Corrupted Lands

by Nameless Narrator

Sunrise In Manehattan: Twilight's entry IV

Shining Armor.

Shiny.

My BBBFF.

I wish paper could hold everything I felt when I was told the Crystal Empire still existed, when I was told Shining and Cadence were still alive as well as little Flurry. Well, I say little, but from the standpoint of alicorns twenty or so years make no difference. The massacre of gargantuan proportions within the Crystal Empire will be an event for the history books, but even Nightshade recounting the piles of dead and semi-corrupted ponies couldn't dampen the pure joy of discovering my brother to be still alive.

Handsome, too. If something happened to Cadence then I would jump his-

Nevermind. Let's just say I love my big brother very much and on so many levels that others consider it unhealthy. They just don't know what true love is.

I went up north immediately after recieving the news, leaving Chrysalis in charge of Ponyville. After two centuries of cooperating with her I was almost one hundred percent sure I wouldn't return to a town full of green coccoons. Well, I was right, and I returned two weeks later to a completely normal and recovering Ponyville. It is so strange, knowing that all the changes we may be doing now will come to bloom only after at least fifty years. Two more generations before there is even enough of us to use the entirety of the new territory, possibly another century or two before there is anything even barely resembling the kingdom of Equestria again. Of course, that is only if the current favorable state of affairs continues.

Crystal Empire is even worse off. From the tens of thousands ponies living there, most are gone now. The Breeder Queen's purge obliterated over three quarters of the population within hours. We wondered about the reason, as Corrupted have until now preferred to twist and change their victims rather than kill. Granted, the amount of semi-corrupted ponies left after Spring absorbed the insane Queen's power was more than the entire Ponyville enclave, but it was still just a drop in comparison to the dead. It happened during a normal day, and without the possibility of widespread warning getting through to the population. The Queen's forces mercilessly killed everypony in the streets, on the lower floors of buildings, and any pony they had laid their eyes on.

All that without a real reason, a complete change from anything we've seen thus far.

Spring was my companion throughout most of my visit to the Empire, and it was refreshing to see somepony interested in EVERYTHING. From history, through math, to technology and social customs, Spring loved hearing me and others talk, and in return she assisted me with more experiments.

My theories about Corrupted Queens and Kings have proven only partially correct, as they have been previously only tested on Nightshade, who is an unseparated, fully corrupted pony. Chilly or Frostbite, on the other hoof, is a carefully crafted instrument for dominating Corrupted, at least according to more of the deciphered journal of princess Celestia. Speaking of the two, Chilly is starting to recover his speech, and both he and Nightshade spend a lot of time in Canterlot these days. After their return from the Empire, Nightshade used her Queen sovereignity for the first time, and forced her hive to spread her territory towards Canterlot. Now, the Ponyville hive's northern border is met with the strip of land belonging to Chilly's Separated.

For our future it means that ponies can start small settlements between Ponyville and Canterlot if they desire to. That, however, is still decades away.

Back to the experiments, though. I was fascinated by Spring's ability to create more Corrupted from basically thin air, and my research shown that a phrase "from thick ground" would be much more correct. The theory of Corrupted seeing matter and energy as one held steady. Just like normal Corrupted gradually transform the land around them into their territory and can use anything tainted as nutrition for getting stronger or recovering faster, Spring, as a Breeder Queen, can do it to a ridiculous degree. Breeders are basically barrels for transforming energy into life. With just some stallion's seed, they can give birth to as many Corrupted as their body tells them to just by draining the transformed area around them of all nutrition. Spring is basically a gigantic battery, similar to the Crystal Heart itself. Where the artefact softly collects energy from ponies all over Equestria or even further and releases it as waves of positive force, Spring can absorb anything and reforge it into, well, Corrupted.

However, the Heart should have been drained by such overuse. I subjected it to experiments in the past, and came to a definite conclusion that the Heart's capacity wasn't THAT massive. It just works as an energy transformation device. So where did the insane Queen get so much power? Spring answered that one after many tests. At first, we believed Corrupted to be just another race. After Nightshade's rise, we believed they transform territories and become parts of them just like trees and grass. Now, we know for sure that the Corrupted and the planet are one. Spring can literally manipulate life force permeating the entire planet if given enough power serving as "intermediary".

This means that whatever created the Corrupted must be powerful enough to affect the entire world. Why the Corrupted sprung up in Equestria, or precisely inside a huge bubble in the west Celestia's journal calls The Barrier, is yet unknown, but I have my theories. Theories that are based on Spring's recollection of what she calls "the voice", which is a force that each Corrupted has inside making them see ponies as enemies. Several experiments of Spring restoring her connection to the Corrupted hive mind later, we discovered that ONLY ponies are regarded with such hatred. Griffons and other intelligent races are a nuisance or food, but not direct enemies. Uncivilized creatures are mostly untouched by corruption and ignored by Corrupted unless they are tasty.

The biggest breakthrough, however, was the notion that Corrupted, in addition to clouds, heights, and flying, are repulsed by salt water. This means they aren't just nigh-indestructible killing machines, but that their physiology is based on something with adaptability and the ability to recover. This also explains why their territories naturally turn into more humid places unless directly controlled into a different direction like Chilly's ice forest. As stated before, they are partially plants and mushrooms, and while salt water isn't exactly deadly in an encounter, it drastically lowers their ability to spread the territory and absorb nutrition. This led me to the idea that they might have not spread behind the ocean, and that the Equestrian continent is the only hotspot of corruption. That also means we could probably ask griffons for help if we found a way to get radio equipment to the coast.

