Spacebound Equestria

Chapters

Chapter 3: Luna
Chapter 4: A Devious Takeover
Chapter 5: The Meeting
Chapter 6: All Clear
Chapter 7: Emergency Cancellation
Chapter 9: What has Been, What is Left
Chapter 10: Time travel and Black Holes
Chapter 11: Sunset Shimmer
Chapter 12: The Return of Celestia's Adopted Daughter
(A scrapped half-idea for Chapter 13.) People Turned Ponies
Chapter 13: Sunset's Ship Trip - Part 1
Chapter 14: Sunset's Ship Trip - Part 2
Chapter 15: A Stallion of Shadows
Chapter 16: The Return of the Lord of Darkness
Chapter 17: Element Seekers
Chapter 18: Magic Duel
Chapter 19: Activating the Elements
Chapter 21: Puppet Master
Chapter 22: Darkness in the Light
Chapter 23: A Turn of Events
Chapter 25: Inseparable Lovers(?) - Part Two
Turning Around
Chapter 1: The Decision
Chapter 2: The Ship
Chapter 8: Liftoff
Chapter 20: King of the Puppet
Chapter 24: Inseparable Lovers(?) - Part One

Chapter 3: Luna

After sneakily planting a false physical hologram of herself in her own place, Celestia silently but quickly flew off towards the last remaining fort that remained open and accessible. She had already alerted everypony about the evacuation, except for them. She landed on the smooth metal surface of the fort's bunker, sending sparks everywhere from the metal-against-metal contact of her shoes on the steel.

"General Dash," She knocked on the bunker door. "I need to speak to you, please." The door slowly creaked open. To her surprise, it was never locked in the first place. She poked her head in through the crack in the doorway, taking a look inside. She gasped and took a step back, hitting her head on the door. After seeing the utter destruction inside, she wasn't going to take any chances to guess what had happened. "Sombra..." She uttered, "He's here." She made a mad dash for the fort's entrance, forgetting that she could simply fly away. As she got closer to the fort's doors, she was suddenly stopped by a massive wall that she had somehow never noticed rise out of the ground. She looked upwards, and saw Sombra.

He opened his mouth, and hissed, "Hello, Celestia... it's been a while, hasn't it... I know your plans, Princess. You're thinking that you can simply blast off, leave Equestria forever, and float away peacefully. You know that won't work, don't you? This... game of ours, simply a game of battleship. You and I, moving around forces, it's all just a game. A game of power and domination, and I'm on the winning side! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Celestia jumped back. She saw now, it was a trap. She had been lured in by Sombra, and captured in the very fort that she had helped build. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see General Dash struggling in a heavy padlocked chain, tied to a pole. Sombra saw her eyeing the mare. "Oh, so you finally found the bait, haven't you." He streaked across the sky in his shadow form, covering the little sky that was visible with his own smoky mass. "Well now that you have, you win never see the open sky ever again.

In the swirling darkness, Celestia lit her horn. "I surrender!" She yelled. "Sombra, please, if there is even the tiniest bit of kindness in you, I BEG of you to not hurt any of my subjects. In return," Celestia kneeled down, bowing her head. She spoke in a soft tone. "I will surrender myself to your power." As she said her final words of defeat, Sombra swirled down, right at Celestia. She shut her eyes, a tear running down her face.

Celestia's face suddenly relaxed. She smiled sadly, and whispered into the darkness around her, "I'm sorry, my little ponies. I can not live to protect you. I will no longer be there for you, for I have done all I have to offer. Please, forgive me." Sombra was closing in now. It would be any second now before he finally reaches her, and she would for the first and final time, succumb to the darkness of death. Suddenly, a dark-blue streak sliced through the shadows.

Reacting to the sudden light now shining through, Celestia opened her eyes, and looked upwards. "Luna?" She squinted. Far up in the air, an alicorn who appeared to be her sister was now fighting off what Celestia had believed would put an end to her. "Luna, LUNA! LUNA!!!" She was now yelling at the top of her lungs, and took flight, joining her sister in combat. In a matter of seconds, she finally reached Luna. "Oh, Luna, how I've missed you!" She hugged Luna, ignoring the fact that her sister was still attempting to hold off the evil king.

"Uh, sister," Luna said, "I do believe that you should let go of me, before we both fall on our heads."

Celestia released Luna from her hold. "Sorry about that." She teleported both herself and her sister back to the gathering area where the ship was unveiled. "Anyways, how did you manage to both get back from the moon, and become uncorrupted?" As she asked this, she bucked the "physical hologram" off to the side. Upon contact with the ground, it exploded into a cloud of steam, which disappeared promptly.

Luna blinked. "I-I don't even know. All I know is that I felt this... pull on me, and all of a sudden, I reappeared down here on Equestria, my mind completely free, and the next thing I know, I see this dark cloud over a fort, and I went over to investigate. I guess it could have something to do with family ties?"

Celestia turned towards the audience she had attracted. "To all ponies that once thought of my sister as a corrupted jerk who tried to create eternal darkness, she stands here now, with her own free will restored. From this day on, she will not be known as Nightmare Moon, but as my fellow sister and co-ruler, Luna." The crowd silenced for a moment, and then erupted into cheers. Celestia turned back to Luna. "Thank you for saving me, sister. I owe you everything."

Luna snorted. "Heh, just give me cake every day for the next thousand years and I'll be happy."

Celestia rolled her eye, and jokingly replied, "Say that again and you're going back to the moon."

Luna laughed at the remark. She knew that Celestia was only kidding, and so was she. "I'm just glad to be back with you, sister. And to be back with all the wonderful ponies here today that have seen my true sel--"

A distant roar echoed through the streets, followed by a loud rumble of the ground.

Chapter 4: A Devious Takeover

A dark mass flew through the streets. Sombra raced through each alley, looked through every window, all in hope to find the one thing that stood in his path of defeating Celestia once and for all: Luna. As he was searching through a jewelry store, half-mindedly admiring the crystals inside the cases, his search was interrupted.

"Ahem." Sombra instantly melted back into his shadow form as he turned around. He shrieked in fury as the two ponies he hated the most entered his field-of-view.

He snarled the names of the two. "Celestia. Luna. How... nice of you to visit me..." He rose back up from his shadow form, his curved, scarlet horn gleaming in the reflected light of the gemstones nearby. "Shall we battle, my dear princess?"

Celestia took a ground-shaking step forward. "I will no longer tolerate your actions, Sombra. You must leave forever, or die." Luna stood by her side, nodding in agreement.

Sombra hesitated for a moment, but did well to hide it from the Princesses. "You've done well, Celestia. You. Win." He morphed back into a dark cloud of shadows, and quickly slid away.

Luna looked at Celestia. "Was... was that all?" Celestia shrugged as Luna continued. "I mean, here, we just faced off against one of the most powerful villains in the history of Equestria, and all he does is say that you've won and leave?! What's even going on in that head of his?!" She continued ranting as the two sisters began to make their way back to the launching area. Celestia knew that Sombra was likely trying to force a false sense of security on her and Luna, but while Luna, being younger, didn't know, she herself knew that Sombra would never do anything like that."

A few minutes later, they both landed back at the ship. Celestia wasn't surprised at what she saw.

Sombra had done exactly what she thought. He had attempted to lull the Princesses into a false sense of security, and was now attempting his takeover plans for Canterlot. "SOMBRA, STOP RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE SO I CAN BUCK THAT HORRID FACE OF YOURS TO THE SUN! Celestia continued shouting as she and Luna, who had realized what happened, flew directly towards the looming mass of darkness beginning to envelope the ship. Though he was a shadow, Sombra's face easily showed through, his mouth formed into a diabolical grin.

As he continued his attack, Sombra turned his head and said in a booming, deep, voice, "I HAVE WON, CELESTIA. I HAVE THE ULTIMATE POWER. I OWN YOUR PONIES NOW. FROM THIS DAY ON, YOU BOW DOWN TO ME, THE MOST POWERFUL KING IN EXISTENCE!!! Sombra began to cackle, when a sudden beam of light struck him on the back.

Celestia's horn was smoking, and in her telekinetic grasp, she held the Elements of Harmony. "Stop now, Sombra. Or I will have no other choice than to ultimately destroy you." Sombra froze, his eyes evidently filled with dread and terror. Celestia was just about to blast him with the elements, but as she charged them up, nothing happened. "No..." She whispered. "They're not working, why aren't they working?" Sombra saw Celestia fumbling with the Elements as she attempted again and again to get them to work. While she was distracted, he began to slowly ooze into the ship itself.

