Equestria's Corruption

Twilight's POV------------------------------

After the spectacle inside her house, Twilight needed some time to think. Things had spiraled out of control extremely fast and if Fluttershy hadn't interfered Dennis and Rainbow Dash could have really hurt each other. Twilight could only thank Celestia Dennis had a miniscule amount of restraint, other wise things could have gotten real messy, real fast.

Twilight pondered on whether to go after Dennis or not. Calming Rainbow Dash down was probably a bigger priority than tracking down an emotional colt, as Rainbow Dash was a bearer of the Element of Loyalty. Even so Dennis was a big help as well as he knew how to combat the Corruption and it's monsters.

Twilight eventually decided to find him and at least get to him before something set him off. She looked over her options to accompany her. Rainbow was out for obvious reasons, Applejack might help, although if Dennis turned snarky she might go off. Fluttershy was out again, Dennis seeing her might not exactly help. Rarity was out because she was helping calm down Rainbow Dash, so that left Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie, come on I need your help with something," Twilight said, and Pinkie Pie bounced over to her and they went on their way.

"So Twilight watta' we gonna' do, are we gonna' fight Ocram, ooohhh or maybe get more silver from the giant eye with the mouth, or maybe-"  Twilight cut her off with a wave of her hoof.

"We're going to find Dennis,"  Pinkie Pie gave her a confused look,

"Okie dokie lokie but wasn't he kinda mean to Dashie, I mean ponies can get grumpy sometimes, OH like remember the time I turned GREY!?" Pinkie asked giggling.

"Well the way they handled the argument was definitely the WRONG way, but I don't care if Dennis says he hands out ice cream to foals, ponies do some crazy things under circumstance..." she said trailing off.

"Ohh ohh ohh, like that time my mane turned all funny and I started talking to inanimate objects and went all cookoo lookoo on you?!" she asked excitedly.

"Yeah, we'll go with that," Twilight said, eyeing Pinkie the rest of the way. When they arrived at the outskirts of the Everfree Forest they suddenly heard shouting and yelling near them and followed the sound of the voices to find Dennis locked in combat with what seemed to be ponies dressed in armor. "OH MY CELESTIA!" Twilight yelled, "IS- IS HE FIGHTING THE ROYAL GUARD!?" She asked.

It was hard to see because they were partly hidden from the trees but she could see Dennis' golden blade making a large ark in the air and was lodged into a helmet of a pony with a sickening THUNK! Twilight was about to rush in and help the guards until she saw the pony that Dennis had killed wasn't actually a pony, but rather a sentient suit of armor!

The suit disappeared in a large puff of black smoke, and Dennis turned to another one, sinking the shimmering sword into the suit's chest plate. Two more suits of armor tried to attack him from behind, and since the first suit hadn't disappeared yet, Dennis couldn't dislodge his blade. Before the suits could attack, a large BOOM surrounded the area. Everypony, (Including Dennis.) looked in Twilight's direction and Twilight herself turned to the left to see Pinkie Pie with her party cannon pointed strait in the air.

Dennis was quick enough to realize it was a distraction and pulled his blade from the armor. Sending it flying at one suit, while spamming Demon Scythes at the other. The golden sword got lodged into the suit of armor's helmet, right between the eyes, and the Demon Scythes ripped through the other. Dennis was unscathed save for only a few minor bruises and scrapes. He looked down at where the suits used to be.

"Ten against one, that wasn't fair, I wasn't even blindfolded," he boasted quietly and smirked, picking up his blade if gold and stashing

it in his saddle bag, before taking a small sip of the healing drink, and the small wounds healed instantly. Dennis quickly acknowledged that they were there. "Oh, hello," he said awkwardly.

"Hello?" Twilight said glaring at him. "After that bit of insanity back at the library and all you can say is 'hello'?" she asked. Dennis made a thoughtful face before looking her straight in the eye and saying,

"Yep," he said.

"Do you have any idea what happened since you picked that fight?" Twilight asked.

"No," Dennis said, and Twilight was glad to see at least a sliver of guilt on his face.

"We had to talk Rainbow Dash out of trying to follow you, then we had to calm her down so she could at least be in the same room with you without ripping your face off MUCH LESS AGREEING TO COOPERATE WITH YOU!" she yelled.

"I'm sorry Twilight, but if I didn't let off some steam, the EXACT SAME THING would have happened!" he pleaded with her. Twilight, despite how angry she was, had to agree. Letting the both of them work off their anger rather than them at each others neck.

"What were those things anyways?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Possessed Armor," he replied.

"Okay but why are they here?" Twilight added.

"Ocram," Dennis replied, as if that answered everything. Twilight sighed.

"Dennis we need to get back to the library," she said tiredly.

"All right, just make sure when I go in, Rainbow Dash doesn't try to murder me, alright?" he asked.

"Its all okay Dennis, a nice talk and a cupcake was all Dashie needed!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Um, whats a cupcake?" Dennis asked, an eyebrow raised at the mention of baked goods.

