Eclipse plopped down in one of the benches nearby, wiping the sweat from her brow. She had to put more than a little bit of elbow grease into helping with the move. A lot of ponies had a lot of problems that needed addressing, a few of which only she was equipped to solve.
Without the Kingdom Heart, ponies were suffering from a slow buildup of hatred that they had a hard time expressing an outlet for, and she had to quickly rally the Windego. By pairing them off with ponies, the spirits were able to help by feeding directly on the negative emotions, something that was sure to be important with the stress that came with moving to a new temporary home.
She wondered why Weiss hadn't been the first to suggest it, but when pressed, he seemed a bit confused at her explanation of the problem of hate building up inside everypony, and tried to brush it off as him giving her an opportunity to prove herself. Something she simply nodded at before returning to the task of helping herd Longma onto ships.
She wasn't an idiot. Eclipse Flash was taught by one of the single most talented dark mages of the ancient era, and the only thing more important than learning to overcome negativity and to shed it in Foeship was the experience to first recognize it.
Eventually, however, her tasks in helping wrangle the population distracted her from what she was seeing in her teacher, and she had her hooves full helping them settle into places like "Olympus", (Apparently, Weiss had stolen an entire castle from some place called the Storm Lands and plopped it atop a mountain), Star Road (An entire flying island powered by the same G-Diffusers that the Arwings used!) and of course, Weiss's own tower, (He had somehow managed to wrangle his way into claiming Castle motherfluxing Everfree from the Princesses, and sprouting an entire spire of black crystal from the place!)
There were even rumors that he had turned an entire mountain into a volcanic alchemy vessel at some point, one that was only waiting for his impetus to turn it into yet another strange and magical locale.
Needless to say, anyone with a pair of eyes willing to look out the window thought it was a bit silly to call them rumors, what with the huge pot-shaped mountain that could be clearly seen on the horizon from any one of the three lairs.
Shaken out of memories of what she had seen by a sudden jolt, she noted the source with a look to her side, Priss of all ponies, plopping right down next to her on one of the benches placed around Star Road's floating yellowish soil.
"I managed to get some info," she said conspiratorially.
Eclipse glances at her. "And?"
"Pardon my language, but sweet blue blazes this whole situation is bucked. He's got this mercenary working for him, Tempest. She's close-lipped, but I figured out a few things at least. She had her horn repaired by dark magic. A chunk of it was bright purple, two guesses where that came from, and when I pressed her on it, I'm sure you can guess she clammed up quick. Made it easy to get her to spill some other little facts that I followed up on, though."
Priss raised a hoof, a crystal embedded in her armor projecting a holographic photo of Canterlot Castle in flames. streaks of molten rock were strewn about the courtyard, and a massive cloud of smoke carrying a fuzzy photo of Celestia smashing a hoof through a massive black dragon's face was hanging overhead.
"Managed to get this by poking around. The news spun it as a sanctioned test of Canterlot defenses, but I did some more digging and asked around. The entire Royal Vault had to be carried out of Weiss's tower, and when the princesses went there to 'thank' him, one of em left missing teeth."
She swept her hoof across the hologram, moving on to a candid photo of Celestia, dabbing a cheek with a red stained handkerchief and looking distinctly displeased.
"Paramilitary Companies, a sudden attack on the capital, something called the 'Dark Tournament'. In under a year, Weiss just showed up somehow and started putting fingers in a lot of pies, and set up shop right in the middle of Equestria."
Priss turned to Eclipse. "The Princesses, Celestia especially, have been keeping a tight lid on all of this. I don't know why." she shook her head.
"So, I told you mine. Do you have anything for me?"
Eclipse nodded, but it was a hesitant thing. "That lightning he used back at Crystal Egg, after he saw my reaction to it, he's been really careful not to cast spells in front of me. It hasn't stopped me. I've been able to examine the enchantments he's been using. A lot of them are usual boilerplate enchanting, stuff you could buy at the store back home, but some of it..."
She shook her head. "There are some insanely dark artifacts laying around, I'm not sure Weiss even realizes some of what he's got laying around here. It looks like at some point he started using Corrupt Crystal for almost everything instead the Arcana Nox's wireless controls. It's honestly pretty genius, if he didn't have the population to control things manually, it makes sense that he would go for pure golemcraft."
Priss raised an eyebrow, crossing her hooves "And the juicy bit?"
