//------------------------------// // Breakdown // Story: Way Past Equestria // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// Everything was broken. Reality fell past the heroes like shards of glass in the rain. Light and darkness appeared and vanished around them. Even the heroes weren't completely immune to the effects, their bodies occasionally flickered into different versions of themselves, some becoming their G1-3 counterparts while the freedom fighters, mostly Sonic and Tails, shifted into different versions. But the one constant in the face of their multiverse falling apart was the dark, soulless laugh that echoed all around them. The laugh of Sombra as he watched it all fall down. "Sombra, what have you done?" Twilight whispered in horror as she and the others looked around at all of the destruction. "What so many villains have said they would do but then get cold hooves. I've killed us all," Sombra laughed. "You monster! You'll die with us!" Sally yelled. "I've been killed three times, Sally. First by exploding, then by atomization, then by pure extermination. If I'm going out this time, I'm going out on my own terms," Sombra cold replied. Then his smile grew larger. "And watching the hope leave all of your faces as you realize that there is no way to stop this before you and everypony you love dies will be the sweetest victory I could ever dream of." "You figured out a way to build this! You must have some contingency plan to undo it!" Fluttershy reasoned. "A way to reverse it. An off switch?" "Who builds an off switch on a doomsday machine? This is how I know there isn't an evil bone in your body," Sombra snarled. "He's out of line, but he's right. True doomsday machines don't have off switches. That's the point," Robotnik growled. He turned up to look at the expanding fissure and shook his head. "What's your estimation, doc?" Sonic asked. "We have maybe ten minutes, give or take. With how badly reality is falling down around us, the concept of time might not last much longer," Robotnik replied. "If you have any miracles left Sonic, now is the time to use them." "I've got nothing but my speed. But you're the genius. If anyone can come up with a plan to stop this, it be you. Surely you've planned something like this before?" Sonic asked. "Once or twice." "So what do you say, doc? Work together until the multiverse is saved and then go back to hating each other?" Sonic asked, extending a hand. Eggman looked at it for a second before grabbing hold. "Fine. Unlike Sombra, I'm not willing to kill myself just to bring you down. That's no victory. Killing someone with the work of your own two hands is a victory." "Eggman...I couldn't agree more!" Sombra erupted into a fiery chaos as his power knocked everypony back. They looked at the dark king in horror to see that Sombra now towered over them, his body a combination of darkness, smoke, and chaos. And in the center of his chest was a white emerald that put all the other emeralds to shame. "You...you carved another chaos emerald out of the Chaos Source?" Robotnik asked in disbelief. "But the only time you would have been able to do that was...Sombra...how long were you planning on betraying me?" "To be honest...from the moment we met," Sombra replied. "You were my equal in every way. That made you the most dangerous being, the one that I would have to prepare for the most. And don't bothering thinking about that self destruct device you implanted within me when you roboticized me. I removed it long ago, along with the control unit. Because the best villains doesn't have just one back up plan. They have hundreds!" Sombra opened his maw and fired pure chaos at the heroes, who dove for cover as the beam tore apart where they stood. Sonic tried to rush towards Sombra, but was stopped as the ground he had been standing on vanished into nothingness. Dash snatched him out of the air and got him back to solid ground, only for it to turn to magma at Sombra's wishes. "Why are you doing this?!" Twilight roared. She flew up to Sombra and unleashed all of her magical might into the king. Sombra retaliated in kind and blasted Twilight out of the air. "If you had this power, then why destroy the multiverse? Why kill us all?! Even with that power you can't survive!" "That's where you're wrong, Twilight! I'm bringing down the multiverse and killing everything in it. And then, when only ashes remain, I will return to build it all back up. Because I've been thinking about you all. How no matter the reality, no matter how badly you win, so long as there is a spark of hope, you'll find a way to turn it into a wildfire of resistance. So I'm going to burn it all down, and build it back up in my image. A multiverse without hope. A multiverse without harmony. But more importantly...a multiverse without all of you!" "But...but you'll die too! Even you cannot survive ze destruction of ze multiverse!" Antoine said. "You're right. But I've come back from the dead three times now. What's one more?" Sombra replied. "And now that I'm directly tied into the Chaos Source, I will use its own power to burn it all down and rise from the ashes like a phoenix! Like a GOD!" He then threw back his head and laughed, his laugh tearing apart the fabric of reality as he used his emerald to amplify the effects of the chaos source coming undone. Twilight and the princesses gathered together to create the strongest shield that they could, trying to protect everyone under it. "This madness, even for Sombra," Twilight said. "He's always been one for crazy schemes, but this is sheer lunacy! His entire plan