The horizon was coloured with a melancholic, fading purple twilight. A few maple leaves floated along the hilltops through the howling breeze of dusk and settled by Celestia’s foot. Her eyes looked impossibly dark and murky, and her face radiated no warmth.

  Silence.

  Neither Eclipse nor Chael budged as they stood in place for a whole minute. Celestia stared at them hard, her face cast in shadow by the crimson sunset, which gave it a menacing look.

  “What…?” Chael asked her in disbelief.

  “Fight.” Celestia commanded once again, “Right here and right now. I’ll take the victor in as my student.”

  Chael gritted his teeth and backed away from her. Anger slowly crept through his being, "You-”

  "Looks like we wasted our time and effort here for nothing." Eclipse yawned, "Let's go, Chael, I'm sleepy."

  Without giving Celestia as much as a single glance, Eclipse walked away, but his fists were clenched so hard his knuckles had turned white.

  Chael continued staring at Celestia in disbelief and disappointment for a bit longer, then jogged away and caught up with Eclipse.

  They walked side by side. Not even being able to find the words to describe what they were feeling right now, and their minds were in complete chaos.

  Suddenly, something pulled both of their heads... into something soft and squishy. Celestia had both of her arms wrapped around their heads and pulled them into her large, comfy bosom.

  "I'm just kidding!" She laughed, "Both of you passed!"

  "Huh?!" Chael’s protests were muffled by her breasts. "What are you talking about?"

  Eclipse, on the other hand, had fallen asleep the moment his head came in contact with her soft, comfy breasts.

  "Gah! Let me go! You're going to suffocate me!"

  "Never! Kaahaha!"

  Eclipse, Chael and Celestia sat around a fire with a large bear on a spit roast. Chael sank his teeth into the meat before it even got onto his plate and inhaled down an entire leg in minutes, whereas Eclipse and Celestia were eating like decent human beings.

  “The third test was a test of the heart. Even if people are loyal to each other,” Celestia explained as she chugged down a bottle of booze, “the moment they're presented with an opportunity that both of them want, they will start tearing at each other."

  “Test of heart?” Chael chuckled. “That's pretty stupid, ahaha.”

  “Kahaha.” Celestia laughed, “Not only were you presented with an opportunity, but you had to work your way through hell for it, and you still refused."

  “We’ve passed all three tests now.” Eclipse said, one hand tearing away at a chunk of meat while his other reached out for more, “Are we now your students?”

  “Of course!” Celestia laughed, "So starting from tomorrow, you're both my students!"

  “LETS GOOOO!” Chael threw his arms up and let out a delighted roar, and though there wasn’t much of a reaction from Eclipse, the flickering flames illuminated a slight arc on his lips.

  "To celebrate this day... let's have a booze party!" Celestia shouted then whipped out around two bottles of booze before promptly guzzling them down.

  "AHAHA! Where the hell did these bottles even come from?!" Chael laughed.

  Celestia burped and gestured to the bottle, "Fancy some booze?"

  “We’re underage.”

  The rest of the night passed in laughter and celebration from Celestia and Chael. Soon enough, both of them had fallen asleep outside. Chael from fatigued from the whole day, and Celestia, who had gotten drunk out of her mind and passed out with a stupid smile on her face.

  Eclipse stood up and took his gaze to the stars above, which twinkled in the night sky like specs of glitter. Only they will bear witness to what plans fate had in store for him. His eyes shone with faint vigour, one that wasn’t present for a long, long time.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Sweat trickled down Chael's face as he panted heavily, "ah… Are we…. there yet?"

  "Nope." Celestia said, jogging in front of them. "We're haven't even crossed a fifth of the distance yet."

  "Huh?" Chael huffed, "I swear we’ve been running for more than half a day now.”

  "Boo hoo! Save me the tears,” Celestia mused, “considering what you've been through in the last couple of days, this should be a piece of cake."

  "I'm hungry!" Eclipse said monotonously.

  "Stop complaining, you stupid children."

  "Where are we even going?"

  "That's a secret."

  "Ahaha." Chael laughed, “Are you going to make us do more shenanigans like ‘test of heart?’”

  "Stop being so mouthy or else I’m gonna take a longer route!"

  And with that, Chael shut up.

  Celestia turned to Eclipse, who was faintly snoring, before sharply smacking him in the head, "How the hell are you sleeping while you're running?!"

  They kept on running uphill. An hour passed, then two hours. Before they knew it, the sun was already going down.

