The strategy made by Shining initially worked out pretty well, but it didn’t take long before Sombra’s forces found a way to break it. The shield could protect them from every side… except the one right under them. From the ground the undead ones crawled out, attacking the unicorns and making it impossible to keep the barrier up. Like a castle of cards, the defensive position crumbled down, leaving the Equestria army without any defense other than their armor. Shining and Luna had to do everything in their powers to stop the underground assault to tear the formation apart.
If the alicorn zombies had succeeded in dividing them then it would be impossible to regroup and they would end up being torn to pieces by the undead. Shining’s skills and Luna’s raw power only just managed to turn the situation around. Not that right now the situation was the best one; many unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies and buffalos lay on the ground lifeless. And for how much they stomped, kicked, and blasted, the zombies would just fix their bones in a matter of minutes. Not even reducing them to ashes was enough to stop them to reform their abhorrent forms. Unlike the living they didn’t had fear, nor did they grew tired from fighting. Both Luna and Shining knew that.
Sombra’s power has brought them back to life and repair any kind of attack, thought Luna. But for how powerful he is, he can’t focus on two things at the same time. If someone could distract him long enough, he will not have the time to defend himself and fix the damage that these zombies take! She could feel that she had what it took to defy the tyrant, but she couldn’t leave her forces alone in the time of need.
“Luna, look!” exclaimed Shining Armor, pointing to the north.
In the horizon it was possible to see something getting closer and, for a second, Shining and Luna thought that the griffins were finally arrived. But they were wrong and when they recognized what they were: changelings. An entire swarm of them. Probably the entirety of the queen’s forces. The insect-like ponies started to dive into the battle, being surrounded by green fire, turning into meteor-like projectiles. The united forces of Equestria braced each other, ready for the impact.
How great was their surprise when Sombra’s supposed reinforcements turned against his army! Even the zombie alicorns seemed taken aback from such turn of events, becoming an easy target for their new enemies!
“What is going on? Why are the changelings helping us?” asked an earth pony, confused.
“I have no idea, but we can’t lose the opportunity to even the odds. Charge!” stated Shining Armor.
The united forces of Equestria didn’t need anything more to be said. They rushed into battle, conscious that now that the tables had turned.
*
Sombra watched the betrayal of the changelings with incredulity while inside of him rage started to inflame his spirit. The forces of Equestria were this close to being defeated by his undead army—and then the changelings ruined everything.
And in a flash of light their queen appeared right behind him, ready to fight him.
“You…” said with grave voice Sombra while glaring her, “You dare defy me!? After all what I made for you!?”
“Don’t act innocent, Sombra. You did those things for more reasons than you goodwill alone, just to keep me in check. I know of your spell to keep me under control like a dog!” shouted Chrysalis, giving herself a death glare to the dark tyrant.
“Well, excuse me to not trust a changeling. You creatures are all but loyal… and choosing your allies!” countered Sombra.
“I am loyal. To my people. And I won’t let them become your slave. I love them more than I fear you!”
“That’s where you’re wrong” said Sombra, his rage evident in his eyes, “You should have feared me MORE!” The dark tyrant roar, preparing to blast the changeling queen to oblivion. She teleported out of the way and answered to the attack with her own ray of destruction, charging as much energy as she could from the Alicorn Amulet. Sombra didn’t even flinched under her attack and used the magic to make her go crashing against the wall.
“Look at yourself: you betray me, turning your back at me in the heat of the battle and then you have idiocy to came to me bragging of how you don’t fear me while being so outmatched. It would be fun if it wasn’t so pathetic,” said the self made alicorn with an evil grin.
“Now I’m going to do what I should have done long ago: turn you into a mindless zombie… and send you to destroy your own people!”
Chrysalis made to get up, but Sombra placed a hoof on her, keeping her to the ground.
“Do you really think you could fight me alone? You are truly an idiot as many say.”
“Well, she may be not the brightest of the lot, but she’s not that stupid,” commented a familiar voice. Discord appeared in a flash of light.
“Come to join your friend in her demise?” asked Sombra, mockingly.
“Nope. I’m here to kick flanks and chew bubble-gums… and I’m all outta bubble-gum.” replied the draconequus with a sly grin.
“Saying silly things will not save you from… uh?” Sombra started to say, but then Discord snapped his fingers and the floor under Sombra’s hooves disappeared. The dark tyrant laughed, “You poor idiot! Can’t you see that I can fl—”
BONK.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!” An anvil of enormous proportions fell on the villain, making him plummet in the hole. Soon enough the two heard a loud crash, as if Sombra had fallen on a pile of the most random stuff. With a satisfied grin Discord snapped the fingers, closing the floor in his place.
“You took your time,” commented an annoyed Chrysalis getting up.
“Sorry. I was just unsure of how to make my triumphant arrival. But don’t let your guard down, this alone will not be enough to stop him. In fact I think that I’ve just made him—“ Discord was interrupted, when the foundation of the castle itself started to shake and at the same time they heard someone screaming in anger. The voice was getting closer and closer. The floor broke open showing a Sombra who had dropped any look of patience.