Eclipse sighed. "Fine. You remember my list of 'Red Flags for Dark Magic'? It's like he went down that list and decided to do every single one. I'm getting vibes all up and down the board, there's an enchanted item of some kind in that tower of his that is literally stinking up the place with residual mind-altering magics, on top of that, he's shown signs of classic dark-magic corruption. Inscrutable obsessions, compulsive behavior towards ponies he has an established relationship with, goal-oriented psychopathic behavior when establishing new relationships."
She frowns. "But let's take a step back, Priss, I think... I don't know what to think about the way he's acting, but it's clear that he's trying. If he's been abusing dark magic like I think he has, the sheer force of will he's got to not be attacking anything that moves... It's phenomenal."
After a moment, Priss nods with relief. "I needed to hear that, Eclipse. If you think there's anything I can do to help, just say the word."
Eclipse nods. "Right now, he needs stability. Who knows how much he drew on dark magic's emotional alteration effects while we were gone, the number of behaviors and habits he might have inadvertently taught himself abusing it could be astronomical, and picking those apart is going to be an ordeal. Just try to-"
"Hello! I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" a purple unicorn interjected cheerfully, trotting up to the pair with bulging saddlebags and a small dragon riding on her back. A hot-air balloon a short distance away explains how the Unicorn got all the way up to Star Road, if only to raise questions of why modern ponies were using hot-air-balloons to get around anywhere.
The two Longma shared a look, before turning their attention to the interloper.
"You are," they said in unison, making the baby dragon's eyebrow raise.
"What do they call it? Stereo?" he asked rhetorically.
"Oh, well, uhh, I was told to meet with you, ma'am, I'm Twilight Sparkle, prized student of Princess Celestia and a scholar in the magic of friendship," Twilight responded, pulling out an official looking letter as Spike hopped off of her back and grabbed her by the tail.
"Spike, wait, this is important!" she complained as she slid back from the pair at his insistence.
"We'll come back when you two aren't busy," Spike said as he tugged away the complaining unicorn.
Eclipse held up a hoof to stop them. "Hold on, did you just say 'Magic of Friendship'?" she interjected, eyebrows shooting up incredulously.
Twilight broke free of her assistant's incessant pulling, nodding cheerfully as she lifted a quill and parchment from her saddlebags. "Yes, I did! And the princess told me about your studies as well, it's my hope that we can learn a lot from one another through friendship and mutual cooperation!" she affirmed optimistically, not noticing the sudden quiet snort from Priss, who hid the expression behind a hoof.
"She's very excitable," Spike attempted to explain, thinking back to a half-hour ago.
Dearest Twilight. I've penned this letter to inform you of our success in preventing the worst. Myself and Luna, admittedly, were of little help in the conflict that had passed, for you see, much to my surprise, the fabled Shadow Realm has somehow returned, something I long thought impossible, and with its return come ponies who were once only known to legend and history. It was through their return that Noir Weiss was returned to his former self, such that it is, and the direst possibility was avoided. He had fought like a devil to avenge them, and now that they live, I cannot help but feel hope for the future, his of course, and ours as well.
I wish to stress, above all else, Twilight, that you need not heed this call that is to come. What you experienced in the hour of Weiss Noir's return was truly nightmarish to witness. It hurts me that you had to see something that I fear may have shaken your faith in harmony in such a way, and if you so choose, I will not ask you to interact with him or his any further. The same goes for your friends as well. The return of that ancient realm has caused much confusion, and much strife for us all, Weiss Noir included.
While he perhaps needs friendship more than ever, at this critical juncture, that task would be cruel to force upon you, and redundant besides. Instead, I only offer you some small token of my regret. I know your adoration towards knowledge and history, and thus, I believe you may take pleasure in this:
There existed a pony in the ancient past who I know fairly well. She was a student of Weiss Noir, and I believe what she has learned may serve your own studies into friendship well, for you see, where you have learned the magic inherent between ponies who truly care for one another, the magic found between friends, she instead studied the opposite side of this coin. She, Twilight, my beloved student, studied the magic found between enemies.
Should you so wish, I will not prompt you again on this matter. Perhaps not in full, but I know in part the terror you may have felt the day he returned, but if you perhaps feel that there is wisdom in sharing knowledge with one who is in many ways your foil in academia, then know that this pony is alive, and her name is Eclipse Flash. She currently resides as a temporary resident of Star Road, where many of the Longma have taken shelter until their realm can be restored, and homes built to house the multitudes. Attached is a picture of the pony in question.
