[Blazing's Entry]
Day one.
Wings got broken. Having real ones sucks. I miss having the ethereal ones made of pure divine power.
Speaking of divine power, lost most of it. Why? No idea. It's not coming back, sleep didn't help. Something is wrong. I feel a new unnatural force inside me, familiar but unknown.
Made temporary allies, didn't kill anypony... willingly. Time to see how much the world has changed in my absence.
Good stuff.
[End Entry]
"It's bad luck to comment on blatantly miraculous bouts of good luck," Desert Shade walks around the hilltop, packing all used pieces of equipment into their respective bags.
"I know," Rolled Scroll objects, rebinding her bandages, "but this was crazy. Wild Corrupted actually helping of their own volition."
"Speak for yourself," Lyam limps around, visibly smooshed from the recieved bear hugs, "Ow, ow, ow, ow."
"Hey, dumbass," Des raises her voice.
"Yes?"
"Mhmm?"
I exchange glances with the gagged unicorn. Des rolls her eyes.
"The non-demigod one."
"Mhmm!"
"Yes, you! I'm not gonna advocate Corrupted deeds based on what happened last night, but it should be an indication that they are not under evil control anymore and not all of them want to breed us."
"They were pretty friendly," I nod.
The mare who spent the night with me didn't fix my wings, and when Lyam woke us up in the morning all Corrupted were already gone.
"Don't get used to it," Des shoots me a glare, "I've been exploring the wilderness ever since they first appeared and this has happened to me exactly zero times before. Heck, I can count friendly encounters on the talons of one leg."
"So... can anypony actually tell me a little more about, well, things?" I ask.
"Sure," Des agrees. I raise my eyebrow, "No problem, travelling's less boring with somepony new to talk to. Now go earn your keep and untie the moron."
"My keep?"
"We are three days away south from Vanhoover. You could try to graze on the tainted grass, but I wouldn't do it. A completely corrupted alicorn might be a fun last thing to see though."
"Eeew," I stomp the oily, wobbly grass under my hooves. Is even the land tainted?
As my telekinesis unties the captured noble, Strong Back walks out of the burial mound with four bulging saddlebags. She unwraps a piece of scented cloth covering her muzzle, namely nose and mouth, dropping her... loot?
"You can't be serious!" the noble comes to the same realization as me, "You stole from the dead?"
"You killed them," Back just shrugs, "I wouldn't be complaining. It's not like they're gonna need some bracelets, rings, and few rather catching dresses. By the way, you packed some really stupid stuff for your trip. Good resale value, though."
The unicorn fumes and shakes with barely covered rage, but doesn't say anything else.
In some fifteen minutes, we're heading north, according to Scroll's compass. Paying my 'upkeep' turns out to be carrying two of the saddlebags with the sacrificed nobles' possessions. Thank heavens for the Corrupted lady healing my leg. That stuff is heavy.
Des and Strong Back are walking in the front, Lyam is covering our backs, and the trio of me, the noble, and Rolled Scroll is in the middle.
"So, what do you wanna know?" asks Desert Shade out of nowhere.
"Hmmm," I look around. We're taking a rather leisure pace through what I'm gathering is a dangerous territory, most likely due to me and the second 'guest'. Speaking of him, "Aren't you worried he's gonna run off?" I nod to the not bound, not even shackled, unicorn.
The group starts laughing as one, even Scroll still frowning whenever she looks in my direction chuckles.
"Oh suuure," Des waves her talons, "Without a map and a compass through days and days' worth of Corrupted territory. I'd give him an hour before he turned into one of them."
It dawns on me that the magnitude of the changed world is a little more than simple questions can reach.
"I... I don't even know where to start," I look at her, completely lost. That's a good way to say it - I'm completely lost. The only thing keeping me from just sitting down in apathy is that Crom might be alive, "Before I got killed, Equestria was a thriving land where you couldn't walk for a day without finding a farm or some settlement, and aside from some areas like the Everfree Forest it was mostly safe. Granted, I didn't travel that much."
"Let's start with the Corrupted. They came some ninety or so years after Twilight's ascension. I and my old group were the first ones to spot them and survive to tell the tale. It was near the Smokey Mountains, not even that far from here, few days south at most. We escaped the first Hunters, warned ponies in Vanhoover who didn't believe us. When the city fell we were already on the train to the Crystal Empire. They didn't believe us at first either, but then the messages about western Equestria going dark reached bigger cities. We travelled on, warning who we could, but it wasn't enough. Corrupted spread, bred, and transformed most of Equestrian population. It wasn't in the power of anypony to fight against an enemy whose numbers grew whenever you lost somepony. That went on for over a century. The only pony settlements that survived were the Crystal Empire and Cloudsdale hovering over it after fleeing from Equestria, Canterlot castle protected by ancient magical wards, Ponyville underground enclave, and Manehattan virtually enslaved by griffons. If more survivors have been found in past thirty years, I haven't heard about it."
