Eclipsed

The sun was setting, ending another day in the land of Equestria. The princess of the sun, Celestia, watched contently at the sky as the horizon turned a hazy orange while at the same time her sister's silvery moon arose across the blackening sky. One by one, stars began to light up and decorated the vast night sky above as the sun was now completely gone.

This was a very normal occurrence, raising and lowering the sun and moon day in day out, and was not seen by anypony as something to be questioned or even pay mind to. In any normal circumstances Celestia would have took up this common way of thinking also, but she couldn't help but look up at the moon and then over to the horizon where the sun had been, and she wondered if certain things were not meant to be as commonly displaced as they were.

Tomorrow was a day of one of Equestria's many celebrations, although this one only ever happened once every fifty years. Tomorrow ponies from all other Equestria would be travelling to Canterlot in order to witness the one thousandth year eclipse, an event in witch the moon would block out the sun for an entire hour. No mortal pony knew why the eclipse was celebrated in such a way, or why it was even celebrated at all, but most just assumed it to be some way of remembrance of how darker times were banished by the light or something mystical along those lines.

But Celestia knew exactly what the eclipse was about, and she'd hoped that the celebrations would occur one hundred percent problem free. But given the fact that just hours earlier princess Luna had asked to speak with her after sunset, stating that it was too important, Celestia only hopped that it was something that could be fixed immediately.

Celestia's hooves clopping were all that filled the silence across one of the expensively decorative empty halls of the royal palace in Canterlot, Celestia's pace being too quick to be a walk but too slow to be considered a gallop. She made her way down the corridor until she reached a doorway leading toward spiral staircase, at the top of which was the location of princess Luna's personal chambers.

At the top of the stairs was a small corridor with many stars and other celestial bodies painted on the walls and ceiling coloured like the night sky outside, and hung from the centre of the ceiling was a glass chandelier crafted into the shape of the moon. At the other side of the hallway was a black door with a silver handle.

Celestia approached the large door and raised her hoof up to it, knocking on it hard enough to be heard. At once a soft humming noise filled the air and the door was pulled opened by a magically produced aura, allowing Celestia to walk inside of the dimly lit circular chamber.

Next to a large neatly made bed stood princess Luna, who appeared to have faded bags under her eyes from a lack of sleep. As Celestia walked in, Luna forced a puny and hallow smile onto her face. Celestia returned a smile of her own as she pushed the door shut with one of her hooves.

"I'm glad you came, sister" said Luna.

Celestia offered a comforting smile and a gently nod before moving closer to Luna. "Is something the matter?" She asked Luna, slight concern in her voice.

"I wanted to request that we increase the number of guards that will be stationed in Canterlot's centre during the eclipse tomorrow" Luna answered bluntly, catching Celestia off guard ever so slightly by the suddenness of Luna's statement.

Celestia wasn't sure what to make of Luna's statement at first. Increase the guard? The number of guards in the city centre had already been increased in preparation for the eclipse. The ponies attending the event would already be more than protected. Celestia knew Luna wouldn't make the request unless she was concerned about something, but what?

"But the guard has already been doubled in the city's centre" Celestia reasoned.

"Well then we must triple it" retorted Luna, growing more confident in her tone about her wanting of the decision to be agreed upon.

"We simply can't spare any more guards, not unless we draw some off of the outer walls" Celestia said before asking "what's this about Luna? Does it have to do with your struggling to sleep?"

I just believe that we do not have enough protection placed over so many ponies in one place" She sat down on the end of her bed, giving enough room so that Celestia could do the same.

"And what has brought this belief on?" Celestia pressured slightly for an answer.

Luna gave a sigh at first, the look on her face basically saying how she didn't want to admit something she found to be rather foolish, but she knew she had to tell her sister. "I've...been seeing things, when I sleep" Luna started vaguely, looking down at the floor before turning back to Celestia "in regards to tomorrow, something...dark is coming, I just know it"

Celestia nodded slowly, listening to every word Luna said. "And do you know what that something is?" She asked.

"No" Luna shook her head slowly "I just know that it is something...angry and vengeful. Something, or somepony who is coming to Canterlot with ill intent"

Celestia nodded again. "Are you sure it isn't just a nightmare or something, sister?"

