Word of Malice

by Twisted Night

Corrupted Day

Night fell upon Ponyville, swallowing any light left by its calm and strict atmosphere. Land of dreams has welcomed everypony in its sweet embrace, and only a few are able to stay awake at this hour. Twilight Sparkle is one of them.

Ponyville’s giant tree library is flooded with books and scrolls, mountains of which are lying on the floor everywhere. Twilight is walking around these mountains, drawing random books and putting them on their respective shelves. Spike was helping her a few minutes ago, but now he is
sleeping in his bed, exhausted. Owloysius is eagerly sitting on his roost, waiting for a command.

“Wait, what is this?” Twilight drew a very suspicious-looking book. “I have never seen that book before…”

The book’s cover is as black as pure coal and completely blank. No picture or writing is placed on it, or anything, exposing any of the book’s content. One look at this book would give a chill to any viewer.

“Hmm… I wonder how that book never caught my attention before. It is kinda hard to miss.” Twilight levitated a book closer to her eyes and opened it.

“’Word of Malice’,” she read at the first page, “sounds creepy to me… Oh, well.
Owloysius!” she called, “Please, give me my checklist.”

The owl rose from his roost in a burst of feathers, picked up a large scroll from a large shelf and gave it to Twilight, happy to be able to help even with the most little things.
“I don’t want to read this book now… But since it is a library, I must add it to my
checklist…” mumbled Twilight.

*******

Rainbow Dash was calmly napping on a soft, fluffy cloud, when she heard a distant roar. Groggily, she opens her eyes and tries to identify the direction where the sound came from.

The sun is high in the sky and morning light shines down on Ponyville, playing on the roofs with its warm rays. Ponies have started their peaceful everyday lives, but they can’t even imagine how their calm day will be ruined in the course of a few minutes.

The roar repeats, now the sound is much closer. A roar of rampaging beast, a roar of blind rage. Rainbow Dash rose from her cloud and spread her wings. Shaking the sleepiness out of her body, she took the call to action. A deafening roar closing in was definitely not something to ignore.

“Where is it coming from?” She flew a little higher and started to look around. Her eyes slipped on the south part of the Everfree forest. “Trees are shaking?”

Roar repeats. Rainbow flew down to take a closer look. Another roar and hundreds of colorful forest birds simultaneously rise from the trees, making their escape from the yet-invisible threat.

“O-oh… I don’t like the sound of it…” In the very next moment, a gigantic tree branch flew at Rainbow with the speed of a bullet.

“Whoa!” Rainbow dodged. “What in a…”

Torn out tree branches are flying around in random directions all over the place, seeking for something to smash. Something is clearly rampaging in the forest. Something gigantic and dangerous. And this “something” is heading straight towards Ponyville. Realizing there was no time to lose, Rainbow quickly returned in town.

“Attention, everypony!” Hundreds of eyes turned to the blue Pegasus. Rainbow breathed heavily, “Some rampaging beast is heading to Ponyville! Evacuate until it arrives!” Her last sentence drowns in a distant roar.

“Run for your lives!!!” shouts some random pony from the crowd. Everypony began to aimlessly run around and scream in panic, unable to perverse a future course of action.

“Please, everypony, calm down! Don’t panic!” Mayor Mare desperately tries to calm down the crowd, but fails. The scrambling ponies were too concerned with their own safety to listen to a batty old mare.

Suddenly, a flash of purple light illuminated the whole town. Everypony looks at the source of the light and sees Twilight Sparkle and Spike, both looking focused.

“Running and screaming will get you nowhere! Calm down and follow the mayor’s instructions to evacuate safely!” Twilight looked at the sky, searching for Rainbow Dash. But the sky-blue Pegasus has vanished from the morning sky. Returning her gaze to Ponyville, Twilight espies her friends galloping towards her.

“What’s going on?” Twilight looked around.

“What all the commotion about?” asked Applejack. A roar breaks in.

“I am not sure, but Rainbow said that something bad is heading towards Ponyville and start evacuation,” answered Twilight.

“And where IS Rainbow?” asked Applejack and looked around. Another roar breaks in.

“The sound is coming from the Everfree Forest!” said Pinkie, pointing her hoof in the direction of the forest that has never been controlled by magic.