“Mad,” finished the draconequus, looking a bit worried.
*
Princess Luna saw the main tower of Sombra’s palace blow up, managing to see three figures battling in the skies.
And as she had thought now the undead alicorns didn’t seem to be capable to get up to fight. With that and the unexpected help of the changelings the battle had turned into a more balanced fight so she knew that it was time to get serious.
“It seems that Discord has wasted no time getting on Sombra’s nerves,” commented Shining Armor; never before he was so much happy to see Discord’s antics. “But I still can’t believe that Chrysalis is helping us after all that she did,” added, noticing the figure of the changelings queen.
“She must have good reasons to do so. I must join them, keep Sombra busy or else we will lose, even with this newfound help.”
“Are you sure that is necessary? I mean, Discord and Chrysalis with the Alicorn Amulet may be enough to keep him occupied. I don’t how much you could,” Shining tried to say, but when he watched in the eyes of the princess of the night he saw something… a flicker of light. He couldn’t know what it meant, but he felt that there was more behind that.
“Ok then, go. And don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine. Now go kick Sombra’s flank!” shouted Shining Armor with enthusiasm.
Princess Luna nodded and flew in the sky, going towards the battle. In few seconds she would have reached her two allies, but then she noticed something moving from the gloomy castle. It was a little army of fifty crystal monsters which looked like a mix between a wolf and a bear and she could sense a great powers and were advancing towards the two armies. Without a doubt they were Sombra’s safe plan in case things went bad for him.
She knew that those beings could have turned once again the tables around the battle, once again putting the united forces of Equestria in jeopardy. She nosedived into the group of crystal creatures, unleashing a powerful shockwave that destroyed many of them, but not all. A part of the monsters focused on her while the other proceeded into the battlefield. She engaged the rest of crystal beings while she proceeded to the top of the castle, hoping to be in time to help.
*
Chrysalis and Discord found out soon enough that despite combining their powers they couldn’t harm the dark tyrant. The only thing they could do was avoid getting annihilated by the death-ray of the furious tyrant. Fortunately while the draconequus couldn’t defeat Sombra he had still enough power to slow him down. But he couldn’t keep doing that forever.
“You know, I’ starting to think that perhaps we have made a mistake,” commented sarcastically the spirit of chaos while dodging a load of rays.
“Tell me something that I don’t know” grumbled Chrysalis, not sharing his humor. “Where are those six idiots and theirs stupid elements when you need them? I thought they would have been here by the time we arrived!”
“Well maybe they are planning something.”
“With all probability to how get us killed” muttered Chrysalis while avoiding getting disintegrated by the dark tyrant.
“Hey, it was your idea the one to defy Sombra directly, I was more to help getting rid of the undead army,” pointed out Discord.
“Don’t remind me of that!” ordered the queen.
They would have keep it arguing, if it wasn’t that Sombra had grown tired of shooting them and used his magic to grab them using two huge skeleton like hands.
“Let’s see who I should kill first,” said the dark tyrant while grinning sadistically. “The one who dared betray me or the spirit of chaos… oh the choices!”
“I don’t fear you, Sombra!” stated the Changelings queen with fire in her eyes.
“Another sign that proves you know nothing. You will learn to fear me soon enough,” said Sombra, then he tossed with violence Chrysalis towards his palace, making her crash violently.
“You sure know how to treat the ladies,” commented Discord, trying his best to hide the fear.
“That’s nothing to what I’m going to do her once this battle will be over, but first I’m going to enjoy making you squirm in pain!” said Sombra, starting to crush him with the two hands.
*
Shining Armor had managed to assemble the forces against the newcomers. The crystal creatures were much harder to destroy and could count on limited magic and their arrival had turned the fate of the battle on a string.
Suddenly Shining felt a tremor shake the battlefield. At first he thought it was only due by the clash that was going on, but then he could sense the tremor getting stronger at every second. Then a thunderous noise started to raise as well, coming right behind them. The captain of the guards turned around and he felt all hope die: the Soul Eater was coming right at them at full speed! That monster had just broken out from the spell of the most powerful magic in Equestria!
“Not even the Elements of Harmony can stop that thing… then what can!?” he asked himself, while closing his eyes in a fit of anger and despair.
There was little that he or anyone could do to stop the Soul Eater to destroy them, he could only prepare himself to get eaten. His last thoughts went to Twilight and his wife Cadence.
“I’m sorry” he said, while a tear slowly fell from his eyes.
He could only hope that his sisters and friends could still save the world despite his failure. Time seemed to slow down… a bit too much. Why was the Soul Eater taking so long to finish them? He opened one eye, and then both. The titan had turned around the battlefield and was going towards Sombra’s castle, leaving Shining Armor to wonder what the heck was going down right now.
*
“Can you hear me?” asked a voice.
