A New Eclipse

Discord:

When I reappeared in our hotel room I sat down on the end of the bed, trying to take in what I had just been told. Very few times have I ever been close to tears, and this was one of those times. Did he really say that? Did he really think of me as his brother? I summoned a handkerchief to blow my nose, but since that would wake up Fluttershy and Zany, I just wiped my eyes and nostrils.

"I still don't understand, Eclipse wasn't ment to show himself until tomorrow. I guess he has his reasons." I thought to myself. I then heard Fluttershy yawn and turned to see her opening her eyes.

"Discord, did you go somewhere?" I sighed and sat next to her.

"You're never gonna guess who Screwy and Mothball just met a short while ago." She looked at me with worried eyes.

"Who did they meet, are they alright?"

"Oh yes there ok, it's who they met that's bothering me."

"Who?"

I turned to look her in the eyes. "They met Eclipse." She widened her eyes in shock and then placed her hooves on my paw.

"How, he isn't ment to come back until Luna's party?"

"That's what I said. Apparently Eclipse showed up outside there hotel and told them to follow him to a nearby river. When they arrived he allowed them to see him, he even called Screwball his niece, because he considers me his..."

"He considers you his what?"

"...His brother." This made Fluttershy widden her eyes, trying to think of what to say next.

"He called you his brother, aren't you happy?"

"Yes I am, believe me, I am, it's just that-I couldn't hold in my tears anymore-I've just missed him so much Fluttershy."

She immediately embraced me tightly, she then kissed my cheek trying to comfort me. I returned her embrace, and then gave her a passionate kiss. When we pulled away, the room suddenly got a little darker, then we heard a voice all to familiar to me. When I heard his voice, my heart fell, in a good way. Fluttershy looked startled.

"Well, would ya look at that, you've really changed Discord, and for the better." A dark figure appeared at the opposite end of the room, but remained covered by a shadow. "A loving wife, a beautiful daughter and a mischievous son. You should be proud of yourself." He then turned to Fluttershy. "Thank you Fluttershy, for reforming him and giving him a family to call his own." Fluttershy looked at the figure and then turned back to me. When she realised there was no danger she replied.

"You're welcome, um...Mr Eclipse." This caused Eclipse to chuckle and fade away into a black mist. We were left speechless. I could no longer contain my excitement. I jumped up into the air with a blast of confetti.

"Finally, after one thousand years, we are all going to be reunited." I lowered myself onto the floor and looked out to the moon. "Like old times." I could hear my wife giggle playfully.

"Wow Discord, I don't think I've seen you this excited in a long time." I picked her up and held her up in the air staring into her beautiful eyes.

"Of course my dear, my long lost best bud is returning and I couldn't be happier." I held her close to me and she lay her head on my chest. We were interrupted by Zany, who had probably been woken by the noise I was making.

"What's going on dad, I'm tryin to get some sleep here?" I warped him onto my shoulder, which didn't seem to phase him as I usually teleport him around the castle of chaos.

"I'll tell you what's going on Zany, tomorrow you get to meet your new uncle." This caused him to change his expression from a tired look, to a bright and surprised one.

"Really, I have an uncle, that's amazing. Yeah I love my aunts but I've never had an uncle before." He thought for a moment. "Well except for uncle spike and Big Mac but they aren't usually around and I haven't gotten to know them very well."

I brought both of them in for a tight embrace. "I can't wait for tomorrow night."

Twilight:

I was mesmerised in the pages of Eclipses journal. I couldn't believe what I was reading, even if I was limited to about 12 pages, but there was so much I didn't know about Luna and Celestial, and also Eclipse...duh. Flash was lying next to me on our bed while I was reading, taking in the small fountain of fun information. I giggled as I read one of his entries in the castle of the two sisters. "Look at this flash, it says that Eclipse was the one who built all of the secret doors and slides for Luna in the old castle, apparently Luna was very depressed after the disappearance of the King and Queen, so Eclipse tried to cheer her up by turning the castle into Luna's personal funhouse." Flash then sat up and looked at me with tired eyes.

"Well why wouldn't she be depressed? Her mother and father just up and disappeared."

I rubbed the bottom of my muzzle with my hoof in thought. "I guess your right Flash." He then smiled and placed his forelegs on the back of his neck. He sighed and then layed back with his eyes closed.

"I'm always right." I playfully nudged him with my hoof and went back to reading. A light then emerged from the back of the book. Curiosity led me to turn to the end. Like that ever ends well. The light faded and revealed more writing and a note. I picked up the note with my magic and was surprised to find it was a letter for me from Eclipse.

The note read, "Dear Twilight sparkle, you may be wondering why a new page has become accessible. While I was watching over the city of Canterlot I got bored and had a peek at your memories with Celestia. I must say that you show great promise and hold a great power inside you and I would pick no other pony to wield the element of magic. I was surprised to find you uncovered that chest at the tree of harmony, by the way congrats on that fight with Tirek. The new page you are able to access contains information on my transformation into a prince. I trust you a little more now so this is my way of showing it. See you tomorrow night. From Eclipse."

I looked to the new page to find a goldmine of precious info. I whispered a thank you to Eclipse and dove right into reading.

It was about three in the morning when I was suddenly woken up by a small surge of magic from my horn. "What the heck?" My horn then started to pull me out of bed and towards the balcony. It then stopped right before my muzzle collided with the door to the balcony.

"Ok what is it that is SO important that you had to drag me out of bed in the middle of the night?"

