Equestrian Legends

Chapter 1

The mare gave a small shiver as a cool summer breeze entered through her only barred window. As she shivered, her hoof shot right out to the blanket that rested at the very tip of her hooves. While it was very refreshing from the heatwave she had endured over the past few days, she now felt rather cold. This in turn caused her to slowly raise her head up from the pillow and glare at the guard with something in mind. It caught the Lunar guard’s attention instantly and he met her glare with an equally intimidating one.

“Can you make sure it doesn’t get too cold in here?” The black-coated mare asked, “I’d rather not freeze in my sleep...not that it would be any consequence to you.” This however received no physical or even a verbal response. He merely went back to sitting quietly at the desk in the room. She could only assume that he would do at least that for her before once again lowering her body onto the pillow, brushing aside her exceedingly long and messy purple mane as she did in attempts to get comfortable again.

As she closed her eyes in an attempt to catch at least a few hours of sleep to pass the untold amount of time she had at her access. Which she soon found to be more difficult than it actually sounded, for at the very instant she closed her eyes a familiar sound entered her ears. It was a sound that she had grown rather accustomed to over the past five years of being in this cell. The familiar scratching noise of a quill on a piece of parchment from the guard.

‘Perfect timing...’ she cursed, one of her eyes snapping open to observe him for just a few seconds. She noticed right away that his gaze shifted between her and the parchment, knowing full well what it meant, especially as the unicorn guard rolled it up with his magic and shifted to the door. The entire time he was doing this though, his gaze never seemed to leave the mare, which left her feeling rather annoyed and seemingly violated as he handed off the parchment to a guard just outside the door. Could she not get a moment’s privacy? Could she not be looked at like a slab of meat? Then again, she could at least understand to a degree why they gave her such looks. This factor lied within the armor all the guards that watched over her wore, which was a purple and black armor, with the purple residing mostly on the helmet, while the torso was more along the lines of black. In the center of the torso too, was a crescent moon. Which was the symbol of the guard they belonged to, not that it was a concern to her anymore as all she really cared about was getting a little bit of sleep. Even with the racket of the door slamming shut just seconds before she’d finally drift off. Pulling her from any hope of sleep for maybe another ten minutes.

That ten minutes proved to be the most blissful however, as nary a sound seemed to come from the guards or the room itself. It was absolutely perfect for drifting off and as she finally reached the very edge of slumber another sound echoed through the room. One she expected to hear after the guard had written that note. It was a very loud ‘pop’ and in the center of the room appeared a dark blue mare with a flowing mane and tail like the night sky.

“Good morning, Nightmare Moon,” A familiar and very grating voice spoke up, which immediately caused her to pull the pillow over her entire head. This seemed to hurt the mare a little as she gestured for the guard to leave the room. “Why won’t you talk to me?” she asked in a rather gentle voice. One that simply made her wish she could claw her own ears out. A silence incurred after she had spoken, as if trying to tell the new arrival to leave her be. Nightmare knew though that it wouldn’t be that easy as the mare probably wouldn’t leave until either her court began or she received a response, the latter of which she wasn’t going to get. “Please Nightmare...” the voice virtually begged, “I just want to know how you’re faring...” before she knew it though, a pillow struck the bars rather aggressively.

“You want to know how I’m faring?!” Nightmare hissed, “You really want to know how I’m faring?! I’m just lovely thank you! Oh wait...NO I’M NOT! I’m in a prison cell with the most boring guards in Equestrian history! As well as a deck of really worn out poker cards! You know what would be nice though? If a certain princess would also stop visiting me when I’m trying to get some sleep!” The volume of Nightmare’s voice made the mare wince, especially coupled with the anger.

“But...Nightmare...” she began, “I...just want to help a little...”

