Rise of the Prince of Justice

The next morning, Eclipse mounted his new, shiny, self-made bionic wing onto his back. It’s not comfortable at first, and kind of heavy too. However after a little while he started to get used to the feeling of the wing and can control it as how he wishes to. He’s ready for the test flight. Earlier in the day he had Trixie, Twilight and her friends to come over for 2 reasons: To witness his creation come to action, and to standby and catch him just in case anything went wrong during the test.

  After everything is set, he tried to flap his wings. It’s kind of difficult to take precise control of the wing at first, but after a few more flaps it is much easier. He then started to flap them faster and harder, which the wing showed itself being tough enough to handle the force. Slowly, he started to levitate from the ground and gain altitude inch by inch. For 13 years he was grounded and never left the surface higher than 2 meters, which made he much less skillful than when he works in the Wonderbolts. As he continues to fly higher, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew up and guide him to fly. Soon enough he regained his skills and fly by himself.

  After the basic test, he decided to take it one step further and run a stress test. He flew  as high up as he can manage and dove downwards hard. The tough, yet flexible bionic wing did all the glides, twist and turns and the landing perfectly. Surely the bionic wing still needs a few minor adjustments ad tweaks, but overall he called this project a success. Every pony were glad that Eclipse can once again appear in the sky.

  While every pony was cheering, Rainbow Dash cried unexpectedly,” Oh no! I completely forgot I’m have training in the Wonderbolts today! Oh Celestia if I don’t go now Spitfire will definitely be so pissed at me! See you all later!”

  Just before she dashes back to back to Cloudsdale, Twilight pulled Rainbow’s tail and stopped her. She then suggested,” Now that Eclipse can fly again, why don’t you take him with you to Cloudsdale? I think he will want to see how it have changed. Also he can meet the new crew in the Wonderbolts, right?”

  “Heck yes! I really want to see how it has changed after all these years! I can still barely remember some details of the unit before I detonated the nuke. Before the war I was supposed to be promoted to be the Master Sergeant, but I’d say let’s just let Spitfire handle this job. “

  “Magnificent! Let’s go then!” Twilight exclaimed, she seemed to be really thrilled about Eclipse returning to the Wonderbolts.

  Wasting no time, they took off and flew as fast as they could. It was a rather long flight from Ponyville to Cloudsdale, and Eclipse struggled quite a bit as he still needs time to adjust himself to the feeling of flying with his bionic wing, but they made it. Just on time they landed at the Training Field of the Wonderbolts. That field, that runway that Eclipse took off 13 years ago and never returned and landed on again.

  At the same moment Spitfire trotted out from her office and out to the field. She saw Rainbow Dash standing on the field with her Wonderbolt flying suit, ready to take her command from Spitfire.

   “Alright Rainbow Dash, it seems you’re the pony today. Today’s orders are yours. You’re in charge for today.” Spitfire gave Rainbow Dash the permission to command on her own team today.

  Spitfire turned to Eclipse and said, “Oh Eclipse! I can’t believe you are here! But how did you even get here?” She’s in her Sergeant’s Uniform and wearing a pair of sunglasses, which made her look way less like a mare. Completely different from the Spitfire he met before.

  Eclipse popped both of his wings wide open. The metallic strips of his bionic wing reflected the sunlight, shining the light at Spitfire and Twilight.

  Spitfire was amazed by the masterpiece that he strapped on his waist and back. She walked around and around Eclipse, only to carefully observe the incredible engineering skills and the innovative product built by the ex-top engineer of the Wonderbolts.

  “Actually I found one thing really funny. I think my memories are slowly reappearing in my mind. I’ve really missed this place. And honestly if it wasn’t this coma, I’d probably be the one supervising this whole place right now.” Eclipse’s memories are starting to come back to his mind, making him able to recalled more and more memories from before the coma.

  “Well right after the explosion the whole team, or actually whole Wonderbolts thought that you’re a goner, and that’s why I became the one to take the responsible of overseeing this whole organization.

  “And Actually I’m very curious about the Wonderbolts’ Combat Unit had grown after all these years.”

