24. Loops
The Last Nightguard
Loops
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
— Dylan
Betrayed by the mare he was told to trust, crushed on all sides by incredible magical power, and flung headlong into darkness left Ebon Tide raging beyond the edge of insanity. The scent of smoke and blood sweeping up from below overwhelmed what little shreds of restraint he had used to control his dark magic, shoving him over a line he had fought long and hard to avoid.
Spat out into the night air and flailing as rage filled his mind to overflowing, he fell like a stone.
Instinct drove him to spread his wings, instinct and a driving call to battle which he could not ignore. The Goddess of the Night sang to his soul, breathing on the embers of his anger and bringing them to a terrible blaze that threatened to consume him in Her glory. All around him, he could hear the answering call of his fellow warriors, blessed by Her magic and subservient to Her will.
Command us! Lead us to glory in your name! The Night shall last forever!
Ebon’s brief visit to the future faded in his memory until it was a mere ghost. This was his reality now. This was his purpose! Everything around him was now as it had been on that night, but seen through new eyes. Her eyes. Her will. Her victory.
The Castle of the Two Sisters steamed beneath him, coils of smoke coming out of shattered roofs and broken bodies scattered about like children’s toys. They rose up against Her and had been struck down for their arrogance. Guards who had once shared bread and beer with him now discarded like broken reeds. Friends who had fought at his side in defense of the Sisters.
The siren call of the Nightmare faltered momentarily at the thought. Somewhere below him, his own daughters hid in terror at what their Princess had become, the monster their father had become in her service, and the destruction that followed. Hiding beneath their beds like frightened foals without the protection of a loving Princess to bring them out and banish that fear, they would be consumed in the ongoing destruction.
Then he saw the fierce glow of dark magic as Nightmare Moon charged a terrifying blast of power against her sister, the radiant Princess of the Sun glowing with a light so bright it turned night into day around her.
…and he could see a dark shadow swooping down, intent on striking the insane alicorn from behind.
He did not even think that the diving pegasus was him from just a few short months ago. The only thought in his mind was an incoherent fury that drove him against the one who dared attack his Goddess of the Night. Wings tucked up in a dive of his own, the Warmaster of the Night Goddess flung himself into battle for her glory.
Wind blasting past his body peeled his lips back from sharp teeth bared to tear the throat out of Her enemy, but feathers were faster than his blessed wings. The Nightguard kept his narrow lead, pulling out of his dive with forehooves extended to strike the Goddess of the Night from behind, but ahead of them both, equal powers of Sun and Darkness unleashed their might against each other.
For a fraction of a second, Warmaster Ebon Tide thought the magical battle would remain a stalemate, but then the Nightmare pulled and he could not even use his breath to howl defiance as something deep inside his chest flared into incandescent agony.
Fire consumed him, tearing through every nerve and sinew and igniting him like a torch until his last breath escaped in a strangled scream. The fel magic filling his gut tore away in ragged slices and fragments, pulled by the inevitable might of Nightmare Moon and used to reinforce her own alicorn strength.
All around, he could feel the similar agony of his fellow Blessed as the Goddess attempted to reclaim her magic, bringing the brilliant dark glare of Nightmare Moon’s power to a blinding flare that threatened to overwhelm Princess Celestia’s brilliant light and strike her down.
Strike down the Sister he had pledged to protect with his life.
We live so they live. We die so they live.
Warmaster… that is Royal Guard Ebon Tide mustered every fragment of his being, every memory of the Sisters, the experiences of years in their service, the blood, the pain, and the thought of one small pony hiding beneath a bed, willing to go through the same hellish agony in order to serve. It barely let him tear away from the enticing call of the Nightmare, gripping the faltering dark magic flowing from him in a desperate attempt to quench the fuel to that dark fire, to stop Luna before she could destroy Celestia and doom the world to eternal darkness.
Duty called out to him like bonds of steel, heated by fire and purified in the forge until it wrapped around him in a protective embrace. He could likewise feel the flow of magic from his fellow transformed batponies also stutter as he leveled off his headlong plummet and focused on the line ahead. Four ponies in a row, two of him and two royal sisters for just a fraction of a second before the Elements of Harmony broke through Nightmare Moon’s faltering power like a sledgehammer through a stained glass window and filled the world in front of him with blinding light.
