Eclipse Borne
"Caleb! It is nine thirty-five!" a strong and stern male voice called out from downstairs. I sighed, but didn’t stop what I was doing. It was a regular complaint if I wasn't at the door by that time. That my brother and sister got it as well when it was their time to get out the door didn’t make it any easier to take.
"I noticed, Dad," I responded, a trace of annoyance in my tone as a focused on packing the last of my belongings into my bag. My laptop, ereader, cell phone and their assorted cables found shelter in the messenger bag resting on the dark green covers of the bed. My name rose up again from the first floor, this time flavoured with a hearty helping of my father’s own annoyance. Dad was a bit of a stickler for time and strongly believed in reaching 15 minutes early.
I made a quick stop by my dresser for the final quality check. My hair was brushed, and recently cut so it didn’t need much brushing. I was in the usual subdued outfit I wore to the library. They did allow casual wear, so long as it was sombre; so I had my black wrinkle resistant cotton slacks that were fine without ironing, and a two tone dark yellow and grey shirt, the yellow on the shoulders and dropping three quarters of the way down the front and back, a thick black outline separating the yellow from the grey that composed the rest of the shirt. It went well with my dark skin tone. A pair of spectacles completed my ensemble; the same genetic quirk that gave me my striking gold eyes granted weakened vision as well.
I jogged down the stairs, half fell, to be honest; taking them three, four at a time, and quickly grabbed my shoes from the stand by the door. The smell of frying onions drifted out from the kitchen, lingering in the air and served to identify what was making the sizzling I could hear coming from the kitchen. Hopping on one leg, I made my way over as best I could while fixing my left sneaker so the tongue wasn’t falling off to the side and making itself a hindrance instead of a boon.
“You are going to be late,” my father said firmly, looking away from the onions he was sautéing, the wooden spoon still shifting them around even as his attention split. Cooking was a hobby of his, as was baking. My little brother Richard, diligently chopping some sausages beside Dad, stuck his tongue out at me since our father was looking the other way. I would have hit him with something if I had something to throw at him. “I said I wasn’t going to say anything,” Dad continued, apparently ignorant to the slight hypocrisy in that statement, “and now you’re running late. It happens every morning!”
“I know, Dad,” I said, rolling my eyes as he headed for the fridge, wisely deciding not to comment on the fact that I wasn’t late every morning, or even most, content to instead open the door with my foot to grab the Brita pitcher inside with one hand and one of the cups on the counter next to it and pour myself a drink. “I just needed a little glass of water.”
“You’re at the library today, aren’t chya, ‘Leb?” Richard asked, as if I hadn’t outlined what my schedule for the week was to the family the night before. He must be going for something.
“I’m not sure if we can provide the kind of care your early onset Alzheimer’s calls for, but we will try, dearest brother,” I said solemnly to Richard, pausing to rest a hand on his shoulder after I dropped my glass in the sink. “That’s what family is for. We will stick together, thick and thin.” My solemnity broke off into cruel chuckles as Richard shook my hand off with a rough toss of his shoulders and waved his knife at me in a half threat.
“Cut it out before I cut it out for you!” Richard warned. I had been plucking on that string for a while, Julie contributing, mostly to try and get him to react badly around Dad. My only regret was that he snapped when I was on the clock.
“Richard Winston Blakely!” Dad snapped, grabbing my brother’s hand and forcing it down. “I will have none of that knife waving. If you hurt someone with that, you would not like to find out what we would do to you.”
That ‘we’ Dad mentioned included Mom; even if she has already left for work a few hours before. Unlike me, she wasn’t blessed with a late morning start time. Neither was Julie, the oldest of the Blakely kids. Richard was still in university, starting his second year come fall, and doing an online course for the summer. But that was enough on the sibling history. “Ooo; three named! You’re in trouble!” I silently teased, holding up three fingers and shaking the other one in case he didn’t read the message on my lips.
As much as I would like to linger to see how things turned out, I really did have to leave. It would take me fifteen minutes to bike to the library, and I liked having a few minutes to be able to cool off in the temperature controlled building so I didn’t start my shift breathing heavily and slightly sweaty.
