Northern had known that she would be taken to wherever her father was located, but her original plan did not include riding in a train for a few hours to do so. The train, the strange dragon looking train, wasn't the bad thing about the whole arrangement. What almost annoyed her was that she was surrounded up fifteen vampires, twenty werewolves, a pony who kept whispering to a metal shard, a unicorn mare who gave her a concerned look every now and then, and then Wisdom and the conductor herself.
Wisdom himself was just staring at her while he listened to the unicorn mare who was supposed to be controlling the train they were in. Every now and then Northern saw the shimmer of a metal sheen, almost as if part of the mare was actually made out of metal. Then she remembered something, a story her mother had shared with her, one about the mare that her father's friends had sought out to help them in their quest. The mare was named Copper Sprocket, a mare who was supposed to be some sort of mechanical genius.
Northern hadn't actually been expecting to meet Copper on her journey.
"I hope the weapon is ready," Wisdom said to Copper, grateful for all the noise that blocked their conversation from being overheard, "You don't know how long it took to ensure Peachy and Tick that you wouldn't use their blood to make weapons that could be turned against them."
"I would never turn on my friends," Copper growled, already feeling the gears in her metal limb shifting slightly, "but I needed a blood sample of a vampire and a werewolf. In order for me to craft a weapon, or several weapons, that can harm a werepyre I needed to create a sample of Eclipse's blood since we don't have any of it. In the last compartment I have a special chest that contains the weapon."
"Northern is going to freak out if she sees it," Wisdom said, getting off the cushion and starting to walk towards the back of the train, "Can I see it?"
"Course you can see it," Copper remarked, surprised that Wisdom would even ask, "after all, the weapon was designed to be used by you and you alone."
Northern watched Wisdom and Copper walk past the assembled group of ponies, Wisdom simply vanishing and reappearing behind them as Copper allowed them to part before her. Northern waited a few seconds, allowing them to get further away as she focused on her strange ability, fully aware that they weren't sharing something with her. Before they got too far away she quickly got up and followed them to the back of the train, entering the second compartment and finding Peachy talking to Tick.
"I still can't believe Wisdom even asked us for a sample of our blood," Tick complained, rubbing a spot where some of his blood had been taken from, "I don't know what he's planning, but whatever it is it can't be good."
"Maybe Copper is trying to cure our courses without any necessary death," Peachy replied, her eyes lingering on the door to the next compartment, "Though I have seen her doing some strange tests in the last compartment. She's doing something with our blood, but neither her nor Wisdom has felt it necessary to tell us what they're planning."
Northern lowered her head and passed by her father's friends, ignoring the rest of their conversation while she continued after Wisdom and Copper. The third compartment was where she saw them again, but they were standing outside the door to the last car and she ducked behind some of the crates to avoid being seen. From what she had briefly seen the door was still closed, but she hoped to learn something from the two secretive ponies.
"Getting this weapon into Manehatten won't be a problem," Copper was saying, her metal claws ticking on a metallic pad of some sort, "but getting a chance to use it on Eclipse will be. There is no reason to suspect that he'll go for the arrival of his daughter, one that we suspect he has chosen to neglect for fear of her being used against him."
"Getting this to Eclipse won't be as much of a problem as you think Copper," Wisdom replied, the door hissing open and the car filled with a bright blue light, "With this weapon, one forged from the blood of two separate clans and from the fires of a mountain forge, we shall take the fight to Eclipse. If he thinks his vampire or werewolf abilities will save him we shall simply tear them down. If he takes on the werepyre form we shall rain destruction and ruin upon him until he is forced to surrender."
Northern peeked out from behind the crates and what she saw caught her immediate interest; what she could see of the last train car almost made it seem bigger then it actually was. As the two ponies walked passed the door Northern summoned her courage and followed them, making sure the door didn't slam shut on her as her suspicions were confirmed. Right as she ducked behind a pillar of some sort, a metallic one at that, she knew one thing; the whole compartment seemed bigger on the inside.
"I must say, you have done wonders with this place," Wisdom continued, touching a panel with his hoof.
"I was taught how to make something like this by Doctor Hooves," Copper happily said, as if the stallion's name would make any difference, "He's got something similar to this for time travel, but he only showed me a fraction of what his own machine can do."
"I reckon he's tried to turn Eclipse back into a normal pony," Wisdom said, almost whispered as he faced a window, "and I reckon he's had no luck in that regard."
