Eclipsed

The sun rose up high over the town of Ponyville in the early hours of the morning. Clouds were put their proper place by the early working weatherponies and many of Ponyville inhabitants exited their homes, getting ready for the celebrations taking place during the day ahead.

With the first eclipse to occur in Equestria in fifty years, many ponies had prepared in advance to travel to Canterlot in order to witness the princesses raise the eclipse together for all to see, meaning most ponies had to settle with good old fashioned gatherings in their home settlements and watch the spectacle from afar.

Past the sights of ponies setting up food stalls and picking out spots to sit and watch with their families or special somepony, there was the glorious and grand castle of friendship, which had many eclipse themed decorations and banners hung all over its outside, placed up there by local hero and princess, Twilight Sparkle, with the assistance of some of her friends.

The lavender alicorn was currently preparing for the trip she and her friends would be taking to the beautiful city of Canterlot in order to attend the eclipse ceremony being held there. Twilight, her assistant Spike and her student Starlight Glimmer were packing their bags to head out for the train station and meet their friends there.

Rarity had put together some beautiful dresses for each of her friends, for the Royal ball which the princesses would be holding after the eclipse. Twilight had been given a deep blue dress with a starry night sky decal, Starlight had a long cyan dress with a silver trim, and Spike had a small black suit with a green bow tie specially made for a dragon of his size.

While Starlight and Spike seemed to be rather calm, and a bit excited, Twilight was getting herself into quite a worried mess. As a princess, she was expected to join princess Celestia and princess Luna in making an appearance to the citizens as well as delivering her own speech about the eclipse and the importance of remembrance toward the past, at least that's what princess Luna had told Twilight the speech had to involve.

The problem that sparked Twilight's nervousness and worry however was that she had never delivered a speech as important as this one, to a crowd as large as the one rumoured to be at Canterlot today. She had a speech ready and had put Spike and Starlight thought listening to it six times last night alone, and was currently reading it to herself out loud now making sure everything was right.

"Citizens of Equestria, we have gathered here today in commemoration of this period of Equestrian peace and remember the hardships and mistakes suffered through in order to achieve that peace..." Twilight spoke aloud to herself as she trotted back and forth across the room and flipped to her next cue card with her magic.

"...we are here to remember the fallen and the survivors, both heroes and villains, in the unity of the sun and moon this day. With the sparking of this eclipse we remember both good and bad times, decisions both supported and regretted, and we celebrate the coming of light and harmony through dark times long gone and yet to come. Here is to a thousand years of Equestrian unity, and to another thousand after that" Twilight finished and stopped pacing, turning to look at Spike and Starlight "how was that?"

"Just as great as all the other times" Spike said with a tired grumble.

"You should stop stressing yourself out so much" Starlight said as she finished packing her saddlebag. She trotted over and placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder "you're gonna do great today"

"I know, I'm just nervous...this is a very important occasion that won't come around for another fifty years, I can't afford to mess this up" Twilight said before letting out a soft sigh.

"You won't, you're gonna nail it" Starlight said as she walked around to Twilight's front "and all of us are gonna be there to support you"

Twilight couldn't help but smile gently at Starlight. While it didn't completely relieve her of her stress, it helped about as much as words could. She slid her cue cards back into her bag before closing it up.

"You said that we were meeting Sunset in Canterlot, right?" Asked Spike as he too finished packing his small bag.

"Yeah, she said she would try to catch up with us before the eclipse" Twilight gave a confirming nod before looking up at the clock on the wall, the time reading 7:10. "We should get going, the train leaves in twenty minutes"

Starlight and Spike both grabbed their bags, following Twilight out of the castle doors as the trio made their way down to the train station.

Twilight, Starlight and Spike approached the train station, which had begun to fill with some ponies who had gotten the same idea as Twilight and her friends in terms of catching an early train to Canterlot.

The trio stepped onto the train station platform and looked around for a few moments for any of their friends. Rarity and Applejack had both agreed to get purchase the train tickets before everyone else arrived so that they could get on board straight away.

There were a few ponies around the station, and it didn't take that long for them to spot their friends on the platform waiting for them, their bags sat down on the ground. Twilight and Starlight trotted over to them, Spike following closely behind.

"Hey girls" Twilight greeted them both.

"Hey Twi, we got the tickets an' ev'rything ready" Applejack replied as Rarity levitated the eight train tickets out of one of her bags.

