In a Flash of Lightning

by Onomonopia

New Ruler

The ponies slowly backed away as Sombra began to laugh using Captain Marvel's mouth. They were terrified now, now that Sombra was in control of the most powerful pony known to them. He stopped laughing and looked at them with victory in his eyes. He went to take a step forward...and nearly fell on his face. Before he could hit the ground, his ability to fly took over and managed to keep him upright.

"I'll never understand how he managed to stay like this all the time," Sombra muttered as he stood back up, trying to balance himself on his new feet. "I swear this is almost as difficult as trying to over throw the princesses."

"What did you do to Billy?" Twilight asked him in a cold rage.

"Oh nothing too much," Sombra said with a slight chuckle, cracking his knuckles. "Just forcefully repressed his conscious by causing conflict within his mind and forcing him to come to grips with the fact that he is responsible for the deaths of so many and inserting my conscious into his mind while he was occupied. It took days of quick planning to change my plans to compensate for him once he showed up," Sombra said with an evil smile, starting to walk to the ponies. "The hardest part was getting the child to believe that he was responsible for the death of those ponies when I was the one who killed them."

"So what are you planning to do?" Celestia asked, stepping past the enraged Twilight who wanted nothing more at that moment to tear Sombra apart.

"What am I going to do?" he asked them with a laugh. "Simple. I'm going to give you one chance to swear your allegiances to me or I will kill you all with Billy's body. Simple."

"You're a foal if you think that I will bow to you," Celestia said with defiance in her voice. "I have battled creature far worse than you Sombra and I will bea-"

WHAM!

Celestia never even knew what hit her as Sombra used Captain Marvel’s enhanced strength to flatten Celestia with a single punch to the jaw. The princesses of the sun was launched across the room and slammed into the side of the dark barrier, sliding down the side of it unconsciously. The ponies screamed and ran over to her side as Sombra looked at his fist with a sigh.

"Darn, that was supposed to take her head off. Oh well, now you must see that it is pointless to resist me." The ponies all glared at Sombra, but none of them dared to speak. All except for Applebloom.

"How did ya manage to take control of Billy? His power far exceeds yours," Applebloom growled.

"Simple. When I first found out about the boy and his amazing power, I knew that I either had to destroy him when he was mortal or take control of that power for myself. Well, I'm not one to let such power go to waste, so I came up with a brilliant plan. First was to find out all about this magical lightning that he used to transform and thanks to some books by Star-Swirl I was able to find out how they worked," Sombra said with a chuckle, sitting back and allowing himself to levitate in the air, closing his eye as he went over his plan.

"The hard part was repressing his conscious so that I could replace it with mine. I knew that trauma could make a mind recede, but I didn't know how much would be needed to work, so I started small. Sending the Cyclops, letting the ponies of the apocalypse come and destroy your home, a child shouldn't be able to handle that much trauma. Yet he did, so I was forced to more extreme measure. Killing innocent and making it look like that it was his fault, messing with his mind and trying to get him to question his whole moral code, things that would break regular ponies. But the kid's tough, I'll give him that, so I had to do something that would break even him. I had to get him so angry that he would kill, that he would break his little golden rule. And the moment he tried to kill me I was able to use my dark lightning rod to help push his mind back and make room for mine to take over. And the rest you know."

The ponies managed to wake Celestia up and helped to keep her on her hooves. The Elements of Harmony, the princesses and the CMC along with Spike turned towards Sombra, preparing themselves for their greatest battle yet. Twilight brought every single one of her most powerful spells to the front of her mind, each one on the tip of her tongue. Celestia and Luna prepared to combine their most powerful spells to fight as well, with the rest of the ponies each preparing an attack plan in their heads. But instead of attacking them, Sombra simply floated over to the window and looked out upon Canterlot with a smile.

"It's all mine now, now and forever," he said with a small chuckle.

"Um, hello? You still have us to deal with!" Rainbow Dash snorted. Sombra over his shoulder at her with a bored expression.

