//------------------------------// // The Promise // Story: We Fight as One // by chaos2012 //------------------------------// Darkness. That was the only thing that Eclipse was sure about. Nothing in her body was in pain any longer, and despite her experiences she felt almost comfortable; no doubt this was due to the fact that she had recently perished. However, it was worth it in the end when she managed to put a stop to what would have been an era of chaos and destruction due to Discord’s transformation. She felt horrible to leave her treasured subjects, the Elements of Harmony, behind in to fend for themselves, but she knew that Twilight would keep her promise and lead Equestria into a bright future. As much as she mused upon what how her faithful student would handle her new job, Eclipse couldn’t stop coming back to why she still felt conscious after supposedly dying. Opening her eyes, she stared into an endless void of black, no form of light or shape in sight. "Where... Where are we?" She asked out loud, somewhat surprised that she could hear her voice outside her head. She turned her eyes down to stare at her hooves, now deeply interested in the fact that she could see and maneuver them. Her head then turned to gaze down at her body, surprised, but not sorry to see that not one spot on her body showed the injuries from her battle. Her white coat was pristine and spotless, almost clean enough to be reflective. Even her one wing which was severely snapped before was perfectly healed, the limb and feathers in perfect order to their natural form. "What's going on?" "Well look at what we have here... It seems you have decided to join me." Eclipse felt a cold chill run up her spine in response upon hearing a voice that she would be hard pressed to forget. "No, it can't be..." She stuttered as she turned towards the direction she heard it. To her horror, the spirit of chaos was floating there, his body back in his original form. "It's so good to see you again princess, I was growing lonely in here." Discord chuckled as he floated towards the frozen alicorn. "You didn't think you could make it through that scuffle without me, did you? We can only fight more." "What are you talking about?" Eclipse quietly asked, slowly moving back away from him. "I think it would be nice that we could continue our little duel in a place like this. Why have us fight in the physical world where there is death to limit us? How about we go on here in the afterlife, where our bodies won't give out due to the amount of pain that we could sustain. We can really see who is the most powerful between us." Before she could move back anymore, Discord launched forward and coiled his long tail around her chest. She screamed out as his tail tightened its grip around her, squeezing her chest nearly to the point of being crushed. She tried to swing her hooves forward but Discord quickly grabbed them his claws. "If you think that I will let you beat me like last time, you're mistaken." Grunting in pain, Eclipse tried to focus her magic, but nothing was happening. "Wh-what's going on?" She gasped in between breaths. "Hmm... It seems I forgot to mention how magic doesn't work here in death. Looks like it will be just you and me locked like this for eternity." Discord chuckled as he increased his grip on Eclipse. "Even though you may have kept my chaos from spreading through the land, what do you think will happen that you are gone?" Eclipse’s eyes widened as he mentioned that. "What? What are you inferring?" "Don't you remember my actual plan? I never wanted to take control of Equestria. I wanted to remove you from control and watch the land itself fall apart in panic. Without the princesses, chaos would spread even without my involvement. And now that you are here, it's seems that I have won." "NO!" Thrashing backward, Eclipse felt her head smack into a pillow behind her. Shooting her eyes open, she found her body wrapped tight in a mess of bed sheets. "Wha-what? Was that...just a dream?" Panting hard, Eclipse slowly unravelled her body out from the tight covers and sat up. Shifting her eyes back and forth, she noticed she was no longer on the field she collapsed in, but what seemed to be a small yellow room. Several monitors were set next to the bed she was in, multiple IV lines and cables strung out and hooked into different spots on her body. She then noticed the clipboard that was set on the rest right next to her. "Canterlot emergency care..." She read in the small print in the corner. Sitting up a little bit, she winced as her injured wing pushed up against the dresser on the side and knocking something off. Looking back, she noticed that one wing wrapped in a thick cast and sticking out to the side. Her eyes then shifted to the ground to see the bouquet of flowers that were knocked off. She also noticed how the flowers were all wilted and dried up. "How long have we been here?" The sound of the door of the room opening up broke the confused alicorn out of her thoughts. She turned to see a fresh bouquet of flowers coming through the opening, followed by a face she didn't expect to see. "Twilight?" As soon as she saw the alicorn up, Twilight's eyes shot open as she dropped the flowers onto the ground. She just stared up to Eclipse in amazement, her mouth slightly hanging open. After a few more moments her mouth started to quiver, a few tears running down her face. "You're... you're awake..." She whispered out. The two stared at each other for what seemed like eternity, their gazes locked onto the other. Twilight was the first of the two that moved, slowly trotting towards the bedside. Before