//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9: Final Confrontation 
// Story: The Last Alicorn 
// by moviefan-92 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 9: Final Confrontation

It was a long walk through the tunnels beneath the castle, but it was the only way they could go now that Tirek had trapped them inside. Sunset carried the Crystal Heart as Micro Chips told their story to Flash, leaving nothing out, including who Twilight truly was.
“And so now you know the whole story,” he concluded. “The Crystal Heart is our only chance to defeat Sombra and free the alicorns. They’re sealed up in Tartarus, powerless and unable to escape without their magic. We’re their only chance.”
A sigh escaped Flash. “There were whispers among the staff that Tirek had kidnapped the alicorns, but I never really believed it, not even when the sun stopped rising. It just seemed like such an impossibility.”
“And perhaps it would have been,” Micro Chips told him, also agreeing that it sounded impossible, “had it not been for Sombra assisting him. But I’m afraid it’s true. He has them all now. All except one. The Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle.”
Flash glanced at Twilight, but she simply stared at the wall, as if she were ashamed for having kept such a secret from him and couldn’t bring herself to face him.
Flash stared at her for several long moments before turning back to Micro Chips. “Alicorn, dragon, griffon, or changeling. No name you give her would scare or frighten me, or change how I feel.” He looked back at Twilight. “I love whom I love.”
She turned to look at him with wide eyes, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This only made Micro Chips feel worse as he laid out the sad truth to them. “That’s a very nice sentiment, but when I change her back to her true form-”
“I love whom I love!” Flash said insistently.
“That’s enough,” Twilight interrupted as she went to stand beside Flash. “I won’t go any further. Not if it means I have to go back to being an alicorn.”
“Micro Chips just shook his head. “There’s no choice,” he told her sadly. “We have to go on.”
Almost desperately, Twilight grabbed onto Flash’s arm. “Don’t let him change me back! We might still be able to get by Sombra. He’s only interested in finding the last alicorn. If we leave the Crystal Heart behind, he might just let us walk right out. We can all escape together. I’m sure the unicorns will find another way to make the sun rise again eventually, just as they did before Celestia was around.”
“Even if they do, what about Celestia herself?” Micro Chips demanded harshly. “And Luna, and Cadance? Do we just abandon them? If we don’t defeat Sombra and set them free, then all the alicorns in the world will remain trapped in Tartarus forever. All except one, and she will grow old and die.”
Tears sprang up in Twilight’s eyes, and she pulled at her hair at the unfairness of it all. “It’s not fair! Everything dies eventually!” She grabbed onto Flash in desperation. “I want to die when you die! I’m no alicorn, no princess! I’m a human girl, and I love you! Please, Flash, don’t let him! We won’t be able to be together if I go back to being an alicorn!”
Flash placed his hand on hers, squeezing it tightly, his eyes sad as he stared at her. “Twilight…”
“Then lets call it quits here!” Micro Chips shouted, angry at himself for having to cause them this pain, angry at the fates for putting them through this torment, angry at the world itself and the unfairness of it all. “I don’t even know if the magic I have left can change her back if that’s how she feels. So lets just forget it all. Just marry Flash and live happily ever after!”
“Yes!” Twilight insisted, looking at Flash hopefully, pleadingly. “That’s what I want.”
“Twilight…” he said again, his voice filled with pain. “You know we can’t. No matter how much I wish otherwise, we can’t let things go on like this. The world needs the alicorns to return. I’m afraid we can’t be selfish, not in this.”
Tears flowed freely down Twilight’s cheeks, but she did not argue. She knew she couldn’t, because he was right, no matter how much she wished otherwise. It felt as if her heart was cracking apart in her chest, but she knew there was no choice in the matter, they had to push on ahead.
Flash gave her a sad smile and held his hand out to her. Twilight took it, and they continued on their way through the passage. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as he glanced at her. “It will be alright, Twilight. Somehow. The story isn’t over yet. Who knows what may still happen.”
Sunset, who had been quiet for a long time now, finally spoke up. “But what if this story doesn’t have a happy ending.”
“There are no happy endings,” Micro Chips told her, “because nothing ever truly ends.”
