//------------------------------//
// The Last Resort 
// Story: The Reason to Smile 
// by Onomonopia 
//------------------------------//

Sombra wasted no time.

Spears atop chains of darkness erupted out of his back and lunged towards Twilight and All Might. Twilight started to construct a barrier, but All Might grabbed hold of her and moved the both of them out of the way just as the chains impacted. Twilight's barrier tore like tissue paper and was completely ripped apart, with All Might's actions the only thing ensuring her survival.

Sombra then let out a made laugh as he fired a beam of darkness into the sky, combining the sun and the moon while creating a whirling storm of thunderclouds overhead. Black lightning crackled overhead as the twin light from the celestial bodies cast an unholy light upon the battlefield. He slammed his hooves into the ground and pillars of darkness erupted everywhere. All Might and Twilight spent a moment dodging the pillars, until they realized that the pillars weren't aimed at them. They weren't being aimed at all.

Twilight let out a bellow as she fired a beam of pure, alicorn might at Sombra. The dark king smiled at her antics and turned his head directly into the beams path. The beam struck the face of Sombra and, following in the hoofsteps of the alicorns before it, was completely useless. The alicorn's eyes went wide as her strongest spell fizzled into nothingness. Sombra's eyes locked onto her and he fired of dozens of magic missiles, all of which began to home in on Twilight. She took to the skies while performing every aerial trick she knew to avoid being hit by the spells.

All Might was up next. He lunged towards Sombra with a speed even the dark king could barely register. In the blink of an eye All Might was on top of Sombra, screaming out the smash of a place Sombra didn't know. But while he may not know what All Might's attack was named after, he knew it was most likely going to be powerful. So with a thought he shifted his body to the ultimate combination of metal, crystal and stone. All Might's blow slammed into Sombra's face...and the dark king didn't even budge.

"What the-?" was all All Might had time to ask before an explosion of darkness sent him hurtling backwards. He skidded to a halt and snarled at Sombra, before turning his gaze to the sky as numerous explosions went off overhead. For a moment he feared the worst, only to let out a sigh of relief as Twilight slammed onto her hooves next to him. "Well, this might take longer than expected."

"Warp Drive was right. Sombra stole all of your villains quirks," Twilight deduced. Sombra decided to prove her point by unleashing all of the gems, glass, crystals and other assortment of shiny objects he had gathered into a massive storm of cutting death.

Twilight stepped in front of All Might and conjured a shield once more, deflecting the initial wave. Then a beam of black magic pierced clean through her barrier and nearly killed the princess herself. While Twilight was able to step out of the way in time, the advancing wall of sharp death insured there was nowhere for her to go. Until All Might stepped in.

"Detroit...SMASH!"

All Might threw a punch with such force that Twilight was certain a bomb had gone off right in front of her. The storm of shiny death was obliterated, along with the clouds overhead and consuming the dark king in a blast of air. All Might stood over Twilight, slightly breathing heavily...before narrowing his eyes as he saw Sombra still smiling across the way.

"I take it that was one of your stronger attacks?" Sombra asked. All Might narrowed his eyes, which answered Sombra's question all the same. "Impressive. You even managed to blow away the storm that I had created. Quite the striking strength you've got there."

"Villain. How did you steal those quirks? That is...that is impossible for you!" All Might roared.

"You want to know? You really want to know? You want me to just tell you how I managed to steal there quirks and potentially give you some idea on how to reverse it to stop me? Here's what I'll tell you. Burn."

Black fire erupted from Sombra's horn and consumed the heart of Canterlot. All Might slammed his hands together to create a thunderclap that drove the flames back, but only for a moment. Twilight grabbed the hero with her magic and took the both of them to the sky, where they watched the flames begin to consume Canterlot. 

"We need to help the ponies down below!" All Might called to her.

"We need to take down Sombra. As long as he still stands, we won't be able to save anypony," Twilight replied.

All Might snarled at her words, but knew that she was right. Even now Sombra was firing blasts of darkness up at the pair and only Twilight's incredible magical might was keeping the both of them alive. But then he noticed something about the fire. Something that didn't make sense.

"That's not Heatstroke's flames," All Might said. Twilight spared him a glance to show that she was listening. "I know his fire. It has...an odd way that it burns. And Sombra's fire looks nothing like his. Now it could just be that Sombra is just using his own fire...or...?"

"Or he can't use Heatstroke's flames because Heatstroke is dead," Twilight pieced together. "So he can only use the powers of the villains that are still alive. That doesn't help us much. I will not kill the villains that are safely behind bars and even if I wanted to, we can't just let Sombra run wild while we do so. We will have to bring him down, regardless of what power he has."

