Celestia starts pacing over a small dias where we are sitting.
"From what we gathered, the situation is as follows - we have traced... Harmony's influence to the top of the reconstructed sacrificial pyramid. I am not sure what the exact method is, but there must be something up there controlling the Corrupted and allowing the god to directly influence the world."
"I noticed four pillars similar to the ones that were here last time, but the sky isn't torn apart and full of tentacles," Cromach comments, "The guiding crystals atop them looked different as well."
I look up at the purple field of crying eyeballs above. Yeah, ripped in half might be better.
"All this was already here when we first came. If it's really been a century then the pillars must not be working," Celestia shrugs.
"Perhaps Corrupted just don't have the mental capabilities and local resources to construct both the pillars and the focusing crystals on top properly."
"That's quite likely," Twilight joins in, "I remember taking a bunch of notes after the incident and the crystals which were not destroyed completely looked extremely specific. Whoever created them last time had knowledge of magic I don't have even now."
"We should find a way to destroy them just in case. A great part of Harmony's power is still locked in the void outside of this world. We cannot let that part return using these beacons for guidance," Cromach says firmly.
"First things first," Celestia raises her hoof, "The pillars, the pyramid, all those are secondary to getting inside the city first."
A shower of dirt splatters the dark ground as Bucket, returning from his surveying trip, turns his gallop into a full stop in an instant.
"I have perfomed depth scans of the area and I've got good news," the silvery robot announces, "There is a wide network of underground caves underneath the city, likely from mining operations. Air shafts should still be accessible with just minor digging. It also seems like the mining operations have completely stopped, since I could find no signs of life underneath the city. The bad news is that, even if I account for my limited knowledge of Corrupted regeneration and life cycle, the amount of Corrupted inside the city is insurmountable."
"Can we transport all my soldiers down without being noticed?" Celestia asks skeptically.
"I very much doubt that," Bucket shakes his head, "The main mine entrance is near the pyramid itself and the exit must be guarded in some way. However, since the space for possible fight will be limited, our small group might make it to the exit and hold it without being surrounded and overwhelmed. With the enemy forces focusing on us, you might be finally able to break through the city walls."
"That's a lot of 'should' and 'if'," Desert Shade frowns, "How about we stay here for few days and observe a little more?"
"With each second we are giving Harmony time to analyze our capabilites just like we are observing the city," Cromach shakes his head, "Plus, the princess has been here for a while and has not managed to get more information. Bucket, would more scans be useful?"
"Not immensely. I would get a better idea about the layout of this place, but nothing major. We can easily work just as well with what I gathered now."
"Alright then, get ready to move out."
"We still have to dig through the air vents, don't we?" Desert Shade returns to the details.
"Not necessarily," I join in for the first time, "Chilly, I, my 'bodyguards', and Bastion can teleport through the ground. We are the best combat force we have anyway so us being the distraction should work just fine. The rest of you can go in with... the legion."
"That won't be a problem," I hear a voice almost scared of being heard, Bound Tome, "With my, erm, handicap," he taps his black, tainted horn, "I started working on some mixture of real magic and Corrupted abilities. ONLY ON MY FREE TIME, I PROMISE!" he sqeaks when Twilight gives him a curious stare, "Umm, I think I can transport even normal ponies through tainted soil. I tried it in Canterlot and it worked fine. All I need is for you to lead me above the mine shaft and tell me how deep down it is."
"I support going in as soon as possible to retain what little surprise we might still have," Twilight supports Cromach's plan, "The thing is that I have to stay up here with the legion. Whatever the scale of the distraction may be, the city walls will hold just like they did until now unless I help with some serious sieging potential. Down there, you are on your own until we get in."
"Alright," the griffon nods, "One final recap - you start the siege first, we teleport to the mines, we pull some Corrupted towards us to the mine entrance, you sweep the city and destroy the guiding pillars, we go to the pyramid and deal with whatever is there. If you're done with the pillars first, come help us or at least keep Corrupted away from us."
Celestia and Twilight nod. Cromach turns to Bucket.
"Lead the way to the nearest shaft."
We follow the robot to an unremarkable stretch of ground where he stops.
"The shaft's floor is thirty point three average pony heights underneath us. The tunnel is six point one ponies high and seven point two ponies wide."
I can see the gears in Bound Tome's head grinding as he works through the math. Thankfully, I can feel the soil around well enough not to have to bother with such details like, well, details.
"Chilly, Bastion, let's roll!"
