Chapter 17: Falling Apart
Many things happened in a close amount of time.
The airship began to close in on the volcano, multiple corrupted dragons already flying out.
All the survivors on the volcano fled, flying off. With no hesitation this time, Chrysalis let Spike hop on her back and she flew off with everyone else in a dash. The blob just dove into the volcano, splashing into the rising pool of corruption.
And then… the volcano burst. Rocks, debris, and blobs of corruption sprayed everywhere, nearly everyone suffering impacts from whatever flew, and the massive figure that burst out of the volcano impacted the skiff, sending it on a collision course down below. A massive boulder impacted Chrysalis and Spike, sending the two of them on a quick fall to the ground, where they both had a rough and painful landing.
Coughing, Spike stumbled upright, his body much more scraped. Groaning, Chrysalis also got up. All around them, it was complete chaos, with dragons fighting their own corrupted kind. Some lost immediately, succumbing to corruption in a matter of seconds. Others held their own, and plenty of them were working together. But no corrupted dragons were saved.
Above them all, a massive figure loomed sinisterly above the Dragon Lands. Tempest's skiff was no longer in the air, and in the distance, it was merely rubble on the ground, likely having been knocked away by whatever caused this chaos to flourish.
"We need to go!" Chrysalis shouted. "Can you walk?!"
Spike nodded. From behind, two dragons landed beside them. Chrysalis was already on the move to fend them off, but Spike beat her to it, getting them away with his own fire breath.
Chrysalis couldn't help but smirk. "Hm. You are learning reflexes. Impressive."
Both of them ran off. The massive behemoth that was none other than Torch stayed in the sky where he was. It wasn't long before the two of them finally came across Pinkie and Fluttershy, both of them luckily I corrupted but also incredibly scraped up and bruised. Fluttershy herself had it worse, her head bleeding, clearly having needed to rely on Pinkie for most of her support before shakily recovering.
“Fluttershy!” Spike gasped. “Are you okay!?”
“I’m fine…” she answered, her speech slightly weakened. “I’ll be okay…”
"Where's Smolder?!" Pinkie shrieked, while Chrysalis fended off another dragon’s attack.
They got their answer quick when Smolder was heard growling from not too far. Everyone rushed to see what was happening. Smolder was facing off against Ember... and she was losing, getting back up and glaring at Ember, the Dragon Lord herself flying above her. Ember raised her scepter up and dove right for Smolder, bringing it down for a swing. Smolder fought back, sending as much flames as she could to Ember, and completely (but briefly) ridding the scepter of the corruption. Right as the corruption was going to crawl down Ember's completely covered arm and cover the scepter once more, the bloodstone was swiped out of its holder by Chrysalis' own magic.
“I’ll take that!” Pinkie said, happily taking the bloodstone.
“What are you-“
Chrysalis was interrupted when Ember's neck made a sickening snapping sound as she glared at the group. Chrysalis and Spike wasted no time. They used their powers against Ember, and Smolder quickly joined in. Ember shrieked and in her moments of lost coordination, the group of five fled, with nowhere to go. From many directions dragons attacked and someone, usually Chrysalis, was always fast to get rid of them.
"Where are we going to go!?" Pinkie screamed.
"I don't know!" Spike panicked.
"Get to the closest body of water!" Smolder ordered, pointing ahead of them. "Trust me!"
A shadow began to grow over them, and everyone knew what it was. They took a brief glance behind them as they ran. Torch was finally making his move, diving right down for them, fist extended, and a mass of corruption stirring in his mouth. Nobody had time. He was large. He was fast.
There was no way out.
Seeing only one option for escape, Chrysalis stopped running and pulled everyone close to her, as a massive burst of corruption flew out of Torch's mouth and collided with where the survivors stood. Corruption spread everywhere where the impact was made, and they were nowhere to be seen.
To many, it seemed like Equestria's last hope was finally caught, and were merely absorbed into the darkness, never to be seen unless sent out as drones.
But that wasn't the case.
Off in the distance where the rock ended and the trees began, a green spark burst. Chrysalis stood, with everyone else still close to her.
"Well you chose a convenient spot to teleport us to..." Smolder said. "Come on! This way!"
Everyone followed her, without any questions asked.
