“Twilight, darling. You can’t assume the worst has happened to him.”
Twilight panicked. She hasn’t seen Spike since he left Rarity’s. Dash’s aerial search didn’t bring anything up either, making things worse. No one knew of his whereabouts. Rarity along with the other girls were at AJ’s farm house at Sweet Apple Acres. The cowpony volunteered to look for him, which Twilight eagerly accepted, but her friends had decided to stick with Twilight in the event she tried to do anything...brash. They were sitting in the house’s living room when they heard a knock at the front door.
Dash got up from next to Pinkie and answered it. She looked back at Twilight with a neutral look on her face.
“It’s him.” Twilight and her friends knew who it was. Twilight abruptly got up and went to the door. There, she saw Solar, standing there with a glum expression. He seemed unable to look at her.
“Hey Twilight.” She was flabbergasted, and a spark of anger made itself known.
“After... Everything that has happened, Spike is nowhere to be found”, she steps out of the doorway and takes a step closer to Solar.
“Twilight, don’t.” Dash warns.
“Leave it.” Twilight turns back to Solar, who takes a step back from the maddened mare.
“The moment you show up. And the best thing you have to say is ‘Hey’? Do you really have nothing to say for yourself?” Solar had a look of...something. Something Twilight wasn’t able to fully determine. She took a deep breath and put a hoof on Solar, who merely flinched in response.
“Solar, look at me. I apologize for my outburst, but you need to put yourself in my hooves. Spike is...a son to me. What would you do if he was suddenly missing at the exact time someone new, who nopony has any idea even existed, shows up?”
Solar was quiet. He didn’t really know what to say. What would he do? He thinks about Twilight’s question. He looks up to see the aforementioned mare looking back at him with a disappointed expression. He knows what he would do. He takes a deep, cleansing breath and speaks up for what he believes is the first time since he showed back up.
“I know who has Spike. But you may not like the answer.”
Twilight looks behind her at Rainbow Dash and Rarity, who is sitting on the couch with a dreamy look on her face. Twilight rolls her eyes and looks back at Solar..
“Fine. But you better make clear what is happening. Regardless of if I may like the answer.” Solar straightened up upon hearing this and nodded.
“You have my word Twilight.”
Twilight beckoned Solar to come inside and he took a glance around. The inside of the farmhouse was cozy. Pictures taken from long ago, spanning generations can be seen on the mantle of the fireplace, dormant and waiting for the first glimmers of winter. Solar walks over and takes a seat as Twilight makes her way to the front door. She looks over to Rarity with a stern composure.
“Make sure he doesn’t go anywhere. I have no doubt he can do anything we can imagine. If he poses a threat to you or any of the other girls when she comes back, you get your Element and I will get the others.” Solar, appalled, stood up.
“Really Twilight? Really? What can I do to prove that I am not him? Does nothing-” Solar stopped speaking when he noticed his unintentional slip up. Rarity spoke up, a hint of suspicion in her voice.
“Darling, who is ‘he’?”
Solar sighed and put a hoof to his head. “Rarity, I really don’t want to go through this.”
Twilight stepped back into the room and briskly walked over to Solar, fuming. “You really think you will be able to hide anything from us? Do you?” She shouted.
Solar, defending himself, yelled back. “I absolutely do! I can hide EVERYTHING about me from Celestia herself if I wanted to! I am only here to help. I’m not Dark Eclipse!” His eyes began to glow a brighter orange, igniting with fury.
“Ever since I have arrived here, ALL OF YOU have been PESTERING me!” Twilight was in shock. She has never known anypony could be this angered before she made the mistake of disturbing Luna in her slumber. She tries to calm Solar down, but he brushes her off.
“LEAVE...ME...ALONE!”
Twilight watched Solar’s horn glow as he began to teleport, and then proceeded to do something that shocked everypony in the room. She walked up to Solar and hugged him. His eyes darkened and he stopped his ranting, motionless. What seemed like minutes later, he looked down at Twilight with a tear threatening to fall. They stood there in the middle of the room and eventually, Solar couldn’t hold it in anymore. Twilight held him harder and eventually her friends joined them, aiding his comfort.
The group broke up and they gave Twilight and Solar space. Pinkie was the first to speak up.
“Solar? Who is Dark Eclipse?” Solar looked at Pinkie and then Dash who only nodded, cementing his place to finally explain a bit more of what could possibly be going on.
