The Edge of Eternity

by Blackdrag-rose

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Alternate Universe
Length: 8926

Its been almost a year since the death of King Eclipse and, with the anniversary of his death approaching, ponies are starting to have nightmares involving him. Princess Luna has no idea what's going on anymore.

Eclipse, King of the Changelings, is dead.
If that's true, then why are ponies all over Equestria having nightmares about him? Princess Luna is determined to find out what's happening in the dreams of her subjects. She suspects that somepony else could be conjuring the nightmare, but she's the only pony with the power to use dreams.
Luna must figure out what's happening and stop it before something irreversible happens.

(Sequel to The Nether Wars)

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-06-09 04:41:51 UTC

1: First Nightmare

Scootaloo trotted down the streets of Ponyville, humming a happy tune to herself as she kept her eyes peeled for her friends Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. Nine years ago they had carried the taunting stature of 'Blank Flank' for not having yet earned their respective Cutie Marks, but that fact had changed almost seven years ago. The three of them had been a part of a club they had created for the sole purpose of finding their destinies; the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They even had Apple Bloom's cousin, Babs Seed, open up a station in Manehatten after she had visited them, which she had then used to help other fillies find their place in the world.

During their first year together she, Sweetie, and Apple Bloom had gotten into some rather mischievous predicaments to earn a Cutie Mark that was related to whatever they happened to be doing. Most of the time they ended up covered head to hoof in tree sap and, even when there wasn't any trees around, they still ended up covered in the sticky substance. Their antics had gotten out of hoof when they had argued in front of Discord's statue, unintentionally releasing the Spirit of Disharmony from his prison. The three of them had even gotten in trouble in the Everfree Forest, forcing their older siblings and their friends to come to their immediate rescue.

Scootaloo sighed, remembering the good old days before the three of them had earned their Cutie Marks and finally embracing what their destinies were supposed to be. She had always enjoyed racing others on the ground, during the time when her wings were too small to support her weight and made it nearly impossible for her to fly. A wheel surrounded by fire hung on her flank, representing her need for speed and the competitive nature she had grown to enjoy over the years. She had taken part of the Running of the Leaves at long last and had put everything she had into her speed, somehow managing to pull off a first place victory and earning her Cutie Mark at the same time.

Thanks to several mechanical advances, brought to the public's attention by one mare named Copper Sprocket, her scooter was no longer the tiny roller it had been when she was a foal. It still had two wheels, but they were larger in size and were covered by protectors so rocks didn't fly up and ruin any of the mechanical bits. Instead of standing on a long piece of metal and holding onto a piece that allowed her to direct the scooter she could now lay her body against the large body of the scooter and controlled it all with her front hooves. All the pieces of it were powered by a crystal power source in the center of the mechanics and it turned on by her touch when she wanted to go for a ride.

Copper had called it a cycle of some kind, but Scootaloo called it the 'Duster'. In her heart she was still the same filly that had done some stupid stunts, but now she was fully grown and felt like she could take on the world.

"Hey Scoots," a voice called, causing her to turn and find a very pretty white coated mare coming her way, "how have you been doing lately?"

The mare was none other then her friend Sweetie Belle, the younger sister of the seamstress Rarity and one of the original members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. While Rarity supplied all of Equestria with her dresses and accessories Sweetie had taken to the musical arts and was quite the songstress. She was among the highest rated artists across Equestria, with only Vinyl Scratch and Tick Tock hanging somewhere above her in the ratings. Still, she had time to take a break and visit her friends and family before her work dragged her back to Manehatten. And, like most of the artists in Equestria, her Cutie Mark was a musical note.

"Not too bad Sweetie," Scootaloo replied, casting her eyes around as she looked for her other friend, "I take it that Apple Bloom is around here somewhere just waiting to pounce on me?"

"Not exactly," Sweetie answered, picking up a rose with her magic and bringing it up to her nose, "Mayor Mare wanted an update to the town hall, so she contacted Apple Bloom and drew up a contract with her. I bet we'll be seeing her when she takes her break for lunch for when she stops for the afternoon."