"You're still here? Fine, get out of my castle or suffer the consequences blah blah blah," he said, looking back out the window. "I'm trying to figure out the best way to break the news to the ponies of their new ruler. Should I go small, let them guess what happened? Or would a display of power be more appropriate?"

"Hey! Don't you dare ignore us like we're some kind of-" Rainbow Dash blinked as Sombra seemed to appear in front of her out of thin air. She, the fastest flier in all of Equestria, hadn't seen him move. She looked up to him as he gazed down on her with a frown.

"You don't get it, do you? You're no longer a threat to me. At most," he said while holding up his hand. "You're an inconvenience at best," he growled, summoning a lightning bolt into his hand, causing the ponies to jump back. He turned around and floated back over to the window, gazing out it once again. "Now leave or this time I really will kill you."

"The ponies of Equestria will never follow you!" Twilight growled. "They all know you're evil!"

"True, but they will follow the angel. Now out." The ponies all looked at each other, knowing that they had no choice. So with one last look of defiance, they left the chambers, Luna looking back over to Sombra, using a little bit of her magic to confirm something. When she saw it to be true, she left the room with a very small smile. Sombra in the meanwhile had decided on a course of action, so he ascended through the open window and floated over the streets of Canterlot, gaining quite a reaction from the populace. Ponies all stop and stared at him, some in fear but some in adoration. He waved at all of them to follow him and they did so, gathering more and more of a crowd as he floated down the streets, arms outstretched like a deity. He came to a stop in the town plaza, where he floated above all the other ponies and turned to face them, clearing his throat.

"Hello my friends. I can see from the confused looks on your faces that some if you either have no idea who I am or what I’m doing here. I am here to do something that has not been done in Equestria for nearly a thousand years. I am here to create peace." the ponies all whispered to themselves, with no idea what to think about what he was saying. "As many of you know, there have been a number of attacks recently from evil ponies from the darkest corners of our history. While I was able to repel the attacks, many homes and lives were lost during those battles."

"While I stopped the initial attacks, I was not able to find the perpetrator of the attacks until recently. You all saw that dark sphere that covered the castle a while ago? That was the work of king Sombra, one of the most vile and evil of ponies known to our kind." The crowd began murmuring again, looking around everywhere with fear filled eyes as if they expected Sombra to jump out at them at any moment. "Ha-ha, now I see that you're all afraid again, afraid that you'll be the next victims of an attack. But fear not, my little ponies, for Sombra is no more." The crowd let out a collective gasp at this and the murmuring became more of a deep rumbling as hundreds of ponies spoke at once.

"I can hear it now; many of you are asking why I would do such a thing. The answers simple. If I let Sombra go, he would return to try and hurt all of you again. So, in order to keep you all safe, I ended him in a single thunderbolt. It was a tough decision to make, but I was willing to make it to keep you all safe," he said with fake sorrow, closing his eyes while forcing back a smile. "But there is something else I wished to speak to you about. While I was fighting Sombra, I noticed that the two princesses were not there to aid me, that I was forced to battle him all alone. Now this wouldn't be a problem, if it were the first time that they did this. But no, they have abandoned ponies to their fates before and they tried to do it with me in the castle."

"That is a lie!" All in attendance turned to find that Celestia was standing in the center of the crowd, glaring daggers at him. None of the other Elements were with her, as she wanted to do this alone. "You are not Captain Marvel; you are Sombra in his body!" The crowd looked from her to the smiling face of Marvel, confusion beginning to break out. "You stole his body and plan to use it to take over Equestria!" Sombra looked at her for a minute with a raised eyebrow, before breaking out into a small chuckle.

"This is exactly what I expected of you, Celestia. You don't come to the aid of somepony who fights for you and then when it’s all done, you try to take the credit for yourself and place the blame on somepony who is dead. Why should I...no, why should WE trust anything you have to say?" he asked, looking around at all the ponies. "Where were you when Ponyville was attacked those three times? Where were you when I battled it out with Sombra and his dark minions?"

"I...I was looking into something," she said with a growl.