"I do not have nightmares" Luna stated, clearly disdainful towards the idea "and even if I did, I defend others from their nightmares, so I should know what one feels like and it did not feel like a dream of any kind"

Celestia stood up off of Luna bed and slowly walked towards the outside balcony of Luna's room, thinking throughly about the snippets of information Luna had told her. Something bad was going to happen tomorrow, and she had no idea what or when tomorrow exactly. That didn't help her at all in terms of forming a plan to prevent said bad thing from happening during the eclipse...

'The eclipse!' Celestia thought to herself as she looked up at the moon in the starry night sky, a cold bead of nervous sweat traveling down her head only to be slyly and silently wiped away by Celestia's magic. 'It couldn't possibly be...no, of course not! Don't be ridiculous! But if it is...'

"Very well, Luna" Celestia said, attempting to give off a calming tone "I shall arrange with the captains to reposition some more of the guards from the wall to the city centre"

Luna looked up at Celestia and stood up from the bed, surprised that Celestia did not have any further questions. Celestia didn't doubt her or these apparent visions at all? Nonetheless, Luna gave grateful smile to Celestia and nodded. "Thank you, sister" Luna said.

"The safely of everypony tomorrow will be more than enough thanks" Celestia said as she slowly trotted toward the door "was there anything else you needed? Because I should get my rest for the celebrations tomorrow"

"There is one other thing" Luna said, grabbing Celestia's attention "with all this talk of the eclipse, I was just wondering...when I was banished to the moon all those years ago, what happened to-"

"I told you back when you first returned from the moon. He's gone" Celestia cut up Luna before she could finish, already knowing what she was going to ask. Her voice seemed stern with a hint of unease. "I have to go now, I will see you in the morning"

"Yes, goodnight, sister" Luna said slowly as she trotted over to her balcony, hearing the sound of Celestia closing the door behind her as she left.

Luna briefly looked up at the night sky, as if it held the answers to what she was seeing. The glimpses she saw at night were brief, but their impacts still hit her strong. She had actually seen it though, hadn't she? Was what she'd seen just her first ever nightmare, induced by the event unfolding outside her front door tomorrow. She watched a shooting star fly past the moon before she slowly looked back down.

Luna's horn glowed with a night blue haze and a soft humming emitting outward. She silently transported herself to the dream realm, hoping that fulfilling her duty as the protector of dreams would clear her mind enough so that she would be physically, mentally and emotionally prepared for tomorrow morning.

Celestia, on the other hand, had already made her way back down the spiral staircase outside of Luna's room, far quicker than when she had gone up them. She was getting further away from Luna's room by the second, heading for her own room so that she could rest for the day ahead.

'Nothing bad is going to happen...' Celestia told herself mentally before pushing the subject completely out of her mind, opened the door and entering her personal chambers.

Celestia's room was similar to Luna's, but was decorated with colours more likely to be seen in the daytime. Celestia walked past her bed and approached a mirror and table she had. She looked into the mirror and, after checking nopony would barge in, grabbed a cloth and wiped the left side of her face.

The wiping motion Celestia made removed a pale white powder that matched Celestia's coat perfectly without any differences, and upon its removal revealed three large gashed but long since healed scars running down her face.

She gently placed a hoof on her face, looking at the scars. Nopony knew about them, not even her sister or her personal student did. She had kept them a secret for one thousand years, and intended to keep their origins a secret for much longer still.

"I wish I could tell you the truth, sister" Celestia said to herself quietly as she began to take her Royal attire off piece by piece. "But the safety of Equestria should come first...yes" she tried to convince herself, turning around and walking over to her bed and lying down.

Strange, normally the smoothness of the silky sheets her bed had would comfort her when she felt stressed, but now she just felt...cornered.

Like something was stalking her and getting ready to strike...

Far to the eastern part of Equestria, far passed the settlement of Griffonstone and high in the mountains stood an enormous fortress of stone. It hung off of the highest cliff large enough to hold the gigantic structure's weight. It stood with coned towers and huge rings of walls and battlements which had once intimidated any who sought to brink harm to its owner.

