The day had been hard, an impostor, invasion, and last but not least, a bitter defeat.
If not for Shining Armor and Cadence, the night might have looked different, now that the party was over and the guests had left.
But even though the invasion was over, her mind was not at ease, for the Queen of changelings had said something that had stopped her heart, right before she was put into the cocoon,
"Today you have fallen, the elements are soon at my hooves, and nothing can stop us, today canterlot will fall and we shall finally be reunited with our master and creator, who you kept hidden for so long, it is time to awaken the Keeper of Shadows!"
She announced to the changelings around her, and turned to look at Celestias crumbled form,
"And nothing can stop it."
A shudder ran through her spine at the thought of seeing the rise of the Black Spires, "Truly, what a terrible day..."
Celestia worded, while trotting towards large double doors.
A bright flash notified of Luna's arrival, her sister turning to her whit grave expression,
"Has thou come to any conclusion, about what Chrysali's said to you? Could it be true, could he truly have created an entire race, without either of us knowing?"
Luna spoke with haste as they descended towards the bowels of the mountain.
"I do not know, his powers were tremendous even when he still was good, but after the destruction, I cannot say anymore..."
She sighed as they walked downwards, deeper and deeper, until light shined from an open gateway, as they marched into the crystal caverns they could already feel the cold, electric feeling, energy like no other, even when sealed away for 2 millennia, still so powerful, still so potent.
After trotting for what felt like a small eternity, they arrived at the large obsidian doors, carved in it hundreds of forms, alicorns, ponies, griffins, zebras, writhing in agony, like possessed dolls, between them runes Glowing with cold flames.
The sisters touched the doors with their horns and metallic clicking noises screamed in the silent tunnels, as the doors opened a wave of black mist washed to their hooves, and then they could hear them, voices, silent, forms moving in the shadows, like whispers seducing their ears, talking to them, taunting them.
With a flash of her horn, Celestia banished all the dark forms to their hiding spots and the room was bathed in light, the room, nearly as large as their throne room and build to resemble it, but no flags, carpet or guards were present only a Throne of Iron, and upon it the shadowy form of an alicorn.
"What be this, my dear Celestia has chosen to grant me her presence? Unusual..."
A dry voice boomed in the empty room, the form raising its head, a black stallion coated in chains and shackles clicking in the dark, pouring from the Alicorn, like Withered limbs of steel, glowing with white runes, slithering around the air, into six great pillars each shining with a different aura, long flowing mane, whiter than Celestia's fur, laying across the floor leading to an aged iron crown sitting atop the stallions head, hiding his face, but not the eyes, two pools of blackness with a shining light surrounding the iris, staring through their souls.
"...Luna, you are back. Now this is something interesting, has a millennium passed already,
shame I couldn't be there to see your return."
Luna shuddered when her name was called, not daring to look the chained figure in the eyes, Celestia stepping forward, "Eclipse, we are not here to chat, today an army invaded Canterlot, a vast army of Changelings along with their queen Chrysalis..."
The stallion tilted his head and looked amused by the worry in her voice,
"...who claimed you being their master and... Creator."
Eclipse didn't say anything, after a moment starting to chuckle,
"You have all ways been powerful, much powerful than me or Luna, but where she has perfect control and form, you have none, just power, power and power, you grew to think you didn't need such things, that even with them none could still defeat you, well, today you were proven wrong..."
Celestia was annoyed by the remark and avoiding answers but knew that he wouldn't give nothing easily, so she just listened,
"Where you and Luna avoided the dark arts like a plague, I didn't turn my back against them, learning everything was my goal, it didn't matter whether it was wrong, dangerous or evil, it was knowledge, pure, unaltered knowledge, and as they say knowledge is power." He sighed, "But no one else thought so, not even my dear student Starswirll didn't think like me, which was a disappointment."
He closed his eyes, remembering the times long past while continuing,
"...You see, there is no such thing as evil magic, even the most horrifying spells can easily be used for good, the spells aren't what does evil, it's the user. Because of that I understood that Morals and ethics are just obstacles, made so none could hope to rise into power over those who started to call them evil, I just casted them aside and because of that, I was able to learn every spell that existed, and combine them."
He lifted his eyes at Celestia and raised a hoof,
"You wanted to know how I did it? How I created an entire new race? In the basics it was simple, a box full of scarabs, some blood from myself with a little assistance by blood magic, a side order of Necromancy's life transfer and modification, and energy, lots of energy. And not just any kind, but strong and powerful, that would make them like the ones from who I took it..."
As he had talked Luna wondered, 'what kind of creature he took it from? A dragon? No it would require an insane amount and dragons are quite magic proof and large, killing so many wouldn't have gone unnoticed, so how could...' She stopped thinking as she realized the simple and horrible answer, color drained from her face as tears started to fall, a race so strong in magic and life that could act as a catalyst for the birth of an entirely new race.
There was just one.
Eclipse turned to Luna, "You didn't wonder how such a race could fly, perform magic and shapeshift, how could they resemble ourselves... so much."
At the words Luna fell to the floor whining and shaking, covering her face, but Celestia didn't, she was furious,
"And for that reason you ended us, wiped our country clean of life and drove us into near extinction, just so you could make a perverse imitation of alicorns!" Celestia was screaming with such power that the roof groaned and cracked, "Just so you could Create a new race, you destroyed another..."
"No"
Both the sisters looked at him, not expecting such answer, he leaned into the throne sighing,
"We were already doomed, we grew too prideful, too arrogant, we thought of ourselves as gods and that everyone else was inferior, meaningless, our race was all ready corrupted and falling apart, you just didn't see it, you were too young and blind. True I created the changelings out of the deaths of our race, but I didn't do it just to see if I could."
The sisters stared at him for a longest moment, Alicorns doomed, why, what did we do to deserve this kind of fate. Eclipse must have understood the question from their faces,
"If you want to know go to the ruins of Alicornia, there at the bottom of the longest spire is a book of our history, there lies our forgotten sins, the weight we all carry, but despite it I do not regret my decision, the world is a better place with only few of us around..."
Luna raised from the floor, wiping her tears, not knowing what to think, she had all ways loved him and idolized him for being one of the few who enjoyed her nights,
"Were leaving." Called Celestia's stern voice as she turned around and started to trot towards the doors. "I hope I will not have to see you again." Luna sheepishly following her making a final look at her Big Brother she hadn't seen for Millennia.
"...I do not think it's possible." Eclipse chuckled as the doors begun to close after the sister, "It was nice to see you again..." were heard before the doors closed with a booming sound, the shadows that had hid when the light had shined, started to return to their places around their lord.
He closed his eyes and chuckled as he thought back at the small purple unicorn mare that had passed the doors earlier and wondered what they were, despite the sisters powerful seals, he could still sense more than they knew, so he started to wait, like he had waited for so long, but now the wait was starting to end, as the memory of the mares lingering gaze at the doors still fresh in his mind.
He knew she would be back.