“How do I put this?” Solar took a seat on the rug in the middle of the circle of girls.
“Dark Eclipse is, for lack of a better way to put it, myself. Yet, he also isn’t me. He is the darker side of me, if you will. Where I may be kind and sacrifice my own well being for others, he wants nothing but the entire globe…” Solar stopped for a moment before he started up again.
“Tartarus, he more than likely wants to take over the entire galaxy for himself. Pure evil.” He finished his statement with a look of slight fear. Twilight took the reins of the conversation.
“How evil are we talking about?” Solar looked at Twilight, raising an eyebrow.
“Do you really want to know?” Twilight and her friends tense up a bit.
Solar scoffed, “You thought King Sombra was bad? You thought what you just saw from me was scary? You’ve yet to see him. You see, the thing is, you don’t find him. He finds you. I’m not trying to scare all of you. I am just telling the truth. I don’t even know where he is, but he also doesn’t know where I am. Yet.” Solar paused for a moment. He seemed confident.
“And he won’t get to you without getting through me first. We are equals after all.” He stood up, but not before Dash got his attention.
“Solar, I don’t know about the rest of us, but…” She looked at Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie, who were interested in what more could be said, but were getting skittish. They were beginning to second guess Solar and his actions. He was hiding something. Possibly something that would change their outlook on him forever.
“But I am willing to give you a chance. You seem like a pretty cool guy.” She said with a smile.
“Likewise Dash. Same can be said for the rest of you, though Applejack and Fluttershy aren’t here right now - by the way, where is Fluttershy?”
Rarity gave a soft chuckle. “Well darling, she wasn’t very keen on meeting an ‘Alicorn from worlds unknown’. She sure is missing out if I may add.” She said with a wink. The others had a laugh at this, where Solar only smirked, not missing a beat.
“Rarity, you do realize I am just over three thousand years old, correct?” Rarity nodded with a blush. “I am aware of the tricks.” Rarity donned a mischievous grin.
“My dear, is that a challenge?” She said while batting eyelashes. Solar didn’t notice, since he was making his way to the door.
“I won’t keep you all any longer.” Twilight and her friends made their way to him so that they could see him off. Twilight looked at him and wasn’t entirely sure what to say. How do you tell somepony you have just met to do something for you that they would do for someone more than just an acquaintance?
“Solar?” About to walk out the door, Solar looks to his right and finds Twilight standing there. “Yes Twi?”
“Are you going to-”
Solar interrupts her. “Look for Spike? Absolutely. And I won’t stop until I find him.” He looks to the others. “I promise. And if you don’t believe me on that promise. . . Well, I will be laughing at you when I bring him back.”
Pinkie speaks up. “Why would we not believe you?”
“None of you would be the first to doubt me. I haven’t always been like this.
The girls had confused looks on their faces. “What is that supposed to mean?” asked Twilight.
Solar didn’t give an answer. He walked out the door and flew off at an extreme speed, nowhere in sight, leaving the group with more questions than answers.
***
Applejack returns to Sweet Apple Acres and reunites with her friends, though from the looks of it, the meeting with Solar, if you can call it that, was bittersweet. Honestly, Applejack thought this was some elaborate prank. She had expected this from Pinkie but surely not from the rest of her friends. The Mane 6 were outside in the orchard, since Granny Smith came back from the market and fell fast asleep.
“Let me get this straight.” Started Applejack, her expression suspicious and confused, “Our good ol’ Alicorn friend has a ‘dark’ side that can possibly match him in whatever it is y’all call yer fancy magic.”
“Arcane amplitude. Yes. What is weird is he was fine one moment and then the next, he just...flew off.”
“What did you do Twilight?” inquired AJ
Rarity came to Twilight’s defense. “Now now darling, let’s not go accusing each other. Solar is...something else I’ll admit. All of us don’t understand who, or what he is. But Twilight asked what should have been a simple question.
Applejack leaned forward with an eyebrow raised. “Which was what?”
Twilight answers. “It wasn’t just a simple question. After Solar said he’d look for Spike, Pinkie asked ‘Why wouldn’t we believe you?’, he didn’t say anything and that’s when he left. Again. Somewhere along there he said ‘He wasn’t always like this. I really don’t know what that means and it is frightening.But maybe somewhere.” Twilight grins. Her friends collectively groan. Here she goes again. Another spiel. “I can find that.”