Ballad of the Eclipse

Within the Arctic North laid the city of the Crystal Empire, the city of gems. Elegant buildings reflected rainbows and the roads caught the sun’s warmth for the hooves of the citizens. In the city centre was the Crystal Palace, a tower reaching the sky for all to see.

The Crystal Ponies had coats that glistened like jewels, their manes were held up in various styles and their eyes held a sparkle that was more than just a reflection of light.

The empire was saturated with powerful magic, unlike any other in Equestria. The very hearts of the Crystal Ponies fueled this magic. When their hearts filled with joy and love, the palace spread those emotions across the nation.

Or, at least it used to.

The once-bright crystals had become black, all elegance replaced with maleficence as each and every gem had become jagged. The roads no longer had sunlight to catch, as the sky had become a polluted dark-orange. But worst of all was the Crystal Palace, now so black and jagged that it looked like a mortal wound in the diseased sky.

The coats of the Crystal Ponies no longer glistened, their manes were flat, the sparkle in their eyes was gone and there simply was no joy in their hearts. For they walked the roads in chains. They shuffled under the crack of whips, with aches down to their bones. Their every movement was directed towards the next back-breaking labour, without reprieve and with hearts as broken as their will.

A balcony jutted from the Crytal Palace’s side. On that balcony was the reason for bringing despair to the empire: a steel-grey pony in silver barding, a red cloak and a jagged metal crown. His mane was jet-black and his horn blood-red. Purple energy fumed from his crimson and green eyes as he looked down on his crystal slaves. A Cheshire grin of sadistic glee showed his jagged fangs.

This was King Sombra.

High above the cover of dark clouds, two Alicorns flew towards the city. The larger of the two was Princess Celestia, wearing barding as gold as the sun. The smaller had a dark-blue coat, a mane and tail that looked more like the night sky than hair and her barding was as silver as the moon. This was Princess Luna.

The princesses cleared the edge of the cloud. Luna glared when she saw the city, its beauty corrupted by black crystal. Her nostrils flared and she flapped her wings harder, speeding up. Celestia noticed and put a hoof on her shoulder. Luna turned to her sister. Celestia could see her anger.

"Luna," she gently began, "I know you feel rage at Sombra's cruelty, but you must not allow that to cloud your judgement. We must approach carefully and find Sombra before we attack, not give ourselves away."

Luna listened closely to her sister, and her words of wisdom calmed her. She looked into her sister's eyes and she felt a sense of assurance and gratitude. She nodded.

Celestia smiled, seeing her sister's understanding. Luna turned and continued toward their target. Celestia looked on, feeling relieved and proud that her sister could see what was important. She caught up and the princesses moved forwards.

Beyond Sombra's sight, the princesses had entered the palace. After forcing their way deep inside, the sisters found themselves walking down a circular staircase that descended for dozens of storeys. They touched down on the crystalline ground and peered around, but there was barely any light to guide them.

They found something. On the wall of the cavern was a wooden door framed in black crystal with a gem sitting on top.

The two approached carefully. They stood by each other, at the ready, as Celestia reached for the handle.

She threw the door open and they were blinded by a pure white light.

Luna found herself walking along the cobblestones of a town at night. Looking up, she did not see the Crystal Empire, but a clear night sky, dotted with diamond-like stars. Something about the sight made her mind drift. Her reasons for being here became fuzzy.

She smiled at the sky, she had always been meticulous about the stars. When she brought about nighttime, she made sure the sky was dark enough to see them and the moon always in just the right place to illuminate the streets but not drown out the starlight. And everypony could see it.

The princess turned her attention to the streets to see her subjects enjoy her hard work. Only, nopony was there. She looked around, the streets were empty. She did not understand, why was nopony out to enjoy the night?

The silver light on the street gave way to yellow and heat struck Luna's back. She turned to find the cause, only to be blinded by the sun. She looked away to let her eyes adjust. When she looked back, the streets were filled with ponies. Some were looking at the blue sky, some admired the flowers and others went about their business. They all came out to see the day's beauty and live their lives only now that the night had ended.

