//------------------------------// // Questioning, learning, growing // Story: The Divine Eclipse // by The Toaster //------------------------------// Darkness, it was all he could see in this forest, it was normal to a certain level. Except for the mystical beasts that the gods thought they had discarded. He had gotten rid of those who tried to get close to him, almost feeling sorry for their pathetic attempts, he thought for a while of obliterating this forest, pointing his palm at the ground, a sphere of light appearing in his hand... However before he could throw it on the ground.... A cry... A cry of despair.... As he heard hurried footsteps of what looked like a running group. He clenched his fist, undoing the ki sphere. He smiled, mortals, certainly heard about him, they will regret trying to get where they shouldn't. He slowly walked to where the noises were, he slowly formed a Ki sword in his hand, his gray aura focused entirely on his hand, while his manic smile increased even more. Celestia sighed, she was very stressed, all the meetings she was part of revolved around that Stallion, the possible destruction of the Griffons, or the Eclipse that occurred. Everyone was terrified, and she was tired of repeating the same things, the same lies. She was mentally exhausted, lying to her little ponies wasn’t easy, her sister also didn’t help, paranoid and thinking about a thousand and one things that could happen in the future. She already assured Luna that everything that could be done had been done, patrols had been tripled at the borders, search forces were sent to all corners of Equestria. And she just hoped it would be enough. She walked down the corridor, towards one specific wall, and she slowly ran her hand over the paintings of said wall, she put pressure on a part of it, and slowly the block on it's own went deeper, and the whole wall started to shake, and it went deeper, and then suddenly, a pathway had been opened. A passage had been opened, Celestia slowly entered the newly revealed room, it was dark and dusty, she then focused her magic on her horn, starting a light, illuminating the whole room. There were a series of paintings on the walls to the ceiling, representing everything that Celestia and Luna had passed from the past, present and the future. The wars, the challenges, their accession to power, Nightmare Moon, and the appearance of the new carriers of the elements of Harmony. Everything that had happened until now and then was registered in these walls. But something stood out in all paintings, as they all pointed to a much larger painting. In it, everyone; Celestia, Luna, The main six, were blinded by the lights of an Eclipse symbol, while a figure showed itself in a pose with open arms, while lights came out from behind of the Eclipse did. It made her more worried, those prophecies all said that this new figure could change everything, a new god... She didn't know how to react to it, but the prophecies didn't lie, she was proved that when Nightmare Moon came... Many of the paintings gave hints of the future, but none mentioned this new figure, it was as if he had appeared out of nowhere..... Who was this new being? Eclipse kept his maniacal smile while eating a fruit, sitting on a Manticore's body. Around, more and more bodies, all dead with holes in their torsos and some without heads. He felt disappointed, he clearly expected more. While only some demonstrated capability of using Ki, others flew and some used only brute force. Even if all had different qualities, all of them strived to the same endings that are equal to any mortal; A quick death. He looked at the road they were going to before he intercepted them. A village. He smiled, perfect, one more species that he would put on trial. He threw the fruit aside while getting up from the body. He stretched, giving one sigh as he walked towards that little village, noticing a sign a few meters ahead, "Ponyville". He noticed that the village had a tall, highly decorated and colorful main building in the middle, a huge farm on the side, on the top he could see every tiny detail, the little conglomerate of mortals was way more.... Alive...... It was like they lived in harmony with the nature, different from the last one that was totally dead, and corrupt. One positive point for this society. He slowly entered the village, noticing the movement of its citizens, the closer he got, the more people started to notice him. Walking in huge armor, and having wings and horn, it could be said that he was not the most subtle of people. They moved away from him as he entered the village, in fear? Respect? Well, he didn't know, this was the first time contacting these mortals. However, something stood on his way. A child stood in front of him, looking at him with fascination. She was orange and it had purple hair and tiny wings, compared to his, it was like an ant compared with a mountain. It made him smile. Ah the children, they were what he most appreciated of the foolish mortals, they had monumental innocence with no lust or evil in their minds and hearts, they didn't judge or steal, they only played and they only showed love. That of course before the older mortals corrupt them and bring them to the horrible normal mortal ways of war and malice. He knelt and faced the smallest being. "You are an Alicorn! Sooo cool!! Almost as cool as Rainbow Dash!!" She said clearly excited while looking at the God "Your wings are massive! C-can i t-touch t-them??" Surprising Black at the sudden and strange question, but he just as quickly shrugged it off. Anyone in Black's future who saw this scene, would either be shocked by it or would not believe it. It was unbelievable! The destroyer of entire species, genocidal, "Purifier" and heartless monster of the multiverse, being kind to a child? Kneeling in front of the child while everyone around them now looked curiously at the scene, and some smiled. "Yes, little one, I am delighted that the first person who became aware of my greatness is a child, and of course, go ahead..." While a mortal touching a god was clearly and obviously heresy of the highest order.... A request from a being with such a pure heart, it was... Difficult... To say no. The little girl's eyes seemed to shine, she slowly extended her hand towards the Eclipse's wings, which in a movement with his wing that shocked everyone around, letting her touch and caress the silver fur of his feathers. He was confused, why such reactions? It was not common show empathy? He would look more into this culture of these mortals. She giggled with satisfaction, while he kept something extremely unusual for him, a sincere smile. The feelings of his body were in total conflict with his head, while he understood that he should and would go ahead with his plan. Something inside him screamed for him not to hurt that kind soul. But even so, the judgment falls to everyone, including