"Hey, mom," I enter the meeting room in the underground Ponyville enclave. The town on the surface is growing from tool sheds and farms to livable place, but a small part of me still loves the underground. It's likely the pony part, not the Corrupted part.
"Mana Burn," Twilight Sparkle smiles at me, lifting her eyes from a map of Ponyville on a large circular table in the middle of the room, "You're back!"
"Yeah," I nod and hug Twilight when she stands up and stretches, bones creaking, "You've been overdoing it while I was in Canterlot, haven't you?"
I know my mother. When she sets her mind to something, sleep, fresh air, and movement are the least important things on her list. My brother Knowledge must be busy on the surface not to have talked her into going to bed days ago.
"Maybe a little," Twilight shrugs, "You know, being immortal still doesn't mean days have more than twenty-four hours."
"Come on, we are in the best shape since I was born, mom. Ponies love you because they can breathe fresh air without fearing for their lives these days. What's bothering you now?"
She sighs.
"I can still barely believe this is happening. After a century of darkness - this."
"It's as you used to say - the darker the night, the brighter the dawn."
"That's what my mentor princess Celestia used to say. Still, this feels unreal."
"I know you well enough to spot that's not the issue."
"Well," she shifts uncertainly on her hooves, "I just want to press our unexpected advantage as much as I can, but I'm afraid that I'm going too far too quickly."
"Should I remind you that it is because of you that ponyville ponies are still alive? I believe in your decisions and so does everypony else."
"Thank you, Mana," she chuckles, "although I'm not sure you'll be exactly ecstatic about what I have in mind, because it concerns you."
"Oh?" I raise my eyebrow.
"Considering the Crystal Empire still stands, barely or not, there might be other pockets, or even cities full of survivors. The groups we know about have gathered around immortals such as myself, Luna, and Chrysalis, and I used to know others who could have possibly survived Equestria being run over."
"You want me to find some of them?"
"Yes. I'll give you a copy of an old map relevant to your trip. It's a map of central Equestria showing towns, cities, valleys, crevices, and other geological obstacles. Some things have changed since it was made, but it should be sufficient for you to find a small village called Pine Hills, that or its ruins. It isn't actually that far from here, you'll just have to cross the Everfree forest, so that's the difficult part."
"I'm not afraid of wild Corrupted, to be honest," I admit. Being transformed into one of them while retaining most of myself sort of dulled the fear that I cultivated since I was old enough to go to the surface.
"The Everfree used to be a deadly place even before the corruption spread. Corrupted might not bother you since they will likely think you're one of them, but there are bigger and deadlier creatures like manticores, hydras, or tentacled creepers... well, unless the Corrupted eradicated those as well. Who knows? We can't use Nightshade's Corrupted for scouting purposes yet, and ponies cannot handle hostile Corrupted in any real numbers, that has not changed."
"Yeah, sure I'll go," I reassure her, "Though if the ponies are still alive in Pine Hills then they won't like ME much either."
"You can talk, the wild ones can't. Mentioning me should help as well. Guiding Light and I haven't exactly ended our relationship on the best of terms, but she's never done anything to harm ponies."
"Guiding Light?" the name doesn't ring a single bell.
"She is similar to Chrysalis, only leads a different breed of changelings. She and her hive found home in Pine Hills ages ago, liked the seclusion and open ponies, and if there is a chance of survivors being around then it is there."
"So, I just find this town, and when they stop yelling and throwing stuff at me I tell them I was sent by you, right?"
"Pretty much, although the hive used to be in the cavern system underneath the town. If I remember correctly then the entrance was through a cellar in one of the houses," Twilight nods, "My scrying magic doesn't reach past the Everfree these days, so I can't check even if the town still stands."
"Okay," I accept my mission, "Mind if I have have a break for few hours? I want to talk to Knowledge and some friends. I didn't take the the teleporter from Canterlot either, so I'm a bit hungry."
"It's fine," she waves her hoof, "If they lasted until today, a day or two more isn't going to change anything. Go when you're ready."
"Sure thing, mom."
I bow, which always makes her frown and rustle my mane, and leave. A day full of rest is all I need, and then it's up to the wilderness again.
Fresh and relaxed a day later, I walk out of the main Ponyville entrance.
Outside.
