Some time before Ocram absorbs The Corruption:

-EQUUS, UNDERGROUND CORRUPTION BIOME-

Deep below The Crystal Empire and within the underground caverns, Tempest, Tzana, and Grubber make their way deeper into the bowels of these depths. Droplets of water fall from the cave’s ceiling as the echoing sounds of their ‘hoofsteps’ molds into a rhythmic theme.

Grubber was currently sat upon Tempest’s back as he says:

“Things sound pretty rough up there… I’m hearing all kinds of disturbances, not to mention that powerful earthquake.”

“It seems to have come from the castle,” Tempest responds, “Tzana, you still sense that chamber?”

Tzana nods, currently taking the lead, “It’s strange. It feels like a large chamber, but it also gives me the impression of a whole other world. I guess my suspicions were right, this truly is the Underground Corruption.”

“To think that there was something like Canterlot’s sad state sitting below us all along.” Tempest comments.

“It was Blueblood’s doing,” Tzana responds while looking over her shoulder, “Ocram gave him Corrupt Seeds some time ago and had him plant them down here,” Tzana turns her head forward, “Let’s see how much these seeds ‘Bore fruit’.”

Upon saying those words, the earth pony mare could see a haunting purple light down the cavern tunnel, seemingly an exit, or entrance. The trio enters the light and soon stands on a large cliff overlooking a large underground version of The Corruption.

“Son of a bitch… all of this was right beneath our noses,” Tzana said.

Tempest observes the barren and corrupt underground landscape, “So, how does that Pylon work?”

Tzana pulls a small multicolored crystal diamond from her satchel, “We just need to find the epicenter of this place, and set this down. It’ll apparently enlarge itself when activated.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound too bad-”

Grubber’s words were cut off as various monstrosities of the underground biome began to move about by both land and air.

“They at least still think we’re on their side, right?” Grubber questions nervously.

Tzana glances towards Tempest, “Something’s wrong… something happened up there and now these creatures are- LOOK OUT!” The earth pony exclaims as she pushes Tempest aside as a Corruptor tries to swoop down on the trio.

“What’s going on?! I thought they still considered us allies?!” Grubber exclaims in shock.

“Ocram… whatever those ‘earthquakes’ were, these creatures either A: Said ‘fuck orders.’ Or B: We’re fucked!” Tzana roars out as she retaliates against the Corruptor by hopping onto the flying entity. She brings forth a blade forged of the demonite ore and plunges it deeply into the entity’s largest eye, causing it to come crashing down to the earth below. The earth pony hops off of the large parasite as Tempest quickly takes action by charging up her broken horn as magical liquid escapes from the base.

[SKROOOM]

A loud explosion mixed with lightning collides with the parasite as a large gaping hole is left in the monster’s form, killing it on the spot.

Tzana brings out a very familiar pouch, “Just for good measure,” She says and pours a generous amount of the powder onto the fallen Corrupter, like placing salt onto a slug, “There, now it’s dead.”

With her half-broken horn still leaking magical energy, Tempest says:

“Well, guess Ocram doesn’t consider us allies anymore. Shame, I wanted to really stab that thing in the back.”

Tzana looks over the cliff, “I hope you haven’t been slacking on your physical training, Fizzlepop,” The mare looks around, “No other way down, so, we’re going old fashion.”

Tzana leaps over the edge and gracefully scales down the various out groves and crevices of the cliff face.

Tempest chuckles, “Hang on, Grubber.” She follows suit and jumps off of the edge, but still close enough to scale down the cliffside. Following the earth pony’s methods.

……….

The trio reaches ground level, but before they could even catch their breath, a large World Feeder erupts from the corrupt ground before them.

Tzana smiles gleefully, “Never a dull moment down here, I like it,” She runs forth, with Tempest following close behind her, as the two mares dodge the worm’s lunge in unison before hopping onto its head. The worm thrashes about in an effort to throw them off but an arrow suddenly impales the monstrosity as Grubber, from a safe distance, is revealed to be the assailant. This momentarily stuns the large worm which in turn gave both Tzana and Tempest more than enough time to jump high into the air in unison before crashing their blades onto the worm’s head.

The entity screeches in response before crashing down to the corrupt earth below, purple dust thrown into the air as the two mares spit in unison, in opposite directions.

“That takes care of it. Of course, it’s always good to double-tap,” Tzana smirks as she pours a sum of Purification Powder onto the downed entity.

While the large worm’s body sizzles and foams away, Grubber hops onto Tempest’s back and says:

“If this is how things are going to be from this point forward, we’ll be doing a lot of fighting.”

Tzana chuckles, “Certainty of death, small chance of success… what are we waiting for?”

They all nod in unison as they determinedly make their way through the corrupted environment.

……….

Nearly a whole half an hour passes by as the trio fought various creatures of The Corruption. Flying parasites, lavender slimes born of the infection, and burrowing worm entities stood in their way. Through sweat, blood, and even more blood, most of which came from the creatures, the trio continues to force their way into the epicenter of the underground. They then find a somewhat secluded location as Tzana comments:

“Take five, you two. I’ll scout the area.” The earth pony takes her leave and performs the task. Leaving Tempest and Grubber to their own devices.

……….

