Eclipse Gets an Introduction to Ponyville and Twilight Learns About Bridleton
Twilight carried the sleeping Eclipse on her back while floating some of her luggage, Spike was lumbering along behind her with the majority of the things she was bringing back from Canterlot. After they had walked a few minutes from the train station spike said, “Twilight, why can't you just teleport our stuff? I mean in addition to those old journals, which I know you're going to bury yourself in, we've added at least three times as much stuff as when we went to Canterlot, I remember when things were simpler.”
“Because my new sleeping student might cut it out,” said Twilight.
“The way she worded it sounded like a spell had to target her or something close to her,” retorted Spike, “and I really don't want to be trying to help you calm down a startled filly while handling the majority of our luggage.”
“You make an excellent point Spike,” said Twilight, “I'll give it a try, I'll send our luggage to my room because most of it is mine anyway.” A magenta glow surrounded Twilight's horn, then the luggage Spike was hauling and it all disappeared, “well, what do ya know,” said Twilight, “her ability does have the distinction you noted, good catch Spike.”
“I wouldn't be much of an assistant if I didn't catch on to that kind of stuff by this point,” Spike stated with a snarky undertone.
********************************
It took a little over an hour to get to the Ponyville Palace, most of which Eclipse Touch slept through. Just as Eclipse Touch was waking up from her nap they were nearing the castle's doors. The moment Twilight was in the building after Spike closed the door and the lights came on and a mass of ponies yelled, “surprise,” which in turn caused Eclipse Touch to be so surprised she made a motion to hide behind Spike, who was further from the crowd at the time. Spike smiled to himself because this meant that on some level Eclipse Touch was comfortable with him.
“Wh-h-h-ho are all these ponies,” squeaked Eclipse Touch in a timid voice, “they scare me, I just want to be with Miss Twilight and learn what she wants to teach me.”
“Oh my,” came a gentle voice that Eclipse hadn't picked up in the crowd, “she's not comfortable with large groups everypony, spread out into smaller groups on all the levels of the castle to help ease her transition. Pinkie, why didn't you tell anypony she was worse with large groups of ponies than I was when I first got here.”
“I didn't have to, Fluttershy, this is a small group. It's just a few friends from aro... I invited too many ponies, oh no I ruined the her welcome party, this one of my worst parties. But I can't throw her a proper makeup party until next month, why do I have so many parties planned for this month?”
Twilight chuckled as a demure yellow pegasus with a long pink mane slipped from the crowd and said right to Eclipse in the sweetest and kindest voice she had ever heard, “I'm sorry about Pinkie sometimes her... eccentricity gets the better of her. What is your name? Everypony knows because as Pinkie insists it's your party, but I want to her it in your own voice.”
“Eclipse Touch,” said the filly with a shy smile and voice, “who are you?”
“My name is Fluttershy,” said the yellow pegasus, “I live in Ponyville, just like Twilight, you'll get to see my cottage when you're feeling safer here. Maybe I'll even be able to help pick out a pet that's just for you, would you like that?”
Eclipse gave Twilight a questioning look to which the lavender alicorn said, “we might do that after she gets used to her magic, she has rare ability. Care to tell her what it is?”
“Um,” said Eclipse Touch with a shy voice that reminded Fluttershy of how she was before meeting Twilight, “I can cancel out another pony's magic, mostly this is unicorn spells that have been targeted at or near me, but it might also affect other pony tribes. Please don't hate me,” the moment she finished she tried to hid herself in Twilight's mane which had grown long enough to rival Cadances as the alicorn had continued to grow over the years (she was now between the size of Cadance and Luna).
“I could never hate anypony,” said Fluttershy.
“Well it would take a lot for that,” said Twilight as she dropped her haunches and caused Eclipse Touch to slide down her back onto the floor before getting up so the filly couldn't climb back on to her back, “Fluttershy is one the sweetest and most caring ponies you'll ever meet, but when she gets mad you better not be the target of her anger. Especially since she won a staring contest with a cockatrice and chastised a dragon into finding a new resting place.”
Eclipse just looked at the yellow pegasus with amazement, that was until they heard a country mare's call say, “Pinkie, Ah ya'll were gonna make this ah small party, wuh part uh this is small? Where'd Flutters go? Last Ah saw 'er she was with ya.”
“She's with Twilight and the guest of honor, AJ,” came Pinkie's voice, “think you could bring them some cake, I'm getting some punch for them to drink.”
