//------------------------------// // True Nightmares (Edited) // Story: I Am (No) God // by Animatorsnake //------------------------------// Everfree Forest; 7:00pm Eclipse knew that the festivities of the Summer Sun Celebration began at exactly at nine o’clock, but due to it beginning to be dark now, it greatly emphasized the shadows and darkness of the Everfree Forest. None of this seemed to faze or bother him, but in response to the darkness, Eclipse continued unabated by the eerie silence of the Everfree; trotting down the path, he stopped, sensing familiar auras approaching him ahead. Glancing at the direction that these auras were coming from, soon he could hear the faint rustling of the bushes, until a foul smell overcame the air, as something rotten was approaching. Since it was complete darkness, only the barest of the moon’s light slipped through the cracks of the branches; several set of yellow glowing eyes gazed back at him as they growled at the lonely pony, easy prey in their eyes. Not batting an eye, the wooden wolves surrounded him each giving their own menacing look, until one bold Timberwolf charged with saliva-like sap dripping from it’s open maw. Imagining sinking it’s teeth into flesh, the Timberwolf felt a whole other feeling, which began to slowly grow within it’s core, and like that the Timberwolf exploded into wooden shrapnel as bits and pieces of what remained of the creature clattered against it’s fellows. The confused glances at what just happened to one of their kin was so sudden, that before any could make a move, the pony rushed forth with impossible speeds to one of them. With an utter slam of Eclipse’s right forehoof, he smashed the head of another Timberwolf, as the body went limp from the quick execution. Now yelping in fear, the Timberwolves began to back away in fear now realizing this wasn’t any ordinary pony; seeing them scamper away in fear, Eclipse showed no mercy and so with his raised hoof three black shadowy orbs were shot forth from his hoof, all three orbs blasting the designated targets to dust, which left only one Timberwolf to remain. Seeing his comrades easily decimated so quickly, the wooden wolf ran with it’s tail between its legs; still having his hoof pointed at the retreating creature, Eclipse clicked his tongue, lowering his leg back down. Coward. Now free of further interruptions, Eclipse trotted further down the path, leaving behind his wanton destruction behind, like walking through a field of grass. He continued down the path, finding all wildlife miles away from him, making his nighttime trot through the forest utterly silent. Seeing as the silence wasn’t the forest being creepy or eerie, rather the fact something much more terrifying now roamed within the ancient trees. Eclipse soon came upon a crossroads, but this wasn’t an issue as he knew which way he was needed to go, continuing his journey without slowing down the slightest. Some time passed by, and while Eclipse could had reached his destination quickly, he was in no hurry, as he would finally arrive at his location in just an hour and a half later. After crossing through more trees, he came upon the place he was looking for, standing vigilant for who knows how long, was an ancient and decrepit castle. Moss enveloped most of the castle, with some of the structure either already collapsed or cracked from age or the weather. The only path to cross was a suspended bridge that shouldn’t be safe to cross, due to the molded boards, or how easily the wind blew the bridge to shift about. Crossing the bridge though never crossed Eclipse’s mind of it being dangerous it could be to do, as he managed to reach the other side without any complications. Looking at the old pathway to the castle’s doors, he trotted up the steps to the doors, pushing the degraded wooden doors as they creaked open; the ground of what was assumed to be the castle foyer had several paths that led who knows where, and some stairs that headed to an upper part of the castle. The ground was coated with a layer of dust and rocks, there were some tapestries that were somewhat intact and a red carpet that was placed and led to the paths in the foyer. Now… where shall I look. Eclipse closed his eyes to focus, the air around him shifted as if some sort of invisible force was moving the surrounding debris; with a slight movement of his head, Eclipse glanced at one of the four paths, trotting down the closest left path. The path was just like the rest of the castle, but soon the surrounding area transformed as he soon found himself back outside, now trotting on a stone pathway, that led to another decrepit building some distance away. Making his way to the building, Eclipse was greeted by two more aged wooden doors, but opening these with a single push of his hoof caused the doors to fall back, and create a cloud of dust to appear. After the dust cleared, Eclipse found himself in a roofless room with a strange statue in the center; the statue had five pedestals on different levels, as they each held a single stone orb with a symbol engraved on them, the middle was bare of anything, as if something was supposed to be there once but wasn’t there anymore. The