Your teacher and friend, Princess Celestia.
Spike waved his hand in front of Twilight, who stared at the letter with wide open eyes, and a jaw that refused to close.
"Uhh, Twilight?"
Spike blinked in the time it took the unicorn to flash around the room in a manner that likely would have impressed Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash if they had seen the frantic feat, packing saddlebags with ink, books, parchment, checklists, and Spike, in that order.
He only barely managed to catch a word or three from the unicorn's incoherent excited rambling as she rushed them directly to Star Road as fast as her hooves could take her.
It took her until she was directly underneath the floating island before she realized she hadn't actually had a way up there, and it took her until she was already in her hot-air-balloon to realize she could have done any of a dozen different things to get up there without it.
"...I can see that. Well, our earlier discussion doesn't exactly have an expiration date, so I suppose we can make some time," Eclipse responded to Spike's assessment.
"Ok, but I'm still hung up on that last part, you said you studied the 'Magic of Friendship'? That's painfully hilarious. So let me guess, you go around watching ponies and writing reports on lessons you learn, sending them to her?" Priss couldn't help but laugh a bit.
"Huh? I mean, yes, but-" Twilight retorted, quill and parchment drooping alongside her mood.
"Be nice, Priss," Eclipse attempted.
"Weiss can never know about this, if he found out Celestia ripped off your Foeship studies and whipped up her own bootleg version, I'm pretty sure his ego would get bigger than her flanks," Priss snickered.
"Excuse me? My studies aren't a 'bootleg' anything, With Weiss Noir's obvious foresight into future events, it wouldn't surprise me if he ripped off the Princess! The power of friendship has saved Equestria numerous times, and it was only by understanding it that I and my friends were able to wield the legendary Elements of Harmony!" Twilight responded bluntly.
"Ok, so, you're not joking, are you? This would be a really funny prank, but..." Eclipse said in response to this while Priss just cackled, rolling off the bench and onto the ground in hysterics.
"What exactly do you think I'm joking about?" Twilight deadpans as Spike watches the interplay nervously.
"You sound a bit like somepony out of a Saturday Morning Cartoon, Miss Twilight," Eclipse responds diplomatically.
"This coming from the ponies who named a country after something from one?" Twilight retorts, temper failing at the perceived jab at her way of life.
Eclipse's eyes narrowed as she stood. "Sounds like somepony's a bit envious. Gonna hit me with a Carebear Stare?"
Twilight let out a puff of air, nostrils flaring. "I don't know, are you going to resort to mean words? I'm not seeing any 'Foeship' powered world-saving magical relics laying around, so I'm assuming that's your go-to when you aren't wasting priceless magitech on finding better ways to beat each other up," she said, gesturing to Eclipse Flash's power armor.
Eclipse sneered with amusement. "Yeah, see, that's the difference, I use cutting edge technology to send ponies mean words and beat them up. I'm assuming from your regrettable choice of writing implements that you're more familiar with smoke signals and the wonders of flint tools?"
Twilight's hackles, fully raised, enabled her to totally overlook the reason she came in the first place.
"Callous techno-barbarian!"
"Vapid cavepony!"
"Buck you!"
"Fuck you!"
"Buck! You!"
The two glared at each other, foreheads pressed together as they both snarled openly. Eclipse Shadow's mane frantically whipped around in a wild blaze of yellow and red, while Twilight's own mane and tail smoked and smouldered with pure rage.
With a broad grin, and a few remaining barks of laughter, Glitter Miss Priss managed to get up off the ground and stomped with applause. "I like this one."
After a moment of silence, Eclipse suddenly smiled, backing away good-naturedly as she visibly relaxed. "Yeah. I agree."
She held out a hoof to the utterly bewildered Twilight. "Eclipse Flash. It's nice to meet you."
Twilight grimaced with confusion and annoyance, even as she accepted the offered hoof on instinct.
"You are as insufferable as your teacher," she groused, shaking earnestly.
"Thank you, you're as close-minded as yours," Eclipse responded with a smile.
"Thank you," Twilight retorted with a faint smile of her own, realizing that she had somehow made a friend out of this infuriating exchange.
