//------------------------------// // You're Not a Monster // Story: The Untold Past of the Royal Family // by PrinceoftheEclipse //------------------------------// Why would he run? Was he scared? Is he alright? Where is he? These questions continued to run through the mind of Princess Elsa as well as the other royal ponies. You would think that after a battle he would be exhausted, but Prince Eclipse was determined to get away and hide. He ran through the stadium’s halls trying to find a perfect hiding place, while the others were trying to find him. He was scared of not so much as to what they would think of him, but more as to what she thought of him. He was a monster and he knew it. “This is all my fault,” Queen Lauren stated as they began to slow down. The other six ponies turned to her in disbelief. “I was the one who told him to let it out. Now he is so worried of what others think of him, he’s hiding from us,” she said sadly with a few tears in her eyes. Elsa shook her head in disagreement as they continued to search. “Your majesty, I’m afraid I disagree with you. If it’s anypony’s fault; its mine, he was trying to protect me and… if only I kept in my tears. He could’ve defeated him even without transforming, I know it. Now it’s my fault that he’s afraid of himself,” Elsa admitted looking down. “NO, it’s no one’s fault, he made his own choice,” Princess Anna shouted. “Yes he was scared, but he just jumped to conclusions. No one made him turn into a dragon, and no one acted afraid of him. I think it’s amazing that he can do that, he just needs to think that too,” the Earth pony princess said. The others smiled as Anna tried to justify the situation, but she was wrong about one thing. Everyone in the stadium, especially the griffins acted quite afraid of him at the end of the battle. All were in an awkward silence and gave Eclipse a disturbed and terrified look. The only ones who weren’t afraid of him were the ones who were looking for him. Eclipse had finally run into a perfect hiding place, well not really perfect. He decided to hide in the last place his body extremely tired body would take him; a shadowy dead end. At first glance you wouldn’t be able to see him, but if you focused for just a few seconds you would be able see his crimson armor and mane. As he began to rest in the shadows, his thoughts slowly drifted to Princess Elsa and her family. His family had seen him before and they were fine with it, but the Arendelle royal family had not seen him like that. No pony had as a matter of fact, last time he was more of a fire dragon, but this time he was more of a frost dragon. His thoughts were then interrupted when he heard hoof steps coming his direction. The prince quickly tried to blend into the shadows, but his body was so beaten he couldn’t. He covered his face and shut his eyes, doing his best to avoid whoever was coming. “Your majesty?” the anonyms pony asked. “Go away! Please just leave me alone!” Eclipse yelled back. “I’m not here to hurt you.” “But I could hurt you. You saw what I am; I’m a fire breathing monster.” Eclipse was now on the verge of tears, just waiting for this pony to just go away before something bad happen. The next thing that happened surprised him; he felt the pony’s hoof on his shoulder. He slowly unraveled his wings and opened his eyes so he could see this mysterious pony. The pony was a colt, barely older than Eclipse, and a little bit bigger. He had a blue coat with a mane of both light and darker blue. He had gold eyes, and a comforting smile. His knew this pony, his name was Rain Runner; one of the Equestria members of the tournament. “Eclipse, are you ok? I saw what happened and I wanted to see if you were alright,” Rain Runner asked. “You saw what happened? Shouldn’t you be running from me? Why aren’t you scared?” Eclipse asked back. “Because I think it’s awesome, we should be able to win this thing for sure. And really I’m not one who should judge,” Rain responded. He then flexed out his own wings, showing that they were about as large as the Queen’s (maybe a little bit smaller). Rain Runner was born with much larger wings than that of the average pegasus, which can be a problem when on the ground. “You really like that I can become a dragon?” Eclipse asked. Before Rain could answer they heard hoof steps coming their way. Soon they found seven more ponies running in their direction. Celestia almost immediately spotted them, “There he is, he’s standing next to…Rain Runner?!” All seven came to a stop, a good couple feet from them. Lauren had a look of joy on her face with a few stray tears streaming down her face. King Gaspar and Queen Maria both had a smile on their faces as both of them let a sigh of relief. The four fillies (especially Elsa), was on the verge of tears. All four princesses begin walking toward Eclipse, his voice caught in his throat. As he watches them slowly walk toward him, he sees his sisters Luna and Celestia. Tiny Anna next to Celestia, but when his gaze finds Elsa his eyes went wide and his voice returned to him. “Elsa, don’t come near me. I’m sorry if I scared you, but don’t come near me. I’m a monster.” Eclipse warned. His words shocked all of them, but not as much as Eclipse was about to be. The four fillies put on a look that could put Fluttershy’s to shame. They began walking again and did something Eclipse did not expect. They slapped him, one by one. It was right cheek, left cheek and it felt cold then hot, warm then cold again. Elsa slapped him first, then Celestia, then Anna, and lastly Luna. They didn’t care if it hurt his scarred eye, it had to be done. After they were done slapping him, Elsa was right in his face, tears running down hers. “Don’t you EVER call yourself a monster again, do you understand?” Elsa yelled at him. The alicorn prince could only nod. Elsa then wrapped her hooves around Eclipse’s neck. Anna was soon to follow her sister’s example and hugged the prince’s left front leg. Then Celestia