//------------------------------//
// Showdown 
// Story: My Enemy's Enemy 
// by BudCharles 
//------------------------------//

There was a blinding flash of light as a beam of magic from Twilight intercepted Sombra’s attack, the explosion making the walls glow a brilliant neon green and causing Fluttershy to freeze in shock.
 
“Don’t touch her!” Twilight practically shouted, as she got back on her hooves, her horn lit ready for a second attack.
 
“Very well,” Sombra agreed, “it’s your funeral. You have one last chance Sparkle - join me, or pay the price.”
 
“I would never turn on my friends. That’s where we’re different, Sombra. Now you back down, or you’ll pay the price.” Twilight threatened, a hint of nervousness creeping into her voice.
 
Sombra gave Twilight a confident smile, as if he’d done this a thousand times before.
 
“It seems neither of us will back down. So I guess -“
 
Suddenly, in mid sentence, Sombra fired a massive orb of magic straight into Twilight’s face, catching her completely off-guard and almost knocking her to the ground.
 
“You cheated” Twilight accused, wiping the blood away from her snout.
 
“This is a war, there is no cheating.”
 
With that, Sombra sent another attack Twilight’s way, Twilight stood still, then teleported directly behind Sombra and fired an attack of her own, sending him tumbling over in surprise.
 
“Alright then, we’ll do this your way.”
 
Sombra got back to his hooves and immediately turned to face Twilight, launching a massive beam of magic her way. Twilight easily teleported out of the way a second time, causing Sombra to turn a hundred and eighty degrees looking for her, literally melting a massive chunk of the wall as his attack turned with him.
 
Twilight teleported again, and again, dodging every attack Sombra could muster.
 
“ENOUGH!” Sombra demanded, casting a massive wave of dark magic which expanded in all directions, freezing the distorted form of Twilight in mid-teleport.
 
He sent a massive magic attack her way, causing her to be ripped back into reality and slammed head-first into the ground.
 
As Twilight dizzily attempted to get back on her hooves, she was hit with the full force of another magic attack.
 
“Argh!” she cried as she was sent straight back into the ground.
 
Sombra laughed with the most unsettling kind of joy as he charged up one last attack. He launched a huge beam of cloudy, dark magic directly at Twilight, only to have it intercepted by an equally strong beam of bright pinkish-red light.
 
Sombra rolled his eyes as a shaky and wobbly Twilight pushed herself back up on all fours, her horn lit and a determined frown on her face. He casually increased the power of his magic, causing her to stumble backwards - but not fall over.
 
Twilight threw all she had into her own spell, smoke beginning to rise from her horn as she pushed forwards.
 
Sombra increased his own spell’s power, but to his surprise, nothing happened. His eyes widened as Twilight’s spell began to push his beam back past the halfway point.
 
“Impossible. This is impossible!” Sombra hissed as Twilight’s spell crept ever further. “Dark magic is by far the most powerful!”
 
“No, Sombra. I’m thinking of my friend Fluttershy as I cast this spell. I’m thinking of thousands of changelings, safe and happy. That’s the most powerful kind of magic!”
 
“No! NO NO NO!”
 
Twilight’s horn literally caught fire as she took a step forward and made one final push, sending Sombra crashing backwards across the room and straight through the throne, which collapsed on top of him.
 
Twilight quickly shook her head, extinguishing the flame on her horn as if it were a candle, before walking towards Sombra.
 
“Go on then,” Sombra teased, “do it - finish me off!”
 
“Just surrender Sombra, please. You’ve already lost - don’t make this harder than it has to be” Twilight pleaded as she used her magic to clear away the remains of the throne.
 
“Coward!”
 
“I will not kill another pony. Now give up and leave.”
 
Sombra laughed, before blasting a huge wave of magic at Twilight, sending her tumbling back to the other side of the room.
 
“Thanks for the chance to recover.”
 
Twilight’s eyes widened in fear as Sombra charged towards her, launching blast after blast of magic straight into her chest as she lay on her back, defenceless.
 
Twilight rolled over and closed her eyes as the barrage of attacks continued, covering her face with her hooves. Suddenly, the attacks stopped.
 
“Enough!” Chrysalis shouted as she stood in front of Sombra’s attacks, taking every one of them with ease as if they were pillows, gently squishing against her. “I will not stand by anymore! You murdered thousands of changelings for nothing more than defending their home! You beat my friend into submission for showing you mercy you never deserved! You nearly killed an innocent child for doing absolutely nothing!”
 