“Now see 'ere I 'aven't agreed to, Pinkie why am Ah balancing a Banana-Apple upsidedown cake on mah hat? Take it off and save et fer another time, Ah want 'er to experience Apple clan apples tha Apple way.”
“Oki, Dokie, Loki,” said Pinkie with the sound of a plate being removed from fabric.
A few minutes later an orange earth pony mare emerged from the crowd balancing five plates of violet fluffy cake with a black creamy frosting. With a practiced hoof the mare passed out four of cake pieces before moving the last piece to in front of her before saying, “Pinkie's rules are the guest uh honor 'as ta 'ave the firs' bite ah the cake.”
Eclipse took a timid sniff of the cake before giving it a nibble, then huge bite that took a chunk that would do Pinkie proud with the only sound escaping her muzzle being, “mmmmmmmmmmmm,” before her eyes went big and she collapsed and began going into a sugar coma.
As she began to black out she heard Pinkie's voice going, “no she's not supposed to pass out until after the piñata , I checked the script for this story. Oh wait, that's a rejected copy, still she shouldn't be passing out this far into the chapter, that's just wrong, she just woke up for Celestia's sake. I've done the whole party wrong, why can't I do this over!?”
“Pinkie,” said Twilight, “It's just a sugar coma, she should come out of it in a few minutes. She seemed fine when she tested the lollipop,” Twilight floated the multicolored confection from out of her bag, and Pinkie freaked out even more. Eclipse's eyes closed entirely after that.
“She only had a nibbly bite, oh this is bad , that bite of cake she ate had a tinsy bit more sugar than than half the lollipop, you should have told me this earlier Twilight I could have made a cake that wouldn't cause her to pass out...” it was at this point she stopped perceiving sounds around her and seemed drift into slumber.
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Twenty minutes later the only ones still at the castle were Twilight's staff, who had been more than willing to move the filly on to a couch in the living area, and her friends, with the addition of Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh (Granny Smith was visiting an old friend out of town for few days at the time).
“So this tha the filly Princess Celestia tol' ya is yer first uhfficial student?” came a younger voice that sounded like it had the same accent as Applejack.
“That's right,” said Twilight, “I've been having so much trouble getting my Royal Guard up and running that I haven't been focusing on getting an actual personal student, the closest I've come is Twilight Time with some of the fillies and colts around Ponyville over the years here.”
“Ah remember whe' mah friends and Ah had our Twilight Time lessons,” came the voice again.
Eclipse cracked her emerald eyes open and saw yellow earth mare with a mane that was colored somewhere between pink and straight red, the mare's mane also held a green bow with a red apple, but her cutie mark was obscured by towering red stallion with a green apple cuite mark.
“Sorry for the overload,” said Twilight, “sometimes Pinkie gets so caught up with getting ponies to a party that she forgets how big it's supposed to be. The party should have just been us, Pinkie, Fluttershy, the Cakes and the Apples.”
“The Cakes couldn't make it,” said Pinkie as she seemed to pop out of nowhere, “they had a really big delivery to make, and since they couldn't find a foal-sitter they took Pound and Pumpkin with them. We're so busy with our new lives that we don't have time for what's left of our old ones. Their note didn't says how long they'd be out, looking after Pound and Pumpkin was one of the greater joys of my life.”
“Even if it was exasperating for you the first year,” said Twilight.
“I could have watched Pound and Pumpkin while they were out of town,” said Fluttershy in her soft voice.
“Their departure day was when you were out of town learning about some new creatures,” said Pinkie, “you didn't get back until a few days after they left.”
“While they're gone Sugurcube Corner is closed for an extended period time,” said Twilight with a sense of loss, “I wanted to take Eclipse there tomorrow so she could get used to groups more gradually and meet the Cakes. The twins might make her feel better, plus the twins or only a few years older than her.”
“What kind of ponies are the Cakes,” asked Eclipse Touch, catching most of the ponies by surprise.
“They're earth ponies like Pinkie and the Apples,” said Twilight, “they're the bakers of some really good confections. The twins, Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake, are some really wonderful foals. Pumpkin is a unicorn and Pound is a pegasus, I've been giving Pumpkin magic lessons for the past few months now, but as a strictly advisory role and not her official teacher.”
“Why is that?” asked Eclipse, “you probably know some really amazing magic.”
“Yeah,” said Twilight, “but Pumpkin wants to go to an official magic school for education for magic, like I did.”
“Great Spell insisted all aspects of our magic were superior,” said Eclipse with sullen words and drooping ears, “she didn't even bother giving us separate lessons from our sister, she just dropped us in the middle of Sunshine Bottle's lessons and didn't bother even reviewing the basics of magic with her for our sake. She just jumped right into the Sunshine's next lesson.”
