//------------------------------// // Corruption // Story: A Pony's Tale: Equestria's Fall // by Sparrow9642 //------------------------------// From high above and beyond Ponyville, the sound of fractured wings echoed throughout the dark night. The wings were not of a pegasus, alicorn, or nocturnal creature, but more of a sinister creature. The echo of the wings manifested a much more hollow sound, similar to the sound of a dragon's wings, but this being was not a dragon. This creature was something more cunning. Something more ancient, evil, and clever in a demented manner. The creature chuckled, as it planted it's hooves along the surface of a distant cliff, admiring it's view of Ponyville. The town was lit with multiple streams of lights, due to the celebration of Princess Luna's return from the Misty Mountains. Fillies and colts were too occupied diving their heads into barrels for apples, hoping to win a prize, while other colts of an older age were enjoying the night with their marefriends. Some were earning their first kiss, while some were managing to gain the courage to talk to somepony they had admired for years. These thoughts of pathetic romance caused the creature to chuckle, for it had much "darker" tactics in mind. The hour of Luna's return was approaching, and it sat in admiration. Soon, it would become obvious that Equestria was no longer safe. "Celebrate while you can, weaklings, for as soon as the sun descends beyond the horizon, you'll realize the truth that your pathetic "protector" is trying to hide," spoke the creature in a deep voice. "Dishonesty never protects anything, and your sun-princess should know that more than any of you weaklings. I suppose I'll have to teach her otherwise." The creature chuckled, as the sun began to lower, forming a sinister smile upon the creature's face. It wasn't long before the sun had completely disappeared behind the distant horizon, and the sound of Princess Celestia's voice began to erupt from Ponyville. "I'd like to thank everypony for coming to the celebration, and for all the effort that you all put into it, just to make my sister and your beloved princess of the night feel welcomed back from her trip!" announced Celestia. "Now that the sun has descended, I'd like to welcome back from the Misty Mountains, Princess Luna!" Celestia motioned her hoof outward, causing every pony present in the crowd to turn their heads in the direction of Celestia's hoof. Their heads were turned toward a large opening between two distant mountains where the Hallow Moon was supposed to rise, along with Princess Luna. At first, there was nothing but the sound of crickets chirping, but Celestia had not exactly scheduled the event with Luna before her departure, so she waited just a little longer. Time passed, and now some ponies were starting to get worried. Whispers of worry stirred throughout the crowd of ponies, immediately causing Celestia to become worried. Considering what had happened earlier, she prayed that this sudden predicament was not linked to Spike's death. As the minutes passed, more and more panic begun to settle amongst both the crowd and in Celestia mind. From afar, the creature chuckled, feeding on the panic that had begun to ensue the citizens of Ponyville. "That's right. Let it take over; the realization that your princess is not coming back," spoke the creature with a chuckle. "Your princess shall never return, because I've already made sure of that, after I disposed of her, for good!" The creature laughed, as the entire population of Ponyville erupted into complete and utter panic. Screams of horror erupted, immediately causing Celestia to struggle to control the situation at hoof. Nopony was listening to her, because they knew that something wasn't right, and that Luna was not coming back. The creature smiled at it's accomplishment. "Excellent. The message has been delivered, but little do these weaklings know that this is just the beginning. Soon, every bit of their hope and happiness will be broken." The creature chuckled again, as it ascended into flight, disappearing into the darkness. The message was clear now; Equestria was not safe, and a new evil had arisen. An evil that would be Equestria's biggest challenge yet. The next morning, Twilight peeked her eyes open, only to find herself upon a table. The environment smelled like soil and plants, immediately causing Twilight's mind to spike, realizing she was in a flower shop. She sat up, confused on why she was in a flower shop in the first place, but was quickly stopped by Applejack. Applejack's eyes spoke nothing but restlessness and worry, as Twilight questioned the farm pony on why she looked so restless. "What's wrong, Applejack?" she asked. "Be easy on yourself, sugarcube," she replied. "You had a rough night." Twilight was immediately confused. "Rough night? What do you mean?" questioned the alicorn princess. Applejack remained silent, allowing the previous night's events to unfold slowly. Twilight wasn't a pony to accept the truth of reality so easily, and Applejack knew that it was best to let the truth come to Twilight naturally. "Sure, I may have had a dream that Spike died... Twilight's pace lowered fast, slowly coming to realization that her "dream" was nothing but reality. Twilight continued. "The castle had been taken over by something, and Princess Luna didn't return at the peak of the... Realization suddenly struck Twilight like a ton of bricks, and tears begun to build up in her eyes. She had become