The three brothers woke up first, as they see the castle now quiet and enemies were gone. The rest of the team slowly eventually recovered from the blast and got back up again, only to see that the enemies were gone. The castle was once again quiet.

Malachite looked around, and he saw the three brothers standing around King Sombra’s horn.

“What was that…”

“The final weapon was unleashed. They should be gone now.” Shadestep said as he put on an eyepatch to cover the hollow eye cavity as his eyeball was pulled out after Lightningbolt’s friendly firing incident.

“Finally!” He screamed in excitement. All of them couldn’t help but express their greatest euphoria they had ever have in their life.

“Now, all we had to do is to contain the power back into the horn, and send them back to the void.” Shadestep said, as he once again performed a spell, but a reverse spell. Not to unleash the powers, but to claim it back.

Everyone witnessed as he performed the ritual. They were hoping to see something getting sucked back into the horn, but there wasn’t anything thing to see for a good 10 minutes.

“Oh no…” Shadestep muttered.

“What is it?” Eclipse asked nervously. He had never seen his brother this anxious and unconfident about himself before.

“I can’t seem to… call the power back in…” He grunted as he continued trying and trying again.

“You what?!” Eclipse screamed.

“I said I can’t contain the power!” Shadestep yelled back.

“Bloody hell… What are we supposed to do now?”

Princess Celestia stepped up towards Shadestep, looking very worried about the situation.

“Excuse me, King Shadestep, so what is the situation now?”

“You see, the power is unpredictable and unstable in general, and now I somehow couldn’t contain the power. If the power is left unsolved, who know what kind of damage it may cause if it goes rogue.”

“So, how are we suppose to solve the problem?”

“There is a way, but I’m not sure if anyone of us are powerful enough to deal with this on our own, not even you or me, Princess.”

“Whatever, as long as it can seal the power away, it’s worth a try.”

“Yeah! We’ve not come this far to be defeated by our own backfired plan.” The rest started as they heard the conversation.

“Alright, alright. It is pretty similar to the battle when King Sombra was destroyed. We will need all of our combined power, along with the enemies and their respective leader’s own special power, to bust through the heavy resistance of the Shadow Powers. Our objective is to find a path to a portal that might occur anywhere at anytime that leads straight to the spiritual realm. It can only fit one individual through, and almost all of the holy powers of Equestria cannot go through.”

“Once inside, it’s the matter of finding the source of the power, destroy it or seal it away. Since only dark magic users can grant access inside through the crooked and twisted portal, it means neither Princess Celestia or Princess Luna could go through. It’s up to me, Eclipse or Lunar.”

“The main issue is that, neither of us is powerful enough to fight the enormous power of the Ancient power of the Shadows. We would at least require King Sombra’s level of magic to even come close of making a draw.”

“But King Sombra was destroyed.” Shining Armor asked.

“That’s the problem. And even if he were alive right now, I highly doubt that he will fight on our side. Nevermind, we’ll figure this out sooner or later. I recommend sending troops to unite all of the enemy leaders first, as to gather all the unique powers of Equestria.”

“How about the griffons? Krossair and Granite are dead, and they were the only legal inheritor of the Griffonstone Empire and the Power of Griffons.” Malachite asked.

“You are the inheritor, Malachite! Granite’s legacy is all yours to take control of!” Eclipse responded.

“Me? What? He was being serious?”

“Do I look like I’m joking? A hero’s last words are the most valuable. He said you are the King now, so you are taking the responsibility!”

“Fine. I’ll gather some troops to negotiate with those changelings and the dragons.”

“Lieutenant Lannister, you lead the rest of the Wonderbolts to assist Malachite! Remember, no killing! We need the two enemy leaders alive!”

“Roger that, Captain.”

The two stepped out of the castle with some soldiers and took off. The rest that stayed could only hope for the best as they waited for their update.

As for the remaining generals left in the castle, they. were responsible for the second half of the operation.

“As for the crisis of Lord Tirek, me, my sister and Cadence transferred our respective alicorn powers to Twilight Sparkles for her to fight him off. I think we can apply this to the situation right now. If we combine all three brother’s power onto one, we could achieve greater power on one individual.”