As I sat in a sealed chamber in my tower under the guise of "managing systems", I was instead spying, naturally. I couldn't help myself. I needed to know what they spoke about. I needed to see them, even if I was too scared to be near them for too long. One of my Eyerocs proved to be as useful as ever for watching them.
When Twilight arrived, and the conversation shifted, I decided to send a small communicator to Celestia. She would get a kick out of watching our students go at it, I'm certain. Who would win this confrontation, I wondered?
"Hmm? What's this?" Celestia mused as her face appeared from a nearby gemstone, and she quickly realized what was being shown to her, and by whom, as one of my little communication crystals appeared wherever it was she happened to be.
"Oh. Hello, Weiss. Spying on our students?"
I smirked. "As if I would let you miss your precious student's first meeting with mine. This'll be a treat."
She watched with great interest as the three ponies quickly fell into an argument, and I found myself surprised when Eclipse turned it around at the last minute. How did she do that?
It seems neither of them won. Or both of them did.
"I'm so proud." I wiped my eyes tearfully.
"I can't believe we were ever that young," Celestia said with a smile.
I shook my head. "I have no clue how Eclipse managed that. She turned all that hate directly into other feelings, and so easily..."
I didn't know how she managed to do whatever it was she did, but it didn't stop pride from welling up inside me.
Celestia tittered. "Funny you should say that. Don't you recall what you once told me?"
I turned to the hologram curiously, unsure of which exact statement she was referring to.
"There's a thin line between a friendship and a foeboat."
I paused, recalling the quote, but having a hard time piecing together what I originally meant when I said it.
'Doesn't matter. They seem to be happy, so I'm happy,' I thought firmly.
"Also, stop spying on ponies. It's very creepy," Celestia explained gently, terminating the connection.
"Well, I'm certainly not going to stop doing that," I scoffed, before terminating my own eyeroc feed and making the tiny bat-eyeball monster explode into dust.
'I mean, I'll stop for now, but I'll be damned if I up and comply with Celestia of all ponies. I'll have to spy on her out of spite later,' I thought, leaning back in my chair and trying to meditate on the day and dust off what little sanity and self-control I could find rummaging around under the metaphorical bed and in the mental shelves of my mind.
I have less time than I thought, judging from Eclipse and Priss's conversation. If she can sense the Devil's Machine, even as far down as I've buried it... Her senses must be astronomically sharper than mine when it comes to emotional energy.
Maybe I should show her. Not the entire truth, but... Some of it. If she knew I hadn't successfully used the Devil's machine, it might help prove my willingness to change.
I thought back to what Celestia said, and couldn't help but scoff again, amused at her explanation for Eclipse and Twilight somehow becoming copacetic like they did.
"I must have been crazy when I said that to her. 'Thin line between a friendship and a foeboat' my ass. That Harmony-addled old hag probably thinks we're friends too, talking like that," I muttered, crossing my arms impertinently as I tried to pick apart and understand the odd feelings running through me.
"So, one of the biggest lessons I learned about friendship was not to judge a book by its cover. One of my best friends now is a zebra named Zecora, and let me tell you, it was embarrassing, having to correct my own preconceptions. It was only by looking past them that I was able to make such a wonderful friend in the first place! I'm just glad I was able to figure it out before I did anything really regrettable..." Twilight explained as the quartet walked around discussing the pros and cons of being enemies and friends.
As they walked around Star Road, they saw houses being built, and portal networks being established. It seemed that more than a few Longma would be keeping in touch here, even once shelter was set up back in the Frozen north.
Eclipse nodded. "That was actually one of mine too. Weiss Noir made me his student after I accidentally let a dragon rampage through the tunnels. I thought he was pure evil and hiding it really well, so I figured one of his prisoners would tell me the truth about him, but after he saved me from the dragon, he sentenced me to becoming his student."
She flushed with embarrassment. "I still thought he was my enemy for a while after that, but after he saved my life a second time from a monster I accidentally made attack us, I had to accept that I was the one in the wrong. Though, with me, it was less about judging a book by its cover and more that I had to learn that a pony's behavior and attitude wasn't justification enough to be their enemy. It's the results of a pony's actions are the most important thing about them, when it comes to deciding if they're friend or foe."