Luna tapped on her sister's shoulder. "Uh, sister, I do believe that you should be worrying more about Sombra than the Elements right now."

Celestia waved away Luna's hoof. "I AM worrying about Sombra. I'm just simply trying to get these darn Elements to..." She finally looked up at what Luna was pointing at. At the sight of the last bit of Sombra slipping into the ship, she finished her final word. "work?"

Chapter 5: The Meeting

Celestia was pacing around one of the few remaining conference rooms, occasionally stopping and looking out the window towards the ship. "We must rid Sombra from the craft..." She murmured, and turned to Luna. "Do you have any ideas?"

Luna shrugged. "I've battled countless villains before, but never once have I had to search for them in a friggin' spacecraft."

General Dash, who had escaped along with Celestia at the fort, raised a hoof. "I say we hunt him down, search every inch, and if we don't find him, we dismantle the entire thing and blow him to pieces the second we see him." She then ducked under the table, and pulled out a rocket launcher, aiming directly at the spot where Sombra was last seen. "If my feelings are correct, he should still be in that general area.

Celestia lunged at the general. Dashie, NO! Rainbow Dash already fired the rocket at the ship, and Celestia stood over the commander, watching as the ship became engulfed in a cloud of smoke and flames. "What... what have you done?"

Commander Dash stood back up and brushed off her prosthetic wing. "I was just trying to get rid of Sombra once and for all, instead of sitting here in cowardice like you guys. And next time, don't call me Dashie." She then unfolded her wings, and glided out the broken window.

Celestia sat frozen in her chair. Luna poked her sister. "Sister, hey, listen! Come on, sis, we don't need to listen to..."

Celestia cut her off. "No. She's right. We have been cowards, haven't we? Aside from you saving my life, we have barely done any offensive movements against Sombra since the war." She levitated a large helmet onto herself, as well as a golden chestplate. "It is time, sister. Sombra will not threaten us ever again..."

Luna watched as Celestia took off after General Dash, heading straight for the gaping hole in the ship. Behind her, thousands of ponies began charging into the ship, though without knowing why. Behind her, a high-pitched, scratchy, "Ahem." Startled her. She turned around to find Pinkie Pie, one of General Dash's top partners. Behind her stood her sister, Maud Pie. "We overheard your conversation about finding Sombra. We believe that we can be of top assistance in the hunt." She stepped back, and Luna's jaw dropped. Hundreds upon THOUSANDS of various ponies were gathered in the streets behind the conference room.

Luna stepped back. "But-but HOW? My sister stated herself that all the ponies that we had talked to were the remaining survivors, and they only numbered to a couple thousand. And this... how many..."

"Exactly thirty-one thousand, six hundred ninety-three, Princess. We gathered them from various underground bases that were created in cities destroyed by Sombra. Unknown to Celestia's knowledge, Sombra did NOT capture every pony in the cities. A large amount of them had created bases inside nearby caves to hide away from Sombra's reach. And now, here they are." Pinkie took a deep breath. Something about that told her that there was a much happier, more relaxed, fun side of the mare.

Pinkie turned around and made a gesture with her hoof. Each and every pony in the streets and alleys began to equip themselves with battle gear, and she then turned back to Luna. "Ready to fight, Princess?"

Author's Note

Maud will make a later appearance in this fic. Also, underground ponies is a reference to this.

*EDIT* Maud will most likely not appear very often later on mainly because the focus of the story has since shifted from hunting down Sombra to some character development and backstories.

Chapter 6: All Clear

Luna landed inside the hole in the ship a few seconds after her sister. After looking around for a moment to inspect the damage, she finally broke the silence. "Sister, are you sure that Sombra is in here?"

Celestia nodded. "Yes, Luna." She turned to the ponies gathered behind them. "Attention, Citizens of Equestria!" All of the ponies stopped their chattering about what was going to happen. "We must rid Sombra and his forces from our ship, lest they assemble and rise during our journey." The crowd began to cheer, charging headfirst into the darkness of the ship, equipped with only simple spears, pans, and occasionally a chair. As they slowly moved through each section of the ship, Celestia and Luna split forces and began to search individually.

After checking several thousand rooms, Luna turned around signaled for Pinkie's army to halt. "I think we deserve a break for now," she said weakly, "besides, we've checked nearly a third of the ship so far, and we haven't seen even the simplest sign of Sombra or any of his troops." As she said that, a large, dark, crack began to form on the ceiling over the Princess. It didn't take long for it to become several times bigger than Luna herself, though it never seemed to stop growing. At last, the ceiling gave way, and a large control panel tumbled down over the Princess.

Maud was the first to react. After several years of training alongside her sister, she had the ability to not only break rocks, but practically anything that had a high shatter point. Luna finally stopped talking and looked upwards as the grey mare glided overhead, crushing the panel into dust as it fell. Finally, she landed. Luna began clapping. "Wow... Maud, you... you saved me." Maud saluted back at Luna, and disappeared back into the crowd of astonished ponies.

~~~{}~~~

Celestia had finally finished checking the final room, and had met up with her sister in the main hold. Luna began to speak to her sister. "Sister, do we have Sombra in custody?" Celestia shook her head slowly. Several gasps were heard around the room. Luna glanced out the hold's window. Sombra must still be here... he's hiding somewhere, and he could return at any moment during our journey...

General Dash saw Luna leaning her head over the window, and promptly flew over. "What's wrong, Princess"

Luna sighed, and turned around to face the general. "Nothing, I'm just thinking to myself." She then turned back towards the window, and continued her thoughts. If only... if only we could've defeated him earlier. Why... why must we live through this? Why can't we simply use something to rid him forever? Why must the Elements be useless?

A large, white wing draped itself over Luna. "Don't worry, Luna. Everything will be all right. I know that you're worried that he may come back, and I know that the Elements still need bearers to this day, but I beg of you to trust me, dear sister, we will live through this, no matter how hard it may become. In the end, we will prevail." Luna looked up at her older sister, her smile momentarily bringing the younger princess back to her childhood. She saw herself, not past even ten, playing around with her sister in the mud, as her mother oversaw their play.

A large tear ran down Luna's cheek. She turned back to Celestia, and shakily whispered, "I-I just miss the past, sister. I miss the times when we could simply forget the world, enjoy ourselves. I miss our parents. I... I miss... I miss everything" It was very rare for Celestia to see Luna cry, and it certainly startled her to feel her sister dig her face into her mane and begin sobbing uncontrollably.

Celestia nuzzled her sister. "It's ok, little sister. Everything's gonna be all right. There's no need to cry..." Luna began to calm down, though she still was softly crying in Celestia's soft fur. Celestia looked back up from her sister, who was crying herself to sleep. "Attention, please! Our duties here are done, and we give you the all-clear. We shall repair the break in the ship, and we will then take off."

She looked back to her sister, who was already sleeping, though occasionally sniffling. She gave Luna a motherly kiss on the cheek, making her younger sister calm down a little, even smiling a bit. Celestia smiled back down at her. It had been years since she had seen Luna smile, and she was simply glad that she was finally peaceful.

Chapter 7: Emergency Cancellation

A few days after the search, the ship had been repaired, and ponies from all over Equestria were slowly filing in. A young filly trotted up to Celestia. Looking up at the towering Princess, she asked, "Are we ever gonna come back?"

Celestia sighed. "Maybe one day," she replied. She turned back towards the ponies doing the final inspection before takeoff. "Are we ready?"

One of the larger members of their group turned and nodded his head.

~~~{Hours later...}~~~

Celestia and Luna sat down in the cockpit. Celestia's eyes met with Luna's. "Luna," she whispered softly, "Earlier, a filly asked me if we may ever come back, do you think we ever will?"

Luna shook her head. "Sadly, I think that we will never see our homeland ever again, at least, not in one piece." She pressed a button on the dashboard, and a large display rose out of the panel. "I personally hired some technicians to specially equip our craft with weapons, lest we encounter any horrors down the line. You see, if we leave Equestria to Sombra, he too will eventually build a fleet of spacecraft, and we would then have to battle it out in the heavens, thus we must rid ourselves of Equestria as a whole.

Celestia shot a cold glance at Luna. "I am NOT going to blow up the land that I love, Luna."

Luna shrunk back into her seat. "But Sombra..."

Celestia cut her off. "No, Luna, and I mean it.

