Sweet Dreams
"Twilight..." Eclipse said suddenly as they walked together down the city streets.
Twilight glanced at the ancient Unicorn beside her who was carrying an unconscious Heart of Ice on his back. He had already given Twilight the basics of how to use the security spell she had come to him for, but then he offered to cook her something for lunch if she was interested. Twilight was going to turn him down, but she caught a hint in the way he asked her that there was something else he wanted.
"What is it?" Twilight asked, slightly nervous at the way his eyes bore into hers.
"There was something I have been meaning to bring up, but I keep forgetting..." Eclipse said casually, while his eyes narrowed slightly.
"Oh?" Twilight asked, not sure where this was going to go.
"When you saw me using my eldritch powers, you seemed to recognize something... Can you elaborate on this for me." Eclipse's words were careful.
Twilight's eyes widened in realization of what he wanted, "Well, you kind of... Looked somewhat familiar to somepony I met in Equestria..."
"Similar how?" Eclipse asked rubbing his chin with a hoof.
"Well, he had a curved horn like yours, and smoke billowed out of his eyes as well... I assume it has something to do with the... uh..." Twilight started before catching herself.
Eclipse raised an eyebrow, "You used the scepter to see what happened between those two and I didn't you?"
Twilight rubbed a hoof into the ground, "Well, yes... But-"
"No worries. I would not have given it to you if I worried about you seeing my past. But more importantly is the implication of there being a pony who looks similar to me. Can you tell me a little about him?" Eclipse said shifting the mare on his back slightly as he trotted beside Twilight.
"Well, his name was Sombra and he used what Celestia described to me as dark magic. But I assume his dark magic is the same as your eldritch magic?" Twilight asked.
"Most likely, it is powered by emotions however. What emotions did he use?" Eclipse returned.
"Hatred and fear... And he used those powers to rule over the Crystal Empire before Celestia and Luna used the Elements to banish him into a glacier." Twilight explained.
"How sad..." Eclipse sighed.
"Well, he was pure evil. He was nothing like you, he cared only to rule over and command other ponies with an iron hoof." Twilight said defensively.
"No, I mean its sad that a being would use those emotions to power their magic. Eldritch magic is utilized the same way as the Heart family's special magic you saw me teaching Heart of Ice here. With your strongest emotions. For a pony to use hatred and fear, that would mean that it is almost all that they have known in life.
"But... Celestia was able to use that power, and I even used it a couple of times..." Twilight said with a frown.
"Well, its usable with any emotion. But only a fool would use emotions they did not often feel. The strength of ones magic matters not when using eldritch magic, it is the strength of the emotions. Can you honestly say that when you used it, your spells were near the strength of his?" Eclipse explained.
"No, they were no where near as powerful as him with it. It took almost all of my willpower to conjure a few crystals, where he made massive spires almost effortlessly..." Twilight said in thought.
"Twilight... Can you tell me where he is now?" Eclipse said after a moment of silence.
"Sombra attacked the kingdom that my brother Shining Armor and sister in law Cadence ruled over. Last I saw of him he was being blown apart by the powers of the Crystal Heart. Bits of him went flying around, I'm pretty sure he is dead..." Twilight said with an apologetic look on her face.
"He should be just like me though. He should still be alive." Eclipse said shaking his head.
"What?! Sombra is still alive! I have to warn Cadence that he could atta-" Twilight said urgently.
"Woah there, he is most likely dormant. Most likely his consciousness is in the largest chunk that is left of him. He will be like that until somepony frees him." Eclipse said putting a hoof on Twilight's shoulder to calm her down.
"Oh, still though. I did not see where all the pieces flew, so aside from telling you it should be around the Crystal Empire I don't know what to tell you." Twilight said with a frown.
"Then I will have to go looking. Can I ask you for some directions though..." Eclipse said with a shrug as they arrived at his home.
As Eclipse unlocked and opened his door Twilight was trying to work out why Eclipse wanted to find Sombra. Sure they were very similar, but Sombra was perhaps the only pony Twilight knew who did things simply for the sake of being evil. As Twilight followed Eclipse into his living room and watched him set the unconscious mare on the sofa she decided to voice her concern.
"Do you want to ask him how the pony he possessed learned the spell? Or do you just feel bad for somepony from the same place as you being trapped like that?" Twilight asked with a frown.
"Neither, I do it for the same reason you helped Shining Armor defend the Crystal Empire. It is because he is my brother." Eclipse said with a sad smile.
Twilight nearly choked on her own tongue at this, and her wide eyes made it apparent to Eclipse what she wanted to ask but was not saying.
"We are all one in the Other Place, there is no sense of individuality. It is simply a swirling chaos of essence, and it is not until we are separated from our home that we get a sense of self. We learn emotions and free will for the first time. And we learn it from our hosts. Most likely the explanation for Sombra is that the pony he took control of fought against him when he first appeared before him, and the emotions he felt then were reflected upon Sombra as a whole. Perhaps in his hatred and fear he consumed the soul of his host before learning the other emotions... Like I said before, it is sad." Eclipse explained.
