A New Eclipse

Celestia:

I was taking a walk through Canterlot, it was now Monday and Luna's Birthday celebration would begin tomorrow night at 7 o'clock. It took me awhile to get my younger sister to partake in this event, mostly due to the fact that we have not celebrated her birth ever since 'He' disappeared. After much pleading Luna had finally agreed to take part. I have still not told her about Eclipses return to Canterlot, as I want it to be a surprise. I chuckled to myself about the way he might stage his 'grand entrance' as he was always sort of random and unpredictable, much like Pinkie Pie.

Anyway, I was headed to the train station to welcome Twilight and her friends. When i arrived I found Mothball and Screwball standing at the platform. Discord and Fluttershy had arrived yesterday, I walked over to see Mothball in his disguise. I giggled and placed my hoof on his shoulder,"You do realise you don't have to hide yourself Mothball?" He slightly jumped and turned around to see me, giving a sigh of relief.

"Oh its only you princess, I am aware that you have told the Canterlot ponies of me but I would like it if I wasn't being stared at all the time."

"They will never get used to you if you hide yourself my little changeling."

He sighed and presented an irritated look on his face.

"Fine." A bright green flame surrounded him and tore away his fake body to reveal his true look. He had holes in his legs making them look like cheese, had blue web like hair, tiny fangs rested on his upper jaw, his back resembled that of a beetle, his green insect wings matched his emerald eyes. His body was a slick black and was very thin.

He sighed and looked at me with worried eyes. I placed a hoof on his shoulder and gave him a warm smile. "Don't you worry, I will make sure that no pony will bother you during your stay Mothball."

"Thank you, princess."

"Please, just call me Celestia."

"Ok, I will keep that in mind, Celestia." Before I could say anything else Screwball embraced him.

"I prefer this you, lover boy." She gave him a smirk and his face became flushed.

The train stopped at the station 10 minutes later, ponies flooded the station. As Mothball had expected many ponies threw him dirty looks.

"I told you they would stare."

"Relax young one, once they get used to you they won't bother you, I will personally see to that."

Mothball could only give a small smile. As the crowd cleared the families of ponyville stepped out of the train car one family at a time. The first group to exit the train was the Pies, next came the Dashes, then Rarity and Fancy Pants with their daughter, then the Sparkles and lastly the Apple family.

"I am so glad that you could all make it."

They all cheered in excitement, while Twilight could only give a worried expression towards me.

"Princess, I believe we have something of much importance to discuss?"

"That we do my faithful student, but for now get settled in, then when you are all ready meet me in the throne room."

They all went their separate way to the areas they were staying in, all of them holding a slightly worried expression. "I have to tell them everything now don't I?" A voice from the sky startled me.

"Oh come on I'm not that bad, am I?"

"Are you sure that you should be openly speaking to me like this?"

"Dont worry only you can hear me." He shouted in a dramatic voice.

I could only chuckle.

"Wow, I forgot how much I like your laugh, but come on I wasn't even trying."

"Well, I know I'm going to be laughing a lot more with you back in the castle."

"I see, oh and by the way, you may want to look for my journal before talking to them."

"Why?"

"It looks like your student and her brother are getting the wrong idea."

"I see, but will you please show yourself Eclipse?"

"In due time Celestia, just explain to them who I am and I will show myself tomorrow night."

I sighed at the thought of having to explain who Eclipse really is and that hes not the shadowy figure that books have led most ponies to believe.

"Ok, but reveal yourself when Luna is not around, I have a plan that you might like."

"Knowing you, I already like the plan."

I burst out laughing and fell on my back. An orange aura enveloped me and put me back on my four hooves.

"I've missed you Eclipse."

"I've missed you too Tia."

There was suddenly complete silence leaving me by myself. I struggled to keep my laughter in. Suddenly memories of my childhood rushed back to me. All the time I had spent playing with him when we were foals, learning spells from Star swill the Bearded, and watching him and Luna develop their relationship. My nostalgic day dream was interupted by Twilight and her friends.

"Princess, are you alright, you looked like you were in your own little world?"

"I'm just looking back to my younger days."

"If you dont mind princess, we should really get down to buisness."

"Very well, meet me in the throne room in ten minutes."

I flew off to the castle library to search for the book that Eclipse was talking about. I came across a painting of an Eclipse, with a button on the lower part of the black and orange frame. When I pressed the button The frame moved to the left and revealed a small vault. The vault wasnt locked as no one knew this even existed. I opened it up to find a dusty book with a sun, a moon and the stars on the cover. I knew that book all to well. I was starting to wonder how Twilight was going to take this, as everything she has read about Eclipse was false. Knowing her she would complain that ponies put false information into books. Nevertheless, I had to tell her.

