Inner Demons

Before Sombra had a chance to respond he was blasted by a streak of orange energy from Twilight's horn, sending him flying backwards, only stopping when he crashed into a building. Everypony stared gaping at the indention made by Sombra's body hitting a wall.

To everypony's surprise, Sombra stood back up, unfazed, and let out a growl. In response Twilight let out one of her own, sounding more like an animal then a pony. Sombra's horn glowed, and a shroud of darkness surrounded him. With a roar of fury he charged towards Twilight whom jumped down to meet his challenge.

The resulting clash released a large shock wave of energy that flattened anything within a ten foot radius, and sent everypony flying back "W-What's going on?" Spike questioned after he regained his balance.

"I don't know Spike," Shining Armor said, "But whatever it is, it's not good."

"Spike!" Cadance exclaimed, "Where's Twilight?!"

"She's over there!" he said, pointing to where Twilight and Sombra were having a standoff.

"Where?" asked Cadance, "I can only see Sombra, and that thing."

"That 'thing' is Twilight," Spike told her.

"What?!" exclaimed Shining, "What do you mean that thing is Twily?!"

"I don't know," Spike told him, "Last time I saw her she was stuck in one of Sombra's crystal traps. I'm sure that's Twilight though." Shining Armour looked back to where the two powerful beings were clashing. Both Sombra and Twilight were charging up magic, an eerie black surrounding Sombra's horn, and an angry red surrounding Twilight's.

Almost instantaneously the two each shot a bolt of magic from their horns, the energies clashing with each-other in mid-air, causing a huge explosion sending both of the ponies flying backwards, and flattening several nearby buildings. Twilight recovered faster then Sombra though, and her horn glowed a scarlet red.

This time though, instead of casting a bolt of magic at Sombra, a collection of blood red orbs, and sky blue orbs started collecting together at the tip of Twilight's horn, creating a large black ball of energy nearly the size of a pony's head. The ground beneath Twilight's hooves cracked as though under a great weight as she reared up on her hind hooves.

What happened next shocked everypony to the core. Twilight slammed her hooves down, and shot the dark ball towards Sombra. Sombra, having very little time to react, enshrouded himself in a cloak of darkness. When the ball hit it, though, it exploded in a brilliant explosion much bigger than any of the ones that had come before.

Right before the shock wave hit them, Shining Armour created a dome of bright pink energy which shielded the castle from the force of the blast, but the shock wave was still strong enough to cause several parts of the castle to crumble. When the shock wave had passed a thick layer of dust had settled over everything, and Shining Armour released his shield.

When the dust settled the group stared in shock, and horror at what was left of the crystal kingdom, or rather what wasn't. Anything that had been in the way when Twilight had unleashed that strange energy had been completely obliterated, leaving only a large furrow where half of the Crystal Empire had once stood.

The cloaked Twilight grinned maliciously, thinking that it'd finally finished what it started when a large mass of darkness unravelled to reveal a completely unharmed King Sombra. "Uh oh," Cadance said, "If this goes on for much longer the entire Crystal Empire will be destroyed!"

"I'll tell Celestia." Spike said, "She'll know what to do!"

'I hope so Spike," Shining said, "Please be okay Twily." He looked back to where the two were fighting while Spike wrote a letter to send to Celestia. Twilight let out an unearthly growl at Sombra, and Sombra did the same. Then Sombra's horn glowed an ominous black, and a shroud of darkness wrapped around the enraged Twilight.

Twilight let out a beast like roar as the shadows squeezed her tighter, and  tighter. Suddenly a violent red magic spread from her body and covered  the shadows, and anything touching it dissolved, freeing Twilight from Sombra's grasp. In retaliation a claw of pure orange energy shot out and reached for Sombra whom swiftly jumped back to avoid it, the claw slamming into the ground.

Almost instantly another claw shot up out of the ground, and slammed into Sombra, sending flying back, skidding to a halt a ways back. He stood back up revealing an angry green glow in his eyes, and a small gash on his cheek which was leaking blood. He let out an enraged roar as a dark orb of magic collected around his horn.