"I count four," All Might said to Twilight. "Diamond Dust, Vein Mine, Chronos and Monstro. He's missing the quirks of Heatstroke, Warp Drive...and White Noise, oddly enough. Why has he not taken her quirk?"

"Unknown. Perhaps he-"

The sky exploded in a symphony of darkness, knocking both Twilight and All Might back down to the city below. Twilight landed hard on her side while All Might hit and rolled back up to his feet...just in time to see a massive hoof coming down on him. He clenched his buttcheeks and raised his hands to intercept, letting out a roar as Sombra's hoof came crashing down on him.

All Might grit his teeth as Sombra started to push All Might's body down through the streets. Sombra's strength was insane, far stronger than Monstro had been even with his quirk enhanced. It had to be Sombra's magic. That was the only way All Might could be pushed back like this. With a snarl All Might shifted all of Sombra's weight onto one hand, while he made a fist and cocked it back.

"Texas...SMASH!"

All Might threw his punch for all he was worth, aiming it right at Sombra's hoof...only for his fist to strike nothing. Sombra's laugh cackled through the air as both it and Sombra's smokey form began to encircle the Symbol of Peace, who tried to find where Sombra's body was. Blasts of magic came raining down from all sides on the hero, who threw up his arms to defend himself. One massive blast caught All Might in the chest and sent him rocketing across Canterlot, before he crashed into the side of the mountain.

"This is bad..." All Might muttered as he struggled to get up. "He's far too powerful. To beat him, I may need to use...that..."

All Might then looked up to see tons and tons of stone coming crashing down towards him. He threw up his arms just as the boulders crashed atop him, burying him beneath their weight. 

"And then there was one," Sombra said. He turned to face the princess of friendship, who had just gotten to her hooves. Twilight glared up at Sombra, who let out a laugh before he smile down at Twilight. "Really princess? You think you can best me? You think you can match my power?"

"I...I have to!" Twilight yelled back. "I am the protector of this kingdom! I am the protector of this world! I have beaten bigger and I have beaten badder! You may have the quirks of four villains and all your magic...but you're still Sombra. And losing when it all matters most is your specialty."

"Well, would you look at that. A somewhat decent comeback. Maybe you do have what it takes to be the number one in this land?" Sombra mused. Then he threw back his head and let out a cackle that sounded like lightning. "And maybe I'll give up my evil ways and become a teacher at an orphanage! But there's a better chance of you winning this fight than either of those happening. After all, you can't be the lone hero this world needs. We both know that."

"I don't know what you're-"

"Save me the lies, Twilight. We both know what i'm talking about. You could never drive yourself all the way, could you?" Sombra asked. As he said this, he unleashed a storm of dark magic upon Twilight. All the princess could do in response was to shield herself against the unyielding onslaught of Sombra.

"You always had to rely on somepony else's help! Whether it be the Elements, the Rainbow power, figuring out how to move out of your home! Everything you've ever done, you've done with your friends!" Sombra summoned drills of darkness that slammed into Twilight's shield, slowly drilling through her barrier. "You've always had them to pick up your slack. It didn't matter if you failed, because your precious little friends would be there to pick you up and help you out."

"But now those little annoyances aren't here and it all rides on you. The fate of this world, the fate of your friends...all of it. And you know, as I have always known, that you just. Aren't. GOOD ENOUGH!" Sombra unleashed a beam of pure magic into Twilight's shield, shattering it and hurling the princess across the town square in a cry of pain. She crashed through a fountain and crumpled against the side of a building, collapsing to the ground in pain. She could barely lift her head, but when she did she found Sombra standing over her.

"It's the key difference between us. The reason I have never accepted that you are better than me," Sombra said softly. "You were born with talent, with a gift, and got a freaking cutie mark in magic. It's been your destiny. It always came easy to you. So you never had to work for it. Oh I'm sure you studied and learned and all that...but you never had any problems, did you? How long does it take you to learn a spell? Couple hours? A day? Some ponies spend all their lives practicing the same spell. But sadly, they don't have the talent for it like you do."

"Take me for example. I wish somepony would, I'm so lonely. Ha. Want to know my secret? I was never a gifted spellcaster. Everything I've ever done, all of my success, I had to work for it. I've spent years practicing spells, years learning incantations and motions. Studying, learning, experimenting, failing and starting all over. I wasn't giving my magical gifts by talent or destiny. I had to claw and fight for every bit of skill that I have. Where you were handed everything, I've had to take everything just to be in contention. It is one of our many differences."