Nearly three decades of living underground, and I still shiver when I take a deep breath of surface air. The promise of a new adventure, and also a new danger, makes my spine tingle. This time, however, I am safer than ever before. Nightshade's territory reaches all the way to the Everfree forest, granting me free passage, and the Corrupted inside the forest should ignore me as long as I don't do anything too intrusive.
I can sense several Hunters and a couple of Protectors patrolling the Ponyville borders as well as the wild Corrupted deeper in the forest. They make a move as soon as I leave the safety of our home, but nothing outside of me hearing crunching of snow disturbs the peace of the forest. The winter is in full blast, but while the sky above Ponyville is kept partially clear by the pegasi, the woods surrounding me are covered in a white blanket. So, while the farmers in Ponyville can still make sure we eat well through the next few months, I am breaking my way through knee-high snow.
One thing to be thankful about - as a Corrupted I barely mind. Not that I am immune to the influence of the elements, but as full of energy as I am I won't need to bother with freezing being dangerous for a while still.
I studied the old map Twilight gave me, and I had a good sense of direction even before being tainted. Now I easily stay on a straight track through the Everfree.
Half a day later of me trudging through the snow, leaving a nearly perfect straight groove behind me, I stop and examine what has been bothering me for a while now.
There are no Corrupted around.
No Protector keeping borders of a territory safe, no Hunters roaming in search for intruders, not even a solitary Breeder hiding in a cave somewhere. I cannot see the shapes of minds directly, nor at a too great of a distance, like Nightshade can, but I should at least sense if there is anything in the area of half an hour's worth of walking distance.
Nothing.
To be honest, the eerie silence inside my head is unsettling.
So, what could be the reason for Corrupted to avoid this place...?
I decide against taking the long route around this unremarkable stretch of the forest without any tangible threat present.
Reaching a shallow valley gradually sloping into a ravine bottoming with a frozen river I have to cross, I notice large cave mouths on the other side surrounded by deep marks in the snow. From this far away I can't identify the imprints, but whatever made them had to be enormous.
The crunching of snow in the dead silence resonates through the ravine. All that's left for me is to cross the ice, and I should be over halfway through the Everfree. I carefully stomp at the edge of the frozen river to test if the ice is strong enough to carry me.
The tapping of my hooves is joined by loud growling coming from the cave mouth on the other side.
A lizard-like head larger than me comes out of the darkness of the cave mouth. Then another. And another. I stare at the beast many times taller than I am with three mouths full of sharp teeth able to swallow me whole. Three long necks come from its bulky and scaly body, and both its front and back legs end in claws just like a dragon's. Three noses sniff the air, and then the entire mass of tough scales and bulging muscles barrels over the ice towards me.
At least I know I can cross the river safely if this thing doesn't eat me.
So, a hydra.
My Hex Guard training didn't cover wild beasts that much, but from what I know the damn thing can regenerate rather quickly, although not even remotely as fast as a Corrupted, can breathe acid, and its scales can deflect even bullets. The good thing is that it's not too fast or agile, and its legs are too short to grab me. Well, that's what the long, prehensile necks are for.
I really should just grow claws and run over the ice, but I'm up for testing what this body can really do.
First mouth slams into the ground right as I jump away, the other two follow suit, all ending full of snow and frozen dirt.
Okay, hydras are not smart.
A wide sweeping blow from one neck sends me flying away, like getting hit with an unstoppable hammer.
Alright, keeping an eye on three threats at once isn't that easy.
I reinforce my guard-issue spear with Corrupted biomass and wait for the next blow.
"Whoooahaaa!" I fly again, my spear propped in an anti-charger position failing to even scratch the damn thing. Thankfully, the swings of the hydra's necks are more an inconvenience to my resilient body than a real threat, althought a normal pony would be a red paste after one.
Fine, killing this thing would take too much energy and effort. Time to run.
Sharp claws on all four of my legs allow me to run freely over the ice, and...
...several seconds later my world goes dark, hot, and wet.
Tumbling over the hydra's tongue, every acidic touch burns my skin and its breath stings in my lungs. My claws score deep grooves in the tongue and I gather my bearings. The hydra's roar of pain shuts my ears down and makes my world swim, but I grip my spear firmly and point it upwards. The hydra won't swallow me, it will try to chew me first.
Another roar of pain.
Burning blood everywhere.
Thrashing of my surroundings.
Me flying like a spat out ball.
Cold.
"Owwww..."
