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// Unforeseen Doom 
// Story: Purity Corruption 
// by TheBlox 
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Altruise stood dumbfounded as Nebulous floated overhead with his flapping faux wings. A clash of lightning lit the sky as the rain continued to pour down on the ponies. Glaring down at the ponies beneath him, Nebulous chuckled to himself through his crooked gritting teeth.

“You lied to me!” Altruise screamed through her tears of anger and disgust, “This entire time?!”

Nebulous shook his head at her in pity, “So useless, so pathetic.”

“Answer me!!” Altruise roared from below. “Everything you said? It was all a lie?!”

“Hmmm…” Nebulous scratched his chin and grinned, “Well, not everything. My parents were murdered like I said they were.”

Altruise just frowned at that.

“They didn’t approve of the way I was studying my magic.” The dark flying unicorn shrugged, “So I killed them.” He declared with a cackling voice, “They were just a waste of space, and got in my way.”

“That’s disgusting…” Altruise shook her head in disbelief.

“Pfff, so I’ve killed a few ponies.” He pointed a hoof, “And you single-handedly destroyed Canterlot, murdering thousands.”

Altruise backed away and went wide-eyed at that comment. “I-I…”

Twilight, who was knocked down earlier, had just gotten up to hear those words, and her eyes dilated, “W-what? Ca…Canterlot is… is destroyed…?”

“Yes, not so disgusting now, am I?” Nebulous murmured from the pit of his throat. “But I must admit, I did play part in that destruction…”

Altruise frowned and growled angrily.

“You want to know why you’re so powerful?” The dark unicorn grinned, “You want to know the truth?”

The golden mane unicorn winced at that.

“The reason you’re so powerful is because of me.” Nebulous declared with a cackle, “You were never born with that magic. I gave it to you.”

“I…” Altruise’s wincing eyes slowly opened with the sudden realization, “Celestia told me that you were there in Trottingham… the day I was born.” She raised her voice, “What did you do to me?!”

Nebulous grinned and explained, “I cast a spell that every unicorn can only cast one time in their life; so I only had one chance at this. It is a very high level spell, and due to the risks of using it, very forbidden by the Princess.” He pointed a hoof at her, “It’s called Horn Amplifier.”

“I… I read that spell in one of your books…” Altruise’s eyes widened and she whimpered, “You cast it on another unicorn by striking a connection of magic from either horn… The older the target unicorn is, the higher the chances are that the unicorn will die, with a fifty percent chance of killing them if they’re a mere foal… but if the unicorn survives, their magic throughout their life cycle will become far superior to the average unicorn…”

“You certainly did like studying those books, didn’t you…?” Nebulous chuckled, “That is correct. I had to pick a foal to cast it on for my plans to work…” He lowered his hooves as he explained, “Nineteen years ago, I broke into the Trottingham hospital to pick a foal… You just happened to be that lucky unicorn.” He sneered at her, “And wouldn’t you know it… you’ve casted that same spell on another pony; without even realizing it.”

“I… I what?” Altruise’s eyes widened, “What??”

Nebulous chuckled and pointed a hoof at the lavender unicorn, “You remember your old friend from school, don’t you?”

Altruise blinked a few times and turned to the purple unicorn, who glared back at her. Both of them were equally confused. It took Altruise a few moments, but soon she began to remember. Her eyes shot open, and she backed away from the mare, realizing that she was that foal she struck on the school playground all those years ago.

“Twilight?” Altruise gasped frantically with her epiphany, finally recognizing the mare.

Twilight went wide-eyed herself, remembering that day. “A-Altruise?”

“Hahaha… Celestia never told you did she, Twilight?” Nebulous grinned, “The Princess has kept you as her protégé for as long as she has because she was afraid of what you might become without her supervision.”

The lavender unicorn backed away, whimpering.

“As for you, Altruise; yes it is true, Celestia knew about the spell I cast on you when you were a foal. And so did your parents… They tried their hearts out to protect you from me since that day, and kept it a secret hoping you’d never have to know the truth.” A thunderous clash of lightning lit the storm-cloud sky as the dark unicorn laughed hysterically, “I’ve been planning this day every step of your life, since the moment you were born!”

