//------------------------------// // Where Is Home? // Story: A Dark Shade of the Past // by InfinityBreach //------------------------------// A Dark Shade of the Past by InfinityBreach Chapter 35: Where Is Home? "I WANT VICTORY FOUND NOW." Luna bellowed to those of the Night and Day guard. "SHE HAS HURT OUR CITIZENS, AND HAS ESCAPED OUT NOTICE FOR TOO LONG. WE MUST FIND HER." "The Night Guard has searched throughout the Badlands, and old Draco Valley. We have not found her." Tarnished Sword in front of the ponies she commanded. "The Day Guard has searched throughout the cities, and the Everfree Ruins. We have not found her." Shining Armor replied, next to Tarnished, the ponies he commanded behind him aswell. "What of the ponies sent to Cloudsdale to deliver warning? And the ones sent to the gates of Tartarus?" Luna asked. "We have not heard from either, princess." The two commanders replied at once. "This is bad. Are they still well?" Luna asked, looking towards a group of unicorns surrounding a glass table. The unicorns looked into the glass table, as it began glowing, showing a visual of the ponies traveling the mountainous areas. One of the unicorns dressed in a robe replied, "They are fine, Princess. They have not yet arrived at their destination." "Have we figured out why it is that we can not pinpoint Victory?" Luna asked the unicorn. "There are Changelings averting the signal." said a voice coming from the entrance. In walked Princess Celestia, a grim look on her face. "What do you mean, sister?" Luna asked, worry on her face. "I don't know if Chrysalis has regained power or not, but there are multiple changelings spread across all of Equestria, messing with our tracking magic. It also doesn't help that our council hasn't mastered tracking beings of darkness, to no fault of them." Celestia explained. "But… multiple Changelings? Are we sure they are under HER control? If the other hives are attacking us…" Luna began. "I doubt they would. The other Princesses of the hives know the olden rules. The only reason that those changelings follow Chrysalis, is because they believe her to be the deity of their past." Celestia said, now sitting in the throne next to Luna's. "Let's hope you are right, sister. We can't afford to lose Equestria again…" "You gotta be kidding, right?" Applejack asked Twilight, voicing the opinions of the other mares in the room. "I'm serious. There is something the princesses haven't been telling us. Something that has to do with the Elements. It might even be something that could affect history as we know it." Twilight explained, looking to the faces of the baffled ponies. "She's serious about this, guys; trust me, I know. She didn't want to tell anyone until after the Running of the Leaves as to not ruin the entire thing for us, but she had to delay it because of Luna staying over at her house though." Rainbow stated above the other four ponies. "But still… for the Princesses to be hiding something from us? It's unfathomable!" Rarity responded. "Pfft, yeah! I mean, didn't we save the world like a bazillion times?" Pinkie asked the others. "Girls, listen. I think this might have something to do with Eclipsal, and I think this has to do with Victory too. I haven't figured out what the big picture is, but I do know that the only one who has the answers is Princess Celestia and maybe even Luna. The problem is, Luna doesn't remember a lot about her past since she got hit with the Elements a second time." Twilight further explained, hoping that her friends would help her out. Rainbow began speaking enthusiastically too, in contrast to her nonchalant feelings earlier. "Yeah, come on! Let's do this for Eclipsal!" Applejack gave Rainbow a slight glare. "Rainbow, while Eclipsal would probably be nice enough to forgive you for helpin out with this, don't think we'll be so quick to forgive you." Rainbow sighed, while Twilight continued. "So anyway, we made a plan. We're going to go to the Grand Galloping Gala again this year, not to accomplish our goals this time, or to just have fun; we're going to get information." "But can't we have fun WHILE getting information?" Pinkie interrupted. "Well, I guess so." Twilight stated. "The point is, we are going to ask the princess about what she knows, and if we don't think the answer is clear enough, or if it feels like she's still hiding something, we're going to go to break into the Royal Archives." "Ooh! Ooh! Like that time we went because of Future Twilight coming to the past to stop you from worrying about the future, which ultimately made you go back in time to tell yourself to not worry about the future, which ultimately.." Pinkie interrupted again, as Rarity put a hoof over her mouth. "Yes, Pinkie, we get the point. But Twilight, what if this is just like the time incident, where all you are doing is worrying about what isn't said?" Twilight thought for a moment, and finally declared, "Then I'll trust what the princesses say. I mean, what else is there that we can do, if there isn't any proof?" Twilight then realized that one of them was being quiet; or at least more quiet than usual. "Fluttershy? What do you think of this?" Fluttershy looked up, her face filling with red as her friends glanced at her. "I.. I don't know! I mean, I think we should trust the princesses, but we haven't done anything wrong to make them not trust us, except for maybe this right now…" She ended up getting out before her voice started to lower into nothing. The others nodded their head in understanding at her thoughts. "Shouldn't Eclipsal know this is happening too?" Applejack asked. "Well dear, we still don't know where he is." Rarity stated. "After the battle with Victory, I used my magic to track him, just to make sure he's safe. I know that he's in Ponyville, but I can't pinpoint exactly where. He's probably in the orchard, or somewhere he feels safe, where he can think for awhile." Twilight stated. "Shouldn't we be a bit more worried about him right now, though? I mean, that was some overload he had…" Applejack shivered slightly, remembering the expression on his face. "He should be fine, I think. He's strong enough to get through