Apple Bloom was the younger sister of Applejack, the current owner of Sweet Apple Acres, but instead of falling into the farm business like the rest of her family she took up the mantle of a contractor. Her Cutie Mark was a toolbox, which was accurate since she now spent a good deal of her time moving boards around and building houses for ponies. Some of the money and extra materials she accumulated during her contracts went to fixing the buildings of her family's farm and giving them some extra money if things were tight. It was Apple Bloom's way of repaying her family for all the years they had spent raising her and spending whatever they had so she could go to school and the other holidays that they had.

"Come on Sweetie Belle, you know I'd never miss meeting up with Scoots," came a second voice as a tan coated mare, wearing a tool belt and sporting a beautiful pink bow, stepped out on Scootaloo's left, "We were supposed to spend the day together and I even got Mayor Mare to let me take the day off. She said that I was doing a good job with the timeline of our work that I could take TWO days off if I wanted, but I let her know that I'd be back to work tomorrow."

Scootaloo smiled as the three of them were reunited for the first time in almost a year. The reason they had been separated for so long was because they had branched out and established the basics for their new lives after the collapse of the Changeling Empire. The changelings had retreated from almost every corner of Equestria, choosing to rebuild the vast amount of tunnels that used to exist below the Badlands. They only surfaced when they needed to gather supplies that would keep them going, but other than that nopony had seen a changeling in almost six months.

Before Scootaloo could say a word the sky suddenly grew darker as large black clouds began to dot the skyline, causing a bunch of the ponies around them to gasp in surprise. The weather team must have been slacking if such a vast amount of black clouds had appeared in the sky like they had. The strange thing about the sudden cloud cover was the fact that the temperature suddenly began to drop to a temperature that was suitable for winter. Scootaloo could even see her breath with as cold as it was getting. And, for the first time in forever, she heard the clock tower finally chime.

The air in front of them shimmered and Scootaloo jumped back reflectively, glad her wings were fully grown in case she needed to fly away at some point. A stallion appeared before them, but when she looked at him her eyes widened in horror as she discovered exactly who was standing before them. Where a normal pony's hooves would be resided a pair of rather nasty looking claws that could tear through anything around them. The wings, ones that she assumed used to be large pegasus wings, were now large bat wings that were bunched up against the stallion's back. The rest of his body was covered by an eerie black robe, one that the ends seemed to move around like wisps of smoke, and covered most of his head in darkness, but what she saw startled her even more.

Blood red eyes and a pair of vicious pair of fangs stared back at her.

"No...No way," Scootaloo nervously said, taking another step back as ponies began to disappear all around her, "You...Your supposed to be dead."

The stallion before her was none other than King Eclipse, the previous ruler of the Changeling Empire who had died in the epic battle between himself and another stallion named Nexus. The evil stallion had declared war on all of Equestria, choosing to target Eclipse and his changeling before attacking the Princesses, but that lead to his doom. According to Eclipse's daughter, the new Queen Northern Sky, both Nexus and Eclipse had dealt the other a killing blow, causing the both of them to fall. In about a week it would be the anniversary of his death, but what did that mean when he was standing before her now.

Even now his body was buried outside the Changeling Hive, yet he was also in Ponyville at the same time.

The stallion tilted his head, seeming to stare at her like she was the only pony around and when she looked she found that she was all alone with him. It was almost as if this was all a dream, a pleasant dream that was quickly becoming one of the worst nightmares of her life. He took a step towards her, just the one, and the instant his leg touched the ground the grass around him began to shrivel up and die as if the life was sucked out of all the blades. Scootaloo knew that hadn't been one of his powers before his death and now she was even more scared than she had been a few moments ago.

"Go back...go back to your grave," she said loudly, hoping that if this was a dream then he would disappear by her command, "Leave me alone."

The shadow of Eclipse held a claw right up and pointed it at her, eerie energy pooling together to form the same dreaded attack he had commanded in life. Just as the energy was released Scootaloo bolted awake, finding herself back in the safety of her bed. She was sweating as she realized just how close her dream self was to being destroyed and forcing her to wake up regardless. Once morning came around she was going to have to go up to Canterlot castle and tell Princess Luna, or Celestia, about what she had experienced. Maybe then they could figure out what was happening, if anything was happening.