His words did little to comfort Sunset as she stared at Twilight and Flash as they walked hand in hand. All her earlier fears of how a relationship between the two of them would affect things was now rearing its ugly head, and she just couldn’t bring herself to accept the heartbreak she knew the future held for them.
“Micro Chips,” she said in a firm voice as she came to a decision, “leave her be. Let her stay the way she is.”
“That’s not in the story,” he told her, letting his frustration at the situation seep into his voice. “Flash knows that and so does she.”
Sunset stopped walking as she angrily turned to him. “You don’t care! You don’t care what happens to her, or the other alicorns! All you care about are your stupid magic studies!”
He turned to her as well, now equally as angry. “I wish I didn’t care. I wish the only thing I cared about really were my studies! It would make all this so much easier! But I do care! And that’s what makes this so hard, because I do care!” He glared at her long and hard before the anger seemed to drain out of him, and his shoulders slumped. “I do…”
They all fell silent after that, but it seemed that their angry cries had already caused too much damaged. Drawn by the sound of their screaming, a wall of shadows made its way down the tunnel towards them.
They all seemed to pick up on it at the same time, feeling the cold, unrelenting evil they had felt when Sombra had appeared to them the day Twilight had become a human. And sure enough, the shadows manifested into the evil unicorn king once more.
“Hello, princess,” Sombra drawled in a menacing voice as he moved towards Twilight. “I found you.”
He laughed mockingly before snarling at Twilight. Flash gripped her hand before pulling her away from the evil unicorn, and they began to flee in the opposite direction.
“He knows!” Micro Chips exclaimed as Flash and Twilight rushed past him, back the way they came. “He knows who she is!”
Sombra sneered. “You can’t hide from me anymore.”
He leapt out of the shadows as a stream of darkness and buried under ground. The ground began cracking apart as he moved beneath it with black crystals bursting up from the cracks. He surfaced in front of Twilight and Flash, cutting them off. They came to a stop in front of him, and he fired a blast of magic at them. They both dove in opposite directions to avoid the beam, and a large black crystal shot up from the ground where it struck.
“Flash!” Twilight called as she reached out to him from on the ground.
He reached towards her as well. “Twilight!”
A black crystal burst from the ground between their outstretched hands, causing them both to recoil in surprise. Sombra chuckled as he stepped out of the shadows, moving closer to Twilight. Flash immediately jumped to his feet and moved in front of her, unsheathing his sword and pointing it at the evil unicorn. Twilight reached out for Flash once more, but he did not see since his back was to her as he protected her from the evil Sombra. The evil unicorn just sneered, as if he found the royal guard’s actions humorous.
A tendril of darkness shot out of the shadows and slammed into Flash. He crashed into the wall, and a large crystal burst from the ground in front of him, trapping him against the wall. Sombra chuckled, and then turned back towards Twilight and began stalking towards her once more.
“He’s going to take her!” Sunset shouted.
“No, he won’t!” Micro Chips declared, and pulled out his magic storage device. Getting as close as he dared, he opened the device to unleash the rest of his magic. “Twilight!”
She looked back at him, seeing the magic spilling out, then looked back at Flash. Sombra had already past him, having lost all interest in the royal guard. She looked back at Micro Chips one last time as he held the power to change her back, then turned away, her choice made as she ran towards Flash, and Sombra.
The evil unicorn chuckled as she rushed towards the man she loved, and then, as if to torment her, fired a blast of magic into her path. The blast threw her backwards as it produced another crystal, cutting her off from Flash further.
Unable to hold onto it any longer, the magic Micro Chips held burst outward, filling the tunnel, and Sombra snarled as a repeat of the events from the night he had lost Twilight repeated. This time, he did not take his eyes off her as magic surrounded her, determine not to lose his prey a second time.
“Flash!” Twilight shouted as she reached out for him one last time.
Then the magic flow over her, and she felt herself beginning to change. She clung to herself, as if desperately trying to hold onto her human form, but there was no stopping it. Her body shifted, her face elongating, her hands and feet becoming hooves, wings sprouting from her back and a horn growing out of her head as her clothes vanished. And for the first time in months, Twilight Sparkle became an alicorn once more.
“Twilight…” Flash whispered in awe as he stared at her true form in amazement.
