M̸y̶ ̸L̴i̶t̸t̶l̴e̶ C̵o̸r̷r̴u̶p̶t̶e̷d̸-P̵o̴n̴y̷

by ScorchingFlamesInc

Chapter 15: Pits of Darkness

The sight and stench of smoke started to cloud up as the ship soared closer and closer to the Dragon Lands.

This was the most anxiety-inducing moment for the group yet. The dragons were tough. Fast. Strong. And for some, massive. This was going to be one of the more difficult parts of the entire journey.

It wasn’t like Griffonstone. It was empty. No trace of life, and no trace of the corruption. The ship soared closer, eventually having officially entered the territory. It lowered and landed on the ground, the engine still running.

Smolder took a massive sniff of the strong smog.

She sighed. “Been a while since I’ve been back here.”

“Well, it looks empty…” said Fluttershy.

“That’s a plus!” Pinkie chirped. “…right?”

“Alright, how are we gonna do this?” Smolder inquired as the ship hovered above the lands, lowering ever since slightly.

“Well, obviously I am going out, and I assume you two dragons will be coming with?” said Chrysalis.

“Let’s not get to conclusions just yet,” Spike said. “I mean, again, this is… a very big mission. We’ll need someone here… what with the… dragons and all?”

“Not even that’s gonna be enough!” Smolder exclaimed. “The moment we’re caught, we’re done for.”

“What are we even going to do?” asked Fluttershy.

“Well… it’s now or never then,” Chrysalis proclaimed. “The ship stays close. If anything happens then we’ll-“

“What, we run, get ambushed, and lose another one of us and maybe more?!” Smolder burst.

“We have to get the bloodstone though!” Spike exclaimed.

“Well we’re going to have to have better and more specific ideas than what you’re all putting out right now.”

“Alright, alright, you make a valid statement,” said Chrysalis. She proceeded to ponder. “Hm… perhaps we could-"

From out of nowhere below the ship, something flew up catching everyone's attention and alert. They prepared themselves for attack, but what landed on the deck caused them all to stop.

It was nothing more than a completely normal, grey-scaled dragon.

"I knew it!" he gloated. "I knew there were actual normal folks up on this ship!"

Another dragon, this one maroon, joined his friend.

"I told you not to come up here!" he spat. "You could have been caught by that stuff!"

"Well, I'm fine now, aren't I?" the grey dragon said. "And look! Survivors! Two other dragons too!"

"Yeah, duh! We know who they are! We heard of them! They're Spike and Smolder you dumb-"

"Excuse me!" Chrysalis burst, interrupting the argument. "I hate to intrude in your precious argument but... are you two the only ones here, or did the corruption-"

"Aren't you evil?" the grey dragon asked.

"I am an ally of theirs if you must know. Now answer my question!"

The maroon dragon spoke up. "No, we're not the only ones."

"You were attacked though?" inquired Smolder.

"Yeah, we were. But most of us managed to get away and find a cool hideout under this place. We lost a few though and couldn't save them. Including Dragon Lord Ember."

"Where is she?" Spike asked. "We... need something. Her bloodstone scepter!”

“Oh no way you’re going to get that from her,” the maroon dragon said with the shake of his head.

“For one thing, property of the dragon lord only!” exclaimed the gray dragon. “Secondly… you’re insane if you’re going to try and go against her in the condition she’s in!”

“We’ve been through a lot,” Smolder said. “We’ve encountered a lot of others like her. Yeah we… lost some friends but a lot of us are still fighting for Equestria!”

“Well fine, if you really want to, especially if you have a death wish, but we don’t know where she is,” said the maroon dragon. “We’ve all been hiding and we can’t see anyone the corruption took anywhere.”

“See? No reason to be mad at me for coming up here,” the gray dragon smirked.

“It’s a stupid decision anyway, you idiot! You never know where they’re hiding!”

“You said you all were hiding?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah, but it’s dragons only,” the gray dragon answered.

“How come, hm?” Chrysalis snarked. “Your continuous holding of yourselves as greater than others? Claiming to always have strength above and below those pathetic scales of yours?!”

“Watch it!” Smolder snarled.

“Actually, it’s literally dragons only,” the maroon dragon explained. “The entrance is in one of the lava pits. It leads to a secret hideout.”

Smolder crossed her arms and scoffed, before glaring at Chrysalis. “Hypocritical much?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Chrysalis spat.

“Not now… please?…” Fluttershy pleaded.

“She’s right. We can’t keep doing this,” said Spike. “Maybe Smolder and I could come with to the hideout, but what about everyone else?”

“I could join if I desired to by changing to a dragon,” Chrysalis said. “But… if it’s more dangerous out here than I might as well stand by in case I’m needed.”

“And how will we know if you will be?” asked Spike.

“We have spotter dragons,” the maroon dragon said.

The gray dragon rolled his eyes. “We have spotters and yet it’s a problem when I go out.”

“They actually know what they’re doing. Now, are you two coming or not?”

“Yeah, we’ll be right there, just one second.” Spike faced the others. “You’ll all be fine, right?”

“Yup! We’ll try our best!” Pinkie beamed.

“We’ll get here as soon as we can if you need us. Now let’s go- oh wait… could someone help me down?”

“I’m not serving as your ride again,” said Chrysalis.

“I can help you, Spike,” Fluttershy offered.

“Are you sure?”

