Sombra's reaction was predictable if nothing else. Every movement he made was accurately predicted in Twilight's plan. The hulking tower of rage that was The King may have had size and strength on his side, but Twilight had the brains. It started with The King charging wildly, which Twilight had anticipated. Seek to enrage the enemy and he will make a mistake.
"Starlight, now!"
Starlight Glimmer cast aside her invisibility, and utilizing a spell she had learned from a tome she had acquired from Suburst's library, the earth opened beneath The King, and black shackles constructed in the bowels of Tartarus itself ensnared him by his wrists.
Sombra's momentum sent him flipping to the ground when he arrived at the end of their length. He cursed, yanked at them, struck them with spells, but his struggle was in vain.
Starlight strained under the force of maintaining the spell. She wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. "Give up," she advised. "Those binds are a construct of forces not of this world. They cannot be broken. You're a damned soul, Sombra. Accept your fate!"
Sombra continued to struggle against his unbreakable restraints, steel forged and tempered by the fires of Tartarus itself.
"Moondancer!" Twilight Sparkle cried.
Moondancer cast aside her invisibility. Her horn glowed and a dome of iridescent light like an overturned bowl formed over The King. "Containment achieved," she announced. "Hit him with everything you got, girls!" The time/space field was constructed in a way that allowed entry, but exiting was impossible. It was perfect for containing a blast of catastrophic magnitude.
Twilight shouted, "Sunset Shimmer, to me!"
Sunset appeared. She and Twilight levitated above Sombra. Every movement they made was pre-planned and practiced until their attack was a choreography of perfect synchronization.
Sombra must have recognized the futility of his struggle. He watched them carefully, methodically.
"Things could have been different," Twilight Sparkle chided. "You grew up in the lap of luxury, with every privilege and opportunity available to you, yet you chose to walk the path of evil. I wish I could understand the way a twisted mind like yours thinks, but sadly, I cannot."
Sombra sneered disgustedly up at her. "Pray, tell me more of my upbringing. You seem to know far more about it than I," he spat. "Lap of luxury indeed!"
"You will not survive this attack, Sombra," Sunset Shimmer interjected. "Your death will be quicker than you deserve."
"And yours will be slow!" Challenged The King.
Sombra was hopeless. His situation was hopeless. Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer nodded to each other. Their horns flared. They adjusted their position so that Sombra would be directly below them. Each fired a beam in perfect synchronization toward each other. The shafts of light collided, intertwined, and they corkscrewed downward toward their captive.
Moondancer heaved with the effort of containing the explosion inside her time/space field. The dome began to pulse and expand as the powerful force within its confines pushed against its walls. "I can't hold it!" she cried out. If the shielding she provided failed, the explosion would ravage an untold amount of the country side. "Someone! Anyone! I need help!"
Starlight Glimmer acted quickly. She released the chains, as they were no longer required. Sombra should have been destroyed on a molecular level at that point. She then began to suffuse her own arcane might into Moondancer. The containment of the explosion took several minutes and required an incredible amount of focus.
When the kinetic force finally relented inside of the field like a snow globe of churning ash, it was finally released, liberating a benign black cloud that expanded in all directions and obscured the area. Starlight Glimmer caught Moondancer before she could collapse to the ground.
"It's over," concluded Starlight. She turned her attention toward the sphere of protection she had cast over Fluttershy, straining her vision to its limit to be able to see through the veil of ash that was now sweeping the area. The mare inside was unconscious.
Magic, much like physics, had its own set of laws by which it must abide. Being in such close proximity to the blast must have sent ripples of excessive magical energy through the bubble that overwhelmed her. She was afraid that would happen. But the sphere allowed her to detect the biorhythms of any being trapped inside of it. Fluttershy was knocked out cold, but she was breathing, and her heart was beating. She would be fine.
"I love it when a plan comes together," Twilight sighed before she touched down on the ground. She stumbled in her state of exhaustion, but she was able to catch herself.