aware of the situation, and the tragedy that had occurred the previous night. "None of that was a dream, Twi'," spoke Applejack sternly. "Everythin' that you just mentioned is the reason why we're in the flower shop." Applejack didn't speak lightly, seeing she wanted to get Twilight to realize that everything that she had mentioned in her awakening was the harsh reality as quickly as she could. There were bigger things at hoof, and unless they worked fast, the situation could resolve in more chaos. Twilight quickly caught on. "I'm sorry Twi', but it's all true, and unless we act quickly, this situation can spiral out of control even more, so since you were the last pony to see what killed Spike, we need you to describe what you saw." "Actually, Applejack, I wasn't able to catch any sort of glimpse of the foe," clarified Twilight. "All I heard was a deep voice from among the castle walls, but there was nothing there. I can't explain it, but all I remember is finding Spike dead, falling to tears, and lastly, the voice speaking "I am the beginning of what will be your worst nightmare". Everything else is just a solid blur." Applejack quivered at the sound of the description of the unknown foe. A threat with no appearance? That seemed both sketchy and terrifying. How can a creature have no appearance, yet be audible at the same time? Applejack decided to nudge Twilight a little further, hoping to find any other clues to what they were up against. So far, this threat's description was beyond anything they had ever faced in the past. "Are you absolutely sure that's all you can remember, Twi?" questioned Applejack. "Is there any other solid details that you can remember, before you went into shock?" Twilight attempted to remember every bit of what happened the night before, and suddenly remembered one certain thing, before she went into shock. It happened so fast, but she remembered it. "I remember one last thing before everything fell to black," spoke Twilight. "I remember a sudden mass of black flashing before my eyes, just before I blacked out." Applejack's ears perked at Twilight's statement. However, it still wasn't enough to determine what type of foe they were dealing with. Even though Applejack wanted to push Twilight just a little further for any sort of information, she knew that pushing Twilight too far might cause her to fall to shock again. Applejack just nodded her head, unsure of where to go next for answers. "Alright. Now that we have "somewhat" an idea on what in Equestria we might be dealin' with, let's get back to Princess Celestia," stated Applejack. "Hopefully she'll have answers to what in tarnation we are dealin' with." "Hold it, AJ," Rainbow intervened. "I'm sure that Princess Celestia is going to need a better explanation than a "mass of black" to get an idea of whatever caused this." "Rainbow does have a point, Applejack," added Fluttershy. Applejack snorted in frustration, even though the points made by Rainbow and Fluttershy were valid. "I know, but it's all we got!" exclaimed Applejack. "We don't want to pressure Twilight to the point of where she might go into shock again, and that's just what's gonna happen if we attempt to force anymore answers out of Twi' that she can't provide!" "Good point," agreed Rainbow Dash. "EXACTAMUNDO!" exclaimed Pinkie in the happiest voice she could provide. Knowing what they had to do, all six proceeded out of the flower shop, hoping to find Celestia with ease. Outside, Ponyville was completely silent. Debris from the celebration covered the ground, along with multiple pairs of hoofsteps implanted in the soft dirt. It was clear that Ponyville was not the same, and that every inhabitant was aware that a new threat was among their midst. Ponyville was in a complete state of panic, not knowing whether they were safe from a threat strong enough to kill an alicorn princess or not. It had managed to push Twilight into shock, and disposed of Princess Luna. Whatever they were dealing with, it was clear that it was a murderous creature. Neither Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, or the Mane Six had dealt with a threat that had the urge to kill. Nightmare Moon only wanted to bring eternal darkness upon Equestria, Discord only wished to spread chaos and disharmony, Queen Chrysalis only wished for eternal rule over Equestria, King Sombra only wanted rule over Equestria, and Tirek only wanted to absorb all the magic from every pony in Equestria, and turn it into a wasteland. If this new threat didn't want dominance over Equestria or magic, then what did they want? That was the biggest question on the Mane Six's minds, as they spotted Celestia by the Ponyville Fountain. She was discussing something with one of her guards and looked stressed over all that had happened in the past night. There was a mild expression of worry and sadness upon her face as well, due to the fact that Luna was more than likely dead. Everypony was wondering the same question, now all that remained was the answers, which at this time, seemed impossible to find. Applejack quickly alerted Celestia, as all six of them approached closer. Celestia turned to see all six of them in a rush, dismissing the guard, so she could attend to other matters. She could tell something was amiss, as all six of the ponies came to a stop just a few feet from her. "I see all six of you took my advice, considering you made it through the night," stated Celestia. Applejack, being the strongest of the six responded to