A Dark Shade of the Past

by InfinityBreach

Special Research

A Dark Shade of the Past
by InfinityBreach

Chapter 21: Special Research

I walked into the library just to be greeted by what felt like a million ponies hugging me. "Hey girls. Nice to *gasp* see you too. Could you let go of me now? It's a bit tough to breathe."

Princess Luna and Twilight began telling everypony what happened, with Luna explaining about the history of Nightmare Moon and Victory, and Twilight explaining about the reason for going into the castle.

I was vaguely listening up until Twilight pulled me into the conversation.

"Eclipsal, what happened to you back in the castle anyway? You just collapsed out of nowhere." Twilight looked at me curiously.

"Uh, well.. the magic in that place, I could feel it. It felt like it was weighing me down, and I guess it just made me black out after awhile." I said, unsurely. It wasn't really a lie, but it also wasn't the truth.

"Yeah, I felt the heavy magic too, but it didn't disturb me the way it did to you." Twilight said, tapping her hoof on her chin.

"Well you ARE the Element of Magic, Twilight. I mean, it makes sense it didn't bother you. You were probably too strong for it." Rainbow Dash replied, shrugging.

"Eclipsal has strong magic too, though…" Twilight began.

"But he ain't no Element of Magic, Twilight." Applejack said. "Don't start overthinkin' everything, sugarcube."

Twilight giggled a little. "I suppose you're right."

At that, they finished retelling the events that transpired.

"So girls, we have to maintain a lookout for Victory, since we have no idea where she could be." Twilight summarized.

Pinkie jumped up and yelled, "Well there is NO way we'll let that meanie get away! Especially not after what she did to Eclipsal and Twilight!"

Applejack nodded her head. "Mah thoughts exactly, Pinkie."

"What are we going to do if we find her..?" Fluttershy questioned.

"You use the Elements on her, as long as she isn't a part of somepony else." The princess stated.

"So we have to wear our Elements all the time now?" Rainbow asked. "They may be light, but wearing mine always gives me a few issues with flying."

"Well, the very least we can do is hold onto them, Rainbow." Rarity replied. "We must be ready at every second to do battle, or somepony else could get hurt."

All the girls agreed at this. I turned to look at the princess, but saw that Tarnished was whispering something in her ear.

The next second Luna turned around and began speaking. "I'm sorry, but I must go. I came for a simple chat with you, but now it seems that I must return to the castle to begin my night duties."

'It's already night time?' I turned towards the window. 'Wow, its sunset…'

Luna said her goodbyes and left with her Captain at her side. We waved and watched the chariot flew farther and farther away.

"Hey Twilight?" I sat looked towards her. "Could I stay at the library tonight?"

"Wh-w-w-WHAT?!" The girls yelled in unison, blushing deep shades of red.

"Did I say something weird?" I asked, looking around.

"Why, Eclipsal! It is absolutely uncouth for a stallion to stay over at a mare's house during the night! And to ask so blatantly! Why I never!" Rarity ranted.

"Ah-ah-ah, Rarity. Ya gotta remember, Eclipsal has no memories. He doesn't have any idea about that type of stuff." Applejack stated, albeit still looking flustered. "Is there something wrong with the barn, or anything, Eclipsal?"

"Not really, I just want to stay over here for the night." I replied. Again, all the girls looked shocked. "Okay, seriously! What's wrong with staying with Twilight for a night? Is there something you aren't telling me?"

"Well, Eclipsal, why do you want to stay over here, at the egghead's library, anyway?" Rainbow asked, narrowing her eyes at me.

"I just want to do some research on Nightmare Moon and Victory, ancient stuff like that. We have to know what we are fighting, and the best place for research is the library." I answered worriedly. 'What is wrong with all these mares?'

I saw them all breathe a sigh of relief. "So… can I stay, or not?" I asked, looking around.

"Sure, you can stay. I'll even do some research with you, so we can make some notes to tell the girls tomorrow." Twilight said, smiling.

"Thanks, Twilight. I'll be back tomorrow to help out with the farm, Applejack. Okay?" I said, turning to her.

"That's fine, Eclipsal. Just don't go crazy with studying, like Twilight here does. Remember to take breaks and all that stuff." Applejack said.

"Well, I think I am ready for my beauty sleep. Twilight, could you be a dear and bring us the elements, so we can go home?" Rarity asked Twilight.

"Sure, just give me a second." Twilight said, walking inside.

