleashed a powerful beam of Void energy that nearly killed her, sheering off one of her arms into non-existence.
This attack enraged the leader, as he was about to strike the final blow against the entity, was blocked by a pure black sword. Both weapons clashed, both fueled by equal emotions from both their owners – wrath. An explosion of opposite energies blanked out all sound and light as both the leader and entity screamed at one another… until nothing remained, not even dust.
Both the leader and entity were gone, sacrificing himself to defeat the one true monster of all their problems was gone… alongside the greatest heroes that once lived that time… But things don’t go the way they want… unseen to the wounded, the enraged deity plummeted into a random part of the Void to lick his wounds and hide… but to where would be the question…
That however would all crumble together as something felt off; a random weight was on the sleeper of this memory, snapping his eyes to the waking world.
Equestria; Ponyville, the Obsidian Shack; 5:50am
The stallion opened his eyes to the waking world, before realizing all he saw was darkness… and something soft. Reaching his hoof to where his face should be, the stallion felt a small furry object clinging to his face, pushing its tiny snout into his mane. Seeing as he was woken abruptly, the stallion flung said object off him until said object fell off the bed, landing on a chair as both the object and chair clattered to the floor.
The stallion grumbled a little, not liking his time for sleep to be taken away… for many reasons; the stallion stared at the one responsible for waking him up, glowering at the still napping cub bear. This cub bear’s fur was purple with three blue lines across the back and as it opened its eyes with a yawn, cerise orbs scanned it’s surroundings before glancing at the stallion. Both the stallion and the cub looked at one another before the cub simply climbed back on the bed, gazing up at the stallion with a blank look, when in reality it was just as miffed too.
“Don’t give me that look, if you want to sleep, how come you won’t use your own bedding?” The stallion pointed at the edge of the bed where some circle of pillows and blanket was; the cub returned to face the stallion, but did a small roar as an answer. “...Your excuse is because you’re afraid I might fall off my bed when I’m asleep, so you make sure I’m still laying on it by sleeping on top of me...”
The cub flapped its ears as an answer and in return the stallion bopped the cub’s head lightly. “Do that again and you’re not getting fish; the last time you slept on me, you ended up napping on my head for a whole day.” The cub huffed, before jumping down and pushing the door to outside open, as the door closed back again, the stallion sighed and got off the bed too.
Gazing outside his window, which was tinted black so less sunlight got through, he could discern it was going to be sunrise soon and with that being the start of the day for him. Doing some morning stretches, he ends it by twisting his neck that created some audible pops, then stepping outside. The sky while not as bright was bright enough to show a slightly dark blue sky with some yellow, red, and orange, that mixed with the blue to create a purple color across the sky by the rising sun in the horizon.
Looking around him, the stallion lived in a small one-room house called the Obsidian Shack, built by himself, there was also a tool-shed at least three meters from the house, while a couple more meters was a storage barn with most of his belongings inside. There was a farm which had various interesting produce not often found in Equestria and some other commonly grown produce alongside it; while to the east was a sizable lake for fishing, which had two trees with a hammock tied to them for a good place to rest and relax.
There was a sign some distance near some trees that was the barrier from a dirt path that led to either his neighbor’s home or to town. Trotting to the sign, the stallion gazed at what was written, being the stallion’s name and when this was all built. Eclipse Light’s property; made in Aug 2, 1499 A.E.
Straightening the sign, Eclipse trotted by the trees until ending up on the other side to the dirt path. Looking down both ways, he faced the path towards the town known as Ponyville, heading there for a few reasons; breakfast being one of them, another is his daily morning run… and another was because of a special event coming to Ponyville. Having done his research it was called the Summer Sun Celebration, basically being the longest day of the whole year. However further research later, Eclipse found it was also the anniversary of the forgotten princess of Equestria, Princess Celestia’s sister, Princess Luna who became a being called Nightmare Moon, a mare who wished nothing but eternal darkness forever upon Equestria.
