[Blazing's Entry]
The Corrupted are a manifestation of Harmony's power which has always been evolution, adaptation, perfection. Heh, I'm saying it as if I pretend to know the god's thoughts. I used to know, but most of those memories faded when Harmony killed me. The thing is, he already tried this once before.
The Vigil, the cult led by my father driven insane by Harmony... and the overall tragedy that had befallen my family, were a good example. Simple ponies directly infused with Harmony's power who, after reaching certain threshold, could become immune to impacts, elements, hunger, anything that ruined the body, but they went... empty. Their minds turned into mush belonging to the common mind led by the god itself. They did what they were supposed to do and when they had no tasks to perform they just switched off, sitting and staring at nothing.
I believe Harmony cannot think creatively enough to break its own limitations. Its attempts at achieving perfection will always revolve around indestructible bodies and single hivemind resistant to the removal of even great majority of its members without loss of experience and knowledge. The previous attempt, however, showed that no matter how many minds of lesser creatures like us you have, the amount of information stored in a way possible to instinctively reach is too much.
Even with that limitation, the Vigils were nigh-impossible to fight. We had one shot before they could adapt and become immune to what we had. The first time our Order team clashed with them they all died aside from a satyr by the name Fortune. At first we thought they got captured, and Crom went in there alone to save them. Too late, of course. However, Crom was an incredibly physically strong griffon, mostly due to the divine power I stole from Nightmare during Crowley's insurgency and transfered into him. When we met the Vigils next time Crom's blows only scratched their bodies instead of being able to cleave through multiple with his axe.
That was why I couldn't stop it before it got out of hoof. If I used my power and some of them survived and spread their innate defensive adaptation against divine power of my caliber, then nothing else would stop them. However, Crom and Heavy Hoof worked out something that helped us in the final battle at the sacrificial valley immensely - Harmony's adaptation cannot break the laws of magic and physics. Well, only to a certain degree because divine power is cheating, as Desert Shade commented correctly.
The Vigils could not become completely immune to all physical effects, because that would make them too hard to move. They needed working joints, and those were vulnerable even while strengthened. They needed to breathe, although significantly less than any living creature, and they suffered from Harmony's, let's say, stupidity. The outside of their body was incredibly durable, but you could still hit their brain through an eyesocket, soft tissue inside their mouths, or cause temporarily crippling internal damage. Granted, nothing aside from scrambling the brain or divine power was lethal, but it was better than nothing.
I think Corrupted are a much better step. They are tough, but not so unnatural that they cannot evolve in time. They are not confined to one body, because they are the territory they live in and the physical form is more just a vessel, at least that is true for the stronger ones. As history has proven, Corrupted are Harmony's vastly more successful experiment. Thankfully, the attack ending in my death left the god in no shape to control them properly which allowed some ponies to survive, and eventually Cromach, Twilight, Des, and others to break the god's direct influence completely.
Why am I writing this? Am I repeating myself? I must be. I don't know anymore.
To occupy myself, mostly. For the past two or three hours I've been talking to the holograms surrounding me, to myself, to Bob, to Magnus, Scream, and others long gone. Being alone again made me realize that the only reason I resisted corruption so far was the company of others. Now I'm sort of... losing it.
I caught myself standing still and watching the ancient alicorn city from an arch high up. When I snapped out of it I realized Legius' soldiers got significantly closer. I had a chat with Magnus about the conflict between magic and divine power. I even assisted him in creating the dimension jumping spell Void used on me after I got blown up along with mirror king Sombra when I was still just a happily depressed unicorn.
I miss having someone to talk to. I know it's only been eight hours at most, but with the memories I'm rushing through, experiences that are not mine, and the beating of desires my corrupted self keeps throwing at me... it feels like years. I thought that corrupted stamina would allow me to run away for days and maybe get somewhere safe, but without the constant reminder of other ponies that I still am at least barely sane, the body just wants to lie down and sleep like a freshly fed cat.
I can't go faster than a slow walk, and the soldiers are getting closer and closer.
[End Entry]
I'm in the wilderness. Not lush green-black one filled with tall grass and forested areas within reach like back in Equestria, but rather some hard, cracked ground dotted with dry bushes and yellow patches of the surviving vegetation. Only over two days' worth of travel on hoof away from the Great Southern Desert there is still no place for real greenery to survive.
