Chapter 4: Electricity vs. Elements

Loud screaming was heard throughout Friendship Castle as orgasms rocked through six ponies and one dragon, the last of their impromptu party within Princess Twilight’s room going out with a bang for all those involved.

“I seriously don’t get how you do that, Pinkie...” Rainbow Dash said through her exhausted huffing as she laid face-up on the thick and cum-soaked carpet.

“Well!” The aforementioned pink pony exclaimed as she shot up from between her cyan pegasus friend’s legs. “The first step is having a really long tongue...” She continued, then hung her more than a quarter-meter long tongue out of her mouth to show what she was talking about.

“It’s too bad not all of us have those,” Said Twilight as she rolled off of the slightly smaller Barb.

“Eh, at least three of us do,” The dragon commented as she glanced over at Fluttershy, who was currently licking the blood running down from Applejack’s neck with her batpony tongue.

Pinkie then jumped to her feet, letting her decently long cock and huge, plump balls and breasts flop around vigorously while she whooped with her usual ecstatic grin, “Well, I don’t know about you ponies, but I had a lot of fun!”

“I think that goes without saying that everypony else had fun too, Pinkie,” Twilight replied as she sat up and looked across the cum-coated throne room of the castle.

“Rather interesting decor, darlings,” Rarity commented from behind Fluttershy after a moment after observing the dripping liquid as well. “However, I imagine this would be rather difficult to maintain...”

“Yeah, we’d have to have a party like this like, every day, which...” Barb looked over at Pinkie, who looked ten times as excited as usual at that statement, “Would probably cause some problems with our jobs.” She got some odd looks and one very depressed one, so she quickly amended, “Wouldn’t want to go unstable, after all.”

“Yeah, nopony bein’ all too great usin’ only friendship, after all,” AJ responded as she got to her knees, slightly wincing at the pain in her neck.

Twilight nodded in assent, then started to think about she could go about organizing her time to get more friendship time while standing up and walking with slightly wobbly legs over to a partially opened window, peering out of the slit to see the lovely sex-filled paradise of Ponyville below her, all the inhabitants free of any chastity.

The rather hung candy-maker, Bon-Bon and her very large-chested marefriend, Lyra, were going at it like rabbits as usual near the former’s shop; the Cutie Mark Crusaders, despite having gotten their cutie marks a couple years ago, were up to their usual lewd antics around the fountain; the usual line of mares waiting for their shot at Macareina’s massive pole also in the plaza; the silver pony standing at the edge of town...

Twilight did a double-take at that last one, and saw that, yes, there was indeed a grey-coated and silver-maned unicorn with only the barest of sexuality standing at the entrance to town, looking right back at her. “That’s...” She muttered subconsciously, in utter disbelief by the appearance of the other mare at her village; she didn’t even think that mare existed, and sure as fuck didn’t think they go there, as whatever attempt to rip away the freedom they had there would never work.

“You good there, Twi?” Rainbow asked, seemingly a little thrown off by her friend’s sudden silence.

“It’s her...” Twilight said quietly, the others’ confusion at the statement making them come up beside her and barge open the window before tracing her line of sight to see the sliver pony she was still staring at.

A couple gasps rang out from some of the friends, making the confused Pinkie ask, “Huh, who’s that?”

Silence reined for a moment before Rarity gulped and replied, “There have been... rumours these past couple weeks, about mass murder happening in many of the towns in Equestria.” Some more gasps laced with fear and horror were heard, but the white unicorn continued, “They seem to be all perpetrated by one pony, who... you now see standing before us...”

Silence took hold again for several seconds as the six mares and one dragoness stared at the unicorn in a mix of fear, confusion, and anger, the latter quickly rising at the audacity of her.

“H-how? Why?” Barb eventually spoke, her slightly younger self mostly letting bewilderment seep into her words.

“It ain’t gonna matter much longer,” Rainbow responded tersely, practically fuming with rage while gripping the window sill tightly with her fingers, making Fluttershy put a hand on her shoulder to try to calm her down.

Twilight nodded quietly, unable to tear away the faint sense of dread overcoming her, but managed to say, “Yeah. She may have gotten this far, but now that she’s walked herself onto our doorstep, there’s no chance she’s gonna be able to kill anypony else.” She practically forced herself to pull her focus away from the window to turn around and walk towards the door, and said to her friends, “Come on; let’s pay this fool a visit.”

Silence.

Peaceful, beautiful silence.

After the world has become so mad and loud, I take every opportunity I can to take in the lovely quiet nature gives us, even if sometimes it is only let through by my own blood, sweat, and tears.

The orgasmic screeches and pounding meeting of bodies quickly died down when the residents of this horrid little town finally noticed me walking through it. Now, the only thing I could hear was the steady beat of my boots hitting the cobblestone ground as I walked with calm intent towards the castle of ‘friendship’ near the opposite edge of the town, warm light of mid-day streaming down on it and refracting its pretentiousness upon those who live about it.

