//------------------------------//
// Chapter 70: Retreat 
// Story: The Life of Penumbra Heartbreak 
// by Unwhole Hole 
//------------------------------//

The Equestrian forces advanced, charging into battle against the few that remained to defend the Empire. A horde of skeletons and the few golems that still survived stood in defiance. Yet among them there were living ponies who still fought on.
Magic fireballs echoed across the battlefield, fired from mages who had served under Sombra and defended him to the last- -although their number was few, and dwindling. Many had been captured. A much larger number had defected. 
And then there were some mages that had never been given the chance to serve Sombra. 
A force of Equestrian unicorns charged toward a diminutive earth-pony. 
“Stand down in the name of Celestia! STAND DOWN!”
The earth-pony cried out and pelted them with seeds. 
“Go away! For face my punishment!”
The guards just looked at each other, laughed, and advanced- -only to be suddenly attacked by long, white snakes bursting from the ground where the seeds had fallen.
“GAH!” cried one of them. “It’s no my nose! It’s on my  NOSE!”
“It’s on my HORN!” cried a unicorn mare.
“It’s on MY HORN TOO!” cried an earth-pony stallion. 
The earth-pony mage laughed. “Behold the power of my SNAKEROOT! Now, go forth!” she threw seeds that immediately burst into strange, wooden creatures: one set resembling manicured yellow cats and the other something like small timeberwolves. “Dandelions! Dogwood trees! ATTACK!” 
The plant-monsters did as they were told, tackling ponies to the ground. Unicorns among them lit their horns, trying to fight back- -only to be grasped by the supple branches of a tree that had suddenly grown up behind them. They were picked up into the air and beaten relentlessly across their flanks by the branches. 
“Behold the power of my PUMMELO! 
The Equestrian ponies screamed in agony. “The puns! THEY BURN!!” 
The earth-mage produced a set of large, red roots. “Sounds like you want me to give you...A BEETING!”
The soldiers screamed and wept. 
A brick suddenly came flying and hit her in the face. 
“WHY?!” she cried, collapsing and holding her nose.
“Because it’s STUPID!” cried a voice. It was from a unicorn in Equestrian armor, although he was fighting on the Crystal Empire’s side- -and had a mark near one ear that was a distinct symptom of having a breezie burrowing into one’s skull. 
He was immediately overwhelmed by a furry pile of bat-ponies.
“GAH! HELP! I’m being turned on!” 
A puma appeared, grabbing one of the batponies in her mouth and shaking him violently. She then spat him out and did her best to force back the group, even as they poked at her with various pointy objects. 
The plant-mage countered by throwing a grenade packed with spores of a sensitive plant. On exposure, the bat-ponies were immediately afflicted by pacifism and began to cry, hugging the puma and apologizing, even as she slowly converted herself back into a bison.
“I think we’re winning!”
“Congratulations,” said one of the bat ponies. “Your parents are surely proud of you! You should feel like a winner!”
The breezie-possessed unicorn pushed him over. The bat-pony began to cry. 
“For now,” he said, “Come on. We have to reunite with the yak forces.”
“But they smell so funny!”
The bison snorted. “They smell like handsome.” 
Across the sky, something was suddenly fired into the air. It exploded, revealing itself to be a flare.
“What was that?”
“I don’t know, but it sure was pretty. You could say it had some real fl- -”
“Say it and I will beet YOU.”
The earth-mage blinked. “That’s my biggest fantasy.”
The breezie-unicorn rolled his eyes. “That was a princess flare.”
“How can you tell?”
“It was in the conscription documentation!”
The earth-mare gasped. “Breezies can READ?!”
“Of course we can, you fat idiot- -we just can’t turn the pages on our own!”
“That’s ADORABLE!”
“No it is not! I am evil!”
Their pointless argument was interrupted violently as a lumbering hulk of metal pushed its way into their territory. It was carrying a nude zebra in an advanced state of hypothermia, as well as a battered alicorn. Since the alicorn was neither Celestia nor Nightmare Moon, it was reasonable to assume that she was Penumbra. 
The hulking behemoth carrying them began to drop parts and assumed a form closer to that of a pony. Several of the ponies present gasped, recognizing Emeth of the Dark Thirteen. 
