Corruption is Magic

The sound of my hooves clicking upon the blackened stone ground fills the air around me, adding to the sounds of howling winds and the sound of bubbling. Bubbling from the lava pool nearby, which is causing my coat which has become soot filled to become sweaty due to the extreme heat coming off said pool. Feeling my energy dwindling I try once more to draw saliva into my mouth to moisten it and possibly quench my thirst but to no avail.

Dry, blackened, thorn filled shrubbery grab and claw at my hooves and coat upon my legs. This place, whatever it is, is worse than tartarus. The thought of my mortality has already passed through my mind many times at this point. How many hours has it been since I arrived here? Has it been two… no maybe four… no it has to be more. It’s hard to tell here.

Shaking my head I get the fog out of my brain and look around. Barren, dead, and burning land surrounds me. Since my arrival I have become acutely aware of the dull far distant sound of screams and what sounds like chains. This place, this… underworld of despair… I might very well die here.

Feeling tears threaten to escape my eyes I take a deep breath and hang my head but as my eyes close something catches my ear. Instead of the click of hoof on chard stone like I know, I hear the sound of my hoof landing upon wood, a very creaky wood but still wood. Opening my eyes I see a small wooden hatch beneath my hoof. Using my magic I carefully open the black wood hatch and look down to see stairs into a hidden underground room. Looking left and right I steel myself and head down making sure to close the hatch behind me, anywhere is better than outside right now.

Immediately I am met with pitch black inky darkness, lighting my horn I illuminate my surroundings and head down the hall I find myself in till I come to a room. Looking around the entrance I find a torch on the wall that I light but upon doing so every other torch in the room ignites and what greets me is a green stone brick room that looks as if it was a base of operation for someone. Off in the far left corner is a black wood bed made out of what looks like scavenged materials, to the right corner is a table with devices I recognise as an alchemical set. Then there is a cooking station to the right but more in the center of the room and a book stand and fireplace near me on the left, then my eyes land on a rather strange decoration in the center of the room. It looked to be made of metal plates with more metal within that I can see where cracks were. It’s face and body structure were not that of a pony and it stood upright on two legs with its arms crossed over its chest hiding what was very obviously the.. bosom of whatever creature it was modeled after. Looking away I inspect the area and after some snooping I find the kitchen has a button on some stone bricks with a bit of metal jutting out over a hole, pressing the button my heart leaps for joy when I see water come pouring out.

“Oh thank Celestia!” I cry as I open my mouth and get my mouth under the faucet lapping up the water. Not caring for a second how I look I just drink and drink to my heart's content. Using my magic I grab some water after I have drunk my fill and wash my body of all the grime covering it. The water though warm soothed my body and mind immensely and brought the headache I had been dealing with for the last while to a duller state of being.

“Alright, Water, check. Bed, check. Food…” I say as I look to the kitchen I’m at currently and poke around the makeshift cupboard. “In every cupboard were items but some were rotted while others were questionable. All however were things I didn’t recognise one bit. I guess I’ll need to find information on these things and how to find them and what is okay to eat. I think to myself before taking all the items in my magic and throwing them into the nearby lava pool with a swift teleport. Best disposal system ever. Feeling satisfied as I can be with no food in my stomach I head over to the fireplace and chair, grabbing a book and looking at the language I don’t recognise.

“Hm, this should be a good way to pass the time?” I say as I look around the area and find exactly what I wanted to find. An inkwell, quill, and some parchment. Setting to work I begin trying to understand the writing and language before I sleep… at least a bit.

***

Poking my head out I look around in case there is something outside the hatch. Call me paranoid but I don’t trust this place at all and for all I know I could come out and see a giant Dragon suddenly. Actually that would explain why it's like the underworld here, the dragons live in a volcano to the south I’m pretty sure. Heading out of my new home after my sleep I prepare for a more attentive investigation of the area and now have a firm grasp on my goals.

Number one goal, find food. Last night I managed to get a general understanding of the language and thanks to hand drawn pictures was able to identify some things I could eat and some others to stay away from. Sadly however, I need to be careful. Most plants and things here if consumed could have adverse effects, the book said. What these effects are I haven’t been able to translate but supposedly if I prepare them right in cooking the effects should be nullified.