“Help? HELP?!” Nightmare roared, before leaping right to the front of her cell. This revealed just how much she had changed over the past five years. Not only had she grown much more scraggly, with her mane having grown fairly long. On top of that, her once-fine black coat even seemed to be an absolute disaster. Couple that with the slightly crazy look in her eyes and that added up to quite a scary sight. “You really want to know how you can HELP ME LUNA?! HOW’S ABOUT YOU LET ME GET SOME FRESH AIR NOW AND AGAIN! LET ME STRETCH MY WINGS AND GET SOME EXERCISE!” Luna winced again at the thought, it was very clear why she wanted that too, as visible by the weight she had gained around her midsection. While it wasn’t too much, it was still fairly visible.

“You know very well why I can’t do that...” she attempted to argue,

“Oh! Because the whole castle would freak out!” Nightmare snapped, “Oh and might I add...because your rotten sister would freak out too! And probably send us both to the moon! Not that I would care, at least the moon would be a step up from THIS PLACE!”

“I’m...sorry...” Luna muttered, shifting her gaze away from Nightmare as she attempted to reach out from the bars and swipe at Luna.

“Sorry...SORRY?!” Nightmare’s voice rose, “Were you SORRY WHEN YOU DESTROYED MY HORN?!” At the top of her head, wrapped in bandages was her horn. It was very neatly and tightly wrapped too, showing just how badly damaged it was. The strange part though was, even after five years it still hadn’t recovered in the least, but it did make some sense though as she did have her magic drained.

“I honestly thought that...you would cease to exist if I took your magic!” Luna argued, “I mean...that was the only thing keeping your body maintained, am I right?”

“Far as I know...this has never happened in the history of Equestria...” Nightmare muttered, “But then again...I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING OUTSIDE OF WHAT YOU KNEW OR TELL ME!” For the third time that night, Luna winced at the volume of her voice.

“Is...there anything I can do for you...to apologize for your horn?”

“Unless it involves giving me a chance to stretch my wings properly or a book on games involving playing cards,” Nightmare replied, “Although...it would be nice if you could get me a new deck of playing cards at least...” Her head shifted at that point, glancing over to the table in her cell, which had a very old and worn out deck of poker cards before returning her glance to Luna. “Unless its one of those three things...you can sincerely go buck yourself. Oh wait...if you’re still with that rather sexy unicorn stallion...what was his name? Emerald?” This made Luna nod very slowly, “Yeah, go buck him instead!” she spat, before turning her back on the lunar princess and returning to her bed with the pillow in hoof.

“Well...if you figure out why you didn’t just vanish...or you simply want to talk, just tell the guards,” Luna said calmly, despite the verbal abuse she had just endured. “I’ll see you soon...hopefully with you in a better mood too.”

Nightmare seemed astonished that Luna hadn’t completely blown up in her face and made the sentence worse. She had really changed since they had been one pony, not that she really cared. About the only thing she seemed to care about was keeping up the appearance that she didn’t seem to have a clue as to why she still lived, of why she was still bound to this form. When in fact she actually had a potential clue as to why and that she had been living with the secret for this entire time.

‘I hope your father is taking really good care of you...’  she thought, a small smile slowly creeping across her face and a single tear moving down her cheek very slowly. ‘Eclipse...please have a good life...’  As she drifted off into her much desired slumber for the day, her mind and heart were filled with the last memories and hopeful thoughts of her daughter.

In the higher towers of the castle, just as the sun had reached past the horizon. A very dark blue alicorn with a presently-messy silvery mane was just beginning to stir. As the sun struck his face, he began to stir. Making an attempt to block it out with his pillow as to get just a couple extra minutes of sleep. Unfortunately for him though, the extra sleep would become impossible over the course of the next couple of seconds as he began to feel a strange, but very familiar bouncing on his bed. He knew the origins of said bouncing very well too, not needing to peek out from a small crevice to see the source.

“Time to get up daddy!” an energetic and youthful voice called out from the opposite end of the pillow. Yet, the stallion simply remained motionless, not even twitching in attempts to trick the little filly now bouncing on the bed right next to him. “Today’s the day! And you’re not tricking me this morning! I WILL meet her today and this time I’ll be awake for it!” The filly’s energy was absolutely boundless, but it was to be expected after all. She was just a little filly, no older than five years of age. After what seemed like forever in bouncing on the bed and nudging her father endlessly he finally tossed aside the pillow to simply gaze at his daughter with very tired eyes.