aura he looked for was coming from the statue, so with closer examination he sensed five, no… six unique auras signatures, each one in the stone orb with the six being in the middle pedestal that was bare and empty. “Found you,” said Eclipse. Extending his hoof, Eclipse took careful care of one of the five stone orbs he held; with his eyes closed, he could sense the immense energy that came off from just one of the orbs, but it wasn’t too powerful by his standards. “So these are the ‘Elements of Harmony’, not what I expected but if so, time to do what I came for, though this may take awhile… luckily I shouldn’t be disturbed for awhile.” Putting the stone orb back on its original pedestal, Eclipse sat back down crossed legged. Putting both his forelegs together, he closed his eyes and began to focus; to the unseen eye he looked to be meditating, but was entirely doing something that required his full and utter attention. Ponyville, Outside Town Hall; 8:50pm Twilight was a bit miffed right now, when she was told by Spike that everypony was heading to the Town Hall for the Summer Sun Celebration and for the appearance of Princess Celestia, Twilight took the chance to talk to Eclipse about his unique cutiemark. Going to the back of the building where she was told by Fluttershy where Eclipse set up the fireworks and where he would be, all she found was the fireworks… but no Eclipse. Twilight was grumbling with Spike riding on her back, as she had her head down in disappointment. Where could that stallion be? Shouldn’t he be in the back of the Town Hall and prepare the fireworks; I bet he figured out I was curious about his cutiemark and hid somewhere. Twilight continued to grumble but gotten the attention of Spike, who told her that Mayor Mare was halfway through her speech. Deciding to not be rude, she began to listen to the mayor; several of the ponies she met and saw at the party were also either among the crowd, or busy doing something else. Applejack, Pinkie, and another mare by the name of Rainbow Dash were watching from the crowd like her, Fluttershy was with her birds and she was told Rarity was out back awaiting for the princess’s arrival. At least nothing bad happened so far. It was just as the mayor finished her speech, as the curtains that were to reveal the princess opened, revealing nothing and what followed was a loud commotion from the crowd, until an evil laughter filled the building as dark mist seeped in from every crack and crevice. Ponies began to panic, some of the girls Twilight met also began standing their ground or calming everypony around them, but Twilight was the only one there who knew what was happening, she knew exactly what was going to happen, as she warned Princess Celestia about this great evil’s return. Appearing before one of the upper balconies in a dark blue fog, was a pony who was called the Mare In the Moon for the last thousand years, but she was known by another name. “Nightmare Moon,” said Twilight, quietly. The evil alicorn cackled, talking about how she was happy to see ‘her’ ponies and saying something about ‘sealing away Celestia’ and ‘that their sun-loving days were over’. Some ponies retorted back, others cowered in fear, but Twilight stood forth saying she saw her coming and knew this was coming; what followed next was Nightmare Moon leaving, as ponies ran from the Town Hall to their homes for safety. Having other ideas, Twilight ran off back to her home to search for a solution to this problem quickly, but as she ran off, something watched her from the shadows of one of the alleyways that faced the Town Hall. Coming out the shadows was Luella who gazed at the running mare, before turning around and disappearing in the darkness, to warn her master of what was coming. Everfree Forest, Castle of the Two Sisters; 9:10pm Eclipse was nearly done with what he was doing and like that a flash of black light enveloped the stone orbs and the middle pedestal before disappearing. Standing back on all four hooves, Eclipse glanced at his finished work, looking at the night sky, he saw the moon… and what was missing on the surface; for the last month Eclipse has saw a face of a mare on the moon, many of the locals having a story relating to this phenomenon called “The Mare In the Moon”. It could be just coincidence, that the face of the mare was missing on the prophesied date… but Eclipse felt a presence all around him; slowly a dark blue fog began to shroud his surroundings, circling around himself to find the source of the presence, but realized it was the fog itself. “Hmmm, imagine my surprise to find somepony all the way here? Tell me colt, why are you all the way here alone, are you looking for lost treasures or to explore places not seen in centuries?” asked a mare’s voice, coming from everywhere. “Well it does not matter, you shall be taught a lesson for coming to my abode.” As soon as the presence of whoever this speaker was vanished, three new auras came forth from the fog; clad in dark skin-tight suits, were three pegasi that radiated a dark power, the three pegasi grinning maliciously at Eclipse. Two were stallions with the third being a mare, one of the stallions charged at Eclipse, ready