  “Sure! You can come back to the Wonderbolts again, right now! You can be the Sergeant here and turn this great group into an even better group!”

  “No thanks. I love working as Trixie’s personal assistant, it may not pay as much as working here again, but I felt like sticking with it for now.” Eclipse rejected Spitfire’s invitation. Surely working with your love ones is always the best.

  “Well alright then, the choice is yours and our door’s always open. Let’s go check out the Combat Unit, shall we?”

  “Sure! Oh there, are you coming with us Twilight?” She’s been standing there with complete silence for quite a bit already.

  “Well I still have to continue studying so I guess no thank you. See you later!” She then teleported away.

  “Okay then…”

  Eclipse followed Spitfire and flew to the Aerial Command Base of the Wonderbolts. It took them around 5 minutes to fly to their destination.

  The facilities are for sure way better than before, which includes new weapons, new training field and so on. It’s certainly not the Aerial Command Base Eclipse knew. In the tracks some new crews were flying and practicing with their weapon.

   “Attention!” Spitfire ordered the crew member. Every pony stopped and quickly formed a line, standby for Spitfire’s command.

  “Anyone one of you have any idea of who he is?” Spitfire asked, testing the cadets if they know Eclipse.

  “No, Ma’am!” They replied loud and clear, having no idea what their sergeant may do.

  “In your Wonderbolts Interview examination, you should know that 13 years ago, our top engineer and team captain, Capt. Eclipse, deployed the ‘Rainboom Zero’ and ended the war. He vanished afterwards unfortunately, leaving us with this.” She showed the crew a badge. It’s the Team Captain / Vice-Sergeant honor badge which is only given to the best of the best in the Wonderbolts. Spitfire owned one before, but now she of course wears a Master Sergeant badge.

    The badge is really unique: A wrench in the middle of the badge, and two wings by the side of the wrench. It is Eclipse’s cutie mark, and the badge Is the true memorial of his ‘sacrifice’.

  “And now this, belongs to you, Captain Eclipse.” She took out a beret and pinned the badge on tight. She passed the hat to Eclipse with her wing. Eclipse took the beret and put it on his head. It fit snuggly on his head.  With the beret on his looked just like the Captain 13 years ago.

  The whole crew is surprised to see the war hero of the Wonderbolts is still alive, standing in front of them. One of the cadet took a glimpse of Eclipse’s cutie mark, which is completely the same with the badge. He whispered to the other crew members, “It really is Eclipse.”

  After Eclipse had his hat on, Spitfire asked if there were anything he would want to tell or advice the crew. Eclipse nodded, he turned to the crew and started speaking, in the tone he spoke to the team 13 years ago, “No matter you are great or not-so great, you must keep fighting for your honor and dreams! After the war, I lost my right wing. My doctor thought I won’t be able to come back to Cloudsdale but look I’m here! As long as your spirit never die in your heart, you can overcome just about anything. Understood?”

  “Sir, yes sir!” The crew gave a loud and clear response.

  Before Eclipse continue his speech, his cutie mark started to glow and blink rapidly and eventually flashing. The flash created a bright reflection on the ground and the wall next to him.

  Total confusion started in his mind: Why is his cutie mark flashing? The other next he knew is Rainbow Dash landing next to Spitfire.

  “What is it, Rainbow Dash?” Spitfire asked.

  “The cutie map is summoning me, sorry but I really have to leave now Sergeant.” Rainbow Dash replied, showing Spitfire her brightly flashing cutie mark.

  “Mine is flashing too, is there anything related with yours?” Eclipse asked.

  “I’m not exactly sure but I guess you should come along too. Twilight might know what is going on.”

  “Alright then, Rainbow Dash, I approve your request. Now go, and be careful.” Spitfire said quickly.

  Rainbow Dash and Eclipse then immediately took off and flew straight to Ponyville. Eclipse is getting used to his bionic wing so he can fly much faster. It didn’t take too long before they arrive at Twilight’s castle. Rainbow Dash opened the door and head straight to the map room. Eclipse followed her and entered the room.