"So do I," Sunset Shimmer agreed, allowing herself to collapse when she landed. The snowy surface upon which she laid cooled her body. Her labored breaths were visible in the frosty air, mushroom-shaped plumes of steam. "What's next?"
Twilight wiped her brow with the back of her hoof. "First thing's first: Starlight, release the containment field on Fluttershy, make sure she's okay. Moondancer, you're going to go inside the manse and inform everyone that the King has been dealt with. Tell them they're free now. They can pack their things and get ready to return to the Crystal Empire. Sunset, you'll...." Twilight's train of thought abandoned her when the smoke that was emanating from the point of impact had dispersed enough to reveal that Sombra was still there. His carcass was inexplicably whole for someone who had just been caught in the center of an earth-shaking explosion. "What in Tartarus?"
They cautiously closed in around his body. He didn't seem to be breathing.
"That was a ten kiloton blast contained within a diameter of five meters," Moondancer said, perplexed. "There shouldn't even be a single cell of him left!"
"How?" Starlight exclaimed.
"He must have shielded himself somehow. The hows don't matter, we need to finish him."
"Finish him?" Moondancer laughed. "There's no way he can be alive. Look, he's not even breathing."
"I don't care!" bristled Twilight. "I won't be convinced he's gone until there's nothing of him left." Her horn began to flicker. The others traded baffled looks before they followed suit. All of them were weak from their exertions, but one more combined effort should be more than enough to carry out their deed. Sombra had no shielding. No protection. He was most likely dead, but they had to make sure.
"Alright," Twilight said. "Let's vaporize him. On three. One... Tw—
The King's eyes snapped open.
Startled, Moondancer released her spell prematurely. Sombra raised an arm, deflecting it away with his gauntlet. The missile bounced off the steel with a metallic clank and struck Sunset Shimmer. The impact sent the unsuspecting mare's body reeling like a rag doll. Her wound trailed a streak of blood through the snow as she went flipping and rolling until she slammed into the iron gate surrounding the garden. The sound it made when her body made impact was like that of a cathedral bell. There were no groans. No screams. No signs of life whatsoever. She just laid there, motionless as the snow below her body formed an expanding island of crimson all around her.
"Sunset!" Moondancer cried, before the king swung his foreleg low and swept her hooves out from under her. She kicked and thrashed wildly as he pulled her into a bone crushing embrace. Starlight and Twilight were forced to disengage. They would hit Moondancer if they released their spell.
"Let her go!" Twilight demanded.
"No, I don't think I will." Sombra applied pressure. Moondancer screamed. "Back away. Or she dies."
Twilight and Starlight reluctantly did as they were told.
"Release my queen!" Sombra demanded.
"Your queen?" Twilight scoffed. "More like your captive!"
The King was quick to show the princess the repercussions of her response. His grip tightened. Moondancer screamed. She screamed, and she screamed, until her face turned blue, and she couldn't scream anymore. Her eyes rolled up in the back of her head before they closed, and the hapless mare's body went slack. "She's not dead yet," warned The King. He loosened the embrace on his hostage, though just barely enough to unobstruct her airway. The unconscious Moondancer coughed out a pink mist. "But I could change that."
He's desperate, Starlight Glimmer realized. The Spell Twilight and Sunset hit him with must have taken more of a toll on him than his appearance revealed. Twilight's hypothesis may have been correct: He shielded himself, but in doing so it exhausted him. The problem was that she was teetering on the brink of depletion herself. She didn't know how much longer she could sustain Fluttershy's protective field. What was she to do?
"Her ribs are broken," Sombra cautioned them impatiently. "Release my queen, or her neck is next!"
Starlight Glimmer, in the urgency of the situation, abandoned any attempt to formulate an idea and decided that she would improvise instead. It all happened in the matter of seconds: She released the protective field around Fluttershy. Her lifeless body came plummeting toward the earth. Sombra turned his head. Starlight seized the opportunity the distraction allowed her and struck The King in the head with a crude yet focused blast of concussive force. With Moondancer in his deadly grip she dared not use a lethal strike, lest she risk a friendly casualty.
