//------------------------------// // Rescue // Story: The Element of Corruption // by Fyronarion //------------------------------// A day after Shining Armor's capture... It has been a hard night. Hours of questioning and yelling went past, but to no avail. No information has been extracted, as Trixie kept resisting attempts by Rainbow Dash, Applejack and the others. It seemed like she would never break out why she followed them. Applejack sat down on the log, her forehead matted with sweat. Rainbow Dash kept pestering Trixie, her eyes baggy from the lack of sleep. Still, she kept giving a smug expression and shook her head at every request, saying that she won't give them anything followed by a couple of obscene words. Finally, Rainbow Dash quit interrogating her. "I give up! She's impossible!" she shouted, flying away to a nearby cloud for some solitary time. Applejack sighed as she wiped the sweat from her brow. She turned to the others. Pinkie was asleep, snoring next to Rarity, who too was quietly sleeping. Spike was lying across from them, gently sucking his claw. The only pony awake was Fluttershy, who was watching the entire interrogation process. She had been silent for the entire time, her eyes wide while she watched. Applejack thought that was unhealthy for such a pony to do. "You should take a rest, Fluttershy. Me an Rainbow will take care of her." said Applejack, pointing towards Trixie. Fluttershy shook her head. "No, I think you and Rainbow Dash should get some sleep. No offense, but you two look worse than me. I can watch over Trixie. I mean, if that's alright with you." she said quietly, looking down. Applejack thought about that for a while. "Ah don't know, Fluttershy. With me an Rainbow asleep, who knows what Trixie can do..." replied Applejack, glaring at a smug looking Trixie. Fluttershy only shook her head. "Don't worry about that. If she tries anything, I'll wake both of you up. Relax, Applejack." she said soothingly. Applejack nodded, feeling her eyelids getting heavy. She found a comfortable looking tree and sat down before leaning against the body of the tree and pulling her hat over her head. "If ya need me, just holler." she muttered, before closing her eyes and falling asleep. Fluttershy smiled before turning to Trixie. She trotted up to her. "You have been giving my friends problems. Why don't you just tell us why you followed us?" asked Fluttershy sincerely. Trixie stayed silent, looking at Fluttershy. "I don't want to do this...but it's the only way..." said Fluttershy sadly. Trixie cocked her head in confusion. "What do you mean? Tell Trixie!" she demanded. Fluttershy smiled softly before locking her eyes with Trixie's. She stiffened, trying to move her gaze away from Fluttershy's eyes, but there was no point. The Stare cannot be broken by the victim. "Stop..." whispered Trixie as she started to sweat in panic. Fluttershy ignored her plea and kept her eyes on Trixie. Trixie, on the other hand, was experiencing painful flashbacks. It was like somepony pried open a locked box full of memories in her mind and was searching through it. Memories flashed before her like slideshows... A couple of years ago... A small blue filly was crying in the bed of her room as both her parents were shouting at each other in the other room. She kept the pillow over her head as the shouting intensified before a yelp and the sound of glass breaking was heard... Two years later... "Get out! You will never be like me! You're useless, just like your mother!" screamed a light blue unicorn stallion from behind the door. Trixie was fighting back tears as she quickly packed up a small bag with her possessions. She tried to wipe the tears from her eyes, but her bruised eye she got from her own father prevented that. It hurt to touch it. As she finished packing her few possessions, her eyes drifted to a small frame at corner dresser of her bedroom. It showed light blue unicorn stallion with the same color mane carrying a darkish blue unicorn filly on top of his head. Laughing next to him was a dark red unicorn mare with a rosy colored mane. The family of unicorns looked happy and overjoyed, but it took a few years for that to crumble and fall. The sound of the door groaning under her father's weight was getting louder. Trixie quickly opened the window and gave one last sweeping glance at her room before jumping out of it and running into the night, accompanied by sobs and tears... Back to the present... Trixie snapped out of her dream sequence as she stared, horrified, in Fluttershy's eyes. Fluttershy did not give up her stare, and Trixie finally decided to let it all out. "All right! Trixie shall