"So, Sombra was once a part of you?" Twilight asked, trying to wrap her mind around this.
"And I was a part of him, along with the whole of the Other Place. In a way that makes us related, and makes him my brother." Eclipse said with a shrug.
"But still, I don't think it is a good idea." Twilight said shaking her head.
"Don't worry, I will keep an eye on him. Besides, if it actually comes down to it and I am forced to act against him I can do the dirty deed to put him down. You will not have to use the Elements to banish him." Eclipse said waving a hoof dismissively.
"What will you be able to do against him that will put an end to him if he is immortal? Will you blast him with enough power to reduce him to what he is now?" Twilight inquired.
"No, if it comes down to it... I will consume his essence and we will once more become one. His consciousness will be no more, and his power will be mine." Eclipse said sadly at the thought.
Eclipse stepped through Twilight's portal, and looked around the the rolling green hills that surrounded him. Twilight sent him a ways south of the Crystal Empire, so as not to scare anypony with his arrival from the portal. Eclipse doubted his entrance went unnoticed regardless.
Glancing to the south, he saw in the distance a mountain with what appeared to be a large castle built into the side of it. Twilight had explained to him that it was Canterlot, the capital of Equestria. Eclipse furrowed his brow as he gazed over the castle in the distance, and he glanced down as he felt his shadow tugging at his hooves.
"No old friend, you mustn't..." Eclipse said sadly to his shadow, which he was currently stopping from materializing on its own, something he had never done before.
"She must not know we are here, and she must especially not see you. Her memories would doom this world if she mishandled them." Eclipse said to his shadow with an apologetic look.
The shadow undulated in response to Eclipse and seemed to calm down.
"Thank you Heart of Gold, I apologize for bringing us this close to her. I know it causes you great pain to be able to sense her magic after all this time and not see her..." Eclipse said as he turned towards the north where his destination lie.
As he made his casual pace towards the Crystal Empire, Eclipse did his best to hide his own discomfort. He knew what Heart of Gold was feeling even without digging into his mind, but he had to make sure that his own discomfort was not known.
A sharp pain exploded in his chest, and Eclipse felt as if his lungs were filled with hot coals. Looking down at his chest he noticed that blood was dripping and forming a pool under him. Raising an eyebrow at the arrow that had pierced him he looked up towards where it should have come from. Standing atop a hill a figure of a pony that was silhouetted by the sun behind it turned and bolted from his sight.
"What the fuck kind of a welcome is this? Twilight said this land was peaceful!" Eclipse said angrily as he yanked the arrow out of himself with his teeth.
Eclipse winced as the bubbling black magic sealed his wound. He cursed under his breath as he made for the direction the silhouette had went. As he crested the hill he saw what appeared to be a small camp, set on the side of a cliff wall. He glanced up the sheer wall, then back down to the iron cages that the tents were posted around. Eclipse frowned in realization of what was happening.
"Strayed too close to a slaver camp then?" Eclipse said more to himself than to the other pony within him.
Ponies and griffons alike hurried among the camp, gathering up weapons and strapping on armor. They probably suspected he was some kind of magical construct that was sent to deal with them, for their unicorns were preparing what looked like a sealing ritual. Eclipse frowned and considered turning and leaving, but then a thought struck him and a wicked smile spread across his face.
"You should be proud of me for this one..." Eclipse said to his shadow as he made a slow but deliberate pace towards the slaver's camp.
A hail of arrows were blocked with a black magical shield that Eclipse snapped into place before him. While he feared not their attacks, there was no need for unwanted pain. He then answered by retrieving the arrows in his telekinetic grasp, and hurtling them towards their owners with the force of meteors. The arrows tore ruthlessly through their armor with the force behind them, inflicting damage more akin to cannon fire than arrows. The panic was evident then, and Eclipse almost felt bad for how one sided the fight was. Reaching out with his eldritch magic he snuffed out the Unicorn's power, halting the ritual they were hurriedly performing. Horrified stares met him as he marched into the middle of the camp, and smiled warmly at the cowering slaves as he set flame to the remaining slavers. Black fire engulfed and devoured the dead and dying ponies and griffons who had taken up arms against him.
Eclipse shook his head at how poor the defenses were here, and moved on to the cages. What he saw made him stop for a moment and just stare, unsure of what to do about his situation. He looked at every cage from where he stood and in each one he saw the same thing, empty cages.
"Why were so many defenders here if there was nothing to defend?" Eclipse asked his shadow with a frown.
A glint of metal caught his eye from within one of the tents and Eclipse immediately lashed out with a tendril of shadow that caught the Unicorn pony who was holding a crossbow and drug him before Eclipse. The stallion was missing an eye, and was from the looks of how well dressed he was the leader of the camp.
"Why are there no slaves here?" Eclipse asked lifting the stallion to meet his gaze.
"W-what are you?!" The stallion screamed in response and tried to struggle, finding his magic blocked by the shadowy tendril that was wrapping itself around his horn.
