To Hunt a Beast

Chapters

0: The Beginning of the Hunt
1: Allies
2: Train Ride
3: Wolfpack
4: Crystal Archives
5: There and Back Again
6: The Hive
7: The Plan
8: Back Again
9: Return of the King
10: Preparations
11: Assault
12: Eclipse Strikes Back
13: One Week Later

0: The Beginning of the Hunt

Inner Wisdom, known throughout Equestria as Wisdom, was a very patient pony. How was he patient? He had spent the last three years tracking down a legendary beast, one of such prowess that even the Goddesses themselves simply ignored. How does one ignore a beast that could very well be threatening their ponies? Simple, it stays as far away from civilization as it possibly can.

The beast was simply known as a werepyre, the dreaded combination of werewolves, those that took the form of a wolf, and vampires, those who took the form of the bat. It was known that a werepyre had the strengths of both worlds, like the vampires speed and the werewolves strength, without either of their weaknesses. Things like silver, sunlight, garlic, and even a stake to the heart meant nothing to such a beast.

Wisdom knew about the existence of one werepyre, the very same he had been tracking for the last three years by himself. His friends, a mare named Peachy Keen and a stallion called Tick Tock, had been cursed by the beast, Peachy taking the vampire curse while Tick took the werewolf. They had spent months hiding themselves from Wisdom and the rest of Equestria, letting only their chosen leaders know of their exact location. The four alicorn's wanted to test Wisdom and by not sharing what they knew they made it so he would spend a yew months looking for his own answers.

His answers rested with his cursed friends, one of whom Wisdom had finally tracked down to a well decorated cave just outside of Manehatten. Peachy had hidden herself quite well and he might not have found her for a few more years, but the reports of some ponies vanishing and other reported missing blood had said otherwise. She had found herself a nice little place to set up a new permanent residence in, but right now Wisdom was going to rain on her parade.

He hated to admit it, but he needed the help of his friends Peachy and Tick if he had any hopes of locating the beast responsible for their changes.

One of his other friends, a stallion by the name of Dynamo, was supposed to be meeting him outside the cave, or 'Vampire's Haunt' as Dynamo called it. He was an expert in the art of explosives, anything from a stick of dynamite to a barrel full of oil that was lit on fire to exploding crystals. His other companion was the mare he and his friends had met when they were saving King Sky's life, an adventurous mare named Copper Sprocket. She was what most called a tinkerer, a pony that could build interesting items that wowed the mind and could even replace missing limbs.

"Hey Wisdom," Copper said, appearing behind him with Dynamo in tow, "Sorry we're late. I had to pick up some supplies and gadgets that we would need if we are going to succeed in capturing your powerful friends."

"We're not here to capture Peachy," Wisdom replied, his voice completely calm as he stared at the opening to the cave, "We're here to see if she'll join us in hunting down the beast that cursed her and Tick Tock. It is a beast that would require the abilities of all three of us, Peachy, Tick, Sunset Shimmer, and our friend Tonto to take it out."

The inside of the cave was full of fine decorations, such as expensive chairs, sofas, dining tables, and bookshelves filled with an assortment of books. It was like the living room of any ordinary household, though when they turned to the left there was an entire opened area with at least seven coffins, the preferred sleeping bed for vampires. Wisdom had been hoping that there were only two or three more vampires in the area, but when he inspected the right side of the cave he grew even more worried. The two sides were identical, so there were at least fourteen vampires running around Manehatten without anypony knowing it.

Wisdom and his group moved up towards the back portion of the cave, the last area that they had to search and found a huge open area with two floors. The bottom section of the cave looked like a sparring area, full of wooden dummies, weapon stands, and bullseye targets made out of straw. They would have gotten closer to the stairs that lead up to the second floor, but there were fourteen ponies running around the sparring area. Standing at the edge of the second floor, watching over the open edge, was a sherbert color coated mare with a pink and purple mane, the same colored tail, red colored eyes, small fangs in her mouth, and fully grown pegasus sized bat wings.

He would not have mistaken his friend Peachy Keen anywhere, but when he noticed the miniature set of Nightmare Moon armor, indicating her training under Princess Luna once upon a time, he knew it was her. So either she was training fourteen vampires on how to defend themselves or she was preparing to go to war against somepony. She even had the same fluffed ears that a batpony, the members of the Lunar Guard, had all the time.

"What is she doing in here?" Copper softly asked, poking her head out to look at the training ponies, "Is she secretly building an army without trying to cause suspicion?"

"I honestly don't know," Wisdom answered, noticing a second figure behind his friend, "but it seems that she might have company besides us. I wonder who she could be talking to."

"Can I please blow something up this time?" Dynamo asked, pulling out a stick of dynamite while he stared out at the area, "We could use a distraction if we want to escape later on."

"We are not blowing anything up yet," Wisdom commented, shaking his head at the thought, "If we blow something u it will attract attention to ourselves and make our job even harder to accomplish. We need to incapacitate the vampires in front of us before we move on to capturing Peachy. Maybe she'll have a clue as to where we can find our ultimate prey."

"Oh come now Wisdom, do you honestly believe I would know something like that?" said a voice from the area around them, causing the three to look around in confusion, "Do you honestly think I would stay idle for the last three years, twiddling my hooves while our friend roamed the whole of Equestria unchecked? You'll soon find that there is more to terror than meets the eye."

That was the last thing Wisdom and his group remembered as the darkness swallowed them whole.

1: Allies

Wisdom was walking around in the middle of a desert filled with pure white sand and a crescent moon hanging permanently in the direct center of the sky. He did not recall how he came to be in what could have been the center of a barren place, not the reason for why he was even walking. He could have been flying, but his mind told him that if he did that then he could kick sand up into his eyes without time to shield them. His wings rested by his side, waiting to be used while he scanned the bare sands again and again.

He honestly had no idea why he was walking through the desert.

Then he heard the monstrous howl of a monster he had heard only one other time in his entire life, the one howl that mixed the vocals of the vampire and the werewolf. But that was impossible; there was no way in Tartarus that he could be hearing the creature's howl where he was...unless the beast had somehow found him. In essence the hunter had become the hunted, only he didn't have any of his gadgets that he had brought with him to the vampires lair.

"I see that he's already on his way."

Wisdom turned around and found his friend Peachy, in all her vampiric glory, standing almost right behind him and staring off into the distance. Next to her stood their friend Tick, who looked more like a wolf than a pony thanks to the werewolf blood coursing through his veins. Standing next to them was Copper and Dynamo, the two of them already armed to the teeth with the gadgets Wisdom had insisted they bring with them. He even spotted Sunset Shimmer and the silent Tonto approaching them, which brought a smile to Wisdom's face for once. To complete the group, much to his surprise, was Princess Luna, who almost seemed out of place with her nightmarish armor she often wore.

"You see what will eventually come to pass," Princess Luna continued, nodding in the direction that was in front of Wisdom, making him turn in time to see the werepyre land before the group, "You and your companions will eventually find the location of the werepyre, that you can see right now. But what you don't know is that the beast is already awake, that he is already roaming around in the wilderness and disguising himself as he sees fit. Be warned Wisdom, the beast will be disguised as somepony you will least expect."

"How can he disguise himself?" Wisdom asked, wondering if the beast had acquired another power in the three years he had been tracking it.

"The blood of the Changelings runs strong in their king," Princess Luna answered, the air shimmering slightly, "Find Queen Viscarias. She will be the key in locating the beast you seek, but where she is even I do not know."

Before Wisdom could respond the air broke and he found himself staring up at the barely lit ceiling of what appeared to be a cave room. His body was soaked, which meant that he had been sweating throughout the entire dream he had just awoken from. That was all it could have been. Princess Luna had traversed the dream world to find him and had delivered to him the clue he needed to find the beast he had been hunting for three years. And then he noticed something lurking over a sleeping Copper Sprocket, holding what looked like a filled water bucket.

"What in the circuits?" Copper shouted, the vampire dumping the entire bucket over her, "Whose the unmechanical bozo that drenched me in this rancid water?"

Wisdom felt sorry for the poor vampire. If somepony drenched Peachy in water they were getting a bunch of nightmares when they went to sleep next, but with Copper it was a completely different story. Her entire front left limp was made completely out of metal, grafted into her body when she had lost the original leg and it had several different functions. With all the things her metallic limp could do Wisdom knew the vampire was going to regret drenching her in the vile water.

"I see your awake," Peachy said, appearing out of the shadows behind Wisdom and circling around so they could talk face to face, "I trust you had a pleasant dream?"

"I wouldn't call it a dream Peachy," Wisdom replied, shaking his head as he looked at the mare, "more like a vision that could have told me something about finding our target."

"That's awesome," Peachy exclaimed, shocking Wisdom more then it should have, "I'm going to gather my vampires and we'll meet you outside Appleloosa. From what I've heard that was the last known location that Tick was supposed to have visited. Plus Princess Cadence promised that we could take a look at her latest findings on the possible locations that Eclipse flew off to."

She was referring to their missing friend, a unicorn whose magic had made him a prince and then, through marriage, a full blown king. His wife, the lovely Changeling Queen Viscarias, was missing, but when the changelings were involved it meant something was afoot. To find Eclipse they needed to find the Queen, so maybe their luck would be good and Princess Cadence would know where she went.

"I will see you in Appleloosa then," Wisdom said, noticing a black cat staring at him, "When did you get a black cat?"

"Oh, you mean Shadow?" Peachy innocently asked, turning tail on Wisdom as his two friends joined him, "I visited Fluttershy a few weeks ago to pick up some supplies for the animals that live here and found this little guy waiting for me. He's like a good luck charm, though he has a tendency to disappear for long periods of time and come back with something interesting."

Wisdom sighed, sometimes he could never understand what Peachy, the first of his divided allies and one of his closest friends, was thinking at times. Adventure, it seemed, was indeed upon them once again.

2: Train Ride

Copper had kept the train they had used to traverse the distance between Appleloosa and Manehatten in a spare train house until she was sure it would be needed again. For three years the train sat in the storage area, almost alone save for Copper coming to check on it and either repair, upgrade, or install new gadgets. The warpstone, the light blueish stone that had been fixed into the train's heart, was how they had traveled between locations so quickly and Copper could tell by just looking at it that it was still fully functional after three years.

After leaving Peachy and her vampires behind Copper had immediately returned to Manehatten, returning to her shop so she could pick up as many tools as she could carry. She had been expecting to make several trips between her shop and the train house, but had been surprised to find seven of the fourteen vampires from earlier waiting for her. Peachy wanted them to move quicker then ever apparently, so Copper put aside any negative feelings towards the vampires and they hauled her supplies to the train.

There she spent the next hour modifying the steering controls, how many coaches they had, and the weapons that had already been primed for combat if they were needed. The warpstone shimmered and Copper smiled as the final touches on their destination were entered into the panel resting beside it. The train, nicknamed 'The Vengeance' by Copper, had originally been her weapon against the Changeling and their hateful Queen Chrysalis. With the stone Copper would have ridden a device capable of knocking the entire Hive off the face of Equestria in a single instant, but when Wisdom and his friends had told her the news her plan crumbled.

Now it was just a special train that could traverse the world in short spans of time, one that she had renamed to the 'Flying Vengeance' a few days ago.

"It looks the exact same as it did three years ago," said a voice as Peachy and the rest of her vampires appeared behind Copper, "I would have thought you would have given it a fresh coat of paint or changed the wheels at least. But here I find that nothing has happened to it at all."

"Some things are better left the way they were," Copper remarked, her eyes lingering on her metallic leg for a minute, "and others were meant to be altered from their original design. Normal ponies aren't supposed to become vampires and werewolves, but with you and your friends I am doubting any of you are normal anymore."

"Eclipse isn't normal, not anymore." Peachy sadly said, as if thinking about the stallion brought back pain, "Even if the three of us change we can make due with what happens, but for him it has always been different. Usually he goes off and hides for some time, say maybe a week, before coming back to fight the one that chased him off in the first place."

"The question is if he is following that same patten," Wisdom said, closing the door behind him as he and Dynamo entered the storage house, "If he is following the same pattern then that means he should have appeared already, to wreak havoc upon those that challenged him before, but we know he hasn't. Whatever is going on Eclipse isn't reappearing and has been hidden away for three years. We need to recruit Tick and whatever allies he has made before making for the Crystal Empire. Hopefully Princess Cadence will have the news we need."

"We'll be leaving soon," Copper called out, hopping onto the control station to turn the train and it's three coaches towards the gate, "So get it, pick a seat, and allow the Flying Vengeance to truly amaze the stuffing out of you."

As the gate opened Copper let a grin on her face as she pulled down on a lever, causing the ground to rattle a bit all around them and making several of the bystanders turn in wonder. The four pieces of the train rolled out of the storage house and onto the vacant track, surprising most of the ponies around them with what the train actually looked like. The Flying Vengeance had been designed after the great flying dragons, scales embedded on the sides in the design of flames. Even the very front of the train had been changed to the face of a large dragon, with a long horn nose that could help with whatever the train hit.

The train tracks, however, lifted into the air and continued until the tracks led into the sky itself. Copper smiled as the wheels began to circulate, allowing the train to move into the clouds and, eventually, left the city of Manehatten behind. The only other weird thing about the train was that the sides opened up and long metallic wings spread out of them, allowing the train to stay afloat in mid air as it traveled the airtracks.

"Are you kidding me?" Peachy shouted, sticking her head out of the window to look at the ground and the clouds, "Since when did you have a flying train?"

"I spend the last three years building the aerodynamic systems that would keep this puppy afloat in the air," Copper called out, "and I spent several weeks during that time applying the reflective scales that would make us virtually invisible to the eyes of everypony else. With the warpstone active we will make our way towards the riftgate and then travel the dimensional currents until we reach Appleloosa."

