I Am (No) God: Month 0

Chapters

He Goes For A Walk (Edited)
Hello, My Name Is... (Edited)
Pony of All Trades (Edited)
Apple Business (Edited)
Building A Home, & Maintaining One (Edited)

He Goes For A Walk (Edited)

Equestria; Ponyville, Town Square; 8:15am

It was a warm sunny morning, it being the third month of summer the weather wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise was the number of ponies up so early to see the sun… though if you had a goddess for the last thousand years, you start to “appreciate” her sun. Who’s her, why the nation’s leader, Princess Celestia.

Ponies were up, awake, and happy as they trotted throughout town, whether they had a reason or not. Amongst them was a stand with freshly baked apple-based goods; these goods ranged from freshly grown apples, apple fritters, apple pies, apple cakes and other delicious vegetables for the herbivore race.

The mare selling said goods by the stand wore a stetson on her blond mane, taking a deep breath of the summer air. Nothing like waking up early and breathing in this cool morning air.

It was at that same time, that a pink blob began to bounce toward the apple-mare. The blob was one of Ponyville’s most notable ponies, Pinkie Pie, best party planner in all of Equestria.

“Oh hey yeh Pinkie! Want any of my family’s famous apple pies?” asked Applejack.

“Ohhh that be wonderful! Though I actually came here to ask you about this year’s upcoming Summer Sun Celebration,” said Pinkie. “I heard they might pick Ponyville this year… I wonder who’ll they’ll send to check on the preparations?”

“Well whoever they are, we’ll give em a warm welcome.”

Pinkie nodded her head in agreement until a random thought came to her. “Speaking of new ponies… we haven’t had anypony new for awhile… I feel like today we might buuut……”

“But what?” asked Applejack.

“...Oh its nothing, say have you seen Rainbow?”

At that very moment a faint but audible yell could be heard. “Look ouuuuuut! Gaaaaannng waaaaaaayyyyyyy!”

Before anypony could find out where the source of the noise was coming from, a large blast of dust appeared right near the apple stand. Pinkie and Applejack approached to find Rainbow, her eyes were spinning and had stars instead of her pupils. Following behind her was Fluttershy, without any hesitation she came to her friend’s aide.

“Rainbow, are you alright, that fall looked terrible? If you’re fine with me asking,” said Fluttershy, being her usual shy self.

Rainbow shook some of the dust off and her headache before grinning back at her close friend.

“Yeah I’m fine Shy, I just thought I try this new trick… guess it was more tricky than I thought. Heh hehe.”

“Rainbow, you should be more careful next time. You’re lucky you didn’t crash into anypony.”

Rainbow looked at Applejack who began driving her muzzle against hers in a challenging way. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah…”

The two mares continued to lock eyes before laughing it off. They gave each a good hoofbump, as the four friends laugh in their own way.

“Ahhh, nothing like another day in Ponyville!” said Pinkie, happily. I doubt this town will change anytime soon.

Near Ponyville – Everfree Forest; 8:20am

Somewhere within the reaches of the Everfree, the forest while known to hold dangerous creatures was rather calm today. No surprise as this part of the Everfree was near the edge of its reach.

Stepping out from the very dense trees, branches, and foliage, was a dark figure… until it stood in the light.

The figure was a pony, an earth pony. There was nothing remarkable about said pony… which was odd; it’s coat was black or a really dark purple, the mane and tail weren’t any different as they too were a mix of dark blue, black and a slightly dull silver, everything about this pony was so… bland.

There was two other noticeable things that made it look like any normal pony, it’s overly large eyes and cutie mark… yet still.

The eyes were cold… lifeless, the color was strange as it changed. At first it was a simple oak-like brown then to silver until going to a foreboding purple that seemed to… move or rather looking similar to purple but was another color… violet possibly.

This all ended with one final color being chosen, a simple emerald green. The cutie mark was the last thing that seemed to pop out; it showed the sun and moon were mixed together with the sun in the back and the moon covering the middle portion of the sun’s center. The sun however wasn’t orange or yellow but a dark blue and black and the moon a bright gray with there being five holes, all nearly white. Behind the strange sun was a symbol, it was two stars with one upside down, the two stars made one star with ten points, each point colored differently.

The meaning behind the cutie mark was so vague… it was hard to tell if it had a meaning behind it. In either case the owner of the cutie mark didn’t seemed to care. His focus right now was on his surroundings.

He took a whiff of the air before doing something odd, by placing his hoof outward toward what’s in front of him. He closed his eye, with a constricted look on his face.

The air around him stirred causing the grass to ripple around him like water. Reopening his eyes, he stepped out of the foliage; he spotted a dirt path that went left and right, the path to the left led to a distant cottage, while the right led to a town with a clock tower ahead. Looking both ways, the stallion chose the dirt path going right as his destination.

“When there’s a path, there is always civilization,” said the strange stallion to himself.

The stallion followed the dirt path, for the last couple of minutes – ten or fifteen – he came to a bridge that led to a park. Trotting through the reasonably sized park, he spotted an intriguing site; to his left, across the river was a cylindrical-like building.

“Interesting, looks a lot like a carousel ride… I suppose a building like that will be my first stop here. I should ask the owner if this town have a town hall or a similar building.”

After walking around the river, the stallion found another bridge which would lead to the carousel-esque building, crossing the bridge to reach the building. Once approaching the door, he stepped inside, pushing it with one hoof; entering inside caused a bell to ring to notify the owner of anyone entering, when a feminine voice spoke out from somewhere.

“Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything is chic, unique, and magnifique! How can I help you?”

A marble white mare with a horn and purple mane and tail, stepped out of a room at the far side of the building, opposite of the entrance. The mare had her eyes closed so when she opened them, she expected to see a familiar face… but instead she was met with somepony new.

Oh my, somepony new! I wonder if Pinkie has met them yet? Well no time to dawdle he must be here for a reason.

“Hello, I don’t believe we met; I am Rarity, owner of Carousel Boutique and all its wares. Was there something here that intrigued you?” asked Rarity.

The stallion simply gazed around his surroundings, then looking at Rarity with a straight, almost bored look. When Rarity took a better look at the stallion… everything about him looked bland… but his eyes, staring at his emerald eyes was… was…

Those eyes are… MARVELOUS! I’m simply being inspired by them, I could gaze at them forever!

Rarity stared at his eyes with such a look… you would think she fell in love. Sad to say that when an audible cough was heard, Rarity realized she was staring at a customer, which was both unlady-like and rude.

“OH MY! I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to stare; how can I help you, sir?” asked Rarity.

The stallion continued to stare at Rarity which caused her to sweat a bit from the look he gave her, she couldn’t tell if he was glaring or that how he naturally looked around. “I’m somewhat new here… I was wondering if this place had a town hall or something similar to that extent. I’m wishing to buy a home here somewhere if possible; I’m somewhat of a traveler and decided to make some roots here,” said the stallion.

After hearing the stallion’s reasons for coming to her store, Rarity became both intrigued and interested toward this stallion now. So he wants to live here… I should probably mention to him to be wary of Pinkie, but I don’t want to get on her bad side if I told him to expect her.

“Oh is that so? There is a town hall here, it’s just down the road outside my store, simply follow the main roads until you see another cylindrical building with windows encircling it, that would be the town hall building.”

The stallion bowed in thanks as he headed to the exit. “Thank you Miss Rarity, I am truly grateful for your assistance, now I must make my leave.” Before the stallion left, Rarity stops him as she rushes to his side.

“Hold on darling, you haven’t mentioned your name to me. I think it’s customary to introduce to somepony you haven’t met before… don’t you agree? And I believe a gentle-stallion such as yourself wouldn’t simply leave without introducing themselves to a lady, such as myself.” Rarity wiggled her eyelashes at the stallion.

The stallion turned his gaze toward her as he lazily gazed back at her… but she could see some bit of annoyance within those eyes. Though internally the stallion would agree with her, sighing in surrender to her logic.

“I see no reason not to give you my name,” said the stallion, fully facing Rarity now. “My name is Eclipse Light, it’s a pleasure meeting you.” With a short bow, the stallion known as Eclipse Light returns to exiting the shop. “I hope you and I can properly get to know each other in the future, sad to say I must meet the mayor of this town if I wish to become a citizen here.”

“Of course, maybe I can make you one of my creations and give it to you. Simply come by when you’re settled here, Sir Eclipse,” said Rarity.

“Eclipse will do, Miss Rarity,” said Eclipse.

“Well then you may call me Rarity, or Lady Rarity perhaps.”

“I am fine with that, have a good day… Lady Rarity.” With that, Eclipse exited the shop and made his way to town hall, following the directions given to him. Back inside Rarity smiled, hoping to properly know the newest resident in Ponyville… and what kind of a stallion he is.

Sometime after trotting through Ponyville, Eclipse finally arrived within his destination, Ponyville’s Town Hall; the area was bustling with ponies, stands were set up as sellers bartered to sell their wares. A fountain was placed in an open space with ponies doing various things, whether it was conversing with one another, buying wares, or simply relaxing under the sun’s light.

Eclipse stared at the building he was told to find, it was exactly how Rarity described it to be, a cylindrical building, with numerous windows covering the structure. It had pink window frames, a brown, cone-shaped roof and wooden columns supporting three floors. Stairs were placed around it to a platform that led to the only entrance that was seen on the building itself.

“So… the town hall of… I believe she called this town Ponyville,” said Eclipse, mumbling to himself.

Moving onward, Eclipse passed by various ponies of shape, size, and color before nearing the two doors that led inside the town hall’s interior. The building itself was built wonderfully, the inside however was a whole other level; inside there was several balconies above various levels in the building, a small stage with a red carpet going to it, and two entryways covered by some curtains.

Standing in the middle of the room, speaking to some ponies was a mare that wore glasses and a white collar; she had a gray mane and tail, her fur was a tan color and eyes were blue. After speaking with the ponies who left the building, the pony sighed before focusing her attention at Eclipse.

“Oh, hello there… I don’t believe we met each other and that says a lot considering I’m the mayor of Ponyville. If I had to assume I haven’t been introduced to you, you must be new here; what brings you to our town?” asked Mayor Mare. “And I almost forgot, my name is Mayor Mare, Ponyville’s current mayor.”

“It is nice meeting you Miss Mare. I am Eclipse Light; I was wondering if it’s possible for me to move here in Ponyville, I am thinking of making a home here,” said Eclipse.

“Is that so? Well let’s continue this conversation in my office, Mr. Eclipse.”

“Please, Eclipse is fine with me.”

“Of course, this way please,” said Mayor Mare, guiding Eclipse. The two ponies – led by Mayor Mare – followed a set of stairs, then hallways until they entered a sizable office room. The room had a window big enough to see the town’s square and a desk with a swivel chair that was made of wood and had green pillows as the seat and back of the chair. Once sitting down, Mayor Mare pulled out a pile of papers, some ink, and a feather, setting them down before clopping her hooves together with a smile.

“Now then, let’s begin your new residency in Ponyville; if it is fine with you, may I ask any questions about why you decided to live here, what was your previous location of residency and similar questions. Take a seat once you think you are ready.”

Eclipse sat down and pulled the seat forward as he relaxed onto the seat’s cushion. Mayor Mare pulled out a sheet of paper that had several questions on them with boxes to the side of them with empty lines below the questions too.

“Okay, let’s start the first question, ‘Why did you decided to choose Ponyville as your new residence?’”

“I thought it was time to settle down and relax from my busy life; Ponyville was the closest place that fit with my standards, it being pretty central within Equestria. It having a pretty standard weather, all the necessities I need, and a new start.”

Mayor Mare nodded, doing some quick checks on the sheet then moving on. “Second question, ‘What was your original location of residency?’”

“I… had none...”

“You didn’t live anywhere? So your were homeless?”

“Not exactly, I was a traveler and explorer of sorts. It would explain my pretty interesting and busy life.”

“Really? What kind of things did you do?”

“I’d… rather not say, but I have been to a lot of places outside of Equestria… I’m actually not from here,” said Eclipse, receiving a shocked reaction from Mayor Mare.

“Really! Now I know some ponies are born outside of Equestria for different reasons… but I never thought you weren’t from here… it does explain why you choose Ponyville though. Since Ponyville is very central in Equestria and is a very friendly place, I believe this would be the perfect place to have a new beginning. Now I’d love to ask about your travels, but we must continue. This also answers some other questions already; I have to assume you currently don’t have a paying job, yes?”

Eclipse nodded in confirmation to her question. “Yes… I do have a range of skills, I was actually hoping to open a business here.”

“Is that so, well we can also prepare a permit for you to open a shop and-”

“I’m not looking to open a shop… but more of a trade.”

“A trade? You mean like the stall owners?”

“Kind of… due to my travels, I’ve gathered some exotic materials and wish to sell said items… once I make a proper home here of course.”

Mayor Mare nodded as well, putting the selling permit away. “Of course of course… Now let’s continue with one more question and I’ll need you to fill in these papers and sign them. ‘What kind of a home are you looking for here?’”

At first, Eclipse was silent as he contemplated to what home he wanted… but an idea came to him, as he answered the question with his own.

“Excuse me, Mayor Mare, by any chance… do you have any land for sale?”

Mayor Mare perked her ears up and tilted her head in confusion at the strange request. “Ummmm… well I need to see the recent sales for the land being sold, but yes I believe we might… Why is that?”

“Well, I mentioned wanting to sell some exotic materials from my travels, correct. This relates to that you see… I was wondering if there was any land open… particularly land that has arable land and a source of water nearby?”

This finally peaked her interest as a thought arose Mayor Mare’s psyche. What sort of goods is this stallion going to sell that involves those two particular needs?

After sometime of writing down signatures, talking of any land to be sold, and nearby sources of water, Eclipse was officially a resident and citizen of Equestria. Mayor Mare stacked the papers that had Eclipse’s information, putting them away into a drawer to be organized away for a later time.

“Now then, I’ll show you your new home and we can discuss about selling your wares on another date. Please follow me,” said Mayor Mare.

The two made their way outside when suddenly, as they stepped outside a pink blur zoomed toward them, stopping just seconds in front of them. The blur was revealed to be Pinkie Pie who spotted Eclipse with Mayor Mare earlier.

“A NEW PONY! HELLO MY NAME IS PINKIE PIE!” shouted Pinkie, ecstatic.

Mayor Mare knew this was coming and turned to Eclipse to see the stallion’s reaction, but surprisingly, the stallion stared back indifferently, having a lack of response to Pinkie’s sudden appearance. What was more shocking was that he seemed to be calm about the whole situation… that was until he gave an annoyed grunt.

“Mayor Mare, who exactly is this pony?” asked Eclipse.

“Well, this is our local party planner, she also works in Sugarcube Corner, our local bakery, Pinkie Pie. She’s usually this hyper and plans parties for every occasion, especially for newcomers to our town.”

“Yep! Are you planning on staying here for long in Ponyville, because I want to plan your ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party!”

“Actually Pinkie, Eclipse here is planning to live here, I was just about to lead him to his new home.”

“Really!? CAN I SEE WHERE HE LIVES?!”

Mayor Mare gave a weak laugh as she began to sweat before coughing into her hoof. “Well Pinkie… I think it is best I show Eclipse around our town of ours… So how about you don’t do anything that’ll make him too uncomfortable, okay?”

Pinkie stopped to think before nodding in agreement to the idea. “Sure, but you promise I can make a party for him, right?”

“Of course, now excuse us Pinkie put we must be on our way.”

“Okie-dokey! Have a good day Ms Mayor Mare! Oh, and you too… uhhhh...”

“Eclipse, Eclipse Light.”