“That's a terrible teaching method,” said Twilight, “everything starts with basics, and you must always review them regardless of circumstances. What was the lesson you first sat in on?”
Eclipse gulped and said, “an item transformation spell, she wanted us to turn a pebble into a tome that exceeded a hundred pages.”
Twilight's eyes shot open as wide as possible before she said, “that mare is insane.”
“Yeah, especially since Sunshine could only get about twelve pages out of her attempts, mine just hummed for a few seconds before deciding it didn't want to do anything.”
“Your sister got a twelve page book from a pebble?” Eclipse nodded.
After a few seconds of silence she said, “she managed to extend the page number to thirty-four by the end of the exercise.”
Twilight sputtered and said, “that's an advanced spell that operates on a number of highly advanced magical principles. Not to mention magic has to follow some of the natural rules, that's what a spell that requires a tremendous amount of magic is like I have to even try to pull off something like that properly.”
“My canceling ability makes it hard to cast spells,” said Eclipse with a dejected voice.
“No,” said Fluttershy, “it makes you special, Twilight was a unicorn with a tremendous amount of magical power and potential until she ascended to being an alicorn. Her special talent also is magic, so no matter what you're in the best hooves possible for working through your problems.”
Eclipse stared at the lavender alicorn with surprise. “Alright everypony,” said Twilight, “time to go, she needs to get acclimated to living here, and if you're all here that could be a problem. We'll see most of you tomorrow, see you next week Pinkie.” With that all the ponies left, leaving only Twilight and Spike with the black filly.
“I just want to get some sleep,” said Eclipse Touch with a yawn.
“That can be arranged,” said Twilight, “we'll see about getting you an official room, but until that's all squared away I think it would be best if you and I shared a room. You're not all that used to others yet, and you seem to feel a strong sense of attachment to me,” the lavender alicorn looked down at the filly with her violet eyes with a smile before saying, “it's like you've attached to me as some sort of maternal figure, perhaps you even considered me a surrogate mother when we first met.”
“I've always gotten flashes of what other ponies are really like from time to time,” said Eclipse with a yawn, “when I first saw you I got a flash of the aspects I associated with a real mother. Great Spell always felt like somepony that was just raising us because she had to, she was never as nice you've been so far.”
“If she was your mother then she's officially lost all claims to that title and the benefits and privileges that go with it,” said Twilight with a touch of displeasure in her voice.
“It's not that simple in Bridleton,” said Eclipse Touch, “she's an official representative of one of the seven major houses, they're the powers that have the most political presence in Bridleton. The system of a central king with the seven major houses hasn't changed in over twelve thousand years, in fact the seven major houses have no record of changing. It wasn't always that way, the journals tell the story of the nation of Bridletonia. Ruled by a good king, Bridleton's current king has claimed that king's name but the two couldn't be more different. The original Artanus was much more like Celetia and Luna in mindset, but he was an earth pony that managed to bring warring factions together under the banner of true peace and built a kingdom that was founded on a similar philosophy as Equestria. Harmony and equality for all, it was a philosophy he held hard to. His mentor was a unicorn, that unicorn is somepony I want to aspire to be like.”
“I was much the same way, I'll tell you the pony I aspired to be like, but only if you tell the one you look up to and what they were like,” said Twilight as she carried the filly on her back to her bed chambers.
Shaking tiredness from her head best she could Eclipse said, “his name was Myrraldin, he was later referred to as Myrraldin the Great. He was unicorn with a talent for magic, he created thousands of spells and perfected even more already exiting spells in his time. He was a pony that held no delusions the way things were. He had a vision of what the world could be like, but knew he wasn't suited to the task and instead chose to instruct one he knew from the earliest age, and remained as trusted adviser during that pony's adulthood. The pony he taught was none other than the original Artanus, Artanus had a talent for leading and something from his lessons that he always quoted was that a true leader knows how to listen to their citizens.”
Twilight smiled and said, “the pony I looked up to most was Starswirl the Bearded, he was an amazing that unicorn created a number of spells that didn't exist. There's a whole wing in Canterlot named after him, and it holds many of the spells he crafted. He created quite a few time travel spells, but those spells are very limited in their scope. He was an adviser to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna a long time ago.”
A yawn from Eclipse reached the alicorn's ears and when she turned her head to look at the filly she saw Eclipse curled up between her wings. “Good night, little Eclipse,” said Twilight as she carefully opened the door her bedroom.