tell you everything! Please, for the love of Celestia, stop!" shouted Trixie, waking everypony up with her yells. She was trembling as Fluttershy finally blinked and smiled pleasantly. "I'm sorry for using the Stare against you, but it was for the best. If you had cooperated earlier on, I would've not used it. Sorry." apologized Fluttershy, looking down. She heard a couple of hoofsteps and turned to see Applejack and Rarity standing behind her, along with Rainbow Dash. Pinkie and Spike, however, were sleeping heavily. "So she will tell us now?" asked Rarity, yawning. Fluttershy nodded and she sighed in relief. "Thank Celestia! I thought she would never open up!" "Alright, let's get to work. Why were you following us?" asked Rainbow Dash, stretching her hooves and keeping her eyes narrowed against Trixie. The blue unicorn took a deep breath before starting to explain... Meanwhile, to Shining Armor... It has been a couple of days since his capture, and Shining Armor's condition is terrible. His normally clean mane is plastered against his head, and his eyes were bloodshot. His fur too was ruffled as he constantly tried to break free from the chains holding him down. Three full days of being chained against a chair has taken a toll against him. He was hungry, cold and was sick. As he slowly drifted away to sleep, he overheard Nightmare and Chrysalis talking with each other. "...the information we have extracted from him is appetizing. It may be the key to attack Canterlot!" said Chrysalis. Nightmare nodded in agreement. "Yes, it does appear to match our reports. However, I have a different plan. One that involves the Crystal Empire." said Nightmare. Chrysalis looked at her in awe. "I'm interested." she said. Indeed, so was Shining, as he kept his eyes closed but his ears alert, ready to take in any information about her plan... All the way up to the airship, which is near the enemy camp... The navigators aboard Cadence's airship have been right all along. After a few hours length of flying, they have finally reached the area where Shining Armor is being held hostage. Cadence overlooked from the observation deck as she saw the small, dark camp. The only thing that gave away the position of it was a small campfire. Other than that, it was completely oblivious to the naked eye. A cough was heard behind Cadence, and she turned around. One of the guards was standing there. He saluted her before talking. "Princess, we have arrived. Shall I give the command to deploy two of the guards down there to rescue the Captain?" he asked. Cadence nodded absentmindedly, and the guard turned around and walked out of the room. About ten minutes after the guard left, she saw something move from the corner of her eyes. Two dark shapes were rappelling down a rope from one of the cabins connected to the airship. As she looked down, the dark shapes landed quietly on the surface and swiftly made their way to the camp. Back at the Elements... Trixie has finally finished explaining why she was following them, and in the process of explanation, she puzzled all of them. Rainbow Dash scratched her head in confusion. "So you are telling us that you were camping in the other side of the forest?" asked Rarity. Trixie nodded. "Yes. Trixie's camp is by the small creek. Trixie had stayed for two days, until a few nights ago, Trixie heard ponies talking. Thinking it might be a couple of foresters, Trixie silently creeped upon them. However, Trixie has alerted the ponies, who were obviously you five, and made a fool of herself by falling down clumsily. Unfortunately, the farmer and the pegasus caught Trixie before she could escape." said Trixie, exhausted from telling them this. Applejack glared at Trixie. "For ya information, mah name ain't "The Farmer." It's Applejack." she said, stomping her hooves. Pinkie Pie laughed at that. "Aw, don't be such a silly filly, Applejack. You are a farmer, after all!" she said cheerfully, bouncing. Applejack facehooved herself. Trixie's explanation seemed to satisfy all of them. Now one pressing issue remains: Will she help them? "Er...Trixie..we need a favor from you.." said Fluttershy hesitantly. Trixie looked at her. "What do you require from The Great and Powerful Trixie?" she asked. Rarity rolled her eyes. Fluttershy exchanged looks with Rainbow Dash before turning to Trixie. "Well...we are going after our friend Twilight Sparkle. You see, she is in league with Nightmare Moon. We were wondering if we can use your carriage as a means of transport to go where she is located?" she asked timidly. Trixie's expression was unreadable. An awkward silence passed by for a minute until Trixie broke it. "Your