//------------------------------//
// VIII. A Final Stand 
// Story: Sombran Lullaby 
// by voroshilov 
//------------------------------//

"Where is Commander De Verre?"

The guard Sombra was addressing was a veteran - Flash Sentry, he believed he was called - who had been on the left flank with De Verre. "Don't know, my King. We got separated with her when Celestia took to the field."

That was an ill omen for her survival. If she was still outside of the Palace, then it was likely Celestia's armies had gotten to her.

"Get the wounded and medics down into the underways," he ordered, "get them out of the city. Everypony who can't fight or doesn't have a weapon, too, for that matter."

The guard saluted and moved off, passing on orders to the various medics. Sombra, meanwhile, was left partly listless. De Verre was missing, Amethyst and Glow were being moved out of the Palace as he thought, and the Companions weren't exactly much for conversation.

The only benefit to being left in his thoughts for a moment was that he could try to work out how best to utilise the spell Amethyst had showed him. The magical nexus under the Crystal Palace gave him a vast reserve of magic to work with, alongside his own, but according to the calculations given in the tome it would still not be enough to move an area the size of the Crystal Empire - which is what he needed. 

It would, however, be possible if he sacrificed himself to it.

There was not a magical energy supply more dense or potent than that of life. Perhaps he could use his energy, combined with that of the nexus? According to his - admittedly rudimentary - calculations, it would be enough. Although, if it failed and his life wasn't enough, it wouldn't be reversible.

An explosion echoed from the west of the Palace. The shouts of various guards followed. There was a sudden sense of panic, which was not helped by a guard appearing from that direction.

"It's Celestia's Lieutenant," she shouted, "she's broken through!"

"Hold here," Sombra ordered to the Companions, though only nine seemed to listen. "Get yourself aid," he ordered the guard, who saluted and moved behind him.

Sure enough, in the west wing of the Palace, duelling an injured looking unicorn, was Celestia's Lieutenant. She was a pegasus, with a marble white coat and a pinkish mane. She had wicked looking wing blades - custom made by the looks of it - and her Solar Guard armour was covered in various weapons, with doubly armoured hooves for crushing. The unicorn she was faced with was only holding their own by virtue of the Lieutenant allowing it. She was toying with the poor lad - he was barely out of school.

Before she could strike the killing blow, she was met with Sombra's sword. 

"Retreat," he ordered the unicorn - a teal boy who hardly knew how to handle a spear, his forelegs shaking violently - before turning back to the Lieutenant, "do not dare touch my ponies, you scum!"

"Well lucky me," the Lieutenant licked her lips, "Celestia ordered me to hunt you, and you've fallen right into my lap. Don't even need to look for you."

The Companions formed silently in an arrow formation behind him. Ten against one seemed almost unfair, but given the Lieutenant's demeanour fairness was not on Sombra's agenda. 

Suddenly, the battle was equalised. 

Celestia, her mane practically ablaze, burst through the barricade, casting flaming debris all around. Her hoof armour was dented - quite badly in some areas - though she seemed to ignore it. The Companions had evidently put up a fight.

"Excellent work," Celestia praised her little rat, her voice haughty but still clearly enraged, "I knew I could trust you to lure him out."

The Lieutenant was clearly very glad to accept praise, basking in it like its presence was physical. Sombra did his best to calm himself - anger was where rash decisions were made, ones that could very easily get him killed and end the battle in an instant.

"What are our directives?" One of the Companions asked, her voice monotonous and seemingly automated - as if a golem was speaking.

"King Sombra is to be protected at all costs," another answered, their voice almost identical save a slightly higher pitch, "escalate the battle to the upper floor. Our remaining sisters will ensure the protection of the nexus."

"At once, as He watches over us," they all saluted in unison, falling again immediately silent.

The sudden realisation that the Companions could actually speak relatively normally threw Sombra off his guard. Fortunately for him, Celestia and her Lieutenant seemed just as perplexed, though for different reasons.

"We are revealed," one of the Companions said.

"There is a magical energy focusing agent close by, it is magnifying our telepathic signals. This is not conducive to success."

"The focusing agent must be found and eliminated."

Celestia bellowed out a laugh at that statement. "Ah, it appears you have discovered my latest creation. Made specially for the Crystal Empire."

"The enemy is aware of our knowledge, all efforts must be made to destroy the focusing agent."

She bellowed again. "You do not have a chance. Within minutes, the Crystal Heart will be activated, and with it, all traces of your rebellion will be eradicated. Finally, there will be peace in Equestria."

"Redirect all efforts to locating and eliminating magical energy focusing agent."

"How does it feel Sombra?" Celestia continued to gloat, "to have all of your actions be for nothing? Soon, your precious Empire will know that you were always the villain of this story. And my sister shall be avenged!"

"Battlefield sacrifice not recommended, magical energy reserves are inadequate for successful summoning."

"Make them be silent!" Celestia ordered, angrily, "they're spoiling my moment." Her Lieutenant shifted awkwardly, itching for a fight but clearly collared and prevented from doing so.

"The enemy's magical reserves would be sufficient for sacrifice."

"Pah," Celestia spat, "as if you could sacrifice me."

Surely the Companions knew they couldn't sacrifice Celestia - they were fighting a losing battle as it was - they almost seemed to be time wasting. 

That was it! They were time wasting. Buying time and distracting Celestia long enough for the others to escape into the underways. The longer Celestia was kept as she was, the more and further those still in the Palace could escape. 

"Local energy reserves could be amplified using magical energy focusing agent and used for battlefield sacrifice."

It was as if they were reading from a list - each one ticking off an item out loud.