While on the outside she looked like a completely normal filly, there was something just a tiny bit different for a pony her age. Some would think it was the combination of her dark blue coat, which was just a shade or two darker than her father’s along with her violet mane. Maybe even the bright golden eyes that matched her father’s, but no, it was something else entirely. Something that her father had noticed over the course of the past five years that seemed to make him relatively curious. Not only was her speech significantly more developed compared to most fillies her age, but she was significantly larger than most her age. It was fairly strange, but easily explained as her father wasn’t quite the average pony himself.

In fact, he was the farthest thing from the average pony even if he acted like one just past six thirty in the morning. Not only did he have a horn, but as he stretched himself out; it would become apparent that he was actually an alicorn, which was the farthest thing from average. Then again living in a castle wasn’t average either, but was anything in his life actually average?

“Eclipse...its six-thirty,” he muttered, looking fairly tired as the filly slowly ceased her bouncing on the bed and his eyes briefly shifted to the alarm clock on the nightstand. “Although its very likely she’s awake, I still doubt she is at this hour. Granted its Sunday...”

“B-but...” Eclipse began, her lip already beginning to tremble and her eyes growing wide. Which was possibly one of the most evil things ever created by children, especially little fillies who wanted to get something out of their fathers. “Y-you promised...” the tone of her sweet voice broke his heart instantly, while at the same time he even seemed to curse his own luck inwardly.

‘Even her mother wasn’t this evil...’  he thought, ‘Where in Equestria did she learn that face...I swear...’ It took several seconds before he finally sighed in defeat, knowing full well he couldn’t handle that sweet and very evil face for more than a couple of seconds. “Fine, fine...we’ll go see her after I have my morning tea...” said face seemed to melt into a quick smile followed by a very joyous cheer as she climbed off the bed.

In a very pitiful attempt at stalling for time, the stallion slowly climbed from the bed while his horn lit up and fixed it. Straightening the covers and placing the pillow ever so neatly at the head before he crossed the room, making a beeline straight for the bathroom. The visit didn’t take more than ten minutes as he quickly fixed his hair and took care of his business fairly quickly, which included brushing his teeth. All the while, the little filly waited just outside the closed door for him.

Once he had freshened himself he stepped out, taking a couple of seconds to stretch his wings with a small, but very pleased grunt before making his way over to the table in the room. In the center of this table sat a teapot which he quickly emptied out of the old, dried teabags and replaced it with fresh ones at least after rinsing out at the sink very quickly. This was followed by his horn lighting up a bit brighter compared to the normal telekinesis spell and as Eclipse observed this, a smile moved across her face, fascinated by the magic her father was performing just to heat up the water in the teapot.

“Daddy, why are you drinking hot tea during summer?” she asked the very instant the question popped into her mind. Not even hesitating to think about it. Unfortunately the timing for this question was rather bad, as the stallion’s mind hadn’t had the time to fully start up yet. This left him scratching his head very clearly as he tried to figure out just why he was drinking hot tea in the morning. That was, until he realized how pointless that was which made him laugh. The chuckle seemed to confuse Eclipse though as she tilted her head slightly to the left, growing curious as to why her father was laughing at her question.

“While it may not make much sense...” her father explained, “I love tea...and its a great way to start the morning. At least, better than coffee.” he smiled at that point, turning to his daughter as the water in the pot reached the boiling point. Which in turn caused steam to begin rising from the spout as well as from any small hole that may be in the pot.

“Why is that?” she asked, which he should’ve expected, yet didn’t.

“Coffee is overly processed with less than natural ingredients, while tea...” he began, “To this day remains mostly natural, at least depending on what brand you buy or if you make it yourself.”

“You can make it yourself?” Eclipse inquired further, to which his smile widened.

“Don’t worry...I’m sure Twilight has a book she’ll give you on the subject,” he cooed, leaning down to mess up the filly’s mane. Which seemed to make her smile, but it only lasted for a couple of seconds as another thought crossed the young filly’s mind at that point.

