"Apple Bloom, what have you three done!?" asked Applejack as she tried to regain her balance after the earthquake. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes.
"What have we been talkin' about this whole time? We just awoke ancient gods to destroy all of Equestria," said Apple Bloom.
"I mean, did you guys think we were kidding?" asked Scootaloo.
Twilight stood up and with a look of fear on her face.
"Princess Celestia, what are we going to do?" asked Twilight. Celestia slowly got to her hooves before answering.
"Like I said, we need to destroy the book! If we do that then all of this can be undone and the demons will lose enough power that they can be defeated with the Elements of Harmony! They have not completed the second ritual yet which means that the ancient gods have not actually broken through, but they do have enough power to choose their harbingers."
"Are you sayin' we need to destroy this book?" said Apple Bloom. Twilight looked aver and gasped when she saw that Apple Bloom had somehow gotten her saddlebag and was now pulling the book out of it. To the horror of all, it was glowing blood red. Applejack slowly began walking up to the possessed fillies.
"Apple Bloom, I just want you to know that we here ain't mad at ya. We just want to stop you from doin' somethin' foolish. Now, if you do anythin' funny with that book, then I will hafta be mad so please, don't do anythin' bad!"
"Oh Applejack, it'll be okay," said Sweetie Belle, taking the book from Apple Bloom and putting it on the ground. "Trust us when we say that we know what we are doing."
Before anyone could do anything at all, the Cutie Mark Crusaders all put a hoof on the book. The red glow brightened considerably and it began engulfing the fillies.
"NO!" said Celestia fearfully but it was far too late to stop what was happening. When the red glow had engulfed the fillies entirely, it quickly switched to a jet black color. Twilight began to walk closer to it, hoping for a spell that could reverse whatever was happening but she was held back by Celestia.
"It's too late," said Celestia. At these words, a powerful vibration rocked the library, sending books and ponies flying once again. Twilight found herself slamming against a nearby bookcase and she immediately felt a sharp pain in her right foreleg. She groaned and tried to stand back up but the pain in her leg made her collapse once more. She could only watch as the black glow around the Crusaders pulsated a few more times before it began shrinking.
When it completely rescinded, Twilight gave a loud gasp of shock at what she saw, as did the rest of the group.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were no longer standing in front of them. Or at least, not the Crusaders that Twilight knew and loved. Instead, before them stood three large alicorns, just as large as Princess Celestia herself, it not a tad larger. The distinct coloration of the three left no doubt in Twilight's mind that these were the Cutie Mark Crusaders. However, instead of their normal eye colors, their eyes were all jet black with a red ring in the middle.
The three alicorns looked at each other with elated expressions.
"Look at us!" said Scootaloo excitedly. "We're alicorns now!" Twilight noted that Scootaloo's voice was deeper, but still distinctly Scootaloo's. It was as if the book had aged them twenty years.
"I know that the book said that the ancient evil we awoke would reward us beyond our wildest dreams, but this is amazin'!" said Apple Bloom.
"Do you think we have our cutie marks?" asked Sweetie Belle.
Immediately the three ponies turned to the sides and looked at their flanks. Emblazoned on each of their flanks were white pony skulls with blood dripping from the teeth.
The Crusaders looked at them quizzically before they broke out into wide smiles again.
"Heck, I'll take it!" said Apple Bloom.
"Me too!" said Scootaloo.
"What do you think they mean?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Well," said Apple Bloom thoughtfully. "If the evil voices in my head whisperin' dark commands to my sub-conscious are anythin' to go by, I'd say that they mean that we are the tools of the destruction of these pathetic lands."
"NO!" growled Celestia. "I will not let you do that!" Sweetie Belle smirked at her.
"Oh, and who's gonna stop us, you?" she asked smugly.
"Yes!" said Celestia as she fired up her horn, ready to obliterate the Crusaders.
"Before ya try that," said Apple Bloom, holding up a hoof to stop her. "I want to take a little poll." Celestia's horn powered down and she looked at them confusedly.
"A poll?" she asked. Apple Bloom nodded.
"Yes, a poll." she said. "Okay, so there have been three major threats to Equestria in the past few years right? Discord, Nightmare Moon, and the Changeling invasion. Now, raise your hoof if you had the power to stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony."
The room looked at Apple Bloom silently, none of them quite sure where she was going with this.
"Okay, how many of you had the power to stop Discord without the Elements of Harmony?"
The room was silent once more.
"Okay Celestia, this one's for you: when you and the Changeling Queen got in that duel durin' the weddin' which one of you got their flank kicked by the other?"
Celestia glared at Apple Bloom but Apple Bloom merely gave her a cutesy smile.
"Now, the Changeling Queen was powered by Shinin' Armor's love for Cadence, right? That's all it took for her to become more powerful than you are." Apple Bloom used her new magic and picked up the book. "But we are powered by this, a book so powerful that even openin' it can possess a pony. It can summon all-powerful demons upon this world to destroy it."
"That's enough," said Celestia angrily.
"I guess what I'm gettin' at here," said Apple Bloom. "Is that we're more powerful right now than the Changeling Queen was when she defeated you. Much more powerful."
"Princess Celestia," said Twilight. "Your note said that you brought the Elements with you?" Princess Celestia suddenly looked very uncomfortable at Twilight's observation.
"Well...it is a possibility that I left them in the chariot," said Celestia.
"You left your only line of defense without any protection in your chariot?" said Scootaloo incredulously. "How ridiculous is that!?"
"Twilight, I need you and your friends to get behind me now," said Celestia. "I have a plan."
"I'd love to hear it," said Scootaloo.
