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// Like Glass [History Overwritten] 
// Story: Split Second 
// by wille179 
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	Even without actively refreshing it, Shining Armor could feel the massive shield slowly draining his magic. Don't misunderstand; he could keep a shield this size up for a really long time. Instead, he was merely observing that the drain was noticeable, but tiny. And even as seemingly separate as the shield was from him, his magic, like the magic of any unicorn and their spells, was still connected to him. And, like any alert pony, he could feel with his magic.
If he had to describe the feeling of the underpowered shield breaker curse striking the dome, he would equate it to sitting in a library and then suddenly being pelted with a rotten egg. It was a nasty, unpleasant surprise, but ultimately harmless.
It was unmistakably his sister's magic, though, so he let the dome collapse.
“What are you doing? King Sombra's still out there!"
Shining Armor smiled at the worried crystal pony. “And so is my sister. I just got her signal that we’re all clear now. I just dropped the shield to let her in.”
“All clear?” the gem-like mare asked. “Does that mean that we’re... finally free?”
“Quite possibly,” Shining Armor replied. “Let’s just wait for her to get back.”
That one little assurance gave the small mare more hope than she’d had in a very long time. Her coat shimmered, and then she turned translucent. The ground beneath her hooves started glowing and leaving luminescent hoof prints with her every step. Her joy was infectious; other crystal ponies who hadn’t been part of the conversation saw her lighting up, which improved their moods as well.
A few minutes later, Shining Armor spotted his sister approaching the castle archway where they were standing. “Sparks!”
Sparkle looked over when she heard her name. “Shiny!” She increased her pace and galloped up to him and the assembled crystal ponies around him. She pulled out Sombra’s horn from her robe pocket and waved it in the air. “I won! King Sombra is dead!” 
She dramatically threw the severed horn on the ground at the crystal ponies hooves. It clattered and slid across the smooth crystal road, coming to a stop at a young filly’s hooves. She picked it up, eyes wide. “Is he really gone?”
“I got rid of him myself,” Sparkle replied. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to find a really important book.” And with nothing else to say, Sparkle trotted off towards the castle entrance. Cheering erupted behind her, and although she wanted to bask in the glory, she had another, more important reason for being here.
As she entered the building, news of Sombra’s “death” began to spread like wildfire, and with it, so did the good cheer of the crystal ponies. As Sparkle felt for Sombra’s fading magic, she didn’t notice the streets lighting up below. And as she entered the Throne room, she couldn’t see the Crystal heart, perched at the top of the castle, gently glowing.
Instead, what she could see was a dark, spiral staircase that was far longer than what the suspended castle should logically contain. Down and down she trotted, blissfully unaware of the building threat. Finally, she reached the bottom of the stairs and found a circular room with only a single, magically reactive door.
A pulse of dark magic, bearing the intent to find the ex-king’s study was all it took to get the door to open. Sparkle stepped inside. Translucent glass let in strange, green-tinted light, ignoring the fact that they should have been deep underground. Around the room stood several busts of King Sombra, all bearing the same arrogant smirk. A simple, wooden podium sat on a purple rug in the center of the room, and on the podium sat a horn-written book. Sparkle gave it a quick glance and saw that it was Sombra’s journal. She shoved it into her pocket dimension; hopefully, it would put her prisoner in a better mood.
Her attention turned to the walls, lined with hundreds of books, each in marvelous condition. The thousand years they had been locked away had not damaged them at all, making this room a treasure trove of ancient black magic. However, among all the books, Sparkle only saw one bound in leather. She dove for it immediately.
Pulling it off the shelf, Sparkle flipped the large tome over to see the cover. There, engraved into the front, was the six-eyed skull mark of Lady Death, and the words Dread Necroptica. With the exception of the number of eyes, Death’s mark was practically identical to Sparkle’s own in every way. If that didn’t tell her that she was meant to learn what was in that book, what would?
There was a lock on the front. Instead of having a slot for a key, the lock had a tiny hole and a magical array around it. Sparkle poured a tiny drop of her power into the array. A little needle popped out of the hole. Sparkle pressed her hoof against the needle, drawing a small drop of blood. The needle slid back in, and the book’s lock clicked open.