Celestia pulled a lever on her section of the dashboard. "Ready for liftoff?" Luna nodded. The rockets shuddered as the ship began to cycle through a final initialization and self-check. A robotic voice echoed throughout the cockpit.

ROCKETS: FULL POWER

INHABITANTS: ALL PONIES, GRIFFONS, COWS, ETC. ACCOUNTED FOR

BLAST SHIELD: ENABLED

GENERATORS: ONLINE

NETWORKING: ONLINE

DONUTS: SERVED

Luna glanced over at her sister on hearing the last check. Celestia was currently chewing on a chocolate-frosted donut, and she was leaving crumbs all over the dashboard. "Tia, may I have some?" Celestia nodded, and handed over a box of donuts.

As she bit into a strawberry-jelly donut, an extremely loud, and very irritating, siren began to blare throughout the cabin.

WARNING: INTRUDER DETECTED

ENTERING HIGH-SECURITY MODE

The ship jostled as the rockets shut down. Celestia sighed. "And to think that we were about to launch..." She got up from the cake she was eating, and picked up the ship-wide intercom module. "Attention, citizens of the Equestrian Pride, be on the lookout for any and all suspicious behavior."

Almost immediately, the report storage system began to spit out report after report, many of which were sent from fillies who weren't allowed dessert for the day. "Urk," Celestia groaned, "First an emergency landing before we even lift off, and now THIS?!"

Chapter 9: What has Been, What is Left

All sat still on Equestria. The once thriving land of pastel-colored ponies was now nothing more than a desolate wasteland, crowded by countless abandoned building. A lone cart sat alongside the dock, it's cargo of apples already half rotted. Though Sombra had already left within the depths of the Equestrian Pride, he did leave behind one thing: his army.

No longer under the forced control under Sombra, many of the Crystal ponies had taken up residence in the remaining intact buildings in Canterlot, and went about their lives as if nothing had ever happened. The only difference was that now, the Sun and Moon came and went on their own, without having a precisely set schedule made by the Princesses. Many millenniums ago, long before the rise of the Princesses, long before unicorns even attempted to change the schedule of the sunrise and sunset, it had been that way. It was now, where once again the Sun and Moon rose and set on their own, as did the weather, and seasons. Now without any outside interference from the other pony tribes, Equestria once more continued it's natural phases, slowly orbiting it's parent star, with it's axial tilt creating seasons and others of the like.

Since most crystal ponies were really just a sub-race of the Earth Ponies, they really didn't have much they could do about it, anyways. They simply went along with their daily business, and now without the presence of Sombra, their markets thrived once more, daily events were the star focus of the day, with ponies from all over the city scrambling for tickets. They even just so happened to have an old ruler return; Princess Amore. While on their long trek back to the Crystal Empire to search for the remnants of their belongings, a small caravan had stumbled upon what at first appeared to be fragments of pottery. Upon closer inspection, it was realized: they had found the Princess.

They swiftly organized an excavation crew to dig her fragments out from the permafrost, and once they did, they cleaned and reassembled the Princess. The only problem was, she was still frozen as a statue. For years, ponies tried everything that they could to free her from her stony prison, and every time they tried, they failed. Eventually, yet another search party was organized, this time not for the purpose of finding personal belongings, but on a quest to find the Crystal Heart, the one magical object that the Crystal Ponies actually had control over. Now that the old Crystal Palace no longer was guarded, Crystal Ponies could come and go as they pleased. When they got there, though it looked totally different, with nearly half of the palace seemingly overgrown with the despised black crystals, one of the most recognizable works of Sombra.

At first, the frightened ponies thought that Sombra might've somehow returned, but their fears were put to rest when they realized that it was simply the merging of Sombra's dark castle with the Crystal Palace, the two no longer separated from their plain of existence due to the sheer distance between Sombra and Equestria, meaning that his magic just simply couldn't work anymore in the area.

Workers swiftly stormed the dark fortress, turning over every pebble that they saw. The Crystal Heart was later found atop an extremely tall spire, and brought back to Canterlot. It was there where the Crystal Ponies powered it up once again for the first time in over a thousand years, and it was that day when Princess Amore lived once more. To this day, Equestria has grown from the wasteland that it once was to a vibrant, stunningly beautiful utopia. Not only that, but miraculously, a few surviving Unicorns and Pegasi were found camping out on the edge of the Everfree forest, having lived there for years already before being discovered. Eventually, Equestria once again became the land of magical flying pastel-colored ponies that it had once been, and is now launching it's own shuttles into the heavens above, all in hope of finding the legendary Equestrian Pride.

Though it is very likely that they may never establish contact with the famed ship, a select few ponies have managed to receive some of the final transmissions of the ship before it left. Using those, they were able to recreate a charted path through space, and have now launched their own fleet of shuttles in attempt to contact the Equestrian Pride once more.

Author's Note

I got bored with the previous chapters, so I decided to publish a chapter focused completely on what went on after the parting of the Equestrian Pride. Happy readings! :pinkiehappy:

Edit as of 4/18/2016: This particular chapter was written a little while before the sidestory that it summarizes, Remnants of Glory. Because of that, the minor randomness that I put in in the official sidestory is a tiiiny bit different from this, such as the fact that it's much more fast-paced, and they will be able to contact the Equestrian Pride, which will eventually turn back.

Edit as of 5/16/2016: This chapter is practically invalid as a summary anymore. There's just too many differences.

(I tried not to spoil anything with what I just said there.)

Chapter 10: Time travel and Black Holes

Twilight sat alone in the break room, as usual. She added yet another entry to the theoretical physics section of her notebook, stopping only occasionally for a coffee break. Eventually, her one and only friend, Moondancer, entered the room, holding a box of donuts.

"Hey, Twi," she said, tossing the box onto the table. "I heard that you were working on a time-travel spell. I could help, if you want..."

Twilight nodded. "Yes, please." She took a donut from the box, and began munching on it as she explained what she had written so far. "You see," she stated, "Theoretically, if you somehow find a way to travel faster than light itself, that should mean that you end up traveling faster than time itself can travel, since nothing in the universe travels faster than light."

Moondancer's eyes scanned the paper. "Yes, but what about teleportation?" She asked, "wouldn't that mean that we traveled faster than light?"

Twilight paused for a moment, and then proceeded to erase half the page, up to the explanation about time-travel itself. "You're right," she said. "I'm gonna go to the library to find some textbooks. You coming, Moondancer?"

Moondancer nodded, and the two left the room.

~~~o~~~

~~~{Lecture Room, approx. three hours later}~~~

Celestia listened closely on Twilight's lecture on time travel by the means of hyperspeeds. She had heard of time travel many times before, especially when Starswirl was around. But this... what Twilight was talking about could actually work, and by work, it wasn't going to simply be a "Zap! Oh, lookie here," kind of time travel, but an actual, physical form of time travel that may be able to work even without magic.

Celestia raised a hoof. "Twilight, how do you think we would be able to travel faster than light? I know that teleportation technically works that way, but it doesn't have the same effect. How would we be able to pull this off?"

"Simple. We just have to steer into an area of space where classical physics don't apply."

"Aaaaaaaand how are we supposed to do that?"

Twilight opened her mouth to answer the Princess's question, but paused. She then hesitantly said, "The only place where the laws of physics don' apply is..."

Celestia leaned forwards, eager to listen.

