//------------------------------// // Corruption // Story: A New Life // by Lunafan1k //------------------------------// While we were waiting for the others to arrive I was given the low-down, as Pinkie said, as to what was going on. Apparently Twilight and her friends, the ones I’ve met and one other, are the Bearers of ancient and powerful artifacts called the Elements of Harmony. Needless to say that sounded pretty sweet. They had used them Twice already, first to purify Nightmare Moon back to Princess Luna and again to return a chaos god to stone. I wanted to hear more, but the others started showing up. Twilight was the first to return, rocking a golden tiara with her butt mark on it. Cutie mark. Thing… Whatever. She also passed around a few necklaces to the others, each with a shiny gem in the shape of their cutie butt marks. We were still waiting for Rainbow so she still held a lightning bolt mark necklace, one with a diamond shape, and a red circle shape, probably for that apple pony they mentioned a few times. “Wait! Hold on!” I asked, thankfully my throat was doing okay now, causing them all to stop packing things and look at me, “What are those butt mark cutie things actually called? It’s messing up my inner dialogue.” “Cutie marks, silly! It’s our special talent!” Pinkie explained. “GASP! You don’t have a cutie mark! Is it because you’re not a pony?” I shrug, “Anyway, did you get to the part where you ask to come along?” Now I was the one to gasp, “I hadn’t thought of it!” I should ask to come along! “Can I join you guys? I can see really well in the dark!” I pleaded. “Well, it could be dangerous, and having somepony who can see in the dark would come in handy. Even though its day time right now the canopy is still really thick, making it darker. And having an extra pair of hooves would be good too. So yes, I think you should come join us!” “Yay!” I cheered as Pinkie grabbed me and we spun around. That strange feeling returned again but I ignored it. “UNHOOF ME YOU RUFFIAN!!” someone screamed outside the door, a moment later it was kicked open and in flew Rainbow, who was carrying Rarity in her fore hooves, and they were followed by an orange pony with a large hat. “Rarity! AJ! Thank Celestia you’re here so soon!” Twilight said as she gave the new arrivals their own necklaces. “AJ, I don’t think you’ve met him yet but this is the changeling we told you about,” I waved and smiled, “He doesn’t remember much about anything, much less his name, so Fluttershy is calling him Mr. Beetle for now.” The AJ pony seemed to look me over with a piercing glare. It made me feel nervous for some reason. “Ah don know Twi, this critter is given me the heebie jeebies somthen fierce!” She said in a strange way. Perhaps she has a speech impairment? “What, you think he’s lying?” Rainbow asked, giving me one of her signature strange looks. “I’m not lying, I haven’t checked but I’m pretty sure it’s hard to fake unconsciousness and severe throat injuries. And my mind was looked at by that Luna pony even! Besides, that’s a weird power anyway.” I said, my voice growing hoarse near the end. “Mr. Beetle, you shouldn’t talk so much, you might hurt your throat again.” Fluttershy scolded. I merely nodded back in reply. “Nah, he aint lyin about any ‘o that, it’s somethen else…” She trailed off. So I just meet Miss Orange Apple pony and right away she starts accusing me of falsehood. The nerve! As I’ve come to the conclusion that I didn’t like that one, I also realized something about myself: I hate being accused of things. Or something. Maybe I’m honest? Hmmm… We’ll see. I squinted my eyes at her and stuck out my tongue. Ha! Silly rainbow pony thinks she has all the weird faces, mine is better! … AJ’s as well as the others’ reaction was not as I had hoped; they gave me weird looks in return. “… Anyway, we should get going. I’ve packed up a few books from home and left Spike in charge of the library, Fluttershy and Pinkie have packed up a bunch of snacks, so we should be good to go.” Twilight said as she lifted a tome from her bags. I got excited thinking it was my book, but sadly it wasn’t. “I remember reading about a spell that can sense and track black magic, so once we pick up Zecora I’ll take point and guide us to the source. Rainbow, you’re our eyes above us, Mr. Beetle your behind me keeping a lookout ahead, and AJ your bringing up the rear. With your rodeo skills I’m confident you’re our best defense in case of an ambush. All clear?” There was a round of cheers from the other ponies and a ‘yeehaw’ from the orange one. She’s really weird. With that done they charged out the door and set off at a quick pace. I didn’t feel like running, the idea of working hard with my throat like this didn’t seem like the greatest idea, so I imitated Rainbow. I unfolded my clear wings and I felt my back clench and release in a comfortable manner, causing my wings to buzz at an alarming speed. A second later I was flying! Luckily flying must have been instinct or a motor memory like walking, saving myself the embarrassment of plowing into the ground. I buzzed along just a few feet over the ground and quickly caught up. Flying was actually pretty fun, I was able to zig and zag with almost no effort! “Pretty sweet moves there Beetle!” Rainbow called to me. I watched her zip around as well, and I noticed something. She had to twist and contort her body and flap her wings at the exact moment to propel her forward or up. On the contrary, my wings allowed for forward, back, up, down, and sideways movements no matter which direction my body was facing. Rainbow