Imbalanced: New Age

by Nameless Narrator

Borrowed Time: Chase

I completely forgot how it feels.

"Horizontal swipe at your head."

First, gaining divine power made me unable to feel it. It made me different.

"Pirouette and a tail stab."

Then I fought more powerful enemies, ones who relied on magic and unnatural abilities rather than classic skill.

"She's doing the burning claws thing again."

And in the end - Corrupted. There was no way to fight those monsters with limitless stamina, overwhelming strength, and regeneration so powerful that they were nigh-invincible to a solitary enemy.

"The filing cabinet in the back is shaking, she's preparing for telekinesis again."

The simple, detached bliss of battle trance.

"Right sw-"

Be quiet, Heavy.

"She just teleported behind-"

Please.

Aaaand buck with both hind legs backwards.

"Argh, damn!"

Ignore the noises of breaking furniture.

Turn around and tilt my neck back to avoid an upward swipe which scratches the short bristles on my chin.

A quick jab into Comfort's muzzle is next.

"You quick bast-"

Rear on my hind legs to avoid another wide sipe. That way I'm left open for a pounce.

Comfort lunges forward like a panther, claws and sharp teeth ready.

Time to fall backwards, grab her forelegs with mine, prepare my hind legs, and kick.

"Aaaaaaaaaa-"

She doesn't even need wings to fly.

The wallside bookshelf keels over right onto her.

"IIIIIIIIIIIII HAAAAAAATE YOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!"

Like phoenix from ashes, the burning silhouette of Comfort shaking with fury rises from the wreckage of her room.

Beam of fire. Low-medium intensity. Time left - half a breath.

I'm not in the shape to shatter the spell in making and make Comfort regret using magic in a fit of agony, so I jump behind the heavy work desk which has fallen over during our fight. The thick wood bursts into sparks, but remains only seared on one side.

Time to leave my cover. How?

Tentacle sprouts from the floor behind Comfort and coils around her hind leg. In her moment of distraction I jump up on all fours and spawn another tentacle which tosses a lamp at the succubus.

"Wha-?"

The lamp breaks into pieces as it hits Comfort's face. The whole room feels as if it stops still after a loud and sharp intake of breath. The light dims, and it's not the fault of the freshly destroyed light source.

Area of effect. Circle. Dark magic. Pushing intent combined with sapping strength. Time left - roughly one second.

In the time I have left, I can't identify anything about the magnitude of the spell.

Desert Shade.

My intent of crossing the room's length and getting personal with Comfort evaporates. Instead, I turn my half-pounce around and land between Comfort and Des.

Comfort's short red horns suck in light, leaving the succubus shrouded in darkness for an instant. Then a shockwave of black energy rips through the ruined room, throwing furniture everywhere.

I open my mouth in silent scream as part of the dark power breaks against my Corrupted form, and another part runs through my nerves like needles on fire. Reality stops existing temporarily, giving way to the agony of my ruptured network of magic-conducting veins lighting up and accepting the power.

Opening my eyes, I realize the loud gasping noise accompanied by beating of drums in my ears is all me.

"Are you okay, Blazing? You're smoldering."

Glad you find me hot, Heavy. Des?

"Dizzy, but seems to finally be recovering."

"What the seven circles of Tartarus are you?" mumbles Comfort in disbelief.

I raise my foreleg and examine the small bolts of dark lightning dancing around it.

"You can call me Blazing Light," I croak in between deep breaths, "And I think your boss knows me."

She screams. Her high-pitched shriek of pure horror surprises even me. In an instant, she turns to raw flame, and as I brace myself for another elemental spell, she flashes around me and like a living spark kicks out her own door leading outside.

Okay, I certainly wasn't expecting that reaction.

"Owwoaughmh?" is all an unfortunate muscular bouncer pony likely coming to see what was going on can moan before the door flying off its hinges slams into the opposite wall of the hallway along with him.

"DES!" my tentacle whips her flank which makes he whinny and shake her head again.

"Wha- wh- ahah! AFTER HER!" the hippogriff stumbles at first, but with each step she gains control and soon she's galloping down the hall side by side with me.

No, really? I was thinking about staying here and finishing off her mind-melting aphrodisiac tea.

"This is not a good time for sarcasm."

Every time is good time for sarcasm.

