Eclipse woke up with a start. He rubbed his head, skull throbbing in pain. Cadance and Shining Armor were just a short distance away. Taking the initiative, Eclipse quickly scanned his surroundings.

Dark crystals coated the walls and ringed the door, the corruption in them making his coat stand on end. A softly glowing crystal in the ceiling lit the room with a dim light that wouldn’t have been enough to read by, but was enough to see shapes and silhouettes.

He got up and walked to the door, peeking through the keyhole to see outside. He didn’t see much more than black. Rapping on the door with his hoof, Eclipse sighed when he was met by silence.

“Well,” He muttered to himself. “What else had I been expecting? A pinkie surprise party?”

He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard Sombra’s voice reach into the room through the oppressive silence.

“So, the first one is awake…”

Eclipse’s eyes darted around, quickly double checking the bleak room he was locked in. “Where am I?” he demanded, firing a blast of magic at the edge of the room he was imprisoned in. The blast ricocheted off, zipping through the air with several more ricochets until it finally found a mark on the floor.

“Heh… You’re not the one in a position to ask questions…”

“Sombra!” Eclipse shouted. “I know that’s you! Come out into the open!” Eclipse fired another blast, a much more powerful one, at another wall. This time, he blasted open a hole large enough for a pony to walk out of.

“You’ve got heart. I hate heart…”

The voice of Sombra left on that ominous note. Eclipse, refusing to calm down, scanned the area outside the cell he, Cadence and Shining Armor had been thrown into. He saw the crystal empire all around him, but not as it should have been. All the crystals were black, drained of any love and life they might have had. Crystal ponies were scattered about, alive but trapped in a dark slumber.

Eclipse blinked several times, looking around. “Well, this wasn’t in the show.”

He was about to step outside, but a groan from nearby attracted his attention. Turning, he saw Cadance and Shining Armor start to wake up, both of them shaking their heads to regain their senses.

Eclipse turned back to the hole in the wall, stepping outside. The doom and gloom around him was palpable to the point of weighing him down. It didn’t take long for Shining Armor and Cadance to make their way outside as well.

Cadance immediately rushed over to one of the sleeping crystal ponies, her horn lighting up with a flash of light blue. First one eye opened, then another, and the pony finally managed to turn his head and look at the three around him. He blinked once, a slow blink that took several seconds, before simply laying his head back down with a tired grunt.

“Well, that was helpful.” Eclipse sarcastically commented, rolling his eyes.

Ignoring the look he got from Shining Armor, Eclipse trotted down a nearby street, looking around. He stopped at another sleeping pony, a mare, and used his hoof to try and shake her to wakefulness. When she didn’t respond, Eclipse shook harder. When the mare still proved unresponsive, he moved on, ignoring any sleepers he spotted afterwards.

Cadance and Shining Armor weren’t far behind, stopping only to try and wake the crystal ponies. The most they got for their efforts was an occasional, uncommitted grunt of thanks, and the ones they woke up seemed drained of energy even after beginning to move around.

Some found their houses and went inside, others slowly walked around, heads hung low. No matter what they did, it was depressing to watch.

Eclipse sighed. “Great, we’re here and we have no clue what to do next.”

“I might.” Cadance offered, even while rousing one more crystal pony from their induced slumber. “After a thousand years, Sombra has become a shade of darkness and hate. If we can create a field of the proper energy, it will repulse him and anything he tries to throw at us.”

“Like his shield?” Eclipse asked, pointing at Shining Armor.

Shining shook his head. “No. Sombra’s not a unicorn anymore. I don’t think he even has a physical presence as of now. My shield wouldn’t hold him back no matter how much energy I put into it.”

Eclipse bit his lip. He knew where this went. He had seen the episode, after all. But he couldn’t just out and tell anyone about that. The only ones yet who knew what he was were Celestia and Luna, and of those two, only Luna might possibly know anything about that particular spot of his history. And that’s a big if.

Whatever he was here for, it couldn’t just be to tell the ponies that actually belonged here how to do everything to match the show, could it? Eclipse rolled the idea around in his head. Sombra had a much larger vocabulary than the show let on, but that could be because of anything.

Maybe he could phrase it like a question? Make an idle remark without getting too direct with it. It’d be better than painting a big sign that said ‘McGuffin instructions. Add water and bake for thirty minutes.’

