The Element of Corruption

by Fyronarion


Calm Before The Storm

Sugarcube Corner, Ponyville....

The day was ending in Ponyville, evident by the moon slowly going down, only for it to rise soon again. Ponies were now used to the fact that towns across Equestria are bewitched with the Nightmare curse, and were now going into their cottages. But past the Town Hall and down the road, the large bakery was full of life as lights were blazing out of the windows and laughter was heard inside.

All four mares laughed as Pinkie juggled ten pieces of pastries on her back. She trembled under the weight of the cookies, pies and other goodies and suddenly collapsed, making it fly everywhere. Most of it was caught by a quick Rainbow Dash, while the ones that she could not retrieve were blocked from hitting them by Rarity’s magic. Applejack snickered at Pinkie, who was smiling sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

“Next time Pinkie, try to bring it one atta time.” she said before tucking into a rather large cheese cake.

“Oh I will! Just watch, AJ!” she said, jumping up and down. A small creak was heard and Pinkie turned her head slightly to see Mrs. Cake standing there, yawning. Pinkie hopped over to her.

“Do you need anything, Mrs. Cake? Oooh, you’re tired?! You need some sugar!” she shouted, about to make a dash for the kitchen. However, Mrs. Cake bit her by the tail, halting Pinkie from retrieving powdery goods from the pantry.

“No, Pinkie, I don’t need any food right now. I just want you and your friends to stay quiet. Pound and Pumpkin Cake are asleep, and I am about to go to bed too. You can run the bakery, but please lower your voices. Can you promise me that?” she asked wearily. Pinkie nodded and Mrs. Cake smiled gratefully as she went up the stairs. Pinkie then hopped back to her friends.

“What was that all about?” asked Rainbow Dash, her face covered with blue, courtesy of Pinkie’s Blueberry Blast.

“Oh, nothing. Mrs. Cake told us to keep our voices down. Nothing else.” she said cheerfully, taking a seat next to Fluttershy and digging into an entire Cherry Danish. Rainbow Dash nodded, taking another bite of the blueberry pie. Suddenly, somepony coughed and stood up. It was Applejack, and everypony stopped talking and eating to listen to her.

“Alright, y’all. We didn’t come here to fool ‘round. All of us promised we would report our findings. What did ya’ll find?” she asked. Rainbow Dash smirked at her.

“Who made you the chief?” she challenged her. Rarity sighed.

“Rainbow, please. Do not start an argument with Applejack again.” she said, rolling her eyes. Rainbow Dash folded her wings and sat down, hooves crossed, a cold expression on her face. Applejack smiled slightly until Fluttershy raised her hoof. She nodded at her direction.

“Oh, um. Me and Rainbow Dash managed to convince a couple of ponies about Twilight and her plans, although I think some of them didn’t believe us..” she said, looking down. Rainbow Dash came close to her and smacked her on the back, causing Fluttershy to squeal and jump up in fright. Dash chuckled.

“Convince? Nah, if you saw how Fluttershy yelled at that stallion, you would think far from convincing.” she said, smiling. Applejack raised her hoof.

“Righty then, what about you, Rarity?” she asked, turning to the white unicorn. Rarity huffed and stood up, rather bored looking.

“I have managed to convince Spike to come with us. It took some time, but the poor dear was wrecked from the thought that Twilight betrayed him. It seemed as if he almost lost hope in himself, but I turned things around. He should be arriving here any second now.” she informed, gazing at the clock. Applejack nodded, looking relieved. So did everypony else.

“That’s one good news ah’ve heard in awhile.” she said, leaning back. Pinkie suddenly jolted from her seat.

“Ohohohoh! Me and AJ convinced the Mayor to improve Ponyville’s defense and to add some guards! She believed us and then shooed us from the room after that. So we will have guards here in a matter of days!” she whispered happily.

“Everything seems to be in order then.” said a confident Rainbow Dash. A moment later, the door opened and a small purple figure was standing there. He slowly made his way to the five mares.

“I’m here. I’ve got everything packed for our adventure.” said Spike, carrying a backpack. He opened it up to reveal several parchments, some quills and inkwells, along with food, clothes, medical kits and a flashlight. Everypony was impressed.

