Chapter 2 - Suspicion.

The remaining team members returned to Cloudsdale. Eclipse was greatly traumatised after this mission, as the entire Alpha team except him and Windspear. Windspear was sent to the military hospital for emergency first aid. Eclipse’s wing was amputated on the chopper before they landed. With some basic and proper treatment, he was free to leave and didn’t require staying in hospital for observation.

He set down his equipment inside the barracks, which was empty without his teammate and Windspear. For the first time, he returned to his quarters alone, hearing nothing but total silence inside the building. Before this mission, every time they returned from their missions, they would chat and joke about the day. Now, with the entire team killed in action, he could feel the loneliness and pain building up inside him.

He sat down on his bed and sighed. He took out the dog tags he had scavenged from his teammates and set them down on the end table next to his bed. A small pool of red was formed on the table from the dripping of blood.

The sun was setting outside as he took a glimpse over at the window. He decided to get up and step outside to look at the remaining lights from
the sunset and twilight. He felt a sense of hate and fear against that Shadestep that claims to be his brother. A sudden burst of rage burst within the wounded colt. Purple smoke started flowing out from his eyes and his sclera turned from white to a pale green. A pulse of power shot through his body. His hoof was surrounded by a deep velvet aura and he stomped on the ground hard as he screamed from the top of his lungs. The stomp cause a shockwave that exploded towards all direction, carving a dent in the floor.

He panted as the power drained his energy and oxygen. His rage was spent and his intellectual mind returned. His eyes stopped glowing and smoking as the rage faded away. Although having a sense of hate towards Shadestep, he still decided to report to Princess Celestia about the ambush, and the alliance.

Before he left, however, he felt like he had to do one thing. He trotted towards the military hospital and into a ward. There lied a wounded stallion on the bed. The stallion struggled to get up as he saw his visitor. Eclipse sat down on a couch next to the bed.

“Windspear… You’re finally awake. You’re still holding yourself off old man?”

Windspear smiled as he placed a hoof on Eclipse’s shoulder.

“Of course I’m alright. I’m still too young to die, if by young you mean a stallion in service for 40 plus years. If I’m that easy to kill, I wouldn’t be the Captain of the Wonderbolts, right?”

Eclipse chuckled. “Still the old man I know and respect. Well, I guess I ain’t gonna be under your command like before ever again, given that well, my wing is gone. Maybe I’ll continue my service as a marine or a Royal Guard, maybe I’ll retire, who knows.”

“You know, Lieutenant Eclipse, I’ve always wanted a son. Since you joined the Wonderbolts, I really treated you as my son. You have the potential, and more importantly, far more time than I do. I can’t bear to see your talents come to waste after all the missions we have gone through. My legs are really messed up after this mission, and I won’t be able to command on the field anymore. “

A shed of tear slid down Eclipse’s face as Windspear spoke. He never thought that his mentor and commander would treat him as if he were his very own son. Windspear wiped the droplet off his face with his hoof.

“Now son, some pegasi in the Wonderbolts are currently developing an artificial bionic wing prototype for disabled pegasus and other races to fly. This is supposed to be top secret for the entire army, but I trust you. Honestly, my body could barely keep up with these missions now. I was supposed to retire within a couple of years, but I don’t need to worry about my retirement anymore. Look, son. I’ve nominated you to be the next Head-Commander of the Wonderbolts. Seldom could prove themselves to be a loyal, diligent, nimble and thoughtful soldier like you for me to nominate.”

“Inside the end table here and there you see, contains my rifle, my beret and the authority documents for the prototype wing. From now on, you’re the Captain, the stallion in charge of the entire force. Make good use of them. I’m sure with your lead, everyone would return with triumph. Now, I’m tired. Give your old man a little while to rest, would you?” Windspear spoke, with the warmest tone. He closed his eyes and very quickly drifted to sleep.

Eclipse got up from his seat and pulled the drawers of the end tables open. Inside the drawers lied Windspear’s Mark 14 Enhanced Battle Rifle, his beret hat and some paper work. The rifle seemed to have a nice white paint job on it, along with some pink and green stripes, but it was quite well worn and looked a little rusty after the numerous battles Windspear had in service. He took all three items and left the ward.

He went into the closed area in the Wonderbolts Headquarters using the documents and his new title as the Head-Commander of Wonderbolts. Inside a laboratory, he saw the shiny, new prototype wing mounted on a stand inside a glass box.