“I know, it was so fun. I must try it again some time.” Sombra commented.
 
“You monster! You absolute monster!” Chrysalis screeched, tears running down her face, as she blasted him with wave after wave of magic, which he easily avoided by shifting into a cloud.
 
“Come on, that was pathetic. I can’t believe you call yourself a queen!”
 
Chrysalis panted with exhaustion as Sombra charged up an attack.
 
“You know,” Sombra continued, “I might keep you alive, just so I can make you watch your son die. I can just see you face as he slowly - GAH!”
 
Chrysalis lunged at the corrupted king, slashing at him with her horn and beating him with her hooves.
 
“Really?” Sombra asked as he transformed into a cloud, causing Chrysalis to come crashing down to the ground.
 
“Really.” Chrysalis hissed, as she took the form of none other than Sombra himself.
 
Sombra gave history’s most dramatic “oh, buck” face as the cloudy form of Chrysalis soared towards him, tackling him out of the sky and blasting him with attack after attack. After at least two minutes of blasting the life out of Sombra, Chrysalis transformed back into her normal self, leaving Sombra to collapse onto the floor, a quivering mess.
 
Sombra, barely able to keep his eyes open, stared up at Chrysalis in terror as she pointed her horn directly at his throat. It was the first time he had felt fear in over a thousand years.
 
“W-wait. I can help you get revenge, we can team up to overthrow Celestia.” Sombra pleaded.
 
“You think me to be some kind of traitor? Those ponies put their lives on the line to help me and you think I’d just turn on them?”
 
“Twilight wouldn’t attack me, s-so why should you?” Sombra continued, changing the subject desperately.
 
“Ponies may be my allies now, but I am not one of them. I will not show mercy to those who don’t deserve it.
 
“FINE!” Sombra snapped, mustering the last of his energy to summon one last spell - teleporting Pupa straight into the room. “Kill me. But he has to watch.”
 
That made Chrysalis hesitate.
 
“That’s right,” Sombra snickered, turning his head to face Pupa, “your mummy is going to kill another creature.”
 
“My mummy would never do that!” Pupa snapped back.
 
“Cover your eyes Pupa,” Chrysalis instructed.
 
“But mummy-”
 
“Cover your eyes!”
 
“Okay.” Pupa said as Chrysalis turned to face Sombra again.
 
“Are they covered?”
 
“Yes?”
 
“Are you lying?”
 
“Yes.”
 
Chrysalis let out a sigh of frustration. “Do what I say Pupa, just this once.”
 
“You’re not really going to do it though are you?”
 
Sombra gave a satisfied smile as he waited for Chrysalis’ answer.
 
“Pupa, cover your eyes now, or I’ll take away your teddy fly and you won’t get him back for a week.”
 
“Ugh, fine.” Pupa gave in, covering his eyes with his little hooves.
 
“And don’t put your leg holes over your eyes.”
 
Pupa shifted his front hooves so his eyes were actually covered. He knew he should have saved that trick for something more important than getting out of mathematics class.
 
Chrysalis breathed another sigh, this one of relief, then turned to face Sombra a second time. She charged up her horn, then launched a solid blast of magic straight at him. He burned up instantly in a ball of black and green flames, leaving behind nothing but a pile of black, crystalline ashes. Sombra was really, actually gone.
 
“Alright Pupa, you can stop covering your eyes”
 
“W-what happened. Where did he go?” Pupa asked innocently.
 
Suddenly, the ground was rocked by a massive explosion, causing the walls to again glow green.
 
“I didn’t know the Badlands had earthquakes” Fluttershy commented.
 
“They don’t.” Chrysalis replied, confused.
 
“Oh no,” Twilight gasped.
 
“What? What is it?”
 
Twilight levitated a small letter, embedded in the ground, over to Chrysalis.
 
“Dear Invading Army,” she read aloud, “It appears you successfully defeated me, and won back the changeling nest. Congratulations! Of course, I was prepared for this extremely unlikely scenario. Every wall in this nest is rigged with magical explosives. Not dark magic, just the regular variety. They will go off in exactly ten minutes. If I’m going down, you’re going down with me. Yours truly, Sombra.”