"You get Moondancer, I got Fluttershy!" she instructed, and without bothering to wait for Twilight Sparkle's response, her horn twinkled. She disappeared in a puff of smoke, then rematerialized in the sky to catch the incapacitated Fluttershy. She floated slowly toward the ground, where she deposited her onto the snow, then allowed herself a quick glance upward.
Twilight Sparkle had succeeded in her assigned task. She was laying Moondancer down as tenderly as she could to prevent exacerbating her injuries. Sombra remained where he was, his eyes dilated as he visibly struggled to regain his faculties. He had a concussion, he was incapable of performing magic do to his exhaustion - a lion without claws or teeth. He no longer posed a threat in his state. His annihilation could wait. Her friends were her priority now.
Starlight Glimmer checked Fluttershy's pulse before placing her ear against her chest. Her color was pale, her vitals slow, but she would be fine. She picked her up and carried her over to where Twilight had laid out Moondancer and Sunset Shimmer. All three of them were unresponsive, but at least they were alive. "What do we do now?"
"They need medical attention," replied Twilight.
"Out here?"
"Maybe one of the servants Cadence sent up here has some medical training." Twilight's voice was tinged with desperate hope. Her statement could have been a prayer. "Go, check."
"What are you going to do?"
Twilight's eyes narrowed into a glare as she looked toward Sombra. He was so dazed from the blow Starlight had dealt him, he looked helpless. She almost felt sorry for him. Almost. "I'm going to finish this." The tip of her horn began to flicker. "Why are you still standing there? Go!"
"Be careful." And Starlight Glimmer was off, running as fast as the fallen snow would allow her. She skirted along the edge of the Manse wall in search for an entrance. She thought she had come upon one after turning a corner when a heartrending scream shattered the air. Starlight's hooves dug trenches through the snow as she came to a skidding halt. "Twilight?" She turned around, retraced her steps, rounded the corner, and her stomach dropped.
Twilight Sparkle was gasping for air as Sombra held her above his head by her throat. "Twilight!"
Sombra's face was a vicious snarl when his eyes fell upon her. "I will not let you take her!" he bellowed, then slammed The Princess down on the ground headfirst, in the way a petulant child would with a doll. In the next instant he was charging forward.
'A lion without teeth or claws.' That's what Starlight dared to compare him to. She tried to charge a spell, but Sombra's speed contradicted his size. He was on her in an instant. She had never seen anything so big move so fast in all her life. He drew his steel-clad hoof back and struck her. The blow sent her reeling into the unyielding wall of the manse. Gravity didn't have enough time to pull her to the ground before his powerful hoof struck her in the belly, knocking the wind out of her. Another hoof, this time from above, slammed down on the top of her skull. The full force of the impact was felt when she went face first into the snow.
The pain was like nothing she had ever felt before. The crack to her head was like an explosion of colors behind her eyes. Yet, somehow, someway, she clung to life, clung to consciousness, clung to her faculties. Anticipating an impending blow that would have most likely ended her existence, she rolled, then looked up just in time to see his hoof stomp down where she had just been, with all of his weight behind it.
Stay awake! Stay alive! She repeated the mantra in her head as she somehow managed to push herself up from the ground. Fight Or Flight was the most miraculous thing. The world around her seemed to move so much slower when she had taken into consideration that the slightest error in movement could spell her doom.
Sombra was not hindered or dismayed by his failure, however. He continued to press the onslaught. He swung, but Starlight managed to duck under it. He then threw a hard straight. Starlight, her eyes wide in desperation, bobbed her head just in time to feel his hoof grazing a deep cut along her face. His speed was too much to keep up with as his third attempt struck true. Her nose crunched under the impact. Dazed, she backed away a few steps, and her legs gave out from under her.
