//------------------------------// // The Noose Tightens: Annihilation // Story: Imbalanced: New Age // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// Alright, I haven't been discovered yet, but that will definitely change when the guard wakes up. It's been close to half an hour since I entered this place so my time must be running short. Despite how easy it is to sneak anywhere for me on the upper floors, the documents I already have will have to do. As for the corrupted griffon, according to hopefully recent prisoner roster he's in the first cell next to the lab. Unfortunately, unlike with the prisoners the electronic lock requires a code I couldn't find. That brings up two things. One, I'll have to burn the door which will likely bring me to my knees and if the aggressive Corrupted inside isn't restrained in any way I'll just die. Two, even if I'm not out of it completely after opening then how in all layers of Tartarus am I supposed to fight him? Last time I dropped an ancient tree on them and the one not hit directly had to be shot, burned, and then melted by Veronica's mercs. Oh well, just another of life's little mysteries, I guess. It's not as if I'm leaving this place with their thankfully only Corrupted subject around. Documents? Packed. Legs? Shaking but moving. Still not spotted? All is clear. Shredder filled with every research document I could find? Running on maximum. Good thing that these new technology gadgets are similar enough to some of those I remember from my time, and those which aren't are easy to figure out. Mostly. With my sword flying around me, I leave the main office. There is no way I'm wasting time attempting to enter the sealed double door at the end of the corridor leading into the laboratory. There is nothing I can understand there since chemistry has never been my strongest suit. However, the door to the Corrupted's cell is in front of me, waiting for my next step. I've channeled true death far too much already, but something annoying inside me just doesn't allow me to leave and go about the business I came to Drachenberg for in the first place. Well, if I can kill the griffon and drag myself out of the mansion with one leg than it'll be enough in the end. The lock burns away along with all the heat left in my body. I'm trembling and cold steam is leaving my mouth with every breath. Thankfully, me having to slide the heavy door open using raw physical strength gets my blood flowing again. Soon enough, I'm faced with the rabid glare of a black griffon so huge his head is touching the cell's ceiling. He's over twice as tall as I am and completely wrapped in chains fastened to the wall. With red, bloodthirsty eyes staring at me, I focus again, black-tipped pink fire gathering around my outstretched foreleg. The griffon screeches and my world distorts. So loud, in this enclosed space. Dizzy, can't move. Steel strains under the griffon's immense strength just like my draining lifeforce is straining to keep my body working against the power I'm trying to use. *Crack!* "Huh? OOF!" My back hits the hallway wall opposite of the cell after he bodyslams me. In a quick moment of clarity, I stab my flying sword right in his eye while rolling away on the pristine floor. The griffon screeches again, clawing at his face and doing more damage by wiggling the sword inside the wound. When he finally pries it out, blood is gushing all over his face, he must be blind in one eye, and he looks angrier than ever. Roaring, he swipes his talons around in a show of strength. I almost soil my robe when I see him leaving scars in the steel walls. Oookay, one hit and I'm ripped in half. Good to know. With adrenaline working overtime, I dodge the furious swings while backing away. The corridor isn't allowing me too much space to move in, but in the same way he can't raise his foreleg without hitting the ceiling. My sword flies around, scoring shallow wounds the griffon easily ignores. I need to hit his other eye. The big thing is that while he is slowly healing, he is healing slowly. A Corrupted without a territory to transform and live in, in these pure laboratory conditions, is much less resilient than it could be. The pressure of having to avoid even glancing blows is getting to me. I'm growing slower with each passing second. I have to end this soon. The griffon gives me a second of confusion when I rush straight at him. That's all I need. He digs his talons into the floor, opens his beak to either screech or bind me with his tongues, and I ram my sword up the hole, hoping to hit the brain. My ribs crack as his foreleg slams me on the floor. Still pinning me down, he hisses