//------------------------------// // Chapter 18: Rise of Darkness // Story: The Adventure of the Apex Legion // by DeffBwade //------------------------------// Previously on The Adventures of the Apex Legion "Okay. Stay calm Legion. It's just Ocellus. You've known her for almost a year at this point. She's your friend...who just so happens to like you and wants to be more than a friend. Wait, no. Stop getting nervous! STOP GETTING NERVOUS!" "As if we're just gonna leave you guys," I chuckled, trying to shrug away my nervousness. I then put on a serious expression, "Listen, we have reason to believe that Cozy Glow isn't who we think she is. I'm like 95% sure that she's responsible for magic disappearing." "I can't very well have the EEA run the school if I wanna run it myself," she said before placing a picture of her cute self on the desk, "After all, I worked very hard to become headmare in the first place," she said in a more serious tone, "I once learned a long time ago that if you want something, you can't just ask for it or wait for it to be given to you because you've been a good little pony. Oh no sir. If you want something, you just take it for yourself! But in order to do that, you need power. Nopony could say 'no' to a powerful being after all. And if there's one thing I learned here, it's that friendship is the most powerful thing there is. And I'm not gonna let anypony get in the way of my hard work of procuring that power!" What I heard in there, however, just gave me more assurance that that filly is responsible for magic disappearing. She wants power. Magic is power. Therefore, she wants magic. Enough said. "Why pony lead us back down here?" Yona asked as she and the others climbed into the catacombs. "Because I don't know what'll happen if we simply wait for help to arrive. And I don't know if I wanna find it being a bad thing," I explained, "So like I said, there's one more pony we have to free." "Don't get any closer!" I yelled, "Sorry. Just...just don't get any closer. Whatever this is orb thing is...it's emanating some kind of...negative energy. It doesn't seem to affecting you guys though," I said as I looked at the others, "None of you are feeling...angry...right? Sad? Scared?" "A little scared, but not angry nor sad," Ocellus answered, to which the others, sans Gallus and Smolder, agreed. "But what is this orb for exactly? This glyph must mean something," I said as I looked at said glyph. "Who cares? We can shut this thing down by yanking one of these out, right?" Smolder asked as she was about to grab one of the artifacts. "Sure..." Ocellus answered, interrupting Smolder, "...though that would probably cause a magical feedback loop and destroy the whole school." "I know what she said! But we either take a risk at saving Equestria's magic, or we do nothing and let magic disappear. It's your choice," I said, causing the others to think about it, "Sometimes in life, we just gotta take a leap of faith." I guess at that moment though, I was being too hopeful. Before the others can so much as touch the artifacts, they suddenly froze, causing their eyes to widen. I tried to run up to them, but I couldn't move either, as if I was frozen in place. It was then did I notice that the others and I were embedded in red auras. All of a sudden we were all flung away from the giant orb and forcibly kept to the ground, not even being able to stand, not matter how much we struggled. "Oh dear. And just when I thought I was actually starting to like you all." "Cozy Glow?" I asked as I continued to struggle. It was then that I looked closely and noticed something about her. I could feel some kind of aura emanating from her, and it sent more chills up my spine. It felt...dark...evil. Not only her demeanor was different, but her eyes as well. Instead of their usual moderate scarlet color... ...they were blood red. The Adventure of the Apex Legion Written by DeffBwade Chapter 18: Rise of Darkness The more I stared into those red eyes of her's, the more dreadful I started to feel. It's as if they're literally pouring out evil and piercing into my soul. Glancing back at the others, it appeared that they were feeling the same way. "I gotta hand it to all of you," Cozy started to say, "You were so close to stopping my plans. I mean, all you had to do was remove a couple of artifacts and that would've stopped the spell. That's kinda...kinda lame if you think about it," she continued before she scowled, "Unfortunately, I can't have you impede what I worked on for a while. That's just not what friends do. Right?" "Yeah. No offense Cozy, but see you more as an acquaintance than a friend," I said. "Aww," she pouted, "Meh. Oh well. I saw you as an acquaintance too." "I'm sorry, but are we seriously not gonna do something