• Published 17th Jan 2019
  • 4,138 Views, 113 Comments

Apple Bloom, Harbinger of Darkness - Equimorto



Having discovered the true nature of Apple Bloom's origins, Luna decided it was necessary to take action in order to prevent the potential consequences. Things did not go too well from there.

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Are You Sure About This?

"So... Why exactly am I here?" Apple Bloom asked, looking up from the table. "And why are my daughter and her friends here as well?" She pointed a hoof at Applejack sitting at the side of the room, surrounded by her friends.

"Your what?" Rainbow asked.

"She's my mother, I'm her daughter from the future," Applejack replied, "technically I'm Twilight's half-sister as well."

"What the what?"

"Exactly."

Rarity gave an awkward half-laugh, looking between Apple Bloom and her daughter. "Okay, I'm sure you'll have time to explain all of this at some point." She turned to Luna. "Anyway, why are we here? And why did we bring the Elements with us?" she asked, pointing at the jewel around her neck.

Luna cleared her throat, then pointed at Apple Bloom. "She is a creature of darkness!"

Twilight decided to see if the floor of the room they were in felt any different from that of Applejack's kitchen when she pressed her face on it.

At her side, Fluttershy was first startled by the thud of the impact, then leaned closer to check if the alicorn was alright.

Applejack rubbed her temple. "What is it this time?"

Apple Bloom appeared rather apathetic to the whole situation, though a little confused.

Rainbow Dash was scratching her head, perplexed.

Pinkie had entered a long monologue comprised of a series of questions and digressions on the nature of Apple Bloom's true nature, during which she popped up and disappeared from various places in the room, including Luna's mane.

Twilight noted to herself that she had to ask Cadence if the pink earth pony was the result of another one of her escapades.

Luna cleared her throat and began to explain. "Back when I was still Nightmare Moon, I created a series of creatures to defeat my sister and sent them to Equestria. Apple Bloom was the last one. That is why you're here, to use the Elements of Harmony and purge her of her darkness, turning her into a normal pony."

Rainbow looked at the filly. "She looks pretty normal to me."

"That is just deception," Luna explained. "I created her so she would blend in with the ponies of Equestria and trick them, and once she became powerful enough and the conditions were favourable she would reveal her true self and defeat Celestia." She turned towards Apple Bloom. "Her personality is actually just a cover. It's real, and she can't remember her true origins, but once the Darkness within her awakens it will all be relegated at the back of her mind."

"So... Why are we here?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Can't you just, I don't know, take the Darkness out?"

Luna shook her head. "I cannot. Only the power of the Elements can purge her of Nightmare Moon's essence."

"Okay then." Rainbow Dash got in position. "So we just zap her and that's it, right?"

"No."

Rarity cocked her head to the side. "Why not?"

"Her current status is designed as a shield. If you use the Elements now, they will be completely ineffective. We need to bring her dark side to show itself, and then strike it down when it's at its most vulnerable!" Luna raised a hoof and pointed it to the ceiling to emphasize her point.

"Hold on a second," Applejack intervened, "are you trying to get us to hurt my sist-er... my mother-which is also technically your daughter now that I think about it-Wait, does this mean I'm your granddaughter? Does that make me a princess? Do I get-No! No, no, AJ, focus!" She pressed her hat down on her head. "Anyway, are you saying we should hurt her?"

Luna lifted Applejack's chin. "Worry not, my dear, she will not be harmed. The Elements will simply restore her, like they did to me." She looked down at the pony and smiled. "And yes, you are technically a member of the royal family. Yes, we can get you your own princess dress."

The orange of Applejack's face suddenly lost some yellow. "How did you..." she whispered out.

"I see dreams, remember?" Luna turned to Apple Bloom and lifted her up in her hooves, much to the filly's surprise, and then tightly hugged her technically daughter she'd forgotten about after creating her while she was possessed by the magical manifestation of her own jealousy and resentment and sending her to crash-land on Equestria where she was supposed to syphon out the magic of the world around her and then use it to defeat her aunt. She did not talk about that part during the hug, as she felt it would have been slightly deleterious to the emotional moment. She then set her down and turned to the other ponies. "Are you ready?"

"No," Rainbow Dash replied.

Luna raised an eyebrow, curious and somewhat annoyed.

Rainbow pointed a hoof at the vibrating pink earth pony at Luna's side.