"If we're supposed to be invisible then why are there three specks heading in our direction?" Wisdom commented, drawing Copper's eyes to the three streaks behind them.

"No no no no," Copper said, her eye zooming in on the streaks to find three different colored dragons approaching, each wearing a belt with what looked like a smaller similar warpstone in the center, "They are wearing smaller warpstones, which are smaller stones that lock onto the signature of the closest warpstone in the vicinity. They allow the wearers access to the riftgates, for short distances of course, unless they can find a stone like ours and gain access to it. I'm willing to bet they want our stone so they can travel the dimensional currents to wherever they wish in mere seconds."

"When did you replace your eye?" Peachy shouted, shadows surrounding her as she tried to focus on the incoming enemies after noticing the robotic eye.

"I'll tell you later," Copper shouted back, a cannon popping out of the floor and firing a cannonball at the dragons, "but the story is long and interesting."

"Wait a minute, I recognize that black dragon." Wisdom said, the dragon shattering the cannonball before it could explode in his face, "But that's impossible, there is no way Oblivion could have found us after three years."

"I remember him," Copper growled, continuing the barrage of cannonballs as they drew closer to the rifegate, "You guys told me that he's the one responsible for the first attack on Ponyville, when he tried to collect your friend's powers for himself. Why would he be chasing us?"

"I don't know, but I also don't want to find out," Peachy yelled, her shadows cutting open one of the other dragon's wings and making it fall back down to the ground.

Oblivion was dressed up in what looked like some sort of silver metallic armor, which was somehow allowing him to avoid the cannonballs before they could explode. His claws gleamed as if they had been freshly polished, giving them a focus point to keep tabs on the moving dragon, while his wings almost seemed to cause a drift behind him. The dragon was more prepared to fight them then he had been three or four years ago, which was a lot of guessing on their part. But just as the Flying Vengeance entered the riftgate he zeroed in on the back coach and was on just in time to enter the dimensional currents.

"Ah, it is good to see you all again," came the dragon's harsh voice as the current snapped shut behind him, leaving his friends behind this time, "Ah, what a marvelous flying contraption you have designed my friend. Such a piece will do wonders in the welcome claws of, well, myself. I will commandeer this train and use it's advances to rain destruction down on the unsuspecting ponies of Equestria to spark the national war that will tear the ponykind to pieces once and for all. Then, when the bloodshed is over, I will personally destroy the stallion that every creature in the world fears and the dragons will reign supreme."

"I don't think so," Copper said, pulling out a long cylinder contraption that was pointed at Oblivion's chest, "Say hello to the Everfree for me will you."

Before any of the assembled ponies and vampires could react a beam of energy collided with Oblivion's chest and knocked him out of the train. What happened next was the complete and utter disappearance of the vile dragon, like he had suddenly disappeared from the dimensional currents. The group turned back to Copper, who was smiling as she returned the contraption to it's holder by the front lever.

"I should have used that line I had been designed for such an occasion," Copper muttered, turning back to face her companions, "So, is everypony enjoying the train ride so far?"

It was official; Copper was beginning to behave like the ever random Pinkie Pie. Peachy smiled, at least none of them had been hurt in the entire exchange between them and the dragons.

3: Wolfpack

Arriving in the desert that surrounded Appleloosa relatively unharmed was always a good sign, especially after being in the dimensional currents for three hours. At least, that was the amount of time the group had been told they would have spent in the area, but not even Copper and her abilities could change the time. Sure she had spent three years perfecting the parts of her train and making more additions to her own body, some of which she still had not shared with the others. Additions that she hoped would be helpful in taming or hunting any of the creatures they were after.

The desert was supposed to be warm, the air missing the embrace of water, and the sky was the be bare without any sort of clouds at all. The desert was warm and the air had no liquid, but the sky was darker then it was supposed to be and there was a gathering of smoke over their destination. Either there was some big event going on or Appleloosa was burning from an attack.

"I bet Oblivion set some of his dragons to sack Appleloosa," Wisdom commented, his wings flaring as he looked over to Peachy and her vampires, "He said that he wanted the powers of Eclipse in order to usher in a new era, but if he can't get his claws on Eclipse then he would have to resort to other means. By that I mean he would have to capture Tick and Peachy, both of who have two fragments of Eclipse's unusual form attuned to them."

"A werepyre," Copper gasped, only now realizing the true form of Eclipse, "the terrible combination of werewolves and vampires in a single form."

"Prepare the shock cannons and fire on anything that's attacking the town," Wisdom commanded, leaping into the air as the fifteen vampires followed suit, "We'll deal with whatever else is left and make sure the citizens are safe."

Copper looked over at Dynamo and sighed, the two of them getting to work making sure the cannons were primed and ready for when they arrived in the Appleloosa train station. But as they neared Copper caught a glimpse of what they had to deal with to secure the town; two packs of werewolves were attacking each other and were using the town as their battlefield. How she knew there were two packs was by the fact that she noticed that some of the werewolves were wearing red leg bands and the others were wearing blue leg bands.

It hardly mattered seeing how there were twenty werewolves fighting it out in the streets of the town, making her wonder where the citizens ran off to.

When the train landed Copper and Dynamo let loose with the shock cannons, trying to target what werewolves they could keep track of. The beasts had a strong sense of speed and had the strength to bash whatever was in their way out of their way, but their speed couldn't help them. The vampires had the speed to out maneuver both packs of wolves, but they did not have the brute strength to fight them off with their bare hooves. That was why they had weapons to hurt the wolves, but whatever they were doing didn't seem to be helping them very much.

Peachy, in all her dark glory, was one of the two that seemed to hold her own as she made two of the wolves cower in fear by just using her shadow magic. Those that fought her soon came to know what the true meaning of fear was, but some could actually conquer their fear and fight tooth and claw against her. Wisdom, on the other hoof, was using his unpredictable Pinkie sense to determine where his enemies would be at what time and bashed their heads with his wooden staff. He was unpredictable, but he was on their side, or more like they were on his side, and he controlled where they would ultimately end up.

Copper sighed and jumped out of the train, her metallic limp crackling as electricity surged through the leg, which opened up to reveal the metal dragon claws. One of the werewolves noticed her and ran right up to her, his claws racking the air as he swung them at her, finding her metallic leg right in his gut. While being punched by metal would have hurt any normal being a werewolf, on the other hoof, had some protection against such attacks. But as he began to crack a laugh he failed to account for the energy around the leg.

"Crackle," Copper growled, the electricity releasing and blasting the werewolf right into the side of one of the buildings.

Who needed magic when you had the power to knock the snot out of a fully powered werewolf?

"I see that the three of you have reunited," said a new voice as a werewolf, one who wore a red band and had a metallic guitar strung against his back, appeared in the center of the town, "Wisdom, Peachy, and Copper, it is good to see you all again."

The soundwave that erupted form the guitar, which he had brought out and into his front claws in one fluid motion, knocked several ponies off their hooves in one instant. Copper held her ground thanks to her metallic leg and ran right at the werewolf, intending to use her 'crackle' attack on him. Her enemy made no intention of moving, seeming to welcome the metallic leg right into his gut and the vast amount of electricity that came with it.

"What in the world?" Copper asked, surprised that the werewolf was still standing after the attack, "There's no way that... you..could have..."

Copper realized something in that moment and quickly teleported out of the immediate area, which was soon engulfed in a wind gale for a brief instant. She knew something about the way her enemy fought, mostly because she had been told countless stories about the prowess the pony had. She knew now, that without a doubt, that the pony she was dealing with was Tick Tock, General of the Crystal Empire under Princess Cadence's rule, and the wielder of some powerful sound magic.

And that now included being the alpha of one of the two werewolf packs.

"Nice shot my dear," Tick laughed, a small barrier shimmering before disappearing, "but not powerful enough to put a dent in my sound barrier. I had been hoping that we could have finished our war game, but your untimely arrival has put an end to the whole thing."

"Ah come on man," one of the werewolves said, "Are you sure that we can't just finish up here and let them watch?"

"No Lyra, we wont be finishing the war game anytime soon," Tick said, shrinking until a light brown coated stallion with a black tail and shorter black mane remained, "Whenever Wisdom and Peachy are mixed up in something it is best to drop what your doing and help them out, otherwise they'll come hunting for you. The only thing that could bring them running to me, after three years of being apart, is that they have another wild adventure planned and they want me in on it. That leaves me with a couple of questions, but I'll ask the one question I've wanted answered for the last three years.

Where has the King run off to this time?"

4: Crystal Archives

Taking the riftgate from Appleloosa to the Crystal Empire was one thing, but transporting fifteen vampires and twenty werewolves was another thing. Copper could have sworn that the two creatures hated each other and would have ripped each other apart before they actually arrived. What really happened on the Flying Vengeance was so strange that Copper had actually expected Pinkie to appear out of nowhere.

The two creatures had, respectively, engaged the other in conversation and caught up on the last three years. Which meant that Tick, Peachy, and Wisdom discussed what they knew on the missing Changeling King and his wife, who was silently ruling their pones alone in his absence.

Copper stared out the window as the train descended onto the train tracks of the Crystal Empire, scaring about ten of the Crystal Ponies that were standing around the area. Scaring ponies was not something that the dragon outfitted train was supposed to do, but it was one of those extra perks Copper had not expected. Her eyes, however, zeroed in on three ponies waiting for their train; one being a unicorn stallion, another being a alicorn mare, and the third being a changeling. She should have gotten over her past hatred for the shapeshifting race, but she still wanted to ride her train into the Hive's heart and blow it sky high.

The problem with that was that she would have the fury of the missing Changeling King on her heels if she managed to go through with the operation.

She pulled a lever and the train came to a halt right in front of the three ponies that were waiting for them, the doors opening for the crowd. Let the Crystal Couple get swarmed by the force of thirty-five monster level ponies and maybe their pet changeling would bail them out. But as fate would have it the creatures simply walked off the train in an orderly fashion and ignored the fact that others were looking at them weirdly, leaving Copper to lock the train doors up tight.

"Welcome home General Tick," Princess Cadence said in a happy tone, turning to look at the others, "I see you have found your way back into the hooves of your friends Peachy and Wisdom. What can Shining Armor and I do for your lovely group?"

"We need to access the Crystal Archives," Wisdom replied, "We're confident that there might be some mention as to where Eclipse might have chosen to hide himself for the last three years. Someplace that none of the other Princesses would ever think to check."

"The Archives are always open to you Wisdom," Cadence sighed, beckoning the five to join her and Shining, "though I am surprised that you have come to search them yourself when your assistant has been searching them for the last five days by herself."

"My assistant?" Wisdom asked, not understanding what the princess meant, "Who are you referring to?"

"Sunset Shimmer and her partner Tonto," Shining Armor replied, a frown appearing on his face, "I told Cadence that they weren't assisting you in your search, but she kept telling me they were looking for Eclipse and his hideout."

~The Crystal Archives~

When the group arrived at the library they found stacks and stacks of books lining both floors and with a couple of the bookshelves missing a bunch of them. The tables were littered with plastic cups, some of which were even knocked over or had melted candles on them. The librarian smiled at them, but went on her way and made no effort to clean any of the mess that had been made by somepony else. The question was; who was making such a mess inside a library that even made the librarian not want it cleaned.

"I smell candy cane sugar," Wisdom thoughtfully said, lifting a cup to his nose as the others looked around, "reminds me of that one caffeinated drink Pinkie drank when we spied on Chrysalis. There's about twenty cups laying around, so whoever has been drinking these must have been here for a long time to require so many."

"I told you to quit bringing me your caffeinated drinks and to bring me an espresso with three shots," said a rather loud feminine voice, "and for the love of Celestia; will the two of you stop that already? You are giving me a freaking migraine."

Sunset Shimmer was pouring over a rather large tome while her partner, a tan coated unicorn stallion, was arguing with what appeared to be...Pinkie? And between the two of them was a light blue crystal horn, which must have been one of those annoying flugelhorns.

"It my flugelhorn," Tonto said, moving a hoof to a nearby rock, "trade for gems. You make bad deal."

"I didn't make a deal you silly pony," Pinkie said, trying to taking the horn back.

"Deal," Tonto insisted, pulling the horn back.

"No deal," Pinkie growled, making the two fight all over again.

"Please Celestia, send them away before my head explodes," Sunset whined, nearly slamming her head into the tome, "I can't concentrate with their bickering."

Wisdom felt sorry for the poor mare, having to deal with the complete and utter randomness of Pinkie Pie and the short bursts of knowledge from Tonto in the same instant. It was a wonder that she hadn't gone up in flames and tackled them out of the room, but he admired her self control. She looked behind her and noticed her guests, sighing as she slowly closed the tome and faced them all.

"Anything?" Princess Cadence asked, hope in her voice.

"Negative Princess Cadence," Sunset replied, lifting another cup up to her mouth and drank some of what was inside it, "I've gone through every tome, be they big or small, and every inscription of the possible locations that one could hide themselves in for more than a few months. I have found no mentions of a possible place where Eclipse could have set up a home."

"There must be somewhere we're overlooking," Wisdom spoke up, indicating the map of Equestria that hung behind Sunset, "He wouldn't remain so close to Canterlot, otherwise Princesses Celestia and Luna would have discovered him a long time ago. He wouldn't return to the Frozen Wastes where he found Sombra, otherwise Princess Cadence and Shining Armor would have noticed his presence. He wouldn't dare sleep in the Everfree Forest, not with as many times and Princess Twilight and the Elements go running through there.

Sure, he could have stayed somewhere in the desert surrounding Appleloosa, but Tick and his werewolves would have noticed a traveler on their exercises. Manehatten is out of the question, seeing how he couldn't stay hidden there very long without somepony ratting out his existence. And the Hive is not an option, not with Queen Viscarias hunting for him and sharing whatever she finds with the rest of us. So, where is the one place we are overlooking that is the hiding place of Eclipse?"

