Purity Corruption

by TheBlox

Where It Began

“Celestia, what’s wrong with me?!” Altruise screamed at herself as she ran down the cobblestone path further and further away from Canterlot. Her head was aching, and her body was exhausted from her magic outburst. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as the images of the terrified ponies’ faces kept flooding her mind.

Once Trottingham came to view, she stopped dead in her tracks wide-eyed. “I-I can’t go back home.” She whimpered to herself, panicking, “Not how I am. Not like this.” She glanced to the north, then to the south. “Maybe I can hide. M-maybe I should run away…”

“You’re not going anywhere, Altruise.” She heard a powerful voice of feminine authority, which got her to slump, and her ears curved to her sides in trembling fear. That voice, she’s heard it before. Altruise gulped, and slowly, she turned around to the pony standing behind her.

“I-it’s you…” Altruise whimpered, trembling scared, “P-princess…”

The alicorn goddess of the sun stood tall before her in all her glory, glaring down at her. “The school contacted me after what had happened.” Celestia spoke clearly with royalty; it made Altruise feel like her ears were being pierced with intimidation. “I saw the damage for myself.”

“I-it was an accident!” Altruise shrieked, backing away from her. “I-I didn’t mean to, I—”

“I know.” Celestia calmly interrupted her frantic word fumbling.

Altruise froze, and her ears slowly stood back up. “Y… you’re… not mad?” She gulped and lowered her head, “Y-you’re not gonna s-send me to the moon, are you?”

Celestia faintly giggled at that. “Now why would I do that?” She looked down at the filly with a more reassuring expression, “I’m not mad at you, Altruise. But I am a little concerned.”

“Twilight… I… She—”

“She’s fine.” The princess exclaimed, “She was sent in for tests at the hospital, but I assure you she will be okay.”

Altruise sighed with relief hearing this, but then slumped back into the cobblestone. “I feel so stupid… I shouldn’t have gone to school.”

“Whatever do you mean?” Celestia questioned the filly.

“Well I—you see… I…” Altruise bit her lip, feeling guilt. “I knew that would happen if I tried to cast a spell…” She squinted her eyes and lowered her head, “I told myself I could handle my magic. I told myself I could control it. But I can’t—”

“You mean this has happened before?” The princess’ eyes pierced down at her, “You were fully aware of your power before you cast the spell, and you haven’t told anypony?” She furrowed her eyes, “Altruise, I think you need to do some explaining.”

“Please don’t send me to the moon with Nightmare Moon…” Altruise wept, sitting on the cobblestone with her head down.

Celestia rolled her eyes, “I’m not going to send you to the moon.” She stepped toward the filly and put a hoof on her shoulder, “Now let’s take you home, we’ll talk with your parents about all this.”

“N-no they can’t know, they won’t approve of this… They’d never forgive me, they won’t want me anymore…”

“Altruise, your parents are very loyal ponies, they wouldn’t do that. I know them very well; your father was once a guard at my castle. I’m sure he must’ve told you stories about that.” Celestia exclaimed reassuringly, “You’re worrying way too much, and you’re jumping to conclusions. Now come, let’s take you home.”

Altruise let out a soft, worried sigh as she limply stood up to her hooves. They turned eastward, and continued walking toward Trottingham beside each other down the cobblestone path.

* * * * *

Celestia and Altruise walked through Trottingham, and any pony that was outside to witness her arrival turned to face them with a loud and surprised gasp, and bowed with respect to the princess. Altruise noticed this, and watched all of the mares and stallions bow to her.

They approached the door to Altruise’s house, and Celestia knocked at the door with her hoof, waiting patiently beside the filly for her parents to answer. The door opened, and Altruise’s mother stood in the entrance. Her eyes immediately jolted open at the sight of Celestia.

“Princess Celestia! Wow, what brings you here?” She then glanced down at her daughter and was even more confused. “Altruise?” She looked up at the princess again and blinked a few times.

“May I come in?” Celestia requested with a gentle tone of authority.

“Uh—Yes. Of course.” The mother stuttered and opened the door wider for her, and the princess stepped in along side of Altruise. “What’s this all about?”

“Why don’t we sit down, I will explain everything.” Celestia suggested. Altruise’s ears fell to her sides and she slumped lower to the floor; she didn’t like the sound of that.

