A Dark Shade of the Past

by InfinityBreach

Party!

Twilight led me outside of the library, and pointed to a colorful building across the street. As she was leading me over there she said, "Sugarcube Corner is a bakery owned by Mr. and Mrs. Cake. Also, my friend Pinkie Pie happens to live and work there too. However the best part is, Sugarcube Corner sells the most delectable sweets in all of Equestria!"

We stopped right in front of the door to the bakery, and Twilight was gesturing me to go inside first. I stopped and looked up at the building, feeling like I had seen it before somewhere. Shrugging the feeling off, I opened the door, only to be greeted in a pitch black darkness.

"… hello? Anypony here?" I said, unsurely. Next thing I knew, all the lights turned on, leaving me temporarily blinded.

"SURPRISE!" I heard a large amount of ponies say. My eyes slowly began to adjust, and saw that there was a banner reading: Welcome To Ponyville, Eclipsal!

I turned to Twilight, asking her, "Is this a welcoming party… for me?"

"Why of course it is, silly!" I heard an energetic voice say behind me.

Looking around, I was greeted to a pair of blue eyes staring at me. A pink mare with a pinker mane was there, obviously speaking to me.

"Hi there, Eclipsal! My name is Pinkie Pie! I saw you yesterday when you were with Rainbow Dash and I was all like "WOAHHH" and had to come and meet you but I couldn't stop in time and I hit you and I was all embarrassed so I ran back into Sugarcube Corner to start making a welcoming party for you because every new pony deserves a welcoming party! It took forever to set it up too, I would have had it done in an hour but I didn't want to rush it and make it seem like the party wasn't as great as it could have been, then I made the food, the punch, and decorated, and it was all so awesome! By the way do you like chimicherries or cherrychangas? I honestly can't decide what I like better, chimicherry, cherrychanga, chimicherry, cherrychanga,"

My eyes were rolling around in my head trying to make sense of what this pony was saying.

"Uh… chimicherrychanga?" I said, unsurely.

"OH MY GOSH THAT'S MY FAVORITE TOO!" the pink mare said.

Twilight poked me on the shoulder, and whispered into my ear, "This is Pinkie Pie, she made this welcoming party for you. She can be a little excited, but she's a good pony." I nodded my head, understandingly.

"Thank you for throwing me this party Pinkie, it looks amazing!" I said, smiling.

"Well then, LETS GET THIS PARTY STARTED!" Pinkie yelled out to everypony.

Next thing I knew, she disappeared, and reappeared next to a stereo system. Pinkie then pulled out a white pony with a blue mane and glasses, and the pony began to play high-beat music.

I decided the first thing I wanted to do was try out some food, since Twilight was telling me how good Sugarcube Corner's desserts are.

Walking over to the table, I saw Spike near a bunch of colored stones, munching on them. 'Maybe it would be best if I hang around ponies I know," I thought to myself.

I took a cupcake with my magic, controlling it just like Twilight taught me, and began to walk towards Spike. I took a seat next to him, and asked, "Hey, what's up?"

He looked up at me. "Hmm? Oh hi, Eclipsal. Nothing much, just eating. Nice job with your magic by the way." He said, motioning towards the shadow that was holding my cupcake.

"Thanks. I think I'm starting to get the hang of controlling my magic." I said, right before I flung the cupcake right into my face.

"Hahahaha! Looks like you need a bit more practice!" Spike said, laughing.

We both laughed at it for a moment, then I licked off the cupcake that I could reach with my tongue. When I tasted some of it, my eyes widened, probably into saucers.

"Wow… this is so good!" I said, finishing licking off the cupcake, and then going to finish the rest that I had salvaged.

"Yeah, Pinkie makes really good desserts." Spike said.

"Mmm.. I thought that Sugarcube Corner made these." I said, licking my lips.

"Nah. Pinkie works here, but she makes her own cupcakes from scratch for welcoming parties." Spike replied.

I nodded my head, and looked out into the dance floor, seeing Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow all talking to each other on the other side of the room.

"Hey, wanna go see the girls?" I said, gesturing towards them.

"Yeah, might as well. Let's go." Spike said, getting up.

We maneuvered through the crowd of ponies, and made it to the girls.