“Eclipse! I hope we become good friends!” shouted Pinkie, bouncing off. As the bubbly mare left the two ponies alone, Mayor Mare relaxed as she turned her gaze toward Eclipse.

“I’m sorry about her… she can be a tad… ‘over-bearing’ to put it simply,” said Mayor Mare, wiping sweat from her brow.

“It’s no harm, I have met my share of interesting individuals in my travels. Now, shall we head to where my place of residence shall be?”

Mayor Mare nodded with agreement, leading Eclipse to where he would live for his coming stay in Ponyville.

After guiding Eclipse to their destination, which was some distance from the town hall and was back through the same path he went through before he came to Ponyville, they took a detour from their path to trot past some trees until they spotted a sizable lake and a large open space of land.

Eclipse stared upon his surroundings, the area itself was perfect, a good source of water, an open area perfect for farming and there was some trees to set up a hammock or to take a nap under them… however…

“Mayor Mare… I don’t see a building?” asked Eclipse, curious to the lack of a building.

“Well… you see, this land is for sale because its the perfect area for future construction projects… This with the fact it is near a small lake… well… the land here is very costly. You mentioned earlier that you traveled so I have to assume you have some bits to buy the land. Sad to say that you need to build your own home; I’m sorry I didn’t tell you in advance and I’d gladly lower the price if you li-”

“Its fine, I was actually planning to build my home from scratch.” Eclipse’s blunt response to Mayor Mare’s explanation was so sudden, she had to shake her head a bit to understand what he just said.

“Wait… you… are okay with this… even though you may have difficulty with a number of things?”

“I’ve been through worse… So, what is the price of the land here exactly?” asked Eclipse, examining a tree near the lake.

Mayor Mare shook away her stupor, putting her focus on Eclipse Light. “The price of the area, plus the lake, trees, and materials you need to make your home, combined with other expenses as well will be...” said Mayor Mare, pulling out an abacus. “…Ranging from one-thousand-five-hundred to two-thousand bits, combined with the transportation of your goods… a total of three-thousand-one-hundred-and-five bits.”

This is enough to buy at least a twelfth of the Apple family’s farmland!

Mayor Mare looked up to see a stock-still Eclipse; she knew that the cost was high but for it to be this much… was it possible for this stallion to buy this land. While this pony sounded like a promising resident to Ponyville, it was doubtful he could pay this price… could he?

“You may want to change that number soon, because I’m only going to pay for specific number of things that you listed,” said Eclipse, still staring at his surroundings.

“Ummm… What do you mean?”

“The transportation of my goods and materials to build my home aren’t needed; my goods are close by and I can get them myself, I also brought my own materials and already planned what I want to build. The only thing I do need however is something else though...”

Eclipse finally turned to face Mayor Mare and trotted up to her before handing her something. Mayor Mare looked at what was given to her, a list of some kind and after reading what was on it, she looked back up at Eclipse with a confused and curious look.

“Why would you need these items, exactly?”

“...I’m planning on making something that I wish to sell in the future, so if its possible, could you tell me where I may buy or make a possible deal with those who sell these items?”

Mayor Mare thought it over and nodded, placing the list away for the future; after that the two discussed about the issue of the land and how Eclipse would pay it.

“Since you’ll handle transportation and construction, the price has been lower to two-thousand-two-hundred bits. Will you pay in bits or cheque?” asked Mayor Mare, pulling out a sheet with important writing on it.

“...Bits… I’ll give you the rest once I manage to bring my belongings and wares here.”

“That is fine, I’ll give you the land ownership papers after payment. Simply come to my office when you can, but if you’re wondering for a due time, I’d saaaay… two or three days, until the land is back to being open for purchase. Is there anything else you wish to know?”

Eclipse Light nodded, and continued to speak with Mayor Mare as the two spoke about various things about the town, any important ponies, trade in Ponyville, Equestria, and other things that relate to living in Ponyville for the next couple or so minutes… it was going to be a long day.

Around the same time that Eclipse had left with Mayor Mare, Pinkie quickly went off to plan her welcome party for Eclipse. On her way back to Sugarcube Corner she spotted Applejack who was speaking with Rainbow, while Fluttershy wasn’t with her – possibly back at her cottage – the two were at AJ’s apple stand. The two mares were in some sort of debate involving who would win in hoof-wrestling.

“Hey girls, you won’t believe who I saw!” shouted Pinkie, to get their attention.

The two mares looked at their bouncy friend with a confused look before looking back at each other with a challenging stare. “Well whoever it is, I doubt they’re anypony important,” said Rainbow, before changing her expression. “Unless they were the Wonderbolts.”

“No, its not them, but when I went to see Mayor Mare about upcoming parties, she was talking to,” said Pinkie, pulling out a drum. She began doing a quick drum-roll before tossing the drum into some bushes. “A NEW PONY!”

This got their attention now as they focused on Pinkie. “Wait, there’s a new pony in town? Well who’s this pony and where are they, I’d like to meet them myself,” said Applejack, smiling to meet somepony new.

“Well he was heading with Mayor Mare down the path to Fluttershy’s. Don’t know why they’d go there, Fluttershy’s the only pony living there, besides the clock tower being there.”

“Well let’s go!” Rainbow was about to zoom off but was stopped by Applejack grabbing her by the tail with her mouth. Once stopping the speedy mare, Dash stared down at her with an annoyed grunt. “HEY! What was that for!?”

“Now now Dash, this is a new pony so I think we shouldn’t… ‘overwhelm’ him just yet, also, I still gotta sell my apples here. We can introduce ourselves at his welcome party… speaking of party,” said Applejack, facing Pinkie now. “Where are you going to prepare this stallion’s party anyway?”

Pinkie rubbed her chin in thought before a random ding noise outta nowhere was heard, just when Pinkie had a thought arise. “I think I can ask the Cakes if I can use the store later in the afternoon, I’d have enough time to send out some invites and prepare a cake. You two are of course invited, as well as everypony else! Now I need to figure out what kind of cake he likes...”

Pinkie started to plan the party when another mare came to them; the mare was Rarity of all ponies, she was wearing a sunhat and a frilly white dress too who came up to the three.

“Hello girls, I heard Pinkie talking and came here to see what all the commotion was about?”

“Haven’t you heard, there’s a new pony in town,” said Rainbow, hovering above her.

“Oh you mean Eclipse? He was such a wonderful stallion, though not the talkative kind, though staring at him more than a second would probably make an awkward first impression.” At the mention of her staring at the stallion and her being the first pony he met in town, all her friends had various reactions.

“Wait you were caught staring at him! HAHAHAHAHAAH!” Rainbow began to roll on the ground, amused by Rarity’s reaction toward first meeting the new pony.

Rarity blushed before shaking it away and glaring at Rainbow with daggers in her eyes. “RAINBOW! That is no way to laugh at somepony… besides… he had magnificent eyes.”

“What was he like?” asked Applejack, ignoring Rainbow’s laughter.

“Oh he was just interesting, besides the fact his mane and coat were a bit boorish, he had this mystique atmosphere about him. While a tad distant at first, he was quite the gentle-stallion when the situation calls for it… OH AND HIS CUTIE MARK WAS SIMPLY MARVELOUS!”

“What about his cutie mark? What was so ‘marvelous’ about it?”

Rarity couldn’t or rather had difficulty finding the words to describe his cutie mark… it was such a dilemma that Rarity simply shrugged. “I don’t know really, that was how marvelous it was.”

Applejack sighed then turned to Pinkie. “So Pinkie, what exactly did this stallion look to you, and what’s his full name if you heard it?” asked Applejack.

Pinkie scratched her head in memory before raising her hoof and speaking out her first time meeting Eclipse. “His name was Eclipse Light!”

“Eclipse Light, huh? That must be one interesting unicorn we got living here now...”

At the mention of Applejack calling Eclipse a unicorn, Rarity and Pinkie looked at one another with confused looks before facing their apple farmer friend.

“Unicorn? Sir Eclipse/Ipsy is an earth pony, Applejack,” said both Rarity and Pinkie, giving Eclipse their own nicknames for him.

This caused a very confused reaction from Applejack that her mouth was gaping open with shock. “He’s an earth pony!? But that name sounds like something you give to a unicorn, heck it just spills out magic about it!”

“That was my same thought too, when Sir Eclipse spoken his name was that, I swore I misheard him… but that is his name.”

“I think it has to do with Eclipse being born outside of Equestria,” said Pinkie, bringing that bit of information out.

“WAIT! THIS ECLIPSE DUDE IS FROM OUTSIDE OF EQUESTRIA!” shouted Rainbow, now getting involved into the conversation.

Before anypony could continue, Big Mac came over before approaching Applejack to tell her that its time to change shifts.

“Okay girls, how about we continue this conversation back at Sugarcube Corner, this new stallion is getting more and more interesting by the second. Thanks for the save Big Mac,” said Applejack, leaving with her friends.

The four mares went off to Sugarcube Corner, talking about Eclipse Light. Big Mac stared at his sister and her friends before shrugging it off, heading to the apple stand to start the afternoon shift.

Back at the empty field, Eclipse finished his talk with Mayor Mare and told her he’d bring his belongings, which were just down the path to his new home. Mayor Mare waved her hoof in farewell to continue her schedule with other things, trotting back to town hall. Once Eclipse was alone, he went back to the place he was before he came to Ponyville; after returning to the spot, he entered back into the trees shrubbery.

Several moments later, a dark ominous light could be seen seeping out from the trees and bushes just as it appeared… it vanished. Coming out was Eclipse who had a sizable wagon strapped to him, with tons of items inside. The wagon was a simple grayish wooden wagon, with his cutie mark on the sides. The back had his name written in a stylized font, Eclipse trotted his wagon to the spot he’d live in the future.

After pulling the wagon with zero problems due to his earth pony strength, Eclipse unstrapped the wagon after parking it under some trees, where he headed to the back of the wagon. Digging into the pile of stuff, he pulled out a toolbox, some pieces of lumber, stone, roofing tiles, and a ladder. Carrying the toolbox to an empty patch of land near the lake’s shore, he placed the box down, opened it, and rummaged through the box.

Sounds of the tools and other metallic objects could be heard, when Eclipse pulled out a hammer with his mouth. Holding the tool with his muzzle, Eclipse glanced at the open space as he imagined where his future home will be built.

“Well then… time to get started,” said Eclipse, marching forward to build.

Author's Note

From a world of nothing, he rules alone; after centuries of emptiness and a battle of grievous wounds. After much strife and much pain... he leaves his throne of void - for "he" goes for a walk.

Thoughts: Applejack
Pinkie Pie
Rarity
Mayor Mare

Hello, My Name Is... (Edited)

Ponyville, Fluttershy’s Cottage; 11:00am

Fluttershy had returned to her cottage to check on her animals; after doing all her home chores, feeding the animals, cleaning around the house and other things, she decided to visit Rarity and have a cup of tea with her.

On her way down the path, instead of flying she trotted her way to Rarity’s due to enjoying the scenic route down the path. She did this both for the scenery and her personal fears, but as she was trotting, a faint noise could be heard. The noise was coming from her right, just beyond some trees; if memory served her correctly, there was a small lake just past those trees… but the noise sounded like a hammer hitting something.

Is somepony making something here? But there’s nothing here to make so… Instead of questioning herself, Fluttershy decided to investigate.

After trotting by the trees, the sound of a hammer was getting more and more audible. It was right after she went through a bush that she saw a pony holding a hammer with their mouth. The pony was hammering some nails into some sort of foundation. The foundation itself was made of giant blocks of wood that were dug into the ground creating a wooden foundation.

The pony, from Fluttershy’s observation was a male earth pony, he didn’t notice her at first but right when he was about to hit another nail into a plank of wood, he stopped.

“I’d rather not be stared at without my knowledge,” said Eclipse, still staring at the plank.

Fluttershy eeped, back-peddling before tripping on a pile of lumber she didn’t see earlier. The poor mare was dazed until she looked up to meet eye-to-eye with the stallion. Usually she panic and shy away, but the stallion’s eyes were so mesmerizing she couldn’t help but stare back… until he spoke.

“Are you alright miss?” asked Eclipse.

“I’m… I’m… Fluttershy,” said Fluttershy, blurting out her name.

The stallion gave a tilt of his head before offering a hoof toward her, Fluttershy accepted the hoof, getting back to all four hooves. “I wasn’t expecting anypony to be coming here, how can I help you miss?”

Fluttershy managed to pull herself together and went back to her usual shy-self; Eclipse simply either ignored her reaction or was too busy to notice her shyness as he went back to hammering on the piece of plank he was working on before.

“I… I heard some noise from here and I was wondering what was happening here… Why are you making something here?” asked Fluttershy.

Eclipse kept on hammering before turning to pick up another nail and aiming it onto the plank, pausing to speak. “I bought this land, I’m the newest resident to Ponyville and plan to live here. I planned on making my own home here… though I did not expect anypony living near here, you could say we’re neighbors.”

“Really? So you spoken to Mayor Mare already?”

“Indeed, earlier this morning in fact, I also met another pony by the name of Pinkie Pie… Quite the excitable one isn’t she.”

“She can be a little overwhelming, she’s like that when meeting new ponies, considering she plans all parties in Ponyville. She’s most likely planning one for you right now.” Wait, why am I so calm, I’d be shying away or running away at best when meeting somepony new… but for some reason… I’m so… calm.

Everypony she’s ever met was always given with a shy first impression, Rainbow and her other friends are the only other ponies who she’s okay being with… though she can be shy on occasion with them too. Being with this stallion was possibly the very first time she has ever been calm… ever.

“Eclipse...”

“Hmmmm?”

“My name, it’s Eclipse Light, you introduced yourself earlier so I thought it be right for me to introduce myself. I have a personal question I’d like to ask you,” said Eclipse, placing the hammer down.

Eclipse turned around to trot over to a basket, rummaging through it for something. He retrieved some rope, a few pegs, and some sort of cloth.

Carrying the items down near two trees that were on a small bump of earth, he turned to face Fluttershy. “Do you know where this party might be held?” asked Eclipse.

A few hours later of conversation, decorating, and cooking, the party for Eclipse Light was ready; Pinkie, Rarity, Rainbow, and Applejack set everything up and spoke about the newest pony in town. Other ponies managed to come to the party like Vinyl Scratch and her friend Octavia, Lyra and Bonbon, Berry Punch, Derpy and Dr. Whooves, and many more ponies. While it was still the middle of the afternoon, Pinkie still had a lot to do… when she remembered something important.

“OH! I forgot to give Fluttershy her invite!”

“Don’t worry about her Pinkie, I’m sure Fluttershy will come here, especially once she hears the noise coming from Ponyville later in the evening,” said Applejack.

“I guess… though I should send an invite to her… Maybe I should get Gummy to do that,” said Pinkie. At that same time, Gummy wandered between her hooves which the pink mare lifted the baby gator up. “There you are Gummy, can you go to Fluttershy’s and bring this letter to her, please?”

Gummy responded by gumming onto Pinkie’s muzzle which the mare giggled and gave Gummy the letter, the baby gator waddling outside to Fluttershy’s cottage.

“There, with that done, we should be almost ready. Rarity, how’re those decorations going?”

“Just about… Done!” Rarity showed the beautiful banners and decorations covering the walls, ceiling and doorway on the room. “Tada! I hope you love it, darlings!”

“Its cool… though I think it needs to be twenty-percent more cooler.”

“Oh pish-posh, I think its just fine. Don’t you agree Applejack?”

“I guess...”

“You guess?”

“Well, I’m ain’t that big on the whole fashion thing Rarity, so I can’t see much the difference.”

“Well I like it!”

“Thank you Pinkie, at least somepony loves my creative genius.”