Eat rainbows, bi—
There was a certain tolerance one built up to having ancient artifacts unleashed on oneself so often. This time, Ebon Tide luxurated in the blast of power, soaking it in, relishing the feeling of familiar magic roaring through him like a waterfall. As it slammed into the remaining reservoir of dark magic in his belly, he could feel it change somehow, turning darkness to moonlight and spreading out to all the others of his kind all around him.
This was the reason the Elements of Harmony did not cleanse his dark magic when Twilight Sparkle and her friends had used them on him either time. All of the work he had put into finding out what had purged the dark magic from the doomed batponies of this era was suddenly ridiculously redundant. He was the conduit for change, the mortal sacrifice that would allow the others to live just like a Royal Guard should give his life for others.
Ebon Tide laughed as he tumbled out of the sky, wreathed in the brilliant glow of the Elements of Harmony until his limp form struck the roof of a building and vanished inside with a crash of tile and splintered wood.
* * *
Being dead was painful.
It was not as bad as if Ebon Tide had removed his armor as Luna had requested so recently, in which case he would have been really dead instead of just considering how deeply he was buried in rubble. Shoving a section of broken roof off his armored back, he shifted some more household debris and emerged into an unoccupied bedroom of some sort. Shock made the enormity of his situation difficult to manage, but by focusing on one crisis at a time like his experience as a Warmaster had taught him, it could be controlled. Still, going from a moonlit patch of Royal Gardens lawn to fighting for his life to wading through wreckage was going to take some adjustment. There were the ongoing skirmishes between Nightmare Moon’s forces and the loyal Guards, the need to provide assistance to the wounded, and one more thing that Eb could not think of until he heard the sound of crying when he limped out of the damaged building.
“Celestia,” he gasped to himself as the importance of his tasks took on a sudden rearrangement. Hurrying around the corner, he found the Princess of the Sun standing despondent in a debris-littered courtyard, staring up at the corrupted moon reigning over the night sky.
“Luna,” she managed through her tears. “Why?”
“Your Highness,” said Eb in as calming voice as he could while moving carefully forward, edging his way around the Elements of Harmony that had fallen around her in the forms of inert stone globes. “You had to do it. She was going to destroy the world.”
“No!” sobbed Celestia, and that proud head slowly lowered until it was facing the ground. “No,” she added far quieter. “Gone forever. My fault. Why should I live when she is gone?”
“We need you,” said Eb, sliding under one extended wing. “Lean upon me and permit my assistance. There is naught to fear as long as I am here with you. Fold thy wings.”
Ever so slowly, those vast white wings returned to her broad flanks and Celestia allowed herself to be guided forward in the direction of her quarters with Eb’s calming voice encouraging her onward. “Luna is not forever departed. She will be back in a thousand years and return to your side. You need to be strong while she is gone. Be an example to us all. We will not abandon you.”
One step at a time, one quiet word of reassurance after another, Eb led the noble Princess of the Sun like she was a wounded child until he drew near the Royal Quarters and had to face an opponent he dreaded above all else.
“Your Highness!” Celestia’s personal servant and trusted aide came galloping out of the damaged building, ignoring the crunch of shattered plaster and lesser debris with eyes that were locked on the devastated princess and nothing else. Dawns Light’s flaming red mane was filthy with fallen plaster and her white coat nearly grey from dirt, and she skidded to a halt a short distance away from her liege as if she were terrified of soiling the princess’ scorched coat with her own type of inferior dirt.
“Under her other wing, Miss Light,” said Eb just as calmly as he could. “Help her walk. She’s suffered a terrible mental blow.”
“Where’s Luna?” gasped Dawns Light as she obeyed Eb’s order and took the other side of the sizable princess.
Celestia promptly burst into more anguished tears, leaving Eb to fix the startled unicorn with a quelling glance. “Nightmare Moon has been banished to the moon by the Elements of Harmony. She will not return for a thousand years, so our first priority is to see Celestia to a place of safety where she can rest.”
Dawn hesitated, which reminded Eb that he was still a hulking batpony in a world where the creatures had been the enemy of Princess Celestia until minutes ago. Agony stabbed him to the heart with the knowledge that he was once again alone, trapped in a body that would repulse any normal pony and unable to use the power of his office to enforce obedience since he had betrayed the Crown and violated his oath.
“Trust me,” he insisted. “Dawns Light, Royal Factotum for the Sun, I cannot swear by the Iuramentum e sangui any more since I have betrayed my oath to the Guard, but I give you my remaining life’s blood to do with as you please, and your sister as well, if you will just take this task from me. She needs you. She needs both of you.”
