M̸y̶ ̸L̴i̶t̸t̶l̴e̶ C̵o̸r̷r̴u̶p̶t̶e̷d̸-P̵o̴n̴y̷

by ScorchingFlamesInc

Chapter 12: Crossover

Spike’s fear wasn’t like this since Twilight and his escape from Ponyville when the whole mess started. At least after that he had friends… and Chrysalis… with him. But once again, he was alone, and could only rely on himself.

The beast swiped a massive hoof at Spike, but he quickly got out of the way. He immediately made a break for it, flying away in an attempt to get out, but his wings seized up and they fell, clearly injured from the fall. He had to run.

The monster attacking him began to give chase. Two kinds of wings sprouted out her back, one pink with fluffy feathers, and the other one white with multicolored feathers. She flew up ahead and landed directly in front of Spike, forcing the dragon to stop where he was.

The attacker’s wide mouth stretched wider, and suddenly, a stallion with what looked to be a sheriff’s badge fused to his chest, sprung out to grab Spike. He got out of the way, and showered the creature with fire.

It roared, the sound of five different voices shrieking in pain and rage. It recovered, but Spike was nowhere to be seen.

He was hiding. It was a stupid decision but was there a point in running? It was going to chase him anyway and he wasn’t as fast on foot! He tried his hardest to suppress his heavy breathing, tightly gripping his chest as the monster looked around for him.

He heard unsettling sounds, the sounds of bushes being ripped right out of the ground and thrown away. It knew he was around. But he was too close to it and he was too scared to think.

Trying to hold his breath was doing little to make him feel safe. He covered his mouth and nostrils, hoping it would feel much quieter.

The only other bush around was ripped right out of where it was and it was thrown off to the side.

Spike’s spot was last. Desperately he looked around hoping for a way out.

But it would be impossible to escape without making noise.

He had no more time to think or come to a conclusion. Right then his hiding spot was literally ripped away, and he stared at the eyes of his attacker.

Noises from the hole in her stomach were made and he could have sworn that he saw a pair of eyes. And all of a sudden, the hole in the beast’s belly made much more sense.

“̵H̵I̴ ̶N̸E̸W̸ ̴F̴R̵I̷E̵N̵D̵!̷!̵!̷”̷

A blue-maned unicorn mare sprung out of the stomach hole in a similar fashion to the sheriff-stallion that was in the monster’s mouth. Instead of getting out of the way, however, this time Spike again use fire to his advantage, breathing it all over the unicorn and forcing her to retreat.

Spike noticed a horn similar to the unicorn’s suddenly grow out of the beast’s head, and a golden-like aura to surround her wings and horn for a reason unknown. Both the sheriff stallion and unicorn mare popped out of their spots yet again, and this time, two more guests from inside the monster’s body joined the party. Two heads grew from the back of the mare’s neck, one pink, and one white, both rooted to the mare with their long, thin necks. They seemed to have belonged to their different respective wings that grew out the mare’s middle back, but that was the least of Spike’s concern.

Spike watched as the pink head’s mouth extended wider, revealing a rectangular device that Spike has never seen before.

He had no idea what it was, but he knew it wasn’t good. He couldn’t react in time, because the device suddenly flashed, blinding Spike with an incredibly bright light.

He couldn’t see. He panicked. He wandered and spun about, breathing fire everywhere, successfully warding the monster off for a brief moment.

Unfortunately, that came with a cost. When Spike previously breathed fire at attackers, he was careful and coordinated, avoiding anything flammable. But because he couldn’t see, he unintentionally set the trees and torn bushes around him on fire. His eyesight recovered, and the realization on what he just did came quick.

He turned around, and he was about to meet his definitive end as all five heads on the monster snapped right to him…

…only for a tree to fall right between him and the beast, the heads all ramming into the flames. Again, shrieking ensued, and the monster backed off, giving Spike the perfect chance to do the only thing he could do, which was run.

He was too afraid to look behind him. To afraid to see what was there. But he could hear the steps of impending doom approaching him as he ran, the thundering sounds getting closer and closer as he kept on hearing five different voices speak to him.

He refused to listen to them, focusing directly on escaping. But they were right there. He could hear and feel their twisted corrupted breathing. He kept jumping out of the way or taking quick turns but they would always catch up to him once again.

They got closer every time. He was running out of time. No. This was it. It was over. He was going to get caught.

But then he saw something familiar loom far in the distance. Could it be?… Yes! It was. It was the airship! Luck struck again, but would this be the last time?

He only had seconds to get away. Even though it was far, however, he tried to call out anyway, in case there was the slightest chance that he could have luck on his side. Happened three times before. Maybe it could happen again.

“HELP ME! DOWN HERE! HELP ME!HEEEEELLLLP”

Spike tripped on an open root and tumbled. He was on the verge of getting up, but then a large shadow loomed over him, prompting him to roll on his back.