“Help her,” said Penumbra, dropping down while holding the zebra, who was now desperately shivering. “She’s too cold!”
“Let me do it.” Emeth picked up Crozea, and his body changed, his armor morphing as it grew around her. When he released her, he had constructed her a new suit of armor. A glowing reactor in its chest began to provide her heat. 
“Have a cap,” said the breezie-unicorn, putting his own on her head.
“Th- -thank you for being so kind,” shivered the zebra, “and helping me out of this bind.”
“We need to get to the rear lines,” said Emeth. “Our enemy is currently in pursuit of the princess. We need to get her under the shield.”
Penumbra’s eyes widened. “I will NOT hide! Is my failure not enough of a stain on my reputation? Now you want me to be a coward- -”
“You have no mechanism to defeat Daybreaker. I believe I might. If that fails, your only option will be to consume energy from the Heart of Darkness directly.”
Penumbra froze. “Is that even possible?”
“I believe it may be our only option. Even if Gxurab’s procedure succeeds in restoring your father, I doubt he will be strong enough to defend the kingdom alone.”
“I know the way,” said the bison. She looked over her shoulder. “Our supply line has been cut off, and the way is no longer clear- -”
Penumbra pushed past her, charging her horn. “It’s not a problem. At least let me do this much.” 

The mages rushed to complete their tasks on the rear line, desperately running between enormous pieces of equipment, setting up specialized machines and taking readings. They knew what to do, and they knew it exactly. These were not ordinary mages, after all: these were necromancers, the students of Necrophilo of Canterlot, and their training had been harsh. 
Yet, as harsh as it had been, none of them had trained under conditions with intermittent nearby artillery strikes, or the occasional spell whizzing past their heads. They did their best, but they were shaking and terrified- -with their fear being absorbed directly by the Heart of Darkness on the other side of the great shield that each and every one of them wished they could hide under. 
Suddenly, a pony burst through their lines. They had all seen the princess-flare and had expected to be receiving whatever was left of Penumbra, but instead a hulking form crossed their barrier lines. Her armor was forged from the crystalline bones of the deceased, and her visage caused the spilling of much fluid, even amongst trained necromancers. 
Yet as she approached the armor dropped away from her, collapsing from the damage it had sustained. The pony that exited was unbroken and in a time long past might have been beautiful. Nekro, Six of Thirteen, stood before her pupils. 
“Report,” she said. Though the students recoiled, her voice was not nearly as harsh as that of her predecessor. Although she was no longer alive, her words were soft and betrayed concern for the fear of those who served her. As if, by some strange means, she understood their fear of what she had already experienced. 
One of the students walked forward and bowed. 
“What is your name?”
“Student six hundred eighty-nine- -”
“No. Your NAME.”
The student blinked. “F- -Frosty Cream, mistress.”
“How unfortunate. Regardless, report. What is the word from the Citadel?”
Cream’s expression fell. “I don’t know.” He seemed about to cry. “We’ve lost telepathic contact. Something’s happened to Eternity!”
“And the crystal radios?”
“The Equestrians are jamming them! We can’t coordinate with the other units- -”
Nekro’s eyes narrowed. “They are not supposed to have that technology. I believe we have been betrayed.” She looked behind her at the sky, where she had seen in the great distance her daughter’s sign of distress. “And the golems?”
“The golem Asahel has gone rogue. He’s overseeing their evacuation. Whatever they use to communicate is still working, but they won’t help us, we’re like sitting ducks! The situation is hopeless!”	
“Is it?” Nekro looked up to the vast system her students had assembled. Something enormous was concealed under a gigantic cloth tarp, and the mages were at work connecting their machines to it and preparing the calculations for their spells.  
Nekro raised her hoof. A ghostly hyrax appeared above it. The student gasped, having never seen something like it in his life.
“What is- -”
“Crozea has dispatched me a familiar. The princess is retreating. Send word through the hardline cables to the Citadel. Once she is inside, we will make our stand.”
The soldier gulped. “Our...final stand?”
Nekro nodded solemnly. Then she spoke to the others. “I cannot force any of you to make this sacrifice. Once the spell is engaged, you are free to do as you please.”
“We can hide under the shield, then?”
