• Published 17th Feb 2023
  • 2,591 Views, 209 Comments

M̸y̶ ̸L̴i̶t̸t̶l̴e̶ C̵o̸r̷r̴u̶p̶t̶e̷d̸-P̵o̴n̴y̷ - ScorchingFlamesInc



Equestria meets its darkest hours when an unexplained d̸a̶r̵k̶ entity c̷o̶r̶ru̸p̸t̶s̴ ̴ citizens into mindless monsters.

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Chapter 19: Downhill

“Spike! Helloooo! Spike? It’s time to wake up!”

Three shakes from Pinkie was all it took for Spike to jolt awake, and they weren’t soft shakes either, causing him to immediately be alarmed in spite of the lack of danger in her voice.

“AH! IM UP! ARE WE UNDER ATTACK?!” he shrieked.

“No, silly, we’re at shore! Fluttershy woke me up and now I’m waking you up!”

“Perhaps next time someone that isn’t the pink one should wake up whoever is sleeping…” Chrysalis grumbled, stepping off the boat.

“At least it was a peaceful trip…” Fluttershy admired, before her soft smile fell. “Maybe… a little too peaceful…”

“You might be right, so just be alert and… well… I don’t really need to explain it all again,” said Starlight, being the last one off the boat. “After all you’ve all been at this for hours!”

“Indeed,” Chrysalis said with a nod.

“How far is Canterlot?” Spike asked.

Chrysalis flew up to look, before returning moments later. “It is quite far. We’ll have yet another long journey ahead of us.”

“Can you see it?” Starlight asked.

“Unfortunately, no.”

Starlight sighed. “Alright, better brace yourselves. We got another long way ahead of us”

“Anything to save our friends and Equestria!” Pinkie cheered. “YIPPEE!!

And just like that, Pinkie hopped away.

“Hey!” Chrysalis barked. “It would have been courteous for you to- ugh…”

She followed Pinkie, and so did everyone else.

Yet again, the journey dragged. Legs started to get sore (except for Pinkie), bellies started to rumble, and fatigue began to creep on those that haven’t slept.

Around this point, everyone continued keeping their expectations of some form of encounter high, especially since the boat ride was so quiet and eventless. Guards were up, ears were open, and magic was ready to be used.

There were only the sounds of occasional crickets.

Another hour passed but it felt eternal. Silent begging for shortcuts or miracles lingered in Spike’s mind, and Fluttershy’s too, but it seemed as if nothing was going to happen any time soon.

The occurrence of quiet conversation was frequent, but Chrysalis in her current traveling state of mind had no interest. Instead she looked around her surroundings, both on watch and for entertainment, and she looked up at the bright, still moon.

Just then, Chrysalis' head began to pulse. She didn't bother with giving it attention... perhaps it was only a migraine. But in seconds it went from 0 to 100, and Chrysalis held her head, suppressing a scream. She glanced at the moon again. The sky was a shade of dark red, crumbling away like paper, revealing a void of the twisted dark matter behind it. The moon itself was partially covered by the darkness, shutting away some of the light.

Her mind felt like it was beginning to slip away, a loss of consciousness creeping onto her. Was she getting weaker? Or was it getting stronger? She refused to believe either.

She felt her body shake. Was something else happening? For the first time since she could remember, if there ever was a time, a pit grew in her chest that quickly, to her relief, subsided.

Fluttershy brought her back to reality with a couple of gentle shakes.

“Chrysalis! We have to go!” she squeaked. “Something is-“

She was cut off when the ground burst in three different areas, chunks of dirt landing at their hooves. Out leapt three, hideously malformed, Diamond Dogs. Gems protruded out of their mangled bodies, and one of them, the one that appeared to be the leader, even had gems for eyes.

The three of them surrounded the group and immediately closed in fast. Starlight and Chrysalis warded two of them off with magic blasts (Chrysalis having fought off the leader), while Pinkie took care of one with her bazooka.

Immediately they recovered and made a snarling sound, even though their gaping mouths remained unmoving. Yet again they attacked, with the others continuing to fight back. After their next pounces they dove into the ground.

Everything felt tense. Eyes darted back and forth, ears remaining focused. But the sounds from underground, though loud, were also confusing, and it only made things worse.

But Chrysalis was able to figure out where they were pretty quickly.

“OUT OF THE WAY!”

Everyone scattered right as the Diamond Dogs leapt out of where the group just stood. Starlight quickly used her magic to the best of her ability to hold them together so they could all regroup, but she could tell by their resistance that they didn’t have long.

“Hurry! Get back together over here!”

They all listened and rejoined with Starlight.

The Darkness began to leak out of the holes in the ground, including the hole closest to the group, prompting Spike and Chrysalis to once again work to fight it off. At the same time Diamond Dogs broke out of the restraining magic, once again ready to charge. Once free, the two that weren’t the leader immediately took massive leaps to each side to once again ensure that they were all surrounded. The darkness that leaked out of the ground joined with the lead Diamond Dog, and it was clearly making him stronger.

