The Wandering Soldier

After a short walk the three ponies reached the farm. The pegasus found it a bit more of a familiar scene as it was closer to the style before he left Equestria. They continued along the path until they came to the front doors of the barn. Fluttershy knocked gently on the doors. There was no response in the first few seconds. A moment later Pinkie Pie jumped up and banged on the door.

"Applejack, it's Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy" she shouted at the top of her lungs. A few moments later the barn doors swung open. An orange mare stood at the doorframe. She tipped her hat at the visitors.

"Howdy y'all" she said in a southern accent. She noticed the white pegasus behind her two friends."Howdy partner. I'm Applejack, pleasure ta meet ya" she said outstreching a friendly hoof to the pegasus.

"Just like her cousin" Eclipse thought to himself. He shook her hoof and smiled.

"It's a pleasure to meet you miss Applejack" he responded. The orange mare stared at him like he had two heads.

"There's no need for the miss. Just Applejack is fine" she said.

"Of course" Eclipse responded.

"So how can I help y'all" she asked the trio. Eclipse stepped forward at this point.

"I seek an audience with Her Majesty Princess Twilight Sparkle. Your friends said they would take me to her. They said they would bring you along aslo" he said to the mare.

"We're goin ta see Twilight" she asked her two friends who simply nodded in unison."Sounds good to me. Let's get a move on" she said as she trotted past the three ponies. Now that there was an extra pony in the group the journey from the farm to the town seemed more short to the white pegasus. The three mares had their own little conversation going while Eclipse followed behind at a distance. They eventually reached the town centre. As they were walking Eclipse noticed something heading towards them at a very fast speed. He quickly ran towards the mares.

"Look out" he shouted as he tackled them out of harm's way. They ponies collapsed into a large pile. A blue object whizzed past them crashing into a nearby tree. The ponies all looked up at the tree to see a cyan mare hanging out of it.

"Hey girls" she said with a large grin on her face."You really outta watch where you are going" she said then burst into a fit of laughter. Eclipse stared at the pegasus confused while the mares just glared at her. As she regained control of herself she noticed the white pegasus beside her friends.

"Hey there, I'm Rainbow Dash. The fastest and most awsomest flier in all Equestria" she said hold up a triumphant hoof. The other mares shook their heads lightly. Applejack then walked over to Eclipse.

"Meet Rainbow Dash. The pony with the biggest ego in all Equestria" she said earning a laugh from all her friends and a scowl from Rainbow Dash.

"Don't hate me cause you ain't me" she simply said swishing her tail in Applejacks face."Where were you girls heading anyway" she asked them as they got to their hooves.

"We are taking this stallion to see Twilight" Fluttershy said to the rainbow mare.

"Mind if I tag along" she asked.

"Sure. The more the merrier" Eclipse said with a slight hint of sarcasm in his voice. The ponies continued through the town until they reached the large crystal palace which belng to Twilight.

"Here we are" Pinkie Pie said bouncing up and down."I'm pretty sure Twilight will be in her library reading some book" she said as they walked up to the doors. Two guards saw the ponies approaching and opened the doors. Eclipse took in every bit of detail he could before they entered the castle. They walked in the direction of the library. The corridors seemed endless to Eclipse.

"It looks like it would be easy to get lost in here" he said alound earning a nod from all the other ponies. They eventually stopped at a door that seemed identical to the rest and knocked. After a moment passed a purple aura covered the doors as they opened. Inside was one of the largest libraries Eclipse had ever seen. It was also one of the few libraries he had been in. Sitting at a table in the centre of the room was a white unircorn with a purple mane and a purple alicorn. Both of them were drinking tea.

"Darlings" the white unicorn said getting up."How nice to see you all here. What brings you to the castle" she asked.

"Well Pinkie and I are here to tell Twilight the mission in Appaloosa went great" she said beaming. Pinkie Pie nodded in agreement.

"Me and Rainbow Dash just kinda tagged along with them. They brought somepony that wanted ta meet Twilight" Applejack said to the unicorn.

"Of course darlings, and who is it that wants to meet Twilight" she asked.

"That would be me" Eclipse said as he stepped forward from behind all the mares."My name is Shadow Eclipse and I have come to request an audience with Her Majesty Princess Twilight Sparkle" he spoke loudly. The purple alicorn got up from the table and walked over to the pegasus.

"I am Twilight Sparkle" the alicorn said. Eclipse immediately bowed before the alicorn. Twilight took a step back in suprise."Please don't bow. I'm not very comfortable with all the formalities" she said blushing.

"Of course your majesty. I apologise for my actions" Eclipse said in the most humble tone he could muster.

"And please just call me Twilight. None of the your majesty stuff" she said. Eclipse stood up to face the alicorn."So why have you come to see me" she questioned him.

"I seek an audience with Princess Celestia" he said. The mares all gasped at his response."I have an urgent matter that I must discuss with her" he said.

"I see but I can't just grant you an audience with Princess Celestia. She is the ruler of Equestria. She has to look after the country. Why do you deserve to get an audience with her" she questioned the stallion again.

"I am a soldier for her majesty. I have not reported in for a long time. I must let her know I have returned" he said to the alicorn.

"Soldiers do not report to the princess. They report to the captain of the guard" she said staring at the stallion. The pegasus looked back at the princess with confusion.

"I have never heard of such a rank" he said."There must be some mistake".

"How could you not know the rank. It has been the highest rank in the Equestrian military for the past thousand years" she said firmly."There is no mistake to it".

"That might make some sense" Eclipse said to himself. Twilight heard him mutter this and pounced.

"How would that make any sense" she asked completely confused.

"I mentioned that I had not reported in for a long time".

"Yes but I still don't see how it makes sense" Twilight interrupted him.

"I never knew exactly how long I was gone for. I must have been gone for over a thousand years" he said earning another gasp from the ponies.

"That's impossible" Twilight shouted."You can't be over a thousand years old. There is no possible explanation" she said running about the place flicking through books. Her friends stared at the purple alicorn. They had never seen her this frantic before. The princess continued to flick through books until she suddenly stopped and turned to face the white pegasus. She went right up in his face and stared into his eyes.

"You said you are a soldier, correct" she asked him not breaking eye contact.

"Yes" Eclipse responded.

"What rank of soldier are you" she asked.

The pegasus looked at the other ponies in the room before answering."I'm an Eclipse Soldier" he said. The princess immediately stepped back after this. She stared at him for a long time before turning around to look for a book. She search through hundreds of books before finding the one she was looking for. She came back to the stallion with the book and shoved it in his face.

"That's impossible. It says right here the last Eclipse soldier died 1200 years ago. His name was Divine Light and..." she said but was cut off by Eclipse.

"He was the second in command of the Eclipse Centuria. He had a cutie mark of a sword of light, but he preferred to use an axe as a choice of weapon" the white pegasus said. Twilight looked up from the book and stared at him.

"How did you know that" she said.

"Because I fought alongside him" the pegasus declared. There was a long silence in the room. Twilight continued to read through the book she was levitating. She then looked up again.

"It says here there was three commanders of the Eclipse Centuria. Each of these was granted an elongated life span so that they may serve Equestria where others would be prevented from doing so by death" she read."That would explain how you could live for so long" she said still flicking through the book."The book also states that you were the highest ranking unit in Equestrian history until you all passed away. The last thing it mentions is that the highest ranking commander disappeared after the last battle of the first griffon war" she said closing the book. She looked up at the pegasus infront of her."What happened" she asked him.

Eclipse was taken back by the question. He wasn't quite sure how to answer it. He looked the alicorn in the eyes. The words he spoke shocked everypony.

"Celestia betrayed her duty" he said.