A Hoof in Adventureby PoniesLoveMeChaptersPrologue: The LetterChapter One: Do You Believe?Chapter Two: Come With MeChapter Three: Fighting for LifePrologue: The LetterEclipse sighed. It was summer and yet, she had no plans. Lame! The green unicorn mare kicked a smooth, round rock with her hoof as she wandered through the streets of her hometown, Ponyville. Her head was hung as if in defeat as the wind picked up momentarily and the mare's long grey mane swept across her face, obscuring her vision. "Ouch!" she shrieked as a sharp pain shot through her hoof. She examined it and saw a cut that was oozing thick red blood. "Stupid rock!" she grumbled "I'll go see Nurse Redheart later and ask her to fix it up then, I guess..." she trailed off. 'Wait!' she thought, confused "What in Equestria is a rock sharp enough to cut a pony that deep laying carelessly on the ground where somepony could easily step on it? What did I just kick?" She looked down at what she had thought was a rock and saw that it was not a rock, but a broken and very dusty bottle. Then she saw what was inside the bottle, a scroll. "What in Equestria?" she muttered in awe as she gingerly grabbed the scroll and pulled it out of the bottle, carefully avoiding the sharp edges of the broken bottle. Curiosity nipped at her and, her injured hoof forgotten, she decided to take it back to her cottage and read it away from the prying eyes of pony pedestrians. Eclipse trotted home, trying not to attract attention and only stopped briefly to casually say hello to her friend, Twilight Sparkle. When she got to her cottage she went inside, locked her front door, and pulled down all her blinds. Nervously, she unrolled the piece of parchment and was surprised when she saw that the letter was addressed to her. "Me?" she questioned "I never get mail!" Her heart skipped a beat and she yanked her hooves away from the parchment, as if it were burning coals, when she saw that it had been due to deliver almost two years prior. Now more intrigued than ever, she slowly smoothed the parchment out on her desk with shaky hooves and began to read it. "Dear Eclipse" she read aloud "You must come to Canterlot castle at once! Equestria is in grave danger, and your mother and I believe it is time for you to take back what is yours and use it against the enemies of Equestria. You are the only one who can save Equestria now! For you have a power, a power far stronger than any unicorn, it just needs to be unlocked. Just tell the guards you are there to see me and show them the note, they'll know what to do. The fate of Equestria lies in your hooves. Signed, Princess Celestia". "Princess Celestia wanted to see me?" she asked herself "'take back what's mine'? What is mine? And how was my mother there? She's been dead since I was two, and she knew the Princess!" Eclipse buzzed with excitement at the thought that her mother had known Princess Celestia, the most powerful pony in all Equestria. But the excitement faded when another, more confusing thought came to Eclipse: "How could Celestia send this letter to me?" she wondered aloud "She's been missing for over ten years!" Chapter One: Do You Believe?Eclipse took a long-distance train to Canterlot. On the train she found herself constantly checked her saddle-bag to make sure her letter from the Princess was still there, as if she could've lost it without taking it out of her bag. When the train got to Canterlot station she was the last pony off the train, leaving her to make a wild leap onto the platform while the train was leaving the station. She landed in a heap on the edge of the platform and some tourist, who had pushed passed her on the train, laughed at her. "She's unicorn!" giggled a white unicorn with a purple mane "why didn't she just teleport off?" "Maybe that's why I've never heard of her before, because she's too stupid to be in the gifted unicorn academy!" jeered a gold pegasus. "She's probably come here to grovel at the headmasters hooves and beg for entry 'please!'" mimicked another pony "'please accept me into your school! I know I've never accomplished a single spell in my life, but I've just got to enter the academy!'" 'What am I? she thought, wanting to hide her face in her hooves in humiliation 'I'm not a push-over, I know that much!' She stood up quick and stood in front of the laughing tourists. "oh yea?!" she yelled at them in her best Canterlot voice "what's so funny?!" she glared at them. "N-nothing...." mumbled the unicorn, staring up in fear at Eclipse. "That's what I thought!" she said. Sending sparks flying from her horn, she stormed off towards Canterlot castle. When she got to the front gates of the castle she met two Pegasus guards. "umm.....h-hello" she said to them, nervousness coursing through her body, "I just got this letter from the Princess, sh-she wanted to see me and.... I-I think there might be some clues to what she wanted me to do in the castle" She grabbed the scroll out of her saddle bag and showed it to them. The two guards read the letter then looked up at Eclipse. "You are Eclipse?" one of them asked her, surprise filled the stallions deep voice. "Yes" she confirmed. The guards looked at each other and nodded. Then the one who had spoken to her reached into a bag behind him and pulled out another letter, that Eclipse guessed was about as old as hers, and handed it to her. "The Princess was going to give this to you when you got here but seeing as she's gone, I guess I'll just have to give it to you instead" he cut off. "Go right in" said the other guard "the Princess' rooms are first on you left, then all the way in the back there's a room on the right". "Thank you" she said and went through the gate. At the front of the castle there were two unicorn guards, but Eclipse showed them both of her letters and they let her pass without any questions. When she opened the doors to the castle, her breath was stolen right out of her chest. The luminous chandeliers that hung high off the ground, the velvet carpet that ran down the center of all the hallways, and even the portraits of past princes and princess' were magnificent. "wow" she whispered as she walked into the first room on the left, the throne room "this is beautiful!" After she got over the way the room looked she searched