  “Twilight? Our cutie marks are flashing. What’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked while panting. She’s a much better flyer than a runner.

  Eclipse scanned around the room and saw everyone’s cutie marks are flashing too. “What does this mean?” Eclipse is really confused about the situation right now.

  “According to the map, this is not just a normal friendship problem. This is something tagged as “aggressive” and approaching at our location in very high speed.” Twilight replied.

  “So… You mean something might strike us at any time soon?” Fluttershy asked, looking very worried and horrified.

  Just while everyone was discussing about how to counter this ‘aggressive’ thing, an unexpected explosion occurred somewhere outside. It wasn’t really powerful but still powerful enough to cause bright flames and a loud boom.

  “Alright everyone, let’s go see what’s out there!” Twilight yelled, as all other ponies in the room ran out of the castle and started running towards the direction of the explosion.

  They stopped as soon as they arrived at the explosion site. In front of the blazing flame stood an earth stallion as tall as Eclipse. He has a cape large enough to cover up his whole body, with a chest piece underneath. He has grey fur by the look of his legs. He hid his face under a hood and covered his muzzle with a piece of black cloth, making them unable to identify him. All they can see are his bright yellow eyes.

    “What are your demands?” Eclipse asked the stallion.

  “No use talking trash, take him don’t first!” Rainbow Dash didn’t hesitate to attack before anyone could have stopped her. She dashed down from the midair and attempted to kick the stallion. She was fast, but the stallion was faster. He barrel-rolled to his left side and dodged her kick. Rainbow Dash’s recklessness made her missed her kick and crashed onto the ground hard.

  The stallion didn’t spoke a word before he started to attack. He pulled out his bow that he strapped on his back and started shooting arrows towards them. They instantly split up to individuals in order to avoid be shot. Twilight and Rarity shot magic beams at the arrows to stop them from harming anyone.

  It didn’t take long for the vigilant stallion to realize that arrows won’t work on them, so he swapped his bow with a sword he strapped also on his back. The swapping is so fast that it’s almost unobservable, a speed where normal earth ponies wouldn’t be able to reach. He holds his movements while everyone else back off and holds their position. He slowly puts the sword back in place and just stood there, scanning at everyone.

  While everyone is frozen in place, the stallion flung both his front hooves at Applejack and Fluttershy. Two dark arrowhead popped out from his hooves and flew straight towards AJ and Fluttershy. Applejack ducked and dodged the arrowhead, while Fluttershy got shocked by his sudden movements and did not react to it. Eclipse took a big leap towards Fluttershy and stretched his wings. With a skillful flip he flipped his body and blocked the arrowhead using his bionic wing. The arrowhead jammed between the gaps of the wing flips with a slight vibration.

  He then immediately took another leap towards the stallion and smacked him with his bionic wing right in his face. This time the stallion somehow didn’t dodge the strike and got hit really hard. Eclipse pinned the stallion down on the ground and pulled out the arrowhead that was jammed in his wing just moments ago. He held the arrowhead with his mouth and position it near the neck of the stallion.

  “STOP!” The stallion yelled suddenly, closing his eyes.

  Eclipse jumped off the stallion as the unexpected shout penetrated through his ears. Everyone froze in place and stared at the two stallions. The stallion opened his eyes slowly and stood up. He slowly walked towards and Eclipse and looked at him in his eyes.

  “Eclipse?”

  “You… know me?”

  “Eclipse, it’s me!” The stallion pulled off the cloth covering his muzzle and his hood, revealing his whole face and his mane is a yellow and black lightning pattern.

  A blur, old, long-lost memory flashed right in front of Eclipse eyes. At that moment he seemed to realize something that he started,

  “Flamy? Is that you?”

  “Yeah! It’s me, Flamy!”

  Everyone finally relieved from their tension and calmed down, while not expecting the two stallions actually knew each other.

  “You know, I have been looking for you, all over Equestria! Where had you been in these 13 years?”

  Eclipse told him about his story and explained everything, including his brand new relationship with Trixie.