“It is a great idea, Princess. However, it is easier said than done if we were to combine the power of us three on one, since our power are inseparable. Unlike you alicorns, the formation of us three are from one single source - King Sombra’s remains. Our power were supposed to be evenly shared by us three, but ended up in an unbalanced share, with me wielding more power than Eclipse, and Eclipse having more power than Lunar. If we were to combine our power, it would mean killing two of the brothers.”

“I don’t mind sacrificing myself for the nation, if it can save us all.” Eclipse said, determined.

“No, Eclipse! Don’t leave me! Don’t die, please…” Lightningbolt pleaded upon hearing Eclipse’s words. They had come all this way to be together, and she would never allow fate to separate the couple.

“There is a way to keep the two alive… But it is still very risky. One wrong move and they would demise forever. It will be dangerous, but it’s the only way to preserve the lives of the two brothers while infusing the three brothers’ power into one.”

“Go on. I will do anything, as long as we can contain the powers and restore harmony to the land.”

“The two will still need to die, but not completely. Their souls will need to be combined with the one that stays alive. However, their bodies will not be completely dead and empty. It would mean keeping the body just barely alive while the powers fuses together. Then it would be a race against time, as the bodies will not stay alive forever without their actual soul inside. Finish the deal quickly, and pull their souls back into their body. One wrong move, and the soul will completely detach from the body or get corrupted, which would both result in death.”

“It’s worth a try, but who will be responsible to carry the power of the three?”

“I would say Shadestep. He’s the oldest and the most powerful. He has the greatest control over dark magic.” Eclipse suggested.

“I would say the same, for our big brother is the most capable.” Lunar agreed.

“Then that’s decided. We’ll do it once we are ready to strike. We’ll also need to figure out which way to ‘die’ is the most suitable, since we cannot physically hurt the body.”

“Either anaesthesia or suffocation would be best, since it wouldn’t damage the body much.” AppleAle suggested from the crowd. Being the medic of the Sentinels she knows about death more than anyone else there.

“Then we can use anaesthesia then. One shot to the heart to paralyse the heart and we’ll be ‘dead’.”

“Final problem, where is the portal?” Eclipse asked.

“Mostly random, but I think I can calculate according to its pattern. If we strike before tomorrow, it would be somewhere near the south of Equestria. Not the easiest path, but there’s no second option.” Shadestep responded.

*************************************************************************************
Around an hour later, Malachite and Lannister returned to the castle. A dragon and a changeling followed the two as they entered the castle.

“Princess Ember. Queen Chrysalis. Well met.” Princess Celestia greeted the two enemy leaders.

“Now, I’m tired of getting blasted away by your love magic, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence.” The bug queen responded, emphasising the two names with a sarcastic tone.

“No, we’re not going to blast you away. It’s an alliance, and we are being very sincere and serious. I know we might have our differences, many of our respective races died, but it’s not the time to blame each other. Those dark magic monstrosity are now roaming outside, going rogue any second now. If we don’t help each other, we will all go down.”

“Fine. Just for my subjects.”

“Fine by me, as long as I don’t receive more negative comments of my subjects by you ponies.” The blue armoured dragon that stabbed Granite
replied.

“Yeah, said so the one that killed Granite.” Malachite complained.

“Malachite!”

“Fine…”

“So now, if everyone is ready, we will kick this off.” Shadestep asked.

Everyone nodded. Princess Ember, the Empress of the dragon race equipped her helmet while the rest armed themselves, ready to protect Shadestep to the portal.

AppleAle prepared two syringes full of anaesthesia fluids, while Eclipse and Lunar laid down. Everyone was surrounding the two, watching intensely and held their breathe. Lightningbolt grabbed Eclipse’s hoof as she stayed next to him.

“Don’t leave me… Please, make it back…”

“I will, Bolt. I promise.”

“Son, I await good news.” Windspear saluted. He envied Eclipse’s courage.

“Roger that old man.”

With their probably final goodbyes said to the two, AppleAle pushed the syringes onto the two’s chests. And with another push, the fluids went inside their heart. Eclipse stared at Bolt as he felt the cold fluid flowed into his heart, and his started to slowly lose consciousness. Shadestep casted a spell to stop the two’s soul from completely draining into his body.