around for clues about what she was supposed to do. when she looked in some drawers she found yet another piece of parchment. "oh joy" she said, rolling her eyes "another dusty-musty letter" but she picked it up anyway and put it in her saddle-bag with the other ones "It would really help if I could have a better clue!". She looked around some more but all she could find was some collective dust bunnies on the throne (which she sat on for fun) and some quills on a desk, near the window. So she went all the way down the hall where she met another guard standing right in front of the door she supposed was Princess Celestia's other room. This guard was strangely a pegasus mare. "umm...e-excuse me" she stammered. She had seen all the guards so far, and all of them so far looked exactly alike, but this one was stunningly pretty. Her brilliant sky blue mane and tail resembled that Cotton Cloudy, of a filly she had seen around Ponyville, her dazzling purple coat, and her smooth, gentle-looking golden eyes were too much for the Eclipse . "I was told to go in this room. you see, my name is Eclipse" she mumbled as she stared at the beautiful mare, she could feel her heart melting, "and the Princess told me I-I needed to claim something, but I d-don't know what that thing is so..... Can I go in and look for clues, please?" "Sure, miss" she said and stepped aside, not looking at her. "Please, just call me Eclipse" she said, walking past her and into the room. When she entered the room, she knew it must have been the Princess' bedroom. It had another magnificent chandelier, a very big bed that looked like it hadn't been slept on in forever, and four chests lining a wall that Eclipse thought would've held Celestia's most treasured possessions. Deciding to check in the chests first she tip-toed over to them and opened the first one. When she opened it, she knew she was in the right place, there was already one piece of parchment on top. She picked it up and read it. "Dear Eclipse" she read "don't open the last chest! it-" the rest of the letter was torn off. Looking around she saw it on the ground. 'I must have been in such a hurry that I didn't notice it before' she thought. She put the parchment she had at the moment in her saddle-bag and trotted over to the one on the ground picking it up. "It sets off an attack on the castle! From Princess Celestia " she read. Naturally, she opened the last chest to see what was inside. 'This trap is ten years old!' she thought 'it wouldn't go off even if I wanted it to!' Nothing but dust was inside. Almost immediately, a dozen changelings appeared outside the window, staring evilly at her. She screamed as they started to hit the glass, trying to get in. She got up and ran out of the Princess' bedroom. "Finished already?" the mare guard asked her quizzically "and what was with the screaming?" She blushed. The pretty mare almost made her forget what was going on. "Uh-uh...." she stuttered, melting in the purple mare's gaze "um...changelings are right outside the window in there." she said dreamily. The shock on the guards face reminded her the peril that they were both in, she remembered how scared she was "c'mon! we have to get out of here!". She grabbed the mares royal uniform, blushing slightly, and dragged her out of the castle. Running as fast as they could, Eclipse and the guard ran towards the Everfree forest and the castle slowly disappeared from view behind them. Chapter Two: Come With Me"What was that all about?!" the guard demanded, grabbing Eclipse's tail in her mouth and yanking her back, almost making Eclipse fall over backwards. "Explain to me at once!" "Why?" The guard snorted "because you just dragged me away from my duties in Canterlot without an explanation and I will probably get fired because of you, maybe that's why?" she said pointedly. "First," Eclipse shot back "tell me your name". "Why should I trust you" the mare asked, spitting Eclipse's tail out of her mouth. "because.." she said. 'Because I think your beautiful and charming, that's why!' she imagined herself telling the mare, but decided not to 'I might scare her off' she thought sadly. "You just should!" she said indignant. Much to Eclipse's delight, the mare just chuckled "my name is Aurora Skies" she said. And what was that? As the mares looked into each others eyes, Eclipse thought she saw.....yes! Was that a flash of love in the mares smooth gold eyes? Was that the slightest hint of a blush in Aurora's cheeks? Did Aurora feel the same way about Eclipse that Eclipse thought of her? "Oh" Eclipse said, gazing at Aurora. Did she really see what she thought she saw? "Why do you keep staring at me like that?" Aurora asked skeptically. "Oh, um....y-you remind me of a filly who lives in Ponyville" Eclipse said, which wasn't entirely lying, Eclipse had seen a filly that much resembled Aurora hanging around the sweet shop in Ponyville. She glanced down at her hooves, hoping that Aurora Skies wouldn't see through her half-lie. Aurora perked up at that "is her name Cotton Cloudy? A little light-grey Pegasus filly with a mane like mine?" she asked. "Yes, why?" "She's my sister" Aurora said with a smile, but a sad shadow cast over her face and she suddenly looked much older and depressed "I haven't seen her in ages, due to my job". She looked around suddenly as if looking for something. "Do you think they're still following us? The changelings, I mean". Eclipse shook her head "if they were, they would've caught up to us by now". Then she noticed some different problems: It was very dark (she guessed around eleven pm), they had no shelter, and it was somehow very cold. She sat closer to Aurora as she realized the cold was seeping through her silky green coat and chilling her to the bone. "B-boy it's c-cold!" she said, shivering. Aurora pulled away from Eclipse. "What are you doing?" "I-I was just trying to keep us warm" Eclipse mumbled sheepishly, upset that Aurora had turned a cold shoulder on her. 