A moment later my body drips down from the ceiling of the shaft and reforms into the Protector Queen I know and love. A localized snowstorm appears a second later and turns to Chilly.
"Showoff," I mutter.
"I aim to please," he ruffles my mane.
A black bubble almost the radius of the entire tunnel's width dribbles down and pops, revealing the rest of our group including Bastion frowning at me, somehow smugly, and Bound Tome gasping for breath.
Fine, I won't try to order the big guy around anymore.
Click, click.
Soft light spreads and lights the uneven tunnel. Desert Shade and Lyam are holding small electric lanterns and looking around.
"You know, I've seen my share of mines, but..." the blonde-maned hippogriff cringes as she moves closer to the tunnel wall.
"Never seen a mine literally chewed and clawed out of the bedrock... yeah," Lyam nods, voice growing distant.
Someone, something made Corrupted die in thousands to hew the stones with their transformed bodies, without any tools.
"Because we are the tools..." I mumble, "We are not important."
"What was that?" Desert Shade asks.
"Nothing, we have some seriously crazy fucker to stop," I growl.
"You have no idea how right you are," Cromach grabs a point flashlight and waves at us to follow, "The insane god himself."
"Yeah, about that," Desert Shade guards the back of our group, "How do we even kill a god... or what are we doing in case we meet it... him?"
"Harmony is not here in his full power, otherwise we wouldn't be here anymore, any by 'we' I mean any living creatures. That's why there is this city and the Corrupted, all that is a plan which is somehow controlled from the top of the pyramid. I think there must be a conduit allowing Harmony to influence the world like this there. We destroy it, we buy all mortal races time."
"Umm, but then the god will be back eventually, right?"
"Yes."
"Crap."
Why did we allow her and Lyam to tag along? I mean, Lyam is hot and does what he's told, but she's weird and, unfortunately, smart. They probably get along really well.
Right, because they have the most experience with outdoor survival. Pony-style, of course.
Anyway, the good thing is that I can't sense any Corrupted within the mines which means we should have a clear path to the exit.
"So, how much time before we have to fight?" I ask.
"Ten minutes at most, fifteen if we slow down to let Bound Tome catch his breath," Bucket shares his estimate.
With that, we lower our pace to accommodate for our exhausted wizard. Still boiling inside about the entire "Corrupted are expendable things" idea this entire mine relays so well, I keep my mind scouring the vicinity for any kind of surprise. Shockingly, we seem to have been... unnoticed?
As predicted, we soon reach a conflux of mining shafts - a massive cavern with a wide exit leading outside. Sadly Bucket's idea that we might be able to hold a horde of Corrupted off was rather optimistic. They won't be able to surround us easily, but we won't hold such a wide area if they decide to just push through no matter their health.
"They know about us," I say as I sense a mass of minds just outside of the mine, "For some reason they don't want to fight in here even with having a ridiculous numbers advantage."
"Perhaps they know what we can do if they clump up," Bound Tome's horn glimmers as he takes a deep breath.
I nod, but that doesn't feel like the whole story. It looks like our hostile god isn't as all-knowing as we assumed.
"That, or they didn't notice us early enough to set up a trap."
"This can still be a trap we aren't seeing," Cromach hisses, "Never underestimate an enemy you don't know."
I summon my twenty Corrupted bodyguards. Each of them could hold their own against a group of the wild Corrupted out there, but there are still limits. Well, we will see how the experience of them training with Hex Guards serves them in this engagement.
"Form a line spread all over the entrance," Cromach orders, "Tome in the back, Des and Lyam keep him safe in case we have to scatter. The rest of us in front of them. If they group up to push through, blast the taint out of them. If worst comes to worst, we retreat to the tunel we came through so that they have even less space to attack."
Everypony obeys the griffon.
"Bound Tome, if you please," Cromach grins, "Alert the enemies that we're here."
A black ball of goo forms in front of the wizard and shoots out of the exit into the mass of Corrupted. It splatters and turns to vapor burning the clumped foes. I feel the chaos in their heads as an answer, at least until an iron will forces them all to charge at once.
Vaulting over the first charger, a bulky Protector taller than I am, and landing on his back, I spawn a thin wire between my front hooves and cut his head cleanly off. Using the height advantage, my tail wraps around a nearby Hunter's neck and slams him into another one so hard bones of them both crack. With the next Hunter pouncing at me, I drop all pretense of style and just bite his head off.
Tasty.
