Hammer and Harmony: Corruption

Rarity awoke in an unfamiliar tent, strapped down with ropes and facing the ceiling. Blinking her unconsciousness away, realized she was gagged and in a very compromising position. She looked around the room, and in one corner she saw her armor, but no sign of her rapier or disk. A sound from outside was heard as a griffin with blood red feathers entered the room.

It spoke in a voice that ran a shiver down, Rarity’s spine, “Ah, I see my Entertainment is awake. I guess I can begin.”

Rarity started to struggle and attempted to scream as the griffon placed himself on her with obvious intentions. She quickly used her magic to push the griffon off.

“A feisty one I see…” The griffon licked his beak, “I always did enjoy the feisty ones,” he said as he tried to force himself onto Rarity once more.

While fending him off, Rarity searched the room, desperately trying to find something to help her. Then, she found it, a small glimmer in the corner near her armor, a glimmer she recognized as her disk. Reaching out with her magic, she pulled the disk towards her, then slammed it against the griffon’s beak. He howled at the pain, sending him back several steps.

“You bitch!” the griffon cried, “I guess I’ll have to kill you first!” He dragged out a small sword from the tent wall, and brought it up to Rarity’s neck, freezing her in place.

“Ah, so now you’re going to be a good little pony, aren’t you?” He pressed the sword into her neck, almost drawing blood.
At this point, the stress proved too much, and she fainted below the bulk of the griffon.

Rarity awoke what seemed like a moment later to see the griffon now standing above her with a rather satisfied look on his face. Horror crept over her when as she realized what had happened, and why her body felt strange, and why her tail was now slightly blood stained. The horror flooded her, from nose to tail, until she shuddered.

All her life, she'd been generous, just like her mom and dad had told her. She even saved herself when the other fillies and colts committed acts after school and in barns all the time. But now, in an instant, this griffon . . . no, this thing . . . had taken all that away from her. The horror was replaced by an emotion completely unfamiliar to her, one she embraced wholeheartedly.

The griffon reached with his sword, intending to slice the throat of his used Entertainment, when he noticed a strange glow from the mare’s armor in the corner. Stopping what he was doing, he grabbed the armor. He found it hot, almost intolerable even to his tough talons. Glowing runes flitted over the armor, making indecipherable patterns until, in an instant, they stopped. There was only a single word…

Cruelty

Hearing a noise behind him, the griffon turned. To his shock, the mare had escaped her bonds, and held a shining disk in her magical grasp.

“They say it can take three minutes for somepony to die from a fatal wound,” Rarity said coldly, her voice empty, “Let’s see if I can make it longer.”

The griffon lunged at the mare, only to find himself painfully stopped in his tracks. The pony’s disk had disappeared, and now a thousand tiny needles stuck into his skin, each one on a pressure point or nerve cluster. Harder and harder they pushed, until he was in excruciating pain. The griffon tried to scream, but found he couldn’t. Something was painfully wrong with his lungs.

With renewed vigor from his rising anger and even faster-rising pain, the griffon tried to attack again, only to feel a prick in his back, causing him to collapse to the ground involuntarily. The griffon watched helplessly as the mare grabbed her glowing armor and put it on, strapping her rapier to her side.

She spoke once more, her voice still empty, “They say it can take five minutes before a pony or griffon dies from suffocation, as your lungs slowly fill with blood.” With a twitch of her eyes, the needles began to stab into an ever-growing number of sensitive places, multiplying his pain a hundredfold. He tried to scream, but could only suffer his torture in silence.

“Let’s test that.” Horror flooded the griffon, before getting drowned by pain.

The agony lasted an eternity, each placement of the tiny needles worse than the last. Every single nerve in his body was on fire in a way fire could only dream of, and still the pain grew. His mind shuddered within his skull at the agony. He pleaded within his mind for death, but it would never come.

As he felt his consciousness slip from the lack of air, Rarity spoke again, “You deserve so much worse . . . far, far worse . . . but I don’t have time.” She drew her rapier, her face and voice more empty than the blackest night. “So die.”

She drove her rapier through his eye, and into the ground beneath his head. He twitched violently, but quickly stilled.

Somehow, his death brought her no satisfaction. She wanted more, but nothing more could come from a corpse. Shuddering at the horror that pervaded her bones, she left the tent.

Rarity slowly trotted through the griffon camp, not looking at anyone. Griffons tried to attack her occasionally, but all of them met the same slow fate of painful paralysis and suffocation. As she walked through the camp towards the west, she left a trail of convulsing griffon bodies.

The witnesses spread more rumors that night, rumors of a pony capable of impossible cruelty. The called her ‘The Cruel Plague’ because of the way her victims died. These rumors only got worse for those who saw General Bloodbeak’s mutilated, bloody corpse.

“Whaddya mean Rarity got Foalnapped?” Spike asked the green unicorn angrily as they continued to put out the fire that threatened to spread through the camp.