'Well stop" Aurora said firmly "I need to get back to the castle, I feel so guilty leaving the other guards. They might need me to help them fight off the changelings." "But... Aurora" Eclipse whined, wondering how to form the question that was burning in her mind "w-what if I need you? You can take care of yourself, but I'm going on this quest and without you, I'll be all alone. Wont you come with me?" "No" Aurora said without hesitation "you're a unicorn, you can take care of yourself". Eclipse flinched at the harshness in Aurora's voice "But-but it's to dangerous to go alone in the forest!" she pleaded "if we separated, we'd both be in danger!" "You just said that I can take care of myself, it's you who'd be in danger" Aurora said carelessly. She turned around, starting to walk away. Eclipse was close to crying now, she was in love with a pony who couldn't care less about her. "But, but... you can't go back! I need you to protect me!" she choked through tears. Suddenly, Aurora turned and yelled in Eclipse's face "No! Okay? I said no and that means no! What do you not understand about that? I will not come with you, I have to return to Canterlot and protect the ponies there! Not you! Protect yourself!" and with that, she turned and flew off. Eclipse watched her leave, tears welling up in her eyes. She wanted to go after her, to tell Aurora how she felt, but she knew it was a lost cause. Instead she sat down in the grass and covered her face in her hooves, allowing the tears she had been holding back to spill out. Eclipse didn't know how long she sat there, crying like a school filly who was unable to find out her talent, but after a long time she heard a rumble and a loud scream coming from the mountains to her right. She stopped crying and jerked her head upwards towards the sound. What she saw sent a chill down her spine: a large pile of boulders that were not there before, a rock slide!, and she thought she could make out a pale purple shape struggling with the rocks. "I'll bet that's Aurora" Eclipse said, trying to force a little unkindness and arrogance into her voice to convince herself that she didn't care, but it wasn't enough to keep her from worrying about Aurora. She spent the next hour obsessing over weather she should go help Aurora. 'You heard her!' she told herself 'she said she doesn't need you! She probably doesn't even want your help. But.... I should still go help.... No! Yes!' After quarreling with herself like this for a while she finally rested on the decision: she would go find Aurora. "I just hope I'm not to late!" As Eclipse started the trek through the mountains, the wind had picked up and it had started to rain hard. 'Great,' Eclipse thought in agitation 'now not only is it cold and dark, but it's wet and windy now too!' She sighed and stopped the steady run she had been keeping up to briefly reach into her saddle bag, pushing past the letters, grab a hair tie she had brought, and tie her long hair back. At least it would keep her hair out of her eyes enough so she could see clearer. She wandered around another hour without any luck, calling Auroras name over and over, but just as she was about to give up, she saw some rocks move and saw a flash of pale purple to her left. Eclipse rushed over to where she had seen what she thought had been Aurora, but all that was there now was a pile of rocks. "Aurora Skies?" She called into the rocks before her. She pricked her ears, searching for a reply when she heard a weak "over here" coming from inside the rocks. Eclipse spent the next half hour removing the rocks one-by-one from the pile until the battered, unconscious form of Aurora was revealed. "Aurora?" Eclipse whispered softly into the mares ear. If Aurora heard Eclipse, she did a good job hiding it. "Don't worry, Aurora" Eclipse said, lifting the luckily lighter mare onto her back, "I'll get you to safety". Chapter Three: Fighting for LifeEclipse did not have to travel long before she came across a large cave. "It's not much," Eclipse sighed as she entered the cave "but it'll keep us safe". She proceeded to lay Aurora down in the back of the cave, as far away as she could get from the cold outside, and started addressing her wounds. For the most part, the wounds were mostly scratches and bruises, easy fixes, but Eclipse recoiled when she saw that Auroras wing was ruffled and bent the wrong way. "I'll need to go outside to get what I need to fix that" Eclipse said to herself "but what do I do with Aurora?" Finally, Eclipse decided that nopony in their right minds would be out in the rain like this, Aurora would be fine for the short time it took Eclipse to find the things she needed. Eclipse set out, yet again, in search of any nearby villages that may have the remedies she needed for Aurora. She might as well be searching for a rare, endangered animal with the luck she had. She sighed in defeat. "I may as well go back to Aurora" she said dejectedly and started back in the direction she had come, but as she wistfully drug her hooves and hung her head, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Eclipse looked up to see a perfectly set up campsite, the smell of food wafting from the campfire and the warm tents beckoned her forward. She looked around in wonder, the owners of the campsite were nowhere in sight. 'What kind of pony leaves perfectly good food and tents just laying around the woods?' she wondered as she crept forward on quiet hooves, towards the campsite. As she approached the campfire, it became clear that the ponies who had been camping had not been there for several hours. Eclipse took the chance, dashing in and out of each tent she took food, blankets, and a small medicine pack that had all the things she needed to fix Auroras wing. As Eclipse left the campsite and walked back to the cave, she sighed in relief, now she would be able to help Aurora. By the time the mare got back to the cave and started to treat Auroras wing, it was late morning. The green mare worked all though the day, only taking a break to nibble on a cracker she had taken from the campsite. When she was finally satisfied with her work on Auroras wounds, it was starting to get dark again. Eclipse yawned and used one of the blankets she had taken to cover up Aurora, then curled up under her own blanket and fell into deep sleep. Eclipse awoke to the sound of three ponies whispering next to her. 