Luna was outraged. Why could her subjects only enjoy the daytime? She heard the chatter of a small crowd behind her. She turned and saw the crowd around a stone statue of Princess Celestia, bowing, placing flowers and other acts of worship. Ponies walked by Luna, not so much as acknowledging her existence.

Luna stood aghast. Celestia had risen the sun, destroying the work she had put into the night, and now everypony was worshipping her for it?

Another pony passed her, shoving her as he did. Luna glared and grit her teeth. "You dare to treat your princess with such disrespect!"

Luna's voice shook the ground and could have burst eardrums, but still nopony acknowledged her. They only paid mind to her sister. Magic flared around her horn, she fired a beam of magic at her sister's statue and it exploded into a cloud of dust. And yet, the ponies still ignored her, simply going on their way.

Luna did not understand. She reached out to her subjects, but they did not see her. Nopony acknowledged her. Nopony appreciated her.

She hung her head, and a tear fell to the ground.

"Luna."

Her ear twitched. She rose her head. The voice was dull, so she listened intently.

"Luna!"

She recognised the voice. "'Tia?"

"It's an illusion! You must wake up!"

It suddenly made sense to Luna. She clenched her eyes and concentrated, willing herself to snap out of it.

She opened her eyes. The wooden door was in front of her, closed. Beside her, her puffy-eyed sister.

Luna stood still, absorbing what had happened. She stared at her sister, then the door. Her jaw clenched, nostrils flared and she hissed one word with the deepest malice.

"Sombra."

Her horn began to boil as furiously as her anger.

"No!" Celestia pressed Luna back. "You need to stay strong, little sister. For Equestria."

Luna's eyes became distant: she had been fooled. Her sister had overcome it by herself. So much better than her, just like she was when she destroyed her night-

Luna froze. What was she thinking? She realised her nostrils were flared and her eyes narrowed. She forced her face to normal and glanced at Celestia; she had not seen her.

Luna's gut twisted. Did she really just feel resentment for her sister? Or, was it-

The sound of a magic beam interrupted Luna's thoughts. She saw Celestia shooting into the gem above the door, making it shine rainbows across the room. The door opened to a pure white light, which faded to reveal a dark room on the other side.

Celestia walked through the doorway.

Luna threw her thoughts aside. She loved her sister; those emotions meant nothing.

"Luna convinced herself that her emotions were of no concern," Princess Celestia told Twilight. "But we discovered that they were Sombra's doing."

Twilight sat, transfixed and aghast at her mentor's story. She had never thought Sombra's defeat easy, but she never expected such horrors upon the princesses. Then again, they had fought Sombra at the peak of his power, she had it much easier.

However, Twilight was unsure how this helped her

The elder princess addressed this. "What got me through that ordeal were my convictions. When you encounter hardships, you must never forget why you fight them."

Twilight knew this well. She could remember times when she had given up hope and even abandoned the people around her. Her head hung in shame at those memories. She would never let that happen again, and Celestia's story gave that conviction new strength.

"However."

Twilight looked at Celestia in shock. What could be said against holding true to your goals and your ideals?

"Even your convictions can cloud your judgement, if you let them."

Celestia walked down the hall and Twilight followed, ears perked.

"Sombra had revealed to Luna and I our greatest fears. Luna disregarded them, but what I did was just as reprehensible."

The Princess of the Sun looked out a clear window at her sun, as though looking for the strength to continue. When she saw her reflection, she walked away.

This was not unnoticed by Twilight, who suspected she was not the only one in need of help.

"For years after we banished Sombra," The princess continued, "I doubled my efforts to protect my subjects. I failed to realise that I was doing it out of fear of what Sombra had done." She stopped by another stained-glass window. "But, thanks to my misplaced concerns, neither did I realise what Sombra had done to Luna."

Celestia looked at the window. "Because of my negligence, her fears were allowed to take root within her mind, until another force made them irrefutable to her eyes."

Twilight stepped up to her mentor, her concern ever-growing. She had never seen Celestia in such a state of self-loathing. She did not know how to respond.

She looked at the window. It showed the image of an Earth Pony, a Unicorn and a Pegasus trapped while being pulled by Marionette strings. The puppeteer was high above them: a creature that appeared as an amalgamation of various animals.

A cold shiver went up Twilight's spine; she knew what came next.