The thought of someone wanting eternal darkness was one, inefficient, since how you’re suppose to rule a world when everything that doesn’t depend on the night would wither and die, and two… the nightmare part reminded Eclipse of something… from his past.
If what was written in that book is true, then I may need to make sure that nothing like that would gain any more attention from outside forces’.
Eclipse shook the thought away and began his trot to Ponyville. “But, that will be for another time,” said Eclipse. “I should see if they’re open this time with the festivities being prepared.”
Ponyville, Town Hall Square; 6:10am
The trot to town hall wasn’t that long for the stallion called Eclipse Light, having been intensively familiar with the building throughout the month he’s been living in Ponyville. It was just nearly a month already that he’s been in this small town, living with all the… quirky folk who live here. There have especially been five particular mares he’s been well acquainted with, only being friends with two of them since the day he arrived to Ponyville, while the others are simply acquaintances, but he occasionally sees them. Though one of them seems to hold a tight grudge with him since his first arrival to this town; the two have reconciled how they acted to one another, but they wouldn’t call themselves friends to that degree.
After circling town which takes a couple minutes for Eclipse when speed-walking and a few minutes running, he reached his end destination for the run; Sugarcube Corner, while having an odd design is Eclipse’s favorite spot anytime of the day and where he usually goes to eat… it was actually the only place he goes to eat often. Luckily the bakery was open early because it being the celebration today, some of the ponies were given different things to do to prepare for the celebration. The owners of the bakery, the Cakes – Cupcake and Carrot Cake – were responsible for making pastries for the celebration.
Entering inside the bakery, the inside was empty with only one pony inside that was handling the counter. This pony was a pink pony, her cutiemark being three balloons of yellow and blue, the mare was humming to herself with a happy tune before turning around with a smile. “Oh hiya Ipsy! You up and early as usual!” said Pinkie.
Pinkamena Diane Pie, aka Pinkie Pie; age twenty, her cutiemark relates to her talent of party-planning, event-planning and… well if it involves, cakes, balloons, games, and anything considered fun for her, then she’ll be involved in some way. Out of the ponies I’ve met in this town, she’s the one I’m most intrigued about; she’s also the one who seems to understand my need for solitude for somepony so rambunctious, only acting perky around me whenever she likes, but doesn’t intrude on my own business. She might have a hidden talent in understanding others… that or she’s good at learning others secrets. “Hello Pinkie, the same thing as usual,” said Eclipse.
Pinkie smiled back in return, heading to the back for something forEclipse, returning back with a blueberry muffin and apple juice. Once hoofing the muffin and juice, Eclipse gave the bits needed then sat down on the seats near the windows. As Eclipse sat there gazing at the early morning sky, Pinkie sat across from him, holding her head up with her hooves and giving a warm smile.
“Soooo… How was your day?” asked Pinkie.
Eclipse took a sip of his apple juice, savoring the drink, glancing at Pinkie before processing a response to say. “Well, if you call having Luella napping on my face being ‘good’ then I’d say my day’s been the same; you know Pinkie… I really feel like the two of us are friends,” said Eclipse.
Pinkie began to brighten happily… till her hope was crushed just as quickly as it came. “Sadly I have to be honest and only see you as somepony to have a conversation with.” Pinkie pouted and crossed her legs in an annoyed manner.
“And how come, we’ve known each other for a month and out of everypony – well except Rainbow – I’m the one who hasn’t been considered a friend or someone you’d want to visit! You’re being a big meanie Ipsy!”
Sighing, Eclipse scooted over to Pinkie and patted her head awkwardly. “Pinkie, for starters I’m in a business contract with Applejack and while she and I have a good friendship, it’s mostly for business. Rarity visits me often for my rare silks I sell, we barely chat beyond that… Fluttershy though…” Eclipse couldn’t find the words why he himself was so friendly with Fluttershy out of everypony he’s met… he sees a part of himself in her… a part of him that he hasn’t seen for so long.
“What about Fluttershy, are you two dat-” Eclipse immediately went from a straight face expression to a frown as he stuffed his hoof into Pinkie’s mouth without a second thought.
