Author's Note

Small Ret-Con in last chapter :). Sorry this took so long school is just hard!

Much Hammer. Very Demon. Wow

I saw very quickly why the room was so large. The monster slowly sliding out of the doorway was huge, barely managing to fit through the doorway, It wasn't as scary as I thought it would, considering how massive the damn thing was. The monster was some sort of rock creature, looking like someone took a bunch of boulders and glued them together using magic. From the waist up it looked solid, but below the rock twisted and turned, looking more like gravel and wet cement then rock.

The creature's face was literally made from granite, but it still managed to remain expressive. It's eyes were full of rage, and a grimace seemed to be carved on to its face. The body had lines crossing all over it, small cracks that seemed to make it more life-like. It still didn't seem like it should exist, much less be alive, but then again neither should I.

It cast its gaze over the room, searching for something. After passing over the room several times it turned to me and spoke. "Little one, I shall ask only once: where has the Corrupter gone? Answer honestly, and you shall be spared."

I was glad that I hadn't taken the talisman off before coming here. "It flew away, towards the Crystal Empire, most likely." I answered, hoping to get this over with before it decided that I looked like something that might be fun to squish.

It rumbled, causing the entire room, and everything in it, to shake. "The Crystal Empire, you say? Then shall I assume that Sombra has returned?"

"I honestly have no idea. But you should probably check it out, and quick just in case."

It glared at me, almost as if it was searching for something. "Hold, little one. I smell something afoul around you, the same as around the Corrupter."

I tried to convince him that it wasn't me. "Oh no, that's probably just the altar. After all, the thing had been there for awhile!"

The creature moved forward, sniffing. "I can smell it's foul stench in the air!"

"Like I said," trying to calm the thing, "it had been here for a while, so I'm sure you can smell it! Though, actually how do you smell? You have no nose! Even better, what the heck are you?"

"I am a Lǐr, Guardian of Land, Protector of the Pure."

Oh just great, someone who hates people who are corrupted, just like me. This should be fun. "Can't say I've ever heard of something like you. But I digress and you're wasting time. You need to chase the creature before it gets away."

The Lǐr glared even more, sniffing again. "No, little one, I think not. For I can sense corruption nearby. And it's coming from you." He lowered his arms, slowing forming hands. Closed hands.
"The Corruption must be destroyed, and that includes you little one. Prepare yourself."

The Lǐr launched itself at me, the ground rumbling as it moved. I turned and ran, hoping to God I could get away. Of course, I forgot that the thing was basically an Earth Elemental, meaning I was a little more than surprised when a slab of rock appeared before me. Surprised and in pain. Slamming into a solid wall of rock is never pleasant. Shaking off the pain, I turned around just in time to duck under a fist. The thing moved faster than should have been possible, considering it was a fucking rock. It brought it's arm back and swung at me again, slamming the ground hard enough to cause little shockwaves to radiate out of the ground.

"Hold still, Corrupted! I shall cleanse you!"

It's lower body began to flow towards me, reaching out for me. I tried to jump away, but as soon as I jumped so did the gravel, and I was snatched out of the air like a bird caught in a spiders web. The gravel slowly began to cover me, hardening painfully before I lost feelings in my limbs. This was a rather shitty way to end.

"Maybe now would be a good idea to use your powers?"

I mentally face palmed, realizing that I could have just blasted the creature the moment it tried to attack me. Focusing on my power, I shot it out of my skin, blowing up the parts of me that had been caught in the creature's gravel. The explosion knocked the Lír back, and I decided to try something new. I imagined that wings grew out of my back, and channeled as much magic into the thought as possible. After a second of thinking, a huge pain grew in my back, and I fell some sort of bulges spread out, ripping through skin and reattaching bone as they forced their way out. I nearly screamed in pain, but thankfully I finished the transformation without sounding like a wuss. I flapped my new wings and managed to gain some altitude. I knew it wouldn't be enough to beat him, but it was a good start. Turning around, I tossed a ball of shadowflames into his face, and threw myself even higher. I had to be careful because I didn't actually know when the ceiling ended, but being higher was better than being near him.

His screams of pain sounded like music to my ears as he tried to swat the flames out. I took advantage of his lapse in attention and attacked again, hitting his body this time. While it didn't do as much as hitting him in the face, it was a nice start. I decided to try and do something tricky. Focusing all my power into my hands, I closed my eyes and imagined a ball of energy forming inside of it. While I was busy focusing on this, he had managed to get most of the flames out, and lowered his body for a launch at me.