As Tempest and Grubber check their inventory, terrified clicking of mandibles echoes from nearby, as two Eaters of Souls seem to be huddling together, staring at the duo with all their eyes widened. They appear to be above some kind of corrupted grass nest.

Tempest fires up her half-broken horn, “Alright… you creatures are persistent, I’ll give you that.”

The clicking intensifies as if the two of them were trying to talk to the duo. They appear to be backing as far into the corner as they can.

“Hey, uh, Tempest?” Grubber questions on the broken unicorn’s back, “I don’t think they want to fight us.”

“How can we be sure?” Tempest questions.

Grubber takes notice of a broken eggshell, pointing to it with his right hand, “Well, they haven’t attacked us yet and… I think they’re missing their baby?”

The bigger of the two Eaters seem to float up and down as if nodding. It clicks its’ mandibles in response. The other seems to be trying to dig in the ground around the nest.

“Grubber… are you trying to convince me to make friends with the very things that tried to kill us all?” Tempest questions.

“I’m saying that maybe not ALL of them are monsters,” The hedgehog lowers his gaze in sorrow, “Everyone called me and the yetis monsters… but not all of us are. Sure, these things feed on sin, and are born from it, but don’t they deserve a chance as we got?”

Tempest was still understandably conflicted. However, she also couldn’t deny the hedgehog’s argument. While these creatures were indeed the same as the others who have been terrorizing all of Equestria, was there any proof that these individuals were among the guilty? This situation touched Tempest in a very special way as she takes a breath and says:

“Look, you two clearly seem to be able to understand my words. We’re just here to fulfill our mission to help The Empire, that’s it. In short, we won’t attack if you don’t.”

One of the Eaters seems to blink half of its eyes and clicks its mandibles as it appears to be trying to tell Tempest something. The digging Eater stops and looks at the duo before clicking questioningly at the bigger one.

The bigger Eater blinks and floats cautiously towards the two, motioning with some of its’ eyes to a previously unseen crack in the wall. The smaller one clicks and floats towards it, using its mandibles in an attempt to widen the crack.

Tempest nods, “Is this a shortcut to the epicenter?”

The bigger one shakes side-to-side before tapping on a small, almost unseen, shining stone with a single mandible. The smaller one manages to break a chunk of corruption off, revealing a crystalline glimmer.

Tempest looks at the crystal curiously. On the surface, it seemed to be almost no different than any other crystal throughout The Empire. However, something about it pulsated with literal otherworldly energy. Deductive reasoning told the broken unicorn that this was completely new. Little did she know, this was in fact the remnants of an Underground Hallow Biome.

On cue, Tzana reappears after scouting the local landscape while saying:

“Ok, we seem to be in-” She takes notice of the scenario before her, staring awkwardly, “So I leave for just a few minutes and you two managed to make friends with the locals?”

Tempest and Grubber look to each other, then back to Tzana, “Yeah, pretty much.”

The smaller parasite stops digging, eyes pointed at Tzana. Both of the Eaters seem nervous again, noticing her weapon.

Taking notice of their body language, Tzana lowers her weapon and makes doubly sure to take on a neutral position.

Seeing this, Tempest questions in shock, “You’re not going to instantly jump at their throats?”

“Why would I?” Tzana questions, “I know I’m hardcore, but I won’t fight against something that I have no reason to.”

Hearing this, the smaller of the Eaters returns to its digging, although it keeps three eyes on Tzana. The larger one clicks its mandibles, tapping the shiny stone again, looking at her.

“Guess you want me to check it out,” Tzana says, walking towards the stone, “Wait… this feels, familiar.”

“I could feel a strange power from it, but it’s familiar to you?” Tempest questions.

“Yeah… like I’ve seen this stuff before, but a whole lot of it.”

The smaller Eater manages to pry another decently sized chunk of corrupted stone from the wall, widening the crack enough that the light from inside shines out.

At the very moment she made contact with this light, Tzana suddenly feels a disturbance within her mind as she grabs her head with a forehoof. Various images flashed in her mind as she could see various equine forms walking around a beautiful underground landscape. However, what got her attention most was when she saw a beautiful earth pony mare, a strong resemblance to herself, holding a young foal as a large Utopian stallion stood stoically before them, but lovingly as well.

“N-no… that couldn’t be… mom?” Tzana comments.

“I am sorry, my love. But you must take our child to the surface of Equus and live your lives in peace. I want our daughter to see the beautiful skies of Equus and to breathe in its fresh air.”

“B-but, I can’t just leave you down here! We need you!”

“It must be this way, my love. Harmony herself has ordered that all traces and evidence of Terraria’s existence must be hidden from the world. Luckily for our Journey Joy, she mostly has the appearance of a pony, albeit on the taller side. She’ll fit right in with the ponies on the surface.”

“I’ll never forget you, Inigo.”

“And I, you, my sweet Journey Trotter.”

The mental disturbance stops and the visions fade as Tzana starts to breathe heavily. She lowers her forehoof that was caressing her head.

……….

The smaller Eater of Souls backs away from Tempest’s angry form as it tries to click its mandibles to prove its innocence. A scorch mark seems to have hit the wall behind it and the bigger one seems to be weakly laying on the ground with a chunk of its side gone.