Starlight pulled for another spell, but she lost focus when he grabbed her by the nape of her neck, and proceeded to lift her up above his head, then slammed her hard on the ground.
"Why won't you die!" He slammed her down again.
Starlight could have vocalized a similar sentiment, but the ground fell away from her, and again it came rushing back to meet her.
"Die!" he demanded again, then repeated the action.
Darkness began to close in around her vision, but Starlight refused to let it take her. She let him slam her down against the ground one more time, then timed with surgical precision when she would be eye level with him again. She fought to keep her air in her lungs when she felt herself being lifted, charged a spell, then shot a searing ball of light into the snow beneath him. The King was immediately enveloped in a blistering plume of steam that rose from the point of impact. Sombra dropped her in a roar of anguish.
Starlight retreated to put some distance between them. With no time to think and her magic reserves all but depleted, she desperately infused what remained of her arcana into her body, instead of wasting it by focusing, aiming, and projecting it into another feeble missile. That would have required precious seconds Sombra simply wouldn't allow her. But a self infusion could be done instantly. She drew from the meager well inside her horn and funneled it into her body.
The King was covered in patches of unsightly burns when he came charging toward her.
"You want close quarters, big guy? You got it!"
Anticipating yet another wild swing toward her head, she awaited her opportunity. His hoof swished nothing but air as she dropped under it. She swept a hind leg out and took the lumbering brute's forefronts out from under him. Before he could land face first in the snow she clapped her hooves against his temples and gave his muzzle her knee instead, payback for breaking her nose.
Her knee struck the stallion at such a force, it sent him careening back on his hind legs. With his belly exposed she shot forward and pummeled his midsection, her hooves pounding away at flesh like a pair of furious pistons.
Sombra doubled over, and as he did, his face met with her hoof in a vicious uppercut. She felt a satisfying crunch under her hoof. "How does it feel to have your nose broken, you bastard!"
Sombra fell backwards, but Starlight utilized her magically augmented speed to appear at the point where he would land before he could fall. She then reared both her hind legs and shoved him airborne. Starlight met him before gravity could reverse his momentum, somersaulted, then guillotined him in the chest with a hind leg. All the air in his lungs evacuated as he met the ground.
In an attempt to finish the fight, Starlight tried to land her hoof on his throat with all the gravitational force she could muster behind it, but he rolled out of the way just in the nick of time.
Sombra managed to get up on his hooves, but he struggled to do so. The thrashing he had just received had visibly taken its toll on him.
Even the wind calmed when they stared each other down.
Starlight couldn't help but notice the look in his eyes was less primal than before, as if she had knocked his senses back into him. He was no longer the lumbering beast that had savaged her only moments ago. He had seemingly returned to that calm, calculating demeanor of his.
"What are you going to do?" Starlight taunted him. "Your magical reserves have been depleted, yet I still have some to spare. You can't take me relying on brute strength alone. Are you ready to give up?"
"Foolish girl," Sombra retorted. "You've infused your own body with the dwindling amount of magic you have left. An impressive trick. Reckless, but impressive. Who taught you how to do that?"
"You could deduce all that?" Replied Starlight, trying not to sound impressed. "Just came up with it on the fly. You like it?"
Sombra began to fidget with the fastenings of his gauntlets. "Your trick is not original. I've fought and killed others who could do the same thing. I dare not attempt it myself." He removed his gauntlet, smiling maliciously as if there was some sort of secret only he was privy to.
Starlight's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What are you on about?"
"Catch." Sombra hurled the gauntlet toward her. Starlight moved out of the way just in time. The armor piece embedded itself deep within the stone wall of the manse with a thunderous crash.
Starlight's eyes widened. "What in Tartarus are those things made of!"
Sombra let the other gauntlet fall to the ground. The impact sent out a warbling vibration Starlight felt beneath her hooves.