“Alright, time is money. We have to move, now.” Shadestep ordered once the process is done.

“Move out!” Malachite yelled as he turned towards the door.

“Bolt! We have to move!” Shadestep called out.

“Just go, little filly. I’ll take care of him.” Windspear said.

Although very unwilling, she finally left with the team. She kept on looking back at her stallion as they moved out. Fortunately, all of them knew how to fly, so all of them took off and proceeded towards their objective at the south.

The skies looked clear as they proceeded, but Shadestep knew best that it was only a hallucination. Sooner or Later, they will encounter the spectral entities and it would be a tough fight.

Lightningbolt stayed right next to Shadestep for the entire time, since she knew that part of her lover is now in the body of his brother. As they approached the Southern Borders of Equestria, they could see a dark mist surrounding them, neon blue spectral soldiers appeared as they neared the border. The mist was very thick and dense, which in turn reduced their lift and they were all forced to land.

Since the portal was emitting dark magic, Shadestep could sense where the portal was exactly, since he had very strong dark power. The team battled through the spectral soldiers to proceed forward. Since they couldn’t be hurt physically, all they could do was to move fast and either protect themselves with a shield or use magic against them.

It was very difficult to move inside the misty area, since it was like a furious sandstorm that resisted and limited their speed.

With great effort, they moved forward to the portal. It was a purplish red frame of unknown entity. The mist near the portal was the most dense comparing to the surrounding area. Shadestep dove right into the portal with no hesitation, and the team stayed behind. Right as he jumped in, the think mist was gone and the portal was shut. The spectral entities disappeared with the portal as well.

“Let’s head back to Canterlot. This is what we can do for now. The rest is now determined by Shadestep.” Lightningbolt suggested.

*************************************************************************************

Over at the spiritual realm, Shadestep landed in a forest. They skies were like a cloud of star dust in the galaxy, with the clouds and mist constantly moving. It looked just like the normal world, but more solemn and peaceful, at least for that moment.

Shadestep could feel his soul being split apart, and his brothers appeared as a spirit and spectral entity in the realm.

“Woah… This place is… stunning. So I am supposed to be… dead, right?” Eclipse asked as he looked around.

“Whatever it is, we need to stop the spirit from infesting its power by feeding on souls.”

The three proceeded, and they could see a massive architecture at the far end of a canyon. On their way, they could see those they had slaughtered in the war. They all tried to say something.

“Watch where you are going. Those monsters, they will eat you!”

“Shouldn’t have joined the war, now I’m dead and stranded here, alone.”

“I fear no one, but that thing, it scares me.”

“This is almost like Tantabus… only less empty and more plants.”

As they approached the edge of the canyons, they could see a bridge, made of bones, hanging across the canyon. Under the canyon was an abyss, while the souls that defiled the laws of the world were punished and pushed down to the nothingness.

They walked up towards the bridge, only to be stopped by an entity. He was wearing some heavy armour, and was wielding a hammer with both of his hooves. He appeared to be an alicorn, that guards the entrance to the palace-like architecture on the other side.

“Halt. Only the spirits that are qualified to enter can pass through. And no mortals allowed in this place.” The spirit started.

“I’m no mortal, and I’m very sure all three of us are qualified to enter.” Shadestep started.

“I am Kugelblitz, the alicorn of justice and qualifications. I am responsible of guarding the entrance to the Hall of Eternity. Identify yourself, and I might let you enter.” The entity replied.

“I am King Shadestep the Powerful, the rightful inheritor of the Shadow Realm. I am here to seal the invading Ancient Power of the Shadows.”

“I am Prince Eclipse, Captain of the Equestria Royal Air Force Wonderbolts, and the second-in-charge of the Shadow Realm. I followed my brother.”

“I-uh… I am Lunar, I just followed my brothers to come here…”

“Fine. I will make an exception here. Those who wished to combat the Ancient Power were all inside the Hall of Eternity. Head over and you can meet them.” Kugelblitz stepped away and let the three brothers to pass through.

Shadestep headed on first, while Eclipse and Lunar followed their brother. The bridge was quite shaky unstable.

“Tread carefully, who knows what would happen if you fall.” Eclipse whispered.