loudly and spews blood all over me. Damn bird brains, so hard to hit. Looking at the open sharp beak about to eviscerate me, I fully realize how dumb the idea of trying to fight a Corrupted on my own was. The beak descends. True death flares inside me with unprecedented strength and I lose all feeling. ... "Uhhh..." I groan, regaining some senses and regretting it immediately as pain from my ribcage assaults me. My subsequent coughing fit doesn't help at all. Good thing that I'm still numb enough not to collapse in agony again. Alright, what happened? The griffon if lying on the charred floor. The walls around are cracked, dusty, and when I touch one the steel crumbles under my hoof. I stumble towards the Corrupted, about to finally end it. Most of his coat and feathers are gone. Ribs are poking through incinerated flesh, and openly decomposing organs make me gag. However, the thing is still alive... ...and healing. Hair-thin strands, like fresh fungus or mycellium feeding a mushroom, join together, reforming cellular walls, membranes, and knitting together into new flesh. On my non-casting foreleg, black gooey sock wobbles and tiny tentacles dart outside and disappear. Corrupted are more akin to fungus or mushrooms than mammals. Taint transforms ponies into such form, binding them together with the territory they live in until they can't leave easily. My sword I successfully freed from the griffon's skull clanks on the floor. Moss, moss digging deep under my skin, growing outside. Thin stalks shooting out of my body, their roots sapping moisture and nutrients from my flesh. Spores in my lungs, clinging tightly no matter how much I cough until they grow and fill me. Unable to move, pudgy, and only a ball of flesh mushrooms feed on. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" I scream, panically scratching the new itching all over my body. Nothing is actually happening, but the chills running down my spine are telling me otherwise. I don't see anything, but I'm sure that with every second some bulge is going to appear and make me explode in a cloud of spores devouring all life BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT MUSHROOMS DO! "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" These Corrupted things destroyed most of pony population. Shrooms ate all ponies and turned them into themselves. "I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG! Shrooms ARE a pony's natural predator. AAAAAAAAAAH!" Go away, Suitie, please go away! DON'T EAT MEEEEEEE! PLEEEEASE! In my blind flailing and running around, I spot an extremely confused armed griffon arriving through the guard entrance, clearly alerted by my screaming. A real griffon, flesh and blood, not some disgusting hooves-eating fungus. I desperately start running to him, screaming. "TAKE HIM! TAKE HIM INSTEAD, I DUN WANNA BECOME A TOADSTOOL!" Wads of black goo shoot out of my poiting foreleg, and the pressure in my head disappears. I don't feel Suitie anymore. What? I'm kinda still not sure what's going on. Black goo devours the griffon, wrapping around him and filling his beak as he opens it to scream. His entire forms melts and reforms into a pony. A familiar gooey Corruptor, only bigger, with rounder flank, more general sexiness, and looking significantly more powerful than the spitting goo mare I met back in Equestria. High-pitched blaring fills the halls. [Research site compromised. Omega protocol phase one activated. All personnel should evacuate immediately.] The pleasant female voice contrasts with the gravity of the message. Omega means end, right? Alpha is the beginning, if I'm correct. Series of loud clicks come from all around, the cell doors shooting open. Ponies so tainted it's a miracle they haven't turned completely start creeping outside. As if the cells were suppressing them somehow, as soon as they get out their mouth tentacles dart out, checking the flow of air and the area around them. Suitie gives me a steamy, lidded gaze and opens her mouth. Her sleek, hairless black body ripples as she stretches. She still doesn't possess any teeth, her maw being a hole filled with thousands of tiny wriggling tentacles. A Corruptor with so much food all around. That can't be good. Tentacle wraps around my hind leg, I turn my head to see a confused earthpony flailing her tentacles while dragging her engorged teats across the floor. That one's gonna be a Breeder soon. Black goo appears underneath her, tentacles shoot from the puddle, and dissolve the entire tainted pony in a moment. Suitie reforms from the puddle, eagerly looking for more food. Thankfully, that food isn't me for now. Okay, okay, I