“What did you do to her?! I knew deep down that I was a fool to trust any of you!” Tempest roars angrily.

“Tempest, stop it!” Grubber pleads.

The smaller Eater seems to be tearing up, two eyes on the larger one. It clicks its mandibles again, seeming to be pleading with Tempest.

“Tempest! Wait!” Tzana exclaims as she grabs the broken unicorn, lifts her into the air with her right forehoof, and flies her overhead. Tempest is sent aloft but manages to recover in the air as she lands onto her hooves and says:

“T-Tzana? You’re ok?”

“Yes, I’m fine. So mind telling me why you just attacked them?” Tzana questions in an irritated voice.

The smaller Eater seems to have taken the moment to fly to the larger one, huddling close to it and clicking softly. It continues to cry ichor as its mandibles gently stroke the other.

“W-wait… so they didn’t attack your mind?” Tempest questions as regret start to fester in her mind.

“Of course not! They revealed the fucking truth to me!” Tzana roars out in response.

“T-truth?” Tempest questions, regret growing with every second.

“Tempest… I’m a fucking utopian… half pony, half utopian,” Tzana lowers her gaze, “My mother always hid my father’s identity from me, even before she died. But now I know that my father was something completely different,” She then stomps towards Tempest, “I get that you were looking out for me, but what you did to them should warrant me to beat your ass as I did on that rooftop. But judging by your current state… you’re already paying for it.”

The bigger one clicks weakly, still lying on the ground. It seems to have moved some rocks around to spell a word.

‘Forgive’

Tempest’s eyes widen in shock as she falls back onto her flank and mutters, “I-I’m sorry…”

Tzana looks down upon her, “Like I said, I get that you were looking out for me. But you’ll have to carry that guilt. Nothing I can do to help you with that.” Tzana then turns to the entities, “I’m sure they told you this, but we need to reach the- wait a second.”

“What is it, Tzana?” Grubber questions.

The smaller parasite seems to be staring at Tempest with a hateful expression. It clicks angrily at her, before turning to its’ fallen companion and spitting some corrupted goo onto the injury.

“In my vision, or during my little lapse in sanity, I saw a beautiful underground world that looked like an underground Equestria. This place, those gems, I understand now why we need to install the Hallow Pylon here.” Tzana responds to grubber’s question.

The larger of the two Eaters clicks in warning as it spots a small worm burrowing through the ground, wound slowly regenerating.

“Heads up! We’ve got company!” Tzana exclaims as her earth pony senses start to go crazy, sensing the chaos of multiple burrowing monstrosities in the earth. Grubber prepares to fire off his bow as Tempest pulls herself out of her regretful state and steels herself for combat.

Tzana turns to Grubber, “Hedgehog, got a mission for you!” She tosses him the crystal diamond, “You’re small enough to fit through that hole,” She then looks towards the small Eater of Souls, “I know you hate Tempest’s guts. Trust me, I did too, but I’m begging you to help us.”

The Eater looks pensively at Tzana, clicking exaggeratingly slowly, as if unconvinced.

“Don’t do it for Tempest,” This causes the broken unicorn to flinch, “Do it for me and Grubber. If you do that, I promise to kick her ass for you.”

The Eater looks at the larger one, clicking, before the larger clicks back very rapidly. The smaller one nuzzles its mandibles against the larger one before returning to its work, albeit reluctantly.

“Thank you,” Tzana says before turning to Grubber, “You need to go with that, um, I don’t want to insult them by calling them parasites, so just go with that little clicker.”

The larger one, however, floats up and looks at Tzana, clicking as it floats at her side. It seems to be ready to fight at her side, strangely enough. The reasoning for this is made quite clear when a Devourer attempts to bite it in half, although failing. Apparently, their betrayal had not gone unnoticed.

“Tempest, shake off your regret and move that flank! We’ve got monsters to kill!” Tzana exclaims.

Tempest nods in response, but glances towards the parasite floating by Tzana as she mutters:

“I’m so sorry… here’s hoping I can at least somewhat make it up to the little one.”

The earth before them starts to rupture as multiple worms burst out with gnashing teeth. Flying parasites soon filled the skies as even Corrupt Slimes were hopping towards them.

Tzana, Tempest, and their parasite ally go forth into battle. Both ponies bare their weapons and grit their teeth in anticipation as their ally flies into an enemy parasite and clashes mandibles with them.

The smaller Eater continues gnawing at the wall, attempting to carve out larger chunks this time. Grubber can see the beginning of some kind of smoking mark as the parasite continues working, as if the Eater were burning.

………….

Tzana runs towards a flying parasite as it, in turn, tries to swoop down onto her. She dodges the entity and hops onto its back before plunging her blade into its head. However, instead of instantly killing it, Tzana actually forces the entity to fly into another flying parasite. She then removes her blade and hops off of the creature before being caught by her ally who sets her down onto the ground before contending with other entities.

Tempest blasts multiple Corrupt Slimes with lightning bolts and jumps into the air as a worm tries to attack her from behind. She then spins while aloft and plunges the blade directly below her, impaling the worm’s head before removing her blade and hopping off of the monstrosity. She then looks in the direction of Tzana, who just killed another worm.

“Heads up, Journey Joy!” Tempest shouts.

