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You only get one 'first impression'... — Description
Apparently, when the world goes to hell in a handbasket, the easiest thing to do is... well... this. I needed a bit of a vent, and poor Eclipse got the short straw.

I love my li'l gal a little too much, it seems, because I'm torturing the poor thing. Yes, I'm aware of how backwards that probably sounds.

ANYHOO~! Eclipse's FIRST meeting with her father doesn't go very well, to say the least... 'Mature'd for blood.

Read below for some stuff that went down before this pic actually happened…

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Eclipse stared at the shadowy figure in front of her, heart hammering against her ribs and blood rushing in her ears. She couldn't even tell whether or not the dark spectre had made any noise, but its eyes bore into her with an intensity she'd never seen before. Then, all at once, the spectre rushed past her, taking up the space between her and the thick wooden door she'd just come through, slamming it shut. A low growl reached her ears. The indigo filly spun on her hooves, her large wings flaring momentarily for balance.

“And, just who, pray tell, are you?”

It took her a moment to realise that the deep rasping whisper came from the shadow, but the glint of sharp white at the tip of a half-formed muzzle told her that it was a moment too long. “I… I… I think I'm lost… yep, d-definitely lost. Sorry to bothe—”

“I didn't ask why you're here, foal,” the spectre hissed, narrowing its eyes and seeming to grow even larger than before. Its inky, roiling-smoke body shifted. “Answer the question you were asked, not the one you imagined.”

She shrank back, deeper into the room and further from the safety of anypony she knew. Mumbling an apology was difficult, but somehow she managed it, taking a deep shaky breath before adding, “E-Eclipse… and… who are…?”

The shadow seemed to relax slightly, returning to the size it had been when she first opened the door. “There are many more questions for you to answer before I answer that,” it stated coldly. With each word that came from it, Eclipse's ears pressed tighter against her skull, twitchy shivers running along her hide… The spectre’s voice slowly became more pony-like with each word that came out of it, but that realisation did nothing to ease her nerves. Regardless, it seemed unfazed by her obvious fear –if it had even noticed in the first place– and continued. “I have been here for some time, foal… Tell me, how long has the Crystal Empire been in the right place?”

“Right… place?” Gathering her courage –just like her uncle always told her to– Eclipse blinked slowly at the spectre-pony. “Do you mean, how long has it been back, after being gone so long?”

There was an edge of impatience in the low hiss that answered her. “Yes, that's exactly what I mean.”

“Uhm… not long? I think I missed that part of my history lessons…” She felt her face warm up slightly, but thankfully her heart had begun to slow to a more comfortable rhythm. “A couple of years, at least, I think.” Eclipse paused, tilting her head to one side and taking half a step forward with one of her forelegs. “Have you been here since it came back, or were you here before that?”

It hissed louder, its body billowing out to fill half of the room; she scrambled to put more space between them, her hooves barely finding enough grip on the stone floor to move her fast enough. “Did you not listen to what I told you?” it snarled, smoke-lips pulling back to reveal painfully-solid-looking fangs.

The moment that her unmarked rump hit the opposite wall, Eclipse whimpered and spread her wings, trying –and no doubt failing– to make herself appear larger and more in control of her heartbeat than she truly was; once again, it was fluttering in her chest like a newborn bird. “I d-did listen…!” she squeaked, pretending that her legs were not shaking underneath her.

The spectre fell silent, its vivid eyes narrowing in what looked like thought rather than irritation, and its body condensing into a more pony-like shape than before. As the quiet stretched on, Eclipse’s wings relaxed enough to return them to her sides, each feather being studied by the shadow as they moved. “You appear a little… young… for that.”

She blinked, letting out a small noise of confusion. Her ears spun forward for a moment, before twisting back to hide in her mane once again. “For… for what…?”

A soft thud by the door had the filly startling, before she realised that the spectre-pony had decided to lay down on the floor. “I was not aware that any could possess both Unicorn and Pegasus traits without even having their Mark…” it stated bluntly, snorting when she let out a loud sigh.

“I heard my aunt say that I might not get one…” she mumbled, then shook her head. “Don’t know why though.” With her… captor?... laying down, Eclipse found it much easier to keep her breathing relatively steady, and she could even meet those strange eyes without flinching. Again, they narrowed in thought, and she opened her mouth to ask but was interrupted…

“Who is your aunt?”

“Heh?” More blinking. “O-oh…! It’s… uhm, it’s complicerated… ‘pparently.”

It –he? It was sounding more like a ‘he’, now– let out another hiss. “The words are ‘complicated’ and ‘apparently’, foal. At least speak correctly.”

“…Sorry…”

~*~|Many Questions Later That I’m Too Lazy To Write Right Now|~*~

“There is still something that is… bothering me…” the spectre-pony started, breaking his most recent bout of silence with a harsh snort. Eclipse hummed softly to show that she’d heard, but didn’t look back up at him. “Your parentage.”

“…What do my parents have to do with you?” the filly asked sullenly. As the questions had worn on, her nerves had begun to fray even further –her wings itching to ride the air once again– and she had gotten more and more testy with him. Aside from the occasional flaring of dark smoke, he had done very little to stop her… Then, he moved. The scraping sounds of hooves on stone made Eclipse’s head snap up, initially hoping to see a familiar face, but the sight that was waiting for her was anything but…

He stood tall and imposing, smoke and shadows streaming off of his semi-solid form, his strange eyes narrowed in a glare and his sharp teeth visible in a wide snarl. “I have been patient with you, foal… perhaps too patient.” He paused, as if to let the growl that rumbled throughout the room to run its course before saying anything else. “Answer me, or you will learn but a portion of the suffering I can inflict upon such a small body as yours…”

Eclipse pressed her body further against the wall, gulping loudly. Her eyes darted around the room for a moment before locking back onto him. “I… uhm… well… they’re Unicorns… in Canterlot.”

“Unicorns? Mere Unicorns? Then were do those come from?” he asked, his voice as sharp as a knife.

“Uhm… my uncle’s a Pegasus?” She tried to smile, hoping to lift her mood with the action alone; the next growl cut through her efforts with ease. “They… I… I said it was complo—… compla—… complicated!”

His growl grew in volume. “You are trying my patience, foal… No pair of Unicorns could hope to produce an Alicor—…”

Hearing him suddenly cut off partway through a word, Eclipse flinched and squeezed her eyes shut, only to open them again a moment later as the tense silence continued. He was staring at her face, his eyes widening, predatory slit pupils narrowing to near-invisibility… “Wh-what is it, now…?”

That seemed to snap him out of whatever thoughts had ensnared him so thoroughly, and his teeth were once again bared, this time in a smirk. “You possess a rather… interesting horn. Far too curved for the average Unicorn, and certainly an unusual pigmentation…” He snickered. “Is it part of why things are so… ‘complicated’?”

She froze, her eyes going wide and her ears burying themselves in her mane while her shoulder feathers fluffed up. Suddenly, the room –while technically rather spacious– felt all too small, and her breathing began to quicken. “You… it’s… n-no… no, that’s…”

He said something else, but the words didn’t register in the filly’s mind –a roaring ringing sound filled her ears instead. Eclipse saw his smirk fall into another snarl, his eyes narrow into another glare, his smoky body start to come apart and fill the room once more… but she could do nothing other than stare dumbly at him, chest tightening and cheeks dampening and when did she start to cry?

A glint of red sparked between his eyes, growing into a shape that Eclipse was painfully familiar with, having seen it so many times in the mirror; blood-red and curved like some wild beast’s claw, glowing with a sort of forceful power that she could feel pulsing through the air.

Green and violet lights flashed, and then… all she knew was pain.

.