newborns. But this little girl showed something to him, this society clearly hadn’t manipulated this little girl’s mind into a killing machine, plus another positive point. She seemed to lose her smile as she touched his wings, while starting to looking down, with a sad look, and making Eclipse raise an eyebrow. "What's wrong little one? Being present to one of the creators of the worlds would leave any mortal feeling honored by my presence." She lifted her head and with a wry smile as she forcefully laughs, clearly ignoring the 'creator of worlds' part "N-no! It's not that mister... Is that... Your wings are so beautiful... And while mine are such tiny and useless..." Black shook his head sideways in a negative way while smiling, that little mortal didn't understand that she would grow up? Didn't mortals bother to teach her that? "You are still young, with time, your wings will grow to become as big as mine." She just was sadder, looking to the side as she clasped her hands tighter within herself. "You don't understand, sir... My wings are not developed like the others... Everyone has big wings and mine are tiny, they all make fun of me.... I will never be like you..." Her eyes slowly became more watery, Eclipse felt sorry for the little mortal, so much hate for such small differences. They used it as a reason to mock and exclude each other, so pathetic, so cowardly. But, not a surprising thing for mortals to do. He hesitates, slowly extended his hand and put it on her shoulder, doing something he immediately started to question. Why? She was a simple and useless mortal, she would live a few years and then die, she would spend like everyone else, a life that could be taken away so easily. Even so, he couldn’t, he couldn’t even imagine taking her life, a mortal who managed to create his own path and still not be rewarded for his resilience. He was now doing something he never imagined in his wildest dreams he would do, he was questioning himself. Now that he is alone, without his counterpart, he can only stop to reflect, whenever he arrived at a new civilization. Zamasu always reminded them of their objective, and without even a broad vision of the civilization they were about to "judge", they decimated everyone who saw in their path. Not even the gods sent to stop them were spared, ironically, while Black had taken the lives of so many without any remorse, even with the cries of despair and begs for mercy. A simple mortal was making him question so much, so much that he fought and sacrificed to achieve. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice that his touch on the little girl's shoulder, resulted in an unexpected reaction, she threw herself and hugged him, the sudden move was without warning. Eclipse was totally shocked, what could he do? He was not expecting that, it had never happened before, he then slowly remembered a family on a planet that did a similar action before they died, before he killed them. They hugged each other. Remembering that, he slowly returned the hug, very hesitant, he managed to do it. She cried on his chest, tears streamed down by his armor, while she sobbed, something else he didn’t expect occurred. He started to feel something in his chest... Something he had never felt before..... It was horrible, he felt like something was burning in his soul. Guilt...... He was feeling guilty for what he had done, everything he had done for mortals like her, did they all deserve his justice? Did every one of them deserved death? In that short hug he made with that little girl, brought so many doubts, so many feelings, he was getting completely overwhelmed, but he kept his calm, he had decided something at the time, that poor little girl, who had suffered for the idiocy of mortals would be rewarded. He focused his ki, passed the divine energy to her wings, slowly growing them, forming a huge glow in result, and with a flash of subtle light where everyone around had been temporary blinded, the glow slowly decreased, he let go of the embrace, smiling. She slowly started to open her eyes and looked at her wings, they were obviously not the size of his, but they were not small, they were the normal size for children of that age, she touched and moved them, she couldn't believe, after so much time, after so much time bullied, her wings were big! She was jumping with joy and almost crying. But this time not with sadness, but with happiness. "WINGS! They are big! Yes yes yes yes! I can finally fly high in the skies! Just like Rainbow Dash!! Thank you! Thank you!!....? Mister....?" She dropped her smile while she looked around the crowd. He was no longer there, looking ahead, she could see him slowly walking back to the forest where he came from, passing by some bushes and disappearing from sight. "W-wait! M-mister! I-i didn't get your name!" However, her cries were useless, even if running, she couldn't reach him, he was already out of sight, out of her reach. She only put her hands in the middle of her chest and thank that stranger for his enormous generosity. Eclipse had returned to the forest, away from the prying eyes from mortals. Sitting on a rock in the middle of the forest, he was in a meditation position with his eyes closed. Now, he could think, reflect, think about everything he went through, all the battles, all the tragedies and all his ideals. And in that, he remembered Gowasu when he heard about Eclipse's ideals. I see. However, this is what I believe... Justice entails bringing balance between good and evil. Even if evil makes you lose your way, you stay your ground and keep searching for the path of good... Is that search not what justice is? It is for that reason that the gods gave humans knowledge. What did he mean about that? Justice has been always about good, not evil, that was all that he based his ideals on, that was all the reason he tried to clean up the universe of foolish mortals. They used up the knowledge of the gods with their silly quarrels, the gods were perfect , they were what the whole universe revolved around, we created and showed the way, and even then, they used senseless brutality to achieve what? too much food? More land? More of their abstract concept of 'power'? Gods are not perfect. Even gods learn and grow. What did he mean by that? Gods were perfect! They were the apex of the worlds! They create and destroy! They bring balance to the universes! He couldn't find an answer, because when he tried to accept one, two more questions arose. He could only remain in that state of meditation, he had to find a solution to his goals, an answer, or at least a way out, he was upset without knowing why. And he wanted...... No..... He needed an answer. While he meditated, his silver aura was dancing around his body together with stones who flew around him. Eyes watched him between the trees. Eyes that penetrated into the night, with an intensity of hunger.