As grand as the fortress had been in a time now long forgotten by most, the building was now broken away and left for much vegetation to take over. The walls had chipped away at from all sides, holes had broken open all over the walls and towers, and thick dirty moss covered the structure all over, except from the doors where the moss had been burned or cut away by its current inhabitants.

While the inside of the castle's main entrance hall had once been decorated with trophies of war and priceless antiques of gold and silver, now its only decor consisted of cobwebs and dust. Lots of dust. Further down at the end of the hall was a single set of now damaged wooden double doors which were met by a large flight of withered stone stairs.

If one were to walk down these stairs, the first thing that would be noticed would be the distant sound of metal clanging against metal. The sound got louder and louder the further in from the entrance the castle went, passing by a damaged stone throne which had clearly been stripped of valuables.

Behind the back wall of this abandoned throne room was another room with a large hole in the roof, allowing the smoke to leave through, where the clanging sounds were at their loudest, due to the many ponies that were in this enormous room working away at many fiery forges, smashing hammers down against hot metal. Molten metal being set in casts and being cool by unicorn magic as earth ponies bashed any dents in the cooled metal flat. Piles of black armour trimmed with an amber material were stacked up in wagons ready to be worn, as piles of blades stacked up in a separate wagon next to the armour.

As these many stallions and mares worked away at their forges and wheeling wagons back and forth, a single unicorn stallion stood superciliously as he over watched all of the assembly process contently. He was a tall scrawny stallion with a blackened grey coat, a whitened grey mane and tail, and his cutie mark was of a hazy green star. He looked down at the working ponies of all races as they did their varying jobs, like a manticore stalking its prey as he searched for any mistakes being made.

A pegasus mare with a cyan coat and brown mane, wearing a hooded cloak that covered her body and mouth, walked passed the working ponies and up some stairs until she was at level height with the older unicorn.

"Report on production" the unicorn stallion said coldly to the pegasus, not even turning his head to look at her as he ignited his horn with a hazy white glow, producing a bubble around the two of them.

The pegasus removed the hood and the cloth covering her mouth, taking a deep breath in and then back out before turning to look at the unicorn. "Production is running smoothly. The siege equipment is completed and the blacksmiths are almost done. We should reach the required amount by morning"

"Good, our liege will be please" the unicorn said, more to himself than to the pegasus. He then made a slight shooing motion with his hoof "you may retire to your bed until you are next needed, Cinder Rush"

The pegasus, Cinder Rush, gritted her teeth slightly before forcing herself to pull a straight face. "Thank you" she gave a nod and walk through the doorway behind the unicorn.

The unicorn lowered the bubble of magic he'd raised once Cinder Rush had left and continued observing the progress being made. He would head to his chambers soon, he was just waiting for something, or rather he was waiting for somepony.

The unicorn looked up at the hole in the roof and, as if on que, a fast pair of pegasus wings flew through the sky and towards the castle. The pony rocketed at top speed through the hole and landed perfectly. This caught the attention of every single pony in the room, who saluted the stallion one by one.

He stood tall and strong over the other ponies as he walk by them, those closer to him shuddered as he moved past them. He had a black coat and a cosmic flaming orange mane which lit the room up a bit more. In a way he could be consider quite handsome. His cutie mark depicted a black circle with a fiery circle around the edges. His horn was as sharp as a blade and his wings folded pristinely into his torso. This alicorn stallion walked with the same professional stance as the princesses had as he approached the unicorn.

"Nexus Dawn, report" the alicorn ordered as he walked up to the unicorn, his voice a calm and strong resonant tone which seemingly called attention from all those around him.

"My lord, I am pleased to inform you that we should reach the amount of equipment you requested by morning" the unicorn, Nexus Dawn, dropped to a bowing stance, standing only when the alicorn gestured his hoof for him to do so.

"I see" was all the alicorn said at first "have the workers double their efforts, I want to set out as soon as possible and arrive at Canterlot at midday tomorrow"

Nexus Dawn looked up at the alicorn, seemingly caught back slightly. "But my liege, the only way we could achieve that is by crossing the celestial sea, and the fastest way to do that is to pass through Griffonstone"

"I know this already, and we shall advance on Griffonstone in order to gain passage through in two hours" the alicorn said as he looked down at Nexus, his head leering down to meet his height "that won't be a problem, will it?"