Altruise’s mother looked down at her, acknowledging her hiding behaviour, then back up at the princess. “Is there a problem?”

The father then stepped in from the other room and froze at the sight of Celestia with Altruise. “Your majesty? What brings you here?” He glanced down at his daughter, raising a brow, “What’s going on? Why isn’t she in school?”

“Come, let’s sit down.” Celestia suggested, letting herself into their home toward the living room. The parents shrugged and followed her there, and Altruise slowly dragged her nervous hooves along behind them. The ponies all gathered into the living room and sat on the sofa. The parents sat beside each other, Celestia and Altruise took their own seats across from each other.

“Did Altruise do something wrong?” The father continued questioning, “How serious is this?”

“This is a very serious matter, but no, your daughter didn’t do anything wrong.” The princess glanced over to Altruise, “Your daughter has a very powerful magic.”

“R… really?” The father blinked, “She cast a spell?”

“Oh I knew you had it in you, honey!” The mother jumped happily.

Altruise’s ears just fell to her sides. She didn’t feel any more enthusiastic with her mother trying to help.

“Now, your daughter has a condition that I’ve only ever seen maybe about twelve times in my lifetime.” Celestia explained, “It’s very rare, and very dangerous.”

“Condition?” The cyan unicorn twitched, “Is she sick?”

“No, she isn’t sick.” Celestia explained, “However, Altruise has no control over her magic. If she tries to cast a spell, even the simplest of spells, her magic will all be let loose at once without being able to stop herself.” She glanced back over to Altruise, “The best way I can describe this is, it’s like a salt shaker with a loose cap. If you try to shake a little bit of salt, the cap falls off, and it all spills out.” She looked back to her parents, “Normally an outburst like the one she caused at school would’ve rendered her unconscious, but her magic was interrupted by another unicorn’s horn on the playground, like a lightning rod.”

Altruise slouched lower in her chair thinking about Twilight.

“So… what should we do?” The father asked with concern, “Can this be treated?”

The princess turned to him, “Well, since I’m the only pony in Equestria who has experienced such magic before, I know how it works, and yes, I can help her.”

“You?” Altruise looked up at her and blinked.

The princess turned back to her and nodded, “It would be best if I trained you myself. That magic needs to be tamed before somepony gets hurt.” She declared and leaned forward, “I’m hereby pulling you from school until your magic is no longer a risk.”

Altruise’s ears perked, and she smiled enthusiastically.

“I have to ask you though.” Celestia exclaimed, “You told me that the magic outburst you cast at the school was not your first. When did it first happen?”

The parents both sat up straight, surprised to hear this.

“Altruise, you’ve done that before?” The pegasus questioned her, wide-eyed, “And you never told us?”

Altruise lowered her ears and made a whimpering sound. “I-I’m sorry… I should’ve told you. I didn’t want to disappoint you…” She murmured to her parents.

Her father blinked at that, “How would you have disappointed us? Your mother and I would’ve tried to help you.”

“I know…” Altruise squeaked.

The pegasus let out a sigh and leaned forward, “So, when did this first happen?”

Altruise gulped and with brief hesitation, she explained herself. “The other night… That storm we had.”

“That was you?” Her mother jumped.

The filly nodded and continued explaining. “I wasn’t in bed that night. I snuck out the window, and I ran into the forest…” She murmured and slouched lower.

“You were outside? In the forest?” The father questioned her frantically, “What on Equestia were you doing out there?”

Altruise sighed, “I was mad at myself for not being able to use magic; I wanted time to think. When I was there, I tried practicing my magic on a leaf. That’s where it started…” She whimpered and curled in her seat, “I-I was so scared, I didn’t know what was happening to me. I was afraid of what you’d think about it… I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

Glances were exchanging among the ponies in the room.

“I’d like to see where you were when this first happened.” Celestia requested. “Will you please take us there, Altruise?”

“I-I…” Altruise’s ears fell back again, and she sighed. “Yes, Princess…”

* * * * *

Celestia and Altruise’s parents followed the filly through the forest. The deeper they went, the quieter the woods seemed to be; less birds chirping or animals scampering. It made the forest feel more ominous and lonely, even with the warmth of the afternoon sun overhead.