“Rainbow must be there! Let’s go!” said Applejack and dashed toward the forest.

“Waaaaait for meee!” Rarity breaks in.

*******

“Any idea what it could be?” asked Twilight on the run.

“I could swear I’ve heard that roar before,” said Rarity “but I can’t remember where!”
When the ponies arrive to the Everfree Forest’s entrance, the rampaging creature was almost out of the grove. A sky-blue Pegasus landed next to Twilight, raising a little cloud of dust.

“I can’t see what it is! It’s too dark beneath the trees,” she told.

“Where is Fluttershy?” asked Twilight.

“I am here!” answered the Pegasus from under a giant log. The tree wall bent. A giant black hand ripped a heavy branch from the nearest tree and hurled it high into the air.

“A-a dragon?” cried Fluttershy, hiding her head under her hooves.

Before the ponies stood a gigantic dragon. Its scales are pitch-black and eyes are red like a blazing wells of fire, ready to swallow every soul of those who would be stupid enough to look directly at them. The monster spread his wings and let out a deafening roar. Sound waves lifted into the air with dried leaves. The searching red eyes fell upon the trembling ponies. Twilight, repressing a shiver, stepped forward.

“E-excuse me, Mr. D-dragon…” Twilight’s voice trembled while she stood before the black giant, “what are you…”

Applejack kicked Twilight to the side and jumped back. Next moment, a stream of fire hit the
place where Twilight stood, scorching the grass to ashes.

“Eeek!”

“Why you!” Rainbow dashed toward the dragon, but Applejack caught her tail.

“What are ya doing, Rainbow? Run!”

“If we run, Ponyville shall be doomed!” Twilight’s horn began to glow with a vast purple light. Broken tree branches on the ground conjoined and turned into a rope by a swirl of purple energy.

“But this dragon is insane!”

“I know, that’s why we must be careful! Rainbow, try to tie up the dragon with this rope!”
Rainbow Dash saluted and picked up the rope from one side.

“I-I’ll help too!” Trembling, Fluttershy picked rope from the other side. Ignoring her ultimate fear of dragons, she charged at her foe, protecting her friends once again from the terror of the species.

The dragon unleashed a stream of fire, aiming at Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie!” Pinkie Pie is immobilized by fear. All her body would allow her to do was stare at her doom. She let out a sharp gasp as the licking flames closed in.

“Pinkie! Noooooo!!!” Rarity rushed to the trembling pony, which is about to be swallowed by the stream of fire. Unable to do anything to save her completely, she covered her friend with her own white body. Suddenly, a semi-transparent dome appeared, shielding both ponies from the scorching blaze. Twilight let out a sigh, relieved that her shield successfully protected both of the ponies.

“Now!” ordered Twilight to her flying friends.

Rainbow and Fluttershy started to fly around the dragon, agilely dodging his swinging claws, and managing to leash it and tie it up. Watching the rope beginning to tear, Twilight’s horn began to glow rapidly, strengthening the magical rope. The black giant stood momentarily frozen, completely tied up.

“We did it!” exclaimed Twilight.

But in the next second, the dragon tore up the magically-strengthened ropes like paper. He tries to spit a fire, aiming at Twilight, but Rainbow kicked his face with great speed, changing the giant fireball’s trajectory. The fireball flies directly into a tree, igniting the tree into a burst of flames.

“Noooo! The animals!” Fluttershy rushed towards the forest, but a cyan Pegasus stands in her way.

“Think what you’re doing! Besides, the animals must’ve ran away already! They aren’t stupid to stay in site of rampage!”

The dragon swung his wings, unleashing one ravaging wing, knocking down and scattering ponies around, leaving only a tenacious Applejack standing. Suddenly, the ponies hear multiple thunderclaps in the sky.

“The Wonderbolts!” shouted Rainbow Dash happily.

Four Pegasi, leaving thundering trails behind, attacked the black dragon. They began to fly around the beast with great speed, coating it with thundering clouds. The monster’s breath was successfully deflected to the sky by a mighty impact to the head.

“Rainbow Dash!” calls Soarin from the thundering tornado, “bring the largest thundercloud you can find!”