"inside the event horizon of a black hole."

~~~o~~~

As various scientists and mages left, Celestia silently glided towards the lavender unicorn. "You kno-"

"GAH!"

"Sorry, Twilight, but how would we be assured that death isn't imminent if we attempt to travel through time by the means of a black hole?"

Twilight thought it through. "I uh... I actually don't really know, I mean, the simulations I've run show that it's possible, but there's still only a very slim chance that we would make it out alive, let alone in one piece."

Author's Note

I'm beginning to run out of ideas here... :derpyderp1:

Chapter 11: Sunset Shimmer

Sunset Shimmer stood in front of the portal's entrance. She took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for what was to come upon her return. It had been nearly three years since she had escaped through the portal, and it was only now when she even considered returning. She cautiously touched the surface of the portal, her hand creating minute ripples along the border that divided the two universes.

She took one last moment to look back at what she called home for the past years. "Equestria, here I come."

Upon entering, she braced herself, as she felt her body warp back into it's original pony form. Seconds later, she toppled out the portal on her face.

"Ahem."

Sunset Shimmer looked upwards, her eyes adjusting to the unusually bright light. Once they did, she could make out a figure. "A unicorn..." she whispered, her mind still swapping back to her Equestrian mentality. She attempted to stand up, forgetting that she had now returned to her original form. The figure cocked it's head to the side, apparently amused by her actions.

At last, the figure spoke, stepping closer into view. Sunset could now see that the figure was a lavender unicorn, about average height, and she had an obvious pink highlight in her mane. She held out her hoof to Sunset, who had already realized that she was now a pony again. "Hi there, I'm Twilight." the unicorn said.

Sunset attempted to introduce herself, "Um, h-hello. My name's... Sunset Shimmer?" She mentally facehoofed at her introduction.

Twilight looked past Sunset at the portal. "I came in here after I heard a weird noise coming from this room. What happened?"

Sunset's eyes met Twilight's, evidently filled with emotion. She sighed, and began telling her story.

"Well, back when you were probably just a filly, I used to be Celestia's prodigy. I was destined to be ascended to alicornhood, but my own self-interests created greed in my heart. Over time, I became rude, nasty, selfish, and above all, a monster to everypony I met. I began studying dark magic without permission, and over time, I became obsessed with it. Eventually, Celestia showed me my destiny using this mirror behind me. I looked at my reflection in it, and staring back at me, I saw a great, and very powerful Alicorn, possibly even more powerful than Celestia herself. My greed skyrocketed from that day on, and eventually, Celestia told me that I would not be ascended due to the darkness in my heart. By then, I had learned that the mirror was also a portal, and I knew that Celestia would most likely disown me. So as a result, one night, I took my belongings and fled through the portal. From then on, I lived in an alternate universe, where instead of ponies, the dominant and most intelligent species were "Humans", which were pretty much tall, bald apes that had grown to create vast cities. I too also became one after entering the portal, and I lived in that universe for years, until I finally decided to come back..."

Twilight's attention was entirely focused on Sunset. "Why?"

Sunset looked up at Twilight with teary eyes. "T-to... apologize... to my... mother..."

Twilight jumped back at the statement. "Celestia's your MOTHER?!"

"Yes, well, no. I was adopted by Celestia in a similar way that Cadence was... where is Cadence anyways?"

Twilight shot yet another surprised look at Sunset. "You know my foalsitter?"

It was Sunset's turn to be surprised. "Cadence was your foalsitter?!"

Chapter 12: The Return of Celestia's Adopted Daughter

Luna sat emotionlessly scanning through hundreds of lines of statistics. With Twilight currently on her break, she had to take over the mare's job temporarily. Celestia sat by her side, carrying out microadjustments to the ship's gravity field, tuned specifically to the pull of Equestria. Suddenly, a small notification appeared on Celestia's HUD, signaling a message from Twilight. Celestia began reading through the message, and gasped.

"Sunset's home..." she whispered.

Luna turned to Celestia, and cocked her head. "Who's this "Sunset" that you're talking about? We already loaded all the passengers, and we're currently set on a course to a new planet. How could "Sunset" come aboard?"

Celestia shook her head. "Luna, you know how I told you about how our fourth in command, Twilight Sparkle, was once a prodigy that I had once considered taking in as a personal student?"

Luna nodded in understanding. "Go on, sister."

"Well, before I met Twilight, I took in an orphaned filly named Sunset Shimmer. I even have all the adoption papers if you want. But, well, I taught her all the ways of magic, and to this day, I've never known a more powerful unicorn, but there was one thing that I never taught her..."

Luna awaited for her sister to continue. "Well?"

Celestia's voice became deeply draped in sorrow. "I-I never taught her to make friends, to be social... The sweet little filly that I took in slowly morphed in front of my very eyes into a monster, a monster, Luna. Every day, I had no other choice but to watch my own daughter hurt other ponies out of her own selfishness... at first, it didn't seem like much, and I just brushed it off as a phase, but over time, it grew to the point where Sunset bullied my niece, Cadence, practically every day, just to get what she wanted. After several occasions where Sunset demanded me to ascend her into alicornhood, I became fed up. I was about to kick her out, but... I'm guessing that she found out what I was planning... so she ran away..."

Luna began to sympathetically pat her sister on the back, calmly saying to her sister, "It's okay, she came back, remember? Twilight told you herself."

Celestia continued her talking. "Once she did, I never saw her again, and on the few occasions that I went through the portal to search for her, I was repeatedly held up by the inhabitants of the other universe in the portal, with questions about grades, homework, and all this other crap that I had no idea about. Eventually, I gave up, and I began to forget the whole ordeal. But now, with all this going on around me, she just suddenly comes back through the portal, apparently telling Twilight that she wanted to see me even..."

Just as Celestia finished, a mare that she thought she'd never see again burst through the doors, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"MOM!" Sunset yelled as she pounced on the alicorn. "Oh, mom, I missed you so much, I'm so terribly sorry for being so mean earlier on and hey look its your sister and please forgive me, PLEASE I'll stay away from dessert for a month and I'll do anything for you and--"

Celestia shushed her daughter, her own tears beginning to well up. "Oh, Sunset, I missed you so much. Before you ran away, you said that you never wanted to see me again... why did you come back?"

Sunset weakly spoke as she attempted to dry her tears. "I-I'm sorry for everything that I did, in that other world, after about a year of living alone, I slowly began to come out of my shell... I began to make some friends out of sheer loneliness, something the old me probably would've thought of as absurd. ~~They taught me how to be a true friend through loyalty, honesty, generosity, kindness, and laughter... just~~ trust ~~me, mom, I've changed, I don't wanna go back to that horrible existence of a life that I lived before, can you please accept my apologies?~~

~~Celestia ran a hoof through her daughter's hair. "Of course I accept it, Sunset. I'm just glad that you came back safe. You must've made great friends back there, and I'll allow you to come and go as you wish. On the side note... there's a~~ certain ~~something that I~~ know ~~i about to happen..."~~

~~Suddenly, the door slammed open, pulling Twilight and a rather decorated box through. The box stopped mere feet from Sunset, and opened.~~

~~Celestia smiled as she once more saw the warm light of the Elements of Harmony glow once more. "Sunset, what you just said, nopony has ever done for centuries. You, my daughter, have become one of the new elements of harmony."~~

~~A small gem rose from the box, lightly twinkling, but nevertheless beautiful~~

~~Sunset raised a hoof to touch the Element of Magic. "I-I~~ WHAT~~?!" A sudden realization hit her mind, and she stumbled backwards, running into the wall. "You mean, they were~~ real ~~all along? Does that mean..."~~

~~Across the hall, Twilight dragged herself back to the break room for migraine pills, when she noticed that the mirror portal began glowing with a strange rainbow hue.~~

Author's Note

Sorry for cutting out the part with the elements of harmony and all, but it was just a bit too awkward for me to handle writing...

(A scrapped half-idea for Chapter 13.) People Turned Ponies

Author's Note

~~Originally, I was going to turn the additional part into chapter 14, but I decided to put the two chapters together to make it a decent length. I'll continue adding onto the chapter until I feel like it is more complete.~~

I decided to turn this fic in a different direction, and as such this chapter will no longer apply to the story. Feel free to skip it if you want.

(A scrapped half-idea for Chapter 13.) People Turned Ponies

Twilight screamed as she ducked. Mainly to avoid the cyan pegasus who shot out of the mirror portal. Following the pegasus were several other ponies, and oddly enough, all of them were wearing saddlebags stuffed to the brim with books and paperwork. Twilight warily picked herself up from the linoleum floor, and looked in the direction of the rainbow-colored heap of ponies. The first one that had burst from the portal, of whom Twilight recalled as "General Dash", also got up at almost the same time as Twilight, though she did so rather clumsily. Of course, Twilight knew that the General was sitting in the cubicle across from her in the defense department of the office, so she knew that this "Dash" was from wherever that portal led.

"Uhh, can I help you?"

Rainbow Dash attempted to stand up once more, still visibly shaken from being dragged from the stairs of Canterlot High into a glowing rainbow portal in the statue in front of the school. Finally, she gave up, and flopped over onto her back. She squinted as she scanned over Twilight's face.

"Heeeeyyyy... I know you," she sneered, "You're that girl from Crystal Prep who keeps beating us at everything..."

Twilight stood frozen in place, the rainbow-maned pegasus's remarks still processing in her mind. As her eyes began to adjust to the lighting of the break room, Rainbow Dash realized who, or what, she was talking to.

"Wait a second... you're... a unicorn?!"

After a while of sitting in the silence of the break room, Sunset Shimmer casually strolled into the room, followed by Princess Celestia herself. Upon seeing the heap of unconscious ponies piled next to the portals, she glanced over at Twilight, who only briefly shrugged as she stared at Rainbow Dash.

"Wake up, lazybones!" Sunset yelled in an attempt to break the silence.

Immediately, Applejack, who was at the very bottom of the pile, began to stir. "Ugh," she groaned, "Where am I..."

Her movement gradually woke the other ponies on top of her, with Fluttershy being the last to wake after she fell off the top of the heap.

Chapter 13: Sunset's Ship Trip - Part 1

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 14: Sunset's Ship Trip - Part 2

For a while, Sunset could only get herself to wander around the urban landscape, admiring the modern designs that had been integrated with the ones she had known. Great towers not unlike the ones she saw in the city towered over the streets, of which seemed to never slow it's traffic.

Eventually, after what seemed like hours of aimlessly wandering the city, she found herself standing right back where she started - the entrance to the supposed cockpit of the ship. After looking back one final time at the sheer beauty of what she had just strolled out of, she quietly slid inside.