Dawns’ eyes grew wide and she lowered her voice to a mere whisper. “Eb?”
“Nay.” Eb turned his head away from the unicorn servant and resumed assisting Celestia in the direction of her quarters. “Oathbreakers have no name.”
“Ebon Tide,” she repeated slightly louder, although she continued to guide Princess Celestia on her way into the damaged building. “I know that voice. You—”
“I’ll explain everything once I can,” said Eb quietly. “Get Her Highness to bed and don’t leave her alone for a second. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
With that, Eb slipped back out of the door and into the night. It was blatantly wrong to be abandoning his liege in this time of crisis, but there were things that absolutely had to be done, and one of those was waiting for him right outside the door.
“Commander Onslaught.” Eb stopped and regarded the fierce pegasus warrior who hovered nearby. “Land. You have a duty to perform this—”
In a recent time, Onslaught’s sprint forward to strike him down would have been difficult to defend against. Ebon Tide had changed far more than colors and wings since then. He caught the descending hoof and turned the attack into a solid throw that landed his former subordinate flat on his back with enough impact to knock the wind straight out of him.
“Listen you iron-headed nitwit,” growled Eb into Onslaught’s ear while keeping pressure on his helmeted head so he would stay put. “There are wounded all around this castle! Stop wasting your time fighting. This battle is over! Organize your cohort and provide assistance to all of the injured. All of them, feathers or not. If I catch you hurting or ignoring one of Princess Luna’s transformed ponies, I’ll kill you and put Subcommander Wingnut in charge of the rescue process. Same goes for him, and you tell him that. Understand?”
“Warmaster?” Onslaught managed to look up into Eb’s face and his green eyes got very large.
“Oathbreaker,” growled Eb. “I deserve no name. You will take charge of the rescue by Celestia’s authority and in your name. You will carry out this task regardless of the transformed state of the wounded or not.” Without the boiling rage in his gut, Eb found it easier to choke back his anger and add, “She needs you. I cannot do this in either of their names. Only you.”
He could feel the battle-tension ease from the pegasus he had trapped beneath him. Taking a deep breath and hoping he was not making one more bad decision of many, Eb backed away and allowed Commander Onslaught to stand up. There was a moment of unspoken decision, his former subordinate started to make a motion as if he were about to salute, paused, and put his hoof back down on the ground.
“Oathbreaker,” he said carefully. “Breaking the Oath does not mean your requests are without merit.”
“Go forth and do Her will,” said Eb with a nod. “None shall threaten Her Highness while I draw breath.” He watched Onslaught fly away and tried to settle ruffled feathers that no longer existed. All of his study of history matched up against a personal knowledge of his past life, and it led to only one inescapable conclusion to what challenge he would face next.
* * *
Bunker was not a patient minotaur, which was saying something for the generally short-tempered race. His people had been humiliated, driven before the devilish alicorns and reduced to abject defeat dozens of times over the last few decades. His own father had risen to power in opposition to the Equestrian onslaught even though he had capitulated to a lesser position to preserve the fragile ‘peace’ and sent Bunker to the capital as a blood-hostage by another name.
Now half of the alicorns had been banished to the moon, and the other half was badly weakened by the effort. Now was the time to strike for Minos freedom.
“Celestia!” bellowed Bunker in the debris-strewn courtyard, glittering silver in the light of the corrupted moon. He drew his battleaxe across the cobblestones with a horrible grating noise, then swung it over his shoulder. “Come forth and fight!”
There was a shifting of the shadows and a monster strode out with a glitter of moonlight across its ebon armor and a faint shimmer across half-spread dragon wings. It smiled with an obvious display of sharp white teeth and ever so slowly shook its head.
“Shh,” it said.
Bunker took a deep breath to bellow out a challenge and the monster moved. The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back with his own battleaxe tickling his throat.
“Shh,” said the monster again. “Princess Celestia is sleeping. She’s had a very difficult evening. Raise your voice again and you will never make another noise. Your father, Director Blowback, will be deeply disappointed.”
“You know my name,” whispered Bunker, feeling the edge of his blade with every word. “Speak yours so I will know who sent me to the Great Plain of Battle.”
“I have no name,” he said. “Die to me and your shade will wander forever honorless among honorable warriors. Live and I promise your name will be spoken with respect for centuries after your time has passed.”
