Prologue: Darkness Comes to Play
Luna had just come back from the dream dimension, and was getting ready for bed. A Threstial came in before she climbed into bed. "Sorry to disturb you Princess Luna, but your song is still out on the terrace. He doesn't seem to be responding to us."
Luna sighed. "I forgot today was that day." She turned to the guard. "You may go. I will talk to him." The guard bowed and walked out. Luna opened the door to her balcony, and looked around. She looked to her left and saw her son. "Eclipse Blade!"
The young colt turned to where his name was called from. His red and blue eyes were somewhat swollen. He gave a sniffle as he flew over to his mom. "Sorry mom, it's just..." Before he could continue, Luna wrapped a wing around him.
"No need for tears my son." She looked to him with soft eyes. "I know that you miss her, but one day she'll return home."
"I know." The two of them looked up to the moon lowering, and the sun rising.
Eclipse was dressed in his captain armor, the one he hated, but it was only because his best friend Twilight was coming. He stode next to his cousin, Apollo Star. "How you feeling Eclipse?"
"Ok, at least for today."
"Hey, cheer up." Apollo bumped Eclipse's shoulder. "At least Twilight is coming over."
"Yeah, and you have a job to do remember?"
"I do." The his mind went crazy. "No, not that bet."
"Sorry dude, but you lost. And you still need to uphold your end of the bargain." Eclipse gave a sly smile.
"Sometimes, I question our friendship."
"I know." The two gave a quick chuckle and stood at their posts.
The doors opened across the room, and two figures strode forward. One was the pony who requested the meeting, Twilight Sparkle, and another pony. The other pony had amber fur, and a yellow and red mane. Eclipse lost all sense of time and feeling. All he saw was Sunset, the one friend he had before Twilight, and the one he lost years ago.
Eclipse was just frozen on the spot. Then he felt a hoof on his shoulder. "Hey Eclipse, you alright?" Apollo sounded like he was in a giant cave. Then he heard the sound of his surrounding. He shook his head, and looked around. The princesses and Sunset were gone. Apollo was the only one with him.
"What happened?"
"Well Sunset had a problem with her friends in her world, something about memory I think, and she wanted some help finding an answer."
"Oh." Then Eclipse remembered something. "Memory. I know where to look. Come on."
"But we're supposed to be on..." Eclipse was already gone. "Never mind." Apollo gave chase.
Eclipse burst through the restricted sections doors. "Clover the Clever!"
Luna turned to her son. "Whatever do you mean Eclipse?"
"Well I heard Sunset had a problem dealing with her friends' memories. And from my studies, I know that Clover faced a problem similar to Sunset's." Eclipse turned to Sunset while taking deep breaths, and a blush formed on his face. "And he wrote about it in his scrolls."
Twilight teleported next to him. "What?!? How did I not know about this?!?"
"I wanted you to be around other ponies, and not in a library," said Celestia.
Sunset walked up to Eclipse, and flung herself at him. Tears streamed down her cheeks. "It really is you Eclipse. I know what I did really hurt you, but I just need a real friend right now." She looked into his eyes. "One of my first friends."
"Hey!" Called out Twilight.
"Just let them have their moment." Apollo walked up beside Twilight.
Everypony was silent as Eclipse and Sunset reunited. Once Sunset was out of tears, she rubbed her eyes, and brushed back her mane. "So, you said Clover the Clever experienced the same thing."
"Yes." Eclipse flew over to a section of books and pulled out a chest from underneath. "Everything should be in here." Eclipse opened the chest and pulled out a clasped scroll. He opened it up to reveal Clover's race against time for the Memory Stone. "I think this is the culprit."
"Yeah. I think it is." Sunset smiled at Eclipse. "I should return to my world."
"Wait." Eclipse covered his mouth after he shouted, but Sunset already turned around. "What if I go with you, you never know what danger there could be?"
Sunset walked up to him and gave him another hug. "I would like that."
Luna glossed down to the two. "Is this what you want Eclipse?"
"I know you may not like this mom-"
"No, I'm proud that you and Sunset are back together. I just want you to be happy."
"Thanks mom." The two hugged. Sunset and Eclilpse went off to the human world.
Eclipse staggered out of the portal. Instead of his black fur. He had midnight skin, a dark blue shirt with an eclipse and a sword behind it. He also had blue jeans and black boots. "This is new." He stumbled a bit forward.