Luna turned towards Pinkie. "What is it?" she asked to the blurry figure.

Pinkie took a strong, large inhale and-

Luna raised a hoof to stop her. "Only one question."

Pinkie stopped inhaling. She stood there, her mouth still open wide enough for a filly to fit inside, as the accumulated air slowly exited through unspecified holes in her head, ruffling her mane as it did. "How did she get here?" she finally asked.

"I... may have propelled her from the Moon to Equestria with magic." Luna avoided looking at Pinkie.

"So you launched her here," Rainbow Dash said.

Luna's cheeks picked up some of the colour of her daughter's bow. "Yes," she admitted with barely moving lips.

"Oh my, was she hurt?" Fluttershy asked.

"No, she was fine," Applejack replied. "The train, though... Not so much."

"Didn't two ponies die in that accident?" Rainbow asked, turning to Applejack.

"Well, actually, that was believed to be the case since Apple Bloom's parents were never found, the theory was that they'd sneaked on there in secret. But it turns out there was nobody to find there in the first place. So nobody got hurt."

"Okay then, it's all set. Now we just need to get the Darkness to come out." Luna turned to Apple Bloom and prepared to fire a spell.

Twilight finally detached her face from the floor. "Wait."

Luna stopped and looked at her. "What is it, Twilight?"

"Are you sure this won't hurt her?" she asked, raising a hoof.

Applejack looked at her. "What's the matter, Twilight? If what she said about the Elements is true, there should be nothing to worry about."

"Well, I mean..." Twilight waved her hoof around. She exhaled. "She's purely a creature of darkness, if what Luna says is true. And she also says the Apple Bloom we know won't be there once her true nature is revealed. How do we know the Elements won't just destroy her completely?"

The ponies around the room looked at each other, thoughtful.

"She's got a point," Applejack pointed out, talking to Luna.

"Yeah!" echoed Rainbow Dash.

"Can't we just leave her be, and only use the Elements if she ever actually does reveal herself on her own?" Rarity asked.

Luna shook her head. "I'm afraid that is not a possibility. She may look harmless, and there's no telling when the Darkness will reveal itself, but if it does it will be too late." She pointed at Apple Bloom with a wing. "You see, I created her with the purpose of defeating my sister even when empowered by the Elements. And while I don't remember how I attained such a result, I'm certain I did. It may not look like it, but she's constantly growing stronger by syphoning the unused magic around her. There's the risk we might hurt her, but..." She held her head low. "It's a risk we have to take."

"Now hold on a second, if you think I will-"

"No," Apple Bloom interrupted her daughter, and the rest of her friends. "Do it," she said.

Everypony looked at her.

"Are..." Twilight hesitated. "Are you sure, Apple Bloom?"

The filly nodded.

Luna went to her and hugged her. "Well, if there are no other questions, we can proceed."

The rest of the ponies exchanged glances, then they all nodded.

Luna prepared herself, her horn lighting up. Apple Bloom was enveloped in her magical aura, her body being lifted off of the chair and floating in the air. The filly was brought face to face with Luna, who stared at her intensely. And then stared at her some more. And then kept staring. "Now if only I could figure out how to get the Darkness to come out," the alicorn murmured.

Twilight groaned.

Luna looked back, offended, then went back to staring at Apple Bloom.

"Maybe we could politely ask it to come out?" Fluttershy tentatively suggested.

Luna shook her head. "No. We need to trick it into thinking that there is a chance to accomplish its mission." She rubbed her chin. "Maybe if we got Celestia and asked her to pretend she was weak and vulnerable..."

Twilight frowned in concentration. "Isn't there some way for you to have your magic resonate with the magic inside her and bring her to transform? ...Luna?" She looked up. "...Luna, are you listening?"

"...on the ground, weeping, saying I was the greatest of fools to ever consider myself thine equal, I now see that you are far above me, and that your powers far eclipse mine, please have mercy of your unworthy supplicant, begging to be spared from the magnificence of my incredible power, all her pride gone as she-"

"LUNA!"

The princess turned. "Oh. Oh sorry Twilight, I got a little carried away. What were you saying?"

A low growl was heard coming from the bottom of Twilight's throat. "I was saying, isn't there some way for you to use your magic to make her transform? Maybe some command you left in case you came back and needed her help?"

