//------------------------------// // Dash's Delusion part three // Story: Ruining Harmony // by Artaelian //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash woke up to the sight of the other Pegasus eating. Once again, the muffin on the plate had been left alone as Ditzy wished. Rainbow yawned and stood up. “Good morning, Rainbow Dash. How are you doing?” Raindrops asked pausing during the carrot she was eating. She was forlorn and wishing it was all a dream. But she wouldn’t say something like that. “I’m doing fine. You know, considering the situation.” Raindrops nodded, judging by Rainbow’s voice that she wanted to be alone rather than talk to the other survivors. With no other conversation being offered, Rainbow Dash walked out to the streets again and looked around. The Everfree Forest, just outside Ponyville, was burnt just like the town. But something was different. A small patch inside the forest was clearly fine, and had no signs that it had ever been on fire. Was this where Zecora was? It could be, she wouldn’t know for sure. But it was a spark of hope that woke her spirits up. “Guys, there’s a part of the Everfree Forest that didn’t burn,” she cried to the ponies inside, “all of you stay here. I’m going to go and take a look. Maybe Zecora is fine and knows what’s going on.” -- The Everfree Forest loomed before Rainbow Dash now, or rather, what little was still standing. The trees had burnt faster and cleaner than the houses and buildings of Ponyville. The air was still unplesant, with ash from the trees that drifted on the air like flurries, and the smoke made a boding low hanging cloud. Even though the fires were distant, Rainbow could hear the sounds of the trees, crackling and popping, and they provided the only sound as she walked through what was left. Oddly enough, these distant sounds provided some comfort in the now unfamiliar landscape, even though they did give her a few shivers. As welcome as the sounds were, they unnerved her slightly. Carefully, Rainbow climbed over the charred remains of a tree log that had fallen. Here, off to her right was a horrible sight. A black, completely charred corpse about thrice as big as herself, with a characteristic scorpion tail. It was no doubt the manticore that Fluttershy had calmed down about a year before. The mare stood and stared at it for a moment, before sighing and pressing on to Zecora’s hut. Her guess that the zebra’s home would be in the unaffected part of the Everfree Forest had been right. She soon came upon the tree home with its creepy masks and decorations. She quietly walked up to the door and knocked. “Anypony home?” she yelled, waiting for a reply… or lack thereof. But rather than a voice, Rainbow was met with suddenly being pulled off her hooves. It took a few seconds to finally realize she was now on her back, uninjured, inside Zecora’s house, with the zebra looking down at her. “How glad I am to hear, a perfectly fine pony appear!” Zecora said, happily, in her strange way of talking. “It’s nice to see you as well Zecora. But you could have just invited me in rather than… you know… trap me.” Rainbow Dash stated sharply. “These times I have to be agile, for Equestria has turned hostile.” Zecora answered. “That’s just it, Zecora. Do you know what’s going on?” Rainbow Dash inquired. Zecora sat down and sighed, thinking of a few seconds. There was a lot of rhyming to do until she told all about what she had seen over the last few days. She went on about how some loud noise came from Canterlot, and with it, earth ponies and unicorns gained black markings and their eyes turned white. From there, they begun destroying the town and the forest, and Zecora was lucky to have used recipes to repel the corrupted ponies. “…Finally, I heard you call for my name,” Zecora concluded after half an hour, “and here you are, here I am.” “So,” Rainbow Dash tried to work out Zecora’s usual rhyming into sentences she could understand, “after my blackout, something happened up at Canterlot, and all earth ponies and unicorns suddenly went insane?” Rainbow asked. Zecora nodded. “Many nights I have looked for answers in this book,” she walked over to it, “but among its pages there is no solution, as I look.” “And what of my friends? Did you see them?” Rainbow asked in hope. “Your friends I did not see, except for Fluttershy, who came to confide in me.” “So where is she?” The pegasus was happy to hear this, at this point she didn’t have high expectations anymore. Zecora’s head lowered. Apparently there would be no good news here. Soon, Zecora looked directly at Rainbow Dash. “Last I saw of Fluttershy, I gave her two vials of the potion from my cooking pot. One for a friend hurt here in Ponyville, the other for a plan to take place in Canterlot.” The conversation then became interrupted when the door to the next room burst open. Through this, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Dinky Doo walked out. They all stared at Rainbow Dash, large smiles appearing on their faces. Rainbow Dash stared, a smile on her face to see the young fillies were unharmed. “Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo shouted, running ahead of the others. “How did you all get here? We searched the town and didn’t find anyone.” Rainbow quizzed, looking at each filly in turn. “When the fires begun,” Sweetie Belle answered, “Apple Bloom suggested we flee to Zecora’s. We’ve