“I’m getting off at six today,” I informed them as I grabbed my bag and tried to untangle my ear buds with one hand. “I drew the lucky straw to set up the Vincent Easchermann display, but they are putting it under the skylight, so I should still be able to see the eclipse. Later Dad! Later Old Man!” I didn’t wait to see what their response would be; darting out the door and into the garage. In all likelihood, that Old Man comment should set Richard off again.
“I hate it when he’s right!” I complained to myself, legs pumping the pedals hard as I sought to earn back some of the lost time my less than punctual departure chewed into. I had mixed feelings for the day. On one hand, aside from the task of moving a few tables around, setting up the display would be pretty simple. It was just a matter of following the diagrams and arranging the books and manuscripts ‘tastefully’ so people could admire the handwritten pages. After that, the rest of the day would be doing the typical restocking shelves and pointing people to where the health food cook books or something similarly mundane waited, with copious amounts of time to slack off and work on my own projects on my computer.
But there was also going to be a total solar eclipse. I had been looking forward to that for a while. I stopped pedalling and let momentum carry me towards the intersection, hoping the lowered speed would buy enough time for the light to change so I wouldn’t have to stop and wait. Back on topic; it wasn’t every year my town was in the direct track of the cosmic event. We had some of the best seats in the country. My ruse with the timing didn’t work out, so I was still stuck muttering urgings to the ticking stop light. I never did figure out why some ticked and others didn’t.
Though, now that I thought about it; they were planning to set up the display under one of the large ceiling windows. With that location, I could watch the sky from air conditioned comfort. The prickling of jealousy and injustice were banished in the wave of that thought. Planning out the logistics of doing the job and working occupied me for the remainder of the trip, and I made it with five minutes to spare, just enough to lock up I bike and get inside.
“Morning, Amanda!” I called cheerfully to the lady sitting behind the front desk.
“A little late this morning, aren’t you?” Amanda smiled back at me.
It was always about the timing with people. I wanted to sigh, but I settled for a sheepish grin. “Well, yeah. I left home later than I planned. Did Gregory change any of the plans?” I asked, Gregory being the one who made the plans for the display (and was more or less my boss and or supervisor). “Or is everything still the same?”
“No, he hasn’t made any changes,” Amanda said, but then she grew thoughtful. “Though, he did tell me to let you know that the supplies are still in the stock room. And he’s off today.” She gave me an apologetic smile. “You will be on your own with the set up. Sorry!”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, trying to make light of it and downplaying my own frustration. Perfect. I would have to carry everything up myself. At least the display cases could fit in the elevator so I wouldn’t have to carry them up the stairs. I managed to give Amanda a bright smile anyway. “I am the strapping young lad here. Such physical labour is becoming of me!”
We shared a parting laugh and I got about my work. It took me a mere moment to drop my bag against one of the bookshelves in the area I would be arranging the display, and from there I directed my attentions towards the most physically demanding part of my day.
It took me almost an hour to get everything out of the back storeroom and upstairs. While I would admit; the display would look lovely under the direct natural light that spilled in from the skylight, it didn’t mean I appreciated the amount of labour I, personally, would have to invest in the endeavour. I at least allowed myself a breather between getting all the parts and boxes up and actually working on arranging them.
Arranging them gave me time to think. In passing, that is. It still took some brain power to fit the curved table parts together to form the ring the books would be displayed in. I wasn’t kidding when I said I was the man around. In the entire regular staff, there were three males. The library was just another female dominated work force. And as much as I would have liked to work there as a career, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go through an addition four years of schooling just to get a chance at it. Still, it was far better than work at the call center, which unfortunately accounted for the majority of my working hours and income.
By the time those thoughts, which were far more disjointed that I make them seem here due to interruptions from people seeking help or just having to focus a bit more intently on the placement of the display pieces, were mulled over, it was time to sort through the books. This part I didn’t want to waste too much time on. A glance to the heavens and a quick verification on my phone confirmed that the eclipse was starting within the hour. To speed my process; I pushed the boxes with the books unto the clear area the ring formed and ducked under the table after them, snapping my gloves in place.
Though I referred to them as books on a whole, it was more manuscripts and a few items considered artifacts. They were only about a few hundred years old, from back in the pre-colonial days, and preserved well enough that I wasn’t sure I wanted to apply artifacts to the ink well and quill and other calligraphy equipment, but I wasn’t the historian there.