"Tell me what I want to know or I will drain every last vestige of magical power from you. You will never recover your magic if I drain it all..." Eclipse said narrowing his eyes.
"Please no!" The slaver pleaded.
Eclipse's frown deepened as he began to slowly draw the magic from the Unicorn. The minty green aura of the slaver's magic flowed down the shadowy tendril into Eclipse, and the stallion had the sensation of broken glass being rolled around inside of his head. With a moan the stallion nodded weakly complying with Eclipse who abruptly halted his draining of the Stallion's magic.
"Speak." Eclipse commanded.
"They haven't arrived yet..." The stallion said weakly, his energy gone along with a large portion of his magic.
"So you have a group that is yet to show up, and they will have slaves with them?" Eclipse asked for confirmation.
The stallion nodded, a short jerky motion of his neck as he fought to stay awake.
"When?" Eclipse asked shaking the stallion slightly to jolt him back awake.
"Now..." The stallion wheezed before passing out again, the migrane from losing so much magic proving too much for him.
Eclipse abruptly turned and was greeted by the sight of a few dozen ponies and about eight griffons who were pulling two caravans over the crest of a hill to the north. Eclipse could see that inside of the caravans were roped up ponies, most of them mares. The slavers stared in mute horror at him and the smoldering corpses around him. The sun was behind them, making it hard to distinguish what they looked like, but he practically smell the fear coming from them. A deep and primal part of Eclipse stirred at this, but he quickly quelled it and strode towards them. He had a plan to set into motion, and he needed to work fast.
Cadence had a grave look on her face as her chariot raced down the rarely traveled road. The group of slavers had recently terrorized the countryside, and had always been so careful and elusive. Rarely leaving a trace and only taking ponies who were so isolated that it would take a day for anypony to notice they were missing. But this time they messed up, this time they not only raided a more lively area, they raided her families personal summer home. Above all else however, they had foalnapped her granddaughter. Though her father had grown distant, Sonata meant the world to Cadence, and the Alicorn of Love would do anything to save her. And currently she was doing just that, she was in pursuit of where scouts had trailed the slavers to.
Cadence dared not think of what they would do to her granddaughter if they had her for too long. They were a mere hour behind the slavers, but a lot of damage could be done to a mare in an hour. Cadence bit back tears as she issued her orders.
"The smoke from their camp can be seen over that hill, ready yourselves, and attack immediately!" Cadence's voice was authoritative and in response her soldiers let loose a battle cry as they crested the hill ahead of Cadence.
Cadence frowned as the battle cry trailed off, and the stallions pulling her chariot halted, their bodies tense and alert at the sudden silence from the ponies who had disappeared over the top of the hill. With a frown Cadence spread her wings and took to the sky, what she saw however made her vomit.
The entire encampment was littered with corpses of ponies and griffins alike. Around two thirds of them were scorched where they had stood, statues of ash and bone. The rest, had met a far more grisly fate. It looked like an example had been made of them, because extreme brutality had been used in mangling and lacerating them. Their blood pooled around them, and their bodies were either twisted in sickening angles, or heavily dismembered. There were at the edge of the camp two caravans that were other than being spattered with blood and gore, undamaged. A single stallion with a white coat and black mane was poking his head inside of one of the covered caravans. He pulled his head out, and Cadence could see that he was a Unicorn. Seeing her and her soldiers he smiled and waved.
Cadence cautiously landed and approached him, her soldiers and guards following close behind her, all of them wary of this stallion who stood among the carnage as if he belonged there.
"Who are you?" Cadence asked, her eyes boring into the stallion.
The stallion raised an eyebrow as he looked Cadence over, his searching gaze making her shiver, "I was not aware there were three Alicorns in Equestria."
"Do not dodge my question, I am in no mood." Cadence said, her eyes narrowing at the stallion's foolish ploy. Everypony knew she was the leader of the Crystal empire, he would have to live under a rock not to know that.
"I am called Eclipse, I am but a humble traveler in search of somepony." The stallion said with a chuckle as he took a regal bow.
"Humble huh?" Cadence said raising an eyebrow and glancing at the bodies strewn around.
"grandmother, is that you?!" An excited voice called from within the caravan Eclipse had been previously looking into.
"Sonata?" Cadence called, the strange stallion forgotten.
Cadence hurried past Eclipse who was giving her an amused look, and she leapt inside of the caravan, and gasped at what she saw. There were a dozen dead ponies among her blindfolded granddaughter, they all bore slashes across their throats, upon the unarmored necks. This was the guard detachment that was with Sonata. The sight made cadence sick, and she was very glad her granddaughter was still blindfolded.
"Grandma Cadence, I don't know where the others are but when I woke up from a griffin hitting me I was all alone in here. You have to make sure the rest are safe." Sonata pleaded still in her blindfold.
Cadence only hesitated for a moment glancing once more at the corpses. "Alright, I will go check the other caravan..."
