M̸y̶ ̸L̴i̶t̸t̶l̴e̶ C̵o̸r̷r̴u̶p̶t̶e̷d̸-P̵o̴n̴y̷

by ScorchingFlamesInc

Chapter 9: A Journey’s Start

In some ways, the trip through the forest felt creepier than the treehouse.

In some spots trees completely covered up the moonlight. And even when the bright moon illuminated the path, they were still surrounded by shadows. Not knowing who could be stalking or where they could be left a couple of the travelers, mainly Spike and Fluttershy, in paranoia. Pinkie, Chrysalis, Smolder, and partially Silverstream weren’t as paranoid as the other two, but Silverstream had her moments every now and then, and even Smolder once or twice felt it too.

So far, though, nothing has happened. It’s been safe and quiet, which fed into the lingering paranoia. Not even the tiniest bird could be seen or heard. It was just them, and only them.

“So… the places we have to go to seem preeeeeeeeetty far,” Pinkie said.

“If we want to make this fast a train’s the only way to go,” said Spike.

“Are you sure a train is even safe?” Chrysalis asked.

“It’s either a train, or traveling for days, maybe more than a week, with higher odds of us getting picked off,” Smolder said.

“But we don’t know where the latest one is!” Silverstream exclaimed. “And there’s, like, a lot of bus stops!”

“I can help with that!” Spike spoke up. “If we think about when the latest train left where, we’d be able to know where the closest one to Ponyville is!”

“Who would even, in their right mind, have a train schedule memorized?” Chrysalis asked.

“Hello! Assistant of Twilight here! She memorizes a lot of things, so did I!”

“But… Why a train schedule?!”

“Look, it was a long day, she was bored, wanted to memorize a train schedule, wanted me to do that with her… look, at least it’s a lead!”

“A very convenient lead…” Smolder said, arms crossed.

“Still a lead,” Spike replied.

“Well what are we waiting for?!” exclaimed Chrysalis.

“Well I can’t figure it out now! I don’t have the time!”

“I came prepared!” Silverstream held up a small clock, which appeared to be made out of the same crystal material the Treehouse was made of.

“Where’d you get that, the Treehouse?” asked Smolder.

“Yep! Was on one of the shelves. Guess the Treehouse had to have a clock somewhere.”

“Why did you grab it?” Pinkie asked.

“Well, duh! To tell the time, obviously.”

Spike reached out. “Can I see it?”

Silverstream gave it to him and Spike looked at it, getting lost in thought as he puzzled over everything.

“Alright, according to the time…” he started to say. “Around the time the corruption took over, the train would have left Las Pegasus. If it kept going then its next stop would have been… FillyDelphia.”

“That’s not going to work, then if it’s still going,” Smolder said. “There’s no way we’re going to make it to the tracks in time, and I’m not in the mood to go to Ponyville and deal with a massive corruption mob.”

“Is it even going to be worth it to see if it’s stopped?” Fluttershy asked.

“Well if it was attacked then it had to have stopped somewhere,” Pinkie suggested.

“I say it’s not worth the risk to go out and see,” Chrysalis admitted. “It would be a mere waste of time if it turned out to be all for nothing.”

“So what else are we supposed to do?” inquired Silverstream.

A voice spoke from the shadows, catching everyone’s attention. “I can help you…”

Chrysalis spun around, charging her horn even if she didn’t need to. “Who goes there?! Show yourself!”

The speaker did just that, and stepped out of the shadows. Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Spike recognized her immediately. The others didn’t recognize her right away, but they could have sworn they’ve seen her face among the massive crowd during the last battle against Chrysalis and her allies.

It was a mare with a dark-orchid coat, slightly scuffed up, and wearing an outfit with armor that clearly has undergone damage. The most noticeable trait, however, was her missing horn.

She glared at Chrysalis when she got a closer look at her, but immediately calmed down after seeing who she was with.

Silverstream immediately yelped, but calmed down. “Oh right, you don’t work with the Storm King anymore!”

“Hi Fizz- I mean- Teeeempest!!” Pinkie greeted.

“Tempest! You’re okay!” Spike exclaimed.

“Yeah. I’ve been through a lot but… I’m still here,” Tempest said with a small smile.

They then noticed that she wasn’t over exaggerating when she said that. Half of her front right hoof was completely gone, bandaged up, and connected to a prosthetic that was clearly custom made in a short amount of time.

“Oh my!” Fluttershy gasped. “Your hoof!”

“Yeah, I had an encounter earlier and some of the… corruption got on it,” Tempest explained. “I did what I had to do.”

“A lack of strong will, I see…” Chrysalis smirked. “One would think from how you look that you’d have will as strong as mine…”

Tempest raised her eyebrow, unimpressed. “Remind me why she’s with you all, again?”

“They irritate me just as much as I irritate them…”

“You said you could help,” said Spike. “How?”

“You all need to get places, right?” Tempest asked.

“Yeah.”

“I can help.”

“How?” asked Silverstream.

“The Storm King’s old airship. I’ve had it here when the darkness started to spread. After I was attacked I came here to get to it to escape and that’s when I ran into you all. Good thing I did too. I… may need help in case things go wrong.”

“Seems like a fair trade,” Smolder said with a shrug. “We help you, you help us.”

“Do you know where the ship is?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah, we’re actually pretty close. Come on.” Tempest nudged her head. “Keep eyes and ears open in case something’s there.”

She lead the group.

“So where are you all going?”

“Hm, we never really discussed on where to go…” Chrysalis mumbled.

“The Peaks of Peril sound less dangerous,” Silverstream said.

“I suppose, but… it’s still populated by Kirins…” Fluttershy explained.