Sadly, that is impossible, at least for now. Nightshade and Chilly currently cannot control much more territory. There is a limit of minds a pony head can understand, feel, and categorize before losing itself, and both are reaching it. Spring could easily move her territory to the east, but she is helping rebuild the Crystal Empire and ensuring its safety. Plus, she is fascinated by pony society, so prying her away from the Empire would require a rather large crowbar. Previous experiments, however, prove that high-tier changelings can assume control of Corrupted and change their thought patters by asserting themselves as a Queen or King. Well, just Queen. There are no male changelings with such mental capabilities, and Chrysalis isn't too keen on birthing Queen-grade changelings, as it is in their nature to fight for leadership.

That ability, though, reminded me of two beings I used to know who could still be alive. I believe more and more that there are isolated pockets of survivors which might be led by immortals such as myself. One of them was Chrysalis' general called Shadowstep. She and several gifted individuals used to reside in Manehattan. Possibly, in conjunction with the salt water thing and the city being near a river delta, she just might still be alive and some ponies around as well.

The second possible candidate is a dreamling by the name Guiding Light. Dreamlings are a special kind of changelings who arrived to this world through a rift in space from an alternate reality where Nightmare Moon created them by twisting changelings, and devoured the entire world. Unwilling to die of starvation on a lifeless rock, their queen used what little magic she had to open a dimensional portal and lead few dozen dreamlings through to a better tomorrow. Since they were willing to do just about anything to not anger the society, AND were able to eat the emotion of fear they naturally caused, they eventually found their place in a solitary village called Pine Hills on the other side of the Everfree forest. Ponies accepted them in the end, and if there is a pocket of survivors, then it is there. Knowing what Nightmare's plans lead to, they have been immense help at stopping Nightmare at every step after it was purged from princess Luna and my long gone friend Rarity.

This leads me to the final part of this entry. What could be powerful enough to unleash something like Corrupted on the world and control them in such a way, plus hold a raging hatred towards ponies?

Let's take it from the top. The most powerful beings in existence are the three gods of Equus - Discord, the god of Chaos and Creation, Nightmare, the god of Order and Destruction, and Harmony, the god of Evolution, Progress, and existence inbetween birth and death.

Discord disappeared after my friend Fluttershy's death, having parted ways with ponies on amicable terms. While the creation of new species, and one so devastating as Corrupted on top, is definitely within his power, his previous experiments lacked a certain order, and the Corrupted seem too focused on one thing - a tool rather than something for Discord to watch in order to amuse himself through the ages. I might be an emotional fool, but I believe from the depth of my heart that Discord is not behind this.

Nightmare's destructive nature fits with the Corrupted's order to eliminate ponies. Plus, ponies have defeated Nightmare's avatars on multiple occasions, so the hatred should be there. Still, according to ancient history, there is a pact between gods limiting their power to affect Equus. As long as the other gods exist, no one of them can use their full power to subject the planet to their "nature". Nightmare's limitation, as very painfully discovered by heroes long dead, is to act only through a possessed avatar who can wield only a fraction of the god's power. The last known Nightare's host was a hippogriff named Straw Basket, and he got caught in the fight between the three gods which culminated in Nightmare fulfilling its goal of... something, and leaving him. Straw Basket was left with selective memory loss and couldn't tell us anything we didn't already know. He lived his life fully and died of old age without Nightmare attempting anything ever since.

This leads us to the final god - Harmony.

I believe, although I have nothing to go on outside of theories and circumstancial evidence, that what once used to be our misunderstood saviour is now the instrument of our destruction.

There is very little left from princess Celestia's journal, but considering the march it describes leads towards the place where all three gods clashed in the final recorded battle, I think it will give at least a little credibility to my suspicions.

- The journal of Twilight Sparkle, entry 409

Comments

[Nameless Narrator]

7005674 Thank you. I hope you keep enjoying it despite the disgusting stuff and other little things .)

[funguy26]

yay.

[Anonymous Critic]

Sadly, that is impossible, at least for now. Nightshade and Chilly currently cannot control much more territory. There is a limit of minds a pony head can understand, feel, and categorize before losing itself, and both are reaching it. Spring could easily move her territory to the east, but she is helping rebuild the Crystal Empire and ensuring its safety. Plus, she is fascinated by pony society, so prying her away from the Empire would require a rather large crowbar. Previous experiments, however, prove that high-tier changelings can assume control of Corrupted and change their thought patters by asserting themselves as a Queen or King. Well, just Queen. There are no male changelings with such mental capabilities, and Chrysalis isn't too keen on birthing Queen-grade changelings, as it is in their nature to fight for leadership.

I haven't finished Management, let alone started Halls, but if Twilight ever comes across Boss in the future, you probably should change that.

[Anonymous Critic]

Knowing what Nightmare's plans lead to, they have been immense help at stopping Nightmare at every step after it was purged from princess Luna and my long gone friend Rarity.

...when was Rarity Nightmare's host? Has not happened in any of the previous stories, and between now and then, well...

Straw Basket was left with selective memory loss and couldn't tell us anything we didn't already know. He lived his life fully and died of old age without Nightmare attempting anything ever since.

So when did it happen in the story?

[LordNobady]

Seems like it is going well, so what disaster will they face now?

[Nameless Narrator]

9407144
They didn't pack enough spare dry socks for travelling through swamps!

[Two_Madmans]

9392479
Well, we have Gem and Ten, so, they probably must know about boss.

9392785
In official comics.

[ProjectRabbid]

man, namedropping my boy, staw basket, like that.
gives me feels.
back in the day

[Nameless Narrator]

11528714
Great-grand-grand-grandfather Straw Basket. Or how many generations would 300-ish years be