Shining Armor took a step back as the creature approached. “Okay. We’ll have to keep the magic to a minimum. Flash, Grey, one of you will have to fly that thing out of here.”
“Got it.” Flash flapped his wings and lifted himself off the ground.
The moment he did so, the Nuckelavee charged forward and slammed him back down onto the ground with its hoof on his wing. As the pinned pegasus tried to escape, the Nuckelavee looked down and let out a loud roar. The purple miasma coated Flash who started to gag from the effects. An attack from Sombra moved the creature long enough for Grey to pull Flash out from under its hooves. Sombra stood in his armor and kept the creature’s attention for as long as he could.
As Grey put Flash down, he noticed that Flash was shaking. He placed a hoof on Flash’s forehead. “Oh crap… Captain! Keep away from its breath! It’s some kind of poison!”
Shining Armor looked back to the grounded Flash and swore to himself, “Sombra! How long until that gem blows?!”
Sombra side-stepped a heavy hoof from the Nuckelavee that would have cracked his skull. He glanced at the skull, but couldn’t focus for long. “I’m kind of busy to check!”
“Grey!”
Before the Captain could continue, Grey chimed in, “Two cracks. Both relatively small. No connection.”
Sombra ducked away from a kick as he calculated the gem’s count down. “Two to three hours without disturbances!”
Shining Armor quickly made his choice, “Alright, tactical retreat! We need to get Flash out of here so we can deal with the poison. Stay on the ground and no magic! Move!” Shining picked Flash up and carried the downed guard on his back.
The group put their hooves on the ground and ran off into the halls. They ducked through the debris, making their way to the prison’s infirmary. Shining Armor placed Flash on the sturdiest bed they could find and set about with first aid for poisoning. Grey paced back and forth in fear for his brother’s life. Sombra sat watching the door, in case the creature came after them.
After a few minutes had passed, Shining backed away from the bed and turned to Grey. “Okay…”
Grey interrupted him, “What kind of poison did it use? Did you gather a sample? Can we produce an antidote?”
“Calm down, Lieutenant!” After he had room to speak, the Captain continued, “We can’t produce an antidote.”
“Why do you sound so calm!?!”
“Because it’s not poison!”
After a moment of silence, Grey spoke again, “What? Then… what else could it be?”
“That’s the part that’s baffling. Kind of interesting, actually… It confirms the old stories.”
“Get to the point, Captain!”
“He has a nasty cold.”
“… You can’t be serious.”
“Likely a strain specific to the Nuckelavee, but… yeah.”
Sombra took time away from his observing to join the conversation, “It’s breath must be some kind of miasma, spreading its version of the disease.”
“That makes the most sense.”
Flash coughed and sat up, his face flushed thanks to his fever, “So… we can’t use magic, can’t reason with it, and now we can’t fly or get close without getting sick?”
“That seems to be the gist of it, yes.”
“Great…” Flash fell backward onto the bed. “This bed sucks…”
“That’s the best bed in the ward.”
“That’s concerning…” Flash soon fell asleep on the bed.
Grey stayed next to Flash’s side. Despite his occasionally apathetic nature, Grey cared about his family. He had to be sure Flash was alright.
Shining Armor walked over to search the drawers for anything useful. After a while, he closed the final drawer with no significant finds. “No surprise there… This place must be hundreds of years old.”
“One thousand six hundred and thirty-five, actually.” Sombra chimed in.
“That’s pretty specific…”
He points to a crystal formation in the corner, “It’s an artificial crystal. The wear and tear on the surface gives away its age.”
“That’s… kind of impressive that you can tell just from that.”
“Crystal magic is my specialty.” Sombra stood up and stretched a bit, keeping his eyes and ears out for the Nuckelavee. “I should hope I could recognize something so obvious.”
“Sure…” Shining paused a moment before an idea came up, “Do you think you could create a crystal that could the Nuckelavee?”
“In the time it would take to create a crystal strong enough, the creature would floor all of us several times over.”
“There goes that plan…” Shining turned to walk away.
“Although…”
Shining turned back to the Corporal, “What?”
“I’ve been observing the spell on the prison. I think I might be able to cause an internal feedback.”
“Meaning?”
“I could, in theory, cause the magic holding the creature in to collapse in on itself, burning out the magic within.”
“You can do that?”
“Yep. It would mean nopony would be able to use their magic or fly for a while, but it can be done. It would break the grasp on the Nuckelavee and drain the gem without it exploding.”