seemed upset I was able to casually spin in a circle and keep pace with everyone at the same level. I could only laugh. Soon enough the path we were on ended and the forest began. Everypony slowed to a walk and we fell into our formation, Twilight in front, then me, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, and AJ at the back with Rainbow flittering about overhead. We walked along the narrow path, one traveled several times as suggested by the flattened grass and leaves. The ponies seemed to be on edge for some reason, the coast was clear and it wasn’t that dark. The only ones not affected were Rainbow and Pinkie. “Aw yea! Anything comes at us, I’m totally going to take it out!” Rainbow boasted and clopped her hooves together. “‘Take it out’ as in a slight cough?” Pinkie asked with a large grin. I chuckled a bit as I recalled Rainbow’s earlier confusion. “No! I mean beat it up so it knows not to mess with The Rainbow Dash!” She exclaimed. The others shot her a look, “Or my friends!” Rainbow added almost as a side thought. “Rainbow, you should keep it down, we don’t want to wake up anything.” Twilight said as she continued to lead us deeper through the trees. Rainbow eventually started going on edge like the others, while Pinkie seemed constantly happy. I didn’t understand it; there was nothing spooky or scary about this forest. It’s just trees, grass, bushes, and roots. We did stumble upon some blue flowers; they looked enchanted so I stayed away, the others having the same idea. The remaining journey to this Zecora was largely uneventful, but when we arrived at her hut, it took my breath away. The design was absolutely beautiful, it was a hollowed out tree with tribal masks of every size positioned all around! I decided my house is going to be even cooler someday, but wasn’t sure about the theme. I mean, masks are cool, but I know there is something that could be even better. Twilight walked up to the door and knocked, causing it to swing open a bit. “Hello? Zecora? Are you home?” She pushed to door open further and went inside. I followed, wanting to see the interior design. This place was a mess! Shame on this Zecora! Dust everywhere! There were of course more tribal masks along the walls, but the main piece was the stupid large cauldron in the middle of the room. There was also a long series of shelves overflowing with jars of stuff, like herbs and bones. But the room smelled absolutely terrible, so bad one of the ponies actually threw up. Rude. It was the white one, Rarity, but she won’t admit it I bet. The cause of the odor was definitely the cauldron. I peered inside; it was half filled with green and blue muck, possibly a potion in the making gone to waste. I felt the outside of the cauldron, it was stone cold, the ash beneath showed that the fire died out and wasn’t tended to, and was cold as well. “I don’t think she’s been in here for a few days.” I said. I told them why I thought as much. “And the dust is all over, undisturbed until we came in.” Twilight looked around, seemingly worried now, “Oh no, you’re right, Zecora definitely hasn’t come back home, and the last we saw of her was when we found you, Beetle, but that was nearly five days ago!” They all shared a worried look to each other, ponies and their looks. Their looking looks. “I don’t like this girls, but I think something might have happened to her, and I think this black magic might have something to do with it. Come on!” Twilight said with bravado. It felt a bit forced and I doubt she felt as brave as she sounded. Seriously, what has these ponies in a funk? If the big bad monsters are sleeping there shouldn’t be anything to worry about. I decided to make my thoughts known, “Why are you all freaking out about the forest? It’s just a thick wood with possible territorial beasts.” We were traveling back in formation again, though this time they all huddled a bit closer, I got that feeling in my gut again. “No, ya don’t understand, sugar cube. In this forest, the trees and the plants grow on their own!” AJ said as she constantly looked about. “The wind blows without pegasi, and the clouds move on their own! It rains and storms here without help and there is no telling what might happen, making these the most dangerous skies!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Even the animals, from the manticore to the little bunnies, all govern themselves and run rampant and do as they please! Although I’m good friends with most of them, I can’t keep track of them in these woods.” Fluttershy said. “It’s covered in icky muck!” Rarity complained again. Oh, did I mention that? Yes, constant complaints of filth, and being pulled away from her work. “And normal magic doesn’t respond just right, like there’s background interference and it just makes my horn tingle.” Twilight said. I looked to her horn to see it softly glowing its magenta color as she tracked the trail of black magic. “But it’s definitely in this direction.” She said. “Let’s go.” We all followed after her, and I did my job of keeping an eye on our surroundings. It seemed like the farther in we went, the darker everything got. And I don’t mean ‘lack of sunlight’ darker, more of a ‘the corrupted plant from earlier’ darker. “I’m seeing more of those sick plants, they aren’t as bad as the one in the jar but they are changing color. The bark on a few trees is turned black too.” I said. “Oh no, the poor things. I bet Zecora is busy trying to find a cure and that’s why she wasn’t at home.” Fluttershy said. “I sure hope so. If the direction is right, I think I know where we are going to