this, he probably just needs some time alone. We should honestly be happy that the overload didn't turn into a flare though. Who knows what would have happened then." Twilight shook her head. "Anyway, I've been through an actual flare before, and I'm sure you all remember when Spike went through a greed growth. Trust me when I say that it's better if we just leave him to himself for now; he probably needs time to think." *Eclipsal's POV* 'I like how peaceful it is here. It gives me time to think.' I thought to myself, letting out a sigh. I've heard Twilight say that home is where the heart is. I often wonder where mine would be, then. Maybe it's off in some distant land; maybe it's right next door. But for now, my heart is here. I think. Fluttershy's cottage is the first place I remember clearly, so I guess it makes sense that this is where I feel safest at. I'm happy she let me stay here again. But I know at some point, I'm going to need to leave. If it weren't for the fact that it was winter and most of the animals were in hibernation, then there just wouldn't be enough room for me. I let out another sigh, opening my eyes. The room was dimly lighted, a candle on the table being the only source of light at the moment. I was on the couch, waiting for Fluttershy to get back from Twilight's. It looked like the sun was beginning to set outside though, so she should be back soon. As if on cue, the front door opened. I turned my head to see Fluttershy walk in with a small bag of groceries in her mouth. She walked in and closed the door behind her. "Hey, Fluttershy. How did things go with the others?" I asked her. She placed the groceries down on the table, taking out a carrot and tossing it to her bunny, Angel, who was waiting for it. Fluttershy watched Angel run off before she began talking. "It went okay. Although, everypony is worried about you…" "Did you tell them I was here?" I asked, tensing up a little. "No, I didn't. Don't worry, I kept my promise, but it's still kinda hard to keep… I can't stand lying to my friends.." Fluttershy said, her voice trailing off. "Well, did they ask if you knew where I was?" I asked her, to which she shook her head. "Well then, you aren't lying to them. It's more like… withholding information! Like Spike always says." "It doesn't make me feel any better, though…" she said, brushing her hoof against the floor. I looked at her and sighed once more. "Sorry for putting you in this situation, Fluttershy. It's just I don't know where else I could go. Rainbow is going to be helping out the Apple's with making cider this year, and I would rather not be at Twilight's or Pinkie's where everypony would bug me. I just need a safe, quiet, peaceful place to be for awhile, so I can think things over. Sorry for putting you in this situation, though. I really wish I didn't have to…" "No, Eclipsal. It's fine. It often gets lonely around here without most of my animal friends around. So I'm glad to have you here. I just wish I could tell our friends that I knew you were all right." Fluttershy explained. "Well then how about this. Tomorrow I'll go to Twilight's and tell her that I'm fine, so that she can tell the others. Would that make you feel better?" I asked her. She gave a small smile and nodded. "Yeah, that would make me feel better." Then her eyes widened, as she reached for the bag she brought in. "Oh! I almost forgot. I got something for us to share." She pulled out two fresh daisy sandwiches, which I assumed she got with the carrot she gave Angel. I placed my hoof to the ground, my magic extending to the sandwich, and then bringing it back to me. I sat upright, and Fluttershy came and sat next to the couch next to me. I took a bite of my sandwich, a crisp refreshing taste making me enjoy the sandwich even more. I looked to my left, and saw Fluttershy slightly shaking. Feeling concerned, I asked, "Hey, are you feeling cold?" She gave a small nod. "Want me to get a fire going?" I asked her. "No, you don't have to get up. I'll just do it when I'm done eating." She stated. "Oh, nonsense. I have magic, remember?" I said, placing a hoof on the ground, and using my magic to grab some timber and tear it apart before putting it in the fire place, and setting fire to it. The fire set a new yellow glow within the cottage, making it feel even more peaceful than before, if possible. "There. Does that feel better?" I asked taking a look at her. She gave me a smile and a slight nod, before going back to her sandwich. A few minutes later, we had finished our sandwiches so we continued to stay up with some small talk. "So did anything interesting happen at Twilight's?" I asked her. "Well… she told us about how she's doubting the princess. About the plans to talk to her about it at the end of this month." Fluttershy stated. "Yeah. I'm guessing she showed you the book, too?" "Mhm. It was weird though; some of the pages were kinda foggy for me." "Well it's enchanted in some weird way. I'm pretty sure Twilight could explain why, but by the time she finished explaining, the Grand Galloping Gala would have already happened." I laughed. Fluttershy chucked too, and then added, "Yeah, that sounds like something she would do." The laughter died down, and Fluttershy began looking at me, and then darting her eyes away again. "Uh, is there something you want to ask me, Fluttershy?" I asked, feeling a bit confused by her behavior. "Well.. um… no, I'm fine. I.. I think I'm just going to go to bed. Goodnight." And with that, she rushed into her bedroom, before I was even able to let another word out. I stayed up a little while longer, laying back down, but blankly staring at the ceiling. I wonder if anyone misses me. Maybe someone out there has been looking for me all this time. Then again, it has been a few months now. Maybe they've given up on searching for me. Maybe the reason I'm like this is because they didn't want me. Maybe I was a huge pain in my past. Maybe nopony wanted to hang around me. After what has transpired the last few weeks, I can kind of understand why. The easiest way to get rid of me would be to get rid of my memories, right? Home is where the heart is. But where is mine?