As she was placing Eclipse on a bed near her own Twilight heard Eclipse say in distress, “no mommy, I tried the spell like you asked, please no. I don't want to go to the punishment study room, you always give me a hard spell I've never... mommy please, no... you're not a mother, you're not worthy of the honor that duty means... no please.”
In a panicked moment Twilight shook Eclipse awake, when the filly was up Twilight said, “you were having a bad dream, I wanted to get you out of it quickly. If it happens again I'll ask Princess Luna to help you deal with your bad dreams.”
“It wasn't a dream,” said Eclipse with drooping ears, “not all of it, it was built around one of my memories. I don't think I'm ready to sleep alone, can I sleep with you? I want to feel safe, and you make me feel like nothing can hurt me.”
“Nothing will as long as I'm looking after you,” said Twilight, “come on let's get some sleep.” With that Eclipse snuggled up next to Twilight in the alicorn's bed and fell into a new sleeping pattern.
Twilight heard Eclipse beside her giggling and saying, “the pages tickle, you want me to read you that sounds, like fun. I've never read this story, the pages are blank. You must be sad that nopony can read the story, I'll find you when I'm awake, I promise and when I do I'll read you cover to cover.”
Twilight smiled and fell asleep with her horn to Eclipse's, casting a magic linking spell that would only last a small hoofful of hours. She wanted to make sure any magic fluctuations had their effects minimized. She was slightly surprised to find that Eclipse's sleeping form accepted the spell without question.
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The next morning there was knocking on the castle door, Spike got the door just as Twilight was raising her head to start the morning. Pumpkin Cake's voice carried through the palace in an accent that was somewhere between her mother and that of Pinkie Pie with a, “hi Spike, we're back. Sorry 'bout not telling you or Twilight, it kind of came up on us. Where is Twilight anyway, I wanted to learn some new spells.”
“She's upstairs sleeping, at least she was last I checked,” said Spike, “Princess Celestia thought it was time for Twilight to have her own personal student, since you're just being tutored by Twilight Celestia thought a full time student might be good for Twilight. She's a little filly about your age, but she's really uncomfortable around most new ponies. She's kind of attached herself to Twilight, I think she sees Twilight as the mother she never really had.”
"What else is she like," said Pumpkin.
“The only two ponies that can answer that question are upstairs, have you had breakfast yet,” said Spike then you could hear him say to the kitchen staff, “could you get Pumpkin Cake a morning snack while I get Princess Twilight Sparkle?” With that the sound of Spike climbing the stairs could be heard.
Twilight turned her head to sleeping filly next to her and heard whispering coming from the filly, bringing her ear closer to the filly she heard her saying, “your the best mommy ever, miss Twilight, I never want to go back to that place. Please, that place never felt like it was supposed to be my home, it felt like...” her voice got so quiet Twilight barely heard the filly say, “a dungeon!”
The door opened and Spike strolled through the door, upon seeing the still sleeping filly whispered, “how long have you been up?”
“Long enough to know Pumpkin is back,” whispered Twilight, “I'll wake Eclipse, then we'll go have breakfast.”
Spike just nodded and gave a questioning look before going to turn towards the door.
“I want something tastier than lemon grass and mineral water,” said Eclipse as she got up.
Spike chuckled and said, “Strawberry with pancakes and blueberry juice coming up, you'll get something really tasty. Oh Twilight, before she left Applejack wanted me to remind you that she thinks she left a small crate here a few months ago. Since I have errands to run for you today, again, maybe you and Eclipse could head down to the basement to look for it. I know Pumpkin will most likely invite herself to join when the two of you in that. She'll be elated about the prospect of a new friend.”
“True,” said Twilight crawling out of bed, which Eclipse noticed was big enough to put a king's to shame, and yet the alicorn seemed to treat it like nothing more than what it was intended to be (a place to sleep).
“Um,” said Eclipse, “is Pumpkin nice?”
“She's a real sweetheart,” said Twilight, “I told you I've been acting as magic tutor to her so you know she's a unicorn.”
“But you said her parents are earth ponies and her brother is a pegasus,” said Eclipse as she crawled out of the bed.
“You heard that much during your nap on the train, huh” said Twilight, “he's also her twin.”
Eclipse's eyes shot completely open before she said, “in Bridleton that would cause every noble house to go through all official and unofficial records to see if anypony was related to them through some sort of elicit activity. Bridleton is a nation that does its best to keep the tribes separated politically and socially as much as possible. Real alicorn's are said to be just a myth and the term is used as a title for the highest ranking ponies in the nation, the official title of the current Artanus, whom has no relation to the original, is his King Artanus Alicorn of Bridleton. Grand Charm, a mare I have serious doubts is actually my grandmother, holds the title Lady Alicorn Grand Charm.”