"No, I shall increase all of our efforts" Nexus shuddered slightly with a bow of his head, waiting for the alicorn to walk away from him before he moved to address the workers.

"Faster! All of you!" He bellowed out, his voice amplified by magic emitting from his horn "Lord Umbra wishes to march as soon as possible. We shall take Griffonstone in two hours!" He added as ponies began moving from room to room, informing others of the orders they'd been given. "Tomorrow, our Lord ascends to becomes our rightful King!" Nexus Dawn stated clearly as the ponies worked as fast as they possibly could.

The alicorn, Umbra, walked away as he heard the immediate change in the speed and volume of the workers, smashing and bashing away in order to produce enough equipment to gear up his armies. He couldn't help but let a grin slowly creep up his face. He trotted down the corridor and headed towards his personal armoury to get ready.

He entered a room, his room, as he turned his head to look toward a pile of jagged glass and chewed up gemstones. "Grimshanks!" Umbra called before walking over to a set armour placed on stones, stacked in a way as to act like an armour stand.

Out of the pile of jagged shards, stood up a sickly green scaled dragon with yellow eyes and a single snagged tooth. "Yes, sir?" Yawned Grimshanks as he stretched, creaking some joints lazily as well as cracking his back.

"You are to write a letter to our inside sources" Umbra said, levitating pieces of armour and attaching them to his hooves, legs and torso "tell them we attack tomorrow"

"Very well, sir" Grimshanks nodded with a crooked grin, pulling a piece of parchment paper and a quill out from his pile of gems and grime. "So, tomorrow we leave this dump and get a real castle?" He said as he wrote down on the paper.

"Indeed" Umbra stated as he levitated his helmet onto his head "and I will have my revenge against those princesses who wrong me so long ago"

His armour was a bleak grey accompanied with a orange lining across the edges as well as the holes his horn and wings fit through. The armour covered his hooves, kneecaps, the upper half of his legs, the entirety of his body and neck, and the helmet concealed the upper half of his face under metal plates.

He watched as Grimshanks rolled the letter up and wrapped it in a piece of string, blowing a blaze of green fire onto it and sending it away to its receiver over in Canterlot.

Umbra gestured for Grimshanks to follow him as he left his room, ready to begin the long march ahead towards Griffonstone. He had no doubt in his mind the town would fall under his control with no problems at all.

Two hours had passed, and the echoed sounds of metal boots marching across woodland and rock filled the air for miles, as well as the wooden wheels of siege equipment and ships being dragged by many earth ponies. Although all this was approaching Griffonstone at a rapid pace, not a single individual in the village noticed the armies of thousands of armoured ponies approaching.

The unicorns used their magic to wield varying blades from swords to spears, some of the pegasi wielded weapons while other secured knives to each of their individual wing feathers. Most of the earth ponies were just preparing to use their raw strength to beat their foes down permanently. Out in front was Umbra, Nexus Dawn who was now wearing an auburn cloak, Cinder Rush, and another member of Umbra's inner elite, Iron Hoof.

Iron Hoof was an earth pony stallion who stood higher than even his fellow earth ponies, although Umbra still dwarfed him in size. He had a dirty orange coat and a blonde mane and beard, as well as a scribbling of scars trailing over the left side of his face. His cutie mark was of a stacked up pile of iron bars. He looked grisly and ready to fight.

Umbra led the advancement on Griffonstone as the griffin city came into view at long last after crossing mountainous and woodland terrain. He didn't turn his head when he spoke to Iron Hoof, but the earth pony still knew it was he who was being addressed.

"Bring me the griffon King" Umbra told the stallion that stood by him before he turned behind to Cinder Rush "I want pegasi squads overhead, no griffon leaves. Kill them to prove a point if necessary"

Upon these orders being given, Iron Hoof bowed his head before charging off ahead towards the griffon kingdom. Cinder Rush nodded and turned around, addressing several groups of pegasi, giving them their orders. Pegasi took off into their skies over Griffonstone, their armour helping to conceal them from any griffon eyes that could possibly be open still.