When I looked outside the window I saw a figure siting beside a small lake staring at the moon. "Is that who I think it is?" I didn't want to intrude but at the same time my curiosity was getting the better of me. I then saw two more figures appear behind him. I used a telescope that I had brought with me to get a better look. "Wait a second, is that, Screwball and Mothball?" I then looked towards the first figure, who seemed to place a hoof on Screwball. They seemed to be having a friendly conversation. I then noticed Mothball rush to some nearby trees and hide himself in the leaves. As the conversation came to a close the first figure flew up through the the clouds. After that I decided to go back to bed, but a few minutes later my horn dragged me out of bed again. When I looked out over the balcony I noticed the figure had returned to the side of the lake. "Curiouser and curiouser."

I decided that I would quickly fly down and get a better look at the strange stallion, I knew who it was but not what it looked like, when I was looking through my telescope the figure had covered itself in a shadow. I flew most of the way but when I got close enough I stuck to the shadows of the trees. I peeked out of a bush to get a better look. He was just sitting there, looking at the moons reflection in the water. I then turned to look at his face, but something was off, his eyes looked filled with despair. He then lifted a hoof to his bright orange chest plate and lifted out some sort of locket shaped like the a crescent moon. When he looked at it I could see tears start to form in his eyes. A single tear slid down his cheek.

"Even after 1000 years in that accursed place, I still can't get this memory out of my mind." I heard him speak to himself.

"He probably doesn't know I'm here." I thought to myself. I noticed he stood up still holding the locket in his hoof.

"First my father and sister, then Discord and then finally Luna. WHY COULDN'T I SAVE THEM?" I jumped a little as he shouted the last part. He then slowly lowered his body to the ground while keeping his eyes tightly closed. "Why couldn't I save them?" He was now giving out a slow sob when a small light appeared behind him. Two see through ponies began walking up to him. One was a red stallion Pegasus while the other was a green unicorn mare. It was strange, they looked like ghosts. The unicorn placed a hoof on Eclipses shoulder.

"There there Eclipse, everything turned out fine, Luna and Discord are no longer corrupted. As for what happened with your family, no one could have foreseen or stopped it." This seemed to calm the prince down.

"Thank you, Clover I appreciate it." I couldn't help but think that name sounded familiar. The pegasus then stepped forward.

"Yeah boss, don't be so hard on yourself, at least the darkness was destroyed with the Elements of Harmony."

"Yes Comander Hurricane, but they also banished my Marefriend to the moon and me to that stupid Reality Lobby." He then rose to look at them with tears in his eyes. "If you two hadn't managed to find a way out of the spirit realm then I would have been all alone."

The pegasus saluted Eclipse. "Why of course, how could I leave our prince without a guard?" The unicorn shock her head and giggled.

"And I couldn't leave you with just the Comander for 1000years now could I? And besides, you and I both know that we are linked with the Elements."

"Your right. There's a reason you are called Clover the Clever after all." That's when realisation hit me like a ton of bricks. He was talking to the spirits of Clover the Clever and Comander Hurricane, the weilders of the Elements of Harmony before Celestia and Luna. But how? There are no spells that let you communicate with the dead. Could it have been the Elements of Harmony? Eclipse then trotted over to the water and looked out towards the homes of Canterlot. "I think it's time to send the restless foals to sleep, don't you think?"

"It appears so. Go on Eclipse, it's been a full millennium, the children need to hear your song again." What was she talking about.

"Yes, although I want to try a different song this time."

"Why?"

"Whatever Celestia has planned for tonight I have a feeling it's going to involve me singing 'Children of the Night' once again, might as well make it special." Clover then giggled.

"Well then, we will leave you to sing Equestria to sleep once again my Prince." The ghosts then disappeared and Eclipse took in a deep breath through his nose. A spark from his horn sent a wave over Canterlot and a blue mist began to envelop the streets. Eclipse then began to sing.

"Somebody sing me to sleep,

I wanna know why, I'm having these dreams.

Take me back to the earlier days when,

I was strong and ah felt brave and,

I could stand up tall against anything,

I could take a hit from a tidal wave." Something about that song was making me sleepy, I could also feel the emotion radiating off of Eclipse. Some sort of calming spell, I had never felt this tired in such a short amount of time before.

"Now I look at the life we're leading,

Ya gave up, and lost all meaning,

I remember the day that you ran away.

I remember it hit like a tidal wave." And with that, I was out like a light. What happened next is a mystery to me. I think I was still standing when I fell asleep, he was still continuing his lullaby.

Eclipse:

I heard a small thud come from a nearby bush after I finished my lullaby. I trotted over to the bush to find Twilight Sparkle, she must have spotted me and flew down to inspect what I was doing there. I gave a small sigh. "Yep, you definitely take after Clover." I picked her up high my magic and flew to her room. I then set her down and tucked her in before leaving. I turned to see her eyes open slightly.

"Who, are you?" She asked tiredly.

"A friend."I walked to her side and placed my horn on hers, sending her into a peaceful slumber. I then took my leave before I woke up anyone else.

When I began flying away I noticed Celestia looking ove in my direction. I flew over to see her smiling warmly. I approached her and kept my self covered in shadows.

"Are you meeting me earlier as well Eclipse?" I shook my head.

"Not tonight sunshine." I cast a sleeping spell on her and returned her to her bed. I remember back when it was my job to put the citizens of Equestria to sleep. Ah the good old days, what I wouldn't give to to travel back in time and do it all over again.

Except the whole turning my best friend to stone and banishing my lover to the moon. You get the picture. Come to think of it I met a pony who could time travel when I was exploring the Reality Lobby, the Doctor I think his name was. Anyway, soon the celebrations will start and I will make my return. But how to do it, Celestia is expecting a flashy return. A bolt of lightning? Rise from the ground or...

Oh...Idea. I chuckle to myself.

"Show time."