"Of course," said Celestia. "You see--"
Before the Crusaders could react, Celestia shot a bright white beam of magic directly at Apple Bloom that hit her squarely in the face, knocking her back against the wall. The dazed Apple Bloom dropped the book and Celestia used it as an opportunity to throw it in Twilight's direction. Twilight caught it and quickly put it in Applejack's saddlebag.
"GO!" said Celestia. "I'll hold them off, get to Canterlot as fast as you can!"
"Seriously Celestia," said Scootaloo. "You have to remember that we're two feet in front of you and can hear every word you say!"
The six ponies and one dragon ran out the door before Celestia turned back to them and fired another spell at Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle was quick to react and she immediately put a force field up to protect Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom quickly got to her hooves and shot a jet black beam of magic towards Celestia. Celestia easily dodged it and shot a spell that created a giant mirror in front of the trajectory of Apple Bloom's spell. The mirror caused the spell to ricochet and it zoomed back towards it caster who had to duck to get out of the way. The spell hit the wall behind her and left a giant crater in the wall.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both took to the air and began rapidly firing green beams of energy at Celestia, a move soon copied by Apple Bloom Celestia promptly swung her wing over her body, causing a wall of fire to appear that absorbed all of the beams. Celestia fired up her horn which began glowing brighter and brighter with each spell that her fiery shield absorbed.
At the exact second that the horn was glowing so bright that it blinded the Crusaders, Celestia swung her wing out and a gigantic green wave flew from Celestia, knocking the Crusaders into the wall and reducing the contents of the library to piles of ash.
The Crusaders laid on the ground, dazed from Celestia's spell. Celestia landed on the ground with a look of grim satisfaction on her face.
"You may be more powerful than I am, but you are foolish to think that I do not have better control of the powers that I do have. Do you seriously think that I have not dueled beings of immense power before?"
"Yeah, and like I said, you got your flank handed to you by Chrysalis," said Apple Bloom.
"I meant besides that!" said Celestia. "What I lack in power compared to you three I make up for in experience and control."
"How about endurance?" asked Scootaloo.
"What?" asked Celestia. The Cutie Mark Crusaders slowly rose to their hooves, looking no worse for wear.
"What she means is, how long can you take vicious punishment as opposed to us?" said Sweetie Belle. "I mean, if we can take your worst attacks without much of a scratch for hours on end, then what can you do against ours?"
Despite herself, Celestia took a nervous step back. The Crusaders saw this brief display of weakness and grinned evilly at her.
"See, we won't deny that your attack just now did hurt," said Apple Bloom.
"It hurt quite a lot actually," said Scootaloo with a nod.
"It was well done," said Sweetie Belle.
"But the fact remains that we are still standin', even after that attack. But what about you?"
"What could you do against us?" said Sweetie Belle. Celestia's eyes narrowed and her horn fired up once more. The Crusaders steadied themselves and fired up their horns too.
"Ya know, you really should just let us begin commandin' the armies of the undead," said Apple Bloom. "It would save us all a whole lotta trouble."
With a cry of anger, Celestia rose into the air and began emitting massive amounts of magic. A gigantic whirlwind appeared and everything in the room, Crusaders included, was swept up in the massive windstorm and thrown around like rag dolls. Celestia slammed the Crusaders into every solid surface that she could find as well as shooting beams of magic at them, all of which hit dead on the mark.
However, the Crusaders were not out of it yet, even in that state. The three of them fired up their horns and began shooting beams of magic at Celestia as well who had to lessen the amount of magic she was emitting to create the windstorm so she could begin focusing on blocking their spells. It was all of the opening that Sweetie Belle needed to send a wave of energy throughout the library to completely stop the storm.
With the Crusaders back on their feet, they began putting more power into their spells. To her horror, Celestia felt herself becoming weaker and weaker with each passing second. The windstorm had taken a lot out of her and she wasn't sure how much longer she could keep this up.
However, after a few seconds the Crusaders let up and instead stood in front of Celestia without aggression.
"Give up yet?" asked Scootaloo.
"NEVER!" said Celestia.
"Oh come on," said Apple Bloom. "You're clearly tired. We ain't gonna hurt you any if you surrender both yourself and your lands to our dark overlords."
"We think that We might have something to say about that!" said a powerful voice from behind them. The Crusaders turned around to see a livid Princess Luna standing in the doorway of the wrecked library. Behind her were Twilight and her friends.
"Twilight," said Celestia. "What are you doing here? Where is the book?"
"We hid it after we ran into Luna who was on her way here to help you," said Twilight. "It's in a safe place."
"Uh, you didn't hide it in the secret cider cellar that my sister keeps insisting we don't have, did ya?" asked Apple Bloom. Twilight's jaw nearly hit the floor.
"I guess they did," said Scootaloo.
"Enough!" said Luna. "We are here to put an end to this once and for all! Our sister may be powerful, but when it comes to the art of combat she is woefully lacking!"
"You can say that again," said Sweetie Belle. Luna fired up her horn and took an aggressive stance.
"We think that you will find that We are a much more dangerous foe!" said Luna.
"Maybe," said Apple Bloom. "But why would we waste time fightin' you right now?"
"Yeah, I mean, we know where the book is so why don't we just go get that and begin our reign?" said Scootaloo.
Before Luna could respond, the Crusaders fired up their horns and teleported out of the room. Luna fired a beam of energy too late to stop them.
"Oh no, the book!" said Twilight fearfully. "They're going to get the book!"
Author's note.
I would like to begin by thanking everypony who has read this story. I wouldn't be doing this without people like you helping me along. In that vein, I would love to submit this story (and others) to Equestria Daily but I am in need of a pre-reader(s). If that is something that interests you, do let me know. Thank you very much! I would also like to say that I do know where I am going with this and I think you'll all be pleased with it going forward.