Chapters In an old cottage on the edge of Meeryth, a small town sitting on the Equestrian-Griffon Kingdom border, a old unicorn was on the brink of a discovery that would change the world. This old unicorns name was Dark Phantom, and he was more excited than he had been since beginning this fifty year long crusade for the elements of disharmony. "Finally my life's work is all coming together, if only..." Dark Phantom scowled "If only that blasted Princess Celestia had listened, my work could have been finished so much sooner!" The old unicorn moved around his small study, storing various books and notes in his saddlebag. "But its no matter now, because now I can move to the next phase!" Dark phantom walked out the backdoor, taking in the beautiful mountain scenery. "I suppose being neighbors with the griffons does have some perks to it," The old unicorn tore his gaze from the landscape "no! Now is a time for action, I must be of!" And so he went, perhaps if the poor old stallion knew this would be the last time he saw his beloved mountains he might have taken a bit longer to look at his home.
Not too far away a dark spirit observed Dark Phantom with interest. "Soon you will have outlived your usefulness to me, then Equestria will have a new ruler..." the mare smiled for the first time in two years "and this time not even the elements of harmony will be able to stop me!"
Later, at the mouth of a cave at the base of one of the larger mountains, Dark Phantom lit his horn. "Even from up here, I can feel the magical power radiating from the elements. I can only hope that everything goes according to plan." Without further delay, the old unicorn delved into the beckoning shadows, not nearly attuned enough to notice the spirit following close behind.
After venturing deep into the depths of the cave, Dark Phantom burst into a small grotto. The spirit took in her surroundings, the grotto was lit be some kind of glowing moss that coated the ceiling, and there was a natural spring that was about three feet in diameter. Other than these interesting pieces there were no other details that stood out, and there were definitely was not anything that looked like a element of disharmony. But, she could definitely sense the elements "where are you hiding them, old stallion?" Of course he couldn't hear her, but he did move toward the pool in the center of the grotto. The old unicorn's horn glowed a bright silver and the water evaporated, the mist from the pool turning a rainbow of colors. Each color separated itself from the others and materialized into five necklaces and one crown. But while these looked similar to the elements of harmony, they were altogether darker and gave off a chaotic magical charge. "After fifty years... It's time for you to leave this world!" Dark Phantom levitated a obsidian knife out of his saddlebags and laid it next to the basin where the pool used to be, then his horn glowed once again and he created a intense blue fire in the basin. The spirit watched with growing interest "How do you intend to destroy them old stallion?" Once again he unintentionally answered her question and dumped the elements of disharmony into the basin, then raised the knife to the base of his horn resting the blade against it. "It's for the good of Equestria..." The old unicorn was starting to sweat rather heavily "I need to get this over with..."
"Yes do hurry along, Equestria is waiting for the return of Night Mare Moon!" growled the spirit
The old unicorn hesitated, then the knife quickly slashed sideways. Night Mare Moon winced and watched for a moment as Dark Phantom fell to the floor, then turned her attention to the basin. The severed horn had fell into the fiery basin and was sparking and smoking while around it the elements of disharmony were beginning to glow bright red. And slowly one by one, they melted until the basin was filled with molten glowing metal, within the pool of metal the horn floated up and exploded into a shower of silver sparks that upon hitting the lava created a sizzling sound. The lava cooled and turned into obsidian then, with there vessels no longer able hold them, the souls of the elements of disharmony floated up trying to escape the underground prison that had held them for so long. The spirit smiled and her horn glowed, for even as a spirit her magic was still something to be feared, the elements were ensnared in a black glow and drifted toward the spirit. The old unicorn was starting to regain some sense through the waves of pain, and noticed with mixed surprise and confusion that the elements still looked very much alive. "What...why?" he managed to say before submitting to the pain, meanwhile the elements drifted together and condensed into a singe entity and the faint outline of a large mare could be seen.
Finally, after such a huge setback, she was in the mortal world once again. Once again her voice could be heard. The still forming form of Night Mare Moon shifted her gaze to Dark Phantom, and she casted a spell that would take away the pain, save a slight throbbing. "You have went against everything you believed in and have helped the coming of eternal night, so" she smiled as the old unicorn looked at her, mouth open in surprise "I shall grant you a quick death."
