"Eclipse? Ecliiiipse?"
"Hold on, Luna... I think that he's waking up."
Eclipse's eyes slowly flickered open, pulling away the darkness of unconsciousness and revealing the two Princesses, anxiously staring down at him. Celestia's face was full of gentle concern, while Luna's grimace showed a mix of worry and frustration.
"Are you alright, Eclipse?" Celestia asked as he slowly sat up on the bed that somepony had obviously laid him in, placing a supportive hoof on his back. "You just fainted in the middle of the security meeting!"
Eclipse lifted his claw to his forehead, massaging his aching temples as he realized that he had been brought to his room in the castle. "I- I'm fine. Just wishing that meeting had been a dream..."
"You didn't miss much. Sure Shot and Shining Armor got into an argument about whether the New Lunar Republic had better guards than the Solar Empire, and things just went downhill from there until he called the meeting 'over.'" Luna gave a small smile. "We really should do something about the competition between those groups... It's unhealthy."
"Yes, but more importantly..." Celestia slowly sat down, her tall figure still keeping her at eye-level on her haunches. "Would you like to explain what happened back there? You gave us all a good scare!"
Eclipse blinked a few times in confusion, his mind racing for an excuse for his actions.
"Well, I... Haven't been sleeping well, lately! Staying up late, tossing and turning, it seems like I can only get any kind of sleep during the day! In fact- it seems like it's almost time for my daily nap!" He pulled one of his arms out from behind his back, glancing at a newly materialized watch. At the skeptical looks from both ponies, he let out a long sigh.
"Okay, I can skip my nap for today, if you two REALLY need me on advisement duty..."
"Eclipse, one of the reasons I stay up so late is because I can practically hear your snoring through the walls. You haven't been having any kind of trouble sleeping." The concern faded from Luna's face, giving way to an unamused frown. "Strike one."
Eclipse's forced smile quickly faded away, as well.
"Alright! Fine... I... think that somepony might have been wearing zap-apple-scented perfume, or something! It might not have been that noticeable to you, but it was overpowering to me! I was trying to be polite, but I just couldn't keep it up for very long!" He gave them another sheepish grin, but the unnerving glares from both Princesses demonstrated that the lie had not convinced either of them.
"Strike two, Eclipse Tumult..." Celestia spoke slowly and deliberately, indicating that she would no longer put up with any more fooling around. "We all know that you run at the slightest whiff of zap apples... They can kill you."
Eclipse took a moment, then nodded. "Fair point, Princess..."
"You may as well tell them, you know!"
Celestia and Luna immediately jumped in surprise, looking around the room, trying to find the source of the voice. After a few seconds, they both looked at Eclipse, who rolled his eyes and jutted his thumb towards the wall. Following his prompt, the two Princesses saw what appeared to be a small mosaic of the draconequus standing between the trees painted on his wall. Eclipse grinned as the two alicorns looked back and forth between him and his two-dimensional counterpart, who simply grinned in return and crossed his arms.
"What? Sometimes, I need expert advice!" Eclipse chuckled as both Princesses rolled their eyes in reply to his egotistical joke. When they weren't looking, he shot the illustration a dirty glance, dragging his finger across his neck to indicate that it needed to shut up.
What? You know I'm right! She's coming whether you tell them or not! And you can't tell me to shut up! I'm the one who's supposed to say the things you won't admit!
"Who?" Celestia and Luna turned away from Eclipse and to the wall, instead, slightly offensive from his perspective. "Who's coming?"
Why, his DAUGHTER, of course! Who did you THINK the note was written to?
Both Princesses' jaws immediately dropped, slowly turning back around to face the "real" Eclipse. The moment of silence that settled over the room was the most awkward that the three of them had ever experienced.
"You- you have a DAUGHTER?" Luna stuttered.
"You're a FATHER? And you never TOLD US?" Celestia's face was beginning to flush at the revelation.
"Look, when he says it THAT way, it sounds like something it isn't..." Eclipse bit his lip in embarrassment, glancing to either side, rather than at Celestia and Luna. "She's only my daughter because I helped CREATE her! Aside from that, I never wanted anything to do with her!" He took a moment to think as both of the Princesses grew even more shocked, their eyes widening and jaws dropping anew. "No! THAT'S not what I meant, either! I mean, she was made by magic, not.. well..."
"The usual way."
"Exactly!"