"See? She can’t even be trusted to tell the truth. And yet she is supposed to lead you, to keep you safe, but you can't even trust her to tell you the truth. Because the truth is she can no longer keep you safe, she can barely keep herself alive." The ponies had all started to whisper again, but it was a much harsher whispering and all of it was directed at Celestia.

"That is not true! I would fight to the death for my subjects!" Celestia cried out, looking around in desperation.

"Ha! You would much rather prefer your subjects fight for you while you sit back in that castle with all your ill-gotten gains," Sombra said with a smile, watching as the crowd began to turn on Celestia. But it was not enough; he needed to deliver the final blow. "But that will not happen again. Because I will now take over the job of ruling and protecting Equestria!" Everypony in the crowd turned to face him as he said this. "I will keep you safe like she was unable to! I will rule you fairly like she has failed to! And I will be a better king than anypony else in history!" Nopony said anything, nopony dared to do anything. Then one began to applaud, followed by another and another, until the whole of the assembly was applauding. Celestia looked around in disbelief before flying up to Sombra and glaring into his eyes.

"This is not over," she whispered.

"It looks over to me," he replied with a cold smile. "Now leave before I make an example of you." Celestia looked back at all of the ponies that were now glaring at her and chanting for the angel. So she summoned as much cold pride as she could and flew of in direction of the Sparkle's house, knowing that none of them would like the news.

{S}

"That's bad, that's very bad," Twilight muttered once Celestia had finished telling the others the story. They had taken refuge in the Sparkle's home, with Twilight explaining to her parents what was going on. While they could have returned to the castle, they didn't want to take the risk of angering Sombra. So it was here that they sat around planning their next move. Applejack was helping RD and Twilight plan on how to fight Marvel, since Twilight new of his power better than almost anypony. Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rarity talked about what was going on in Ponyville, trying to keep positive. The CMC were trying to cheer up Spike, who sat near the window, staring out of it while worrying about his friends. When Celestia had come back, they had all gathered around, but the news was not good.

"How did he manage to turn the ponies of Canterlot against you?" Fluttershy asked. "I thought the ponies of Canterlot loved you?"

"They did, but with all the events going on, we have not always been there for our subjects," Celestia said with a sigh. "And that was all Sombra needed to start lies about us not caring. While none of it is true, our absence has left a lot of ponies feeling afraid for their lives. But when Captain Marvel showed up and starting protecting ponies in our absence, many believed that he should be protector. And now he is, but it is not the protector they wanted."

"Do you think Billy's okay?" Twilight asked with worry, biting her lower lip. "Sombra said that he caused some massive mental trauma to suppress his conscious."

"I do not know the state of young Batson, but we have bigger problems at the moment. Twilight, you've been around Billy more than anypony, has he told you of a weakness he might have or a flaw in his armor?"

“No, Captain Marvel is essentially invincible," Twilight said with a sigh. "He can't be hurt by our magic and he's been holding back up until now, which means that he's even stronger than we thought. While Billy wouldn't hurt us, Sombra has no problem with it. I don't think that I could get through to him."

"That is not true." All turned to Luna, who had been sitting in silence ever since they had reached the house. She stood up with a nervous, but confident look. "I believe that there is a way to reach Billy, but it will be very dangerous."

"You can reach him?" Spike asked, snapping himself out of his thoughts. All the ponies gathered around Luna with hope in their eyes. She shifted uncomfortably, not sure how to answer.

"Yes and no. I know how to reach him, but I cannot be the one to do it."

"What does that mean?"

"Let me put it this way. Billy is in some sort of dream state right now while Sombra is in control. I can go into pony’s dreams when they are sleeping and talk to them, like I did with Scootaloo a while back." Luna sighed and took in a breath. "But now we get to the hard part. While I can normally go into ponies minds, Sombra has somehow managed to find a way to keep me and any other pony out. When I scanned his mind back in the castle, I found that Billy is still in there but he is hurting. I also found that, like I said, no pony can enter his mind."

"Then how do we reach him?" Spike asked in desperation.

"While no PONY can get inside his mind, I do not believe that Sombra put up any defenses against dragons."

"So I can go in and wake Billy?" Spike asked, hope returning to his eyes.