Tzana looks over her shoulder as a slime tries to hop onto her form. However, it is completely blindsided by the allied Eater, who body slams it into another worm from the same direction, before chopping the worm in half with a powerful slam of its mandibles.

Tzana gives her ally a salute, “Much obliged.”

The Eater clicks as if trying to say a witty one-liner, before charging at another parasite.

All the while, Grubber made doubly sure to watch over his ‘coworker’ as the small Eater of Souls continues to dig, managing to pry up a single large chunk.

However, the group is absolutely shocked by a new series of rumbling, and most disturbingly, this felt much bigger than any of the others. With a cautious gaze, Tzana looks up towards the surface and says:

“I guess The Eater Of Worlds got involved now…” The earth pony lowers her gaze to her encroaching foes.

A nervous click comes from the large eater, who stares at a strange chest, which appears to have come into existence out of nowhere. The Eater looks at Tzana and motions for her to stay back with two eyes.

“Hmmm… a chest sitting in the middle of a battlefield? Only an idiot would fall for that one,” Tzana comments as she stays away.

The Eater flies cautiously towards the chest before shaking its body back and forth. It charges at the chest, which seems to jump away, lid opening to reveal sharpened teeth and a tongue.

“Heads up!” Tzana shouts as she tosses her ally a pouch of Purification Powder from her satchel, “Try not to get any on you!"

The earth pony could then sense a foe coming from behind her, but a powerful blast from Tempest intercepts it as the broken unicorn shouts:

“You two deal with that thing! I’ll keep them away from Grubber and the little guy!”

Tzana nods towards Tempest as the earth pony and her parasite ally combats against the monstrous chest. She tries to swing at it with her weapon, but it ricochets off of the durable entity as a surge of backlash pulses into her forehoof.

“Damnit! This thing’s body is pretty tough!”

The Eater attempts to bodyslam the chest, almost getting bitten as the chest leaps into the attack. It drops the Purification Powder from a mandible as it runs into a wall from the sudden need to dodge.

Seeing this, Tzana tries to retrieve the pouch but the chest hops onto it, crushing it under its weight.

“Well, thanks… dick.”

…………..

The small Eater of Souls clicks in worry, most of its eyes focused on the battle as it continues grinding away at the stone, dodging a worm that tried to bite it.

“I gotcha, buddy!” Grubber roars out as he grabs an arrow in his right hand and plunges it into the worm. He then takes a pouch of Purification Powder from his waste and hurls it at the entity while shouting: “Aw, snap! Grubber gon’ give it to ya!”

…………..

Tzana takes a moment to search her satchel and inventory checks her remaining pouches of powder.

“Shit… only three left,” She looks back to the chest, all while her parasite ally continues to fight, “We need a plan… this isn’t looking too great.”

Suddenly, an angelic voice enters Tzana’s mind:

-The crystals shall help you, my dear utopian-

Absolutely shocked, Tzana says:

“Wait, what? Who’s there?”

-All shall be revealed soon, daughter of Inigo-

The voice seems to fade from the earth pony’s consciousness as Tzana looks back towards the hole which contains Grubber and the small Eater of Souls and looks back to the chest.

“I’m about to listen to a strange voice in my head… which also sounds familiar to me… sure, makes sense, I guess,” She looks to her parasite ally, “Think you can hold that thing off for a moment?!”

The Eater clicks in response, currently engaged in a grapple with the Corrupt Mimic, as it nods an eye up and down.

Tzana nods in response and hurriedly runs towards Grubber and the small parasite. She glances towards Tempest to check on her and nods contently as the broken unicorn was holding her own in the short distance.

“Hey! Can one of you give me a crystal?!” Tzana asks.

Grubber turns around, “There’s a pile over there! I’ve been cleaning up after my buddy here.”

Tzana looks towards the direction indicated and trots over to the pile. She stands over it and comments:

“Ah, that’s right… I have no fucking idea how to do this!” Suddenly, a sort of hunger builds up inside of her, she raises an eyebrow, “You’re fucking kidding me...”

“Hey, Tzana! I couldn’t help but overhear you... I think you need to eat them!” Grubber exclaims.

“Ok, first: That makes no goddamn sense! Second: Do I look like a dragon to you?!”

“No! But you do look like a half, uh, what did you call it again? Uplopian?”

Tzana narrows her eyes at the hedgehog before looking back to the pile, “Well, here goes nothing,” She lowers her muzzle, “If this doesn’t work... I’ll be shitting blood for weeks.”

She licks a bite-sized crystal and her eyes shoot wide open as she says:

“Oh fuck the Tartarus, yes…” She greedily devours the crystals and munches them in satisfaction, “Oh sweet Luna, that’s better than sex.”

“What did you say?!” Grubber questions.

“Uh, nothing! Just keep digging you two-” Her words are cut off as her body momentarily emits a multicolored light. Her well-toned muscles flex in response and all of her fatigue is nearly washed away completely as she says: “This is better than sex AND booze!”

She soon gets her fill and turns towards her parasite ally and the corrupt chest, “Only one way to find out if it worked.”

The Eater seems to be fighting a losing battle as the chest has now wrapped its tongue around it, ready to pull it in to devour. The Eater clicks in panic.