"Wait a minute everypony," Pinkie suddenly said, appearing between Sunset and Wisdom and forgetting all about the instrument she had been fighting over, "You meant to tell me we have been searching for Eclipse this entire time? I thought we were looking for a runaway king or something. I know exactly where we can find him."

"For the love of Celestia" Sunset shouted, grabbing Pinkie and staring at her straight in her face, eye to eye, "Where is he Pinkie? Where is Eclipse?"

"That's easy silly," Pinkie giggled, smiling in Sunset's face, "He's in Manehatten."

5: There and Back Again

Manehatten, the ever growing mechanical city of Equestria, was home to some of the most hyperactive ponies and an even stranger crowd. It was here that Wisdom and his group had enlisted the help if Copper three years ago and had come to her again to find some way to locate their target. It was by her designs that Manehatten had grown to be one of the safest cities in the world and one of the most active next to Canterlot.

The dragon train rolled back into the train house, which Copper actually owned and wouldn't admit that it had been given to her as a gift, and eventually stopped. Copper smiled and locked the wheels into their ports, allowing the train to cool off as the warpstone dimmed to a normal light blue color. For her it should have been good to be home, but the fact that Pinkie had told them that the one they had been hunting was in her home chilled her bones. Or at least it chilled the remaining bones that she had left, seeing how about half of her body was already converted to the mechanical state like her leg.

"There is no way that Eclipse could have hidden from me for three whole years without giving himself away," Copper growled, mostly to herself as her guests got off her train, "I have scoured every inch of this city, gone over every blueprint available to be, and have bested every shadow somepony could have hidden in, but still no sign of him. I don't care what Pinkie said, there is absolutely no way that Eclipse in hiding somewhere in this city."

Pinkie, however, was paying more attention to the ponies that were wandering around the train station then she was to the ponies she had accompanied to the city. Not that Copper minded, she really didn't want to deal with Pinkie after Sunset Shimmer had ridiculed her flying train for the majority of the trip. If it wasn't for the fact that she was supposed to be an ally then Copper would have left her behind in the Crystal Empire and let Princess Cadence deal with her.

"Settle down Copper," Wisdom remarked, eying the city as he wondered where Eclipse could be, "Pinkie is random, but when she says something like this then it is worth the look. We'll search the city, get back together in your store or some other place, and then we'll decide our next course of action."

"He won't be here," Copper insisted, trying to put Pinkie's comment out of her mind, "that I am fairly certain of."

~The Market District~

Peachy looked around her and wondered why she was traveling with a group of three werewolves instead of three vampires. She was the head vampire and wasn't used to the ways the ponies, for that was what they were at the moment, were staring at the stands. Their minds were elsewhere, not on the task that had been set before them by Wisdom, who was hanging with Pinkie and Lyra in the Club District.

Copper had explained to them all, once upon a time, that there were four districts that surrounded the central Housing District. Those were Market, Club, Train, and Labor. The Market District was all about the stores that sold, bought, and traded all sorts of goods to ponies that lived in or visited Manehatten. The Club District was for all the various restaurants that had moved in, some of them being the loud musical businesses that Vinyl was known to hang at. The Train District was where all the trains docked, entered, and exited the city, which was why it was considered the busiest part of the city. And the Labor District was where ponies turned raw materials into pieces of art or pieces of everyday life.

And Peachy was stuck in the market with a bunch of mutts.

She considered summoning her shadow powers and swallowing the stupid mutts, so she could leave them in a place that would teach them to behave when they were on a task and not stray from what the rest of the group was doing. She couldn't do it to them, because Tick would know they were missing and would blame her if she came back without them. To heck with what Wisdom had said, she was going to visit the Club District and she was going to see if Eclipse was actually hiding out there. There was no way Eclipse was hiding in a market stand.

~The Club District~

"I'm surprised that there are so many ponies out and about," Wisdom commented, there being at least twenty ponies around them at the moment, "Its going to make finding Eclipse hard. Almost like a needle in a haystack."

"Don't worry sillies, he's around here somewhere," Pinkie spoke, sniffing the air as if she was searching for something, "If you pay attention you'll find what your looking for."

What that meant was that they were going to find something that would lead them to Eclipse, but what Wisdom noticed was that Peachy was walking their way. That and the three werewolves that were with her seemed utterly bored with what was going on around them, much to the disappointment of Peachy. She must not have found anything, otherwise she would have been much happier and might have done a little skip in her step.

"I take it you guys found nothing?" Wisdom asked with a sigh, fearing that he already knew the answer.

"There is no way he's in the Market District," Peachy answered, "With three blood sniffing werewolves we would have found something, maybe not blood, but something none the less and there was nothing. If he's in this city then that means he's using superior level magic to hide himself without leaving a magical trace like most ponies."

"Come on sillies, you'll miss him if you keep chatting," Pinkie teased, making them turn to watch a group of five ponies leave a club called Night Life.

Four of the five were changelings, four scouts that seemed to have no concern that their queen might be worried sick about them. Even though they had black chitin coats, fangs, and light green eyes they seemed to fit in with the crowd like they belonged there. Two of them had bags on their backs, bags filled with what looked like supplies or even jars of food stocks. All of their wings flickered in excitement, as if they enjoyed whatever they had just finished doing in the nightclub.

The fifth pony, however, was not like the changelings. The stallion's coat was an unnatural ashy grey color and both his mane and his tail were coated completely black, almost like it was a mass of darkness. He had looked their way once, revealing what had in one instant been blood red eyes and then changed to light blue a second later. The air shimmered around him for a instant and it revealed a monster that was a cross between werewolves and vampires. The large bat wings appeared on his back, fading into non existence as a regular black coated stallion with a light blue mane appeared in his place.

The stallion's cutie mark was what looked like a skull cross, but it was missing the skull as the x hung fresh in their minds. One line was what looked like a quill, one of the most common instruments in the writing world to this day, while the other line was a scary blue crystal. Wisdom and Peachy couldn't believe it and they wouldn't believe it, but the cutie mark was enough for them.

"See? What did I tell you?" Pinkie laughed, just as the group disappeared into the crowd, "Eclipse has been in Manehatten the entire time you sillies."

6: The Hive

While Wisdom and his friends were busy with tracking down his other friends and hunting down the supposed whereabouts of Eclipse the Changeling Hive was full of activity. Deep beneath the sandy floor of the desert rested a network of tunnels that were constructed from a light green material. The tunnels, elaborate as they were, covered one of the most important structures of the Changeling culture, the Castle of the Queens.

There were very few places the changelings held in high regards, those that were considered to be important enough to restore every ten or twenty years. The other two important structures were the Chamber of the Elders, where the respected Elder Council held court with themselves, and the Nursery, where the infants were taken care of until they were ready to fend for themselves. There was a fourth, more hidden structure, that was located somewhere in the castle that served as a personal portal for the Queen to use as an escape point.

"Oh come on mom, it's been a long time since I've seen dad," complained a changeling that was the same size as Princess Cadence, though her eyes were light blue like her father's, "You tell me that he's such a kind hearted stallion, one who bested Death himself, just to be with you and his friends, but you won't let me see him. You always tell me that he's out there somewhere, making Equestria a better place by allowing everypony to believe that he's dead. But what about me? What about my feelings?"

"Calm down my daughter," the Queen, Viscarias, said, staring at her child, "Your father has made us allies with the ponies of Canterlot, Ponyville, and those of the Crystal Empire. The Princesses has assured me that they are trying to locate him as we speak, but he has spent the last three years hiding on purpose. I do not know why he hasn't returned to us yet, but whatever the reason is I know that he won't return until the time is right."

The smaller changeling, Princess Northern Sky, huffed before she turned tail on her mother, choosing to leave the throne room instead of getting into a heated argument again. She was sure that her mother was hiding something about her father from her and that she wasn't willing to share the information with her. That was typical of the Changeling Queens; when they learned something that could potentially change the face of Equestria they kept it to themselves.

So be it. If her mother wanted to keep the location of her father hidden from her then she would take matters into her own hooves and turn to the ponies who knew what she was after. She'd pack some of her winter clothes, her warm cloaks, boots, and other items, and be off before the royal guards realized that she was gone. If she timed her route right she would be able to reach the fourth structure and escape before her mother could do anything to stop her.

"Good night mother," Northern shouted over her shoulder, nodding to the guards that opened the doors for her to exit the room, "Don't let the bugs bite tonight."

As the young changeling walked away Viscarias turned to one of her guards, sighing as if she knew something was going to happen that night.

"Keep an eye on her chambers," she commanded, the guard bowing his head low in response, "Check on her every ten minutes and be sure that she's there. If you find anything you are to immediately tell me so."

~Later that night~

"Oh come on mom," Northern silently remarked, after the third time the guards checked on her room, "The guards check every ten minutes, giving me just enough time to get out of her before they realize I'm even gone."

True to her earlier thought she had packed a small bag full of winter gear, a small bundle rolled up tight until she needed it. She wouldn't dare wear the clothes while in the Hive, seeing how it would alert the other changelings to what she was planning. She needed to get to the Queen's throne room and enter the hidden tunnel behind the throne, which would lead her even deeper into the Hive. There she would find a metal and stone gateway, constructed by Chrysalis' own mother, that served as an escape route if the Hive was in danger of falling to invaders.

She smiled as she opened a small hatch, revealing a tunnel that she suspected that her mother had used to, in turn, escape from her own mother at one point. She didn't know if the tunnel's end was being watched, but after so many years she was hoping that her mother had grown lazy and wouldn't keep an eye on it anymore. As she snuggled into the hole she made sure to close the opening behind her, mostly to keep the guards confused longer if they searched her room.

Standing guard outside her room, like every night for the last three years, were two changeling guards. No pony would have noticed it unless they were looking for it, but the two were actually members of the Queen's Royal Guard, the special sect of the guard that was dedicated to serving the Queen, the King, and, if there was one, the heir to the throne. The King, her father, had been missing for three years, leaving her mother to stay in her room for hours on end, doing who knew what.

To be honest, Northern didn't like to worry her mother anymore then she already was, but she wasn't getting anywhere with her. If she wanted to see her father then she needed to leave the Hive without her guard and hunt him down with those who were already looking for him. Her best bet was to head to the Crystal Empire, meet with the Crystal Princess herself, and, hopefully, be useful in the search for her father.

She turned a corner and immediately retreated; she was already so close to the throne room that she had forgotten about the guards standing in front of it. She they had seen her then her game was as good as over and she would have nothing to show for leaving her room like that. All she had to do was wait for the guards outside her room to discover that she was missing and literally every changeling in the Hive would come running to her chambers. It gave her the perfect opening she needed to get to the tunnel behind the throne.

The only thing she had to do now was wait in the shadows until the opportunity presented itself.

~Outside her room~

"You know, I actually miss being in those war games," one of the guards said to his partner, making the other changeling roll her eyes, "I mean it. I loved having the rain in my mane as I did battle with the armies of the collective alicorn princesses. Sure, we continued to lose the games as they went after our King, but the fighting was glorious and it allowed me to use some of those moves you taught me before hoof. I even managed to beat several of my opponents in single combat before the signal was given that we had lost."

"For the love of the Queen," the other changeling said, facehoofing herself in annoyance, "Will you PLEASE be quiet? All I have heard from you for the last week is how you miss the war games and how you could beat up ponies that were weaker than you without consequence."

"But its true," the first argued, "I had fun fighting against are allies, measuring my abilities against them in the off chance they came to eradicate the Hive while the King was gone. We, members of the Royal Guard, need to be ready to defend the Queen and the Princess from attackers while the King is absent."

"Are you an idiot?" the second asked, staring at her partner in disbelief, "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would never turn on us, not after everything that our beloved King did to make us allies with them. Princess Cadence is a lover, not a fighter, and she would not come at her allies like a wolf hunts a sheep. And Princess Twilight and her friends would not allow such harm to come to us, not while our King's friends stand by the Princesses sides. I can't believe you would suggest that any of them would turn a blade against us."

"I miss the fun of the games," the first replied, "I miss the rain on my face as the lightning flashed and the thunder clashed above me. I miss the running through the trees as I sought to out maneuver my foes while trying to not make any tracks they would use to find me. I miss fighting tooth, metal, and magic against the ponies we fought, never allowing my eyes to wonder from my targets."

"Whatever you say, Ironside," the second said, turning to the doors of their Princess' chambers, "The ten minutes are up, so I'm going to check on the Princess and make sure she hasn't been bored to death by your nonsense."

The room itself was designed to reflect light so it would always be lit and the reflected light told the guards if the Princess was in her room by her shadow. if there wasn't a shadow then the guard would peer into the room and see if she was still there, which was what the changeling was going to have to do. She turned her head to the Princess' bed and noticed something that chilled her entire body.

The Princess was missing from her chambers.

"Hey Ironside," the changeling called to her partner, trying to shake the fear out of her veins, "Ironside!"

"Geez Shimmer, what...is it?"

That was what the first changeling wanted to know, but the instant he turned to look into the room he noticed what had happened. There was no way the Princess could have slipped by them without being noticed, but that was exactly what had happened. Ironside refused to believe that she could have bypassed them, yet the prove was all around them.

"I'll contact the Queen," Shimmer said, sighing in annoyance, "She'll want to hear about this."

~Moments later~

Northern Sky watched the throne room for the last eight minutes, waiting for the guards outside her room to discover that she was missing. Her disappearance would be the only thing at the moment that could drag her mother off the throne and out of the room. Eight minutes she waited until the doors burst open and out stormed her very furious mother, followed by two concerned guards.