“What did I told you about assuming things around me… especially about me,” said Eclipse, with a dangerous edge.
Pinkie removed the hoof in her, as she smiled nervously, gently putting his hoof back on the table. “Now now Eclipse, I didn’t mean to get you upset, its just you two are way closer than the others, you two practically can be seen being in a relationship you know.”
Eclipse continued to glare, making Pinkie sweat; the last time she gotten Eclipse this upset was when she pranked him weeks ago, the last thing you want was Eclipse angry, he’s like an out of control train. The two stared at one another, ending with Eclipse nodding in agreement and munching on his muffin grumpily, at the same time, the pony in question came entering with another mare.
“Good morning darlings, hello Sir Eclipse, I see you are up and early as usual,” said Rarity.
“Hello Eclipse, I hope you had a good rest… not that I’m trying to intrude or anything...” said Fluttershy.
“Hey Rarity, hey Fluttershy! We were just talking about you girls, I’ll go get you two something to eat!”
“Thank you Pinkie dear, I’ll just have some tea for me, do you want anything Fluttershy?”
“Tea for me too, if that’s alright.” After being given some orders, Pinkie went off to pour some tea for her friends; the two mares sat on the table Eclipse was sitting on – Fluttershy sat beside Eclipse and Rarity sat beside Fluttershy. The three had nothing to say or speak about, so the two mares decided to converse with one another, leaving Eclipse busy with his thoughts; glancing at the two mares Eclipse thought about what he knew about the two.
Rarity; age twenty-three, her cutiemark are three diamonds, relating to things considered beautiful or fashionable to her. She works as a seamstress and a “fashionista”, owning her own building that counts as her store and home. She’s a regular for my stand when buying supplies for her store or sometimes visit to have a small chat; she and I are at terms to being fellow store-owners, but for her she considers us social friends.
Fluttershy; age twenty-one, her cutiemark are three butterflies with pink wings, her talent is a unique one as she can communicate and understand animals. Out of all the ponies I’ve met, she’s the shiest pony I’ve met, but her kind and sweet nature make her a better approach than the others. Oddly enough when I first met her, she was quite the opposite of what I considered shy. The two of us have become good friends; both of us liking our solitude and peaceful quiet lives, most cases she would visit me, in most occasions the two of us napping together…
Eclipse shook his head from the odd feeling in his head, something about that mare reminded him about something… but he couldn’t quite remember what exactly. The clatter of porcelain was heard as two teacups on plates was placed down before the girls by Pinkie, who returned with her own meal, a pink frosted donut with sprinkles. “Pinkie, is that healthy to eat so early in the morning?” asked Rarity.
“Wouldn’t Pinkie working in a bakery mean that everything she eats consists of sweets? I doubt she be able to find something else to eat here, even if she had the choice to,” said Eclipse. “Though it answers why she’s hyper twenty-four-seven.”
Rarity thought about this and agreed with a nod. “I guess that makes sense, but seriously you need to eat properly and not just sweets and pastries everyday.”
With half of the girls here now, Eclipse got their attention with a cough; the girls and himself volunteered to helping with setting up this year’s Summer Sun Celebration for Ponyville. Rarity was responsible of decorations, Fluttershy was responsible for music, Eclipse handled making fireworks, while Pinkie dealt with entertainment; the other two, Applejack and Rainbow were doing catering and clearing the skies of clouds.
“Where’s Applejack as of right now exactly?” asked Eclipse.
“I think she mentioned having her family reunion during the morning and afternoon, but she’ll bring the food to the town hall in the evening,” said Fluttershy.
“Well as long she’s ready I suppose… and Rainbow?”
The girls knew that Eclipse and Rainbow had a sour first impression, the two tolerating one another but not putting any effort for a friendly relationship. Even though Rainbow was sorry about a few things she said to Eclipse, the two decided to stay out of each other’s mane for the coming time since Eclipse came to Ponyville.
“She’ll handle the clouds, so don’t worry your little head Ipsy!” said Pinkie.