The unicorn, who Spike now recognized as Lyra Heartstrings, answered “Right before the fire started, I saw a griffon fly off with a white unicorn on its back. I’m pretty sure it was Rarity, judging by the armor.”

As the unicorn finished talking, she dumped yet another bucket of water on a small patch of flame. Twilight Sparkle, who was also on fire duty, walked up.

“Good job, everypony!” Twilight said in a loud voice. “That’s the last of it. Now, everypony go get a good night’s rest.”

“I’m going after them, Twilight,” Spike said with certainty.

“Spike!” Twilight complained, “You can’t go after her. She’s deep in their army by now! They’ll kill you!”

Spike dipped down, and brought his face right in front of her before speaking with a power and determination that she never knew he had, “I. Will. Not. Lose. Her. If I die, then so be it. It’s better than living a life without her in it.” Without waiting for an answer, Spike spread his wings and lifted into the air with a powerful gust of wind.

Staring after the dragon, Twilight shook her head in anguish. She knew there was nothing to be done. She only hoped that they both came back.

A voice from behind her interrupted her morbid thoughts, “Twily! We need to talk,” Shining Armor came trotting up to Twilight.

“Shining! Is there something wrong?” Twilight asked, a note of confusion in her voice.

“Yeah… Listen, I just got a scouting report that said we have at least 5,000 Saddle Arabians on our southern flank. And now we have no supplies.” He paused, then shook his head, “Twilight we have to retreat to Canterlot. If we fight here, we lose the rest of the army, and then Equestria.”

Twilight shivered at the thought of the griffons winning the war, but Shining Armor wasn’t done, “I need somepony to lead a team, to defend our backs while we retreat. I need somepony I can trust, Twily. Go pick whoever you want, from whatever divisions, and make sure we get out of here.”

“Of course,” Twilight answered as she embraced her brother and looked to the night sky where Spike had disappeared. For the first time in her life, she prayed. To what, she didn’t know.

Bring her back, Spike. And yourself too.

Rarity trudged through the empty fields that separated the two armies, thoughts of murder and vengeance still heavy in her heart. Staring at the near-full moon, she wondered at the meaning of life, and why something so horrible could happen.

A large thunk in a nearby bush interrupted her pondering. With a thought, her disk turned into thousands of needles, which she sent crashing into the bush.

“Ow!” came a familiar voice from the assaulted bush.

“Sp-Spike? Is that you?” Rarity called hopefully, the voice shaking her out of her stupor.

“Yeah it’s me,” Spike answered as he stepped out of the bush, picking needles from his scales, “That hurt, you know.” He plucked another out of his snout.

Rarity galloped up to the dragon and threw herself into his arms, before beginning to cry.The crying grew into sobbing, then into full-on bawling.

“Hey what’s wrong? Everything’s going to be okay now,” Spike said as he stroked the mare’s mane with a careful talon. Sobs racked her from head to tail.

I’ve done this twice now, to two of my friends, Spike thought grimly. And a third won’t even talk to me. He sighed, smoke puffing from his nostrils. What’s this war doing to us?

After what seemed like an eternity, Rarity was able to speak through her sobs, “I...I don’t want to talk now… Let’s go back, Spike… I just . . . want to forget.” With a sigh of the weary, she fell asleep in the dragon’s arms.

Spike tightened his hold on her and lifted himself into the air, heading back towards the pony camp, his thoughts heavier than the precious cargo he carried.

Spike landed as softly as he could outside the intact but near empty medical tent, and deposited Rarity into a cot to sleep. Fluttershy quickly rushed over and tended to her minor wounds, before seeing the blood on Rarity’s tail.

She froze. She knew what happened. Such a despicable act was unheard of in Equestria, but when she’d joined the fight, the doctors had taught her the signs of rape, and Rarity satisfied all of them.

Spike was worried at Fluttershy’s frozen posture, “She’s going to be okay right?”

“I… I don’t know, Spike… Can you bring the others here please?”

Confused, Spike responded by flying off, calling behind him, “I’ll be right back.”

Moments later Spike returned with the other four ponies dressed in silver armor.

Twilight spoke first, “Thank goodness you found her, Spike. We were so worried about both of you,” she said, hugging the dragon.

“Where’d you find her?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“On her way back here, oddly enough. I’ve no idea how she escaped.”

“I… ummm… I do,” Fluttershy stuttered before continuing, “She’s under magical overload, and along with small wounds, it indicates she fought her way with her magic. Also her disk is stained in blood. Also umm… I’m not sure how to say this but ummm… I am pretty confidant that a griffon raped her before she escaped.”

This elicited gasps from all the other ponies in the tent, and growls from Spike and Rainbow Dash. Smoke poured from Spike’s nostrils.

A long stream of curses escaped Dash’s mouth before Fluttershy began to speak again, “It’s best to let her rest for now.”

“Alright, then. Everypony . . . go get some sleep.” Twilight then turned to Spike, “You too.”

In answer, the dragon curled up around the sleeping mare’s cot, determined to pass the night protecting her. The few hours of Luna’s night passed slowly, anxiety flooding those who were awake, and nightmares plaguing those who slept.