about the fact that we can't move?!" Gallus yelled. "Yeah! And you said you have been working on...whatever this is?!" Smolder pointed at Cozy. "So Legion was right. You're responsible for this...thing. And that must mean you're also responsible for magic disappearing throughout Equestria. And sending our professors on a wild goose chase," Sandbar said. "Guilty as charge," Cozy giggled. "Thank god. Can you imagine what it would be like if I was wrong?" I questioned. "You're an idiot Legion," Smolder said. "But...why pony steal magic?" Yona asked. "Is it because you want power like you told Neighsay?" I asked, "Because if that's the case, then I'd say you have quite enough already. I mean, you're clearly the one holding us down to the ground. How else do you explain the red eyes?" "S-speaking of..." Ocellus whimpered a bit, "Why do your eyes make us feel...uneasy?" "Oh that. That's just a natural effect of being around those who have dark magic," Cozy explained. My eyes widened a bit at this while the others gasped. "So that's why that orb gives off an aura of negativity. It's literally dark magic." Obviously I know all about dark magic. We studied it in one of Headmare Twilight's class. We were supposed to study the different types of magic that exist throughout Equestria. There's normal magic (which unicorns use to for spells, pegasi to fly, and earth ponies to tend to the land), alicorn magic, chaos magic, changeling magic, the magic that Silverstream uses to transform into a seapony, a bunch of other types I don't remember or give a fuck about, and of course there's harmony magic and dark magic. To explain dark magic in the most basic way possible, it's pretty much the polar opposite of my harmony magic. That’s it. The name is pretty self-explanatory. While harmony stems from…well harmony…dark magic stems from disharmony and negativity. Like harmony magic, chaos magic, and alicorn magic, dark magic isn't something you can just procure at your average magical store for 5 bits. Rather, you have to unlock it through...I don't know...some conventional…or unconventional…means, I guess. The only ponies that’s ever known to wield this kind of magic were the Pony of Shadows (which sounds generic as fuck), King Sombra, and Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon seemed to be the only one that was actually corrupted. Not sure about the others though. ”But how is Cozy able to use dark magic? Actually for that matter, why does she have dark magic? Fuck. This is bad." “Holy…dark magic?” I stammered a bit. "I know right? A cute wittle filly like me with dark magic?" she said while puffing up her cheeks in a cute, almost nonchalant way upon seeing our reactions. “What the heck are you doing with dark magic, Cozy?! It’s called ‘dark magic’ for a reason! It’s dangerous!” I said. “Yeah, yeah. It’s dangerous and highly corruptible and I shouldn’t be messing with it. Blah blah blah. Whatever!” she responded with complete disregard to my warning, “As long as it gives me the power that I need…the power that I crave, then I don’t care what happens to me!” We then felt ourselves being lifted up into the air. “But enough talk. I’ve wasted enough time on all of you when I have more business to deal with. Golly. Three days can sure feel like forever,” she continued. “You know I can’t just let you continue this. I have to stop you from doing…whatever it your doing,” I said with confidence. “Yeah! What pony said!” Yona exclaimed, the others agreeing as well. “Oh? And what are you all gonna do? The only one who can stop me at this point is Legion,” Cozy pointed at me before putting on a smug face, “But let’s be honest. We all know there’s a slim chance of that actually happening. After all…he hasn’t reached his full potential in harmony. Haven’t you Legion?” “Shit. So she is aware of my magic,” I thought as my eyes widened a bit, “Although I wonder why she hasn’t done anything to me before I began my training.” As Legion continued to tell his friends about his harmony magic, Cozy continued to eavesdrop from around the corner of one of the bookshelves. “So Legion is gonna be the light in my darkness, eh? Golly. Whatever shall I do?” she thought to herself. She considered her options. On one hoof, she could take him down with her magic right there and then, or when Legion was alone. She has been training enough that she’s able to take down a Timberwolf. A small pegasus like Legion shouldn’t be a problem. Especially since, based on what she has been hearing, he hasn’t had much training yet. On the other hoof, she could leave him alone, let him train and eventually become an adept harmony magic user, and become a damper on her goals. Doing so, however, would give her an opportunity to siphon his harmony magic when it