//------------------------------//
// Chapter 20: King of the Puppet 
// Story: Spacebound Equestria 
// by TheMajorTechie 
//------------------------------//

	Immediately upon their realization, the group frantically scrambled through the makeshift army, making their way towards the main battle within the cockpit. The second they left the protective bubble that had been created to ward off Sombra's essence, the group suddenly found themselves shrouded and isolated from each other.

"Guys?" called the General, "Where are you?"

Somewhere else in the room, Twilight and Applejack shouted back, "Over here! We're somewhere near Luna!"

The rest of the group remained silent, stealthily readying their attack. Unbeknownst to them, Sombra, as a being of darkness, had the ability to track and counteract against light magic, and as such, the high-powered charge of the Elements had already given him a warning.

Without a word, Sombra snatched the triple shards of Magic from the collective necks of Twilight, Sunset, and Starlight, and threw them into the darkest corner of the room. Suddenly, the soft glow from the Elements faded away, leaving the fight to commence in the darkness of the void.





Celestia, with a heaving gasp, fired another shot into the fog, desperate for a hit. Once more, the shot missed. They all missed. It's practically impossible to hit something that has no physical body to hit. The fog parted ways around the shot, and promptly closed up around it as it passed, leading it's warm glow into the unknown. Luna had already exhausted her own magic reserves, and had joined the office workers to help hold the barrier, using her wings to fan away the dank fog of Sombra.

Luna could sense the trouble her sister was in, and though she longed to rejoin her side to ward off the dark king, she knew that she had to hold up for the better of the populace, in fear that Sombra may escape into the open. Here, in the cockpit, it was still safe. But the second that she left, Sombra would immediately attempt to escape once more, and could possibly even raise another army.





Sunset felt around the area that she had felt her Element shard wrenched off to. At last, she found the shard, and quietly reattached it to her necklace. She also felt the other two shards, and went ahead and grabbed them. As she made her way back in the direction she came from, she ducked multiple times to avoid the shots that were flying from the center of conflict.

Once she made it back to the others, she began to round them back into the safe zone. "Alright," she said, "Sombra seems to be able to sense the Elements, and he already tried to separate them from us once."

Twilight nodded. "So... should we fight fire with fire?"

Starlight smirked. "Yes, Twilight. Fire. With. Fire." She threw off her element, and the rest followed after her. "C'mon! Let's beat him!"

The group charged back into the conflict, their only source of light being the dim glows of horns waving about in the darkness. At last, they reached Celestia herself, but by that time, she had already taken many hits. Sombra's horn began glowing in a dark crimson color as he began to charge his final attack. Frantically, Twilight leapt in front of the Sun Princess and readied a shield spell, dispersing Sombra's attack.

Celestia, by now, was laying on the cold metal floor. "Thank you..." she whispered, "Twilight." She quietly crept towards Luna, while Sombra and the rest were still dueling it out. Here, she knew that the Elements were utterly useless, and they'd likely have to use brute force to wear away at Sombra's defenses. Inch by inch, Celestia made her way towards the hallway. Sombra's presence had retreated far enough to allow light to pass through much more easily, and as such, she was able to crawl towards the hall.

Sombra fired another shot at Twilight, who sidestepped the shot. Sunset and Starlight both casted a deflection spell that caused the shot to rebound off many objects in the room, before finally landing on Sombra. Although he was in his "shadow form", Sombra could still feel pain. He winced as he recoiled from the shot. Enraged, the dark fog that was his body suddenly grew in size, thickening to the point of which even spells couldn't penetrate the fog. He sensed Celestia crawling through him, inching towards the safety of the hallway. Immediately, he lunged headfirst at Celestia, who quickly turned and fired a last shot directly at his face.

Suddenly, the room was filled once more with glorious light, bringing back the familiar surroundings of the cockpit. On the ground was Sombra, his frail, battle-damaged body fracturing as it degraded. Celestia lay nearby, her entire being still trembling from the battle. She was incredibly weak now, which gave Sombra the perfect chance...

Within a moment, Sombra's very soul leapt from his disintegrating body, and into Celestia's.

Everypony watched in horror as Sombra's essence oozed into Celestia's body, merging with her own. In mere seconds, all that was left was the unconscious alicorn, and a small pile of ash.

As for Celestia, her final seconds of wake were spent listening to the terrifying voice that now lived in her mind.


I am your king, and you are my puppet...