Fleeing Comfort is quick, but after the short and crazy fight I can see she's more agile than exceedingly fast. Des and I are on her tail, following her as she runs up the corner stairs and-

Illusion magic. Decoy and invisibility.

-takes the hall left. However, I can see faint shimmer heading down the hall leading straight.

Des immediately follows the visible Comfort while I keep running forwards.

"This way!" I call out, "Mirror image."

"She ran the other way, Blazing."

She didn't. Illusion spell.

A moment later Des joins me again, flapping her wings to catch up with me.

"Glad I didn't have to persuade you," I say.

"You know more about magic than I do, and I'm not willing to wander here on my own."

It's easier to see the shimmer of magic concealing Comfort the longer we chase, and she turns the corner as we are about three quarters of the way through the hall.

I don't think she realizes we can hear her. Or maybe she's just running in complete panic.

Another hallway, another stairs. As we reach the third floor, I have hard time making out where the hoofsteps are coming from over my and Des' heavy breathing. Anyway, with each step Comfort's running out of places to escape to.

"Unless she goes on the roof and flies off."

Buck.

"I don't think she took the next stairs up, but I can't hear-"

*SLAM!*

The emergency exit at the end of the hall opens and shuts, with us bolting forward again at the first creak.

Contrary to my expectations, the door offers no resistance as I slam into it, and opens so smoothly I nearly fall over.

What it opens into, is a rather different cup of problems. It's a tunnel carved into solid rock. I must have gotten completely turned around during the chase, otherwise I'd have guessed that door couldn't lead back onto some fire exit and into the streets.

Flapping her wings so she doesn't have to slow down when reaching into her saddlebag, Des takes out a thin pencil-like flashlight which illuminates the long tunnel and now clearly visible Comfort.

Well, her fine bulging plot shaking in tune with her moving hind legs. The spade tail is kinda cute too.

"Like other old Canterlot mine tunnels, but this one's been maintained," yells Des so that I hear her over her hooves slamming against the stones, "Bound Tome was right about the entrance to the pocket dimension! Joy IS behind this. We can't let that bitch get away now no matter what. I will have my answers!"

With newfound burst of determination, Des gains distance even on me. I'm an awful runner, no matter the form.

It seems like Des knows her way around, but I've never been here. I've heard about the failed Canterlot mountain mining operations though, and from what Silver Sun team of my time reported about the place I know it would be a terrible idea to get separated.

The tunnel opens into an enormous vertical, circular shaft hosting a spiral ledge on its sides covered with scattered old mine carts and broken tracks. The draft coming from the central hole which had to be supplying the mine with most of its air tells me the huge thing has to lead all the way up and down the mountain.

Comfort spreads her wings, and flies into the air, heading straight across the dark expanse of the main shaft. There is no way I can follow her fast enough. I look at Des, who doesn't hesitate and chases Comfort, completely forgetting about me.

Short moment later, the orb of light cast by her flashlight rapidly disappearing in the darkness is all I have to keep any sense of direction.

Damn it!

Tracing spell.

Regrowing my horn I was hiding to retain the illusion of a low-tier Corrupted, I focus on the only "feat" of magic I can do, and feel dull pain spreading through my body as my magical nerves tense under the pressure. The "taste" of Comfort's dark magic I stole earlier envelops me, and-

-the complete darkness fills with clear, white outlines of objects up to moderate distance away. I can't see like this across the whole shaft, but this way I won't drop down anywhere the ledge might have crumbled.

With a heavy sigh, I resume my running up the wide artificial spiral full of rusty and now useless mining equipment.

"...hungryyyy..."

"AAAAH-!" I scream when I feel something grab my hind leg. I'm cut off abruptly as the grip doesn't let go despite my reflexive kick and I slam my muzzle against the stones.

"...so cold..."

I can't see anything, not with my eyes nor with my magical vision. Yet, I feel something surrounding me. It's like creeping cold and claws slowly scratching against me.

"...feed us..."

My breath crystallizes in the suddenly freezing air.

I can't move.

I'm a Corrupted, and I can't move an inch.

"...join us..."

Teeth scrape against my neck, but don't bite. Claws dig into my side, but don't go deep.

The miners, the lost foals, the other victims, the blood curse.

Something inside me wells up, and the hold of chilling cold of the grave and the seething hatred for all life coming from the ethereal form surrounding me breaks.

"I know who you are," my words make the paralyzing pressure weaken, "I wish Void was here to help you, but he isn't."

