//------------------------------// // The Darkness Takes Root // Story: Apple Wedding // by Rakoon1 //------------------------------// Having realized the meaning of Lord of Order’s words, Twilight gathered her friends and, when they arrived, she told them: "Girls, thank you for all your efforts. We are close to release Sky from the chaos control.” "And Ah must say it wasn’t easy" Applejack said. "Doin’ that pony confess was really a complicat’d task." "Tell me about it" Rarity agreed. "I had to use all my ingenuity to get the right words to say to make him to donate money to a generous cause." "And have you seen his sense of humor?" Pinkie Pie asked. "He laughed at me because I hurt myself. I mean, it was very funny, but what kind of sense of humor is that? Nopony has a sense of humor so twisted. I’m glad I managed to improve it, because otherwise..." But she didn’t finished, because Rainbow Dash interrupted, saying: "I thought my gift wasn’t cool, but you should have seen me use it to use Sky’s memories to revive his loyalty by his friends and family." "In my situation, I had a great help from Angel" Fluttershy said. "I think if it was not for him, I wouldn’t have been able to keep the kindness in Sky’s heart." "Yes, it seems all of you had difficulty even using the gifts" Twilight observed. "Yes, it seemed like something was trying to make Sky refuse our help" Rarity said. "Did some of you also find the same thing?" "Ya're right, Rarity" Applejack agreed. "It look’d like he was listenin’ someone else without being us." "And when I was able to access Sky's memory, something reminded him bad things and I couldn’t control it." "And my Pinkie sense told me that there was somepony in the public beyond Sky that wasn’t having fun" Pinkie Pie said. "And my animals told me they felt something dark prowling Sky" Fluttershy said. "They were very frightened. Even I was nervous for them." "And I think I know exactly what may be causing it" Twilight said. "It is Sky’s dark desire." The others made a confused look. Twilight then explained: "Remember what the Lord of Order told me? About I have to study the cause? What he meant is that I had to study what caused Sky to be corrupted by the Lord of Chaos. " "That's easy," Rainbow Dash said. "It was his stupidity." "Rainbow, this is serious" Twilight said. "And I'm serious" she replied. "If Sky was not stupid enough to go for help to the Lord of Chaos, we would not be in this situation." "Yes, of course, but you're forgetting what made him do it" Twilight said. The other mares thought for a while and then Applejack said: "Of course! Cherry Blossom! It was 'cause of her that Sky left tha Lord of Chaos corrupt him.” "Exactly!" Twilight said. "Because of his desire to be with her again." "Is that what you mean with dark desire, darling?" Rarity asked. "Precisely" Twilight answered. "And that's my job. Delete this desire." The other continued without understanding anything. "What do you mean, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked. "Yes, explains to us as if we were five years old" Rainbow Dash said. "But we are not five years old, silly" Pinkie Pie say to Rainbow. "If we were five years old, we would be small and lovely fillies." “It was a way of speaking, Pinkie" Rainbow said. "Oh!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Now, I understand." "I honestly doubt about it" Rainbow said. "Continue, sugarcube" Applejack said to Twilight. "Well, it happens that this desire to be with Cherry Blossom again made Sky become corrupted and come to Equestria" she continued. "The Lord of Chaos used this dark desire to activate the Elements of Chaos in Sky. This desire is Black Magic and it’s my duty to use my element, Magic, to neutralize the magic the Lord of Chaos cast in Sky’s desire." "Well, it seems simple" Rainbow Dash said, raising flight. "You only have to use your horn and... Bam! Sky goes back to the Order side and the Lord of Order can take him back to his world." "You are completely wrong, Rainbow" Twilight said. "It's not that easy." "Oh, come on, for a headegg like you is quite simple" Rainbow Dash said, carefree. "Rainbow Dash, if Twilight says it’s not so easy, it’s because it’s not" Rarity said. "But she says the same for all the great spells she does and it happens to be simple enough for her." "Yes, Rainbow, but this time is different" Twilight answered. "Cleaning a dark desire is something very delicate. First, it’s necessary that the magic within him is latent. It was for this reason that the Lord of Order sent you to use your use elements in Sky first. And then there is the magic itself. It would be like using a double-edged sword." "Uh!" Pinkie exclaimed excitedly. "It will be a sword fight? I love sword fights! If you like, Twilight, I can lend you one of my swords I have at home." That made all look at her. Rarity asked: "You have swords at home? Why? " "The question you should do, Rarity, is why you don’t have swords at home" Pinkie Pinkie said. "Thank you, Pinkie, but there will be no sword fight" said Twilight. "It was just a way of speaking." "Oh!