"Steel," Sombra replied. "Folded over a thousand times, then magically condensed. During my reign I had commissioned for the most gifted of spell weavers and armorers to construct them for me. They're tougher than Dragonbone, and far more dense than lead." The King's hair tumbled down his back as he removed his crown. He then removed his cape, held it out in a gesture that was almost melodramatic, then let the wind take it. "It's been a while since I've had a good melee."
Starlight had never seen a depiction of Sombra in the 'all natural' before. It was off putting how a few adornments could add so much contrast to one's appearance. "Do you really think removing a few articles of clothing will make a difference between us?"
"Only one way to find out," Challenged Sombra, and then he was gone. In the blink of an eye he was behind her. He swung, but Starlight avoided it. She countered, but Sombra blocked it.
The melee was a perpetually frustrating event for Starlight, as landing a precise strike was almost impossible. He blocked, bobbed, and weaved, but only rarely would he try to hit her. She had thought at first that she was simply too fast for him to do anything but defend, but as the fight drew on his movements became more and more effortless - almost contemptuously so. She got in a few shots, yet he remained calm and methodical. She eventually backed him into the manse wall, but he managed to escape his limited maneuvering space with a simple shove. Strangely he allowed her to get back up instead of seizing the opportunity to strike her while she was on the ground.
She charged forward, attempted to strike him with a right hook, but he trapped her arm with his own and again flung her harmlessly off balance. She was panting. The injuries Sombra had dealt her before her infusion dulled her nerve endings, they were beginning to make themselves known again. Her sides hurt worse than anything else. Every breath she drew became a punishing task. Did she have a broken rib? "Getting... Getting pretty sick of your Judo crap, Sombra!" she exclaimed in her frustration.
Sombra cocked a mocking eyebrow. "What is Judo?"
She awaited the opportunity for her next attack. He took a step toward her. "Here, let me show you!" She threw her arms around his forelegs, clenched them together, then heaved her shoulder into him with all her might in an attempt to topple him over. For all her efforts she might as well have been trying to grapple with a mountain. Where did all her power go?
"I see," Sombra taunted before he effortlessly shoved her away. "So, it's some kind of dance? Or, perhaps you're trying to mate with me?"
Frustrated, Starlight Glimmer released him and switched her tactic from grappling to striking. She hit him as hard as she could. The blow made impact, but it did no damage. She felt an excruciating tear in her arm. A whimper escaped through her lips. Sombra retaliated with a backhoof that sent her spinning to the ground. She tried to get to her hooves, then felt another tear, this time in her abdomen. She coughed out a glob of red. "What's happening to me?"
"Do you feel it?" Sombra shadow began to crawl over her as he approached. "That pain? That weakness? That's the sensation of your muscles tearing under the strain you've just put them under. Soon your vital organs will shut down one at a time, and you will die."
Starlight glimmer's vision began to fade. "Wh-whats..."
"Infusing your body with your own magic can be useful in short bursts when one's back is against the wall, but it can have dire consequences if not utilized properly. The strain you put on yourself in that time dictates the damage you inflict on your own body... And you've pushed yours well beyond its limits. I do not envy you for the pain you must be in right now."
Tears began to well up in Sarlight's eyes. She had heard the aching in muscles being compared to that of a burn, but her body felt as if it was on literal fire. A string of spittle extended from her bottom lip as she panted profusely in her intolerable anguish. She tried to think of Fluttershy, she tried to think of Moondancer, and Sunset Shimmer, and Twilight sparkle, but all she could think about was the pain. He had goaded her, taunted her, mocked her into constantly attacking him, knowing this would happen.
Sombra approached her. "I'm afraid I told a slight fib when I said I had killed those who have attempted to use your method of attack on me. Striking one who's bones and flesh are rendered more resilient than diamond through magic is about as effective as slamming your head against a stone wall. I merely defended against them, and allowed them to kill themselves - Just as I have done with you."
The glowing eyes of Sombra peering down at her was the last thing Starlight saw before the darkness swelled around her vision. The last thought she had before the darkness took her over was that she didn't want to die.