By the time I got everything in place, I was rather pleased with my work. I went with the poles, setting the nicer more artistic looking and manuscripts aligned with the north, south, east and west cardinal points, consulting my phones useful compass app for it (and people hated Blackberries) before grouping them in a fan arrangement. The actually books, as in properly bound with a cover and not simply sheets held together, I set at the ordinal points, the artifacts at the further division points between them.
Amanda and Mary, another co-worker, found time to pass by and approved of my aesthetic tastes. That was a good feeling, I won’t lie. I still had a few minutes before the eclipse. I spent them carefully setting the glass case covers over the admittedly valuable articles. They weren’t exactly museum pieces, but you could probably sell them for a decent amount of cash to the right person. The locks on the cases were the final touch. Without much time left before the show started, I fished around in my bag for my viewing gear. A home-made, well; library-made, pinhole projector, constructed with instructions from the astronomy section, and a set of eclipse glasses.
In a way, the eclipse was both boring and exciting. It was pretty to watch, but the time it took to build up to the total eclipse of the sun was a bit wearying. Mostly; it was the silence. If life was a movie, there would be soft soundtrack building up to the moment. I even found myself mentally adding one. It was far from complex, just a few harmonized notes and a steady though simplistic beat to it. I wasn’t an artist.
Still, it made me smile slightly as I alternated between using the glasses, perched carefully over my own, and the projector I made. Which, I admit was something of a disappointment and failure. In the end I settled for roosting on a chair near the display case so I could watch the show.
It took me a while, but I eventually started questioning where the soft music was coming from. I had realized it was more than just a mental trick now, but as cool as it was that it matched the build up of the eclipse, the fact was it was against library rules to be playing your personal music that loud.
Only, I was the only one around. The only other person was on the far side of the building and had headphones on. Maybe it really was just all in my head. I rubbed my temple in mild irritation. I could figure it out later. For now, there was an eclipse to watch. I pushed the question of the origin of the sounds out of my mind for now, not wanting to miss the event. They didn’t last long and it wasn’t likely my home town would be in the perfect alignment again for some time.
It was worth it. The sky got progressively darker as the moon slowly blocked out the sun, but it was a different quality of darkness, not the same as the night or a cloudy day. I would have liked to keep watching it, but the sound issue came back to light. The… eclipse song was still going, but now there was another one. And it… was coming from behind me?
Totally confused now, I looked around. It took me a while to notice what was different. The pages, manuscripts and books in the display. It was subtle, but caused a slight twinge of terror when I noticed it. They looked the same as they did thirty minutes ago. Wait; get what I’m saying now, it makes sense. The whole room was dark and tinged in the odd orange light of the eclipse. But the stuff I set out looked like it was still sitting in a bright noon day sun.
“What in the name of all things…” I murmured, hesitantly reaching out to the case. This new sound, it was… different from the ‘eclipse song’. Just as unobtrusive, but a different tempo, or maybe that would be rhythm (I’m not sure, I did music in elementary school and that was it.) Stranger still, they were starting to sync up together, like a good mashup on YouTube.
Confused even more now, I looked up at the sun, just to make sure it was still normal, casually and subconsciously resting my hand on the display case.
The response was instantaneous. The display case flared with a brilliant orange and white light, the ring of fire around the room blazed to a terrifying red orange, the moon lost its blackness as tendrils of silver slithered across its surface.
Then the two songs screamed to deafening levels as a column of silver and red orange, accented with flames and frosty looking mists, fell from the heavens, searing through the glass and crashing to meet the display I apparently inadvertently set up into the perfect receptacle for it with a crash like a four ton truck meeting a brick wall, the library floor I stood on shuddering as if it were in an earthquake, or as it was a living thing unsettled.
I didn’t notice all that when it happened, just realized in retrospect. I did notice that it was somewhat like the rings effect from Stargate up to eleven. The mind makes strange realizations at times. I also noticed that I was slowly falling over, into a the stream of falling light and fire and mist, and into the void it was carving into the floor, and the rumble as bookshelves toppled over and slid across a floor that suddenly seemed more like the sides of a funnel than the flat surface it was to be, moving far faster than my slow motion fall towards the light.
It hurt when I finally hit it. Burned like diving into a pot of boiling water and doing the polar dip at -40 Celsius at the same time. I didn’t recall much after that. Not until I landed, in any case. I still think that was actually a good thing.