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, disillusioned. "I hate ways of speaking." "What I mean is that if I'm not careful in what I'll do, I can end up reviving the Black Magic and this will eventually reactivate the other Elements of Chaos with more strength." "So we can have the bad Sky again, but a thousand times worse?" Applejack asked. Twilight nodded. "Oh, my!" Fluttershy said. "That would be terrible!" "But the worst isn’t this" Twilight said. "What could be worse than the return of the rude and cruel Sky?" Rarity asked. "The worst is I don’t have much time to perfect the spell before using it on Sky" Twilight replied. "I mean, I know the spell indicated for this, but I never tested it before and time is not on our side. It will not be long until Black Magic reactivates the other Elements of Chaos and everything returns to the beginning. If this happens, we will not have the gifts to help us to prepare the ground again. Spike! Did you find the book?" "Here" the little dragon replied, coming up with a great book. Twilight caught it with her magic and opened it and flipped it ahead and then stopped, saying: "Here it is. It says here that will help if I show him or tell him something of great emotional shock which may cause him to relinquish his desire. That's the secret. If Sky abdicates his dark desire, then its magic will be destroyed.” "But what can cause great emotional shock to Sky?" Applejack asked. There was a pause in which all thought and then Rainbow Dash said: "Wait, I think I know. Remember that I stood on his head. I saw his memories and I noticed that there were what appeared to be very important to him. The memories with Cherry." "But how does Cherry can help Sky to give up from his wish?" Applejack said. "I understand what Rainbow is trying to say" Twilight said. "Sky may want Cherry Blossom, but I bet her happiness is a priority for him. If we show him how happy Cherry is here in Ponyville and with Big Mac next to her and join my magic to destroy his desire’s magic..." "He may loosen himself from tha desire and return to tha light side" Applejack concluded. "That's brilliant!" Rarity exclaimed. "We already have a plan." "Hurray!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "Party?" "Not yet, Pinkie" Fluttershy said. "First, we have yet to save Sky from the darkness." "And how do we do this?" Rarity asked. "I don’t know if you've noticed, but Sky is obsessed with Cherry and he hates Big Mac. It will not be easy to convince him that Cherry is better and happier with Big Mac." It was really a problem. How to put the idea into practice. "Wait, Ah might have somethin’" Applejack said. "It's a bit risky, but it may be our only chance." "Tell me, Applejack" Twilight said. "Mah brother told me that he and Cherry were invit’d tah a picnic from Apple Bloom and her friends by sunset" Applejack said. "They should be certifyin’ that those two stay together." "I get it" Twilight said. "You want to make Sky look how Cherry Blossom is happy with Big McIntosh when they are at the picnic." Applejack nodded. "Well, it's an idea" Twilight said. "Say the only one we have" Rainbow Dash said. "Yes, but can this also upset Sky?" Fluttershy asked. "It shouldn’t be too easy to see the mare he loves being happy next to another stallion." "Fluttershy’s right" Twilight agreed. "Everything will depend on me." When the sun was setting, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had just prepared the picnic in the countryside near the gazebo. "Okay, gals, let's see if we have everythin’" Apple Bloom said to her friends. "Food." "Check" Scootaloo said, gesturing to the food they had put on the towel. "Music." "Check" Sweety Belle said, taking a radio from the basket. "Telescope tah see tha stars after dark" Apple Bloom said, pointing to a telescope they had brought. "Check." "Now we just have to wait for the couple in question to arrive" Sweety Belle said. "I just hope they do not take too long" Scootaloo said. "I'm getting hungry, just seeing all this