All the mares and other ponies laughed together before continuing with decorating. Vinyl approached Pinkie, wearing her signature shades, whispering something to her ear.

“OHHHHH! That’s a perfect idea!”

“What’s a perfect idea, Pinkie?” asked Rainbow, joining the conversation.

“Well, Vinyl told me about playing this new song of hers for the party, I’m sure Eclipse will love it!”

Vinyl nodded in agreement, trotting over to her set to prepare the song. Ponies began to mingle a little with each other, awaiting for the new pony in town, when Mayor Mare entered, catching everypony’s attention.

“Mayor Mare, what are you doing here?” asked Applejack.

“Well I had a feeling that Ms Pie was preparing one of her famous parties and I couldn’t miss it for anything. So when will Mr Eclipse be coming here?” asked Mayor Mare.

“We don’t know, but I’d guess he be coming anytime soon… unless he’s the shy type like Fluttershy.”

“Oh I doubt it… though he was busy making his home-”

This gave everypony a shock, except Pinkie who was currently in the kitchen, cooking the food, as a random tumbleweed just had to past by. After the initial shock was over, Rarity was the first to speak up.

“Sir Eclipse… is making his home?”

“Yes… oh… you thought he bought a house?”

“YES!” everypony shouted.

“So you’re saying the newest pony to come to Ponyville… is currently building his house… Dude… that’s kinda cool.”

“Cool my flank! Mayor Mare, why is this pony building his home, shouldn’t he bought a temporary place of residence, better yet, does he even have enough money to buy his own plot of land?!”

“I didn’t even knew there was still available land for sale,” said a random pony.

“Well we apparently do, but back to the main subject, yes, he is currently building his home. I am not sure why he didn’t ask for a temporary residence or assistance for building his home.”

“Wait he didn’t ask for help, too!” shouted Applejack, shocking everpony again. This new piece of information was starting to get more and more worrisome. Applejack wanted to drop everything and help this pony out, pronto.

“Wow! This stallion is more stubborn than you are, AJ.”

“I ain’t that stubborn!”

“I must agree with Rainbow, darling. Eclipse sounds as if he didn’t want help… well does he even have the correct materials to build, I don’t remember him carrying anything with him when I met him.”

“He mentioned having some of his stuff nearby… he should have it with him by now, but I believe it is best we leave him alone. He mentioned being a traveler for a long time and wishes to spend a peaceful life here in Ponyville.”

“Peaceful? Here in Ponyville?” said Rainbow, more of a statement than a question. The rainbow-maned mare guffawed and roared in laughter as she rolled on the ground like a mad pony. It was at that same time that Pinkie came from the kitchen and joined in the laughter.

“I don’t know why we’re laughing!” shouted Pinkie, continuing to laugh.

Applejack, Rarity, and Mayor Mare sighed hoping Eclipse wouldn’t think of them being weird.

Scratch that, he probably already is thinking of that right now… I hope he doesn’t decide to leave here.

Around the same time, Eclipse finished whatever he was making, getting some help from Fluttershy too. Moving back a little to take in his creation, Eclipse does a grateful nod of his head and began to lie down on his newly built hammock.

The hammock was faced directly parallel toward the lake, so he just had to tilt his head to face it. Another thing was that the trees’ branches and leaves would block the sun’s direct light… and a few other hidden secrets.

“Thank you for helping me build this, your help was duly needed,” said Eclipse, with a bow before lying onto the hammock.

“Ohhh, you didn’t need my help,” said Fluttershy with a blush. “If you’re fine with that...”

“I would differ, I would had difficulty trying to peg the hammock down… So I must honestly say, thank you.”

Fluttershy had no words to speak, for the first time… she felt she could trust this pony; there were only two ponies she knew who she considered close friends, Rainbow Dash and Rarity. Eclipse had been nothing but nice… well in his own way and he didn’t do anything that would make her too uncomfortable… his presence itself was calming.

“I’m… I’m… happy to help...” said Fluttershy, pawing the ground.

Fluttershy looked up but spotted Eclipse relaxing on the hammock without a care in the world. He had his eyes closed, his chest rising and falling in a steady but slow rhythm. Fluttershy was a bit taken back by his quickness to rest, when she noticed something that nopony else noticed, Eclipse was tired.

And it wasn’t due to him traveling, building his home, or possibly meeting Pinkie… he has been tired for a long, long, long time. There were bags under his eyes that were hard to see due to his dark coat, the muscles around his legs were strained and had hidden scars across his body… that however wasn’t the biggest clue she got from the signs of hidden fatigue that Eclipse had.

It was the look he gave as he stared at the leaves above him… they showed the look of somepony who seen so much… but little time to rest. For somepony who looked so young, he looked surprisingly older than he seems.

“Say… before we… head to this party,” said Eclipse, his eyes closed. “Want to take a short nap, you been helping me so far and… well… I’m still tired from my journey here… You can rest here if you want...”

It was that last line that really caught Fluttershy’s curiosity, the suddenness of him being alright with her staying here with him.

Is he… inviting me to stay?

For a short while, which felt like hours on end, a smile crept on her face; trotting underneath Eclipse’s hammock, she laid down her head and closed her eyes too. “I’d… I’d love to… I won’t mind, I fed my animals sometime ago, they won’t be hungry until I have to go back before it gets dark.”

Fluttershy began to rest, a quiet but cute flutter of her wings before falling to the land of the unconscious. She didn’t notice but when she did, a small smile came to Eclipse’s face; he too joined her, the two enjoying the sounds that surrounded them.

“Sweet dreams… Miss Shy...”

After trekking through the dirt path, that led to Fluttershy’s cottage, Gummy arrived onto the front door. After knocking the door with his tail, the door opened with a bunny answering the door; the rabbit gave an annoyed twitch of his nose and stared at the baby gator. The bunny known as Angel, stared at what was in Gummy’s mouth, taking the object to find it to be a letter. Opening the letter and reading it, the bunny tossed the letter aside and made his way to find Fluttershy.

It took a while, at least around a few or so hours… five… six hours… but after searching everywhere, Angel spotted his owner laying down near a small lake… underneath a hammock… where somepony was laying on that hammock.

The bunny was a bit annoyed for two reasons, not only did she not come back to the cottage to cuddle with him or something along those lines, but she was also lounging about with somepony he didn’t recognize. Hopping toward her, the rabbit began to thump his foot loudly, shaking Fluttershy’s head.

Fluttershy stirred a little, mumbling something in her sleep. The pegasus yawned, staring at the bunny before realizing it to be Angel. “Oh, Angel, what is it?” asked Fluttershy.

The rabbit began making squeaking noises toward her and if anypony were nearby it would simply be sounds from an animal. Fluttershy understood every single thing that Angel said and gasped, realizing what time it was now.

The party! I hope nopony is waiting too long for us, especially for Eclipse.

Fluttershy turned around, facing the now asleep Eclipse, the calm blow of the wind pushing and pulling the ropes holding his hammock, swaying it. “Eclipse, wake up, Eclipse… please wake up… please...”

Eclipse didn’t move an inch… until he placed his hoof on her muzzle. The stallion looked up at her with a surprisingly wakeful gaze, he then stared at the setting sun and then back at her.

“How long did we fell asleep?” asked Eclipse.

“Um… some hours ago… I think five...”

“Hmmmmm…” Eclipse began to come out of his hammock, standing up and stretching his limbs. After moving his neck toward a certain angle, Eclipse sighed comfortably after fixing a crick on his neck. “Much better, now, let’s head off shall we? You told me earlier of a party, so let’s not dawdle now.”

Fluttershy followed Eclipse with Angel on her back, crossing his arms as he continued to glare at Eclipse. Fluttershy knew that Angel can have a bit of an attitude, but this was usually toward ponies he’s new to, especially toward ponies he doesn’t trust.

This was was like any other time he’s met a new pony, the first thing he does is glare at Eclipse and possibly later do something to get Eclipse on his bad side. Fluttershy was worried that the two wouldn’t get along but for now she led Eclipse to Sugarcube Corner.

Ponyville, Near Sugarcube Corner; 2:00pm

After Fluttershy led Eclipse through several turns and pathways, they manage to come across the second most interesting building Eclipse has seen so far, the first being Rarity’s boutique. This building looked like a gingerbread house and other such sweets… The question was, was it actually made of candy.

Now all we need is a witch and two children to wander inside.

While neither of that happened, the closest thing that Eclipse got was two ponies walking into the building, only to meet pure darkness… then a bright light.

“WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!” Almost everypony from town came out of their hiding spots to surprise Eclipse, with Pinkie dropping out of nowhere in front of Fluttershy and Eclipse.

“Welcome to Ponyville! My name is Pinkie Pie, but you already knew that! You want some cake!” shouted Pinkie, pulling out a plate of cake from her mane.

Of course a reaction came from one of the ponies… though the reactor wasn’t Eclipse. “Eep!” said Fluttershy, ducking behind Eclipse. The sudden appearance of everypony – even though she should of saw it coming – was too much for the shy pony that she hid behind Eclipse so quickly, it caused Angel to fall face first to the floor… Eclipse on the other hoof...

“So… this is my welcome to Ponyville party,” said Eclipse, nonchalantly. “Now now Miss Shy, there is no need to be scared.”

“I don’t do well near big crowds… or ponies that I don’t know of… I keep to myself back at my cottage with my animal friends.”

“Is that so, though the irony in that sentence is just too predictable.”

“Irony? What was so ironic about what I said?”

“You said you’re friends with animals, yes? Well aren’t you a pony?”

Fluttershy didn’t understand what Eclipse was leading to but the stallion sighed and explained it. “A pony is considered an animal if you think about it… just a more… sapient one. You are shy around other ponies, who can also be considered animals...”

“...Oh… ohhhhh… I suppose that is ironic.”

Everypony had a mix of reactions from Eclipse utter disregard for Pinkie and their attempt at a surprise for this new pony… so much so that it riled Rainbow in a bad way. “HEY! You not going to acknowledge us or something!?”

Eclipse turned to face Rainbow… and his expression wasn’t something Rainbow expect; he was frowning, especially to her and everypony else he looked like he was frowning, who tilted his head in confusion once facing Rainbow.

“Who might you be… miss...”

“I ain’t a ‘Miss’! Name’s Rainbow Dash, ‘Fastest Flier in All of Equestria!’” said Rainbow, boasting.

“Oh? Does that simply revolve around your quickness in flight… or other things too?” asked Eclipse. Now what Eclipse said may have sounded like an insult and whether it was one or not could go through debate… for Rainbow it sounded like exactly how it sounded.

“WHAT!?” shouted Rainbow. “Why you-”

“Hey hey, Rainbow, how about we not start with anything too rash,” said Applejack, holding her friend back.

“But he just insulted me!”

“No I didn’t, I was simply stating a question,” said Eclipse.

“LIES!”

That word in particular made Eclipse’s coat bristle, his mane and tail go stiff… his eyes to shrink in a menacing fashion. If you could hear carefully, you could swear you heard somepony growl; Eclipse stayed like this for a few seconds before letting the offending word slip by.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” said Eclipse, whispering to himself.

Fluttershy was worried for her new friend and approached him before things get out of hoof. “Eclipse, please don’t fight Rainbow, I’d rather not have two of my friends fight one another,” said Fluttershy, brushing Eclipse’s coat down.

“Wait Fluttershy, you’re friends with this stallion!?”

Fluttershy nodded in response, continuing to calm down Eclipse. “Yes, I met him when I was heading to Rarity’s, I got side-tracked and met him… I was shy at first… but he’s a nice stallion… once you get to know him...”

It was at that moment that Rarity came by to greet herself. “Oh that is just wonderful darling, its good that you’re making friends other than myself and Rainbow. Hello Sir Eclipse, it’s good to see you again.”

“You too Lady Rarity,” said Eclipse, taking a calm breath. “I was expecting some sort of greeting… though I wasn’t expecting a pony to pop from the ceiling.”

“But you didn’t make a single twitch, not even a blink,” said Pinkie, popping up beside him.

“...I react internally...”

“Oh! Okie-Dokey, well, let’s get this party...” said Pinkie, pulling out a cannon. “STARTED!” With a pull of a cord on the cannon, a blast of confetti and balloons came out to cover everypony. Music started to play in the back by a white coated unicorn with an interesting mane and tail of blue, who wore shades.

Everypony partied till the end of the day, they ate food and drank drinks, played games, danced, and joined in numerous conversations; however, the main guest of the whole event was busy sitting in the corner of the building. Eclipse kept to himself, only joining in conversation when it interested him or was about him… which was rare.

Pinkie and all her friends sat near a table close by Eclipse’s, but were busy in their own conversation about the secluded stallion. “He’s just sitting there doing nothing… Maybe I should ask him for a dance!” said Pinkie, ready to just do that.

“I think it is best we leave him alone… poor stallion was just swarmed by everypony from hearing he’s outside of Equestria,” said Applejack.

Since a majority of Equestrians are ignorant of the outside world, it would stand to fact that when something new pops up, they take a careful interest… however… this can have it’s negative effects.

“Indeed… but sad to say, he’s been left alone all by himself.”

“Well serves him right, jerk had to go backtalk with me.”

“Rainbow, Eclipse didn’t mean what he said… he can be a bit brash but, he means well,” said Fluttershy, defending her new friend.

“Of course you take his side… What exactly do you see in him?”

Fluttershy took a moment to think of a response, looking back at Eclipse who was drinking something then back at her friends. “He… is really shy...”

That only made everypony give varying looks, that screamed “What?”, if a plate was dropped, that alone wouldn’t be enough to break the shock either.

“He’s… shy? Darling, from meeting Eclipse I don’t see him being the shy type, unlike yourself,” said Rarity.

“I know… but I think when he first introduced himself to me, he kept to himself more often than when I was with him… I think he doesn’t want to open himself to others, that’s all...”

The girls thought this through as Fluttershy’s logic was sound, if Eclipse wanted to know everypony better, he’d be doing the opposite right now. Him being in the corner alone wasn’t a sociable thing to be doing… though he wasn’t in the corner without a reason. The stallion was currently having an internal battle with himself, his head dipped down showing the exhaustion he’s trying to hide from working on his new home and possibly from traveling here to wherever he came from.

Every so often he drink from his cup, only to nearly fall asleep until raising his head up quickly. Nopony noticed, except for some ponies but they went back to the festivities; the sight for the mares especially Pinkie, was a tad upsetting. Instead of going home to rest, he was here… as to why they don’t know yet.

“Maybe we should help him get back home,” said Fluttershy.

“Uh Flutters… didn’t you just said that he’s still making his home,” said Rainbow, bringing up that fact.

“Well, he was sleeping on a hammock he set up near the home he’s building. He didn’t mind sleeping on it-”

The girls stop talking when a shadow appeared over them, turning to look it was Eclipse. He was practically ready to fall apart, swaying every so often. A mumble came out of him, but then he managed to shake his head to focus his vision.

“Sorry girls… I may need to head back sooner than I thought. It was nice meeting you all, and I hope we can become good neighbors. I’d really love to stay a bit longer… though I have a lot of things to do in the future.”

“Oh, you poor dear,” said Fluttershy, helping Eclipse from not collapsing. “You must have been working hard on that home of yours, hmm.”

“More or less, I’m actually tired from the lack of sugar.”

At the mention of sweets, Pinkie instantly perked up, forcing her muzzle into Eclipse’s. “YOU LIKE SWEETS!”

“Yeah… especially cold drinks like slushies… Why-”

Before Eclipse could ask, a pink blur remained before Pinkie returned with a slushy in hoof. Eclipse at first stared at the cold drink before holding it with a hoof… then taking a sip. Everypony stared as the stallion drank the cold sweet drink… until a content sigh came out of him. “That’s the stuff, thank you for making this for me.”