“Princess!” Sombra bellowed upon seeing Twilight as an alicorn once more, his cry shaking the entire tunnel.
He charged forward, seemingly done with playing games with her. Twilight fled as the same terror from her previous encounter with the evil unicorn overwhelmed her once more. Sombra gave chase as Twilight sped down the tunnel, and Sunset and Micro Chips jumped out of their path as they raced by.
The end of the tunnel soon came in sight, and Twilight saw that it was blocked off by black crystal. She sent a blast of magic at it, and the crystal wall broke apart. She leapt through the opening and out into the night, and Sombra rushed out after her.
Sunset and Micro Chips helped Flash get out from behind the black crystal he was pinned behind, and they made a dash for the exit. When they made it outside, they saw a repeat of what they saw during their first encounter with Sombra. Twilight was on the beach, completely surrounded by shadows that prevented her from getting away as the evil unicorn loomed over her.
Twilight looked around desperately for a way out, but she was completely blocked in, and she knew from experience that she wouldn’t be able to fly or teleport away. The only way she could go was down the only path the shadows left her. That path led to the crevice Tirek had showed her up on the tower. From down here, she could now see the doors to Tartarus hidden within the crevice.
Sombra chuckled, and his eyes flashed with power. Slowly, the doors to Tartarus opened, as if he were revealing to Twilight what her fate was going to be. A gasp escaped her as she saw inside the magic prison. Three statues of black crystal, shaped just like alicorns, could be seen inside, and Twilight realized that these statues were in fact Celestia, Luna, and Cadance encased within Sombra’s black crystal.
She began looking for a way out, any way besides towards the doors of Tartarus. She looked up towards the castle above, and could just barely make out Tirek standing at the top of the tallest tower looking down at her. Flying beside him was Cozy Glow with a particularly nasty smile on her face as she watched the scene below.
“Soon he will take your magic, princess,” Sombra mocked with a sneer. “And then you will join the others.”
Sunset and Micro Chips looked on helplessly. In Sunset’s hands, the Crystal Heart lay dormant and without power. She shook it desperately to try and get a reaction out of it, but the magical artifact just stayed the way it was.
Seeing the trouble Twilight was in, Flash stormed over to Micro Chips. “Do something! You have magic! Help her already!”
Micro Chips shook his head. “I can’t, I used up all the rest of the magic I had to change her back. I’m completely out.” He held up his magic storing device. It was broken and completely fried from the outburst of magic it had unleashed. “Even if I wasn’t, the device his shot.” He looked back at Twilight sadly, feeling as if the situation were hopeless without the Crystal Heart’s power. “I’m afraid not all the magic in the world can help her now.”
“We can’t just do nothing!” Sunset cried. “We have to help her somehow! You’re the magic expert, so think of something!”
Hating his inability to do anything, Micro Chips angrily shouted, “I’m just a scholar! It’s not my job to save princesses!”
Flash looked back at Twilight and Sombra, and a determine look crossed his face. “You’re right. That’s a job for the royal guard.”
Unsheathing his sword once more, he ran over to the Twilight and Sombra, jumping up onto one of the many black crystals that had sprouted up along the beach. Leaping from the black crystal, he raised his sword, and brought it down on Sombra.
The evil unicorn bellowed as his horn was severed from his head. Flash landed in front of him and put himself between Twilight and Sombra, pointing his sword at the latter in challenge. On the ground, Sombra’s severed horn dissolved into shadow, and a black crystal sprouted where it had been, as if the ground itself had been contaminated.
Sombra glared at Flash, looking angry at first, but then he grinned as a new horn grew in place of the old one. A wicked chuckle escaped him as he stared at Flash hungrily. The royal knight held his ground, keeping his sword pointed at the evil unicorn, but Sombra didn’t look bothered by it in the least.
Raising his head, Sombra’s horn glowed with power, and he sent a powerful blast of magic at Flash. The beam was so immense that he was completely consumed by it. Sunset gave a cry of “NO!!!” as Micro Chips speechlessly looked on in horror.
When the blast from Sombra’s magic died down, a large black crystal now stood where Flash once did. Only his hand, still gripping his sword, remained outside it, but his grip soon went slack, and the weapon fell to the sand as Sombra chuckled.