Well, the others can hold the line well enough with Chilly slowing the enemies down and impaling them with icicles. I work better alone, drawing as much attention to myself as possible.
I get flung backwards mid-jump.
"Whuh?"
There's a thick, barbed spike impaling my neck. The bastards brought the shooting porcupine Hunters from the walls. That might mean Twilight and Celestia have broken through already. No time for that.
A swipe of talons tosses me aside as I wrestle with the tainted bone impaling me. Liquifying the front of my body like a Corruptor, I pull it out just to have wind knocked out of me. Bad idea, weakening my armor like that. I'm grabbed by another Protector by a leg and slammed over and over into the ground.
A spiked hoof approaches my face too fast for me to react.
A burst of bright energy derails the possible killing blow, giving me time to jump back up and fortify myself.
Knowledge is levitating a giant sword still smoking from the focused magic the unicorn has just used. No idea why he still has his horn in the middle of a horde of Corrupted, but my best guess is that the will controlling them fully is not really focused at the moment. He swings the blade in a wide, crackling arc, leaving a bright trail in the air to make a little space for me to recover.
"Thanks!" I smile shake my head.
"You're more important than anypony else here!" he groans under the strain of blocking a Hunter's swipe at him.
And here was I thinking he didn't like me. Wait... did he fight his way this far just to get to me?
A quick survey of the situation reveals all my Corrupted are still alive, fighting in pairs back to back. Red beam flashes in the corner of my eye and cleaves a clean path in the ranks of enemies stopping in shock to see why their bodies are suddenly splitting in two. Lyam is smacking a Hunter held by black tentacles serving as a substitute for Bound Tome's levitation with his shield while Desert Shade drives her rapier through his eye into his brain. The girl has some serious skill.
That's all I gather in one quick turn of my head before I have to rip the head off of an attacking Hunter.
"Grrgh!" I hear Knowledge's groan followed by a 'thud'.
Spinning my body one-eighty while coiling like a spring, I buck with my hind legs now facing another attacker. The cracking of a broken neck is always a good sign. Unfortunately, Knowledge is gurgling on the ground, blood flowing from his mouth and neck speared through by another barbed projectile.
Damn, I shouldn't have split from the group. Twilight will freaking kill me!
Alright, plan C.
Twilight might just mutilate me if she finds out her second son got turned into a Corrupted to survive.
Flailing my tail like a bladed whip to give me a precious second, I lower my mouth to Knowledge's and bury my tongues into his neck. Slathering the wound with my saliva from the inside, I rip the spike from his neck and watch the taint take hold as his white coat grows dim and black veins spread from his new breathing hole.
Alright, now to keep him alive while he's recovering as one of my own. On the other hoof, a second Corrupted like Mana Burn is always a boost.
Applying every trick, transformation, and physical boost to keep Corrupted away from twitching and darkening Knowledge, I lose track of anything other than the endless horde of attackers and the barely breathing body I'm protecting.
A little spark on the edge of my mind snaps me from combat trance and I feel a presence rising next to me.
"My mother will kill you," I hear Knowledge's voice just as a taint-reinforced greatsword slices through a Protector's torso.
"Hey, at least Mana Burn won't be the black sheep at family gatherings," I grin, breathing a little lighter.
"Hmph," Knowledge chuckles, "Thought I'd lose my telekinesis as well as magic. Or get weird unreal tentacles like Bound Tome."
"Works on," I dodge several swipes at once with a roll to the side, "individual basis... somewhat."
"KNOWLEDGE!" I hear a scream and realize the tide of the attackers is all but gone.
"What... happened?" I blink away the blurriness in my eyes, "How long?"
Through the gradually fading haze of battle I slowly realize that the Corrupted around are Celestia's legion, and that the shocked yell was Twilight's. Speaking of the princess, she's patting and poking Knowledge all over.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, mom."
"You look a little frayed. I put a tracking spell on you so I could find you."
"I'm fine, mom."
The alicorn pinches Knowledge's cheeks, but her watering eyes are on the still not completely closed neck wound. The fatal neck wound. Fatal to a pony.
"You didn't get hurt too badly?"
"I'm fine, m-"
Twilight, sobbing, hugs the unicorn.
"If I lost you, I don't know what-"
Biting my lip, I stop listening and return to my group. Everyone is gasping for breath and dripping a river's worth of sweat. Watching their exhausted attempts to stand up is still less painful than thinking about the royal family I messed up that much. Yes, I DID save both Twilight's sons, but I also caused them to be in danger in the first place.