There wasn’t even any chirping of birds or whispers of wind to fill the deadly silence that had taken hold, the Corruption likely having affected the very nature and weather of this world in their own foolish pursuits to fornicate even more garishly, and... the side effects were no doubt felt beyond mere sound.

I exhaled shakily in the horrible scenes I have found becoming more common amongst the Corrupt, what was once rape of the Pure and rough copulation between each other has now devolved into abusing mental and physical disabilities and literally killing each other in many gruesome and lewd manners for their own sexual gratification. I... can hardly even think about all of it without wanting to cry and scream in pain...

Unfortunately, I had no time to care for what has happened in the past, as the future of so many people the world over rests on my shoulders alone.

The pointlessly large doors to the crystalline castle before me creaked open, breaking me from my recollections from my position a short ways before the building and drawing my attention to the ponies and dragon that exited it, all of their scarcely-clothed and excessively varying body shapes and sizes mirroring their absurd-in-scope mental afflictions. Regardless of such individual instability, they held together as one, becoming a force that destroyed everything and everyone in its path with its direction only coming from the foolish minds they and those they worshipped held.

It terrifies me, even now knowing I have powers beyond what any mortal should possess; even the strongest of beings have fallen to these people--perhaps it was due to their starvation breeding recklessness, or mere rage and arrogance, but I know these quote-on-quote ‘heroes’, however foolish they are, are not to be taken lightly, and I have a resolve that none that have fought these beasts have had, and even with that, I still fear them.

Outside of my mental struggle for calm, the seven Corrupt stared at me with contempt as they slowly trotted towards me, any fear they might have of my presence seeming to be washed out by stupidity and buried underneath self-righteousness.

I saw Fluttershy on the far left of the pack, looking the least angry of the group, though that was likely because she was looking for any gap in my Purity in some foolish belief that she could convince me to join them. Rarity was to the right of her, the arrogance and disgust she had on her face for any level of Purity amplified many times for this encounter with myself. Then Barb, who scowled and bared her teeth at me in a manner that was hardly as frightening as the impending doom her group brought with her. On the rightmost edge, there was Pinkie Pie, with an exaggeratedly powerful glare on her face with nothing underneath. Left of her stood Applejack, who had only enough resolve to hold a look of stern contempt. Then came Rainbow Dash with a face of pure rage, looking a micron from attempting to obliterate me. And at the center of it all stood ‘princess’ Twilight Sparkle, who donned a look of smug condescension, but managed a glance at my boots with a faint recognition in her eyes, but didn’t seem able to place why before looking back at me.

“You really had to come right after we came into exhaustion?” The purple alicorn asked in irritation and slight disbelief, gesturing to her and her friend’s bodies, which I could now tell held sheen of fluids and a hint of tiredness, likely something I overlooked in my own fear.

“You hardly do anything else,” I responded in a slightly forced calm.

She scoffed and replied, “Nah, we’re not Unstable. You, on the other hand, only kill everyone.” She finished with some venom, but my thoughts were more taken with the distinction these people make between themselves and the ‘Unstable’ among them. I could never understand why what should be the ideal form of them is treated as their enemy, and I much as wished to know, I had no time to ask that of the monsters before me.

“Not everyone,” I replied simply, but before she could counter, I continued, “But... I’m doing it to free everyone. Those you have taken under your veil are either locked away in a prison of their own mind or simply too far gone to help, and either way, they’d be better off in the afterlife. The others, of course, are also suffering because of you and yours, so Purifying this world of you Corruption is my goal, and I will accomplish it, no matter how much it takes.”

“Corrupt?” She asked in disbelief, then started laughing quietly. “You’re calling us corrupt just because we’re following the natural order?”

“This... order,” I said, gesturing to the world around us, “Is certainly not natural.” The lavender mare looked like she was about to comment, but I continued, “Luna said that. Books I’ve read have said that. Celestia has as well, in the past.”

“Oh, come on. Change happens, you know.”

“Not all change is good.”

A growl came from Rainbow Dash, causing us all to glance to her. “Hm,” Sparkle spoke as she looked back at me. “It doesn’t seem that logic and words are going to win this battle; we’ll have to use a bit more than that.”

I slightly altered my stance to be more battle ready, turning slightly to the side but still looking at them, and replied, “For once, we agree on something.”

The others changed their stances as well, and we stood for several seconds in bated breath, just waiting for the other to make their move, but it appears the cyan pegasus didn’t have as much patience. In a quick flap of her wings, she blasted towards me, but I quickly hopped over and slammed down in mid-air onto her, sending her smashing into and tumbling along the ground at speed. I cast a swift glance back after I landed and saw she wasn’t flying back at me, so I turned back around just in time to duck under a purple bolt of magic.

I started a sprint far to the right, leaving a huge plume of green fire and a confetti explosion in my wake, but I quickly returned and threw them all into the air from right to left. I stopped just beyond Fluttershy and backflipped back into her, and jumped off of her, sending her flying into Rarity. They lingered in the air long enough for me to run under them and jump to take hold of Barb’s tail and quickly spin her around me and release her at the right time to launch her into Sparkle, sending them careening above the last two ponies.