Luna let out a long sigh of relief, but Celestia still looked concerned. "Eclipse, that still doesn't explain much. Who exactly is she? How did you... make her?"
"Well, if you're looking for a name, she has a few! Eris, 'The Miasma,' Nightmare Moon... Discord liked to call her his 'little Alicorn assassin!'"
Just when it seemed that nothing could have shocked the Princesses further, this bombshell dropped. The two of them looked to one another, trying to comprehend what they had just heard.
"Did he just say... alicorn ASSASSIN?"
"And NIGHTMARE MOON?" Luna added.
When they looked back at Eclipse, he was already gone, a trap door in his bedsheets swinging shut.
"ECLIPSE TUMULT!" Celestia shouted, grabbing at his bedspread to try and follow. Unfortunately, it had already vanished from existence, impossible to recreate without Eclipse, himself. Immediately, she looked back at the illustration on the wall, but it had already disappeared, as well.
Even as she gave up the fruitless efforts, a flash of violet fire flew in through the open skylight, floating downwards and gathering itself in front of Luna's face before metamorphosing into a scroll, which she caught with her magic.
"Pennington, I don't have time for this..." Luna muttered angrily as she tossed the scroll aside with a frustrated grunt. As it rolled onto a nearby desk, however, she saw the word "URGENT" written in red letters of his messy hoofwriting. For a moment, Luna gave the letter an even stronger glare, until the red letters began to turn brown as whatever they were written in fully dried.
"Is that... Blood?" Celestia whispered, breaking the moment of silence.
"Only Pennington Inkwell would do something like that..." Luna rolled her eyes and picked up the scroll, hastily breaking the seal. "He must have forgotten to take red ink with him... Again." After a few seconds, Luna let out a long groan of defeat, reading the beginning of the letter out loud.
"'Dear Princess Luna... It is my belief that Canterlot may be in grave danger.' Oh, how wonderful. More problems."
"They never really stop, do they?"
Eclipse fell a long way, but he had thankfully put a gradient into the the impromptu escape route, allowing him to control his descent. He took a moment to breathe and relax, caught up in a pocket dimension pathway. If he had actually been traveling through real space, he would have broken through at least three floors of the palace, by now.
"Why? Why did he have to say that?" He muttered, slamming his palm against his own forehead. "Of all the things to say, and all the possible ways that he could have said it... He had to get me into trouble! And, I mean, I didn't want to explain it! Especially not to them..." He smacked himself a few more times for good measure. "Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why do I always have to screw everything up for myself?"
As he slid down the seemingly endless slope, he thought that he could hear an unfamiliar noise, but he couldn't quite make it out.
A few seconds later, however, he heard something else quite clearly.
"Hello, Daddy..."
A voice hissed from the darkness, dripping with malice. It was low, but feminine in nature, and unmistakable to the draconequus. "Did you miss me?"
Eclipse felt his heart not only skip a beat, but stop altogether out of fear. After a few seconds, he realized that it was more than just a feeling, and quickly slammed his fist against his chest, prompting the faulty organ to start again.
"Did I scare you, Daddy? I'm SOO sorry..." Still heavy-laden with cynicism, the voice continued.
Eclipse shook his head, snapping his fingers to exit the pocket dimension. To his surprise, though, nothing happened. Confused, he snapped again, and a sudden bolt of electricity shot out from the wall and zapped his lion's paw, bringing his attempts to leave to a painful halt.
"Aren't you happy to see me, TUMULT? The voice sent chills down Eclipse's spine as he realized that he was trapped.
"O-of course, Eris... It's been a while since I had the snot scared out of me..." He muttered his reply, remembering her name as easily as her sadistic streak.
"I see that you still left Daddy Discord all alone... what a shame!" She chuckled, making Eclipse shudder. "I'd hoped to at least have HIM around..."
"Yes, well, I'm afraid that Dizzy had to be put in time-out..." Eclipse swallowed loudly, trying hard to retain his presence of mind. If knew that he could keep the banter with Eris going, he might find a way out. "I can see that you're still up to your old tricks... Your 'fun' at the New Lunar Republic has certainly caused a stir..."
""Fun?" Tumult, that wasn't for recreation! That was simply... sending a message." She paused, then laughed lightly, once again forcing Eclipse to shudder. "Well, it still was pretty fun... You should have heard that pony squeal! She thought that she was SO tough... Until I showed her that against magic, she was still just another earth pony."