"Cromach?" I watch the drenched griffon shake dark blood off of his battleaxe, "What now? I can feel the panic inside Corrupted around. The mind herding them is having trouble controlling this much disarray so we should have a minute or two to rest."
He shakes his head.
"If we have time then we need to use it," he takes a deep breath, "EVERYPONY! We can't stop here. The chaos we caused will soon be over. We absolutely MUST get to the pyramid!"
I dismiss my Corrupted, allowing them to regenerate faster back inside me. I wonder if that's how a griffon airship carrier feels.
It seems that everypony gets the idea that this is just a moment of respite we can't squander.
Twilight and Knowledge walk over to me, the alicorn giving me an unreadable stare. I doubt even she herself has any idea whether to be pissed off or ecstatic.
"We'll be taking care of the guiding pillars now," says Twilight, "When we're done we'll meet you at the pyramid. If you find anything you can't handle," she looks me in the eyes, "please don't rush at it head on for once."
I wish I could promise you that, Twilight, but if I don't use my power to protect everyone and take blows for them, they will die.
"I'll do what I can," is all I answer.
"Let's go," Cromach waves his talons and we rush through semi-empty streets of the city towards its center.
I sense Corrupted milling around, but they are hiding inside buildings or in alleys, unsure what's going on or what to do. The confusion eventually subsides, and the general consensus of the hivemind is to go stop Celestia's legion. That means we are left to roam free.
Two things come to mind. Either where we are going is not important, or it is guarded by something sure to stop us.
The latter might be the case because as we enter an almost empty square with the flat-tipped pyramid in its center, Cromach freezes, cold sweat forming on his back.
Two figures, ponies, are standing still at the wide staircase leading up the pyramid's side, calmly watching us. Strangely enough, while their coat and mane colours are dim, they still are not the dark tones of Corrupted. One is green and the other grey, both with completely unremarkable brown manes.
"You lesser creatures are making this way too easy," they both say at once.
"Vigils," Cromach growls, "I thought we destroyed all of you."
"We survived, we adapted, we grew."
Their speaking as one entity is unsettling.
"And now you die!" Cromach jumps towards one and swings his axe. The attack is dodged, and the defending Vigil turns his front leg into a tentacle which effortlessly swats Cromach away.
These bastards are FAST.
"Such impatience, griffon," the Vigils smile in unison, "But our master has different plans."
Something on the top of the pyramid glows dark purple and it mirrors around the raised leg of one Vigil. Cromach is levitated upwards and...
... a bolt of lightning from the sky strikes the Vigil. Cromach drops on three legs, axe at the ready again.
"My divine power is mine only, don't try to steal it, you abominations!"
The Vigil shakes the lightning strike off and looks at the rest of us still trying to get a grip on the situation. We really should help.
"Well, it's not as if you are the only choice, griffon. This little 'accident' will be sufficient as well."
Vigil raises his leg again and Desert Shade flies in the air, purple sparks being ripped out of her body and flowing up the pyramid stairs to the top.
Lyam charges the spellcasting Vigil, ready to bash his face with his shield. Desert Shade's unconscious, I hope, body is flung at him and sends him down on the cobblestones.
The glow fades, and I see something rise up on the flat platform forming the pyramid's top. A mental touch reveals absolutely nothing, as if I was met with a steel wall. With the Vigils not attempting to fight us, we wait for the pony silhouette to come down the pyramid stairs.
The silhouette turns into an dim brown alicorn with light grey mane. Come to think of it, he looks like a little statuette I saw Cromach unpack and pack from his bag each evening, only very faded in colours.
"What have you done?" Cromach asks, absolute detached shock in his voice, as he watches the alicorn jerkily descending, but gaining more and more control over its limbs with each step downwards.
The alicorn speaks with the voice I recognize from my vision of absolute power.
"Surprised I would build my new body based on the one who defeated me in my real form? It is by far not complete, but the divinity inside the hippogriff girl was enough for the next step which is draining you, griffon!"
"You will pay for desecrating Blaze's memory like this," I can feel Cromach losing control, see him shake all over with barely contained rage.
"I am a benevolent god if you choose to serve me, and I have learned from my past mistakes as well. If you remove this minor threat," the alicorn points his hoof at us, namely me, "I will leave this body and make it pliant and obedient. If you so desire, you will be able to reconstruct your lover... eventually. However, if you refuse you will die by his-"
The alicorn jumps away as Cromach moves faster than even I can react and his axe cleaves the air, leaving a trail of lightning in its wake.
