Reality Check through the skull.

//

Damn this title. It's not all I wanted it to be but it least it has a reference in it so I guess it's alright haha.

Well I just wanted to say that I passed the exams albeit barely when it comes to that one stupid teacher who had no consideration for his students. I say screw him, and I'm not alone judging by my yearmates' reactions since half of them didn't pass despite everyone studying like crazy. Like what's the point of studying when he'd just ask you a single question that might or might not have been contained in his study materials, and if you were unlucky then tough luck...And he told us the time of the exam three days before the exam...when I have work...ugh...Well. I just hope that it's all I need to do for this year regarding the academic stuff, and can just focus on relax and work. I had a sudden inspiration to write this chapter so I guess here you go!

Hope you like it and like always EEEENJOY!!!

//

A mass of Shadow coalesced over the Crystal Empire, ready to devour everything in its tracks.

The Crystal Ponies soon panicked, realising that the Evil Unicorn who tormented their dreams was just about to take everything from them yet again.

The panic quickly ensued...

The Crystal Fair that the girls painstakingly prepared, failing to keep the ponies from loosing hope as the darkness was about to reach them... but...it didn't...

Just short of a few dozen meters from the first house, a golden, transparent barrier suddenly became visible as it strained to keep the darkness inside itself. Yes! Inside!

And no matter What the Shadows did, they couldn't pass through the barrier, only managing to stretch it as if it was made out of rubber.

And as if to infuriate him even further no matter what spell Sombra used, it would just get absorbed or simply pass through the barrier without leaving a scratch on it, while keeping his entire being inside.

The sound of hoofsteps resounded from behind the angry Unicorn as Starfall leisurely approached him and spoke in a calm but vindictive voice.

"Not so fast Sombra. You thought I would let you go just like that? This isn't the day of your triumph, and I'm certainly not letting you go after what you have done." Starfall said, causing the Evil Unicorn to turn towards him in anger, failing to realise that most of his dark storm was quickly getting absorbed by the golden barrier.

He decided to humour Starfall and ask him the question that also puzzled himself.

"And what...pray tell...is it that I did, to make you so adamant on fighting ME! King Sombra himself! I'm sure you're not doing it for the Crystal Empire. You have no emotional connection to it. So Why?... Do you have a death wish perhaps?" Sombra asked in dark curiosity as an unexpected silence fell on their battlefield, the two unicorns looking at eachother, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

Starfall just shook his head and sighed.

"You are right. I'm not doing it for the Crystal Empire. I'm doing it because you disappointed me." Starfall said causing Sombra to look at him incredulously before bursting into laughter.

"Dis-Dissapoted you? Gahaha! That I have to hear now! Before I destroy you, please enlighten me. How did I disappoint you?" Sombra asked as his expression became dark.

Starfall looked at Sombra with some regret and explained.

"It's not about the Crystal Empire... It's what you did later... To think you'll go this far for simple vengeance, and against your best friend no less. Someone who always stood by your side from the very beginning..."

An explosion of darkness almost made Starfall fly away from his position as a scream of rage reverberated from the dark unicorn.

"YOU KnOw NOthING!!" Sombra screamed in sudden rage as his dark magic enveloped his very being, surpassing even what he did after sensing the Crystal heart being taken earlier.

Starfall looked at Sombra and huffed in challenge.

"Nothing?! I know enough! Enough to say with certainty that she loved you! And it tore her apart to see you suffer year after year, without being able to help you!" Starfall said standing his ground as Sombra became even more furious, his skin actually starting to crack as tendrils of shadows emerged from inside his body.

"ShE BEtRayED Me!" Sombra screamed as a massive tentacle of darkness manifested from Sombra's own shadow and swiped at Starfall who simply dodged it by a basic teleport.

"After you shattered Princess Amore into a thousand pieces, when all she wanted to do was to help you, but you didn't listen..." Starfall said as Sombra's rage was close enough to reach its peak as he lashed around with his magic and darkness intertwined.

Seeing as Sombra was not going to answer, Starfall decided to finish what he started.

"And when all was said and done...when she came looking for you, hoping to help you for the last time-" Starfall dodged another attack. It was clear Sombra didn't want him to finish the sentence.

