A Few Good Ponies

Canterlot Castle Dungeon

1200hrs

A royal guard patrolled a dimly lit room lined with steel barred doors deep beneath the castle. Hearing a strange noise, he walks over to one of the cells. Peering inside, he notices a unicorn stallion lying on the floor of the cell. As the guard watches, the unicorn rises to his hooves in an almost mechanical movement, his eyes now glowing with an alarmingly bright green color. Before the guard can react, a black tendril shoots from the unicorn's horn, smashing through the magic suppressing wards on the cell with a loud 'crack' before striking him between the eyes, and knocking him to the floor. After a few seconds the guard rises from the floor, a flash of green sparking across his eyes before disappearing. In the cell the unicorn lies dead on the floor, a smoking crater on his head where his horn used to be.

The guard quickly levitated a key ring from a hook on his armor, before running to each cell and unlocking them. In minutes a large group of ponies assemble behind the guard as he moves toward a large steel barred door. The only exit to the room. On the other side of the door, a guard's eyes widen as he sees the mass of ponies moving toward him. He quickly runs down the hallway as the unicorns in the group move forward, their horns glowing, and an eerie smile plastered across their faces. As he flees out of sight, a loud explosion is heard, and the reinforced metal door is blasted off its hinges, flying across the room before smashing into the far wall with a loud bang.

With nothing standing in their path, the corrupted ponies rush forward, swarming down the hallway in the wake of the fleeing guard.

Canterlot Castle

1230

Luna sat next to a visibly exhausted Celestia, a pair of colorful glowing orbs levitating in front of her. As she works, a brown orb slowly shrinks as energy flows from it into its dark blue companion. Once the transfer is completed a sweating Luna extinguishes her horn. The orbs quickly fly back to their respective owners, the diminished brown one disappearing into Screech, and the blue one into Lightning.

At this point Celestia is barely conscious, having used her considerable magic reserves to immunize both Twilight and Sunrise. A door opens, and a panting unicorn guard runs in. His normally pristine gold armor is marred with scorch marks, some of them still smoking. Stopping a few feet in front of the group, he takes a deep breath before speaking.

“Princesses, prisoners have escaped the dungeon! We have been holding them back, but they are slowly gaining ground, turning us against ourselves!” Yelled the guard.

Celestia nodded. “Take these ponies with you and rejoin the fight. They cannot be corrupted like the others.”

The guard hurried from the room, now with 5 ponies in tow. As the group entered a hallway, the sounds of fighting could be heard echoing throughout the castle. As the group grew closer to the noise, the sounds of screaming, explosions, and the clash of metal on metal became more distinguished. As they rounded a corner, they found themselves in the midst of an intense battle. It was difficult to tell the two sides apart as they clashed, many identical in appearance on account of their enchanted armor.

Twilight lit her horn, casting a wave of purple magic that spread through the room. When it came into contact with ponies, it caused several of them to become surrounded with a purple aura.

“I may not have found a solution, but that doesn't mean I didn't come up with anything useful!” Twilight yelled over the commotion.

It immediately became apparent what she had done. The attacking ponies were now clearly marked, but there was a problem. The glowing ponies massively outnumbered the dwindling royal guards.

The group rushed into the fray. Twilight, Sunrise, and Firefly lined up beside each other, hurling magic at the attackers as Lightning took to the air. A spell impacted her armor before the armored unicorn was hit by a return blast from Sunrise. While the unicorn was distracted, Lightning dive bombed him, knocking his helmet off before following up with a powerful strike of her armored hoof to his jaw, knocking him over. When he was down she quickly dispatched him with a buck to the head. As she went to turn around, she was tackled from the side by an unarmored pegasus mare, sending them both rolling across the ground. The mare ended up on top, rearing up to strike Lightning again, but before she could bring her hooves down, a dark green tentacle wrapped around her middle, and she was thrown heavily into a pillar with a crunch of breaking bone. Screech ran over to Lightning and offered her a tentacle. She reached out and grabbed it with a hoof, and was quickly pulled back onto four legs. Looking around, the majority of the uninfected guards had fallen back behind the line of magic wielders. The pegasus and tatzlpony quickly made their way behind the line as well as magical devastation was unleashed upon Multis's thralls. Where once dozens of attackers stood, now only a few still fought as they were assaulted by a withering barrage of magic bolts of all colors.

In short order, the last of the infected were dispatched, leaving behind a scene of devastation. The floor was littered with bodies, the walls were blackened and cratered. Many once glorious stained glass windows had been shattered into pieces, and a thick smoke filled the room. Though they had won the battle, it could hardly be called a victory. Of the hundreds of guards that had fought to repel the attack, only about a dozen were left standing.

As the smoke settled, a teary eyed Celestia approached the group.

“Twilight, there is little time. My scouts have reported that Baltimare is now under attack. It is clear that Multis's power is growing, and he is becoming bolder. Take the group and head to the skydock. An airship will be waiting there to take you to the Badlands.”

Twilight nodded, and the group quickly hurried from the room. They ran down a hallway before climbing several sets of stairs and coming to a doorway. Walking through, they came upon the magnificent sight that was Canterlot's skydock. From the side of the castle, a large stone walkway reached out over the edge of the mountainside city, rolling plains visible miles below the lofty structure. Several elegant airships sat tethered to the sides of the walkway, and as the group walked forward they noticed a green pegasus mare standing in front of one of them. She waved them over as they approached. The ship behind her was much smaller and sleeker than the others. It only had one deck, with a small dome shaped window at the front. It was made from elegantly crafted dark wood accented with gold. It was powered by a single large magically driven propeller at the back, and held aloft by a long narrow balloon.  The mare led them on board before introducing herself.

“I'm Seafoam. Welcome aboard the Cloud Skimmer, the fastest airship in Equestria.” She said with a smile.

There was a hum as the massive propeller spun up. Seafoam flew about, undoing ropes and casting them overboard as Twilight and company headed below decks. There was a slight shudder as the ship came free of the dock. Seafoam joined them shortly, closing a hatch behind her, and taking her place at a set of controls behind the spherical window in the front. In no time at all, Canterlot was reduced to a speck in the distance as they quickly gained altitude and speed, heading South with a purpose. With any luck, Multis wasn't going to know what hit him.