Once the group had passed her Northern emerged from her hiding spot and bolted towards the throne room, nearly tripping herself in the process. Inside the throne room she quickly made her to the area behind the throne, the ancient tunnel of the past princesses. Pushing a stone lever and hearing the ancient tunnel hiss open, revealing a stone walkway that was barely lit by some strange magical lights. She didn't care, but when she got to the bottom she pulled a second lever and the passageway was sealed behind her.

Soon she would be in the Frozen Wastes and on her way to the Crystal Empire. And, more importantly, she would be one step closer to finding her father.

7: The Plan

"So it's true then? You finally found Eclipse sulking around in Manehatten?"

Shortly after the discovery that Eclipse, the very being Wisdom had been hunting for the last three years of his life, had been hiding in Manehatten he called a meeting with the four Princesses. He and his friends, now missing the ever mysterious Pinkie, were assembled in a large room that Cadence had not used since Sombra had been defeated. In front of Wisdom were three large crystal containers, special communication devices crafted by Copper Sprocket that allowed the princesses to speak without using letters all the time.

The middle crystal was colored as a bright yellow, as if it had been made in the sun's likeness, and served as Celestia's device. To it's right sat a bright blue colored crystal, reserved for Princess Luna when she was able to attend the conversation, and to it's left sat a lavender crystal, left for Twilight and her friends, those who choose to attend the meetings. Each had a fourth crystal amongst their set, a pink crystal that served as Cadence's.

At the moment Cadence was listening to Wisdom tell her fellow Princesses what he had discovered, though her aunt had spoken before he could have said anything.

"We did," Wisdom replied, "He is currently wandering the streets of Manehatten with a group of four Changelings, who could very well be the beginnings of a new Hive. He may not have seen us, but we do know that he is likely still armed and incredibly dangerous. Fighting him in a heavily populated area, with as many civilians around as there are, is not a good idea."

"Then how do you propose to get close to him?" Luna asked, having returned with a can in her magic, "We cannot be of assistance, for he knows our magic and will sense our arrival before we get close to him. We cannot ask Queen Viscarias for aid; she might reveal our plans to him and we might never see him again after this."

"It would have to be somepony personal to him for us to get close," Wisdom argued, shaking his hoof in annoyance before calming down, "Queen Viscarias is the only pony that he would dare lower his guard around, the only pony he would truly trust enough and let her get close to him. Like it or not we have to ask her for aid. If you don't want her to know the plan then we simply wont tell her what we plan on doing to him once his guard is lowered.

True, things would be much simpler if he had a child that longed to see their father again. We could help them get close to him and in turn we would be able to get as close as we needed to subdue him. But the possibly of him and Viscarias having a child, let alone her allowing said child to be involved in something like this, is slim to none. Besides, I don't think any of us are truly comfortable using a young filly to get what we want from Eclipse."

"Do what you can to get close to that...to Eclipse," Celestia said, saying one thing instead of something else, "Luna and I are needed in a court meeting, something about dealing with a restriction on somepony. We'll be waiting for news when you have any more to tell us."

"The girls and I have our hooves full with Discord and his 'humor'," Twilight spoke up, "So we'll get back to you guys as soon as possible."

"I still don't know how you are going to take down Eclipse without engaging him," Cadence remarked, watching the three crystals dim to their original grey toned colors, "It's not like he's going to come quietly and do as you say."

"Princess Cadence," a guard loudly said, the door bursting open not seconds later, "There is a changeling outside the palace doors requesting aid in finding her lost father."

"Did she give a name?" Cadence asked, barely looking away from Wisdom and his silent friends.

"Yes," the guard answered, "She said her name was Northern Sky."

"Tell her I'll be right with her," Cadence replied, allowing the guard to leave them in peace, "So Wisdom, care to help me with this lost changeling?"

~The Crystal Throne Room~

Northern stared at the walls, the crystal pillars, the finely crafted royal carpet that was the walkway, and the light blue crystal throne. The designs, the elegant patterns, were more than she had ever seen during her tours of the changeling nation and made her envious. Sure, there were guards everywhere and she couldn't go anywhere without them staring at her, but just the room she was in alone was more than enough.

She could learn a lot about the Crystal Empire and the ponies that inhabited it if she could only get to the archives, where she could easily find a mention of her father's whereabouts.

"Presenting Princess Cadence, Prince Shining Armor, and Inner Wisdom of Canterlot," a guard announced, three ponies walking into the throne room not a few seconds later.

Northern's eyes widened as she bowed her head to the white coated unicorn stallion with a light blue mixed with a dark blue colored mane, an alicorn mare with a pink coat and a triple colored mane, and a pegasus stallion with a red coat and a light green mane. She knew who the royal ponies were from her mother's stories, but the third pony caught her by complete surprise. She silently wondered what one of her father's friends were doing in the Crystal Empire.

"So, you told the guards that your name was Northern Sky and that you were looking for your father?" Princess Cadence asked, eying the changeling that looked like she was as tall as her.

"That is correct," Northern answered, looking up to the princess.

"You gave our guards very little on who it is your looking for," Cadence said, sighing slightly as she spoke, "Can you tell me exactly who you are and who your searching for?"

"I doubt you would believe me if I told you who I truly was," Northern replied, turning her gaze to Wisdom and seeing him stare back at her, "but I will try to convince you anyway. My name is Princess Northern Sky of the Changeling Hive, daughter of Queen Viscarias and the missing King Eclipse. I'm searching for my father."

"I was not aware that the Queen and the King had had a daughter," Cadence said, surprise written all over her face, "If you'll excuse us for a few minutes."

Northern sighed and nodded, allowing the guards to take her back out of the throne room so she had to wait some more before getting any clear answers.

"So what are we going to tell her?" Shining asked, tilting his head to look at his wife and their guest, "If she's telling the truth that she is Eclipse's daughter then she's come to find him and bring him back to the Hive. If she's not telling the truth, that she's just trying to get close enough to do our dirty work, then we'll lose an ally if we mess up. So, what's our plan?"

"We could simply tell her the truth," Cadence answered, "Tell her that we know where her father is and offer to take her to his location. She can spend time with him and do what she came to do, but it would give Wisdom the chance to do what he has waited to do. Then they'll all return to Canterlot and talk with aunt Celestia like we planned. Though it makes me wonder if Eclipse even knows that he has a child."

"Peachy, Tick, and I will take her to Manehatten then," Wisdom said, taking a step forward, "We'll deliver her to Eclipse and see how he reacts to seeing her. Then we'll bring him to Canterlot. Simple as that."

Outside the throne room Northern shivered, feeling that the three ponies in the room she had left had just made plans to use her. How could she feel something like that? It was the same strange feeling that had given her the edge of knowing that her mother was hiding something from her earlier. It was a extremely strange power that she had, the ability to feel things from those that she focused on at any given time. She had known her mother was withholding information about her father from her, just as she knew the three ponies were plotting to use her against her own father.

But in order for her to find her father and restore him to his throne she was going to have to brush aside the feeling and let them take her to him. She only hoped that something bad didn't happen when the reached her father, wherever he was.

8: Back Again

Northern had known that she would be taken to wherever her father was located, but her original plan did not include riding in a train for a few hours to do so. The train, the strange dragon looking train, wasn't the bad thing about the whole arrangement. What almost annoyed her was that she was surrounded up fifteen vampires, twenty werewolves, a pony who kept whispering to a metal shard, a unicorn mare who gave her a concerned look every now and then, and then Wisdom and the conductor herself.

Wisdom himself was just staring at her while he listened to the unicorn mare who was supposed to be controlling the train they were in. Every now and then Northern saw the shimmer of a metal sheen, almost as if part of the mare was actually made out of metal. Then she remembered something, a story her mother had shared with her, one about the mare that her father's friends had sought out to help them in their quest. The mare was named Copper Sprocket, a mare who was supposed to be some sort of mechanical genius.

Northern hadn't actually been expecting to meet Copper on her journey.

"I hope the weapon is ready," Wisdom said to Copper, grateful for all the noise that blocked their conversation from being overheard, "You don't know how long it took to ensure Peachy and Tick that you wouldn't use their blood to make weapons that could be turned against them."

"I would never turn on my friends," Copper growled, already feeling the gears in her metal limb shifting slightly, "but I needed a blood sample of a vampire and a werewolf. In order for me to craft a weapon, or several weapons, that can harm a werepyre I needed to create a sample of Eclipse's blood since we don't have any of it. In the last compartment I have a special chest that contains the weapon."

"Northern is going to freak out if she sees it," Wisdom said, getting off the cushion and starting to walk towards the back of the train, "Can I see it?"

"Course you can see it," Copper remarked, surprised that Wisdom would even ask, "after all, the weapon was designed to be used by you and you alone."

Northern watched Wisdom and Copper walk past the assembled group of ponies, Wisdom simply vanishing and reappearing behind them as Copper allowed them to part before her. Northern waited a few seconds, allowing them to get further away as she focused on her strange ability, fully aware that they weren't sharing something with her. Before they got too far away she quickly got up and followed them to the back of the train, entering the second compartment and finding Peachy talking to Tick.

"I still can't believe Wisdom even asked us for a sample of our blood," Tick complained, rubbing a spot where some of his blood had been taken from, "I don't know what he's planning, but whatever it is it can't be good."

"Maybe Copper is trying to cure our courses without any necessary death," Peachy replied, her eyes lingering on the door to the next compartment, "Though I have seen her doing some strange tests in the last compartment. She's doing something with our blood, but neither her nor Wisdom has felt it necessary to tell us what they're planning."

Northern lowered her head and passed by her father's friends, ignoring the rest of their conversation while she continued after Wisdom and Copper. The third compartment was where she saw them again, but they were standing outside the door to the last car and she ducked behind some of the crates to avoid being seen. From what she had briefly seen the door was still closed, but she hoped to learn something from the two secretive ponies.

"Getting this weapon into Manehatten won't be a problem," Copper was saying, her metal claws ticking on a metallic pad of some sort, "but getting a chance to use it on Eclipse will be. There is no reason to suspect that he'll go for the arrival of his daughter, one that we suspect he has chosen to neglect for fear of her being used against him."

"Getting this to Eclipse won't be as much of a problem as you think Copper," Wisdom replied, the door hissing open and the car filled with a bright blue light, "With this weapon, one forged from the blood of two separate clans and from the fires of a mountain forge, we shall take the fight to Eclipse. If he thinks his vampire or werewolf abilities will save him we shall simply tear them down. If he takes on the werepyre form we shall rain destruction and ruin upon him until he is forced to surrender."

Northern peeked out from behind the crates and what she saw caught her immediate interest; what she could see of the last train car almost made it seem bigger then it actually was. As the two ponies walked passed the door Northern summoned her courage and followed them, making sure the door didn't slam shut on her as her suspicions were confirmed. Right as she ducked behind a pillar of some sort, a metallic one at that, she knew one thing; the whole compartment seemed bigger on the inside.

"I must say, you have done wonders with this place," Wisdom continued, touching a panel with his hoof.

"I was taught how to make something like this by Doctor Hooves," Copper happily said, as if the stallion's name would make any difference, "He's got something similar to this for time travel, but he only showed me a fraction of what his own machine can do."

"I reckon he's tried to turn Eclipse back into a normal pony," Wisdom said, almost whispered as he faced a window, "and I reckon he's had no luck in that regard."

"Three points in time he has tried to change and each one he found that he cannot change anything," Copper told him, "The first point in time was when Chrysalis turned him, by accident I might add, into an alicorn prince and he beat the stuffing out of her. The second point was when he ate the Demonshade and was saved by all of us, though he was stopped from destroying Chrysalis and Sombra. The final point was when he was transformed into what he is now, the monster that everypony, even himself, now calls Eclipse.

They are points in time that the Doctor cannot tamper with; he can visit them and learn from them, but he cannot change what has happened. We cannot change the past, as much as we would like to do so, and that leaves us with our only option that we have left. That option is this weapon."

Northern risked a look at the weapon they continued to mention and found herself staring at what looked like one of those spear weapons the guard ponies of the Crystal Empire carried around. Only this spear seemed to be crafted from all metal, some sort of light brown dyed metal that served as the entire width of the weapon as the head was dyed light blue. The same light blue color that filled the room bounced off of the spear's tip, though at Wisdom's touch it seemed to fade completely.

"See?" Copper asked, "It responds to your touch alone, just like I said it would."

"We need to get to Manehatten fast," Wisdom said, his eyes full of purpose again, "Eclipse will not stay idle for much longer I am afraid and the moment he feels us coming is when he'll move."

~Manehatten, Club Night Life~

Clank was, to most of the ponies that filed through the club's doors, just a normal earth pony who came in every afternoon to drink and to watch the ponies that gathered there. They couldn't be more wrong in their lives. Once he had been a student under Inner Wisdom, but he had allowed himself to fall from that path and now served to help his former master in whatever he needed help in. That usually meant doing things against Wisdom's back and only revealing that he had helped if things had gone the way Wisdom wanted.

So he asked himself again; why was he in this club, watching the night ponies of Manehatten, when he could be out doing something else? The answer was simple; he had seen Eclipse.

He had heard the tales of the Changeling King, the one who could literally move mountains with his magic and change rivers of water into rivers of wine if he wanted. That was if you were foolish enough to believe the far fetched tales of some of the ponies he had run into. The real story was that the King had the power to topple Discord, the God of Chaos, and had only hidden himself so he could learn to control his powers.

Another question; if he was trying to control his powers then why was he in the same club as Clank, watching the ponies that gathered with a look of happiness in his eyes? Another simple answer; he had already mastered his powers and wanted to be left alone.

And he would have left Eclipse alone, if it were not for the fact that Wisdom had already discovered where he was hiding and had gathered enough forces to take down the unsuspecting stallion. It was also due to the fact that he had heard, from Wisdom's marefriend Lilly, that Queen Viscarias' daughter, a young mare named Northern Sky, had runaway in search of her father. Clank had put two plus two together already; if she went looking for Eclipse then she had already found Wisdom and they were, in turn, on their way to Manehatten all over again.