Luna rubbed her chin, giving a side-way glance at the filly still floating in her magic. "Now that I think about it, I believe there is," she said after a moment of contemplation.

"Good. Everypony, get in position!" Twilight called, and in little time her friends were at her side, ready to use the Elements.

Apple Bloom was held in front of them, at a short distance, while Luna stood to the side, out of the way of the imminent friendship rainbow laser thingy of evil dispelling and purification.

"Are you ready?" the blue alicorn asked to the filly.

Apple Bloom nodded.

"Well then. Apple Bloom-" Luna cleared her throat and assumed a more archaic-sounding tone "-Your Queen has returned, it's time to awaken."

Apple Bloom looked at herself. "Are you sure that was right? Because I don't feel anything."

Everypony stared at Luna.

"Give it, like, a couple more seconds."

"I don't think it's wo-" Apple Bloom was suddenly interrupted. Her body began to float on its own, while Luna retreated her magic, and darkness began to glow from the filly's eyes. A detail ponies had a lot of questions about when the presents recounted the facts.

More darkness began to pour from all over her body, coating her, enveloping her into a black cocoon of dark magical energy. The magic around her started to twirl and twist on itself, spinning faster and closing in on its centre, collapsing around her as she was reborn as her new dark self while strands of black and purple smoke formed around her.

Finally, the darkness crystallized in a single black dot floating in mid-air, the purple mist on the ground slowly spreading out. Then, in the resulting silence, the dot pulsated a single time, expanding to a sphere about the size of a pony, then retreated, and in doing so left behind the new Apple Bloom.

The filly, now taller than before though still not as tall as her daughter, looked over herself. Her body was now a dark shade of purple and red, muted, and her mane and tail floated as a billowing and sparkling mass of nebulas and stardust. After having observed her new body, noticing how her cutie mark was still there though a little different, she blinked once with her new slitted eyes and opened her fanged mouth to speak in her new and slightly distorted voice. "Mum, are you sure this worked? Because I don't feel any different."

Luna ignored her, and instead nodded to the other ponies, who immediately began to use the Elements.

"Oh well." Apple Bloom sat down and patiently waited for them to fully charge.

Luna observed as the six ponies began to lift off the ground and glow. Then a sensation struck her, like she'd forgotten something, and she curved her brow in thought.

Apple Bloom cleaned a speck of dust from the floor. "How is it that you got hit by this, mum? It seems pretty slow to me."

Twilight's eyes snapped open, and finally a rainbow-coloured ray of light was released from the six ponies, heading towards Apple Bloom.

"Uh, pretty!" the filly commented.

Luna had a sudden moment of enlightenment and victoriously lifted her hoof. "Ah! Now I remember!"

The magical rainbow thingy of friendship crashed over Apple Bloom. The entire room was filled by a blinding light, and everypony closed their eyes.

Apple Bloom was the first to reopen them. "Er... Girls?"

The rest of them opened their eyes as well, and shortly thereafter their mouths too opened for the shock.

Apple Bloom did a couple of twirls, looking over herself, confirming that she was indeed the same she'd been after her transformation just less than a minute before, the dark creature created by Nightmare Moon to overpower Celestia.

Twilight was about to ask something, but a sound from Luna clearing her throat interrupted her.

"So, hem..." The alicorn pressed her front hooves together in front of herself and bounced them off of each other guiltily. "I sort of forgot about it before, but, uh... I might have designed her specifically to be immune to the Elements. Maybe."

Twilight, feeling creative and wanting to go for something different for a change, gave a powerful push of her wings and moved to bash her face against the ceiling for the occasion.

The other ponies all looked at each other, not sure of what to say.

"So, like..." Apple Bloom gave a small cough. "What now, mum? Do I get to go back for dinner or do I have to stay here?"

Applejack grabbed her own face and pulled down. "My mother's stuck as space demon," she lamented in a low tone.

Rarity, not finding a couch on to which she could dramatically collapse, took a few deep breaths and addressed Luna. "Princess, what's the plan now?"

Luna looked at Apple Bloom.

"Oh..." The filly ran her hoof through her new mane, seeing how it parted around it and rejoined together behind it. "That's cool."

Pinkie was doing the same with the filly's tail.

Applejack was sulking in a corner.

Twilight was still pressed against the ceiling.

Luna looked back at Rarity, now flanked by Rainbow and Fluttershy. "Er..."