Eclipse could say anything, Twilight jumped up and threw her hooves around the white alicorns chest. "I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried about you!" Twilight buried her face into Eclipse’s chest as she weeped. "Please don't ever scare me like that again..." Eclipse wanted to try and speak, but her own breath was catching in her throat from the emotions bubbling inside her chest. Wrapping her hooves around the small pony on top of her, she pulled her closer into the embrace. "It's alright Twilight, we are here now." The two of them sat quiet in their hug for another few minutes, enjoying the comfort of the other. Suddenly, something in Eclipse’s mind made her sit back. "Twilight, what happened? All we can remember is being on the field, and we collapsed." Letting her hooves unwrap from Eclipse, Twilight leaned back and wiped a few stray tears from her face. "When you stopped breathing after you fell, I thought you really had died. But when I checked your pulse it was still there. It was so faint I could barely feel it, but it was still there. Rainbow flew as fast as she could and got the guards to help carry you back to Canterlot." Eclipse could not believe what she was hearing; she had truly believed she had died after that battle and was sent to the afterlife. Now she was learning that she had miraculously survived afterward. "Twilight , how did you save us?" "I... I honestly don't really know. When we got you to the hospital, the doctors did their best to try and help, but they said that they couldn't even operate. They kept you in special care for the first few weeks, then they- "First few weeks!?" Eclipse yelled. "How long were we unconscious for?" Twilights hoof rubbed the back of her head."You... You were unconscious for five weeks." Eclipses mouth held fell open slightly in disbelief. "Five... Five weeks?" "Yes you have been." Both Eclipse and Twilight turned back to see the doctor standing there in the doorway. "Your majesty, you're awake now. I'm so glad you're alright. You had us worried for a while." The brown stallion came in and adjusted the glasses on his face. "How are you feeling?" "We... We're fine. Thank you. Doctor, can you tell us what happened? We aren't sure what is going on." Eclipse questioned. The doctor sighed and adjusted the glasses on his face. "I honestly wish we could tell you the full facts, but even I don't have the answers." He trotted over towards her and looked at the monitors. "Blood pressure is good. Your heart rate has been stable for a while now and- "Doctor, can you please just tell us?" Eclipse asked a little impatiently. The stallion closed his mouth and turned away from the machines. "Oh, sorry... Anyway, I'll keep this simple. After Princess Twilight was able to get you here, we quickly did a magical pulse test through your body to see the extent of the damage. Several of your organs like your stomach and liver were damaged from internal bleeding due to you injuries, but the worst was all from yourself." Eclipse tilted her head in confusion. "Ourselves? What do you mean?" "Magic exhaustion will happen to a pony when they push themselves past their physical limits. This can result in loss of consciousness, ruptured blood vessels, or even comas if pushed hard enough. In your case, it is much more serious. With such a massive amount of energy you were using, your body was actually shutting down from strain. One body with a multiplied magical force was simply too much to handle at full power." Eclipse sat silent for a minute as the doctor told her what had happened. Her own power had nearly killed herself just by using it. "It did feel painful to even use our magic towards the end, like it was making my mind break." "If you had forced yourself to keep using much longer, you would have died. When you stopped using it for a time, your magic began to act on its own, forcing your mind and other systems to stop responding. It seems that when you passed out though, that it was your power actually was saving you." "What?" Eclipse sat up higher in the bed to his words. "How did that help us? It nearly killed us?" "Magic is used when you choose to activate it. In your fight, you kept pushing yourself more and more at your own choice. Once you actually stopped, your magic activated on its own accord. Your mind and other organs were sealed in aura and put into an almost comatose stasis to recover . We couldn't even access them to operate on, it was resisting our efforts. We only sealed up your external injuries that you had and kept your fluids stable." The doctor removed the glasses from his muzzle and scratched his brow. "I have never seen magic work like this with a pony before... Although I have never had two alicorns fused into a single body before. There is probably so many things about your power that we won't understand." That statement made Eclipse sit back up in the bed. She forgot about having to explain this to the rest of Equestria; both princesses suddenly forced into the body of one. But then she remembered being stuck in a hospital bed for the last month after being brought by her own guards. "Doctor, you've... known about us like this, correct?" She quietly asked him, "Does this bother you?" "Your highness. Princess Twilight explained it to all of us the moment she arrived." The doctor grinned and lightly chuckled. "I'll admit it was interesting at first, but we have been waiting for the moment you woke up. I can't tell you how many times guards have come in to check up on your condition and see if you had awoken." The large alicorn sat quiet in her bed as she took in the news; she had expected