Chrysalis opened her eyes, seeing no other than Princess Luna.
“You look hurt,” commented the last ruler of Equestria.
“Don’t touch me,” hissed the queen of the changelings, getting up, “I don’t need your help.”
“You’re right, but your people do. Sombra has unleashed an army of powerful crystal beings to help his undead army. I need you to go help them,” said Luna with calm.
Chrysalis made to reply. She wanted to be the one to take down Sombra, to show that nopony can force her to do something… but she cared more for her people than leave her pride to rule over her senses. She simply give a small nod and flew right in the core of battle.
Satisfied, Princess Luna rose her eyes to where Discord and Sombra were, and noticed with shock the arrival of the Soul Eater. She made to attack him, but then she noticed something…
*
“Not laughing anymore, eh, you freakshow?” asked Sombra, while crushing the spirit of chaos, “Come on, say something funny!” demanded the dark tyrant adding more strength to it.
Squee.
Sombra stared at Discord with confusion, and then repeated his gesture. The draconequus kept sounding like a squeaky toy, with his eyes going out of his orbits.
“This… this is hilarious!” stated Sombra, still squeezing Discord.
“Ugh, stop that!” begged the draconequus. “Those are my lungs that your crushing!”
Sombra stopped, but not because of prayers of the spirit of chaos, but because he noticed the arrival of the Soul Eater.
“You managed to break free from those six foals? Impressive. I have the right reward for such amazing feat of power,” commented the self made alicorn, placing Discord in front of the colossus. “Here, eat this. Who knows how much powerful you will become once you will devour—”
Sombra was about to say more, but he didn’t manage to end his phrase since the Soul Eater used his head to strike the tyrant, sending him flying against a mountain.
“What the…” muttered Discord, watching the titan before him with confusion. Then he noticed that his eyes were not the creepy type he saw before, but the emerald green of a certain small dragon. “Spike?” The draconequus didn’t expected to get a verbal answer from that thing, but…
“Yup, it’s me… and all the other ponies which have been eaten by the Soul Eater,” explained the spirit of the young dragon.
“But how?”
“We will explain you later. Now stay back and recover. I’m going to deal with Sombra!”
“You’re not going to do anything!” shouted the dark tyrant, teleporting back to his place.
Spike/Soul Eater rushed towards Sombra. For the first time Discord saw the seemingly invincible villain getting trashed around by the massive raw power of the giant monster… and it was a view worthy to be seen. Even the dark tyrant knew that everything was starting to get really out of hands for him. He had to do something to get rid of that rebellious being… and he had the right idea.
Sombra open up a huge wormhole big enough for the colossal creature. The passage, which beamed with dead colors, started to suck the massive beast like it weighed little more than a few pounds. Spike tried to avoid getting completely sucked inside of it, but the force was just too strong. Not that that stopped him from trying.
“Hold on Spike, help is on the way!” said Discord, making appear a gigantic fishing pole which he used to pull out his friend.
Despite his status of a god the draconequus found out how heavy the Soul Eater was. He had to pull all of his strength to prevent him to fall into that thing. The result was that he was getting sucked into the wormhole. Summoning all of his might he pulled so much that he could actually feel his bones and muscle hurt, but he succeeded into saving his friend. Too bad that he couldn’t do much to get inside the vortex.
“Aw, shucks,” he commented, before to get sucked completely.
“Discord!” screamed Spike/SE.
The small dragon had never put much faith into the spirit of disharmony for him being… well, the spirit of disharmony, but now that he has save him from being exiled into whatever alternate dimension he owed him an huge favor. Which he was going to repay right now.
Sombra, who wasn’t expecting that Discord interference to get in his way, was taken so much back that he couldn’t do much to stop getting eaten by the Soul Eater. For a couple of seconds it looked like it was finally came the end for the dark tyrant, but soon enough a strong energy started to light the inside of the titan jaws and, before he could spit it out, he got completely destroyed by a devastating ray of Sombra.
*
Azrael was watching the latest happenings when, right after the destruction of the Soul Eater, Life seemed to have a spasm.
“Do you feel alright?” asked the angel of death, worried.
“Y…yes” said the abstract, trying to sound reassuring.
“What happened?”
“For a second… for a second I felt the entire existence at risk,” was the spine-chilling answer, before Life got back to focus into saving souls from the wraith, leaving Azrael to ponder on the freighting news.
*
Sombra panted deeply. For a second he thought to be a goner. That before he actually focused as much power as he could, destroying his ex-pet. His victory was ruined when he noticed that by destroying the Soul Eater all the souls that the titan had eaten were now free and were flying around enjoying their freedom.
“What the… come back here!” roared Sombra, his weariness vanishing like a fog. Using his powers he gathered the souls, imprisoning them inside what looked like a bird cage. He got back to what remained of his throne room.
“I’m not yet done with you!”
“Let them go, Sombra, now,” said a voice right behind him.
Luna was there, her expression hard and determined, ready to fight…