been here all along.” Apple Bloom looked proud that her suggestion had been helpful. For the first time in the last few days, Rainbow Dash truly smiled. All the destruction of the town, seeing so many familiar places burnt to empty shells, or burnt to the ground, four fillies had lifted the sadness of the situation simply by being alive. She looked at Dinky. “Your mom has been worried about you, Dinky, but she’s fine. When everything is ok, she has a muffin waiting for you at home,” Rainbow said, smiling at Dinky. Dinky only responded by smiling back, “If it’s safe later, maybe I can bring her here to see you before then.” Rainbow Dash stood up and walked to the door, stopping to look back at Zecora. “Keep an eye on them. The rest of us will try to sort everything out. We’ll come back when it’s safe.” She said plainly. “Rainbow Dash, why can’t we come?” Scootaloo asked, running to Rainbow’s side. “Not just yet. I can’t get you fillies through town yet. So just stay here a bit more. I’ll come back soon.” Rainbow smiled, and walked out of Zecora’s house. ‘I hope it’ll be ok soon. Please, let everything be ok…’ -- Rainbow Dash was a bit more cautious walking back after what Zecora had said. The earth ponies and unicorns had become corrupted, though Zecora hadn’t seen too well what this looked like. All she knew, they were still around, setting fires and destroying things at random. As she walked back into Ponyville, a bush rustled nearby, causing Rainbow to freeze. She turned her head slowly to look at it, then it rustled again. Somepony was in there. Recalling Zecora’s words, Rainbow Dash edged closer to the bush and pulled it aside. In it, looking up with only one eye, the other out of sight, was a green unicorn with a lighter green mane stared back. “Lyra? What the hay? Zecora said all unicorns got corrupted.” Rainbow Dash said. “We all did, Rainbow Dash…” Lyra answered back. Rainbow Dash recoiled in horror at what she saw when Lyra stepped out from the bush. It was as if half of her body was as it was normal, but the other half looked as if it had been resting on a bush above paint. Lyra’s normal eye colour stared at her from the left side, but the blank white eye on the right sent shivers up Rainbow’s spine. But there were more details that Rainbow now saw as Lyra swayed gently before her. The half of her mane that fell on the right had dimmed several darker shades of green, and along her body, black markings seemed to wriggle and squirm as though alive. They seemed to form words for fleeting moments, before becoming blobs once more. Rainbow fought the urge to run, the sight of Lyra’s empty eye, and the wriggling black markings on Lyra’s body struck at some primal feeling deep down, but that same primal feeling also kept her rooted to the spot, staring at what had become of the unicorn before her. “Lyra, what happened to you?” Rainbow asked after several uneasy seconds. “The same that happened to everypony else, even… Bon-bon. We all got these… markings on us, and our eyes are becoming pure white. I’m fighting it, but… it’s a fight I’m going to lose.” Lyra answered, her voice sounding dull, as if all hope was lost. An awkward silence fell between the two ponies. “Where is everypony anyway?” Rainbow Dash finally asked, “and what happened to all the Pegasi?” “I don’t know. Since Fluttershy… flew out of town, then some grey Pegasus got… too close to Canterlot, the unicorns set up a barrier around Ponyville. If you touch it, you’ll… die in a second. Not even your… home is safe. But you must listen to me, I have… something important to say.” Lyra stated, as Rainbow Dash sat down. Rainbow looked hopelessly up at her home high above. This felt cruel. Her home, about the only thing that seemed to be fine, and she’d die if she tried to go to it. She snapped back to conscious thought as Lyra cleared her throat. “Right now, the town is… surrounded by other corrupted ponies. But there’ll be a time tomorrow morning when they aren’t here. Fluttershy is in… trouble up in Canterlot. Use the time to save her and get yourself far away from here.” Lyra informed, pain etched across her face. Seemingly having said all she wanted to say, Lyra turned around and begun to walk away. “Hey, where are you going?” Rainbow asked frantically, having been caught off guard by Lyra starting to leave. She got up and followed after the green unicorn. “I’m becoming corrupted, it’s too… dangerous to stay near you when I finally lose my fight. Just take care of yourself, don’t worry about what… happens to me or any other corrupted pony.” Lyra replied in a defeated tone. At least she could help somepony else before losing her fight. When Lyra was out of sight, Rainbow Dash turned around and looked up to where Canterlot could always be seen from Ponyville, and her jaw dropped. The pure white castle had become blackened from all the smoke and fires that seemingly had occurred there too. As she watched, a tower lost a few large parts, and then it too fell to gravity and into the valley below. It moved slowly down, reminding Rainbow on how massive it used to be. Like Ponyville, Canterlot had become ruined while she slept. ‘This can’t get much worse, can it?’ she thought. ------ Author notes; A picture was added, but this may be a temporary picture. Right now, it has no relation to the chapters up right now. So sorry for the picture not relating to the story just yet.