With the two Vigils' first steps to join the fight, we all know time for talking is over. I resummon my Corrupted with the order to guard the perimeter and stop any reinforcements from coming.
I pounce at one Vigil. He moves blindingly fast, stands on his hind legs, grabs my front leg and my neck, and rips.
Crunch.
What?
I watch my front leg fly away, thrown into the distance by the Vigil. His now free claws bury into my chest, tearing my reinforced plating away from my flesh. With my soft skin revealed, he cocks his leg back to punch...
...only to be stopped by a hailstorm of icicles shattering against his coat.
I drop on the ground and fly a little way away as he kicks me in one swift motion.
Chilly and Knowledge occupy the Vigil's attention while I muster all my strength to recover as fast as possible.
Knowledge's sword clanks as it harmlessly bounces off of the Vigil's skin, magic crackling around it. Chilly's blows have little to no effect as well aside from tossing the Vigil around. Good to know endurance doesn't equate to mass. Chilly realizes this as well, creating a slick pool of ice behind the Vigil and kicking him. Completely unhurt, the Vigil slides away before burying the claws on his front legs into the stone with no resistance.
Aaand we're ready to go back to action. My armor is restored and my leg, with joints still aching, has regrown.
As the Vigil returns to toying with Knowlege and Chilly, I sneak close, trip the bastard up, and spear his brain through his eyesocket with my tail.
He grabs it, yanks it out, cracks it like a whip with me on its end, and slams me on the ground.
"I am indestructible!" he rears, eye recovering instantly. As if nothing happened, his leg lenghtens into a tentacle again which sweeps all four Knowledge's legs off the ground.
Well, after seeing this, I don't think he's lying.
So, pain doesn't make him flinch. Magic can't get through his skin.
Chilly conjures a snowstorm localized around the Vigil, blinding and deafening him, pounces behind him...
...and recieves a hoof to the face.
Aaaand they don't rely on traditional senses. There must be something to do, something only a Corrupted like me could do.
Heh, what are Corrupted best at besides ripping and tearing?
"Chilly, freeze him!" I yell.
"Doesn't work!" he answers as his horn flickers only to make the Vigil's coat shimmer ineffectively.
"Just immobilize his legs! Leave his body exposed!"
"Knowledge, go for the face!" Chilly orders, "Try not to die!"
"Futile, you pests," the Vigil, on his hind legs, blocks Knowledge's flying sword with his crossed front legs.
Chilly grabs him from behind, wrapping his front legs around the Vigil's and hind legs around his lower body...
"FEW SECONDS!" he groans under the strain of the struggling definitely-not-a-pony-anymore.
...and freezes himself into a block of ice with the enemy.
I immediately jump to the Vigil's unprotected belly.
"I might not be able to cause you pain, you little bastard, but how about some... pleasure?" I press my muzzle against his sheath and put my tongues to work.
Stallions are always the same.
His stallion meat spill out of his sheath, filling my mouth. Underneath the onslaught of my licking tongues and sucking muzzle, I sense the Vigil's mental fortitude weaken and crumble. When I can finally insert my will inside his head, I conjure up images of mating Corrupted, ponies screaming in ecstasy, orgies, and even simple lovemaking of couples just for the sake of completion.
The lightning rush of him close to finishing makes me slow down. I need every second Chilly can give me so I can make it better for the Vigil.
The ice imprisoning the duo starts cracking. Suck, Nightshade! Suck like an industrial pump!
I stop delaying the Vigil's finish. No more teasing and edging, just... burst. With his nerves lighting on fire, I make his mind very receptive to the incoming pleasure.
The overloaded Vigil sits on his haunches as Chilly drops down, collapsing into an exhausted pile. He stares at me, unseeing and drooling. He is completely mine, his head is blank and empty. With a simple command, his body turns into that of a normal pony.
I end his long, long life by a quick decapitation with my tail.
"Knowledge, take care of Chilly!"
He nods and starts guarding the unconscious King. Immediately and without my command, one of my Corrupted spawns nearby and joins Knowledge. They ARE growing smarter.
I grin.
Chilly and Desert Shade are out then, Lyam and Knowledge are making sure no random Corrupted finishes them off.
Time to use my newfound deadly blowjob powers on the second Vigil currently fighting Bastion, Bound Tome, and Bucket.