As I was walking to meet the girls I was stopped by Cadance and Shining Armour. I motioned them to follow me and the nodded in agreement. Twilight was waiting by the door with her friends when she noticed us.

"Cadance, Shining, I'm so glad you are here."

"You kidding Twlight, we would never pass up a chance to see you."

When the formalities were out of the way, we entered the room filled with stained glass windows, all showind our past victories.

"Now lets get down to to buisness shall we?"

They all sat down on some pillows the gaurds brought in for them. I passed the book to Twilight who caught it with her magic.

"Isnt this your and Luna's journal?"

"No, it may look like ours but is in fact the journal of Prince Eclipse."

Twilight gasped as she held the book in her hooves to inspect it further.

"Princess, can you please explain what is going on?"

"Twilight before I say anything I should let you know something."

"What is it princess, is it about Prince Eclipse, is he evil?"

I placed my hoof on her back and sighed. "Twilight, everything that has been recorded about Eclipse is false."

"W-w-w-What, but all those book I read, they all said he was selfish and cruel like king Sombra."

"Those books were written by foolish ponies who feared Eclipse due to one unfortunate accident."

"What kind of accident?"

"I believe he will be the one to tell you at a later date twilight."

Twilight grumbled for a bit, most likely annoyed by being presented false information. "It feels like you are avoiding the question."

"I am going to tell you all who the Prince really is."

Cadence then walked to my side and whispered something to me.

"Tia, look outside on top of Luna's tower."

As I looked out from a nearby balcony, I noticed a dark figure watching us from the rooftop. A faint orange glow was presented, then the journal was taken from Twilight and floated in front of me. I then heard a faint voice in my head.

"Stop dragging this out longer than you should Tia, tell them already, we're on a time limit."

I then turned to find Twilight trying to grab the journal which now presented the same orange aura.

"Hey, give that back."

The book then floated towards Twilight and landed in her forelegs. "Celestia, what were you looking at?"

"See for yourselves."

All of them walked out to the balcony to see what was on top of the castle, most of them gasped, Rarity fainted, Twilight looked as if she was trying to make out some key features on the distant figure and Rainbow started to become aggressive.

"Hey, you over there, get over here."

The figure only stared in silence before spreading his wings to fly.

"Is he challenging me?"

The figure only shot up through the clouds and disappeared.

"Oh no you don't." Rainbow dash was about to take off after him when a lavender aura surrounded her. "Hey he's getting away."

"Calm down Dashie, we still have to let Celestia explain what's going on." Twilight reasoned.

I took a deep breath, trying to find the best way to explain to them the situation. I moved them all back into the throne room and finally sat down to explain Eclipse.

"You should all know that Eclipse is not evil, but is in fact very kind and caring. He has been my friend ever since I was little and we have shared many memories together. He even saved me and Luna on many occasions. Although he seemed to be very closed off at first, when I got to know him he said he felt a strong bond between us. I started to think of him as a younger brother. He became very close to Luna, so much that if anypony tried to hurt Luna in anyway he would become very protective, as if he didn't want anything to happen to her." I turned to a stained glass window that showed Discord and me meeting for the first time. "He had lost something very important to him, something he could not get back. After his tragic loss he stumbled upon Discord, he was one of the only ponies who didn't judge discord for his appearance at the time, even though Discord was still a child."

Discord then rose up from the crowd of friends with a saddened face. He then walked to my side and placed his eagle claw on my shoulder, as if he was telling me he would explain his encounter with the mysterious Prince.

"I remember it like it was yesterday. You should know Eclipse wasn't a prince at this point in time. He was just a simple alicorn who had lost his way and it just so happened that I was also lost in the world. If we hadn't met, it would have driven me to madness, due to the fact I was a child with no pony to care about me. I was walking along a field one day when I noticed a cloud just a few feet above the grass. As I walked over to investigate why this cloud was so low I saw a young black pony with an orange mane napping on the cloud. I was about to leave the area in fear of scaring him away, when he woke up and saw me. He didn't make fun of me, he didn't scream, he just asked me who I was, not what I was. After that we started traveling together in hopes of finding where we belonged in this world when one day, Eclipse heard screaming in some nearby woodland. When we rushed to see who was crying for help, we found two young alicorn mares surrounded by wolves. Without hesitation, Eclipse flew in front of the pair of fillies to face the pack of beasts. I couldn't do much since I had no experience with magic at the time, but Eclipse fought the wolves back and told me to get the girls to safety. Since I didn't know what else to do, I snuck over to the fillies and hurried them over to a small clearing."