Night Mare Moon walked outside the mouth of the cave and stretched her wings and gazed fondly at the moon. "Soon I will have my revenge, and the sun will never rise again." She ascended into the night sky feeling happier then when she had hurled Celestia through that mountain...
Luna sat at her desk in her chambers atop one of the towers in the Castle she and Celestia called home. She looked at the letter laying on her desk with interest, what the griffon kings were proposing could mean better relations between the two countries for years to come. But like always there were risks... "Luna?" The kind voice of her older sister shook her from that unpleasant train of thought. "Yes? What is it?" Luna was more than a little irritated, while it had been a unpleasant train of thought her sister knew that these matters required her full attention. "You're doing it again"
"Doing what?" Luna said, curious
"whenever you start thinking particularly hard about one subject, you start to frown, your horn glows slightly and its like i can almost see the gears turning," Celestia smiled "It's the Griffons again isn't it?"
How does she always seem to know what I'm up to? Luna thought to herself "Yes, its this proposal of theirs, if we give them the iron and steel they desire it will put is at disadvantage with our own supplies drained and their's increased" Luna paused to collect her thoughts "But if they truly have no desire to attack us then we will be making a alliance with the worlds most powerful military, besides Equestria's of course." Luna could not help but add in that bit about Equestria, she loved her country and had helped found it, why shouldn't she be proud? "Luna, perhaps you should take a break," Luna tried to get a word in but Celestia cut her off "I know you must attend to your duties, but it sounds to me like you have the situation under control." Luna couldn't help but smile, knowing her sister would not rest until she took her advise and had herself a break. "Very well Celestia, but only a brief one, does that seem fair to you?"
"I am not the one you should be asking, does it seem fair to you?"
Luna hesitated "well...perhaps not too brief." This brought a laugh out of Celestia and they walked down the maze of corridors together. After a walk through the gardens, and a quick trip into the kitchens, Luna walked with Celestia to her room. It was time for the sun to rise. They both stood together on the balcony together, but only one began to take flight. Celestia flew up just as the moon began to fall, and her horn glowed with massive amounts of magic. Her wings fully extended, and her horn glowing as bright as the sun itself, Celestia looked like a true ruler when she raised the sun. Then, gradually, the sun began to rise and Equestria was bathed in the light of morning. Celestia descended down to the balcony landing gently, expecting a fairly easy day from here on.
Sadly that was not the case, a barely visible dark form was flying toward Canterlot in the steadily brightening day. While Luna went inside to sleep through the day, Celestia stayed outside to watch the sunrise. The shadow was steadily becoming more and more distinctive and less of a dot on the horizon, and yet the princess was to distracted by the view of Canterlot to notice. Luna slowly walked to her bed and climbed into it, pulling the curtains closed with magic. Just as she began to close her eyes there was a loud crash and the distinctive noise of crumbling stone, Luna was out of bed and galloping down the corridor, closely followed by two of her personal guards.
Nightmare Moon rammed Celestia in the side and knocked her off the balcony, then, taking advantage of her initial surprise, Nightmare Moon grabbed Celestia with magic and threw her against the side of the castle. The force behind the throw was so powerful that princess actually went through the wall and sections of it crumbled and fell. Nightmare Moon laughed at the expression of shock Celestia had shown when she had first saw her, and flew through the hole in the wall to finish what she had started. Celestia was lying on her side, one wing broken, horn glowing, trying to heal herself before the attacks continued. Nightmare Moon walked forward and put a hoof on Celestia's glowing horn, ignoring the feeble kicks that the princess launched at her. As she began to put pressure on the horn, threatening to snap it off, Luna came charging down the corridor horn glowing and picked up a piece of the rubble and hurled it at Nightmare Moon, still charging at her, while the two guards ran ahead to attack Nightmare Moon with wing and horn. Nightmare Moon jumped over the projectile and landed in front of the two guards, she allowed one of them to take a stab at her with its horn and sidestepped, then picked up the guard with her magic and threw him at his companion. Luna took flight and skimmed the ground, sweeping Nightmare Moon's legs out from under her. Nightmare Moon tried to regain her balance and failed, flapping her wings wildly while she fell forward. Luna landed in front of Nightmare Moon and bucked her head, while the guards recovered and moved to either side of her.