"I don't understand one thing, though..." Eclipse raised his injured hand to his chin, seemingly in thought. "Why did you let Quick Strike live? Not to say that I'm not glad that you did, but it's not your style... Letting them get away. If you're about to lose your toy, you make sure no one can have it."
"Oh, Tumult, you haven't changed a bit! Seeing me as some kind of bratty child..." Eris's next words came from right behind Eclipse, as if she had been whispering in his ear.
You didn't get the whole story, I think... She was powerless, and that made her afraid. Things happened that night that shattered her to the core... Things that she won't speak of until the day that she dies. As the voice grew more and more smug and confident in itself, Eclipse began to shake with fear, causing him to slide even faster down the passageway. I wanted her to live with that, Tumult. To remember, that no matter where she went or what she did, in that hour, she was MINE. That's the kind of torture that she can't run away from. The kind that I don't even have to be there to inflict... I'm no longer a child, Daddy. I don't just kill things for fun. I discovered that it was far, far better to watch them live... to squirm and writhe within their own little HELL!
Eclipse was speechless for a moment, eyes screwed shut in fear. Somehow, though, he managed to force out a few words.
"Is- is that why you're here? To torture me?"
Oh, my dear Daddy... Of course not! I'm not even there... I wouldn't have been able to even touch you if you hadn't tried jumping into this place to escape your problems, as you always have. When I said you hadn't changed, I meant it! I knew that you would leap into the embrace of chaos sooner or later, try to use your powers to flee from life... or death. It was almost too easy, really, locking you in here! I'd hoped for a struggle...
But no. I'm not going to torture you...
I'm just going to kill you.
All at once, the entire corridor became deafeningly loud with the sound of grinding machinery, and Eclipse looked down to see a gigantic grouping of gears and buzzing circular saws, all eagerly waiting for him to drop inside.
At this point, Eclipse realized that, unless he managed to get very creative, very fast, he was about to die.
She may have hijacked it, but this is still my creation... If I can just think of something that she doesn't expect, I should be able to break free!
Closing his eyes, Eclipse focused on the word around him, the one that he had summoned by his own desire. There was only one way to get out of that place: to make the place no longer exist. With a sudden surge of effort, he pulled the entire dimension in on himself...
and nothing happened. The grinding, cutting machine only growing closer.
Reaching behind his back, he tried to determine what kind of item he would have to work with. As he retrieved his arm from behind, his lion paw emerged holding an artist's palette and brush. Following instinct, he grabbed the bush and dipped it in the red paint. Swinging the brush around and spreading the red paint over the wall of the tunnel. In only a second, he had painted himself a large, red button with the word "EJECT" written on it.
If she thought of destroying the entire dimension, this has got to be too simple...
NO!
Maybe not!
Eclipse slammed his fist down on the button. A panel opened up in front of him, revealing light again, and a large spring flung him outwards and out of the nightmare.
Whipstitch let out a long sigh as she paced back and forth, still frustrated. It wasn't her loss that bothered her as much as the humiliation that Eclipse had been toying with her until he'd simply gotten tired of playing, and then taken complete control of the situation from her. With a long sigh, she looked up at Discord's statue, still frozen in a pose of shock and horror. Most ponies found it nearly impossible to find the center of the Labyrinth, but even without using her magic, Whipstitch had always been able to find Discord with ease.
"I just don't get it!" She shouted at the statue, stomping her hoof. "I try and try, I've been studying for more than a year, now, and I complete every one of Eclipse's stupid assignments, and I still feel like I'm light-years away from being able to do what I actually WANT to!" She stormed up to the statue, climbing on his limbs until she could look him in his stony eyes. "He still treats me like a child! I mean, do you know what he did the first time I made it rain milk, like you? He laughed at me because it was just white milk! He thought that it was hilarious! Apparently, the two of you were doing that from the cradle..." As the moment of anger subsided and faded into sadness, Whipstitch leaned back, laying in his outstretched arms.
"I mean, it's not that I'm studying chaos to impress anyone... It's just... You always acted so calm, so in control of what was going on around you! Because you were! I don't want to rule the world, I just want to stop turning into a killer monster once a year..." She shuddered as she remembered the "curse" on ponies where she lived. Once a year, a pony from Fairytrail would undergo some kind of physical change, unique to every pony, and Whipstitch's was particularly gruesome, changing into a spider-like monster that, if let free to roam, would devour ponies alive. Her long hair would form a killer's body around her, and her mind would be lost within the hunter's instinct and uncontrollable hunger.