“How long will it take?”
“Not long, but I’ll need help and it will require some magic use.”
“Then we’ll need a way to distract the Nuckelavee…”
“If I may,” Grey had walked up to the two and inserted himself into the conversation, “I know how we can distract that thing.”
\/
The Nuckelavee’s steps echoed through the halls. Each stomp disturbing the ground and killing any plant life left in its way. Suddenly, something caught its attention, a weak signature of magic. Its instincts were to attack the magic. It wanted to charge the magic, but it didn’t get the chance. The magic slammed into its side, causing it to stagger. The magic was like the other from before, weak but focused. The magic hung there a moment, floating in the air. That’s when it screamed out. The Nuckelavee couldn’t understand it, but it understood anger.
\/
Grey landed another strong blow into the Nuckelavee’s side, making sure to avoid its breath and hooves. Grey used his training to maximize what damage he was dealing to the beast, but it hardly seemed fazed. Grey smiled to himself. That was perfectly fine. He would keep hitting that thing harder. He would make it suffer for putting Flash in the infirmary. He wanted this to last.
\/
Shining and Sombra snuck their way toward the warden’s office. When they arrived, they quickly and quietly moved inside to begin the process. Sombra lit up his horn with a weak amount of magic to test if the Nuckelavee was still distracted. Once he was certain they were being ignored, Sombra turned his attention to the magic around the prison.
“Okay, let’s get started.” Sombra closed his eyes and started to pool his magic.
Shining followed suit, readying his own magic. “Let me know when…”
After a minute, Sombra let his magic loose onto the floor. It pulsed outward and started to mix itself with the magic seal around the prison. When it had mixed completely, he motioned toward Shining, “Now.”
Shining Armor used his magic to strike the ground and force the magic process to break apart. With the magic forced apart, it caused the seal to become unstable. “Is that it?”
“More or less… It just needs an agitator. One big shock to force the magic seal to break up and collapse.”
“Okay then, any reason we’re waiting on this?”
“We need to gather the others. If this doesn’t work, there’s a real possibility that the magic will cause the prison to collapse as well.”
“That would have been nice to know ahead of time.” Shining didn’t want to yell and risk the Nuckelavee.
“Perhaps. For now, we need to move.”
“Right…”
Shining and Sombra turned to run back to the infirmary.
\/
Grey landed back on the ground, his breath heavy. He had spent his time trying to hurt the Nuckelavee. Despite everything, the beast seemed unfazed by all his assaults. “Damn it…” His anger welled up again and he charged the beast again, this time to be met by the Nuckelavee’s tail slamming him onto the ground. His breathing was becoming difficult as the creature’s miasma found its way into his lungs. When he tried to stand, he fell into a coughing fit. “Crap…”
The Nuckelavee seemed to lose sight of Grey now that he was grounded. It turned and started to walk back toward the infirmary.
“Oh no you don’t…” Grey forced himself to stand and spread his wings, deliberately preparing to fly while not taking off. This turned the Nuckelavee around to face the magical source. “That’s right… We’re not done here yet…”
Before the Nuckelavee could charge, a weight lowered Grey’s wings. Flash had been placed on his back by Shining Armor, “Actually, you are done here. We need to get somewhere safer before setting off the feedback.” Grey growled a bit, but Shining brought him back to his senses, “I know you’re angry, but the gem will burst and make things worse if we don’t move now.”
Grey sighed and used what strength he had left to follow his Captain. Looking back, he saw the Nuckelavee looking around, searching for the magic that had disappeared. He clenched his teeth and followed the Captain away from the scene.
The group eventually found an area where the ceiling had collapsed in already, granting them a safe zone in the worse-case scenario. Shining turned to his team, “Okay, once the feedback starts, we won’t be able to fly or use our magic. That will keep the Nuckelavee away long enough for us all to escape.”
Flash groaned for a moment and lifted his head, “Not quite…”
Shining paused and turned to Flash, who was still on Grey’s back, “What do you mean?”
“Sombra’s body… is being held together by the magical equivalent to duct tape… If the pulse goes off and he’s inside, he’ll split apart again.”
Sombra was quick to reply, “That fever must be getting to him…”
Shining didn’t buy it, “Corporal…”
“It may be best to get this over with now.”
“Corporal!”
“Sir, we don’t have time to…”
“Sombra!” Once Shining was certain that the former king remained silent, he continued, “What Flash just said, is it true?”