“Ahhh, its no problem, just seeing you not being a grumpy grump is enough for me.” Pinkie grinned widely, hugging the stallion, who was unfazed and continued to sip his drink.

The mares laughed together, the party crawling to a slow until a majority of ponies left, leaving only Vinyl who was putting away her set-up and Fluttershy’s friends. One by one, ponies began to leave, leaving Pinkie who waved Fluttershy and Eclipse goodnight, who was still drinking his beverage.

The two trotted alone under the moon’s light, the image of the ‘Mare In The Moon’ on its luminescent surface. Eclipse glanced up at the moon, a strange look in his eyes before moving his gaze toward the stars.

“...I think I might like staying here longer than I thought,” said Eclipse, mumbling to himself.

“Hmm, is something wrong Eclipse?”

“Nothing… enjoying the view.” Eclipse faced Fluttershy with his usual flat look, Fluttershy now realized how bored Eclipse can look… he was very… emotionless.

“Eclipse… I don’t mean to be rude and you don’t need to answer my question… but… Why is it that you lack any reaction to… anything, I really thought you’d at least be surprised by Pinkie?”

Eclipse gave a glance at her, before staring at the path ahead, almost contemplating the question. He took a quiet sip of the drink from the straw that accompanied it. After taking a good long sip, he removed his mouth and tasted the flavor of the beverage, turning to face Fluttershy.

“You may not believe me, but I actually am smiling.”

The bland response was a tad surprising that it took Fluttershy awhile to realize that Eclipse spoke. “You mean… Is it some sort of genetic defect?”

“No… just how I am… You could say,” said Eclipse, raising his beverage. “That I’m cold as ice.” With emphasize he shook the cup, causing the partially frozen liquid to swish inside.

Fluttershy took a long pause, trying to understand what Eclipse said… until she began to snicker – cutely might I add. “Eclipse, that was horrible.”

“I may be a tad unresponsive to most things, but I do love a good pun. Though it is kind of hard to make me laugh… so much so that I’m frozen solid.”

Fluttershy kept a wing hugging her tightly, holding in her laughter.

“My my, it may appear that my puns are causing Miss Shy to shake. Do you have the shivers my dear?”

Fluttershy was tearing up, it was too much.

“Now now, there’s no need to cry and if you’re not careful in this chilling night, you might have your tears freeze up.”

Fluttershy was biting her lower lip with all her might not to laugh.

“Now that I think about it, I only been in this town for a day and I met a fair amount of ponies in such short notice… so much so, you can say it went by like a flurry.

And with that, it shattered like ice. Fluttershy hugged herself as she tumbled down like a pile of bricks… or leaves in this case, as she rolled with the cutest laugh. Every so often she hiccup from trying to breath through her muzzle while laughing.

Eclipse sighed, knelt down and rubbed the nape of her neck in a comforting motion. After she managed to calm down, Fluttershy snickered a little but stopped.

“Eclipse… for somepony who’s so hard to understand… I think I can see what kind of a pony you are,” said Fluttershy, smiling.

She did not notice this due to the lighting and the timing of closing her eyes, but there was hurt… pain in Eclipse’s eyes. That same pain dispersed but was still there… deep, but haunting.

After helping her get on all four hooves, Fluttershy moved down the path to her cottage, waving farewell toward her newest friend and neighbor. Eclipse watched her leave until the darkness engulfed her silhouette. After staring into the night sky, he trotted to his place – a partially built home, a wagon full of numerous stuff, and a hammock.

Eclipse placed his drink inside his wagon, making sure it was sealed and would stay cold tomorrow. He trotted to the hammock with a small pillow on his back; after fluffing the pillow and placing it on the hammock where his head would be, he gently laid onto the hammock.

He stared at the starry sky and then the reflection of the lake, before staring at the country’s capital, Canterlot.

'Oh woe is me… for I am unworthy of your praise… Sin I am, for death is more a mercy than punishment.’

After thinking about a quote for today – mostly made up by himself – Eclipse slowly closed his eyes, sleeping but not dreaming without a blanket. Tomorrow would be a busy, but yet another interesting day. What other fun secrets did this town keep… and what new challenges would arise for the strange stallion?

Canterlot; Canterlot Castle, Celestia’s Tower; 8:30pm

Within Celestia’s tower, the goddess of the sun slept peacefully… for a while until she woke from a terrible memory. She’s been having the same memory for the last thousand years and while before it hasn’t been as bad as it had during the first century, today was different… the anniversary was coming… the Summer Sun Celebration.

While known to be the longest day of the year, in reality it was also the same day that Celestia banished her sister, Princess Luna. She have the same nightmares of that fateful day, but the fact is that in just a month, that same day would come… as well as her sister’s return.

The princess sighed, stepping out of her bed, she reached the doors that led to her balcony. After reaching the edge of the balcony, she leaned on them and stared at the moon, looking at the Mare In The Moon.

“Oh Luna… I’m sorry… I just hope that once you return, you be the little sister I remember you to be,” said Celestia.

Celestia glanced down at her sleeping ponies, both in Canterlot and Ponyville, she knew she had to have a plan to prepare the return of her sister. The only way to free her from her affliction was with the help of the Elements, but because she used them on another fellow element bearer, she has been unable to feel the power of the Elements since that fateful day.

This only left her with one option… to find new bearers… and there was possibly one pony who can do this.

It seems Twilight might finally prove herself… I just hope she will know what to do.

Author's Note

He is called many names - seen with many faces and known by many identities - but he will always be known by the one that resounds across all worlds; in another language and another meaning.

Thoughts: Fluttershy
Mayor Mare
Eclipse Light
Celestia

Pony of All Trades (Edited)

Ponyville, Town Square; 11:00am

The sun was at its highest and ponies were busy enjoying the warm rays that it gave, Applejack was outside at her family’s apple stand. Yesterday, she and the girls helped Eclipse with setting up his new home and enjoyed a meal with him, so far she hasn’t heard from him since but Fluttershy came by, shopping for some more carrots for Angel and mentioned some noise coming from his storage building.

At first Applejack was worried something was happening at Eclipse’s, but Fluttershy eased her worries, saying he was building something and wanted it to be a surprise. He also mentioned to her that it wasn’t safe to come inside, possibly related to what he was building.

I wonder what’s he been building in there?

Applejack was so busy with her thoughts that she didn’t notice something entering the town square from the bridge that led to Fluttershy’s and Eclipse’s residencies. It was twice as high and longer than Applejack’s stand; a triangular roof that was held by four wooden poles and three wooden panels, it has a wooden door with no handle but was opened by sliding it. The strange stand – if it could be called a stand – was being pulled by Eclipse,having his signature blank bored look and eyes lidded, whether it was from him being tired or bored was the real question.

The black-furred stallion stopped his stand in the middle of the square, some distance from Applejack’s. What really caught her and everypony’s attention was the material the stand was made of; the wood was so black, it looked less like wood and more like coal. Removing the harness from himself, Eclipse placed down four wooden stakes that stabilized the stand so it was kept still from rolling away.

Eclipse went the opposite end where the harness was kept, which he removed and pushed back to a hidden compartment which made all four sides to match with each other. He then entered through the sliding door before closing it behind him.

Applejack gotten curious from seeing the strange sight and stepped from her own stand to join a growing crowd of ponies to see what all the commotion was about. Amongst the crowd were some of her friends, Rainbow, Pinkie, and even Rarity who were also curious about what was happening.

“What is Eclipse doing?” asked Rainbow.

“I believe he mentioned wanting to sell some items, but I assumed he do it in some shop or gain a sponsor from one of the local stores… This wasn’t what I thought he do,” said Rarity, examining the material of the stand.

“He really made this real fast!” said Pinkie.

“I guess Fluttershy wasn’t wrong when he was making something and wanted to keep it a surprise,” said Applejack, commenting at the creation of the stand.

Suddenly, some noise came from inside the stand and before anypony could ask what was happening, the three wooden panels opened up by sliding upward to reveal what was inside. What laid before everypony was an arrangement of items; one shelf held small objects that oddly resembled the crystals the girls saw yesterday, while another shelf held tiny figures made of wood, but one item in particular caught the girls attention.

The item was a row of a familiar bottle with a familiar liquid inside with two other colored bottles beside them. Arranged a certain order, three colored bottles of pink, blue, and orange were placed in a row that continued the same theme until no more bottles could fit on top of the counter of the stand.

While the two sides of the stand held some items, the front side opposite of the door was empty but had a metal box that was placed to the side but closed. Eclipse moved to the front side of the stand, and spoke out with a professional but calm tone.

“Hello, I’d like to officially open my traveling store – The Obsidian Wagon; Knick-Knacks & Snacks – since this is the first day of business, the first customer pick of any flavor of my signature ‘Flavor Soda’ will have it for free. If you like for more, they cost only two bits, I also have other things to sell, but for now I’ll sell my drinks as an opening and I hope you come by to buy more of my wares,” said Eclipse, with a polite bow.

After hearing this announcement, the ponies at first gave a curious glance at the strange bottles, the first pony to approach was a well-known mare called Vinyl Scratch, also known as DJ P0N3. The famous DJ while spoke rarely, decided to try these new drinks, picking the blue one. Opening the bottle with her magic, she took a quick swig of the drink, with what happening next was still shock as the blue-haired mare froze solid still.

Many of the ponies were worried, especially when a posh earth pony approached the even more silent unicorn. “Vinyl? Are you alright, is something wrong?” asked the worried mare.

Vinyl quickly shook her head before pushing the drink to her friend, at first she denied the drink, mostly because her friend just drank from it but gave up. After taking it around the crook of her leg, she carefully sipped it… only to down the whole thing. Vinyl became saddened that her friend downed her whole drink with a sad pout, but brightened immediately at her friend’s reaction.

“THIS STUFF IS WONDERFUL! I’LL BUY FIVE MORE OF THOSE BLUE ONES!”

At that single moment, the crowd grabbed hold onto the mare’s reaction; hook, line, and sinker. Everypony took a free bottle of the drinks, until those who already got their first free one lined up to buy more. Each pony had various reactions but they were all the same, they were ecstatic, having not tasted something like this before… ever.

The girls managed to reach the stand, being the last customers as everypony else sat somewhere to drink or stood where they are to enjoy the flavor of the new beverage. “So this is the surprise you been making. Well for starters, you surprised me, that’s for sure,” said Applejack, grinning.

Eclipse was busy counting the bits he had, before sliding them into the metal box with a loud clatter. Closing it, he turned to the girls with his simple straight-faced expression. “The business idea of selling them for free for first pick was so to get ponies to like the taste and the price is fair for everypony of all ages. I’m planning of making different flavors and bigger batches, but I need to go and gain agreements with certain companies to gain the resources I need to make more. I also have other things than my drinks to sell that are equally new and interesting.”

At this the girls became interested as Eclipse went down, possibly going through more shelves that were underneath the counter, rummaging through before pulling out several items; pulling out a figurine, an orb, and finally a rock, but the most interesting was the orb or rather what was inside.

“Hey, isn’t that the purple crystal you told us can make lightning?!” asked Rainbow, pointing a hoof at the orb.

After taking a careful look, it was indeed the same crystal that Eclipse warned them all about; it was surrounded by the clear orb, a tiny piece of the crystal they saw yesterday inside. Rarity took a step back out of caution, but Eclipse raised his hoof before motioning them to come close.

“Don’t worry, the orb keeps any actual contact with the crystal from any accidents to occur, the purpose of this has many uses. Think of it as carrying the very elements in your hooves for practical purposes,” said Eclipse, beginning to explain.

The orbs come in ten types, but to better explain the orbs’ uses I need to explain the ten types of crystals I came upon in my travels. You already know two of them but not what they can do beyond their elemental uses – first off we’ll go with the fire crystal.

The fire crystal creates flames that range from different temperatures that can be used for warmth, cooking, and a source of light, another use is the ability to give its user a temporary power-boost. This boost will give anybody the temporary use of increased strength, this strength is of course limited and is only increased based off the user’s current strength. Basically let’s say a pony like Fluttershy who isn’t an earth pony nor regularly exercises were to use this would have an equivalent strength to be able to carry twice her usual weight. However if a pony like Applejack were to use this, then she be able to life her whole stand, with one hoof, without any problems.

Now here was when the questions started to appear as the first to ask was Applejack. “This sounds mighty interesting, but there’s got to be a catch.”

And there is, these orbs work like a unicorn’s horn, the longer a unicorn uses magic, the longer they’ll feel fatigued from using or casting said magic, the orbs also work like batteries and will run out meaning its given effects will wear off, so if it flashes that means it is below ten percent. I’m the only one who can charge these orbs, but I do plan to give everypony else a way to charge these orbs themselves, but for now I’ll ease it slowly into town. Moving on…

The next orb is based off the light crystal. The next orb had a yellow crystal inside and gave off a brighter glow than the previous orb and for some strange reason it gave everypony a strange warmness inside them, similar to when they’re under the warmth of the sun.

It shares two traits like the red orb, warmth and light, but the one unique trait it holds is its ability to contain and share magic.

“Uhhh what?” asked Rainbow, confused.

Basically it can contain spells or simply pure magic from a unicorn, you can cast any spell you want into this orb and it’ll hold. Simply a unicorn would need to point a horn to it and cast a spell and to release the spell they have to do the same thing again; instant magic. For now these ones only can hold simple spells that aren’t too complicated or don’t take too long to cast.

It also gives magic users a boost to their magical power, based off the size of the crystal within the orb. I’m not sure what it can do to non-magic users, but so far I’ll see what affects it’ll give.

Next on the list was a cyan glowing orb, that gave the opposite feeling of warmth, looking at it seemed to give shivers but not out of fear but more of a cold breeze that came out of nowhere. “Eep, chilly,” said Pinkie, shaking.

This holds an ice crystal, I think something like this may interest you in particular Rainbow. Rainbow raised a brow but allowed Eclipse to continue, wanting to hear what exactly this thing could do. Now practical uses for this is a bit ambiguous but it can be used on hot days to bring a sense of cold to keep the user and others nearby cool. Another use is to create snow… as for what, it’s up to the user.

Finally, it gives the ability to increase one’s speed, making the user to go beyond their regular speed. Same way how the red orb works, depending the user’s normal speed, let’s say… a normal pony’s running, they can run twice as fast. It also helps that the increase speed has no affect on one’s stamina, but again I’d be careful using this one, as going at speeds you’re unaccustomed to can be dangerous. These versions however while allow one to go fast – for a certain limit – it also increase their sense of awareness, allowing them to do multiple things at once.

“Hey, this sounds helpful back at the bakery!” said Pinkie, clopping her hooves together.

“The color is wonderful, I myself actually might find a use; saving time by slowing everything down seems a wonderful idea,” said Rarity.

Applejack looked at Rainbow for her reaction but surprisingly she seemed uninterested. “I don’t need no speed-thingy to make me fast, I’m already the fastest there is,” said Rainbow, posing.

“I find that a fair reason, the orb isn’t meant for going to extreme speeds due to the crystal’s size. I think using it for multi-tasking or traveling a simple distance from across town is a good enough use.”

Moving onto the next orb, is the wind crystal, this gray orb can create light breezes and stronger gusts, varying on the size of the crystal. Its ability is to give the ability of levitation and flight-

“WHAT?!” shouted Rainbow, shocked.

The girls were a bit taken back by Rainbow’s sudden explosive reaction, leaving Eclipse unfazed. “Something wrong, Rainbow?” asked Eclipse.

“Okay, so far these orbs sound all… cool and stuff but you got an orb for FLYING! That’s… that’s… CHEATING!”