Seeing this, Tzana grits her teeth and kicks off with a sudden force, leaving a small crater behind. This momentarily shocks the earth pony as she smirks, “Ohoho, I think I’m gonna love being half utopian.”

She runs towards the chest with the force of a freight train, shaking and leaving craters within the earth.

“Heads up, bitch!”

The Eater of Soul is released as the Chest inches backward from the impact. The Mimic seems to have a dent in it now. Unfortunately, the singular dent is not enough to stop it from leaping onto a higher ledge. It waves its tongue, emitting a piercing screech, as several bandage-wrapped, corrupted pony corpses rise from the ground, lumbering over to the group, along with a fresh batch of slimes, worms, and Eaters of Souls.

Shocked, Tzana tilts her head sideways, “Huh… guess I owe Daring-Do ten bits. Damn undead ponies are real…”

The Eater of Souls looks terrified, clicking as if wanting to flee from the conflict. It seems to know what just occurred.

“Here we go again,” Tempest comments.

Tzana braces herself for combat, but the same voice from before speaks to her internally:

-Light and dark can create something entirely new, Tzana. Share your light with your rather interesting friend- The voice giggles.

“... I think I should be concerned with you, whoever you are,” Tzana said, turning her gaze towards her parasite ally, “Hey buddy, come here a sec!”

The Eater clicks nervously, backing away from the chest and approaching onslaught, all eyes fixed on the Mimic.

“I can’t really explain this, but I feel as though you’ll be fine. Trust me, it might seem… dangerous, for you, but I think I’ve got this.” Tzana’s left forehoof is covered in a multicolored aura as she places it onto the Eater of Souls. She closes her eyes and tries to focus her efforts. “By Luna’s tail, please don’t fuck this up...”

The Eater freezes and begins to shake, as what appears to be a dark purple, swirling mass of energy rises from it. In turn, a light pink version rises from Tzana’s hoof.

“Well fuck me sideways, I pulled it off.” Tzana comments, but is suddenly confused, “How the fuck did I know to do this?” She shrugs, “Eh, must be a Utopian thing.”

The two souls appear to swirl together, as the Eater clicks in what seems to be agony as they combine. A bright flash of light explodes from it as most of the Corrupted mobs screech in varying levels of discomfort as their underground home is lit up. When the light clears, the Eater of Souls appears to have become even more monstrous than before.

Tzana was momentarily thrown off by this, as was Tempest nearby, as the earth pony says:

“Well, shit... I made that?”

A deafening roar emanates from the newly-created thing as it begins to rush towards the corrupted forces, several legs sprouting from it to speed itself up.

……….

Hearing this roar, Grubber turns around while saying:

“What is th- OH SWEET LUNA!” The hedgehog exclaims as the sudden urge to vomit overtakes him.

Upon hearing the hedgehog, the small Eater of Souls looks over before completely freezing in place, eyes locked onto its previous companion. It seems to be shocked at the sudden transformation. Only a single eye focuses on the digging as it watches.

……….

Tempest was still nervous as she observed this newly formed entity. With a hesitant tone, she says:

“So, uh, about what I did earlier…”

Tzana glances towards the broken mare, “Keep fighting, less talking!”

With a wicked scythe that sprouts out of the top of it, the monstrosity slashes several Eaters of Souls out of the air, bringing them to the ground while also excreting some kind of liquid that appears to disintegrate the unfortunate victims.

Tzana, using her newly amplified physical prowess, tears various undead ponies in half with her forehooves. A Corrupter tries to swoop in for a kill, but the half-blooded utopian grabs the large parasite with her forehooves and lifts it up before slamming it into the ground, green ichor and gore exploding as a result.

Though the expression of the Mimic could not be read, it screeches once again, this time calling forth a large amount of flying slimes, along with some larger ones. In addition, it also rejoins the fight, slamming down onto Tzana’s creation’s head before leaping off to face the half-utopian. The monstrosity roars in pain, spinning around and blindly lashing at the corrupted creatures in rage.

“Yes, bring that container ass!” Tzana roars out as she rushes towards the Mimic with a gleeful smile.

As Tzana rushes in for the attack, the chest suddenly slams its lid shut. This causes Tzana’s attack to rebound off, which the Mimic follows up with a devastating blow to her abdomen, knocking her off her feet. It then begins to hop towards her, ready to deliver the final blow.

Tempest grits her teeth as she takes notice of the downed half utopian, and the corrupted chest drawing near her downed form. The broken unicorn runs forth to intercept the Mimic as she says internally:

-No! I won’t fail you again, Tzana-

Firing up the base of her shattered horn, liquid magical energy starts to leak out as she roars in defiance. Bolts of lightning impact the chest, but fail to do any noticeable damage. However, the unicorn did manage to garner its attention as she continued to run towards it.

The Mimic closes once again, but instead of charging at her as Tempest expected, it launches several bolts of corrupted spit at the unicorn, impacting her chest and causing her to scream in agony as she collapses, patches of her fur turning purple and corrupted. It leaps onto its ledge immediately after, watching the proceedings.

Tzana’s eyes widened in response, “Tempest! No!” The half utopian stampedes over to the downed broken unicorn, “Tempest, please, hang on,” She takes all three of her Purification Powder pouches and without any hesitation, she pours the entirety of each pouch over Tempest’s body.

