//------------------------------// // 26-3: Good news? Never! // Story: Imbalanced: Legacy of Light // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// “So, you son of a Highness,” Prominence sat down and leaned her back against Harriet’s bench, “How are you feeling?” It hadn’t been even ten minutes since she’d dropped the bomb about their up until now silent companion, and she knew that Gem was already running her mind through all possible scenarios, and thinking how their royal cargo would affect their trip. More important than that, though, was that she had given Starry Night something to drink and a quick snack that wouldn’t make him throw up immediately. Harriet was staring at Starry, thankfully without drooling or doing any other suspicious tentacle stuff. Pack Rat’s head and both hooves were peeking over the front seat as the earthpony was eagerly awaiting how the situation would evolve. Starry steadied himself on the bench. “As… as long as the car stops bouncing, I think I don’t need to shut my mouth  in order to keep that protein energy bar in.”  “Seriously!” Magpie groaned from the front, “Keep talking like that and I’m taking this van into the nearest bouncy castle.” “Moon forbid!” grunted Starry. “Aaaanyway,” Gem raised her voice, “Your… how do you call a princess’ son properly?” “Starry Night, Starry for short,” he shot her down instantly, much to her quick snicker. “Alright, let’s not waste time then,” Gem sat down as well, and as she leaned back against Harriet’s bench, her size allowed her to use the possibly-still-dragonpony’s hips as a back rest, “What were you doing in the old hive?” “I should be the one asking questions here,” Starry sighed, “Blade and I had official business there. I don’t know about you. Speaking of which,” he looked at Prominence, “You seem to know who I am and who Bladedancer was, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around Canterlot.” “My name is Prominence,” Promi gave him a quick, mock salute, “As to what I am and how I know stuff, that’s a question for later. The sexy love bug here is Gem from the northern hive,” she poked the changeling sitting next to her, “The Corrupted dragonpony trying not to eat us is Harriet, the griffon behind the wheel is Magpie, and the earthpony in the other seat is Pack Rat.” Starry narrowed his eyes as she examined Harriet, and furrowed his brows. “You feel familiar for some reason.” “Mf?” Harriet, raised her head, and then her six back tentacles shot out, wibbling in the air, “Oooo! Ah ow ooo! Oo eeh in aythaffnn! Yff d oonyohn! D pfayf!” Prominence poked Gem again. “Me?” translated Gem, word by word, “You, I know you, you were in Manehattan, with the unicorn, the chase,” she tapped her hoof against the floor, “I think I’m going to need some context for this one, but it seems that Harriet here knows Starry as well.” “Yes!” Starry nodded, and winced as his wound made itself remembered with that rapid motion, “While Blade and I were chasing the hippogriff who stopped time in Manehattan.” “Hippogriff who stopped time?” Gem and Prominence exchanged glances. Prominence sighed, “Starry, if I tell you I have the highest security clearance from princess Celestia and that I’ll explain how later, will you tell me everything now?” Starry sighed. “I suppose it doesn’t really matter anyway now that Blade isn’t here to kick me for sharing semi-classified information anymore...” he looked down at the floor, “Some time ago, Blade received a report about a project in the Crystal Empire called The Soulstealer-” Everyone exchanged glances, and Harriet’s tentacles froze. Starry wasn’t looking at them, so this all was completely lost on him, and he continued: “Accompanied by some Crystal Guards and EIS specialists, we raided the underground facility and discovered that the Soulstealer was an istrium sword crafted by using technology we haven’t seen before-” Gem frowned. She knew technology far beyond everything else. “-not even in the griffon Black Ops equipment. However, before we could get the sword out, we were ambushed by a single mare wearing istrium bodysuit of craftsmanship that’s straight up impossible by all standards. She used devices that- you know what? I’m going to stop saying ‘stuff we haven’t seen before’ because it’ll get really old really fast. In short, she had mobile barrier generators, and she got in and out via a portal in the lab. Blade and I followed, and the portal, you won’t believe it, kicked us out above Manehattan.” “What the hay?” Prominence’s jaw dropped, “That shouldn’t be possible under any circumstances. Transportation magic doesn’t work like that.” “Because I have zero doubts by now that it wasn’t magic, after what I saw in the old hive,” Starry shook his head, “This was a technology we-” “Haven’t seen before. Yeah, I get it,” Prominence interrupted him. “Exactly,” Starry nodded, “So, the portal dropped us in Manehattan, and we followed the hippogriff until we got into a fight near the harbor where she used a shotgun loaded with quicksilver buckshot and a time stopping device to flee. That’s what Harriet saw. Unfortunately, we got ambushed by several ponies and griffons few streets later while the hippogriff fled with the Soulstealer.” “Nff exfly...” Harriet mumbled. “Not exactly,” Gem translated instantly. “What do you mean?” asked Starry, but was stopped by Gem’s raised foreleg. “Let’s finish your trip to