'Aurora must be awake' she thought as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Don't move!" a gravely female voice warned. Eclipse froze, her eyes wide, that wasn't Auroras voice. "W-who are you?" Eclipse asked, trying not to let the fear that was threatening to enter her voice show. "That's none of your business!" a deep male voice replied. "The question is, why did you steal our stuff?" another female voice chided angrily. Eclipse cringed and closed her eyes, 'So that's what this is about' she thought. She opened her eyes and turned to look at the ponies who had spoken. One of the mares was a white unicorn with a chocolate brown mane that was tipped with mint green. Her eyes were a bright magenta that stared angrily back at Eclipse. The strangest thing about this mare was her vibrant rainbow knee sock. The other mare sitting next to her was a simple, pale green earth pony with a long blond mane, her pink eyes stared shyly back at Eclipse. Eclipse noted that she had a satchel slung across her chest. The last pony, a stallion, was a navy blue pegasus whose mane was a brighter blue tipped with pink, his hooves were pink and his eyes were a bright shade of yellow. "I-I was just trying to keep myself and Aurora-" Eclipse gestured to Aurora, who had not yet woken up "alive. I didn't mean any harm" she reassured the ponies. "Oh, I'm sorry," the unicorn with socks said, her voice rich with mock sympathy "it's obvious that your so weak that you can travel for over an hour to come steal our stuff. Okay, that's perfectly fine since we need to survive as well!" "But... I didn't mean any harm... you see, me and Aurora got in a-uh-a minor fight and she flew off. She almost got crushed by a bunch of boulders! She's knocked out, that's why I needed your stuff! I needed your stuff to keep her from dying" Eclipse told them, hoping that one of them could at the very least empathize with what she was going through. Both the mares gazes remained angry but the stallions eyes softened when her heard her story. He turned to the pony in socks, "Oh, Record Beats, she was only trying to help her friend" he said softly "don't be so hard on her". The mare sighed "fine," she said and glared at Eclipse "be glad SkyFall came to your defense! Otherwise you wouldn't have known what hit you!" and, with a final swipe of her hoof, she turned and left the cave, followed by the other mare. "You'll have to excuse Record Beats" the blue stallion, SkyFall, whispered apologetically to Eclipse "she's a little hard-headed and rude, but she's nice once you get to know her". Eclipse smiled gratefully at the him. SkyFall tilted his head in wonder "Although, I don't think I've ever seen you around here before" he said "why are you here?" Eclipse sighed, "It's a long story". "I've got time, those two wont really leave without me" SkyFall said, nodding his head to where the two unicorns had disappeared. "Well... alright". Eclipse told him the whole story, how she had found the letters from the Princess, how she had gone to Canterlot castle and met Aurora, she left out the part about falling in love though, how they had been chased by the changelings, how Eclipse had angered Aurora by trying to get her to come with her on the quest, and then how she had brought Aurora back to the cave to treat her wounds. "And that's truly the whole story." she finished "now do you see why I needed to steal-uh, well... borrow your stuff?" "Yes...." SkyFall said slowly "but why didn't you just use your magic to go get help? It would've been much faster" he asked, noticing Eclipses horn. "Well... that's another long story but-" Just then, the two mares returned "we've decided to help you" the one in socks, apparently named Record Beats, announced. "Oh, how generous of you" Eclipse grumbled, this unicorn acted like she was Princess Celestia herself! "Oh, come on" Record Beats said "don't act like you didn't want out help all along! We'll help you, but only until you friend is strong enough to travel, then you two will have to get out of here!" Eclipse just nodded curtly, she didn't want to anger the unicorn mare again. "Kaela" Record Beats ordered, flicking her tail at the earth pony who had also returned "you were in training as a medic, correct?" the pale green earth pony nodded. "Check this mare's friend for any serious injuries". Kaela nodded to Record Beats and gingerly tip-toed towards Aurora's sleeping body. Then, with nimble hoofs, she began to poke and prod the purple pegasus' body, checking mainly sprains or fractures. When she got to Aurora's wing, her nose screwed up in surprise. "Did you dress this wound?" she asked Eclipse and Eclipse felt hot embarrassment frothing under her coat. Had she done something wrong? "Y-yes" she said in a small voice. Kaela sighed and shook her head slightly. "That's what I was afraid of" she said gently "did you think to check her over for wounds before you wrapped the wing?" Kaela asked. "N-no..." 'Stupid! Why hadn't I thought to do that?' Kaela gazed at Eclipse, "I thought so" she didn't sound at all surprised as she turned back to her patient and sniffed at the wound. "There was a deep gash under the wing before you dressed it" the pale green mare informed her "those can get infected quickly, if not treated. I can already smell the sour scent of infection on this pegasus." "Can you treat it?" Eclipse wasn't ready for the reply that came. Kaela lowered herself onto her haunches so that she sat on the cold cave floor and cleared her throat "when untreated for a certain period of time, or treated carelessly, a wound that is deep or wide will start to smell sour with infection within less than a day. If still untreated the wound could cause death." the mare spoke slowly and calmly and sounded as if she was quoting something she had read many times before. "However, if treated within twenty four hours of showing the signs of infection, the wound will fully heal with nothing less than a scar. This-" Kaela twitched her ear towards Aurora's wing "- will be a challenge, but I think it may be possible for me to save your friend." Eclipse let out a sigh of relief, that was the best she could've hoped for. "But" the earth pony continued "your friend also suffered severe head trauma, this I cannot treat as well. Your friend will need to be strong and you will have to be patient with her. Head trauma, or concussions, sometimes have a result of forgetfulness or amnesia." she lowered her voice to just more than a whisper "I'm sorry, but your friend might not even remember you."