Exiting the covered cart Cadence felt a knot in her stomach as to how things could have gone so wrong. This was not the only great crime to happen recently, it was as if the peace and harmony of Equestria itself was being thwarted by something. Cadence glanced over to where one of her soldiers was struggling underneath Eclipse who was sitting on his back with a bored expression on his face. The soldier looked as if he was being nearly crushed under Eclipse's weight causing Cadence to raise an eyebrow and glance at the other soldiers and guards who were keeping their distance.
"For the record he started it." Eclipse said with a shrug.
"What did you do to him?" Cadence demanded with a scowl.
"Gravity spell, I am currently four times the weight I should be." Eclipse explained.
Cadence frowned at this and glanced over to the other caravan.
"That one is full of living ponies, all bound and gagged. Their cutie marks lead me to believe they were servants of sorts." Eclipse said ruffling the guards mane playfully.
Cadence could feel a gnawing sense of unease being around this stallion, something about him brought fear, like some memory she had forgotten. Cadence shook her head to shake off the feeling, "I want to know what a Unicorn as powerful as you is doing here, especially one I have never heard of."
"I think I deserve a little more gratitude for what I did." Eclipse said in an offended tone.
"What, murdering a hundred ponies and griffons?" Cadence asked, her eyes narrowing.
"Saving your granddaughter..." Eclipse stated in a firm voice, "Just remember that you owe me one..."
With that Eclipse vanished from reality, the air sucking into the empty spot he previously occupied causing a loud snap to fill the air. Cadence glared at the spot Eclipse had just occupied. She could not spare much time to think this over however, she needed to make sure that she got the captive ponies to safety. It was going to be a long day for her, sending so many letters to families of the deceased. Cadence allowed herself one last glance at the carnage that had befallen the slavers, and though it was easily the most horrible thing she had ever seen. She could not help but feel they deserved it for taking her granddaughter.
Discord's tail swished in annoyance as he sat before Fluttershy's grave. His first and best friend could not even visit him here in spirit form because she had traveled to that other continent with the Elements of Harmony. Discord would go to visit Twilight and Spike in person for a chance to talk to Fluttershy's spirit, were it not for the monster that also lived there. Discord had learned long ago to avoid that ancient land that predated himself. Even if he did want to risk angering the monster, there was still the whole matter of Eclipse who had until recently ruled that land with an iron hoof. Discord had only ever made one attempt to visit those lands in the past, and the ancient being in the body of a stallion had warned him that he was not welcome in those lands.
A magical pulse hit Discord like a ton of bricks, causing the spirit of chaos to nearly topple over in surprise. Something had just cast a powerful spell, and while he doubted any other creature in Equestria could sense it, he knew that kind of magic. Sombra had once used similar magic, but not to this scale. Discord blinked in wonderment at what this implied.
"Eclipse is here?!" Discord said in a surprised tone.
With a snap of his fingers Discord found himself near the area where the magical pulse originated from. He quickly took the shape of a snowflake, albeit one with tiny red eyes. As he floated across the icy fields north of the Crystal Empire, he searched for the stallion he had not seen for nearly two thousand years.
"Ah, there you are. I was wondering how long it would take you to show up..." Eclipse said as he stepped from the edge of Discords vision, the snow whipping about him.
Discord silently cursed at being found so quickly and resumed his natural form, "Might I ask what you are doing here Eclipse? I am surprised you dare come so near to Celestia and Luna."
"They are not my concern for being here." Eclipse said sternly.
"Oh? What may I ask then is your goal for coming here. It is not very nice for you to forbid my presence in your land if you are going to just waltz all over mine." Discord said in a slightly annoyed tone.
"I merely warned you that Chaos is not allowed in my land, a rule not instated by me but by the great one who dwells there." Eclipse said with a sigh.
Discord seemed to contemplate this for a moment, "But it is true that you never liked me, so why not just let it destroy me had I set foot there?"
"Because I was asked to." Eclipse shrugged.
"Who would care for the well being of me, the aspect of chaos?" Discord laughed at the audacity.
"I would." A stallion said in a voice identical to Eclipse's if slightly softer and kinder.
Discord blinked, unsure of what he was seeing when a second stallion stepped from behind Eclipse. His eyes then widened in realization, "You never consumed your host like Sombra did..."
"No, I did not." Eclipse confirmed.
"Why?" Discord said, unable to think of a quip.
"Because he taught me how to love. Instead of fearing or hating me for taking his body, he showed me kindness and love. They can change somepony, can't they?" Eclipse asked with a small smile.
Discord lowered his eyes as he thought over this, "What are you here for?"
"My brother of course, I just learned of him." Eclipse said sadly.
"Sombra! But, he is dead." Discord said with a frown.
"We beings of the other place can never be truly killed, he is hurt and weak somewhere, and I cannot let him suffer like that for all of eternity." Eclipse said shaking his head.
"I am truly sorry then..." Discord said, for once in his life with no sarcasm or joke in mind, "I do not know where he can be found."
"I did not expect you to, I am going to make Cadence show me." Eclipse said with a shrug.