“Be careful, but be fast. I don’t want you two to be stuck in here forever.” Shadestep replied, as they had limited time before Eclipse and Lunar become actually dead.

They made it through the bridge and once again stepped on solid land. They had arrived at the Hall of Eternity, which was enormous. The gate itself was so tall that it appeared to be very heavy and immovable.

However, it was incredibly light as Shadestep pulled the gate open. It was even lighter than a feather, and it felt almost like he was pulling on nothing but thin air.

The three entered the Hall, and were greeted by some ancient heroes of Equestria.

“Welcome to the Hall of Eternity. I am Commander Hurricane, the ancient legendary general that helped founded the nation of Equestria.” A red pegasus in armour said.

“Thank you, commander. We wish to see those who are willing to defend themselves against the invading Power of Shadows.”

“They are gathering up and they are expecting you. Follow me, and we’ll be ready.” He headed to the inner hall while the three brothers followed.

The hall was massive, at least ten times larger than Canterlot. There was a massive grill that serves unlimited food to the heroes inside. It was an unending feast, with the heroes eating and singing all day, living a happy afterlife. The walls are made of gold and platinum, with diamonds embedded onto the corners. The floor was made of all kinds of luxurious materials you could ever imagine.

They arrived to see the warriors that wished to join in the armageddon. Eclipse was surprised to see his late teammates and nemeses.

“Lieutenant Eclipse! Is that you? Are you… KIA?” A pony in Wonderbolts uniform and wields a 12 gauge shotgun approached Eclipse, with a few more pegasi following behind him.

“Sky Striker! Everyone! Alpha Team!” Eclipse was happy to see his late teammates again, and he gave all of them an abrazo.

“I’m not dead, and Equestria’s civil war was won. However, I followed my brother to assist you all here to deal with the aftermath. You know, the invading Shadow Powers.”

“I see. I think Granite would be glad to see you too.”

“But I though he killed you in the mountains? Aren’t you suppose to hate him?”

“We may be nemesis as mortals, but we’re all a family here, in the Hall of Eternity.”

He could see his late partner approached him, while next to him stood a griffon, with fur dark as ebony.

“Granite… Obsidian…” He was almost speechless.

“Eclipse, my dearest partner of the badlands. Thank you for sending me here. I live a life more comfortable and satisfying in here, with my dearest Obsidian.”

“You wouldn’t tell me that Krossair is here as well?”

Granite chuckled.

“I sent him straight to the righteous side of hell, right down that abyss outside. He deserved to pay for his crime of genocide and treason. I was fortunate enough to be forgiven of my crimes due to my service to right the wrong.”

“That’s nice.”

“Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses, we wish to combat with you!” The rest of the team started.

“Let’s not waste anytime, then.” Shadestep spoke.

The team marched out towards the opening field on the other side of the canyon by the lead of the three brothers. the team was formed by various races and teams. Ponies, Griffons, Dragons, Vampires… You name it, they had it.

They marched over the bridge in perfectly synchronised steps. Eclipse thought the bridge will start to shake vigorously and might even snap, but not only did the bridge not snap, it seemed to have strengthen and stabilised itself for the marching souls.

“Formation!” Eclipse commanded the team as they approached the other side of the bridge. They did not need words to coordinate themselves, as they lined up in battle formation as if they were already told what to do. Kugelblitz also joined in the battle, and stood with the three brothers.

“Show yourself!” Shadestep yelled towards the cloudy mist in front of them.

“Fool. You are a fool to follow me towards the spiritual realm, son. If you do not obey me, I will end you myself. You have 30 seconds to surrender.” The mist spoke towards the team.

“Ready your weapons!” Eclipse turned around and ordered the team. The team followed and drew their weapons from their sheath.

“What’s with the mist, Shadestep? It seemed to… know you and your brothers.” Kugelblitz asked.

Shadestep smirked. “Sins of the Father.”

“King Sombra, our dearest father. Forgive us for our rebellion, as you had done enough damage to the lands, and we will put you down.”

The mist chuckled.

“My dear sons, you are all like me, hungry for power and fame. Admit it, you wish to dominate the lands with power and might. Enslave those you wish to work for you and kill whoever is in your way.”