Clank looked up at the mirror in front of him, seeing his own yellow coat and blue mane staring back at him as he stared at Eclipse. The ashy grey coat was one thing, seeing how it was an unusual color even amongst the ponies of Manehatten, but the completely black mane and tail furthered his suspicions. The stallion was just sitting at a table in the corner of the club, surrounded by the same four changelings that were always with him. Whoever they were didn't matter, Wisdom would know what to do once he and his entourage arrived.

Speaking of Wisdom, Clank stared down at the pocket watch he had carried with him, noticing the time was further along then he had originally thought. He placed a couple of bits on the counter, pulled himself away from his seat, and, with a tip of a hat he put on, he thanked the bartender yet again before making his way to the door. Even during all of these movements his eyes, no matter how much they shifted, did not once leave Eclipse or his reflection. He wanted to be sure that the stallion didn't move before Wisdom arrived, but sometimes he suspected that Eclipse was just plain bored of life now.

Besides, he had left the pocket watch on the counter for the bartender to keep, mostly in the chance that it might annoy Eclipse and cause him to investigate.

"He left it there again," one of the changelings said, allowing her eyes to return to the table, "Whoever that stallion is he seems to have fun spying on you."

Eclipse looked up at the bartender, all the way to the mirror as he reconstructed the stallion he had seen for the last week. There was something about him that had caught his interest, something that was going to change up his routine for a while. For the first time in three years he smiled, knowing that somepony had finally come to find him.

Clank watched the train. the same train that he had seen roll into the station a couple of times that week, and sighed as he looked at the clock tower. They were late. He knew that there was no helping it if Pinkie was involved, but whatever the reason he waited none the less. He spotted Wisdom getting off the train and he moved to join him.

"Your late," Clank accused, causing Wisdom to raise an eyebrow.

"A seer is never late, Clank. or is he early," Wisdom said, slinging the iron container holding his weapon onto his back, "He arrives precisely when he means to."

"Whatever you say master," Clank replied, eying the container as the rest of his group flooded the area, "I was not aware that the Princesses had authorized using weapons and other monsters against Eclipse."

"Peachy, Tick, and their followers are not monsters," Wisdom countered, "We have brought what we need to deal with him, though I was unaware that you were hunting Eclipse as well."

"I figured that you would be hunting him for the last three years, so I hunted him throughout the cities," Clank said, the assembled group moving back towards the club, "I tracked him to the Club Night Life, where he spends his evenings in the company of four changelings. I have spent the last couple of evenings watching his every move and all I have discovered is that once he enters the building he doesn't leave till almost closing time.

I was going to tell you that I had discovered his whereabouts a few days ago, but then I received news from Lilly that Queen Viscarias' daughter ran away. I figured that she would run to the nearest town or city, which happened to be the Crystal Empire, and then I determined she would meet you. After that you would bring her to Manehatten and she would be reunited with her father."

Wisdom wasn't really surprised to hear that Northern had run away from Viscarias, but he still turned his head around and gave her a look of disappointment. If what Clank said was true then Eclipse was still in the club, waiting out his days while he enjoyed the company of whoever decided to hang with him. Getting to him would be simple, but hitting him would be the toughest job of them all.

Eclipse looked up at the door and watched a group of eight ponies enter the club, one of them he immediately recognized as the stallion from earlier. He would have ignored the rest of them, but then he noticed the familiar color of Peachy Keen, Tick Tock, and Inner Wisdom approach him. He noticed that Sunset Shimmer and Tonto, the stallion who had chased Sunset in another time, were amongst the groups numbers. He even noticed that Copper Sprocket, the courageous mare who helped his friends save his life, was present and her claws were already out.

The only pony he didn't recognize was the changeling, one that seemed as tall as Princess Cadence was, standing at the back of the group and staring at him.

"Found you at last Eclipse," Wisdom said, his group surrounding the table, "I have hunted you for three years..."

"Excuse me for a second," Eclipse interrupted, raising a hoof to the bartender.

The bartender pulled out a cup, one of those cups you would find at a tea party, and tapped the side of it three times, the noise ending the music in an instant. Before Wisdom could do anything every single pony in the club, save for his group and Eclipse, stopped what they were doing and filed out of the area. Ponies packed up whatever they had brought with them or packed up what they didn't finish of their meals and soon the entire area was empty. The bartender smiled and closed the door behind him, leaving Eclipse and the eight alone.

"So, for what do I owe the pleasure of seeing all of you again?" Eclipse asked, his voice old like Celestia's and yet it was still calm, "I doubt you came to find me to make this a social visit."

"Seven of us came to bring you to justice," Wisdom simply stated, trotting to the left as he made room for somepony else, "the eighth, however, came to find you and bring you home."

Eclipse's eyes widened as the changeling ran forward and threw her legs around him, his mind already racing as he pieced together what his friend had meant.

"Dad, I can't believe it's actually you," Northern cried, her eyes already tearing up as she embraced her father, "Mom told me that she didn't know where you went and forbid me from leaving the Hive to go find you, but I couldn't bare not finding out what happened to you. I knew your friends would lead me in the right direction and here you are, safe and sound. I've missed you, mom has missed you, and even the guards have missed you."

"Nor...Northern Sky?" Eclipse faltered, gripping his daughter in return, "I should have returned to the Hive after the first month of being alone, but I just couldn't. If I had returned then Wisdom and the others would have found me sooner then I had planned, so I had to hide from everypony. It took three years, but they had to eventually find me and now they are here."

"But dad, he's going to hurt you," Northern cried, fully aware that Wisdom was pulling out the weapon he had taken from Copper earlier, "He's got a weapon that's supposed to do something to your blood, something that he constructed from the blood of vampires and werewolves. You're in more danger than you realize."

"Nonsense, there is no weapon in all of Equestria that could be of use to him," Eclipse smiled, separating himself from his daughter, "Besides, I knew this day was coming ever since I had 'disappeared' that fateful day in Canterlot."

Just as he turned to face his friends Wisdom pulled out the spear and jabbed the now large spearhead right into where his right lung was. As he looked up into Wisdom's eyes lightning seemed to course through his body, from the handle of the weapon to his body. It reminded him of the time he had sacrificed himself to save Scootaloo that one time, only this time the choice had been made for him. His body shut down on him again, allowing him one last look at Wisdom before he collapsed on the floor of the club with the weapon stuck in his body.

Only this time Northern screamed in complete horror.

9: Return of the King

Getting Eclipse out of the club and into the fourth car of the train took some doing, mostly because Northern screamed her head off as soon as the deed was done. Several of the ponies that they had passed had questioned what they were doing and all Wisdom had told them was that they had 'bagged the big one'. They seemed to know exactly what he was talking about, seeing how there wasn't anypony to take Eclipse from them when they reached the trains. Copper had smiled when they reached the train, allowing them to lock Northern's father in the back of the fourth car and just left him there.

She had tried to warn her father, but now he was chained up in the seemingly larger car with the spear head trapped in his body. He was out like a light, but his limbs had been chained by some sort of light metal bracer that had, of course, been designed by Copper. Even his horn had a small band around it, but according to Copper the bracers and the band were supposed to restrict Eclipse's powers. Basically Wisdom and Copper had been spending the last three years constructing devices that could be used to 'mortalize' her father.

At least, that was how Copper explained things to Northern.

Even now the changeling princess sat on a bench by the outside of the last car, ignoring her father's 'friends' and choosing to isolate herself. She really didn't know if she could trust Wisdom anymore, not after he basically used her to get close to her father and then quite possibly killed him. Peachy wasn't so bad; she was actually quite friendly for a vampire, despite the fact that she had the power to torment a pony's mind and dreams. Tick, on the other hoof, spoke strangely, had some sort of attitude that fit a DJ, and carried a giant cannon that controlled sound on his back.

She sighed; she just wanted her father to be okay.

"Come on Wisdom, you know you went too far," Peachy nearly shouted, facing her friend, who was sitting at a table and staring out the window.

"I went too far?" Wisdom asked, growling just a bit, "I did what I thought was necessary to subdue Eclipse; nothing more, nothing less. I spent the last three years with Copper, designing weapons, crafting items that could contain his powers, and even resorted to asking Discord to make sure we were left alone. That spear was meant to shock his body into a state of being asleep, the bracers and band to restrict his monstrous powers. We captured him and that's the end of the story."

"You attacked him in front of his daughter," Peachy countered, "You used an innocent young mare, a delicate princess who hasn't seen her father in three years, to lower Eclipse's guard. If she doesn't already hate your guts, which she has every right to at this point, then she'll really hate you when she hears what you plan on doing to him."

"I'm doing all of this to cure you guys," Wisdom fired back at her, turning his head to his friend.

"Forget about us Wisdom," Peachy said, tears rolling down her face, "Think about Northern, think about what you'll do to her if you end up killing Eclipse. She just found her father and the first thing you do to him is stab him in the chest with that...that vile weapon you created. She'll kill you herself if you kill her father, which is impossible. Despite what you think Wisdom, you cannot kill Eclipse."

"Just watch me," Wisdom retorted, the darkness pinning him to the wall.

"I'm tired of playing this game with you," Peachy shouted, "You wanted my help in finding Eclipse and you found him with very little effort. You never told us that you were planning on stabbing, no, killing our friend just to cure us. If Tick wants to support you and your 'plan', if it can be called that, then more power to him, but I will not stand here and let you kill Eclipse."

The darkness released Wisdom and Peachy just vanished, leaving him and the others to search the train for signs of the vampires. All fifteen of them had simply vanished from the train, which made sense considering that their leader wanted nothing to do with Wisdom. Wherever they had disappeared to still wouldn't stop him from delivering Eclipse to Canterlot.

Northern looked up at the sound of Peachy shouting and something hitting the side of the second train car, but she didn't move an inch. She was fine with Wisdom being handled by his friends, he deserved whatever they did to him for the act of hurting his friend. Still, she was regretting her sudden departure from the Hive to find her father and then hoofing him over as soon as she had met him. She was tired of her father's friends deceptions, all the lies, and all the truths they were hiding from her.

A changeling that was tired of deception. She would never hear the end of it from her mother.

~Outside the train~

Dozens upon dozens of eyes watched the dragon train as it moved on the tracks, almost as if it was supposed to pass as a normal train now. They had seen a cover of darkness phase out of the train and travel in the direction of Canterlot, but they had no need to chase down the vampires. They weren't worried about the werewolves that lingered in the second compartment, nor the fact that Copper occupied the first car while Wisdom paced around the train. They were interested in what was in the third and fourth cars, two ponies that were vital to their Hive.

"My Queen," one of the changelings spoke up, making the tallest pony of them all look away from the train, "They have captured the King. They plan on transporting him to Canterlot. What shall we do?"

"Ensure that he gets there," Queen Viscarias said, a scroll held in her magical grasp, "After all, it wouldn't look good if we stole our own King after being invited to a summit in Canterlot. The King will return, but it won't be right now."

~Canterlot, a few hours later~

The dragon train rolled to a stop in Canterlot's train station, which was already swarming with members of the Solar Guard, the Lunar Guard, and the Crystal Guard. Standing behind them were Princess Celestia, her sister Luna, her niece Cadence and her husband Shining Armor, and her former student Twilight. The four princesses were all accounted for, their eyes trained on the doors as they slowly opened up. They had long awaited the arrival and, more importantly, the return of the Changeling King Eclipse.

Wisdom and his friend Copper stepped out first, holding chains that were connected to something in the car they had just exited from. The two tugged and Eclipse walked right out of the car, his eyes firmly closed shut as the chains guided him. Surrounding him was the force of nineteen werewolves, Tick having opted to exiting the train with the rest of their group. The only pony they were missing, excluding the very angry Peachy, was Northern, who was still sitting outside the door to the fourth car.

"I still can't believe that Wisdom succeeded," Luna commented, watching eclipse get closer to them, "You won the bet Tia. I never thought that he would be able to subdue Eclipse."

"It took three years, but we have finally captured the king," Celestia remarked, turning to head to the courthouse, "I have waited three years to talk with him and now he is finally within my grasp."

Northern grunted and got off her rear end, leaving the train and silently following the group that was taking her father away. Celestia and Luna might have noticed her, but they and the other princesses were occupied with walking away with their backs turned. She hoped that her mother would arrive and rescue her father, but she had no way of knowing if she was even aware that he had been caught. For the moment Northern was all alone, not knowing who was actually being nice to her and who was just using her.

While everypony was occupied by something Eclipse opened his eyes and smiled, allowing his eyes to shut before somepony noticed.

~The Courthouse~

Normally the courthouse would be filled with Princess Celestia and whoever needed an issue resolved, but today was not like a normal day. The center of the room was nearly bare, except that it had two spots were chains could be tied down and locked in place. Surrounding the center sat the four Princesses and an empty spot reserved for the Changeling Queen, who had yet to arrive. Behind each princess was their banner, telling whoever gazed upon them which ruler they were turning to speak with.

Chained in front of them all was Eclipse, kneeling before all of them with his head bowed.

"Before we begin I wish to inform you all that Queen Viscarias will not be joining us," Celestia began, almost wondering why she hadn't come to see her husband, "and as such..."

Before she got any further the doors burst open and four ponies, three of them dressed as members of the Changeling Royal Guard, strolled into the room. Two of those guards were none other then Ironside and Shimmer, the two who had allowed the princess to somehow escape from her chambers. The third guard was none other then Sucker Punch, one of the veteran guards under Viscarias' rule during her husband's absence. The last pony, standing at the same height as Celestia herself, was Queen Viscarias herself, wearing her royal jewelry as she approached the princesses.

"I have arrived," Queen Viscarias declared, turning to look each Princess in the eye, "You have called me to this summit and I have answered. I ask that you forgive my tardiness, as I was still dealing with my daughter's disappearance and had not noticed the letter appear until a few hours ago."

