Corrupted Lands

by Nameless Narrator

New Hope: Twilight's entry I

I've never expected to be put into a ruling position. After all, the immortal sisters Celestia and Luna have led our country for longer than even history books can recount. It has not been even two centuries since I was crowned the princess of Friendship, a fancy name for a head diplomat in training, and yet I'm here, trying to save what little remains of pony races from extinction.

It started nearly a hundred years ago.

First, we lost contact with smaller villages on the western border of Equestria. Our caravans bearing disaster relief got lost one by one without a single pony being seen ever again. Scrying magic showed nothing more than empty landscape and towns without life, not ruined, only looking as if all ponies simply got up and left. When Vanhoover and Las Pegasus went dark, princess Celestia and the elite members of Royal Guard went to investigate. Only a single one of them returned to Canterlot, exhausted and barely conscious. After a failed questioning, he was left alone to recuperate.

The information he brought was disturbing.

Princess Celestia's batallion of Royal Guards had been attacked by equine creatures of unnatural resilience and tenacity. At first, the isolated encounters had not been overly threatening, and the soldiers pressed onwards, looking for the base of these "Corrupted", as the princess named them. The further the assault force marched, the more their surroundings changed from normal Equestrian countryside to the new biome they associated with these strange new "ponies". As far as we know, there is no single "look" of the corrupted areas, but they are easily discernable by the surroundings being darker than usual, the colours of nature dimmer, and there is a lingering unnatural stillness in the air. From our long-term observation we have deduced that particular groups of Corrupted make their territory look in a specific way, from tundra or grassland to frozen wasteland.

But I digress. Forgive my curiosity, because while these creatures are deadly, they are also extremely fascinating.

As princess Celestia's soldiers marched through White Tail Woods, the Corrupted attacks became more frequent, the attackers more numerous, and the creatures themselves tougher. The final day the pony force split into two - one small group staying behind to take care of the wounded, and the main unit pressing on to secure a new area where those recovering could be moved to. The surviving guard had been on the morning watch the night before, so he was resting before having to move the encampment.

When he woke up, he wasn't alone.

Surrounded by his colleagues tainted by this new evil, the resting wounded being twisted into more and more Corrupted, he was "allowed" to go. He had no idea what happened or how the corruption hit the entire Royal Guard force over several hours, but he had to bring the first even barely clear news about the lost land. We had no way to verify the survivor's words at the time, as our scrying showed only empty land tainted by corruption. That was when we learned our observation magic was useless.

Over the next hundred years we lost... pretty much everything.

As mentioned before, Vanhoover and Las Pegasus were the first two major cities to be taken. The Crystal Empire went dark next, due to our train tracks no longer being safe from attacks. Air travel went down in one fell swoop. While increased security allowed our trains to the eastern coast to run for several more years, as soon as the Corrupted twisted the land they occupied any aerial transport became impossible. The Corrupted cannot fly, no matter their size or shape, but the land itself forms large tendrils able to reach the sky at shocking speed and pull even fastest pegasi down. Airships have no chance. Eventually, Canterlot and Ponyville became the last two pony cities we could defend. In the end, even Canterlot city fell, leaving only the castle free from corruption due to ancient protective spells. Why did we decide to let our ancient seat of power fall instead of a semi-rural town?

Simple answer - land.

With all our trade routes gone, Canterlot had no way of feeding its inhabitants. We turned Ponyville into a fortress for years, but ponies don't heal as fast as Corrupted, and certainly not breed as fast. We would have gone extinct long time ago if it weren't for a group of farmers coming up with an idea for growing mushrooms and several kinds of vegetables underground using artificial light. These days, we control only a small area around my old castle made by the Tree of Harmony. Thankfully, while the Tree still responded to our magic the castle grew roots spreading far enough that we could hollow them out and make room for the thousand or so ponies who remain. Along with the secret route to Canterlot castle and its two hundred inhabitants under the leadership of princess Luna, that's all what's left of the equine races. At least those we know of.

- an excerpt from princess Twilight Sparkle's notes on the Era of corruption.

Comments

[krazykidfannumber2]

This story could be interesting.

[Anonymous Critic]

7005405
Interesting indeed...

[Anonymous Critic]

It begins...

[Anonymous Critic]

Princess Celestia's batallion of Royal Guards had been attacked by equine creatures of unnatural resilience and tenacity. At first, the isolated encounters had not been overly threatening, and the soldiers pressed onwards, looking for the base of these "Corrupted", as the princess named them. The further the assault force marched, the more their surroundings changed from normal Equestrian countryside to the new biome they associated with these strange new "ponies". As far as we know, there is no single "look" of the corrupted areas, but they are easily discernable by the surroundings being darker than usual, the colours of nature dimmer, and there is a lingering unnatural stillness in the air. From our long-term observation we have deduced that particular groups of Corrupted make their territory look in a specific way, from tundra or grassland to frozen wasteland.

Sounds... alot like the Vigil's 'elite'...

The Corrupted cannot fly, no matter their size or shape, but the land itself forms large tendrils able to reach the sky at shocking speed and pull even fastest pegasi down. Airships have no chance.

...tendrils?

...all this sounds a lot like Harmony is behind this, and yet... it's just... something's off. As even if it was Harmony... Harmony is just too prideful to not have done some massive, if unnecessary, show of power. Where this is more an efficent eradication not unlike the one in the universe where the Dreamlings were created. Not to mention how Harnony wanted to essentially 'stop the circle of life entirely', I believe is how you put it, last I checked. Making the 'perfect beings' which could survive in any circumstance... even at the cost of them being in eternal agony, and not really able to do anything. This doesn't sound like that at all... not to mention, barring leaving its mark on Connie, and possibly there being a few surviving vigil members who weren't at the original boss battle. Harmony was left, supposedly, in the same situation the god was in when it was originally sealed away- bouncing between worlds, with a massive chunk of its power taken away... so why would it have taken thousands of years the first time to come back, and only two hundred this time? So as a whole, I get the feeling the answer is going to be more complicated than I originally thought/am thinking...

Hmm...

[Anonymous Critic]

growing mushrooms

Mushrooms!? MUSHROOMS!?

9269104

[Two_Madmans]

It has not been even two centuries since I was crowned the princess of Friendship

Ok, I'll go read Shine of the Silver Sun

[Two_Madmans]

The further the assault force marched, the more their surroundings changed from normal Equestrian countryside to the new biome they associated with these strange new "ponies". As far as we know, there is no single "look" of the corrupted areas, but they are easily discernable by the surroundings being darker than usual, the colours of nature dimmer, and there is a lingering unnatural stillness in the air. From our long-term observation we have deduced that particular groups of Corrupted make their territory look in a specific way, from tundra or grassland to frozen wasteland.

Sounds familiar...