"Then why summon me all the way out here?" Discord asked, eyeing both of the stallions cautiously.
"To let you know that from what Twilight told me, you may be able to visit Concordia. You have calmed down compared to your past self and reek a lot less of chaos. So long as you don't get too wound up and crazy you will be allowed to visit."
Eclipse explained.
Discord perked up at this but then his eyes narrowed slightly, "What is the catch?"
Eclipse merely gave him a sad smile for a moment before finally giving him an answer.
Cadence did not know what Eclipse had spoken to her granddaughter about, but she found it better to keep the entire matter to herself and not ask the poor mare. She may be eighteen already, but she had lived a somewhat sheltered life and was still so innocent to the world. And Cadence would do anything to keep that innocence intact. In a way she thanked Eclipse for keeping Sonata blindfolded and not making her see what he had done.
"Where have I heard that before?..." Cadence said, frowning suddenly.
Cadence let out a frustrated sigh as she found herself not able to recall where she had heard that name before. Her thoughts however were interrupted as the doors to her throne room burst open and her son marched into the room. He bore a grave expression and looked like he was actually going to confront her about something, a rare occurence with her quiet son.
"Mother, is what I heard true?" Shielded Heart asked with a furious expression.
"Shielded, everything is alright." Cadence said in a soothing tone.
"I don't care that by luck things turned out for the better, I am furious that they were allowed to happen in the first place. How did a group of slavers that large even manage to form, let alone kidnap my daughter?" Shielded heart said stomping a hoof.
"Shielded, you haven't ever been so angry, what has gotten into you? I understand you are distressed that your daughter was attacked, but you should be overjoyed that she is safe." Cadence said with a frown,
"What has gotten into me?! What has gotten into you? You let auntie Celestia walk all over us and 'borrow' half of our standing guard force and three quarters of our military force. We cannot let so many of them go and not expect a crime rise." Shielded Heart huffed.
Cadence laid her ears back slightly at this, "You don't understand. Our country was founded upon using the Canterlot Royal Army to guard it for nearly three decades. We owe much to Aunt Celestia and Luna for keeping us safe for so long. The request was something I could not simply ignore."
"And what if they ask for your aid in whatever ridiculous campaign they have planned? What if they ask you to lay your life on the line for them?" Shielded Heart said narrowing his eyes.
"Then I would... I owe them everything, and I love them very much." Cadence said softly.
Shielded Heart's eyes widened at this, before he collected himself and coughed into his hoof, "If that is what you truly think is for the best... Mother." The final word was said with a slight edge to is, but the rest was as passive as the prince had ever been.
"Should I come back another time?" A voice called from the entrance of the throne room.
Cadence's head shot up from where she had just been pressing a hoof against her temple, and Shielded Heart jumped slightly at the intrusion, before turning and giving her mother a look.
"This is why we can't let our guard force get so small, a stallion was able to just waltz into the royal palace." Shielded Heart said with a frown.
"I don't know if the guards could stop him..." Cadence said sitting up slightly, her back rigid.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Shielded Heart said raising an eyebrow.
"Well, he waltzed into a slaver camp and killed all of them before we could even arrive..." Cadence said quietly as she stared at Eclipse who looked back with an expectant expression.
"I can come back later if this is a bad time." Eclipse said with a frown.
"No, we were just finishing." Cadence said shooting a glance at her son, "What is it you wanted, as you said. I owe you one..."
"Ah good, I want you to share with me a little piece of history nopony has been able to fill me in on. And from what I have heard you were there when it happened." Eclipse said with a smile as he approached the throne.
As Eclipse stopped beside the prince, Shielded Heart looked the stallion next to him over for a second before clearing his throat, "Thank you..."
"Hmm?" Eclipse said, for the first time acknowledging the prince.
"For saving my daughter." Shielded Heart explained.
"Ah, your welcome. Cute kid by the way, doesn't look that much older than mine" Eclipse said in a friendly demeanor.
"You don't look a day over thirty though..." Cadence said with a frown.
"Thank you, anyways I wanted to inquire about the time when you liberated this empire from its previous ruler." Eclipse said with a smile.
Cadence and Shielded Heart shared a glance before the princess spoke up, "Why would you want to know about that?"
"Call me a fan of history." Eclipse lied, "Besides, us magey types always love old and obscure history."
Cadence knew the last bit was a joke, but if she didn't know better she would have sworn it was a jab at Twilight.
"Well, I would be happy to fill you in if that is all you want to know, but first can you answer me a small question?" Cadence said quirking an eyebrow as she stared under Eclipse's hooves.
"Oh?" Eclipse questioned.
"Where is your shadow?" Cadence said pointing a hoof under Eclipse.
Eclipse cocked his head slightly at this and looked under him. Immediately he swore as he realized what that meant. Eclipse glanced in the direction of Canterlot and a scowl adorned his face, "It means I let my guard down..."
Cadence eyed Eclipse suspiciously, but began to fill him in on the history of the Crystal Empire.