I'm also walking over familiar obsidian floor up towards a black throne. Step by step, my hoofsteps ignore physics and echo through the open space. Final Sanctuary has never been an enclosed temple, rather a triangular roof, the floor, and those two held apart from each other by black pillars instead of walls. From inside here, one can clearly see the grey desert of dust spreading into the distance.
I trip over a rock, reminding myself that I am still walking through Imperial landscape with an army in tow.
"Scream is dead," I pace over the empty floor, "and I am bound by my promise to Discord. My knowledge, however, must not be lost."
No one answers.
Of course no one answers. My only companions are the holograms surrounding me. I wonder if Des and Flora got out safely. It would be pretty cool if they just swooped in on some crazy airship like I did for Crom and bombed the snot out of Legius' guys.
Looking at Desert Shade running next to Strong Back's amazing plot, I realize something.
"Oh damn it! I completely forgot to ask who was behind the bounty on me. Heh, not like it matters anymore, right? EVERYONE knows I'm alive, seemingly, so some more mercenaries don't mean much with all the good old divine threats around."
"I know it was the mercs who got to me first, so what?" I scowl at an agent running by my side. My back tentacles swings through him, "Smartass!"
The hologram flickers.
My tentacle legs... tentalegs... tegs? Well, those, they slip on a puddle of black goo. I'm drooling again. What was I thinking of?
Right, right Back's backside. I would do so much spreading with her that even my body would scream for mercy.
"My time here is over. I am exhausted," I sigh, "Scream, I know why you did it but was there really no other option? Did you not believe I could solve it this time? What changed?"
Raising my hoof, I peek into the world of recently departed souls. Blue dots surround me like I am the center of the universe. One of the dots is glowing bright gold, but I know that is not her. Alicorns don't leave souls behind, only divine power, and while Scream's personality might still be imprinted in her remains latched onto a different being, I cannot reconstruct her. Besides, it wouldn't be her anymore, Harmony's power destroyed far too much of her.
I beckon the golden dot which lands on my hoof, and shake my head.
"What about Crom? Crom's now just like me. I bet he's mounted half the population of Drachenberg by now. If I ever get back there I won't judge him if he's just a mass of tentacles with a happily grinning griffon somewhere in the middle and a mare or stallion impaled on each one."
What? I'm not a jealous pony. I've always believed Crom could find a hundred ponies better than I am warming in winter around every burning dumpster in Canterlot. Haha! I was right, and now he's having all of them at once.
Score one for Blaze!
Damn it, walking is getting more and more difficult. It's the damn black temple. Void's things are getting in the way and sometimes I just stroll in circles for a while. Like, I know I'm not in the Final Sanctuary, but the part of me I call myself is currently having too little deciding power within the international company called Blazing Light.
Hah! Manehattan University of Economics must have taught me something before they kicked me out because I can remember stuff even after over two hundred years. Maybe I should visit one day as the oldest dropout ever.
Would I get some memorial plaque?
'You do not need higher education for a long and unsatisfying death' is what it would say.
"What made you think they can do it when we could not? I have more experience than they will ever have, you were the most powerful wizard in existence, and Magnus knows things about the inner workings of the universe no one else does."
Chuckling, I let the dot go. Scream left enough of her power behind for her plan, but her gambit led to me promising Discord I would leave as well. For his help against Harmony, without which the little ones would have never prevailed, I offered him my demise... and I do not regret it. My power would not have been enough to stop the exiled god, but his was. However, I never said I would let everything I managed to discover over eons fade into the past.
Stupid bushes, always trying to trip me up! Good thing there's no forest in the way or I would look like a marble in a pinball machine. I'd kiss so many trees my face would resemble a steamrolled pug.
Come to think of it, that might be an improvement.
Looking backwards, I can now make out the individual shapes of Legius' soldiers. So much strength in each body. Every single one could pound me all night, and with all the tentacles I can grow I'd make the Legion army the happiest regiment of military griffons in the world.
Call it my Corrupted retirement plan.