Twilight stared at the black crystal that had encased Flash in absolute horror. Her wide eyes filled with tears of sorrow and anger, and an anguished scream tore its way out of her mouth as she was overcome by grief the likes of which even her genius mind couldn’t comprehend.
Eyes burning, she turned to Sombra furiously, and with an enraged cry, she darted around the black crystal, raised up onto her hind legs as she summoned forth all her power, and fired a blast of magic at the evil unicorn, putting everything she had into the attack.
Sombra just laughed and fired his own blast of magic, and it collided with Twilight’s. The two beams pushed against each other as the two fought. Sombra continued to grin in amusement as Twilight clenched her teeth tightly, straining to unleash more magic as her tears of heartbreak poured down her face. However, slowly, Sombra’s magic began to overtake hers, and he took a step closer as his beam pushed back Twilight’s.
Twilight’s hooves dug into the ground, leaving grooves behind as Sombra’s magic pushed her back. With tears blurring her vision, Twilight glanced back at the black crystal encasing Flash, not even sure if he was alive. She looked up into the sneering face of Sombra and grit her teeth, pouring out even more magic than she knew she was capable of. The magic beam that had steadily been moving closer to her, slowed to a stop, but Sombra just chuckled and unleashed more magic himself, and it steadily began pushing towards Twilight once again.
Sunset and Micro Chips looked on in horror as Sombra began to overpower Twilight. But as they looked on, the Crystal Heart in Sunset’s arms began to flicker with light. They looked down at it in surprise as it began to pulse and shine.
“Look,” Sunset whispered. “The Crystal Heart.”
“Yes, I see it,” Micro Chips replied, not understanding.
It began to shine brighter, and suddenly floated out of Sunset’s hands. It flew through the air and settled over Twilight where it continued to glow. A magic aura emerged from Twilight, and another one just like it came from within the black crystal that encased Flash. The Crystal Heart shined brighter and brighter, and the shadows that surrounded the land began to recede as the magical artifact began spinning around.
“That’s it!” Micro Chips exclaimed. “The Crystal Heart is fueled by love. It’s reacting to the love between the two of them. That’s awaking the Crystal Heart back up!”
Faster and faster the Crystal Heart spun, now glowing brighter than the sun. Twilight felt its power flow into her, almost as if she and the Crystal Heart had become one. Then, suddenly, the power of the Crystal Heart burst forth in a mighty magical blast, the radius flowing outward to consume all of Tirek’s kingdom.
The magic flowed over Sombra, and cracks began appearing all over his body. He let out a bellow of rage before he was completely obliterated by it. All his shadows across the land dispersed, and the black crystals he had created shattered and vanished, as if they were never there. The magic even flowed into Tartarus, and the crystal encasing that surrounded the three alicorns shattered as well.
High above in the tower, Tirek recoiled as the magic flowed over him. He let out an enraged cry of his own as all the magic he had ever consumed came spilling out of his mouth and went flying off in different directions to return to those he stole it from. Tirek shrank in size until he was less than half his height. His horns became small stubs on the top of his head, and his muscles completely vanished, leaving him as little more than skin and bones. His youth vanished as well, leaving him old a decrepit, and even a good deal of his color lost its luster, leaving him less saturated.
Hovering beside him, Cozy Glow looked around nervously, as if she were afraid she were in trouble. And with good cause too. Rising up into the air in front of them, were all four alicorn princess, Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Twilight, all returned to full power.
Feeling weaker than he had ever felt in his life, Tirek looked up at the alicorns. His eyes landed on Twilight, and his face twisted with fury.
“THE LAST!!!” he bellowed, shaking his fist up at her. “I KNEW YOU WERE THE LAST!!!”
Together, all four alicorns fired a blast of magic at him and Cozy Glow. They were both suddenly locked in a steel cage as the tower began to collapse from the force of the magic blast. Together, the alicorns levitated Tirek and Cozy Glow’s cage down below, and set it down inside Tartarus. The doors slammed shut and locked behind them.
Up above, the collapsing tower fell down on top of the already unstable castle, and the whole place began to crumble apart. The alicorns flew out of the path of the falling rubble as it came down upon the entrance to Tartarus, blocking the doors while completely hiding it from sight, truly sealing it up once and for all.