Applejack just barely slammed on the ground when I approached her and jumped onto her chest to give me some more reprieve before I kicked Pinkie Pie, who was currently imitating a bouncing ball, and making her sail through the streets with no more grace than one. I then moved back to my starting position and returned to normal speed, casting a quick glance behind me to make sure Dash wasn’t coming up on me soon, and looked back at the five ponies and dragon that were getting untangled from each other.

“Is that really the best you can do?” I asked with confidence, though still keeping my senses wary for any sneak attacks.

“Not even close,” Sparkle replied angrily, then sent a large bolt of magic at me, which I quickly moved to the side of with ease. She sent another, then another, both no more effective than the last. As she started to charge another one, larger this time it seemed, I heard something coming up behind me. I changed back into slow motion and looked backwards to see Dash flying at me at incredible speeds, at least relative to everything else, likely enough to reach me in less than what I perceived as a few seconds.

A look back at the others showed Applejack attempting to throw a lasso at me, Barb breathing fire at me, Rarity flying some ribbons at me, and Fluttershy... transforming into a bat-pony?

‘That’s a new one,’ I thought, but quickly shook my head and stepped a couple paces to the right, just in time for the chromatic pegasus to be right where I was before giving her a push to the direction opposite me, changing her angle to fly into the dragon’s malachite flames. Another thought occurred to me when I looked back at the fire, then created a small wind spell that pushed them up and apart, directed at the lasso and ribbons floating overhead.

I walked behind Sparkle and shot a small bolt at her horn before returning to normal speed again, and the fruits of my labour were clearly shown, being Dash flying through the flames and coming out the other side engulfed in them, along with the ribbons and rope, making those who wielded them toss them away for fear of the rapidly expanding fire contacting them. The bolt I also created made contact with the alicorn’s horn, shorting out the spell on it and causing its owner to wince heavily and cradle her head to ebb the pain.

“I have given you some pretty good chances here, and yet you still fail miserably,” I said with some mild surprise as the ponies and dragon turned around to face me. “What hubris possesses you to make you believe you have any chance here?”

“You didn’t exactly give us any time to prepare!” Sparkle shouted impudently before they all began to charge at me with varying methods of attack.

“They really are fools...” I muttered as I once again slowed down everything around me. “They hardly even knew of me before now, and yet they still expect me to pull my punches so they can pull out a miracle...” I looked at the slowly moving attackers for a couple moments before heading over to Rarity, who was charging a spell with a vicious look in her eyes, her heliotrope spiraling mane that blew in the wind of out battle drawing my attention. “They really don’t care about anyone other than themselves...” I commented as I took some of the hair in my left hand, them pulsed some electricity through it, causing small embers to be born upon it.

Fluttershy was at my right, flying with decent speed to where I was previously, letting me run over to her and jerk down on her wings to angle them downwards so that her trajectory would lead her straight into the ground. I ran back past the white unicorn and targeted Barb next, the flames pouring from her mouth being no more effective than they have been previously, and the focus she had on them allowed be to grab her tail and swing her around me. My speed helped me get her off the ground, and the inertia she then had helped keep her in orbit for a few revolutions before I released her, sending her sailing into Sparkle again.

I noticed the flaming rope not far from Applejack, and I took hold of it in my magic, keeping it moving at the same speed I was so that I could wrap it around the earth pony, hogtying her in a manner akin to how I did the first time I was in this wretched town. As per the cycle, I stepped back into my staring position and changed back to normal speed, letting the flames on Rarity’s mane and the lasso spread while the bat-pony slammed into the ground at a harsh angle and the alicorn and dragon tumbled leftward across the ground at speed. The former two ponies were fleeing and writhing respectively whilst all of my adversaries were screaming or shouting enough to eclipse the crackling flames and harsh winds.

The bat-pony and dragon got up and nigh-instantly launched into flight towards me, and I quickly jumped above them so that they slammed straight into each other, allowing me to double-jump and stomp onto them, knocking them out. However, when I turned back to my final opponent, I was immediately hit a bolt of magic shot by her, sending me tumbling several paces away. I managed to roll into a one-legged-kneeling position from the tumble, allowing me to reciprocate the purple beam of magic blasted at me with my own orchid one.

‘Of course she’d make this a power-v-power battle, that’s how they always do it...’ I thought as I kept up the beam, though I was quickly losing ground. I focused my horn more and made my ray of magic thinner and slightly tapered, forcing the oncoming one to split around it, spraying all around me as I managed to push forward. The strain on me was still quite strong, so I tapered my beam further and pushed more magic into it, pushing my magic to the limit to keep the physical force from knocking me away.

The bright light of the magic rays we created and the even brighter clashing thereof made my view of my opponent rather restricted, but I still stared at her with bared teeth and intense glare fueled my the anger built over my entire life. Sparkle was looking to be rather strained as well, though mostly in faltering composure rather than pain, with several seconds passing before she gained a confused look that soon turned into shock, making her magic falter partially.