Tempest coughs, “J-Journey Joy… I’m sorry.”

“Shut up! Don’t apologize, just hang on for me.”

The infection progresses further on Tempest’s body, she coughs again, “I’m sorry for abandoning you… all those years ago… all for some stupid tyrant… who you could barely even call a King…”

“Shhh, stop talking and-” Tzana’s words are cut off as the infection is now approaching Tempest’s neck region. The broken unicorn’s eyes close shut and her breathing stops entirely as Tzana stares on in absolute disbelief.

“N-no… no…” Tzana says sorrowfully. Then, in her moment of absolute rage and pain, Tzana’s eyes are consumed by multicolored energy. She raises her head up high and roars out into the underground infection.

The entire area grows silent as a fog emanates from the monstrosity, Tzana’s creation, which seems to also be looking at the body of Tempest. It begins to growl deep in its throat as if feeling the same anger as Tzana. Several massive clawed arms sprout from it as it begins to climb on the wall.

“I’ll kill you all! I’ll tear down this entire biome with my own hooves!” The enraged half utopian roars out as she rockets towards the wall, slamming it with enough force to drop stalactites down. The ledge breaks as the chest begins to drop, only to freeze in midair and fling itself to another, lower ledge on the opposite side. It screeches once again, as even larger worms erupt from the ground, comparable in size to a half of the Eater of Worlds.

“You won’t escape me!” Tzana roars out. Incidentally, a few other monsters of The Corruption try to attack her, but she, in turn, tears them apart while also roaring out in a berserker-like fashion, “You’ll all die! I’ll rip and tear, until it is done!”

Tzana’s monstrous ally, crawling on the walls of the large chamber/cavern, leaps up to the ceiling and slamming on it with two hammer-like appendages as it begins to drop stalactites onto the heads of the corrupted creatures below.

Tzana grits her teeth in anger and roars out to her ally: “Massacre all of them!” She then looks up towards the chest, “But that one’s mine!” The half utopian then hops onto the wall and scales it almost effortlessly as she punches holes into the wall with every ‘step’ she took.

“Stop running and face me!” She demands, muscles tensed and teeth bared.

---

Grubber could sense that something was wrong as he and the small Eater of Souls were in a somewhat deep hole, unable to see what was going on outside. However, they could still feel the commotion taking place as the hedgehog says:

“What’s going on out there? I don’t like this, not one bit,” He looks towards his ally, “I want to see what’s happening… but, I can’t leave you here.”

The Eater clicks, shaking its eyes, and continues opening the passage wider. It manages to pry loose a rather large amount of corrupted stone, leaving a crevice just big enough for Grubber to go through.

“Here goes nothing! Time for me to finally save the day!” Grubber exclaims proudly as he enters the crevice, giving the small Eater a thumbs up while heading in.

Upon entering, Grubber’s eyes were shot wide open as he was now positioned within a multi-lighted chamber with various crystals etched onto the walls. In addition, he also pulls out the crystal diamond, the Hallow Pylon, and says:

“Alright, here goes not-” His words were cut off by absolute fear as he bears witness to a floating blade that stood before him. The weapon seemed to be sentient, but a blade all the same. Much like the rest of the chamber, this new entity was multicolored as it seemingly glares at the hedgehog.

With a nervous smile, Grubber says:

“Um, h-hi there. What’s up?”

The magical blade ‘stares’ at him, no response.

“Uh… look, I’m not trying to cause any-” His words are silenced as the blade points itself at him. However, what shocks the hedgehog most is when he hears the words:

“Innocent.”

Grubber looks around, then points to himself, “Uh, me?”

The blade lowers itself back to the floor, taking its aim away from the hedgehog.

Grubber sighs, “Look, I’m not all that innocent. I’ve messed up a lot in my life… especially with The Storm King.”

“And you have spent most of your recent time correcting your mistakes,” A motherly voice responds which not only shocks the hedgehog, but the magic sword seemed to take on a respective stance.

“Whoa… who’s there?” Grubber asks.

“I am The Empress of Light, Harmony,” A multicolored beam of light manifests in front of the hedgehog as large fairy wings protrude from it. Soon, an equine entity stands before him. “I’ve been watching you and your friend, Tempest, for quite some time, Grubber.”

“Y-you know my name?”

Harmony giggles, “Of course I do. I know the name of every Timberwolf who’s ever howled to the moon and every bird who sings their beautiful songs,” She points to Grubber with a forehoof, “I saw the day when you first wanted to atone for your past actions, going so far as to prepare meals for those less fortunate.”

Grubber looks away nervously, “It’s, well… it’s the least I could’ve done,” He sighs sadly, “My actions are what made them ‘less fortunate’ in the first place.”

“And yet, here you are. Saving Equestria with your valiant efforts. Speaking of, I believe you have my Pylon to set up, hmm?” Harmony questions with a smile.

“Oh! Right, the others need my help,” He then approaches Harmony and sets down the crystal diamond, “There we go. One Pylon for you, milady.” Grubber bows respectfully.

“You are too kind, my dear hedgehog.” Harmony responds as she spreads her wings to their maximum lengths. The Pylon instantly reacts to her actions as a series of small crystal spires emerges from the ground, the crystal diamond enlarges itself, becoming a sort of monolith.