Everything began to close in. Spike and Chrysalis were on the verge of failing to ward off the darkness, which also got closer from the other sides, sets of eyes beginning to open.

“The rest of the corruption is closing in around us!” Pinkie squeaked.

The Diamond Dogs charged again.

“We can’t handle this one alone though!” Spike shouted.

A quick burst of magic from Starlight’s horn illuminated the area and blinded all of the attackers, shrieks heard from the Diamond Dogs. They were able to recover quick…

…only to discover that the victims were gone.

***

From inside the hallway of one of the Canterlot Castle towers came a massive burst of blue light. Immediately the group appeared… only to be surrounded by globs of the dark matter. The globs instantly became aggressive, and began to both attack and fuse together.

Spike, Chrysalis, and Starlight all got to work on eradicating it while Pinkie held her bazooka in defense of her and Fluttershy.

“If you brought us here from a long distance… then you could have brought us here from the start!” Chrysalis realized.

Starlight vaporized a small glob as it was about to leap for her face. “Look, I wanted to be closer where teleporting us here had a better chance of being successful! But now’s not the time to find ways to criticize me!”

Within’ the next few seconds the globs were finally gone. But it didn’t end there. From down the hallway, there was the sound of an approaching enemy. Everyone froze, but Starlight was prepared for a last resort.

“Get in! Quick!” she hissed, opening the nearest door that lead to a guest bedroom.

They all did as they were told and got in, with the room luckily being empty. The door shut right as a guard pony turned down the hall.

His attention was piqued and he limped over to the room, and stood in front of the door, entirely motionless. Slowly, due to both mindlessness and taunting, he opened the doors.

The room was empty.

The guard pony tilted his head and proceeded to search. The corruption allowed him to sense another pretense of the room, someone that continued to refuse to submit to the darkness.

The guard pony only got closer. His assumptions were correct… there were indeed survivors in the room. But they were all concealed into invisibility by Starlight’s magic, and if it weren’t for him sensing Chrysalis’ presence, he likely wouldn’t even be searching.

And Chrysalis realized that. If it weren’t for her… would plenty of their encounters have been avoided?

Her mind didn’t have much more for time to think about that. If nobody did something soon, someone was going to get corrupted, and it would spell disaster for the whole mission.

Suddenly, the guard’s blank eyes were met with a searing blue light, and all of a sudden, he was no longer in the room.

Starlight brought the cloaking spell to the end and proceeded to close all the curtains and shut the doors.

“Wow!” Pinkie beamed while looking out one of the windows. “That’s a lot of corrupted ponies down there!”

Starlight quickly moved Pinkie out of the way and shut the curtain.

“We don’t have long…” Chrysalis realized. “The chances are high that the slightest contact with us will allow any corrupted victim to send that message to others. Like a hive mind.”

“Well then we need to think of something quick!” exclaimed Starlight.

“No. You all stay here and stay hidden. I’m going alone.”

“What?! Why!?” Spike asked.

“Perhaps it is possible that they can sense anyone. But it is even more likely that they could sense me! I may have control, but this corruption is still a part of me… I’m linked to them. I wouldn’t even be surprised if I was indirectly responsible for some of our attacks!”

“Oh come on! That’s crazy talk!” Pinkie assured.

“No. No it isn’t.”

“But… we don’t even know where the diamond is,” Fluttershy said.

“She’s right,” said Spike. “All that book said was that it was somewhere that had to be guarded by Ponies and I don’t think any of us… have ever seen it in… a museum…”

He paused. Something crossed his mind and he was deep in thought as a flashback of the day before the attack crossed his mind.

___

*Flashback*

___

“It’s hard to believe that this is where we’re going to live…” Twilight sighed as the both of them toured the castle. “I miss home already and we haven’t even moved out yet…”

Spike patted Twilight. “Yeah, it’s pretty hard to believe. I never knew we’d actually reach this point. So many memories…”

“Yeah. Like here.”

Twilight and Spike stopped. They both stood in front of a familiar door, gold frame around it and a sun in the middle of the door.

“Why here?” Spike inquired.

“Just wanted to look at it. I do want to see everything around here.”

“Well I am getting memories just from looking at it… the Elements being stored here for a while, Discord’s first attack… feels like that was ages ago.”

“Princess Celestia told me that the Elements weren’t the only things kept in here.”

“Wait… really?”

Twilight nodded. “Ponies were trusted to keep an artifact that would be used in case some big event happened… I don’t remember seeing it in here… either because it’s just really bright in there or it’s hidden really good.”

“What was the artifact?”

“Hm. I don’t know. That’s all she told me.”

Twilight and Spike both looked at the door for a few more seconds before the former spoke up.

“We should probably head back.”

“Yeah, it’s gonna get late soon,” said Spike.

They turned and left.

“Hey Twilight… Do you ever feel like Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow won’t be the last big threat Equestria has had?…” asked Spike.

“Well endless safety is never a guarantee… but if anything does happen, we’ll be there together with the others to stop it. But… something tells me Equestria will be a peaceful place for a long time...”