“Why does she have a title like that?” inquired Twilight.
“She's the family's current matriarch, and the house we belonged to before running to Equestria was one of the Seven Noble Houses,” said Eclipse with drooping ears and disgust evident in her voice when she mentioned where she came from.
“You have a good heart,” said Twilight as the two made their way down the stares. Before they reached the foot of stairs they spotted Pumpkin, the blue eyed light orange filly was munching on a lemon poppyseed muffin which she held aloft with her cyan magic, Eclipse quickly made a motion to hide behind Twilight.
“Who's that hiding behind ya?” asked Pumpkin in a voice that sounded like it was somewhere between Cupcake and Pinkie Pie, “I wanna meet her!”
After getting to the foot of the stairs Twilight moved away to reveal Eclipse and said, “this is Eclipse Touch, my new personal student.”
Eclipse looked between the alicorn and filly before giving a shy wave. “She kind of acts like miss Fluttershy,” said Pumpkin as she noticed Eclipse try to hide behind the couch next to the library, Twilight smiled when she saw a little black hoof reach up and grab a book on beginner's magic.
“I'll be busy seeing her grasp of the basics for a few days, so I can't give you any lessons for a while,” said Twilight, “but I think you making an effort to be friends with her every now and then might do wonders for her social skills, just be sure to take it slow since she is a bit skittish.”
“Oh yeah, Spike said something about her seeing you as a kind of mom!”
“Yes, well,” said Twilight trying to think of what she needed to with the filly without inducing a panic.
“The mare who calls herself my mother never acted very maternal,” said Eclipse with a shy quiet voice, “my sister and miss Twilight have been more maternal to me, miss Twilight has been the most maternal towards me. And... when I saw her for the first time I immediately felt that she was a mare that would keep me safe.”
“Yes, well I wasn't always this way,” said Twilight, “before I became an alicorn I was just an ordinary unicorn.”
“Why tell me that?” inquired Eclipse Touch as she came from behind her hiding place, “wait, unicorns become alicorns?”
“Anypony can become an alicorn, they just have to come to an understanding of a certain kind of magic that nopony has before. My old foal-sitter, Cadance, was a pegasus before she came to an understanding of the magic of love that nopony before her did and ascended to being and alicorn. I came to an understanding of the magic of friendship that nopony before had before seven years ago and became an alicorn because of it. It was one crazy year my friends and I had.”
Pumpkin giggled and said, “I was born that year, along with Pound. Although it was after Twilight came to live in Ponyville, so I've always imagined Twilight being somepony that was always here. It took a few months to wrap my head around the fact that Twilight came to Ponyville from Canterlot.”
“Yes, that's where my parents live and it's where I grew up. You might get a chance to meet them someday in the near future. Mom and dad will say something about how they're grandparents now, despite you being just my student.”
“My lessons haven't even started and I already see you as... my mother,” said Eclipse with despondent voice.
Pumpkin giggled and Twilight said, “that's sweet, but are you sure you're telling me the truth?”
“If you want you can study the memory spell you copied and see why I'm so attached to you,” responded Eclipse.
“That's something for another time, I sometimes get over zealous with new spells so I'm trying to temper my eagerness by resisting the urge to try the spells as much as possible,” said Twilight, “besides Princess Luna is right, Dream related spells are not something anypony should attempt without somepony to guide your the first few times. Memory spells are tricky, I've memorized a few, but none as complex as the one in that creepy book. Thank goodness Princess Celestia is the only one who knows what's happening to the two books in the whole world, I actually wanted to destroy it on principle, I usually feel the need to chastise ponies for trying to destroy literature.”
“Whoa, if Princess Twilight Sparkle says a book needs to be destroyed you know it's serious,” said Pumpkin.
“I'm of the same mindset as miss Twilight,” said Eclipse, “books, scrolls and tablets are amazing, but those two books I brought with me are abominations to their very pages and words, in fact everything in them is an affront to decent texts.”
Pumpkin smiled and said, “you're a perfect pick for Twilight's personal student, I hope you come out of your shell and act more like Twilight by the time school starts. You'll like it, it begins at the end of summer. Ponyville Elementary got some massive improvements after the whole...”
“Let's let her learn about historical events distant and recent another time, “ said Twilight cutting Pumpkin off, “she still needs acclimate to Ponyville and a number of other things. Come on, let's have breakfast.”