find the source.” Twilight said. “Good, the sooner we finish this the sooner I can visit the spa.” Rarity said as she did her best to avoid everything. “Well where is it Egghead?” Rainbow asked from above. She was noticeably much closer to the ground as she flew, I wondered if she was even able to do her job as she was maybe a foot above us. “I may be wrong, but I believe the source is in or close to the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.” Twilight stated. “Oh good, for a moment I thought it was somewhere we HAVEN’T already beat up a bad guy.” Rainbow said with an annoyed huff. “Silly Dashie, the castle is like the only building in the forest, why would a bag guy bother making another when one is already there for the taking?” Pinkie said cheerfully. I thought over her words, I was pretty sure of what a castle was. Tall walls, stone, giant monsters, yea sounds about right. “She’s got a point. If it’s a nice enough place, maybe do a bit of decoration and repairs and you have a formidable fortress and defense.” “Oh finally, we meet somepony who, er, some changeling?” I shruged, “Who appreciates proper interior designs.” Rarity complimented me. I was stunned, perhaps I pegged her wrong? “Well I’m just thinking if I were to live somewhere I would want it to reflect my tastes and personality. That hut with the cauldron back there was pretty cool.” I said. Yes, it did have its own voice, didn’t it? It may not be how I would decorate a room but I still appreciate the ambience.” Rarity replied. Rainbow moaned and slapped her hooves to her face, wouldn’t that hurt? “And here I thought we met someone who was cool and didn’t care about frilly frou-frous on the curtains!” “Rainbow Dash! There is more to decorations than frills on the curtains!” Rarity retorted. “Well it seems to be your go-to idea of designing things!” Rainbow yelled back. “I have to impress my clients, and frilly curtains happen to be in this season!” Rarity yelled. I suddenly felt something change, the ambient sounds seemed to vanish as everything grew still… no, not everything, there was something out of the corner of my eye. I wanted to look, but that might alert that I knew it was there. “Girls?” I asked. “Clients smilants, if it’s cool enough that’s all that matters, right AJ?” Rainbow asked. “Ahm stayen out ’a this’n.” Applejack droned, this must be a common occurrence, but this bickering can wait! “Shh!! We’re being watched!” I whispered harshly, trying to not make sudden movements. “What? No we aren’t!” Rainbow said as she looked around, the others following suit. I groaned and rubbed my temple, am I actually smarter than a pony? Almost as if in response the thing at the edge of my vision bounded forward and showed itself. As the girls screamed and scampered about I looked it over. I was hoping my memory would kick in, but I doubt it’s a common enough animal for that, if you could even call it that. For one it was freaking huge, no way it should have been able to move that fast. Its body was like a large round ball, and it seemed to be made of long thick snakes entangling around themselves. Its eyes glowed red, and it had countless eye, there were just so many. The sickly black snake-like tendrils slithered and coiled around unnaturally. And then it revealed how it moved so fast. The snake tendrils broke apart, revealing they closely resembled large worms, and formed long spindly legs ending in fierce claws. It gripped the ground in front of itself and pulled itself forward quickly. The new appendages seemed to have minds of their own, pulling the creature toward its prey before it seemed to know which pony it was going after. I slunk back into the shadows and watched it hunt, waiting for an opening so I could… do… something? My eyes widened in fear, I was sure I knew magic! Why can’t I think of any spells?! Shoot! Now my friends really are in danger! I leaped out of the bush and charged the beast, hoping to stab it on my horn. Before I got there, however, AJ pulled a rope from her bag and tossed it around where I would assume the head would be. I skidded to a halt and re-directed to AJ to help bring it down, but the beast make a sickly sound and the head separated from the body! All our jaws dropped as the head, with its own set of wormy tendrils sped towards AJ. The body did this a few more times, several smaller monsters separated from the main body and headed towards us all, while the main body, now smaller but still rather large, focused on Twilight. I didn’t have time to worry about the others as my own foe leaped towards my head. I ducked to the side and grabbed a stick in my hooves. It wasn’t quite long enough to use it as a staff so I wielded it in my right hoof like a club. I looked up in time to see it flying at me again. I tried to block it but I missed and it hit me in the chest. “Gah!” I yelled as I smacked it away. My chest was now covered in multiple bites and scratches, not too deep but they really hurt! I turned my attention back to the little beast; it made a really weird growling sound at me then jumped again! I was ready this time though; I managed to swat it out of the air! It made a squeak noise as it bounced off a tree, a few of the worms going limp and falling off the body. They shriveled and seemed to evaporate as the fell off the host. With renewed confidence I bounded forward and started beating it with the stick, sending little worms flying every which way. I stopped what I was doing and gasped as the worms failed to cover the entire creature. It was a little bunny. The fur was gone and it appeared to be just