Rainbow rushed to the sky, returning after a minute, dragging a large gray thundercloud, sparkling with lightning. She pushes it into the dragon’s thundering coating. The Wonderbolts scatter around at the moment when the cloud touches the coating. The coating erupted with lightning charges, striking the dragon with an enormous amount of electricity. All of the ponies couldn’t help but wince as the thunder attack took its full charge. The dragon roars in pain and begin to thrash around, breaking out of the electric coating. Twilight looks around and sees that the blazes from the forest fire are moving towards Ponyville, adding yet another problem to the mix.

“Quick, everypony, we must stop the fire! Rainbow and Fluttershy! Bring as many
rainclouds as you can! Rarity, you…”

“Twilight!” Twilight turns to the source of the sound and sees Spike, running towards her, holding a huge, tan-colored book with an egg on the cover. “I brought the book you asked!”

“Good!” responds Twilight. “Fluttershy, Rainbow, go! Applejack…” Twilight levitated the torn magical rope from earlier and mended it. “Bring the trees down!”

“Aye!” Applejack constructed a lasso and leashed the blazing trees, preventing nearby trees to catch fire. Twilight’s horn began to glow furiously with swirling magical energy. Ponyville’s water tower’s container is torn out and slowly starts moving towards the Everfree forest.

“Quick, Twilight! The rope caught fire!” shouted Applejack. Twilight turned the container upside-down above the leashed flaming trees, dousing most of the fire. Twilight looked at the sky. The Wonderbolts are still attacking the black beast, constantly deflecting fire breath to the sky. Suddenly, a heavy rain begins, dousing any leftover blazes and weakening the fire breath of the giant monster.

The dragon begins to flap his wings, creating powerful blasts of air. The Wonderbolts dodged the first two blasts, but get hit by the third one all at once. The wind’s pressure hurled them to the ground, knocking them out. Twilight finished reading the book that Spike brought her.

“Spike, stand still! It is a new spell I found! There is no guarantee that it will work, but it looks like it’s our only hope!” Spike responds with a nod and readies his body for any spell Twilight might cast upon him.

Twilight’s horn flushed, illuminating the area and thick purple beam strikes Spike in the center of his chest, making him rapidly grow. Growing twice his size, three times, four times, and several more, Spike expands above the treetops. The black dragon turns to his new foe, a fully-grown wingless purple dragon. Spike understood everything in a mere moment.

“Leave my friends and Ponyville alone!” he roared.

Spike swung his tail, smashing the black giant to the side. The beast straggled, but resisted.
Both dragons simultaneously breathe streams of fire. The intensity of the heat could have matched that of the sun’s. Green flame met red in burning embrace… and is swallowed by the red’s hunger. The weakened red flame charred Spike’s arm. Suddenly, a flash of light announced a new reinforcement's arrival.

“Princess Celestia!” shouted everypony.

A golden chariot, led by two white pegasi, landed next to Twilight.

“Listen, everypony! This dragon is corrupted! The only way to defeat it is to use the Elements of Harmony!” Princess Celestia levitates a jeweled case and opens it, revealing enchanted necklaces.

“Quick, you don’t have much time!” said she, looking on Spike, slowly becoming
inferior to the black dragon. Twilight throws the Elements to their respective wielders and equips her crown. The six ponies rise to the air and start to glow, charging energy for the ultimate weapon of harmony. At that moment, the black dragon breathed a gigantic fireball at the six floating ponies, trying to reduce them to ashes. Spike jumped on fireball’s way and took whole damage on his own body, protecting the ponies behind him.

“NOW!” he shouts through the pain. The massive purple body fell on the charred ground.

A majestic rainbow flew diagonally upward from the floating ponies and divided into multiple beams, different in color but same in idea. These rays of ultimate harmony surrounds the black dragon, creating a rainbow swirl around him. The dragon squeezed out one last roar of rage before the swirl swallowed him whole.

*******

The gigantic flash faded. Before the ponies lies a gigantic red dragon, its black coat suddenly disappearing. The giant purple dragon vanishes, reverted to his original form, when a light of harmony disabled the growth spell. Six ponies land on the ground.

“Ah can’t believe we made it!” said Applejack joyously.

“Yeah, and all thanks to Spike!” said Rarity. “Spike? Where are you?”

Rarity noticed the baby dragon lying on ashed weed under the heavy rain. Rarity gasped and rushed towards him, placing a concerned hoof on the baby dragon’s head. Fluttershy moved towards the heavy-breathing red dragon.