“We have overcame our evil nature, father. Face us! I declare war on you, King Sombra the Tyrant!”

“You are not speaking to King Sombra. No, not the King alone. You are talking to all the previous ancestors of the Shadows! You dare to rebel against us?!”

“Bring it on!”

“You wish to seek your own demise, and I shall grant you that wish!”

The mist started to thin out and a stallion stepped up. A stallion with black flowing mane and grey fur appeared in front of the team. He was wearing his armour and his iconic red cape. The well-known tyrant of the Shadows, King Sombra appeared right in front of the team.

“You have a pretty harsh father, Lieutenant.” Sky Striker joked.

“Indeed, Striker.”

King Sombra summoned black souled creatures to guard himself against team. They were wearing masks, with unsettling lime green lights coming out from the gaps of the mask.

“Attack!” Shadestep commanded, and the team charged forward to combat the enemies, just like how they used to do so when they were alive.

Eclipse threw his sword towards Shadestep, which Shadestep caught it skilfully. With some fancy magic, he fused the two weapons into one, the Sword of Domain and Burnt Secrets, or more widely known to the legends as The Black Blade, as it appeared almost completely black and burning purple flames. King Shadestep now wielded the legendary artefact capable of utter destruction if landed onto a villain’s grasp.

The two King’s blades collided as Shadestep charged towards King Sombra with his sword, while the others fired their spiritual firearms. Eclipse and Lunar jumped in to assist their brother as they embedded their powers to the rightful King Shadestep.

“Give up, son. You will never win this…” King Sombra laughed loudly and confidently as he battled his sons.

“I will prove you wrong, King Sombra.”

“You don’t understand it do you? The power of Shadow is always feed by deceptions and betrayal.”

“It is only like that when you keep ruling with absolutism!”

“Eventually, even if you were to defeat me, all of you will be stranded here as your souls eventually detach from your bodies.”

Shadestep could feel himself getting stronger as more and more power was fed to him through the remaining souls from the body. He knew that as he get stronger, his brothers would risk actually ‘dying’ greater and greater.

The rest of the creatures was defeated, leaving just King Sombra fighting his own sons. The team couldn’t do anything but watched the battle go on.

“According to the law of conservation of mass and energy, matter and energy cannot be created out of nothing. Every magic spell, every conjuration, every move he make is just rearranging the energy distributed in the world, which means he will be weakened enough to defeat given the time. Just stop him from acquiring more energy, and he will be down in no time.” Eclipse spoke towards Shadestep’s mind.

Shadestep heard it, and he knew of the best solution. He changed his attack patterns and faced towards the Hall of Eternity. As he started to out power his father, he pushed forward and made King Sombra backed up.

Soon enough, Sombra now had his back faced upon the canyon, with his hooves stepping just right onto the brim of the abyss.

“Ever heard of a blackhole? Nothing escapes the event horizon.” Shadestep taunted, as he had learnt some science and ‘nerdy’ stuff from Eclipse.

“Choose your next words carefully, Shadestep. They may be your last as King.” King Sombra yelled back.

“Deception and Betrayal.” He spoke to himself, as he considered the meaning into the words.

He pointed his Black Blade towards the stallion, and everyone else also pointed their weapon at him following Shadestep’s action.

“You’re mad, son. You are mad. If it wasn’t me, you wouldn’t be here.” Sombra replied.

“Deception and Betrayal, you’ll find plenty of both down there.”

“No one, in Equestria or this world. No one threatens their own father!” Sombra yelled back. Although acting calm and as if everything was under his control, he could sense his doom is near, his true ending.
“You bring tyranny and absolutism to this land, my land.”

“You insulted my brothers.”

“You threatened my subjects with slavery and death!”

“Oh, I have chosen my words very carefully, my dear father. Perhaps you should have done the same, King Sombra.”

“This is patricides. This is madness!” King Sombra roared.

Shadestep slowly lowered his blade and turned his head to look back towards his brothers. They eventually nodded, knowing his plan. The rest
held their weapons on tightly as they surrounded King Sombra.

“Madness?”

“THIS! IS! EQUESTRIA!”