Sighing Eclipse opened his mouth to speak. “Maybe Cadance can -- ”

Before he could finish his sentence, Eclipse felt something large and heavy slam into his side. Flying through the air, he landed on the side of a building, slamming into it heard enough to leave a dent shaped like his body.

“Yeah. That hurt.” Eclipse groaned once he had fallen onto the ground, climbing to his hooves.

He shook his head to clear it, before turning to where the plume of shadow and smoke that was Sombra laughed victoriously.

Shining Armor fired several magical energy bolts, the projectiles flying through Sombra with ease. The roiling shadow turned, two eyes filled with pure hate narrowing at the unicorn. Several tendrils launched from Sombra’s form, swatting at Shining Armor.

One of them caught Shining on the leg, tripping him and sending him sprawling on the ground, where he was besieged by the shadow. A pink sphere of energy blasted outward, driving the shadow away as Cadance moved in, her horn glowing with blue energy.

Sombra let out a chuckle, mocking their attempts at fighting him.

Eclipse, realizing that he had landed near the outdoor section of some restaurant, picked up a chair and flung it at Sombra. The chair passed straight through the living shadow, but it did have the effect of Sombra’s eyes looking like one of his eyebrows was raised.

Sombra looked at where the chair had landed, then back at Eclipse. “A chair? Seriously?”

Eclipse grabbed an umbrella from where it rested in a table, closed it and flung it at Sombra like it was a spear. Were the unicorn corporeal, the umbrella would have passed through his forehead.

Sombra was unamused.

Instead, he huffed, several parts of his shadow body keeping the renewed efforts of Cadance and Shining Armor at bay. “Tyrant king made entirely of shadow…” he was mumbling to himself, watching Eclipse pick up another chair. “And I get the heroes with an idiotic sidekick.”

Eclipse put the chair down. “Hey! I’m doing the best I can! I’m still kinda new to controlling my magic and I'd rather not blow myself to smithereens.”

Sombra ignored the comment, using his magic to grow a cage of crystals around Shining Armor while Cadance took flight to avoid his attacks.

With them held in check, Sombra turned and charged Eclipse.

The pony’s eyes widened with surprise, and as Sombra charged, he simply reacted without any real intent. His right hoof swung in an arc, encountering resistance as it hit the part of its swing that would have collided with Sombra.

The satisfying thwack that accompanied the sudden resistance was a pleasant surprise to Eclipse, who thought that he would have been slammed into the ground by the charging mass of writhing shadow.

“Gah! Crysstallllsssss…” Eclipse looked at Sombra, who seemed equally surprised by the strange choice of wording.

Looking at his hoof, Eclipse realized that he was holding a fairly large stick.

The two opponents took a moment to stare at each other blankly, when Eclipse hit Sombra with a backhand swing.

“Ow! How can that thing touch me? I’m literally intagi-- What are you doing?”

Eclipse gripped the stick with both front hooves, concentrating on the improvised weapon. Slowly, the stick straightened and thickened, becoming a handle as a large metal ball began to grow on the end. Several spikes popped out of the ball, leaving a brand new morning star in Eclipse’s hooves.

The pony grinned. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

Shining Armor broke through the crystal cage Sombra had erected around him, just in time to see the shadow scramble away from a maniacally laughing Eclipse, whose eyes were covered in a red glow.

“Oh, come on. It’ll only hurt a lot!” Eclipse cackled, swinging the morning star several more times. Only a few of the strikes actually hit Sombra, but the effect was obvious.

“Stop that you insolent -- Cryssstaalll raaaaaagh! -- I will enact my revenge upon -- cryyyystaaaall -- soul! Do you understand me, worm? You will -- graaaagh!”

“What’s that?” Eclipse shouted, happily swinging his weapon as he chased the mass of shadow around. “I couldn’t hear you. It’s like you've got a lisp or something!”

Shining watched the spectacle, blinking in surprise. Cadance landed beside him, mouth open in shock. “Should we help him?” She asked, pointing a hoof.

“I think Eclipse has it handled.” Shining said, dumbstruck.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I was talking about Sombra.”

Shining Armor watched Eclipse and Sombra some more, thinking the question over before pulling out a coin. “Flip a bit on it?”

Before Shining could flip said bit, Sombra managed to stretch out a part of himself and knock Eclipse away, sending the pony sprawling across the middle of the street.

Shining Armor and Cadance started forward again, already firing bolts of magic at Sombra. Shining Armor’s didn’t do much to Sombra, but Cadance’s seemed to actually do some damage.