"Three points in time he has tried to change and each one he found that he cannot change anything," Copper told him, "The first point in time was when Chrysalis turned him, by accident I might add, into an alicorn prince and he beat the stuffing out of her. The second point was when he ate the Demonshade and was saved by all of us, though he was stopped from destroying Chrysalis and Sombra. The final point was when he was transformed into what he is now, the monster that everypony, even himself, now calls Eclipse.
They are points in time that the Doctor cannot tamper with; he can visit them and learn from them, but he cannot change what has happened. We cannot change the past, as much as we would like to do so, and that leaves us with our only option that we have left. That option is this weapon."
Northern risked a look at the weapon they continued to mention and found herself staring at what looked like one of those spear weapons the guard ponies of the Crystal Empire carried around. Only this spear seemed to be crafted from all metal, some sort of light brown dyed metal that served as the entire width of the weapon as the head was dyed light blue. The same light blue color that filled the room bounced off of the spear's tip, though at Wisdom's touch it seemed to fade completely.
"See?" Copper asked, "It responds to your touch alone, just like I said it would."
"We need to get to Manehatten fast," Wisdom said, his eyes full of purpose again, "Eclipse will not stay idle for much longer I am afraid and the moment he feels us coming is when he'll move."
~Manehatten, Club Night Life~
Clank was, to most of the ponies that filed through the club's doors, just a normal earth pony who came in every afternoon to drink and to watch the ponies that gathered there. They couldn't be more wrong in their lives. Once he had been a student under Inner Wisdom, but he had allowed himself to fall from that path and now served to help his former master in whatever he needed help in. That usually meant doing things against Wisdom's back and only revealing that he had helped if things had gone the way Wisdom wanted.
So he asked himself again; why was he in this club, watching the night ponies of Manehatten, when he could be out doing something else? The answer was simple; he had seen Eclipse.
He had heard the tales of the Changeling King, the one who could literally move mountains with his magic and change rivers of water into rivers of wine if he wanted. That was if you were foolish enough to believe the far fetched tales of some of the ponies he had run into. The real story was that the King had the power to topple Discord, the God of Chaos, and had only hidden himself so he could learn to control his powers.
Another question; if he was trying to control his powers then why was he in the same club as Clank, watching the ponies that gathered with a look of happiness in his eyes? Another simple answer; he had already mastered his powers and wanted to be left alone.
And he would have left Eclipse alone, if it were not for the fact that Wisdom had already discovered where he was hiding and had gathered enough forces to take down the unsuspecting stallion. It was also due to the fact that he had heard, from Wisdom's marefriend Lilly, that Queen Viscarias' daughter, a young mare named Northern Sky, had runaway in search of her father. Clank had put two plus two together already; if she went looking for Eclipse then she had already found Wisdom and they were, in turn, on their way to Manehatten all over again.
Clank looked up at the mirror in front of him, seeing his own yellow coat and blue mane staring back at him as he stared at Eclipse. The ashy grey coat was one thing, seeing how it was an unusual color even amongst the ponies of Manehatten, but the completely black mane and tail furthered his suspicions. The stallion was just sitting at a table in the corner of the club, surrounded by the same four changelings that were always with him. Whoever they were didn't matter, Wisdom would know what to do once he and his entourage arrived.
Speaking of Wisdom, Clank stared down at the pocket watch he had carried with him, noticing the time was further along then he had originally thought. He placed a couple of bits on the counter, pulled himself away from his seat, and, with a tip of a hat he put on, he thanked the bartender yet again before making his way to the door. Even during all of these movements his eyes, no matter how much they shifted, did not once leave Eclipse or his reflection. He wanted to be sure that the stallion didn't move before Wisdom arrived, but sometimes he suspected that Eclipse was just plain bored of life now.
Besides, he had left the pocket watch on the counter for the bartender to keep, mostly in the chance that it might annoy Eclipse and cause him to investigate.
"He left it there again," one of the changelings said, allowing her eyes to return to the table, "Whoever that stallion is he seems to have fun spying on you."
Eclipse looked up at the bartender, all the way to the mirror as he reconstructed the stallion he had seen for the last week. There was something about him that had caught his interest, something that was going to change up his routine for a while. For the first time in three years he smiled, knowing that somepony had finally come to find him.
Clank watched the train. the same train that he had seen roll into the station a couple of times that week, and sighed as he looked at the clock tower. They were late. He knew that there was no helping it if Pinkie was involved, but whatever the reason he waited none the less. He spotted Wisdom getting off the train and he moved to join him.
"Your late," Clank accused, causing Wisdom to raise an eyebrow.
"A seer is never late, Clank. or is he early," Wisdom said, slinging the iron container holding his weapon onto his back, "He arrives precisely when he means to."