The beast stood above him. All heads stared deep into his soul, grinning maliciously.

But then, the fiends looked away as if distracted, and the head of the main mare was met with a green beam of magic, knocking her over.

Spike got up, and fear was replaced with relief. Chrysalis and Smolder were at the rescue! Both of them opened fire on the beast, forcing it to shriek, and it knocked itself down, seemingly giving up.

Chrysalis and Smolder both smirked, but it was short-lived. They heard the beast cackle with each head giggling in its own voice.

The horn on the main mare’s head lit, sparkling with both magic and distorted corruption. She shot it at Spike, but he rolled out of the way, the magic leaving a hole in the ground, with a glob of corruption starting to crawl out.

The monster shot again. Spike dove and ducked, avoiding yet another shot.

Before the monster could shoot again, Chrysalis grabbed the horn with her magic and began to tug, her strength managing to pull the monster. The corrupted unicorn that was peeking out of her stomach looked around, horn also ready to fire, but Smolder dove and sent a fireball right to the mare, forcing the unicorn to retreat, and the main mare herself to stumble down.

The odd device again began to form in the pink head’s mouth to aim at the flying foes, but Chrysalis took no time to be curious and shot the device, shattering it in the head’s mouth.

The main mare tried again to attack. Her horn lit up at the ready. But Chrysalis shot a continuous beam to try and emerge victorious. The mare resisted, shooting her own beam of corruption.

The battle seemed tied, and Smolder knew she and Spike had to do something.

“Can you fly?” she asked.

“No, I have a bad wing…”

“Think you can handle this corruption on your own?”

“I think so,” Spike nods. “Just go help Chrysalis.”

Smolder nodded and used her fire to join with Chrysalis’ magic, while Spike fended off any corruption that was after him, while making sure nothing else was hiding from anyone.

But soon what was chaos devolved into a miracle. The beast was on the verge of being overpowered. Spike took notice, fended off any attacking darkness, and dove to take cover.

An explosion took place directly in the beast’s mangled face, and it fell back onto the ground, out cold. Smolder and Chrysalis quickly flew to Spike’s aid. When Chrysalis learned of Spike’s situation, she hesitantly let him on her back. They flew off the ground, taking one last look at the unconscious and unfamiliar being before them.

The remaining bits of the corruption crawled over their body, expanding it until they were fully covered. The dark matter fizzled, and shrunk, before sinking fully into the ground and out of existence.

They were at a loss for words but they quickly recovered from what they witnessed and flew off. Spike held tightly onto Chrysalis to avoid the chance of falling. He flew before, of course, but he couldn’t help but feel spooked that he was getting higher and higher with only a former changeling queen he was riding as his support.

Luckily, they made it to the ship with no problems. Immediately Pinkie, Silverstream, and Fluttershy all checked to see if he was okay.

“Who’s guiding Tempest?” he asked.

“Nobody!” Silverstream exclaimed. “She knows where Griffonstone is. That’s where we’re going next.”

“You’re a super lucky dragon, Spike!” Pinkie chirped. “Survive the fall, not get corrupted, then survive a super-duper-big monster, and then be found by us, be rescued by Smolder and Chrysalis, and brought back!”

“Yeah, I guess I did get lucky but… too bad I can’t fly all that much anymore…” Spike mumbled.

“No harm in riding on our backs!” exclaimed Silverstream. “You just gotta hold on tight, that’s all!”

“Yeah, true.” Spike sat down. “I’m gonna need a bit of a break after that…”

“Are you coming with us when we get to Griffonstone?” Smolder inquired.

“Yeah, and I’ll probably be back to spotting in a few minutes. I just gonna rest for a bit.”

“I suppose we can make do with that…” said Chrysalis.

Everyone resumed spotting, with Spike joining them not long after. The airship soared off, set on its course to Griffonstone.

Comments

[Clawfoot]

Bit if a short fight as well, but still an interesting one. Nice way of involving all them together as one entity. Though they better be thanking Chryssi for all the help she is giving.

[AllenVth]

Thank God for powerful Changeling Queen. Other than that, they managed to keep their numbers from dropping. How long will that last?

[ScorchingFlamesInc]

11518852
((Does the fight still manage to work even if it's short? I know you said it was interesting but I'm just double-checking.

[Clawfoot]

11519295
Actually I think it adds to the story. Basically the Glitch has a way of tearing down or turning those it consumes into a goopy mess, so I can't imagine that it is that durable. That said, despite their lessened durability they still manage to attack in a multitude of ways, short yet sweet. So not only does it work, it makes sense.

I can totally see the more strong minded individuals are able to hold their body together better, making them tougher to beat but less unpredictable. Trading off offense for defense basically.