Umbra's eyes traveled carefully over the town, watching the last of the pieces fall into place. Every pegasi, every solider on the ground, Iron Hoof approaching the king's estate. He might actually pull this off without waking up a single griffon.

But then, as if fate were attempting to spit in Umbra's face, a pair of armoured griffons guarding the king's home had just patrolled around the corner and had seen Iron Hoof. "Halt!" Ordered one of the griffon guards as the pair both approached and pointed their spears at the muscular stallion intruder.

Iron Hoof had not choice but to engage the pair of them. He raised himself back onto his hind legs before crushing the heads off of both spears the guards were holding. The griffons made several swipes at him with their claws, scratching the metal plates of Iron Hoof's armour.

The commotion going on up there was loud enough to awaken several griffons, evident by the increasing number of light's turning on as well as a bell ringing out.

"Someone silence that bell!" Nexus hissed out, causing several pegasi to take flight and head for the source of the ringing.

Umbra knew now that stealth wasn't an option anymore. He sighed slightly, watching Iron Hoof smash the head of one of the griffon guards into a wall, before flaring his wings up and pointing his hoof at the griffon kingdom. "Charge!" He called out to his forces, his voice amplified by the magic burning bright from his horn.

Umbra's soldiers charged towards the village, weapons primed and ready for any resistance. Iron Hoof broke the back of the other guard he'd been fighting and then booted the door of the king's home open with his hind legs, walking inside.

By this time many of the griffons knew they were being attacked, and hundreds of armoured soldiers were gearing up ready to defend their home, even against the far larger enemy force. Some griffons took flight and attempted to flee with their children, only for their way to be blocked by pegasi who gave warnings to back down or be put down. The armoured ponies of differing races entered Griffonstone and prepared for battle with the far smaller force of griffon soldiers.

The griffons charged fiercely towards their attackers, knowing they were outnumbered but still attempting to defend. Only to be met by a barrage of jagged blade shards, shot at them by the horns of hundreds of unicorns, which sliced through the griffons like they were made of ribbons. A line of griffon bodies drop to the ground, having shielded the griffons behind them from the arcane attack.

The remaining griffons, both soldiers and civilians, now looked more hesitant to resist but the soldiers kept their weapons raised. But what happened next practically sealed their surrender.

Iron Hoof stomped back into the centre of Griffonstone were the brief, and ever so slight disappointing, battle had occurred. Trapped in a headlock was a rather strong appearing, yet beaten and bruised, griffon being dragged along by the burly earth pony, before being thrown down at the hooves of Umbra. This caused the remaining soldiers to stop their battle stances at the sight of their King beaten down in front of the enemy.

"What do you want? We have no quarrel with Equestria's princesses" the griffon King struggled to his feet, attempting and failing greatly to meet the alicorn's height.

Umbra's said nothing at first as his horn began to glow, lifting the griffon King off of the ground and at equal height to Umbra. He then used his magic to remove his helmet, tossing to one side only to be caught by Iron Hoof.

The silence was unnerving to the griffons, the griffon King wincing slightly upon noticing the colours of their invaders didn't match that of the lunar guard. These weren't Royal Equestrian soldiers, and he had just offended their leader by assuming as such.

But instead of a painful death like what the King was expecting, Umbra finally broke the silence were a simple statement.

"What I want is your allegiance in the impending conflict to come" Umbra said at last, leering his head slightly "I trust that I shall have it with no problems?"

The King regained some of his composure, taking a shallow breath before speaking. "What conflict are you referring to?" He asked in a tone that attempted to show neutrality between the two leaders.

"A revolution is coming, my feathery friend, and the Equestrian princesses shall be on the losing side of it" Umbra answered "those who ally with me shall prosper most grandly after I am made King"

"And...what if I refuse your offer?"

"If you refuse...then I'll find someone who will join me in your place" Umbra looked around at the amassing griffons being held back by his soldiers "I'm sure one of them would make a fine Barron in my name"

"Barron? Only a King rules Griffonstone" the King would've stamped his claw if he wasn't being levitated off the ground.