"All is well Queen Viscarias," Celestia replied, indicating to the empty spot, "I trust you and your guards will make due with what has been left for you."

The Queen said nothing, only moving herself and her guards to the empty spot and placing their banner where it should be. Then she turned around and took a seat on the chair that had been left behind, waiting as a fourth changeling appeared behind her. She didn't need to be able to read others minds to know that it was her daughter, she just had a feeling that it was Northern. They would have time to talk later, but for now she had to deal with somehow rescuing her husband from the chains he wore.

"Rocket Sky, Prince of Balance, and King of the Changelings," Celestia spoke up, hoping that the stallion would be listening and would respond, "You have been brought before..."

"No." came the same calm voice, "How many times must I tell you, I am NOT him anymore. Must I keep repeating myself or can we really begin?"

"Fine then," Celestia huffed, "Eclipse, you have been brought to this court to suffer the consequences for cursing your friends Peachy Keen and Tick Tock three years ago. What say you?"

Eclipse laughed, causing both Celestia and Luna to jolt in surprise. Cadence tried to keep a neutral face while Twilight raised an eyebrow. None of the princesses knew why he was laughing.

"Curse them? You can't pin that one on me," the stallion replied, keeping his head low, "That was during the time that I was focused on Discord alone. They got in the way and suffered the wounds they did, but there is an easier question that you can ask me."

"And what would that be?" Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow in turn.

"You could have just asked me to take the curses away," Eclipse stated, raising his head to look up at the Solar Princess, "You could have just come before me in Manehatten and simply ask me to remove the curse I put on the two of them. Instead you hunt down my daughter, taking advantage of her desire to find her father, and use her to get close enough to me to stab me in the lung. You should have had the courtesy to at least come to me and allow me to work some magic on them, not attacking me when I'm reunited with my daughter."

"Wisdom knew exactly what he was getting into when he chose to hunt you down." Celestia told the stallion, her eyes looking for any signs of magic escaping while he shook the chains, "Besides, courtesy isn't something we can usually afford when dealing with somepony like you Eclipse. For all we know you could have attacked whoever we sent to talk to you and they would have ended up in worse condition then your friends. Peachy..."

"Peachy is the Student of the Night," Eclipse barked, stopping her before she could say anything about his friend, "She is a strong, independent mare that has endured so much because of me, because of what I have become, and because of who has tried to destroy me. All of my friends have suffered because I brought down the wrath of almost every villain that Equestria has to offer upon them. Do not talk to me about me hurting my friends or family, I would never do something like that ever again."

"You've been defeated Eclipse," Celestia proclaimed, her sister nodding her head, "Like it or not you have been brought low by the combined might of the brightest mechanical mind in all of Equestria and the wisest pony we have seen since Starswirl the Bearded. For all your great power you have been felled by the power of love, just like Queen Chrysalis had been when she invaded Canterlot. Now Wisdom will finish what he has started and the curse shall be lifted from their poor souls."

Wisdom appeared from the shadows that hung below where Celestia sat, the same spear from earlier resting on his back. As he approached Eclipse the spear came out of it's holder and spun around, nocked in the ready position and primed for use when he got really close. According to Copper Eclipse hadn't even tried to build up his power, which meant the bindings were working like a charm. As he drew ever closer he began to spin the spear around and around, preparing for the moment he would strike at Eclipse's heart.

Northern's pulse began to quicken. The first time she had seen her father he had been stabbed in the lung and knocked out, but now they were planning on killing him. They couldn't just lash out and save him, not without inducing the wrath of four princesses, their armies, and Discord himself. In her heart she knew that to save her father by attacking in the middle of court would sentence their entire race to extinction.

Wisdom swung the spear for Eclipse's heart and it seemed like time was stopping on it's own as the spear slowed to a stop just inches away from his skin. Wisdom frowned and tried to pull the spear back, but the entire weapon was stuck where it was and there was nothing he could do to move it. Celestia was standing now, looking around for whoever had stopped the spear from killing Eclipse and was finding nothing.

"Did you think I would just sit back and allow myself to die?" Eclipse asked, the chains holding his front hooves back snapping like twigs and the horn band breaking in half, "Now that is what I'm talking about. It feels good to have full control over all my powers again."

"How is this possible?" Copper asked, not believing that the special bindings had just broken, "Even if you broke the bindings the spearhead in your lung should still be wreaking havoc on your ability to move around."

"Oh, this little thing?" Eclipse said, the spearhead hitting the ground, "While you were all busy paying attention to what I was saying I worked some magic and dragged this right out of my lung. Good timing on my part; I healed my wounded lung and regained my powers to stop the spear from going into my heart. But I have the answer to the question I never spoke and that was that you won't simply ask me to undo the curse. If you want them cured you'll have to come after me and fight me on equal ground."

He lifted his left hoof up and pointed it right at Celestia, energy building right in front of him. The four princesses shuddered and Celestia tried to move, but the fact of what he was doing had rooted them all to their spots. Before it was loosed Eclipse smiled and pointed it straight above him, allowing the energy to blow open a hole in the ceiling for him.

"Come find me when all of you are ready for a real fight," Eclipse said, spreading his wings, "This time I expect you to leave my family out of this."

Before anypony could respond Eclipse burst into the air, out through his opening, and was flying away at speeds that might have put Rainbow Dash to shame. He had waited three years to have a fair fight with all of them, but Wisdom used his daughter against him. Next time they were all together it was going to be all out war and Eclipse was itching to see what his friends could really do. After all, he had made it quite hard for them to simply ignore him for another three years and he knew they would come.

Question was; would they be the only ones coming or was Northern going to see the fight for herself? He would find out when they arrived to fight him one last time.

10: Preparations

While Northern was glad that her father had escaped from the hold that Copper and her machines had over him she was worried about the aftermath of his departure. It wasn't that Celestia and Luna ordered their guards to gather their armor and weapons, or that Copper was still messing around with some other mechanical devices near her. Nor was the fact that both Wisdom and Tick had come back with weapons and armor from the train, though she was confused as to where they had been hidden.

It was the fact that Discord had appeared in front of them all, fully equipped in silver armor, custom made to fit his body, and had a spear similar to Wisdom's broken one strung across his back.

"Discord, I was not aware that you would be joining us," Celestia calmly said, trying not to show any hint of her earlier fear, "So, to what do we owe the pleasure of your company?"

"I'm not here to joke around my dear Celestia," Discord replied without a pause, "I came to offer my assistance in the permanent defeat of Eclipse. I would, of course, understand it if you were to refuse my help, as I was the one who tried to change history and brought this monster upon us. I am the one who changed the peaceful king into such a monstrous pony, one capable of bringing great harm to his own friends."

"Oh go away Discord," Celestia moaned, clearly not in the mood to deal with the draconequus, "We don't need you to infuriate Eclipse anymore than we have already made him. If you want to fight him, then by all means go ahead and see where that get's you this time. Just try not to make matters worse then they already are if you decide to chase him again."

Discord sighed and left the courtroom, using the door as he passed by two sleeping guards and two very awake ponies that stared at him. The door closed tight as Chrysalis, decked out in light green armor, stood next to a fully regal Sombra, the other two who had helped create the monster Eclipse. The three were fully prepared, wearing what could be their final war suits and had weapons strapped to their sides.

"What did the Princess say?" Chrysalis asked, her voice having lost the dramatic tone it once had, "Did she say that we were allowed to help out or did you make it all about yourself again?"

"He likely made it seem like he wanted to atone for his 'sins'," Sombra retorted, "As if killing one stallion will erase some many bloodstained years he has accumulated."

"Celestia puzzled me this time," Discord admitted, sighing as he opened a small doorway in front of them, "She made it sound like I wasn't invited to the party, but then again she also seemed to think I would go after Eclipse anyway."

"Let's go then," Chrysalis said, eying the light blue gateway.

"We'll follow a few miles behind Eclipse," Discord spoke, approaching the magical portal, "When he moves, we move. We'll find his hiding place and if the others don't arrive then we can simply tell them where we went."

Chrysalis and Sombra took one last look at the glory of Canterlot before joining Discord on the other side of his portal, hoping that it wouldn't be the last time they saw the lovely town. The portal shimmered to a close as the two guards suddenly woke up, confused and unwilling to admit that something had happened.

~The Armory~

Northern had followed her mother through the hallways of Canterlot's palace, avoiding the looks she had gotten from the maids that were still up. There were questions she wanted answered and the only pony that could answer them was her mother, that was if she would slow down and face her. She had thought her mother was insane the moment she had entered the Canterlot Armory, moving quickly to a mannequin that was decorated in what appeared to be a light green armor.

Armor that looked almost like the goo that some of the changelings used to incapacitate those that were in their way, with the symbol of the Changeling Hive on the side.

"Mother, what are we doing down here?" Northern asked, her eyes scanning the walls as she took in all the weapons and armor that lined the shelves.

"I came to get this armor," Viscarias responded, pulling the helmet off and studying it for any flaws, "I came because I knew that you would want to see your father, even after he escaped from the Princess' hold. I had asked Copper Sprocket the last time I had seen her to make a special set of armor that could reflect some of the most powerful spells in existence. The only spell it cannot reflect is your father's most feared spell, the one that Peachy calls a 'cero'."

"Why would you have this armor made?" Northern asked, confused as to why her mother commissioned Copper to make the set.

"It was supposed to be a present for your fifth birthday," Viscarias replied, fitting the helm over Northern's head softly, "Eclipse said that on your fifth birthday he was going to permanently return to the Hive and us, but he also warned that it might be sooner if Wisdom caught him quicker. He was hoping that he could cure his friends and deter Wisdom from hunting him forever, but that hardly matters now. The armor will allow you to watch your father during the fight without any fear of getting hurt by any stray spells."

"That leads me to one of the questions I wanted to ask," Northern continued, just standing there while her mother began dismantling the armor and slowly placing it on her body, "You talk as if he had visited you in the past. What aren't you telling me?"

"You remember the name Princess Celestia called your father?" Viscarias asked in turn, placing a leg guard on Northern's front left leg and receiving a nod, "Once upon a time, before we were King and Queen, your father was an extraordinary unicorn stallion who was called 'Rocket Sky'. My mother sought his power for her own devices, attacking Ponyville in broad daylight in order to grab him while he was separated from his friends. On that day he and his powers became one for a brief moment, forcing him to ascend and become an alicorn.

A year later we were married and were involved in the Princesses War Games, an event that could pass as a military exercise between the four of them and us. It was during this time that my mother slipped him a seemingly forgotten about plant called the Demonshade, one that contained a deadly poison that could kill him. His friends gathered together and hunted down the elusive flower known as the Angels Root, a flower that contained the only cure for the poison. And, just as he had been saved, Discord intervened and twisted reality.

I was back to square one, having to keep an eye on a pegasus named Rocket Sky that spent time with the Elements of Harmony, the race change having been caused by Discord. While he tried to blast him out of the sky and crush him while he slept Eclipse formulated the plan that could create his new form. He found Sombra and learned the secrets of the black magic in time to use them against Discord, shattering the veil that separated the lies from the truth. By then it was already too late and, as most have taken to calling him, the monster Eclipse was born into Equestria.

They are one and the same, Rocket and Eclipse. It doesn't matter what he chooses to call himself, I choose to love him no matter who he is. He's come on your birthday, pretending to be a royal guard around others so they couldn't learn the truth early. He told me you were the second jewel of his life, one that he was willing to risk his life to protect if you were ever taken by force."

"Why are you telling me this now?" Northern, now fully decked out in surprisingly well fitting armor, asked as they left the armory.

"Because you were bound to figure it out for yourself," Viscarias replied, stopping at a second story window to stare at the assembled group, "Your father is fully expecting you to join his friends and search for him. He knows that you'll be wanting to see what his power is like, seeing how you now know it even tempted my own mother to seek it for herself. And maybe for your next birthday we'll all go to the beach and forget about being hunted by his friends or something."

Northern looked down at her father's friends, each of them wearing different suits of armor that they hoped would aid them in their upcoming battle with Eclipse. The four princesses stood amongst the ponies, each of them wearing what Northern assumed was their war game armor. Her own armor fit perfectly, though she wondered if Copper had done anything to the armor before it had been locked away where she would never think to look for it. She hoped, by the end of this whole mess, that nopony was hurt too much and that her father would return like her mother promised.

~The Frigid North~

Resting at about a few dozen miles away from the Crystal Empire, completely cloaked by the endless snow, sat a fortress carved from the surrounding mountains. Standing on the top terrace, surrounded by the snow, stone, and torches, was none other than Eclipse, who had flown throughout the evening to get here. The torches, much like the fires throughout his fortress, were burning with dragon fire, which burned bright and as long as Eclipse wanted it. His current home would stay lit and warm all winter long, but that wasn't on his mind at the moment.

He sighed; he was waiting for the final battle he would have with his friends, the princesses, and, he assumed, even Discord himself. And he was looking forward to the chance to beat Discord up all over again.

11: Assault

The Frigid North, a harsh environment with winds that could literally freeze the skin off of a pony's bones and leave them buried until another lost soul came along. Resting in the dead center of the area was a circular mountain range, the center of that area being a hollowed out area that was thirty miles long in each direction. The mountain range was protected by a magical barrier, a barrier that reduced the wind chill to almost nothing and warmed everything to the point of not needing any sort of protection. It was in this pocket that a fortress rested, one that almost nopony had ever laid eyes on during their travels.

It was well past the border between the Frigid North and the fortress that Discord, Chrysalis, and Sombra made their camp on a hill that overlooked the fortress.

"Are you sure he's there?" Chrysalis asked, munching on one of the donuts they had brought with them, "I really don't want us to be wasting our time if he's roaming the land elsewhere."