“Great thinkin’, Spike!” praised Applejack, opening the backpack a bit further. She gasped when she saw the interior of the bag. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary backpack. But inside, it seemed like an enormous atrium. Books were organized neatly in the walls, along with reading tables, a small cafeteria, and an observatory, complete with a window mimicking the weather outside. The supplies that Spike mentioned were held in a different pack which was small. Applejack called the others to see it.

“How strange.” said Fluttershy, peering into it.

“That’s cool..but kinda freaky.” said Rainbow Dash, hovering over the bag.

“Just imagine the sewing supplies I can store in there!” squealed Rarity, looking inside it. She realized her friends were frowning at her and she chuckled nervously.

“WOW! That’s a nice quill, Spike!” yelled Pinkie, pulling a jet black quill from the bottom of the storage bag. Spike smiled to himself.

“Twilight enchanted this bag herself. She calls it the Portable Storage spell. I don’t know how she cast it. I think she spent a few weeks studying weird formulas and other stuff to figure this out.” he said, scratching his chin. All of them laughed as they stood up and slowly trudged out of the store, Pinkie being the last to follow as she turned the lights off, flipped the open sign to CLOSED, and locked the door as she hopped after her friends...

All the way to Twilight’s encampment...

“This seems interesting...” muttered Discord, observing the shore on the other side with a pair of binoculars.

“What is it?” asked Twilight, coming up next to him. He ignored her as he kept scanning the horizon. Twilight rolled her eyes and her horn glowed. The binoculars glowed purple and flew out of Discord’s hands and levitated itself in front of Twilight’s eyes as she peered through.

“Hey!” he said indignantly, crossing his arms. Twilight pretended she did not hear him as she watched through the binoculars.

From her view, she saw a couple of tents, along with a few campfires. Ponies were walking around the area, and she noticed that all of them were stallions. As she was scouting, she saw saw a flash of a blue mane from the corner of her eyes. Her heart beating, she quickly turned to see it but lost view of it.

It must’ve been my imagination... she thought, watching them.

“You didn’t tell us that they were hostiles.” said Twilight, looking at Discord. He smirked.

“Oh. I forgot.” he simply stated. She sighed.

“I’m going to inform Nightmare about this. Hopefully, we can move out before they try to attack us. If not..well, we can hold them back.” she said, before turning around and trotting back into the camp. Discord nodded before taking the binoculars she left behind and looking through it more.

As she walked through the camp, Twilight saw Nucleon sitting on a small log. He was busy with something, as his horn was glowing with energy. A couple of logs were levitating around him. Twilight stopped to watch.

He closed his eyes and the logs rose higher until they started spinning around him. Soon, the spinning intensified, and shavings of the logs flew towards the ground, forming a pile.

A few minutes later, his magic slowly lessened and the logs stopped rotating above him. But they were not logs anymore. Assembled before him was a large boat, complete with two decks and portholes. The mast dropped a large sail with a crescent moon as its' emblem. Nucleon smiled to himself as he levitated the ship to the water and made a ramp for access.

Twilight suppressed a gasp as she watched with awe. She shook her head, thinking it’s best not to bother him, before turning and trotting towards Nightmare’s tent...

Across the place where Twilight was located...

The makeshift command post was lively with activity. Royal Guards were running past each other, yelling orders. A group of tents were standing, each with the Royal Guard insignia, their standards flying in the breeze.

One of tents were much bigger than the others. It had blue stripes along with a streak of purple. Inside it, Shining Armor was looking at a large map that was covering the table. Pieces of pony figurines were littered on the map, signifying the positions that the Royal Guards will have to take.

Nights of planning has taken a toll on him. His eyes were baggy, along with his ruffled mane. He also neglected his appearance, evident by tufts of hair growing around his chin.

He rubbed his chin and his horn glowed weakly. One of the figurines, a pegasus, levitated itself onto the top of the land with a red X marker, which showed the attack zone. That meant the pegasus ponies were going to fly over the area first and clear it out with cluster bombs.

As he rubbed the sleep away from his eyes, the tent flap was pushed aside as one of his Captains came in and saluted him.

“Sir! Our guards are on standby. We are ready for your command.” he reported. Shining Armor stood there, taking a moment to process what he said. He suddenly looked up and nodded.

