The Edge of Eternity

Luna, living up to what she had told Scootaloo, had left her sister with a small note that she needed to talk with her sometime in the afternoon before they switched the sun and moon. She didn't mention that she had seen Eclipse in the hallway of the Elements, not with how freaked out she had been the moment she realized that Scootaloo had been telling the truth. Luna needed Scootaloo to know the exact nature of the supposed magic that Eclipse, if that was actually him, had obtained in the year he had been dead. When Luna had mentioned to her sister that Scootaloo needed to research something in the archives she had gotten her access almost immediately.

So while she slept and recharged her tired body Scootaloo would be scouring the section of the archives that housed all the books that mentioned 'Death Magic'. She only prayed that her sister hadn't locked them away in the Starswirl Wing, where only Celestia, Twilight, and herself were allowed to enter and check books out of.

As the day passed by and ponies arrived for their appointments with the Solar Monarch, Celestia couldn't help but wonder what her sister wanted to tell her. It didn't seem too important that she felt the need to drop what she was doing, rush over to her sister's bedchambers, and forcefully shake her sister awake so she could learn what Luna wanted to share with her. Nor did she feel the need to simply ignore what Luna wanted to share and lock her sister out from everything. As she recalled how her sister had sounded Celestia realized that Luna had almost seemed frightened about something, as if she and Scootaloo had seen something while they were talking.

Then there was whatever Scootaloo had told her sister, some piece of information that had somehow frightened Luna, a mare who had faced all types of nightmares on a nightly bases, be they her's or others. Even now the young mare was scouring the archives, looking for something that could very well be related to what she and Luna had discussed earlier that morning. Celestia had no doubt that whatever Scootaloo was searching for could be found, but without knowing what it was she couldn't help her little pony out. As she thought about the archives she remembered that there was one other pony scheduled to be in there after lunch time, her adviser Inner Wisdom.

~Canterlot Archives~

"Ugh, where are they," Scootaloo moaned, her eyes scanning a shelf of book titles for the ones she needed, "Please tell me that somepony else didn't come and check out the books I need."

"That depends on what books your searching for," said a voice as a bright red coated pegasus stallion placed a hoof on a book near her, "I was wondering if The Abridged History of the Crystal Empire had arrived or not and it seems that its in."

The stallion was wearing a grey robe that covered most of his body, but it left an opening on his flank that displayed a circular ying-yang Cutie Mark. His bright green mane stopped just above his  redeyes, letting him see perfectly fine without having to worry about any stray strands. Wrapped around his neck was a silver necklace, similar to what the Elements of Harmony used to look like, with a stone that copied his Cutie Mark. Strapped around his back was some sort of wooden staff, something that Scootaloo remembered seeming at least a dozen times when she was a filly.

In the instant that Scootaloo saw the wooden staff she recognized who the stallion was and how important he was to Equestria at the time being.

"Inner Wisdom?" Scootaloo asked, noticing that the stallion barely turned to look at her when she said his name, "It is you, isn't it? Best friend of Peachy Keen, Tick Tock, and Eclip..."

"Please, don't say his name," Wisdom cut her off, clearly saddened by the near mention of Eclipse's name, "Yes, I used to be a friend of the late Changeling King. Unfortunately Peachy, following the burial and service, just disappeared from the face of Equestria without leaving a note explaining where she went. Tick spends most of his days living with Fluttershy in the Ponyville, though I will never understand how he managed to court the kind mare and convinced her to marry him. As for the new Changeling Queen, she seems to be doing just fine with the help of the Elders.

Now, about those books you were looking for. What topic are they on?"

"Death Magic," Scootaloo said, knowing that the stallion was lickly going to say something about how silly it was to study something she couldn't do.

"Four rows down," Wisdom replied almost immediately, leaning around the row they were in to point a hoof in the direction he meant, "seventh shelf, middle three books. Happy hunting my dear Scootaloo."

Before Scootaloo could say anything Wisdom just disappeared from the archives in the blink of an eye, taking the rather large book he had pulled out with him. She should have known that he would have been around somewhere, seeing how he was supposed to be Princess Celestia's personal adviser and all. She honestly didn't see him stalking a library, talking to ponies at random, giving them the information they were searching for, and then disappearing without a trace. At least now she knew where the books on Death Magic were located, having wasted at least two hours searching for the books by herself.