"Great, we just need to wait for Rainbow, Pinkie and Fluttershy" Twilight said as she checked the time. They still had some time before the train sets off and Twilight knew her friends would arrive shortly.

"Scratch that, there's Fluttershy and Pinkie over there" Spike pointed out.

Just as Spike had said, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were approaching the train station with their bags in tow, or rather Fluttershy had her bag in tow and Pinkie was bouncing over towards them with her bag somehow staying perfectly on her back.

"Hey you two, you ready to go?" Twilight asked the pair as they approached.

"Yep, you betcha we are!" Pinkie declared with her regularly energetic tone.

"Rainbow Dash was running a tad bit late, but she said she'd be here in a few minutes" Fluttershy told the others.

"Oh, okay, she'd better hurry then. The train leaves soon" Twilight said, knowing that when Fluttershy said Rainbow Dash was 'running late' she actually meant that Fluttershy had found and woken up a still sleeping Rainbow.

"With the speed she was moving at the pack her bag, I'd say she'll be here-"

But before Fluttershy could finish speaking, the cyan blue and spectra maned pegasus in question blitzed across the sky and slammed down on all four hooves in front of the group.

"-any moment" Fluttershy finished as she and the others looked at the heavily panting Rainbow Dash.

"Not late! I'm not late" Rainbow declared with a raised hoof pointed at Rarity, who looked as if she was about to say Rainbow was late.

"Well, you're close enough to being late" Rarity said with a slight huff "did you listen to a thing of what told you yesterday regarding time management?"

"Yeah...no...maybe...some of it?" Rainbow rubbed the back of her head, practically feeling the opal mare's burning yet elegant gaze.

"Come on! Let's get on the train!" Pinkie jumped over Rainbow Dash, got her train ticket off of Rarity, and leaped her way over to the train.

"Yeah, come on" Twilight began trotting over towards the train, the others all following behind her.

The roaring whistle of the train soon filled the air as the steam powered locomotive began its journey out of the station, picking up speed as it barrelled through the grassy terrains of the equestrian countryside and towards the gold and marble coated walls of Canterlot.

Twilight and the girls had already settled down in their cabin on the train, sat in their seats and their bags packed away. She looked up at sky as she watched the sun gently move towards the central point of the sky, getting ready for the eclipse happening in a few hours time. The slightest slither of the edge of the moon could also be seen on the horizons edge also, most likely being moved at a far slower pace by princess Luna.

"I can't wait for when we get to Canterlot" Twilight said as she turned to face her friends.

"Same, I simply cannot wait to see the natural beauty of the eclipse" Rarity responded, raising her hoof up in dramatic fashion as she brushed her mane lightly.

"Yeah, plus I can introduce you all to my cousin" Twilight said "it's his first official day as a member of the Royal guard"

"What's he like?" Rainbow Dash asked as she looked at Twilight.

"You're not considering looking for a coltfriend, are you, Rainbow?" Rarity said with a small teasing smile.

Rainbow choked slightly at the tease on Rarity's part. "What? Of course not!" Rainbow glared at Rarity for a moment "I just wanna know what he's like"

"Oh, he's nice, I'm sure you'll all like him" Twilight said.

"Well we look forward to meeting him" Applejack said, the girls agreeing with her statement.

The girls had been chatting for most of the way to Canterlot, so much so that the train ride seemed to simply fly by in a few minutes. Canterlot was in clear plain view now and the first thing that Twilight noticed was the patrols of the Canterlot guard along the outer wall, or rather the lack of patrols along the outer wall. Normally Twilight was able to spot at least ten or twelve guards at any one time along the wall, but today there was only three or four.

Twilight found this to be quite curious. Had Celestia or Luna repositioned the guards or something? Twilight wondered for a few moments, deciding she'd ask Celestia about it if she had time before the eclipse. But for now she got ready to depart the train she it had began to slow down.

Once the train had come to a complete halt, the group stood up from their seats and made their way off the train and, once they'd collected their saddlebags, moved towards Canterlot castle. The streets of Canterlot were far busier than normal, from workings setting up stalls and decorations to ponies who've come simply for the eclipse. Ponies of all different backgrounds had shown up.

"It's pretty nice of the princesses to let us stay in the castle" Fluttershy said as she looked at the towering structure that was Canterlot castle in the distance.

"Yes, quite so, I'd imagine that finding an inn with a spare room large enough for us all would be rather difficult" said Rarity.