Celestia smiled warmly at those she passed in the castle corridors and hallways as she made her way to her destination. Her pure white coat seemed to glow with something a bit more magical than mere health and vitality, the mark if a sun on her flanks just as much a reminder of her power and status as her stature and ever billowing pink, blue and green hair and tail were. Long practice concealing her less than chipper state under her aura of regality and majesty. It had been a particularly wearisome day in court, and she was more than pleased to end that day’s session. So many ponies were of the idea that bringing their issues and complaints directly to the Princess was the best course of action, despite the wonderful services that were provided for them.
Of course, this was not to say she loathe her subjects. Far from it, she loved them ever so much, and was always pleased that they were willing to come to her, their ruler, for her advice. Sometimes, however, she just wished they were slightly less willing with some matters. Their Ruler did like to relax herself, and as calming as tea and cakes were, it was even better when she could enjoy it without actually needing its relaxing properties.
A lot of the current complicates also came from the Crystal Empire’s relatively recent return. As overjoyed as she was at her student’s, and her student’s assistant’s, success in aiding it’s safe return, as at her niece and her new husband in leading it, it did complicate the political sphere. Princess Cadence was more than willing to merge the Crystal Empire with Equestria and place it under its laws. Now, aside from the relations with that returned body, many of the other lands of Equis were busy sending new diplomats to see how that change would affect them, and how they could turn it to their advantage.
With a slightly frustrated toss of her head that send new ripples through her multicoloured hair and a shuffling of her wings, she chased those thoughts away. Now was not the time for that. Now was the time to put the matters of court aside. Her guard had reported that her faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, had once again sequestered herself in the castle library, not wishing to disrupt the court when she came in. A small part of Celestia wished Twilight had, but only a small part.
Still, Celestia sent word that Twilight was not to be warned of her approach and her ever loyal and dependable guard had followed the instructions to the T. Twilight was poring over what seemed to be four books lying open on the table before her, several more stacked quite high where they would be more or less out of the way. A quill surrounded with her purple magic aura making numerous notes on the sheets beside her. Considering the section of the library, Celestia glanced at a few of the spines on the shelves beside her just to confirm, her student was doing some research into old relics.
Despite her apparent size, Celestia could be quite stealthy when she wished, and no, she did not just consider herself fat. With a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, positioned so she could look over Twilight’s shoulder without casting a shadow in the light that spilled from the glass windows over head. She watched for a few moments, waiting for Twilight’s attention to be split between the books, the quill hovering absently, before commenting. “My, that certainly looks interesting, my dear Twilight.”
Her reaction was most amusing. Surprised at the familiar voice appearing, from her perspective, unannounced and out of nowhere, Twilight yelped in surprise, bouncing from her seat, upsetting the desk such that the stack of books toppled, as did the well of ink. Prepared; Celestia was waiting for that, catching the books, ink, and even the quill that fell from Twilight’s startled magic grip, in the yellow glow of her own magic. No sense in ruining all that hard work by getting all those pages ruined, now.
“Pri-pri-Princess Celestia!” Twilight stammered once her heart rate settled, sinking into a bow.
“Now, Twilight, that’s not necessary,” Celestia smiled warmly at the young unicorn, repeating an oft said comment. She motioned for Twilight to rise as she set the books back in place and covered the ink well. “What brings my faithful student to Canterlot today?”
“Oh! I was just researching ancient artifacts, particularly those said to increase a unicorn’s power, your majesty,” Twilight said, matching the smile with one of her own, her eyes twinkling with the joy of a new research topic. The enthusiasm faded a bit as she went on. “After what happened with Trixie and the Alicorn Amulet…”
“Twilight, my dear student,” Celestia said, brushing Twilight’s hair with one of her gold shod hooves. “Always so diligent. Come; let us take a walk as we talk…”
The moon was not due to be out for several hours yet, but Luna was still working. She enjoyed studying the laws of the land, she always had, and ever since her sister’s student freed her from the Nightmare that turned her insecurities into something far more evil, she had been doing her best to show her appreciation, learning all she could before she took on once again her full responsibilities as Princess of the Night.
Already she patrolled the dreamscapes, and held a Night Court of her own to take some of the demand and stress from her sister. She was ever shamed by her fall, how her sadness and envy of her sister led to it, and the rise of the greatest threat to ponykind since Discord himself ruled the land. She turned that shame into a passion to overcome her insecurities.