“Yeah, let’s go. Let me get ready, Captain Axe.” he said, dismissing him. The guard nodded and left the room. Shining Armor turned to a small chest in the room and his horn glowed, unlocking it. Inside was his armor, made out of reinforced gold and carved with intricate designs. His magical aura surrounded the armor and the pieces flew up and perfectly fitted onto him.

As he was finishing strapping his hoof guard on, he saw a small picture in the bottom of the chest. He picked it up and saw that it was a picture of him and Candence during one of their honeymoons to Las Pegasus. He smiled, reminiscing the good days and the warmth of happiness he felt when he was around her. He then felt a small spike of pain in his heart. He has been away from her for too long.

“I promise I will be back, Candence. I love you.” he said quietly before stuffing the picture into one of the many slots in his armor. He turned and grabbed his sword before leaving the tent...

Meanwhile, to the Elements...

“So..uh..where are we exactly?” asked Rainbow Dash. They were in a small mountain range overlooking a large lake. In the distance, large forests could be seen.

“Just hold on, I’ll find it.” said Spike, trying to read the map.

“It feels like we were walking in circles.” chimed in Rarity. Applejack nodded in agreement.

“No we weren’t! Wait-I’ve seen that mountain before-”

“Duh! We went past that mountain on the other side before, silly!” stated Pinkie, pointing the obvious. Spike blushed in embarrassment.

“It’s not my fault we’re hopelessly lost! If it wasn’t for Pinkie trying to stop at that bakery in Appleloosa-”

“Cut it out, Spike. Guess we all gotta use some good ol’ fashioned magic, eh Rarity?” said Applejack, looking at her. Rarity gulped and took a step back.

“Er..I think you have gotten it wrong. Basic spells, yes. Teleportation? Not so much.” she said. Rainbow Dash laughed.

“Is somepony too chicken to show their powers?” taunted Rainbow Dash. Rarity flinched when she said that to her.

“Rainbow, please be nice.” said Fluttershy quietly. Rarity turned to Rainbow Dash and glared at her.

“Very well. I will teleport all of us. I cannot guarantee if it will be safe, nor can I say if the spell backfires and we all end up in the Everfree Forest.” she said crossly, her horn starting to charge. Fluttershy squeaked in horror when she said that.

“W-w-wait! The E-Everfree Forest? Um..I think I’ll prefer staying here- EEP!” she yelped when the spell suddenly engulfed all of them and they disappeared in a flash of white.

Back to Twilight...

Nightmare Moon was rather amused by the ponies on the other side after Twilight told her what they might be planning to do.

“It might be too late to pack up and leave, Twilight. I can see that they are preparing to attack.” she informed. Twilight’s jaws dropped. How can she see-?

Nightmare smiled at Twilight’s reactions.

“Very easy to spy, Twilight. A simple observation spell.” she said, her horn glowing. Blue mist started forming in front of her until it turned into a frame that looked like a television. It flickered for a while until it showed stallions lined up in a single position.

“Royal Guards...hmph. I would have expected my sister to send in..ah..let us say, more able soldiers.” she commented. Twilight focused her eyes on the projection. When she saw a sliver of a blue mane in the corner, her eyes widened.

“Nightmare, please move the view to the right and zoom in about ten percent.” she said. Nightmare nodded, her horn glowing again. The camera panned right and moved closer. Twilight got a full view of a white stallion with an electric blue mane and a shield with stars cutie mark. She almost fainted.

“Shining Armor....” she whispered. Nightmare was apparently pleased with her reaction until the tent flap flew open and Discord came bounding in.

“Interrupted something? Oh well, too bad. Anyways, I was on the horn with Chrysalis and she said she’s coming back in an hour or so. Huzzah! It will be a party!” he said, dancing in the air. Nightmare rolled her eyes and stood up from her desk. She walked to the window and looked out towards the ocean.

“Discord, a moment please? I need to have a word with Twilight.” she said firmly. Discord stopped dancing and, noting her stiffness in voice, saluted her before disappearing in a burst of smoke. Twilight was still transfixed about seeing her own brother.

“You can take him on if he tries to attack you, right?”

She was snapped from her daze and looked up at Nightmare. She gulped and, after realization that it was for her own defense, nodded.

“Good. Prepare yourself. They will attack. And Twilight, remember this: Do. Not. Hesitate.” she said before leaving the room, leaving Twilight to ponder around in her thoughts about her own brother coming to attack...