As she laid her head back on her pillow she seriously hoped that nothing else happened to her before morning peeked its head at her in a few hours. She closed her eyes and hoped for the best.

2: Happenings

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."

3: Conference

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.

4: Northern's Truth

Four hours had passed since Celestia had been visited by the long thought to have been dead Eclipse, who displayed some strange new abilities that drained the life out of whatever they touched. As soon as Eclipse had vanished Celestia sent two letters out, one towards the Crystal Empire and Princess Cadence while the second went towards Ponyville and Twilight Sparkle. Wisdom had the honor of drafting and sending a letter to the Changeling Empire, directed to Queen Northern Sky and her sisters Harvest Moon and Echo. Neither one of them gave any indication of what they had witnessed earlier that day, but gave the impression that time was of the essence and that they should meet in Canterlot as soon as possible.

Fortunately, they received three replies almost at the same time. Twilight and Cadence replied that they would be delighted to visit Canterlot and leave their duties behind for a few days, though the same could not be said for Northern Sky. It was nearing the anniversary of her father's supposed death and Celestia dreaded the moment when she was going to have to open up all the old wounds that Eclipse's memory would bring. Still, Northern agreed to come to Canterlot while her sisters stayed behind and managed the Empire in her stead. Of the three of them the news that Eclipse was still alive, to some degree, would hurt his daughter more than anypony else and it was already bringing tears to Celestia's eyes by just thinking about it.

Scootaloo and Luna joined them about an hour or two into the wait, Luna dragging her hooves as she sat beside her sister and giving a yawn that indicated that she should have still been asleep. Scootaloo, on the other hoof, had brought along the books she could find, with Wisdom's help, that described the workings of the 'Death Magic' that they had all seen Eclipse use. They needed to figure out exactly how to deal with such real magic, seeing how it had frozen part of the throne room's floor and drained the life out of the grass in Scootaloo's dream. All the while Celestia kept shaking her head, wondering how she could have not seen that those who had foolishly used the magic in the past had been tampering with forces they could not control.

"Princess Celestia," a guard said, walking into the throne room to discover two princesses just sitting around, reading books, with two other ponies leaning against the walls.

"Yes?" Celestia replied, looking up from her book the moment the guard entered the room.

"We've received word that Princess Cadence and Lord Shining Armor will be arriving by train in the next ten minutes," the guard replied, "and that both Princess Twilight and Queen Northern are right behind them."

Scootaloo was pleasantly surprised, she was expecting the groups to arrive sometime during the morning of the next day, but not four hours after Princess Celestia asked them to come. It meant that they could begin planning on how to deal with Eclipse, or whatever his spirit was calling itself now, and the Death Magic that he commanded. She just hoped that the news that Eclipse was somewhat alive wouldn't alarm any of the other Princesses or the Changeling Queen.

"Then we had best welcome our fellow Princesses to Canterlot ourselves," Celestia commented, laying her book on the arm of the throne and raising to her full height, "There's no time like the present."

~Canterlot Train Station~

Scootaloo was surprised to find that there was a large crowd of ponies gathered around the train station, some almost begging for Celestia or Luna to pay attention to them. She spotted her cycle leaning against the ticketmaster's booth, completely ignored by all the ponies who would have asked questions and annoyed her. Not a few minutes after they arrived did the first train arrive, one decorated with an impressive amount of crystals that would make any baby dragon, or grown dragon, jealous of it all. The moment the train stopped and the doors opened Princess Cadence and her husband Shining Armor walked out onto the platform.

"Cadence, Shining Armor, welcome back to Canterlot," Celestia said, welcoming the two back with open wings, "I take it your train had no problems getting here?"

"Only problem we had was getting a seat before they left," Cadence replied, moving behind the taller alicorn while the other ponies on the train went on their way, "We nearly missed the train, but we managed to get on before it left. As soon as I read that you wanted the two of us in Canterlot as soon as possible we dropped what we were doing and left Flash Sentry behind to keep the place from falling apart."