However, that slight error was all I needed. I poured more magic into my beam, pushing me past what should have been my limit, causing the colliding magics to be swiftly skewed in my favour. The length of my orchid ray grew and grew, while the alicorn’s shrunk accordingly, the contact point deftly approaching the latter, making her eyes wide in terror for the mere second I could see her before it hit her, a blinding flash of light and deafening blast wave obscuring my senses for several seconds.

When I was finally able to see again, I saw Sparkle sitting on the ground a short ways away, holding a hand to her head as she looked at me with conflicted bewilderment clear in her eyes. I was grateful for the lapse in concentration that emotion caused in her just previously, but now I was moreso confused as to why she bore it.

However, that ended when she muttered one word: “T-Trixie?”

I gained my own level of bewilderment at that, until I looked down at my arms and noticed their original sapphire colouring has returned, heavily contrasted against the charcoal-black scars across my body. ‘The magic blowback must’ve broken the illusion...’ I thought before sighing. ‘Well, cat’s out of the bag now, I guess.’

“That’s correct, Sparkle,” I said caustically, “I am Trixie, but...” My irritation tapered off into sorrowful reminiscence as I remembered those that have last spoken that name, and with it what my name was supposed to mean. “I... am hardly myself anymore, because of you,” I said to the alicorn whom has so thoroughly ruined this world, “I wish so desperately to go back to that, but I can’t. Not until the world is free.”

She snorted in a mix of rage, disgust, and denial, and retorted, “The world is free. Freer than is ever has been. The only thing plaguing it is you.”

“No...” I replied, slowly pacing my words, “I’m... more of a fever, than a plague. Regardless,” I shook my head to ward off any response and continued, “I’m honestly surprised how easy it was to defeat you. It’s clear you didn’t prepare for this fight at all, and I think that, above all else, shows the main problem with you and yours.”

The purple mare narrowed her eyes at me, and asked irately, “Really?”

I nodded, “Yes. You only care about those closest to you within the very near future, everyone else getting utterly ignored unless they get near you, in which case, you completely destroy them. You likewise ignore the future, any possibility of cataclysm growing larger and larger where none of you do anything about it, only until luck lands in your favour and all effort by those that oppose you is for naught.” I started flaring my magic while my tone grew more venemous as I continued, “You are pathetic, horrible, and disgusting,” Lighting started sparking around my horn and I stepped forward slowly to look down at the fallen tyrant, “You only see the world in black and white, with everyone that opposes you getting destroyed,” My magic was now glowing with deadly power as I stood above Twilight Sparkle, her eyes still defiant despite the terror I could see just behind them, “And you have ignored the consequences of your actions for far too long; It’s time they come due,” I finished and moved to execute her, but I felt a light tremor rock through the ground, giving me pause.

The tremors slowly grew in power and volume, and along with them a smirk on the alicorn’s face. I could feel the ground shaking from far behind me, and I slowly started to turn around, only to gain a horrible sense of dread and déjà vu as I remembered what happened the first time I came to this terrible place.

My magic faltered and fizzled as I finally wrenched my view back enough to see... a colossal beast, at the opposite edge of the town, its ethereal violet body covering a span larger than several houses in width, its height nearing that of the castle behind me... “That’s not an Ursa Minor...” I muttered, so thoroughly taken by terror and trauma to leave me staring at the monster with wide eyes and a wracking shiver.

“Yeah, it’s a Major,” Sparkle said from behind me after a couple moments, breaking me from my reverie to look back at her. She was still sitting down, though her expression was now of superiority and victory as she added, “I actually asked Snips and Snails to see if they could find it when you came here.

“Because, seriously, there’s no way you’re going to beat that.”

My gaze was drawn back to the beast, as it now had begun flattening buildings under its massive paws, making me think of the conclusion of all of this.

“You do realize,” I started, turning back to the alicorn with heavier, fearful breaths tinting my words, “That if I don’t actually vanquish that damned beast here, you’re all dead, yes?”

Sparkle scoffed and rolled her eyes, replying with, “Oh, don’t worry, I can beat it. I always do.”

I stared back at her incredulously for several seconds before shaking my head. ‘The chutzpah on her...’ The Ursa Major’s wrath did not ebb, however, forcing me to look back at it and shout in my mind, ‘How the Luna-damned Tartarus am I supposed to defeat that!?’

I continued stare in awe and dread as tried to think of some way to destroy that monstrosity as it continued its onslaught, soon dragging my thoughts to the consequences of it all. ‘I need to beat it,’ I gulped down in an attempt to affirm myself of what I was doing, ‘Because if I lose, then...’ I cast half a glance back at the smug Alicorn behind me, ‘Then this town gets destroyed.’

A bit further into my thoughts, I continued, ‘I could walk away from this, and all of these horridly corrupt ponies would die...’ I shook my head, a slightly conflicted frown adorning my face as I interjected, ‘That would hardly be a bad thing... but then everyone else will be conflicted about me, seeing a lapse of determination there, so I’d likely be in a worse position...

