• Published 8th Dec 2012
  • 2,836 Views, 72 Comments

The Element of Corruption - Fyronarion



When dark thoughts corrupts Twilight, she starts exploring the truth about her friends.

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Surprise!

As the trio walked on, the snow seemed to lessen. The icy wind was stinging Twilight’s face as she followed her older brother through a small bush. Soon, they made a left at a pine tree and spotted a large cave entrance. Twilight was the first to notice the light of the flames bouncing around inside, and as they got closer, the seductive aroma of a well-cooked meal. Her mouth began to water, and so did Onyx’s, as he licked his lips in anticipation.

Finally, they reached a cave where the encampment was located. Once they went inside, it was cozy and dry. A single campfire lay there, throwing sparks in the air as the smoke wafted into the air and through small ventilation cracks in the ceiling of the cave. Flat stones were propped around the fire, and a pink alicorn was busy with the fire, not noticing the three ponies that just came in.

“Hello Cadence. Where’s Slipstream?” said Shining Armor as he walked in. Cadence looked up to see him and she nodded to acknowledge his presence..

“He went off to get more firewood. Take a seat, I just made these toasted oats. Slipstream found them while he was searching the galley of the ship.” she said. Shining nodded as he took a seat on the flat stone, stretching his legs in comfort. He motioned for Twilight and Onyx to take a seat. Both of them sat down. Onyx stared at the skillet as Cadence cooked the oats, but Twilight stared at her brother.

“There’s something off about you...” she noted, looking at him. Shining Armor almost fell off his seat when she said that.

“W-what? T-there’s nothing wrong with me!” he said hotly. From the campfire, Cadence shot him a scathing look, her eyes flashing teal before switching back to pink. He gulped. Twilight shook her head.

“Never mind. It’s probably the snow playing with my eyes.” she said. He breathed in relief and looked at her owlishly.

“Yeah....so, um..we’re going back to Canterlot.” he said. Twilight nodded, deep in thought. Onyx’s head snapped up when he said that.

“Of course we’re going back to Canterlot! Why do you sound so hesitant?” he asked, confused.

Cadence and Shining Armor exchanged dark glances with each other before turning to Twilight. They ignored Onyx’s remark.

“We will go to Canterlot. That is the plan-”

“Hey guys, I finished tying up- I mean, I got the firewood!” said a voice. Slipstream appeared from the entrance of the cave,, balancing a pile of sticks on his back. Shining Armor facehoofed himself as he got up to help him with the wood stack. Cadence levitated the cooked oats to the small plates and they floated their way to Twilight and Onyx. Twilight’s plate is loaded with the oats, while Onyx received a measly amount. He glared at Cadence, but she ignored his eyes as she tended to the flames.

Twilight, being so hungry, ate ravenously. After a few minutes, her plate was wiped clean. The same went for Onyx’s food.

She leaned back, sleepy and with a full stomach. Now all she needs is a pony sized waterbed...

“You are full.” observed Cadence. Twilight nodded sluggishly.

“Yes. That was some good food.” she said. Cadence laughed, and Twilight swore she saw a set of fangs in her mouth. A blink later, it disappeared. She dismissed that as a trick of the eye.

However, Onyx didn’t miss that laugh. He saw the fangs. His eyes widened, before turning to Twilight. He was about tell her something when he felt a pair of strong hooves on his shoulder. He looked up to see Shining Armor standing there, smiling creepily.

“Relax, Onyx. Let the food settle. Now, you were saying Cadence?” said Shining Armor. Cadence nodded before looking at Twilight.

“We are going to Canterlot. You and your friend will come with us. Of course, you know when we are going to..ah..enter the castle and help Celestia...go somewhere, right?” she said. Twilight nodded, not hearing anything clearly. It wasn’t important to her. Cadence looked at Slipstream, and he nodded before turning around and trotting deeper into the cave before the darkness swallowed him whole..

Onyx was now in full blown panic as he gently nudged Twilight. Something was very wrong. Her eyes were starting to close, but his nudge jolted her awake.

“Yes mother, right after me and Smarty Pants have our hourly book time!” she yelled before falling asleep instantly. Shining laughed as Onyx poked her harder again.

This time, Twilight woke up with a “Ow!” and she looked at him crossly.

“I had a good dream!” she said. Onyx stood up, breathless.

“I..er..have to go. Nature’s calling.” he said. Shining Armor grasped him and forcefully pushed him down to the seat.