~Canterlot Throne Room~

Despite how busy Celestia was, which meant that she was currently dealing with two stallions who were fighting over a piece of land that was legally within the first stallion's area, she immediately noticed her adviser enter the room. Wisdom seemed to suddenly appear out of thin air, something that Celestia had trained herself to see so she could notice whenever he entered a room from afar. She classified his abilities in the same category as Pinkie Pie's, but he also seemed to know bits and pieces of the future and knew a lot about events that he wasn't there for. Though at the moment he was carrying a book on his back, the one that she had asked her niece Cadence to send their way so Wisdom could learn even more about the Crystal Empire.

Though now he seemed to somewhat sadder than when she had last seen him.

While she tried to get the two stallion's to realize that they were actually wasting each others time with the error in judgement on where the land lines actually rested, Wisdom sat in a corner with his book. He just ignored the stallion's fighting and focused on the age old history of the Crystal Empire that Cadence and her ponies had only begun to rediscover in recent years. Eventually the stallions realized that they were literally wasting their time, forgave each other rather quickly, and left the throne room without another word. Celestia silently wondered if they were going to continue fighting when they were farther away from the castle, but decided it wasn't worth taking a chance.

"Make sure they don't fight each other any more," she told one of her guards, who saluted her before leaving to follow the stallions, "I don't want to see them here together again.'

The moment they were alone Celestia sighed and signaled for the guards to leave them alone, watching the doors slowly close as the guards bowed their way out.

"I take it you meet young Scootaloo in the archives?" Celestia asked, watching Wisdom bob his head 'yes' in response while he flipped a page, "Did she say exactly what she was searching for?"

"She said she was searching for some books on something called 'Death Magic'," Wisdom commented, silently wondering what the deal was with that type of magic, "She also nearly mentioned the late Changeling King, but when she did I noticed that there was a sense of fear hanging in her voice."

That struck Celestia as odd, how a mare could speak of the late King Eclipse, to one of his friends no less, with fear hanging over her head like a stone boulder. Sure, Eclipse had been gone for nearly an entire year now, but for somepony to still fear him meant that something big was happening. Something that could very well be linked to what Luna wanted to tell her, but was waiting until a batter time to tell her. Then there was the mention of Death Magic, the only magic that seemed to not physically exist no matter what ponies tried to do throughout the ages.

Eclipse and Death Magic. The thought lingered in her mind, making her wonder that if Eclipse was still alive, in some sense of the word, and had mastered magic that no other could, then he could be even more dangerous.

As Celestia thought about it she heard the faintest sound of a clock tower in the distance, something that she had heard earlier that morning after Luna had left with Scootaloo. The moment she heard that sound the air began to slowly drop, causing her and Wisdom to both start looking around for something that could have caused it. Then, just like Wisdom had done earlier, a stallion appeared before the throne, the floor around him freezing until ice began to form over the stone. Celestia recognized the stallion's unique features, but his coat had become a dull grey as if the life had been drained from every single stand of hair he had.

"By the will of Faust," Celestia said, eying the dangerous scythe that hung on his back, "it cannot be. Your buried in a coffin in the Changeling Empire."

"Ecl...Eclipse?" Wisdom said, dropping the book as the stallion turned his way, "It is you. But how is that possible? Northern said that you died in the fight against Nexus, yet here you are."

"Still an alicorn I see," Celestia remarked, not daring to leave her throne in case the ice reached out towards her and leeched the life from her, "but when you were alive you were the Prince of Balance. Right now that doesn't matter. What does matter is you telling us how you survived the fight with Nexus and finally decided to show yourself to us. And, if your willing to share, the exact nature of your newly acquired...powers."

"Death." Eclipse said, his eerie voice stretching the word as if he was straining himself by saying it, "No pony can stop the inevitable."

And just like that he was gone, the ice shattering almost instantly as the temperature rose back up to what it had been before the clock tower had chimed. Celestia wasn't scared or frightened of Eclipse now, not after all the fighting she had done with him in the past, and wondered if he had also visited Luna. Something was happening in Equestria, but at the moment Celestia didn't dare wonder what that was or how to stop it. She needed to inform Cadence and Twilight about the sudden reappearance of Eclipse and then, with Luna's help, they needed to find out what was going on.

"You need to get in touch with Queen Northern," Celestia said, watching Wisdom's ears perk as his picked up the book, "We need to let others know what has happened. I'll handle Twilight and Cadence."

She only prayed that this wasn't the start of something much much larger.