Prologue: The LetterEclipse sighed. It was summer and yet, she had no plans. Lame! The green unicorn mare kicked a smooth, round rock with her hoof as she wandered through the streets of her hometown, Ponyville. Her head was hung as if in defeat as the wind picked up momentarily and the mare's long grey mane swept across her face, obscuring her vision. "Ouch!" she shrieked as a sharp pain shot through her hoof. She examined it and saw a cut that was oozing thick red blood. "Stupid rock!" she grumbled "I'll go see Nurse Redheart later and ask her to fix it up then, I guess..." she trailed off. 'Wait!' she thought, confused "What in Equestria is a rock sharp enough to cut a pony that deep laying carelessly on the ground where somepony could easily step on it? What did I just kick?" She looked down at what she had thought was a rock and saw that it was not a rock, but a broken and very dusty bottle. Then she saw what was inside the bottle, a scroll. "What in Equestria?" she muttered in awe as she gingerly grabbed the scroll and pulled it out of the bottle, carefully avoiding the sharp edges of the broken bottle. Curiosity nipped at her and, her injured hoof forgotten, she decided to take it back to her cottage and read it away from the prying eyes of pony pedestrians. Eclipse trotted home, trying not to attract attention and only stopped briefly to casually say hello to her friend, Twilight Sparkle. When she got to her cottage she went inside, locked her front door, and pulled down all her blinds. Nervously, she unrolled the piece of parchment and was surprised when she saw that the letter was addressed to her. "Me?" she questioned "I never get mail!" Her heart skipped a beat and she yanked her hooves away from the parchment, as if it were burning coals, when she saw that it had been due to deliver almost two years prior. Now more intrigued than ever, she slowly smoothed the parchment out on her desk with shaky hooves and began to read it. "Dear Eclipse" she read aloud "You must come to Canterlot castle at once! Equestria is in grave danger, and your mother and I believe it is time for you to take back what is yours and use it against the enemies of Equestria. You are the only one who can save Equestria now! For you have a power, a power far stronger than any unicorn, it just needs to be unlocked. Just tell the guards you are there to see me and show them the note, they'll know what to do. The fate of Equestria lies in your hooves. Signed, Princess Celestia". "Princess Celestia wanted to see me?" she asked herself "'take back what's mine'? What is mine? And how was my mother there? She's been dead since I was two, and she knew the Princess!" Eclipse buzzed with excitement at the thought that her mother had known Princess Celestia, the most powerful pony in all Equestria. But the excitement faded when another, more confusing thought came to Eclipse: "How could Celestia send this letter to me?" she wondered aloud "She's been missing for over ten years!"
Chapter One: Do You Believe?Eclipse took a long-distance train to Canterlot. On the train she found herself constantly checked her saddle-bag to make sure her letter from the Princess was still there, as if she could've lost it without taking it out of her bag. When the train got to Canterlot station she was the last pony off the train, leaving her to make a wild leap onto the platform while the train was leaving the station. She landed in a heap on the edge of the platform and some tourist, who had pushed passed her on the train, laughed at her. "She's unicorn!" giggled a white unicorn with a purple mane "why didn't she just teleport off?" "Maybe that's why I've never heard of her before, because she's too stupid to be in the gifted unicorn academy!" jeered a gold pegasus. "She's probably come here to grovel at the headmasters hooves and beg for entry 'please!'" mimicked another pony "'please accept me into your school! I know I've never accomplished a single spell in my life, but I've just got to enter the academy!'" 'What am I? she thought, wanting to hide her face in her hooves in humiliation 'I'm not a push-over, I know that much!' She stood up quick and stood in front of the laughing tourists. "oh yea?!" she yelled at them in her best Canterlot voice "what's so funny?!" she glared at them. "N-nothing...." mumbled the unicorn, staring up in fear at Eclipse. "That's what I thought!" she said. Sending sparks flying from her horn, she stormed off towards Canterlot castle. When she got to the front gates of the castle she met two Pegasus guards. "umm.....h-hello" she said to them, nervousness coursing through her body, "I just got this letter from the Princess, sh-she wanted to see me and.... I-I think there might be some clues to what she wanted me to do in the castle" She grabbed the scroll out of her saddle bag and showed it to them. The two guards read the letter then looked up at Eclipse. "You are Eclipse?" one of them asked her, surprise filled the stallions deep voice. "Yes" she confirmed. The guards looked at each other and nodded. Then the one who had spoken to her reached into a bag behind him and pulled out another letter, that Eclipse guessed was about as old as hers, and handed it to her. "The Princess was going to give this to you when you got here but seeing as she's gone, I guess I'll just have to give it to you instead" he cut off. "Go right in" said the other guard "the Princess' rooms are first on you left, then all the way in the back there's a room on the right". "Thank you" she said and went through the gate. At the front of the castle there were two unicorn guards, but Eclipse showed them both of her letters and they let her pass without any questions. When she opened the doors to the castle, her breath was stolen right out of her chest. The luminous chandeliers that hung high off the ground, the velvet carpet that ran down the center of all the hallways, and even the portraits of past princes and princess' were magnificent. "wow" she whispered as she walked into the first room on the left, the throne room "this is beautiful!" After she got over the way the room looked she searched around for clues about what she was supposed to do. when she looked in