Celestia. "We took refuge in the Ponyville flower shop," Applejack replied. "From what remains of last night, I can see that our foe's presence is known well to everypony." "Unfortunately," mumbled Celestia. "As much as I wanted to keep this in secrecy, it's clear that who or whatever has done these ungrateful acts wants its presence to be known to all." Applejack found Celestia's statement disturbing, considering that most clever villains normally prefer to remain in the dark as much as possible. This one, clearly wanted their acts to be known, and it had managed to do so very grimly. Ponyville's streets were completely empty of any life, all businesses were deserted, and even the birds were silent. This villain was something unlike anything Equestria had faced, and considering that not even Celestia could name a creature capable of these sorts of abilities, to find out what they were up against, they'd have to go deeper. Applejack proceeded to telling Celestia about what Twilight had stated before she fell into shock; the mass of black. "Moving on, Twilight actually managed to give us a brief identification of what may have killed Spike," stated Applejack. "I'm listening," replied Celestia, hoping to gain something from whatever Twilight may have seen. "It's not much, but just before Twi' fell into shock, she was able to see what she describes as a "mass of black," confessed Applejack. Celestia gave a look that Applejack expected, considering the description of whatever Twilight saw was very vague. "Can you give me any better description?" questioned Celestia. "Perhaps any certain details about it? Applejack shook her head, causing Celestia to fall into deep thought, wondering if there was any other possible way to identify Twilight's description any better. If she was going to ever get this situation under control, she needed to be able to identify whatever had caused this chaos in the first place. Suddenly, a thought came to her, along with a possible solution; if Twilight couldn't manage to identify the "mass of black," then maybe if she managed to enter Twilight's memories, she could get a better depiction of this brief description. The only problem with the spell, was that it was a very dangerous one, and if she made one wrong move during the spell, it could cause some of Twilight's memories to be destroyed. She decided to approach Twilight about it first, seeing that doing this would be very risky to both her and her student. This was not for her to decide. "I have a solution, but only if Twilight is willing to let me," Celestia stated with urgency. Twilight startled at the mentioning of her name, as she thought of what Celestia could have planned. "What do you have in mind, Celestia?" asked Twilight. "I'm asking to enter your memories, so I can get a look at what you describe as a "mass of black," but I'll only do it if you allow me. The spell I must perform is highly dangerous, Twilight," answered Celestia. Twilight suddenly realized the spell that Celestia was talking about. It was a spell that only alicorns could perform, due to the amount of concentration required to perform it; the Memory Delve spell. Twilight knew why Celestia had considered asking her permission before performing it now, considering just how dangerous it was. "You really think I'm up to a spell of that magnitude, Celestia?" questioned Twilight. Celestia nodded her head, confident in her faithful student. "Then you have my permission to perform the spell, considering I'd like to find out who or whatever killed Spike," she confirmed with anger in her voice. Celestia smiled, as she proceeded to doing some precautions before performing the spell. She alerted the other five with her hooves, waving them outward in a motion one uses to shoo somepony away from them. "You other five might want to stand back," warned Celestia. "This spell is very powerful, and can easily affect anypony within close range, if anything were to go wrong." The other five did not hesitate, and quickly took a large number of steps away from the area where the spell would be cast. Twilight had begun to breathe in large amounts of air through her mouth as well, knowing that this spell was going to use a large amount of her energy that she had very little of now. Celestia had full faith in her student, as she placed a hoof lightly upon Twilight's shoulder, attempting to calm her down. "Are you ready, Twilight?" asked Celestia, as a last precaution. "I believe so," replied Twilight in a shaky voice. Celestia found Twilight's response strange, seeing Twilight was normally somepony that wasn't scathed or shaken easily. She was normally a strong pony, even in the toughest of situations. "Twilight, are you sure you are ready?" Celestia questioned again. "I'm sure, Celestia," Twilight confirmed with the same tone as before. "My head just feels a little cluttered right now, that's all." Celestia nodded her head, proceeding to igniting her horn with an aura of yellow magic. Twilight followed, illuminating an aura of purple magic, struggling to keep her horn lit. Celestia was even showing signs of struggle, as she continued to cast the spell, showing that even this spell was powerful enough to challenge an ancient alicorn. The power of the spell had even shocked the other five in the distance, feeling the ground shake. Despite all the struggling, the spell had been cast successfully. From the tips of Celestia and Twilight's horns, thin strings of jagged magic slowly stretched outward like magnets