“You think she’ll like me?” Eclipse asked, looking almost down in a matter of seconds.

“She’ll love you,” he assured, “You two already have quite a bit in common, accounting for your love of books.”

“But...what if she doesn’t like me?” her ears lowered at that point, “I...wouldn’t want to...be in the way of your special somepony...”

“Eclipse!” he said, “What did I say about saying those kinds of things?” The filly froze when her father’s voice rose just a tiny bit. Seeming almost angry at her.

“Uhh...” she tried to speak, but no words seemed to come to mind. It was almost as if she had blocked out what her father had told her on countless occasions.

“I said not to ever say things like that,” he scolded, “While I’m confident that she’ll absolutely love you...even if she doesn’t by some chance, it won’t change a thing and nothing she says or does will make it change either.” This was followed briefly by him nuzzling Eclipse. Which seemed to cheer her up in an instant, causing her to nuzzle back instinctively. ‘Even Celestia adores you, I doubt even Twilight could resist that charm of yours. Why are you so worried?’ He smiled softly as he poured his cup of tea. Steam rose from the green liquid as it was poured and along with it came the pungent aroma of mint and a very strong aroma too which quickly filled the room.

Without more than a few seconds in between the time he had poured it and the time he lifted his head, the cup containing the tea had already levitated right up to a comfortable position and he proceeded to sip on it. While it was scalding hot, he didn’t seem to mind, able to muddle through the short burst of pain that the liquid caused. Instead he found himself enjoying just the sweet, minty reprieve that the tea brought him. Sending his mind on a short journey and relaxing every muscle he had. In a matter of seconds too, the liquid had vanished from the cup and he began to feel a burst of energy surge through every hair in his body. From the tips of his hooves to the pointed end of his horn.

Excitement began to well up in Eclipse after her father had drunken his tea, knowing full well what was going to come next. It would be soon that she’d meet his marefriend, very soon. She could hardly contain her excitement as she even began to shiver a little where she stood. Even her father saw this and chuckled very softly before making his way to the door with the filly right by his side.

“Now...let’s go give Twilight a good morning she won’t forget!” he remarked as they made their way into the hall.

Lost in a sea of books, the mulberry mare lied sprawled out on her own bed with a single book covering her face as she slept peacefully. Even a faint snoring could be heard in the room as its two occupants slept peacefully. However, it didn’t come from the dragon that slept in a basket nearby, oh no. It actually came from the alicorn mare that was sleeping ever so gracefully on the bed.

It wouldn’t be more than five minutes later that a knock soon came to the door of the room, which was followed by some rather faint grumbling from the dragon and another series of knocks. At which point, said purple dragon sluggishly climbed from his basket and made his way slowly over to the door, dragging his blanket behind him and rubbing the sleep from his eyes at the same time. To which he was met with none other than the dark blue alicorn and his daughter, Eclipse.

“Uh...Morning Silver...” the dragon muttered, still clearly very drowsy.

“Morning Spike,” he began, seeming almost cheerful now as compared to before, “I take it...from your demeanor that even Twilight isn’t awake yet.”

“Uh...Twilight?” Spike asked at first, a tiny bit confused as he stepped aside to allow the two to enter the room. It was at this point where Silver’s eyes rested on the previously mentioned mare, where he almost died of laughter in an instant.

Silver’s eyes had never seen such a hilarious sight in his life, the book covering her face was just the tip of the iceberg to him. As he witnessed Twilight using a series of other books as a blanket. While there weren’t that many, a fair number of them were huddled against her for what he could only think to be warmth or personal comfort or even the simple fact that she had just fallen asleep while reading a book. Not only was it a very hilarious sight, one that could possibly be on the front page of the Canterlot paper, but it was also one of the most adorable sights he could ever rest his eyes upon.

“Daddy...is that your special somepony?” Eclipse inquired almost immediately, turning up to him.

“Yes...yes it is,” he smiled, “And daddy’s a very lucky pony too. Now can you and Spike please go wait in the hall? I must wake her.”