My vision is still shaky as I stand up, once again back on the icy surface of the river and red like a nightmarish vision of a gore enthusiast. Corrupted regeneration is draining my energy, but is counteracting the effects of the acidic blood, saliva, and, well, everything else efficiently enough.
One of the hydra's necks is being limply dragged by the body, the two working heads closing in on me.
Alright, a blow to the brain through the soft palate of the mouth works wonders.
"Two to go, you miserable freak of nature," I growl to myself.
With the hydra not catching me off guard from behind this time, I can finish the second mouth off quickly enough.
"Are you really that dumb?" I stare in disbelief as the hydra, trailing TWO dead heads now, tries to eat me again for the third time. I guess size and toughness can suffice if there isn't enough intelligence to go around.
I calmly jump inside the hydra's final head as it comes close, wait for it to try and chew me, and wake up from my stunned stupor few seconds later again, now outside and watching the body spasm and finally stop moving. If only the thing didn't thrash so hard it nearly knocked me out every time...
"Whoa!" I look at my legs, completely hairless and steaming in the cold air. Too much of the hydra's acid must have made me look like a plucked chicken. Good thing my eyes are still working and that there's little to none internal damage. When I enter a tainted landscape again I should easily recover from this.
The hydra's territory can't have been too widespread, as about an hour of slow trot later I look like myself again while walking through familiar black forest and feel Corrupted in the vicinity. There is a Breeder mare nearby, perhaps I could have a short rest?
I recognize the familiar thirst growing in my suddenly parched mouth when I reach a wandering, chubby black mare with heavy teats hanging between her hind legs. She smiles at me invitingly and wiggles her rear. When it's clear to her I have no interest in that, she lets me cuddle up with her under a tree and suckle the tainted sweetness from her nipples. The confused expression of Corrupted when somepony DOESN'T want to have sex with them is priceless.
Rested and relaxed after a short nap, I leave her sleeping form behind me, ready to leave the Everfree forest.
The village of Pine Hills can't be far.
On the bright side, it is not. On the less bright, perhaps even dusky, side, there is no village.
The mix of rotting wood and crumbling masonry ahead must have once served as the outside walls of the town, but now it just makes it clear that what I'm entering are only ruins. A quick look around reveals all the buildings are mostly just rubble. What tips me off that not everything is as it seems is the sense of emptiness inside my head, because Corrupted presence should be rampant in a place with so much cover and places to serve as a nest.
The dreamling, or whatever they were called, hive is supposed to be underground.
Corpses.
Pegasi, earthponies, even a unicorn here and there, all dead.
Changelings bearing blue hue to their chitin plating as opposed to the green tint of Chrysalis' hive fighting against wave after wave of Corrupted.
Failing.
Corruption spreads, twisting ponies and bolstering the ranks of attackers.
Dreamlings decapitating foes and past friends alike before being overwhelmed and devoured.
Death. Endless death and new life springing in form of new Corrupted bursting from the ground.
I wake up, trembling and huddled up against the wall of a nearby house. Forcing my will onto my body again, I get up. Was that what is keeping Corrupted away? It felt like a foreign presence inside my head, just like whenever Nightshade experimented with taking over my body. This, however, was not gentle, like a forceful command to stay away or die.
However, just as changelings are masters of mind control and manipulation of lust and love, dreamlings were supposed to control fear. If I ever needed a clue that something is here then my panic attack was it.
Something like a sigh makes me turn around just in time to see a thin limb ending in claws score a groove in my chest. The wound heals in an instant, but I don't have time to observe because the silent attack continues.
Three attackers.
That is all I gather in first few seconds of dodging attacks from enemies who move completely soundlessly and circle around, aiming for my blind spots better than any soldier. I dodge, attempting to weave in a blow with my spear here and there, but the black pony-like creatures react perfectly and avoid everything I can send their way.
The onslaught stops.
They look like changelings, if changelings turned into Corrupted. They are stick thin, but their speed, agility, and strength prove no signs of starvation. They circle around me, prowling like panthers with their mouths open and showing sharp teeth. Every single one of them possesses a pair of blue, glowing eyes.
"Is any of you Guiding Light?" I say to the absolute silence. They twitch when I talk, but keep circling me. How they are so quiet in every movement is beyond me.
Thank stars for Corrupted reflexes!
I jump aside as the ground underneath me breaks with tentacles and get away only with deep cuts in my side.
Noise. A gurgling noise finally joins my heavy breathing and stomping the snow.