was at its best. Get it over and done with and let her quest occur flawlessly, or do nothing and possibly let him ruin her ruins because she was a greedy, power hungry little filly. Cozy Glow thought about for a few seconds before she realized how obvious the answer was. “Meh. Fuck it.” “I may not have reached my full potential, but I still have my magic nonetheless,” I said with a smile before I focused and blinked forward, thankfully freeing me from Cozy’s grip, and then full on tackled her like a WWE superstar. I then threw the little filly like a rag doll a couple of yards away, making sure not to throw her against a wall. I’m not that much of a monster. Okay, as she slid her head bumped into a wall, making her dizzy and possibly getting a concussion. That part was unintentional, however, so I get a freebie. … Maybe I am that much of a monster. That broke her hold on her levitation spell as I heard the sound of my friends falling to the ground. I turned and ran to them. “You guys alright?” I asked as I helped Ocellus up. “Y-yeah. We’re fine,” Ocellus stammered, although I wasn’t sure whether it was because things are starting to get intense or the fact that I was holding her smooth hoo- “Focus Legion! Now’s not the time for this!” I mentally chastised myself. Yeah, stop getting all lovey dovey with your very cute friend. Ignoring the voice, I glanced at everyone else to make sure they were fine. “Yona will be fine once nasty pony is defeated,” Yona said, Smolder and Gallus agreeing with her. All three of them looked like they were ready for a fight. “H-hold on. Are we really gonna fight Cozy Glow? Because I feel conflicted about fighting a little filly,” I said as I turned around…only to see that Cozy has gotten up and was now floating, a dark red aura surrounding her, eyes now glowing completely red, and an expression basically saying that she wanted to hurt me so bad, “Then again…she has magic that could potentially spell ‘doom’ for all of Equestria.” “But should my friends really be a part of this fight?” I asked myself as I turned back to my friends. Don’t get me wrong, I would’ve appreciated their help very much, but they don’t have harmony magic like me to defend themselves from Cozy’s dark magic. Not to mention that they started to feel the negativity in the environment when Cozy came in. “You know what? Fuck it.” “Guys, I’ll hold off Cozy. You all go get help!” I said to them. “What?! No way!” Silverstream gasped. “Yeah! We’re not gonna let you have all the fun!” Smolder exclaimed. “We’re all in this together dude!” Sandbar said. “This isn’t up for—“ I said before I looked back at the sound of something flying through the air and saw a red orb quickly heading towards us. A lifted my hooves up and put up a shield just in time to block it, although it did make quite a few cracks. “If I didn’t react fast enough, who knew what would’ve happened?” “Guys, I’m the only one that has the means to fight Cozy, and I don’t want you to get caught in the crossfire,” I said before another orb crashed into my shield, creating more dents, “Get the princesses, get Discord, our professors, anyone! I got this!” Another hit to my shield. One more and it will shatter, “Please! I don’t want you guys to get hurt!” The others were hesitant about my decision to send them, which is understandable. But like I said, I’m only doing this to protect them. It was Ocellus that finally broke the silence. “You better be okay by the time we come back!” she yelled. She always knew that I could be a bit stubborn from time to time. I noticed the just the slightest tear starting to form, but she held herself together. “I promise,” I said with a smile. And with that, all of my friends flew towards the exit, with Sandbar and Yona needing to be carried. You sure that was a good idea? I had to. It’s the only way to protect them. “Golly. It seems your ‘friends’ decided to bail on you,” Cozy said, drawing my attention back to her, “Too bad, so sad…but perfect for me.” “Oh. They’re not bailing on me. But that doesn’t matter. You want me, Cozy? Come and get me,” I said confidently as I dropped my shield. Big CGI fight comi—…wait. Why didn’t you tell the others to grab the artifacts? So they can stop the spell that Cozy has got going on? … God fucking damn it! Sigh. Oh well. At least this isn’t a YouTube video or some kind of written story on the Internet. Otherwise people in the comments would just tell me how much of a dumbass I am. Yeah whatever. As I was saying…big CGI fight coming up! I opened my wings and flew towards the little pegasus, prompting her to launch another orb at me. I redirected myself just in time to dodge it, but Cozy only sent more orbs. I zigzagged between each one, some of them getting too close for comfort (I even had