"It is weird at first."
"Yeah, but this seems familiar." He shook his head. "On to more important matters, who could have the Memory Stone?"
"I think there is one person." Sunset led Eclipse into the school, and to another student's locker. She quickly slammed another locker shut. "Hello Trixie."
"What do you want Sunset?", asked Trixie with a sly grin.
"I know what you did."
"What are you talking about?"
"The Memory Stone."
"The Memory what?"
"Don't give me that. You used it to erase everyone's memories of me becoming a good person."
"Wait, there's something that could erase everyone's memories of anything bad, like some bad tricks?" Trixie back peddled. "Not like I would need it."
"So you aren't the one." Sunset felt crushed. She slowly slid down the lockers.
Eclipse walked over to comfort her.
Trixie looked worried. "Is everything ok?"
"Well you got the main story from Sunset." Eclipse pulled out a picture of the stone. "Ever see anything like this?"
"No, and who are you?"
"A friend." He put away the drawing.
Trixie turned to Sunset. "So this stone took away everyone's memories. Now you say your changed, but no one believes you." Trixie chuckled. "Sounds familiar."
"I thought you were with Show Time."
"He's been busy. I only ever see him at school."
"Maybe we could remedy that," said Eclipse.
"What do you mean?" asked Trixie.
"Well we could use all the help we could get."
"Ok, I'll help. On one condition."
Sunset shot straight up. "No. I am not making you the Most Greatest and Powerfulest."
"Then you get no help."
"Then there goes your opportunity to be with Show," pointed out Eclipse.
The bargaining stopped. "Ok, fine."
The three walked to the cafeteria. They walked through the doors, and Trixie pointed towards a crowd of people. In the center was a guy with green and red hair, and green skin. He wore a white t-shirt, brown pants and green and red shoes. He had a coat with only the top button buttoned and his arms out of the sleeves. He was performing some card tricks. "That's Show Time."
"Let me go talk to him." Eclipse walked towards the crowd as they dispersed. "Those were some pretty good tricks there."
"Well thanks stranger. I'm guessing your new here?"
"I'm from out of town and wanted to check out the school."
"Well Canterlot is a fantastic school. Although there is one problem..." Show looked over at Sunset. "What is Trixie doing with her?"
"Uh well, that's the thing... I need to talk to you Show."
"Wait, I never told you my name."
"Listen, I'll explain everything. I just need you to come with me."
"Yeah I'll do that. When pigs fly." Show walked over to the two girls. "Why are you with her Trixie?"
"Didn't Eclipse tell you?"
"Like I would listen to someone that follows this she-demon."
Eclipse walked up behind him. "What was that?"
Show swallowed his words. "Nothing."
"No come on say it. What did you just call Sunset?"
"Oh nothing."
"Like I would believe that." Eclipse grabbed Show's shoulder, but Show had a red and green aura around him. His eyes glowed for a second, and he shook his head. "What just happened?" He looked at the others. "Why are you here Sunset? Don't tell me there is another magical incident, I just had my car fixed." He looked to Eclipse. "Whose the new guy?"
"Uh, Eclipse, what happened?" asked Sunset.
"I don't know. Maybe my magic cancelled the Memory Stone's control."
"Wait, I do remember someone holding a stone in front of me about a day ago, but I didn't see their face."
Sunset turned to Eclipse. "Maybe you could save the girls?"
"We can try."
Eclipse was told by Sunset that the Rainbooms should be in one of the band rooms. He walked around until he heard music coming from one of the rooms. He knocked on the door and the music stopped. The door opened and was greeted by the Rainbooms. "Hi, I'm new here and-" He was immediately pulled inside.
"So what did Sunset tell you?" asked Rainbow.
"What do you mean?"
"We saw you with her," said Rarity.
"You mean Sunset?"
"Don't say her name!" Pinkie popped up behind him.
"Oh come one. I've known her for a day, and she was very nice. It's not like she would do anything evil." The girls looked at him. "What did I say?"
Show, Trixie, and Sunset were listening I'm from outside. "Hear anything?" asked Show.
Eclipse went flying through the door. He landed on the other side of the hall. "Well that didn't work."
"You weren't able to save any of them?" asked Trixie.
"Considering that I was thrown out of the room, no." He pulled himself up. "I guess we're going to have to do this the hard way."
"Time for some investigation," said Show.