His heart was still pounding enough to make his ears throb, but if the monster wanted him dead, his head would already be far from his body, so Bunker nodded a fraction of a smidge. “Only a fool agrees to unknown conditions with a blade at his throat.”
“The son of Grand Director Blowback is no fool.” The monster stepped back, and when Bunker lunged forward to grab it by the throat, there was some sort of complicated movement, and he found himself in exactly the same position, only with more pain.
“Or is he a fool indeed?” added the nameless monster.
“I will never yield to an opponent with no name,” hissed Bunker through the agony. “Nor will I listen to conditions while held—”
The blade pressed closer and Bunker stopped talking before he cut his own throat.
“Princess Celestia was forced to banish her own sister to the moon,” breathed the monster. “She rests now, but what will happen if she is forced to respond to an attack? What restraint will she show a rebellious idiot and his people when she sent her own sister to the moon,” he ended in a feral growl.
“You have no idea the power an alicorn wields. Look at this body if you have any doubt. Princess Luna transformed hundreds of pegasi a mere few hours ago, and they will wear this mark for the rest of our lives. When they fought your kind, the Royal Sisters held themselves back to an inordinate degree. They could have reduced your entire country to glowing embers, slain your race down to the smallest calf, and left nothing but lava. The dragons would have appreciated the new territory, but it would have affected the Sisters deeply. They care, and that is their weakness.”
The monster eased the blade away from Bunker’s throat and placed it to one side. “I will not let you destroy your race for a futile effort at petty vengeance. That road has none but ashes and dust to choke the life from your body. I know of what I speak, which is why I have named myself Oathbreaker to my kind, both that which I was and that which I am now.”
“You… were a Guard?” asked Bunker, his eyes wide with amazement.
“I rose to battle with the Sisters when we crushed your forces at the Crimson Gate,” said the monster. “A hundred times we could have wiped them out without loss, but the Sisters bid us hold our blows until your entire force was committed and we could ensure none would flee. The siege engines and supplies burned, your commanders captured, and your father challenged Celestia to single combat.”
“Father was foolish to engage her,” growled Bunker. “He should have—”
“When he inevitably lost,” snapped the Oathbreaker, “he saved the lives of every minotaur still alive on the battlefield. He knew what he was doing. From the commanders of that battle he forged a unified Minos, a victory no other minotaur had ever accomplished in your fractious history. Under the Sisters and their rule, he has brought unbridled prosperity to your lands. No more do whole clans beggar their people into starvation to raise forces against each other in ceaseless combat. You owe the Sisters for that victory far more than you are owed vengeance.”
The words were inescapable facts that Bunker had long been denying by covering them in heaping thoughts of revenge, but it brought a new chill to his heart when he thought of the cosmic power a raging alicorn could muster. If one of them had deliberately done this to her followers, what could a desperate alicorn do to an enemy who attacked without honor while she was weakened by grief? How many minotaurs would have been incinerated by his actions if this dark monster had not stopped him? And if Bunker had managed the feat, the world would have died in darkness and ice without anyone to raise the Sun.
“I apologize,” said Bunker, the simple words coming out like briars. Ponies had long been the reason for his disgrace, and to have one intervene to save his life and the lives of his people was a horrible shift in his perspective.
“In the days to come, I suspect you will curse me rather than appreciate this moment,” said the huge Oathbreaker. “But now that you are willing to talk sense and heed my words, let me tell you what the noble race of minotaurs can become with the right kind of leadership.”
For a long time, the dark dragon-winged pony spoke and Bunker listened. Devices and mechanisms had always intrigued him, from siege engines to clocks, but the Oathbreaker’s words extended far, far beyond his knowledge and experience. Chugging steam engines pulling vast amounts of cargo along steel rails, explosives to blow holes in granite mountains, vast foundries producing steel by the tonne instead of a few pounds, and other marvelous things filled his mind, but one thing stood out beyond all others.
“You want to move the Equestrian capitol to Canterlot?” he asked. “All of it? Up the mountain in a mere decade?”
“It must be done. The Sisters broke Harmony in this hallowed forest,” said the Oathbreaker. “In ten years, this shattered place will be abandoned to the beasts and monsters. If Equestria is to survive, we will need the help of Minos. We need you. She needs you.”
There was really nothing Bunker could say, but he could do something he never thought he would ever do in his life. He reached out his powerful hand and grasped the Oathbreaker by one hoof. “You shall have whatever you need. Minos will rise to the occasion and all of the world will see what we can do. It still will be quite difficult, but we will rise.”