The girls walked on ahead and made it to the city centre of Canterlot, the area where the raising of the eclipse would be viewed on by everypony. Just like that, Twilight's question about the location of the remainder of the Royal guard was answered. Rows upon rows of guards were stationed around the edges of the city centre, with several more of them still getting in position. Both gold and silver suits of armour were visual from all directions.

"Geez, do you think they have enough guards" Rainbow said as she looked at the rows of guards on either side of where they were walking.

"Well, I suppose you can never be too secure" Rarity pondered for a moment as she looked at the guards as well "I'm sure the princesses have their reasons"

Then as they were about to continue their conversation, Twilight heard someone call her name.

"Twilight?"

The group of mares and baby dragon turned to the direct of the voice and saw a unicorn stallion with a light purple coat and a dark blue mane. He was wearing the standard gold armour set for the average grunts of the Royal guard as well as the standard spear most guards were equipped with.

"Bronze" Twilight said, showing a smile as she went over to the armoured stallion, giving him a short hug before turning back the the others "girls, this is Bronze Armour, my cousin" Twilight said, turning back to Bronze Armour "Bronze, these are my friends: Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Starlight"

"Howdy" Applejack greeted.

"Hey there!" Pinkie said with a bounce in her step.

"It's nice to meet you" Rarity flash a smile.

"Hi" Fluttershy said quietly.

"Hey, it's nice to meet you Bronze" Starlight gave a small wave.

"Hey" Rainbow offered a hoof bump, which Bronze returned naturally.

"It's nice to meet you all, Twilight's told me quite a bit about you all in letters" Bronze Armour said with what sounded like a faint Manehatten accent. He then turned to look at Spike "hey Spike, how you been?"

"I've been great" Spike said as he saw Bronze up and down quickly "looking good, you suit a set of armour"

"Thanks, it's surprisingly lighter than it looks" Bronze said as he straightened up his helmet.

"Hey, you don't happen to know why there are so many guards here, do you?" Twilight asked curiously.

"Not really, all I know is that the princesses requested more guards be stationed here" Bronze said with a slight shrug "it's my first official day, so it's probably best I don't question direct orders from the princesses themselves"

"Oh, well we're gonna get settled into our rooms, we might see you again before the eclipse" Twilight said "it was nice seeing you"

"Nice see you too" Bronze gave a quick nod before he went to trot over to stand along side his fellow guards.

The girls all walked over to the castle, approaching the large front entrance just in time to see another group of guards march out of the palace. Twilight assumed they were off to join the city centre and pressed on forward.

"I'm gonna go find Celestia" Twilight said "I'll catch up with you all in our room. I'm pretty sure Celestia said that the guards were notified about our stay, so ask one of them if you get lost"

"Alright, we'll take your bags up for you" Rainbow said, taking Twilight's bags from her and piling them on top of her own on her back.

"Thanks, Rainbow" Twilight said as she gave her bags to Rainbow.

The girls and Spike walked off in one direction to find their room while Twilight went in the opposite direction, heading towards the throne room where she guessed Celestia and Luna would be currently. She had about roughly an hour before the celebrations began officially, so she wanted to see if she could have a little talk.

Spike and the girls trotted down the corridor, looking around as they tried to find the guest room they'd be staying in. Applejack and the others managed to stop a pair of guards in order to ask which direction their guest room was, which the guards explained the directions clearly once they'd heard the princesses were letting them stay.

The group wondered in the direction they'd been pointed down. The guards had mentioned a staircase which led up to the guest rooms past the castle barracks, where the guards who were specifically assigned to patrolling the castle trained when they weren't on patrol. The barracks were completely empty, as was what the girls had suspected considering the large quantity of armoured stallions and mares on guard in the city centre.

As they approached the stairs leading up to their room, a mare's voice was heard.

"Hey, you lot, halt!"

Applejack and the others turned around toward the direction of the voice telling them to stop. There stood a ruby coated unicorn with a black mane staring at them with an aged face and sunken eyes. She was also wearing a suit of silver and black armour which, although it appeared reflective, seemed to absorb all light that shun on it. She was clearly a member of princess Luna's lunar guard. She trotted over towards the ground with a stern look on her face as she shoved a piece of paper inside of her armour and out of sight.

"Is there a problem, miss...?" Rarity asked, awaiting for a name.