“AAAAAH!!” Altruise suddenly snapped inside, and she thrust off the ground like a torpedo, launching up at the dark unicorn in the sky. With the full force of her self-propelling launch toward him, he just floated there waiting for her. The moment she reached a mere foot in front of him to knock him out of the sky, she was stopped by a sudden barrier of magic. “GAH!!” Colliding into the barrier was like slamming into a solid brick wall, and she flipped back a few times, trying to level herself out with her wings, shaking her dizzied head.

“Quite the temper you’ve built over the years.” Nebulous grinned at her, firing a black fireball at her from his horn. The dizzied unicorn had no time to react, and the fireball struck her with a loud explosion that echoed with the thunder and lightning. The explosion sent her hurling through the air, and she fell onto one of the Ponyville homes, crashing through the roof. Nebulous waited a few moments, and Altruise bulleted back out of the house, shattering through a window at the side, and she rocketed back up at him, screaming angrily.

As she launched toward him, she fired several powerful black fireballs of magic at him. The fireballs hurled toward the dark unicorn, and he caught all of them in an aura of his magic, stopping them in their tracks.

“So you want to play some catch, hm?” He grinned, and the fireballs all launched back at her. “Catch this then!”

Altruise went wide-eyed at the oncoming fireballs and she stopped in her tracks. Flying off to the side to dodge them, the black fireballs all steered toward her like seeking missiles. She tried swerving to dodge them, but they continued to follow her every path.

Meanwhile on the floor of Equestria, Twilight and the other ponies all approached the statue of Celestia. All in tears, Twilight stood in front of the statue looking up at the frozen eyes of the stone Princess.

“Celestia…?” She whimpered, “I… I don’t know if you can hear me or not right now… But if you can…” She sniffled and hiccupped as tears fell, “Thank you for everything you’ve ever done.” She wept and the other ponies all bowed in their respects for the Princess.

Closing her eyes tight to squeeze the tears out, Twilight opened them back up with a glare of determination. She took a few trots back, and stood preparing to activate a spell. “We need you back!”

Kneeling, her horn began to spark and illuminate. “Come back!” She cried, and she cast a beam of magic from her horn to the horn of the Princess. The other ponies all watched, and waited, hoping she could free Celestia from her stone prison.

“Come on!” Twilight gritted her teeth, trying to pour out as much magic as she could, “Please come back!”

Long moments passed, and her spell continued trailing into the statue, but nothing was happening. “Noooo, Celestia…” Twilight’s spell came to a stop, and she collapsed to her haunches sobbing. Her five friends all comforted her, and she looked up at them with sorrowful eyes.

“It’s alright, Sugarcube…” Applejack sighed.

“I can’t break her free…” Twilight whimpered, looking up at the Princess, “The spell Nebulous casted on her can only be broken if he alone frees her…”

“Like a security lock thing?” Pinkie Pie raised a brow.

“Yeah, I guess…” Twilight stood back up, looking at the other ponies, biting her lower lip, “I’m sorry, everypony… Celestia, she… she’s trapped…”

Back up in the sky, Altruise was constantly making loops and U-turns trying her heart out to dodge the black fireballs that were chasing her, but they kept getting closer. “AAAGH!” She growled angrily, and stopped in her tracks, turning back to face the oncoming fireballs. Daringly, she made a dash toward the black fireballs and flew through the center. On her way through them, they all made an inward U-turn toward her, and collided into each other with an explosion, setting all of the fireballs to die off.

After the fireballs were out of the way, Nebulous appeared right in front of Altruise after a quick teleportation. This caught Altruise off guard, and she hit the brakes, but not soon enough to get a solid buck to the jaw.

“OAGH!” Altruise flipped back a few times and rubbed her aching jaw with her hoof, shaking her dizzied head. Angrily, she glared at the dark unicorn who was laughing back at her.

“You really are a stubborn one, aren’t you.” Nebulous chuckled, “When will you ever learn.”