"He's in the fortress," Discord repeated for what must have been the hundredth time since they made their camp, "I have been keeping watch on the fortress for the last two hours and I have seen only one pony the entire time. If Sombra would finally return we might actually attack the fortress and take him down before he realizes we're even here."

Sombra was supposed to be communicating with the crystal that Copper had given him three years ago, right after their immediate defeat at the hooves of Eclipse. And that was what he was doing, the only problem was that he couldn't understand what Copper was trying to tell him because Pinkie and Peachy were both talking at the same time. The only thing he could figure out was that they were on their way to the camp and they were bringing an army with them.

"We've got an army coming to help us," Sombra finally announced, slamming the crystal into the group and taking a seat across from Chrysalis, "From what I gathered Princesses Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight Sparkle, along with the advisers Inner Wisdom, Tick Tock, and Peachy Keen. Joining them are fourteen vampires, nineteen werewolves, Celestia's old student and her even stranger friend, our mechanical genius, two of Wisdom's strange friends, the remaining Bearers of Harmony, and two special bystanders."

"Oh for Faust's sake," Chrysalis moaned, "Please tell me that my daughter and granddaughter are not on that train."

"All I was given were the names 'Viscarias' and 'Northern Sky'," Sombra replied, surprised that the former queen was upset by who was on their way, "At this point it doesn't matter if they're on that train or not. If they are then they won't be helping, but if they are then they can see us blow this entire fortress sky high. Though I heard Discord found our quarry!"

"He's standing on the top of the fortress," Discord said, eying the stallion with a pair of binoculars, "If he knows that we were coming then why isn't he more observant? If it was me that everypony was after I would be on the lookout almost all the time, staring at every dark corner and suspicious camp I saw around me. And then...wait a minute, somethings happening."

Discord watched Eclipse, who had been munching on what appeared to be a sweetroll, turn to face their general location, posted just west of the fortress, and waved a hoof at them. It wasn't a gesture of anger or hate, nor was it a gesture that welcomed the upcoming battle between them and Eclipse. It was merely a friendly gesture that let them know that he was on to them already and was willing to wait as long as he deemed necessary. He even mouthed something to them, which Discord told his partners.

"He's mouthing 'Let me guess. Somepony stole your sweetroll?'," Discord said out loud, scratching his head in wonder, "What ever could he mean by that?"

"WHAT!?" Chrysalis shouted, running over to their supplies and finding that the crate of delicious sweet buns was missing, "That fiend, he stole our crate of sweetrolls."

"How could he have gotten past us AND walk off with the crate without us noticing?" Sombra asked, though even if he didn't admit it he still liked the treats as much as the ex queen did, "That tears it. I'm going to summon a storm of darkness and plunge this entire place into the realm of darkness. Let's see how he likes having his heart feasted on by the dwellers of this vile and cruel world."

When Sombra got angry his mood would darken, he'd lose whatever happy thoughts he had, the ground would darken, and even the very area around him almost seemed sick. When he got mad he would revert to the tyrant King Sombra, the stallion who would do whatever he wanted, even if it meant that he had to force his way through something to do it. He would never lose the lingering haze from all the black magic, but in his maddened state his eyes would glow brighter than ever. Chrysalis, who was used to feeling emotions, felt the anger coursing through Sombra and it made her woozy.

"Wow now, take it easy Sombra," Discord said, tossing the binoculars aside as he focused on the stallion, "So he snuck past us and stole a crate full of a delicious snack that the three of us share, but that is so not an excuse for you yo go all crazy on us. Look at Chrysalis; all your anger for having the crate stolen is making her sick. If you want revenge then forget about the crate for a few seconds and we'll get Eclipse for this."

Sombra eyed Discord, wondering if he should just toss the draconequus aside and storm the fortress by himself, but when he faced the deteriorating former queen he faltered. She had family, a daughter who was coming, a granddaughter who wanted to see her father, and a son-in-law who was a monster in his own right. If she died it would be his fault.

"Fine..." Sombra finally said, the anger and darkness receding as quickly as they had leaked out of his body, "I'm sorry, I let my anger get the best of me."

"You controlled it and that's the important thing," said a voice as Princess Celestia, fully decked out in golden armor, appeared behind the former queen, "Right now we can afford to have another beast running rampart around the camp and I am grateful that you managed to hold it back in this time of need."

Resting behind Celestia was the same dragon train that Copper rode everywhere, but even Sombra couldn't figure out how the tracks had appeared when there hadn't been any before Eclipse had messed with their heads just a few moments ago. He noticed Princess Luna, wearing her silver nightmarish armor, Princess Cadence and her husband, both wearing crystal armor, and the young Princess Twilight, who wore a robe and her royal jewelry. Walking off the train was Copper, whose metallic leg was unveiled, clawed, and ready to go. He even saw the vampires and werewolves hanging on the sides of the camp, while the royal advisers stared across the abyss at the fortress.

"He already knows we're here," Viscarias said, stopping next to her husband's friends as Northern joined her, "He will not remain idle for long, so if you all are going to attack him then you might want to do it before he moves again."

Celestia nodded and the entire group began to march on the fortress, leaving three changelings behind by the train and the camp that had waited for them.

"Why?" Chrysalis asked, her daughter turning to look at her, "Why have you come here? Why did you bring your own daughter to a soon to be war zone?"

"I came to see my husband fight." Viscarias replied, "And I brought my daughter along because of the same reason. As long as there are no spells thrown in this direction then we'll be okay."

Chrysalis shook her head and flew off to join the marching ponies, choosing to hover in the air as she wondered if they even stood a chance at beating Eclipse. The stallion could beat even the gods and goddesses themselves with his bare hooves, but that was with receiving wounds that could kill any lesser being. She knew that Eclipse's powers were amazing and she was silently shaking in fear for the coming battle. When she was far away from the stallion she had the courage to face her fear and fight him, but now that they were this close she remembered why she didn't want to fight him.

But she was determined to cure Peachy and Tick, which meant she had to swallow her fear and try her best in the fight.

"This is a bad idea," Peachy said, the darkness seeping into reality as they neared the fortress, "Its not like Eclipse is just going to invite us into his fort and let us attack him without doing something."

"Do come in," a voice said as Eclipse appeared in front of them all, the gates of the fortress wide open, "I will skip the pleasantries and get to the good part, which is what you all came here to do. Shall we get started?"

In response to the question a werewolf jumped out of the group and tackled Eclipse, who smiled, threw up his metal clad hooves in defense, and was pushed backwards in seconds. Before either combatant made a move the group scattered, the werewolves crowding the area while their vampiric allies covered the air around them. Celestia and the others waited, conserving their energy while they looked for any openings that could deal a decisive blow to Eclipse. Then, without any sort or warning, the group that surrounded Eclipse were blasted right into the air, knocking their allies to the ground in the process.

Eclipse spread his wings and lifted himself into the air, flipping around in time to punch one of the vampires in the face with his hoof and likely cracking some teeth in the process. He noticed Wisdom pull out the spear from earlier, the unbroken one, drop a saddlebag onto the ground, and then burst into the air. Wisdom's spear met his metal bound hoof, sparks flying as the two passed each other, their eyes locking for a second.

"THIS IS MY!" Tick shouted, his bass cannon primed and locked on to Eclipse.

Sound ripped out of the cannon within seconds, breaking open a gigantic hole in the fortress walls as it flung Eclipse into the sky directly above the fortress. While he was in the air his enemies gathered on the top of the fortress, weapons and spells held at the ready while they waited for the effects of the noise to wear off. But Copper was not one to wait as she teleported into the air behind Eclipse and slammed her metallic hoof into his back as hard as she could. She succeeded in pushing him back towards the waiting ponies, but even her metallic leg couldn't crack the aquamarine colored steel armor he wore.

The same armor that he had worn when he had changed three years ago.

Eclipse corrected himself immediately and his horn flashed as he held his hoof up to Copper, energy beginning to gather into a small sphere in front of his hoof. Chrysalis recognized the attack and leapt into the air, her horn already charged with the same spell, though a much weaker version of it. Before Eclipse fired his Chrysalis moved between him and Copper and fired it square into his chest, scorching his armor and forcing his hoof to point north in time for his spell to discharge. He may not have blown anything up, but she knew he was going to be pissed with her.

"That was a good hit," Eclipse remarked, turning to face his mother-in-law, "but you, of all the ponies I have fought, should understand what it means when you piss me off."

He flipped around and bounced off of thin air, soaring right for Chrysalis at speeds that might have made Rainbow just a tad bit jealous. But before he could even reach her Celestia suddenly appeared between them and cut open his chest armor with her solar charged sword. Without a pause she kicked him backwards and he was barraged by missiles from both Twilight and Cadence, while Luna wrapped a magical collar around his neck and dragged him back to the ground.

There was no pause in attacks as Discord, Sombra, Chrysalis, Peachy, and every other pony that knew magic literally rained spell after spell on the stallion. The part of the fortress Luna locked him on quickly shattered and he fell into the depths, the spells following and breaking the area apart. Tick gave him one last blast with his cannon, tearing even more of the already falling apart fortress apart, before they even allowed the smoke to clear. Some of the ponies were already exhausted, seeing how most could fire five or six spells in succession before tiring, but the majority were still raring to go in case Eclipse could still fight after all that.

"Is that all?" Tick asked, heaving his cannon onto his back, "I guess we can pack it in then."

A pillar of energy shot out of the giant hole in the ground, energy that had the same eerie feelings to it like the one that had appeared when Eclipse had changed forms. The snow suddenly stopped as the sky darkened, lightning flashing and thunder booming as the very wind itself seemed to spin around the energy. Celestia covered her face as those who were airborne landed on the top of the fortress, wondering what level of power Eclipse was ascending to this time. Then it dawned on her; Eclipse had been hiding his true form and his true power then entire time.

When the energy subsided Eclipse emerged from the hole, but this time he looked completely different. Now he had large bat wings, the limbs of the werewolves, and a small pair of fangs coming out of his mouth. His armor had changed as well this time, changing to suit his new claws and the color deepening to a dark red color, the same red as his crimson eyes. The other thing that had changed was the fact that his horn was now like Chrysalis', long and extremely dangerous. He was even standing upright, using his werewolf legs and without any sort of pain at all.

"That feels so much better," Eclipse said, stretching his wings as he twisted around, "One last thing before we start this over. You mad Celestia?"

12: Eclipse Strikes Back

"What...what is this power?" Northern asked, almost whispered as she felt the energy in the air.

"This is the power of your father," Viscarias replied, a sense of admiration in her voice as they watched, "This is the power that my mother once sought to control, the power that Discord sought to destroy, and the power that Sombra sought to use for his own personal gain. Peachy described the process of how he obtained this power as 'hollowification', or the merging of his good side and his evil side into something higher. This form, his werepyre form, is possibly the strongest he has and his spells are not to be underestimated."

"Am I mad?" Celestia calmly replied, her sword raised as ponies gathered around Eclipse, "I'm devastated that our barrage of spells didn't take you down, but I guess we can make due with what we have. Now that your true power has been revealed we can truly begin, as Luna calls it, the 'beat down'."

Eclipse stood there as magical chains wrapped around his legs and bound his wings to his sides, pinning him to the stone on the top of the fortress. Copper landed next to Celestia and slammed her metallic leg onto the magical track that led to the chains that were wrapped around Eclipse, large stones pinning the magic to the fortress. Before the stallion could react the chains ignited, flames building as the ponies that were to fight them vacated the top of the fortress in time for the magic to explode.

"Quite explosive," Sunset commented, her magic allowing her to walk on the few clouds that were left around the fort, "I had no idea that we were resorting to such extremes to fight Eclipse."

"It's all or nothing," Luna replied, her halberd at the ready, "We need to use every trick in our arsenal if we are to defeat Eclipse and maybe even use some of his own tactics. Whatever we do we need to be ready, otherwise we might be in trouble."

As the smoke and fire cleared they got a visual of Eclipse, but where they expected him to be injured or even burned to the point of not being able to use a limb they were disappointed. He emerged from the flames completely unharmed, the flames spinning around him for a second before disappearing in a matter of seconds. The area surrounding him was ruined, stones crumbling into dust and falling back into the abyss of the ruined fort. Only this time Eclipse held a sword with a blade on both sides in his right claw, which hadn't been there before the spells had been unleashed on him.

"Come and get me," Eclipse taunted, taking to the skies as Wisdom immediately followed after him.

The two clashed again, sparks flying in rapid succession as their weapons met again and again, though while they fought Wisdom noticed one blade wasn't in use. Luna came up right behind them and swung her weapon right at Eclipse's back, getting caught by the second blade before it could wound him. Before either could move Eclipse spun his sword and disarmed them, the spear and halberd falling to the ground as his own separated into two blades. Eclipse spun around and lightly cut into the two of them, reconnecting his weapon as the two stumbled closer to the ground and their weapons.

"HEY. ECLIPSE!" Chrysalis shouted, her copy spell at the ready as she stood to the stallion's right, "Over here."

"Ah, your attempting to copy my spell," Eclipse said, turning to face her as he pointed a claw at her, "In truth the version of my spell that you have all seen is not the most powerful. Allow me to show you the true power of my Cero."

Black energy, surrounded by a eerie green glow, gathered in front of his claw, an orb forming within a matter of seconds. Those that were watching couldn't believe what they were seeing and refused to believe that there was an even stronger version to his spell. The original spell was dangerous and destructive, but if Eclipse had developed the spell even further there was no telling how powerful the spell had gotten. Chrysalis and Eclipse fired their spells, silence descending on the entire battlefield as the two beams connected.