I have seen three Corrupted Queens and Chrysalis herself. This... thing looks like an amalgamation of the two forms, and I am pretty sure I have found Guiding Light. I am also absolutely positive that there is not going to be talking of any sort. The dreamling Queen isn't as tall as Chrysalis or Nightshade, or possibly it is just the posture, but her jerky movements and pained groaning make me shiver. I stare, paralyzed, at the sight of what happens to a changeling queen if she succumbs to corruption. Thankfully, we have had no information about transformed alicorns or other immortals since nothing bad has happened to my mom, Chrysalis, or Luna, but this is horrifying.
She looks... liquid, similar to the Corruptor Queen we defeated in Canterlot, and yet I get a throwback to the stories about zombies and other terrors of the darkness.
Dreamling after dreamling falls under the onslaught of Corrupted, taking blows for ponies to ensure their escape.
Pointless. The unending black tide consumes them all.
A dreamling queen, chitinous plating shimmering with protective magic, blades growing on her legs, and moving like a shadow on the battlefield cleaves through Hunters and Protectors alike.
In the end, only she and last three of her offspring stand, surrounded by growling horde. She understands the power the Corrupted are using, are made from. After all, their transformation happened in the same way.
She calls upon the divinity inside herself, and the bits and pieces in every Corrupted around, draining what she can and infusing it into herself and her warriors.
The distinct powers of two gods clash violently inside her, but she can stay in control long enough.
Long enough to wipe the scourge that has devastated her home from the face of Equus. Thousands upon thousands of Corrupted led by Queens clash against the four dreamlings. Neither the Queens nor their hives get out of Pine Hills.
In the end, the territory transforms into a black, tained swamp anyway just from the sheer amount of corpses.
The dreamlings collapse, fires of their will burning out. However, the power they drained from the Corrupted and used against them twists them completely.
Only one instinct remains. To protect their home and wait for-
Guiding Light opens her mouth and gurgles.
The corrupted dreamlings attack again, and I feel my strength wither away with no apparent reason.
The vision showed me Corrupted and dreamlings are the same result, only reached through different means. If it wasn't a straight up lie to make me lose my resolve, then I cannot win this fight. The dreamlings in the vision were more powerful, though. Perhaps after so many years they lost themselves to the corruption and their skills are dulled.
I still can't fight.
They move as one, cover each other's backs, and I cannot hear even the wind whistle while they attack. In one instant, the sinews on my left hind leg get shredded to ribbons. Tough skin of the Corrupted has no value here, so I refocus my energy towards regeneration rather than defense.
A mistake.
The next swing I don't dodge almost cleaves my body in two. Regeneration works miracles again, but that's about it for my energy reserves.
Alright. RUN!
They are faster.
I barely feel their hits through the beating of my heart, but none must lethal because I am still running and leaving a bloody trail behind.
My vision grows darker and darker.
Run, run, run!
It is my duty as a Hex Guard, as a citizen of Ponyville, and -most of all- as a good son not to make my mother's life more difficult. After all, Twilight will kill me if I fail to come back to her.
I stumble over something.
Rolling in the snow and hitting something hard, I want to get up, but my legs fail me completely. No surprise, because only strings of tendons and cracking bones remain. One snaps, and I fall back in the cold snow.
Death doesn't come.
I wait and wait until I'm at least able to see properly, but there is nothing going after me. Sapping nutrients straight from the ground, I realize I must be so far away from Pine Hills that this is another corrupted territory.
"Hmmm," I examine what I tripped over in my mad gallop when I can carefully walk. Some sort of steel rails, "Train tracks?"
Well, I have no idea where I am, only that I ran in some direction away from the Everfree. With no better guidance, I pick a direction and follow the ancient train tracks. Corrupted vegetation gives way to flat dark steppes, only tall grass with little to no trees anywhere in sight.
That, and what has to be the ruins of another village the tracks are going through. A steel plate lying nearby and reading "D-DGE J-CT-N" is my only clue. Sadly, the map Twilight borrowed me covered only only central Equestria, so my best guess is that I ran somewhere southeast from Pine Hills.
I shudder at just the blurry memory.
Finding a ruined building providing at least some shelter from wind and snow, I recount my situation. I am weak, I need rest, badly, and I can barely move. Right on cue, as I start thinking, the adrenaline powering me until now finally goes away.
"I'll just rest he-" I collapse, sleeping even before my body hits the ground.