So she learned all she could of the thousand years she missed, and worked to adjust to the current world. Strange how her sister’s student Twilight and her friends were responsible for such change in her; not only freeing her from the Nightmare, but also working with her as she floundered, lost in the new world.
Perhaps Celestia was right. Perhaps Twilight was ready for the final test. Luna tried to accept it, but couldn’t in her heart. She had confidence in Twilight’s skills, and even loved the little one like a niece, as she had grown to love the Princess of Love Cadence, but still, her heart was still unsure on the question of Twilight being ready for the next step. She sighed. Maybe….
“By Starswirl’s Beard!” she proclaimed suddenly, staring up at her horn as pale blue sparks started dancing on its length, clearly not of her own violation. She felt magic swelling, magic of the moon, yet not of her doing.
“YOU THERE!” Luna declared to the guards stationed at her room in the royal Canterlot voice, bursting from her chambers and scaring the bejeebers out of them. “FIND MY SISTER AND ALERT HER! THERE BEETH SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE MAGICS OF THE MOON!”
“At once, Princess!” The guards saluted her, still shaken, but ever professional, before taking off on their task. Only then did Luna realize she could sense a disruption in her counterpart’s magic as well. With no other option, Luna quickly sought out her sister’s location with magic, and teleported herself.
“Princess Celestia! Your horn!” Twilight cried out the alicorn she had been talking with as gold sparks danced around her horn. “What’s happening?”
“I… I am not sure!” Celestia admitted, rearing up slightly in shock. She could feel magic building, pulling her, but she was not sure what it meant, or what was causing it. It was… as if something was accessing the very fabric of the solar magic. But if it was doing this to the solar magic; what about its counterpart?
In answer to that question, there was a dark blue flash as her sister Luna teleported to them, her own horn displaying similar effects. “CELESTIA! WHAT... What is happening?” Luna asked, uncertainty in her voice, perhaps a hint of fear in her eyes, her statement starting in the royal Canterlot before she caught herself.
As the two sisters faced each other, the phenomenal peaked. A stream of gold erupted from Celestia’s horn, lancing out to crash into the stream of pale blue that shot forth from Luna’s horn, combining into a churning prismatic orb with a shockwave that knocked Twilight back several feet and even forced the two alicorns to step back. It hovered between them for an instant; then bolted several dozen feet into the air.
Flashing once, the orb turned into a hole in the sky. For a moment, they could see another sky through that hole, a sky were the moon stood blocking the sun. Celestia, Luna, even Twilight gasped. The vision didn’t last long, for the eclipse shone red and spilled a stream of light from it, and a column of fire, mist, red orange and pale silver light to crash down through it with a wail, impacting the ground like a solid object. Both Princesses were forced to shield their eyes with their wings. Twilight and the guards that rushed over to protect their leaders were temporarily blinded.
What awaited them when their vision cleared was somewhat beyond common comprehension. Concentric rings of charred grass and soil, frost covered versions of the same, then untouched ones, with a pile of books and broken wooden frames, gently smoking from points were it was charred and fire damaged, thin mist rising from patches that looked frozen, and a creature of which they did not recognize laying atop it all.
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Good luck with this story, hope you do well.
If you need need help with story ideas then send me a message and I'll help the best I can.
Damn good story sir.
This has my attention
. And already in popular stories! Well done! 
My good sir, I saw your story on the front page, and both the tone of the description and that gorgeous image got me a fair bit curious.
Now I'm not the biggest fan of HiE fics shall we say, so for me to take the full plunge and read this blighter, I need to know one thing:
What's going to set your little tale apart from all the other HiE fics?
4774019 That's a good question, and not one easy to answer. All I can really say is that it's my story. True, there are other HiEs out there, but never one done by me, with my ideas and my style. I can only work towards making it as best as I can.
4777418 As long as your character DOESN'T turn into a pony, I'm good.
It's a good story. Just... try not being to formal next time.
Alright, read the first chapter. It certainly deserves the newer description, as I only found two errors in the entire chapter, and they were minor at worst. The descriptors are detailed, the characters are spot on, and the pacing seems to be perfect. So far so good.
5551857 5551909 I would be doing myself a disservice if I dismissed your comments in a huff. How else can I grow if I don't honestly consider the points others make?
And I'm glad you're enjoying it so far.