“And if anything happens, I know you’ll be there to stop it.”

Twilight smiled.

___

*End of Flashback*

___

Remembering those final lines before being brought back to reality hurt. Not only was Equestria under a threat that was even greater than the last one, but Twilight wasn’t there this time. Somewhere out there, she was among those that were after the group.

But Spike’s emotions got shafted with the reason why he reminisced in the first place.

“Spike? What’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked.

Starlight couldn’t help but peek out of the curtains. Although she was far, she could indeed see the corrupted ponies and creatures scattered throughout, blobs of corruption on the buildings.

Her spine shivered when she realized that even before she looked out, they were all staring at them.

“We need to hurry!”

Spike finally spoke up. “I know where the diamond is.”

“You do?!” Pinkie screeched. “Where!?”

“Where Princess Celestia used to keep the Elements of Harmony! This door in one of the towers! I remember Twilight telling me that she kept something else there! Maybe it’s the diamond!”

Noise began to fill the halls.

“Ooh! Fluttershy and I know where it is!” Pinkie bounced.

“I do too!” Starlight exclaimed. “We got to go there, and we got to do it now!”

“But I don’t think it’s safe to teleport there!” Spike shouted.

Chrysalis grouped everyone together and immediately summoned a green forcefield-shield around them all.

“We’ll work with this and see what goes! If anything happens I take responsibility! Now let’s go!”

Starlight, slightly surprised at what Chrysalis said, quickly teleported them all away, right as corrupted ponies broke through the doors and windows.

***

Everyone was expecting the hallway to be filled with darkness or surrounded by ponies. But instead they were met with emptiness, the hallway seeming like nothing was there.

Chrysalis didn’t like it one bit. She looked around to ensure it was safe, refusing to put down the forcefield.

“Um… Chrysalis, you can put it down now…” Fluttershy said.

Chrysalis did so, but she made her feelings clear. “I heavily distrust this.”

“Look!” Spike pointed at the door. “There it is!”

They all approached the door.

“And… how do you open this door?” Chrysalis asked, eyes still searching the room.

“Celestia puts her horn in the center and uses her magic…” Spike explained. “But she’s not-“

Starlight stepped forward “I got this…”

She made her way to the door and got on her hind hooves so she could reach for the center. She lowered her neck, aiming her horn for the center, and she put it in. For a moment, her horn glowed, before she then removed it. Light crawled along the lines of the sun in the center and spread throughout the whole door, all six circles lighting up. Slowly, the door opened, blinding everyone with the beaming light.

All there was amidst the dimming light inside was an empty pedestal.

“I don’t see a trace of it anywhere,” Chrysalis said. “Are you truly certain that it’s in there?”

Spike went to look, going through the doors exploring the inside of the tiny area. As he expected but didn’t want to believe, there was nothing there. Defeated, he joined back with the others.

“You’re right. I don’t see it either…” he spoke. “Maybe the Princess moved it…”

Starlight realized something. “Or maybe not..”

Using her magic, she grabbed the pedestal and attempted to move it. For a moment she struggled, but all of a sudden, it began to budge.

“Chrysalis! Help!”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes but she helped anyway. With the two of them working together, they were able to pull up the pedestal with ease, revealing a small hole underneath.

Spike quickly returned to the spot and looked into the hole.

“There’s a chest in here!”

Starlight joined her friend and raised the chest out.

“Want the honors?” she asked.

Spike nodded, and with all his strength, he opened the chest. A large smile grew on his face. Inside the chest was a massive diamond, resting snugly on the pillow. He laughed in hope and victory, and Starlight raised the diamond high.

“We did it!” Spike gleefully celebrated. “We found it!”

Yippee!” Pinkie cheered, her foreleg wrapped around Fluttershy while she bounced. “Now let’s go save-“

Something suddenly crashed through the ceiling and into the hall, bringing the brief moment of hope and happiness to a sudden end. It was yet another corrupted individual, nearly completely covered in the black matter.

But something felt different.

This one was familiar.

The corruption completely coating the pony’s body only retreated enough to allow a reveal of her mangled and twisted appearance, her wrinkled face, messy mane and tail, and singular glaring magenta eye.

Spike remembered seeing this mare plenty of times, but how she was back then was a far cry back then from what she’s become now… both physically and mentally.

In fear, he uttered her name. “T-Twilight?…”

Indeed it was her, having finally reunited with Spike the first time since this whole… apocalypse started. Twilight remained unmoving, the fizzling corruption on her body being all that did so.

Starlight slowly shook her head, disbelieved at what she saw of her friend. “No… that’s not Twilight. Whatever this thing is… it’s a far cry from who Twilight used to be.”

Author's Note:

The second most powerful corrupted character has entered the fight.

But the question is… how long will it last?

And will everyone get out alive?

((Small spoiler, but to stress how much of a threat Twilight is and her potential impact to the story, the next chapter title will be in Zalgo text… even the “Chapter 20” part.))