Blue, blurry, see-through shapes of ponies, dozens of them, are appearing, outlined against the inky blackness. Some of them are still wearing shadows of mining helmets, all of them are looking at me with the empty holes of their eyes.

"...they sold us..."

The amalgamation of souls, the urban legend of Canterlot haunting the mines, the reason why the mines were never reopened after the first "accidents". The monster created by blood magic, the last dying wishes of the miners swearing revenge on their employers forcing them to work in the unsafe areas to plunder the rich mineral seams of the mountain. Them, and the lost ponies who accidentally got into the closed mines afterwards and got caught.

And yet...

And yet, I don't hate them or am disgusted by them. I pity them, I want to help them. I need to...

...set them free.

A new power, something Void understood but could never achieve due to his primal nature.

New well of divinity opens within me, one I understand is my true essence. Like an observer more than an actor, I see myself reach inside and feel calm spread through me.

Things need to be fair.

Things need to be balanced.

Their unnatural shackles have to finally disappear.

They lived their lives, and now they are stuck in the cold and lonely hell created by their own hate.

The other half of their existence is missing. They deserve the final peace of death, not this misery.

I want to help.

The spark of the divine power of Hope grows withing me. I feel its familiar warmth, but I know it's never truly been a part of me. I'm not that... optimistic. Cromach, Chokey, and I made the power of Hope within me reachable. On my own, I cannot wield it.

The divinity transforms into true death, devastating, raw, final, and while I know its power would instantly wipe the abomination out, I am fully aware that power is not for myself. That power is just a memory of what used to be.

But I want to help.

The good intentions within my divinity stay, and the new power yields to my instinctive control. The souls surrounding me shift as if eagerly waiting for something, and I can finally see red strings binding them together along with the red aura permeating the area.

Blood magic.

Raw, bloody, brutal, but still magic.

That's it. That's it!

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

With the expelled air, just like back during the escape from Legius, my divinity shines, disintegrating the crimson chains keeping the souls shackled to this world. No more unnatural power, no more magic.

One by one, the freed souls blur further until they disappear completely, and the influence paralyzing me dissipates.

When I open my eyes, I see the outline of a circle about three ponies in radius around me burning with small flickering gold and pink flames. The fire fades quickly, and I'm left in complete darkness again. Despite that, I feel the new divine power firmly within me along with the notion that things are finally as they should be after a very, very long time.

No magic for me, no magic for anyone if I choose so.

The idea stays in the back of my mind, but there's a far more pressing matter at hoof.

How long did this take? Where is Des?

Restarting my tracing spell, I force my slightly unsteady legs to run once again.

Two floors higher, I spot something glowing faintly at the mouth of one of the many tunnels.

"A glowstick?"

Perhaps Des realized her mistake and left it to show the way.

"Likely, or a trap."

Not like we have a different reasonable option.

"Pretty much. By the way, I'm happy you can see in here, because if I wasn't being 'dragged' along I would have gotten lost a long time ago."

Running up the sloping tunnel, I start hearing heavy grunting and stomping, and eventually I arrive in a small cavern with Desert Shade fighting Comfort. Comfort is completely absorbed by the battle, but she seems like she's avoiding blows that would be lethal to Des. Unfortunately, even with that being the case, Des is having incredibly difficult time dodging and blocking. What I can easily see for the first time is that Des is an extremely skilled swordsmare able to react or predict even the unnaturally dexterous and slippery succubus.

"Oh screw me backwards!" curses Comfort when she notices me in the flickering light of Des' flashlight lying on the floor and still lighting the whole cavern, "I'm leaving this mess to her."

Elemental spell. Wind. Push. Cone. Quarter of a second.

With a buffet of her leathery wings, Comfort blows Des giving me a side-glance away, and flees again.

"You okay?" I rush over to check on Des.

"GO AFTER HER!" she screams into my face.

So much for good intentions.

With the help of her wings, Des easily catches up to me running after Comfort again. The new tunnel grows smaller until there's barely enough space for the two of us side by side. Fiery divine power surrounds Comfort, and she blinks forward again to gain more distance. Ahead of her, I can see some sort of short stairs and a trap door. It shimmers as it opens without Comfort touching it...

...and then she's gone.

We stop in front of the stone steps. To me, the trap door glimmers with divinity, making it clear that our chase ends here.