to blink a few times), when I finally reached Cozy, she instantly disappeared. It was as if a shadowy mist caused her to implode. “The fuck?” “You’re not the only pegasus that can teleport.” I turned just in time to see another orb, one a bit bigger than the others, but I wasn’t quick enough to dodge it. “Gah!” I screamed as the orb hit me, causing me to fall to the ground. It felt as if electricity was coursing throughout my body. Luckily I was able to reorient myself before I made impact. "Fuck that hurt. So this how people from Dragon Ball Z, Pokemon, Spongebob, or literally any character from anime feel when they get hit like that." "Behind you." I then felt something strike me on the back, launching me away and into a wall. Before I made impact, however, I quickly shielded myself. Unfortunately, it didn't have enough time to fully recover, so my shield completely shattered upon hitting the wall. Spoiler alert, if you're conjuring a shield and something causes it to shatter, it really breaks your focus. And I mean really breaks it. I held a hoof to my temple as I stumbled around a bit, my head being kind of woozy. Mix that with the fact that I can still feel pain along my back, and oh man. It felt as if a wolf slashed its claws at me. With my head still spinning, Cozy reappeared in front of me in a shadowy mist. Her hoof then glowed red before the aura became, and I'm not even exaggerating when I say this...a fucking claw! "Surprise!" she said cheerfully before she lunged at me. I managed to blink away just in time, causing her to slash at the wall instead. I then shrouded myself and quietly retreated behind a rock. Fuck man! "For fuck's sake! She's kicking my ass and I didn't even land a single hit on her!" I thought as I started to catch my breath, only to groan in pain a bit as the pain on my back stung a bit, "Not to mention that that little filly hits like a mother fucker." To be fair, though, I've only been training for a few weeks now. This fight is pretty much a test to...test...my skills. And oh man, I'm failing like a kid that claims that he's allergic to paper. "Aww. Running away now? Come on Legion, I thought you were better than this," I heard Cozy say, false disappointment evident in her voice. If...'false disappointment' is even a term. I peeked out from my cover to see that she was now hovering in the air trying to look for me. "Now's my chance!" I thought as she turned away from where I was hiding. I only had one shot at this because my falcon punch attack drains quite a lot out of me. I opened up my wings and propelled myself towards the little pegasus. Now I know what your thinking. Aren't I being a total dipshit for attacking a child? Well think about all the anime in the world. The main character could like 10 years old and full grown adults attack them with the intent to kill. Only this is real life, so... It's best you don't think about it. I felt my magic coursing around my left hoof. Once I got within striking distance from Cozy, I unshrouded myself and lifted my hoof up. "Hey little clod!" I yelled as I launched my hoof forward...only for it to be stopped as it was shrouded in a red aura. Oh shit. "Hello to you too," Cozy said as she turned towards me before she gave me an almost devilish grin as her hoof became a claw once again. "Oh shit indeed," I thought as she thrusted her claw forward. I couldn't move out of the way due to her levitation, and I felt drained from using all of my magic rapidly. Pain across my chest was all I felt next as I was launched towards the ground, creating even more pain across my body as I impacted said ground. The world was spinning, my vision was getting blurry, and there was yet another orb approaching me. "Ahhh!" I screamed in pain as I was launched yet again and impacted the wall. My breath hitched as I slowly fell to the ground. I tried to move but my body was in too much pain to do so. Not to mention the exhaustion from using too much magic in a short amount of time. I examined my body. My chest had noticeable claw marks running across it. It was a miracle that Cozy didn't manage to hit my wings when she attacked me from behind. My fur was a bit singed from the all the electricity those orbs pumped throughout my body. "You know, I'm quite disappointed in you Legion," Cozy said with a bit of a pout as she floated down in front of me, "I thought for sure you would put up more of a fight. I mean, you went down in only a few hits. And you didn't land one on me." "What can I say? You're one tough filly," I responded, but hissed as I applied pressure to my wounds, "But it won't matter in the end Cozy. And do you know why?" "You know what? I'm curious. Why oh why won't it matter that I'm clearly stronger and more powerful in magic than you?" she