A Hoof in Adventure

Eclipse 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!"