The three sat down at the dining room table and the moment they did a light green unicorn mare with cyan mane, brown eyes and a cutie mark in form of a fine tea set floated out several mahogany trays, a pitcher of blue liquid and four glasses. A tray was placed in front of each, plus near the center of the table. She then placed a glass in front of each and poured some of the liquid from the pitcher into each glass before a pony before setting the pitcher next to the center platter. She gave curt nod before pulling the lids of the trays and floated them beside her as she made her way back to the kitchen.
Looking down Eclipse saw discs of baked dough with little red triangles in them on her plate, next to the plate was a small sugar bowl filled with a brown sugar that had a wild sent that invigorated her like nothing before and small plate with a soft yellow substance (she left a noticeable indent in it with her hoof when she gently poked it, the act made Twilight give her a concerned look) that smelled fatty, on the other other side of her plate was a what looked like a cream pitcher her mother used when adding milk to her tea but instead of milk in the creamer pitcher was a dark amber liquid that smelled sticky and sweet along with reminding her of the maple tree in her mother's garden. “What are the red triangles?” she asked, “what is all of this? I'm not familiar with these liquids and that soft yellow stuff, I don't know what any of these are! All I know is the silverware, and that's only because of what Great Spell was feeding me.”
“You said something about lemon grass and mineral water,” said Twilight finally, “I'll tell you about each of the food items after you tell me what your diet usually was.”
“Every meal was lemon grass and mineral water,” said Eclipse as she drooped her ears, “it hardly had a taste, it had an okay scent, and it was the only thing Great Spell had me and Dream eating until we improved in our lessons.”
“That seems a little counterproductive,” said Pumpkin as she slathered the five pancakes on her plate with butter before sprinkling the wild smelling sugar on each of the pancakes before taking a bite and after chewing and swallowing she said, “good work starts with good food, my parents say something like that when they hear somepony hasn't been eating much.”
Eclipse took a sniff of her top pancake before nibbling it and giving a happy, “mmmmmmmmm, this is yummy.”
Twilight smiled and said, “I'm the same way, I don't really like to adorn my pancakes either, I think that pancakes are fine as they are. The first thing you tried is the pancake,so I'll start with that. Pancakes are basically batter that's been cooked on a pan or griddle. The red triangles in the pancakes are called strawberries, they're a kind of fruit. The soft yellow stuff is called butter, it's milk fat that's been churned. The dark amber liquid is called maple syrup, it's made from the sap of a maple tree. The brown powdery stuff is called sugar, in particular this is raw sugar which much healthier for you and it is unprocessed. The blue liquid is called blueberry juice, it's the juice from blueberries and a little sugar mixed together.”
Eclipse brought her hooves to the glass in front of her and gently picked it up before taking a testing sip, she then immediately chugged the glass afterward. The black filly gave a look of shame before she went back to nibbling her pancake. She had six flapjacks to finish and Twilight noted that at the rate the filly was going they would get cold and it would most likely be noon when she finished. "Eclipse it's okay to take big bites if you like it," said Twilight, "and that little gulp of your juice was fine. While there is an etiquette to these things, it changes depending who is there with you to eat with and where you are.”
“Who was the pony that served us the meal?” inquired Eclipse.
“Her name is Jasmine Tea, she was trained in the art of service since she was a little filly. She accords herself with a lot of control and refinement, she's actually the daughter of one of Rarity's best clients. In fact all the staff in the castle are connected to my friends in one way or another.”
“Who's Rarity?” inquired Eclipse.
“One of my best friends,” said Twilight, “she's a unicorn like you and Pumpkin.”
“She's a really pretty white mare,” said Pumpkin, “with a curly purple mane and tail.”
“Great Spell is a white mare,” said Eclipse with a dejected voice, “of course her hooves are black and her mane is a dark green. She's a physically beautiful mare, but she doesn't have the personality to maintain the illusion.”
Twilight smiled and said, “Rarity is one of the most generous ponies you could ever meet. When you meet her it'll be wonderful, After you get over your little quirk of being afraid of every new pony you meet. No doubt Pinkie has told everypony in my group of friends who hasn't met you about what you're like. You met Applejack and her siblings. You also met Fluttershy. The only ponies you still need to meet in my close circle of friends are Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Rarity's busy with her boutique in Canterlot, the Fashionable Gem, and Rainbow Dash is busy with her Wonderbolt duties, it was Rainbow's dream to become a Wonderbolt since she was a little filly.”
“In fact Twilight and her friends are some of Equestria's greatest heroes,” said Pumpkin, “they're known as the Elements of Harmony.”
