As the shield fell, you could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Eclipse could hardly believe what was happening. The creature in the universe that he feared the most was letting him go after having him completely trapped. She seemed like she might actually be telling the truth: that all she wanted to do was talk. Well, I made a promise... I have to try to keep it, scared stiff or not...
Celestia was pleasantly surprised at the fact that Eclipse was still there, standing in the moonlight. "So, can you tell me more about why you're here if you don't like ponies? Or, even better, why you don't like ponies?"
Eclipse shuddered a little. "Well, to be honest, it's because of you and your sister... I really did see what happened to D-"
"Celestia! I saw the shield fall! What happened?" Luna's voice rang out through the night as she teleported into the clearing, appearing beside her sister in a flash of light. When she appeared, the draconequus disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"No! Wait, Eclipse!" Celestia groaned as she realized that he wasn't coming back. On the ground in front of her, instead, there was a wrapped gift, curious, she reached out to open it. When she touched it, her wings and horn immediately returned. She smiled at the restoration of her body. He didn't leave without giving them back. "Nothing was wrong, Luna. I was trying to get him to trust me, so I got rid of his prison. I'm pretty sure you just scared him away."
"I scared him?" Luna asked, once again flabbergasted. "What does he have to fear from us?"
"I think..." Celestia whispered, "he watched us defeat Discord, and assumes that the same thing is going to happen to him." She thought back to the day that she and Luna had defeated Discord. One moment, Discord was on top of the world. The next, he was a prisoner. He never expected the Elements of Harmony to have real power, so he didn't stand a chance... She tried to place herself in Eclipse's position, watching his best friend be utterly defeated, then hiding out of fear of suffering the same fate. "I suppose, from the perspective he has, watching Discord be turned to stone was pretty horrific..."
Luna nodded in agreement. "I didn't enjoy it. Discord's transformation to stone was hardly pleasant for us, and we were the ones who wanted him gone! If he's been living in fear of that for all these years... he must not be able to trust any pony."
"And to him, we're the worst. We were the ones who actually did it. We came out of nowhere and overthrew Discord in a day. To him, we must be the most dangerous ponies of all: his executioners if he were ever to be caught." Celestia shook her head. "When he stopped trying to hide his fear, he started begging for me not to hurt him. Do I look like I want to hurt anyone, pony or not?" She turned to face Luna.
"I couldn't tell you, Tia. I'm just as terrifying as you, remember?"
After that night, Celestia began spending her afternoons in the labyrinth, trying to find Eclipse. Most of the time, he wasn't there, but she would sometimes catch a snippet of song or a glimpse of a scaly tail. She would chase after him, but just as she was about to find him, she was always greeted with another wisp of smoke, instead.
It had been almost two weeks before she got an oppourtunity to talk to Eclipse again. As she was rounding the corner to enter the clearing, her wings and horn disappeared again, and Eclipse was relaxing in the shade of a corner on the opposite side of the clearing. Celestia brought her hoof to her head as a wave of dizziness swept over her for a moment.
"Do you really have to do that? I promised you that I wasn't going to hurt you, and I'm still going to keep that promise." Celestia walked out into the clearing, searching Eclipse's body language for any signs of when she came too close.
"I do apologize, but that may become my typical greeting, your highness. If we must meet, I would prefer that you come unarmed." Eclipse lazily opened one eye, looking rather laid-back for a change.
"You aren't unarmed." Celestia replied. To her surprise, in the very moment after the words had left her lips, Eclipse's arms disappeared! First, he fell backwards, then began rolling around a bit helplessly.
"I would really appreciate it if you watch what you say around me, Princess... Figures of speech and puns tend to take on new meanings to a being of chaos..." He closed his eyes to focus, and his arms reappeared.
"Can't you just choose not to DO that?" Celestia asked, her curiousity a little piqued.
"Not quite... I never mastered my powers entirely in the way that Discord did..." Eclipse admitted as he sat up again. "So I can't just 'turn off' my powers in the same way that I can take your horn and wings." He motioned to the seat next to him. "So, I'm guessing you have more questions for me?"
Celestia raised an eyebrow and walked over, sitting right next to him. "Yes. For one, why are you suddenly so relaxed? I thought that you were scared out of your wits of my sister and I."
"I am..." When she looked more closely, Celestia could see that he was as stiff as a board and extremely tense.
"Then why invite me to sit next so close to you?"