On the other hoof, I'm one of the dripping bastards, so I'm more likely to melt them and turn the whole area into a big black puddle. The orgy singularity, the black hole of round holes and long, thick pegs.
Damn it, did Nicolai have to make the holograms so provocative? I know that running around with stick ponies wouldn't fool anyone, but the nearly real-life models just jiggling around are too tempting.
"Sometimes you just have to hope, is that it, Creamy? I understand why you helped Harmony return to Equus this early. We needed to know when exactly the veil would break and we needed to be ready before any other disaster struck. You lured the god here before it was completely ready and gave us all time to prepare."
Extending my mind, I reach out to a weak and worn out soul, barely more than a wisp of remaining energy. One incomparably less 'solid' than any other recently passed pony.
Confused yet? The sun is setting, and the last of its rays are turning the evening into a dance party for shadows. There are lights on the horizon, but the city should still be at least four days away, or am I on the road for much longer than I thought?
Wait, that can't be the case. Nicolai said the holograms would last only several hours and they are still around, quietly trotting in a formation surrounding me. Happy bastards, not having to worry about anything. That means I am here and this is now, I am not Void. My name is Blazing Light, and I'm trying to spread.
"All you have always wanted was peace, and I regret I have to be the one to deny you."
The wisp's barely visible grey colour bleeds into the air around, forming the shape of a unicorn soul, beaten down and weary.
No, no, I'm running away to buy Nicolai and the others time by being a decoy. I hope they got out, either by being rescued or by overpowering whoever Legius left behind and then taking a different route.
*BLAM!*
Dirt scatters around a small crater.
"You were not a real alicorn, just a unicorn with unique trait whom Harmony forcibly ascended to do its bidding, but you did not fall for the ruse and stayed yourself. You know what? Maybe that is what Scream intended. I was created to be powerful, and I have grown beyond the wildest expectations of my makers, but you... I did not lie when I told you you could one day take my mantle."
I gather all my alicorn power. It resists being controlled just like always, but it knows who its master is. Little by little, black and purple sparks float around me and one by one dissipate into the unicorn, strengthening his string-thin outline.
*BLAM BLAM!*
Why couldn't they give me one of the energy shields? Good thing is that the morons are shooting the holograms and that my body can sort of ignore the glancing hits, but I'm sure one of the griffons behind me is going to miss in a lucky way and hit me in the head.
My plot goes 'bloop' and absorbs the rapidly melting bullet.
"You idiot!" I call out, "Cake is supposed to go there, not lead! Shoot cake!"
Hah! That confused them enough to stop firing. Heck, why not make the most out of a bad situation?
"Or glazed donuts! Banana flavoured if possible," I add.
*BLAM!*
Assholes.
"We have one thing in common, one very important thing. We are always on the verge of giving up, always a step away from finally doing the selfish thing and leaving the world around to its own devices, always just barely finding a reason not to do so. We always doubt our decisions, we always know we could have done better, we should have done better. But in the end we never give up no matter how much we just want to lie down and finally sleep. What we do does not always make the world a better place, too often quite the opposite, but we try to fix it. We fail, but we keep trying."
I let out a little too much power at once and the soul fades into nothing. Fortunately, when I slow down it returns with all its force of will and unexplainable tenacity. He will have to survive the fluctuations, because the less power I have the more difficult it is going for me to control the rest.
"MISSED ANOTHER ONE!" I yell as a bullet goes through Flora's flickering image, "Try pulling the trigger with your dick!"
Part of my wing splatters on the ground and drains into the soil as the bullet shatters the wingbone.
"See, that worked!"
Heal me, body, that I order you! Booooo.
Nothing. I guess being this long without any Corrupted contact, either by eating something or fooling around with a willing, or unwilling, partner I don't think I have the biomass to recover from. Alright, we're taking the next exit right and heading back to Drachenberg on the freeway.
"That is exactly why it hurts me so much to do this, but I have had enough. Scream was the only reason that kept me going for this long. Thankfully for you, she once again outsmarted us all and left me a trail of bread crumbs telling me what to do. After all this time with her, my heart did not belong to me anymore, it was forever broken into two parts which cannot work on their own. My dear lover saw into yours, and the pieces were three."