“Altruise, how far did you go out here?” Her father questioned her in surprise.

“Uh…” Altruise bit her lip and lowered her head, “Pretty far…”

As they got further, the trees seemed to get deader; less leaves, less branches, some trees even scorched or completely knocked over. Missing patches of grass were growing more noticeable the further they went as well. Then finally, they came to the opening in the forest where Altruise had been during her first magic outburst.

The landscape was completely scorched in a full mile radius of craters and debris. Altruise felt her heart sink seeing this place again. Her parents were wide-eyed, and even the princess was astonished by this.

“Uhm… Here we are.” Altruise gulped, looking up to the other three ponies who were staring at the blighted field.

“You were all the way out here when you caused that storm?” Her father twitched, “Good goddess, we felt that all the way in town…”

Celestia stepped further into the field of scorched earth. She examined the craters, and looked up at the sky, circling where she stood to get a full view of the field. “Altruise, why don’t we do your training here?”

“Here?” Altruise winced, “Why here?”

“Well, it’s a nice size location, and you won’t be affecting civilization outside of the forest from here.” The princess turned back to her, “This way you won’t have to destroy anything else in the process of taming your magic. It’s bare here; we may as well use it.”

“I guess…” Altruise didn’t like the idea of returning to this spot, but Celestia had a point. If they were to train anywhere else, she’d inevitably scorch that too anyway. “Uhm… Princess Celestia? How long do you think it will take?”

“What? To tame you?” Celestia shrugged, “All depends. Could be a couple weeks, could be months.” She explained and sighed, “I can’t determine how hard this will be to calm your magic down. It’s quite powerful as far as I can see right now.”

“I see…” Altruise sighed.

“Why don’t we start in the morning?” The princess suggested, walking back to the other three ponies. “I’ll meet you here; we’ll start during your regular school hour.”

“Okay.” The filly nodded obediently.

“Good. Now, I suggest you go home.” The princess flapped her wings and floated up into the air, looking down to the other three. “Get plenty of rest for tomorrow. I need to get back to the castle.”

“Alright, thanks Princess Celestia.” Altruise smiled up at her.

Celestia smiled back at her. “Take care, Altruise.” With that, she turned and flew back to Canterlot. Altruise waved her off, and she and her parents turned back home.

* * * * *

It was a quiet and awkward walk home through the forest. Altruise didn’t really have a lot to say, and she could tell that her parents weren’t very pleased with her. There wasn’t a lot of eye contact.

When they returned home, they silently stepped into their house, Altruise being the last to saunter through the door. They all stood there in silence, until the pegasus finally turned to his daughter and looked down at her. His eyes were furrowed, but not to a furious extent; more-so a look of disappointment.

Altruise’s ears sank to the side, and she slouched lower into the floor, looking back at him. “I-I’m sorry.”

“Altruise, I…” The father squinted and put his hoof over his eyes, trying to think of what to say.

“I-I knew this would happen if you found out…” Altruise whimpered, sitting on her flank, hiccupping silently as a few tears leaked down her cheeks. Her eyes were staring at the floor in shame.

The pegasus sighed and put his hoof back down on the floor. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

The young filly looked up to her father. “I-I didn’t want you to think of me differently.” She sniffed, and breathed a sorrowful sigh, “I didn’t want you to be ashamed of me because of my magic…”

“I’m not disappointed about your magic, Altruise.” Her father raised a brow at that, “Why would I be ashamed of you because of something you can’t control?”

“B-because I’m dangerous…” Altruise wept, sinking lower to the floor as more gasps and tears leaked, “Please don’t leave me…”

Those words that came from the filly’s mouth immediately threw the pegasus’ mind back to last night, when Altruise awoke from that nightmare. She said the same thing to him, in the same, hurt tone as she did just now. It suddenly made sense to him; her dream must’ve had to do with this. Putting himself in her hooves for that brief moment, he felt more understanding about her reasons for keeping quiet.

“So… that’s what the silence has been about…” The father knelt lower to the filly and placed a wing on her shoulder. “Sweetie, you don’t need to be afraid of that. I’d never leave you, no matter what.”