Eclipse sighed, leaning back on his seat, gazing back out the window as the sky began to turn into a light blue with some ponies beginning to wake up now. Seeing that the morning time was starting to begin, he stood up from his seat and headed to the exit. “I should get ready now, I just remembered Applejack asked me a few days ago to deliver some barrels of Flavor Soda to her. I was wondering what reason she needed some, but if it had to be for this reunion then it makes sense.”
“Well we should all be getting ready for the celebration,” said Rarity. Everypony stood up and as Eclipse was leaving, Rarity remembered something but was too late to tell Eclipse. “Oh I almost forgot, apparently I heard they’re sending somepony from Canterlot to oversee the preparations here. Imagine somepony from Canterlot, I just wonder who they are exactly!”
“Maybe we should tell Eclipse about that, you know how he dislikes surprises or things he isn’t prepared for,” said Fluttershy.
“Don’t worry Fluttershy, I’m sure Eclipse is also expecting somepony to see how things are doing here, the princess is of course coming here for the celebration so it obviously makes sense they send somepony ahead to check things.”
As the girls got ready for the celebration, Eclipse trotted some distance from Sugarcube Corner back to his property, when thoughts about the celebration and its true purpose came to mind. The one thousand-year anniversary of Nightmare Moon… I should make some preparations if things don’t go so well.Eclipse trotted down the street, an unnoticed smile crossing his face; he grinned with dark intent at the idea of meeting somepony who’d entertain him for awhile.
“This day might get interesting after all,” said Eclipse, chuckling.
Canterlot, Twilight’s Tower; 8:00am
Twilight was panicking majorly, after doing further research about the story and history of the Summer Sun Celebration, she discovered of the coming of Nightmare Moon and her promise of revenge of an eternal night. Her mane was a mess, as she hurriedly looked everywhere for the one thing that had defeated Nightmare Moon before; an ancient artifact used by Princess Celestia called the Elements of Harmony. As she was searching for said book about the artifacts, Spike came in with a yawn having been asleep still and had a cup of warm milk in his claw, sipping the drink.
“Spike, finally you’re awake! I need you to find me the book on the Elements of Harmony and send a letter to Princess Celestia, there’s something I’ve discovered that she needs to know!” shouted Twilight.
“Okay calm down Twilight, can you not panic like that one time you thought you were late returning a book but the librarian told us they had enough copies of the book and gave you that one for free. I swear every time I’m not around you’ll end up making things over-complicated and panic even further,” said Spike, rubbing his eyes. “Just… breath and calm down.”
Twilight took several deep breaths, using her hoof to express her exhales and inhales; she then smiled sheepishly. “Sorry Spike… things have been frustrating lately, there was some incident in Canterlot a few weeks ago at some bar. The Royal Guard reported finding several of the patrons beaten to a pulp, but they couldn’t find the culprit… all they could remember was somepony who was minding his own business but was approached by some shady ponies; he also had an unfamiliar cutiemark that nopony has ever seen before.”
“Why are you panicking over what happened to some bar far from where we live?”
“Its just that the incident was so strange; nopony could remember any large defining details except for his cutiemark, but everything else was blank. Not only that, this was the biggest crime that involved any form of violence in years, the last incident being some fight between a minotaur and a griffin, and both were drunk… this… this felt like a full on battle with the number of ponies knocked out. The only reason I know is because I was nearby; I heard some commotion but I thought it was nothing… I could of done something to stop it but-”
Spike calmed down Twilight by rubbing the back of her neck, the feeling relaxing Twilight immediately. “Thanks Spike,” said Twilight, gratefully.
“No problem, I am your number one assistant after all! Now what’s this book you need me to find, the Elements of Harmony right?” asked Spike. Twilight nodded and like that Spike went off, climbing up a ladder to look through the large bookcase to find the book in question. Deciding to look at the book about Nightmare Moon, there was one thing she remembered about the night of the bar fight.