‘Unless...’ I took a look back towards the massive castle behind, the rage I held at its mere existing faintly bubbling back into my mind, ‘Unless they thought I killed them.’

Looking back towards the monster before me, I asked myself, ‘So, what the fuck can I do here? I mean...’ Turning my thoughts to what my abilities were as a whole, I continued, ‘All I really have is speed and electricity...’ That thought was interrupted when I remembered an odd fact about electricity and magnetism. ‘Huh. That could work... but I’d need to...’ I squinted my eyes slightly as I thought about it more deeply. ‘I’d need to go faster for that.’ I nodded to myself and said quietly to myself, “I’ll need a run-up.” I then exhaled deeply before going into my starting stance, then blasting forward through the streets, sprinting between the Major’s legs.

Twilight Sparkle sat a decent several paces in front of her castle, watching her ‘rival’ stare at the Ursa Major stomping buildings on the opposite side of town, but coming closer every second. She saw Trixie as rather conflicted as to what to do, filling her with hubris, lasting until the other mare muttered indistinguishably to herself and hoisted herself up onto one leg, then went blazing forward. However, instead of stopping at the Ursa that was now at the town plaza like she expected, the unicorn sailed straight past it.

“...What a bitch,” The alicorn said with a disparaging tone. “She didn’t even fucking try! She acts like she’s the thing you should fear the most, and just fucking runs away in the face of danger.” She scoffed, and was about to continue when she noticed the pink electrical trail whipping around the edge of town that she could see past the beast before her.

“What is she doing...?” She asked quietly, seeing the trail flash by again a couple seconds later. She looked to her left and right, seeing the edges of the town quickly streaked by an orchid trail in a counter-clockwise motion, slowly increasing in brightness and speed. The trail eventually began to go one layer of buildings in, the speed at which it circled the center of town increasing. It kept going further inwards every second or so, until it eventually reached the Ursa Major, becoming no more than a bright orchid ring of lightning whipping around the beast at tornado-like speeds.

The starry monster grew angry at the electrical blur, attempting to stomp it multiple times, but the blur always seemed to instantly move around it, expanding the ring it was making. However, the pink blur seemed to have more than just tornado-like speeds, as after several moments, the Ursa began to float into the air, drawing aloud gasp of awe and bewilderment from the lavender Princess looking at it.

Twilight looked at the ring of wind and thunder for several vexed seconds before she muttered, “Foal of a bitch... she’s using electromagnetism.” The ring soon began to do something even more inexplicable though; it began to get taller. The alicorn fell back into utter awe as it quickly grew, surrounding the Ursa Major with the clouds above beginning to get slightly distorted, their bottoms slowly getting pulled towards the electric cyclone, eventually fusing with it to become something previously undreamt-of: A tornado infused with lightning.

The orchid, thunderous whirlwind became stable, keeping the beast it surrounded firmly locked inside as the violent winds and crackling thunderbolts it wrought destroyed the town even further. It was hard to tell with its tempestuous and harshly sparking shape, but it looked like it was getting larger.

No, wait... it was getting closer!

“You madmare!” Twilight shouted in rage and horror, beginning to frantically look around to recall where all her friends were sent by the murderous unicorn, all the while the tornado could clearly be seen speeding up. The alicorn may be practically magically exhausted by her fight, but she knew that she always had more magic to summon up to destroy whatever monsters came her way, so there was no way she was going to let her friends be taken from her!

She started charging her horn and managed to locate her friends with her magic, but the mass teleport she was going for next required a bit more effort. It was enough to make her groan in pain from the powerful throbbing in her horn, but the massive orchid tempest could be felt barreling towards her, but she knew her friendship-fueled-magic could do whatever she wished, and so with a strained scream and a bright white burst of magic, she was gone.

It did seem my idea managed to work better than I would have thought. The Ursa is a magical being, after all, so magical lighting worked rather well in keeping trapped, allowing me to grip the harsh and violent whirlwind with my own magic, making it rip and burn at my right side as I continued to run in circles, pulling the thing and forcing towards the crystal edifice the Corrupt were blessed with. Eventually, when the magical and physical strain of pulling a lighting-filled tornado with a massive beast inside that tore at my body became too much, I let it continue forward on its path of destruction while I finally stood back within the streets of the town, hands on my knees as I panted heavily from exertion and pain.

I could see on my right side bloody gashes and tears in my flesh through the ripped clothes I wore, most of the fur on that edge of my waist burnt off while faint fractal scars looked to be growing from the gashes. There was certainly bleeding, but nothing profuse, and none of the blazing bolts seemed to have damaged much internally, so I was still alright for the time being--I would definitely need a hospital after all this, but there was something I needed to do first.

Looking back up the powerful thunder-cyclone, I managed to start lightly chuckling through my heaving panting, the catharsis of the situation beginning to hit me; the first time I came to this horrid town, my life was ruined by a infant beast which had strained the bane of my life to get rid of, only for me to take down the adult mother of that beast who the now-alicorn herself thought unstoppable. And with how large that tornado I made was, there was no way that alicorn was going to be able to save her undeserved home, even with the over-powered ‘friendship’ magic she and her friends had together.