“Rainbow why are you so mad all sudden?” asked Applejack.

“I actually understand Rainbow’s point, she sees this orb as a threat to not only herself but other pegasi. Specifically their jobs and way of living, but I should mention something before you throw any more accusations or assumptions.”

The orb can give these things… but with one flaw, like how young pegasi have to learn to fly, the same is applied to the orb but that isn’t the biggest disadvantage. The gray orb can only give levitation and flying capabilities but the normal skills that a pegasi can do like manipulating the weather can’t be done with this crystal. Another problem is that using the orb has a dangerous downfall, that using it for flying can make a user tire easily as it is using the same stamina one uses for running. This kind of orb is more for the simple task for reaching something or carrying a heavy object or multiple objects through levitation. You can reach up a few meters beyond the height of the town hall, but beyond that I wouldn’t recommend if you’re feeling fatigued.

“To put it simply, the orb isn’t meant to be used to go over one’s limits… So there’s no reason for you to worry Rainbow, that and these versions of the wind crystal only have the levitation ability applied. The ability for flight I’ll plan to place later, just so everypony understands clearly to not fool around with these orbs; I want them to be used for simple tasks, not for enjoyment reasons so I’ll sell them to older individuals or those who have permission.”

Rainbow thought this through but nodded, Applejack and Rarity – who have younger siblings – accepted these terms and found the application for such orbs to be fascinating.

Finally, we have the fifth and last orb for now, you girls recognize this one, do you not. The orb glowed purple and inside was the same orb that Rarity had found interesting yesterday. As you already know, this one can conduct electricity but what you don’t know yet is it can do more than just cast lightning.

This kind of orb is very experimental as it can create a type of energy; the purpose of the energy is to power certain… objects. So far I’m not planning to sell these but for now they can be used to track these energies, nearby thunderheads, electric-based spells, and rubbing one’s fur against a towel which creates static energy and can be used as a sort of attraction device to attract lightning. This is especially useful for placing above your home so the lightning strikes the orb and not whatever you placed the orb above.

Applejack whistled, impressed by the latest orb. “That’s a neat thing, this may be really helpful during stormy weather, be useful to place atop some of the apple trees and the barn. Would finally stop us from losing more trees during the rainy season and from Big Mac replacing new roofing for the barn’s roof from being torched black,” said Applejack. “Hey Eclipse, if you do finish testing these things, I might buy em myself, if you’re up for a trade.”

Applejack grinned back and at first Eclipse seemed to mull this over, a small twitch from his ears were the only sign of any movement but after that, he nodded. “That seems fair, I actually planned to come by your estate tomorrow, wanted to ask you something.”

“Great!” said Applejack, beaming happily. “Maybe you can join us for breakfast in the morning.”

“That seems nice,” said Eclipse.

“Yeah yeah cool, but what other stuff you got? You have any of those cool stuff like that sword from before?” asked Rainbow, ecstatic.

“Now Rainbow, why would Eclipse be selling something as ghastly as that? Not there’s anything wrong with what you own Eclipse, but I find what Rainbow is interested in a bit… ‘unsafe’ is the best word I can find to describe it.”

Eclipse turned around to look through some more shelves in the back, disappearing in the darkened end of the stand. At the same time, Fluttershy came by with a saddlebag full of carrots and various other vegetables for her animals and herself. The butterscotch mare approached the strange stand before spotting her friends and with a happy trot she approached.

“Hello girls… Who’s stand is this? Its a bit big...”

“Its Ipsy’s!”

“Eclipse? So this is what he worked on?”

“Yep, Eclipse sure did made this real quick though,” said Applejack, answering her question.

Shuffling back was Eclipse, around his hooves was a box, before gently plopping it on top the counter. Opening said box revealed more figurines but most intriguing, was a strange piece of paper that was faced down. A breeze from nowhere sent the paper flying up before it flew straight onto Fluttershy’s vision.

With a quiet eep and stumbling onto her haunches, Fluttershy reached for the paper to reveal it was a drawing. The drawing itself was aged, with the corners of the paper yellowed and the graphite drawing somewhat dulled but visible enough to see what was drawn.

The girls surrounded Fluttershy, surprisingly the usually shy mare was fine with the closeness of everypony and saw what was drawn.

The drawing showed a colorless drawing of a cliff with a tree barely hanging over the edge, sharp rocks and crashing waves were drawn with a dull gray, with a light gray drawn for the clouds and in the background was the sun slowly rising. Most peculiar was the use of using a gray tint to shade in the shadows and difference between the sky, cliff, and water below.

“Eclipse… did you make this?” asked Fluttershy, with everypony else looking up.

What happened next was a surprise as Eclipse was gone, it was then they noticed the peak of two ears over the counter and looking over they saw a barely hidden Eclipse with both hooves covering his head.

“Uhhh… dude, what you doing?”

“Darling… are you… embarrassed?”

“Now there ain’t nothin to be embarrassed about, these drawing while old are pretty swell,” said Applejack, trying to cheer him up.

“That’s not why I’m like this...” That drawings brings too many memories… back then… “Just remembered something from before is all...”

Worried but not wanting to push the subject any further, Fluttershy looked at the drawing closer and saw two small figures that were leaning against one another, sitting on a bench, facing the rising sun. “Its really beautiful… h-here, you can have it back,” said Fluttershy, hoofing the drawing back.

Eclipse kept quiet standing back up, standing up and turned to face Fluttershy who stared back at him. Gazing at the drawing, an unseen headache came to him, an old memory resurfacing back to him; extending his hoof, he gently pushed the drawing back to Fluttershy’s chest, as the drawing was wrapped around the crook of her hoof.

“You can keep that Fluttershy, I can make another some other time later,” said Eclipse, a tad quieter than usual.

Fluttershy gave a sheepish smile, accepting the gift. “I’d love to,” said Fluttershy, with a warm smile.

Eclipse responded with a nod and swiveled his head to check more ponies approaching. “Well I must go back to business, it was nice meeting all of you this fine day, have a wonderful day now,” said Eclipse, with a bow.

Everypony left their separate ways but Rarity stayed behind. “Darling… Eclipse, if it is not too much, but can you draw another more of those drawings… I’d love to see what you can draw.”

Eclipse thought of this, but looked behind him to look at something that Rarity couldn’t see before turning to face her once more. “That depends, while I’d love to make a drawing for you, I’d need to know what you want me to draw and if you want it colored or not.”

“Oh nothing too extravagant,” That be a first for me. “Something colored but simple, I’ll give you some bits for doing something like this for me.”

“No bother, I was thinking of drawing something to be honest… When shall I come to your abode?” asked Eclipse.

Rarity thought of a good time to visit and decided on a date. “How about the seventh of August?”

“That’s reasonable, I can have what you want me to draw done the day after. I’d love to continue our conversation but I must go back to business.”

Rarity understood and trotted off, waving a friendly farewell, heading back to her boutique. Eclipse waved back before turning to face the upcoming group of ponies to see what kind of wares the newest shopkeeper had for sale.

Ponyville, Sugarcube Corner; 5:30pm

Eclipse left his stand, placing a “Be back in half an hour” sign that hung on a nail where ponies give their bits to him. He trotted to Sugarcube Corner, the bakery being the place to get what he was trying to find.

Entering the bakery, while the time was nearing dusk, there were still ponies inside the bakery, ranging from ponies conversing with one another, eating, or simply relaxing inside. Approaching the counter that was made of glass which had different confectioneries inside like cupcakes, muffins, cookies, cakes, pies, and many more sweets for any sweet-toothed fan.

The one handling the front was a somewhat pudgy mare, with a pinkish swirl of mane and a light blue fur coat. She looked up with violet eyes before blinking and recognizing Eclipse in a heartbeat.

“Oh, you’re that new pony that Pinkie was celebrating here just a few days ago… Eclipse Light, right?” asked the confectioner pony. “My name’s Cupcake, I own Sugarcube Corner with my husband, Carrot Cake.”

“It is nice to meet you, but you can refer to me as simply Eclipse. I came here to ask you for a… proposition...”

At this Mrs. Cake looked at Eclipse for one moment, before turning to face some swinging doors that most likely led to the kitchen. “Um dear, there’s somepony here that wishes to speak to us!” said Mrs. Cake, raising her voice.

“Coming Cupcake,” said Mr Cake. Stepping out was a skinny, yellow coated stallion with a short ginger mane. “What’s wrong my sweet?”

“This stallion here wants to give us… a proposition,” said Mrs Cake, whispering the last part.

Mr Cake raised a brow before looking at Eclipse, going through his memories; he remembers who this is, shaking his head and focusing back at Eclipse with a smile and hoofshake. “Oh, you must be the pony with the new stand… er, store, how can we help you?”

Eclipse bowed in greeting before pulling out something from the saddlebags he brought with him from his stand. Removing a sheaf of papers, he placed one paper down; the paper mentioned several things but the most notable thing was the deal to gain access to Sugarcube Corner’s sugar supply, while being given a monthly supply of Flavor Soda to be sold, with a quarter of bits to go to Eclipse.

“I was wondering if it was possible for you to possibly share a portion of your sugar supplies, I need it to create some new drinks that I plan to sell. I can give you a monthly shipment of these new beverages to you, with a quarter of any sold going to me. If these agreements are fine with you, I just need you to sign here.”

Mr Cake and Mrs Cake looked down at the agreement paper than at each other. This offer was a possible benefit but the sugar they needed was important to create their confectioneries. “How long do you plan to use some of our sugar?” asked Mr Cake.

“A few months, I plan to create or find my own source of sugar, I simply need to find temporary solution until a permanent one is made. I am fine if you don’t agree to these terms, I’ll ask if you know where you buy your sugar so I may get some for my own uses.”

“...Alright, we’ll accept, helping another pony out, especially somepony new would be fine with us. We’ll ask Pinkie to give you four bags of sugar to your home, but there is another question I have. After this agreement been fulfilled, are you still planning to give us these shipment of… beverages of yours?”

“Of course, I need a way to spread my product to have ponies more interested in what I sell. It also helps to have connections and make good impressions with new acquaintances.”

Mr Cake nodded, finding the philosophy to his liking, after some more discussion, Eclipse said his farewells and left the bakery. After exiting he looked around before heading to his next destination, his stand.

Once returning back to his stand, flipping the sign to show “Open”, checking his supplies and beverages. For awhile the day started to slow down, until Eclipse decided to do something to keep himself busy.

Pulling out a piece of paper, a pencil, Eclipse looked around before staring at the slowly setting sun… and began to draw. A tune came to him and began to hum, alone inside the stand, staring at the setting sun and the different hues it gave off, drawing the sight – both in paper and memory.

Author's Note

From lands far and wide - and many worlds apart - he gathers things both strange and mysterious. Some he will give, others must buy, and few were traded, but every item he owns must all come with a price.

Thoughts: Applejack
Eclipse Light
Rarity

Dialogue/Narration: Eclipse Light

Apple Business (Edited)

Ponyville, Sweet Apple Acres; 7:00am

Just as Eclipse promised yesterday, he trotted down the path that would lead to Sweet Apple Acres; the Apple Family farm was a century old, being around since Applejack’s grandmother’s youth. From both sides of the path were an endless sea of apple trees, the dirt path showing sign of multiple use. Ahead of the path, Eclipse could spot a barn and a house, with a rocking chair on the front porch.

Eclipse neared the front door, hearing the telltale sign of ponies inside as one particular sound was of a young filly talking to another pony. Once at the door, Eclipse did two knocks before stepping back to make sure the door didn’t swung outward. Luckily it didn’t and swung into the house and the one to answer the door was a filly who only reached partway up Eclipse’s legs.

The filly consisted of yellow fur, red mane and tail where her mane had a pink bow tied to it. The filly looked up with her overly-large eyes with a sense of curiosity and a little suspicion, that comes to younger individuals when seeing a stranger on their front porch. The filly looked behind her, directing her gaze to a doorway where the smell of food was wafting from, signaling the room to be the kitchen.

“Applejack!? Your colt-friend is here!” shouted the filly.

A loud clatter and noise of somepony quietly but still audibly whispered “Horseapples”, came from the kitchen, with a very annoyed Applejack coming out. She tried her best to hold a smile, her eye would twitch every moment or so. “Applebloom… remember what I said, the newest pony in town would come to visit us for breakfast. He’s not my colt-friend, we just met sometime and are just friends,” said Applejack, her smiling becoming forced. “Why don’t you go to the kitchen and help Granny?”

“Okay, whatever you say sis,” said Applebloom, leaving the two ponies alone.

Once Applebloom left, Applejack took a deep sigh before facing Eclipse with an embarrassed chuckle. “Sorry about her, she’s been home-schooled for awhile, but she should start her first day of school next month. Come on in, we’re just about to eat,” said Applejack.

Moving from the door, Eclipse enters inside to find himself in a living room, the room having a couch against a wall, some shelves in the wall, some photos on another wall, and another rocking chair with a door behind it. There are stairs on the left side of the room while the right led to the doorway of the kitchen.

Following Applejack, Eclipse sees the kitchen, a table was set up in the middle on a carpet, with no stools except one for Applebloom, so everypony stood or sat on the ground; a stove was beside the doorway, some cabinets, a sink, and a fridge with a window and a door that leads outside, the table was being set up by Applebloom.

Another pony was busy cooking something on the stove, the mare was old, her fur sagging and her mane white, but for some reason it looked natural, not due to age. The old mare glanced at the doorway then to Applejack, then her guest with a low smile.

“Oh Applejack… is this that pony yoou mensshion abou?” asked the elderly mare.

“Uh yeah granny, this is Eclipse. Eclipse, this is my granny – Granny Smith – she’s the oldest member of our family,” said Applejack, introducing each other.

“Nice ta meet yah, pleasure meetin sumpony new,” said Granny Smith, extending a hoof.

“Like wise, I’m assuming you’re the matron of the Apple family, correct?”

“Yous right as rain.”

At that same time, the door in the kitchen that led outside opened, revealing a large red stallion with a dirty blond mane and tail. The large stallion had a yoke around his neck, possibly used to pull something heavy, the stallion looked at his family before his gaze came to Eclipse.

The stallion stared at Eclipse for the longest time, something in his eyes told one thing when he looked at Eclipse, mistrust.

“Oh Big Mac you’re here, I want you to meet Eclipse, he’s that new pony I met a few days ago. He came by to eat breakfast with us.”

Big Mac stood still staring at Eclipse before slowly inching his way to his side of the table, sitting down with a loud thud. Everypony stood where they were before sitting down at the table, leaving Eclipse to sit down beside Applejack.

The table had pancakes, a basket of apples, and some fresh apple juice made, with five plates with forks set up. Applebloom took a good stack of pancakes, with Big Mac and Granny Smith taking a few, leaving Applejack taking some.

Eclipse was about to take some until Granny Smith spoke. “Eh Eklpsah, what ezactly do yoo do?” asked Granny, chewing a pancake.

After taking two pancakes, Eclipse idly went for a glass, pouring himself some juice. “I’m a trader of sorts, I sell certain things and sometimes buy other things from others,” said Eclipse.

“So yoos a businesspony?” asked Granny.

“Not quite, I’m also an explorer on the side. I’m from outside of Equestria and plan to bring new ideas here.”

“New ideas? What… kind of new ideas?”

“A number of things… But I’m more curious about the Apple family’s business. From your orchards I have to say you’re the biggest source of apples ever… and not simply from this farm alone.”

Here Applejack finished her food and answered Eclipse’s observation. “Yer right, our family has the best apples there are in Equestria, we got Apples ranging all across Equestria… well except down south.”

“Interesting, south would be perfect to build a new settlement,” said Eclipse, biting a piece of his pancake.