“You’re just in time, sir. The wing had just finished its final testing and is ready for use. We only made one currently, so you’d be ideal to try it out. This wing is now yours, sir.” The technicians told Eclipse as they lifted the glass box and unmount the wing from the stand.

“Now, this bionic wing is made to be embedded to one’s body, which means you’ll need to receive a small surgery to substitute the base of your remaining wing bone with a mount. After that, you can mount and dismount your wing freely. It is able to deflect typical assault rifle rounds, so you can use it as a make shift bullet shield in dire emergency. Now, please lie down, and when you wake up again, you’ll have a brand-new wing.”

Eclipse lied down and felt like as if he was drifting to sleep as he felt the anaesthesia syringe slowly injected the drug into his blood vessels. By the time he woke up once again, he felt something new and hard underneath his back. He tried to get up, only to feel something heavy on his right side.

“Woah, this thing is awesome, but well, quite heavy too…” Eclipse complimented as he inspected his brand new asset, flapping and stretching it.

“Don’t worry. It’s actually very light weight with the alloy we used. You’ll just need some time to get used to it.” The technician replied.

Eclipse thanked the technicians for their hard work and left the facility. He still has a message to deliver. He took off along with the sprint and hop that he used to do, but he tilted and crashed back onto the ground. After a few more tries, he was starting to get used to the weight and bulkiness of the wing. As a fast learner, it didn’t take him long to fly once again.

Although not being the smoothest flight, he made it to Canterlot. The landing was quite rough, as he slipped and rolled on the floor at a sharp angle. He quickly got back up and entered the castle. Right as he entered the throne room, where the 2 Princesses would most likely be, he was greeted with great respect by the guards.

“Welcome back sir. Congratulations for your new position.”

“Got a new piece of chest candy now, eh? Congratulations on Head-Comm, sir.”

Eclipse, being the only one knowing the painful truth of his “promotion”, kept silent among their compliments. He approached the princesses slowly and nervously.

“Your Highness… I have reports of the ambush in Base Frostbite.”

“Go on then, Captain. I’m listening.” Celestia responded, awaiting what Eclipse had to say.

“The Alpha team, except Windspear and me, are all killed in action during the mission. The prototype weapons in the base were destroyed before landing in enemies’ hooves. And I had made contact with the leader of the enemy.” Eclipse reported in a format tone.

“Wait, you mentioned the enemy leader.”

“Yes, Your Highness. He is apparently a dark magic user, a really powerful one. And he claimed to be my brother and had proven it. He released me to return and talk about an alliance. I’m not sure whether I can trust this stallion or not, so I just report everything I know.”

“Hmm… Alright then, Captain. You’ve done us a great service and you deserve some reward. We’ll talk about the alliance with the Shadow Realm later. I think you can return to your team for the moment and prepare for your new role in the unit.” Celestia replied.

“Roger that, Your Highness.” Eclipse followed her command and left the throne room. With a leap, he set his way back to the Headquarters.

Upon his departure, Celestia gathered a few pegasus Royal Guards soldiers and some Wonderbolts cadet in Canterlot.

“Listen up. Eclipse had made contact with enemy forces and now has full control of dark magic. I need you all to arrest and assassinate him. He is now too dangerous to keep around. Now go, before anyone could find out what is happening.” Celestia commanded. Her greatest fear of Eclipse’s power reawakening had unfortunately come true.

The soldiers, being the loyal and patriotic individuals that they were, followed her command without questioning. They quickly readied up and proceeded towards the Wonderbolts Headquarters to carry out their assassination.

Eclipse, on the other side, had no idea about what Princess Celestia had in mind. He trotted into where used to be Windspear’s office. Everything looked the same just like the day he first entered. He sat down on his seat, staring at the crystal table and the documents on it.

He was just sitting there silently, thinking of what his next step would be. Out of his expectation, his door was opened with a bang. 3 Royal Guards and 3 Wonderbolts Cadets entered his room. They all wielded sub-machine guns. One soldier neared Eclipse with a commanding voice.

“Captain Eclipse, you are under arrest for treason.”

“What the… What’s happening? What’s with the rifles?” Eclipse was surprised and confused about what was happening.

“Sorry sir, but command is command.”