The guards also mentioned that the culprit wasn’t a local or anypony from any known criminal list, but they know the pony was an earth pony for certain, by the fact that there was no magical residue in the aftermath of the fight or anypony flying away from the bar afterwards; it had to been an earth pony with the fact that many ponies couldn’t been beaten by any common unicorn or pegasus.
“Hey Twilight, found the book,” said Spike, handing her the book. After levitating the book up and reading it quickly, she closed it and looked at Spike.
“Okay Spike, I need you to send a letter to Princess Celestia about what I discovered.” After telling Spike what to write, sending said letter with his magical dragon fire, a response came back immediately. Reading the letter gave Twilight a confused expression, Spike deciding to see what was written on it, chuckled.
“How come the princess doesn’t believe in the prophecy? Not only that but I’m being sent to this town called Ponyville to check preparations of the celebration. I thought she see how important this all was,” said Twilight.
“Well she’s also sending you to make friends; come on Twilight this can’t be all that bad. You been pretty stressful this past month, maybe we can finally get some relaxation at this place now,” said Spike.
Giving in, Twilight agreed it did make some sense; preparing for the trip to Ponyville, the two took some of their personal belongings and headed to Canterlot Castle for the flying carriage that’ll take them there. I wonder who’ll I meet there?
Ponyville, Town Center; 10:30am
Eclipse was pulling one of his wagons full of four barrels worth of two different types of Flavor Soda, the weight of the wagon and barrels not a problem for him. He was taking the barrels to Sweet Apple Acres now, on the dirt road to the Apple family farm and as he trotted down the path, he finally reached the familiar wooden archway with the family logo on the wooden sign. Crossing the archway, he spotted various ponies with apple-related cutiemarks on their flanks, all of them mingling and talking with one another happily.
“Eclipse! You’re finally here!” Looking among the crowd of ponies, came out a stetson-wearing mare, her coat orange and her mane and tail being blond, as her cutiemark were three red apples.
Applejack; age twenty-four, her cutiemark consists of three red apples, obviously relating to her family’s trade of apple-related products. She was the first of few ponies I made contracts with; I promised to assist her on bucking apple trees whenever she needed the help and in return I get a quarter share of the bucket of apples, depending on the number of trees I’ve bucked. Her family that lives with her here consist of her younger sister, Applebloom who should be starting school by a few days from now, her older brother Big Mac; the two of us didn’t start off on good terms, but after helping out in the farm on my first day, the two of us gained a good friendship. Finally there’s the matron of the family, Granny Smith, the oldest known member I know in the apple family, her wisdom and experience counter her old age… sometimes.
Eclipse removed the clasp of the harness that connected him to the wagon, before approaching the smiling apple farmer. “Good afternoon Applejack, I delivered the barrels as you requested,” said Eclipse, with a business-like manner.
“Thank you for this… if I need to give you bits later for the help, I’ll gladly do so,” said Applejack.
“There’s no need, I know your family barely manages on some seasons with just enough money to keep the farm up and standing. The contract of gaining a portion of some of your family’s apples is good enough for me, it should be I who should lend you bits,” said Eclipse.
“Oh shucks, that’s swell of you, but as a fellow hard-worker yourself I can’t ask for bits from you… Say, how’s preparations back at town doing, once I’m done here at the reunion I got some of the food ready to be delivered at the town hall?”
“Things are doing fine I believe.” Eclipse checked the sun, seeing it was almost eleven o’clock soon. “I should get going, I need to open shop some time now. I’ll leave the wagon here and come back to get it, have a good reunion Applejack.”
Eclipse bowed and turned around to leave, Applejack waving goodbye and thanking him as she shouted back at him. “Again, thank you for this!” As Eclipse left, he trotted down the dirt path, listening to the wind blow and sway against the leaves of the apple trees, the warm summer air blowing against his mane. Trotting down the peaceful path, he heard some talking further ahead, taking a look he spotted a unicorn and… a baby dragon; both were in a middle of a conversation, the mare asking the drake something, on a scroll he was holding between his claws.
“So who’re we seeing first Spike?” asked the mare.