Chrysalis' light green beam shattered upon impact with Eclipse's pitch black beam, which got closer and closer to the fear ridden changeling. The former villains knew the power of Eclipse's spell, but the thought of it hitting a home run was enough to make her body lock up against her will. When the beam was a couple of inches away from hitting her she suddenly vanished and reappeared behind Eclipse...with Discord standing where she had been. The resulting explosion tore open the ground in a fury of stone, dirt, and frozen grass. Darkness hung in the air, lingering after the intense explosion brought about by the more powerful spell Eclipse had developed, no doubt leaving a giant crater in the ground where it hit.

"Cero Oscuras," Eclipse said, observing the damage his powered up cero had caused, "or my 'Black Cero'. A spell capable of leveling mountains and splitting ground wherever it hits. The damage it does to the body could be critical, but I doubt you suffered very much Discord."

Sure enough when the smoke cleared there was a crater in the ground, one that could have been a whole mile long, but the figure that stood there appeared to be injured. Discord emerged from the smoke, but it was clear by the open wound in his leg and the cut to his eye that the spell had definitely wounded him. He gave Eclipse an evil stare as chaos gathered around his claws, as if he was thinking of striking back at Eclipse.

"It is good to see you survived," Eclipse continued, tilting his head just a bit, "but that is to be expected from the God of Chaos. Now come, show me what you are all capable of."

Then Tick's cannon hit him in the back of the head, which was due to Wisdom bringing his friend up behind Eclipse and whacking him quite hard with it. As he tumbled out of the sky, heading for the hole in the fortress yet again, another wave of sound hit him square in the chest and forced him right into the ground. Before he could even do anything multiple beams of solar and lunar energy collided with the fortress from above, tearing apart the foundations with ease. Most of their group was already clear of the fortress, so they wouldn't get caught in the blast radius of the explosions and watched for their foe.

"There is no way he escaped that unharmed," Luna commented, having regained her weapon and now stood by her sister, "Despite everything we know about him I seriously doubt that he managed to somehow avoid that barrage without some sort of wound or even a cut to his being."

"Seeping crest of turbidity. Arrogant vessel of lunacy! Boil forth and deny! Grow numb and flicker! Disrupt sleep! Crawling queen of iron! Eternally self-destructing doll of mud! Unite! Repulse! Fill with soil and know your own powerlessness!" Eclipse's voice chanted from the whole, "Hado Number 90, Kurohitsugi."

The sky around Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Twilight, and Sombra blacked as they were encased in large cubes made out of what appeared to be darkness. Before any of the other members of their party could even move the cubes shattered and the captured ponies hit the ground hard with several cuts across their bodies. Chrysalis and Discord, one scared out of her mind and the other wounded to where he was useless, were in no condition to continue fighting. It was up to Wisdom, Peachy, Tick, Sunset Shimmer, Tonto, Copper, and Clank, most of whom knew the power of Eclipse first hoof by now.

"So, now it falls to my friends to defeat me," Eclipse said as he stepped out of the ruins, "So, will you all stand against me and try your hoof at defeating me? Or will you flee before the power I wield and leave me in peace?"

"We fight," Wisdom shouted, sound and darkness mixing into a tidal wave of magic as Peachy and Tick used their skills together and pushed Eclipse back yet again, "Stall him while I get my things."

"Easier said than done," Sunset Shimmer sarcastically said, magic at the ready as they faced Eclipse, "Sometimes I wish I had stayed home with my friends and never came back here."

Before anypony could respond Eclipse burst out of the smoke, his sword moving quickly and easily being blocked by Tonto's weapon, a spear made by Copper. The mare responsible for arming the entire group sucker punched Eclipse in the stomach, cracking the armor he was wearing and wounding him in the process. She had spent years making additions to her body, but the leg was specially made to help her wound Eclipse and she was pleased to find a crack in his armor. Eclipse growled and separated the second blade, bringing it down on her and being stopped by what appeared to be some sort of shield that shocked him back.

As he lunged at her, ignoring the other ponies around him, she shifted to the side and slammed her hoof into his armor again, this time making the crack spread even further. Copper knew the weaknesses of the armor Eclipse was wearing, seeing how she spent time with all sorts of metals, and figured a couple of well placed strikes would destroy the armor in no time. One other thing she had done during the last three years, one thing that she hadn't told anypony at all, was she had replaced some more parts of herself in anticipation for this fight. Something struck Eclipse in the chest, causing him to back up and stare at his foe.

Copper had modified her hooves to match her metallic leg, giving her a complete set of dragon claws, and gave them a shield generator that gave her the shield that stopped Eclipse's attack. Her once messy tail unraveled to reveal a long, metallic dragon tail with what appeared to be a scythe type head at the very end of it and three small spikes on it. She had spent time making herself more like a dragon then her pony self, giving her a deadly weapon to use against those who came at her. At the moment it meant she had something that could possibly harm Eclipse, but that remained to be seen.

"Are you kidding me?" Peachy said, surprised by Copper's transformation, "Since when did you have so many metallic dragon parts on yourself? Its almost like you wanted to be a dragon and not a pony."

"I enjoy being a pony," Copper growled, stopping the swords as Eclipse pushed her back a few inches, "but I am a tinkerer and I am known to fiddle with my machines. I gave myself a weapon, the claws and this tail. Now Eclipse, let's dance."

She spun around and kicked him square in the chest, breaking a hole in his armor and pushing him back in a single instant. Without allowing him time to do anything she wrapped her whip-like tail around him and flung him into the air, following without a second wasted. With another punch to the armor she sent shards flying throughout the air, the entire suit ruined to the point where he was going to have to discard it soon. Even as Eclipse corrected himself Copper spun around and struck him hard in the chest once more, causing him to shoot down to the ground.

Waiting for Eclipse to land was Wisdom, who was wielding some strange metallic suit that seemed to combine the power of himself, Peachy, and Tick into one being. Before Eclipse hit the ground Wisdom struck him hard in the space that Copper had opened up, likely breaking several of his ribs in the process. Then he released a barrage of blows, breaking what little remained of his armor and cracking even more of his ribs then earlier. It seemed that in his werepyre form his instant regeneration ability was either disabled or they were hurting him to the point where it couldn't keep up.

Eclipse stopped and settled on the ground, staring up at Wisdom as magic surged around his front right leg and he stood up straight, his chest armor falling right off. The magic seemed to control the wind, seeing how it spiraled into a large sphere that seemed to shake the ground all around Eclipse. Wisdom knew he was up to something, but he remained unworried as he gathered something similar to what Eclipse was doing, only his was made of darkness and sound.

"Screw this," Northern said, stretching her wings as she watched them fight, "When those two spells collide it's going to be the death of everypony near them. I am not going to let either of them die for something so stupid."

Before Viscarias could stop her Northern took off, flying as fast as she could towards the fight. She didn't know how she was going to stop them from literally killing each other and the rest of their friends, but she had to try something. Her magic was like a normal changeling, so she had to think of something as she neared them and what appeared to be a very shaky ground. The two magical spheres were giving off some dangerous energies and she feared she would be too late to stop them. Just as she landed the two sprung into combat, completely unaware that she was between them, so she flung her hooves up at them in hopes they'd stop if she touched them.

"STOP!"

As soon as the word left Northern's mouth purple lightning arched around her hooves and jumped at the two of them, a screeching sound piercing the air as the two were suddenly stopped. Surrounding the two stallion's was a sphere of purple energy, one that allowed them to see out and allow others to see in, as their attacks withered away into nothing. Everypony was surprised, never had they seen something that could stop a battle crazed Eclipse and his opponents in their steps with such ease. She looked up and saw the sphere's wondering how she had managed to stop them if it wasn't one of her father's tricks.

"You possess such a fiery courage," said a voice as Celestia, still covered in closed cuts, landed near them, "one that burns enough to allow you to stop such a heated battle. You, Eclipse, need to stop fighting and return to your ponies and your family."

"Plus we need to have Peachy and Tick cured," Wisdom said, looking at the spear in his hooves and piercing the ground with the sharp head, "I can't do it anyway. I said I could bring myself to kill when the need arised, but now that I'm so close to doing it I cannot bring myself to kill you Eclipse. You can dislike me for doing all of this to you, but I will not kill you."

"And I respect you for that," Eclipse replied, coughing as some white substance worked it's way across his chest where the armor had been, "Its going to take some time, but my instant regeneration will heal all the broken bones and scrapes that I've received during this battle. Now, let's see about removing those curses from my friends."

Eclipse simply touched Peachy and Tick in their foreheads, causing a black substance to emerge from their heads as their bodies violently shook. He caught the substance in a nearby stone from the ruined fortress, which he immediately destroyed to be rid of the two curses and restore his friends in seconds. The changes surged through the assembled ponies, the vampires and werewolves losing what made them monsters and returned to their original forms. Overall the sight of having his friends restored brought a smile, and quite possibly a tear, to Wisdom's face.

"Aww..." Peachy whined, missing her wings already, "but I liked being a vampire."

"Come on guys," Eclipse said, bringing his daughter closer to himself, "Let's go home before we all freeze."

13: One Week Later

The sky flashed and the wind howled as it rained over the vast forest area that was riddled with at least a dozen rock formations, one of them being a familiar flat leveled plateau. Above the forest sat clusters of black clouds while below the treetops waited clusters of soldiers that waited for the signal to start. The forest, usually devoid of life that wasn't the animals that ran around, was now home to five different and very unique armies. The same five armies that had, at one point in time, gone to war against each other in the war games.

Northern knew the rules of the war game and, now that she was wearing her armor, she was a part of her father's Changeling army, using her strange and unique magic against the other armies. After they had returned home Eclipse had taught her how to use magic in the general sense, seeing how nopony knew exactly what her magic was. Sure, she couldn't use her father's dangerous magic, but she had some skill with her own magic that allowed her to defend herself whenever she needed it. From the letters she had received it seemed like Princess Twilight was thinking it was possibly chaos magic, but other than that nopony knew exactly what it was.

"Its good to be back in the war games," Ironside said, twirling a spear around while he stood guard over the princess, "It gives us the chance to use what we have learned against our allies for fun. Who cares if we lose? As long as we have fun it doesn't matter if we win or lose."

Northern chuckled softly, just after her father came back to the Hive she had taken Ironside to her parents and he had been given a lecture about his appetite for battle. When he came out of the throne room he was a changed changeling, he no longer cared so much about the actual beating he gave and transferred it all to practicing on dummies for the war game. Northern had been there when her father sent the other Princesses the news that he and his army would be joining the war games yet again. She had been overjoyed to hear that they would be joining the games yet again, but even more when she learned that she was going to be involved.

"Look at my little angel," came a voice as her mother stepped out of the treeline, "all armored up for her first war game. I'm surprised that you didn't want a weapon."

"No need for one mom," Northern happily said, bouncing just a bit in anticipation as a bit of purple magic sparked around her horn, "No need for one at all."

Viscarias smiled. Her husband had returned to the hive and, more importantly, to her daughter and Northern was extremely excited for her first ever war game. She was also excited about practicing her magic and had almost laughed when they got the letter back from Celestia asking if they were serious. Apparently the Solar Princess thought they were kidding about rejoining the war games, but they had been telling the truth and here they were.

Her ears twitched as she heard the familiar drum roll of the Solar Army, the cue that the war game had begun.

She didn't need to turn around as a Princess Celestia sized changeling flew over head, paying him almost no mind as she wondered when an enemy would arrive. Her husband Eclipse was already on the move.

Northern stopped bouncing as she came face to face with a familiar sherbert coated mare, one who wore a smaller set of armor that resembled Nightmare Moon's. Even without the vampire teeth, the bat wings, the ruffled ears, and the blood red eyes Peachy Keen was still a frightful pony to be around. She still had her shadows around her, some of it seeping into the ground and the trees, as the two stared at each other.

"It's a shame Northern," Peachy said, eying the armor her friend's daughter was wearing, "Your first war game and you happen to run into me. I feel sorry for you, losing to the first pony you run into at the very beginning of our war game."

"Don't say anything that you can't deliver Peachy," Northern remarked, her own magic sparking a little, "You have to get past my magic before you have a chance of defeating me."

Peachy stared at Northern and she back at her. Peachy lowered her body back and sprung right at Northern, a sword appearing out of her shadows. She swung at Northern, who bounced back in an instant and allowed her magic to whip right out of her horn, bashing Peachy into the air. Had she still owned her vampire wings she would have caught the air and used it to her advantage, but she landed, bounced back into the fight, and swung her shadows right at the second wave of Northern's spell. The area between them was torn apart, rocks and dirt flying in all directions as black and purple charged shards landed all around the two combatants.

Northern dashed at Peachy and kicked her into the air, allowing her to get to the treetop before pulling her straight back down with her magic. Once she was closer Northern kicked her even harder in the stomach, tossing her into the trunk of a tree while cutting her own leg just a bit. The tree trunk exploded as soon as Peachy made contact with it, the upper half of the tree collapsing as Peachy popped in front of her and hit her hard square in the chest. Northern flipped over and landed gracefully, thankful that her armor absorbed the majority of the attack like her mother had said it would.

Neither one of them were getting anywhere, just breaking up the surrounding area and causing several of the bystanders to be sure they didn't get caught in the crossfire. The Lunar Guard knew of Peachy's abilities and knew that if she was tearing the place apart with an opponent it was better to be out of the way then in the way. The Princess' guards just watched, curious as to the powers that had suddenly awakened in the daughter of their King and Queen.

"This might take some time," Peachy growled, coughing just a bit as she prepared herself, "I have a feeling that we'll be doing this for many years to come."

"Always ending in a draw," Northern remarked with a smile, "Fighting to best the other while everypony else wages fake war on each other."

Even when the rest of the ponies slinging spells and weapons at each other Peachy and Northern would always meet in the same area, trying to beat the other while ignoring the other ponies. To them a war game was just a training exercise, something that they could do with each other while the others focused on the glory of the battle. To them it was fun and they made the most of their time until either King Eclipse or Princess Luna were taken out of the running.