~~~{Cockpit and Offices, Equestrian Pride}~~~

Sunset quickly navigated the labyrinth of hallways, mentally taking note of where each door led. She eventually stopped in front of a rather large door that had caught her attention. On the plain steel door, were the words "Equestrian History Archive - The evacuation of Equestria" in gold-leafed letters.

"I wonder what's in here..." she thought, pressing the button to open the door.

~~~{}~~~

Until Now, Sunset never realized that the hallway that she had been wandering in was in reality, a visual library of the past, with each room enchanted to reenact each and every moment that they documented. To her horror, she discovered that the one that she had just stepped into held a very dark secret.

~~~{Primary Ship Control Deck, Equestrian Pride}~~~

Sunset burst into the main cockpit in a flurry of yellow, red, and orange. "MOM!" she angrily yelled, even though Celestia was already facing her direction. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ABOU--"

Celestia raised a hoof to her daughter's mouth, cutting her off.

"Listen, I know that you're mad about what happened about a week ago, but I need you to stay calm."

"I WON'T STAY CALM, NOT UNTIL YOU TELL ME HOW THIS MESS STARTED!"

"Sunset, please understand, even with the Changelings on our side, we were no match for Sombra, not against the army that he led. After the fall of Manehattan, we knew that we were on the losing side. Each city and town that he razed became integrated into his forces. We had no other choice..."

Sunset sat silently on the cool aluminum floor, processing her mother's words. After a few minutes of silence, she finally began to speak again.

"So... we're never going back home?"

"Probably, Sunset. Even with Sombra no longer controlling the land, it'll be pretty hard to bring Equestria back to it's former glory."

~~~{Sombra's Hideout, Equestrian Pride}~~~

A murky figure sat at the end of a long hallway, lined by shards of jet black crystals. A lone stallion from the local security forces nervously trotted down the path, a single beam of light from a headlamp leading his way. Suddenly, the figure appeared to flinch, surprising the stallion. He continued at a steady pace, the beam of light flickering in the increasingly dense veil of darkness. It was beginning to become much harder to see the figure, when it suddenly appeared to lunge upwards, as if it had been shot from a cannon. The stallion shrieked in terror as he realized that the dark cloud around him had begun to become denser and denser, filling his lungs with the essence of Sombra.

Once the dark smog had cleared up, only a single figure remained within the confines of the hallway - the stallion - that is, the living disguise that now housed Sombra.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait for new chapters... I had a lot going on recently, and I just didn't have any time to add more. Either way, Sunset's Ship Trip is coming to a close, and the real action will begin shortly. (I hope)

Chapter 15: A Stallion of Shadows

Ok, so to recap the previous story arc, Sunset Shimmer returned to "Equestria", Twilight's freakin' out in the library (and still is), and Sombra has taken possession of the body of a guard. What's gonna happen next?

Sombra stood up in his new body. Though he had already been used to walking on all fours, walking by controlling the mind of another pony was entirely new to him. Step after shaky step, he trudged out of the hallway.

~~~{A look into Sombra's life as a "normal" stallion}~~~

Huh, weird... I seriously thought that doing something like this would be a bit... easier...

I took another step, and fell flat on my face. At least now, with the body I'm in at least, it's not as hard as a fall with a lighter body. I began walking in circles to get used to controlling my new body. After a while, I felt confident enough to confront the world. Hopefully, the wretch Celestia and her sister won't recognize me.

~~~

It has been about half a day now, and I've managed to completely change my language style to "fit in" with my new "family". Though however hard it may be, I've managed to convince them that I am indeed the stallion that I now possess.

On the topic of my magic, well, this particular stallion happens to be a pegasus, so as of now, I have absolutely no idea whether or not I can use my powers, and going into my "shadow form" as they call it, is also likely out of the question, as it requires me to release my grasp on the body.

~~~{Twilight Sparkle, Equestrian Archives Royal Library}~~~

Twilight peacefully sat in the corner of the air-conditioned study room, her face buried within an enticing compilation of the various methods of space travel. Suddenly, her HUD filled her vision with a video call from Sunset Shimmer, of whom Twilight now knew of as Celestia's "Daughter".

Hey, Twi, whatcha doing?

Me? Oh, I'm just studying up on space travel. How about you?

Not much, other than finding out that we're on a friggin' spaceship, and that we're likely... never... going... home...

Aww, that's alright, Sunset, there's still a chance that we might go back... eventually.

Yeah, eventually. So, what exactly are you planning on doi---

The call was swiftly cut off my a strong shudder of the ship. Twilight blankly stared into the distance, ignoring the loud fizz coming from her headset. She continued staring, clearly dazed by such a strong jolt. After a few seconds, she shook it off, and ran towards the window.

Outside, several houses lay in pieces, the crackling fragments of the items inside burning in a massive blaze. At the center of it all, a single stallion.

Author's Note

Twilight actually had some (relatively) peaceful reading time! :twilightsmile:

Chapter 16: The Return of the Lord of Darkness

Twilight quickly rushed to the site of the explosion, and began assessing the damage. As she looked around, she noticed that there seemed to be a pattern in the destruction; each explosion site had been marked with or lined with jet-black crystals, as if the crystals themselves had been the cause of the disruption.

~~~{Cockpit}~~~

A horrendous odor had begun to fill the room. It was as if somepony had brought the entirety of Tartarus itself up into the ship, and made scented candles from it. Luna sat in the corner of the room, trying her best not to belch. Her sister frantically fumbled with the dashboard, opening every ventilation shaft in the ship.

AIR PURIFIERS: 50% ACTIVATED

AIR PURIFIERS: 75% ACTIVATED

Celestia held her breath, awaiting for the relief that the purifiers would bring upon the cockpit, when suddenly, the entire cockpit plunged into darkness. As she lit her horn, she noticed that for some reason, only her immediate surroundings were illuminated. The rest of the cockpit- Luna, the dashboard-- they were still hidden in the shadows. She began slowly observing the room. The darkness was obviously part of some sort of spell, and whoever did it definitely didn't do it out of good intent.

A deep, frightening voice filled the room, confirming her fears. "Oh, petty little Princess," it began, "how nice of us to meet again..."

Celestia heard her sister yell out, "TIA, WATCH OUT!". Following her sister's instructions, she quickly looked behind her back, and narrowly dodged a large, jet-black spear of crystal that had been flung at her neck.

"Sombra," she growled, "so you return once more..."

Sombra laughed mightily, his terrifying presence echoing about the corridor. "Indeed, and this time, I'll make sure that I stay."

Sombra quickly morphed back into his pony form, the dense smog in the air immediately subsiding. Once the room was clear again, Celestia immediately saw what Sombra had in store for them. Here he was, when the rest of the royal guards and aid workers had been sent off to battle the massive fire that had been set ablaze in the city. He lashed out at Celestia with full force.

Celestia quickly sidestepped Sombra's attack, causing him to smack face-first into the control panel. Just as quickly as Celestia had sidestepped him, he swiftly lunged at Celestia a second time. Unfortunately, this time, he had caught the Princess off guard, and tackled her onto the floor.

Celestia shouted out as she wrestled with the tyrant. "LUNA!" She yelled, "FIND HELP!"

Somewhere in the corner of the room, Luna nodded, and slipped out of the room.

Author's Note

Sorry for the lack of chapter updates recently. I had a pretty bad case of writer's block, so I just worked on some one-shots during that time. :derpytongue2:

Chapter 17: Element Seekers

Luna burst from the doorway to the cockpit, panting heavily. Behind her, a dense, black fog slowly wandered it's way throughout the hallways. Quickly, she used her magic to slam the doors behind her, halting the advance of the fog. She squinted as she scanned the surroundings, searching for somepony who could help her, when her eyes set on two mares that were known for their abilities.

"SUNSET! TWILIGHT!" She yelled, running towards them, "WE NEED YOUR HELP IN THE COCKPIT! SOMBRA"S BACK, And... and..." She paused as she took another breath. "And Sombra's... attacking... Celestia..." At the moment that her sister's name left her mouth, Luna promptly passed out.

Twilight looked at Sunset, who had immediately dropped down to support the Princess. "Sunset," she began, "Leave Luna somewhere where she'll be safe. Let's head off to the cockpit."

The two mares made their way through the fiery chaos around them, and soon found themselves at the door.

Looking inside, Twilight flinched at the sight of the fog. Sunset caught up with Twilight and caught a glimpse of what was to come.

"Ooooh boy..." she said, "I have a feeling that we're not prepared for this..."

Twilight nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we'd better find some help..." she paused for a moment to think about the possible strategies. "Oh!" she suddenly exclaimed, "I actually have the Elements of Harmony in my cubicle, we could try to use them to fight!"

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Well, there's six of them, but there's only two of us," she said, "I doubt that we could actually use them without proper bearers."

Twilight waved away Sunset's opinion with her hoof. "Then we should find some bearers, come on!"

The lavender mare took off into the doorway. Quickly, Sunset followed after her in pursuit. The fog was getting much denser, with Sombra feeding off of Celestia's magic. Soon enough, the two mares arrived in the offices. Twilight began digging through a large pile of books, while Sunset stood watch. After a few seconds, Twilight popped back up, a small box in her grasp.

"Here they are!" She exclaimed, "Now we just need bearers. Two of us can be bearers, though, so we only need to find four ponies who fit the criteria."

Sunset thought for a moment. Her train of thought was abruptly halted by another comment from Twilight. "You can be the element of Magic, since you seem to be the most powerful of the two of us, and I... I could be the Element of... LOYALTY! I could be the Element of Loyalty, because even though I failed the test, I still remained loyal to my dreams, and because of that, I'm here with you."

Sunset nodded. "Sure, now we only need to find four others who could be bearers." This time, it was her that lead the charge through the hallways, stopping in front of the mirror portal, it's luminescence outshining the smog around it. "Twilight," she began, "When I was in the human world, I made a few friends. If you could follow me into the portal, we could try to decide who could possibly be what."

Suddenly, the mirror abruptly closed, and the room went dark. The two mares sat in the darkness for a moment before Twilight broke the silence. "Well that plan's out of question now."

A soft glow appeared from Sunset's horn. Quietly, she whispered, "Yeah, no kidding, that portal closes after three nights, and it just so happened to be seconds before that when we arrived."

The two crept back into the hallway, the only sign of their presence being two pinpricks of light that danced in the darkness. In the background, they could here the immense struggle between Sombra and Celestia.

Twilight stopped and turned to Sunset. "I don't think that the Princess can hold out much longer. We'd better hurry."

Sunset silently agreed, and quickened her pace. Soon, the two found themselves back outside in the bright, artificial sunlight.

As they began their quest to find the bearers, a lone cyan pegasus stopped them "Whoa, whoa, whoa," Rainbow Dash said, "What do you think you're doing, leaving your office during a time like this? Celestia's in trouble! And we gotta go and help her!"

Suddenly, the box of Elements that Twilight held opened up, and a single element flew out. Immediately, it changed it's direction, and headed towards the General. Upon contact, the Element of Loyalty suddenly transformed into a small necklace, the Element itself embedded within the center.

Sunset and Twilight's jaws both hit the ground. General Dash looked down at the necklace. "Huh, I guess that I'm the Element of Loyalty now..."

Sunset shook herself from her stupor. "Well," she began awkwardly, "at least we don't have to worry about Loyalty any more. General Dash here seems to have that under control..."

Twilight pouted. "But I wanted to be Loyalty."

The General rolled her eyes. "Come on, you two, if we're gonna get to the bottom of this, we're gonna have to find the rest of the bearers."

The three mares trotted throughout the urban landscape, searching high and low for possible bearers. Eventually, they met back at the doorway with their findings. The General had found two possible bearers, and Twilight and Sunset had found one more pony each.

"So," began Twilight, "I found Derpy here, and she seems to fit generosity well, 'cause even though she often accidentally mixes up the mail, she usually gives something to the recipients to keep them happy."

Derpy piped up in their conversation. "Any of you want a muffin???"

Sunset shook her head. "Not now, Derpy. In the case of me, I found Applejack, and I'm pretty sure that if there was anypony who would ever deserve Honesty, it'd be her."

General Dash presented her own findings. "Rarity here seems to exceptionally pleasant to her customers, even when they get annoying, so I'd nominate her for kindness." the General turned to the second pony. "And Cheese Sandwich is a pony that even I've known for the ability to cheer anypony up, so obviously, he's gotta be Laughter."

Author's Note

Well then. General Dash is Loyalty, Derpy is Generosity, Applejack is still Honesty, Rarity is Kindness, Cheese Sandwich is Laughter, and the final Element will go to...

Chapter 18: Magic Duel

There was still one element left without a bearer. Sunset looked at Twilight. Twilight looked at Sunset. Starlight Glimmer glared at both of them, which was seemingly awkward, as she had simply materialized between the two.

Twilight jumped back in surprise. "Whoa, who are you?" she asked.

Starlight took a bow. "I am Starlight Glimmer, the proud mayor of Our Town, and I've just heard that you're looking for bearers for the Elements of Harmony."

Sunset sighed. "Y'know," she began, "Twilight and I already have every element except for Magic fulfilled, and unless you want to compete in some sort of I dunno, magic duel, then I'd suggest that you leave."

Visibly irritated from Sunset's rudeness, Starlight snapped back. "Fine then, I will compete in your little duel." She stopped, and a small, vicious grin appeared on her face. "Winner. Takes. All."

General Dash suddenly landed between the three. "Hey, you do know that right now, Celestia is suffering, and if we don't do anything soon, then she could die."

Starlight hushed the General with a hoof, and said, "Don't worry, I have all that under control. Equality in all terms, time included, is always my priority." She then lit her horn, and suddenly, everything around them froze.

The General looked around. She could spot a squad of pegasus guards in the distance, frozen mid-flight, on their way towards the static flames that were being doused by the unmoving buckets of the firefighters. She turned back to Starlight, who had a small, devilish grin sprawled across her face. Finally, she sighed, and said slowly, "Fine. Have your magic duel," she paused to scan the surroundings. "But only if you find a clear area to have it in.

The group wandered along a path on the outskirts of the city, avoiding as much attention as possible. It was still alien to them for the reality around them to be frozen in such a way, and because of that, they paused many times to inspect their surroundings.

Finally, they arrived at their destination: A small park on the outskirts of the city, currently devoid of any activity. The only building nearby was a lone apartment building, a "For Sale" sign hanging from it's sagging lawn.

The General turned to the others. "This should be a perfect place," she began, "there's nopony here, and there's plenty of room for whatever it is you're gonna do."

As the rest watched, Twilight, Sunset Shimmer, and Starlight Glimmer quickly trotted off towards the center of the park, and began readying their spells.

In a moment, the park lit up in a bright crimson color. Derpy curiously eyed the large fireball that Sunset had summoned. She threw the fireball towards Starlight, who quickly deflected it with a shield spell. At the same time, Twilight sent a barrage of stones flying towards Sunset, who promptly ducked, allowing the rocks to pass over harmlessly. Suddenly, the air became filled with a musky ozone smell, coming from Starlight as she began forming an even bigger fireball that dwarfed Sunset's. Within seconds, the orb of fire grew from the size of a bowling ball to a massive behemoth that took on the size of nearly two train cars stacked end-to-end. She then launched the flaming object towards Twilight, who quickly magicked up a large wall of water. Upon impact, the deafening sound of the exploding steam sent both Twilight and Sunset staggering for their balance. Smirking, Starlight readied another spell, this time it being a large, grey cloud. As it passively floated towards Sunset, the cloud abruptly halted in the air, and began emitting massive bolts of lighting in all directions. Twilight quickly countered the spell with her own wind spell, which swiftly dispersed of the clouds. Finally, Sunset launched her final spell, draining her of all her mana. The spell was a come-to-life spell, a very dangerous thing to cast if one didn't know what they were doing. Suddenly, the ground began trembling as a huge golem of rocks and metal rose from the ground. It began it's slow march towards Twilight, who, along with Starlight, simultaneously blasted with a strong spell made from a mix of Starlight's previous lighting spell, and a light focusing spell by Twilight. Together, the lightning provided a strong energy source for the focusing spell, creating a strong laser that immediately disintegrated the golem. Panting heavily, the two mares promptly collapsed on each other. Sunset watched the two with a grin on her face, when suddenly, her face lost all traces of emotion, and she too collapsed.

Upon awakening, the three found the world around them to b once more filled with motion. The park was no longer a shattered wasteland as it had been before, thanks to the effort that Rarity had made to restore it back to it's original state.

Remembering what had just happened, Sunset quickly blurted out, "Hey! So who won???"

General Dash simply pointed a hoof towards her neck to tell her to look down.

Sunset looked down to find a necklace--that is, a necklace with a third of the Element of Magic. She gasped, and set her gaze towards the other two sleeping mares. On both of them were necklaces that were nearly identical to her own, save for the fact that each one was emblazoned with a small imprint of their cutie marks.

Applejack wandered over to them, her own element still around her neck. "Well then," she stated, "it seems here like the three of ya'll all are worthy of yer Element." The mare paused for a second. "Yes, Ah remember clearly that the three of ya'll were passed out, when suddenly, the final Element flew from it's box, and divided into three glowing lights, of which became your necklaces..."

The General finally spoke up once Applejack finished. "Well then," she said, "seems like we have three new bearers of the Element of Magic..."

Author's Note