the ponies to be cautious of her new form, yet they were exactly the opposite. They were anxiously waiting for the chance for her to come back and be the ruler she was. With everything she was hearing, she couldn't help but cast a small smile. "We are grateful that you were worried for us, and thank you for the care you gave us." "You are most welcome, your highness." The doctor gave a small bow to her direction. Twilight smiled and hopped off of the bed. “I will go and tell the others that you are up now.” “No, wait Twilight…” Eclipse quickly said. “We believe it would be best that we be the ones to announce this to the city.” forcing herself up, she slowly made her way onto the floor below by her former student. “Gather up the city tomorrow for a special presentation. We will be there to greet them ourselves." ---- Music Link The next day seemed to come almost instantly. Eclipse stood alone in the hallway leading out towards the palace balcony. She stared at the mirror on the wall as she looked over the new jewelry given to her. Strapped to her chest was a deep green breastplate encrusted in golden jewels throughout. Her horseshoes were made of midnight blue glass, its surface radiating in silver sparkles. Finishing off her wardrobe was a new crown created of solid emerald, its deep green hue glowing through her shifting mane. It was truly a magnificent set of royal garments for her to wear. She shifted her shoulder to adjust the position of the breastplate clasp, but the movement caused her to wince. She turned back to look at her injured wing that was awkwardly folded at her side.While it was still broken, it had healed enough to be removed from the cast it was wrapped in. She looked back to the mirror as she let out a small sigh. “It looks like we will have to deal with it.” As she looked towards the doors leading outside however, she felt a small shaking in her knees. While she had believed a day would be enough time to prepare herself, now she wasn’t so sure about this. Going out to face her subjects in her current state would possibly dim their hopes and cloud their minds with fear and doubt over her weakened form. But before she herself could feel the same way, Eclipse shook her head and held it high with her chest out; she may have endured a great deal from her latest battle, but that doesn’t mean she will be forever helpless. The only thought that plagued her mind other than her condition was the fact that she was to spend the rest of her endless life as a powerful being that had been made between two sisters who wished to act in the best interest of their beloved country. Taking a deep breath, Eclipse carefully trotted out to the balcony to look down at her subjects. The crowd of thousands burst out into a loud applause moment she came into view to them, causing her jaw to fall open slightly in awe to the response from them. Twilight, who was already waiting there in her own regalia, trotted over towards the newly arrived princess and smiled. “They are all waiting for you now.” the smaller alicorn happily said. Eclipse felt happy to see her young friend giving her the chance to show herself in front of everypony. Shaking her head one last time, she made her way out to the golden railing that surrounded the balcony edge. As soon as Eclipse looked out to the crowd below, the ponies burst out even louder than they had before. Smiling once again, she took a deep breath before beginning her planned speech. “My little ponies, we’re happy to see that everypony is safe and sound after our long period of absence. We apologize for filling you all with worry over the past five weeks, but we’re delighted to announce that we shall continue to watch over you all.” She was relieved to have her introduction rewarded with a raucous cheer; it was as if they ignored her battle scars entirely. “Furthermore, our rule shall be aided with the help of our newly-coronated princess Twilight Sparkle.” The aforementioned pony perked up at the call of her name. “We must know you are grateful to see us like this, but you are truly confused by what we are now. We cannot truly explain what will happen from now on with both of your princesses sharing one form. Life will be different for all of us from this point. What we can assure you is that we promise that no matter what happens, we will do everything in our power to protect this land. No matter what it may be, no matter how powerful it is, we will stop any kind of threat that dares show it face in the light of day, or in the dark of the night. It will be a cold day in Equestria when we give up protecting every single one of you. No matter if it be the cold steel of a sword or even beasts from the darkest caverns, we will not let it harm one pony while we are breathing!” Screams of joy rang out from the massive crowd of ponies at the powerful speech that Eclipse delivered to them. She herself took a step back from what she just gave, glancing back at Twilight who trotted up to to her. “It looks like life will be different now…” the purple alicorn said, “... But I believe you will do great… Eclipse.” A small chuckle escaped Eclipses throat. “So you remembered to call us by our new name?” Twilight smiled back at the comment. “I’ll admit it is a little different not calling you by Celestia or Luna, but I think I can get used to you as one.” Eclipse looked up into the sky as she contemplated what Twilight said. “Yes, we are as one now. The names Luna and Celestia may not be used anymore, but don’t ever forget that they aren’t gone, but inside me. We live as one, and as long as we work to protect Equestria, we will fight as one.”