M̸y̶ ̸L̴i̶t̸t̶l̴e̶ C̵o̸r̷r̴u̶p̶t̶e̷d̸-P̵o̴n̴y̷

by ScorchingFlamesInc

C̸h̴a̵p̵t̴e̴r̴ ̷2̴2̶:̸ ̸T̴h̶e̷ ̴E̶v̸i̸l̷ ̸Q̵u̸e̷e̶n̵

Author's Note:

Warning: The following chapter contains a moment of dismemberment. Readers beware.

Chrysalis' warped appearance felt just as unsettling as Twilight's had, and in some ways it was even more unnatural. She stood on her hind legs, resulting in her horn being mere inches away from scraping the dirt and rock above. Her limbs, like Twilight’s, were shriveled, and five long, twisted claws grew out of her right front hoof. Her left hoof also sprouted four extra claws, though those claws were manifested from the dark matter that covered it. Her wounds oozed the dark matter, and there were visible vein-like areas on her body, as if the corruption wanted to show that it was literally in her blood. Her left eye was blank, while her right eye was filled with Corruption and had an all too familiar magenta eye glaring from it. Her mouth was filled with jagged teeth that remained open, allowing a blazing blue eye from inside her mouth to stare.

She didn't give them even a second to speak, acknowledge what became of her, nothing. She instantly got on all fours and dashed right for them, horn ablaze, her movements resembling a combination of a mindless wild animal and a fighter of massive intellect. With instinct while knowing it was futile, Starlight, Spike, and Pinkie all ran, but moments later, they had to do something else. Starlight took Spike with her magic and went off to the side, getting as close to the cave wall as they could, and Pinkie did the exact same thing. Chrysalis swiped her newly grown fingers as she passed, and stopped moments after she missed, immediately turning around.

Before Starlight could do anything else, Chrysalis used magic to snatch her, and with great strength, brutally slammed her into the cave wall multiple times, causing the light from Starlight’s horn to go out and leave them in more darkness, though Chrysalis’ magic and her two different colored eyes still dimly illuminated the area. Spike stepped forward, breathing fire at Chrysalis, causing her to hiss and throw Starlight down the cave, the unicorn landing close to Fluttershy. Starlight struggled to get back up, lying on the ground in pain, while Fluttershy, believed to have been unconscious, slowly started to get up as she emitted a hiss.

Chrysalis’ magic faded away, leaving only her eyes as the best source of light that Spike and Pinkie could work with.

Spike was about to continue fighting back against Chrysalis, but Pinkie instantly brought out her party bazooka once more, ready to fire, ready to strike down Chrysalis. She prepared to use it…

…only for the bazooka to then sputter and shake, spitting out a small glob of cake, the scent of vanilla and strawberry proceeding to fill the area. Pinkie’s eyes went wide upon instantly realizing that she was out of ammo.

Chrysalis snatched Pinkie’s bazooka from right out of her hooves, crushing it instantly with her magic, and throwing it right at Pinkie, hitting her square in the face and knocking her over. Pinkie coughed, a small tooth falling out from her gums.

Spike took his chance before Chrysalis tried anything else, but she took him with magic, slammed him on the top of the cave, and let him fall to the ground.

“Spike!” Pinkie shrieked, getting back up.

Pinkie couldn’t do anything. She had no form of ammunition and no way to fight without risking corruption. But it didn’t matter either way, because she was next, and Chrysalis had now already raised her off the ground by lifting her splinted forearm with magic. Chrysalis ruthlessly bashed Pinkie against the wall on her left side, not letting go of her arm, and proceeded to whip her body around the air like a rag doll, causing her arm to slightly twist above the splint.

Starlight, meanwhile, had finally managed to muster up the strength to move and use some magic, rolling onto her flank and lighting her horn to light up the area once more with some difficult effort. At first Starlight was unaware that something was active behind her, but when she looked behind her, she was met with the nasty surprise. Fluttershy stood, her mouth was open wide, and her limbs were already in the process of turning into something more animal-like. Fluttershy slashed down her newly grown claws to strike, but Starlight had quickly mustered up all the strength she could to raise a protective wall of magic, one that didn’t seem like it was going to last long due to both Starlight keeping the cave lit, and her surge in weakness due to the damage she took.