This was something she had not expected, when she had last seen the Princess of the Night, Luna had been anti-social and weak. Then Nightmare Moon noticed that Luna was speaking to her, "I thought you had been destroyed by the elements of harmony, but it seems i was wrong" Luna took on a almost sad expression "so it seems I will have to finish you myself." Nightmare Moon was scared for the first time in years, how could it all go so wrong? Years of planning wasted because Luna had somehow regained all her confidence and strength in a matter days instead of months like she had expected. Luna broke each of Nightmare Moon's wings with a quick telekinetic pull, and then Luna broke her horn in the same way she had meant to break Celestia's. Then she carried Nightmare Moon over to the hole in the wall and looked at the fall below before letting her drop, but even then, after all that evil pony had done Luna still felt nothing but sadness for her and the fate she had brought upon herself.
Nightmare Moon had been killed to many times, her soul could not take it. So, it shattered. It broke apart into hundreds of fragments, almost all of which immediately died themselves and simply disappeared. There were only three left, one was to small a fragment to form any thought, the other could think but was insane, and one was the largest fragment of the broken soul. The fragment roamed for two years before it finished repairing itself, though its mind had finished most of its repairs the memory was still damaged.
A small black alicorn foal wondered on the edge of the Everfree forest marveling at anything and everything. The little filly heard singing and wondered toward it, she had never heard anything so beautiful before, or at least she did not remember when she last had. The foal tripped and fell face first into a clearing where a yellow pegasus with a pink mane was coordinating the chirping and tweeting of twenty different types of birds, normally this pony was quite shy but she had a weakness for foals. "Oh dear, are you okay?" the pegasus was barely talking above a whisper "Do you need some help? Of course you do, let me take you inside!" without further ado the yellow pony picked up the confused foal and flew to her cottage.
The foal sat on the yellow pegasus's back, wondering who this strange pony was. The obvious way to proceed was to, of course, pull on her ear to get her attention. "Oh, could you stop, please?" the yellow pony said quietly "that hurts, just a little bit." the little filly spoke for the first time since she came into this world "I was just wondering, what's your name?"
This question surprised the yellow pony "Oh, well...my name is Fluttershy" she hesitated "what is your name?" The foal opened her mouth to speak, but she could not remember a name. "I don't know" she said, unintentionally whispering it.
"Oh" was all Fluttershy could think to say, they flew the rest of the trip in silence.
It was only after having she had dropped the foal onto the floor (not literally of course!) and flown back with a salad did Fluttershy notice a rather critical detail about this strange filly.
"You have wings...and a horn?" said Fluttershy in what could be considered her version of a shout of surprise. The foal spread her wings a bit and touched her horn with a hoof "Well, I guess so"
"Where" Fluttershy tried to sound less frightened "where are your parents?"
"Parents? I-I don't know" the foal may not have remembered her past, but she did know that this was not normal, "I-I don't know my n-name or m-my parents or... or" the little alicorn sat down and tears started to show themselves.
"Oh, um, don't cry, please don't cry" the pegasus said in a soothing voice, "don't worry little one, I'll take care of you. Okay?"
The little alicorn wiped away a tear "O-okay, Fluttershy?"
"Yes?"
"Would... would it be okay if I picked a name for myself?" the foal said nervously
"I don't see anything wrong with that."
"Then um..." The little foal looked up at the moon and the barest fragment of a memory revealed itself, "How about Eclipse?"
"Eclipse? But those are really dark and scary" Fluttershy said quietly.
"Well, has there ever been a bright eclipse?" the foal said eagerly
"No, I don't think so."
"Then I can be the first!"
It was early the next morning that Bright Eclipse awoke to the sound of a knock on the door, interested she climbed out of the makeshift bed and walked to the door. Just as a second knock sounded she pushed it open and looked up into the surprised face of a purple unicorn. "Hello Flutt- oh, who are you?" she said, then noticed that the foal not only had a horn, but wings as well "wait, are you a member of the royal family!? Why are you here? We need to get you back to Canterlot right now!" Just as the unicorn began to pick her up, Fluttershy walked out from her bedroom "Oh, hello Twilight" she said "but... what are you doing with Bright?" Twilight was extremely confused now. Not only did Fluttershy have a alicorn in her home, but she was aware she had a alicorn in her home!