to bulldoze him over with his size alone, but seeing the attack coming, Eclipse sidestepped the stallion who slammed into the statue instead. Deciding to see what his opponents were capable of doing, Eclipse vaulted over the other stallion’s extended hoof, who tried to hoof-punch Eclipse. The attack being missed, Eclipse rolled behind the second stallion, dodging a swipe from him, until he felt the presence of the mare who dived from above. Now with both the mare and other stallion on both sides of Eclipse, he back-flipped over the mare and landed behind her; with the confusion of his agile move. the mare crashed into the second stallion, as both of them crashed to the stallion who slammed into the statue earlier, all three tumbling together in a jumble of bodies. Approaching the three, they soon dispersed into smoke, as three small dark blue wisps floated off further into the building, up some stairs. “It appears you’re not as weak as Ithought… Serve us, serve Nightmare Moon your true ruler and we shall grant you the greatest of gifts and powers, beyond your own imagination!” With the voice now identified, Eclipse could see that placing Luella by the Town Hall just in case was a smart move and that coming here was also going as he imagined. “I don’t serve somebody who uses parlor tricks and puppets to attack me, when they can just fight me themselves,” said Eclipse, in a bored tone. “If you want my respect, then show yourself.” Eclipse felt slight anger within the presence’s aura, before it calmed back down. “So be it. meet me beyond these stairs… and you shall see my true might and glory.” The voice vanished as well as the presence, as Eclipse could now sense it ahead up the steps; following the voice’s command, he climbed up the steps, before he entered another decrepit building. This one held several columns holding the structure’s roof and long windows that let ton of light to slip in, giving it a lunar glow in the area. Staring at the end of the hallway-like building was the one who tried to attack him and convert him to her side; she wore armor around her hooves, head, and barrel, as they were a dark blue color, while her coat, wings, and horn were pitch black, leaving her mane and tail to move ethereally and the same color as the fog earlier. Nightmare Moon stood on a platform with an evil smirk, gazing down at Eclipse, as one would gaze upon something insignificant. “So you’re Nightmare Moon, the one who would have brought eternal night to Equestria and beyond, only to be sealed away for a thousand years and has returned to do what was prophesied,” said Eclipse. “Ah, I see you are familiar with the prophecy of those wary of my possible return, indeed I have come back to bring eternal night and none shall stop me. You must see it to be fruitless to defy me, so I will forgive you of your earlier insolence, and make you my right-hoof stallion; will you accept my offer of power?” asked Nightmare, grinning. Eclipse did not answer, scanning Nightmare Moon from top to bottom, but once done he glanced at her, he began shaking his head. “I have seen your true power and all I see is some spoiled brat who never took the chance to show what she’s truly made of. Besides, you are impeding my plans and need to be dealt with, swiftly.” Nightmare’s response was a laugh of amusement, before glancing down at Eclipse. “To imagine there be somepony as foolhardy these days; you amuse me colt, maybe I shall keep you as my jester and watch you entertain me, with that asinine attitude of yours, but first I need to teach you a lesson of subservience!” With both her fore-hooves raised high up, she slammed them down sending a wave of dark magic right at Eclipse; the wave was rushing right for the stallion who stood where he was, but as they neared him, he charged forth and twist his body to dodge the attack before skidding to a stop. The attack smashed against a few columns that fell down and crashed against the floor with a resounding thud that shook the structure. Seeing the impossible feat, Nightmare snarled and fired blasts of raw dark magic, but Eclipse swiftly ran and dodged in a zig-zag motion, jumping above some before heading right for the alicorn. Her eyes widened seeing the stallion charge right at her, so with a large swipe of her front leg, she attempted to smack him aside. However, Eclipse grabbed leverage from the extended leg, using it to vault up before smashing his hoof against the side of Nightmare’s helmet where her skull was, but it wasn’t the shock of seeing some pony charge her fearlessly, but the force of the hit that shook her. It felt like as if the blast of a powerful spell slammed into the side of her head, as her helmet cracked from the force of the blow. This isn’t the power of an earth pony, what kind of power does this stallion have!? Nightmare teleported to gain some distance from the stallion, feeling the headache from the blow, she removed her helmet, letting her ethereal mane to be blown from an unseen wind. She glared at Eclipse with a hateful stare, seeing that this wasn’t an ordinary stallion before her. “It seems I underestimated you for somepony so simple looking. Are you working for my sister, to