still have to kill the original griffon. The chances of someone catching a powerful Corruptor are little to nonexistent, but a physical entity like a griffon, while deadly, is still easier to get. Pushing away the confused tainted ponies, I plow through the growing crowd towards- The bastard is already moving again. Slowly, though. Sword at the ready, I hack at the recovering griffon's barrel. If I don't have to use true death then I'm not going to. "Crap!" I curse as I'm knocked aside by something or someone. Mares. Newly transformed female Corrupted are gathering around the alpha malest of the alpha males around. Breeders turning in front of my eyes are surrounding the heavily wounded griffon, kissing, licking and being generally affectionate like nurses caring for a wounded patient. In clop, of course, not in real life. I stand up, pushing one aside to get a good blow in, but three roll over me and join the griffon's growing herd. "Not even Corrupted want me when there's a guy like that around. It's high school all over again. Well, my entire life all over again. Stars, I suck!" [Omega protocol phase two activating.] With grinding of steel, the main dungeons door opens. Everyone down here focuses on the way to freedom. What are they doing? No... that can't be... They want to release them into the town. The site is compromised, so the best way to eliminate witnesses is to release Corrupted who will transform everyone. Hiding won't work, Corruptors can slip in everywhere. Running won't work, Hunters will chase better than anyone can run. Fighting won't work, someone is bound to become a Protector who just will not die. And flying away won't work because desert is one way, and over a week of on hoof travel the other. Soon, no flying will help because flytraps will sprout within hours. Alright, screw the griffon. What's done is done. Drachenberg must be evacuated. There has to be some sort of protocol for such situation. Flora! Black Ops member will know what to do and who to call. Screech cuts through the air. The griffon is standing up, Breeders and new Hunters scattered on the floor around him, looking at me with burning murderous intent. Before he can charge at me, the adoring females mob him this time. With a bunch of them hanging on him with every step, he tries to walk towards me, but as soon as he kicks one away another one takes her place. Eventually he gives up, budges against the added weight and with his rage turning to panic, he rushes past me through the open doorway. Of course, all Corrupted follow their fleeing new leader instantly. Huh, Corrupted griffons aren't really hive-minded then. Strange. Almost all Corrupted. Smooth form of Suitie still watching me remains, standing between me and the way out. "Uhhh, I like the new look," I inch myself past her. "Hissssss!" "Bye!" I bolt. She catches up with me up on the ground floor. As I face her to dodge any melting attempts, she stops, hissing quietly and licking her muzzle. I feel only her mind around now, and there is absolutely no ill intent from it. "Shoo!" I wave at her. "Hissssss!" "I know you can understand me on some level," I say slowly and comprehensibly, "I am not going to use my power against you. You can go wherever you want, just... just don't eat too many ponies, right? Do what you did with me to them." She sniffs the air, turning her head one way and opening her mouth. Black goop drips from her muzzle. Melting, she transforms into barely visible thin streaks which move much faster than I can on the carpet. Well, she's found a target, and I'm glad it's not me. I go the other way, now knowing that one is empty otherwise she would have headed there. Gunfire and screaming fill the air. Time to leave. My white robe disguises me well enough while griffons I pass focus on shooting Corrupted, and I soon leave the mansion behind me. Dropping my clothes to free my wings, I fly over the garden wall and gallop through the brightening town towards Flora's house. Around thirty Corrupted are free now. The mansion will be taken over in a matter of minutes, which will increase the number. If they manage to transform everyone there will be about sixty of them running around. When the first griffons leave their houses for work, the Corrupted will home in on them. So... a hundred within another half an hour, maybe? Legion garrisons in small towns consist of hundred or two soldiers. If they don't panic, they might be able to contain Corrupted without a territory. However, if they don't act fast enough they will be overrun. The city needs to be evacuated, not fought for. If that is not possible, then everyone has to stay inside, lock