skin and bone but it was a bunny none the less. The worms seemed to be protruding from the rabbit’s skin, leaving large gaping holes all over its body, but the worst part was the eyes, they were glowing red and glaring at me. I could only watch in horrified awe as the worms re-grew from the body, quickly replacing the ones it lost. In seconds it was ready to resume the fight. I had to think of something, if the worms are able to regenerate at this rate, there was really nothing that could be done to kill it. The host body would have to be destroyed entirely, what could do that? A strong magic blast maybe, it might be enough to burn it all away-burn! We needed fire! I needed to buy some time, so I was able to once more beat the snot out of the rabbit, causing it to lose its worms and get immobilized. I quickly assessed the situation of the others; AJ, Rainbow, Rarity, and Pinkie had formed a circle around Fluttershy, who was crying into her hooves and they fended off the other small worm monsters, possibly more rabbits, possibly something else, they were completely unrecognizable. Twilight wasn’t faring much better, she had resorted to a bubble shield around herself, and the larger beast appeared to be trying to stretch around the entire thing, almost like it was trying to swallow it whole. I ran up behind to the other side that wasn’t swarming with worms, “Twilight! Twilight use fire! Burn it, it will keep regenerating we need to-” I cut off, Twilight was staring ahead at the monster, and I was now as well. It was quite the site, one that would cause anypony to flee in terror. I couldn’t see it from the back, but from this angle it was clear. A manticore, without its fur or mane, skin full of holes and stretched tightly over its skeleton, giving the impression it had been dead for a few days. Hitting home the dead suspicion, its lower jaw was missing, leaving its lower face and neck a gaping hole, from which protruded an even larger worm that was pressing against the barrier, and was slowly going through it as Twilight looked on in terror. “By…” I didn’t know who to swear to, damn this memory loss! “Twilight!” I smacked the barrier with my stick. It did its job and got her attention, she spun around with a scream, possibly thinking another came from behind. “Use fire! Burn it!” I yelled. I heard a twig snap and something crashed into my side. The familiar scratching and biting reminded me of my original foe, who looks like it had recovered and resumed its attack. I shook it off of me and resumed my battle, once again overpowering it with my mighty stick of doom. The fact I was larger and had a longer reach did not dissuade me from believing it was actually the stick giving me great power. I looked up from my fallen foe to see the others were still goofing off with their circle, but I was glad to see Twilight drop her barrier as she blasted the corrupt manticore with a ball of flame. There was a small explosion and the fire enveloped the monster. It roared out, weather in pain or defiance I don’t know, and re-doubled its efforts of attack. “I THOUGHT YOU SAID FIRE WOULD WORK!!!” Twilight yelled at me while doing her best to fend off the now on fire tendrils. How rude of her. It was obvious they were burning up; it was just a matter of time. “It is! Just hold it off a minute!” I yelled back. I turned back to my little squirrel friend, it had almost recovered. I got into a golfing position and swung my stick into it, I was trying to be cool and knock it into the fire. I missed and it hit Twilight in the face, who panicked and set it on fire anyway. Success! Twilight was too busy screaming and rubbing her face in disgust to properly congratulate me on a job well done, so I’ll forgive her. I ran up to the others and batted one of the small monsters towards Twilight. I missed and hit the manticore, setting it on fire. Success! “Everyone! Hit them toward Twilight and the fire!” I called out. “WHAT?! Don’t hit them to me!” Twilight yelled at me. Boy she’s rude when stressed. The others, bruised and scratched up, didn’t waste any breath and kicked them all into the fire. By this time the large manticore had stopped moving, and the smaller ones died soon after catching fire. We gathered around and watched them burn, the black worms shriveling up as the body was turned to black charcoal. Aside from the manticore, the corrupted animals were another rabbit, a fox, a turtle, a cat, a dog, a pig, and even a fish somehow. Actually I think the fish was inside the manticore. Whatever. “Well that was fun.” I said, trying to break the silence. “Twilight, what the hay is going on here?” Rainbow asked. Twilight sighed and turned away from the burn pile. I busied myself making sure it won’t spread; I wasn’t keen on dying in a wildfire, thank you very much. Fluttershy was helping too; her tears were wetting the ground. “Twilight, did we just… kill, all those animals?” Rarity asked carefully. “No, Rarity. I was able to see their true form, and they must have been dead for some time, a few days I would think. It was those worm things that re-animated the body, and they were condensed black magic.” Everyone sighed with relief. I did too, the fire was dying down and there was no indication of it spreading. Twilight shook her head, “But I’m afraid that this isn’t simply wild black magic anymore girls. It’s too strong; this is the work of an evil that hasn’t been seen in thousands of years, evil so terrible that even Discord and Nightmare Moon dared not use it. Girls, I believe we are dealing with a full blown necromancer, and possibly even a lich.”