“Not quite, Pumpkin,” said Twilight, “we're known by that title because we were the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, we gave the Elements up to the Tree of Harmony at the beginning of my second year in Ponyville. Although some ponies do know us as our Elements of Harmony, mostly high ranking ponies in Equestria's government and our closest family and friends.”
“How many are there?” asked Eclipse, “what are they?”
Twilight smiled and said, “there are 6, just like me and my first true friends. The six are Laughter, Honesty, Generosity, Kindness, Loyalty and Magic. I'm the bearer of Magic and Pinkie is the bearer of Laughter.”
“Applejack is Honesty, and Rarity is Generosity,” said Pumpkin.
“Fluttershy is Kindness, and that means...” said Twilight.
“Rainbow Dash is Loyalty,” said Eclipse picking up where Twilight left off, “what do the Elements do?”
“They keep things in Harmony,” said Twilight.
“That means they maintain a balance,” said Eclipse, “in Bridleton order is imposed, and any attempts to bring change is met with a hostile force.”
“How hostile?” asked Twilight.
Eclipse looked over at Pumpkin with sad eyes before looking Twilight straight in the eye with coldly serious face, that Twilight noted didn't feel right on the filly, before saying, “those charged with making attempts towards instigating a change in the nation are publicly executed. Griffons are part of our military, but any romantic relations between them and ponies is strictly forbidden. In fact if a pony hybrid of any kind is found in a manor a public execution of all those in the manor is made. My brother says his best friend is hippogriff named Snow Feather, he hasn't said if Snow Feather is a stallion or mare.”
“Hippogriff?” inquired Twilight and Pumpkin in unison.
“a product of a pony and griffon mating,” said Eclipse, “they are said to have front that resembles a griffon and their hind end is that of a pony, they also have wings regardless what kind of pony their parent was.”
“That sounds cool,” said Pumpkin, “I want to meet a hippogriff.”
“Did you not hear the part about my birth nation murdering everyone suspected of associating with them?” said Eclipse sadly.
“We did,” said Twilight, "and it's a horrific practice, but we can't be sure how much of what you're saying is the honest truth, after all you just arrived in Equestria a few days ago. How do we know that you're not making up parts, for one reason or another?”
“The journals, Myrraldin's journals,” said Eclipse, “I've read them, not cover to cover like I have genuinely wanted to, but I have read through many of their pages. And there is an expression in those journals that I resolved to build my life around when we were no longer in Bridleton.”
“And what expression is that?” inquired Twilight.
“My favorite expression Myrraldin is, 'an honest statement will win you countless true companions where a lie can earn you a hofful of allies,' I have always intended to have the beginnings of my life away from Bridleton to be as far from the deceit and treachery that seem to be a primary nature of the nobles of that nation.”
Twilight smiled and said, “I knew you were being honest with us the whole time, it comes from having the unique connection my friends and I have to the elements. You see even though Applejack is the bearer of honesty and my connection to the element of magic allows me to tap into the other elements for short periods of time, it's only for a few minutes so I had to be careful when I started it. The reason why I asked that question is because I can feel my temporary connection to honesty fading away and I won't be able to tap into the other elements for a few days. It's what is referred to as an all or nothing gambit.”
“Each element doesn't just mean we show it in ourselves, but we can also spread and feel it in others. I wanted to know if you were being honest about your 'birth nation', as you put it a short time ago. Why did you say it like that?”
Because the moment we set hoof in Equestria it felt like I was on my way home,” said Eclipse Touch, “and when I met you that first time at the castle I felt like I was truly home for the first time in my life. My heart, my bones, my mind, my soul all of them said this is where my home is.”
“I like the way she said it,” said Pumpkin, “it's like she was saying she was always Equestrian, she was just born in the wrong place.” Eclipse nodded at the other unicorn filly.
“Pumpkin,” you should be heading home now, we don't want to worry your parents too much. Eclipse and I have a task that needs to be dealt with. Now everypony finish up the food in front of you and we can get on with the rest of our day,” at the last part Twilight poured a new glass of juice for her and Eclipse. The three ate for the rest of the meal in silence, Eclipse had a look of joy on her face (despite not adorning her pancakes with anything, just like Twilight who liked to not waste time on condiments to her food out of sense of practicality). After Pumpkin said her farewells to the alicorn mare and unicorn filly she was out the door.