Just as the soldiers aimed down their sights at Eclipse, he clumsily went prone just as the soldiers fired their weapons. He rolled forward and skilfully leaped over the opened window and jumped out. He immediately took off and flew to wherever he felt like it was safe for him.
The soldiers tried to follow and pursue him, and they were right on his tail. Eclipse had no idea of what’s happening, but he knew he had to get rid of them at once. He pulled out his pistol from the holster strapped on his leg, and returned fire. He purposely aimed higher than his target, as he didn’t want to injure any soldier before he understands what was going on. The soldiers, however, didn’t seem to fear Eclipse’s counter attack and continued chasing behind him.

After quite some time, Eclipse’s long lasting stamina and his never tiring bionic wing gained him an advantage as he out powered and outlasted the soldiers. The soldiers abandoned their pursuit due to fatigue, and so they retreated. He turned around to see no one was behind him. He felt a sense of relief as he landed on a mountain top, just beside a cave.

“What was that? It could be a reaction training, but they all seemed aggressive at me. Not the kind of aggression that was from their seriousness from their practice, but they all seemed like they genuinely tried to kill me… What in Equestria is actually going on?” Eclipse muttered to himself, dead confused.

“I guess I shouldn’t return there for now, in case they were really intentionally trying to murder me…”

“I’m glad you know.” A familiar voice spoke behind him, it sounded like it was coming from the cave.

“Is someone there?” He reloaded his pistol and raised his awareness.

A black figure drifted out from the cave along with a weird-looking half-stallion half-bug creature walking out. The black figure was obviously Shadestep, just as Eclipse would have expected.

“Aye, my brother. Did the alliance go well?” Shadestep asked as he sat down on the grass.

Eclipse realised what was going on, and why were the soldiers so eager to hunt him down. With a sarcastic tone, he replied, “Oh yeah, of course it went well. Everything was completely damn alright. Expect that I almost got shot on my way here.”

“I’ve already heard about it. Celestia sent soldiers to hunt you down. Just as I expected, that stubborn mare just thinks her words are damn
supreme. You’ll need to get away from here, as quick as possible.” The bug-like creature said.

“Oh, and who are you? Why would you help me?” Eclipse asked.

“I’m Lunar, your little brother. I’m a changeling as you can see, so I look very different comparing to you or Shade. I can disguise as whatever, or whoever I want as long as I know how it looks like. I kept myself in disguise while I heard of the news.”

“And why do you think I should believe you, given that you can disguise as anything? How can I tell you’re not a spy from them?” Eclipse held tight of his pistol, pointing at Lunar.

“Calm down, my brother. I understand your doubts and we’re genuinely trying to reunite and help one another. If I were to kill you, you’d be dead on the mountains that day. If he’s a spy, you’d be dead by now, right? Just listen to us, and get out of here right now. Go west to the undiscovered side of Equestria and you should be fine there. We’ll take care of the rest. Just stay alive.” Shadestep pressed a hoof onto Eclipse’s pistol, pushing it down and stopped Eclipse from firing.

“Right… I guess I don’t have a choice anyways.” Eclipse put his pistol back in his holster.

“I’ll disguise as you to draw their attention, and that should buy you some time to get away from here.” Lunar suggested.

“And I’ll try to incriminate something to blackmail those bastards. This should get you off the wanted list.” Shadestep continued.

“Let’s not waste any time, my brother. Now take this and go.” Lunar passed over Windspear’s rifle to Eclipse. Apparently, he stole it from his office as the guards weren’t looking.

Eclipse took the rifle and loaded it up. He nodded to his brothers and took off, heading west. Lunar transformed into Eclipse and went off towards somewhere random. Shadestep returned to his Realm and prepared his part.

“Thank you, my brothers.”

He flew, alone and helplessly, towards the west side of the nation. He flew through the night to get as far as possible. The trip was very long, even flying would take him two entire days. For the first night, he just camped by the river. By the time of sunset of the second day, he had already reached somewhere he had never been, a far away land of almost nothingness but a small town.

He decided to stay in an inn for the upcoming days, at least until his brothers settled the issue back at Canterlot. Although being a small, forgotten town, it was still technologically advanced enough to have cars and networks and electronics in general.