I stare blankly, walking on autopilot.
"Yeah," she notices my expression, "that's a lot to take in. The purge left less than a million ponies alive in Equestria."
"WHAT?!"
She nods bitterly.
"The young ponies you might see in Vanhoover, well, New Vanhoover to you-"
"Never been there before, so just Vanhoover," I mumble, still chewing through the catastrophy. She said I failed... is that my fault?
"They are the first new generation of ponies able to walk on the surface mostly freely. Today there's about two to three million ponies in Equestria because the news about the change spread to the Griffon Empire, and the descendants of those who fled there from the first waves of Corrupted returned to see their ancestral homeland."
"What change?"
"I'm getting to that. Thirty years ago, a pegasus Hex Guard, Twilight's personal branch of guards, by the name of Nightshade was left for dead by her squadmates during a surface scouting mission, and tainted. Slightly tainted ponies were allowed to live in Ponyville enclave at the time. She survived the trip back with the help of a Corrupted Hunter she named Chilly. Twilight allowed both of them to return to the enclave in return for being experimented on. Most of current knowledge about Corrupted comes from that. Nightshade soon transformed completely, but Chilly's presence stopped her from going full evil rapemonster, and she fought the Corrupted Queen leading the hive living in the territory of Ponyville town. The official story is that Nightshade kept a pony part of herself after she devoured the other Queen and became the protector of Ponyville, allowing enclave ponies to return to the surface."
"And the unofficial story?"
"She wasn't controlled by the evil inside the Corrupted hive mind and thus saw no good reason to eradicate ponies, maybe? She's very different these days, but if you're looking for the most powerful being in the world, possibly, it's her more than ever."
"What about the alicorns - Celestia, Luna, Twilight, or a defect like me?"
"You got your bones broken by Strong Back, enough said. Alicorns are on a different level, true, but Corrupted possess a unique ability absolutely destroying anypony with a horn. It's an effect called Horn Rot they instinctively use when threatened by enough magical power. What I heard from the only pony who survived it with mind mostly intact it feels like orgasming your entire magic, mind, and being through your horn. It instantly turns the victim into a mostly mindless Corrupted, and all alicorns have been hiding from it, unable to use their overpoweredness against Corrupted and having to rely on low level spells. If Horn Rot wasn't a factor then yes, the alicorns would wipe Corrupted from the face of Equestria eventually."
"What did this Nightshade do after saving Ponyville?"
"Remember the big berry I gave the Corrupted yesterday? It's their food, crystallized corruption growing in their territories. They can eat pretty much anything, but it doesn't sustain them too much. The real berries can keep one going for months each."
"Real berries?"
"Mhm, the ones I carry are fake, a product of Twilight's chemists, wizards, and Nightshade's hive. They are significantly less nourishing, but very easy to grow. After the takeover of Ponyville territory, Twilight offered help feeding Nightshade's new hive. The hive became extremely powerful very quickly after that. Under Nightshade's mental oversight, the evil presence in the hivemind couldn't force the new hive to destroy the last remnants of ponies. Corrupted can be solitary, can live in packs like we saw yesterday, but they bow to the ultimate will of the Queen, and Nightshade wanted them to live with ponies and cooperate."
"How did the ponies react? I wouldn't be too happy having to rely on and open myself to an enemy I avoided for past century."
"They didn't have a choice. If Nightshade turned completely from loneliness and being surrounded only by other Corrupted, she knew the enclave entrances, she knew everything as a Hex Guard. It was either submit or eventually die. They made the right choice. Nightshade took over Canterlot Corrupted, allowing ponies access to more of the city than the castle. I'm not sure what happened next, Nightshade doesn't want to talk about that part too much, but her companion Chilly left her and emerged as a King of a strip of territory between the Crystal Empire and Canterlot. He discovered Crystal Empire was still standing, but currently under siege by Corrupted army. Chilly, Nightshade, and a young Queen called Spring stopped the siege and saved the royal family."
"Oh, Mi Amore Cadenza is still alive as well, right?"
"More like Milf Amore Candeza," Lyam mutters to himself.
"Yes, yes, she's your celebrity crush," Des rolls her eyes, grinning, "Shining Armor is still alive as well. It turns out that being married to an alicorn can have its advantages. I wonder why neither Celestia nor Luna have a pony like that. Twilight's husband was killed by Corrupted, I'm pretty sure."
"Everypony needs rest eventually," I give her a sad smile. Des must have lived a long life, but she doesn't seem like a pony under the burden of responsibility. That is what crushes ponies, not time itself.
"Anyway," she continues, slightly taken aback by what I said, "Twilight's son Mana Burn was corrupted by Nightshade during some failed experiment. Lyam and I met him near Manehattan several months after Nightshade's rise. He was the first talking Corrupted we've ever met and he was sent by Twilight to scout east for survivors. We found him in abysmal shape, but he still would have kicked our asses if he wanted to. A Corrupted with military training is a nightmare to meet. We helped him get to Manehattan and we would have all been killed by corrupted griffons if it wasn't for a certain griffon you know."