As soon as he kicked off the ground I threw the ball of energy, hoping it would be enough to stop him. It slammed into his face, and kept going, causing him to be thrown back in pain. The ball went all the way through him, and when they hit the ground, it became solid, forcing the elemental to stay on the ground. Panting, I allowed myself to smile, hoping that that would be the end of the fight.

I turned around and began to flap my wings, hoping to get a decent way away before the creature broke free, or before I touched the ground. You could never be too careful after all.

"Did you really think I could be so easily bested Little One?" it rumbled behind me.

I swallowed loudly and turned to face the creature once again. It's wounds were healing in front of my eyes, and even worse it was already breaking free of the trap I had set it. I knew I couldn't wait for it to get back up before I attacked, so I did the only thing I could do. Using my magic I summoned a giant magic hammer, and flew towards the creature. As soon as I got close enough I summoned a shield around my body and swung the hammer. The Lǐr raised its arm and blocked the attack, but it managed to crack his arm and break several small pieces off. I felt myself getting weaker, and decided I needed to end this fight. Focusing, I sent huge bursts of power into my arms and chests, forcing the muscles to get bigger. As soon as I looked like I had tree trunks for arms, I flew back and began swinging again.

Being forced to pay attention to me as opposed to healing itself and getting free, I quickly began breaking the Lǐr down. Small pieces came off first, and then larger and larger ones, until eventually its chest was bared towards me. lining up my shot, I brought the hammer back and swung like a golf club. Striking the thing in the chest, I launched it backwards, making it slide across the floor. Losing the wings, I touched down on the ground and walked towards it. Its chest was open and inside stood a crystal, pure brown. Light flickered dimly inside it, and I could see the creature wasn't going to survive another hit. I readied my hammer, but something inside me made me stay my hammer. If I was correct, the thing wasn't evil, I was. It only went after things that were corrupted. Which meant that if I let it live it would probably chase after me until it got me. Weighing the pros and cons of the each choice in my head, I lowered my hammer.

"Here's what is going to happen, I said to the creature, "you're going to go to the Crystal Empire and fight off the corruption, and you're going to leave me alone. In exchange I spare your life. Do we have a deal?" I asked, hoping it said yes. Otherwise I'd be forced to kill it.

It moaned, causing the ground around us to shake. Before I could lower my hammer and crack it's gem open however, it spoke to me. "I shall do as you ask, corrupted one. Beware however that other likes me shall hunt you down to put an end to your corruption."

I sighed and willed the hammer to disappear. To my surprise, it didn't. Instead, it seemed as though it had taken on an actual form of its own. I guess I had a new weapon now.
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I left the underground chamber following the markers I had made, and before long I found myself back in the courtyard. To my surprise it seemed as though only a few hours as had passed. It felt like days since I had been outside. Sitting down on the grass I decided to look give my new weapon a look. It only took me about two seconds to realize that I could never bring this back to Ponyville.

At the bottom there seemed to be some sort of small rounded ball, or gem. Looking closer I realized that it was glowing bright red and then switching out to black. The shaft was some sort of chain connected to an obsidian handle. However, the chain seemed to be able to hold the weapon up. Closing my eyes and focusing I heard a soft noise, and looking back, the weapon had fallen, becoming a flail. Focusing again, it righted itself, and I kept the inspection going. Where the chain connected to the head small spikes kept blades away, insuring it couldn't just be hacked off. The back of the head had long spikes covering it, making it a useful weapon to swing either way. It had one long spike that seemed sharper than the rest as well. The face is what made me never want to bring it home. The front had teh face of a demon. Long, open jaws gave it a monster-like appearance, and the sharp teeth didn't help. Horns and curved spikes came from the front as well, making sure that you didn't even need to get a direct hit to do damage. But the worst was the spike coming out from the mouth. Where the rest of the weapons was a balanced mix of red and black, the spike was gray, and sharp. Very sharp. All along it runes were inscribed, and it glowed faintly.

Yep, no way this was coming home with me, at least not with how it looked now. Focusing on the shaft of the weapon, I tried to get it to shrink down. As I watched, the chain contracted, pulling the entire weapon together, before somehow swallowing the head, until all that was left was the small handle. I kept focusing and tried to make it expand. The weapon shot right out, becoming the hammer in a blink of an eye. I kept switching between the two modes to make sure that I wouldn't have any surprises. As soon as I felt I had practiced enough I sheathed the weapon and began walking home. I realized that I'd have to go back through the small underground tunnel and I almost cried.