“Calm down. The food didn’t give you a bad stomach. Now, why don’t you sit and listen to our quee-I mean, my wife?” he said, his voice starting to be menacing. Onyx glanced helplessly at Twilight, who was fortunately awake to hear this. It then dawned on her that something is off. She jumped up and formed a defensive stance against Cadence, who had a meager expression on her face. Shining Armor quickly pulled Onyx up and held him with his hooves behind his back. Onyx yelped in pain.

“Who are you and what did you do to Cadence and my brother?” she said, her horn starting to glow.

“Why Twilight! I never thought you would treat your old foalsitter like that!” exclaimed Cadence, standing up and trotting towards her. Twilight walked back, still keeping her horn aimed at her.

“Stop! If you come any closer, I will vaporize you!” she warned, channeling her magic aura through the horn to add an even threatening effect.

“She’s not kidding.” added Onyx, who was being held by Shining Armor. Cadence snickered.

“Ha. You are so gullible Twilight. I had my doubts when one of my minions created this plan. I thought you would never fall for it. But here you are now..” she hissed, ignoring Twilight’s warning and making her way towards her. Twilight looked at her in anger.

“I guess I have no choice.” she said before leaping forward and unleashing a bolt of magic. The entire cave was lit with purple light as the spell flew through the air towards Cadence. She disappeared in a burst of greenish fire and where she once was, the spell flew by and impacted with the cave wall, taking a chunk out. Twilight looked around frantically for her.

“Where did she go?!” she said, her eyes darting around the cave. As soon as she had said that, a burst of green temporarily blinded her as a pink hoof caught her by the horn. Twilight screeched in pain as she felt the surge of magic she once had stop. Cadence has grabbed Twilight by the horn.

“No!” shouted Onyx, fighting against Shining Armor, who was struggling to hold him back.

Cadence laughed maniacally as green fire started to form around her. It soon engulfed her entire form until it faded away, revealing a black carapace with holes around the legs. Her colorful mane turned dark teal, followed by an addition of fangs and a sinister horn. The same went for Shining Armor as he magically morphed into a changeling. He seemed familiar, until Twilight’s eyes opened wide.

“Nucleon? What are you doing? Set us free!” she shouted. Nucleon shook his head.

“I will not disobey my Queen. I’m sorry, Twilight.” he said, turning his gaze away from her. Twilight balled her hooves in anger.

“You-”

Chrysalis laughed gleefully as she held onto Twilight, which interrupted her. She twitched when Chrysalis did that.

“Dear dear. It appears that Twilight has betrayed us. For what cause? You have chosen another wrong path, and now you will be punished for it. Nightmare would be pleased to see you in chains.” she rasped.

Twilight only whimpered as the pain and magic was starting to slowly build up around her horn. Sooner or later, it will explode due to the amount of magical pressure being held.

From the corner of his eyes, Onyx saw that Nucleon had loosened his grip on him. He was also distracted.

Now’s my chance he thought.

Onyx quickly released himself from his grasp and punched Nucleon in the face. He collapsed on the ground, unconscious from that one-hit knockout. Chrysalis averted her gaze from Twilight to see that incident. In doing so, she released her grasp on Twilight’s horn, which allowed Twilight to stumble away from her. Onyx soon reached her side as both of them backed away from a very angry Chrysalis.

“That was not clever, but I admire your bravery.” said Twilight. Onyx blushed in the light that they might be killed.

“Two ponies! I wonder how love will taste like from both of you!” said Chrysalis in anticipation, licking her lips as she made her way towards them. Onyx turned to Twilight.

“Got any magic spells? Something that will kill a changeling queen and save us from this place?” he asked. Twilight shook her head.

“I know a couple, but my head hurts too much. I can’t even cast a simple levitation spell, let alone do a teleportation or vaporization spell.” she said sadly.

“Yeah, I can’t cast any spells either. I think the food we ate probably sapped us of our magical energy-”

“Enough talking! Both of you will die!” shouted Chrysalis, leaping towards them. As she flew at them, her fangs bared, a rainbow blur tackled her and she crashed into a pile of rocks. Chrysalis had a dazed expression on her face when she got up, rubbing her head.

“Huh? What? Who did that?!” she snapped. A cyan pegasus landed in front of Onyx and Twilight, her wings out in defensive position.

Rainbow Dash grinned at the Changeling Queen, who instantly recognized her.

“The Element of Loyalty! You have come to help your friend that stabbed you in the back?” she said indignantly. Dash’s grin dropped as she looked at Twilight, who kept her eyes down in shame.

“I’ll admit that saving Twilight is the last thing on my mind. But she was once my friend, and we did have good times when she helped us organize Ponyville. So yeah, I’m helping her out.” said Rainbow Dash. Twilight felt her eyes water. Rainbow Dash, coming back to her after she left her side? She was touched.