food." "Well then I'm glad we arrive" a voice said. They looked and saw Cherry Blossom and Big McIntosh arriving. "Oh, we are glad ya came" Apple Bloom said. "We were even now givin’ the final preparations." "Well, you have not forgotten anything" Cherry Blossom noted. "Food, music… and even a telescope. It seems you struggled much, isn’t that right, Big Mac?" "Eeyup" he agreed. "We just want you to have a nice evening... with us" Sweety Belle replied. "Yes, we like your company" Scootaloo said. "Well then let's go eat, before it gets late" Cherry said. A little further away, Twilight was wearing her crown. She could see the picnic happening. She just hoped this plan would work. She heard hooves and she turned, watching Sky approaching. "They told me you wanted to see me, Princess Twilight" Sky said. "Please, call me Twilight" she asked. "So why did you want to see me?" Sky asked. Twilight took a deep breath and then replied: "I want you to see something." She then motioned and Sky looked where Twilight was pointing. He could see Cherry Blossom with Big Mac and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "But what is that?" He asked. "I wanted you to see this for you to understand one thing" Twilight said. "What? That I have to hurry to separate those two before they get married?" "No. Sky, don’t you understand? Look at Cherry.” He thus saw her laughing, while the little fillies made their mischief while Big McIntosh was hugging her. "She's happy" Twilight said. "Very happy. If you love her, so her happiness should be a priority for you." "But she'd be much happier with me" Sky said. "She was always in her happiest beside me. We went through a lot of things." "I don’t doubt about it, Sky, but, believe me, love is not only standing alongside those we love" Twilight said. "Love is to sacrifice ourselves for them, even if it is a life along them." Sky didn’t answer, merely looking at the scene of the picnic. Twilight got close and told him, putting her hoof on his shoulder: "Let her live the life she chose, Sky. If you truly love her, let her go." Thinking it was the right time, Twilight concentrated her magic on her horn that began to glow. It didn’t take long till her element also began to shine. Twilight closed her eyes and then began to feel Sky’s heart. She could hear it beating. But she couldn’t just feel it. She could feel his aura. It was a bubbly and bright aura, the soul of someone noble and brave, a warrior. It was then that she noticed a small spot in the middle of all that bright. It was like a big stain on a dress. It was black, dirty and disgusting, however latent. It seemed to be asleep, perhaps due to all the interventions made by her friends. She advanced to it and began to fight against it, striving to the utmost to eliminate this stain. She felt she was getting it. This stain had begun to decline. Sky was ready to drop his desire. It wouldn’t get long to free him from the Lord of Chaos’ influence. Then, suddenly, a powerful force hit Twilight and threw her back. She would fall hard on the ground if she hadn’t used her levitation spell on herself to bolster her from the fall. Twilight then looked and saw, next to Sky, who was in a state of trance due to the spell, a very similar figure to the Lord of Order, but rather more sinister and darker. He laughed evilly. "Who are you?" Twilight asked. "Why are you asking that when you know perfectly well who I am, princess?" the Lord of Chaos asked. "You are the Lord of Chaos, right?" Twilight asked. "Exactly," he replied. "The lord of all that is dark and bad. The biggest of all nightmares. And I have to admit, you and your friends played quite well for fledglings. I never thought you would get so far with your quest to change Sky before all his potential could blossom." "Why are you doing this?" Twilight asked. "Why did you want to corrupt Sky in the first place? You must have had a reason for that." "In fact I have a reason to have helped this loser" the Lord of Chaos replied. "You know, by a long time, I have tried to rule this world. My brother arrived here before me and lit it with his light. However, if the light comes to a place, the darkness will soon to appear sooner or later and that's what happened. I arrived and I infected this world with my darkness. The evidence of my influence is the Desolate Zone and the Changelings." "So it was you who created the Changelings." "But of course it was me. And it did a lot more than what you can imagine. But unfortunately, my brother always managed to control my chaos and darkness in this