//------------------------------//
// VII. The Last Hope 
// Story: Sombran Lullaby 
// by voroshilov 
//------------------------------//

Celestia's armies had been furious.

They had begun their attack with a bombardment of the gate. Projectiles ranging from simple arrows and stones to ballista bolts the size of ponies and boulders that were even larger crashed into the gate and the walls surrounding it, some spilling over into the empty courtyard. 

It took two hours for Celestia's forces to make their first attack, led by grey armoured Equestrian Army ponies climbing over the walls on ladders, only to be greeted by an apparently empty City. There was confusion in the ranks, though it did not last long. 

The gate had been jammed shut, crushed and fused together with unicorn magic, interdicting the movement of troops into the City greatly. Solar Guard were forced to climb the walls, or carefully teleport inside, with special areas cleared by advance unicorn troops. The Solar Guard commanders recognised why there were no defenders, ordering their underlings to make ready for street-to-street fighting and prepare for potential ambushes.

Sure enough, the Equestrian Army were quickly hit by ambushes. Soldiers fired crossbows or ballistae from shop fronts and windows, whilst unicorns lobbed spells and set off gunpowder barrels in alleyways. When an excursion down the left flank returned with a single living pony - herself badly burned and missing most of her armour - the Solar Guard realised that they would need more preparation.

Celestia's Lieutenant climbed the walls, with most of the rest of the Solar Guard with her. In the small area secured by the Celestia's army, ringed by a wall of Equestrian Army troops, Celestia's Lieutenant set to work preparing a plan. 

She ordered small excursions on the left and right flank, whilst the majority of the force would advance down the centre, from there they would simultaneously advance on the Crystal Palace and surround the two flanking streets. The two smaller excursions were, in effect, sacrificed, whilst the major force advanced forwards - using sheer force of numbers to force back the centre.

"Down with the tyrant!" 

Sombra's forces were determined, but had neither the numbers nor ammunition to hold back the attackers. With Sombra and the Companions acting as a wall in the centre, breaking the waves of Equestrian troops, the defenders threw everything they had into the sea they were facing against. Everything from rocks to crossbow and ballista bolts.

Yet, they were still forced back. Sombra had ensured that his soldiers knew that once they were out of ammo, they were to retreat. He had sent half of his force to the intersection of the three main streets, where a barricade had been set up. As he and the Companions made a fighting withdrawal, he ordered a messenger to each of the two other streets, to order them back to the Palace.

A shriek echoed throughout the City, with a streak of lightning passing in front of the Black Sun. With a thunderous roar of impact, Celestia emerged, facing Sombra. 

"You," she growled, a murderous rage burning in her eyes, "you were the one who took my sister."

Sombra brought up his sword into a guard. Celestia's sword must have been destroyed during the Battle of the Two Sisters - she did not have it with her - so she was limited to magic, which Sombra could defend against easily enough so long as he could get his own sword into the way of it.

Two of the Companions stepped in front of him.

"Inauspicious," both declared, "retreat, we shall cover your escape."

Sombra couldn't keep his guard from falling. Once again, Emperor Nicholas was speaking to him through the Companions - two of their number anyhow. He was still watching.

"At once, my Emperor."

He had to drag himself back, with only the weight of Emperor Nicholas' orders enough to stop him simply charging Celestia. Though she could have simply charged after him, the challenge of the Companions to her directly was enough to force her to fight.

With a roar and a bolt of fiery lightning, she commenced her assault, met in kind by the Companions - whose only duty was to buy their leader time. 

The intersection was a mess. Debris and injured ponies lay everywhere, with what few veteran guards were there attempting to organise the situation long enough to fix a retreat to the Palace. On Sombra's arrival, there was more than a collective sigh of relief.

"My King." A purple coated guard, Bright Lamp, he believed she was called, came up behind him. The armour on her left flank had been ripped open by a bolt, though she seemed uninjured. "Captain Dust Wing is dead. The right flank is starting to collapse."

"Retreat everypony you can to the Palace, head into the underways. There's a squadron waiting there already. Get everypony out of the city and to the north east."

Bright Lamp, now Captain, saluted. "Gather up, retreat to the Palace, veterans at the back, protect the wounded."

Sombra, now with only eleven Companions, would head up the rear once again. As soon as Commander De Verre arrived, that was.

"My King, Celestia is coming!"

Sombra thought on Nicholas' orders. He had ordered him retreat, yes, but he had done so - would it be wrong of him to duel Celestia now?

"My King," came the shout of another guard, a yellow unicorn with a blue mane - Meadow Spring, was he called? "There's a pony in the library, we can't get her to leave."

There was only one pony who would hole up in the library and refuse to leave.

"Amethyst!" Yelled Sombra, bursting through the doors of the library with his magic. "I ordered you to leave!"

He was greeted by silence. "Find her," he ordered, as a squadron of guards passed by him. 

"I could not in good conscience abandon you," Amethyst said, revealing herself from behind a stack of books, "especially not with the knowledge this book contains." She held a surprisingly clean and fresh looking blue tome in her hoof, which she brought forwards to Sombra.

"It's far too dangerous for you here! Why didn't you leave with the caravan?"

The Librarian simply waved her hoof. "This book is far too important. Besides, Glow didn't either."

"He is in the medical station in the Palace," Sombra said, "close to the underways so he can escape quickly. What if we'd evacuated now and you'd been left behind?"

"You couldn't evacuate now," the Librarian said, "not without the knowledge of this book."

"Enough about the book! Your life is at risk!"

The Librarian fixed him with a powerful stare. "The spell in this book is important enough to warrant it. Just look."

With his displeasure evident on his face, he took the book, opening it to the page the Librarian had placed her marker in. He shook his head at her and looked down into it, expecting to find nothing of any sort of note.

"What? Who wrote this?" 

"It's an ancient tome," she answered, "written anonymously from before Celestia ruled Equestria."

The writing style was simple, deceptively so for such an advanced spell. It was very logical, treating magic as a science. He had read something very similar, treating magic in a similar way - though theirs was far more detailed and had a more romantic prose. If he was not mistaken, it was the work of someone in Nicholas' group.

"A shadow world," he muttered as he read, "we could hide the Crystal Empire?"

"The magic is sound," the Librarian stated, "but it would need a lot of power."

"The magical nexus of the Palace," Sombra muttered, to which the Librarian nodded.

"Precisely."

"But even with the nexus there still wouldn't be enough, this spell is expensive." Sombra considered his options - to say they were limited would be an understatement - as it was, the spell might be their last hope. 

"I'll see what I can do."