think she plan ahead and send somepony to stop my return than herself, but I can see why; your skills and fighting prowess is impressive indeed,” said Nightmare. “You have gained my respect, so might I ask your name?” At the mention of gaining respect, Eclipse actually smiled, but it wasn’t a good one, as his smile was one who mocked someone else. “Respect? Keep your respect, I don’t need the respect of somebody as weak as you,” said Eclipse, taunting. This hit Nightmare strongly, as she snarled back with rage in her eyes, the ground underneath trembling from her sheer magical power. “YOU DARE INSULT ME, I WILL SHOW YOU THE TRUE MIGHT OF MY POWER!” screamed Nightmare, her voice shaking the structure. “Now you will face something I use only against those deserving of it, and seeing that you so desperately wish to see my true might, I think you deserve it greatly!” Using all her might, she summoned forth a large scythe, which had the symbol of the moon while the blade was shaped in a way that promised pain to all. Nightmare cackled as she wielded the weapon with her magic, before teleporting; sensing where she went he turned around to find her flying up before throwing the scythe downward at Eclipse with incredible speed. “Now, DIE!” Ponyville, Golden Oaks Library; 9:45pm After Twilight returned back to the library and put Spike to sleep, she relentlessly searched for the book on the “Elements of Harmony”, when the girls came inside asking for questions; after a lengthy explanation, which gotten some of them to fall asleep or nearly nod off, they helped her look for said book. That was fifteen minutes ago and so far they couldn’t find the book, no matter where they looked – even listening to Pinkie’s advice to check under E – but no, the book was nowhere to be found, almost like somepony had taken it. “Consarnit! Nightmare Moon probably came by here some time and taken the book, so we couldn’t find a solution or something!” shouted Applejack. “Well, so what if she took some book, let’s go after her and beat the crud outta her!” said Rainbow, slamming her hooves together. “We can’t, only the Elements can stop her and even if we go after her we don’t know where she even we-” Before she could finish, a massive explosion could be heard miles away, as if it happened right next to them; the girls ran out to see what caused the explosion and saw a small mushroom cloud of dust far deep in the Everfree Forest. Whatever caused that means something is happening there, maybe Princess Celestia caught up with Nightmare Moon and is fighting her at the Everfree Forest. “Girls, I think I know where we need to go and while we don’t have or know where the Elements are, we need to help in some way and stop Nightmare Moon. Who’s with me!?” All the girls cheered, well most of them while Fluttershy cheered quietly; with everypony agreeing with her, they headed toward the Everfree Forest without a second thought. As they ran deeper into the forest, they could hear the sounds of a distant battle as it shook the ground itself. Whoever is fighting Nightmare Moon, they must be fighting with all they have. (Mood Music) Earlier – Everfree Forest, Castle of the Two Sisters; 9:44pm Nightmare Moon swung her scythe toward Eclipse with a mad giggle, as she awaited to see the pony sliced in half from her attack, but felt a sudden force stopping her attack; looking down, she saw her weapon stopped by Eclipse with his bare hoof, the stallion gazing back with a bored, emotionless gaze. “So this is all you have to show for… I haven’t used close to one percent of my power and you say this is one of your greatest trump cards…” Eclipse pulled back his other hoof, punching the scythe and its owner back with a strong force, that dragged the ground and nearby rubble with the sheer might of the hit. Luckily her weapon did not shatter, but the force alone caused her whole body to shake from how much power was behind that hit. This… this isn’t some powerful enchantment or some gift given by my sister… What kind of power is this!? “What are you?” asked Nightmare, fear creeping up her spine. Eclipse gazed back before dusting himself off from the soot and dirt that got on him before looking back with an apathetic gaze, that bore into her very soul. Then after gazing at her, Eclipse did something odd that is abnormal for a pony; with some slight effort, but stabilized afterwards, Eclipse stood tall on his rear-legs, while both his forelegs stood to his sides, as he now stood like a minotaur would. The action and posture was so odd to her, that she gazed back with an utterly confused look, but Eclipse continued what he was doing, as he spread both rear hooves apart and pointed both forelegs behind him. Before she could react, Eclipse vanished, at first she assumed he ran off, some of her ego returning but soon she would regret that, as she felt an extreme blow from her chin; as her head was flung upward from an uppercut from Eclipse, who was suddenly below her. Soon he appeared above her before spinning himself forward and slamming his rear-leg onto her cranium, sending her flying through a stone wall and into the castle’s main structure. Nightmare had to shake her dazed state