world, one thing that I want to change." "And what has Sky to do with all this?" Twilight asked. "Isn’t it obvious?" the Lord of Chaos asked back. "I used this fool as a vessel to my darkness. I only had to wait for it to mature enough to then break free and spread. And my brother was convinced that I didn’t have much interest in Sky and sent you to deal with him. He was so naive. I must confess that, at the beginning, I never thought you could go so long and that was enough to me whisper in his ear a few things to keep him from getting carried away, but I underestimated you and you almost managed to ruin my plan." Twilight contorted her face and said: "This is not over. If you think you going to win, you're very much wrong." "But I've already won" the Lord of Chaos said. "Do you want to see it?” He then turned to Sky and began to say him: "She may be happy with him, but don’t you think that Bloom would be better off with you?" Noticing that the Lord of Chaos was doing, Twilight says: "Sky, don’t listen him!" But she couldn't say anything else, because the Lord of Chaos gestured and incapacitated Twilight to say anything else. "Think about it" he continued. "You sacrificed everything for her. You sacrificed everything you were for her. Quitting now would be throwing everything to the trash." "Yes, I sacrificed everything for Bloom" Sky said, still in his trance. "I sacrificed myself to be able to have her by my side." "You'll not let a farmpony steal your princess from you, will you?" the Lord of Chaos asked. "No, I won’t really" Sky said in a more serious and somber tone. Then a wave of visible darkness began to surround him. Twilight couldn’t believe that this was happening. Sky was being dominated by darkness, but in a completely different way. "So go there reclaim what is rightfully yours" the Lord of Chaos said. "Yes" Sky said, advancing. Twilight then felt the spell of the Lord of Chaos release her and she said: "Sky, please don’t do that!" "Too late, my dear" the Lord of Chaos said. "The pieces are already in motion." Sky approached the picnic. The fillies jumped happily, while Cherry and Big Mac watched them, smiling. Everything changed when Sky appeared there. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo stopped immediately jumping and Cherry Blossom and Big McIntosh’s face became stern. "Sky?" Cherry asked. "What are you doing here?" "Claim what is mine" he replied, making a sly smile. Upon hearing that and seeing him beginning to advance, Big McIntosh placed himself just in front of his beloved and then told to the three little fillies: "Gals, put yerselves behind Cherry." "But..." Apple Bloom started. "Now!" Big McIntosh exclaimed. They did so. "Look at that" said Sky. "The big red pony trying to be bold." "Ah do everythin’ tah protect those Ah love" he replied. "What a cute" Sky joked. "But useless." "Sky, but what's wrong with you?" Said Cherry. "This is not you. You are not like this." "Of course I am" he replied. "Believe me when I say I've never been so true in my life. And now, let's get to it." And began to advance and Big Mac took the fighting stance. It was then there was an explosion of light and Twilight appeared between two and exclaimed: "ENOUGH!" She used his magic to create a barrier that launched against Sky who pushed him to a couple of meters away. "Enough, Sky!" Twilight said. "This has to stop." "Twilight" Cherry Blossom said. "Please, Sky, stop this madness" Twilight said. "You can say whatever you want, dear princess" a voice said. "But you know perfectly well that it will not work." Twilight and the others looked up and saw the Lord of Chaos in the air, watching the scene. "Sky is now mine and mine he will stay" he continued. "Now the only way to stop him is you give him what he want: the lovely and beautiful Cherry Blossom." "Hey, who is that character?" Scootaloo asked. "He looks like the Lord of Order" Cherry said. "Who is the Lord of Order?" Apple Bloom asked. "I answer who he is, my little one" the Lord of Chaos replied. "The Lord of the Order is my silly brother who thinks he's the best just because he controls everything that is good and says that his justice is righteous only because he tries to preserve the balance. I, on the other hand, am his perfidious brother who, by the way, is much more handsome and smarter." "And more modest" Twilight mocked. "Oh, Twilight, your sarcasm touches me" the Lord of Chaos replied, making a false thrilled look. "Wait, if you are the Lord of Order’s brother, that means..." Cherry began. "Yes, I’m the great and