"Silence!" Celestia roared.

The Companions ignored her. "Successful summoning could be completed with an energy density of seven times increase."

Sombra wasn't exactly sure why Celestia didn't just attack - unless she believed they had set a trap. Either that, or she wanted to finish her monologue. Presumably, if the latter, she had read in a dusty old tome somewhere that the best way to defeat an enemy was to demoralise them and had misinterpreted exactly what that meant. 

Celestia stared at Sombra, making constant gestures to the Companions around him. "Make them be quiet!" She half begged, half ordered. "Even just for a minute."

"Current pattern is very auspicious."

With a sudden movement that surprised even Celestia, the Companions launched forwards. Six were on top of Celestia in the blink of an eye, with the other three leaping at her Lieutenant. Celestia was forced back, whilst her Lieutenant spasmed forwards a little, clearly unsure of what exactly was happening but letting her adrenaline simply drag her around. 

Sombra wasn't exactly certain how he should get involved, even after the shock of the Companions' sudden attack wore off. Celestia was being attacked on all sides, able to only just defend herself. Her Lieutenant, meanwhile, was essentially just spinning in one place, using her rapid wing blades as a shield. If he joined the fray, it might force the Companions to change their attack pattern, which may allow their opponents to regain some sense of balance and awareness and actually fight back.

All he could do was awkwardly watch, hoping for a chance to open up for him to attack.

It wasn't long before one did.

One of the Companions was thrown aside by Celestia, barrelling into one of their comrades fighting her Lieutenant. Though both recovered almost immediately, it gave Celestia's Lieutenant a chance to recover, though she was quickly forced back again by Sombra's own blade.

"Companions," Sombra shouted as he scraped his sword along the Lieutenant's wing blades, "focus on Celestia, this one is mine."

Almost surprisingly, those fighting the Lieutenant broke off, joining the others around Celestia. The flaming princess was being swarmed - it was as if she was fighting a horde of wasps, though far larger and more dangerous. 

Her Lieutenant, meanwhile, was duelling Sombra. Though the Lieutenant was an excellent fighter, clearly well versed in the use of her worryingly large arsenal of weapons, she was not superior to her opponent. King Sombra was not a military pony - that was true - but he had still been well trained in the art of sword-fighting. Emperor Nicholas had given him a multitude of tips and books on the subject, allowing Sombra to build up an extensive and impressive repertoire of techniques. 

His favourite technique was his most commonly used one. It was deceptively simple, as many of Nicholas' creations were, utilising fast and fluid movements to disorient and slow the opponent down. It was especially useful for opponents like the Lieutenant, whose style was very powerful but tiring. Every swing she made tired her out a little more, slowed her down slightly, with the edge gradually moving to Sombra as a consequence. 

He could beat her, yes, but then what? The Companions had planned to "escalate the battle to the upper floor," though he was unsure as to why. He could just as easily defeat the Lieutenant on the ground floor, moving up to the nexus only added danger.

The nexus.

The spell, that would protect the Crystal Empire, it required the nexus. Had the Companions known of it? Surely they had, if it was a creation of someone close to Nicholas as Sombra suspected. The upper floor was the centre of the nexus, where the magical energy was at its densest, and where the spell would have to be used.

The stairs up sat just behind the Lieutenant. He could easily push her back, though the Companions would likely need to follow.

Sure enough, they noticed his intentions the first push he made. In a rotating block of three, they attacked Celestia's flank, driving her back towards the stairs behind her. The Palace had been built with ease of navigation in mind, so pushing them up the stairs would be a relatively simple task.

They were over the balcony within only a minute, with the final pair of Companions appearing behind Celestia and joining in their comrades' attack, perfectly slotting in. Celestia was planning to use the Crystal Heart - whatever that may be, but her description of it made it out to be something Sombra would not want her using - though presumably she had left the task of its use up to some unicorns. She had specified minutes earlier, so Sombra did not have long to enact his plan.

With a final attack, he struck the Lieutenant's nose, sending her tumbling backwards - disoriented and confused as to where the sudden attack had come from. With the aid of both his magic and hooves, he lifted her up and threw her off the balcony, where she landed on the ground with a hollow thud and subsequent groan of pain. Celestia, reacting to the sound, was similarly caught off guard and tossed down, the combined magical strength of eleven unicorns enough to lift her and throw her off the edge, where she landed in a confused daze.

Both Sombra and the Companions rushed forwards, to the King's chambers, where the magical nexus was centred. Sombra had memorised the spell, quickly lighting his horn and setting about working with it. The framework was a simple set up, little more than a pair of preparation spells he could cast in his sleep should he have needed to. The final step came with the transference of his energy, combined with that of the nexus.

The moment the transference began, he felt it, like a nail being driven straight through his chest. He doubled down, focusing hard and trying to forget he was winded. There was a searing pain from the inside of his legs and his breathing soon stopped entirely, his lungs unable to take in any more air.

"King Sombra is to be protected at all costs," the Companions chorused, "protect King Sombra."

The pain suddenly vanished, leaving only the after effects of aches in all of his muscles. One by one, the Companions collapsed, their bodies little more than husks as they fed their energy into the spell, Sombra tried to react, though he did not have the breath or strength to stop them. He could only watch as they collapsed. All the while they chanted, "King Sombra is to be protected at all costs. Protect King Sombra." Until the last one fell, expended.

The walls became like liquid, then all of the furnishings of the room followed suit. Within moments, everything had taken on a dark, flowing, liquid quality. The spell had worked, the Crystal Palace, and with it the Crystal Empire, was suspended in a shadow world - hidden.