A portal emerges soon afterward and Grubber’s eyes widen even further, mouth hung agape, as he could hear the marching steps of hooves. Six equine entities leave the portal along with various balls of light with a pair of fae wings.

“Hello there!” Pinkstrix shouts excitingly, “You must be the one who delivered the Pylon here! Good for you!”

Grubber was too dumbstruck to respond, imitating a goldfish.

“These six warriors will aid us all in the coming conflict, and now that my Pylon is activated,” Harmony spreads her wings, “Ocram must be stopped, I can no longer stand idly by and watch Equestria fall to ruin.

……….

Tzana roars out as she tears through The Corruption’s forces, this time wielding her blade in her left forehoof while striking at her foes with the other. In a flurry of ‘punches’ and slicing, the enraged half utopian clears a path for herself. She looks upward towards the chest, shouting:

“Get the fuck over here, bitch!”

The chest appears to stick its tongue out at her before slamming shut again.

Tzana grits her teeth in anger before standing on her hind legs, taking aim with her blade, and throwing it at the chest in a spear-like fashion. The weapon of course fails to puncture the chest as the blade ricochets off of the entity.

The chest opens again, wiggling its tongue, before jumping and sending rock shards falling on her. It shuts immediately afterward, but not before summoning even more World Feeders.

“Raaaaaawr!” Tzana shouts in defiance as she bats away the falling shards, but one of them manages to bonk her on the head. “Do you think this is a game?! I’m going to kill you!”

The chest waggles its tongue in response, four eyes popping out on top of it as it rolls them in unison before closing all four. It seems to be leaning on one side then the other repeatedly, as if dancing.

A World Feeder suddenly lunges itself at the half utopian, but in her angered state and amplified strength, Tzana catches the worm with her forehooves, spins around, and throws it directly at the chest. The chest opens its mouth and eats the worm in one bite. It then licks its surface with its tongue, as if it were a delicious meal.

“You fucking freak!- nngh!” Tzana suddenly cries out in pain as the apparent boost of power she had received possessed a downside. Her body begins to ache uncontrollably as she falls down to the floor, “Wh-what’s going… on?”

The chest waggles its’ tongue as it hops from side to side, as if taunting her.

“Nnngh… no, I can s-still…” Tzana struggles to get onto her hooves, but falls down to the ground once more, “Fuck… this hurts like a son of a Timberwolf…”

The chest jumps and lands a couple of metres away, all eyes on Tzana. It seems to have a smug look, despite technically having no expression.

The utopian hybrid looks towards Tempest’s deceased form as she extends a forehoof towards it, “T-Tempest…”

The chest seems to turn to the body, then to Tzana, before hopping over to the corpse of the unicorn.

“Get away from her! Bastard!- nngh!” The pain within Tzana pulsates throughout her body, cutting off her words.

The Mimic looks at her again before grabbing the body and dragging it directly next to Tzana.

Tzana tries to crawl closer to Tempest, but everytime she does so, the Mimic drags it a little further away, tongue out as if having the most fun of its life.

“No… give her back to me…” Tzana says, nearly begging, as she crawls closer and ‘gives chase’.

It drags Tempest another few meters, before jumping up and down, as if laughing. That is, until Tzana’s ally slashes it hard, leaving a groove in its top. It seems to freeze, and then spin onto its’ back, front-facing upwards. It pauses for a few moments before jumping on top of the monstrosity and beginning to use it as a trampoline. The monstrosity snarls, trying to get it off, until the chest takes one large jump and slams its head into the ground, accidentally going through Tempests’ corpse at the same time.

It looks down as if wondering where the corpse had gone before shrugging with his tongue and hopping off, towards Tzana.

The utopian hybrid’s eyes widened in response, absolute disbelief soon present on her features, “Y-you… did you just…” The harsh reality dawns on her as she watches a pool of blood leak out from the missing head of Tempest’s corpse.

Tzana could only scream in a mix of anger, frustration, and sadness at the loss of the broken unicorn, “You!” She screams at the chest, “You’d better kill me right here and now! Because if you don’t, I’ll hunt you down! Not a moment will pass by in your useless life that you shouldn’t look over your shoulders!”

The chest tilts itself, before its eyes look downwards at its body, as if looking for these ‘shoulders’ Tzana was speaking of. It shrugs its tongue again and bounces towards her, looking ready to do just as she had asked.

“How dare you…” An angered tone akin to an enraged mother says from behind the Mimic, “You dare to threaten one of MY beloved creations? In front of me?! The Empress Of Light?!”

The Mimic freezes once again, before slowly turning around to face the very unhappy-looking Empress of Light. Its eyes look up at her cautiously.

Harmony was a mere second away from literally erasing the chest from existence. However, she hesitates momentarily at the very moment she makes eye contact with the entity, “N-no… you were a Hallowed Mimic?” Sadness overtakes her form, “What has Ocram done to you, my child?”

The chest turns back and forth between the exit and Harmony, before its eyes land on a disappearing patch of corruption.

“Master has enacted his plan, then… I must be going. Ta-Ta!” Says the Mimic, speaking for the first time in a raspy voice, as he seems to split into multiple different Corrupt Mimics. They all begin bouncing towards the exit of the room, along with the remaining corrupted creatures.