friend Twilight Sparkle...why is she with Nightmare Moon? Trixie is great and powerful, but even she is slightly afraid of becoming that mare's apprentice." she asked. Although unnoticed by Trixie, everypony suddenly stiffened around her when she asked that. "It's a long story. We'll explain it to you if you agree." said Spike crossly. Trixie looked at each and everyone one of them before sighing. "Well, Trixie is outnumbered. Besides, Trixie has nothing better to do. When shall we leave for this Twilight's location?" she grumbled. Rainbow Dash and Applejack exchanged smirks with each other before looking at Trixie. "We're leaving now. We've waited too long, and I want a taste of combat. It's too boring, camping in the woods." said Rainbow Dash. Applejack nodded in agreement. "Very well. Follow Trixie to the carriage. Do any of you have a map?" "Here you go." said Rarity as she levitated the map towards Trixie. It hit her smack in the face. Trixie took it off and scowled at her. "Oops. I am so sorry." Rarity said in a mocking tone. Applejack shot a disapproving gaze at her, and she sighed before apologizing to Trixie for doing that. She smirked and all of them walked into the dark forest... Back to Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon... As Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis heavily discussed the plan, Shining Armor processed what he overheard, and was horrified by what they planned out. This is what he heard: Chrysalis will be sending her drones to Canterlot, known in the plan as the Second Invasion of Canterlot. Celestia will use all of her military might against the swarm, recalling guards and greatly weakening the security of other territories that have Royal Guards stationed there. While Canterlot is holding off the invasion, Nightmare, Twilight and Discord will travel to the snowy wastelands to conquer the Crystal Empire, which has a weaker army. Once the Empire is taken over, Princess Cadence will be overthrown, and a new rule will be temporarily established by Discord, who promised to seriously mess with the laws of nature with his pranks. After everything falls in place, Nightmare and Twilight will go deep to the heart of the Empire, where she will trap Twilight in a small chamber and feed her powers to reawaken King Sombra. However, the new Sombra will be much stronger than the one that failed to take back his empire. Although both of them didn't mention what would happen to Twilight after Sombra is awakened, Shining Armor haphazardly guessed that she would become crippled for the rest of her life, or worse, die from the magical energy taken from her. After Sombra regains power in the Crystal Empire, Canterlot has already fall to the Changeling Kingdom. Many towns and cities in Equestria will soon be occupied by Changeling drones, Celestia will be kicked from her throne and executed, followed by the Elements of Harmony. With those out of the way, Nightmare will rule from Canterlot under the name "Greater Lunar Republic". Sounds flawless, doesn't it? "I don't know, Nightmare. The plans might have flaws. For instance, what happens if Celestia strengthened Canterlot's defense? I can't risk losing too many of my drones. Or what if Sombra is too weak to recover?" said Chrysalis uncertainly. Nightmare shook her head in defiance. "Nonsense talk. This plan will work. However, Twilight must not know this. I only let you onto the plan, because Discord is not trustworthy." she said confidentially. "He will find out sooner or later." said Chrysalis. Nightmare was about to say something in response when the sound of cloth shredding could be heard. Both of them whisked around to see the tent fabric behind Shining Armor being cut. The fabric soon fell, revealing a dark orange pegasus stallion with an orange and white mane. Behind him was a white unicorn with a silver mane. Both of them are clad in white armor with gold trimmings. On the area of the armor where their cutie marks should be, a fiery red phoneix is engraved onto it, along with it appearing on their chest plates. Shining Armor's eyes widened and slacked in relief as he knew that he was about to be saved. Those two ponies are part of a squad he commands. The unicorn held up his longsword at both Nightmare and Chrysalis. The pegasus pulled out two small daggers and hovered above the unicorn. "Don't make a move. We're here for Shining Armor." said the unicorn. The pegasus nodded, not keeping an eye off of them. Nightmare chuckled. Chrysalis looked at her incredulously while both guards shared confused looks on their faces. "You know who these ponies are?" she asked. Nightmare nodded, wiping a tear away from