Celestia stirred in her sleep, the fitful nightmares she was prone to have haunting her like usual. Guards new to the force were always panicked when they could hear their princess struggling in her sleep, but the veterans knew that it was only nightmares, and not some threat that Celestia was wracked with. Tonight however, something did stir in the Alicorn of the Sun's personal chambers.
A shadow crept across the walls, surveying its surroundings before sweeping across the floor towards the bed. As it drew nearer, it solidified until Heart of Gold silently approached his wife. He crawled into bed beside Celestia, and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Celestia immediately stopped struggling in her sleep, and nestled down into her covers. Her nightmares were no more, and Heart of Gold fed directly into her mind soothing dreams.
"I have not seen you in so long my love. My only regret now is that you cannot see me." Heart of Gold said as he nuzzled Celestia.
Heart of Gold crawled off the top of the bed and soundlessly crept across the floor on his shadowy hooves. He trotted over to where a large mirror sat, and many pictures were stuck along the sides. He saw many pictures of Celestia smiling with different ponies, most of them being Twilight or Luna. In truth Heart of Gold was amazed that Celestia had managed to successfully create a nation like this. Though he suspected a fresh start was all that was needed to break the cycle of hatred that plagued his homeland.
Heart of Gold glanced back at his slumbering wife, and smiled as he whispered, "You have made a good life for yourself here..."
This made Celestia the oldest living Alicorn, and Luna the second. Previous Alicorns had always fallen as a toll of war, or revolution. They usually only lasted a few hundred years, before a replacement had to be made to lead the ponies. Eclipse had ended that cycle however, and Heart of Gold now seeing the results of that thanked him for doing so.
The door to Celestia's chamber burst open as Luna charged in and her eyes darted around every corner of the room. Luna usually did her best to lessen the burdens of her sisters dreams, but she had not even gotten the chance to stop her sister from dreaming at all before another had actually managed to give her pleasant dreams despite the curse. Luna knew of only one pony who could do this, but she did not know why he would. Questions flew through her mind as she slowly approached her sister's sleeping form. Why would he lessen her suffering now? Did he want to make peace? Or was he taunting her?
"You really are out of it Tia... Normally if I were to rush in here like this you would have been on your hooves in an instant, alert and ready to attack thanks to your night terrors." Luna said shaking her head.
A shadow moved, causing Luna to jump as she caught the dark form of something creeping out the balcony window. Luna hurried over to where it had left, and scanned the skies and ground. What she did not see however, was the shadow that moved into her own, and through that departed.
"Wait wait wait, let me get this straight. You blew Sombra into a hundred directions with this... Crystal Heart?" Eclipse asked, confused about what he had just been told.
"Yes, the Crystal Heart harnesses the power of love. Sombra was weak to it because of his evil nature and was ultimately destroyed by its power." Cadence explained.
"Where did you keep the pieces of him?" Eclipse asked with a frown.
"I... Beg your pardon?" Cadence said, taken back slightly.
"Well, you couldn't just let pieces of him litter the streets. What did you do with his corpse?" Eclipse pressed on.
"Well, I originally planned on just burying them. But Celestia told me Sombra could come back again if he ever managed to rally his powers. So we sealed his remains away in the one place they could never escape from." Cadence said with pride.
Eclipse waited for Cadence to go on for a moment, an expectant look on his face, "Well, where did you put him? You have me hooked into the story, don't tease me now."
"I... Honestly don't feel comfortable sharing that with you..." Cadence said with a frown.
"Aw, come on. What am I going to do?" Eclipse said with an innocent smile.
A shadow darted out from within Cadence's and attached itself underneath Eclipse. The immortal blinked a few times, taken by surprise that his shadow had returned so quickly, along with the fact of where it came from. Cadence held a stunned expression of having a shadow leave hers and join with the pony before her. Slowly Cadence's eyes narrowed as she suspected foul play was at hoof.
Eclipse suddenly widened his eyes in realization before covering his face with a hoof, "Sombra is near the Crystal Heart. Isn't he?"
Cadence frowned as she felt her suspicions were confirmed that her mind had been read for the answer by Eclipse's shadow, "Guards!"
Eclipse turned to see several Dozen guards burst into the throne room. They quickly surrounded him, and leveled spears and horns in his direction. Eclipse raised an eyebrow as he looked over every guard, and finally settling his eyes back on Cadence.
"I thought your son said something about you being low on guards." Eclipse said with a frown.
"Yes, well I had him gather some more here from around the city after you arrived." Cadence said standing from her throne and spreading her wings menacingly.
"That is not very nice. Do you do this for every pony that asks about the history here?" Eclipse asked in a mock hurt tone.
"No, just for the ones powerful enough to threaten the peace of the country." Cadence said, her horn glowing with her magic as she charged a spell.
Eclipse sighed as he extended his eldritch magic, blocking the power of Cadence and the Unicorns among the guard. Horrified expressions adorned them as they realized their magic had failed them. Eclipse then cast a gravity spell, causing them to collapse to the floor under their own weight. Shaking his head at the display Eclipse readied his own teleportation spell.
