A Hoof in Adventure

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.