  "A-ah it’s almost been… twelve hours," Chael asked, his face drenched in sweat, and his posture was extremely fatigued as he staggered his way uphill. Eclipse would’ve seemed completely fine if it wasn’t for the sweat which had completely drenched his clothes.

  As he trudged on forth, Chael bumped into Celestia, and Eclipse bumped into Chael, which promptly woke him up.

  "We're here," Celestia said.

  Eclipse and Chael looked over at her and saw a small wooden cottage. This was quite smaller compared to Celestia’s little abode further down this hill, but it was definitely in a much better place.

  Behind the cottage, higher up the incline, steam drifted into the cold air. A natural hot spring had been cut into the rock itself, water shimmering faintly as it spilt over the stone edges and flowed back down the mountain.

  From this height, the land below stretched out in layers, the Blood Moon Region fading into the distance beneath the horizon.

  "Kahaha, this is going to be our new home for the next couple of years.” Celestia smiled.

  This place was completely and utterly beautiful. In a place like Bloodmoon Region, such sights were very rare.

  “Wow… Just how did you find this place, granny? A hot spring right behind the cottage? All that panting was worth it after all!” Chael said in a daze as he took in the view.

  “Hehe, what did I tell you!” Celestia smiled, clearly proud of herself.

  Eclipse walked inside, "Where's the bed?"

  Celestia smacked him across the head, "Go and take a bath first, you stinky brat!"

  "Ahhhhh~ this hits the spot," Chael said as he sank into the bath.

  He felt his muscles relax under the steaming heat of the hot spring. He felt like he had gone through all the suffering of the past couple of weeks just for this moment alone.

  "Yeah…" Eclipse said as he slowly closed his eyes. His sole earring on his left earlobe glistened in the twilight far away. Rivulets of water dripped from his grey, wet fringe. "This is a good place to nap."

  "Huh, really? Ahaha,” Chael laughed, his emerald pupils sparkling with amusement. He combed his hair back in relief with his fingers, his muscular stature really popping out in the process, “Sleep will be the death of you."

  "What’s with all the commotion?" Celestia asked from behind the translucent partition which separated the bath into two sections.

  "Oh?" Chael’s ears perked, "You're here as well, old hag?"

  "Big sister." Celestia said, "Call me big sister. If I had my clothes on, I'd come here and drown your little head!"

  Both Eclipse and Chael turned toward the partition. A faint outline revealed someone standing behind it, her features hidden by the barrier. The moment stretched, heavy with uncertainty. Chael swallowed and straightened, exchanging a brief, serious look with Eclipse. He looked over at Eclipse again, his eyes flaring with determination.

  "You know what we've got to do, right?" He asked seriously.

  "I just want to sleep..."

  "Just come here," Chael said, then pulled Eclipse to the partition without making too much noise. Eclipse didn't resist and drifted along.

  Chael then started inspecting the partition in the hopes of finding a hole.

  "Look for a gap." He whispered to Eclipse, "I promise you it's going to be worth it!"

  "Okay..." Eclipse groaned.

  After looking around for a while, he turned to Eclipse, and the moment he did so, his heart sank. Eclipse was asleep, and his head was leaning on the partition. It leaned forward before it completely fell over, carrying Eclipse and Chael with it.

  As Chael and Eclipse tumbled forward, their eyes widened in shock, and their hearts raced with fear. Chael found himself sprawling awkwardly on the other side, but Celestia wasn’t there as he had hoped, and they were instead facing an empty section of the bath.

  Disoriented and flustered, Chael scrambled to his feet, and Eclipse, still half-asleep, groaned and rubbed his eyes, clearly confused about what had just happened.

  “So this is what you little shits are getting at, huh?” Celestia’s murderous voice echoed from behind them. Their blood ran cold, and they robotically turned around to see Celestia. She had an easy grin on her face, but her eyes chilled their spines from the inside.

  Chael gulped.

  There was a faint cloud of mist surrounding her, so unfortunately, he wasn’t blessed with what he wanted to see.

  With a swift motion, she smacked Chael, who yelped in pain, and then Eclipse, whose face was already submerged in the water as he was asleep.

  “Sorry…” Chael said with swollen cheeks.

  “I’m sorry, too,” Eclipse repeated with a large lump on his head.

  "Next time you try to invade a woman’s privacy." Celestia huffed before she gave a smile that would strike fear in the heart of a grim reaper, “I won’t be smiling.”

  With that, she turned to leave. The duo were on their knees with their head down, so they didn’t see a faint and eerie ‘2’ tattooed on her nape.

  On that day, Chael and Eclipse learnt a valuable lesson which would stick with them for the rest of their lives.