Chrysalis just laughed.

“You are hilarious. I suppose another source of love won’t do any harm either. You cannot take me down by yourself!”

“Maybe I can’t. But I do have a couple of friends.” she replied before putting her hoof in her mouth and letting off a sharp whistle that echoed throughout the cave. A moment of silence soon followed, until the wall in front of them rumbled violently before collapsing, sending a storm of dust everywhere. After the dust cleared out, it revealed a soot covered Applejack and a very cross-looking Trixie, who was trying to brush the dust off her hat and cape.

“She’s not alone!” shouted Applejack, taking a step forward. Trixie nodded as she took a stance, lowering her horn defensively. Twilight wondered who she was. Chrysalis giggled.

“Another two! You are really asking for a death wish, aren’t you?” she said, ridiculing them. As if she asked for something, a loud yell of laughter can be heard. Twilight’s ears perked up. That cheerful laughter sounded familiar...

From the entrance, a slow yellow figure was flying slowly with a pink figure on top, which was goading it to go faster. A closer look shows a very exhausted Fluttershy carrying an ecstatic Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy crashed into the ground as Pinkie dismounted from her. She looked at Fluttershy apologetically before turning to the group.

“Make that three!” she yelled. Fluttershy raised her head weakly and muttered “Four.” before passing out. The Queen of the Changelings is now showing visible fright to the reinforcements.

“I-I can handle all of you!” she sputtered.

It was like Celestia was listening to her as a spark of white light flashed across the cave before it dimmed. Where the spark was now stood Rarity with Spike holding onto her back.

“Five times the charm.” said Rarity, fixing her mane from the spell. Spike was still clinging onto her, his eyes closed and his teeth chattering. She turned to him and told him it was safe to dismount, and he shakily got off.

Chrysalis was in full blown panic. The six mares were slowly closing onto her. Since she wasn’t cornering Twilight and Onyx, they slipped behind the ponies. She looked around and looked up. Strangely, she burst into a wide grin. The mares were confused.

“Why are you smiling? I mean, smiling is great but why are you doing it now?” demanded Pinkie Pie. Applejack looked to where Chrysalis was smiling at and gasped. High above, encased in teal colored shells were the real Shining Armor, Princess Cadence and Slipstream. They had surprised looks on their faces as the light reflected off of them. Rainbow Dash looked at Applejack and followed her gaze before gasping, taking a step back. All the ponies followed suit.

Unfortunately, this was enough time for Chrysalis to take advantage of them. Her horn glowed, signalling the nearest changelings to come. Slipstream landed next to her. A burst of green flame followed, until Nucleon appeared by his side. Slipstream’s hide slowly started to dissipate until it disappeared in a greenish hue and was replaced by a gleaming black carapace. One of Chrysalis’ drones was soon hissing at them.

“These two drones are my best fighters. Let’s see you handle them!” boasted Chrysalis before the air around her shimmered. She soon disappeared with a few sparks, leaving the Elements with the two changelings, who were walking towards them, backs arched. Nucleon’s horn glowed until a swarm formed around the ponies. He chuckled.

“Oh, this is going to be easy.” he said with a sinister voice. As soon as Spike saw the army of changelings that appeared before them, he turned tail and ran out of the cave, yelling something that sounded like “Sweet tiara of Celestia!”

Rarity shook her head, muttering “Silly Spike.”

Nucleon growled. His clones copied him.

“Prepare to die!” he shouted, lunging towards them. Now the action begins!

A drone was flying towards Fluttershy, who quickly covered her eyes. Before it even reached her, a strong set of legs bucked it into oblivion. The changeling crashed into the wall and exploded into pieces of lint. Fluttershy removed her hooves from her eyes and saw Applejack smiling at her. She grabbed her by the hooves and lifted her up.

“C’mon, Shy. Let’s destroy them!” encouraged Applejack.

“Um ok. As long as it doesn’t hurt.” mumbled Fluttershy as she flew behind Applejack.

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie was piloting a very dangerous Rainbow Dash. The duo made a frightening mix of speed, agility and chaos. As Rainbow Dash flew past a changeling, Pinkie swung out her rolling pin and smashed it over the drone’s head. It fell down before disappearing into a pile of lint.

“Weeeeeeeeee!” shouted Pinkie, waving a bloodied rolling pin. Dash quickly swerved above to avoid a magic spell from one of the drones below.

As the two mares were causing havoc above, Rarity and Trixie were having fun casting strange and unpleasant spells on their enemies.