  “So Flamy, as I’m currently living with Trixie in a trailer that doesn’t really move around a lot, and now you possibly need a place to stay, I am thinking about renting a new house. I guess I’ll go find one tomorrow.”

  “Alright then. Thank you brother.”

  “It’s getting pretty late here, I think we should clean up this mess and get going.”

  With the effort of all 8 ponies there, they managed to extinguished the fire and clear away all other destructions.

  “Apologies for treating you all as enemies…” Flamy apologized after the cleanup.

  “Never mind Flamy, every pony makes mistakes at some point in their lives, but yours is for good. We all know your effort for Finding Eclipse.” Twilight replied. Other 6 ponies nodded their heads in response.

  Suddenly Eclipse’s cutie mark started glowing again. It started flashing and emitting a bright, white light while it started to grow a new pattern: A cross made by a wrench and a sword, with wings on both side of the cross.

  “Wait… Did my cutie mark just… changed?” Eclipse looking at his cutie mark, having no idea what to do.

  “I did have read some information about cutie marks evolving, and it only happened 4 times through all Equestrian history! You’re a very lucky one to be the 5th! I must tell Princess Celestia about this!” Twilight exclaimed.

  Everyone around are very glad to know the news and cheered happily.

  Not long after that the ponies parted their ways and head back home. Twilight and Eclipse are going the same direction, so they walked together and had a little chat, while Flamy just followed Eclipse to wherever he is going.

  “So actually, how did you and Flamy met and know each other?” Twilight asked Eclipse.

  “Flamy and I are already best friends way before King Sombra’s invasion. During the invasion, he helped me in constructing the ‘Rainboom Zero’ and spied on the enemy to gather intel. He’s the best assassin and infiltrator in all Equestria! We used to practice combat skills and do everything friends does before the war, until I fell to the coma and we never met ever since.”

  Eclipse suddenly remember that Dr. Blitzkrieg he thought he knew but never came to recall where or when he had meet him before, so he decided to ask Flamy if he has a clue.

  “Hey Flamy, do you know a doctor call Blitzkrieg? I don’t know if we have any kinds of connection or something…”

  “Dr. Blitzkrieg huh? He was the medic during the war and we parted our ways right after the war.”

  “Funny enough, he’s the actually the one who had keep me alive for these 13 years.”

  “Seriously? What a small world Equestria is!”

  “It definitely is.”

  “Hey Eclipse! I’m heading this way now, so I guess goodbye for now.” Twilight interrupted the conversation to say goodbye to them.

   “Alright then Twilight, goodbye.”

  Eclipse and Flamy continued walking for a bit and finally arrived at the trailer. Trixie is sitting next to the table, writing something that seemed to be a new trick by its look.

  Eclipse and Flamy walked into the trailer. Trixie didn’t shift her vision from her pen and paper at all.

  “I’m back, Trix. This is Flamy, my very best friend. He now kind of needs a place to stay so he’ll stay in my room for now.” Eclipse said to Trixie.

  “MM-HMM…” Trixie didn’t really care at first, but then she finally lifted her head and looked at the two stallions. She gave Flamy a warn grin and greeted him with a rather soft, warm tone.

  Eclipse walked towards the table and sat next to Trixie. He signaled Flamy to sit down on another stool.

  “So Trix, as we are not moving around with this trailer very often, and now Flamy is living with us, we were thinking about renting or buying a

new house. What do you think?” Eclipse asked Trixie.

  “It’s not that Trixie doesn’t want a larger living space, but Trixie is the only one earning bits here, and the bits are not enough to rent a house for sure.” Trixie let out a deep sigh. If there’s one thing they they can have right now, that would be bits with no doubt.

  “I know, so here’s my plan. I’ll continue working as your personal assistant helping with your shows, while other times I’ll go back to work in the Wonderbolts’ Combat Unit. Flamy can also go get a job if he really needs to. I’m sure we can rent a big house like that.”

  “It is a great idea but….” Trixie yawned, “Trixie is extremely exhausted. Whatever you want to say, tell Trixie tomorrow. Trixie needs some rest now.”