"My ancestors fought you when you first tried to take over Equestria, and the fight left us all wounded, even down through the generations, but I know that, if I can become strong enough, I could fight it! I wouldn't have to worry about hurting anypony, or forcing everyone else to deal with my problems. I know that Eclipse understands that, and he's trying to help me grow... But I feel like I'm moving along at a snail's pace!"
With a long sigh, she rolled out of the statue's arms, landing on her hooves. "I guess I'd better start working on what I'm going to do to practice this 'raining drinks' thing... Maybe I can drizzle myself a good martini!" She chuckled as she looked back up at Discord. She wasn't sure if he could hear her, but she enjoyed the idea of being able to talk to him, whether he could reply or not. Discord had always been an idol, of sorts, for her, and she'd been more than happy to learn from his younger (and less confident, less powerful, and more nerve-racked) brother, despite the obvious difficulties. She liked to think of Discord as her friend, perhaps even more so than Eclipse.
As she stared up at the stone statue, however, something caught her eye. She blinked a couple of times, then moved closer to the statue for inspection, leaning in close. As she continued to stare, Whipstitch's eyes widened, and she took a deep breath, trying to contain the shock.
"Eeeeecliiiipseeee... ECLIPSE!"
Almost on cue, a screaming draconequus seemed to fall out of the sky, landing on the ground in a heap on his stomach. Immediately, he jumped up onto his feet, looking around from side to side, as if expecting to be attacked.
"How did I get- I was supposed to be in- never mind..."
"Well, that was fast!" Whipstitch looked around, as well, trying to find what Eclipse was looking for.
For the first time, Eclipse seemed to notice Whipstitch, somewhat surprised.
"Oh! Hi, Whipstitch... Sorry, I can't really talk right now! I- I- have to go! There's a thing... at the place!" He lifted his claw, as if to snap his fingers, then stopped and began to walk away, choosing to walk, rather than teleport.
"Eclipse! I need your help!" Whipstitch pointed at the statue. "The statue is cracked!"
Immediately, Eclipse froze in mid-step. Slowly, without setting his foot on the ground, Eclipse turned on a dime, pushed by some invisible force. He walked back past Whipstitch, examining Discord, for himself, albeit somewhat distractedly.
"I don't see it, Whips..."
"Right there!" Whipstitch walked up next to him, pointing at the imposing point on the statue. "It's right there!"
Eclipse looked at the point to which she was pointing, a hairline crack on the inner thigh of Discord's goat leg, were a few tiny brown hairs were poking out. He took a moment to stare at Whipstitch, somewhat taken aback.
"And you noticed this... How?"
Whipstitch's face flushed, and she glanced away for a moment. "Well, aren't you going to do something about it?"
Eclipse turned his back, beginning to walk away again, faster this time. "Look, I'm sure you can handle it, Whips! I really have to go! Like, far away! You can expect your lesson to come in time... maybe a little late."
Whipstitch's jaw dropped as Eclipse disappeared in the maze, somehow not caring about the fact that his brother seemed to be escaping from his prison, which even Whipstitch recognized as bad news for Equestria.
"Wha- What am I supposed to do?" She could feel herself beginning to panic, and she tried to think of what she could do to contain the god of chaos without any kind of help. Looking back and forth, she did the only thing she could think of: Whipstitch cast a spell as strongly as she could.
Unfortunately, at this point, what was truly second nature to Whipstitch was chaos, and she wasn't entirely sure what she was doing. In a flash of light, Discord was immediately entrapped... In a gigantic block of lime gelatin.
"Oh, and if Celestia and Luna ask, you never saw me! I've been missing all day!" Eclipse popped his head through one of the shrubbery walls, taking only a moment to glance at her work. With a curious claw, he reached out towards the gelatin, gently poking at it with a claw. With a loud crack of thunder, Eclipse was shocked by a powerful bolt of electricity, falling to the ground in a smoldering stupor.
"That's... a good one.... Whips..." He croaked as his eyes slid shut.
Whipstitch looked between the two brothers, one trapped, and the other unconscious, both somewhat her fault.
"Maybe I'm stronger than I thought..."