Applebloom finishing all her pancakes, going for more to eat before asking Eclipse a question. “Mr Eclipse?” asked Applebloom.

“Eclipse is fine,” said Eclipse.

“Um… when you said you’re from outside of Equestria… are you saying you’re not from here?”

“I am not, I came here to… settle down. I have seen much in my travels and believe it may benefit those here. I’ve already introduced myself to a majority of the town and made a good impact.”

“Yeah, Eclipse here got this new beverage called ‘Flavor Soda’ and these orb-thingies. Said it’ll improve ponies day-to-day lives.”

“Not for day-to-day, but yes, I do have a sort of… item that can do such things. I actually came here to ask… a favor of sorts.”

Applejack raised her brow inquisitively, Big Mac continued to eat but paid close attention now. “What kind of favor?”

Eclipse began to explain the same thing he did to the Cakes but instead of sugar, he went into detail relating to the apple orchard. He began to explain about making a deal to use some of their apples for his new product, while giving certain resources that may help with them. Another idea was to help with their own business here, helping buck for apples and daily chores.

Each of the Apple family’s responses were varied, Granny Smith found this both interesting but suspicious, Applejack thought of it to be wonderful, Applebloom had a mix of thoughts that ranged from confusion to mild-interest, with Big Mac being mistrusting to the offered deal, but with Applejack being the one to accept it.

“That be mighty nice, we’d could give you a few baskets. Hey how about on the days you work here, the number of trees you buck, you’d keep at least one basket of apples per tree.”

Eclipse rubbed his chin, nodding to the offer when suddenly Big Mac tapped his sister on her withers. She turned to see him moving his eyes to the kitchen door toward outside, the two stepped out, leaving Eclipse with Granny Smith and Applebloom.

After for a small while, Applebloom spoke up having finished her food. “Eclipse… What’s outside of Equestria like?” asked Applebloom, curious.

Eclipse has finished his meal as well, standing up and bringing his plate to the sink, leaving it on the side to be cleaned. “...A lot, I seen things beautiful, amazing, extraordinary, things that are beyond the understanding of others, that… that is beyond what we know. I met friends, acquaintances… but most importantly, I met those important to me...”

“You met anypony special? A family of yeah own?” asked Granny Smith, joining the conversation.

Eclipse took a moment to pause, he seemed to stare at the window, a far gaze that told countless pain and memories too tragic to reminisce about.

“Had… but they’re not around anymore… Sometimes I wonder, what they would think of me… I ask myself about the many things I’ve done… and how far I’ve gone to do these things...”

“What happened to them?” asked Applebloom.

His gaze instead of hardening or going sorrowful, went to an emotion… that lacked emotion. He was empty inside, something that died a long long time ago.

“...I don’t know...”

At that same time, Applejack came inside with Big Mac, Applejack looked pissed but kept it to herself while Big Mac seemed to have changed his original expression about Eclipse, but held a form of mistrust for him still.

“Sorry, had to talk about something ‘important’ with my brother. Did we miss anything?”

“Nothin much, say how about Ecquiwp helps us today with buckin the trees. I think if he’s going to work here with us, he get use ta our way of livin too.”

“That sounds like a great idea Granny. Eclipse, you can help us work on the west orchard, you and Big Mac will handle the north-western part while I’ll do the south-western.”

After the table was cleaned, everypony headed out but before Applejack could leave, Granny Smith pulled her aside. “Applejack… What did you and Big Mac discussed?”

“...Nothing much, just some worries he had.”

“If Big Mac spoke to you, then it had to been something. We both know Big Mac doesn’t speak much after… Well anyway, I think it is not a good idea to keep them togethar.”

“I know, but Big Mac needs to understand that Eclipse ain’t a bad pony… I know I just met him but… something about him tells me that he’s got a lot on his plate.”

“...His family...”

Applejack noticed the tone Granny used, the same tone she used when she needed her grandchildren to understand something important.

“Granny… what did you learn about Eclipse’s family?”

“...Not much… but that he won’t speak about it but, its not due to something happening to them. I think… I think he done something… something so unforgivable that not even he will forgive himself for. I don’t know what that colt been through but… for somepony who looks that young, he has the eyes of somepony that seen enough to make him my age.”

Applejack stayed quiet, listening to what her granny had to say. “I know you met him, but be careful around that stallion… He has the look of somepony who has nothing left to lose…”

Applejack nodded, and went off to do her chores, being watched by her guardian figure since her foalhood.

Ponyville, Sweet Apple Acres, Southern-Western Orchard; 9:00am

Applejack bucked tree after tree after tree, with each having apples falling onto the buckets laid out for them to fall in. After going through her seventh tree, memories of what happened earlier this morning with Big Mac came to her.

A few hours ago…

Applejack followed Big Mac outside, the two siblings stood there looking at one another. “Well… what’s wrong?” asked Applejack, ending the silence.

Usually Big Mac would respond with a simple “Eeyup” or “Nope”, but today was not one of those days.

“Are you seriously going to accept this stallion’s offer,” said Big Mac, aggressively.

Applejack was shocked, her brother was speaking a full sentence and the message itself sent shivers down her spine with his baritone voice.

“Applejack? Applejack?” Big Mac began to shake her sister, making her shift slightly.

“Huh, y-yeah Big Mac?”

“That stallion… Why are we… Why are you accepting his offer?”

“He… He’s a swell stallion, and his ideas can really help. Heck I seen the kind of things he has and what kind of pony he is… well from what I’ve seen so far.”

“You’re not answering my question.”

Applejack felt threatened by her brother’s tone, but kept hold of her emotions, glaring back at Big Mac. “What is this all about? Why are you worried?”

“I’m worried for my family.”

“Well I am your family, look Big Mac, I know you just met Eclipse but he’s not some scamming pony of some kind. He honestly wants to make a life here, and just because he may act and look a little different doesn’t mean he’s some shifty pony of some kind.”

Applejack sighed seeing that her word wouldn’t go through to Big Mac, but tried to convince him to at least try to know Eclipse better.

“Look, how about you work with Eclipse at the north-western orchards. Maybe if you two get to work together, you can see what kind of a pony he is and please… don’t threaten him or something...”

“I won’t harm him.”

“Its not him I’m worried about… Its you… Eclipse… isn’t like your average Equestrian pony, he’s probably been through worse scrapes than we had as foals. So for Celestia’s sake don’t aggravate him or worse get him to… do something rash.”

Big Mac snorted, but looked back at her sister’s serious and worried look. For a long time, the two looked at one another until Big Mac sighed, and trotted back inside angrily.

“Eeyup,” said Big Mac, ending the conversation.

The two returned back inside, hearing Granny’s suggestion and making their way to their respective orchards. One annoyed and one with a bothered mind; Applejack kept bucking tree after tree until she missed the tree she was aiming for and landing flat on the ground.

She groaned from hitting the ground hard, flipping herself so her back faced the ground. She stared at the blue sky and the passing clouds, her mind muddled with what she’s learned today.

Oh Applejack… What have you done?

Elsewhere at the South-Western Orchard

Big Mac bucked a tree, causing a score of apples to fall down into the baskets. So far he managed to get a quarter of the orchard done… even if it were with some extra help. Surprisingly, Eclipse while smaller than Big Mac, was able to buck a good portion of trees, but no surprise as he was an earth pony too.

Eclipse was currently bucking a tree and instead of checking if each apple had made it into the basket – which all of them had – he moved onto the next tree and bucked it without hesitation. This process continued until he was matching the number of trees as Big Mac, possibly more.

The stallions were working tirelessly, untilBig Mac took the time to take a break, deciding to take a drink of some apple juice he brought with him. The jug of apple juice was on a box settled by a cart that held baskets of apples. Eclipse came by too to rest, going for a glass, until realizing that there was only one cup.

The two stallions looked at one another, before Eclipse sighed and went back to bucking more trees. Big Mac expected the stallion to be annoyed, but he kept that simple bored look and for once it aggravated Big Mac as just like how many ponies have difficulty what he’s thinking, he can’t seem to get an idea what this stallion is thinking either.

“Ehem,” said Big Mac, getting Eclipse’s attention.

“Hmmm, is there something you need Big Mac?” asked Eclipse.

Big Mac for a moment looked at his glass, then back at Eclipse, for the longest time he didn’t want anypony to split his family apart, or harm them, so he tried his darnedest to keep everypony together. So having this stallion come out of nowhere and giving this proposition to use their apples and easily have his sister’s approval this quickly was suspicious at first, but so far this stallion has been working hard showing he knows how to handle some hoof-to-hoof activities. The fact he hasn’t tired this easily this far shows he ain’t some weak pony either… so Big Mac gave some slack to the stallion.

Big Mac extended his glass of apple juice to the stallion, waiting for him to take it. Eclipse glanced at the glass and as he reached for it, he passed it and went for the jug. Big Mac became curious what he was going to do with the jug when the obsidian stallion stared at the jug and tossed its contents into the air.

With a swift motion, Eclipse opened his mouth and swallowed all of the apple juice with a single gulp, before placing the jug away. With a content and satisfied grunt he looked up at a shocked and impressed Big Mac at his sudden feat.

“...I was thirsty… that and I really love apple juice.”

Big Mac raised a brow before laughing until it grew to an uproarious laughter which was joined by a very confused Eclipse.

“Is… something wrong?”

“Heheheh, enope,” said Big Mac, with a grin.

The two stallion’s continued their bucking for the rest of the morning, until they all returned their side of the orchard’s apples back to the barn.

Ponyville, Sweet Apple Acres, Apples’ Barn; 11:15am

Applejack came back with a cart of apples until she spotted two familiar figures, her brother and Eclipse, the two talking to each other in a friendly and jovial matter… well one was friendly and jovial while the other kept their professional and simple expression on him. Eclipse waved a hoof of farewell to Big Mac before approaching Applejack.

“It was nice helping with your brother Applejack, but I must get back to my store, I open sometime in the afternoon. Have a good apple harvest and afternoon, I’ll come by later to pick up my portion of the apples I collected, they’re the ones near your brother.”

Eclipse made his way down the dirt path and while Applejack watched him leave, she was approached by Big Mac. The big stallion looked down at his sister which Applejack looked back with a smug look, the stallion snorted but still smiling from earlier.

“Soooo… What you think of him?” asked Applejack.

“...Swell pony… You know how to find them don’cha sis,” said Big Mac, with his own smug grin.

Applejack blushed lightly, before playfully punching Big Mac on his withers. “Big Mac!”

The two apple siblings laughed off their sibling behavior, going back to clearing the remaining parts of the apple orchards and other choirs that remained.

Around the same time as them, Eclipse trotted down the dirt path, humming a tune when something shuffling to his right came from some bushes.

Gazing at the source of the noise, a small creature popped out with beady eyes, four small but sharp paws and a tiny snout. The creature looked up at Eclipse with curiosity behind those surprisingly intelligent eyes, before it began to run past him, dropping something on his hooves.

Eclipse reached down to pick the object up, taking a close examination of what it dropped, it was a simple core of an apple. Looking back at where the creature ran off to, Eclipse began to ponder something in his mind that he spoke with the elder apple matron and the young Applebloom about.

“I met friends, acquaintances… but most importantly, I met those important to me...”

It appears I didn’t come here alone… just what exactly are you doing here…

Luella.

Author's Note

A visit of business - a visit of deals to be made - as a meal is taken to together with uneasy minds. A question of family... of memories long old - of a life that had happened... but can never happen again. So an old friend appears... but why... and for whom?

Thoughts: Applejack
Eclipse Light

Narration/Dialogue: Eclipse Light

Building A Home, & Maintaining One (Edited)

Ponyville, Eclipse’s Property; 6:15am

The second dawn reached the sleepy town of Ponyville, the only ponies who were awake this time would be Applejack and her family… except there was another pony who was awake this time… well, he woke up earlier than the Apple Family does. Eclipse was snoozing on his hammock peacefully until he moved his weight to one side of the hammock, causing him to tip himself off the makeshift bed. Landing face-first onto the ground, he made a muffled noise before raising his head with his hooves tangled in the hammock.

“...Who turned on the lights?” asked Eclipse to himself, mumbling.

Taking notice of his surroundings, he remembered yesterday’s events and proceeded to get up groggily. After half moving and crawling toward his wagon, he pulled out the beverage given to him by Pinkie which was just a colored liquid now. Luckily it was still cold, so with a swift motion, he gulped down the whole thing in a single fluid move. With a content sigh and his eyes brightening with energy, the stallion did some stretches for a good minute before going with a simple jog that a quadrupedal being could do.

Maybe I should go for a morning jog around town, to get better used to the town’s surroundings.

Eclipse began to leave, as he headed first to Ponyville; the stallion followed a predetermined route, going down the rest of the dirt path to the bridge that led to the town square. Circling around the town hall and going past some buildings, he went going by the main and side streets, before going through town hall again and followed the main streets again. After following an almost zig-zag pattern, he ended his jog right in front of Sugarcube Corner, stopping slowly before checking inside.

The building was still closed, but inside the shop it was surprisingly clean, possibly cleaned by Pinkie after Eclipse and Fluttershy left last night. Seeing nopony inside Eclipse made his way onward, following another street that led him to more streets before ending up by Carousel Boutique, then the park, finally making his way back home.

The stallion didn’t seem too tired but was breathing a bit, before relaxing by sitting under the shade of a tree even though the sun was barely up, some shadows managed to be seen, until he steadied his breathing a little.

Blinking away the exhaustion, he stood back up and moved to his tool chest to retrieve the tools for today. “Time to get to work.”

Ponyville, Fluttershy’s Cottage; 9:00am

Fluttershy had woken up a few minutes ago and did her morning rituals and schedule; she fed Angel and the other animals, made sure the chickens came out of their coop, checked her bear friend, Harry, and checked the birds and their bird houses, following all of this with going out afterwards.

While the butterscotch mare barely went out other than to shop for food, this wasn’t the reason why she was going out. The mare was heading to her newest neighbor, Eclipse; the stallion while odd, was nice in his own way and the two shared a similar trait about them, they liked their solitude. While Fluttershy was a bit unsociable against new ponies, Eclipse seemed to be just distant, it still didn’t change the fact they were shy in their own ways.

Another reason she wanted to visit was to help Eclipse build his home, while the night wasn’t too cold, she didn’t want him to sleep outside again. With a determined look in her eyes she made her way to Eclipse’s when she heard the telltale sign of a hammer hitting nails.

He’s up already? I thought he be asleep or waking up now.

Following the path she used before when she first met Eclipse, she saw the stallion hammering on the planks, but this time he had down twice the amount of work already. He had built one wall, and was working on another that had a hole for a window to be fitted.

Eclipse stopped his hammering as he spotted Fluttershy, putting down the tool, he gave his signature flat look but nodded in greeting toward Fluttershy. “Good morning, Miss Shy,” said Eclipse.

“Hello Eclipse, you’re up early… not there’s anything wrong with that,” said Fluttershy.

“Well I didn’t intend to wake so soon, but the sun had other plans. I did have some time to go for an early jog and managed to complete a good portion of my home… I actually might have something for you to do, if you would like.”

Fluttershy perked up at helping him, coming closer to know what he needed. After a quick trot toward Eclipse, the stallion placed his hoof under his muzzle in thought of what could he have Fluttershy do.

“I guess while I’m busy with this, you mind unpacking a bit of my belongings. Specifically I need those crates with the symbol of a seed on it, the rest you don’t have to bother with for now.” Fluttershy turned to face the wagon, seeing a couple of those crates already. “Once you managed to open them, I need you to pull out one packet of seeds from each crate. After that pour them into a clay pot, which I have in the far back of the wagon and simply place the emptied packet in front of what pot you pour those seeds from. I’m planning on making a small farm just some ways there,” said Eclipse.