She magically cleaned the tiny wound - she didn’t need to be infected with anything, now - and opened the book.
The first page was blank. That was odd, since the others in the series always had writing on the first page. Sparkle flipped to the second page.
Or, rather, the cavity carved into the book. There was no second page at all; in fact, save for that blank first page, there were no pages at all. Instead, what Sparkle held in her magical grip was a locked box disguised as a book. And in that box lay a porcelain skull mask. It, not the box it was contained in, radiated the same twisted sensation as the other books in the series.
If it was a mask, it was meant to be put on. Sparkle brushed her mane out of the way and then slid her horn through the special hole in the skull’s forehead. When it finally touched her face, it settled into place as if it was custom made to fit her.
Sparkle.
It was pure meaning injected straight into her brain, without any pretense of sound. She stepped back unconsciously. “The demon within the Dread Necroptica, I presume,” she said.
Exactly. I already know you from my six other parts, and I have already decided that you are worthy of this power. You would have never found me had you not been, the demon replied.
“So how does this work, exactly. Are you to instruct me?”
In a way, yes. I contain procedural memories on how to cast the magic within me, and even as we speak, I am recording this information directly into your brain and connecting the proper associations. This is done to protect this information; you will not know what you know until a situation demands the relevant skill. Then, the answer will come to you as if you already knew it.
“That seems needlessly complicated,” Sparkle replied.
You are worthy of this information. Your student is not yet worthy.
“I’m curious, what criteria do you deem worthy?” Sparkle inquired.
Dread replied, I have only one criteria for the knowledge contained in my seventh volume. You fit this criteria. Thorn fits this criteria. Cobalt does not yet fit this criteria.
“You haven’t answered my question,” Sparkle insisted. “What criteria?”
The demon within the mask remained silent. Eventually, Sparkle realized that it was not going to answer. With a huff, she asked, “Is there anything else I should know?”
Lady Death wrote a short message for me to give to any  who unite all seven parts. You have access to the other six; bring them here, Dread insisted.
Sparkle’s horn darkened with magic. With six rapid pops, six tomes materialized in Sombra’s private study. She opened each of them with her magic. “Now what?”
The message is simple. ‘Always remember the heart of the matter.’
Sparkle blinked. “That’s it?”
That’s it, Dread confirmed.
“‘Always remember the heart of the matter.’ What does that mean? The heart of the matter... the heart! The Crystal Heart!” Sparkle’s gut clenched in panic. King Sombra had taken the Crystal Heart; with him gone, any defenses around the city-protecting artifact would be gone. With a whole team of ponies looking for it now, it would be found really quick and installed as soon as it was recovered.
It was a light artifact.
It could cover the entire Crystal Empire.
Sparkle was standing at the epicenter.
Her magic exploded forth, shoving as many books into her pocket dimension as she could. In less than three seconds, the study was stripped bare of any and everything valuable. She practically exploded out the door, her body already dissolving into smoke. As fast as she could muster, she teleported to the top of the spiral staircase, reappearing in the throne room.
She looked out the window. With a good visual on the street below she teleported again. Emerging right in front of a startled crystal pegasus, she whirled around. Shining, Cadance, and the Element Bearers were all standing at the center of the castle’s plaza, Crystal Heart in their possession. “NO!” she shouted, but it was too late. The Heart floated into place and began to spin.
Shining Armor heard his sister’s shout and turned. He spotted her just as the magic erupted from the Crystal Heart. 
The average reaction time of a pony is a quarter of a second. Thanks to his sister’s enchantments, his time was faster than that, but not fast enough. At the speed the bubble of magic was expanding, Shining only had time to connect the dots, never mind react.
The magic of the Crystal Heart exploded at approximately one third of the speed of sound. While it was faster than the beam of the Elements of harmony by a significant margin, it was arguably the less dangerous of the two. Granted, “less dangerous” didn't mean much in the face of the two extremely potent artifacts, where the Element’s purified or imprisoned their target while the Heart violently expelled.
In the end, the how didn't matter.
The wave of magic crashed into Sparkle with incredible energy. Her skin cracked, blue-white light pouring out from the wounds. Through the pain, she had just enough time to make eye contact with Shining Armor before the secondary concussive force slammed into her.
She shattered.












The End