everything, and hope supplies last long enough for a real army to arrive. And then what? Fight over each street while every griffon you lose turns into one of them? It will take days for any Legion unit to come, and by that time territory will be fully formed and spreading. No, caravans, any free train, anything that can move has to flee north immediately. Who can't... will be gone. This soon won't be a question of saving everyone anymore, but being able to save at least someone. Don't panic, there is still time. Flora's house comes to view, and soon I'm bashing my hooves against the door. The griffoness opens quickly with weapon at the ready. "Are Claus' griffons after you?" "Worse. Much worse." "What?" I push past her, rushing into the living room dropping my saddlebag on the table, and turning back to her following me. "Your documents are in the bag, I need my things immediately." "What is going on?" "First, don't ask for details, there is no time. Understood? You must trust me on this." She nods hesitantly. "Go on." "They brought a Corrupted to Drachenberg, exact info is in the bag including a letter from someone with the initial L who is behind this. I tried to kill the Corrupted so they couldn't keep experimenting on the slaves they brought but they found out about it and released everyone into town." "Wait, what? Slaves? Corrupted? Here?" "Yes, the mansion must be gone already and they are undoubtedly prowling through town already. You need to evacuate everyone. Inform whoever you can, but everyone in Drachenberg must pack up and leave. An hour ago preferrably. Mobilize the Legion garrison or something, but do it immediately!" "One minute," she raises a talon, tosses me the cabinet keys, and skims through the documents I brought while I take my belongings. She's done quickly, "Alright. You're free and I'll be going to the fortress. Can griffons hide there from the Corrupted? I don't have experience with them." I shake my head as we leave the house. "No. Your supplies will run out, and as soon as Corrupted take root here it will require a massive army to weed them out. Before such force is mobilized, there will be more Corrupted than you can handle. These things wiped out armies of Equestria able to use magic, for stars' sake." That finally seems to seal it for her. "You coming to help? A witness would make this much easier." I shake my head again. "I'm going to tell Crom. Together we might think of something. He has some experience with holding cities against Corrupted." "Alright. By the way, there is a train at the train station for these situations, plus a bunch of caravans. If the evacuation goes through, ponies will gather there." "IF?!" "I have only your word for this. Even if I believe it, Legion might take time to persuade." Screw this, I did all I could. This is NOT my fight. "Good luck!" I yell, breaking away from her and heading south. Soon, I pass by an alley where a corrupted griffon is pinning a loudly moaning normal one to the cobblestones while furiously humping away. Good to know they don't just kill and eat everything they meet. That, or just like the one in the laboratory the victim is going to be killed when the Corrupted is done. That would mean, though, that the spreading of corruption might be slower than I expected. I should help, but after my night I'm beaten up, exhausted, and there is no way I can fight any Corrupted without divine power. I used far too much in the mansion, and I'm feeling the end of my rope rapidly approaching. As I rush through the town, I witness more and more sights like the one in the alley. I was completely wrong, Corrupted inside a populated, unprepared area are spreading far faster than I guessed. The only good thing about the situation is that the cases are still isolated, and that even griffons fall into the usual Corrupted categories. Avoiding the fit and slim kind, clearly fresh Hunters, and taking shortcuts by passing fairly friendly Breeders, I reach the more open areas of the outskirts of Drachenberg. The voices inside my head allow me to circle around pairs of Corrupted and sharper minds of Hunters, and soon I am trotting past white picket fence belonging to Crom's house. Flying over it, I hear a high-pitched scream. A foal's scream. The yell is cut off when a griffon Hunter bats something small away with his foreleg, then jumps towards it again. Damn it, Crom's little filly must have snuck outside after breakfast again! She might be still alive after that blow, right? Foals are like rubber, easy to squish but hard to break. I stop myself from running towards the house door and banging on it. Instead, I gallop towards