"Crom?"
"Yeah, Cromach has this weird ability to ignore Corrupted damage resistance, thus pissing Nightshade off immensely," she laughs to herself, "He once cut her in half with one swing, she was so mad."
"Cutting her in half just made her mad?"
"Yeah, don't try to fight powerful Corrupted in their territory, they are nearly immortal. A Queen like Nightshade in her Ponyville sanctum simply cannot be killed by any normal means. The only ways recorded until now, and this is a secret Twilight doesn't like to share, were dragon fire and a more powerful Queen draining the other one's essence."
"I'd like to avoid any conflict anyway. I just want some sort of life with the only griffon who has and can ever love me," I mumble, "Mushy, I know."
"Just a bit," Des shrugs, not minding at all, "Well, we helped Mana Burn get a message to Twilight about Manehattan being a griffon slave pit for ponies. Nightshade, Twilight, and a small force of ponies and Corrupted took the city from the Griffon Imperial Legion. Nightshade couldn't handle controlling several hundred thousand of new Corrupted transformed from griffons and resisting locals, so she left them in the city without a leader, but burned into their minds that the city belonged to both them and ponies. It was up to ponies to help Corrupted protect the new territory from griffons, and it was up to Corrupted to help ponies in order to get more food and keep their new home. So far, Manehattan still stands so the forced cooperation seems to be working somewhat."
"What about the evil forcing Corrupted to kill ponies on sight?"
"And here's the final part that I... don't want to recall much," her ears droop, "but it involves you, I think. Cromach told us about some Corrupted properties we missed, and when we told him where we saw them first appear, he believed there might be a connection between the sacrificial valley west of White Tail where you died, and Harmony's desire to take revenge on ponies. Massive hive mind, perfect entities nearly unable to permanently die, rings a bell?"
"Harmony created Corrupted, how? Didn't we stop his return?"
"You sliced his real body in half by locking him in the middle of a closing spatial rift. Don't you remember?"
"I remember trying to do that, but... you know... I got corpsed."
"Aaah," she nods in understanding, "Cromach believed the part of Harmony's body that fell into the valley sort of melted into the ground and its wish for revenge twisted some unwary travellers into the first Corrupted. Cromach, Nightshade, Twilight, her second son Knowledge, Lyam, I, a mage named Bound Tome, Chilly, and Bound Tome's Corrupted guardian Bastion have travelled to the point of origin... and stopped all of it, freed the Corrupted from the bloodthirsty will of Harmony. These days, Corrupted are still a massive threat, but surface is once again open to ponies as they don't actively seek us in an attempt to wipe us out."
"What did you find in the valley?"
"I... I'd rather not talk about it."
"Eyeballs?"
"Lots of eyeballs... all over the sky... and in my head. Suffice to say that all of us got very badly hurt, but we did it."
She shakes her head and smiles.
"And it all started with one lost Hex Guard. Butterfly wings and stuff, eh?"
"So, what now?" I don't pressure her. I know better than she does what horrors lie beyond the veil. Harmony was only the tip of the iceberg... or the base more-like, but there are still many many more things out there, albeit less powerful than the god himself.
"You know, I'm not sure," Des whistles thoughtfully, "We were hired to follow that guy and see what he's up to, so now that he's up to swinging on a noose I think we'll drop him of at some Vanhoover guard station and then look for another job."
"Uhh... can you help me?" I try to appeal to their good will.
"Got money?"
So much for that.
"Well..."
"Yeah, thank you but no. I learned long time ago to stay away from any business involving alicorns and deities. I'll share part of the money we make off of this with you-"
She shushes angry grumbling from her mates.
"Oh shut up. Thanks to him we don't have to haul thirty nobles around, but only one plus a bunch of 'procured' jewels. We're dividing the profits by five, not four. I'll help you plan out the route to Manehattan, which is where Cromach's Order of the Silver Sun is. Somepony there will have an idea where to find their boss. How about that? I'm doing it just because I owe Cromach, and maybe you, the continued survival of pony race, to an extent."
"Thank you."
"Good. Now if we see any more Corrupted approach, get ready to fight. If worst comes to worst we throw the noble to them and run. If that fails, it's your turn, Lollipop."
"Lollipop?"
"The Breeder mare seemed to like licking you."
"The big one almost crushed Lyam, why don't you call him 'putty'?"
Her amazed stare slowly turning towards the griffon tells me my presense here is going to have at least one more lasting mark.
"Yeah, Protectors are kind of... protective, hence the name."
"Protectors?"
"There are few kinds of Corrupted - Queens, Hunters, Breeders, Protectors, Drones, and Corruptors. The Hunters are-"
I get ready for a lecture on the properties of Corrupted. It makes the trip to Vanhoover feel much shorter than it really is.