The Oathbreaker smiled, a line of glittering sharp teeth in the moonlight. “That is why I am glad you were first this night. Ebony the Gryphon will be along shortly, if I guess correctly, and when the two of us beat some sense into her head and fill it instead with visions of great airships, the three of us will visit First Fang Gravelhide, and after that…
* * *
The first rays of sunshine glowed strongly over the Castle of the Two Sisters, casting long shadows across the wounded and the dead, thankfully more of the first than the second. There was a muted cheer from worried ponies over the return of the expected sunrise, but mostly the weary work of rescue continued unabated with ponies and other creatures working together in ways that would have been unheard of a mere day ago. Minotaurs winched fallen stones from trapped ponies while Diamond Dogs tunneled to find those trapped more deeply in the ruins. Even a dragon sniffed his way among the wreckage with a painful limp, stopping to point out places where others were trapped, and griffons flew messages between rescue parties to coordinate their response.
One large shadow swept down to a landing in front of a large door guarded by both an earth pony and a bat-winged pegasus, neither of whom were in any condition to offer a fight to an invader. Between bandages around various limbs and some layers of sticking plaster holding cuts closed, they made up just a bit over one whole Guard, but they stiffened to attention as Eb stopped in front of them.
“How is she?” Eb fought to keep from trembling, but it had been a very long evening operating far, far in excess of his endurance.
“No word, sir,” whispered the earth pony. “The Factotum is with her now, but at least she was able to raise the sun, so that’s a good sign.” The batpony Guard nodded, since he had obviously been bashed in the face sometime in the last few hours and was unable to talk. Eb had to wonder who he was, but it was unimportant in the larger field of problems.
“My visit shall be short,” whispered Eb back. “Guard her well.”
With that, Eb slipped in the door to pause at the sight of the Royal Chambers. Dawns Light had just backed carefully out of the bedroom when she caught his eye and motioned to a side room he had never seen before. They went silently until the door was closed, and to Eb’s sudden unease he realized there was a third quiet pony in the room.
“Dawns Light,” whispered Eb with a nod at the Day Factotum. “Penumbra,” he added with a second nod at the glowering dark unicorn. The Night Factotum was actually named Dusky Withers, but she disliked the name sufficiently that only Luna was permitted to use it, and any others who tried received the sharp end of her tongue, applied liberally.
“Princess Celestia is sleeping with Doctor Bombay and Nurse Sing in close attendance,” said Dawns, not taking her eyes off him for an instant and leaving a low, threatening light glow from her horn.
“Good. This room is spelled against eavesdropping,” said Penumbra with a noticeable snap to her words and the same intent stare under a lit horn of her own. “What did you do to Princess Luna, you degenerate monster, and how can we beat a cure out of you?”
“You of all ponies know what happened to Luna,” said Eb with the last bit of spite he was able to muster. “She gave in to the temptations of her dark nature and became Nightmare Moon. I flew to strike her when Princess Celestia unleashed the power of the Elements of Harmony to imprison us in the moon and…”
There were far too many things that needed to be said, but Eb could not say any of them. He had so little experience with time spells that he would probably destroy the world several times over if he blurted out the wrong thing. Penumbra, however, reacted rather oddly to his outburst and resulting silence afterward.
“Day, you spoke of Luna returning in a thousand years,” said Penumbra to her sister. “And nopony knew the Elements of Harmony were used save Princess Celestia and ourselves.” There was a long period of time when Penumbra just looked at him with dark violet eyes that seemed to penetrate to his soul until she added, “The flesh is unfamiliar, but that stance is unmistakable. Warmaster Ebon Tide, is that old goat Starswirl responsible for this disaster?”
Eb shook his head wearily. “Oathbreaker, I am, with no name or title. And Starswirl hath not returned… Did not return even a thousand years hence.”
“Which means you have been there and returned,” responded Penumbra almost instantly. “Struck by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the moon, then returned to us on the hour of your banishment.”
“You are the last Guard I would expect to fall for Nightmare Moon’s poisoned words,” added Dawns Light with an ominous, low voice and the reddish glow around her horn unabated. “And yet here you are, dressed in her corrupt flesh and serving the one who defeated your master.”
“A conundrum wrapped in a mystery indeed, but all through this eve, we have seen things that invite far more important questions,” murmured Penumbra. “Outside our door stand two Guards who mere hours ago were trying their best to kill each other. Now they would die together rather than neglect their duties. Then there were noises of fighting in the Great Courtyard and reports that you were beating the stuffing out of the Dragonlord’s First Fang with several others.”