One investigation montage later...
"Well that did nothing." Show crossed off the last of the student's photos. "We've been through everyone." He threw down the papers.
"How could this be?" Sunset looked through the photos again.
"We could have missed someone," said Eclipse.
"Not possible. I crossed referenced everyone in the past yearbooks with our list now."
"Wait!" Sunset pointed to an empty square. "We did miss someone." Sunset squinted at the name. "Wallflower Blush."
"Who's that?" asked Trixie.
"Um, me." The group turned to the "new" person in the room.
"Sorry, we didn't hear you come in," said Trixie.
"I've been here the whole time," pointed out Wallflower.
Eclipse looked between the missing photo and Wallflower. "I guess you missed picture day?"
"No, they just forgot my picture."
"Oh." Eclipse gave an awkward smile. Then something clicked. "Did you happen to find an odd looking stone?" He pulled out the picture. "It may look like this?"
Wallflower tensed up. "No."
Sunset walked over and grabbed her hand. Sunset's eyes glowed and then she broke away. "Your the one that stole my friends' memories."
Wallflower pulled away. "So what if I did? You always seem to get whatever you want and act so kind. The others thought you changed, but I saw the truth. I just needed to show them." Wallflower's anger turned to Trixie. "And your no different. You think your big stuff and needed an attitude adjustment. Just because Show ended up liking you, you got something you didn't even deserve." Wallflower reached into her bag. "Maybe it's time I take care of that." She grabbed the stone and pointed it towards Show and Eclipse. A sudden wind began to go through the room as the stone charged up power. Show had a red and green aura around him, and Eclipse had a white and black one. The two auras surrounded the stone and cancelled its power. "How?!?"
"Some of my magic must have spread to Show and it protected both of us." Eclipse went to grab the stone. "Its over Wallflower." Before he could grab the stone, Wallflower ran past him and locked the door. "Really." He got ready to kick the door open.
"We will have to pay for the damaged door," said Sunset.
"I'll pay for it." Eclipse kicked the door and it flew open, without a scratch. "That worked better then expected." The group ran outside.
Wallflower was almost to the forest when they caught up with her. "Wallflower, stop!" Sunset cried out.
Wallflower stopped in her tracks and turned. "There's no use in trying to save your past. Everyone sees you for who you truly are."
"Its not about that. I'm sorry for always pushing you away. I know I'm not the only one, but I know the feeling of being alone."
"You know nothing about being alone. You've always gotten everything handed to you." She turned to the other girls. "And maybe I should erase you completely."
The stone started to charge up with energy. This time a dark energy seemed to consume it. "And I'll get rid of your love interest too." It sounded like two people were talking almost in sync.
"What's going on?" asked Show.
"I've only seen this dark power once before. During a dark time in my life." Eclipse clenched his fists. But before he could do anything the stone shot out a blast of energy.
"Nnnnooooo!!!" Sunset jumped in front of the blast. Her memories began coming out of her head in what looked like film. Each was a different color that matched the girls. "Pinkie! Fluttershy! Applejack! Rainbow Dash! Rarity! Twilight!" The last memory was yellow and blue, and it was much longer then any other. "No, not Eclipse." Tears began streaming down her face.
"No, stop. I didn't want to hurt anyone!" Wallflower screamed.
"Enough out of you," said the voice. "They must feel the pain you felt."
The memories disappeared into the stone. Sunset pushed herself up. "What? Where am I? Princess Celestial, where are you? Somepony help."
The girls surrounded Sunset. Fluttershy and Twilight were trying to consul her while the others were ready for a fight.
"Enough!!!" The area suddenly stopped in time. Two magical trails came from Eclipse's eyes. Everyone looked at him. He stalked towards Wallflower with blanks eyes. "You should know not to mess with Equestrian artifacts." He grabbed the stone from her hands and crushed it. A black mist was forced out of it. "You never know if there's a hitchhiker." The mist began to condense into a solid form. "Everyone move NOW!!!" The others ran into the building.
Eclipse stood across from the dark essence. "Why are you here?"
"I have come for this world's power. The Egyptian Gods."
"Your insane. The God cards were lost to history."
"Not in this world. And once I have all the cards, I will decimate this world and Equestria. No life left!"
"Not on my watch." Eclipse brought out his duel disk and activated it.