Shining noticed this, eyes sparking with an idea. “Cadance!” he cried, attracting her attention almost immediately. “I’ve got a plan, but we need Eclipse to provide a distraction!”

A bout of laughter from Eclipse turned the heads of Sombra, Cadance and Shining Armor alike.

“Woo! Is this how Discord feels all the time?” Eclipse rose to his hooves, grinning like a madman, his eyes burning a bright crimson. “I mean, practicing with Luna was awesome and all, but this! This!”

He raised his hooves, twin balls of red chaos energy in his hooves. “Hell to the yeah!” He swung one hoof down, a crescent wave of energy shooting out and heading towards Sombra.

Sombra moved to the side, but Eclipse raised his other hoof to his mouth and blew on the chaos magic like one would a dandelion. A massive cone of butterflies and small birds flew out, blinding Sombra as Eclipse charged another attack.

Cadance smiled. “I think you’ve got that distraction, Shiny. What do you need me to do?”

“You need to make a shield.” He said, narrowing his eyes. “A big one. Big enough to cover the entire empire. I can get it started for you, but your magic is like anathema to Sombra. One of my shields wouldn’t hold him back, but you can keep him out as long as your magic doesn’t run out.”

“But, I don’t know if I have that kind of power.” Cadance said, worry on her features. “Twilight and her friends will take at least several more days to get here, I don’t know if I can--”

“You kind of have to!” Eclipse shouted as he flew by, having been thrown by another of Sombra's attacks and breaking through a closed door in his flight.

Sombra snarled. “I will enjoy watching you squirm as I crush the life from your--”

“Shut up!” Came the reply, cutting off Sombra as Eclipse jumped out of the building and hurled a plate at Sombra as if it were a frisbee. “What’s with you and the threats?”

The plate smashed against Sombra’s head as it momentarily took form in the living shadow, making it clear that Eclipse had either created it or imbued it with his chaos magic.

“And that voice! I haven’t heard someone that monotone since I listened to a recording of myself. Needless to say, I’ve done some killer robot impressions since then.” Eclipse flashed a grin as Sombra regained his bearings and charged Eclipse, several tendrils of dark magic reaching out from his horn.

Eclipse braced himself, leaning forward to meet Sombra’s charge.

A blue beam of energy lanced out, spearing Sombra’s form as it continued to the edge of the crystal empire

“Cryysstal?” Sombra questioned as the beam widened, driving the shadow back, out of the empire. The beam turned into a cylinder of magic, then eventually a cone that covered an entire section of the empire. Soon, it was a bubble around the entire empire, with an angry Sombra pounding uselessly at the edge of the empire.

Eclipse smiled, nodding to Cadance and Shining Armor. “Now, that was pretty impressive.”

Shining Armor nodded. “Not bad, yourself. But, I have to wonder, doesn’t that hurt?”

“Doesn’t what hurt?” Eclipse asked, still smiling, though he was now slightly confused.

“Uh, nothing.” Shining Armor said, “Nothing at all.”

“Shiny…” Cadance whispered casting her husband a furtive glance.

Eclipse glanced between the two, his smile fading. “Seriously, what?”

Shining Armor, nervously chuckled. “Don’t move, okay? We’ll find a doctor in the empire who can fix you up. Just don’t think about it.”

Eclipse frowned. “Jeez, it’s not like I’m torn in half. I still have feeling in every part of my body. Granted, my left hind leg is a little funny, but I did wake up in an odd position, so it may have just…” He stopped talking, noticing that while most of the limb was static, he could definitely feel a warm liquid running down it.

Cadance had actually awoken very few of the crystal ponies in the empire.

The rest came to when a horrible, ear-piercing shriek tore through the air and their heads, so fierce and terrifying that it countered the magic that had been keeping them asleep, driving them to wakefulness.

The source of the horrid sound? Opinions vary, but one popular story suggests that it may have been a small filly that had had a bug placed in her mane, her voice somehow amplified hundreds of times over and carried to the Crystal Empire.

Another, slightly less popular theory named a lone, male earth pony as the true source of the noise, most of them claiming that his hind leg had been twisted, or broken, with a few stories even claiming that some part of his bone had broken through his skin.

Whatever the case may be, we know that we have that sound to thank for the timely awakening of the citizens of the Crystal Empire.