"Why not let Sombra run the Crystal Empire for a while?" Celestia asked, knowing that they had done a fantastic job making Sombra more likeable a year or two ago.

"He said he was slipping into the shadows and would meet us here somewhere," Cadence said, shaking her head as the train departed, "Seeing how he should have memorized the layout of the land he should be around here, somewhere."

Scootaloo cast her eyes to the right of her cycle in time to see a mass of shadows appear on the wall, forming a gateway of sorts before Sombra stumbled out of it. The former king was now devoid of his iron crown, the ironclad hooves, the iron neck brace, and the lush red velvet cape, though now everypony could see the cutie markless area of his rear end. As the gateway disappeared Sombra walked over the edge of the railway, leaned over the concrete, and threw up whatever he had that morning for breakfast.

At least he did it away from her cycle and not near it.

"Ugh, I'm over here," Sombra moaned, heaving up whatever was left in his stomach, "this will teach me to combine dark magic and a transportation spell. It's not worth the stomachache."

As Sombra stumbled over to the group a second train rolled into the station, this one looking like the train that usually traversed the route between Canterlot and Ponyville. Celestia smiled as the train came to a halt and Twilight Sparkle, carrying a bag with a rather large book, emerged with a bright smile on her face. Standing behind her was Discord, who was actually reading a book on the history he had missed and not just eating it page by page.

"Twily, so good to see you again," Shining said, welcoming his sister with open hooves.

"Same to you BBBFF," Twilight replied, casting a look up to her former mentor, "So, who are we still waiting for?"

"Queen Northern," Celestia answered immediately, her eyes lingering on Discord, "I was not aware that Discord was bored with Ponyville and wanted to leave for once. I expected him to have set up a play date with Fluttershy and eat some ridiculous sandwich while commenting on the affairs of Equestria."

"Why Celestia, I'm offended," Discord said, wrapping himself around Celestia like he was a scarf, "I can only apologize so many times for my mistakes and Fluttershy was busy hanging out with General Tick Tock today. I would have hung out with Rainbow Dash, but she was too engrossed in the latest Daring Do book, Applejack's preparing for applebucking season, Rarity's got another line of dresses she needs to get done, and Pinkie's planning some sort of gigantic party that she wont share the specific's with me. Twilight was the only one who was willing to do anything with me today."

Scootaloo watched the second train leave the station, wondering why Twilight had bothered to take the train when she could have simply flown all the way instead. Maybe she wanted to talk with Discord before they came to Canterlot and the train provided them with the time so she could say what was on her mind. Not that Scootaloo really cared when she could easily ride her cycle anywhere and would likely beat any train, pegasus, alicorn, or dragon. Well, counting Rainbow Dash would have been wrong, but before she could really explore that thought some more she noticed something strange.

There was a train, rolling on a track in the middle of the sky. It was an ironclad train that took on the form of a dragon, with the front car of the train appearing as the head of a dragon. She remembered the train from the last time she had visited Manehatten and picked up the cycle from Copper Sprocket; the Flying Vengeance. The story had been that it was supposed to deliver an explosive large enough to take out the Changeling Hive, as Copper and Chrysalis had some disagreements in the past. After the destruction of the original Hive at the hooves of Nexus, Copper had reconstructed the train from scratch and named it 'Forgiveness'. It had been given to Queen Northern as a sign of forgiveness and as Copper's way of saying that she was sorry for the loss of everything that the Changelings held dear, including her parents.

The sky track connected to the normal track and the side wings folded up until you would never know that there had been any wings in the first place. The ponies that had been standing around the station had gone on their way, leaving Scootaloo and her group alone as they waited for the last member of their group to arrive. As the train rolled to a stop Scootaloo caught a glimpse of several pony sized creatures moving around as they prepared to exit the train. When the doors opened two changeling guards stepped out, one decked out in an impressive amount of armor while the second one wore a simple robe that covered most of its lower body. They were Ironside and Shimmer, two of the Changelings most valued guards that watched over the Changeling Queen herself.