It seemed like there were nothing like bounties on him yet, which he was thankful. As he enjoyed a little alone time at the bar table in the inn, he saw a mare, white coat, pink mane, purple clothing and a pair of big, bright, sea blue eyes inside the inn. She sat down at the bar table, right next to Eclipse. Eclipse’s heart pounded faster and harder upon seeing her approaching. The mare wasn’t like the most pretty among the lands, but was surely good looking.

Eclipse felt his cheeks went a little red and a bit hot as he blushed upon looking at the mare. That mare turned as she grabbed her drink. She stopped as she saw Eclipse looking at her, cheeks red. She smiled at him, and walked away.

Eclipse froze in place as he felt his inside blooming with a weird sense. He never felt this way before. Sure he had a shed of friendship and loyalty with his teammates. In just a day, he experienced the pain of all teammates becoming goners, the patriot and responsibility of being the head of the team, the anxiety of reporting such information to the authorities, the hate of being betrayed by the ones he trusted, and the fortune of escape death twice.

He had feelings for her. True, it is completely normal for a stallion to decide to love someone or not based on their appearance. Eclipse may be a rational colt, but after all these he had experienced, his aggrieved mind did hope for some remedy.

19th July, Year 13 of 2nd C.E. Sunny

Dear Diary,

I’ve arrived at this small town that I don’t even know what it is on the map. There aren’t much for me to do right now, but to wait for Shadestep and Lunar to return with good news. Without my uniform and arsenals, I should be low profile enough to hide from them, unless someone knows how I look and who I am here.

Shadestep, such an accursed bastard. He let me talk to Celestia about the alliance, after all he had done. Reporting that to Her Highness was pretty much die another way. They better not be using me just to invade this land.

I wonder what Windspear would think. I wonder what my teammates would think. They would probably think the same just as Celestia did. But if I’m really that important, that they would ambush a base and kill dozens just to lure me into a “reunion”, then why wouldn’t Celestia listen to me, and decides to kill me?

Sigh. I’m really tired after all this long flight. I might as well get some sleep for now. Hopefully I will not wake up with a gun against my head, or worse, not waking up again.

Just as the Royal Guards and Wonderbolts are desperately hunting down Eclipse, they were all oblivious about the threats that were lying all around them. Multiple races surrounding Equestria had been planning to overthrow Celestia’s ruling for years. Although not exactly Celestia’s fault, the citizens of Equestria just couldn’t withstand other races among them. Most of them disgusted, discriminated, hated the other races to be among them. Only few had set hooves on the other races’ lands and understood their desire and hope of true equal opportunity and harmony. With the Shadow Realm’s “Invasion” as a starting point, they strike the land, seeking their opportunities.

Just as the searching teams stopped their pursuit for the night, Canterlot had received an emergency transmission from the east coast of Equestria. Troops located in Baltimare, Filly Delphia and Manehatten had detected unusual activity over the coast. Multiple coast guard units had been send out but none had returned.

One coast guard returned to Baltimare by swimming back all the way from a sunken tow boat. According to his words, the griffons had launched an attack towards the coast guards. There were at least 10 non-ally ships and vessels in the Eastern Celestial Sea.

Celestia assigned 3 units of Royal Guards to assist the coast guards, with Prince Shining Armor as leader. She probably just thought those in the sea were just bandits and pirates holding her subjects for ransom, and was nothing to fear at. Why fear some uncivilised barbarians when you have an entire army and air force under your control?

Yet the upcoming had proven her wrong. The southern region of the Equestrian badlands had been invaded by large numbers of the dragon race, just around a day or two later than the griffons. Multiple clans of zebras had started to rebel and attack the pony race separately. The entire Equestrian border was under attack by numerous races.

As if things weren’t bad enough already, the crooked changelings, leaded by Queen Chrysalis, once again returned to the lands of Equestria with total aggression. Along with other races like the forbidden bat ponies, a total of 30 attacks were launched against the lands of Equestria in a single day.

The Equestrian Government was shocked among hearing the news of the invasion. Celestia and Luna had to call in an emergency meeting with other Equestrian Authorities to deal with the incoming forces.

“This is no act of terrorism. They are all attacking different regions of our lands to cripple and pierce through our national defences. I have engaged a large amount of currently active soldiers and air cadets of the Royal Guards and the Wonderbolts. This should hold those griffons off for the moment being.” Celestia started.

“We have engaged all available soldiers to defend all major fortresses. Up till now there had been 3 different races trying to take over our point.” The Colonel of the Crystal Empire Army reported.