And with a powerful leap and a spin, he bucked King Sombra down into the dark abyss of nothingness, never to be seen again as he fell through towards hell, and eventually get tangled and imprisoned by the hateful spirits down in the righteous side of hell.

They all approached the edge of the abyss and peeked down to the darkness as they witnessed King Sombra’s downfall.

“So, you sure he ain’t coming back?”

“Maybe he will return, maybe after thousand of years, maybe tomorrow, no one knows. The most important is that the Tyrant had received the punishment he deserved, and peace is finally restored to the lands.”

They didn’t want to, but they had to. It was time for them to say goodbye, as even the immortals needed to live on. Shadestep and his brothers readied to return to the mortal coil, as they said goodbye with the spirits in the realm.

“Please, Eclipse. Tell Lannister and my parents that I live a great afterlife here, and they do not need to worry about me anymore.” Sky Striker requested his Captain.

“Please, Eclipse. Tell Malachite that he is in charge of the Empire now, and he should do all he could to keep the subject’s well-being.” Granite requested.

“Please, Eclipse. Help us to say our late goodbyes to Captain Windspear.” The Alpha Team requested.
“No need to say goodbye to me anymore.” A figure landed onto the lands of the spiritual realm, in front of the Alpha Team’s spirits.

“Alpha Team, attention!” Sky Striker shouted.

The team stood straight and saluted, as the old veteran appeared in front of the team.

“We welcome you home, Captain Aviator Windspear.” The team greeted the Captain.
“Captain… Are you…”

“Eclipse, son. I’m sorry I didn’t make it before you return to the mortal realm. The rest of the generals back there are expecting you three. Head on back, you’ve done a great job of leading this unit, which I am glad. When your time runs out one day, we will welcome you to join in the feast in heaven once again, but for the time being, you still have your life to live on. Lightningbolt is a good mare, don’t leave her waiting.”

“Captain…I… Roger that.” Eclipse sobbed, as he knew when he return to the mortal realm, his mentor will not make it for his wedding.

“But before you go, Eclipse,” Windspear said, “Take my remains to be placed with the rest of Alpha Team.”

“I will make sure it happens, sir.”
“Hey! Are you gonna return or stay here forever?” Shadestep’s yell interrupted his farewell with his captain, reminding that he was running out of time.

“See you later, Alpha Team.”

“See you later, Eclipse.” The team saluted with Windspear as Eclipse followed his brothers to return to the mortal coil.

With that, the three brothers’ vision went completely bright white as their souls returned to the mortal realm once again. Shadestep simply reappeared in the Canterlot castle in front of everyone.

The soul of Eclipse and Lunar was once again placed into their respective bodies. Lunar woke up first, as he felt like he had been resurrected from his death, which was exactly what happened, ironically. It was a strange feeling, as it was like getting born from a mother’s womb all over again, but only the senses, not the actual scene.

Eclipse didn’t wake up for another 5 minutes after Lunar, which everyone was very concerned that he might be stuck in the spiritual realm forever.

Despite of everyone’s greatest fear, he did manage to wake up again. He gently opened his eyes. Under his blurry vision and numbing sensations, he could see the white mare with pink mane looking into his eyes passionately, her hooves holding onto his.

“Lightningbolt… My dearest mare… I’m back.” He stood back up as his full sense as a stallion, awake and alive, returns to his body. He hugged her tight within his embrace, and kissed the mare on the lips as passionately as her stare.

Everyone around him jumped and cheered in happiness, as the war was won, and peace was finally restored.

“Not so fast, everyone. We still have a big mess to clean.” Eclipse started.

“By the way, Windspear?” He asked purposely, although he knew the answer.

“He… he didn’t make it before you return…” AppleAle responded with a depressed tone.

“I know… I saw his spirit in the spiritual realm before I left. Don’t worry about him, he is now reunited with the Alpha Team in a better place now. Granite is with Obsidian now, living in a big palace happily together. And The Tyrant is no more, as he was banished to the abyss of hell to be tried for his sins.”

It was a glorious day for Equestria, for it was the victory of the civil war, and all races in the lands were united all as one, with their previous sins forgiven. Everyone held their hooves and claws together, to set off to rebuild the lands that they had once destroyed.

Author's Note

The civil war is won! (#300Reference)

Epilogue coming up.