attempting to connect to one another. The ground beneath Celestia and Twilight's hooves had started to collapse from the massive strength of the spell, and the entire atmosphere of the area had grown dark and cold. The strings of magic were only a short distance from each other, as a strong wind picked up, nearly causing Twilight to lose control of the spell. However, the young alicorn had managed to stay strong as finally, the two strings of magic connected. A strong gust of wind blew at the contact, leading to Celestia and Twilight's eyes falling to nothing but a bright illumination of light, as both of the alicorns became enclosed in bubbles of magic to keep them safe. The other four had no idea what had happened as they remained a safe distance from their friend and beloved princess. They knew for sure something was happening, but until the spell was ended by Celestia or Twilight, they would be clueless if this attempt to uncover whatever had killed Spike and traumatized Ponyville was a success. Having successfully gained entry into her former student's mind, Celestia stood up. It was dark and quiet, immediately causing her to shudder, knowing that something was amiss. Twilight's mind would be warm and welcoming, but this seemed more like a cold and unwelcoming arrival. Celestia lit her horn in the endless darkness of wherever she had wandered into. The princess shuddered again, as she caught sight of a very thick and sticky material just in front of her. She didn't dare to touch it, so Celestia just carefully observed it, recognizing it as something similar to something she had encountered in the past. The sticky material was similar to a mind she had entered in the past corrupted by King Sombra, but this wasn't Sombra's doing, due to the material being less of a shadow, but more of a solid material. Celestia immediately eliminated Sombra as a possibility and moved forward, attempting to avoid the material as much as possible. The sights remained the same as she wandered deeper. It seemed as if a spider had woven a web within Twilight deepest thoughts, in an attempt to fog them. The matriarch suddenly felt as if she should leave, but quickly shook it off, realizing if she did, she would have done the spell for nothing. She had to go deeper, straight to wherever this material had originated from. Celestia gulped, wandering deeper and deeper into Twilight's subconscious, noticing the material becoming less thick and more open. The pathway eventually came to an end, where Celestia could only see solid walls, and nothing else. She suddenly jumped, as the eerie silence was broken by a deep and raspy laugh. "One little alicorn all alone in the depths of darkness and fear. Foolish and stupid ponies!" A laugh followed, as Celestia attempted to spot who or whatever had insulted her. "Who are you?!" Celestia demanded. "Your worst nightmare,"replied the voice."You are foolish for coming here, seeing your poor little student has already lost most of her most precious memories, and shall remain hidden from her as long as I have control of her fragile mind!" The creature continued to taunt her, causing her anger to rise at all that this unknown creature had done to her student. "Show yourself, coward!" Celestia demanded with rage. "Ah, just like your pathetic sister. You demand for things beyond your power,"taunted the creature."You'll learn who I am very soon, when your kingdom starts to fall before your very eyes, and you'll have no way to stop the inevitable!" "What have you done to Luna!?" Celestia barked, feeling tears build up in her eyes. "Where is she?! WHERE IS SHE!?" The creature only continued to laugh at Celestia's demands, resorting to ending the confrontation. "I left her body within the cliffs of the Misty Mountains, so if you want to go retrieve her body, be my guest. I have no use for you or any of your pathetic subjects anyways. The dragon was only a warning for what's to come in short time." Celestia felt disgusted, and her anger was at it's peak, as she once again, illuminated her horn in an attempt to silence whatever was taunting her. "You... You monster!" Celestia barked, as she prepared to fire a large mass of magic. "Go ahead! Destroy your student's most precious memories over rage! Break your beloved student! Make her completely useless!" Celestia seized her magic blast immediately, as she realized that whatever was speaking to her was correct. She couldn't destroy Twilight's memories over her anger. This foe was smart, and knew how to break and pin anypony that approached them. "We'll meet again, and next time I won't hesitate!" Celestia concluded as she turned and ran through the endless clutter that caked Twilight's thoughts and memories. Laughter is all Celestia heard, as she reached where she had entered, quickly exiting Twilight's mind, back to Ponyville. The spell came to an end as both Celestia and Twilight regained their thoughts and strength, standing in silence. Noticing the others approaching, she quickly halted them to a stop. The situation had fallen from dangerous to extremely dangerous, as the matriarch turned to Twilight, looking at her with eyes of sorrow and caution. "What happened?" questioned Rainbow Dash. "Is Twilight okay?" Celestia shook her head, quickly enclosing Twilight in a large ball of magic to prevent her from leaving the area. "Twilight, along with the rest of Equestria is in deep danger, Rainbow Dash," Celestia spoke strictly. "We must get to Canterlot, quickly. Nowhere is safe."