"Fluttershy yo-" she was cut off by a tug on her mane.
"um, I don't know what the royal family is, or why your so surprised to see me," she said in the most dignified way she could while being held like a newborn foal "but could you please put me down?"
"Oh" Twilight slowly put down Bright "I'm sorry, it's just your an alicorn and the only alicorns are in the royal family and-" Twilight was cut off again
"Twilight? Could you...not tell anypony about Bright?" said Fluttershy nervously "I told her I would take care of her and..." she trailed off
"Of course Shy, your secret it safe with me." Twilight said, trustworthy and sure on the outside, nervous and unsure on the inside.
"Thank you so much Twilight!" said Fluttershy, truly grateful
As it turned out, Twilight Sparkle kept her dear friends secret, and would keep it for years to come. But here, now, Bright Eclipse was learning how to care for the many animals that called this area home. "You have to keep out of reach of the baby snakes, they like to bite and don't know how much it hurts" Fluttershy said, hovering above the snake's home "But the adult snakes know how bad it is to get bitten, so you shouldn't have to worry about them." Fluttershy looked back to see that her normally diligent student was hiding behind a bush from a rather confused spider. "Oh dear, I'm sorry Mrs. Silk, she doesn't know that your a nice spider yet." Fluttershy gently ushered the spider to her nest. "Please wait here until I come to you, okay?" Fluttershy flew over to where Bright still hid, not knowing of the spiders departure. "You can come out now little one, Mrs. Silk went back to her nest."
"I'm sorry Shy, they just seem so scary to me." said Bright as she poked her head up. "We were going to the snakes next, right?"
"That's right, lets go see them now." Fluttershy and her little alicorn walked over to the snake's home, and that was how it went for the next two months, with a general routine of: wake up, eat breakfast, brush teeth, tend to morning chores, eat lunch, free time, tend to afternoon chores, free time, eat dinner, brush teeth, bed, repeat. But on a uneventful day in early fall Bright Eclipse had something on her mind at dinner. "Shy, can I ask a question?" said Bright between bites.
"Oh, um, I guess, if you want." Fluttershy was a bit nervous, she had a pretty good idea of what this was about. Throughout the day Bright had been asking the same question, luckily she had been able to avoid answering...up until now.
"When your friend the unicorn came over, she talked about other alicorns... other ponies like me, I was wondering if..." Bright trailed off, noticing Fluttershy's sad expression, "what's wrong shy?"
"Oh, I, um..." Fluttershy struggled to put a sentence together "I-I just... if you want to go see the alicorns then I won't stop you." Not that I could anyways, she thought. If Bright was still a filly this might not have been a issue, but for some reason in the past month she had been growing at a frightening rate, both mentally and physically, and Fluttershy simply did not know why. Bright was at the age she could be considered a teenager, and was as big as Fluttershy.
"Fluttershy," said the persistent mare "is something wrong?"
"I just... don't want you to go..." said Fluttershy
"But, it's not like I'm staying there, I just want to have a look." she threw in a reassuring smile to help lift Fluttershy's mood, and on the outside it did, but on the inside it just saddened her even more.
"I know, I guess I'm just worried about you," she gave a fake smile "that's all."
Journey to Canterlot Castle
Fluttershy led Bright Eclipse through the streets of Ponyville for only the third time since she had come, so it was no huge surprise when everypony stared at the alicorn. Fluttershy was feeling very well, shy. Bright tried to ignore them, but couldn't help but be a little nervous. So, all in all, it was a very awkward trip to the train station. Bright walked up to the platform, smiled back at the closest thing she had to a mother, and stepped onto the train. After a moment of hesitation, Fluttershy followed and took her seat next to Bright Eclipse. Normally Fluttershy had no problem with the ride to Canterlot, but this time around it seemed to last forever. I've become too used to her around the cottage... when she learns what it means to be an alicorn, Bright won't want to stay with me anymore. And even if she did, Celestia and Luna will want her to stay in Canterlot with them... Fluttershy's train of thought slowly came to the same conclusion over and over again: this would be goodbye. Bright did notice Fluttershy's discomfort, but she had no idea what the cause of it was. Bright also had no idea that a group of young fillies were making there way toward her. While she sat, deep in thought, one of the children tapped on her side to get the black alicorn's attention.