away, before she spat out a glob of blood onto the floor, taking a look at her surroundings, soon revealed she was now in the main foyer of the castle. I need… I need to get away, he isn’t some normal or even a specially trained pony, he isn’t even a pony with that level of power. Maybe if I run south I can get away and plan my revenge later and- She was interrupted from her thoughts, as she felt an overwhelming pressure of power behind her, the power was so immense that she nearly toppled over and barf what food she had in her scrawny body. After wiping her snout of the puke, she turned to stare at the one she now feared; Eclipse didn’t change much but he emanated a dark aura of power, that was unlike any kind of power she had felt before. “Well, where is this power you promised, to imagine you not show your best is a little… sad. If you won’t show your all, then I can’t keep holding back forever,” said Eclipse. “What do you mean you’ve been holding back, you have enough power to topple an alicorn, maybe two even!? Is this all a joke to you!” screamed Nightmare, barely holding up with the support of her scythe. “You dare try to insult me and think you can threaten and scare me with whatever power you are using!” All that was keeping Nightmare fainting from the sheer power she felt, was her ego and will alone, but in reality her body was shaking feverishly, as any second this unnatural stallion could finish her off any second. Eclipse eyes seem to darken while at the same time the atmosphere quieted, everything became a constant silence; unsure to what was happening, Nightmare looked around at how darker it got compared to the darkness she was familiar with. “...You think I’m threatening you right now? I’m simply speaking the truth, but if you really want a challenge, then I’ll show you a real threat.” Eclipse extended his right foreleg, when something seemed to shimmer into existence as a black obsidian sword popped into existence, as it floated about from an unseen force. Now with the sword levitated before Eclipse, all form of apathy and quiet demeanor from the stallion was gone, replaced with an eternally deep despair that nearly crushed Nightmare’s psyche. Her head felt like drums being hammered thunderously, as her hearing became difficult and breathing was painful to do; she felt droplets of something coming from her face, so using a hoof to touch her snout, she pulled it back and gazed at her now reddened hoof. Am… am I bleeding… Nightmare had blood dripping from her nostrils, before she felt a dark and ominous voice echo in her mind, trying to find the source and stop the sounds in her mind. “My voice is enough to bring those weaker willed to bend a knee before me; what you see is just half of a single percent of my power… any further and I might put you into a comatose state… or worse.” Nightmare finally found the voice’s source… causing her to drop her weapon out of shock and fear; what stood before her was still the stallion, but he was levitating off the ground and his eyes were pure white, as his mane and tail bristled wildly like the flames of a fire. His sword floated alongside its master, awaiting for any given command, before it was flung forward toward Nightmare who was slashed across the chest by the sword. Nightmare screamed in utter suffering and pain, as unlike normal sword slashes, this attack was unlike anything she knew, as it felt as if her very being, her soul was being tore asunder by the weapon. Brought down to her knees, Nightmare gazed weakly at the ground, all her ego and will gone, the dark energy that once dwell within her, now replaced with a pitiful mare who wasn’t Nightmare… but the sister of Princess Celestia – Princess Luna. Eclipse trotted back on all four hooves toward her, his immense power still showing and emanating off of him, standing before her he gazed down at her. Lifting her chin so she looked up at his form, Luna barely had any consciousness left as she looked up with a whimper and sniffle, the pain too much to bear. “W…W-what will you do to me?” asked Luna, fear clear in her eyes. Eclipse gazed darkly at her, hard to see what he thought in those pure white eyes and emotionless expression. “...I could end your very existence,” said Eclipse. This gain a shudder and tears from the princess, the idea of her life being wiped clean off forever, nopony ever remembering her except her sister… or would her sister even remember what was to happen to her right now. “But you aren’t a threat to my plans… but don’t worry… What I will give will be something… you’ll never remember.” Eclipse reached forward with one hoof extended, toward Luna’s forehead, her eyes staring at the outstretched hoof as it made contact with her. “Now… forget all, remember bliss, as you empty of all thought and memory; Null Mind.” And like that, Luna’s eyes widened as something much more painful skyrocketed through her head and burrowed further pass her skull; she screamed like a banshee as she tried all her might to pull the hoof that was on her head, but it was fruitless as her weakened state barely budged the hoof. Tears started to flow from the princess’s eyes, as she continued screaming until every memory, from