her laughter. "Oh yes. Celestia's dear Phoenix Guard. They are the ones who go behind the lines and do special operations for her. But they are no match. Last time I remember, the entire squad is clumsy and weak. They were killed during the Equine Uprising, which was the first time they were sent in." she said. The unicorn gritted his teeth, while the pegasus pony spoke up. "That's not true! The first regiment was poorly trained during that time, and the insurgents had better weapons against us. Now, we are much better off than you can ever expect. Hand over the Captain, or face consequences." he said. "What consequences?" asked Nightmare innocently. The unicorn took a step forward. "I wouldn't suggest playing with us. Hand over Captain Armor, and we'll leave you alone. Consider this your final warning." he said, gesturing towards the hole behind him. Nightmare had a thoughtful expression on her face. Chrysalis stayed silent, not saying anything. "Leave us alone after we hand him over? I don't think you're being honest about that. Last time I checked, Celestia's guards never leave a job unfinished. How about a no?" she said, her horn glowing. A moment later, four changelings walked in. When they saw the guards, they growled. The unicorn sighed and turned to the pegasus. "Slips, tell them the diplomatic approach didn't work." he said. The pegasus named Slips nodded and pulled out a small gem. "HPC Galaxy, this is Slipstream and Onyx. The captors are not cooperating. We need a round near the tent where we are. Coordinates are six-three-niner-two. Slips out." he reported. The gem illuminated brightly for a few seconds before it became dim again. Slipstream put it in his saddlebag. "Well?" asked Onyx. "They'll send a ballista round down. Command said the gunners are loading it up." he said coolly. Onyx laughed and turned to Nightmare. "I think after seeing this, you will hand him over." he said. Nightmare had a puzzled expression on her face. Five minutes later, a huge explosion rang through the quiet night air. Chrysalis quickly pulled the entrance of the tent to look and gasped. The storage tent, which held the armor and weapons for her changelings, was completely obliterated by a large arrow. There was a small crater, and flames were dancing near the spot. A familiar purple figure landed by Chrysalis, and she had a worried look on her face. "What happened? I was asleep when this huge explosion rang out near my tent-" she was interrupted by a loud yell inside the tent. Both Chrysalis and Twilight galloped into the tent to see Nightmare lying on the floor, a small cut on her body. Onyx was quickly untying Shining Armor's gag and ropes, while Slipstream was standing guard over them. He turned to see Twilight and Chrysalis gaping at them, and he gasped. "Quickly!" he shouted to Onyx, who finally untied everything and hoisted a unconscious Shining Armor on his back. "NO!" screamed Chrysalis, releasing magical energy towards Slipstream. He deflected the blast with his sword as he covered Onyx's flank. Twilight leaped forward and unleashed a salvo of pulse beams. Slipstream managed to block a few, but one of them hit him in the leg. He yelped in pain as he looked down at the singed leg before limping after Onyx. "Rope, rope!" shouted Onyx, looking above. Twilight thought that was strange until she looked up and gasped. A huge airship was hovering above them, and the bottom hatch opened, dropping ropes. Onyx quickly tied up Shining and himself on the rope, and so did Slipstream. He pulled the rope two times, and it jerked them up quickly, swinging them around. Chrysalis stood there, stunned, while Twilight took action. She lunged forward and managed to grab the rope before it left the ground. Slips and Onyx didn't gaze down at their surprise guest, as they were too busy checking to see if they are tied up securely. Twilight looked down at Chrysalis and made a gesture, as if to say Don't worry, I'll be fine. Chrysalis looked at her and nodded in respect and resignation. Finally, all four of them disappeared inside the cabin and the hatch closed. The ship abruptly turned and drifted away. Chrysalis looked on as the ship slowly went into the horizon before turning around and returning to the tent to clear up this mess. The camp was swarmed with confused-looking drones. It took a moment for Chrysalis to calm them down and send them to sleep. Discord was wide awake, standing on the air with a grim expression on his face. He shook his head at Chrysalis before turning and walking into his tent. She frowned and went to tend Nightmare's wounds, grimacing what would happen if she wakes up and realizes what went wrong...