Altruise winced at that, “I don’t get it…” She growled, “I watched you die. I killed you.”

“What, the whole ash thing?” The dark unicorn laughed, “Haven’t you heard of a Phoenix Teleportation?”

“A… a what?” Altruise widened her eyes, remembering the spell from one of the books.

“That was an act.” Nebulous cackled, “I faked the whole fight; with the Phoenix Teleportation spell I was able to turn myself into ashes and regenerate in another location.” He grinned at her through his teeth, “I can’t believe you fell for that.”

“Well I’ll have to really kill you then!!” Altruise shrieked, flying after him again.

“Ugh… You are so naïve.” Nebulous rolled his eyes and charged a spell on his horn momentarily, and fired a large electrical beam at Altruise that hummed loud like thunder.

“Ah?!” Altruise was unable to dodge the attack, as it came at her too quickly. It struck her with its full force, and she fell out of the sky with her faux wings disintegrated. Flailing her hooves weakly through the air, she plummeted toward the ground along with the falling rain. She tried to reactivate her wing spell, but felt too weak and dizzy to pull it off. Unable to stop herself from the fall, she slammed into the wet ground with a splash of mud. A few moments of silence, and she tried to push herself back up with her hooves, but weakly collapsed back into the mud with another silent splash.

“Heh…” Nebulous glared down at her pitifully and rolled his eyes, “Now that that’s over with…” Looking up to the sky, he flew higher toward the clouds above. Glowing his horn, he began activating a spell to take control of the storm. “Let’s see that precious moon…”

While Nebulous was clearing the storm clouds, Altruise slowly lifted her head, and not far from her, Twilight was glaring down at her with a sparkling horn, frowning angrily. “You…” She snarled.

Altruise just looked at her, and though she felt strong enough to get back up and fight, she just trailed her eyes back to the ground, and rested her head in the mud. A silent whimper escaped her throat, and tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. She closed her eyes, and didn’t move.

Twilight raised a brow at Altruise’s reaction, and stepped forth with a growl, “What is the matter with you?”

“Just do it… Kill me…” Altruise whimpered, “I have nothing. I am nothing.”

The lavender unicorn hesitated her attack, and grumbled. She trotted slowly toward Altruise, and stood above her. Looking down at the downed unicorn, she muttered at her. “Why did you do it, huh?”

Altruise wasn’t sure how to respond. She felt too stupid about it to even answer.

“You realize… my parents lived in Canterlot.” Twilight throated angrily, tears rolling from her eyes.

“Your… parents?” Altruise raised her head and looked up at her. “Oh goddess…” She murmured and cried, putting her hooves over her head, “AaahhhhHH I’m just like him!” She sobbed, holding her head painfully, “W-what have I done?! Why?!” Screaming, she slammed her hooves in the mud a few times. “My life… it’s meaningless!”

“No life is meaningless.” Twilight solemnly replied, still frowning.

Altruise looked up at her with tearful eyes. “I-I don’t understand.” She whimpered, “Why aren’t you killing me?”

“Because, Altruise. Revenge is not the answer.” She looked up at Nebulous who was busy clearing the clouds, “That much I’m certain you’ve figured out by now.”

Altruise’s dumbfounded eyes wandered as she pondered to herself. Slowly, she stood up from the ground and weakly trailed her eyes to the lavender unicorn. “W-what can I even do?” She whimpered, “Everpony I’ve ever loved… they’re all gone…” She looked up at Nebulous with disgust, “He… he killed them… a-and he managed to get me to believe it was Celestia’s fault…” She looked at Twilight, who looked back at her, though Twilight was still frowning at her. Altruise whimpered, “H-how could anypony ever love me… ever again…?” Crying, she lowered her head and slouched. “I-I… I’m sorry…” she wept and hiccupped during her pitiful cries, “I-I’m so sorry…”

“If you’re sorry…” Twilight murmured, “Then now would be a good time to prove it.”