some drawers she found yet another piece of parchment. "oh joy" she said, rolling her eyes "another dusty-musty letter" but she picked it up anyway and put it in her saddle-bag with the other ones "It would really help if I could have a better clue!". She looked around some more but all she could find was some collective dust bunnies on the throne (which she sat on for fun) and some quills on a desk, near the window. So she went all the way down the hall where she met another guard standing right in front of the door she supposed was Princess Celestia's other room. This guard was strangely a pegasus mare. "umm...e-excuse me" she stammered. She had seen all the guards so far, and all of them so far looked exactly alike, but this one was stunningly pretty. Her brilliant sky blue mane and tail resembled that Cotton Cloudy, of a filly she had seen around Ponyville, her dazzling purple coat, and her smooth, gentle-looking golden eyes were too much for the Eclipse . "I was told to go in this room. you see, my name is Eclipse" she mumbled as she stared at the beautiful mare, she could feel her heart melting, "and the Princess told me I-I needed to claim something, but I d-don't know what that thing is so..... Can I go in and look for clues, please?" "Sure, miss" she said and stepped aside, not looking at her. "Please, just call me Eclipse" she said, walking past her and into the room. When she entered the room, she knew it must have been the Princess' bedroom. It had another magnificent chandelier, a very big bed that looked like it hadn't been slept on in forever, and four chests lining a wall that Eclipse thought would've held Celestia's most treasured possessions. Deciding to check in the chests first she tip-toed over to them and opened the first one. When she opened it, she knew she was in the right place, there was already one piece of parchment on top. She picked it up and read it. "Dear Eclipse" she read "don't open the last chest! it-" the rest of the letter was torn off. Looking around she saw it on the ground. 'I must have been in such a hurry that I didn't notice it before' she thought. She put the parchment she had at the moment in her saddle-bag and trotted over to the one on the ground picking it up. "It sets off an attack on the castle! From Princess Celestia " she read. Naturally, she opened the last chest to see what was inside. 'This trap is ten years old!' she thought 'it wouldn't go off even if I wanted it to!' Nothing but dust was inside. Almost immediately, a dozen changelings appeared outside the window, staring evilly at her. She screamed as they started to hit the glass, trying to get in. She got up and ran out of the Princess' bedroom. "Finished already?" the mare guard asked her quizzically "and what was with the screaming?" She blushed. The pretty mare almost made her forget what was going on. "Uh-uh...." she stuttered, melting in the purple mare's gaze "um...changelings are right outside the window in there." she said dreamily. The shock on the guards face reminded her the peril that they were both in, she remembered how scared she was "c'mon! we have to get out of here!". She grabbed the mares royal uniform, blushing slightly, and dragged her out of the castle. Running as fast as they could, Eclipse and the guard ran towards the Everfree forest and the castle slowly disappeared from view behind them.
Chapter Two: Come With Me"What was that all about?!" the guard demanded, grabbing Eclipse's tail in her mouth and yanking her back, almost making Eclipse fall over backwards. "Explain to me at once!" "Why?" The guard snorted "because you just dragged me away from my duties in Canterlot without an explanation and I will probably get fired because of you, maybe that's why?" she said pointedly. "First," Eclipse shot back "tell me your name". "Why should I trust you" the mare asked, spitting Eclipse's tail out of her mouth. "because.." she said. 'Because I think your beautiful and charming, that's why!' she imagined herself telling the mare, but decided not to 'I might scare her off' she thought sadly. "You just should!" she said indignant. Much to Eclipse's delight, the mare just chuckled "my name is Aurora Skies" she said. And what was that? As the mares looked into each others eyes, Eclipse thought she saw.....yes! Was that a flash of love in the mares smooth gold eyes? Was that the slightest hint of a blush in Aurora's cheeks? Did Aurora feel the same way about Eclipse that Eclipse thought of her? "Oh" Eclipse said, gazing at Aurora. Did she really see what she thought she saw? "Why do you keep staring at me like that?" Aurora asked skeptically. "Oh, um....y-you remind me of a filly who lives in Ponyville" Eclipse said, which wasn't entirely lying, Eclipse had seen a filly that much resembled Aurora hanging around the sweet shop in Ponyville. She glanced down at her hooves, hoping that Aurora Skies wouldn't see through her half-lie. Aurora perked up at that "is her name Cotton Cloudy? A little light-grey Pegasus filly with a mane like mine?" she asked. "Yes, why?" "She's my sister" Aurora said with a smile, but a sad shadow cast over her face and she suddenly looked much older and depressed "I haven't seen her in ages, due to my job". She looked around suddenly as if looking for something. "Do you think they're still following us? The changelings, I mean". Eclipse shook her head "if they were, they would've caught up to us by now". Then she noticed some different problems: It was very dark (she guessed around eleven pm), they had no shelter, and it was somehow very cold. She sat closer to Aurora as she realized the cold was seeping through her silky green coat and chilling her to the bone. "B-boy it's c-cold!" she said, shivering. Aurora pulled away from Eclipse. "What are you doing?" "I-I was just trying to keep us warm" Eclipse mumbled sheepishly, upset that Aurora had turned a cold shoulder on her. 