Actually... they weren’t together just then. I had separated them, inadvertently preventing any of their strongest power from being used. That, and Sparkle was likely searching for her friends rather than trying to find a way to stop the tempest from destroying her home.

...

While I let the purple mare and her friend’s home get destroyed, I do still know very well that such destruction doesn’t even come close to that which they have wrought upon the rest of the world. ...And even though what I have attempted to do--taking Sparkle’s friends and loved ones from her--may hit rather close to home to me, I cannot and I will not let it stray my course; these people have taken too much from the world, and they, will, pay.

Through the loud sparks and bright flares of the tempest shattering and shredding apart that crystal castle, I caught a flash of light out of the corner of my eye, drawing my sight through the winding and haphazardly laid out town streets to see a pile of colourful creatures near the left side outskirts of the village. They seemed disoriented from what was clearly a teleport by the alicorn of the group, but all seven of them were definitely there and certainly alive.

That wouldn’t last for much longer, though.

Taking a deep inhale and exhale to slow by laboured breathing and pained groaning, I pulled myself up straight and started towards the ultimate Corrupts, my feet and legs stinging with each step I took while my side started burning even stronger as I moved, forcing me to use a hand to apply some pressure to it so that I may slow its worsening.

Even with that torrid pain, I kept my focus on the monsters, their collective gaze locked onto the castle as its pieces got flung violently from the whirlwind, no doubt in horror for the loss of their favorite place to practice their ‘friendship’. I suppose that just goes to show just how much they have been given, where the loss of any of it causes them anguish, as opposed to my own apathy towards the beatings life gives me time and time again.

That agony of loss could be felt around me and seen from the corners of my eyes, large, cool-coloured shards of crystal with smatterings of a white evaporating fluid all being flung across the town, landing with loud crashes amongst the many other homes of this Corrupt town. Terrified screams and fleeing could be heard as the threat of Purification finally became clear in their minds, but even with such pandemonium all about me, even with the searing pain in my legs and at my side, I still moved forward with my goal.

The many meters between us closed slowly, yet steadily walked forward with my borderline infamous golden boots striking the ground, a sensation that there was more to this creeping into me. It was strange how the Elements created a plan to stop me--the minimalness of it notwithstanding--even though their audacity and egos prevented them from even knowing who I was. I may have utterly destroyed something important to them, as many of those who have opposed them is the past have failed to do, yet I still doubted the possibility that a miracle would come their way didn’t exist.

Regardless, I continued my quest, walking into and stopping within speaking distance of the seven beings that have taken so much from the world. Their exhaustion and injuries were obvious in their heavy breathing and bloody selves, but their attention still was completely taken with the destruction of their castle, their ears hardly even having perked at my steps and raspy breaths.

“I do not understand,” I started, watching their jaws clench and expressions tense slightly at my voice, “Why you think you deserved that thing. Even in your... twisted ideology, I don’t get how destroying the most ultimate forms of yourselves, those which you should see as ideal, makes you feel right.” They didn’t respond, or even seem to think on the matter, their minds clearly having been made up a long time ago. “I would appreciate an explanation,” I requested, coughing lightly from the pain and exhaustion, before finishing, “It’s not like you’ll have any words after today, anyway.”

It was clear in their tense and contemptful expressions that they didn’t want to respond, but the fear and dread that made them shift their bodies uncomfortably seemed to get the better of them, with Sparkle eventually looking towards me and speaking up, “It was Princess Celestia.” Her friends turned their eyes to her in a sort of deference, though I only raised an eyebrow in confusion, but still let her continue, “I never really understood why there was that distinction between us and the unstable, but I always trusted Celestia’s word on it. Everypony did.”

“So that’s it?” I replied, baffled as to their foolishness even after all the stupid things I’ve seen and heard of them doing, “Just a blind devotion to one person?”

“It was faith,” The alicorn responded hollowly while looking off into the distance, as if she was questioning how right it was, and with how it had brought her to her knees before me, that actually made sense.

I brought my expression to a deadpan stare, and again cursed whatever god blessed them with their victories in spite of their unwavering stupidity, but soon shook my head and asked, “And everything else?”

“Everything we did was from her orders, or just for our own enjoyment. Even this,” She spoke as she gestured towards the wings on her back, not even bothering to lift them.

“Yeah, I heard about that...” I mumbled, the rage I felt at her undeserved prestige swelling up in me again. I’ve just tried to repress that event in my mind, for fear of becoming out of control in my attempts to restart my magic career. However, that rage has proven to be useful in fights against the Corruption, as it won’t let me let up and forces me to destroy all of the horrid monsters that pose a threat to those that may do good, and even beyond that, right then and there would be the time to get some catharsis.

“But, we have been trying to be more independent recently,” She resumed, prompting me to break from my thoughts with a growling exhale, which caused to her tense up a bit beyond her emotionless state, but she still kept speaking, “It started as only a matter of having the Princess order us less, but we’ve been trying to reform our enemies and using the Map to find Friendship Problems we can solve.”