"This is why I abolished guards. You can't trust them to do a damned thing." Eclipse said shaking his head as he winked out of existence.
Appearing before a floating crystal that issued forth an immense power, Eclipse cringed at being within the vicinity of such an artifact. Had he not an attunement to love, he might have actually just gotten himself destroyed. First order of business, remove the damned thing. Eclipse reached out with his magic, but found it only caused him to recoil from the shock of touching the Crystal Heart. Eclipse frowned at this.
"This thing may not be as powerful as the elements, but it sure as tartarus packs a punch..." Eclipse said as he tried in vain to move it with his eldritch magic now.
"Hey, Heart of Gold, lend me a hoof here." Eclipse said turning to his shadow.
"I can't manifest from there with the aura this artifact is giving off." Heart of Gold spoke from Eclipse's mouth.
"Whatever then, can you move it?" Eclipse asked.
Eclipse's horn glowed with Heart of Gold's magical aura, as the Crystal heart was torn from its position. As it left the aura it was projecting dissipated. Eclipse could still feel the power it held, a century of love from an entire nation was in there no doubt. Eclipse then turned his attention to the floor below where the Crystal Heart had stood. He walked up to it and began stamping a hoof around on each stone block. Within a short time he managed to find a hollow one, and with his own magic, popped the stone up revealing a red and black horn.
"That must be it..." Heart of Gold said from Eclipse's mouth.
"Yeah, took long enough. This was supposed to be an in and out thing." Eclipse said shaking his head.
"Stop! You don't know what you are doing!" Cadence yelled as she galloped towards Eclipse.
"I am freeing somepony I love very much. You should be able to sympathize with me." Eclipse said with a frown.
"How can you love that monster? How would you even know Sombra?" Cadence asked in a pleading tone.
"He may be a monster, he may need some work on his manners. But I have to love him. You have to love your family, even if they do things that you don't approve of." Eclipse explained.
Cadence's eyes went wide, she now remembered where she had heard the name Eclipse. It had not donned on her because she had put the information so far in the back of her mind since she never suspected she would ever meet him. Eclipse was the evil Unicorn king who banished Celestia and Luna from their home.
"Oh no..." Cadence said with a shocked tone.
"I will give you this promise however, I will leave now and take my brother with me. You will have my word that he will not return to this land." Eclipse said with a firm tone.
Eclipse levitated the horn over to him, and tucked it into his pocket dimension before opening a portal to Concordia. As he approached it he turned and shoved Cadence with his magic as she began to charge him.
"You don't want to go there, you have a nation to rule here. Just live your life happy knowing that the threat of Sombra is forever gone from your land." Eclipse said as he turned and went through the portal, closing it behind him.
Twilight jumped slightly as a portal cracked into existence. She had never actually been on the receiving end of one of these, and she suddenly had a lot more sympathy for all of the ponies she had done that to now. She watched as Eclipse strode through and closed the portal behind him. She studied his portal in the seconds it was there however, because it differed from her own. Not only was it smaller, but it seemed to have more control. Twilight could only anchor portals to the ground, but from what she saw she suspected Eclipse knew how to make a portal appear in the air. Possibly he could use it to drop ponies from heights.
"That Cadence really has trust issues..." Eclipse said shaking his head.
Twilight was snapped out of her thoughts by Eclipse's words, "You met Cadence?"
"Yeah, I saved her granddaughter, and then when I asked her to tell me the history of the Crystal Empire and where Sombra was she called the guards on me." Eclipse said with a frown.
"Well, she has had a bad history with shapeshifters. I would understand if she did not trust somepony as powerful as you showing up out of nowhere. Did you do anything do demonstrate your powers beforehoof?" Twilight asked.
Eclipse's face went blank for a moment before he let out a small chuckle, "Right, almost forgot about that. Never mind."
"So what do you plan on doing with Sombra now?" Twilight asked, changing the subject.
"Well, I am going to need to lay down some ground rules with him. This may take a little time and space however. I am going to take him into the wilderness to the east, and deal with him where we can... Discuss things." Eclipse said with a shrug.
Twilight frowned at Eclipse, "You are going to fight him to make him submit to you, aren't you?"
"The process to rehabilitating a family member is sure to be long and full of danger. But I have the utmost certainty that I will succeed." Eclipse said with a determined smile.
Twilight let out a sigh, "Hey, just make sure nopony gets injured. I am going to be very unhappy if I get reports of two immortal monsters causing havoc around a town somewhere."
"I promise, by the way. how is Heart of Ice doing?" Eclipse asked expectantly.
"She awoke and went home to have her wounds treated there about three hours ago." Twilight said with a shrug.
"Good, by the way don't let her give you any lip. You have my permission to punish her for her insolence." Eclipse said as he began channeling his magic to make another portal.
"You seem really excited..." Twilight commented.