and Luna came and wrapped their wings around the other three. Rain Runner being a slightly shy pony sat in the corner, with a smile of happiness for his prince. Eclipse couldn’t hold it anymore and let his tears role down his face. “Shhhh, no need to cry Eclipse, if anything you should be very proud of yourself,” Celestia said softly to him. They ended their hug, well all except Elsa that is. She held onto his neck and whispered, “Thank you. Thank you for protecting me.” She finally let go, and her parents and began to walk toward Eclipse. “Eclipse, we would personally like to thank you for protecting our daughter. We had no intentions for her to marry that griffin snob. We just needed to keep our ties with the Griffin Kingdom, and we had faith that you would be able to defeat him. For that we thank you,” King Gaspar said. Eclipse nodded in response, but was soon to be face to face to a super hyper princess. “Eclipse that was so amazing, when you were BOOM, then you were like ROOAAR, I had no idea you could do that. Why didn’t you tell me you little stinker,” Princess Anna asked. Eclipse didn’t exactly know how to respond, he was still trying to make out what the heck she just said. He then caught glimpse of Rain Runner in the corner. “Rain, I believe we have your match up next don’t we?” Eclipse asked him. Rain Runner nodded, Queen Lauren had almost forgotten he was there. As they began to walk back, she put her wing over the young pegasus’ shoulders, “Thank you for being there for my son. And best of luck in your match today,” Lauren said with a warm smile. Rain Runner could only smile back; it wasn’t very often when the Queen gives you a personal thank you. It was surely different being in the stands than in the arena. Eclipse still felt a little nervous, you could feel the fearful gazes all looking toward him. The Griffin royal family was in the hospital wing treating to Talon’s injuries. Eclipse had his own injuries, but they weren’t too serious (His eye was really the only serious wound he got). All he was truly focused on was the match that was about to take place. The trumpets and both participants entered the arena. Rain Runner was in dark blue armor, where a storm cloud was crafted on his chest place. His helmet was like that of a Viking. The armor was also crafted to cover the wings as much as possible and still allow him to fly. It looked like Rain was determined to prove himself today. His opponent was in a similar to Eclipse’s, except it was gold and instead of a sun or a moon; his armor wore a star. He was a unicorn from the Kingdom of Arendelle named Golden Star. He had a yellow coat and a mane that was military cut but was a tanish brown. He was 9 years old and was known for his special gifts in sword play. But Rain Runner was known for his ability to fly faster than most pegasi. Even though Golden Star was older than Rain Runner, Runner had size on his side and was a good inch taller than Golden Star. “You both know the rules, good luck to both of you,” Queen Lauren stated, “and begin!” Rain immediately took to the air; his large wings would be too much trouble on the ground. Golden Star’s horn began to glow; he unsheathed the sword on his back with his magic. He then created 3 magical swords to appear and aimed them at the sky, preparing to strike the pegasus. Rain Runner began descending, circling around the unicorn. As he circled, Golden began launching his swords at Rain. The crowd’s cheers getting louder and louder every second. Some came close to hitting him, but none of the swords were able to make their mark. Rain Runner was just too fast and unknown to almost everypony, he wasn’t just circling around his opponent, he was creating a tornado that would surely finish him. But what Rain didn’t about Golden Star’s swords was they were like boomerangs. If they miss their target they are bound to return to where they came from, and that meant another chance to hit him. Having large wings did have its advantages, especially when making tornados. He was done with that tornado in 15 seconds. But as he finished, he stopped in place to watch his handy work. And right behind him a magical golden sword was coming right at him on its return. The blade skewered him, causing him to fall to the ground. He wasn’t dead or mortally wounded, a magical blade only deals the pain of a real sword, but it doesn’t truly pierce its target. Golden’s real sword was a different story, but as the tornado began to fade away, everypony could see him on the ground unconscious. Satisfied with his result he let his body rest. Both ponies were out for the count and couldn’t continue. “We have a draw, sadly that means both ponies are disqualified. But that also put it at a three way tie with every kingdom at four competitors left,” Queen Lauren announced. The medical ponies quickly took both the pegasus and the unicorn away to have their wounds treated. “That concludes the first day of the Equestria tournament. I highly advise for all the competitors to get some rest. My children and I have an important meeting tomorrow. So we will have to post pone until the day after. You are all dismissed,” Lauren announced as she began to make her way out of the stadium. Princess Luna and Celestia were making their way to tower where they raise the sun and the moon. It was getting pretty late and the sky was beginning to get a little dark. Anna walked with her parents back to their rooms. Elsa on the other hand wanted to walk with Eclipse. Partly because she wanted to make sure he wouldn’t just collapse from exhaustion, and partly because she wanted to just walk with him. When they got to the door of the castle Elsa turned to him. “Goodnight, Eclipse I’ll see you tomorrow alright,” the Princess said to him. “Actually, could you come with me? I want to show you something,” Eclipse said with a hopeful smile on his face. How could Elsa refuse? “Alright, where are we going?” Elsa asked. “To the roof, it’s a surprise.” The