Humming to myself I set out to identify and find plants to harvest, it still amazes me how the plants are dry, burned and just in general dead looking but yet they are actually alive and producing fruit and berries. I think as I come across the first plant I recognize from the book that I was able to translate. This shrub with black thorn filled branches produces a root that when harvested is much like what I could only guess was ginger. Supposedly it is packed full of nutrients, now to just get at the roots. Using my magic I try to yank at the base of the plant but quickly realize its roots are dug in well to the stone ground. Contemplating a bit I decide that I need to use magic to blast at the stone under it. With a few powerful blasts of magic I manage to break some of the roots free all the while knocking some thorns off the plan itself. The thorns act as a hook for the seeds which are connected to said thorns to disperse and grow new ones. Maybe I could trim them up and cook the thorn seeds. Grabbing a bunch of roots and seeds I head off to search for more plants but as I search I notice the form of a creature walking around in the distance. Finally another creature, I’m so happy.

“Hello, sorry to bother you but could you help me?” I happily say as I gallop towards them, The creature seeming surprised turns around and looks at me, their dark green skin and bipedal satire reminding me of the metal thing where I’m residing but the height and proportions being vastly different. Honestly, how can this creature walk with the proportions they have. I think as I get near them, I stop and grin at them and realize suddenly that they probably don’t understand me.

“Uh, hi. Can you understand me?” After asking that the creature responds with strange noises I don’t recognise as they clear out their pointed long green ears and flick whatever is on their claw like appendages away. A bit disgusting but if this creature can help me then I can put up with disgusting behavior.

“Okay, so I can’t understand you… Oh I know.” I say as I teleport the quill, ink and paper from my hide away to me then get to work making kinda abstract images of myself and my getting teleported here and wanting to find a way home then show the girl. She looks at it, it’s at this moment I notice she has what looks like a mug in her hand and realize she is drinking something and by the smell I am now noticing… It's ale. After thinking and looking at the page and me a few times the girl says something in her language and then snaps her fingers before walking off in a direction with her free hand waving for me to follow, or at least I hope so.

Following close behind her I look around at the landscape around us because if I looked towards the girl I unfortunately would have to deal with the behind of the girl bouncing and jiggling in my face and I’d much rather not have to see that. After around three minutes of walking we round a corner of rocky boulders and my eyes fall upon a hut of sorts made into the core of a giant blue capped mushroom with white speckles on it. With a small smile I think about my library back home and feel a small tear form at the corner of my eye.

I wipe it away and hear the sound of the girl who had gilded me who stands at the door of the mushroom house and heads inside calling out to what I can only assume is more of her kind. Walking in I close the door behind me and look around and quickly notice how well kept this place is considering the ash and general smoke outside. After a bit of time the girl comes back but with another creature much like her but a bit older looking with a small bit of gray in her hair. Both however have black hair and green eyes. The best assumption is they are family.

“Hello, uh sorry to ask but are you able to understand me?” I ask hopefully but when she responds in the same sounding language as the first girl I sigh and pull up the page I have with my doodles. The older girl looks at it and scratches her chin while the one who lead me here drinks her ale.

After thinking about what I drew the older one nods and straightens her back before speaking to the young girl who grunts and walks off. The older one looks then to me and beacons me to follow so I do and she leads me to a sitting room and gestures to a chair as she sits. Taking the message I climb on to the wooden chair and face her. With a few gestures like charades and her saying her languag’s words slowly I decipher she is asking me ‘this not your home’. Shaking my head, I respond with “No.”

Humming she nods as the young girl from earlier brings two mugs and hands one to each of us. The pungent scent of ale wafting from my mug. “Oh, uh I don’t really drink.” I say but the older one waves a hand and says something in her language. Seeing I don’t understand, she points to me and clenches up her entire body and hugs her body as she rocks around and then makes fists with her claws and rubs the knuckles together. I think she is saying I’m a ball of tension and nerves.

I couldn’t really argue with that but I haven’t really drank much, and it’s usually with my friends only. Well I mean I would consider these nice people friends since they are helping me out. Reluctantly I look down at the mug of orange liquid and take a sip, the first thing to hit me is the taste. I have tasted apple cider from Apple Jack’s farm but unlike that it tasted a lot more earthy, almost as if dirt was in it but at the same time it tasted almost like a hay sandwich. It wasn’t too bad, but then the burn came and it felt tingly at first at the back of my throat but then it grew to almost feel as if my throat was on fire and as it slid down my throat I could feel it. I coughed and sputtered and hacked, all the while I could hear the laughter of the two girls. The older one patted me on the back as I caught my breath while at the same time it was comforting. I also was upset because they could have tried to warn me. How can they even drink that casually?

Once my coughing had stopped I looked over to the older girl and watched as she took gulp after gulp from her mug till finally she slammed it down on her leg and gave a happy sigh then seeing my likely incredulous face gave me a thumbs up just like spike would, wide grin and all. Honestly, this place isn’t that bad.