"Why do you duelist your always resort to this style of battle when facing someone like me? Oh well." Five stone tablets came up from the earth. "I'll enjoy taking your soul."
"Lets duel!"
The field was shrouded in darkness as the two stood across from each other. Eclipse had his duel disk ready to go, and the Shadow Man had five stone slabs in front of him. “This is where I finally end you.”
“Your the only one not getting out of this alive.” Eclipse gave a deathly glare towards his opponent.
“Enough chatter, on to the main event.” One of the slabs sank back into the ground. “ I activate the spell card, Forbidden Memories.” The slab returned and faced eclipse. On it was a picture of a worry writhing in pain and clutching his head. “This card lets me summon out a Foreboding Token to the field.” A black flame appeared on the field. “And don't bother attacking it, you'll only get burned. I end my turn with that.”
“My go.” Eclipse drew his card. ‘So I can't attack that thing. I'll just have to get around it.’ Eclipse drew in a sharp breath. “Now I set the pendulum scale with Scale 10 Solar Scope and Scale 2 Lunar Map.” Eclipse placed the cards on each side of the blade. Two columns of light exploded from the ground. The first column had a bronze telescope, with golden rings surrounding it. The second had a blu scroll with sketches of the moon. “Now I-” Eclipse felt a sharp pain run through his chest as he fell to the ground on one knee. “What’s… happening?”
“Your starting to remember the truth.” Shadow man waved his hand in front of his face. “The truth of your birth from that night.”
“Shut-up.” Eclipse got to his feet.
“The more you resist, the more pain-”
“I use my two monsters to Pendulum Summon Solar Knight.”
A portal appeared behind Eclipse. A yellow light shot through the portal and a figure appeared. A figure in yellow armor with blazing wings and a silver blade appeared on the field. “Now thanks to his affect, your Foreboding Token is changed to a light attribute monster.
The black flame gained a yellow hue around it, but then it burnt out. “Thanks to Forbidden Memories my token is not affected by effects of light attribute monsters.”
“Darn it. I set two cards face down and end my turn.” Two cards appeared in front of Eclipse.
“Then it's my turn. Come to me Dark Monsters.” Another tablet shot up from the ground. “ i sacrifice my token to summon out my Copy Gem.” A purplish goo began to swarm at his feet. It soon formed into a distorted creature, with stretch out eyes, and no mouth. “Now my copy gem can take on any form of any monster I discard.” Three of the tablets turned around.
“No it can't be.”
“Something wrong? I mean you were a demigod, so seeing these shouldn't scare you.”
The three tablets were copies of Obelisk, Slifer, and Ra. “How do you have these? Where did you even get these stone tablets?”
“You wouldn't believe what a stone carver would do to stay alive. But there is one thing missing, three souls with the powers of the god cards.” A wicked grin spread across his face. “Thats until you came along.”
Another sharp pain hit eclipse. “Ah. How are you doing this?”
“Whatever do you mean? Your only feeling the pain of that night. The night your world changed!”
The entire field was cleared as a purple mist shrouded the two.
Shadow man’s voice was now in Eclipse’s head. “You were blind to the truth for so long. Don't you want to know the origins of your powers.”
Eclipse grabbed his head. “Get out!”
“You still blind yourself. That’s why I’m here, to open your eyes.” The area around them changed. A young colt was seen running through the Everfree Forest, watching the battle between two distant figures. “You wanted to help your mother. Save her from the darkness that consumed her. Or that's what you told yourself.”
A bright light pierced the heavens. “That was the winning blow, or so she said.” The colt sat down and cried to himself.
The scene changed to inside a castle. The colt was crying into Celestia's leg. “And this is where you gained your true power, and had your memory wiped.”
‘Memory... wiped?’
Celestia had her horn lit and set it upon the his head. A bright light cut the scene away. “Then it was just loss after loss.”
“Shut up, shut up, shut up!”
“Your love ran away, and then your closest friend moved as well. The darkness within you was starting to grow.”
“Twilight? Sunset? No I didn't lose them.” Eclipse clutched his chest again. “What is this?”
“Your starting to feel the power within well up. Your true self.”
The scene turned to another battle in the castle. “And here’s where you gave up all your potential.” Eclipse was stuck in a loop of pain at the different sights.
‘I will not listen.’ “I activate the spell card Divine Hope.” The area returned to the normal field.
