Bloodlust Bakery

Earlier that afternoon...

"Are you feeling any better?" Rainbow asked.

Eclipse grunted. "I can move around and do basic activities; I guess that’s an improvement."

For the past week, Eclipse had been suffering from a strange illness that caused him excruciating pain every time he exerted himself. And up until recently, that meant so much as getting out of bed. No one could figure out what his illness was; they had never dealt with anything like it before. Twilight Sparkle had sent a letter to his sister, Queen Black Rose, asking if she or any of the Safer doctors had ever encountered anything like Eclipse’s illness.

She wrote back: "I've never seen or heard of anything like what you’ve described, not as an illness anyway. I would suggest that he just stays in bed and waits for it to blow over. Knowing my little brother, that shouldn’t take long."

And so there he was, bedridden, hardly able to do anything. Thankfully, his friends stopped by frequently to take care of him. They brought him food, kept him company, and performed any task he could not do himself.

"Do you need anything?" Rainbow inquired, going over the usual check-list of questions.

"Well, I can finally cook for myself again, so food won't be an issue anymore, and I can move and take care of most things. I guess the only thing you guys really need to do is take care of any errands that would need running."

"Okay." A hint of worry crossed Rainbow's face.

Eclipse smiled reassuringly. "Hey, I've been through worse than this. Just make sure you guys keep on coming to visit me. It really helps."

"Sure."

An awkward silence followed. In the aftermath of the Discord incident, there had been a sort of tension between them. The general state of chaos that Discord generated had caused Eclipse's personality to fuse with that of Deathwish's, his evil Darkside. The resulting inner turmoil caused him to lose control over himself and give in to his deepest and darkest instinct: to destroy. While Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy were searching for the Elements of Harmony, Eclipse was going on a rampage, destroying anything and everything in sight. In his words, he had become a monster, a mindless beast whose lust for chaos and destruction could never be satisfied. Because the source of this was himself and not any spell placed on him by Discord, the spell that Twilight had used on the others to undo the spells that Discord had placed on them had no effect. What followed was a battle to defeat one of the most powerful forces in the world, and that battle was already in Eclipse's favor. Just when it seemed that the six friends would lose, Rainbow realized that Eclipse's personality had reverted to when they had first met him, before he knew love and friendship. With this in mind, Rainbow took the biggest gamble of her life. Once the opportunity presented itself, she got close to Eclipse and used the simplest and most powerful expression of love: she kissed him. Though it was only meant as a way of snapping Eclipse out of his chaotic state and save the lives of her and the others, the act had left both friends with mixed and confused feelings toward one another and what some would call unresolved romantic tension.

Rainbow finally broke the silence. "Just get better, okay?"

"Hey, this is me were talking about. We both know I'm a fast healer."

Before any of them could say anything else, the door to Eclipse’s bedroom flung open. Through it bounced Pinkie Pie. "Hey, guys! What’s up?"

Eclipse closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, trying to maintain his composure. It wasn't that he disliked Pinkie Pie; it was just that her constantly sunny disposition and cheerful attitude had a way of seriously getting on his nerves.

"Oh, sorry," she said after noticing the irritated looks on their faces, "Did I ruin a moment?"

"You? Ruin a moment?" Rainbow said sarcastically, “Never."

"Oh. Okay." She looked at Eclipse. "Uh, is something wrong?"

Eclipse was staring at her intently. His eyes narrowed and his eyebrows drew close together in a scowl as he examined the pony in front of him. Something seemed... off about Pinkie Pie. Something about her presence felt different yet familiar, but he couldn't quite place his hoof on it. 'Could it be...?'

"Eclipse?" Pinkie said again, interrupting his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. No, nothing's wrong."

"Oh. Well that's good." She then changed the subject by saying, "Hey! I know what'll make you feel better!"

'Why do I have a bad feeling about this?' Eclipse thought. Out loud he said, "And what might that be?"

"CUPCAKES!!" Pinkie announced, throwing her front two legs into the air.

"Hm," Eclipse mused, "Cupcakes does sound pretty good right about now."

"Alrighty! I'll bake up a batch tonight and have them for you tomorrow!" She turned to Rainbow Dash. "Hey, Rainbow, would you like to help me?"

"Sure, it sounds like fun."

"Okie dokie lokie, then. We'll meet at my place later. Does seven-ish sound okay to you?"

"Sure, seven's fine."

"Okay, see you then!" She turned to leave.

As she crossed the doorway, Eclipse called out to her. "I have high expectations for those cupcakes. I expect them to be damn tasty."

Pinkie Pie turned and smiled at him. "Oh, don't worry about that. I'm gonna put some extra special care in making these. This batch will be to die for." And with that, she bounced away.

"I should probably get going too," Rainbow said. "Same time tomorrow?"

"Probably a little earlier. I don't think I can eat all those cupcakes by myself."

"Alright." She hesitated for a second, then leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Get better soon."

"As soon as can," Eclipse said, a little stunned.

Rainbow quickly left before the situation could get any more awkward.

"Tonight," he said to himself after she was gone, "We settle this tonight."