“Wish we have some allies now… That would make it so much easier.” Celestia sighed.

“We could have the Shadow Realm to assist us, if you know what you are doing.” Luna responded to her sister’s concerning suggestion.

“I trust Eclipse. He knows what he is doing.” A familiar male voice came from the door behind the meeting table. Everyone turned their heads to see the old veteran pegasus standing at the door. Windspear, with wheels and supports strapped onto his waist, and assisted by a cadet, entered the room slowly.

“Captain, what are you doing here? You should be resting on the bed.” Celestia questioned.

“Your Highness, you are wrong about Eclipse. He knows what he is doing. He’s a patriotic and loyal stallion. All he is doing is for the benefits of our nation. He had no intensions of treason at all.” Windspear objected to Celestia’s previous statement.

“He talked to our enemy that ambushed one of our bases, brutally slaughtered 200 soldiers, and ended your team members’ lives. You don’t understand what is actually going on out there, do you? He is a beast inside him. He was made out of nothing but evil dark magic, the remains of King Sombra the Tyrant! The rotten apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, Captain.” Celestia declared with a serious tone.

“You Highness, we all know the saying goes, ’Forgive and Forget’. Remember Discord, or Starlight Glimmer? Even your sister, Nightmare Moon - I mean, Princess Luna? You forgave them of their sins, and you never questioned their intensions. Why can’t he be trusted like them? Now that King Sombra is long-gone, what should he be blamed on that? You let him joined my ranks as a Wonderbolt, and appointed me to be his mentor, so I shall show you all that thing aren’t what it looks like. I trusted my Lieutenant, no matter what he is made from, because no one should be judged by their backgrounds.“Windspear confidently protested Celestia.

Celestia blushed a little among hearing his speech. She sighed and said, “Perhaps you are right, Captain. He isn’t a bad stallion after all… I’ll have my team to retrieve him and negotiate with the Shadow Realm about the alliance propaganda. In these days, we cannot just trust everyone, you know. At least I know I can trust you, Captain.”

“Thank you very much for your understanding, your Highness.” Windspear thanked Celestia for her decision. He left the room with the help of the cadet. After Windspear had left, Celestia immediately sent the task force she assigned to pursuit Eclipse to search for him, and hopefully get him back to assist them.

Windspear left the castle along with his cadet to the mountain top Eclipse had once evaded his pursuit from.

“Alright, too one would notice now. We can drop our disguises.” And with a puff of green flames, ‘Windspear’ and ‘the cadet’ turned back into their original form, Shadestep and Lunar. The two took a breathe with relief, knowing that Eclipse would be safe now.

“Are you sure they trust what we said in there?” Lunar asked doubtfully.

“I’d say we fooled them well. Hope they actually find him and bring him back here, or else it’s only a matter of time until the rebels reach us, and both Equestria and Shadow Realm would be doomed.” Shadestep replied confidently. He opened up the purple-framed portal and the two returned to the Shadow Realm to prepare for the upcoming alliance and battles.

Within one week, Equestria had lost numerous guard posts and fortresses along the borders. Manehatten had fallen into enemy hooves. The griffons had taken control of the well-developed city, forcing the residents to move away. The griffons swept from street to street, the ones that agreed to give up their land were free to go, and the ones who stood their ground faced a gruesome fate.

It was shocking for a small force of griffons comparing to Equestria’s huge number of soldiers could take down a city in such a short amount of time. All the griffons had were obsolete weapons like stone swords, axes and catapults, but with their undying will of overthrowing an ungrateful nation, they could do anything. They scavenged weapons dropped by the Equestrian soldiers and used their weapons against them.

However, the invading races didn’t seem to favour one another’s movements, as such movements threatened their chance of taking over the nation. From then on they began to not only fight the Equestrians, but also other tribes that were invading the nation, triggering a total civil war against all races.

The invading forces pretty much had Equestria surrounding at every angle, except the undiscovered western boundaries of the nation. It was said to contain unknown species of monstrous creatures and the most powerful hidden warriors of the nation, so no one would want to set hoof on that place.

Within the week, the task force had blanket searched the entire west side of the lands that were known to them. Going any further than that would be an whole new region for them, with no maps, no telephone signal, no guards, nothing but rumours as reference for the unknown region.