The transfer of power becomes a habit now. It is taking a long time, but time is something that does not exist here in my dimension as I can adjust its flow in comparison to the real world freely. There is still one major issue I have yet to sort out. Diving into the well of souls again, I search for one that has departed a little longer ago, a powerful one in its dedication and drive. One in direct contrast with my possible unicorn heir. It comes quickly when called.
"My little Chokey, my little Cromach... y," I clear my throat and try to choke a tune out, "I used to wonder what being hunted by everyone could be, until you all shared its magic with meeeeee. Big explosions, tons of foes, beautiful backsides, pliant but strong. Sharing a small bed was no easy feat but squishing up made it all complete."
Gasping for air, I continue my journey onwards. Damn tongues, making singing too hard.
"The problem is that what I am about to do might not be enough. I am not like other alicorns, my power cannot simply be transferred or inherited. Just like it nearly destroyed Tirek it will end you, because you are too weak, I think. However, I do not have a choice in the matter. My knowledge is inside true death, and you were the only living being to ever successfully use it besides me. You understood the good side of death, the peace, the safety, unlike others who only dread the inevitable."
I am about to break a rule about death, something I have done only once before and, ironically, for the same pony. Mortals die and their souls pass on. No matter what, they should not interact with the living anymore. In return, I protect them before they dissipate from necromancy and any other involuntary enslavement. Those serving me for eternity and who are my shield and power are different. The thing is that I cannot order them to protect the unicorn. Their final wishes are sacred to me, and they joined my effort to stop the rule of the gods because of me, not because they believed in my cause.
"You are my Hope, and that is something I, for once, must blindly believe in."
Crom and Chokey weren't the only two who helped me get this far. If there was a pony to whom I owed as much as to them it was Heavy Hoof. I was incredibly jealous of him, of how he could stay positive despite everything, and even eventually fall in love with a changeling who mocked the memory of Heavy's dead coltfriend the first time they met. He was a pony who could forgive, courageous, and with his heart and brain in the right place. I hoped to one day become even a little like him. Not the full blown gay part, though. I like mares far too much for that.
Geez, I still remember how pissed off Chokey was when she found out. Long time before the two of us even tried becoming more than friends.
"You must have this much sausage to go on this ride," I chuckle, "and she had none."
Despite all the hardships, things worked out for the best. Well, I was involved, but I made them all happy at least a little.
I am the alicorn of Death, but with the essence of my spirit guardians I bestow fake life on the newcomer. The new soul absorbs a small portion of my power after I present my request and he agrees without hesitation. If my power destroys Blazing's weak soul before he revives then my wish will be pointless and the lingering spirit can finally 'die', but if by some small chance the unicorn rises again... he will have somepony he can trust around.
"Don't crumble under your burden. If you ever return, your world will be vastly closer than you think."
"Shoot another one and I'm keeping it!" I yell at the approaching griffons.
Legius' soldiers are picking up the pace now that they are only over fifty pony lengths away. The realization hits me like a hammer and temporarily strengthens the control over my body. This is here and now. Here is an uninhabited part of the Griffon Empire. Now is about two hundred and thirty years after I died.
The holograms flicker and disappear. My thirteen hours are up, and I look at the bright moon hanging above.
You know, it's never as beautiful or huge in the city.
I'm fine with Nicolai and others not bringing the heavy cavalry to save me if they got out. I just hope they did.
My power is almost gone now, but there is one final thing to do. A shimmering white doorway appears in front of me. The ultimate alicorn skill, the ability to finally let everything go. Maybe I've always just been a coward and refused to die out of fear of what is next.
What awaits me on the other side? A new adventure, or complete emptiness?
Shaking my head, I touch the warm rippling surface.
It doesn't matter anymore, the world is now in the hooves of the young ones. It is time for my one selfish deed. I think I deserve it.
I think I've gone for long enough. Time to sleep. Hello, angry armed griffons.
"Huh, where did you come from?" I ask the concave of armed soldiers aiming their guns at me.
Did I turn around by accident?
I look back. Nope. I ran straight into Legius' reinforcements. I knew I should have turned right back on Drachenberg.