I gaped openly at the gall of that statement; the black and white lens these people saw the world through, the then cult-like behavior of brainwashing any opposition, and the imposition of their will onto others which they call ‘solving problems’. I... had no words, truly, and I knew it didn’t matter to reprimand them, for they would make no more decisions after the day was over, but one other thing they did say required an explanation; “T-the ‘Map’?” I said with a stutter, still recovering from my utter bafflement and restrained anger.

“Yeah,” Sparkle replied with a nod, now looking more at where her castle stood before, “It was a Magical Friendship Map created in the Friendship Castle that gave us quests; the location of some place with a Friendship Problem appeared on the Map, the Cutie Marks of the ponies best suited to solve it glowing their and on the ponies themselves’ flanks.”

...I can scarcely comprehend the level of naiveté in that statement; these ponies were given a map out of nowhere that they knew nothing about, yet when it told some of them to go some place, they just... did it?! Forget blind loyalty to Celestia being an issue--this was just retarded! And I don’t use that term lightly either, I’ve been called it many times back when I was... used.

“I swear to Luna...” I muttered, sucking in a long inhale through my teeth, before beginning to growl out with rising volume, “How has this nation lived so long when everyone in it is so FUCKING STUPID!” I could see them flinch at my shout, but I was moreso taken with the luck, or dare I say, destiny, these fools had on their side. It’s always been touchy for me, but knowing that at the peak of power in this world, so many things line up just right so that some people get everything with negligible effort while others slave away only to get curb-stomped by the universe... there’s hardly anything I want more in life that to buck that stupid idea into Tartarus.

Exhaling slowly, attempting to contain my anger, I recalled the situation I was in at that moment, and thought that maybe, just maybe, I’ve already done just that.

My cognizance returning to me, I looked back down at the pitiful ponies and dragon that lay below me, silent and fearful for their lives. I had held a subconscious sort of respect for them and their kind because of how much of a threat they were and how much they managed to do, but at that moment, I realized it was all just luck that landed in their favor, and nothing else.

I slowly charged magic into my horn, orchid arcs and sparks flying up and down it while growing in heat and brightness, the fear and dread on those below me’s faces growing along with it. This was it, this is what everything has been building up to all these years; my life of hope, struggle, and bloodshed, and their lives of blitheness, gifts, and godhood, all of it has been leading up to this battle between corruption and Purity, a battle their foolishness left them ill-prepared for and my drive trained me for, a battle... that I won.

Lowering my horn to them, I closed my eyes and finally released the built-up magic in a huge, blazing bolt of arcane energy, its thunderous orchid glow blitzing towards them and causing them to instinctually raised their arms to prepare for their bodies being utterly destroyed in a deafening crack and agonizing sizzle...

But..., those sounds didn’t come--only the fading of the lighting’s crackling could be heard.

Opening my eyes, I quickly saw the golden barrier between me and the corrupt, a bright orchid mark scorched onto it. “No...” I muttered in disbelief and anger; how could they get there only then? They would’ve arrived earlier if it was the tornado, and Sparkle didn’t write for them--the Ursa was only a bullshit trump card they pulled just so they could have an easier time defeating me.

Regardless, there was no time; I immediately turned on my heels and sprinted away from the fallen corrupt, the gash along my side making itself known again, but I ignored it and forced myself forward, knowing that the pain wouldn’t matter if I didn’t get out of there as soon as equinely possible.

Unfortunately, even my speed wasn’t enough, as a cobalt barrier soon arose in my new direction, but I only turned leftward to try to find a gap between the two shields as they grew into a dome shape around me. I pushed myself to sprint to the edge right in the middle of them, where they’d close the last, but the dome closed too rapidly, and with no time to think as I approached the sealing barrier, I threw myself forward with my left shoulder put in front of me to slam harshly into it.

It didn’t give, though, only beating back onto my joint and dislocating it with an agonized grunt erupting from my throat, the adrenaline-fueled numbness keeping me from doing anything more. However, the massive entrapment around me and what at a glance appeared to be the entire plaza of this town was hardly enough for the monsters that made it; a huge bolt of bright magic sprung forth at my side and gave me no time to get up from my kneel before slamming into me, sending me sprawling harshly a ways to the side.

My head probably got hit the hardest, though, with how my hearing was mostly just a ringing and my vision suddenly became blurry. I could still see enough to spot a pair of bright white and dark blue splotches outside the tinted area around me, but I couldn’t orientate which directions they were in before another bolt came speeding into my face, throwing me backward into a solid wall, my head getting rammed against it as well.

After that point, there was no real sight or sound, only a dim cloud in my eyes and a void in my ears. There was no pain either, with how numb I had become, only able to feel a faint heat on the back of my head with wet tearing on my waist. Still, the corrupt weren’t done, as one final unseen blast slammed into my skull and made me fall into an empty abyss.

Pain.

White-hot, burning, searing, pain.

That was the only thing I could feel. It flooded my every sense in every part of my body, from the parched pressure on my feet, through the blazing ripping at my waist and shoulder, to the throbbing inferno in my skull, all the way up to an agonizing flare in my horn.