“Wait! Please, let me save you, my child!” Harmony pleads. Her words not only had no effect, but none of the many chests remained as they all bounced off in the process.

“What did you just fucking say?” Tzana questions with absolute venom in her voice.

Harmony’s ears flickers, “You’re injured, allow me to-”

“Don’t you pull that shit with me!” Tzana roars out in defiance and points a forehoof towards Tempest’s body, “That thing not only killed Tempest but crushed her head before my very eyes! And you want to save that thing?!”

Shocked by Tzana’s outburst, Harmony stutters, “B-but, I only-”

“You should be helping her! Save her, dammit!”

Harmony’s ears fold against her head as she walks closer to Tzana’s downed form.

“I can still save her, my child,” Harmony says sternly, a tone not many had ever heard from The Empress, “You are free to be angry with me, I do not picture myself to be a perfect being. Yes, especially with my past,” She now stood over Tzana and raised the earth pony’s head, “But no matter how much you might hate me, I will always love you. And I shall never retaliate against you.” Harmony fires up her horn and heals the stunned Tzana.

This shocks the utopian hybrid as she observes Harmony raising up to their full stature and walks over to Tempest Shadow’s decapitated form. A saddened expression overtakes Harmony as she sees the broken unicorn’s sad state. A tear leaves The Empress’s eye as she says:

“My dear child, I am so sorry for failing you. I see all living beings on Equus as my children. For me, every time a life is snuffed out, it’s no different to a mother losing her child.”

Suddenly, various individuals start to approach them as Harmony’s utopians and fairies soon position themselves around her.

“My dear Tempest Shadow, your life certainly had its ups and downs, and you’ve done things that many would find to be unforgivable. However, none can deny that you have done everything in your power to do right by those you’ve wronged,” A powerful multicolored aura surrounds her, “Just like me, all those years ago.”

As this goes on, one of the utopians steps closer to Tzana, who in turn is now sitting on her flank and watching this scenario play out from a short distance away. She turns her gaze towards the utopian approaching her as her eyes widen in response.

“Wait, y-you’re... Inigo.” Tzana said.

“You’ve grown so much since you were a young foal, my daughter.”

……….

Harmony starts to hum a lullaby as her aura alights the area all around her in a series of rainbow-colored swirls, like the northern lights. A stream of energy leaks from The Empress’s form and flows into Tempest’s body.

“Tempest Shadow! By my decree, I hereby appoint you the position of a Utopian!”

Tempest’s form lifts into the air as the energy completely consumes her form.

“May you protect those within The Hallow with strength and kindness. May you be the shield that defends those who are unable to protect themselves!”

The equine form of Tempest’s body, still covered in the multicolored energy, begins to morph and elongate.

“Your life shall be restored and with it, your new purpose!”

The utopians present all start to stomp their hooves in a ceremonial fashion. Tempest’s new form is lowered to the floor as she once again becomes whole. The mare kept some of her old appearance, still sporting a dark-purple furred body with a light purple tail and mane. However, her greatest feature was what was now sitting on her head: A proper unicorn horn. All complete with her now standing at just under six and a half feet tall.

“Mmmf…” Tempest says as she slowly comes to, “Wh… what happened? Where am-” Her words are cut off as she takes in her surroundings. She could see large unicorns standing around her along with various fairies flying to and fro. However, and to no surprise, Harmony herself is what catches the newly born utopian’s gaze as Tempest says:

“Who are... Y-you?”

“I am Harmony, Empress of Light,” Harmony approaches the newly revived mare, “I am also the one who brought you back from the brink. Your body is new, but make no mistake, you are still Tempest Shadow. Oh! And I restored your horn!” Harmony jumps excitingly.

Tempest looks up to her newly restored horn. However, before she could say anything further, the approaching form of Tzana stared at her with absolute shock as she says:

“T-Tempest? You’re alive? B-but, how is this even possible?”

“It’s a trick that I picked up from a dear friend of mine,” Harmony answers, “It’s limited, and the individual will turn into a utopian. It’s a much easier transition for ponies, but can be very strange for other species.”

Tzana was absolutely at a loss for words before she recovers her composure, chuckles, and says:

“Well, well, look who’s got themselves a new bod,” Tzana looks it over, “Hmm, not too bad either.” She says with an impressed tone.

Harmony giggles, “That line reminds me of my Oblivion.”

Tempest looks towards Harmony, “I… I don’t know what to say, but, thank you.”

“It was my pleasure, Tempest Shadow.” Harmony responds with a vibrant smile.

Tzana folds her ears against her head, “Hey, Harmony? About what I said before-”

“There is no need to apologize, dear Tzana,” Harmony interjects, her motherly tone in full force, “You were in pain from the loss of a loved one. I understand that completely,” She looks down to the ground, “I too am guilty of such actions,” She raises her head, “Although it saddens me to see all of this happen, we can take comfort in these results.”

Harmony spreads her wings, “Come, my dear children. Those on the surface will be needing our aid and my Pylon will wisp survivors to safety,” Harmony turns to Tzana's newly made entity, "That includes you too, of course."

Next Chapter: Chapter 15 - The Divide. Estimated time remaining: 18 Hours, 26 Minutes