Bad Guy, Jacob, and Brendan were gathered with the others which included all of the Mane 6, Sweetie Belle and Batty, Scootaloo, and Diamond Tiara and Sliver Spoon.

Bad Guy spent time getting Brendan up to speed with what they should expect. Jacob was busy explaining to Diamond and Silver that this was going to be nothing like Diamond Tiara's basement. The group arrived at the castle of Canterlot, Twilight and Bad Guy opting to enter alone... not that it stopped Spike, Sweetie Belle, or Brendan.

"Greetings, I'm sure you're wondering why I've called you here, Twilight," Celestia said as she fidgetted with a small crystal.

And a very familiar angel-winged alicorn came through as well. "Worry not, I have come to warn you. The king of shadows has returned," Godly Brendan said before he vanished.

"King of shadows..." Bad Guy said deep in thought.

"The king of shadows? Hmm... wait... THAT MEANS HE HAS THE SHADOW MEDALLION!" Brendan said worried.

Celestia sighed, "Yes, as the Crystal Empire had returned as well," she said.

"Crystal Empire?" Twilight, Sweetie Belle, and Bad Guy asked all at once.

That was when Celestia used her magic on the crystal, showing a whole cilization of ponies seemingly made out of crystals! She went into detail about the crystal ponies and how they grow off of love and hope...

"But if hatred and fear take hold, the magic of the empire taints..." Bad Guy said as his body was covered in a purple mist... tainted mana. "I... may have dabbled in Dark Magic at one point but it wasn't much because I knew that even as a villain, I was better than resorting to Dark Magic," Bad Guy explained as the tainted mana vanished.

Sweetie Belle nodded, "But that isn't the important situation, the king of shadows has returned and given that he returned the same day as the Crystal Empire, they probably have some link," she stated.

"Correct, Sweetie Belle. The king of shadows, his real name is King Sombra, was a tyrant who ruled the Crystal Empire with an iron hoof and so I fear the empire falling into his hooves again," Celestia said.

"You can count on us, princess!" Twilight said.

"Bad Guy and I have the ability to fight of the going gets rough," Sweetie Belle said with a slightly devious smirk on her face.

Bad Guy returned Sweetie Belle's smirk, "Yep, and it'll only be easier if Twilight's friends come along with us since they add some more much needed power."

"And that's not forgetting my brother and Scootaloo, both of whom are definitely getting to be skilled fighters if what I've seen of Jacob is anything to go by and the fact that Scootaloo and I have been dungeoneering for the last week," Brendan said.

"A full squad adventure!" Spike announced.

The whole group got onto the train, but Apple Bloom was hiding on the train, thinking it unfair that her friends get to explore while she didn't. So she waiting, she had asked for a duplicate Crafting Grid from Bad Guy's monsters and they didn't bat an eye, if they had eyes to bat at least. She also had the bare minimum recipes... literally none. It wasn't long though when she realized her shadow was larger than it should have been, she moved away from it as a monster rose its head, Apple Bloom bucked the thing and it broke into dust which was sucked into her Crafting Grid.

Apple Bloom kept quiet as the train came to a stop and everypony left, she waited before following. She wanted to stay out of sight of the others. Apple Bloom found out the issue soon when the king of shadows, King Sombra himself, appeared in front of her. Everypony else had gone into the empire. "So you are seperated from the rest, why might that be?" Sombra said.

"Ah have no reason ta answer ya," Apple Bloom said, "If ya don't mind, outta mah way."

Sombra laughed at Apple Bloom's attempt to be intimidating. "You think you can boss me, filly?" Sombra said as his eyes gained their familiar purple mist... but nothing happened.

Apple Bloom raised an eye brow. "That it?" Apple Bloom said, unamused. Sombra salvaged the situation by using his magic to imprison Apple Bloom in a dungeon made of the surrounding area.

Apple Bloom opened the first chest she found and got a whip, just a leather one but it'd be good enough for now. She also found her first recipe book, one for healing items. "Alri, got a weapon, got some recipes, now need ta find the exit," Apple Bloom said as she started trotting through the fake snowy field, eventually reaching the Fake Crystal Empire.

In the fake empire, shadow ponies and normal Shadows attacked Apple Bloom at every turn and Apple Bloom just fought back with her whip. For every shadow she killed, she got more shadow dust.

Finding a replica of the library, Apple Bloom entered it and opened the first chest she found, getting a misplaced book. "A puzzle, Scoots told meh 'bout the puzzle she and Brendan solved. Gussin' ah have ta find where this book belongs as well as findin' other misplaced books," Apple Bloom reasoned as she found an empty slot inbetween two books of the same title but different printings. She put the misplaced book in it and a new book appeared in her grip, "Ah understand it, ah only get the new book if the one ah place is in the correct spot, that means trial and error should be allowed," she said, unaware of the truth.