Their fight looks less one-sided than ours. Bastion's sheer strength rivals the Vigil's and his blows toss the pony around much easier than Chilly's did. Bucket is mostly just baiting the Vigil's attacks, dodging them with shocking ease. Bound Tome is randomly summoning tentacles, slapping the Vigil with little to no effect.
"Nightshade to the rescue!" I pounce at the Vigil busy with repeatedly missing Bucket.
The Vigil starts flailing wildly, pissed off by Bucket's consistent dodging.
"Bastion, restrain him! We took the first one out. Let's finish this one off."
My presence seems to confuse the Vigil. The enormous Protector uppercuts the enemy, catches him mid-air, and binds all four of his legs behind him. Sadly, they don't break. Doesn't matter, time for pleasure fatality!
"The Vigil's in the past were able to instantly transmit information and adapt to any level of discomfort," Bucket says quickly, but I'm faster and already with my muzzle buried in the Vigil's crotch.
Wait, what did he mean by adapt?
My unconscious is thankfully smarter than my working brain, reinforcing my insides just as the Vigil's privates spear me like a kebab and release something acidic all over. Gurgling in pain, I roll over from the spiked member, insides torn like from barbed wire.
It's gonna be hard healing this one. Not to self - never have sex with a giant steel cactus.
Shutting down my pain receptors so I can think clearly, I focus on regeneration of my internal organs before I die.
The furious Vigil ignores Bucket now and tears through Bastion's defenses. The Protector's armor holds for a moment, but just like with me, the Vigil's claws are too sharp and strong. Bleeding from a dozen of open wounds, Bastion hesitates for a fraction of a second, giving the Vigil time to...
...nearly swipe Bound Tome jumping in to deflect the blow in half. The shower of blood splatters all over the Vigil.
The mage collapses in shock instantly and Bastion jerks the body away while Bucket allows the Vigil to hit him to get his attention. The steel plates of the robot's armor dent but hold.
Blood flowing from Bound Tome's torso sliced open and from his mouth, Bastion puts the mage carefully on the ground. The tainted unicorn gurgles something.
I can say I'm honestly surprised he is still conscious, not to mention alive.
"Back... planned..." Bound Tome croaks.
Bastion leans back, eyes wide.
"Go... back..."
The Protector huffs, but stands back up to help Bucket unable to do more than avoid the Vigil. Honestly, how can he maintain a hundred percent dodge rate when he doesn't want to get hit is beyond me. He is ancient as well, thought, he might have something in his head that allows him to read the Vigils easily.
Bound Tome's horn shimmers, and his wounds knot together. Stumbling, he stands back up.
"I really hope... nopony tells princess Luna... about my blood magic studies," he mumbles.
Tome's blood clinging to the Vigil's coat drips, soaking through the skin, flowing inside his nose and ears.
"Bastion, blast the monster!" Bound Tome orders, croaking in attempt to raise his voice. His horn shimmers with sanguine red glow, "Bucket, full power! I think I can slow his adaptability."
The Protector goes full beast and starts carelessly mauling the Vigil. The blows work. The Vigil hisses in pain. Bastion grabs the Vigil again, turning him towards Bucket with the spirals on his horn leaving blind spots in my eyes. Up close, the robot's laser beam cuts the Vigil open.
"Arhg!" Bound Tome's horn flickers out, accompanied by hissing from the Vigil. The empowered pony's blood bursts out, turning to acid and melting his body into a pool of goo.
"Hehehe... hehe... hlrgh!" the unicorn plants his face into the ground, out like a light. Bastion rushes to him like an extremely furious guard dog, standing over the tainted unicorn's body and growling even at Bucket just passing by towards me.
"I'll be... fine... ish," I huff when the robot points his horn towards me, "Already stopped... my spleen... from bleeding. Go help... Cromach..."
"I strongly believe it is Harmony's patchwork avatar who needs help," the robot drones, smugness in his mechanical voice.
"What?"
"Never get between this griffon and his alicorn, young Queen. The god learned that the hard way... and is about to get a repeat lesson. To their love, even death is only a minor setback."
Growling like a wild beast, Cromach tirelessly assaults the patchwork alicorn. The expression of utter horror on the alicorn's face as he barely avoids yet another axe swing brings smile to my muzzle.
The revenant rolls to the side, only to be kicked so hard he flies few steps up. Cromach's axe cleaves the stone stairs clean through, sticking in them. Seeing his opportunity, the alicorn...
...doesn't attack?