"And during my reign, there shall be only one King in Equestria...and it shall be me"

"You're mad, you are" the King stated, beginning to struggle slightly to escape the telekinetic grip of the alicorn "Celestia and Luna will banish you to Tartarus for this, alicorn or not"

"They banished me once before, yes, but as you can see: that didn't stop me" Umbra's voice didn't raise or change at all, but still slowly broke down the bravery the King had built up "I take it then that you are refusing my offer of allegiance?"

"Yes, you're no King and you've no power here. If you leave now, I will let you do so with all your soldiers still able to leave of their own accord" the King warned, his courage clearly wavering until his warning ended in a slight whimper "I'm sure that we could come to an agreement which won't require any more bloodshed"

The King felt his feet touch the ground once more. His subjects around the scene unfolding were holding their breath as they awaited for something, anything, to happen. The King looked up at Umbra, whose face didn't show anger or rage or anything. He also looked at the unicorn who stood nobly by Umbra's side, who seemed to be watching curiously with a thin smile.

Had he actually managed to talk his attacker down? He knew that the princesses did it all the time, but he never though that it could actually-

His thought was cut short, however, as Umbra brought his head down with great strength, and bore his horn down into the griffon's eye. The King howled in pain as he struggled and tried to claw at Umbra's horn, starting to feel a burning sensation in his head. The crowds gasped in horror as the armoured ponies held them back from doing anything foolish.

After a few agonising moments, Umbra ripped his glowing horn back out of the griffon's eye socket and watched him drop to the ground. Bubbling and boiling blood poured out of the opened wound as the, now former, King there lifelessly.

"Do any others here have something to say regarding my occupation?" Umbra asked as he looked around him, blood ran down his horn and onto his face.

The griffons all said nothing, some of them shaking their heads softly as confirmation of their silence.

"Good, I'm glad we're all on the same page" Umbra nodded as he turned around to face Nexus Dawn, who levitated a cloth up and wiped the blood from Umbra's face and horn.

Once his face had been cleaned, Umbra turned back around. "Would any of you like to volunteer yourselves for the position as my Barron in Griffonstone?"

There was silence among the griffons, until one of them pushed past the others. "I will be your Barron" said a scruffy and weak looking griffon with a grey and white feather colour scheme.

"And, you are?" Umbra said, looking down at the puny griffon.

"Gristle, my King" Gristle said, the 'my King' earning a small acknowledging smile from Umbra.

"Well very then, do not fail me" Umbra approached the griffon "I shall leave three hundred ponies here to assist you in reorganising the town"

"Oka- I mean, thank you my liege" Gristle corrected himself, looking at the dead king's corpse on the ground for a moment.

"I shall return soon to see how you are doing, but for now I require passage toward the west" Umbra explained, his words causing the crowds of griffons to split in half and clear a path westward purely out of fear.

Umbra turned and nodded to Iron Hoof and Cinder Rush, who both called for the armies to march forward, dragging their equipment through behind them. Nexus flicked his horn elegantly, tossing the griffon corpses out of their path forward as they past through Griffonstone and approached the other side.

"That went rather splendidly, my liege" Nexus said to Umbra, walking along side him.

"Glad to know you think that, Dawn" Umbra stated before looked at the western horizon "Canterlot shouldn't be much further at this rate"

"Yes, and by tomorrow midday, we shall have a true ruler and a worthy King" Nexus bowed his head respectfully.

"Yes...and I shall have my revenge" Umbra said, more to himself than to Nexus.

Umbra came to a stop as he watched his soldiers push the large wooden ships they'd built and dragged with them, from the old castle, into the water. Roughly three to four hundred ships were in total being pushed in and boarded. As soldiers boarded the ships and loaded their equipment onboard, Iron Hoof approached and bowed his head to Umbra, handing him his helmet.

Umbra took the helmet and equipped it once more before watching his ship, twice as long as the other ships, get pushed into the water. He and his generals boarded the ship and prepared to set sail for the west. Umbra made his horn glow, amplifying his voice again so all his army could hear him.

"Rest now, my children, for by sunrise we march to war"