"All the answers are behind this..." whispers Des, taking a hesitant step forward.

"Des, divine power is practically leaking from the entrance. Whoever we may find on the other side is quite likely... strong. I'm not sure how smart this is. We can come back with some help later. It's not like alicorns can change the entrances ot their pocket dimensions just like that."

"No!" she practically barks at me, but hangs her head in the next moment, "I'm sorry, but I can't. I've dedicated years of my life trying to get here, and I've never been allowed to get this far. Joy, the alicorn of Lust is on the other side, if my information is correct. She might be my mother. She might be behind the bounty on you. Did you hear what Comfort called me? She knew my name. I got here before, or at least to her brothel, and I've always failed. I'm not looking for some family reunion, Blazing, all I want is... to at least know why she doesn't want to see me so much that she or her servant dug inside my head and FORCED me to repeatedly give up my chase. Anyway, aren't you curious about your forced resurrection?"

"Des, nopony has ever wanted me alive for something good. I doubt this Joy won't be hostile, and I don't know if I can fight a real alicorn in my current state. For once, I'm thinking it might be a good idea to leave the past behind."

"And what about the past that doesn't want to leave YOU behind? Besides, you saw how Comfort reacted to you. She had to run whenever you got involved. How much worse than a demon can an alicorn be?"

"I sincerely hope you didn't mean that question, because up until now I thought you were a really smart pony."

Des smiles. I don't like it when mares smile at me, it always means something bad. I'm not the kind of pony who gets the good smiles for free.

"I didn't mean it, but I know how you work now."

"What do you mean?"

"That you are predictable. You see, I know you won't let me go in alone, and I AM going inside, so there's no reason to argue further."

"I really, really, REALLY should let you go in and have the succubus fuck your brain through and through so that you never come here again just to teach you a lesson you won't remember afterwards because you'll be a drooling and giggling wreck whenever you get to the brothel again."

"But you won't."

She turns towards the trapdoor, and as soon as she stands on the first step, she disappears.

I sigh.

"No... I won't."

Ready, Heavy?

"No."

Me neither. Let's go.

I touch the door, curse the inventor of teleportation spells, and stumble as I feel carpet under my hooves.

"This... can't be."

...

"Void told me what happened... this is impossible."

...

"Blazing?"

...

"Was Void wrong?"

...

"Blazing, say something."

...

"Wait, the bounty now makes absolutely no sense."

...

"What the hay?"

...

Comments

[An Alternate Universe]

Hmm... intriguing. I really want to find out what's behind that door.
Prediction time: I've got nothing for whose behind the door, but Blazing is the Alicorn of (im)Balance

[Nameless Narrator]

8066961 You caught one of the "symptoms" tying into his aspect right.

As for what's inside... it's fairly simple to deduce, especially if you read Corrupted Lands. I just can't write it in the right way to have proper impact. I don't know why it's suddenly bothering me so much. I could just write something down and move on, but no.

[An Alternate Universe]

8067597 didn't read Corrupted Lands
So now I'm even more interested, Celestia?
Good to know that I'm at least a partially competent reader.

[Nameless Narrator]

8067621 Oh, you didn't read Corrupted Lands? Pity, it's not that bad.

[An Alternate Universe]

8070541 I just never got around to it. I'm pretty sure it's somewhere on my 'To Read' list, but where exactly, I couldn't say.

[Two_Madmans]

Area of effect. Circle. Dark magic. Pushing intent combined with sapping strength. Time left - roughly one second.

Oh, Blaze installed some addons for boss fights?

"...hungryyyy..."

Oh, I know what is it.
Aaand, question is - cat it... do what it do with normal Corrupted?

"Wait, the bounty now makes absolutely no sense."
...
"What the hay?"

You a slow in recognizing.

[Anonymous Critic]

"...hungryyyy..."

Heeeeeeeereeeeees Shuffles!

[Anonymous Critic]

"Wait, the bounty now makes absolutely no sense."

That's what I was saying. I'm just going to assume there's a very confusing and crazy explanation in the next chapter to at least part of this mess...

[Shadowshame]

I’m pretty sure that choking darkness has probably gone a bit out of her mind from becoming the alicorn of lust and from how she seems to want Blazing all to herself and from when she rode in on the dragon I’d say she might be seeing him more as something that belongs to her than as the person that helped her

[Nameless Narrator]

11297302
The usual "healthy" relationship.