Meanwhile, far off where the remains of Tempest’s skiff sat, a small pile of rubble shook. Slowly, it cleared away, the twisted figure of Tempest rising out of it. Corruption covered her prosthetic hoof, and replacing the stump of her horn was instead a large curved horn, formed by the dark matter. She just sat there, before her ears twitched, and her head slowly rotated to a direction where she was picking up a sense.
And as for Torch, he continued to hover where he was, doing nothing for only a few moments and only watching as a few remaining dragons fought for their lives.
It was time for this battle to come to its end. The beast raised his head up in the sky and let out a bellowing and distorted roar. A fountain of corruption spewed out of his mouth, showering all throughout the dragon lands. And this time, nobody could get away. In seconds every remaining dragon in the Dragon Lands were claimed to darkness.
***
The running never ceased. Running was the only thing they could do. Their transport was gone. They had no way to escape. And sooner or later, someone was going to find them and catch them by surprise.
“We need to find a place to rest! Someplace! Anywhere!” Spike exclaimed.
“Well I don’t know where we can go!” Smolder exclaimed.
Something soon caught their attention and brought their running to a stop. It was nothing more than a cave. A simple harmless cave.
Spike and Smolder exchanged glances.
“Cave?” the former asked.
“Cave.”
“You actually think that’s a safe option?!” Chrysalis scoffed.
“We’ve taken risks before, haven’t we?” Pinkie asked.
“Besides, we can easily overpower a predator, corrupted or not…” Spike said. “Right?”
He just got shrugs in response.
“Well I say we-“
Chrysalis couldn’t finish her sentence, because Pinkie already ran in.
“Pinkie wait!” Fluttershy tried calling out, her voice too quiet and weakened to be heard.
Chrysalis growled and ran after her. “Get back here!”
Spike ran after too.
Smolder moved to run.
And then she stopped, feeling something enter her back. She groaned out loud, prompting Chrysalis and even Pinkie to come back.
Out her chest, a black tendril formed. Smolder gripped it, groaning more as she tried to resist its pull of her mind. From behind her, Tempest came out, followed by a pool of black matter.
“SMOLDER!” Spike shrieked, reaching out.
“Get… back!…” she pleaded. “G-go!”
“There’s nowhere else to go!” Pinkie screamed. “And there’s a dead end in the cave!”
Smolder managed to emit a small snarl, only one of her pupils remaining visible. She turned and in an effort to make the situation at the very least safer, she let out one weak stream of flames at Tempest, causing her to shriek. But she didn’t run off. Instead, she glanced at Smolder, and she glanced at the group.
Smolder glanced back too, mouth wide and eyes blank. In that moment everyone knew that any remaining trace of Smolder’s mentality was now gone, now replaced by darkness and corruption. They both dashed and Chrysalis quickly raised a magic barrier to hold them off. It did what it could but both Tempest and Smolder were clearly getting closer to breaking through.
“QUICK! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES WHILE YOU STILL CAN!” Pinkie panicked.
“YOU BELIEVE RUNNING TOWARDS A DEAD END IN A CAVE IS A GOOD IDEA?!” Chrysalis spat.
“Oh right… hehe… I forgot.”
Spike proceeded to ramble, in a last attempt to find hope. “Okay maybe if we go, there can be a convenient turn of events that can get us past the dead end in the ca-“
He was cut off. A loud bang was heard in the distance catching the attention of Smolder and Tempest. Something was heard making a buzz, an approaching blue glow visible beside Tempest and Smolder, before the two of them were both struck and stunned with beams of magic.
The remaining pool of darkness slithered but the blue magic again attacked it, and this time, Chrysalis and Spike joined in to help. It backed off, unable to get close, and this opened a window for Pinkie and Fluttershy to run.
When it was pushed back far enough, Chrysalis and Spike stopped their attacks, and they too ran. Smolder and Tempest were still down, and they got absorbed by the darkness as it backed away.
They all were quick to locate the source of this blue magic. It was a unicorn, wearing a slightly beaten and dusty mask, and a black suit, clearly as if they were making an attempt to blend in.
“Go!” The pony ordered, the voice clearly a mare’s. “Go! Quick!”
They listened and they ran. Their savior followed them. And the massive wave of dark matter gave chase.
“Where are we going?!” Spike shouted.
“We’re going to outrun it!” replied the mare.
“Are you insane!?” Chrysalis spat.
“Trust me!”