As we waited for Twilight, some of the girls began to converse. I watched the sky, staring at the bright moon rising, floating in the vast sea of glittering stars.

"The night looks beautiful, doesn't it?" I asked everypony.

They glanced at me, and then back at the sky.

"Yeah, it does." Fluttershy said, moving to sit next to me.

"Luna always does amazing stuff with the sky!" Pinkie said, looking up at it.

I heard the door open behind me, and Twilight stepped out, a box floating with her.

She placed it on the ground, and Rainbow got to the box first, pulling her own out. "What the hay? Why is mine glowing?" She asked, curiously looking at it as the light slowly faded.

'It has her cutie mark on it? How weird.'

Next, Rarity went to grab hers, and let out a loud, "Oh my."

In her magical grip was a necklace similar to what Rainbow pulled out, except it had Rarity's cutie mark on it, and was glowing intensely.

"What the hay is goin on Twi?" Applejack asked.

"I- I don't know! The rest of them are perfectly normal!" Twilight said worriedly.

The element started flashing even brighter, making us all take a few steps back, when all of a sudden the light completely stopped.

We all stared at it, as Rarity still had her magical grip on it.

"I don't even…." Twilight mumbled.

Then, Rarity's cutie mark started glowing again, along with mine.

Rarity let out a sigh. "I'm just going to go to bed, before this day gets any weirder."

With that, everypony took their respective element and left.

"What is going on around here lately? I haven't been able to make heads or tails of any of it!" Twilight growled, slamming the door behind me.

"Well, that's why we are here to figure it out. I mean, this is a library, so maybe it has information about the elements, and other ancient stuff." I said, trying to reassure her.

She sighed, then replied with, "Yeah. Maybe. I've looked through this entire library and can't even find the original book that held information about the elements."

I took a quick look around, walking to one of the bookshelves, as Twilight continued her rant.

"I mean, it CAN'T have gone that far! It's a book for crying out loud, but if it is in this library, I have no idea where it could.."

"Twilight? Is this the book?" I said, holding up a book titled, 'Elements of Harmony'.

"This is it! Where did you find it?!" She asked me.

"It was under 'E'." When I finished saying that, Twilight fell over.

She began mumbling, "You have got to be kidding me…"

Author's Note:

(A/N) Hello again, everypony. I'm sorry for the delay in getting this out. There was no reasoning for this, other then my own laziness. But, before we start with the story, I have a quick story to tell. I think I've mentioned this before, but I have a Youtube channel, where I post gameplay everyday and vlogs every Monday and Friday. I've been working hard at it for the past year or two, and then today happened. I got into a call on this stream I listen too, with a bunch of my favorite Gameplaying Youtubers, and they added me because they had seen me around! (Which means I have spread myself around enough that they have actually HEARD of me.) Do you know how awesome that is? I've been stuck in this rut with 26 subscribers, and I've been starting to doubt my ability to keep people entertained, but then these people from 4,000-120,000 subscribers have heard of me? I was ecstatic. However then I was involved with a certain joke that may or may not have pushed someone over the edge (apparently the jokes that was annoying the person had happened for weeks before), and led to one of their members leaving the stream, forever. Sigh. Today was such a good day, other then that... I wrote an apology to them for what happened, even though I really wasn't a part of it. I mean, someone has to stand up and apologize, and since I was involved, even though it wasn't me being super-involved, I said my apologies.

Sorry for the rant, but I had to get that off my chest. Anyway, as for this story. I believe I have decided on a name, innovating the ideas that all of you have put together, I have come up with this: Shadow of Darkness or A Dark Shade of the Past. What do you think? I am DEFINITELY choosing the final name next week, but I still want all of your opinions. Now, onto the reviews!

FanFiction:

N/A

FiMFiction:

Cloud Nova- That isn't the case, but trust me it makes sense later. Everything I say in this story has a reason. I'm surprised no one has mentioned the fact that at the beginning the 'Shaded Darkness' character was an Alicorn, but his equivalent is somehow a horse... :X I have spoken too much...

anbu_rebel- It's fine xD you didn't interrupt my reading, I was just super surprised and excited knowing someone was reading my story lol

Comments

[toasty_muffinz]

loooooool u sir, are awesomesauce

TITLE: fifty shades of darkness!!! jk, i like the first title u suggested

PINKIE NEDS MOAR PARTS TO BE RANDOM!!!

[Mondays Dawn]

I smell a reference to episode 2