Nekro shook her head. “No. Such is Sombra’s will. Not even I am permitted to pass the barrier. Only crystal ponies and the princess are permitted that luxury.” 
The spirits of the students fell, but Nekro held her head high. She was the only one who had someone she loved waiting beneath the shield- -and she was prepared to fight all alone, should it be asked of her. 
“They approach,” said the hyrax. The spell that formed it was growing weaker, and it was fading. That was a bad sign.
“Then begin the process,” ordered Nekro. “Prepare the machines! In the name of Sombra, we will STAND!” 

The princess burst through, led on by soldiers that should have had no allegiance to the dark lord yet did. The shield loomed high above her, its glow strange in the red light of Daybreaker’s sun. In the distance, the Citadel could still be seen high on a hill. Though the Empire had been leveled, the Capital District still stood untouched and grand. 
Penumbra held out hope that her father would use that to rebuild the Empire, that it could be reborn in the wreckage of Celestia’s war. A new and shining bastion of freedom and ultimate democracy, as the previous Empire had been but forged anew from the ashes of the old.
It was while thinking this uncharacteristically poetic thought that she began to list and nearly collapsed. Thirteen caught her, supporting her. 
“You have expended too much energy,” said Emeth. 
“My body regenerates...”
“Yes. It does. But not quickly enough.”
Penumbra was forced to put her weight onto Thirteen, and she looked out into the camp. Mages were swarming some kind of battle installation, rapidly adding the finishing components to whatever it was. 
Across the way, Nekro was watching, her empty gray eyes staring without blinking. Penumbra shivered, knowing that the thing staring at her was not even remotely alive- -and yet overwhelmed by a feeling that they had met before.
Her attention then turned to a thin filly leaning against the machinery and doing nothing important whatsoever. Even at a distance and through her disguise, Penumbra could easily recognize her friend. 
Chrysalis saw her and mouthed the words “OBESE FAILURE”, smiling through her pointy teeth. As harsh as it was, it made Penumbra feel slightly better, and she made an extremely rude gesture in return. 
That was when she noticed a pony running hard from the direction of the shield, leaping over shell holes and around the rubble of buildings. Trailing behind her was a long cable leading back to the dome. As she drew nearer, Penumbra saw that she was a crystal pony- -and as she got even closer, Penumbra recognized her.
“Facet?!”
“Penumbra!” Facet was breathing hard as she came to a stop. She was wearing thin military armor emblazoned with the imperial signal, and wore a high collar to cover the evil mark inscribed around her neck. 
“Facet!” Penumbra hugged her friend. “You shouldn’t be here! It’s not safe!”
“It’s my job, and I haven’t got caught yet.”
“Your job?”
Facet nodded. “I wasn’t allowed to join the other necromancers. This is the best I can do. Come on.”
“Come on? Where?”
“I was sent to retrieve you. Hold on.”
Penumbra did as she was told, and Facet tugged the cable she was attached to. It immediately became taught as she was yanked backward toward the shield, pulling Penumbra along with her. 
Surprised, Penumbra looked back at the ponies behind her. Emeth supported Crozea, and both waved. As did Thirteen. Chrysalis watched, as did Nekro, who Penumbra barely knew. She could not help but wonder if she would ever see any of them again. 
“Princess!” cried Facet. “Look!”
Penumbra did, seeing that she was pointing at something. In the distance, for a brief moment, she thought she saw Zither- -only for her heart to fall as she realized that it was not him at all, and in fact a mare. Leading her was a pony that Penumbra could not help but recognize.
Their eyes met, and Holder froze, realizing that he had been caught.
“Deserters!” gasped Facet. “My princess, we must report this!”
“No,” said Penumbra, allowing herself to be dragged out of their sight. “We will let them pass.”
“But princess, with Holder’s sword- -”
“This is their only chance. Win or lose, they will never have another.”
“Princess?”
“My decision is final.”
And it was. Penumbra’s heart had gone out to them, and to their love. It may have been the only good thing that had risen out of this horrific warscape- -and although Penumbra knew that Holder might be able to turn the battle, she knew that it would crush him. And that she would never forgive herself for doing something so terrible to one of her friends.
“We don’t need him. We will be enough. I promise this, Facet. And that’s a princess promise.”
Facet smiled. It was clear that she did not share Penumbra’s optimism.