“M-mister dragon, what happened to you?” The dragon opens his eyes and looks around.

“Where am I?” echoed his deep, heavy voice.

Princess Celestia walked towards the dragon. “This is Ponyville, in the land of Equestria.”
The dragon looks at her like at a ghost. “What happened with you? Do you remember anything?” she asked strictly.

The dragon put his arm on his head. “… I don’t remember… I was sleeping in my cave… And now I am here…” the dragon looked around to see charred trees and burned grass.

“Was I who did that?”

“Yes,” Celestia stepped closer, “it seems like you had been corrupted. You don’t remember anything? Anything at all?”

The dragon closes his eyes and thought for a minute. “Wait… I remember… a shadow… I have seen that shadow before… I…”

“What does it look like?”

“I can’t remember…” Suddenly, the dragon rose, opened his wings and started to fly away.

“Hey, wait just a minute!” Rainbow rushed after, not wanting to release the dragon after the long hard-fought battle.

“Rainbow Dash, stop!” said Celestia. Rainbow froze in air.

“Leave him alone. He will not help us about anything.”

*******

“Princess, what was that? What kind of corruption are you talking about?” asked Twilight. The
rain has ended, so did the last glimpses of fire. Only charred trees and ashes on the ground reminds of a recent battle. The Wonderbolts, who hit the ground hard, were hospitalized with
a few broken bones. Only Soarin remained, because he fell on his comrades, escaping harm.

“It’s something I felt before… when Luna became Nightmare Moon. I felt something
similar…” Twilight and Rarity looked at each other. “But instead of malicious envy I felt
from Luna back then… That dragon radiates blind, overwhelming rage.”

“Are you sayin that dragon became like Nightmare Moon, Princess?” asked Applejack.

“Not exactly, but in a similar way,” answered Celestia and closed her eyes. “When I felt an
explosion of anger, I rushed into the Crystal Shrine to take the Elements of Harmony, but it took
me too much time to open the guard spells I casted! I should’ve come back sooner… I am
sorry, everypony.”

Twilight stepped forward. “Please, don’t blame yourself, Princess. Besides, nothing bad happene-” Rainbow glares at Twilight. “Well, except that the Wonderbolts broke a few bones.”

“This was completely our fault, Princess,” butted an ashamed Soarin, “it was lack of our skills.”

“Enough,” the Princess interrupted with a sad expression. “Next time, I shall be more prepared
for these sort of things.”

Rarity tilts her head, remembering something. “Princess, what is that Shrine you mentioned?”

“Oh, this,” said Celestia absent-mindedly, “after Discord stole the Elements from the Tower of
Harmony, I moved them to the safest place in Canterlot known to me, the enchanted Crystal
Shrine.”

“Owww….” Everypony turned around, looking at the baby dragon on the ground under an
umbrella, carefully covered by Rarity’s scarf.

“Spike!” said Twilight happily.

Mane Six, Soarin, and Celestia gathered around the baby dragon. Spike opens his eyes to find eight pairs staring into his.

“What happened?” he asked with an absent voice.

“Spike, you were amazing!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah! Totally Awesome!” Pinkie started to bounce like a ball.

“You were so… brave,” said Fluttershy with a shy voice.

Spike remembered his part of a battle after looking at charred the scenery for a bit and
jumped up, entangled himself in the scarf and fell.

“The b-black dragon! Where is it?” Rarity sat before Spike right on the ground.

“Oh, Spiky-wiky, we defeated him, and all thanks to your bravery!”

“De-defeated? B-but he knocked me out…”

Princess Celestia stepped in. “You gave time to us all holding that dragon, Spike. Moreover, you covered your friends from the dragon’s last attack, allowing them to use the Elements of Harmony.”

“Really?”

Twilight moves forward and sits next to Spike, looks in his eyes. “This was the last spell I have learned. I know, that you will help us, Spike if I cast it. You did very well, as expected from my number one assistant!” The Mane Six moved to Spike and hugged him and each other. Spike blushed.

“You all did well, my little ponies. Let’s pray that that kind of thing will never happen
again,” said Celestia.

“Don’t worry, Princess,” said Twilight,” while we are here, there is nothing to worry about.”