After a pegasus stallion got the dishes and the two said their thanks to him and to pass on their thanks to kitchen staff Twilight lead Eclipse to a door which lead t theo castle basement. “This is where I put most of my storage of items,” said Twilight as they descended (enchanted crystals coming into a soft glow as they approached and dimming after they had gone a ways passed them). After a couple of minutes they reached the foot of the stairs and Twilight cast a light spell to illuminate the room, “the light crystals in here should have come alight when we reached the bottom of the stairs,” stated Twilight, “I'll have to speak with Rarity and Princess Luna about this.”
Eclipse tapped her horn to one of the dead crystals and spark jumped to her horn as it neared, she seemed to do it instinctually with her eyes closed when she opened her eyes she said, “sorry I thought I could... sense the aspects of the gem like I do with ponies sometimes, I'm sorry.”
“No that's good said Twilight, we'll start your lessons after we run this errand for Applejack, so maybe you should tell me what you got from the gem as we look.”
“Okay,” said Eclipse beginning to look around, “soon as you tell me what we're looking for.”
“a wooden box or crate with a red apple on it, the apple is how you identify something of the Apple clan's.”
“Right,” said Eclipse, “I got nothing from the gems other than three swirling colors.”
“What were they?” asked Twilight as she continued her search.
“Cyan, lavender, and yellow,” said Eclipse, “I don't know what that...”
“Those are the coat colors of Rainbow Dash, me and Fluttershy,” said Twilight cutting of Eclipse with a smile as she said it.
“Rarity said she infused emotional memories in the gems down here as a test to see if it would have any effect on the magic in the gems. You saw the essence of the emotions she infused. I saw them too when I looked into some of the gems, seeing those means that you have something very special about you. The only other ponies that can do that are my fellow alicorns, maybe your natural ability is connected to it. It's impossible to produce a canceling spell as widely effective as your ability, but with the right application to a counter-spell could exceed it's normal limits and become something more.”
“A sort of metacounter-spell,” said Eclipse pulling at dust covered old looking wooden box with her hooves.
“Exactly,” said Twilight, “wait if you were able to grasp magical principles easily...”
“I would have an understanding of magical theory and possible advanced magical theory,” said Elcipse, “when I was little I would read anything I could get my hooves on, I might have read a few of Bridleton's standing texts on magical theory at different levels. I think I found what we're looking for, it's all dusty and I don't want blow on it for fear of getting a lung full of dust.”
“Be right there,” said Twilight as she headed for the filly. When she got to where Eclipse was she lifted the box in her magic and cast a cleaning spell on it. When the dust was washed away the small wooden crate bore the insignia of a red apple, “you found it, Eclipse,” she said with a smile, “good job job. Let's get this to Sweet Apple Acres. On the way there I can tell you about the town.”
**************************************
A half hour later they were approaching the center of town and Twilight was still pointing out the more notable places in Ponyville, “over there is Sugarcube Corner,” said Twilight gesturing with a wing towards a building that looked like it was a giant gingerbread house as she carried the small crate in her magic. Eclipse looked over, “That's where the cakes work and live, Pinkie used to live with them until she got her business center in Canterlot.”
They continued for another forty minutes before they reached Sweet Apple Acres. “Howdy Twi, Eclipse,” came Applejack's voice as they neared the farm after getting closer said in an elated voice when the two arrived at the gate, “Twi ya foun' et!”
“Actually it was Eclipse,” said Twilight, “but it was a team effort, she just managed find it covered in dust.”
“It must have been down there for months,” said Eclipse with a shy smile, “when did you put it down their miss Twilight?”
“I honestly don't know,” said Twilight.
“She's still stuck on callin' ya that, Ah see,” said Applejack.
“I figured I'd let her do it for a few weeks before insisting she drop the miss part,” said Twilight.
“I-i-i-if your unc-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-comfortable with it then I can stop,” said Eclipse Touch.
“I'm fine with it,” said Twilight, “I just would like you to be a bit less formal, I always referred to Princess Celestia as her name and title or just Princess. Even when I was comfortable around her, I want you to have a more informal relationship with me. You adopted me as a sort of surrogate mother almost as soon as we met, and from what I've read and seen children are usually highly informal with their parents and I would like a similar dynamic for us if you insist on thinking of me as a maternal figure.”
Applejack chuckled before saying, “She's ahn interestin' one, she's got yer love uh books and tha kind of confidence we all saw wi' Fluttershy durin' tha early years wi' yuh, Twi.”
“And to an extent I feel like I have to be her mother,” said Twilight, “say hi for me, I have to get Eclipse back to the castle for training.”
“Sure thang,” said Applejack as they two headed back the Friendship Palace.