Just then, the sound of a snap, and cries of pain, echoed through the cave. Keeping focus on her wall, Starlight looked behind her. Pinkie was no longer there. All that remained was her dismembered splinted arm that she waved in the air to taunt. A tendril then extended out of her mouth, took the arm, and dragged it inside, the blue eye glistening as if it wanted the arm the whole entire time, and craved more.

Chrysalis levitated Spike up to her, grabbing his wings with her magic. Starlight was about to go and save him, but Fluttershy broke through the wall, forcing Starlight to immediately put up another one. Quickly, Starlight decided to take her defense to the next level. In an effort to send Fluttershy back at least a small distance, she shattered the shield with a powerful force that went through Fluttershy's direction. The effort was successful, and the moment Fluttershy got up, Starlight hesitantly shot her down with a sleep spell.

As that happened, Spike's head lay low as he was unreceptive to Chrysalis' gaze. The beast pulled at Spike's wings, a familiar yet incredibly distorted and stuttered statement echoing through her gaping mouth as she did.

"̴T̵-̸t̶h̵e̸ d̴r̶a̵-̸d̷r̸a̵g̸o̵n̵-̶o̸n̸'̸s̴ w̴i̵n̸g̵s̷ g̵e̴t̷-̶g̴e̴t̷ p̷l̸u̴c̶k̶e̸d̷-̴e̸d̷!̶"̷

Spike's head suddenly raised up, his gaze and Chrysalis' meeting, and he instantly launched a fireball at her face from his throat. She shrieked, disoriented enough to the point where she let him go. But it didn't go without costs, as his already bad wing got twisted due to a reflex from Chrysalis' magic before it fizzled away and dropped him. He shrieked in pain but went ahead and proceeded to continue attacking Chrysalis with his fire breath as best as he could. Chrysalis didn't reel back for long, and instantly proceeded with enraged attacks. She swiped her claws down at Spike, forcing him to jump out of the way.

As it turned out though, he didn't entirely need to. Because as he jumped out of the way, Chrysalis was struck down by Starlight, having been too distracted by Spike to bother with one of her worst enemies. Picking up the dropped book on her way, Starlight stopped to allow Spike onto her back, and then proceeded to flee as fast as she could go, both of them desperate to come to Pinkie's aid. Neither of them bothered to make sure Chrysalis or Fluttershy stayed down. Chrysalis’ magenta eye opened back up, its searing light signifying her rage.

It didn’t take too long for Spike and Starlight to find Pinkie, lying on her side in agony while holding onto the malformed stump where her forearm once was. She suppressed tears, but it seemed like it would be futile.

“Pinkie!” Spike shrieked. He ran up to her. “Let me see. Trust me.”

Pinkie didn’t listen, either scared, or simply not listening.

Spike approached Pinkie closer and he knelt down.

“Help me roll her on her back,” Spike said to Starlight.

Starlight did so, rolling the pink mare onto her back. Spike slowly picked up the stub and held it closer to himself. Quietly, he inhaled, and proceeded to attempt cauterizing the stub, breathing out a small streak of fire through pursed lips. Pinkie’s breathing quickened and her muscles tensed, not a single word being uttered.

“It’s almost over…” Starlight assured her, bending down close to her. “It’s almost over.”

Spike was done moments later, the stub no longer bleeding. Although it was a bit more burnt than Spike wanted, he still cauterized it successfully. Starlight tore off one of the sleeves from her suit, and wrapped it around the stub as a bandage the best she could.

“I want it to be over…” Pinkie whimpered.

Starlight levitated Pinkie onto her hooves and draped her remaining forearm around herself for support. “We just have to keep going. Good thing I remembered this…”

“Here, let me.” Spike took the book.

“The next turn is there…” Starlight tapped on the page. “But we have to hurry.”

Spike nodded and led the way, and Pinkie moaned in pain as she hobbled down the cave while keeping her remaining arm around Starlight.