powerful... Lord of Chaos!" the Lord of Chaos shouted. He started laughing, while black clouds appeared and began to thunder, making the little fillies crouch with fear. The Lord of Chaos stopped laughing and the thunders stopped. "Did you liked the thunder effect" he asked. "I thought a moment like this needed a bit of drama." "It was you who did this to Sky, wasn’t it?" Cherry asked, advancing angrily. "It was you who made him act like an evil madman." "As if it was me who caused him to come to me and do all this" the Lord of Chaos said. "No, my dear, it was your ex that came to me and gave himself to me." That information shocked Cherry Blossom who asked: "What?" "You didn’t know?" the Lord of Chaos asked. "Twilight and company didn’t tell you?" Cherry looked to Twilight. Seeing her look that way, Twilight felt guilty for not telling Cherry what had really happened. After all, everything was about her. "Twilight?" The alicorn princess sighed and said: "Look, Cherry, I and the others didn’t say anything because we think the truth could leave you even more troubled than you were for hearing about Sky’s return but..." "But what?" "But the truth is Sky lied when he said to you that was the Lord of Order who brought him here" Twilight said. "It was the Lord of Chaos who did that, and for this, he corrupted Sky using the Elements of Chaos, the opposite magic of the Elements of Harmony." That statement left Cherry Blossom completely shocked. She turned to Sky and asked him: "Why, Sky? Why did you do that? " "I did it because I love you and want you by my side" he replied. "Heck, we've been through a lot. I will not let that stop me from being with you forever. And it will happen, you can be sure about that." Big McIntosh placed himself in front of Cherry Blossom and told to Sky: "Ya’ll never make Cherry tah do somethin’ she doesn’t want. Ah won’t let ya." "I also won’t let you to do something stupid, Sky" Twilight said. "You see, Sky?" the Lord of Chaos asked. "Those two are in the way between you and Bloom. They are preventing you from being happy. They are obstacles. And what do you do with obstacles?" "I... DESTROY THEM!" He bellowed. Then there was an explosion of black energy coming from Sky, which was wrapped in an immense darkness which began to spread to everywhere. He then launched his darkness to Twilight that was pulled away as a whip and then shot a ray of darkness that hit Big McIntosh, throwing him to the ground, unconscious. "BIG MAC!" Cherry Blossom and Apple Bloom shouted They and the other two fillies came to him. "No, Big Mac" Cherry cried, lifting his head. "Yes, that's right!" the Lord of Chaos cried, seeing how their darkness spread and entrench into the ground. "More anger, more jealousy, more obsession! Keep going, Sky. Continue releasing my darkness." Twilight got up and saw things were completely out of control. Sky was out of control. He was completely overwhelmed by the darkness of the Lord of Chaos and was spreading it. If things continue like this, it would not later until the Lord of Chaos’ influence in that world increase tremendously. She had to do something, but what? For her to get free Sky, she needed the other Elements of Harmony were still activated within Sky. Then she heard a voice that belonged to the Lord of Order saying: "Remember, your element and its opposite element, although they are opposites of each other, work in the same way." At these words, a light shone in Twilight’s eyes. She knew what to do. If the Lord of Chaos had used black magic to reactivate the other Elements of Chaos, so she could do the same with the Elements of Harmony introduced by the others and that were disabled. She teleported again to the middle of Sky and the others, standing facing Sky. "My dear, why don’t you give up?" the Lord of Chaos asked. "It's too late. You lost and I won." "You should never celebrate too soon, Lord of Chaos" she said. "You never know what can happen." She then closed her eyes and concentrated the magic contained in her element. Her horn began to glow as well as the element. Seeing this, the Chaos Lord asked: "Wait, what are you doing?" Twilight opened her eyes that had been turned entirely into white and replied: "Doing the same thing you did. I'll reactivate the Elements of Harmony within Sky. Once I do that, I can remove the black spot you infected him with." "You really think it will be that easy?" the Lord of Chaos asked. "Don’t be naive, Twilight." "That's what we'll see" she replied. And then she fired a bright ray of his horn, reaching Sky that wavered