“You still deny-”
“Shut your goddamn mouth.” A card flipped up on Eclipse’s side of the field. “This trap allows me to summon out a Divine Light monster if my opponent special summon a monster.” He looked through his deck. “Now I summon out Divine Light King.” The field was now brought into the light. A huge spotlight beamed down in front of Eclipse. A figure descended from the sky. It was a giant with a flowing cape of sunlight, armor made from pure gold, a fiery phoenix feather was adorned on his silver blade, and his eyes were blazing suns through the slits of his helmet.
“What is this light energy?”
“It's the true power that I have within me.”
“No matter, its still my turn. I discard Slifer the Sky Dragon to use Copy Gem’s effect.” The Slifer tablet crumbled to dust, and flew towards Copy Gem. The two joined and it started growing in size. The goo started to take the shape of Slifer, but then it stopped. “It's still not perfect.” The Gem had turned into a prule tinted Slifer. “At least it will serve its purpose. Attack, destroy his Solar Knight.” The Slifer copy charged up a blast. The ball of energy was sparking and on the brink of exploding. The copy then let the attack loss.
Solar Knight was wiped out within seconds. Eclipse was sent flying back and hit the school wall. There were gasps from his friends. “I won't go down that easily.”
Eclipse: 5000
Shadow Man: 8000
“The pains just started. I activate Direct Assault so Slifer can attack you again.” Another blast was already charged, and sent flying. It enveloped Eclipse and destroyed the wall behind him. Rubble kept him from moving.
Eclipse: 1000
Shadow Man: 8000
“I end my turn. And if you don't make a move soon, you'll lose!”
“Eclipse!” His friends were rushing over, but another blast kept them at bay.
“No interruptions! This is where he will prove himself.” Shadow man started walking towards Eclipse. “Your at your lowest now. No magic, no power. What are you to do?”
Eclipse started to laugh. “That’s what… you think?”
“What?”
“My power is still with me.” Eclipse’s deck started to glow, and a card was pulled from it. “When you hit me with that damage” ‘cough’ “you activated one of my monster’s effects.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m talking about my own monster. Divine Judgment Loki.” The light around the area began to shift. The shadows seemed to dance along the wall. The shadows and light started to form into one being. This being wore a white jester’s outfit with black diamond pattern, a hat with three tassels, one white, one black, and the third a combination. Its eyes were a white and black diamond, and its face was split between sadness and happiness. It brought up its flat fingers and gestured towards Shadow Man.
It spoke with two voices, one monotone and the other hyper. “We are Loki, god of tricks and were once judge by the Great Odin. Now we have been trusted to judge all evil souls.”
The rubble disappeared off of Eclipse and the wall was repaired. Eclipse stood right next to Shadow Man. “It’s judgement time for you.”
Shadow Man backed away. “What is this power?!”
“It's the power that I weild. Now on to the main event. By sending one light and one dark attribute monster to the graveyard, Loki’s attack increases by their attack.”
Loki:12000
“No, it can't be!”
“Loki attack, Hand of Judgment!” Loki brought up his hand and held an energy ball. He brought it down on top of the Slifer Copy. Thye copy started to break apart and fall to the ground.
“No!” Shadow Man began rushing towards Eclipse. “I'll end you myself!”
Loki swatted him away. “The only thing that will end is you!”
The copy collapsed and enveloped the entire area in light. Shadow Man took the full force of the shockwave. His body turned to mist as he gripped the ground, trying to stay together. “This is not our last battle Eclipse. We will meet again.” The last wisp disappeared into the light.
Eclipse collapse to his knees as the field returned to normal. The stone was shattered and the lost memories were returning to his friends. “And that's, that.” He pushed himself up, and wobbly stood.
Sunset ran over and wrapped Eclipse in a hug. She had tears streaming down her face. “Im so happy your’re safe.”
“Me too.” Eclipse smiled, but looked over to see a defeated Wallflower. He wrapped an arm around her and walked her over.
Wallflower picked up a piece. “When i first found this I used it to get rid of small memories. But then it started to consume me. When I saw how everybody saw Sunset, I used it to change there thoughts to how I saw her."
Sunset walked up behind her. "We've all made mistakes like that. I mean just look at me."
Eclipse smiled a bit more. "And all you need are some good friends to help you along the way."
Wallflower turned around and smiled at the group. Sunset and she hugged it out.
Eclipse looked off towards the statue. "Now it's time for me to get some answers."