asked. "Because my friends are gonna tell every pony about what you got down here," I said simply, "The other students, our professors, the princesses. Every pony will know about this...dark spell you've got going on," I continued as I gestured to said spell. The only response I've gotten from her...was a smile. "That's not a good sign." "Are you sure about that?" she asked. "What are you...?" I said to which she simply just looked at something behind her. I followed her gaze. I wish I hadn't. I saw my friends struggling to escape from the levitation spell that held them in the air, a magenta aura shrouding them. And the one that was casting the spell...was Headmare Twilight. She and the rest of the professors had glowing red eyes and emotionless expressions. "P-professors?" I stammered, "B-but...they should be..." "Thought they should be miles and miles away from Ponyville? Well surprise!" she exclaimed gleefully, "They've been here all this time. I only kept them on stand by just in case somepony managed to find my spell circle." "Oh shit!" I mentally panicked as I looked up to my friends. "Guys!" I yelled as I tried to get up, but my wounds prevented me from doing so. They all gasped as they noticed the condition I was in. "Legion!" Ocellus cried out as she increased her struggles, but it was all for nought. "Aww! Isn't that sweet? Your friends really do care about you," Cozy said. "Let go of them! Now!" I demanded as I put a hoof down in an effort to get back up, but the singed fur stung a bit more upon pressure being applied to it, causing me to fall back down. "But why would I do that? Like I told Chancellor Neighsay, I can't have any pony get in the way of my plans," she responded. "What plans?! Why are you doing this?" I demanded. What motives could she have that would lead to stealing magic from Equestria and brain washing our professors? "Because I have to," Cozy said in a far more serious tone then I've ever expected from a little filly like her, only to go back to her innocent demeanor as she turned and flew up to my friends, "But it doesn't matter. Because right now you're the only one that can get in the way of what I've got planned. All I have to do is remove you from the equation." My eyes widened as she held up a hoof and another orb started to form, and it only grew bigger and bigger in size until it became as big as her. She then turned her head towards me, her eye briefly flashing even brighter as she gave that devilish grin again. "And I'll be sure that your friends are here to watch," she said, causing the others to panic, pleading to her not to do it. Cozy didn't care what they said. Time seemed to slow down as she turned and shot the orb towards me, electricity crackling around it. I tried to move, blink away, put up a shield, but I couldn't. Once again, I was in too much pain and my magic was drained. All I could was watch as it continued to fly towards me. I looked back up to my friends. They all had saddened looks on their faces, even Gallus and Smolder. Sandbar, Silverstream, and Ocellus were full on shedding tears. So...this is it, huh? We die fighting? Because that's quite a badass death. They say that your life flashes before your eyes before you die. I can now say that it's a true fact. I thought back to all the memories I had with my friends. Meeting them, becoming their roommate, all the classes and hangouts we had. Yada yada. I managed to smile a bit at all the happy memories I had with them. I then did the only thing I could've then right then and there. I closed my eyes. Cozy's darkness orb finally impacted the young pegasus, resulting in an explosion and debris and dust flying everywhere. As the dust started to settle, the six creatures pleaded that their friend was still alive. Legion wasn't exactly the strongest pony around, but they knew that he was still pretty tough. Unfortunately, when the dust finally settled, all they saw was a spiderweb of cracks. No sign that there friend was still alive. "NOOO!" they all cried out. "Golly. Maybe I put too much power into that," Cozy said nonchalantly as she observed the damage, before she shrugged, "Oh well. He's gone. That's all that matters to me." "You monster!" Ocellus cried out, tears pouring down from her eyes, "How could you do that to Legion?! H-he was our friend!" "Yeah. Your friend, not mine. I couldn't care less about what happened to him," Cozy responded. That response truly stumped all of them, especially Sandbar. Never have they thought that a pony out of all species could be so evil. The only exceptions would be Nightmare Moon, King Sombra, and the Pony of Shadows. "How could nasty pony be so...nasty?!" Yona exclaimed. "Oh if only you knew," she said before she smiled, "Now then...what should I do with all of you?"