"...You didn't listen again. And you poured all your anger on the single pony who ever wanted to help you. How did it feel when you sealed her in the red Ice? Good? Knowing the suffering you inflicted on her, I'm sure you must have felt incredible knowing she would never get out of it, forever having to stay frozen in the moment of her best friend for life, destroying all there ever was between the two of you in a fit of anger."Starfall said, and it seemed like his words were the last straw needed before Sombra whose skin cracked even harder than before, finally couldn't take it anymore and...exploded...

_________

Twilight looked outside, as the storm of darkness suddenly found itself stopped by a new golden barrier that had her Starfall written all over it.

Her originally troubled and distressed heart instantly calmed down as she realised that her Coltfriend had her back all this time, and was giving her the opportunity to take the Heart where it truly belonged.

Without wasting any more time Twilight cast a levitation magic on herself before with but a slight moment of hesitation jumped over the edge of the balcony, down from what was most likely the height of around a hundred meters...

___________

Cadence opened her eyes with difficulty, as Shining Armour prompted her with a slight shake.

A silence fell in the plaza as all the Crystal ponies watched Twilight Sparkle approach the Alicorn Princess who looked at Her with a weak but warm smile. Right Beside Twilight, Spike and Phoebe landed on the ground, while the Crystal Heart floated on the other side of her, held by Twilight's purplish magic.

Cadence took a hold of the Crystal with her magic and under the gaze of the Crystal Ponies, who once again regained their vigour upon seeing the artifact, she placed the heart in its rightful place in the center of the plaza under the Crystal Palace.

As soon as the Heart fell into place, two crystal spikes emerged from the ceiling and the floor of the plaza.

"The Crystal Heart has been returned, and with it the Hope and love shall once again rule the lands of the Crystal Empire!" Cadence spoke with a voice of unexpected authority as her warm smile caught the hearts of all the Citizens.

All the Ponies at once kneeled before the Heart, and whom they deemed to be their new Princess, causing a light show that would be stuck in the memories of all the ponies present for the rest of their lifes, The Heart powered by the positivity of the Ponies, spinning faster and faster as iridescent magic spread through the empire bringing joy and returning all the Crystal Ponies back to their true Crystal appearance.

It also had the side effect of temporarily turning all the non Crystal Ponies in the vicinity into their Crystal forms to the curiosity of Twilight and an excited glee of rarity who loved the new look they had suddenly gained...

___________

Starfall looked at his foe in morbid curiosity. He knew what Sombra truly was inside, but seeing it in person and reading it in a comic book for little girls was a completely different matter. And while the pictures in the comic books made him question the "for little girls" description because of their creepiness, the actual deal was multiple times more horrifying.

The Umbrum, because that's what their species were called, were all originally sealed in a pocket dimensional prison under the crystal Empire. They were nothing more than evil malicious horse spirits in the form of deathly mistlike horses that slightly resembled the thestrals from Harry Potter, if only in the skeletal appearance. They were capable of rudimentary shapeshifting and of using their own kind of dark magic alongside manipulating shadows.

And Sombra had, as it appears, finally embraced his real form, as the rage he felt pushed him over the proverbial edge.

The transformation however also seemed to make him lose the last of his reason, as him being unused to how the form affected his mental state, lashed around in pure need for destruction. His magic mixed with shadow, as even his body became blurry, blending with the surrounding as it tainted and destroyed the snowy ground and parts of a crystal walkway that was unlucky enough to get caught in the area covered by the barrier.

Black Crystals continued to grow and get destroyed as their shards created a deadly tornado that promised pain for anypony unlucky enough to find themselves in its path.

Starfall however walked right through the tornado without a worry, the shards vaporising the moment they touched the transparent barrier surrounding him. It has been a while since he fought against that one Ursa Major, but he was confident that if they were to fight right now, he would have made a quick work out of the oversized bear mom...

He was ready to face Sombra, completely expecting to survive no matter what the monster threw in his direction, But as he was ready to once again engage in battle against the creature, a slight emotion of deja vu assaulted him when a blinding light caught both of their attention.

There, as they looked in the direction of the Crystal Empire, the only thing they could see was the iridescent shockwave rapidly approaching their location.

Sombra in his skeletal, shadowy form gazed at the energy with but a somber look as all the furry left him at once. In its place what was left was just unwillingness to give up.

But as the purifying effects of the Crystal Heart enveloped him and started to burn his very being the only thing he could do was scream.

After all... there was no "Hope" to save him from the Pandora's box he had opened himself all those years ago. He ensured it himself...