their battle, encounter, and everything else that involved him vanished away, never to return. Luna continued crying and screaming until no more tears could be shed, until her throat became sore and raw, as Luna’s eyes rolled back to show the white of her eyes. Now done, he removed his hoof as her motionless body fell to ground with a thump, Luna’s eyes closing as she laid motionless, but the only sign of her being alive was the slow rise and fall of her chest, as her quiet but harsh breaths came through. Eclipse gazed down at her, his emotions impossible to read, but soon he returned to his previous state, turned around and left. “Sweet dreams… sweet dreams,” said Eclipse, quietly. Everfree Forest, Near the Castle of the Two Sisters; 10:00pm After going through several trials in the creepy forest and finding the Elements after Twilight sensed a strong magical signature, the girls headed to where the fight led to before rushing into a large room. “Surrender Nightmare Moon, we found the Elements of Harmony and aren’t afraid to-” Twilight stopped mid-speech as she gazed at the destroyed terrain, of what she assumed was the main foyer; the area looked like something smashed and utterly devastated the area. “Girls, look!” shouted Pinkie. They all looked and saw the small form of a blue alicorn and at first they thought it was Nightmare Moon, but soon realized it was somepony else. At that same time, they heard a pop behind them and turned to see Princess Celestia, who appeared to be ready to say something. “Well done girls you-” Celestia saw the destruction of what remained of her old home’s main foyer, but then gazed at the motionless small alicorn in the center of the room. “LUNA!” screamed Celestia, pushing aside the girls. Not wanting to get out of their princess’s way, the girls moved out the way as best they can for their royal; Celestia removed her tiara, not caring about it, as she threw it a bit harshly than she should, before placing her head where Luna’s heart should be. After several silent seconds, she sighed in relief before examining her sister further with a magical scan. She has several cracked ribs, she’s hemorrhaging from inside, possibly from one of the ribs puncturing something, she has bruises all over her body and a sword slash across her chest, but the worse of all is her skull is fractured. Most of the damage seems to be coming from her head, but I can’t tell what caused it. Celestia soon felt a hoof on her shoulder and violently turned around to stare whoever approached her. “DON’T TOUCH HER!” screamed Celestia, holding onto Luna desperately. She realized she screamed into the face of her student who trotted back with her ears splayed against her head; it wasn’t just her too, as everypony moved back from the force of the scream. Quickly she reposed herself, as she gently laid Luna onto her back, looking at all her ponies with somber but motherly look. “I am sorry for my reaction my ponies… it’s just when I sent Twilight here, I had hope she make friends and with them they would revert my sister back to normal by using the Elements of Harmony. It appears something or somepony had already assaulted her, as for why is a mystery; I had hoped to reunite with my sister in better terms, but it appears things did not go that way. It’s sad to say that I won’t be attending the Summer Sun Celebration at Ponyville, but I will bring the sun up as soon as I bring my sister and I back to Canterlot, I will also teleport you all back to Ponyville too; I hope the six of you do great things and your friendship grows even furthermore.” The girls and Twilight looked at one another and smiled back at their princess. “We understand princess, to be reunited with a long lost family member is really important, we’ll return to Ponyville and continue the celebration,” said Twilight. “Yeah, I’d be mighty angry if sumpony were to come and mess with my family,” said Applejack. Happy that her ponies understood, Celestia teleported the six new Element Bearers back to Ponyville; before she could teleport to Canterlot, she felt a shift on her back, turning around she saw one of her sister’s eyes open. “Lulu! Thank Faust you’re fine; what happened, who done this to you?!” Luna took a deep haggard breath before nuzzling the back of her sister’s neck; Celestia was happy that her sister had no ill wills with her and was happier she had enough strength to move a little. “...I… don’t remember… it’s… to painful… to remember… So… so much pain...” Celestia could feel the tears that wet the back of her coat, but she did not care and let her little sister shed her tears of the horrible experience she went through. “It is fine dear sister, I shall bring you back to Canterlot and see to it that the best doctors bring you back to a healthy and stable condition. We shall see to it who’s responsible and make sure they pay for harming you,” said Celestia. Luna had other thoughts though about that, while not remembering who done this to her, she felt she deserved what happened to her from trying to bring eternal night to Equestria. Soon the two sisters returned to Canterlot, leaving behind the desolate and silent ruins within the Everfree. Hours later – Ponyville, Sugarcube Corner; 1:00am Just as the princess promised, the sun was up during this early morning, the ponies celebrated still once being told the princess couldn’t attend the celebration, due to an emergency. Many ponies continued to celebrate, or decided to sleep even though the sun was up; the girls after being sent back to Ponyville, all hanged at Sugarcube Corner with Spike, who was woken up from the sudden loud teleportation pop in the library, now with them drinking some apple juice. The girls stayed quiet as they sat together on a circular table, each one having the Elements now transformed into trinkets for them to wear on the table. Seeing Princess Celestia’s sister, Luna who was Nightmare Moon beaten up and in a near death state was enough for them to forget what she did in the past, nopony deserved such a painful and horrible experience. They all stayed quiet, not sure what to say, until the one to speak was Rainbow. “So… who you think beat up the princess’s sister?” asked Rainbow, poking her Element. “Rainbow!” shouted Applejack. “I was just asking, I mean somepony real tough has gotta to had fought Nightmare Moon and beat her and return her back to Princess Luna, right?” The idea wasn’t far off, imagine somepony that powerful could exist and beat an alicorn easily, especially one empowered with dark magic. Power to best even an alicorn… Could it be… “Girls, there’s something I want to ask, Eclipse Light’s cutiemark… what does it mean exactly?” asked Twilight. The girls gave her an intrigued look and it was understandable since what just happened some time ago and have one of them talk about something else to distract themselves… though they probably needed that right now, so they were happy to answer. “Well, Eclipse told us it relates to him getting it from doing alchemy and potion-making,” said Fluttershy. “He hasn’t told us the full story, but that’s what he told us so far.” “Why are you asking dear?” asked Rarity, now interested. “Well… I was doing some research on cutiemarks and looked through families with similar cutiemarks, but it says those with star cutie-marks are often found in unicorns and rare on non-unicorns. Stars represent somepony’s skills in magic in some way or fashion, while non-unicorns with stars are said to descend from having unicorn ancestors in their family tree… but it says the largest confirmed number of points a cutiemark star has ever had, was six…” This still gave the girls a confused tilt of the head from what Twilight was getting at, but they let her continue as the conversation now caught their attention. “Well… Eclipse has a ten-pointed star and the book says that if somepony were to have something higher than a six-pointed star, it says a ten-pointed star cutiemark states that pony is as strong or stronger than an alicorn,” said Twilight. This gained some gasps at what Twilight was implying and the first to respond would be the one who disliked him the most. “I KNEW IT! I knew we couldn’t trust him, he’s probably the one who beat up Princess Celestia’s sister!” “Now now, let’s not get to conclusions just yet, I am unsure whether this theory is true or not. I wanted to ask Eclipse himself, but I can’t seem to find him before Nightmare Moon appeared… if only I had a detailed drawing of Eclipse’s cutiemark.” “I have a detailed drawing of Eclipse’s cutiemark!” said Pinkie, with a grin. The girls looked at her with a surprised gaze as she looked at them obliviously. “And why would you have something like that?” asked Applejack. “His cutiemark looked cool and I asked him to draw his for me,” said Pinkie. “Let me get it!” Pinkie zoomed off, and placed the picture before Twilight and the girls to look at; while the girls has seen Eclipse plenty of times, he was pretty reclusive, so remembering his cutiemark was hard to do, so as they gazed at the drawing they were amazed at the drawing of the intricate cuitemark. It was the ten-pointed star that Twilight sketched, but other details were shown too; the center had a black sun that was covered by a moon that had five dots in a certain pattern, while the ten points of the star were colored differently, possibly representing the ten elements Eclipse uses in his Element Orbs he sells. Something about the cutiemark… felt unreal… unnatural… impossible, to have a sun and moon on one’s flank was rare, but at the same time to have a ten-pointed star to boot… something was fishy and she was going to find out what. Outside in an alleyway, watching the girls was Luella who sat on a trash bin with her cerise eyes, before turning her head to gaze at her master, who leaned against the wall of a house, while reading a book. Eclipse didn’t glance at the girls, but he knew where they were and what they were doing without even looking at the slightest. “And now… let the dominoes, fall,” said Eclipse. Closing the book with both hooves, he trotted further in the darkness of the alleyway, followed by Luella. As they vanished into the shadows, Eclipse left the book he read outside the alleyway, left laying on the sunlit ground; the book of the cover with golden embroidery used for the letters showed the title of the book itself. ‘The Elements of Harmony’.