Behind them stood a changeling that was the size of Princess Celestia, dressed up in some light green colored armor that seemed to gleam in the sunlight.

"Queen Northern Sky," Princess Celestia welcomed, beckoning with her wing as the young queen stepped off the train, "it is so good to see you again."

"Likewise Princess Celestia," Northern replied, her voice tinted with a hint of sadness, "It is rare that I leave the Hive, choosing to leave the rule of my empire in the hooves of my grandfather Zircon. After the death of my father and mother I locked myself in my new chambers and refused to see almost everypony that came to my doors, except for my grandfather. He came to me, talked to me about my parents, and finally convinced me to start ruling my empire again. My changelings would like to start working with everypony else again, in Ponyville, Canterlot, and maybe even the Crystal Empire.

I suspect that you didn't call me here to discuss why I haven't been keeping in contact and have something of much greater importance to tell me."

"We do," Princess Celestia said, nodding her head as she beckoned a wing towards the castle, "but what we have to say is not for the prying ears of our ponies to hear. If you will come with us."

Northern nodded and the group, slightly larger than she was expecting by one mad god and one ex-tyrant, began the trek from the train station to the Canterlot Castle. As they walked she began to truly wonder what was so important that they called upon her and invited her to join them in their council. The last time they gathered like it was an emergency was when Tirek escaped, but the changelings had been utterly ignored by the angry monster. That was years ago, before Northern and her sisters were even born.

Plus there was the mare named Scootaloo, who wore a uniform that looked similar to the Wonderbolts costume, who Northern was unsure of why she was here. Northern figured that Scootaloo was there because the Princesses invited her.

They came to the castle much faster than Northern was expecting, but when they reached the council room she found a large circular table waiting for them. All around the room were dozens of shimmering symbols, special runes developed by the Princesses to prevent ponies from eavesdropping on their conversation or teleporting into the room. They were additions to the wards that usually protected the room by keeping its existence hidden from every unicorn in the whole world. Once the doors were closed nothing could pass through and disturb them, at least that was what she had been told.

"Close the doors if you will," Princess Celestia said, looking back slightly as the guards backed out of the room and closed the doors tightly, "Never thought I'd have to use this room again."

"Sister, it just proves how dangerous the current situation really is," Princess Luna replied, taking a seat near her sister while the others gathered around the table.

"So what's the situation?" Twilight asked, opening a pack to reveal writing tools and a decent stack of parchment, "Is it something dangerous like Tirek again?"

"Not like Tirek," Celestia answered, letting out a sigh as she locked eyes with Northern, "but it could be as dangerous, if not even more so, than he could ever be. Something so strange and dangerous that both Luna and I could not believe what was happening before our very eyes. And we weren't the first ones that discovered the disturbance, rather it was Scootaloo who first felt the disturbance and came to us with the news of what was happening. There's no easy way to say this, so forgive me if what I say opens up old wounds.

Northern, your father is still alive."

"Come again?" Northern asked, knowing full well what Celestia had said and still knew that she was messing with her.

"Eclipse is still alive," Luna repeated, shaking her head just a tiny bit, "I thought the same thing when Scootaloo first told me he was still alive, but then he appeared before us with the sound of a bell or clock tower. After that he revealed himself to Celestia and Wisdom, though he is not the same pony you might remember."

"I'm afraid that I don't follow," Northern said, now confused further by Luna's explanation.

"Eclipse has evolved once more," Celestia continued, "He still has his razor sharp claws, the large bat wings, the ability to stand on his hind legs, and the fangs in his mouth, but then we find something different. Now he wears an eerie black robe that covers his body, with the ends moving as if they were simply wisps of smoke, and his coat has changed to a dull grey color. His weapon, the two sided sword he carried, has been replaced by a deadly looking scythe that seems to rest on his back when he has no need of it.

We are unsure if his powers before his death still remain, but he has gained several new abilities that would make fighting him tougher then the last time we fought. He seems to control the power of Death itself, turning the air from warm to freezing cold, leeching the life from the grass, and even freezing the ground in ice. Luna and I are convinced that if he were to touch any pony with his claws that he would drain them of their entire life force, effectively killing anypony who dares to go after him."