“Wait, Spike!” Starlight realized, stopping Spike where he was. She tore off her other sleeve and wrapped it around Spike’s twisted wing, bounding it to his back.

Spike smiles. “Thanks.”

Starlight smiled back, and they continued their trek.

Meanwhile, back down the cave, Chrysalis had gotten up, but didn’t chase down her enemies, only standing motionless. Suddenly, her head snapped to the side, and her arms twisted oddly, the bones in her neck and arms making uncomfortable sounds. Then they all twisted another way, and then another, before going dead, her head low and arms at her sides.

Then her horn flickered, and her head raised back up. Her all too familiar cackle croaked from her throat as the corruption on her body got more aggressive, her eyes shrunken into small, malformed pinpricks.

The pressure her horn built continued increasing, the magic glistening before it too began to fizzle and change as if it was more than just an average spell.

When her laughter and the magic’s pressure hit its peak, Chrysalis released it, a massive beam bursting right through the top of the cavern, out through the trees, and into the sky. Although the sky was empty and devoid of anything to hit, the beam stopped as if there was. From the center of the beam, cracks along the sky began to spread, followed by a massive rift that expanded from the source of the beam each passing second. The rift inside looked to be nothing more than a fizzling mixture of a white, grey, and black texture, all of those colors and lines constantly moving and shifting. When Chrysalis was finished, the rift was half as big as the Everfree, maybe more.

The ground began to shake. And then it began to crack. Clumps of soil and rock began breaking away from the hole in the top of the cavern and floating upwards. But that was far from it. Larger chunks of ground began to break away throughout the whole forest, more holes in the cave being made as large pieces of the ground broke away and ascended to the sky.

The trio of survivors, though further down the cave, heard everything. They stopped in their tracks when they heard the echo of Chrysalis’ laughter, ready to continue defending themselves. When the ground shook, they frantically looked around, wondering what was happening, before continuing down the cave at a much faster pace. When it came to the phase of the ground breaking away and floating to the sky, they stopped in their tracks at the sudden change, and they got a good look at the rift through one of the holes above.

“What the-“ Spike muttered.

“We have to go!” exclaimed Starlight.

Just then the ground shook, this time much more severely as if they were caught in an earthquake. More of the ground above them broke away, completely exposing them to the surface above.

They started to run, but their chance was cut short when a massive area of the cave broke free and ascended, the trio standing right in the center of it all. Spike and Starlight ran to the edge of what practically became a floating island, Starlight’s pace a little slower due to Pinkie. By the time Spike got there, they were already higher than the trees. He could see more of the world’s soil breaking free and floating, turning the forest and most likely beyond into some sort of skylands. Already a good portion of the forest had been affected, with many spots untouched.

“What’s happening?!” he panicked.

“I don’t know!” Starlight answered frantically. “It must have gotten powerful enough to open a rift! It’s tearing Equestria apart!”

“We can’t be too late!”

“We’re not going to be! Look!”

Starlight raised her hoof and pointed to something in the distance. Far from where they stood, but could just barely be seen levitating out of the ground, was a structure. One that seemed to ring a bell to them.

“Is that… it?” Pinkie managed to ask.

“I… I think it is!” Spike said, beginning to beam. “But how are we going to get there?”

Starlight’s horn lit, her eye brow raised.

“Oh yeah,” Spike said. “Alright Starlight. Get us there!”

Her horn got brighter, ready to teleport them away, when a shrieking roar suddenly echoed.

“What… what was that?” Pinkie squeaked.

“Starlight! Get us out of here!” Spike shrieked.

Something collided right into the mass of land, instantly breaking it apart and taking away the only thing the survivors stood on, sending them bumping into rock and earth as they plummeted to the ground below.

Comments

[ScorchingFlamesInc]

Note: This isn’t the end of the battle with Chrysalis. There’s going to be more next chapter.

[stag the story teller]

Can flutters not be a bitch and join them in the fight if only for the fact that she could claim them as her rightfull victims?

[AllenVth]

They're so close. These three really are the only hope left.

[Josh1988]

I'm really loving this! Can't wait for the next chapter!