Thankfully, the very real threat so close to me is finally letting my scattered brain focus on something. I don't even need my tracing spell anymore. Corruption gave me eyes able to see everything clearly even where a normal pony would be blinded by spotlights aimed at their face. I know there is a mass of griffons approaching from behind from how the six tentacles swaying on my back relay the situation. Corrupted have excellent senses, and far more of them than ponies.
Too bad they didn't work like five minutes ago.
"Don't move!" a griffon calls out.
"Can I lie down and take a nap?"
Alright, alright, I'm still a pony right now. What do we do? Alone and surrounded on all sides.
Flail tentacles menacingly!
The soldiers take a step back, but don't relax their trigger talons.
Both battalions of soldiers form a complete circle around me. Legius, in his robe now dirty and torn after walking through the wild for over two days, starts pushing through the ranks. Before he can get to the front line, one of the reinforcing soldiers asks:
"What is that thing?"
"I strongly object to being called a thing. I'm an abomination at worst," I wave my foreleg tentacles at him.
"It talks!"
"And it only took you two tries to notice, now I know why they drafted you, sexy griffon private."
I hear fuming some ten pony lengths away behind me. Did somepony build a volcano while my back was turned? No, it's just Legius. Gotta admit, the old guy has some serious stamina.
"WHERE ARE THEY?" he roars.
So they made it. They just didn't have the time to stop by and get me out.
"Have you tried looking under the bed?" I grin like a complete moron now that the burden has been lifted.
"Check the device on his back!" he points at me, "Shoot first if he even breathes aggressively."
"Can I breathe seductively?"
Legius' eye twitches.
"I will have you vivisected, you bastard, and make sure you stay alive to watch. You think Nicolai's escape changes anything? His word against mine means nothing in politics, and I have supporters with long reach. You think anything you did stops my plan? Nicolai will be heard, and that's all, but he won't be allowed to do anything. You got yourself caught for NOTHING!"
"So, no big change right?" my back tentacle slaps the butt of a griffon unbuckling the hologram projection device from my back. I give him a toothy smile when he aims his pistol at me, and turn back to Legius, "I was already caught before Nicolai went to rescue me. As you yourself said, you wanted to corrupt Steinheim with him in it, far away from any assistance, and you got screwed. I think I got all I wanted, old griffon."
He hisses, but doesn't dare come closer.
"I will make you eat those words on the operating table..."
"Can't be worse than Chokey's cooking."
The soldiers bring Legius the hologram device. He just points his talons behind him and they carry it away.
"STASIS UNIT, NOW!" he calls out.
Four of the northern soldiers bring out some huge metal crate with blinking devices and purple crystals all over it.
Any bright ideas how to get out of this?
To be honest, I can barely stand.
I've got one, but I doubt you'll like it.
I'm all ears. Well, all tentacles but you get the drift.
True death can wipe all traces of you ever being here.
Kill myself for good? I mean, I feel some sort of power still there, but it's not much. Definitely not even close to enough against all these guys.
That way he won't get a test subject to further improve his biological weapon.
There is a small chance I'll survive the experiments and possibly get out. You know, Nicolai might still have some influence.
Before or after this crazy griffon corrupts his this whole continent and other places? You've already absorbed the Corruptor he was using, and now you can end this. Just use the rest of your power to kill him and the world will be a better place.
What happens next doesn't matter, right?
Oh crap.
Damn... I didn't notice him.
A well-known pony encompassed by shimmering fire passes through empty space hastily cleared by Legius' soldiers. I still can't make out his features through the thin gold and pink veil tightly clinging to his whole body.
Do you trust me?
Sort of, yeah.
Then use all the power you can find. Gather everything into yourself, and clean this place up for good.
You think I have enough power to kill HIM? You are more crazy than I am.
Legius looks away from Insanity and back at me as I start laughing like crazy.
Air wobbles with coalescing power, and a black hole appears nearby, spitting a now familiar titanic mare out as well.
"It's my birthday party and EVERYONE'S invited, woooo!" I keep laughing.
Harmony's mare servant looks at me, then at Insanity, then back at me, then she facehoofs. She really DID mistake Insanity for me last time. Daaamn Harmony really is dumb.
"Yep, that's me, Harmony," I laugh and laugh and laugh, "How have you been for the past two hundred years? I heard you got your ass kicked again and that your whole eat the world plan went tits up when Nightshade turned your creations against you?"
