//------------------------------//
// Dead and Alive Again 
// Story: Traces of a Hidden Shadow 
// by Teotle 
//------------------------------//

"Initiate deconstruction sequence." Teotle told the Arc.

"What?" Sombra asked. 'No, wait!"

Just then, an energy field surrounded Teotle and Sombra where they sat. The field was covered with ancient hieroglyphics from every country that contributed the Arcs construction. Teotle, Nyx and Day Dreamer managed to input them all into the Arc specifically for casting powerful spells. Right, now, those symbols were meant to tear apart anything within them."

"No, Teotle, you can't do this, not while you're still inside there!" Nyx cried out. "It'll kill you both!"

Luna rushed to stop the deconstruction sequence, to stop Teotle's plan, but it was too late, Teotle and Sombra were already crumbling away. Time moved faster inside the energy field than it does on the outside. Teotle couldn't hear everyones words fast enough as they all pleaded for the Arc to stop. They knew Teotle would die, and they were helpless to stop it. This time, they knew he wouldn't be able to bounce back from the fight like he always did before.

Still being held down by Teotle, Sombra watched as his new body was being torn apart into pure energy, then looked at Teotle and asked, "Why, why do you choose to die for them?"

Teotle  continued to watch everypony else as he answered, "I can't fight you when you're this strong now, However, with Shadow... with my powers, I am just strong enough to hold you here in the barrier. If I don't, you'll just try to escape again."

Sombra struggled violently to break free, but the more he struggled, the faster his body faded away.

Teotle contnued to hold Sombra down as he said, "You will never win, Sombra."

"Why is that?" Sombra asked.

"Because you're alone." Teotle replied. "As for my friends, and my family, we have each other to overpower you. Because of who we are, because of what we can do and share with other people, we thrive. You could try for many life times, but you can't stop the most powerful magic of all, the power that lives in me and my loved ones."

"What is this power?" Sombra asked, before he completely disappeared.

Teotle soon followed him in death, but before he did, he looked back at his friends and family and answered, "The magic inside them is about Love and Friendship." At that last moment, he then said, "Thank you, and goodbye, my friends. You gave me everything I could want."

When Luna finally reached the barrier, it had already disappeared, along with her son. The room was dead silent. Everyone stared in shock at the spot where their friend once sat at one moment and was gone the next.

"Teotle!" Nyx shouted, trying to run to where he once was only to be caught by Twilight and given a hug for support.

"Nyx..." twilight said, trying to think of what to say to comfort her daughter.

"No!" Nyc cried out, struggling to break free.

Eventually Celestia used her magic to restrain Nyx from struggling and said, "I'm sorry Nyx, but there was nothing else we could do to stop Sombra. Your friend did something very brave to save us."

"But why did he have to die too?" Nyx asked with tears running down her cheeks.

"Die?" asked the Arc. "No, not die, physically taken apart."

"You're not helping." Twilight said looking at the Arc with anger. "Why did Teotle have to invent you in the first place?"

"He didn't invent me." the Arc remarked "All of you did."

"What?" Applejack asked

"It makes sense, actually." Day Dreamer added. "The Arc is basically a collection of memory and knowledge from all of us."

"Correct." Said the Arc. "Anyway, I do believe that you misinterpreted my words when I described Teotle's physical condition. He is not dead, not yet anyway."

Nyx looked up at the Arc and asked, "What?"

"Do you not remember the application of the deconstruction sequence? It was meant to take apart an objects structure and resemble it if needed." The Arc then recreated the magical barrier and began to create a familiar structure; one that everypony knew and loved as a friend.

"What happened while I was out?" Teotle asked, stepping out of the barrier in one piece.

Celestia let Twilight and Nyx out of the restraining spell and allowed them to run to Teotle, with Spike and Day Dreamer to soon following after them. They all dog piles on top of Teotle and gave him loving embraces, holding him tight as if he would disappear if they let go.

"How did you know the Arc could bring you back?" Luna asked, walking toward them.

"With the help of all the kingdoms of the world, I managed to assemble a super smart artificial intelligence within the crystal from my home country." Teotle answered. "It was smart enough to bypass the deconstruction program and save part of my soul in its personal archive. All it needed to do was rebuild my body and put my soul back into it."

"Why have so many steps to your plan?" Starlight asked, coming out from behind the others. "Why not skip the part where we were scared for your life and just deconstruct Sombra?"

Teotle then answered, "The Arc isn't yet smart enough to calculate what to rule out of the deconstruction process. It was kind of a gamble, but I believed it would worked."

"Just belief alone isn't enough to put your life on the line!" Luna said with frustration."

"I'd have to agree." Celestia added. "It was unwise to do that over an assumption."

"You may be right." Teotle said, putting his bionic leg back on. "Just believing isn't always smart, but it's always fun."

"Hold on one apple picking minute." Applejack said suddenly. "If the Arc couldn't tear apart just Sombra, how did it put just put you back together?"

"It didn't." Teotle replied making a hand gesture to a dark grey colt who stood inside the barrier. It was Sombra, but he was different. His mane was black, but it didn't wave around like it used to, and from the look of it, it was combed back with blue highlights.

"What kind of game is this?" Fracture asked walking over the Teotle, who was still in his friends embrace.

Teotle then answered back, "He's like us, sister. He was born from dark magic, just like us. I couldn't just erase him, I had to find a way to help him."

"Think of what you're saying!" Luna snapped. "He enslaved an entire empire, waged war on all of Equestria, and he even..."

"I know, Grandmother, but think about all the things you and I have done." Teotle interrupted, making Luna show a worried expression. She turned to Celestia, who over heard what Teotle called her.

"Grandmother?" Celestia asked. "What, how, when did..."

"Sister..." Luna said, trying to find the right words to say. Eventually she huffed and told her sister and everypony else everything She told about how she found Teotle, how she named him "Shadowflame", what happened to him after her banishment a thousand years ago, all up the point where she received word that Twilight and her friends found him in the forest, caught in a bear trap.