I decided to take over for Discord as I wanted to be able to tell the group of friends more than just me meeting Eclipse.

"Those two fillies were me and Luna. It took us awhile to realize what Discord looked like due to the shock of the attack, but we realised that the young colt that had saved us told him to get us away from the threat we didn't feel threatened. We waited in silence for awhile, but we then heard the cries of the wolves retreating. Then Eclipse limped over to us, his wing was bitten and his body was scratched terribly. He smiled and collapsed. Our parents who had been searching for us found where we were. After they made sure we were healthy they then turned to Eclipse and Discord, after we explained what had happened, Eclipse was then rushed to the castle to receive treatment while Discord rested in a nearby cave. After Eclipse was conscious, he was thanked by our parents and was then offered a home in Canterlot, he accepted but only after Discord was aloud to see him. We introduced ourselves, he was shocked to find out he had rescued the two princesses of Equestria. As we grew older, we started our training in magic, flight and strength. Eclipse excelled in all of his studies and training, so much in fact that he caught the attention of Star Swirl the Bearded. One day when my mother was teaching me to raise the sun, and father teaching Luna to raise the moon and the stars, Eclipse found out that Discord had great magical abilities. He then proceeded to teach Discord how to use his gift for good." I looked back at Discord, signalling him to continue.

"Yes and he was succeding, and our training went on for years until I finally mastered my powers. I believe that once Celeatia and Luna received their cutie marks, Eclipse wanted to have a go at raising the moon. But everything did not go as planned for as soon as the sun had set, Eclipse accidentally rose the sun and the moon at the same time, causing the first ever eclipse in history and also surrounding him in a ball of light, he noticed what had happened with the sun and moon and soon fixed the problem, but when he looked back he saw the shock on the king and queens faces. I summoned a mirror to show him what they were so shocked about. When he looked at his reflection, he noticed that his mane was now a flowing orange, much like Luna's and Celestia's manes, he was also considerably taller. He also realised he had gotten his cutie mark as well, it was ,you guessed it, a solar eclipse."

I then took charge with a smile on my face as I could see all of them eager to know what happened next.

"It wasn't soon after that my father made him the rightful prince of Equestria. It was the biggest ceremony Luna and I had ever seen, it was much like Twilights coronation. But that was not the only thing important thing that happened to Eclipse. As time went on, Eclipse and Luna started to have feelings for each other. As the years went on, their relationship reached the point where Eclipse had wanted to purpose to Luna. But before they could move their relationship further, mother and father suddenly disappeared. Many other alicorns had now gone missing until only me, Luna and Eclipse were left. A new evil faced the land of Equestria, and Eclipse seemed to know what it was but did not tell us what it truly was. It then spread to Canterlot were it corrupted Discord. Eclipse then told us to follow him quickly. He led us to a small cave where we encountered the tree of harmony for the first time, Eclipse never told us how he found it but we were to busy dealing with Discord to worry about such matters. After defeating Discord, the darkness then corrupted Luna. With a heavy heart, Eclipse and I banished Luna to the moon. After that, Eclipse just suddenly vanished. I was left alone for a thousand years, then you six came along, and you know the rest."

They all looked at each other with sympathetic faces, Twilight then lifted the Journal to inspect it. She then placed it on the ground.

"I had no idea that you and Eclipse had such a history, and I'd like to find out more."

I embraced her with open hooves, and them smiled warmly.

"Anything else you want to know is in that book and you are welcome to read it."

She then glowed with excitement."Really, the prince is okay with that?"

I gave her a quick nod and she then started jumping up and down in excitement.

"You should all get your rest as you will all be up late tomorrow night for the Princes return."

They all cheered happily and headed off to bed, Twilight still hopping with the journal in her hooves. Discord then turned to me with a grin on his face.

"After all these years, he's finally coming back." He then walked off to attended to his family.

I could only give a sigh of relief as I heard Eclipse again.

"See, that wasn't so hard."

"Just make sure you enter in style Eclipse."

The room was filled with a echoed chuckle as I headed to my room. I won't lie, I felt like a little girl on Heatrhs warming eve. Tomorrow is going to be interesting.