“Let’s see… we’re suppose to see a pony by the name of Applejack, she’s handling the catering for the celebration.” The two trotted down the path, until Eclipse and the mare made eye contact, both stopping to look at one another. They continued to stare at one another, Eclipse showing as little interest into their conversation, while Twilight gave a tilt of her head.
The unicorn smiled a little before speaking to Eclipse. “Excuse me, we’re trying to find a pony by the name of Applejack, is she further down this path?” Eclipse deciding to assist these two finding Applejack, as it was the farmer’s business and not his; pointing a hoof further down the path, not requiring the need for words to get his point. “Oh just down the path, well, thank you for the directions. Come on Spike.”
“Wait up Twilight!” The drake hobbled behind the now named mare, the two vanishing further down the dirt path, but as they left Eclipse felt as though he seen that mare somewhere before. Where have I seen that mare before? Eclipse decided to figure it out another day later, so continuing his way back to town; Eclipse later went back home, strapped his movable stand to town center that was where Sugarcube Corner is and after setting up his shop, he was ready for the day.
Waiting patiently, he gained several interested buyers, selling Flavor Soda, other interesting foods, some items that the locals wanted to use and another item of use called Element Orbs; the orbs had many uses based on a crystal inside them called an Element Crystal. One example of what one of the orbs did was the Ice Orb, which was commonly used in the summer, for its cooling effects, keeping anypony near them nice and chilled during the hot summer days.
After selling some of his product to one pony, he slid the bits into a metal box until a familiar face headed toward him… or specially, bounced toward him. “Ipsy! Ipsy! IPSY! You won’t believe what or who I saw!” shouted Pinkie. Sliding toward the front of his stand, she picked up some dust as she stopped in front of the stand. After the dust cleared Eclipse found a smiling Pinkie, who had both her forehooves clasped together.
Deciding to stoke the flames that would surely turn into a firestorm, Eclipse responded back. “And who exactly did you saw?” asked Eclipse.
“I SAW TWO NEW PONIES! Well one of them was a dragon, but two new future friends are here! Oh I never met a dragon before, I bet he’s ferocious and awesome like Rainbow Dash! That unicorn though tried to say hi to me but I was so shocked that there was somepony new that I ran off and wanted to tell somepony and I saw you and-” Pinkie was silenced as Eclipse shoved a bottle of Flavor Soda, which shushed and satisfied the hyper ball of pink fluff.
“I already know, I saw them headed to Applejack’s about her catering; they’re probably the two whom were sent from Canterlot to check the status of the celebration. If they’re here, I recommend you should get the entertainment ready too,” said Eclipse.
Pinkie removed the now empty bottle of soda before smiling up at Eclipse. “Oh don’t worry, I have that all taken care of, but I should prepare a surprise party for them. I also heard they’re going to live here at the old library!”
Now this gotten Eclipse’s attention, further making him think about the news about these now two new residents of Ponyville. “Why would somepony from Canterlot be sent here to check things and be moved here if they’re only to oversee the preparations of an event that comes once a year?” said Eclipse, muttering a rhetorical question.
“I bet somepony higher up told them to live here, because they’ve been living in a solitude lifestyle for their entire life, so whoever sent them thought they should make some friends or something,” said Pinkie, answering Eclipse’s question.
There was one thing Eclipse learned since living here in Ponyville, no matter how odd or weird things happened here, whether it be coming from Pinkie or not, Eclipse didn’t bother to question it… he’s seen weirder things in his life, Pinkie wasn’t the biggest oddity he’s seen.
“Well I gotta go Ipsy, I got a party to prepare!” And like that, Pinkie dashed off as she left an after-image of herself before it too vanished. Eclipse didn’t bother being surprised by the impossible, either too busy in his own thoughts or not caring. It was at that same time that he got another visit from someone else; climbing up the front of the stand was Luella, who plopped herself down, she also had something in her mouth, a book that possibly came from the library.