Eclipse paced in the crystal castle. Shining armor stood beside Cadence, who looked very unhealthy. The past two days were spent with her barely eating. She had pretended to sleep through the first night, but Shining Armor had found her out the next day.

The door to the castle swung open, a crystal pony walking through.

Eclipse acted as intercept, keeping them away from Shining and Cadence as best he could, despite the fact that he was reduced to hobbling about on three legs, keeping the cast encasing his fourth leg elevated. Luckily, this pony’s inquiries were the same as all the others.

“He’s not ruling over us anymore?”

“No.” Eclipse responded. “We’re going to try and keep it that way.”

The crystal pony slouched. “I should be happy, but…”

Eclipse put a hoof on the pony’s shoulder, almost losing his balance in the process. “I know. Many others have said the same. Please, we’re doing our best to fix this. It’s just…we don’t have much to work with at the moment.”

The shook his head. “I don’t care. Anything you can do…thank you. From all of us.” After saying this he left, wearing the same depressed mask he had when he walked in.

Shining Armor stood. “Eclipse, it’s time. We need to meet with my sister and her friends.”

Eclipse smiled a bit. “You need to meet them. I need to sneak past them and board a train.”

Shining sighed. “Is that really in your orders?”

“Yes.” Eclipse replied, almost casually. “But, even if it wasn’t I’d still do it anyway, as it’s simpler than introducing myself to any of them.”

“Why are you so against meeting new ponies?” Cadence inquired, her eyes still bright and full of life despite the bags hanging underneath.

“It’s not new ponies, it’s ponies I might know something about.” Eclipse replied, gingerly touching the tip of his cast to the ground, wincing when it made contact. “If I accidentally let slip something, I will come off as a total creeper. Don’t want that.”

Shining armor thought for a moment as he gathered his snow gear. “You know, that actually makes sense if you think about it.”

Eclipse grabbed the cloak he had been given. “Thank you. Oh, uh…I still don’t know how to put this thing on.” he waved the cloak around a bit, eliciting a smile from Cadence.

Shining sparked his magic, clasping the cloak around Eclipse’s neck.

Eclipse nodded. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. Now, let’s move.” Shining Armor spun around and began trotting towards the door to the castle. Eclipse followed, waving to Cadence as he left.

Before long they had made it to the empire’s edge, as well as the edge of Cadence’s protective barrier.

“Well, this is it.” Eclipse sighed. “Once we get out there, no stopping until we make it to that train.”

Shining Armor nodded. “Yeah. Let’s just make sure Sombra doesn’t get in our way.”

Eclipse snorted. “He made a mistake bringing us into the crystal empire under his own power. He’ll have no objections to us leaving. It’s when you and the bearers come back that you’ll have problems.”

As soon as they stepped out of the barrier, the wind chilled them to the bone. Another blizzard was raging through the wastes, snow and ice stinging the skin through even the thickest of fur and cloth.

Eclipse pulled the cloak close to him, trying to block the wind with little success.

Shining adjusted his goggles. “Come on.” he urged. “We won’t last long if we just stay still.

They trudged through the snow, glancing about to ensure that Sombra wasn’t trying to be sneaky. Before long, the sound of a train whistle was heard, and the two ponies saw a train-stop fade into view through the snow, seven silhouettes waiting for Shining Armor’s arrival.

Eclipse took a wide berth, coming around from behind the group to enter the train unnoticed. He waited a moment for the distraction he knew was coming.

After a second, Spike lost his hold on several of Rarity’s scarves, chasing after them as they blew away in the wind.

Eclipse took his moment, sweeping past Spike and quickly slipping onto the train, taking a deep breath once onboard. “I hate stealth.”

He glanced over at a nearby member of the train’s staff, a mare who was staring at him dubiously. Eclipse pulled out a ticket and showed it to her, not saying a word. The mare nodded, moving down into another train car.

Eclipse took another deep breath and took a seat, looking out a window to see Shining Armor lead the element bearers to the crystal empire.

As he looked, two eyes suddenly popped into view on the window. Sombra’s eyes.

After a short moment, Sombra left, presumably to strike at the element bearers. “Well,” Eclipse said, sighing. “That certainly wasn’t unnecessarily creepy.”

He settled himself into a seat, trying to make himself comfortable as he thought. “Let’s see…I last watched ‘keep calm and flutter on’, so until Discord’s back I have a pretty set depiction of the future.” He ran a hoof through his mane. “I wonder what happens behind the scenes of the show?”