where the Hunter is... ...raising his talons for a killing blow. Or even worse, as my tracing spell reveals tentacles in his crotch knotting together to form a thicker one. Honestly, little Feenie will be better of dead instead of being 'toyed' with by that thing. Time slows down. I can almost feel the nerve impulse of the Hunter to slam his foreleg down to crush the tiny griffon. Like through thick treacle, it starts moving down. Feenie will be dead before I make two more steps, and they are both on the other side of the garden, more than fifteen pony lengths away. Still better than if he rapes her, not that she would understand at her age what's going on. Only pain. And then comes 'the thought'. One of the thoughts that sometimes invade my mind and make me hate myself. Every single time I gain a little bit of hope that I'm not a piece of shit THIS happens. If she's gone, then there is one less obstacle between me and Cromach. Stupid head. Stupid me. Stupid body. Can't save her. Must save her. If Crom finds her alive and only scared next to my charred corpse then so be it. We both get what we deserve. In the next fraction of a second I see only gold and pink, and hit something black and hard. Wiping goo off of my face, I feel frost running through my veins and my legs shaking. In the last moment, I moved the entire distance, leaving a trail of flames that kill everything they touch and rammed straight into the Corrupted who... ...is sorta here and there... ...all over the place. And under my hooves- "F-F-Frostfire?" the little griffon bundle of horror hugs my foreleg and starts wailing, "Frooooostfiiiireeee!" We're standing in the middle of a burning circle, the black-purple tipped phoenix fire cutting us away from the world. My coat is singed, and I can see raw skin in places, but I smile at bruised Feenie and pat her head. My tracing spell is still going, and the pulses of raw magic show a much larger griffon crawling out of an alley nearby, eyes locked at me. It's the original bastard from the laboratory. He must have stalked me for some reason, some remaining taste for revenge. "Feenie," I say sharply, and the little griffoness looks at me with red, puffy eyes, "Go home. There's a second one of them coming, but that's the only one. I'll... I'll take care of him. You just run home as fast as you can, don't look back at any cost." "Frostfire-" "Tell your dad that Corrupted are here. He'll know what to do, I hope." "But you're burning-" "Shh, just go home and listen to your dad. And... if you get the chance... tell him I've got his back, I've always had," the circle of fire protecting us fades, and my three-sixty vision shows the griffon Protector gaining speed, "NOW GO!" She squeaks as I raise my voice, but gets up and runs off. "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAD! DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!" in the distance, I hear door being unlocked and opening, "A PHOENIX PONY CAME TO HELP! FROSTFIRE CAME TO HELP!" "SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" The Protector has some pair of lungs on him. Then it hits me, that's a call for assembly. Corrupted will start converging towards him within minutes. I must lead him away, or kill him before they come. With that in mind, I force my numb legs to run once again. Crom will get enough information from the fear-stricken foal. I'm using power that is unstable and might hurt bystanders on accident if I make a mistake. Divine power responds to wish, and I can't focus enough to make a desired targeted effect. Even my tracing spell fails at this point. I'm out of magic, out of stamina, and burning from the inside with true death. All in all, not a good situation. On the other hoof, I saved Crom's kid and that counts. Coughing, I manage to reach a main street before the griffon catches up with me. My only warning is the screeching of cobblestones split by his talons right behind me. Alright, I usually focus the stolen divine power into punches, which means my hind legs aren't too damaged. Focusing on the most destructive aspect of true death, I charge my hind legs with divinity and buck upwards. The kick cleaves through Corrupted flesh like hot knife through butter. So easily that I lose balance and fall on the street. As I try to stand back up, my hind legs only twitch and refuse to listen to me. I push myself on my back with my forelegs, and see the griffon with a chunk of his chest and neck missing, my dual-coloured fire devouring him. He screams in uncontrolled agony, flails around, but can't move towards me as the fire saps his unnatural energy away with each passing second. Through blurring