'Well stop" Aurora said firmly "I need to get back to the castle, I feel so guilty leaving the other guards. They might need me to help them fight off the changelings." "But... Aurora" Eclipse whined, wondering how to form the question that was burning in her mind "w-what if I need you? You can take care of yourself, but I'm going on this quest and without you, I'll be all alone. Wont you come with me?" "No" Aurora said without hesitation "you're a unicorn, you can take care of yourself". Eclipse flinched at the harshness in Aurora's voice "But-but it's to dangerous to go alone in the forest!" she pleaded "if we separated, we'd both be in danger!" "You just said that I can take care of myself, it's you who'd be in danger" Aurora said carelessly. She turned around, starting to walk away. Eclipse was close to crying now, she was in love with a pony who couldn't care less about her. "But, but... you can't go back! I need you to protect me!" she choked through tears. Suddenly, Aurora turned and yelled in Eclipse's face "No! Okay? I said no and that means no! What do you not understand about that? I will not come with you, I have to return to Canterlot and protect the ponies there! Not you! Protect yourself!" and with that, she turned and flew off. Eclipse watched her leave, tears welling up in her eyes. She wanted to go after her, to tell Aurora how she felt, but she knew it was a lost cause. Instead she sat down in the grass and covered her face in her hooves, allowing the tears she had been holding back to spill out. Eclipse didn't know how long she sat there, crying like a school filly who was unable to find out her talent, but after a long time she heard a rumble and a loud scream coming from the mountains to her right. She stopped crying and jerked her head upwards towards the sound. What she saw sent a chill down her spine: a large pile of boulders that were not there before, a rock slide!, and she thought she could make out a pale purple shape struggling with the rocks. "I'll bet that's Aurora" Eclipse said, trying to force a little unkindness and arrogance into her voice to convince herself that she didn't care, but it wasn't enough to keep her from worrying about Aurora. She spent the next hour obsessing over weather she should go help Aurora. 'You heard her!' she told herself 'she said she doesn't need you! She probably doesn't even want your help. But.... I should still go help.... No! Yes!' After quarreling with herself like this for a while she finally rested on the decision: she would go find Aurora. "I just hope I'm not to late!" As Eclipse started the trek through the mountains, the wind had picked up and it had started to rain hard. 'Great,' Eclipse thought in agitation 'now not only is it cold and dark, but it's wet and windy now too!' She sighed and stopped the steady run she had been keeping up to briefly reach into her saddle bag, pushing past the letters, grab a hair tie she had brought, and tie her long hair back. At least it would keep her hair out of her eyes enough so she could see clearer. She wandered around another hour without any luck, calling Auroras name over and over, but just as she was about to give up, she saw some rocks move and saw a flash of pale purple to her left. Eclipse rushed over to where she had seen what she thought had been Aurora, but all that was there now was a pile of rocks. "Aurora Skies?" She called into the rocks before her. She pricked her ears, searching for a reply when she heard a weak "over here" coming from inside the rocks. Eclipse spent the next half hour removing the rocks one-by-one from the pile until the battered, unconscious form of Aurora was revealed. "Aurora?" Eclipse whispered softly into the mares ear. If Aurora heard Eclipse, she did a good job hiding it. "Don't worry, Aurora" Eclipse said, lifting the luckily lighter mare onto her back, "I'll get you to safety".
Chapter Three: Fighting for LifeEclipse did not have to travel long before she came across a large cave. "It's not much," Eclipse sighed as she entered the cave "but it'll keep us safe". She proceeded to lay Aurora down in the back of the cave, as far away as she could get from the cold outside, and started addressing her wounds. For the most part, the wounds were mostly scratches and bruises, easy fixes, but Eclipse recoiled when she saw that Auroras wing was ruffled and bent the wrong way. "I'll need to go outside to get what I need to fix that" Eclipse said to herself "but what do I do with Aurora?" Finally, Eclipse decided that nopony in their right minds would be out in the rain like this, Aurora would be fine for the short time it took Eclipse to find the things she needed. Eclipse set out, yet again, in search of any nearby villages that may have the remedies she needed for Aurora. She might as well be searching for a rare, endangered animal with the luck she had. She sighed in defeat. "I may as well go back to Aurora" she said dejectedly and started back in the direction she had come, but as she wistfully drug her hooves and hung her head, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Eclipse looked up to see a perfectly set up campsite, the smell of food wafting from the campfire and the warm tents beckoned her forward. She looked around in wonder, the owners of the campsite were nowhere in sight. 'What kind of pony leaves perfectly good food and tents just laying around the woods?' she wondered as she crept forward on quiet hooves, towards the campsite. As she approached the campfire, it became clear that the ponies who had been camping had not been there for several hours. Eclipse took the chance, dashing in and out of each tent she took food, blankets, and a small medicine pack that had all the things she needed to fix Auroras wing. As Eclipse left the campsite and walked back to the cave, she sighed in relief, now she would be able to help Aurora. By the time the mare got back to the cave and started to treat Auroras wing, it was late morning. The green mare worked all though the day, only taking a break to nibble on a cracker she had taken from the campsite. When she was finally satisfied with her work on Auroras wounds, it was starting to get dark again. Eclipse yawned and used one of the blankets she had taken to cover up Aurora, then curled up under her own blanket and fell into deep sleep. Eclipse awoke to the sound of three ponies whispering next to her. 