Welp. All three of them are now the collective bearers of the Element of Magic. This is gonna make for a rather interesting confrontation with Sombra. :trollestia:

Chapter 19: Activating the Elements

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."

Author's Note

Sorry for the short chapter. I don't really have all that much time to write longer ones right now, and my mind has been wandering off to somewhere for the past few hours. I'll try to make the next chapter longer.

Also, Pinkie always finds a way to break into other universes/dimensions. :pinkiehappy:

Chapter 21: Puppet Master

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

Celestia groaned. That same voice was still echoing through her mind.

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

Slowly, she raised her head to look around. Her body still ached from the battle that she had fought. Slowly shifting her gaze from the ceiling to her surroundings, she could tell that she had been moved into the medical care compartment of the cockpit. She turned just as Nurse Redheart entered.

"Nurse?" She asked with a raspy voice, "How long have I been out?"

Nurse Redheart stopped and turned towards the Princess, and took a glance at her clipboard. "As of now, about two weeks."

Celestia's breath halted for a moment. "Two weeks?!" she hollered, "TWO WEE--" Celestia was cut off by a horrid coughing fit, forcing her to lie back down.

Nurse Redheart nodded calmly. "It's alright, Princess. Your sister's been working with the Elements to keep things in check. All you have to do is get plenty of rest."

Celestia weakly agreed, "Thank you, nurse." and promptly fell back into a deep slumber.

Celestia...

Celestia's eyes darted warily about the darkened landscape, searching for the source of the voice.

I have a question...

The voice sounded familiar, like... like some sort of growl in a way...

What do you take me for?

Celestia gasped as Sombra materialized in front of her, the entire area going pitch-black, save for Sombra's decomposing face. It's speaking appeared to be entirely magic-based, as the jawbone of the face had already appeared to be missing.

...a fool?

Afraid of the possible backlash she may face for lying, Celestia weakly nodded.

...Then by all means, it is YOU who would be the fool...

Celestia jumped back in shock from the sudden outburst, scrambling to get back on her hooves.

All these years... you thought you had rid yourself of me, didn't you? Well...

The face floated closer to Celestia's, close enough, in fact, that she could smell the scent of it's rotting flesh.

...it appears that you couldn't be more wrong...

Once again, the same creepily happy tune rang throughout the land, "I am your king, and you are my puppet, I am your king, and you are my puppet, I am your king, and you are my puppet, "

Celestia suddenly realized that it was Sombra who appeared to be the one that sung the melody.

Suddenly, as if the face had noticed her realization, it took a dramatic lunge for her, and just as she felt it's slimy fangs bite deep into her flesh...

...she woke up.

"Sister!" yelled Luna as she bearhugged Celestia, "You're awake! I mean, I tried to wake you up by getting into whatever you were dreaming, but for some reason, I could never find, well... you in your dreams. All I could see was this dense fog, not much different from that of Sombra's."

Celestia's face grew stern. "Sombra..." she whispered, the same tune burned into her mind.

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

Author's Note

Well then. Don't mind me while I go and add that gore tag to the story. :facehoof:

Chapter 22: Darkness in the Light

Author's Note

Well then. That certainly took a while to write, especially considering the fact that I narrowly dodged a bullet in terms of how I like to write. Pulled it out of the dark reeeeeaaal quick there.

Chapter 22: Darkness in the Light

Now then; How should I say this... The main reason why the series hasn't been updating recently is because of the horrible writers' block I've been stuck in since the end of the school year. The second reason is that now that school's over, a large majority of the ideas I do have - ones that likely wouldn't fit in the series in the first place - have been going into a collab story I've been writing recently. Last of all, this specific story is beginning to turn out just like the stories I canceled. It's become dark, very dark by my own standards. Seeing as how I dislike writing dark stories, I've slowed my pace for chapter updates, instead focusing on short one-shots and that one collab, in which it's become near impossible for it to ever turn out the same way this did. With three people working actively on the story, myself included, whenever someone writes something others dislike, we hold sort of a "vote" to decide whether or not it should stay in the story. Either way, as I've said, I've been growing rather distant from this specific series, and sooner or later, I may turn this story itself into a collab as well, in order to ensure updates for the readers, and at the same time, still be able to keep it to the storyline.

Celestia shot up in her bed yet again, panting and dripping with sweat. It had become the new norm for her to wake in the dark of night, especially with the new voice that seemed to always irritate her when she slept.

"Luna?" Celestia mumbled, "Luna, come here please. I've had another one of those horrid dreams."

Luna silently paced from her station to Celestia, and entered her sister's mind once more.

"I've been waiting for you..."

"Who... what?"

"Luna. Princess of the Night. You were once fearsome. Powerful. And yet, you were as elegant as a rose petal."

Luna paused, stunned by the words spoken from the unseen entity.

"And who are you?"

A dark fog began setting over Luna's vision, growing in intensity as it collected into a figure.

Luna gasped in shock, and immediately snapped at the figure. "Sombra. So we meet once more. What have you done to my sister?"

As the fog began receding, it revealed not a single figure, but two figures: Sombra, and Celestia.

Sombra let out a low, intimidating cackle. "Ah, Luna, Luna, Luna. What have you gotten yourself into?"

Luna rushed towards Celestia and began tearing away at the dark smoke binding her. Turning towards Sombra, she growled, "Let go of my sister."

"That, I will not do," began Sombra as he shoved Luna aside, "I have... plans for her."

"What sort of 'plans' do you speak of, fiend?"

Sombra chuckled. "I see what you're trying to do there, Luna. It's rather obvious."

Sombra lunged upwards, transforming into his shadow self, before diving straight towards Luna.

"Luna!" Shouted Celestia as she struggled in the smoke, "No..."

The Princess of the Night lay unconscious in the void, Sombra slowly circling her.

"As I was saying," he continued, "You were searching for power, Luna. In the act of protecting your sister, you were attempting to bring your image up, rise through the ranks, y'know what I mean?"

Luna continued to lay in her static position, clearly out cold, and-- "Wait a sec... this is a dream..."

Suddenly, in a fit of rage, Luna pounced on Sombra, furiously swiping at his face.

"ARAGH!" Wailed Sombra, surprised at the outburst. He grasped Luna by the mane with his magic, and flung her out of the mental battlescene.

Luna suddenly jerked back from her sister.

"Sister," she whispered, "Tia, wake up. TIA!"

Beside Celestia, a small pinprick of light formed. Silently, unbeknownst to Luna, it began to take on the shape of a body...

Chapter 23: A Turn of Events

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 25: Inseparable Lovers(?) - Part Two

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Turning Around

Twilight slammed a hoof into the ground.

"The only way to stop Sombra once and for all is the Crystal Heart! We have to turn back, for the good of Equestria!"

Luna nodded sadly, glancing back towards Celestia, who was now leaking a dangerous amount of dark magic.

The Elements of Harmony have failed where the Crystal Heart may succeed.

Sombra has merged with Celestia, feeding on her unseen love for his good counterpart.

Equestria, as we know it, may never be the same again.

Long Live the King...

Author's Note

The sequel will come around once I finish up the sidestory. :twilightsmile:

Chapter 1: The Decision

It was time. Sombra was quickly advancing on Canterlot with his army of mind-controlled ponies. Within hours, if nothing is done, all will be lost. It was time. Celestia sighed and longingly look one last, quick, look at her room. She had made sure that the ship would be able to hold the personal belongings of herself and her subjects, Luna aside.

"Luna..." She thought, looking up at the sky. She stared up at the moon, where she had once again banished Luna in the form of Nightmare Moon. She looked back down, this time at the massive crowd of ponies gathering under the balcony to listen to what she had to give.

She took a deep breath, and announced, "To all citizens of Equestria, our land, our lives, our freedom, is in great danger on this day. Our last battle has been lost, Sombra is advancing, we need to evacuate." She listened closely to the grumbling from the crowd. "Any questions?"

Then, she heard a high, squeaky voice. "Princess? Do you think we'll ever come back home?" Celestia thought about it for a moment, and glanced towards the horizon, where a mass of darkness was beginning to materialize.

She looked back down towards the crowd, and said, "I don't believe we'll ever return, let alone even see Equestria ever again." The crowd began talking to each other again. The actual amount of ponies beneath the balcony wasn't very large, with Sombra forcing the residents of each city he had conquered to fight for him. Now, there were only two places left unconquered; Canterlot, and a shoddy little village called Ponyville. Here, ponies of both places had gathered for answers.

Celestia looked to the guard on her left. He made a motion with his hoof for her to continue speaking. Once again, she eyed the oncoming darkness that slowly consumed the landscape. She knew that though they were slow, Sombra and his army would make it to Canterlot in no time. She cleared her throat. "As I was saying, we are now left with no other choice than to evacuate. Do I make my point clear?"

The crowd quieted down to allow an elderly stallion to ask, "Princess, are you going to bring Nightmare Moon with you? After all, I've read that she's your sister." The crowd gasped. It was little known to the public that Celestia herself could possibly be related to a monster such as Nightmare Moon, who had been quickly and forcefully defeated and banished back to the moon when she returned.

Celestia paused, and quickly replied, "Yes. After all, she is my sister. I will make sure that she will do no harm to us. Now then, I must get a quick vote. Who here wants to stay behind and fight every last second, even though we are almost sure of defeat?"

The crowd quickly silenced, each pony completely frozen in place. Celestia continued. "And now, who agrees that we as the remnants of our great nation of Equestria should evacutate at once?" She watched the ponies below, each one raising a hoof or shouting. "It is decided. Pack your personal belongings, and meet here in three hours for evacuation plans.

Chapter 2: The Ship

It had been three hours now. Ponies everywhere had packed all of their worldly belongings, all carefully packed in various crates and saddlebags to be loaded, each with a unique identification tag to mark who it belonged to. Several ponies had come up to Celestia at various times, asking questions such as "Where are we going?", "What will we do?", and "What will happen to Equestria?"

Each time, Celestia only looked downwards, softly whispering, "I don't know." In time, Celestia finally revealed the plans for the evacuation. "Fellow Citizens of Equestria," Her Royal Canterlot Voice boomed over the populace. "It is time we see our plans for the future, and therefore I reveal them here." The ponies quickly stopped their packing and regrouped underneath the Princess, watching closely as Celestia projected the plans with her horn. "As you can see, I knew this was going to happen at some point, so I have secretly hired hundreds of engineers and expert builders to build a massive ship, designed to glide through the endless void of space, quietly whisking us away to freedom. It has been designed to handle over a hundred times our current population, with a large room set aside for each one of us. There is plenty of room inside, and we will be bringing along several combined farms, so there is no need to worry about food for the trip. Our experts have also created a reliable water recycling system, able to last for generation to come, as well as a massive tank of water that we have been secretly pumping a large portion of Equestria's water into."

Celestia took a deep breath, and looked towards the ponies gathered behind her. "And now, it is time I reveal to you..." Her horn lit up, and a very large hole opened up next to the train station. "Our mothership, The Equestrian Pride." Everypony cheered as the ship slowly rose into view, complete with it's dock. It was humongous, towering greatly over even the very mountains that formed the foundation of Canterlot. As it rose, Celestia used it as a distraction to avoid being seen with the worrisome expression on her face. She once again looked past the plains and hills, noticing clearly that the dark mass of an army, led by Sombra, was advancing faster than ever. It was now obvious that they were intent on ultimate domination, leaving nopony left untouched by their influence.

Celestia quietly snuck away to meet with the Royal Guard, while ponies loaded their valuables into the sorting chamber of the ship.

Chapter 8: Liftoff

ENGINES READY

INITIALIZING IGNITION PROCEDURE

STAGE 1 ROCKETS READY

POWER: OK

PRIMARY IGNITION COMPLETE

INITIALIZING PRIMARY LIFTOFF ENGINES

INITIALIZING AUTOMATED DONUT FACTORY

T - MINUS 10 SECONDS REMAINING

Twilight read through the endless self-check reports spewing through the monitor. She rubbed her eyes and stared at the second to last initialization report. She sighed, "Celestia and her donuts..." She looked at the frame hung on the side of her cubicle. Though she never passed the entry exam, she was able to get the second best thing after that - Celestia's Technical Campus for Gifted Ponies. It was there where she had graduated, and had now been personally selected by the Princess herself to be a lead manager in the Equestrian Pride space program. It had been many years now since she had gotten that degree, and now she found herself sitting in one of the many corridors inside the massive cockpit of the ship, reading over the final procedures.