Pointing to some open stretch of land, Fluttershy understood and flew toward the wagon; the crates weren’t that big and enough for her to lift, but as to how she was suppose to open them is when she started to have problems.

“Oh I almost forgot,” said Eclipse, busy with the building. “The crowbar should be by the pots somewhere, if you can’t find it I’ll help you look for it.”

Fluttershy nodded in thanks, then speaking back. “Thank you Eclipse and thank you for letting me help… Not that you couldn’t done this alone,” said Fluttershy, a tad quietly near the end.

Eclipse didn’t hear or ignored what Fluttershy said as he continued working. The next couple of minutes, the noises of crates opening and nails being hammered was heard for the rest of the morning.

Ponyville; 9:30am

After the party, Pinkie opened Sugarcube Corner and began the day as usual for herself, baking sweets and selling them. It was around that same time that her friends came inside to pick her up to visit Eclipse and see if he needs any help with building his home.

“Big Mac was fine with me seeing this new pony, we’re almost done with the harvest, that and the Apple Family Reunion is coming up too, so Granny Smith said it would be fine for me to take a break. I still feel like they need my help though,” said Applejack.

“Oh Applejack, you stress yourself too much, you should come with me and Fluttershy this Thursday for a nice day in the spa,” said Rarity.

“I’m fine with just resting under a tree Rarity.”

“Speaking of rest, I don’t see why you guys had to wake me from my nap like that.”

“You mean when you were lazying on one of my family’s trees, again?”

Rainbow kept quiet, whistling innocently as she kept her eyes away from Applejack who was glowering at her. Pinkie intervened by grabbing the two around their necks for a tight hug.

“Ahhh, don’t argue with each other Dashie and AJ! We’re going to see our new friend, Ipsy!”

“Ipsy? Darling I don’t think its right to be giving him a nickname so soon, especially since he was adamant with us using his proper name.”

“Don’t worry Rarity, he seemed fine with me calling him Ipsy, besides he calls you and Fluttershy, Lady and Miss,” said Pinkie, pointing out their own titles.

“Well… its different when he does it to us,” said Rarity, a light blush on her cheeks.

The three friends laugh at their friend’s embarrassment; they went down the path to Fluttershy’s until they came across where Eclipse would be living. It was at that same moment they found Fluttershy pouring some seed packets into some clay pots.

Fluttershy after pouring the last packet of seeds, heard some movement behind her and when she turned, she spotted her friends. “Girls,” said Fluttershy meekly as she flew toward them. “What are you doing here… if you don’t mind?”

Rainbow flew up to her close friend to greet her before speaking. “We’re just here to see Eclipse and see if he needs any help. Where is he anyway?” Rainbow looked around and couldn’t see the stallion.

Fluttershy looked behind her and also noticed he wasn’t there any longer; while Fluttershy was busy working, Eclipse managed to bring up all four walls, leaving only the front door, roof and windows unfinished.

“I think he went to the lake’s shore for sand,” said Fluttershy, rubbing her chin in thought. “He mentioned using it to make glass.”

“Glass? How is he going to make glass, he’s an earth pony, I thought you can only make glass as a unicorn?”

“That isn’t completely true, Miss Dash.” Eclipse appeared behind a tree with two bags full of sand.

“Don’t call me Miss, just Rainbow… or Dash… but not, Miss.”

“Sorry, I assumed you’d be alright by a given title, of that I am sorry. I see yourself, Pinkie and Applejack are the more… ‘casual’ types.”

Rainbow deepened her stare, almost close to a glare but keeping a normal look in her eyes. “What is that supposed to mean?” asked Rainbow, conspiratorially.

Eclipse trotted past her toward a small stove, after grabbing a panel of some kind, he placed different materials into it, mostly sand and two other ingredients. After pushing the panel into the stove and turning it on and placing some wood, he grabbed something from his satchel.

“Well I know many ponies have various personality types; some are brash, others quiet, some have exquisite tastes, others more of a country flair, and other times… some simply keep to themselves.”

Eclipse pulled out something nopony has ever seen before, a red pulsing crystal or gem of some kind. The glow it gave off was truly unique and seemed to give off a warmth to it… as if it were a flame.

It didn’t went unnoticed as Rarity and Pinkie gave their own reactions, one was intrigued and inspired by the gem while the other simply liked the pulsing glowing it gave off. “Ohhhh, preettty,” said Pinkie, following the glow like a moth toward a bright light.

“Are you calling me brash!” Rainbow didn’t seem to care about the crystal as she zoomed right up to Eclipse, snout pushed towards his; Eclipse was unfazed while Rainbow was pissed off at his lack of emotion. “Ever since you came here, you been throwing a lot of comments, most directed at me! If you got a problem with me, then why don’t you just say it!?”

Fluttershy gasped, worried about her new friend and old one would fight, while Applejack was ready to stop Rainbow from doing anything stupid. Eclipse glanced back at the enraged pegasus, still holding onto the gem with an almost care-free grasp.

After a lengthy time, Eclipse responded, but not the way anypony expected. “Your assumptions aren’t something you should follow Rainbow Dash,” said Eclipse, using her full name. “It’ll lead you to a world of trouble if you rush head-first without the slightest grasp of caution.”

Eclipse turned away from Rainbow for a split second… a move that wasn’t a good choice when against somepony like Dash. With fury in her eyes and blinded by it, she did the first thing she would do to somepony who in her eyes was taunting her – she swatted away the red gem on his hoof.

Time seemed to slow down as the gem tumbled into a patch of grass. “SAY THAT AGAIN, SAY IT, I DARE YO-” Before Dash could finish what she was about to say, a pillar of intense flames appeared where she swatted the gem to.

The flames seemed to grow wild and consume anything it could reach… or it would until Eclipse stopped it. Everypony seemed to back away from the flames, but Eclipse calmly approached the fire. “Eclipse! Get back here, you’re going to get cooked if you go near those flames!” shouted Applejack, trying to reach for the stallion.

Before she could though, Eclipse reached the flames… and then they faltered. Within his hoof was the red gem, leaving behind charcoal and a blackened spot in the grass. Everypony stared at Eclipse, especially Dash after he trotted past her to stop the flames.

Eclipse glanced at the crystal before finally placing it in the stove, which caused a controlled fire to begin. After closing the stove securely, he looked at the ponies around him before calmly approaching Rainbow.

“Rainbow, while I may seem like I’m insulting you with what I may say… I am simply stating things I can understand about someone… I have difficulty connecting with others and better understand with a more… ‘direct’ way of contact. Sometimes this method of mine can be a bit… insensitive or other times, I may make more enemies than friends. I’m sorry if I harmed your feelings or yourself in anyway.” Eclipse did a light bow before going back to his tools and a pile of wood.

Rainbow stared with a faraway look before shaking it away and flying up to Eclipse and helping him carry some wood. “Uh yeah… and I’m sorry for… thinking you were some rude stallion too...”

“No harm done, though to be truthful, if I was really angry I’d explode like an inferno,” said Eclipse, a small grin on his muzzle.

At first nopony caught on until two ponies, one who knows Eclipse’s infamy for puns and Pinkie who herself likes a good pun, giggled. Everypony else giggled too except for Rainbow who had a dumbfounded look.

“...I don’t get it, why’s everypony laughing?”

“Nothin Dash, nothing you need to worry yourself about. Now Eclipse, I see you got some seeds here, so I’m assuming you gonna make yourself a farm?”

“Indeed, if it would be kind of you, I’d like if you would make a fenced area so I can prepare some seeds. I believe… one-hundred meters by eighty meters will do, please. You can grab some wood and tools over there.”

“All righty, time to get to work!” The apple farmer tilted her stetson to block the sun so she can better see, heading toward the pile of wood that Dash was collecting.

Eclipse nodded in thanks before looking at the remaining three mares. “Lady Rarity, yourself and Pinkie could help carry some of my belongings outside my home near the front door. Fluttershy, you can help Rainbow, I need you two to help prepare the roof; after that you can help Applejack with the fence. I’ll be right back, I need to go get some more of my things.”

“Wait, you got more stuff? Yeesh, you carry more things when Rarity wanted to visit Canterlot for that opening for those fancy clothes,” said Rainbow, holding a good pile of wood.

“Rainbow! I do not carry too much stuff… only what I need.”

“You mean the piles on piles of luggage?” Applejack asked from an open patch of land.

The friends began to do some short conversation while Eclipse trotted off down the path that leads to Fluttershy’s. While he left, a random thought came to Pinkie’s head that for once… made sense. “Hey… Why’s he going to Fluttershy’s, all that’s there is the Everfree?”

At that moment every single one of the mares, stopped what they were doing and rushed where Eclipse went just some moments ago. “ECLIPSE!”

The girls went down the same path Eclipse took and while Rainbow went ahead, she couldn’t find him or see where he went. The path only lead to Fluttershy’s and was one of the entry ways to the Everfree… well one of the more safer entry ways. Entering the Everfree outside of the given pathways were dangerous due to some of the wildlife being within the trees.

Rainbow stopped and flew up to see if he can see the stallion until she saw something shift in some trees in the Everfree. Flying back to her friends, Rainbow pointed out seeing something move in the forest.

“Girls, I think Eclipse is over there, why the heck is his stuff even in the Everfree in the first place?!”

“I’m wondering about something else, I didn’t seem to see him come into town from the train station and considering Rarity was the first pony to see him and not Pinkie-”

“I was busy finding Mayor Mare,” said Pinkie, interrupting Applejack.

“Again, odd that he met Rarity first, I’m wondering if he came here by train and if not… then how he got here with so much stuff?”

That question would be answered later, as the trees that Rainbow mentioned began to sway and move. The girls ready for something to come out, found Eclipse’s head popped out from the shrubbery, some leaves and twigs in his mane.

“Eclipse, you scared us! Why did you went to the Everfree like that, you could of told us your belongings were in there?” asked Fluttershy.

Eclipse trotted a bit with another wagon strapped to him. “I’m sorry about my sudden leave, I just remembered to tell you girls that I came through the Everfree and left some of my belonging in there.”

“YOU CAME HERE FROM THE EVERFREE!” shouted Rarity. “Sorry to scream but, why would you go through such a dangerous place and how did you managed to get through unharmed?”

“Again, I am new to Equestria, when I found out the forest was dangerous I made sure to be extra careful afterwords. So far I managed to follow a safe path and keep any deadly predators away by masking my presence.”

“And how did you hide yourself anyway?” asked Applejack, curious.

Eclipse pulled out another crystal that was a dark purple, the crystal too glowed its own color and seemed to give an almost mysterious feel to it, staring at it almost felt like you were in a dark room or surrounded in darkness. It didn’t give anypony the creeps, but the glow itself seemed to give a shiver, due to the weirdness and not instinctual fear.

“Umm, that won’t burst into flames… will it?” asked Rainbow.

“No, this one allows a user to have their presence invisible to any beings. The only way you can be revealed is through a concentrated search spell,” said Eclipse. “I had enough to keep myself cloaked until I made it to Ponyville. Now again I am sorry, but since everypony is here, mind helping me bring these back.”

“Sure darling, we’d love to help,” said Rarity. Eclipse stepped out of the bushes with another wagon… then another, and another, and another, and another. This continued until Eclipse came out with literally eight wagons and with the one he brought yesterday that’s a total of nine wagons. The wagons were connected together with a strong chain almost connected like a train cart. “...you… Oh my.”

“Whoa! That’s a lot of wagons, you’re really strong Ipsy!” said Pinkie.

“How are you not tired?” asked Applejack, a little shocked but not surprised.

“Well if you must know I am actually feeling a little sleepy, I travel at night and rest in the day since it is more safer to do so… that and I travel alone.”

“Forget everything I said about you Eclipse, you’re awesome! You gotta tell me some stories about your travels, I bet you must of fought some badass beasts before!”

“I might… but you mind helping,” said Eclipse, yawning. “I feel the need to rest...” Before Eclipse could continue speaking he nodded off, quietly sleeping as he stood with several wagons strapped to him.

The girls could only stare at the odd sight until Fluttershy helped removing the straps from him and held him up as she slung his leg over her. “I think we should take a break now.” The girls each laughed, before taking some wagons to move; Applejack took a good majority of four, Rainbow two, Pinkie two, and Rarity took the two that seemed to have the least stuff to her perspective back to Eclipse’s property.

Canterlot; Canterlot Castle, Throne Room; 10:00am

Today’s morning duties would begin soon, starting with morning court… well, today’s hearing as nopony comes to night court for different reasons but mostly due to the late hour. In the past centuries Celestia would stay for all three hours during night court, but now she stays for either an hour or half knowing nopony would come but still stay until readying for sleep.

Celestia busied herself with reading some scrolls sent by various towns and cities, or sometimes listen to the whims of somepony, most commonly a noble complaining but today was simply reading scrolls from different places.

Raise taxes in Manehatten; denied.

Celestia read through different scrolls, mostly throwing the large red-x on it for no, moving to the next.

Increase income for higher-class ponies; denied.

Punish a stallion for insulting my clothes; denied.

Suing somepony for breaking up with me; definitely denied.

But occasionally… some good requests would come once in awhile.

Promote helping new construction for hospital in Trottingham; approved. Celestia smiled knowing some ponies aren’t as self-centered, that there was still some good ponies out there. Going through some more scrolls, Celestia came upon an interesting one.

From the mayor of Ponyville, I wonder what she needs. Reading the scroll, it listed a few things but, the most interesting thing was a request for a few things for a specific pony.

Request for a trader’s license and citizen license for a…

“Eclipse Light?” asked Celestia to herself.

Celestia’s aide and secretary, Raven Inkwell trots up to her with an inquisitive look. “Is something the matter princess?” asked Raven.

“No… but could you do a name search for a… Eclipse Light, please,” said Celestia, continuing to read the scroll.

“Of course, it will be just a moment.” As Raven left, Celestia continued to read the scroll and what it followed about this Eclipse Light.

A new pony known as Eclipse Light has moved to Ponyville; he isn’t born here, but he’s a normal Earth pony. He wishes to live here and bought his own land and plans to build whatever he wants there. He also requests a trader’s license in order for him to sell some wares he has from his travels outside of Equestria. He isn’t the shady-type from my first meeting with him and may improve Ponyville with what he may sell, I also would like to request some sources of specific items that Eclipse requested from me to you, the items he wish to find are listed below:

Reading below, Celestia raised her brow and how the contents relate to one another.

“Fourteen bags of sugar, two barrels of spring water and ice water, five to six bags of any kind of fruit (apples, pears, cherries, etc.) and… ten crates of… potatoes,” said Celestia, with a tilt of her head. “Who in Equestria is this pony?”

At that moment Raven returned with a forlorn look, Celestia put away the scroll to listen to Raven’s report. “Have you found any information on this pony?”

“Sad to say no, we searched everywhere from the Canterlot registry, birth certificates for every city and town, and even checked any small towns that aren’t listed in the map but nothing. It is unlikely this pony could be from outside Equestria as all ponies are born inside Equestria and it is rare for somepony to live outside the borders.”

“Indeed, after the unification of the tribes, all ponies were born here and were barely found to be living outside its borders, due to staying together back in those days. Nowadays nopony dares to leave due to fear of the outside world and the other races… most ponies have become ignorant of what’s beyond with only a few curious or explorative types knowing more than pony society.”

“To have somepony from outside of Equestria appear in the middle of Equestria, to have zero information about them, and suddenly appears this close to the capital without being noticed… Something is fishy...” Celestia stroked her chin before looking back at the scroll and finishing the remaining parts written.