"It's captain to you" the mare said before looking at the group as a whole, her eyes looking over the ponies and dragon thoroughly with thought "what is your business here, celebrations are restricted to the streets of Canterlot"

"Princess Celestia said we could stay in the guest rooms" Applejack informed the armoured mare "we was just on our way up to drop our things off, ya can ask Twilight if ya want"

The mare listened to Applejack and nodded slightly and slowly. The mention of Twilight changed the captain's dulled expression to one of peaked interest. "Princess Twilight?" She muttered for a moment before shaking her head. "That won't be necessary, just stay out of the way" she warned "My fellow guards and I still have things to attend to"

"You mean that there are guards left? There's like a whole battalion in the city centre" Pinkie jumped in, leading on the captain's shoulder.

The captain had a look on her face that appeared as though she was about to swing for the pink mare with one of her armoured hooves, but the moment Pinkie spoke of guards in the city centre her expression completely mellowed out. "What do you mean?" She said as she pushed Pinkie off of her gently.

"There's a whole load of guards outside by the city centre, did ya not notice?" Applejack answered.

The mare paused for a moment, though clearly shown on her face. A small grin formed on her lips before she nodded, making her expression blank again. "Of course I noticed, I simply forgot is all" she nodded for a moment before turning around "you'd best get to your room, your pegasus friend looks as though she's struggling with those bags"

Applejack and the girls turned to Rainbow Dash, who did indeed appear to be struggling a bit with the bags. Rarity was the first to head to her side.

"Here, let me help you with those" Rarity said as she took one of the bags Rainbow was carrying.

Applejack and Starlight turned back around, only to be surprised the mare was gone. She wasn't trotting off and couldn't be heard at all, it was as if the unicorn mare hadn't been there to begin with.

"What a strange mare" Applejack said as she turned back around toward the staircase.

The others followed behind Applejack as they began to trot up the stairs towards their room.

The door swung open as Applejack was the first one to walk through into the large circular room. While marble walls with gold decorations and ten extremely comfortable looking beds. Rainbow Dash wasted no time at all. Once she placed her bags down she practically leaped onto one of the beds, lying down and folding her fore hooves behind her head as she gave a sigh of satisfaction.

The girl all placed their bags down and admired the room Celestia and Luna had allowed them to use during their stay in Canterlot. A large balcony allowed for all of Canterlot to be in view as well as the skies and greenery beyond the city walls.

"This room is huge" Starlight looked around as she placed her bag down.

"Sure is, you sure that this is the right room?" Spike asked as he turned to Applejack.

"Of course I'm sure" Applejack said before giving a small shrug "...maybe"

Spike raised an eyebrow slightly before Rainbow cut in. "If it's not our room, we'll stay stay here until we're told otherwise" Rainbow said as she sat up "so until we have to head down for the eclipse, who wants to play 'what evil threat are the princesses preparing for today'?"

"Say what now?" Applejack cocked her brow at Rainbow "what the hay are you on about?"

"Think about it" said Rainbow "increased guards in the city, gotta be some kind of major threat"

"But if it was a 'major threat', wouldn't they have deployed the guards on the city wall?" Starlight chimed in.

"Not if it was some kind of super evil mcevily sort of major threat" Pinkie said.

As the others were talking, Fluttershy wandered out onto the balcony to have a look outside. She noticed beyond the walls of Canterlot several outlines of individuals in the distance, late comers who'd missed the train she assumed. She moved on to admire the greenery of the castle shrubbery and the animals living within, her eyes following a pair of birds as they flew into the sky. That was when she saw it.

"Umm...girls?" Fluttershy stuttered slightly, turning her head behind her before looking back up at the sky. The others clearly hasn't heard her.

"Come on, we may as well guess since we have some time" Rainbow said.

"Fine, may as well" Applejack shrugged as she sat on one of the beds "I'm guessing...some kind of everfree creature.

"Girls?" Fluttershy repeated, this time her eyes fixed on the sky.

"It could be a skelepony, no! An army of skeleponies, or an army of regular ponies!" Pinkie Pie guessed with rapid succession "or another evil centaur, or a old forgotten enemy with a hidden past!"

"Should the moon be moving that quickly?"

Applejack and the others all went quiet and looked over at the balcony after hearing what Fluttershy said. The whole group moved over to the balcony and looked up at the sky, gasping at what they saw.

Up above was the sun in the centre of the sky, but next to it was the moon quickly moving towards the sun with far greater speed than what Luna usually moved the moon.

"What in tarnation? There's still another hour yet" Applejack said slowly as she watched the moon and the sun "what the hay is princess Luna doin'"