"You said that you wanted to prove that your intentions were pure. I can easily teleport away, so I'm giving you this oppourtunity to prove me wrong." Eclipse was growing more nervous as time passed, but he seemed to be keeping it well in check, thankfully. A small cotton candy cloud made tracks across the top of the clearing, but aside from that, there didn't seem to be any other signs of chaos, either. "Prove to me, Princess Celestia, that you're not here to hurt or harm me. Prove you're not who I've set you up to be all of these years, and talk."
Celestia did her best to hide her surprise at his change of heart. "Alright, then... I'll talk. Umm..." His strange behavoir had totally derailed her train of thought. "Oh! So, any time that your name was mentioned in the stories I read, they said that your name was Eclipse. Is that correct?"
"For the most part. I am Eclipse Tumult, your majesty. Discord never used my last name, so I'm not surprised that it was never mentioned. He turned to her and shrugged. "Just 'Eclipse' is fine."
"That makes sense..." Celestia was happy that her research had paid off. "Okay, here's one that's been puzzling me. Where have you been all of this time? Discord came here years ago, but we've never heard of you until now."
The question made a Eclipse smile a little. It wasn't Discord's smug smile, but more sincere and honestly happy. "I've been around just as long as Discord has, so that means I've been doing my job right. I hide out in the Everfree forest. No one notices a little extra chaos in Everfree." He shrugged. "The only pony who may have seen me would be Zecora, and if she has, she doesn't mention it..."
"You mean, you've been in the Everfree forest ALL this time?" Celesta raised an eyebrow of cynicism. "And we didn't notice over ALL these years?"
Now, Eclipse's smile was a bit smug. "My trips to visit Discord are my only careless moments. Even then, I try to keep a low profile when I come here to visit. Thank you for telling me that my system works! I was always worried that you just didn't want to come in after me..." He let out a little bit of his tension with nervous laughter. "It's not always pleasant there, but it's a living." He couldn't help cracking up at his pun, releasing even more of his tension.
Celestia laughed with him, just a little. "So, you DO have a sense of humor! That's good to know."
"Oh, yes. If I couldn't laugh at myself, I'd cry!" he smiled and calmed back down. "Everfree is my haven. Nopony comes out there, except for the occasional adventurer, so I can be left alone."
"Why do you want to be left alone so much? Don't you get... well, loney?" Celestia remembered how she sometimes felt isolated in the castle, surrounded by only ponies who treated her with the utmost respect, rather than as a friend. That's why she adored her student, Twilight Sparkle. She was the one pony who made an effort to be a friend, rather than a subject. "I mean, I would be lonely after this long by myself!"
Eclipse's smile dropped from his face, and he became a bit more somber. "I try not to think about who I'm missing that much..." He held out a hand, and a parasprite flew out from behind the wall they were leaning against. It landed gently on his hand, and he pulled it closer to his body, where it curled up in the crook of his arm and murred happily before flying away. "But just because I lost some people doesn't mean I'm alone." He turned back to Celestia with a gentle smile. "Do you understand?"
"I... I think I do." Celestia had been shocked to suddenly see a parasprite, and even more surprised to see the rather intimate moment between Eclipse and the insect. It reminded her of the countless stuffed animals that she had seen Luna keep in her room, but Eclipse had a living creature, instead!
"Is there anything else I can help you with, your highness?" Eclipse rose to his feet, lifting himself with his wings. "Or would you like me to answer anything more?"
Celestia stood up as well. "Well, yes! If anything, I have more questions now! And I'm sure that Luna has some questions of her own-"
"Well, Princess Luna will have to come and find me herself." Eclipse replied, not waiting for Celestia to finish. "I'm starting to feel a bit more trusting towards you, your majesty, but I have neither met, nor seen your sister, and I'll only see one of you at a time..." He gave he white pony a tired and weary look. "Please don't be offended, but as long as there is only one of you here, I can be absolutely sure that I'm not going to be the next lawn ornament..."
Celestia rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. If I send out Luna to come and find you, alone, will you stay here to answer her questions?"
Eclipse nodded, settling back down to his resting place in the shade. "I will. Make sure that she knows about my protocol of disarming... I wouldn't want to take her by surprise." He pulled another wrapped box out from behind his back and threw it at Celestia, reinstating her horn and wings.
Celestia nodded in agreement and took off into the air, eager to bring back her findings to Luna. He seems harmless enough, but he's as stubborn a negotiator as some diplomats I've met with...