princess followed Eclipse until they got to the very top of the castle. Eclipse scanned the area making sure nopony would be able to see them. “Ok, now just wait a minute,” Eclipse instructed and she obeyed. Eclipse took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. He began to think of how he felt earlier when he transformed. He began to think of his Elsa, Anna and his sisters. How much he wanted to protect them and he would do whatever it took to do it. Suddenly his body began to change again; he could feel himself getting bigger. He began to grow claws, bat-like wings, a thick and long tail, and two horns on the back of his head. When he opened his eyes, he saw Elsa with eyes of amazement. He then took a look at himself and saw his black ice scales and midnight blue underbelly. He had turned into his frost dragon form again, that was another thing he needed to learn how to control. Which dragon would he change into? “Elsa, you’re not afraid of me are you?” Eclipse asked sheepishly. Elsa just shook her head. “On the contrary, I think it’s amazing,” she said with a reassuring smile. “Now was this what you wanted to show me?” “Partially,” Eclipse said lowering his body closer to the ground. He flattened his left wing in front of Elsa, as if asking her to get on. “Are you serious?” Elsa asked with e over whelming excitement. “Well I noticed you don’t have wings like I do, so…I was thinking…maybe you would like to…maybe go on nightly flight,” Eclipse said stuttering on almost all of his words. Even as a dragon, Elsa found Eclipse’s shyness to be quite adorable. She nodded with a comforting smile (trying to contain her excitement) and gracefully walked across his wing and onto his back. To Eclipse, he could barely feel her on his back. Now as I said, Eclipse’s scales are supposed to be extremely cold. But the cold has never really bother Elsa, she can barely feel cold. “Alright, here we go,” the dragon said. He let his wings gently pick them off the ground. Once they were in the sky, Elsa was a little worried of falling off and quickly grabbed one of the dragon’s spikes. Eclipse was only doing a gentle glide, not fast enough for her to fall off. Elsa’s gaze soon went to the site of the sun setting. The beautiful blends of red and orange instantly put a smile on her face. Then the moon began to rise as soon as the sun had completely vanished, painting the sky in hundreds of pretty stars, and the moon light shining both in Elsa’s mane and on Eclipse’s scales. Flying on the back of gentle dragon was unlike anything she had ever experience, and she loved it. She decided to put a little more fun into it; she began to make a magical snow ball and launched it into the air. It began to snow all around them, making it an even more beautiful winter’s night. Elsa then got an idea, and gripped onto Eclipse’s spike even harder. “Come on Eclipse, pick up the speed. Let’s see what you got,” she yelled. “You want speed? Here we go,” the frost dragon responded with a wicked smile. He began flapping his wings and started flying straight into the air. Elsa held on as tight as she could, but also leaned into it. Eclipse let began fold his wings and aim himself straight down. Now Elsa thought Rain runner was fast earlier today, but the sheer force from Eclipse’s speed was almost blowing her off his back. “Hang on, Elsa!” he yelled back with a smile. As they got closer to the castle, at this speed Elsa thought for sure they would crash into the top. As she closed her eyes ready to embrace the impact, Eclipse flattened his wings slowing them down and hovering just over the top tower of the castle. Elsa opened her eyes and let a sigh of relief. “You asked for it,” Eclipse called back to her. Elsa let out a little chuckle, laughing from joy and fear of that little experience. Eclipse decided it was probably time for her be done after a stunt like that. He went back to the roof where they started and slowly landed, lowering his body and flattening his wings so she could get down. “Thank you so much for such a wonderful time Eclipse, I hope we can do it again soon,” the Princess said with a warm smile. “Oh that reminds me, I was going to ask if you and your family wanted to join us tomorrow at the meeting at Cloudsdale tomorrow.” Eclipse asked. “That would be wonderful, you could fly all of us there,” Elsa responded with glee. “Well I better let you get some sleep; we’ve kind of had a long day today.” “Your right, especially you after your fight today, you defiantly need some sleep.” “Alright see you tomorrow morning then.” As the two departed, they both left with a huge smile on their faces. Neither one of them slept any better than they did that night. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX As Princess Luna closed the book, they heard the trumpets announce the winner of the derby. They had completely forgotten all about that. Turns out the winner was Fleetfoot, second was Spit Fire, and third was Whiplash. Now anypony could see Rainbow Dash fighting herself whether to cheer or to groan in disappointment. Still nopony knew what her problem was. The three princesses quickly got up and began to clap for a noticeable amount of time for everyone to see. Then they went back to the book. “That was incredibly sweet,” Twilight stated with a tear in her eye. “Little did they know, one: that snow fall Elsa created helped a special little filly find her destiny in Cloudsdale. And two: that Princess Elsa in the future would be flying on her own,” Celestia said with a little teasing note in her voice. “What does that mean, Princess?” Twilight asked with her curiosity going through the roof. “We’ll have to read the books,” Celestia responded teasing her student, “Luckily this is derby is over, now we can return to the archives.” The princesses all left their royal box, and started toward the Canterlot archives. The first and most pressing question in Twilight’s mind was; who was this special little filly?”