vision, I see dark shadows closing in, and stopping a short distance away from the burning Protector. They hiss and gurgle at me, but don't dare move closer. I feel the fear inside their minds. "Shooo, buckers," I groan, completely spent. And then... darkness. "-et up! I know you're still breathing. Come on, get up!" I hear a distant voice and feel talons digging into my barrel, "Damn it!" "Flora...?" I croak. "Finally!" she breathes out, "Corrupted are everywhere. You were right with the spreading, but they are not overly aggressive. I've been running around spreading the warning, and what do I see? Corrupted running away. Who could do such an incredible thing? Of course I find half dead you, stranger." "Blazing... Light..." I raise my foreleg in a mock shaking motion. "Nice name. Now, let me fly you to the train." "No, nonononono!" I flail as she attempts to sling me over her back. Successful, I hit the ground, "Ouch." "The hell?" she helps me get up on all fours, "I'm trying to help here." "Can't fly... in Corrupted... areas. Flytraps..." "What?" I point at a plant-like growth of vines forming a spiderweb between some dumpsters next to a butcher shop. "I was wondering where those things came from? What do they do?" "Like a frog catching a fly. They pluck you from the air, bind you, and release a scent luring Corrupted towards it. Small ones can easily catch a pony or griffon above the clouds, big ones can pull down and airship." "Emperor's beak, we aren't ready for this!" "Yeah, neither were ponies," I shake my head, "Look, can you go check on Crom? He lives-" "I know where he lives, and no. The alarm has been rung and if he's smart he's already on the way to the train with soldiers scouring the town. Either that, or inside the Legion fortress." "The fortress will hold only until you run out of supplies." "There are tunnels leading far away in all directions under the fortress. A rescue party will map the area and find a way from which those inside can escape. We, however, are going for the train. I'm afraid I need you once again." She wraps her wing around me, forcing me to walk with her. "What?" "Look, we need to inform my superiors about the situation here directly. I sent a radio message, but eyewitnesses are way more useful." "I'm not going to sit inside some Black Ops lab waiting to be dissected as a captured alicorn!" I push her away. "I promise you it's not going to come to that, come on! We need to leave. Besides, do you have a better idea where to go?" "I don't know, I'll find Crom and-" Rumbling. The ground trembles under my hooves, raising clouds of sandy dust like solid mist. From this wide main street, I have a clear view of griffons running around in panic, occasional soldier yelling orders and guiding the civilians. All of them freeze just like Flora and I do, when we see- "What in the army of thousand suns is that?" Flora asks slowly, disbelief in her voice. I have no idea. Near the town center, accompanied by the few skyscrapers visible from any point in Drachenberg, a fleshy stalk grows from the ground, razing buildings as it creeps upwards the Imperial Central Bank building's spire. Come to think of it, that's suspiciously close to Claus' mansion. On top of the stalk, something blooms... ...and explodes. Waterfall of black mist falls down onto the town, rising again as a tsunami spreading throughout entire Drachenberg. We just stare. It's too fast to run, it seems to permeate buildings without resistance, and... ...it instantly covers any being it touches like a Corruptor devouring its prey. Griffons frozen in terror turn into Corrupted as the wave flows through the long street. "I should have guessed you'd be in the middle of this mess," I hear an angry voice from behind, turning to face Veronica Redtalon punching my muzzle. I have no strength to resist anymore, and two of her mercenaries take Flora down in a moment of surprise. In the next instant, I'm dragged on the back of the griffon merc with the prosthetic foreleg, "But no one and nothing gets between me and my money." Flora curses, but the two mercs tie her up with trained precision. "Go go go!" Veronica orders, waving at her group from an open manhole leading to the sewers. The last griffoness jumps down and closes the hatch behind herself just as the wave hits, causing one final blast of blackness splatter over her and immediately start covering her body. Is this something related to the Project Blight? An entire town turned into Corrupted in an instant? It passes through buildings, only tight seals like sewer hatches help. That means nor the train nor the fortress was safe. Wait... entire town. Crom?