“...I’d ask where you got that, but I’m probably not going to like the answer,” said Eclipse, slightly upset. The cub dropped the book and just pawed it, then looking up at Eclipse. Seeing that Luella wanted him to read the book, he took the book in hoof and looking at the cover and reading it. “‘Elements of Harmony’… the same elements, that supposedly sealed away this Nightmare Moon?” Luella nodded, nudging him to read it; opening the book, Eclipse skimmed through some parts until reaching parts that intrigued him a little, then closing it.
After some further thought on the legend of Nightmare Moon, the magical stones called the Elements of Harmony and the thousand-year promise to return… all clues led that this night would be the night of her return. There were many coincidences in life, many moments that could have been sheer luck… but every story has a shred of truth in them and it’s that truth you would need to be most afraid of. Putting the book away into one of the shelves of the stand, Eclipse decided to close up shop early, seeing as he wasn’t getting a lot of activity today with the celebration and seeing he now had something to check.
“Looks like I’m going to be busy for today after all; Luella, go and set up the fireworks at the town hall, if nothing shifty happens there set them off, but if something does occur, find me at the ruins… I need to go and find something I may had overlooked.” Eclipse puts on the harness to move the stand and began heading back to his home, to put the stand away safely. Luella watched Eclipse leaving back home, having to trot through Ponyville Park to head there, so receiving his given orders, Luella ran to a nearby alleyway before vanishing into the shadows, melding with them due to her dark fur. A flash of dark light appeared and disappeared, nopony nearby to have notice what had occurred.
Ponyville, Ponyville Park; 11:15am
Once arriving at the park, Eclipse moved the moving stand behind him as its wheels crushed grass and small stone under it, but as he neared the park, he saw three figures up ahead heading for him. All three were familiar, as he could recognize one of them being Fluttershy, while the other two were the unicorn and dragon he met who were looking for Applejack. Fluttershy was currently in a deep conversation with the drake, or in this case he was telling her his life’s story; as both Eclipse and the group were starting to get close, Fluttershy noticed Eclipse and flew up to him. “Hello Eclipse, look there’s a baby dragon, have you ever met a dragon before in your life?” asked Fluttershy, excited.
It was rare to find Fluttershy excited about anything, the only thing getting her attention is if it was related to animals or other creatures. “I’ve met my fair share of reptilian creatures before, some dragons I encountered are known to hoard piles of treasures beyond anyone’s imagination,” said Eclipse. The two who were with Fluttershy approached, before the mare recognized Eclipse instantly.
“Hey, you’re the stallion that helped us with the directions before; thank you for showing us where to go, um… What’s your name?”
“I’m Eclipse Light; local trader and inventor, I heard that you are the pony sent from Canterlot to check everything going on, for the Summer Sun Celebration. May I ask what your name would be?” asked Eclipse.
“Well my name is Twilight Sparkle, apprentice of Princess Celestia, and this here is my number one assistant, Spike. You’re supposed to be responsible with fireworks correct, I was heading back to the local library to stay for the night, but I’m wondering if you have them set up and everything?”
“I have them set for the night when the princess should arrive, but I’m busy at the moment with something, I’d like to continue this conversation later; I’ll be seeing you all later, have a good afternoon you two.” Eclipse trotted off with the stand behind him, and as they saw him leave, Twilight for once found him the most decent and normal pony she’s seen in this town so far.
“Well he was nice,” said Twilight.
“I don’t know… felt like he was avoiding us,” said Spike.
“Eclipse can be often busy sometimes; how about we go to your new home, I know a quick way to get there,” said Fluttershy. “But can we go back to talking about you Mr Spike?”
“Oh well, back when I had just hatched from my egg,” said Spike, continuing his life story.
Twilight sighed, leaving with the two to the library, but stopped to think about when she saw Eclipse. His cutiemark… I never seen anything like that before… maybe I can get a connection at the Royal Library to see about family cutiemarks.
The two continued down the path of the park to the local library, Golden Oaks Library, the three soon encountering a surprise that’ll be coming for them once arriving.