"WHAT?!" Pinkie almost roared, Dennis stepping back a bit. "YOU DONT KNOW WHAT A CUPCAKE IS!?" She yelled again.

"N-no we don't really have any sweet foods in Terraria!" Dennis exclaimed. Twilight giggled a bit. How did Dennis, who stood his ground against a giant killer eye with teeth, be scared of Pinkie Pie?!

"Well its only the most tasty-rrific, sweet-tastic, bestest, greatest, treat, EVER!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. Dennis gave a nervous smile at Pinkie. "Come on Dennis, we're going to Sugarcube Corner to show you what a Pinkie cupcake is like!" she yelled triumphantly.

"Sorry Pinkie Pie but there is something really important I need to show Dennis and the others first," Twilight said. Dennis frowned a bit but followed Pinkie's lead with a smile.

"C'mon Twilight, I'm sure it can wait, at least until I try one of these cupcakes," he said. Twilight wouldn't say it, but she mainly thought the largest reason he was agreeing to this was because he was a bit scared of Pinkie.

"Sorry but this involves the Corruption and that's more important than baked goods, I'm afraid," Twilight said, and immediately Dennis' face turned stone cold.

"Sorry Pinkie, but Twilights right, maybe another time," he offered. Pinkie temporarily looked sad, but perked up after a moment.

"Okie Dokie Lokie, as long as you try one before you leave," she said.

"Leave?" Dennis momentarily looked confused, but caught on quickly. "Oh right..." he said. Twilight gave him a worried look before teleporting them back to her house.

When they arrived all eyes turned towards Dennis who walked over to Rainbow Dash. "Hey, sorry about the way I acted earlier, are we cool?" he asked holding a hoof out. Rainbow looked at him hesitantly before saying.

"We're cool," and bumped her hoof against his.

"All right now that THATS all cleared up, everypony gather around the map," Twilight set out the map. It was borrowed from the princess, and had enchantments on it that showed where Corruption was. The dark purple represented the core of the Corruption, where it had started, and those were dotted around the map. The lighter shade of purple indicated where the Corruption had spread after initial start. Twilight looked at the map carefully and saw that where the larger settlements were, there were more violet spots dotted around them, than the smaller towns where the population was lower. Dennis saw this as well.

"Well isn't he a smart bastard..." he muttered.

"Dennis really, what vulgar language!" Rarity exclaimed.

"Sorry, but did you see what he did?" he asked pointing at the dots.

"Yeah actually, ah' do," Applejack said narrowing her eyes at the map. "He set up the Corruption so he could make it so the monsters are attackin' from all sides," Applejack said.

"Yeah, AJ is right, and if you have it around the place, how are ponies supposed to evacuate without getting ripped to pieces!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Oh my, maybe its just a coincidence?" Fluttershy hoped.

"I'd like to say that but what Ocram is doing, its way to organized to be a coincidence," Dennis said.

Twilight muttered in awe,

"So simple, yet so brilliant..." Dennis' eyes widened.

"Look at how many dots are around this Crystal Empire!" Dennis exclaimed. "He must want some real firepower and defense if he is trying to take a whole EMPIRE!" Dennis yelled.

"Dear, I know you're excited but could you stand to not yell in my ear?" Rarity winced.

"That's not the only reason Ocram would want it..." Twilight said, "Princess Celestia once told me that if happiness and light was at the Crystal Empire, that would reflect all across Equestria, but if darkness and fear took over..." she trailed off not needing to finish the sentence.

"So if the empire is corrupted..." Dennis said, horror plastered on his face.

"Then by theory, ALL of Equestria could become corrupted in a matter of seconds, or at least increase Corruption rate and monster spawn," Twilight said, looking at Dennis with the same expression of fear.

"Y'all are forgettin' one thing," Applejack said. "If we used the Elements of Harmony at the empire, we could revert the Corruption as well!" she exclaimed

"THATS IT!" Dennis screamed once again, "Its like a race, if we win it we can cleanse Equestria!" he exclaimed.

"But if we lose..." Twilight said.

"Dennis if you yell in my ear one more time you will be seeing stars, but you wont be looking at the sky," Rarity warned.

"Sorry Rarity," he said, quietly.

"All right, so we have our work cut out for us!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Ah' can start buckin' apples for food," Applejack said.

"I can start getting some maps and shortcuts memorized," Twilight said.

"I can start making us some heavy-duty saddlebags!" Rarity gushed.

"I-I can start memorizing the animals that live in that type of area, they could help us!" Fluttershy said happily.

"And I can make my party cannon even cannon-ier so we have a distraction!" Pinkie Pie said bouncing up and down.

"I can train to fly against even heavier winds so I can scout out paths for us!" Rainbow Dash said, eager to train.

"And I can use the silver I acquired to make us all armor!" Dennis exclaimed, his eyes glazing over at the thought of armor

"Oh ya, and weapons," he said, his eyes glazing even further.

"We can do this you guys, we have a mission, determination, and friendship!" Twilight cheered, and everypony else cheered in agreement.