Chrysalis’ old hive first before I have to get ready for the headache I’m going to get by translating Harriet.” “Okay,” Starry shrugged, rather confused, “There’s not that much left to say. We traced some of the technology to the Order of the Silver Sun in Manehattan, where my mother talked to their leader Bucket who said he had no idea any Soulstealer thing was going on. However, he did find out that Silver Sun was missing some serious money, and was going to investigate it,” he took a long breath, “Now comes the part I shouldn’t be talking about, but since you’re all here, you must have faced the pony or entity we call Flow as well.” “Oh yes...” Prominence winced, “After he killed Bladedancer, I tried to slow him down. Key word - tried.” “You’re lucky to be among the few ponies who survived the encounter,” Starry took a short pause, “So, Blade and I faced him once before, in a secret military base he slaughtered. We would have died if my mother hadn’t saved us. And she would have died too if Blade hadn’t shown Flow where the thing he was looking for was being kept.” “He was a threat to princess Luna?” Pack Rat couldn’t keep silent anymore. “Not exactly,” Starry gave him a depressed glance, “He was on a completely different level. We, even my mother, were just… small bricks on the road which he could easily step over.”  Shocked silence spread through the car until Starry found the strength to continue. “My special talent,” he pointed at his cutie mark, “makes me able to percieve motivations and possibly even potential future of others when they touch me or even more when they use some magic or unnatural ability against me, and the first time Flow nearly killed me,” he tapped at the second long scar crossing his coat, “I saw part of his goal until my mother’s stasis spell stabilized me, but made me miss the full vision,” he frowned and took another break, “While I was recovering in Canterlot, mom recast the stasis spell, but I knew I needed to find Flow again and to experience my vision fully. Coincidentially, or maybe not so much now that I think about it, the Silver Sun observers encountered Flow at the edge of the Badlands, and there was a way for me to disable the stasis spell without mom knowing by getting to the anti-magic zone in the old changeling hive. I told Blade we could explore the area for some information, and she went with me for protection. We got to the old hive, and found similar crazy level of technology we saw in the Soulstealer laboratory. We also saw amazons, dreamlings, and eventually Flow himself. I only needed to get hit ever so slightly and then escape...” he broke down into sobs as it finally hit him in full force, “But I just got Blade killed.” “And the vision?” asked Pack Rat in the ensuing silence. “Hmm?” Starry looked up. “The full vision you wanted to see!” “That’s just it...” Starry shook his head, “I saw Flow standing in front of a spider-like abomination as tall as Canterlot castle. I saw skies shatter and stars wink out. I saw the end, the complete end of everything, all that accompanied by a crippling feeling of loss and sadness. The final thing was our planet surrounded by eerie blue glow disappearing into the ocean of nothingness. Flow wants to break the seal keeping that monster hidden and powerless, and he’s been teleporting around, getting keys to this seal. If he succeeds...” he left the thought unfinished. “Alright, but how does the Soulstealer fit into it?” asked Prominence. “I don’t know, but I’m sure it’s crucial,” Starry breathed out, “Why are you asking anyway? We lost the sword in Manehattan.” Prominence whistled innocently. “Promiiii?” said Gem slowly, “I’ve played enough poker games against you to know what it means when you smirk like that. When you smirk like that, someone who doesn’t expect it is about to get screwed.” Prominence’s coat turned into Corrupted black as she pushed her foreleg into her chest, and with a fleshy squelch, she pulled out… “W fowlfeelr?” Harriet’s eyes bulged as Prominence flourished the strange sword in the air. “Aaaand here’s where the ‘question for later’ part comes back to haunt us, right?” asked Starry. “I thought Desert Shade took it!” Gem jabbed her hoof into Prominence’s chest. “She did,” Prominence shrugged, “but one of her goons left a bag I saw them put it in lying near my cage while I was still conscious, so I absorbed the sword. Tentacles are handy when you need to get between the bars of the cage.” “You don’t look like a Corrupted at all,” Starry was staring, “And I’ve met princess Twilight Sparkle’s sons.” “That’s because I’m not like them...” Prominence pondered how to explain it, “I’m going to start with my age. I am seven years old.” “If that’s the case, we’re all going to jail for thought crimes,” Magpie snickered. “And don’t think I didn’t notice you drooling,” retorted Prominence with a chuckle, “Anyway, I’m not exactly a pony as you understand it. Is any one of you familiar with the name Blazing Light?” “I think I heard mother mention it at some point,” Starry shrugged. “There was this griffon in charge of Silver Sun by the name Cromach. Blazing Light used to be his lover, but he died during some incident involving alicorn by the name Scream,” said Gem, her perfect changeling memory kicking in. Prominence gave her a surprised gasp. “Then you know more than I do, buggo, because I heard that Blazing Light was still alive several years ago,” she recovered after few blinks, “His history isn’t exactly important here anyway, all you need to know is that at some point of his life part of his mind split off into a unicorn he called Mistake. This split personality eventually gained his own body using corruption. I don’t know the process, but princess Celestia does.” “Oh by my infinitely hospitable holes...” Gem breathed out, coming to the correct realization first, “Just like this Mistake was a fragment of Blazing Light, you are a fragment of Celestia who got a body in the same way.”  “Explains the assets and the fire,” Prominence smirked, “I didn’t think you bought the ‘corrupted efreet’ backstory I built for myself.” “I didn’t,” Gem shrugged, “I just never felt the need to dig deep into your head and invade your privacy.” “Thanks for that,” Prominence nuzzled Gem’s neck, “So there you have it, I was born in a secret lab under Canterlot, I have similar abilities to Celestia, divinity and all, only to a much more limited degree, and I’m connected to her if we’re within some reasonable distance. Before you ask - not this much of a distance. I can only feel that she’s still in Equestria.” “I’m curious,” Gem prodded Prominence, “Are you, like, Celestia’s hoof, or are you your own pony?” “That’s difficult to say, because I think the whole concept is wrong, but I’m mostly independent. It’s not as if we know everything the other one does, but we can if something needs sharing. We lead our separate lives. It’s not like she’s losing any real amount of power due to my existence. She can’t use most of her divinity anyway, because she kinda melts everything if she cuts loose.” “AAAAAH!” Harriet screamed for no discernable reason. “What’s-” Gem stood up as she noticed the car slow down, “Magpie?” “Nuh nuhnuhnuuugghhhh!” she clutched her head and curled up, falling down from the bench. “Something is… something...” Prominence’s coat turned black, first in streaks, and then instantly as if someone flipped a switch. A shiver ran down Gem’s spine, and she sat down. She didn’t mean to sit down, her body just did it on its own. “Guys?” she asked quietly. For a changeling whose prerequisite for existence was self-control, the situation was quickly reaching horror movie levels. At least she could control her mouth. Everyone was just sitting there, black droplets coalescing in their coats, and spreading like ink all over them. “Guys?!” repeated Gem. “It’s a Corrupted...” Prominence breathed out, eyes wide, “A singular Corrupted.” She could feel the simplistic mind spreading everywhere. How had she missed it? “What’s going on?” asked Magpie, feeling rather fatalistic about the situation. He couldn’t control himself, but his body was driving properly, not ramming them into the first tree by the road. “I think we’ve encountered what’s responsible for the disappearances of citizens not in the direct path of the zebra army.” “Damn it!” Gem gritted her teeth, but the controlling influence didn’t let her do anything, “Based on the slaver guards’ reports, I knew we didn’t have much time. I just hoped we had a little more...” “Nnnngh...” Harriet curld up as much as she could, forelegs covering her head. However horrifying, it was strangely cute that her back tentacles were wrapped around her head as well. She was feeling herself slip, but the steel grip of the controlling influence was irresistible. Even if she gave in and went crazy, she wouldn’t be allowed to move, that much was clear. The mind which had replaced Prominence’s soft touch inside her head had a single goal - to grab anything alive, and make it move somewhere.  Prominence knew she had to do something. Whatever the Corrupted which had taken them over was, maybe it wouldn’t be able to deal with her in her fire form. Her body stubbornly stayed solid. Not even a spark left her horn. Nevermind. She sighed. “Any ideas? Because I’m fresh out.” “It’s been a long time since my last complete loss of control,” Gem admitted her helpelessness, “The thing is, I feel normal, I just can’t move or do anything.” “Same,” said Starry Night. “Nnnmfff,” Harriet agreed. “Promi, any clues on what Corrupted this could be?” Gem opted to gather information instead of panicking. Call it infiltrator instinct or something. “I met Nightshade several times, and this is different, but immensely powerful as well. Not like her, not the invincible depth of fighting against the world, but “sticky” and focused. The good part is that while it’s heavily controlling, it feels simplistic, and not overly invasive or corruptive. Considering that it must be a Corruptor, that’s really weird.” “What do we do?” “What can we do?” Prominence shrugged, “It’s stronger than your self-control, and it’s blocking my use of divinity. If it can do that, I doubt there’s anything other than the influence of a more powerful Corrupted to stop it.” “Harriet, any plans to quickly turn into some goddess of Corrupted? You know, being part dragon and all.” “Mmmmmm...” Harriet just grumbled to herself. “Yep, I was thinking the same thing,” Gem relaxed. There was nothing she could do at the moment, so she concluded that saving energy would be the best idea. After all, she knew where they were going. To her surprise, she was allowed to shift enough to comfortably relax with her back against the back door of the van. The Corrupted didn’t want them hurt, that much was clear.