'Aurora must be awake' she thought as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Don't move!" a gravely female voice warned. Eclipse froze, her eyes wide, that wasn't Auroras voice. "W-who are you?" Eclipse asked, trying not to let the fear that was threatening to enter her voice show. "That's none of your business!" a deep male voice replied. "The question is, why did you steal our stuff?" another female voice chided angrily. Eclipse cringed and closed her eyes, 'So that's what this is about' she thought. She opened her eyes and turned to look at the ponies who had spoken. One of the mares was a white unicorn with a chocolate brown mane that was tipped with mint green. Her eyes were a bright magenta that stared angrily back at Eclipse. The strangest thing about this mare was her vibrant rainbow knee sock. The other mare sitting next to her was a simple, pale green earth pony with a long blond mane, her pink eyes stared shyly back at Eclipse. Eclipse noted that she had a satchel slung across her chest. The last pony, a stallion, was a navy blue pegasus whose mane was a brighter blue tipped with pink, his hooves were pink and his eyes were a bright shade of yellow. "I-I was just trying to keep myself and Aurora-" Eclipse gestured to Aurora, who had not yet woken up "alive. I didn't mean any harm" she reassured the ponies. "Oh, I'm sorry," the unicorn with socks said, her voice rich with mock sympathy "it's obvious that your so weak that you can travel for over an hour to come steal our stuff. Okay, that's perfectly fine since we need to survive as well!" "But... I didn't mean any harm... you see, me and Aurora got in a-uh-a minor fight and she flew off. She almost got crushed by a bunch of boulders! She's knocked out, that's why I needed your stuff! I needed your stuff to keep her from dying" Eclipse told them, hoping that one of them could at the very least empathize with what she was going through. Both the mares gazes remained angry but the stallions eyes softened when her heard her story. He turned to the pony in socks, "Oh, Record Beats, she was only trying to help her friend" he said softly "don't be so hard on her". The mare sighed "fine," she said and glared at Eclipse "be glad SkyFall came to your defense! Otherwise you wouldn't have known what hit you!" and, with a final swipe of her hoof, she turned and left the cave, followed by the other mare. "You'll have to excuse Record Beats" the blue stallion, SkyFall, whispered apologetically to Eclipse "she's a little hard-headed and rude, but she's nice once you get to know her". Eclipse smiled gratefully at the him. SkyFall tilted his head in wonder "Although, I don't think I've ever seen you around here before" he said "why are you here?" Eclipse sighed, "It's a long story". "I've got time, those two wont really leave without me" SkyFall said, nodding his head to where the two unicorns had disappeared. "Well... alright". Eclipse told him the whole story, how she had found the letters from the Princess, how she had gone to Canterlot castle and met Aurora, she left out the part about falling in love though, how they had been chased by the changelings, how Eclipse had angered Aurora by trying to get her to come with her on the quest, and then how she had brought Aurora back to the cave to treat her wounds. "And that's truly the whole story." she finished "now do you see why I needed to steal-uh, well... borrow your stuff?" "Yes...." SkyFall said slowly "but why didn't you just use your magic to go get help? It would've been much faster" he asked, noticing Eclipses horn. "Well... that's another long story but-" Just then, the two mares returned "we've decided to help you" the one in socks, apparently named Record Beats, announced. "Oh, how generous of you" Eclipse grumbled, this unicorn acted like she was Princess Celestia herself! "Oh, come on" Record Beats said "don't act like you didn't want out help all along! We'll help you, but only until you friend is strong enough to travel, then you two will have to get out of here!" Eclipse just nodded curtly, she didn't want to anger the unicorn mare again. "Kaela" Record Beats ordered, flicking her tail at the earth pony who had also returned "you were in training as a medic, correct?" the pale green earth pony nodded. "Check this mare's friend for any serious injuries". Kaela nodded to Record Beats and gingerly tip-toed towards Aurora's sleeping body. Then, with nimble hoofs, she began to poke and prod the purple pegasus' body, checking mainly sprains or fractures. When she got to Aurora's wing, her nose screwed up in surprise. "Did you dress this wound?" she asked Eclipse and Eclipse felt hot embarrassment frothing under her coat. Had she done something wrong? "Y-yes" she said in a small voice. Kaela sighed and shook her head slightly. "That's what I was afraid of" she said gently "did you think to check her over for wounds before you wrapped the wing?" Kaela asked. "N-no..." 'Stupid! Why hadn't I thought to do that?' Kaela gazed at Eclipse, "I thought so" she didn't sound at all surprised as she turned back to her patient and sniffed at the wound. "There was a deep gash under the wing before you dressed it" the pale green mare informed her "those can get infected quickly, if not treated. I can already smell the sour scent of infection on this pegasus." "Can you treat it?" Eclipse wasn't ready for the reply that came. Kaela lowered herself onto her haunches so that she sat on the cold cave floor and cleared her throat "when untreated for a certain period of time, or treated carelessly, a wound that is deep or wide will start to smell sour with infection within less than a day. If still untreated the wound could cause death." the mare spoke slowly and calmly and sounded as if she was quoting something she had read many times before. "However, if treated within twenty four hours of showing the signs of infection, the wound will fully heal with nothing less than a scar. This-" Kaela twitched her ear towards Aurora's wing "- will be a challenge, but I think it may be possible for me to save your friend." Eclipse let out a sigh of relief, that was the best she could've hoped for. "But" the earth pony continued "your friend also suffered severe head trauma, this I cannot treat as well. Your friend will need to be strong and you will have to be patient with her. Head trauma, or concussions, sometimes have a result of forgetfulness or amnesia." she lowered her voice to just more than a whisper "I'm sorry, but your friend might not even remember you."