Fluttershy nodded in affirmation.

“Alright. Thank you!”

Spike got on Fluttershy’s back and she, along with Smolder and the dragons, flew down to the ground. When they got there Spike immediately hopped off.

“I’ll be down in a second,” the maroon dragon said. “Gonna make sure this one stays safe.”

“Oh so-“

Spike cut the gray dragon off, clearly annoyed. “We’re not doing this again.”

“Fine.”

The maroon dragon and Fluttershy flew off.

Smolder took a look around. “So… where’s the hideout?… Which pit is it?”

The gray dragon pointed to the pit right at their feet. “This one. Hop in!”

He did so, small bits of the searing hot lava splashing around them.

“Shouldn’t we wait for the other one?-“ Spike questioned.

Smolder looked up and saw the maroon dragon already on his way back.

“He’ll be fine. Let’s go.”

Smolder hopped into the pit.

Spike took a deep breath. His abdomen puffed up as he took a massive inhale and returned to its original state as he exhaled.

He dove, and proceeded to swim, eyes tightly shut.

At first he felt unease. How far does this pit go to the hideout? Would he even make it, or would he be unlucky enough to drown in lava first? The thought of that was not something he wanted to think and it only made him swim faster.

In a short amount of time, he felt a slight current beginning to pull him in its way, and he knew that it would be better if he allowed it to do so. The speed came to an increase, and a faint noise of magma rushing out an exit became clearer, before Spike felt himself falling out of a lava pour and into another pool. His head popped out of the pool gasping for air, and quickly Smolder helped him out of the pool.

They were finally able to see their surroundings. Of course, it wasn’t much. It was pretty much just a massive rocky room illuminated by small pools of magma. There was a massive group of dragons surrounding them all. Smolder suddenly began to look around.

“Hey, is my brother here?…” she asked in a mix of hope and worry.

“Who?” a dragon asked.

“Garble! Where is he?”

“Oh him?” another dragon started. “He, uh… got caught by that black stuff. Sorry about that.”

Spike glanced at his friend. Smolder was rubbing her forehead with a clear ”I don’t know how much I can take this…” Look on her face.

“We’ll help them. All of them,” he promised. “Look every dragon, we’re here because we need the bloodstone from Dragon Lord Ember’s scepter.”

“But she’s corrupted!” someone exclaimed.

“I know. But we’ve been through so much. Enough to where we think we can take her, with your help and our friends’ help. We just need to know if anyone has the slightest idea where she was.”

“Well some of us said that she left,” the maroon dragon explained. “Others say she’s at the throne where Torch used to be. And some others say she’s hiding at the tallest, most lava-spilling, red-hot volcano. Don’t take them for granted though, they’re just theories.”

“We’re going to look anyway!” Smolder proclaimed.

“And we’ll need your help!” exclaimed Spike.

“Come on, that stuff took our dragon lord and some others!” a female dragon spoke up. “It was a massive blob half as big as Torch itself! And an army of ponies and others… it’s a miracle so many of us got away!”

Spike stomped one foot forward. “We’re dragons! Look, I don’t usually make a speech or say things like this, but we are dragons! We can swim in lava for Celestia’s sake! And if we can do that then, with the few seconds we have if we get the slightest bit of darkness on us, we can get it right off of ourselves with our fire breath! I know, because it happened to me. It had me by the leg! I thought it was over and everyone would have to go without me! But after using my fire breath, I got the corruption off before I was too late, and I got another chance! Maybe it is over for someone if it’s more than just a small bit, but if we keep our senses up, we can be fast, quick, and we can save everyone! For the Dragon Lands! And Equestria!”

Spike hoped that his speech did the trick. No dragons said anything for a moment. Until one dragon spoke up with a question.

“Wait we could have used our fire breath to get the corruption off of others?”

“If it’s at most a small bit and only outside their bodies but… yes,” Spike replied.

“You’re telling us you never tried that?-“ inquired Smolder.

All of the dragons said no, and Smolder just face-palmed.

“Maybe some of us can come with,” the maroon dragon said. “You’ll really need it if Dragon Lord Ember gets tough to beat.”

“Should we bring our friends?” Spike asked Smolder with a whisper.

“We can get the airship to follow us,” she answered. “I’ll meet up with Tempest and the others before we go.”

Spike nodded and faced the group. “Alright, if any dragons want to help us, then raise your claws high!” Spike raised his own closed fist.

A decently sized group of dragons did so with confident roars and growls.

“Great, we got helpers. So…” Smolder looked around. “…How do we get out of here?”

“We’ll lead the way,” a dragon said. “Come on fellas!”

The group of dragons proceeded to lead their two rescuers to the way outside, every single one of them ready for the potential trouble up ahead.

Author's Note:

Chapters are slower, yes, but it’s safe to say we’re nearing the halfway point! I hope a lot of you continue to stick around no matter how fast things go! ^^

Remember, if there’s anything I gotta fix or make better than please don’t hesitate to speak up.

Comments

[Clawfoot]

A good reminder that Ember was one of the smarter dragons. XD

[ScorchingFlamesInc]

11529513
Yikes, not a good look for her! Lol! Only way to excuse it was if it snatched her in her sleep.

[AllenVth]

A dragon army that breaths fire. Nice

[Dinosaur12]

11524135
Forget other dragons. If they encounter a corrupted Torch, they're screwed