Meanwhile, Shadestep and Lunar, being well-aware of Equestria’s current situation, also sent a team of air force unit to search for their brother. The two couldn’t participate in the search itself, as they had a bigger fish to fry. They were preparing for total war against the rebellion forces, for Equestria and Shadow Realm.

Second Celestial Era, 27th July of Year 10

Eclipse, having no idea that a civil war was about to break out, had did a rather good job of staying in the shadows to avoid being hunted down. This midnight, he stepped out of the inn to have some fresh air, as well as checking the surrounding, making sure no one had been near to even ask about his existence. He, along with his rifle, sat down underneath an apple tree, staring at the bright moon and stars. Just as he saw a few shadows soaring through the peaceful night sky, he knew something was wrong. He headed back inside the inn, packed his belongings as fast as he could and went fleeing towards the southern west. He was sure that he his position had been exposed.

“I see him! I see him! Right there! Right there!” A voice yelled. He wasn’t sure where exactly this voice came from, but he was certain that it was coming from the sky, by those flying shadows. It was undoubtedly the task force. Eclipse continued running, trying to lower his exposure to the top view by staying under the shades of the trees in the forest.

Eclipse felt himself breathing more rapidly as he ran. He knew he had come too far to die right now, so he must run for his life. The shadows on the sky kept following him behind him no matter how hard he tried to get rid of them. He could hear them yelling something at him, but he wasn’t sure what it was, given that he was under great stress just to get rid of the pursuing team.

Eventually he ran out of solid land to run, as he reached the coastline. The pursuing team turned on their search lights, shining right at Eclipse. Upon seeing the blindingly bright white spotlights, he was desperate for a fast escape route. He could choose to fly in a low altitude, but that would mean losing the advantage of the shades and obstacles on the ground to prevent the team from ambushing on him, like a hawk hunting a chick.

He scanned around the coast, almost panicking. The sea in front of him was dotted with boulders and ship wrecks, which should give him some advantage if he could travel on the water quickly and nimbly.

Upon seeing a small warehouse, he knew he hit the jackpot. He kicked the door open and got inside, and found one motorboat already floating on the water, just loosely tied to a pole on shore. He tried to fire up the boat, and luckily there were enough fuel in the fuel tank for him to sustain a long enough boat ride. He hopped onto the boat, dropped his stuff down on the back side of the boat, and chopped the rope off the boat to save time for his escape.

He leaped over the seat and got onto the controls of the boat, and in an instant his boat went gliding through the water. The motor would give away his position for sure, but he just needed it for the same tactic he used last time – wasting their energy until they give up and leave. With the amount of obstacles in the water, he must focus on driving or else he would crash, which made returning fire practically impossible.

The team, however, was determined to never retreat until they extract Eclipse this time. They knew that in order to get any ally support for the civil war, they would need Eclipse and the Shadow Realm. It was a matter of victory or defeat in the war, and the future of Equestria. Eclipse nimbly twisted and turned his boat to dodge the boulders and broken ship parts as he went gliding over the water. Although faced with lots of obstacles, he still managed to slowly but surely outrun the pursing team. The team could hear the engine of the ship roaring, and the splashes of the water caused by the boat behind it, but they flying speed just couldn’t keep up with an engined watercraft.

Just as he thought he had a great enough distance between him and them for them to catch up to him, another few shadowed figures swooped down above Eclipse, scaring Eclipse. He was vigilant, but those figures definitely surprised him.

“Damn it! I thought I’ve lost them!” Eclipse cursed out loud, although the sound of the rumbling boat engine was still way louder than his voice. He was in an extremely anxious state, almost panicking. He continued gliding his way out to the sea, hopefully losing his pursuers.
“Your Royal Highness! It’s us! Your Subjects! We’ve been finding you!” Those figures shouted. They shed their shadow cloaks, revealing their true forms as Shadow Realm ponies.

Eclipse couldn’t see exactly who those ponies were with such distance between them, but anything that was chasing him was definitely no good for him. He could see the silhouette of the pegasi, and he could hear their shouts, but he just couldn’t make out the details to determine who they were. It would be much safer for him if he just assumes those pegasi were hostile, and just focus on escaping.