They did. Their running continued. Faintly they could hear the sound of the darkness’ sinister hiss approaching.
“Left!” The mare quickly took a sharp left and the others, taken by surprise, quickly did the same. They went through a wall of bushes, before finding themselves at the top of a steep slope leading into a pool of water below.
“Oh my…” Fluttershy squeaked. “That doesn’t look safe!”
“Never say never!”
The mare leapt off of the flat ground and splashed into the water below.
Everyone else hesitated. But one bellowing, distant hiss from the distance convinced them to risk it. Everyone leapt off the slope, past where it ended, and all splashed into the water below. One by one they all swam up for air, some struggling more than others, and the hiss from above got louder.
Through a loud whisper, the mare was able to get everyone’s attention and motioned them to duck underwater. Some nodded and ducked. Others hesitated but went through with it anyway. All gazes were facing up, the discomfort of the water in everyone’s eyes a decent price to pay for the sake of safety.
A blurry glimpse of the black matter could be seen, seeming to look around, for what seemed like an eternity. Fluttershy and Spike both felt like they were going to run out of air, and it showed. Fluttershy was the first to crack, coughing enough where air bubbles flowed up to the surface. She covered her mouth, panicking, wanting nothing more than air, and fearing that her slip-up had a chance of getting them caught if the darkness paid enough attention.
But finally, at last, it left. Everyone gave it a few more seconds before all swimming up for air, gasping and coughing. Fluttershy nearly sunk but Pinkie was quick to swim for support.
“Alright, we’re safe. Come on!” The mare swam out of the water and to the closest shore as possible. “Let’s go!”
“What makes you think we should trust you?” Spike asked.
“I saved you, didn’t I?”
“Works for me!” Pinkie chirped, getting out of the water. The others joined as well, but although she followed, Chrysalis had her suspicions. Suspicious that she refused to suppress.
“Now stop right there!” she barked. “Saving us doesn’t make you any less of a concern!”
“I mean… they’re giving you a chance, aren’t they?” the mare responded.
“We took our time to voice everything we had to say and we made the alliance official before proceeding with anything else! You just showed up, helped, and expected us to follow you without even explaining everything or proving that your contributions would be helpful to the end! And so I must ask… how did you find us? Where are we going? And most importantly… who are you?”
“Hey…” Spike realized. “Is that the Mare-do-Well mask?…”
The mare sighed.
“Look, Chrysalis, we’ve both had our issues with the darkness in different ways. You’ve been keeping yourself under control from the looks of it. Me? It got me! I was corrupted, like nearly everyone else, like my own friends! And then, I… guess I was lucky enough to be able to break out. I’ve been having to survive on my own for so long and… I’m just glad I finally found someone I know that’s, well… themselves!”
“Hey, Fluttershy was corrupted too!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“Yes, and I have Pinkie and Spike to thank for setting me free,” said Fluttershy with a smile.
“Well I guess I’m not the only one at least…” the mare said. “Too bad it’s probably evolved beyond anyone being saved at this point.”
“Wait.. you said you know us…-“ Thoughts entered Spike’s mind and he began putting the pieces together. It should have been obvious right from the start. “Wait… your voice… your magic… Starlight?”
With her magic, the mare pulled off her mask, revealing her slightly burnt and scarred face.
Starlight gave a smile. “Surprised to see me?”
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If Learning with Pibby isn't a real TV show, then what is it?
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Probably just a concept that a lot of people will play with.
11547272
A promo that will hopefully become a real TV show
With Starlight on their side, they're back in action. Wonder what she learned of the glob during her corrupted time. Chrysalis has learned snippets but she tries to keep it at a margin.
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It was a pilot that Adult Swim/Cartoon Network released towards the end of 2021, that later got expanded upon as part of there 2022 April Fools broadcast and had a lot of hype and attention at the time with a lot of hope that it would become a full show later on. Unfortunately considering it's been a full year now since they last officially mentioned it and the fact that there's been a lot of problems ever since they merged with Discovery it's.. honestly not looking too likely it's still a thing.
Me
I just realized if this is the corruption from Pippi then the Crystal Empire will be the only safe place because the crystal heart being powered by light and love https://youtu.be/nXrqLkR_lnE
HOLY, I did NOT expect THAT!
Espera, espera, espera ¡COMO CARAJOS SIGUE VIVA!