The Edge of Eternity

As the light of a new morning peaked through the windows of Canterlot Castle, stretching across the room until it rested on the form of Princess Luna. The Princess of the Night sniffled a yawn as she cast another look at the mound of papers that her sister, Princess Celestia, had left her with the previous evening. Celestia thought that it would be better for her to look through every type of document that she worked on and double checked everything during the night time. It meant that if there were any errors in the spelling that hadn't been checked or legal loopholes that hadn't been addressed that Luna could catch them and add them to the ever growing list she would write for her sister.

At times Luna was beginning to wish that she had just stayed on the moon and ignored what was happening in Equestria, but then she would remember all the friends she had made and all the fun activities she had participated in. All she had to do was remember all that Twilight Sparkle and her friends had done for her and her desire to leave would just evaporate.

"Good morning Luna," said a voice as her sister trotted up to the front of the throne, with what appeared to be a cup of coffee held in her magic, "I trust you had a pleasant night all to yourself?"

"My night was uneventful if that's what your asking," Luna replied, letting a yawn out as she slowly rose from the golden throne, "I have been working on all the papers you gave to me yesterday and have written a long list of changes that I believe are the necessary changes you asked me to locate. I haven't had the time to venture out of the castle and have some fun, not with all the paperwork that's been keeping me glued to this golden chair."

"Whatever happened to your coltfriend?" Celestia asked, casting a look at the pile of papers and dreading the morning's paperwork she was going to have to do, "What was his name? Nightly?"

"His name is Dax Nightly," Luna lightly growled, shaking her head as she let Celestia take the throne from her, "and you sent him to do some stupid assignment in the Frigid North almost a year ago. I haven't seen him since the day you told me that he was leaving and I haven't heard from him in all that time. You let Rex Sunrise stay in Canterlot with you for crying out loud."

"Cadence and Shining needed some extra help with the ruins of Eclipse's fortress," Celestia told her sister, letting a small sigh escape her lips, "Despite losing a friend almost a year ago Cadence has spent some of her time making sure all the possible relics from whatever remains of the fortress are secured. Rex is just there to make sure that all the ponies who are searching the ruins are protected from all types of harm. He'll be back in a week or two."

"Fine, be that way," Luna tiredly huffed, turning to face the door so she could leave and found a solar guard standing guard already, "Is there anything else I'm needed for before I can finally go to bed?"

"There's a mare named Scootaloo waiting outside," Celestia replied almost immediately, placing her cup down and picking up a few pieces of paper, "She said that she had a nightmare and wanted you to know what had happened since you didn't step in to help out. Apparently she kept telling the guards about something that made the grass in her dreams dry up and I guess that she thought it was an omen you should be aware of."

"Why is it that every single time I want to sleep there's some mare or stallion coming to me and telling me that they might have had an omen?" Luna asked herself, knowing that her sister would be too engaged in her paperwork to answer her question, "Fine. I'll meet with young Scootaloo and see what she has to tell me about this nightmare of her's."

~Outside the Throne Room~

Scootaloo was just a tad bit tired from the nightmare that had disrupted her peaceful sleep and had made it hard for her to get back to the dream world. She had gotten on her cycle before the sun had finally arisen and had rode it all the way up to Canterlot, where she had parked it outside the steps themselves. As such she now wore a pair of goggles around the top of her head, ready to be pulled down the moment she was back on her cycle to head home. She even wore a suit that covered the front half of her body, something that was similar to the Wonderbolts' uniform while retaining some differences.

After her run in with Eclipse, if that really had been him in her dream, she was sure that something was happening, but what she had absolutely no idea.

"Scootaloo?" a voice asked, causing her to look up and see the familiar face of Princess Luna staring at her.

"Yeah, that's me," Scootaloo answered, bowing her head respectfully, "I'm sure the guards told you why I came here to talk to you."

"All I was told was that you had an omen about something dying," Luna said, beckoning for Scootaloo to join her, "Walk with me and tell me exactly what your nightmare was about."

And so Scootaloo walked with Princess Luna, heading down the hallway while she explained how the dream had started out as something completely normal. She explained how the dream was supposed to take a turn towards her hanging with the other crusaders, but then everything had taken a darker turn the moment the clock tower had sounded a chime. That was when the sky had darkened, ponies started vanishing, and, the moment that confused her the most, the appearance of the dead King Eclipse. Scootaloo described, in intensive detail, the exact form that the stallion had taken and included the eerie robe had had happened to be wearing.

"That's impossible Scootaloo," Luna remarked, her ears flicking down in confusion the moment she heard that the mare had seen Eclipse, "We both know that Nexus and Eclipse killed each other in the aftermath of their epic struggle that could have destroyed so much of the Frozen Wastes. We're lucky that it was isolated in the Frigid North. For you to have seen Eclipse in your dreams must have meant that it was your memory of him being twisted into something its not."

"It has to be more than that Princess," Scootaloo said, recalling the eerie power the stallion had displayed, "When he took a step towards me the grass around his leg shriveled up and died as if the life had been sucked out from it. He had to have been alive, in some manner of sense, and must have gained a new power in exchange for losing the majority of his other abilities."

"It seems to me that your describing the use of an extremely old type of magic," Luna thoughtfully said, recalling the old texts that whispered of this potentially real magic, "Legends tell of a type of magic that could be real, but every record of it seems to tell that the unicorns that used the magic were pulling other ponies legs. Ponies called it 'Death Magic', but there have been no real sightings of its use in all of recorded history. I'm sorry Scootaloo, but just because you saw Eclipse in your dreams doesn't mean that he's suddenly revived himself and is haunting ponies."

Scootaloo could feel her face getting hotter, so she looked to her right and found a much familiar sight; one of the stained glass windows that showed Rainbow Dash and the other Elements saving Equestria from Nightmare Moon. She knew that the old storeroom of the Elements of Harmony waited at the end of the hallway and that there were still two guards standing at attention.

"I come here when I need to think," Luna tiredly said, turning so that her back faced the vault door and her front faced Scootaloo, "but it doesn't matter how much time I could potentially invest in this nightmare. Despite what everypony wishes Scootaloo we can't change the fact that Eclipse is dead. Why are you looking at me like I'm suddenly some monster?"

Scootaloo's eyes were trained on the vault door behind Luna, which began to shimmer as some sort of eerie feeling touched the back of her neck. Luna, still wondering what she was looking at, turned around just in time to see a shadowy figure appear out of thin air, followed by a timely chime from a nearby clock tower. The guards moved in front of them, presenting their spears as the pony lifted his head, showing off his blood red eyes and the small fangs. Scootaloo took another step back as she felt the air go cold once again, the last tell tale sign that Eclipse, in his new form, had arrived.

The only difference between the last time she saw him and this time was the fact that he was carrying a wicked steel plated sickle shaped weapon. Scootaloo recognized that the weapon was a scythe.

"What in the name of my sister is going on?" Luna asked, curious as to how the stallion had bypassed the magical wards that protected the hallway, "Eclipse, is that really you?"

The stallion just titled his head and stared at them, the eerie feeling moving towards them and freezing the glass panels as it passed them. Before any of them moved an inch the floor darkened and Eclipse took a step towards them, causing the guards to hesitate in their decision making. He took another step and the guards impaled him with their spears, finding that they simply went through the stallion's body without harming him.

Before Luna could blast him away with some magic the stallion simply turned to mist, evaporating as if he had never been there to begin with.

"Okay, now I believe you," Luna remarked, a hint of fear lingering in her eyes, "We need to figure out if somepony is messing with Eclipse's memory and is using him against us. I'll tell my sister before I get some sleep. A tired goddess isn't useful in any manner."