“Hey!” Spike cried out, “I want to go back to bed! Its only seven o’clock on a Sunday no less! I want to sleep in!” Silver’s eyes flashed as he turned to the dragon, immediately leaning down to whisper something that Eclipse couldn’t hear to him, which immediately caused a one hundred eighty degree turn in his words. “Come on Eclipse! Your father wants us to wait in the hall!” He even seemed to be wide awake, quickly balling up his blanket and tossing it right over to the basket before dashing to the hall.

“Awww...but I wanted to help daddy wake her...” Eclipse complained.

“Sorry Sweetie, but this is something only daddy can do,” Silver said, “I think your wakeup call might be a little too much for her right now.” The filly seemed to drag her feet out of the room after hearing that, rather sadly too in attempts to get her father to change his mind, but he didn’t waver in the least. He moved silently after the door had closed, reaching the bedside with a small smile on his face. With that, he leaned in very, very close to her. To the point where his mouth was right at her ear, where he whispered: “Twilight...you’re late for the big test...”

There was an instant reaction after those few words were spoken. The first of which was the book on her face went flying and the resting form of the mare shot straight up into the air, almost to the point where she even hit the ceiling. Had Silver not actually been there, using his magic to reign her down before that happened, she would’ve hit the ceiling without question. After which, he brought her back down to the bed where he was receiving possibly one of the most frustrated and annoyed glares he had ever received.

“Silver...” Twilight muttered, clearly annoyed with the stallion. “Why did you do that to me? You know how I don’t like being late for anything...especially tests...” she paused, glancing up at the ceiling afterward. “And worse yet...I could’ve actually hurt myself! What were you thinking?!”

“Relax Twilight...” Silver replied, “I was just having a little fun, I had everything perfectly under control; I wouldn’t dream of doing something that actually hurt you.”

“Well...since you did stop me from hitting the ceiling...I suppose I could forgive you,” she whispered, before leaning in to nuzzle him softly. “Plus...none of your childish pranks have hurt me yet...” He nuzzled her in return, before placing a very soft kiss on her lips. This sent a shiver right down her spine. “And you’re just lucky those lips of yours are so soothing too...otherwise I’d smack you for doing things like that.”

“Oh you like it,” Silver teased with a devious smirk on his face,

“If only for those lips of yours,” Twilight added, a smile on her face. “But...please...don’t ever wake me up like that again.” For a few moments, Silver seemed hesitant at actually agreeing to this, but in the end he nodded.

“Oh, alright,” he muttered, before quickly placing a kiss on her lips which in turn brought upon another quick smile to her face. “Now what do you say we go get breakfast? My treat.” This in turn caused her to shift a very quick glare in his direction as they began to move to the door. She didn’t even need to say a thing to him, mostly due to the fact he already knew what the glare had meant. Especially after what he did to wake her. “Oh...and one more quick thing Twilight...” he began, pulling the door open for her.

In that instant, the alicorn mare found herself met with the boundless energy of a young filly, whom had been patiently waiting just outside the door with Spike. Caught a little off guard by the filly’s seemingly boundless energy, which was second only to a good friend of hers at this present moment, it brought a smile right to her face to see it. Not only was the filly excited, but she even seemed absolutely ecstatic at the fact she was meeting Twilight for the first time too.

“Good morning, Princess Twilight!” Eclipse smiled, still bouncing on the end of her hooves essentially. “Its nice to finally meet my daddy’s very special somepony!” That particular line caused a very faint blush to appear on Silver’s cheeks as Twilight shifted a glance in his direction.

“What can I say...she’s been determined to meet you for months,” he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head in a reflex, “Even with her...surprising amounts of energy...she always passes out before you show up as you recall.” Twilight giggled softly before returning her attention to the still-bouncing filly. “Now...shall we go get some breakfast?” The very instant those words had been spoken, it seemed like everyone’s stomach growled.

“Yes...let’s,” Twilight smiled, “Your treat!”

“I wouldn’t mind getting a few extra gems for breakfast...” Spike added and upon hearing all of it, Silver simply whimpered, realizing just what he had gotten himself into.