"But you know what the ultimate difference between somepony that was handed the world and somepony who had to work for everything they've achieved? Ambition. Desire. And ruthlessness. You never had much ambition. You had talent in magic, so you wanted to study it. You've never pursued any path. Being a librarian. Being a princess. It was all given to you because you were born gifted. As for desire? You desire a world of peace and harmony. Congratulations, so does every idiot foal who thinks they will grow up to make a difference. Then reality sets in and they realize that nothing they do will matter. Neither do they. And ruthlessness? Ha. You're not the type of pony to climb that mountain, to knock others off of it to use them as stepping stones to reach the top. The type that would sacrifice everything and everypony so that you can say you are the best, beyond any doubt. You'd rather hold hooves and say that we're all special and equal. While that mark on your flank shows just what bull that is. That everything special about you was destined. You haven't worked for it."

Sombra then grabbed Twilight by the throat with his magic and lifted her into the air, making sure she was eye level with him before he continued.

"And that is why you lost to me. I have Ambition. I have desires. And you better damn well believe that I am far more ruthless than you will ever be. I dreamed of not only rising above my station, but making sure that I would one day be above all others. I have desired to be the greatest magical force since the day I was told I would never be anything special. And as for ruthlessness? I have not only shoved every other pony off of that mountain, but I made sure that they would never climb up after me again. I corrupted an empire of peace and love and turned it to hate. I came back from the dead numerous time. And I stole the quirks of four villains from another world and added their power to mine. I don't choose my goals based on my mark. I choose to rise to the top of the mountain, to be better than everypony else."

"That is where we differ...and why you lose. You've never struggled a day in your life. I've struggled every day of my life. So when you pit somepony who's never had to fight a day in their life against somepony who's fought all their life, well," Sombra finished as he aimed his horn at Twilight's head, black magic aimed right for her. "It's obvious who wins."

"You...you..."

"Yes? What could your final words possibly be?"

"You talk too much. All Might...NOW!"

Twilight then vanished in a flash of light, leaving Sombra confused for a moment. Then his soul went cold and he raised his eyes towards the heavens, just in time to see All Might coming down at him with a single fist cocked back. A fist that was filled with a light that Sombra had never seen before. And just as Sombra's horn began to glow, All Might threw out his blow.

"UNITED! STATES OF...SMAAAAAAASSSSSHHHH!"

Canterlot exploded. That was the only way to describe what happened. Buildings were ripped from the ground and hurled across the nation. Streets were obliterated and anything that wasn't nailed down (and even the stuff that was) was sent flying into the sky. A tornado made entirely of Canterlot was swirling at where All Might had impacted, nearly ripping the city from the mountain it was anchored to. And all of that power was poured directly into the dark king.

Then, as sudden as it had begun, the attack came to an end. All Might, who was now considerably smaller and breathing heavily, stood in the middle of a dust cloud, which was in the middle of ground zero. He looked around for the dark king, only to find that there was nothing left. A small smile crossed his face before he slowly raised a fist over his head...before his soul went cold as he realized that somepony was clapping.

"Holy shit. What a punch. Where have you been saving that all this time?"

All Might slowly turned to see Sombra walking out of the shadows. His skin was now made of a dark metal that All Might didn't recognize and his whole body was covered in black magic. But, despite everything that had just happened, Sombra still wore a smile on his face. A smile that was now absent from All Might.

"I mean, it freaking trashed the city. Good thing for you that Celestia and Luna had been evacuating the city while we were fighting or else you might have a higher body count than me and that would be very upsetting. Do you know how hard i worked to get my body count that high? Ah well, it was still the most impressive punch I've ever seen. I'm impressed."

Then Sombra looked over All Might, from his smaller, but still muscular, body, to his fallen hair and how the light in his eyes wasn't as bright as it had once been. For a moment, Sombra had a look of confusion on his face. And then the dark king laughed.

"Ah, but now I see that wasn't just your strongest attack...it was your last resort, isn't it?" Sombra asked with a smile. "You're looking a lot smaller than I remember. Side effect of using all of that power at once, huh? You know, Chronos did mention that all quirks had their weaknesses, except for yours. But now I see that even a quirk as strong as yours has a limit. So tell me Mr. Might, how long until you can use all of your power once more...and do you think I'll let you live long enough to find out?"

Violet light wrapped itself around All Might and a moment later the hero was gone, leaving Sombra all alone in the ruined city. He looked around for a moment to see if he could trace the spell, before shrugging his shoulders and letting his smile shine once more.

"Ah hell, go ahead and run. I'll find you all soon enough. And if today has proven anything, it's that neither Equestria's nor Earth's greatest heroes stand any chance against me. Finally, with all of this power, I am the top of the mountain, literally and figuratively. Now all that's left to do is finish cementing my rule and then I will go get rid of those that might cause me problems...starting with Twilight and her friends, then dealing with that hero, everypony else who would stand against me...then I finish with Hikari."