Altruise sniffed, and looked eye to eye with him. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you…” She whimpered, leaning into his shoulder, “I’m sorry…”

With a sigh, the pegasus wrapped his wing around her. “I forgive you, Altruise. Please stop crying.”

“I shouldn’t lie to you.” Altruise continued her whimpers against his shoulder, “I was just scared…”

“I know. I know, Altruise. It’s okay.” He reassured her, nuzzling her, “Your mother and I, we love you so much. No matter what any of us go through, we will always love you.”

“I love you too…” The foal murmured.

* * * * *

As the tensions settled down throughout the afternoon, the family spent more quality time together in the living room. They spent the next hour or so relaxing, talking, and playing some board games to pass the time.

Breaking the calm silence, they heard a knock at the door. “I’ll get it.” Altruise’s mother stood up and trotted out of the living room to the door. From the living room they heard her open the door, and greeting the visitor.

“Hi. Is Altruise home?” The visitor’s familiar voice was heard in the living room, which grabbed Altruise’s attention. Her ears perked, and she turned to glance over at the door.

“Yes she is, Mila. I’ll go get her for you.” The cyan mare smiled down at the pink filly, and trotted back into the living room. “Altruise, Mila’s here.”

Altruise felt hesitant at first to go talk to her. She kept thinking about the way Mila looked at her at school when her magic outburst went off. With a sigh, Altruise slipped off the couch onto her hooves, and quietly trotted out of the living room and to the door.

They exchanged glares, and at first both were quiet. They awkwardly brushed their hooves on the floor, thinking of something to say.

“Uh… Hi, Altruise.” Mila managed, biting her lip.

“You’re back early.” Altruise blinked at her.

Mila nodded, “They closed down the school for the rest of the day due to the um…” She paused in mid-sentence, assuming Altruise knew what she was going to say. “…Yeah.”

“I never should’ve gone to school.” Altruise furrowed her eyes, looking to the side.

“Hey um… about all that…” Mila sighed, “I’m really sorry.”

Altruise blinked and looked back at her.

“It was wrong of me not to believe you.” Mila apologized in a murmur, “We’re friends, I should be more supportive for you when it comes to serious matters like that. I’ve just… never seen anything like that before.”

“It’s okay, Mila.” Altruise smiled back at her, “I understand. If you were telling me that was happening to you, I’d probably have a hard time believing it myself.” She raised a brow humourously, “It isn’t exactly all that common for a foal unicorn to have this kind of magic.”

“Heh… Yeah.” Mila exchanged a smile back at her, “So um… How’s the whole thing with your magic going now?”

“Uh, well… You’re not going to believe this, but, Princess Celestia came to us earlier this afternoon and offered to help me with it.” Altruise was slightly enthusiastic, but at the same time she was nervous about it.

Mila went wide-eyed at that. “Really? The Princess herself came to you?”

Altruise shrugged and nodded, “Apparently what I have is extremely rare, and is something only she has any knowledge about. She said that in her lifetime she’s only experienced maybe twelve other foals with this kind of magic, and she’s going to train me herself for the next while until my magic is tame so it’s not so dangerous.”

“Well, that’s… interesting.” Mila blinked, and she grinned, “I’m totally jealous.”

“Heh.” Altruise smirked back at her, “Well thanks for stopping by, Mila. I appreciate your concerns.”

“Hey, we’re friends.” Mila smiled, “Friends look out for each other, don’t they?”

Altruise smiled back at that.

“Well, I need to head back.” Mila sighed, “After what happened at school, my parents want me to stay home.” She rolled her eyes, “They’re all worried about me being out of the house now.”

“Heh, well you’d better get back before they start wondering where you ran off to.” Altruise grinned, “Thanks again for checking up on me.”

“Of course.” Mila then turned and trotted back to the street, looking back at her. “You take care, Altruise. I doubt the school will be open for at least a week, so I’ll probably see you tomorrow.”

“Alright, Mila. Thanks, you take care too.”

With that, Altruise closed the door, and trotted back into the living room where she spent the rest of the day with her family. Their day felt pretty full already as it was, so the remainder of the day was spent relaxing. There were concerns about her training tomorrow, but none of them really spoke of her magic, and focused more on other important matters. Celestia was sure to take care of her during her training, so there was no sense in worrying about it.

* * * * *

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[Obsidian Warrior]

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