Bright Eclipse turned to the filly "Oh, hello little one," upon closer observation she realized that this filly was older than she had first appeared, and was more of a young mare than a filly. And, of course she immediately took offense to "little one" regardless of the fact that the alicorn was a good head taller than her.
"Excuse me? Did you just call me little one?" she said in the most insufferable way possible, and all her friends backed her up with a chorus of equally insufferable retorts. Bright blinked in surprise, living with Fluttershy had secluded her from this kind of behavior.
"My apologies, twas a mere slip of the tongue." she surprised herself, since when did she talk like that? the alicorn had no memory of her past before stumbling into the Everfree, and did not realize that in her nervous moment, she had slipped into the grammar of ancient Equestria. "I, um, I mean I had not gotten a good look at you... before I spoke...and called you little one..." Bright trailed off, then the mare took advantage of her moment of uncertainty.
"Well, you better hope it doesn't happen again! Or I'll make sure you regret it!" This pony sounded confident, as she was accustomed to making empty threats. Unfortunately, she, like most, failed to notice that the alicorn had wings as well as a horn, and while sitting she had not noticed how much bigger Bright was. It definitely wiped that smug smile off her face when Bright stood up, wings extended, bent down so that the mare was looking into her eyes.
"Did you just threaten me?" she said, even after living with Fluttershy, some mechanism that she had developed in her past suddenly made Bright Eclipse very intimidating.
"Your a-a alicorn?" stuttered the mare "I'm so sorry! Please don't hurt me!" Bright was missing some vital components to fit the complete appearance, but right now, to the terrified mare, the black alicorn was starting to look like Nightmare Moon herself. "Really I-I didn't mean it!" she felt like that alicorn's unwavering gaze was looking right through her "It was j-just a-a joke! P-please, I wasn't serious, just let me go!" she backed away a little "Please?" The black alicorn was silent for a moment, then she spoke. "Go" Bright watched the mare and her little pack of friends run down the corridor to there seats. It was not until just then she noticed Fluttershy looking at her with a frightened expression. "Shy? What is it?" She got a whimper in reply.
"You...the room" she swallowed "Everything seemed...darker, and you looked...scary." Fluttershy tried not to look afraid of her friend. "B-but that pony was being really mean to you...so I guess it's okay" the poor pegasus barely squeaked out the word "okay". Bright got back into the compartment with Fluttershy and put a wing around her.
"I'm sorry if a scared you Shy, I didn't mean to scare you...I just wanted that mare to go away." she scooted closer to her friend. "I think we're here Shy!" the alicorn pointed with a hoof at the city outside their window. Even with all her doubts of what was to come, Fluttershy couldn't help but be excited visiting Canterlot once again. Perhaps, she thought, I'm just worrying to much, maybe Celestia will let Bright come back to Ponyville with me.
They pair walked through the busy streets of midday Canterlot together, and after listening to the growling of two stomachs for the better part of a hour, they resolved to eat. They decided against the restaurant selling something called "steaks" and moved on to a simple little place that sold general lunch type foods, steak not included. Afterwards they found the most expensive looking bakery possible, allowed themselves a groan at the smells in combination with absurd prices, and moved on. The two ponies sat together at a restaurant that sold pastries, among other things, that were actually in their price range.
"I'm glad we found this place, I never knew a apple pie could be so expensive!" said Bright
"I know, I would have brought more bits if i had known..." Fluttershy started but the alicorn gave a laugh and cut her off
"Fluttershy, I don't think we could have bought anything regardless of how many bits you brought!" the alicorrn smiled in a friendly way "if you bought anything at that place, I don't think we would have enough money to make it back!" Fluttershy smiled at her friends joke, but secretly she thought "you mean I wouldn't have enough bits to get back..." she quickly pushed the thought aside, this was no time for that kind of thinking.
"Shy, it's nearly night, shouldn't we be heading up to the castle soon?" said Bright. Or, perhaps it was time for that kind of thinking. She smiled weakly.
"Yes, I guess we should."