"I am giving you one final chance. You have earned it. Do you want to be happy again?" the alicorn stands up without doing anything even remotely hostile. He then speaks in a completely different voice. This voice is young, worried, shy, but most of all - hopeful and tired, "Cro? This is... I... is it really you?"
"Blaze?" Cromach looks at the alicorn in utter disbelief. Then he shakes his head, "No, you killed him!"
"Yes," the alicorn admits, "I am not him, but I can be. Show me what I can become for you again. Show me that you haven't forgotten me, and I will never again leave you," he spreads his front legs into an embrace.
"No..." I croak and try to get up, still unable to move properly on wobbly legs, "Bullshit..."
Cromach looks at all of us with despair in his eyes.
"I... I have to try," he hugs the alicorn, "I- urgh!"
He looks down at a tentacle coming from the alicorn's chest and spearing him through, blood flowing from his beak.
"Catbirds, so easy to manipulate. Emotions, pointless distractions from perfect-"
The alicorn rising up twitches and turns his head east where the fourth and final guiding pillar crumbles on the ground. Celestia and Twilight did their job.
"Annoying PESTS!" he pushes Cromach off of the spike which retracts into his body, "Enough games, time to end all of you!"
"No," a single set of talons crushes the alicorn's neck. Cromach, lightning coursing through his body, rises from his kneeling position and rears on his hind legs, picking the alicorn up by his neck with just one leg, "Time to finally put an end to you!"
The alicorn chokes, kicks the griffon, but his every strike is deflected by crackling blue barrier appearing at the point of impact.
"What is this?! How? I can really bring him back! You can't stop me anyway. I am a god, I WILL BE BACK!"
"Maybe," the griffon's muscles bulge, grip tightening.
The alicorn's windpipe cracks, making him flail wildly, groan and gasp for breath.
"You are losing your only chance to fill the hole in your heart!"
"I will wait FOREVER if I must, puny god. Blaze will come back to me."
"I purged his divine power before his death. Your alicorn is dead and gone without me. Enjoy your raging insanity and eternal loneliness, griff-"
With a snap and a roar of thunder, Cromach rips the alicorn's head off, silencing the god's avatar once and for all.
Worn out, he sits down on the pyramid steps and buries his face in his talons.
I can feel thousands bursts of confusion from every single Corrupted in the area. Their minds are no longer behind an unbreakable wall. There they are, all shapes of minds in front of me, terrified and leaderless. From the faint remnants of the god's will, I trace a tether to the top of the pyramid.
This isn't over yet, then.
Stumbling and nearly falling over, I grind my way up the pyramid stairs. Forcefully healing myself from the brink of death twice in several minutes is exhausting even for me, but I must ignore it. There is something up there, something that will determine the future of the Corrupted...
...the future of my entire species.
It takes me forever to get there. On the platform marking the top of the pyramid, there lies only a slab of stone, an altar of some sort, and in an indent on it a perfect, completely black, hoof-sized sphere.
I hear hoofsteps behind me.
Celestia.
"I sense divine power in that thing," she nods towards the sphere.
"They... we are being manipulated through this."
"Then I can use it," Celestia focuses on the sphere, evil smile forming on her muzzle, "I can restore our world, wipe out the scourge that DESTROYED MY EQUESTRIA!"
She pushes me away, hoof about to touch the sphere, and stops. Impaled on my barbed tail, I pull the alicorn away from the sphere. Tentacles spawn around me, grabbing my legs and slamming me into the stony steps. Celestia pulls my tail out of her side.
I rip the tentacles into pieces and tackle her, punching and swiping at her as we roll around the platform.
"We... deserve... a chance!" I gasp for breath, not letting Celestia gain the upper hoof. She is bigger and possibly stronger, but I have much better control over my Corrupted trainsformations and mind control. Driving my desperate will into her mind, I can slow her movements down to gain some advantage.
"THEY WILL BURN!" Celestia roars.
Haze of orange flames blinds me. I roll away.
The Corrupted alicorn is gone. Instead, there stands a pure white version, molten red sun on her flank turning to gold, and her fiery mane fading into a flowing rainbow of colours. Her raw divine power makes the air around her distort and shimmer.
So, this is the real alicorn. Not a tainted and tarnished version of one but the real divine creation.
And it's up to me to stop her from wiping all Corrupted out via a single thought transmitted all over the land. I give talking one last try, mostly just to buy me time to recover.
"We are not evil! We are new to this world, we have no idea what to do, and until now we were driven to kill by an insane god thirsty for revenge! We are by no means good, but we are not evil!" I repeat myself in the end.