and stayed in place. She concentrated, feeling herself penetrating into the darkness in Sky’s heart. It hurt her just doing that, but she had to endure and find the Elements of Harmony to reactivate them. "You can try all you want, my dear" the Lord of Chaos replied, while watching. "You'll never get it." "Come on, Twilight " Cherry encourage. "I know you're capable of doing it." Twilight sank further into Sky’s darkness. It was painful, but she could handle as much as he could. Then she found it: the Elements of Harmony. Using her magic, she began to reactivated them. She then felt Sky’s darkness trying to stop her, but, using all her determination, she continued the spell until the elements began to shine. It was the opportunity she needed. Then she hastened to perform the spell to remove the darkness and when it wrapped her completely to expel her, there was a huge explosion that destroyed it. Sky began to glow with a light as he screamed and those that stood nearly closed their eyes as the light was present, and when it lifted, they opened their eyes and saw Sky falling on the ground unconscious. The darkness that came out of him was gone. "No way!" the Lord of Chaos exclaimed, incredulous. "My plan... failed!" Frustrated with his plan’s failure, the Lord of Chaos was filled with darkness and disappeared. Gasping, Twilight turned to Cherry and said: "It's okay, I freed the Sky." She seemed to be relieved, but she was still nervous and Twilight realized it was because of Big McIntosh. "But what happened here?" Sweetie Belle said. "Yes, I still liked to know" Scootaloo said. "Gals, don’t ya see that we have more important things in mind?" Apple Bloom aske angrily, with her eyes filled with tears. "Mah brother is hurt." "I think I can do something about it" a voice said. All turned and saw the Lord of Order and, as they didn’t know him, the fillies were soon frightened, thinking he was the Lord of Chaos. "Oh no!" they exclaimed. "He's back!" "Don’t be afraid" Twilight calmed them hastily. "He’s not the Lord of Chaos, he is the Lord of Order. Don’t worry, he's good... most of the times." The Lord of the Order approached Cherry who was crying on the edge of Big McIntosh, cuddled up and said: "I’m sorry for not having prevented Sky from going to my brother, but I did my best to redeem myself by guiding Twilight and her friends to help me bring him back to our side." "I don’t blame you, but even so, the cost was too high" said Cherry. "Big Mac came out hurt because of me." The Lord of the Order then put his hand on Big Mac’s forehead and emitted a light that made him shine and, when it was over, Big Mac began to wake up and open his eyes. "What happen’d?" he asked, tremulously. "Big Mac" Cherry and Apple Bloom exclaimed, overjoyed, hugging him. "Hey, calm down, calm down" he said, causing them to drop him. "What happen’d?" "You were attacked by Sky" Apple Bloom said. "But after that, the Lord of Order healed you" Cherry said. The Lord of the Order stood up and started going to Sky as he left them taking their time. By passing by Twilight, he said: "Congratulations, Princess Twilight" he said. "You did well today. As well as the others." "We just did what we had to do" she replied. "Not only because it was the right thing to do, but also for our friends." She then looked at Sky unconscious and then asked: "He'll be okay, right?" "Don’t worry about him" he said. "I'll take him back to his world and he should be good. He can be marked for life. Nobody comes out unscathed after something like that. See you out there, princess." He then moved to Sky, crouched and touched him, sending an immense brightness and then disappearing. -------------------------------------- In the room of the Lord of Chaos’ castle, he came out of one of the mirrors and said: "That damned alicorn ruined my plans!" He turned into black smoke, heading to his throne where he appeared sitting. "If she had used the spell a little later, just a little later..." he said. "Sky gave me more influence in that world, but I need more!" And to vent his frustrations, he launched a black beam from his spear against one of the mirrors whose glass broke into several pieces, returning afterwards to regenerate. After doing that, he seemed to calm down a little bit and then said: "It doesn’t matter. I'll have to content myself with what I have. The fight for the grand prize is still in play and it’s approaching. And when I win the war, I'll have that world of ponies just for me, with no light to inhabit it!" And then he let out a long and evil laugh.