“Hmm..I think a new dress will do.” said Rarity, her horn releasing another barrage of spells that transformed the nearest drones into piles of fabric that fluttered in the breeze. Trixie laughed at that until a drone snuck up and grabbed Rarity by the throat. Thrashing helplessly against the changeling’s grasp, the drone proceeded to cut her throat. Before it could do that, a large claw reached out and smashed the changeling into a pulp. Rarity fell to the ground, gasping for air. When she looked up, she saw Trixie’s horn glowing as she controlled a spirit bear that was ripping through the sea of changelings like a bulldozer. Rarity smiled in relief and reminded herself to thank Trixie for the unexpected help as she punched one of the drones that was trying to reach out for her.

Nearby, Applejack was bringing down changelings, Apple family style. She grappled with one of the drones, who was begging for mercy under her headlock. Applejack choked it to death and wiped sweat from her brow. She glanced at Fluttershy, who had a group of petrified changelings lying around her. The Stare seemed to be very effective against them, as they quickly turned into stone as soon as they met her eyes.

While Applejack was looking at her, she heard a bang behind her, and felt confetti land on her. She turned around to see a changeling struggling under a pile of pastries. Apparently, it tried to sneak up to her, but failed. Applejack looked up to see Pinkie sitting on Rainbow Dash’s back, manning a mini party cannon. As she watched, Pinkie swung the cannon around and fired with a deafening bang of pastry aroma and streamers. A group of changelings were instantly wiped out by the baked bads.

“Captain, targets have been eliminated!” said Pinkie. Rainbow Dash laughed gleefully.

“Readjusting flight route.” replied Dash, and both of them flew off to decimate another group of drones.

Twilight and Onyx were not part of the fight, but they were doing the most important task: Freeing their imprisoned friends.

As Onyx worked on breaking the seal holding Cadence, Twilight has already succeeded in releasing her brother. Shining Armor gasped as he looked around wildly.

“Where am I? The last thing I remember was this awful shade of black-”

“Brother! Help us free the others!” said Twilight, pointing towards the others encapsulated. Onyx already freed Cadence, who was gazing down silently. Shining Armor struggled against the cocoon and broke out of it. He moved on to Slipstream’s capsule while Cadence flew towards Twilight.

“What happened, Twilight? And what’s going on down there-”

“No time to explain, Cadence! We have to get you and my brother out of here. My friends are distracting the changelings below, but they won’t last long. Both of you have to leave now!” said Twilight quickly. Cadence looked affronted, but she nodded her head understandingly. She flew over to Shining Armor and they had a quick discussion before he got onto her back. He turned to Twilight.

“Go to Canterlot. We’ll have a proper chat there. I’ll see you later, Twily. You’ll make me proud.” he said. Twilight smiled at that compliment as she bade her brother goodbye. Cadence flew off with surprising speed, and soon both of them disappeared outside of the cave. She then turned to Onyx and Slipstream, who were cleaning up the stragglers in the battle. Fortunately, her friends survived the skirmish with only a few bruises and scars. Just when Twilight was about to regroup with them, the cave shuddered. Pieces of rocks and stalagmites fell from the ceiling. Everypony looked around in confusion until Applejack yelled out “The cave is collapsing!”

Hell broke loose as the six ponies quickly galloped towards the entrance, jumping over wounded drones and dodging falling debris as the cave went down. Twilight too flew after them, followed by Onyx and Slipstream. As the entrance came closer, a huge piece of rock fell on top of Twilight, knocking her out.

Slipstream ran for the entrance, but Onyx stopped and grabbed hold of Twilight, dragging her through the cave. Slipstream turned back to see Onyx carrying her. At this rate, the entire cave will be on top of them if they don’t make it in time. The six mares are already safe, waiting outside for them.

“There’s no time, Onyx! Leave her!” shouted Slipstream.

“No!” yelled back Onyx as he avoided a dangerously sized rock that fell near him. Slipstream cursed to himself as he ran back into the cave to help Onyx pull Twilight out.

“If we die down here, I’m blaming you for this.” said Slipstream. Onyx only gave him a hollow smile as the cave fell around them before darkness swallowed them whole...

Author's Note:

Escaping from a collapsing cave. Sounds fun!
Also, hope you guys like the new cover! It was created by PiplupM. Go visit his deviantART @ piplupm.deviantart.com
If anything wrong is found in the story, please tell me in your comment.
Wondering how Twilight's friends found her in the cave? It will be explained in the next chapter. I'm not going to leave a gaping hole and confuse the reader!