Apple Bloom kept going and eventually got a book that she was unsure of the placement of and placed it in the wrong spot which caused the floor under her to give way for her to fall. At the bottom of the fall was a a strange creature that most certainly did not look friendly. The creature got surrounded by a purple mist as it did a ground slam that Apple Bloom very nearly was too slow to dodge. "What the hay!" Apple Bloom said as she used her whip to attack the thing which oddly took more damage from her whip than the shadows outside.

"Sometimes, on mine and Brendan's adventures, we encounter enemies one of us has a move or weapons that's better against them because the other deals no damage, less damage, or more damage than normal. Brendan called it an 'attribute weakness' or something. I have no idea, I was more focused on slicing an enemy with my laser blade," Scootaloo said.

As Apple Bloom recalled that, she know what it was... this enemy was weak to her leather whip's damage attribute. She smirked as she got a devious plan, "HEY BOLTS FER BRAINS! OVER HERE!" Apple Bloom said aloud, provoking the monster which immediately gave the results she wanted as the monster attempted to attack her but she dodged and counterattacked it. A bit of repeating the same process and the monster fell over, spawning a chest, "Bingo! Did what ah expected the entire time," Apple Bloom said while opening the chest, getting a recipe book and a chain whip.

Changing her whip for the better one, she looked at the possible recipes now, realizing that she is missing ingredients for upgrades. "How they hay am ah goin' ta get string or metal bars!?" Apple Bloom asked to nopony. Regrettably, she chose to focus on completing the puzzle she failed so she went back up and removed the book she misplaced and put it in the only other open slot and thus completed the puzzle. It spawned a chest with a key. "A key? So far no doors or chests have been locked," Apple Bloom said to herself.

"Even if it seems unlikely, if you are weak enough or bad enough, every item you find in a dungeon will be required," Jacob once said.

Apple Bloom put the key in her saddlebags that she's glad she brought along now. She left the fake empire's library and saw the enemies had returned!

"Dungeons have a special magic in place that even my base doesn't. A magic that spawns enemies without the presence of a summoning circle, I wouldn't recommend using this knowledge though since you have no reason to be making a dungeon," Bad Guy told her upon being asked how dungeon enemies work.

Apple Bloom attacked and killed those enemies as she found out some of them were new shadow monsters that reminded her of monsters found in Bad Guy's base such as Spiders and Slimes. Then it hit her, "Different enemies have different drop pools, even among the shadows. Got it!" Apple Bloom said to herself.

She could waste her time exploring every place despite how pointless that'd be, or she could go straight to the twisted castle and that was her goal. Breaking into a gallop, Apple Bloom went at full speed to the castle, the shadows on the way not bothering her.

Entering, she realized immediately that she needed a key... but wait, she had a key from earlier.

"I know this seems strange, but keys found in dungeons can be used to open most doors in them, some doors do require special keys but those are so few that I'm not even sure those rooms exist," Brendan told her when he recounted some explorations he once did.

Apple Bloom got the key out and opened the door before hurrying deeper where she found the stilled forms of everypony. This was clearly what position they were in when she became stuck in this dungeon. "It seems a filly has gone where she isn't wanted," the voice of Sombra spoke out. The king of shadows appeared, the Shadow Medallion around his neck, "Look at you, thinking you stand a chance against me, you don't even have armor, how do you hope to defeat me, KING SOMBRA! The RIGHTFUL king of the Crystal Empire!" He said but... Apple Bloom smirked.

"Ah don't. That's the difference between meh and the other heroes out there. Ah know ah stand no chance but that won't stop meh from tryin'," Apple Bloom announced.

"Sometimes, as Bad Guy says, taking a battle you know you can't win is a bad idea," Sweetie Belle once said.

"When it comes to combat, avoid taking a fight you're well aware you can't win," Brendan had said.

"I've told Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon this but DON'T pick a fight against something stronger than yourself if you know it can beat you," Jacob said.

"You cannot win, and still wish to attempt, hmph, guess that means I have to show you what a mistake you've made," King Sombra said but these memories and Sombra's words did nothing to Apple Bloom's will.

She knew she would lose.

She knew she couldn't win.

And yet, she was going to fight Sombra.

Apple Bloom's body was covered in mana as she smirked in a weird mix of sinister and heroic. Apple Bloom used her whip and it wrapped around Sombra, who she promptly threw into the air, followed by her using a techique that summoned monsters without the use of a summoning circle.

"It seems my little pony has grown more powerful than even I thought she would... maybe the king of shadows isn't all bad. Ah, who am I kidding? He's bad, Bad Guy caused so many to mature in unaccounted for ways and now another caused this filly to grow. Good job, my little pony," The voice of Godly Brendan rang out reminding Apple Bloom that she's a little pony on his great creation.

And she'd make the most of it. Sombra saw how badly he messed up and quickly left the dungeon, and Apple Bloom was given an exit herself. Cutie mark and all.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Author's Note

A two parter all about Apple Bloom.