“Less dangerous than dragons or whatever could be in Canterlot though!” exclaimed Pinkie. “…Right?”

“I stand by that,” Chrysalis nods. “Canterlot was… a bit of a challenge, not to mention…” She pointed to her eye and motioned to her body. “…yeah.”

“I’ve never been there,” Tempest admitted.

“I can give directions if you would like,” offered Fluttershy.

“Yeah, I’d appreciate that.”

Their journey continued for the next three minutes, before they finally arrived at the Airship, parked in a clearer space of the forest, still grazing quite a few tall trees..

"Wow, looks different!" Pinkie bounced.

"Of course, we had to touch it up," Tempest explained. "Disassociate it with the Storm King. It’s got a lot of upgrades too. It’s got a cockpit at the front of the deck instead of a wheel, and it has an advanced steering system, along with doors leading to either the main deck or the front of the skiff. It’s less space for the deck though and you can't see ahead unless you're in the cockpit or at the very front of the ship... I blame Grubber for the design flaw... but I like it a lot more than before."

"It looks wonderful," Fluttershy admired.

"Thanks. I'll just get it open, and you can all get yourselves settled."

Tempest went ahead and did what she did to open the door, and everyone parted to allow the ramp leading inside to not crush them. Everyone started upwards, single file, with Chrysalis going last.

Halfway up the ramp, she felt that something was... very wrong. Her senses began again, the tingling and the feeling in general surging throughout her body.

She said one thing, and one thing only. "Run."

Silverstream looked behind her. "What?"

"Run! Run! Get in the airship now!!"

Everyone ahead of Chrysalis ran into the airship, Chrysalis herself following behind, and realizing there was trouble, Tempest retracted the ramp and shut the door.

"Someone's out there..." Chrysalis said.

"Who?" asked Spike.

"Stay right there."

Chrysalis quickly ran through the interior of the airship, and quickly made a dash for the upper floor, about to rush over the edge to look over and see who was coming.

But she didn't need to.

Right then, something leapt over the edge of the airship, and landed right behind Chrysalis, three different levels of hissing sounds being made. She looked behind her.

Spike and Smolder made it up to the top and stopped where they were.

"It's the Crusaders!" Spike exclaimed.

Indeed, although Chrysalis didn't know the full context, to Spike and Smolder, it was them. Three fillies that have climbed up the airship and was already prepared for a duel.

But these weren't just three separate fillies. They were fused together, sharing one body, and their size having grown to almost nearly Chrysalis' height. Their heads were all beside each other, and their three jaws fused into one massive jaw, the grin revealing sinister teeth. This grotesque fusion felt incredibly reminiscent of Cerberus, and from how they were posed, they were about to do just as much damage as the mangy mutt could possibly do.

"I told you to stay where you were!" Chrysalis barked.

Smolder spoke up. "Well, we wanted to know, and we would fight them, but..."

"But what, you don't want to just because they're kids?!"

Chrysalis quickly jumped out of the way as the Crusader-Cerberus pounced in an effort to tackle her.

"At least we have morals!"

"Yeah!" Spike agreed.

Chrysalis was now holding back the beast with her magic. "Well, I don't know what else I'm supposed to do, then if you're so insistent on their safety!"

"Hello?! Knock them out!" Spike shrieked. "With, uh, a harmless spell, nothing severe- you get what I mean!"

Chrysalis was about to do so, but the monstrous fusion suddenly shrieked a shrill voice, forcing Chrysalis to drop them. Just then, the two tiny wings on the Crusader-Cerberus grew into massive wings, and the creature flew upwards and dove down, crashing right through the floor. The shrieks from inside the ship could be heard, and Chrysalis immediately dove into the hole, quickly stopping the monster from attacking with a shield.

"THE CRUSADERS!" Pinkie yelped.

"We know!" Chrysalis replied. "I have no time for this!"

She darted upwards, grabbing the beast by the tail, flying out of the hole, and away from the airship. Quickly, it broke free, and swerved around in the air, trying to get back to the ship, with Chrysalis continuously stopping them from getting far.

Down below in the ship, everyone thought over their options.

"We have to get out of here!" Pinkie squeaked.

"They're fighting in the path of the cockpit!" exclaimed Tempest. "I can't get there without getting in the middle of it."

"We've gotcha' covered! C'mon, Spike!" Smolder nudged up. "Let's help Chrysalis-"

"-and make sure she doesn't do anything fatal to them."

"Right."

And Smolder and Spike flew up through the hole.

"Go Smolder! Go Spike!" Silverstream cheered.

"Be bolder! Don't..." Pinkie tapped her chin. "Hm, what's a good rhyming word?..."

"Oh dear..." Fluttershy whimpered. "I hope it goes okay..."

Meanwhile, close to the ship but hidden well, the blob watched with its beady blue eyes. For a moment, it twitched, before it expanded in size, its eyes suddenly moved upwards, forcing an extension similar to a head to form. Underneath, four tiny stumps like hooves formed under the blob, allowing it to stand.

Giving no reaction to its transformations, it continued to watch everything, knowing that even if this next foe was beaten, it would follow them every step of the way, until it finally gets what it wants.

Author's Note:

I will warn you, the Crusader duel may or may not be short. If it is I’ll for sure have rematches or something along those lines.

Comments

[Clawfoot]

Oh no, it's evolving.. But into what?

[nightshroud96]

Here's hoping Spike and Smolder makes it through

[Stuff]

I wonder when they'll meet Pibby and other survivors.

[6-D Pegasus]

11516603
I think this is only within mlp

[Dinosaur12]

What's the blob evolving into? And what's its intentions with Equestria?

[Razzy]

It's... The Blob!

[TwistedSpring]

11517922
Nega-pinkie