hinges on him being able to revive himself after tearing apart the multiverse! Even he should know how crazy that is!" "He's completely lost it," Robotnik said to the heroes. "Seems that this defeat was the straw that broke the camels back. I had the same thing happen to me years ago after one too many loses to Sonic. Even we mad geniuses have our breaking point. And it seems like after being killed and beaten by you heroes so many times, Sombra's reached his. Burn it all down and start over. I get it." "Then why would he wait so long to use something that powerful?" Rarity asked. "Look at him. He's not in control. He's a firehose shooting off power without rhyme or reason," Discord replied. "His goal isn't to control the source, it's to make sure that it all comes down. He's completely and utterly mad." "Mad or not, he's being fueled by the chaos source. And if I was a betting walrus, I'd wager that's tearing apart the Chaos Source even faster," Rotor stated. "So what's the play?" "Get the emerald from him. And pray that it has enough power to undo this mess," Sonic replied. "Come on team, we've taken down every other threat we've gone up against! We can do this!" The heroes roared in unison before Twilight dropped the shield, unleashing all of the heroes at once at Sombra. They were crushed in an instant. The sheer power of the chaos that Sombra used overwhelmed the heroes, blasting them back with ease. The magic limbs Bunnie had were burned away. The fliers were knocked out of the air. All the tech they had crumbled to dust and the speedsters didn't have a leg to stand on. Sombra glared down at the heroes before he started to convulse, from his laughing or from the power trying to escape from him, none could tell. He staggered away, either having lost interest in them or his brain was so far gone he could no longer think. It gave the heroes a moment. "He's...too strong..." Twilight said. "We...we've got nothing that..." "There is one play left." Twilight looked over her shoulder to see Cadence standing beside her. Cadence used her magic to help Twilight to her hooves, before doing the same to Celestia and Luna. The four princesses stood together and glared up at Sombra, who had yet to notice them. "Cadence, you're back! But what about-?" "She's safe. Cubot and Orbot were taking care of her. They...have been taking care of her the entire time she's been in Sombra's hooves. They seem to really like her. I owe them." "I am glad that you are here. We...do not have enough strength on our own," Celestia admitted. "So we're doing this, huh? Well, there are worse ways to go," Luna laughed bitterly. "Cadence, what do you mean there's one play left?" Twilight asked. Cadence didn't respond. She looked over at Celestia and Luna, who both nodded somberly in agreement. "Cadence? What's the play?" "An old and forbidden equestrian magic, long locked away by our forefathers," Cadence sadly replied. "Remember when Tirek was first unleashed and we transferred our power into you?" "Yeah, I do...are we doing that again? Because, while I know it's powerful, I don't know if it would be enough for...this," Twilight replied. "You're right. It won't be. But this time we won't be giving you just our power...we'll be giving you everything," Cadence whispered. "What?" "By putting our very beings into our power, and then transferring it to you, there is a chance that your might will be able to match Sombra's...and perhaps be enough to fix all of this," Celestia added. "At the cost of all of our lives, we will be able to make you a god." "Your...lives...no, no there has to be-" "Look around, Twilight," Luna said. Twilight stopped talking and hung her head. She knew what Luna was talking about. "Our duty as princesses, as rulers, is to give everything for the sake of our world. Of those that put their trust in us. And if giving our everything is what it takes to keep them safe...so be it." "But...but..." Twilight tried to argue, before locking eyes with Cadence. "But what about Flurry Heart?" Cadence looked away, her body shaking. "I can only hope that she understands what her mother had to do and why she had to do it. Please Twilight...before I change my mind." Twilight looked to her teachers, her friends, before gritting her teeth as tears fell from her eyes. Then she glared at Sombra with a fury unmatched. "Do it," she whispered. "Be warned, we have no idea how long this power will last or what it will do to you. But I know you, my student...my daughter...you will prevail. You always do," Celestia said to Twilight, before she smiled at her one last time. "I love you, my little Twilight. And goodbye." And then Twilight was consumed by three sources of light. The Chaos Source began to turn black as the fissure reached the halfway point, circling half of the multiverse. Sombra threw back his head and laughed, his laugh shaking the multiverse to its core. Sonic tried to get back up, but with a look Sombra blasted him back down. Then Sombra marched towards where Equestria and Mobius had fused, gazing hungrily down at the planet. "Finally, it will all be mine. The world is mine!" Sombra laughed. And then a blast of absolute harmony knocked him flat on his face. Sombra roared as he picked himself back up, glaring over his shoulder to see who had dared. And behind him floated Twilight Sparkle, her body looking like the cosmos, her mane a rainbow of power, and her cutie mark a sun encircled by the moon and a heart, with a purple star in the center. "You are wrong as always, Sombra. The world is not yours," Twilight bellowed as four voices in one. "It's mine!"