"You are too much of a threat," her words make me growl uncontrollably and I lunge at her like a wild beast. Her horn flares with the plasmatic heat of thousand suns.
The air around both of us blurs. My entire body is enveloped by purple tethers disallowing any movement. Celestia is lifted by the same force into the air, struggling against it and failing.
Twilight walks up the staircase, eyes and horn glowing with magic beyond understanding of both me and Celestia.
"Celestia," Twilight purposefully omits Celestia's title she's been using until now, "This is not your choice, and even if it was it would be the wrong one. You taught me that everypony deserves a second chance. YOU made me the princess of... friendship. As such, I, princess Twilight Sparkle, the steward of Equestria, grant this choice to Nightshade."
"Twilight!" Celestia snarls.
"PRINCESS Twilight!" the purple alicorn just adds coldly, making Celestia's eyes go wide. She turns to me and her magical prison lets me go, "I hope you make the right decision."
I walk over to the sphere and wrap my claws around it.
My mind fills with millions of others, more than I can ever hope to control, but I can touch every single Corrupted from the starving runts south in the Badlands, through all the thriving ones around Ponyville, up to Spring's hive in the Crystal Empire and others even further in the frozen north.
"I think... just a little more willingness to communicate would be enough. Harmony's bloodlust is fading from them already. They won't be slaves, and I certainly won't order them to kill themselves. They deserve their place in this world, WE deserve our place no matter which accident or intent created us. All we need is a little willingness to talk before mating with everything we see."
It won't change the surface too much. No, that's up to diplomats, ponies striking deals with new free hives, and it's up to all sides to realize they need each other on their own. There will be wars for territory, but those will happen of their own free will, not on anyone else's orders.
Feeling all the tiny minds shift to accommodate my command, I smile and crush the black sphere into tiny shards which evaporate into nothing.
Frozen air blows through the valley as the black Barrier separating it from the rest of the world shatters. The weeping purple sky returns to winter grey once more.
Walking down the stairs followed by Twilight and Celestia, I watch the city Corrupted swarm around the pyramid. They aren't touching any of our wounded down there, which is a good sign.
A single female Corrupted walks up to me as I descend down the final step. She is smaller than me, but bulky and covered in protective scales. She gives me a curious glance. I smile at her.
Yeah, these guys will need a Protector Queen just like ponies still need me.
"We are leaving. You are free to forge your own destiny, but if you ever need a guide, Chilly and I will gladly see you or your emissary in Canterlot."
She might not understand the words, but allows my mind to touch hers and share the message.
She nods, bows, and the Corrupted start leaving the pyramid square, sniffing stones and circling the buildings as if seeing them for the first time.
In the end, the only remaining Corrupted are Celestia's Golden Legion standing in perfect ranks, side by side like a poster army.
Celestia looks at me, then at her soldiers, then at me again, and then sighs.
"You have done enough to deserve your rest thousandfold, my brave ponies," she announces in a clear voice ringing through the square, "You have protected your land and made your princ- me proud. Good night."
One by one, the soldiers salute, their forms dissipating into Corrupted biomass and draining into the cracks inbetween cobblestones. After a century of fighting an enemy beyond their own power, they finally found peace.
"Well done, both of you," Twilight smiles and pats both me and Celestia on the back, "Just one final thing."
"Hmm?" we both give her a quizzical look.
"Lyam, Bucket, Desert Shade," Twilight nods to the griffon and the barely standing hippogriff, "Are you done?"
"Just about, yes," Lyam stops fumbling with a mechanical tower three times his height he must have constructed while we were up on the pyramid, "Just need a power source," he shoves a cable into Bucket's mouth who just frowns.
The mobile radio station springs to life with gentle humming and beeping. The red glowing dot on the interface turns green. Twilight puts on a pair of headphones and speaks into a microphone.
"Twilight to Ponyville, Twilight ot Ponyville. Who is on watch today?"
A female voice answers and Twilight switches between the headphones and general speakers.
"Luna...?" Twilight grins.
"Twilight? How are things? Are you at the Barrier?" comes from the speakers.
"Umm, I have a surprise for you," Twilight gestures Celestia to come over.
"Hi, Loony," says the gently smiling alicorn.
"W...wh..." I hear a sniff, "CELESTIA?!"
"Nice to hear you again, Loony," Celestia wipes her tearing up eyes and sniffs as well, "Guess I am the forgotten sister now, aren't I?"