After a moment of silence, he answered, “Most likely. I’m not certain of the exact magical formula, but that would make the most sense. This is the part where you try to talk me out of it, right?”
Shining took a deep breath before replying, “Is there another way to stop the gem?”
“Nothing with what time we have left.”
“Damn… Alright, Grey, escort Flash and Sombra out of the prison. I should be able to set off the feedback.”
He was interrupted by a low growl. The Nuckelavee walked down the nearby hall. It made no indication that it had seen them. But there was no relief for the group because the Nuckelavee was rolling a familiar light blue, crystalline object.
Sombra spoke quietly, “We don’t have time. We need to end this now.” He lowered his stance and got ready to cast the spell extremely quickly.
Grey readjusted Flash for their comfort, “Didn’t think you were the type to be willing sacrifice yourself…”
“Sacrifice? Making a lot of assumptions here.”
“But… isn’t that what you’re doing?”
“To sacrifice would be to give something up for the sake of others. Which ‘others’ would I be sacrificing for? The princesses that sealed me in ice for a thousand years? The ponies back in Canterlot who think they have the right to summon me from the dead for their gains? Hardly… If anything, I despise them all. They think just because they brought me back that they can control me. I remember enough that I am just a project and tool for their use. I want nothing more than to stick it to them for that. So, I wouldn’t call this a sacrifice.” His magic started to flare up, getting the Nuckelavee’s attention. Sombra reared back and slammed the ground, sending his magic through the floor an into the magic barrio around them. “I’m doing this, OUT OF SPITE MOTHER F**KER!”
A bright flash of light filled the room and everything went silent. As the group started to get their bearings again, the silence became a high-pitched tone. Once they could see and hear again, they noticed the Nuckelavee looking around in confusion. After a while, it walked off, hitting a wall in the process.
Shining looked around for a head count. Grey had dropped Flash in the confusion; though once he figured out what happened, he quickly got Flash up off the floor. Shining turned to look for Sombra, only to find empty armor.
\/
The guard returned to their campsite that night. To say they enjoyed a night’s sleep would be dishonest. As Equestria was always peaceful, this was the Guard’s first death. Shining knew every guard willing to give their lives for the good of Equestria, it was hard to miss being part of the oath, but it would never be easy. What made it worse was that this death would never be recognized. Sombra would forever be remembered as a tyrant from the Crystal Empire, despite the fact that he had just saved Equestria. Granted, his sacrifice was fueled by hostile emotions to spite the Black Gold Guard, possibly the entire Royal Guard by extension. As Celestia raised the sun into the sky, he finished repacking the supplies for travel. He looked to what was left of the camp at the empty armor and cracked gem sitting to the side. Flash, who was finally able to walk around on his own, finished packing away his own supplies and hoisted them onto his back. Meanwhile, Grey had already prepared to leave and was sticking close to his brother in case he relapsed.
Shining Armor took a deep breath and placed the supplies, armor, and gem onto his back. Being the strongest of the three, he really didn’t have much of a choice for the distribution of supplies. Now, they just had to return to Canterlot and file their report. After that, Shining was going to make a b-line for the Crystal Empire to return to his family. When his thoughts fell upon his home, he couldn’t help but think back to an old question.
Do you believe in destiny?
Now, Shining had his answer. Destiny is what we make it. Was it destiny for you to save those you despise? That was just a side effect of your anger. Was it destiny that you didn’t survive? I bet you could have lived just to spite somepony. It’s nothing more than a word we use when we feel powerless. You felt powerless as a foal looking into the Crystal Heart so you fell back into the idea of destiny. Now, you decided to fight back. Shining Armor took a deep breath. “Alright, you two. Let’s get moving.”
Flash spoke up, “Uh… sir. What are we going to do about Sombra?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I know he wasn’t the best pony, but he did just sacrifice himself to save Equestria. Doesn’t he get a medal for that?”
Grey turned his head away from Flash, “Unlikely…”
Shining cleared his throat before answering, “As far as Equestria is concerned, Sombra died in the Crystal Empire a tyrant and an enemy to ponykind. His actions here will be forgotten by all but us.”
Grey returned his gaze toward Shining, “We’ll still need to explain the situation to Bastian.”
“Commander Steel Bastian will understand. If he doesn’t, then he can explain how he thought it was a good idea to bring one of the most dangerous tyrants in history back from the dead to the princesses.”
The group set out for Canterlot, leaving behind one of the artificial crystals from the prison as a marker to the forgotten soldier who was lost during their mission.