“A griffon and a minotaur,” said Dawns Light. “Working together with you. Then supposedly the four of you then went off to visit other representatives, where I presume you engaged in more acts of kinetic diplomacy because of the awestruck stories of unity that visitors have been bringing every hour. One would expect the conquered races of Equestria to fly apart without the weight of Sun and Moon to hold them stable, and yet the exact opposite has happened. Tell us why.”
“I cannot,” managed Eb through his fatigue and sore muscles. “The world might fly apart yet. Starswirl’s theories—”
“Starswirl,” muttered both Dawns Light and Penumbra at the same time, although the darker unicorn continued, “More of his theories remain unproved than proven, and half of those were proven wrong. Forget the old fraud for the moment. If indeed you are Ebon Tide, and you have been a thousand years hence and back again, your mere presence indicates you are an integral part of this world. The universe is rather unkind to paradox anomalies.”
“Pops them out of existence,” said Dawns Light. “Or at least that’s what he said. Now, since you are still here, and we are still here, either Starswirl was wrong—”
“Again,” said Penumbra.
“—or your presence is supposed to be,” finished Dawns Light. “So why are you here?”
It was an extraordinarily simple question that had no simple answer, but of all the unicorns in Equestria right now who might understand his confused explanation of the situation, the Sisters Factotum had once been Starswirl’s apprentices, and therefore most likely to understand. He started with the Elements of Harmony and all four times he had been exposed to their power, complete with the implication that the stones might have used him for some purpose of their own. That led inevitably to explaining how he had been near death when freed from the moon and Luna’s desperate gamble to save his worthless life, along with the numbers of his present batwinged brethren in that modern era. He had to spend some time speaking about Peanut Brittle, of course, and all of her small friends, as well as the conundrum that his mismatched sparring partners had sprung upon him.
Although Dusky Withers had once force-fed a stallion his own tail for merely mentioning foals in her presence, he could not help but notice a subdued smile lurking near the very corners of her thin lips when he detailed their mutual ordeal with the devilish opener of cans. Then there was Parliament, details of the treaties, wondrous technological innovations, and tales of the mountain city of Canterlot flowed out from him like a fountain over the course of hours with both unicorns drawn near so they would not miss a word.
There were a few interruptions during his recitation, ponies coming to the door with news of the castle outside, a few pottery steins of welcome ale to keep his throat from drying to dust, and other concerned ponies taking their turns to sit at Celestia’s bedside for comfort while she sobbed in her sleep. Eb could not bring himself to look into the bedchambers when they had their brief breaks, because he was unsure if he could keep himself from falling into a similar despondency over their mutual situation.
At long last, after his words had run out and all Eb had left was silence, Penumbra said a single word.
“Foals.”
It set him back a moment until he caught up with the words he had spoken last. “Oh, yes. All that Celestia could remember was that the two of you became mated to a batpony named Eclipse of this era and had many children. Both of you. And their children… that is your children were quite prolific and served the Crown for years until she regained her senses. Although I still do not know who Eclipse is. Tonight, I will conduct a search.”
Dawns Light placed a hoof gently on her forehead and tapped her unlit horn several times, but Penumbra merely huffed and made a noise that might have possibly been laughter, if it had not come from her.
“You are an idiot.” Penumbra moved closer and nudged Eb until he got up, then guided his somnambulant steps in the direction of a couch at the back of the room. “Smart for an idiot, I’ll admit, but still an idiot regardless.”
“I can’t rest,” protested Eb. “I need to see my daughters—”
“And tell them their father is an Oathbreaker turned into this fel shape by the Nightmare’s power,” continued Penumbra bluntly. “That you struck your liege, drove her to the end of time, swore you would slay her, and what else? Let the disgrace of your actions pass over them so they believe their father died in battle defending Her Highness. You lack the capacity to lie well to those whom you trust. We shall lie in your place. They shall not be neglected.”
“But there’s so much left to do,” he protested while Penumbra continued to herd him toward the couch. “She needs me.”
“True,” said Dawns Light, who had picked up a piece of parchment and was scribing away on it with a quill. “As you claim history has said, all three of us will be quite busy over the upcoming years, helping Her Highness return and guiding Equestria until she has recovered. And we’ll be raising foals, too.” She clucked her tongue as she wrote. “You’re already a good father. I’ve seen it in your daughters. Losing their mother when they were so young… Well, I don’t think we can replace Calla in your life. That’s obvious.”
