//------------------------------//
// Chapter 19: Activating the Elements 
// Story: Spacebound Equestria 
// by TheMajorTechie 
//------------------------------//

	The eight ponies quickly galloped through the streets as fast as they could, grabbing anything that could be used as a weapon along the way. Shortly after, they arrived at the doors to the cockpit. Rarity grimaced at the sight of the doors bulging with Sombra's presence.

The general turned to the rest. "Try not to breathe too much of that stuff in, ok?" She asked, pointing to the fog with her hoof.

The rest nodded. Sunset braced herself as she began opening the doors. Immediately, black fog began pouring everywhere, causing a mass coughing fit.

"Sunset..." Twilight shouted through the fog, "could you try to cast an air purification spell?"

Sunset nodded in the gloominess and lit her horn. Soon after, the area was clear once more, and the group continued onwards, stopping occasionally to assist residual ponies in the cockpit offices. By the time they arrived in the cockpit itself, the had grown from a minuscule group to a large array of armed office workers, wielding various objects from pens and quills, to staplers and even a katana that a particular worker had stored in their filing cabinet.

Sombra paused his attack on Celestia to turn and see what had come. Upon seeing the group of ponies, he smiled viciously, and lunged at the group. In his shadow form, he couldn't be harmed by any of the office weaponry, that is, any but the office fan that a particular stallion had brought. The stallion triumphantly marched forwards, holding the fan with a hoof. Little by little, Sombra's shadow form was being blown away. With that, it had allowed the General and the rest to figure out how the Elements worked.

At last, it was realized that in order to fully activate the final Element, 'Magic', it required a special bond--friendship. Quietly, the eight bearers began whispering to each other in an attempt to find connections, and to build their bonds. The rest of the office workers continued holding back Sombra, buying valuable time for the bearers to use.

"So," Sunset began, "do any of you have any idea how to become friends in under a minute? 'Cause I have absolutely no idea."

Twilight shrugged. "Idunno," she replied, "maybe just share our current thoughts?"

The General chimed in. "Talk about awesome things we've done in the past?"

As the group began conversing, nopony seemed to notice the wavering glow that had begun to be emitted by the collective parts of the Element of Magic -- they had succeeded in activating it, just without actually knowing that they did.

Suddenly, a high-pitched, squeaky voice filled the room. "Oh, you silly fillies," the voice chirped, "look down at your Elements!"

Twilight's brow furrowed as she her ears perked up at the voice. Quickly, she turned around for just a moment to see a pink earth pony disappear into an interdimensional rift. "Huh," she said as she looked down at her Element fragment, "I guess we activated it after all."