The next morning, Twilight assembled Rainbow Dash along with the entire wonderbolt squad for her special mission. The restless night before had proved useful, helping her determine the best strategy for defending the retreating army. She’d come up with a single plan: use all the speed they had to outmaneuver the griffons in the air, and the ground griffons would be too slow to catch up to the retreating ponies.

Speaking to the few dozen pegasi in front of her, Twilight spoke in a clear, loud voice, “Our mission is to protect the retreating army. You will, under no circumstances, endanger yourselves, but instead act to distract and delay the enemy griffons. Any questions?”

“No Ma’am!” they responded.

Nodding her approval, she spread her wings. “Let’s go, then!”

As one, three dozen ponies lifted into the air . . . just as they saw a hundred griffons do the same across the plains. Unlike most combat, there was no ‘first contact’ that shattered the silence. Instead, the pegasi avoided actual combat, and instead went for annoying and distracting the griffons.

Twilight was not a fast flyer. Certainly, she was better than, say, Fluttershy, but she couldn’t hold a candle to the gathered Wonderbolts. Then again, she didn’t really need to either. She had magic on her side. Bolts of arcane energy flew against the griffons which incapacitated them, but at a thousand feet in the air, that meant certain death.

Sometimes, a wonderbolt would fall to injury, or a well-timed griffon strike, and would retreat. In one case, a stallion by the name of Rapidfire fell to the ground, dead from a griffon sword. This particular event had dire consequences for the attackers, who had just received reinforcements.

Rainbow Dash stared in horror at the body of Rapidfire on the ground far below. The griffons had killed a wonderbolt, one of her idols from fillyhood. Not only that, but they’d raped Rarity and mentally scarred Fluttershy for life.

She would stand for it no longer. She built up speed as she approached the incoming griffons, which caused some of the enemies to laugh at the mare and raise their weapons. Blue light began to flood the sky, drawing eyes of the griffon army below. Runes began to encircle the mare as she kept going, nearing the enemy. The runes settled on one word:

Vengeance

Without thought and on pure instinct, Rainbow Dash reacted only feet away from the company of at least a hundred griffons. She stopped instantly and flicked out her wing blades, feeling a crackle of energy. In one smooth stroke, she touched the blades together as she would two feathers.

The blades glowed red, and from a cloudless sky, emitted the largest lightning bolt ever witnessed. It struck her blades, before being redirected into the awaiting company of griffons.

Rainbow Dash watched in satisfaction as all the griffons fell to their deaths, electrocuted and smoldering from the bolt. Realizing how bad of a position she’d put herself in, she quickly retreated back to rest of the wonderbolts as more griffons came after her.

As Twilight watched Rainbow Dash kill so many with a single move, she felt a cold chill down her spine. The feeling worried her, because she enjoyed the idea that so many of those who hurt her friends were now gone.

Her thoughts quickly changed as she saw 20 griffons chasing Rainbow Dash with murderous intent, to avenge their comrades. Dash rolled, dropped, and did everything to dodge the griffins, but pegasi and griffons were evenly matched when it came to flying.

Thoughts invaded Twilight’s mind as she saw her friend being hunted down in front of her. On a normal day, she would call these thoughts evil, thoughts of murder and hatred. But today, they were justified.

As these thoughts continued to roil in Twilight’s mind, she didn’t notice that her own armor had started glowing blue with runic symbols. Spreading her wings, Twilight took to the air and rushed the oncoming griffons, bypassing Rainbow Dash in the process. The griffons drew their weapons as Twilight was only moments from death. The runes solidified on one word:

Hatred

As that rune made its mark, Twilight’s eyes glowed green and blackness poured from her eyes and mouth. A sickly flash of black and green magic came from her horn, striking the griffons.

In mid-flight, the griffons decomposed. Their feathers crumbled to dust, the flesh rotted off their bones, and then the bones themselves were ground to dust. It blew by Twilight harmlessly.

That proved too much for the other pursuing griffons, deciding that a court-martial was much better than the death facing them. They retreated to their own camp.

Rumors of ponies with . . . otherworldly strength . . . spread through the griffon army as they marched towards Canterlot. All had a name:

‘The Lightning Caller’, who pulled lightning from a clear blue sky.

‘The Princess of Demons’, who turned her enemies into dust.

‘The Cruel Plague’, who froze her enemies in agonizing pain before they suffocated.

‘The Harbinger’, who could command death with a glance.

’The Banshee of Baltimare’, who instilled despair into any who heard her voice.

And ‘The Blood Mare of Appleloosa’, who had a metal Hydra-beast in her tail, and slaughtered as easily as she breathed.

Rumors of these six mares who seemed to hold the power of the gods spread throughout the army like wildfire, demoralizing them. The few brave griffons and Saddle Arabians who had any sense decided to abandon the cause.

After all, there’s no point fighting demons and banshees. Especially when it looked like the Gods themselves were behind them. Slowly, the griffon army began to shrink.