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// A Pretty Jewel it May be. But Kind? Never. 
// Story: The Jewel of Corruption 
// by Kagekitsune 
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I wish for the Jewel to disappear, as if it never was! It was with those words that the Shikon no Tama was thwarted. Forced to obey the wish of one Higurashi Kagome. Its last and final guardian. The only one to ever make the right wish.  The first true taste of defeat with no way to take her down with it. It was too bad though, that the Jewel had centuries of experience of twisting words to its favor. The Jewel still disappeared, gone from history. It would never return, for it was not allowed to. There are other worlds to ravish. More misery to be caused. The right wish may have been said, but too bad it wasn't very specific. Before the Jewel had forced its way into a different world, it laughed. 

The Jewel had forced its way in the early beginnings of civilization. Where cities were treated as countries, and regarded each other as inferior.  Resting in a meadow not too far from a town, with the sun shining brightly on it. Visible for all to see, and too pretty to ignore when seen. The Jewel had not even begun its calling when a small creature had found it. Much different than humans and demons, the Jewel mused. But what did it care for looks? After all, the Jewel was a sphere of crystal. No larger than an eye, ranging from a coral pink to black. Depending on the Jewel's holder, of course. The Jewel was barely brushed by the creature's hoof. A simple brush was all it needed to know everything about the filly. The smallest of a large family, and ignored in favor of her elder brothers and sister. All she wanted was her parents' love. Such an innocent want. Such an innocent child. The Jewel would have so much fun corrupting it. This time, there would be no one to stop it. There was no Kagome, after all. The child began to enthuse over her first treasure. It couldn't wait to make it so the filly never enthused over anything again.



You wish for your parents eternal love? A question the Jewel would ask everyday. Without faltering, the filly would always answer yes. Do you want everyone to love you? Well, why not? She would love the attention so much. The Jewel asked those questions everyday, until the filly finally asked a question of her own.

"How can I get their love?" She filly asked the Jewel which rested on her cloth covered hay pile. The pink jewel hummed with its power when it answered. 
'My dearest little girl. All you had to do was wish on me. Wish on me, and I'll make it all a reality.' A wide smile broke on her face. That was so easy! Anyone could do it, even a gross bug! And so she grabbed the Jewel and cleared her throat. 
"I wish that everyone could love me. And I'll live off that love forever and ever!" When she finished, she beamed down at the Jewel.

'Of course, my dearest, most precious little one. I'll change you in a way no one can ever forget.' Malice poured from the Jewel like an unending wave. The filly smiled dropped,and she was engulfed in light. She screamed so, so loudly. Her coarse black coat turned into a hard shell. Her large green eyes grew, and the color overtook her entire eye. A horn grew where the previously wasn't one before. Sharp and jagged, not at all the straight spiral of the unicorn. Bug like wings grew from her back. She kept screaming, even long after the transformation finished. 'Hehe~ Don't you like your new form? You'll be loved by everyone, just not with how you look now. But I think an ugly true form is a fair enough price for the ability to transform and magic, don't you?' If it could have, it would have chortled.

True to its word, the filly did indeed live off of love. And the filly kept on living until the filly couldn't get the love to consume anymore, and starved to death. She was the first Changling. Simply known as First Mother. Poor little filly, you wished for the wrong thing. There would be no Kagome to stop it this time. Oh no, she was an anomaly. Her very soul was once intertwined with it. And yet it remained strong and dominate. The Jewel would bring pain and misery to all creatures of this land. Corrupting kind and loving kings into tyrannical monsters. A lonely and curious manticore into the very personification of chaos. Planting a seed of hate and envy into a younger sister, and forcing it to bloom so large and powerful, a whole new monster was born. Giving an unquenchable thirst for power into an old centaur, on the promise of youth and the world at his feet. And it would have caused more hate and misery across the land. But the Sun had found it. Rejected its promises, very familiar with The Jewel's cruelty in the sort time they had been in contact. And so the sun, Celestia, had locked it deep, deep underground barred from the world by the magic of the Sun. Celestia had heard the whispers of The Jewel, the promises it would give, if only she wished upon it. 

It had taken far more effort to resist and reject it than she would like to admit. She had been so sorely tempted, but the wounds of her sister's betrayal were still too deep. And she knew the twisting of her sister's soul was the result of this simple sphere of crystal. Celestia was forced to hide it for the betterment of all. She hide it alone, in a place few could venture. And she trapped the hiding place with hundreds of spells, some known only to her. The traps were deadly, but should The Jewel ever be found, the world may fall into ruin. In fear that one day she might be tempted to use its power, Celestia forced herself to forget it. 

The Jewel knew it had more power than the Sun, but it couldn't use it. It was a rule deeply ingrained into itself. Only a different being could use its power. So it had called out, for centuries, even a millennia. But there was no answer. None that mattered anyway. Nothing had the power or drive to reach it, yet. But this was not a defeat. Any living creature could eventually claim it. It was just a matter of waiting. And it would wait and wait and wait. Then it would corrupt the entire world. Bringing hate and misery and death. And it would bask in it and taunt the Sun and then take the Sun's body for itself.

But not now, someday, but not now.



Hopefully it was soon though.