As she spoke, a newly built Arwing flew overhead the quartet, carrying a large beam of wood that was slowly lowered onto a cottage, G-diffusers humming as it slowly floated the timber down, and a bunch of Luna's draugr guards helped set the beam into place, gliding around on batlike wings. At the same time, Longma riveted redhot bands around the wood with their bare hooves, standing up on ladders to reach the needed areas.
"You know, it's funny, you acted like friendship wasn't all that important, but you and your friend Miss Priss seem to be as close as friends get," Twilight muses.
Eclipse laughs. "Friends? Oh sweet flux no. We're rivals, and yeah, it doesn't get closer than that. I hope someday you find a healthy rivalry of your own. It can do a pony a lot of good, isn't that right lesser-minion?" Eclipse snarks at Priss, who just giggles.
"Darn straight. We don't just help each other, we push each other. That's how we grow," Priss explains. The almost matching power armor on the two Longma suddenly makes a bit more sense, if each one of them was trying to one-up the other over the years.
"Well, it sure looks like friendship from where I'm standing," Twilight mutters, but it's clear that Eclipse's explanation has given her something to think about from the thoughtful look in her eyes.
Eclipse hummed. "Oh, back on the subject of lessons, I'm almost positive you never got this one, so, one Foeship lesson I had to learn early on was that stallions and colts are dumb as hell, and fight for even dumber reasons. Two of my friends, Jerryrig and Cabal Counter, had actually gotten into a brawl over a silly card game as colts, but in spite of them coming to blows, they still competed in a big Duel Monsters tournament, and after Jerryrig won, they talked it out and less than a minute later, they were laughing together like best friends."
She shrugged. "There may have also been a lesson about learning to forgive and forget there, but that wasn't as important as the part about boys being dumb."
Twilight balked at Eclipse's dismissive tone. "Whu- That's absolutely the most important part! Being able to overcome the animosity that comes after a physical fight at such a young age through the shared hobby of games? That's an incredible lesson."
Priss snorted. "Where do they get ponies like you?"
Twilight rolled her eyes, quickly coming to accept the teasing for what it is. "From Canterlot, at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns" she responded as if it were obvious.
The Longma blinked, her pink mane flickering, the inattention was enough for her to bump into a pony carrying a huge stone block on his back.
"Hey, watch where you're going, Priss!" Glitter Bomb said, shuffling to keep the block balanced as he carted it off to where it would be used in building more temporary homes.
"Sorry dad!" she said, walking around the stallion as she refocused on the conversation. To her credit, it didn't take more than a second for her to continue unhindered after that, shifting her attention to Spike.
"So, shortstuff, where are you from, then? Dragonlands?"
Spike shook his head. "Oh, no, I was hatched in Canterlot too! Twilight was the one to hatch my egg, actually."
Eclipse blinked "That must have taken some crazy strong magic," she mused.
Priss, however, had a different thought in mind. "Met any cool dragons, then? I'm guessing most dragons aren't as annoying as they used to be, if polite little gremlins like you are walking around," she teased.
Spike's frills drooped a bit at this. "Uhh, no. Sorry. I haven't met any dragons before."
Twilight looked a bit sad at this. "This may go without saying, but when it comes to dragons, a thousand years changes less than you might think. It's not safe for ponies to delve too deep in dragon territory. And there's not exactly a surplus of them for Spike to talk to here in Equestria," she admitted.
Eclipse and Priss shared a look that conveyed a rather large message in a rather silent split second.
"You want to meet some, then, shortstuff? I know a few we could introduce you to. They grew up with one of ours, Dr. Absolutely Real Homeopathy's kids," Priss offered, feeling bad for the little drake and gesturing to a large lab being hastily built off in the distance.
"If you want, we could go give em a visit. I doubt they're doing anything too important right now. There's three of em, Ruby, Sapphire, and lil Padparadscha. Paddy's about your age, actually. Well, they all are, technically, but that's a long story," she trails off.
Spike lit up with shocked excitement, frills returning to their full height as he realized what she was offering. "Twilight, can I?! Please!?" he asked loudly with wide eyes and a broad insistent smile.
Twilight was a bit surprised to see her normally laid-back assistant so worked up by this.
"Well, when you put it like that, how could I say no?" she accepted, smiling happily at the sight of her assistant's own joy.
As the group turned their attention to the lab, an ominous airship slowly rose up and began docking on the other side of the floating island, one that radiated a malicious aura due to the horrid contents it carried...
Tourists.