Spike was right beside me, and said, "Hey girpwehahhh.."

I looked at him, and saw his eyes glaze over, staring at a sixth pony that I hadn't recognized before. I looked at her, a white unicorn with a fancy purple mane, and began wondering if she knew the other girls or not. My question was answered almost immediately.

"Eclispal, this is our friend Rarity." Twilight said, motioning me closer.

"Why hello, Rarity. It's a pleasure to meet you." I said, trying to be as polite as possible.

"My, what a gentlecolt!" Rarity gave a short laugh. "Not many ponys like you these days."

"That's probably because I'm a horse." I said, which made the group laugh a bit.

I looked back towards Spike to see him still frozen in place, staring at Rarity.

"Um… hello? Spike? You there?" I asked, poking him.

"Don't bother with that one. He'll wake eventually." Applejack said.

I nodded my head, trusting her words, and then got tackled by Pinkie Pie.

"Hey, Eclipsal! Wanna dance with me?" she said excitedly.

"Uh… sure I guess that would be fun." I replyed, only to see the other girls look at me shocked. Even Spike broke out of his trance to stare at me with a worried look.

'It can't be that bad… can it?' I thought to myself.

About an hour later, the party had died down and it was just us eight at Sugarcube Corner.

Dancing with Pinkie was pretty fun, although my flank hurts from her bumping into me multiple times, it was still pretty amazing.

I laid down on a nearby couch, exhausted from dancing for so long. It might have been fun, but dancing with Pinkie sure can take a lot out of you!

I closed my eyes for one second, then opened them again to see the 6 ponies and dragon sitting around me.

"Wasn't that party fun!?" Pinkie Pie asked me.

"Yeah it sure was, although it left me tired." I replied to her.

"I'm honestly surprised Pinkie here didn't go overboard and make you crash into a wall, or something." Rarity said.

"I doubt Pinkie would ever do that." I said, waving my hoof in her direction.

"Actually, the way she dances is quiet destructive, you know?" Rainbow Dash said to the group.

"And painful…" Fluttershy added.

"Well I'm fine, which is pretty good. However, my flank does hurt a little. Does anyone have something to help?" I asked.

"Ah! Here you go, Eclipsal." Rarity said, pulling out an ice pack.

"Oh, thank you Rarity. How generous of you!" I said, putting it on my flank, which gave me a sort of peaceful numb feeling.

"Well I only give my generosity to ponies that deserve it. Horses too." Rarity said, eliciting a laugh from the group.

"AGH!" I yelled, dropping the icepack and holding my head in my hooves. "My head!"

Since Rarity was the closest, she began to examine me to see if something was wrong. Then she pulled back with a shocked look on her face.

"Eclipsal! Y-you're cutie mark!" she stammered.

"What is it?" I said, pain increasing in my head.

"It's… it's glowing." said Fluttershy, staring at me.

Everypony began to grow closer to see my cutie mark, when a yell caught their attention.

"I found another one!" Pinkie Pie yelled, making everypony turn to her, holding Rarity's flank, pointing at her cutie mark.

"Wha- why what is the meaning of this?" Rarity said, staring at her cutie mark.

"I… I don't know." Twilight said. "I keep ending up with more questions then answers when it comes to Eclipsal."

Pretty soon the pain in my head subsided, but everypony was still looking worried.

"Well I reckon we all best go home now." Applejack suggested. Everypony nodded their head, agreeing with her.

"Pinkie, do you need any help cleaning up?" I asked her.

"Aw, no thanks silly. I can take care of this allllll by myself. Just be sure to go home and get some rest, okay?" she replied, smiling widely at me.

I nodded my head and walked out the door, only to hear a loud burp come from inside, that made me turn around.

A scroll had appeared out of the fire from Spike's mouth, and Twilight was reading it.

Twilight read it for a few seconds, and then looked at me strangely.

"Princess Luna wants to come to Ponyville and meet you, Eclipsal." she told me.

"Why does she want to see me? Does she know who I am?" I asked Twilight.

Twilight shrugged, looking over the note again.

"I can't say for sure. We might as well just wait for her to come here and see for ourselves. Goodnight, everypony." Twilight then retreated with Spike to her library, and the rest of us began our trek home.