“If you are telling me to surrender than you can forget it!” Eclipse yelled back. Just as he turned his head back to seeing the forward field, that was when he noticed that he was about to crash straight onto a boulder on a small island. He radically turned the steering wheel, trying to steer the boat to dodge the incoming impact, but it was too late. The boat slid sideways onto shore and crashed into the boulder, flipping the boat as well as carving a massive hole on the body, heavily damaging it. It was certain that the boat was screwed and definitely going to sink even if it was put back on water. Eclipse got flung off the seat, sent him flying a few meters up into the air, before once again hard landing onto the ground. The ground was mostly sand and dirt, so he didn’t take much damage from the crash, but it had surely incapacitated him for a good while, and filled his mouth with coarse sand.

His vision went blurry as he once again trying to rise up from the ground. The stallion violently spited out the sand that got into his mouth in his crash. As the figures landed in front of him, he knew he was done once and for all, but this stallion wouldn’t just yield and hoof victory over to them.

He backward rolled and picked up his rifle, pointing at the figures. His head, his chest and his flank still hurts from the crash, but since when had a few cuts and bruises stopped this stallion. His heart was filled with horror of death, but his wind encouraged him for the will of surviving. The figures placed their weapons on the ground slowly, raising their hooves in the air and slowly backing off, symbolising their intension – peace and truce.

Not so long later, the task force finally caught up with Eclipse, landing on the beach, panting heavily from the intense chase. The looked up at the stallion, his nose bleeding from the impact that they didn’t saw as they were too far behind.

“Sir, we’ve finally found you… Thank Celestia you are alright-“One of the cadet in the task force tried to approach Eclipse, but the horrified and raging stallion immediately pointed his gun straight at the cadet’s face. The cadet found himself unnervingly staring down the barrel of a marksman rifle in the hooves of the most elite sharp-shooter in the entire Air Force, so he did the same as those figures did, and slowly walked backwards.

“Your Royal Highness! We were trying to reach you for days! We were concerned of your well-being sir!” The figure started, “we are your subjects in Shadow Realm!”

“Sir, Captain Windspear had persuaded Her Highness to remove the bounty of you! Our nation is now under attack from multiple races, and we need you to talk about the alliance with the Shadow Realm!” The cadet exclaimed. As he did so, he looked over at the royal subjects of the Shadow Realms, standing right next to him.

“Liars! All of you are damn filthy liars! First she locked away my memory and power, then I was sent to a deadly mission, and after I reported back, she sent me back to my office and attempted to send my own soldiers to shoot me! And you, you cheeky bastard. Last time you were standing right in front of me with your gun pointing right at my face, and now you want me to help you? You deceived me! How does it feel to stare down a damn gun barrel? The very one who wanted to kill me now wants me to help her? Is she really that daft? Or does she actually think I’m brainless?” Eclipse cried, the anger towards Celestia and those who tried to kill him overwhelmed his mind, as he continued insulting and complaining about those who had deceived him.

“No sir. See, I’m very sorry for my behaviour. I was just following Her Highness’ command-“ The cadet tried to apologise while he took one step nearer towards Eclipse. Eclipse stood his ground tighter and pushed his rifle straight at his forehead. Meanwhile, he took out his pistol and pointed it at his own head.

“You dare to come near me one more step and we go down together!” Eclipse cried. The teams backed off a few steps, fearing that he might actually pull the trigger and shoot himself. Right before he done so, a shadow popped out behind him and pushed him down, disarming him.

“Brother, calm down! We all need you!” Shadestep appeared behind him, desperately pulling Eclipse down. Eclipse struggled a little, accidentally firing his pistol at the sky. A loud bang could be heard from around, scaring off crows and birds around resting on the trees to fly off.

Eclipse gritted his teeth. He really disliked the feeling of being restrained, but he eventually calmed down. Shadestep let go of him just as he felt like his brother had calmed down. Eclipse stopped his struggling, crawling and pulling. Eclipse stood back up, looking back at his brother motionlessly.

“Why? You all sent me to death, and now you want me to help? Why?” Eclipse asked Shadestep, still angry.

“Look, this is a world of chaos, brother. We all make mistakes, but if we let that mistake sink in with us and leave it inside of us forever, things wouldn’t just get better. Now is the time for us to shine my brother, with our gifted powers, we can build our nation, and defend our homeland!” Shadestep explained.

Eclipse remained silent for quite a while, before he responded. “Right… I guess that made sense. Where do we start?”