~~~{Cockpit}~~~

Celestia relaxed as she watched the lavender mare ready the ship for it's one and only voyage into the unknown. To the side, a massive stack of rejected reports lay in a large recycling bin, along with a heaping plate of donuts. Celestia picked up a donut, offering it to Luna. "Want some?" she asked.

Luna shook her head. "I believe that I may be watching my own health far better than you currently are, dear sister."

Celestia shrugged, and popped the donut into her mouth. "Suit yourself," she replied. She noticed the countdown had come down to five. She sighed and rubbed her forehead as she confirmed her high-set hopes for the mare she had picked mere months ago.

As the rockets of the ship fired once more, the ship shuddered, a reverberating vibration from the boosters gently shook Celestia's seat for a brief moment, and just as suddenly died down as the ship finally reached liftoff.

Luna picked up the intercom's microphone. Liftoff, we have liftoff.

All around the ship, ponies, changelings, and griffons alike all cheered as the ship slowly rose from it's dock behind Canterlot Castle. A loud roar filled the atmosphere of Equestria for the first and last time as the ship began to slowly rise into the heavens above, unbeknownst to the population on board if it would ever return again. Passengers crowded the windows to watch their homeland slowly shrink into a tiny orb of color as the ship gently glided along the plains of the void.

Chapter 20: King of the Puppet

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...

Author's Note

And with that, we'll begin the final story arc for this story! I hope you all enjoy it! :pinkiehappy:

Chapter 24: Inseparable Lovers(?) - Part One

Author's Note

In case if you get confused, then you might have to read through some of the MLP comics to get it.

Basically, according to the comics, (specifically, the one with the alternate Sombra) Celestia actually has a secret crush on Sombra.

Also, short chapter because I'm really busy with everything else right now...

Chapter 24: Inseparable Lovers(?) - Part One

"Sombra?"

Celestia squinted, the sudden light dimming as she glanced about the area.

"Celestia!"

The moment she saw Sombra, Celestia's eyes outshone all the stars put together. The two ponies embraced lovingly, reunited for the first time in many years.

"I missed you so much, Sombra."

Sombra nodded. "So did I."

Little did Celestia know that this Sombra wasn't the Sombra that she truly loved; the Sombra of the mirror. Hidden under the friendly shell was the same old king. Dark hearted, soul wrenching...

"I love you, Celestia."

...and stopping at nothing to get his way, even if it meant to love.

The two ponies parted, Celestia blushing mildly at the sudden intimacy. "Oh, Sombra," she began, "there's been so much that's happened since we'd last met..."