"No. It is far too dangerous."

"What, I'll be fine in his mind. Billy and I are friends," Spike said with a smile.

"I know that, but you do not understand what the mind becomes when it is attacked. With all the mental trauma inflicted upon him, Billy will have sunk to the deepest recesses of his mind. And there are also the mental guardians he will place in order to prevent another attack."

"M-mental guardians? What are those?"

"They are who protects the mind once it has been laid siege to. I doubt that even Sombra could go back into Billy's mind now with all the damage he has inflicted."

"But princesses Luna, you have gone into plenty of minds before, surely you must know how to get around these guardians?" Twilight asked her.

"Normally I get by them by over powering them. Guardians are created from memories or ponies that we care about, who we'd expect to be there if we were in danger. The dreams I normally go into at the most have either me or my sister protecting the mind. But Billy is different. He is practically a god himself and comes from a world of gods. So who do you think will be guarding his mind now?" Each of the ponies realized what she was saying. Billy's world consisted of gods and titans, creature that the ponies would stand little chance against. If they were the ones guarding his mind...

"I'm still going," Spike said. Everypony looked at him in surprise.

"Spike, did you not listen to what Luna said?" Celestia asked. "You would be up against creatures that are beyond anything that we have seen before. You wouldn't

"I get the danger and I know how powerful these gods are, I'm friends with one of them," he reminded them with a frown. "And that's the point, he's my friend. He was there for us when we needed him, despite the danger. And I plan to be there for him when he needs me." Luna looked at the little dragon with interest as the others tried to convince him not to go. She had never known Spike as being a coward, but even the most powerful of ponies would be afraid if given the same offer. But he was willing to risk it all for this human that had only been here a few days.

'So you finally found that friend you were dreaming of,' Luna thought with a smile. "Very well Spike, I will get you into Billy's dreams."

"Do you mean it?" Spike asked her. "What about the danger?"

"Somehow, I think you’ll make it," she said with a smile, motioning for him to get on her back. "If we are lucky, I can catch Sombra while he is speaking so that he'll be distracted. The others will follow us on the ground, ready to bring down Sombra once you have expelled him from Billy's mind. Let us go."

"Um, Spike?" Applebloom began, shifting her hooves. "Bring him back safe, alright?"

"Don't worry, I will," he said with a smile. "And I'll come back safe too." Spike hopped onto her back and waved goodbye to Twilight and the others as Luna took off into the sky. The two of them sailed through the sky above the streets, looking for Sombra. They found him speaking to the advisor for the princesses, who was in a heated debate with him.

"You will leave getting you into his dream to me, but once you are inside it is up to you to find the child," Luna instructed him, her horn beginning to glow as she started the spell to allow him to enter the dream. "The mind will be a maze, but your best bet is to go down. The sub conscious usually resides at the lowest part of the dream...good luck."

"Thanks, I'll need it," Spike muttered as he felt his mind begin to grow foggy. His head began to swirl and darkness began to overtake his vision. He closed his eyes and went with what was happening. The spinning grew faster and faster until he almost fell over. Then he felt it stopped and all was still. He tried to listen, but he couldn't hear anything. He gingerly opened one eye, but both of them snapped open when he saw where he was.

He was in Billy's world.

Comments

[Rated Ponystar]

Ah, well that works too.

[DeltaOsprey]

So Spike vs The Justice League. This should be fun.

[Blue Spark]

I bet the main guardian is either gonna be Superman, Twilight or both...

[chinlamp]

For some reason, I think Billie (using the Wisdom of Solomon), will have put both good AND BAD guys in there. Afterall, what if one of the goodguys decides he wants to wipe memories or something? The other good guys in there would let him pass, but the bad guys wouldn't.

[Dragonsword35d]

2658810 Reasonable, but it would have to be villains Billy would trust to protect him. And I can't think of any. Wisdom or not, the subconscious works on a different level and is more often than not, more subject to emotion than reason. No, it would be Justice League, Shazam himself, or someone along those lines. Perhaps even the incarnations of the beings that make up the word Shazam in the first place. When you look at it, they are always protecting him.