Altruise’s eyes opened a little, and she looked back up at the lavender unicorn. For a moment, she looked back up at Nebulous, and contemplated flying up to fight him. “Revenge has only ever brought me more hate…” She admitted, closing her eyes and turning away from the dark unicorn, “It never brought me happiness like I thought it would…” She opened her eyes and looked to the ground, seeing her reflection in a puddle. She frowned at herself painfully. “Just… look at me…”

“There’s always a chance for redemption, Altruise. No matter how deep of a hole you’ve buried yourself in.” Twilight exclaimed.

“How can that be…?” Altruise muttered, and looked up at Twilight, “Just look at all the things I’ve done…” She sighed and lowered her head, “Nothing I do could make up for what I did…”

There was a pause. Altruise raised her head, and trailed to look over to the crowd of ponies off in the far distance. “I… I can’t fix my life…” She said quietly, and began galloping toward the ponies, “But just maybe I can save theirs.”

Twilight watched Altruise run toward the ponies, and she smiled, following her.

Altruise approached the crowd of ponies, and they all noticed her coming closer. They turned toward her, all with frowns, and they all stood protectively. Altruise slowed to a stop and stood in front of the wall of angry ponies, and she lowered her ears. “I know you’re all mad at me.” She whimpered to them, “You have every right to be. And I could never be sorry enough for what I’ve done for you to forgive me.” She slowly trotted toward them. “But there is something I have to do.”

“Don’t come any closer!” One of the ponies stepped in front of her. Altruise stopped and trotted a couple steps back.

“It’s okay.” Twilight reassured them, “Let her through.”

The ponies in the crowd all looked at each other with uncertainty. All growling and glaring at her, they hesitated to allow Altruise to get anywhere closer. But Twilight hasn’t steered them wrong before, and so they obeyed, slowly trotting aside, clearing a path for Altruise to get through. Altruise glanced left and right at all of the ponies, and didn’t say much. She just nodded, and slowly trotted down the path of angry ponies on either side.

Altruise slowly and bravely soldiered toward Celestia’s statue. Ponies on either side of her cleared pathway glared at her, their eyes all following her with frowns as she continued.

Slowly, Altruise approached Celestia’s statue, and stood beneath her. A gulp, and she bowed, tensing her hooves. She closed her eyes, and her horn began to glow, and a calm beam of magic trailed from her horn to Celestia’s.

“What’s she doing…?” She heard angry voices whisper in the crowd among each other.

Altruise lowered her head, and tears continued forming, and her horn was glowing brighter. “Ah…!” She winced in pain.

“Altruise?” Twilight acknowledged that she was using a very large amount of magic.

“AhH!” The white unicorn cringed and her horn sparked and crackled menacingly. Then suddenly there was a faint cracking sound coming from the statue.

The eyes in the crowd all widened a little, as the statue slowly began to crack, starting up at the horn, and the tiny cracks slowly trailed down through the rest of the statue. Altruise growled in pain, holding onto the spell, and her legs began to tremble.

“It’s working?” Twilight’s raised a brow, wondering how that was possible if even she couldn’t free her. The spell that was cast on the Princess was only able to be broken by Nebulous’ magic. Her eyes shot wide open with the realization; part of Nebulous’ magic was within Altruise due to the Horn Amplifier spell.

Altruise knew full well that if she were to free Celestia, the Princess could come back at her and destroy her with ease if she so chose to. However, this didn’t stop her from trying. She knew this was something she had to do, no matter what the consequence.

“AAAAAAAH!!” Altruise shrieked, and the stone statue of the Princess continued to crackle and crumble, with tiny bits of stone rolling down the sides of the statue to the ground. Suddenly from within the split crevasses in the statue there was a faint light that began to shine brighter. The ground began to rumble, and from the bright cracks in the statue emerged sparks, and a golden glow like the sun. Then all at once, the statue exploded with bits of rock flinging off of the Princess, which made all of the ponies shield their eyes in surprise.

Standing there, Princess Celestia blinked a few times, and glanced over at all of the ponies who looked up at her with gaping maws. She then looked down at Altruise, who was now on her haunches, cowering from the Princess.