Sombra shot the ball of dark magic at Twilight. When it slammed into her it sent her flying back before crashing into the ground. Twilight stood back up, uninjured and enraged, it was clear to the ponies watching that this fight was far from over. Suddenly there was a bright flash, and Princess Celestia appeared in front of the ponies.

"What's happened?!" she demanded, "Where's Twilight?!" Spike pointed towards the near barren landscape at the two powerful ponies who had been battling. Princess Celestia turned around to look, and her eyes widened in horror at the pure destruction as well as Twilight who was covered in a violent orange energy.

She quickly swung back around to face the ponies. "Quickly Cadance!" she exclaimed, "You must use the Crystal Heart before it's too late."

"But what about Twilight?" Cadance questioned. Princess Celestia's eyes darkened.

"I am talking about Twilight." she said ominously. Cadance nodded before levitating the Crystal Heart to herself, and flying off towards the courtyard at the bottom of the castle where all the citizens of the Crystal Kingdom had gathered. "Wait, what do you mean?" Shining Armour questioned, "What's going to happen to Twilight?" Celestia simply lowered her eyes.

Shining Armour grew angry, "What's going to happen to Twilight?!" he demanded, "Tell me!" Normally he wouldn't have ever spoken like that to the Princess, but his little sister was down there, covered in some kind of strange energy, and fighting to the death with a thousand year old king who was trying to take over the Crystal Empire.

"She should be safe." Celestia told him, still unable to look him in the eyes.

"Should be?!"

"At this stage it's hard to tell." she said, looking at him, "She's too far gone for me to reach, the only chance we have is to use the Crystal Heart."

"What do you mean?" he demanded, "What's going on here?"

"Shining Armour!" she said, getting his attention, "This is all the information I can divulge at the moment. All I can say is that the Crystal Heart is the best chance we have for returning Twilight to normal." Shining Armour, having nothing to respond with merely bowed his head in submission.

"Citizens of the Crystal Empire," Cadance said, catching everypony's attention, "The Crystal Heart has returned. Use the love and light within you to vanquish the evil that has seized the Crystal Empire." One by one the crystal ponies regained their crystal coats, and bowed down, making the Crystal Heart grow brighter and brighter until it unleashed a bright wave of energy.

As the energy spread out it destroyed any dark crystals that had been created by Sombra, and when it reached the two fighting beings it burnt away the bright orange energy from around Twilight, and caused several cracks to appear in Sombra before he let out a roar of rage and shattered into pieces.

Upon seeing this the others, and Shining Armour rushed out of the castle, and to the side of the exhausted, and unconscious Twilight who had somehow sustained several burns, revealing several red patches underneath her fur. As they checked to see if she had any more injuries Princess Celestia flew up to them.

"I will be sure that she gets good medical treatment back in Canterlot. The rest of you may come if you'd like of course." Celestia told them. They nodded in agreement and she turned away to leave when a very familiar voice sounded in her head. "Celestia."

Suddenly she found herself no longer standing in the ruins of the Crystal Empire, instead she was standing in a large dark metal room with a large collection of pipes branching off in several directions, several of them leaking droplets which had accumulated in a thin layering of water that covered the floor.

Celestia turned around to see several large red bars, and a familiar large orange creature glaring at her with a look of pure hatred upon it's face. "Celestia!" the beast roared again.

"Ah, hello Kurama," Celestia greeted, "It's been a long time hasn't it."

"Don't give me that Celestia!" he roared, "You're the one who sealed me here in the first place."

"Yes, I know that," she said, "You needn't remind me of it."

"You may have been able to stop me this time Celestia," he said, "But this cage won't be able to hold me forever. I'll get out eventually."

"I know," Celestia said, "And when that day comes I'll be ready. I shall not allow a monster like you to harm my subjects any further." With that she turned around and walked away.

"CELESTIA!"