Insanity, on the other hoof, is baring his teeth at Harmony's chosen, power flaring but not yet striking. The mare looks at him with disdain.
"Go away, you pointless existence. I have no interest in you anymore."
"Who are you?" Legius asks carefully.
"No interest in you either, pathetic creature," she summons a small green tentacle from the ground which wraps around Legius and tossess him carelessly away.
All guns suddenly change target.
Blazing, you can finish what you started.
I HAVE NO REAL POWER!
Trust me, there is far more than you think.
I can feel it, there's barely a trickle. These guys are leagues more powerful than I ever was.
Trust me, please. Just take all you can and reach deeper for more.
But Guiding, Crom, Des, Flora...
Desert Shade will keep travelling Equestria like before. Agent Flora will keep working under Nicolai and will be sent on another assignment. YOUR intervention turned Cromach into a Corrupted, and you've already begged everyone you could to help Guiding in case you could not. Now you can give all of them a little safer world. Since when do you consider your life worth more than theirs?
You're right. There is still no way I can stop them.
I mentally grasp for all true death I can reach inside me. I am so weak that just focusing on it hurts my head. I might have still hesitated if Harmony's host wasn't here, but now there is no way out. She will kill me here and now. The power flows, and stabs of pain come from all over my body as my veins rupture.
I am sorry it had to come to this.
Not your fault. It was just my usual luck.
The power flows stronger. Is there much more than I thought?
Pink, black-tipped flames envelop my forelegs and I feel my flesh disintegrating in front of my eyes. The griffons retreat a little while Harmony's mare gives me an amused stare. A flaming sword materializes in front of me.
"Alright, Harmony, third time's the charm?"
She just barks out a laugh.
"I definitely agree," her hoof passes through the true death sword which shatters, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" she jumps away, watching the bony stump of her foreleg with disbelief. Then it reforms in full, "Is that what you wanted to hear?"
Like finally popping a cork out of a champaigne bottle, true death flares inside me, and I nearly throw up in pain.
"No... bitch..." I cough blood along with corrupted goo, "I just... needed..." my forelegs are just bare bones now, "time..."
Taking a deep breath, I keep absorbing the new river of deadly power into myself.
"KILL HIM, SHOOT, NOW!" I hear Legius' voice.
Bullets hit me, but disappear with no effect. Harmony's enormous tentacle gets nearby and burns, making the mare scream for real this time. Insanity is just standing there, eyes darting from Harmony to myself. Poor confused creature. I guess that along with my twisted dual power he also inherited my hatred for the god.
The power peaks within me. This is the limit.
I sigh. If I have to go, I'm taking all of you down with me.
The air I let out corresponds with a wave of black and pink flame spreading out like a slow motion explosion.
Harmony's mare turns into a charred pony-shaped lump in front of my eyes, high-pitched screeching coming from her all the while. Insanity, a little further away summons his icy and fiery wings, shields himself, and both dissipate along with his burning armor. What looks at me for a moment is a simple grey, pink-maned unicorn before my flames scorch his body and he starts running away while his flesh melts. The closest ranks of the griffon army turn to ash instantly, their mundane armors offering no protection against the spreading of all-devouring fires.
As I run out of breath, the wave ends, leaving the ground turned into silvery, dead dust.
I can barely force my lungs to take another one, and the edges of my vision darken.
Insanity is running away, now more a pony than a living flame. Tentacles envelop the screeching charcoal form of Harmony's chosen, and drag her back into the inky hole from which she came. The griffons are fleeing in panic, and I force a grin as some soldier tramples Legius while running by, the old griffon's mouth opening in furious cursing.
I look down as all feeling leaves me, and all I see is most of my muzzle falling on the ground and shattering like glass. My bony forelegs crumble into dust. The cloud of silver ash I cough out must be my lungs.
The final flames of true death around me fade, having devoured all there was.
As the rest of my body crumbles, I see the ground getting closer, and then...
...silence. Sweet, sweet silence.
I apologize, but you had to die. The story of the alicorn of Hope had to end.
Goodbye... Heavy.
I knew you were a smart pony, Blazing.