My sight was a void of nothingness, my hearing both empty and full of blaring sirens at the same time, scent and smell only perceiving a putrid burning all around me. I couldn’t tell my body’s orientation amongst all of its limbs, the pressure of the ground unable to pierce the torment within me. Even time held no presence in my mind, with each moment feeling like the beginning and the end of this madness.

Eventually, though, sense began to creep back into me, my sight clearing from a dark red fog while my hearing blurred away, and I could feel myself laying face down on the cobbled ground with the ability to sense one moment from another coming back to me. Letting my eyes open further, I could see what I remembered to be the home of the corrupt around me, blurred and smudged though it was. I could also hear voices speaking--shouting from a ways away from me, thankfully far enough that it let my ears heal.

Soon I could make out more detail in their words, most notably of which was the repeated use of my name. It didn’t seem taunting however--no, it seemed frightened, and angry. My sight managed to clear up enough that I could peek up to see them several meters away from me, arguing animatedly and vigorously. With other words and phrases coming into the mix like ‘need to’ and ‘get rid of’, I could tell they were arguing about whether to kill me or not, but I had no idea why they would do that; I have been a real threat to them, and every single time before they either kill them... or brainwashes them...

Oh.

Reasoning that I at least needed to get up and escape to recover, I forced my right hand down onto the ground and started pushed myself up, the agony I was in flashing back into my mind and nearly making me slip back onto my face. I managed, though, to get enough height there to shove my left knee under me, then used both parts to force that leg up enough so that I could put my boot flat onto the ground.

My left arm now hung down limply from its disjointed socket, and I took a glance over at the arguing corrupt to see they didn’t notice my movements yet. Taking the chance, I grabbed my left arm with my right and and braced myself, then shoved it harshly back up into its socket, relocating it like muscle memory with a raspy grunt of pain. That did manage to get their attention, unfortunately, with their heads jerking over to see me in a half kneel, looking back at them with an battered and exhausted, but still determined stare.

I could see the conflict in their eyes; the fear, the contempt, the blitheness; I could tell they truly did want me dead so I couldn’t do any more damage to what they saw as their utopia, but I could still sense they were foolish enough to think they could use me in some way--it was the only thing that could ever hold them back, after all.

Eventually, their princess Celestia gathered herself and fired a powerful beam of her golden magic at me, its brightness enough to force me to clench my eyes shut and brace for it, as I could hardly even try to move out of the way quickly enough. When it hit, a heat an pressure began enveloping my horn and seeping into my mind, making my senses blur with a warm, yellow tint. It may have tempted some, but I only saw it as disgusting--a horrid taint by the corrupt in a futile attempt to destroy their opposition.

I fought it, opening my eyes with a heavy strain on my body, staring back at the white alicorn with anger fueling me, the rage I felt at their horrible actions helping me beat back the warmth with an inferno, no matter how much it lit up the pain already within my body. My horn felt like it was on fire as the blood on my side seemed to heat up, making me put a hand over it to slow its heightening flow; a flare also lit up in my legs, pulling and ripping at them, and the light of the magic being shoved into me felt so blinding, but I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of knowing the pain they were causing me.

However, through their bewilderment, they managed to catch on that I wasn’t giving any, so Luna too cast her magic onto me, her cobalt beam fusing midair with her sister’s, becoming a mess of blue and yellow before striking into my horn. The pain forced out of me an agonized groan, but the temperature of the invasive magic cooled into a peaceful mix of warmth and coolness as it pushed harder into my senses, but still I fought it. I could see the mix of light in the peripherals of my nearly white-filled eyesight, and my hearing was being filled with a deafening silence from the power coursing through my head. Blood began to creep into my scorched mouth as my horn felt like it was dipped in lava and the blood in my legs and emerging from my waist seemed to boil, yet I never let myself fall away from the waking world, never letting myself be taken by them again, never letting myself be used against those that have sworn to protect.

The moments bled together again as I felt another addition to the mayhem; this time it was an uncontrolled rose magic, sparking and sputtering with foolishly handled power. It added a vibrancy into the nightmare that crept into me, sparkling stars and glimmering waves giving it a texture beyond the rest’s cloying suffocation. However, it also shifted all of the magic, working in tandem with them to shift it away from trying to tempt me to closing all around me, getting stiffer as it numbed my senses, my already faltering grasp on the ground fading away while my sight and hearing dimmed into a silent black void, even though I could tell I was still awake.

At the edge of my consciousness, I could still feel the chaos--the triple-feed of alicorn magic being forced into me, keeping myself at bay as they were too cowardly to truly face me down or even bother to finish me off. My mind was still dulling, though, and I could scarcely keep myself awake, but time still marched on, leaving me alone in the cold, black space with nothing to keep me from drowning...

End of Act 1

Author's Note

Barb, if you’re wondering, is genderswapped Spike. I use the former name because I refer to everyone in the story using female pronouns only, so it made sense to use female names as well.