"That is completely impossible," Northern said, catching a glimpse of Discord shaking his head in agreement with her, "I saw my father die before my very eyes, at the hooves of Nexus no less. With his final breath he took Nexus with him, saving Equestria from whatever mad scheme the stallion had planed."

"I'm sure that what you told us wasn't the truth," Celestia replied, tilting her head ever so slightly, "About two weeks after the service Copper came to me and confessed something so shocking that I decided to keep the information hidden from everypony. Do you want to tell them or shall I do it?"

"I'm not sure what your 'truth' is," Northern said, sighing as she stared up to the Solar Princess' eyes, "but you may have the honors if you so desire."

"Very well then," Celestia replied, sighing as she looked at the assembled ponies, "Copper told me that Nexus forcefully ripped Eclipse's hollow out of his body, ripping out all of the powers and abilities that he had spent years mastering. In that instant, as Copper tells it, Eclipse was forced back into the form of a unicorn, the same stallion that Chrysalis tried to corrupt so many years ago. In the instant that followed Nexus became a mockery of what Eclipse had been, but instead of a werepyre he became a fully grown dragon. Then Nexus used Eclipse's powers against him and slew him by blowing a hole where his heart had been.

According to Copper the madness didn't stop there, because the moment you realized that both of your parents had been slain by Nexus you snapped. Your power consumed you, giving you some sort of magical aura that protected you while splitting your tail into three separate pieces. You fought Nexus like a beast, somehow copying a few of your father's attacks and adding your own spin on them before you toppled Nexus. Eclipse's powers consumed Nexus, leaving us without a King that had changed the Changeling Hive for the better."

"I'm surprised Copper told you what happened," Northern remarked, just as the assembled ponies gasped, "The reason I didn't want anypony to see my father's body was because they would have learned the truth about the battle with Nexus. Now you all know and I'm somewhat ashamed that I couldn't trust any of you with what happened."

Luna's ears twitched as she heard, by some unknown means, the chime of a bell tower that shouldn't have existed in such a removed chamber of the castle.

"Did you all hear that?" Luna asked, the room immediately quieting down as everypony heard the chime as well, "I thought the runes prevented this type of thing."

"The runes are designed to block sound from entering or leaving the room," Celestia replied, watching the air shimmer on a blank wall as something pulsed behind it, "Impossible. The runes should be preventing this sort of thing."

Before anypony could move Eclipse, in all of his undead glory, appeared. His claws clicked against the stone ground as he stared up at the group of ponies.

"Impossible," Sombra breathed, fear flickering through his eyes as the stallion took a look at him, "Is your power so great that you can defy Death itself to watch your friends and family grow without you?"

Eclipse didn't reply; instead he silently drew the scythe that rested on his back, the eerie mist that surrounded his legs chilling the stone ground below him. Sombra began to sweat as the stallion took a step near him, the ground turning to ice and causing almost everypony to take a step back. The only one that didn't show any sign of fear was Northern, who now stood beside Sombra.

"Dad," Northern said, extending a hoof past the mist and touching her father's chest, "What's happened to you?"

The moment she spoke Eclipse recoiled, smoke emitting from the area she had touched him as if she had struck out at him with her own magic. Northern was in shock, she couldn't have done something like that, to her father no less, without her horn sparking and pulsing magic along her hoof.

"Nor...Northern," Eclipse struggled to say, "He...Help...m...m...me."

Before Eclipse could touch her again he broke apart into a mist, leaving the room as if he had never been there. The only thing that told them that he had actually been there was the ice on the ground, which was melting as the temperature of the room returned to normal. But Northern had seen something that she was sure that none of the other ponies had seen, something that she was sure would not make sense to any of them. She had seen her father, her actual father, return to the world after her touch had somehow harmed him, which confused her.

Somewhere in the shade of what her father had become existed the pieces of her father's soul, which meant that she could restore him to the peace he deserved. That was if she could figure out what was happening to him.