“I suppose we’ll just have to do the best we can in all of our tasks,” added Penumbra as she gave Eb one last nudge that let him stumble onto the couch. “Now, sleep. We’ll talk about this later.” The dark unicorn gave him a long look from above, the dark pink stripe of mane flowing back from her horn in little frazzled knots of accumulated tension that made him want to brush her for some reason.
“But… I’m not Eclipse,” he managed weakly.
“You weren’t,” said Penumbra. “And you may not be now.”
“But you will be,” said Dawns Light with one last stroke of her quill. “And if history says we have to mate with a devilishly handsome pony such as you—”
“And have foals,” said Penumbra very softly as she tucked a cover over him.
“—we’ll drive the stuffy nobles absolutely mad with the thought of two unicorns in an intimate relationship with one of Luna’s creations.” Dawns Light paused with her parchment hovering in front of her. “Luna was right, you know. Her sister needs the best to protect and guide her over the next few years. And she sent you.”
“We never would have been able to do this by ourselves,” admitted Penumbra.
“And it will still be terribly difficult,” said Dawn.
“But I think we can manage together,” they both said in unison.
The unicorn sisters let out a quiet sigh and gathered together around the parchment to make a few more changes to whatever Dawn had written while Eb… that is Eclipse closed his eyes and let the comforting darkness enfold him.
It was good.
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Celestia in a way sent Eb to the future to guard and help her sister, much like Luna sent Eb into the past to guard and help Celestia in her time of need. Guards are sent to do tasks the Sisters can or should not do. Makes Goose's plea in the last chapter a bit more striking, doesn’t it?
Georg... just... I am speechless.
So...Ebon Tide is both currently moon and earth-bound. This is why I both love and hate time travel. It's simultaneously fascinating and frustrating.
Awesome chapter!
Ah a good ol' boot strap paradox
11414845
Its a bootstrap paradox
Yeesh, cosmic destenies interwoven into time paradoxes. Nice move : )
Ah yes, the bootstrap paradox: obey destiny or spacetime implodes.
Felt like that could have been The End there, but I’ll take every beautiful chapter.
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Probably could’ve of been. Since it isn’t, tomorrow’s chapter probably is. My guess is that either the dragon who was training Eb will give the royal sisters a letter from past him or his shade will magically appear next to them after they sent him back in time. Either way, I bet tomorrow’s chapter closes up the plot and finishes the story.
This has been a good story Georg!
There is a simple solution to teh Bootstrap Paradox.
The Multiverse is a Spread Spectrum phenomena. Every point is the sum over all other points from that viewpoint, so all information exists everywhere at all times, jsut at varying levels of accesibility.
Pinkie in L-Space.
Maa, it's alright I suppose, but there's absolutely no suspense left.
11415102 Writers face this dilema every time we write. Forshadow too much and the suspense is undercut. Forshadow too little and major plot twists come out of the blue.
While I greatly enjoyed this story, it did nothing to help my seething hatred of time travel. Just... the paradoxes and problems inherent in the act of going from here to there in time sour my opinion of whatever story its in.
The writing and characters were fantastic regardless of my thoughts on the time travel elements.
I had no idea how you would tie everything together, and now I know. Everything fits snugly with each other (as I guess
).
EbEclipse will with Dawns Light and PenumbraWell done, thats was quite great balance. I should see that coming but i didnt and after luna spell it clicked "oh OH i see where this is going" well played
This is exactly wahat several commenters already predicted. I knew that Eb would become Eclipse the moment he was send back in time. Also I doubt the Elements used Eb for their purpose it is more likely that it was the Tree of Harmony but Ebon Tide has no knowledgde of it.
11625940 When writing a plot twist, even in a dedicated mystery, the goal of an author is as follows:
10% will say they saw it coming, and they're telling the truth
40% will say they saw it coming, and they're conveniently misremembering
40% will say they *should* have seen it coming, missed it, and it was a pleasant surprise
10% will say "What was that? Did something happen?"
The bottom 10% is inevitable. Even severe telegraphing probably can't get it below 5%. The top percentage... Well, it is a *bad* thing if nobody saw it coming and don't understand where it came from. You lose readers quick in that circumstance. The best one can do is strike a balance.
"Balance is the Way of the Acrobat."
--D'Shai