"Of course I am. This is the first time I get to meet my brother. Would you not be giddy about meeting yours?" Eclipse said as he opened and left through a portal, not waiting for a response.
Twilight sat there for a moment, thinking about what Eclipse had said to her. She had not thought much about Shining Armor after he died. She really did not want to think about him before, rather she was content to let that wound scab over and fade. But now that she thought about it, she realized that there were a lot of things she had yet to learn. She had almost let herself forget about her brother, in fear of the pain it had caused her to lose him. Losing the girls had been tough, but they at least were still with her in spirit. Shining Armor however, who was her B.B.B.F.F. was gone forever from her life. Twilight then reflected on how she had changed since meeting with Eclipse. She thought of things in ways she had not before. She now realized that she had been thinking of ways he could weaponize his portals. But there was something else as well. Watching Eclipse strive to achieve more love in his life stirred something in her. Was it... Envy?
Twilight frowned as she shifted uncomfortable on the sofa where she sat at that thought. She realized that she had never taken the time to find a special somepony, and while she always had many friends to keep her going, and many of them she loved a lot. Twilight found she knew very little in regards to love. If only Cadence were here, nopony knew more about love than she did.
"Well, nopony except for maybe Heart of Gold..." Twilight mused as she shook her head.
"You called?" A voice asked from the kitchen.
Twilight froze. She turned her head to look at the door that lead to where she could now hear the sounds of cooking. She got up and moved towards the kitchen, when she saw Heart of Gold cooking a meal. a pan sizzled, and he was chopping up vegetables to throw into it as he looked back at her.
"What... But Eclipse just..." Twilight said wide eyed.
"I am letting him have some time alone with Sombra. It is important to do things on your own when it comes to family issues." Heart of Gold said with a smile, "Besides Shadow had planned on coming over for dinner tonight. You are welcome to join too if you would like."
"You can be this far from him with the doppelganger spell?" Twilight asked in wonderment.
"I consumes a lot of magic, and weakens our magic immensely." Heart of Gold explained.
"Is Eclipse going to be alright then?" Twilight asked with a frown.
"Believe it or not, Eclipse actually uses little to no magic at all on his spells when he fights. It is really quite ingenious really." Heart of Gold chuckled.
"How is that possible?" Twilight was intrigued by the concept.
"He has spent thousands of years perfecting and studying how magic effects things. Where I always used to throw around my raw power, he uses a control I could never achieve to do things. Eclipse once killed a dragon by using a levitation spell to pop a blood vessel in its brain. The amount of power needed to do it was minuscule, but the focus required was amazing." The stallion went on as he turned back to cooking.
"How is that even possible? Nopony should have the ability to use that fine of a control. There are too many things you need to concentrate on!" Twilight exclaimed.
"There's the thing, Eclipse is not just a single pony. He was enough essence from the other place to fill two Alicorns." Heart of Gold explained.
"Wait, so... He has enough capacity to think as if two ponies were one?" Twilight asked, stunned.
"Actually, I am not one hundred percent on how the rules apply, but Eclipse has a three track mind." Heart of Gold said over his shoulder as he set the vegetables in the pan to fry as he poured some more oil over them.
"So... He can think of three different things at once?" Twilight wondered out loud.
"Mhmm." Heart of Gold nodded as he stirred the vegetables to make sure they cooked evenly.
"What would happen if he has to consume Sombra's essence?" Twilight asked with a frown.
"He would achieve not only more power, but another track to his mind. But enough of that dreary topic. I believe you had something you wanted to ask me..." Heart of Gold said with an expectant smile as he turned from the cooking and looked at Twilight.
Eclipse stepped through the portal, the horn of Sombra levitating next to him. He took in the sight of a dimly lit cavernous rock walls that surrounded him. This place would be perfect, first he just needed to make sure that nopony was around for him to accidentally include in the little scuffle he was about to have. You never knew when one of those Dire wolves, or their misbegotten cousins would dig out a cave like this to live in, and these walls looked like they had been semi recently dug.
Eclipse turned and saw the sight of two dragons tangled up with one another. The female was on top and was asserting her dominance. Eclipse hated how barbaric these creatures were, and wished that more of them would behave like Spike. They did not live with even a shred of love in their lives, their mating was nothing more than carnal pleasure and destruction.
"Eclipse, is that you?!" Spike called from underneath the black female dragon.
"Oh my, is that where you have been Spike?" Eclipse said raising his eyebrows.
Eclipse studied the dragons for a moment, then smiled, "Make sure you raise your children with love Spike. You could do a lot of good for the dragons as a whole if it was you who raised them. I am counting on you!"
Eclipse then teleported out to give the two lovers some room, he had not pinned Spike as being into the rough kind of love though. After he left however, Spike yelled after him.
"Damn you Eclipse! I needed your help!" The purple dragon bellowed.
"Hush now, your friend told you to raise your children Spike... He even siad he was counting on you." Dusk said with a sultry smile.
"Nooooooooooooooooooo!" Spike screamed in vain as he tried once more and failed to overpower the dragoness.