Whispers from the crowd were heard. “Goddess… She’s free…”

“What’s the Princess gonna do?”

“She’s gonna banish her…” Another voice declared, “Or kill her…”

Celestia glared down at Altruise, and she frowned at her. “Altruise, what is the meaning of this?”

“I…” Altruise winced, and slowly looked up at her, “I was wrong.”

The Princess just raised a brow at that.

“Please don’t forgive me for the things I’ve done. For I could never forgive myself…” Altruise whispered.

Celestia looked up at the ponies in the crowd, and slowly trailed her glare back down to Altruise. “You know very well what I could do to you…” She said in a threatening voice.

“Yes…” Altruise admitted.

“But you persisted in freeing me otherwise.” Celestia added with a less intimidating voice, standing taller.

Altruise looked up at her, remaining in her bowing posture.

“Freeing me was a very noble thing to do, Altruise.” She murmured, “And very brave.”

“Give me one last chance…” Altruise pleaded, “Give me a chance… to redeem myself. To give myself a purpose.” She lowered her head, “I could never fix my wrongs…” In tears, she looked back up at her, “But I want to do something right…”

Celestia looked up at the crowd, who were all waiting on her to answer. She looked back down at Altruise with half-open eyes. “What do you propose?” She murmured.

Altruise looked up at Nebulous, who had now cleared the sky, exposing the stars and the moon. “If I don’t stop him, Equestria will surely die…” She glanced at Celestia’s wing. “For your wing… for Canterlot and the lives lost… and for everything else… I’m sorry…”

With that, Altruise turned to Twilight and trotted up to her. “Twilight… Give me the Element of Magic…”

There was chatter among the crowd hearing this.

“What?” Twilight raised a brow, “Why?”

“You’ve put yourself through enough to stop me…” Altruise murmured, “I won’t let you, nor anypony else, go through any more pain. I will fight him myself. Not for revenge… But to ensure Equestria’s safety.”

Twilight blinked a few times, and she looked over to the Princess. There was a short pause, but Celestia nodded. Nodding back to her, Twilight looked back to Altruise, and her tiara glowed and levitated off her head, and slowly it trailed over to Altruise, and she placed it upon her brow.

Altruise briefly bowed respectfully to Twilight, and she turned to the other five of her friends with the other Elements. “I know you all probably hate me right about now…” She said to them somberly, “But if I’m going to stop him, I need your help.”

The other five just wandered their eyes, avoiding eye contact.

“Stay down here with the others, and please, just believe in me…” With that, Altruise’s faux wingspan reappeared on her shoulders, and she spread them out. She turned to Celestia and sighed, “Princess… I need you to do something as well…”

The Princess nodded, respecting her motives. “What is it?”

“When I leave to fight, use your magic to put up a barrier. Protect the ponies on the ground, and don’t let anything through.” Altruise murmured, “And don’t let anypony out to try and help me…”

There was a brief pause, but Celestia nodded. “As you wish.”

Altruise turned around, glancing at all of the ponies one last time. Looking up at Nebulous, she gulped, and looked back to the Princess. Without wasting any more time, she turned back to the sky, and with a thrust of her wings, she launched up into the air after Nebulous. Celestia then did her part, and her horn glowed with her golden aura, and a golden magical barrier surrounded the ponies on the ground, incasing them in a shield.

Flying toward the dark unicorn in the sky, he looked down at her, seeing her coming. He then noticed Celestia’s golden shield on the ground. “What…?” His eyes widened and furrowed. “She’s free…?” He growled angrily.

Altruise flew up to him at eye level, and she stopped a few meters away from him. “I’m done being your puppet.” She declared, “I will not allow you to harm another soul.”

Nebulous rolled his eyes at her and grumbled, “You just don’t know when to give up, do you?” He then noticed the tiara on her head. Furrowing his eyes, he glared at her. “Why do you persist??”

“In the past twelve years, you’ve been training me to fulfill my destiny.” Altruise spread her wings and prepared for battle. “This is my destiny.”


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