Another interesting thing I should mention about this stallion, while he is quite a gentle-colt, he seems to have an air of mystique to him… there are also another thing I must note. During my short interview with him, when he told me his age… I was somewhat surprised, he is surprisingly young and the fact he says he was born outside of Equestria I would think he was lying… though… when I mentioned any external family here in Equestria… He seems to be quiet for awhile but shrugged it off… If it is possible, I would like to request for something else… a welcome to Ponyville gift to say. I thank you for reading this and would be honored if you accept these requests.

From the mayor of Ponyville; Mayor Mare.

Celestia thought about this very interesting request and after some lengthy thoughts, she accepted it to see how this will go.

“Raven, please follow what this scroll says and send it to Ponyville. Also… ask one of the blacksmiths to come here… there’s something I need to ask him to make.”

“Of course Princess Celestia, I’ll have it done before the day ends,” said Raven, leaving the throne room.

After that Celestia continued reading the next couple of scrolls, thinking of a few stray thoughts. I wonder how this stallion and Twilight will first meet, they’ll meet each other soon in the coming month.

Some time after carrying the numerous wagons and lifting Eclipse back to his hammock, the girls decided to take a break themselves, but became curious and decided to rummage through Eclipse’s belongings.

“Are you sure we should do this, I don’t think Eclipse will be happy we’re going through his things,” said Fluttershy.

“Don’t worry Fluttershy, besides he told Pinkie and I we can carry his things to his new home, but it doesn’t mean we can’t see what these things are,” said Rarity, going through one of the wagons she was moving.

Each wagon had Eclipse’s cutie mark on each side and on the front was a sign written what was inside. The first wagon that Eclipse brought was “Construction”, the other eight from order of who brought them; the ones Applejack brought from first to last were “Food”, “Furnishings”, “Workshop”, and “Farm A”; Rainbow carried “Farm B” and “Equipment”; Pinkie carried “Ingredients” and “Alchemy”; finally Rarity carried “Crystals” and “Personal”.

“Yeesh, Eclipse sure owns a lot of stuff, I wonder how many bits he has?”

“Rainbow, don’t even think about it.”

“I wasn’t going to take anything of his, I just said sorry to him I’m not going to start getting him on my bad side… besides, I’m pretty sure he won’t mind me looking through his stuff.” Rainbow rummaged through the wagon listed as “Equipment”. “Now what do we got here?”

Applejack gave up and decided to look through the wagon called “Workshop”. Pinkie decided to go through his “Food” wagon while Rarity busied levitating out those strange gems from the “Crystal” wagon. Fluttershy decided to sit beside the sleeping Eclipse on the hammock, pushing the hammock with a light push of her wings every couple of seconds.

I’m sorry Eclipse, my friends can be… a bit curious, but I promise not to go through your things.

“OH HECK YEAH! Look at this!” Fluttershy looked up and saw something that made the blood in her face drain away. Rainbow was wielding the most scariest sword she has ever seen, the hilt was a strange design of a creature she has never seen before, the blade itself was pitch black and just gave off a menacing feeling from just looking at it, and it didn’t help it was twice the size of Rainbow. Her friend barely could lift it so she leaned it against the wagon to get a good look of it.

Applejack came by with a welding mask on, lifting it to show her face, whistling. “Wow, now that’s a sword, I wonder what kind of creature wielded that?”

“Well its way too big for a minotaur that’s for sure!” said Rainbow, amazed at the weapon’s size. “I bet Eclipse got this from some strange creature or something.”

“Darlings you must look at these gems, they’re simply divine. I wonder if Eclipse would let me use them for my dresses,” said Rarity. Fluttershy glanced at her friend and found Rarity organizing the gems by size, color, and shine, already having them in several piles.

“Om nom nom nom nom!”

Everypony looked to find Pinkie devouring a very juicy watermelon whole, before reaching for a buttered bagel. “His food is tasty too!” said Pinkie, stuffing something else in her mouth.

“Well I am famished, maybe we should eat something,” said Applejack.

“And what exactly may I ask are you planning to do with my food?” Everypony froze, looking at the now awake Eclipse, who somehow got out of the hammock without getting Fluttershy’s attention. “To answer all your questions first; Rainbow I received that weapon during my youth when I had to fight a mighty warrior, Applejack the creature that I met was the last of its kind sadly, and Rarity those crystals similar to the red one are dangerous and aren’t meant to be used for making designer clothes… and the one you’re holding can cause lightning.”

Rarity immediately dropped the one she held in her magic, slowly stepping away from the now dangerous but pretty gems. “Well, it appears I have lost all interest on these gems,” said Rarity joining the others. “How about we eat something?”

“It’s fine for you to eat my food, some of it will expire and it will be awhile for the glass to form and cool. I’ll see if I can find some proper fire crystals to make a fire...”

“Fire… Crystal?” asked Fluttershy.

Eclipse glanced at the group and a realization came to him, having forgotten about it due to easily being distracted. “Ah I forgot, these crystals are element crystals, I found a good number of them throughout my travels and can make them, though it’s a lengthy time and takes a lot of resources to do so. The red one is a fire crystal, enabling to create flames and used for heating, funny story how I found this one, I was trying to traverse a volcano infested land when I stumbled into a cluster of the things… nearly cooked myself.” Eclipse grinned at the memory, placing the fire crystal surrounded by some sticks and logs, making a ready-made fireplace.

After gathering some food from the wagon, they prepared a few things and set up a fold-able table and chairs. Applejack began cutting up some ingredients while Pinkie began setting some plates and utensils, Eclipse on the other hoof was grabbing something from the wagon, moving aside a crate full of fruits until he reached for a jug with a spigot stuck into it.

Carrying the jug to the table, he placed it gently down before grabbing cups for everypony, Rainbow moved up to Eclipse to ask him what he brought.

“Uh, what’s with the jug, you got some kind of special water or something?”

“Well no, this is my special blend of something I been trying to experiment… It’s one of the reasons why I’m here opening my own trading shop here.”

This caught Applejack’s attention, reaching for a cup and opening the tap, pouring herself a drink, what came out was a pinkish liquid which wafted a sweet aroma. This caught everypony’s attention after smelling the sweet smell… of something.

“Whoa… This stuff is strong, what is this?” asked Applejack, taking a sniff.

“Take a sip, I want to see your opinion of it, I’ve been trying and failing to see if I can get it just right...”

Applejack raised a brow at that before shrugging it off; with a quick sip the flavor of the drink entered her system. The taste was… indescribable, it had a fruity and bubbly taste to it but at the same time there was a faint taste of… something.

“What… is this stuff? Its… its…”

“Fruity, bubbly… with something added that can’t be described,” said Eclipse, explaining the thoughts she had.

“Yeah… but what is this drink called?”

“Something I like to call, Flavor Soda, its a combination of three ingredients, with one of them being various fruits depending on what kind of flavor the drink would be, the soda in this jug is peach-flavored. I’m planning on selling these drinks here in Ponyville and hopefully branch outward, its also is a good idea to practice my skills.”

“Skills, what kind of skills require making soda?” asked Rainbow.

“Ever heard of Alchemy?”

“Oh oh oh!” said Pinkie, raising her hoof up. After getting their attention, she began to join them grabbing a cup for herself. “Its that thing to make potions right, I heard nopony does it anymore since unicorns and all and that any teachings of it were lost. I heard about it from one of the elder ponies, he said he used to have a friend who makes potions but stopped due to his age. How did you learn to make potions?”

“That… that is a long story, but to put it at short the teachings of alchemy interested me… its how I got this,” said Eclipse, pointing at his flank. Eclipse’s cutie mark was again complicating to understand, but it made sense that it would relate to alchemy, even though nopony knew or understood it.

“That’s a lovely goal Eclipse, but are you sure you can do that all alone, I mean, new ideas aren’t quickly accepted, especially in Equestria, it took centuries for ponies to see Celestia not as a holy goddess and while some still do, many see her as somepony approachable when capable.”

“I know, but I am prepared for everything, I already have sent some agreements with those who have the supplies I need to make my products. I’ve also asked Mayor Mare if she can have Celestia give me a license of trade and to see if there are other sources I can use.”

“You really are planning on selling this stuff, probably better than my apple cider if it tastes this good.”

“Nothing could beat your cider AJ, how good can this stuff be.” It was when they heard loud slurping and turned to see Pinkie drinking multiple cups of the soda before opening the tap and drinking it like water.

“Pinkie! That is no way for a lady to act!” Pinkie paused, turning off the tap before hopping off to prepare the food.

The girls shared a laugh at their friends silliness before continuing to prepare the food. After some time, they began to eat and join in small talk. They later continued with helping Eclipse preparing his new home and finished later in the afternoon, the sun slowly setting over the horizon.

The building was smaller than everypony thought, as it consisted of one floor and one room and while the inside hasn’t been fully furnished, Eclipse had made a storage building to keep his wagons and things in. A shed was built beside his home but he hasn’t explained the purpose of what it was for; a bed was placed in the corner with another corner of the room being the kitchen. A round table with two chairs were in the center of the room with some shelves and drawers on the right wall for belongings.

Odd enough, the one wagon that wasn’t cleared off was the one with the crystals. The crystals while being dangerous, glowed a brilliant arrange of lights of various colors. Rarity stared at them hungrily, multiple inspiring ideas flooding her mind. It was at that moment that she felt something, looking down it was the same crystal from before that she was interested in.

She stared at the strange glow it gave off and was reaching for it, when a hoof stopped her; the hoof belonged to Eclipse, who was looking at her with a cautious stare.

“I’d rather you not take any of these crystals, not only are they rare but dangerous when not handled properly… Now I know that you out of your friends are passionate about what you love to do and while I can’t give you these crystals, there are other things I can give you.”

Eclipse led Rarity to follow him and entering the storage building, rummaging through some things, Eclipse pulled out a box, it looked more like a chest than a box and brought it to Rarity. “What is this?” asked Rarity.

“Think of it as a thank you gift for welcoming me to Ponyville and helping me these past two days,” said Eclipse. Opening the chest, inside was jewels and gems of various size, but the most astonishing thing wasn’t the gems but a beautiful roll of silk that seemed to glow like the moon.

Rarity was shocked at what was inside the chest, feeling the silk and how soft it was while the beauty of the gems themselves were like the stars in the sky.

“I… I can’t accept this, its a wonderful gesture you’re showing to me but...”

Rarity bit her lower lip, the things in the chest were enough to make a new set of dresses and the silk was just glamorous, though accepting something like this was a bit much… however.

It be rude to not accept a gift like this. “I’ll accept it, but I’ll use what you given me to make you the finest suit ever, I won’t take any complaints, alright.”

Eclipse thought about this for a moment but nodded in agreement. “That seems like a fair arrangement, how long will it take to make this suit?”

“Well I need to take your measurements and see what’s to your liking of course, it may take a few weeks but I promise you’ll love it.”

Rarity used her levitation to carry the chest and trotted away happily, back outside, the girls said their farewells and went back home to continue with their daily lives. While everypony went off, Eclipse went inside his new home and began to pull out a case. The case was old and made of blackened wood but whether it was black due to age or not was up for debate. Inside was something strange, the object looked like a weapon but the oddity was what Eclipse did with it next.

Eclipse reached the strange weapon with his hoof, before doing an action impossible for a race without any appendages to grip with. With a twirl the weapon spun on top his hoof, before it began spinning around his leg as if something was keeping it around his hoof. After that Eclipse gripped the weapon with his hoof, holding it like a griffin or minotaur would hold something with their claw or hand.

Taking a closer look, the weapon was surprisingly detailed for something that simple; the handle had a spiraling strap made of a rough material, an emblem between where the blade and handle were connected showed a black whirlpool with a white star in the center, the blade was jagged and seemed to show it was meant to leave deadly wounds than to pierce, the metal was pointed and seemed to zig-zag with a strange pattern.

Strange runes were carved onto one side of the weapon, but the other side had coherent words written. “‘ To curse my enemies, I leave a piece of me, for nothing to remain, but void’,” said Eclipse, reading the line engraved on the weapon. “I think I should unpack the rest of my belongings… but first, Mayor Mare should have received news from Canterlot. Asking her for any news about my citizenship and trader’s license have been accepted.”

Placing the dangerous weapon away into the aged case, he slid it back where he brought it out, and trotted out his home. Quickly locking the door with a key, he placed the key away into a saddle-bag, he began bringing with him to visit town hall.

Ponyville; Town Hall, Mayor Mare’s Office; 12:30pm

Mayor Mare busied doing what any mayor would do, writing down any important events that occurred at Ponyville, reading any recent news across Equestria, and signing agreements that range from business, supplies to be delivered, and any future events to be planned, when a light knock came to her doors. Putting her quill away and placing both front hooves on the table, she sat straight on her seat.

“Come in,” said Mayor Mare, with a simple smile.

The door swung open to reveal Eclipse, he had a saddle-bag strapped around his barrel and trotted toward the mayor before standing on all fours. “Hello, Mayor Mare, I came by to ask if any news of my citizenship or my license has come by?” asked Eclipse, patiently.

Mayor Mare understood and sat up to trot to some file cabinets, going through some lettered drawers, opening one listed as E, the mayor pulled out several files before carrying them and placing them into two separate piles.

“Here are your citizenship papers, you’ll need to keep these for future agreements to come and here are your license papers, I just need you to sign here,” said Mayor Mare, giving Eclipse a quill. Signing some signatures down, she led him to sign several more things before stacking the papers into a neat pile. “And with that, you are an official citizen of Equestria and a member of the trader’s society, you have access to owning your own caravan and selling your wares as long you have a permit on you. If you want to learn more you can at the trading guild located at Canterlot. If there’s anything else I can help you with, simply ask.”

Mayor Mare smiled a helpful smile which Eclipse responded with a nod, but before he exited he stopped to face her. “Oh, do you have those requests I asked for, the ones if there are any places here or in Equestria that has the required materials and ingredients I asked for?”

At this she remembered and surfed through some of the pile before pulling three papers for Eclipse. “While nothing so far outside of Ponyville, I did receive some suggestions from the local populace. Sugarcube Corner has a good amount of sugar to give and can give you the details of where they get their supply from. Sweet Apple Acres can sell its apples and other produce they have too if you make a deal with them, but I should warn you that the only pony they ever have a deal with isFilthy Rich. Finally, the last thing you requested...”

The mayor became quiet for a time to read what was listed on Eclipse’s request as this item would be difficult to find or rather… get.

“There’s none here in Ponyville… but I did some research and found some notes of a researcher who came here years back. What you’re looking for is in the Everfree Forest… but I have to warn you, that going there is dangerous and I’d recommend if you do plan to go, that you at least ready yourself and pre-plan going.”

Eclipse rubbed his chin in thought and accepted that agreement. “Of course, I’ll need to get a few things ready in a week if I plan going, get a map of the Everfree and some supplies. I thank you again for doing this in advance, I’ll promise to give a discount to my wares to you once I get my business set up.” Eclipse bowed in thanks and respect, taking his leave with the documents. “Have a good afternoon, Mayor Mare.”

Mayor Mare waved farewell to her newest occupant before going back to her work. I wonder what sort of wares he’ll sell… maybe I might indulge myself in what he’ll have.

Author's Note

A place of safety, of familiarity - that is what a home is. It is here where the beginning began; where it all started... and where it will all end. Creating something requires patience and persistence, as nothing can be done from inaction... but every creation has two sides - the face the creator uses and the side the creator still must learn to control... Both sides... are still, one... in the same.

Thoughts: Eclipse Light
Fluttershy
Celestia
Rarity
Mayor Mare

Narration/Dialgoue: Mayor Mare