Ponyville, Golden Oaks Library; 6:30pm
After the surprise party, her drinking some hot sauce thinking it was a drink and running upstairs, those downstairs continued to party in her supposed new home… but none of this didn’t bother or upset her. Ever since she saw Eclipse’s cutiemark, she couldn’t stop thinking of him in her head; now she wasn’t into him or anything rather his cutiemark was intriguing, especially for an earth pony like him.
Once she got upstairs into her room, she asked Spike to send a quick letter to Princess Celestia if she could get a book on family cutiemarks from the Royal Library. At first she thought the princess would ignore this request and tell her to make friends, but her response was a good one as there didn’t seem to be any harm in her getting said books. She received several books on family lines and cutiemarks, as they were teleported right in front of her; she was reading through the eleventh book of the twelve she received and still she couldn’t find anything on the stallion’s cutiemark.
“Guuuh! How hard is it to find a cutiemark like his in these books or at least one similar like his, I’m certain a cutiemark that’s as interesting as his, would mean he has to have some sort of family history here, or something,” said Twilight, levitating the book she was reading away, for the next one.
Opening this one, she skimmed through it before she found an interesting part of the book, that talked about cutiemarks relating to stars.
Ponies who have these cutiemarks are commonly known to be from unicorns, especially those with powerful magic, but the chance of non-unicorns getting a star cutiemark is possible; this can happen if a member from that pony’s family heritage is a unicorn. Another important factor is this; non-unicorns and unicorns with five-pointed stars, or less mean their magic level is enough for basic unicorn spells, and has no adverse, or special abilities for non-unicorns, no matter how many stars said pony has. However, there have been rare occurrences of either a unicorn, or non-unicorn getting more than a five-pointed star, for example a six-pointed star; those with a six-pointed star have access to large stores of magic, while non-unicorns could be descendants to a unicorn, who had access to powerful spells in the past. Now even if a unicorn doesn’t have a six-pointed star, doesn’t mean they have small stores of magic, even those who are said to only have four, or five-pointed stars have miraculous magic power and magical talent. However, throughout the recorded history of Equestria and before… As Twilight turned the page to the rest of the paragraph she read it carefully, the implications starting to grow serious for her.
“‘...there has never once or ever been, a pony with a star above a six-pointed star; if there were ever such a pony, like somepony with a ten-pointed star or higher… they be stronger than even the princess herself.’ A ten… pointed… star.” Quickly, Twilight grabbed a pencil and some paper and drew a crude drawing of Eclipse’s cutiemark from what she could remember – since she only saw it once during the second time she met him.
The crude drawing showed a ten-pointed star, but not one that had all ten points at a different direction; while only two of the points went north and south, the other eight points were paired up in twos, each making one odd point with two smaller points jutting out each of the corners. Twilight was sure there was something in the center, but couldn’t remember what it was and so after done drawing, she pondered about Eclipse’s cutiemark, and what it meant for him to have such a unique cutiemark.
“Ten-pointed star… Stronger than the princess… Hmmmm,” said Twilight, gazing at the setting sun. I wonder if Eclipse knows how special he is, maybe I should ask the girls if Eclipse has any special history here in Equestria.
Outside of Ponyville – Edge of the Everfree Forest; 6:40pm
Watching the sun begin to set and disappear over the horizon, Eclipse turned to gaze at the dark and gloomy Everfree Forest; having been here before half a month ago was… unpleasant to say the least. None of the dangers within weren’t truly a threat to him, but due to his focus being distracted, he ended up comatose deep in the forest. Not one of his greatest moments, but it made the perfect excuse to say he accidentally misplaced his hoof on where he was trotting, he didn’t want anypony to know why he was in there.
Now having to go there once again, but this time without any needed supplies as he memorized the path he needed to be taking; if what the book on those, “Elements of Harmony” were correct, then the only logical place they were both kept and left behind would be the same place he found at his last trip in this forest.
“What secrets do you hold within this ancient forest perhaps… I’ll figure out soon enough,” said Eclipse. Smiling to himself, he trotted forward, the nearby wildlife sensing his presence, running the opposite direction from whatever ominous force they felt and that was unseen by normal eyes.