"Whatever you say master," Clank replied, eying the container as the rest of his group flooded the area, "I was not aware that the Princesses had authorized using weapons and other monsters against Eclipse."
"Peachy, Tick, and their followers are not monsters," Wisdom countered, "We have brought what we need to deal with him, though I was unaware that you were hunting Eclipse as well."
"I figured that you would be hunting him for the last three years, so I hunted him throughout the cities," Clank said, the assembled group moving back towards the club, "I tracked him to the Club Night Life, where he spends his evenings in the company of four changelings. I have spent the last couple of evenings watching his every move and all I have discovered is that once he enters the building he doesn't leave till almost closing time.
I was going to tell you that I had discovered his whereabouts a few days ago, but then I received news from Lilly that Queen Viscarias' daughter ran away. I figured that she would run to the nearest town or city, which happened to be the Crystal Empire, and then I determined she would meet you. After that you would bring her to Manehatten and she would be reunited with her father."
Wisdom wasn't really surprised to hear that Northern had run away from Viscarias, but he still turned his head around and gave her a look of disappointment. If what Clank said was true then Eclipse was still in the club, waiting out his days while he enjoyed the company of whoever decided to hang with him. Getting to him would be simple, but hitting him would be the toughest job of them all.
Eclipse looked up at the door and watched a group of eight ponies enter the club, one of them he immediately recognized as the stallion from earlier. He would have ignored the rest of them, but then he noticed the familiar color of Peachy Keen, Tick Tock, and Inner Wisdom approach him. He noticed that Sunset Shimmer and Tonto, the stallion who had chased Sunset in another time, were amongst the groups numbers. He even noticed that Copper Sprocket, the courageous mare who helped his friends save his life, was present and her claws were already out.
The only pony he didn't recognize was the changeling, one that seemed as tall as Princess Cadence was, standing at the back of the group and staring at him.
"Found you at last Eclipse," Wisdom said, his group surrounding the table, "I have hunted you for three years..."
"Excuse me for a second," Eclipse interrupted, raising a hoof to the bartender.
The bartender pulled out a cup, one of those cups you would find at a tea party, and tapped the side of it three times, the noise ending the music in an instant. Before Wisdom could do anything every single pony in the club, save for his group and Eclipse, stopped what they were doing and filed out of the area. Ponies packed up whatever they had brought with them or packed up what they didn't finish of their meals and soon the entire area was empty. The bartender smiled and closed the door behind him, leaving Eclipse and the eight alone.
"So, for what do I owe the pleasure of seeing all of you again?" Eclipse asked, his voice old like Celestia's and yet it was still calm, "I doubt you came to find me to make this a social visit."
"Seven of us came to bring you to justice," Wisdom simply stated, trotting to the left as he made room for somepony else, "the eighth, however, came to find you and bring you home."
Eclipse's eyes widened as the changeling ran forward and threw her legs around him, his mind already racing as he pieced together what his friend had meant.
"Dad, I can't believe it's actually you," Northern cried, her eyes already tearing up as she embraced her father, "Mom told me that she didn't know where you went and forbid me from leaving the Hive to go find you, but I couldn't bare not finding out what happened to you. I knew your friends would lead me in the right direction and here you are, safe and sound. I've missed you, mom has missed you, and even the guards have missed you."
"Nor...Northern Sky?" Eclipse faltered, gripping his daughter in return, "I should have returned to the Hive after the first month of being alone, but I just couldn't. If I had returned then Wisdom and the others would have found me sooner then I had planned, so I had to hide from everypony. It took three years, but they had to eventually find me and now they are here."
"But dad, he's going to hurt you," Northern cried, fully aware that Wisdom was pulling out the weapon he had taken from Copper earlier, "He's got a weapon that's supposed to do something to your blood, something that he constructed from the blood of vampires and werewolves. You're in more danger than you realize."
"Nonsense, there is no weapon in all of Equestria that could be of use to him," Eclipse smiled, separating himself from his daughter, "Besides, I knew this day was coming ever since I had 'disappeared' that fateful day in Canterlot."
Just as he turned to face his friends Wisdom pulled out the spear and jabbed the now large spearhead right into where his right lung was. As he looked up into Wisdom's eyes lightning seemed to course through his body, from the handle of the weapon to his body. It reminded him of the time he had sacrificed himself to save Scootaloo that one time, only this time the choice had been made for him. His body shut down on him again, allowing him one last look at Wisdom before he collapsed on the floor of the club with the weapon stuck in his body.
Only this time Northern screamed in complete horror.