//------------------------------// // Rarity's Reveire part one // Story: Ruining Harmony // by Artaelian //------------------------------// It had been half an hour since Twilight and Applejack had left, taking the barely alive Sunshine Blaze to hospital. Rainbow Dash remained staring at the goggles on the floor before her, while Rarity and Pinkie Pie watched as Twilight opened the door and both she and Applejack walked in. “Ah’m telling you, Twilight, he’ll come find us when he’s out. He ain’t about to run off.” Applejack said aloud to Twilight. “I hope so Applejack. He seems to know whats going on, and we need answers from him.” Twilight replied. “So you got him to the hospital just fine?” Rarity questioned, keeping a neutral look. “Yeah, he’ll be fine. They’ll be making sure his burns aren’t serious. He woke for a moment and said he’d come talk to us when he’s out.” Twilight answered. “That’s good,” Rainbow Dash smiled. She held up the goggles, turning to look at Applejack, “I saw these after you two left, what are they exactly?” she asked the orange earth pony. “Oh, they’re Sunshine Blaze’s goggles, ah better go take them to him.” Applejack stated, walking over to Rainbow Dash. Before Applejack could take them, a purple aura surrounded the goggles and floated them away, placing them inside a drawer. “There, less chance of them breaking. It will also ensure he does come talk to us, at least, if he wants them back.” Twilight stated. “Alright, Twi, why are you acting like this? What is it about this Irvest place you don’t like?” Applejack asked. “It got mentioned rarely by the princess. Irvest is a strange place, run by succession, but between ponies not related to each other. They also replace body parts, and in all, just don’t live in harmony like we do.” Twilight replied. The other mares stared at each other in confusion, before looking at Twilight again. “Uh, maybe you should make that last point clearer?” Rainbow Dash said. “Fine,” Twilight groaned, “when Zecora came to Ponyville before the Poison Joke incident, you all made the way the Everfree runs sound unnatural.” “Because it is! Clouds move on their own, animals fend for themselves, and plants grow how they like.” Rainbow Dash declared loudly. “Uh huh, well, Equestria is the opposite, the weather, plants and animals are all dependant on us. But in Irvest, they let things run like the Everfree Forest.” “Okay, that’s weird.” Rainbow Dash said, and she fell quiet. “Ah have another question though Twi.” Applejack said. “What’s that Applejack?” Twilight asked. “In both mine and ‘Shy’s portals, we met three heroes. Yet there were no mention of them in history classes growing up. I saw them heading to fight Discord, what do you think happened to them?” Applejack questioned. “Well,” Twilight paused to think, with her eyes brightening as she thought of an answer, “remember what Princess Celestia said about the time Discord first got sealed in stone?” Around the room, the other mares nodded their heads. “It’s simple! You saw them heading to fight Discord, when they arrived, they must have held Discord at bay until the Princesses arrived, and the rest is history.” Twilight finished, grinning. “Ah’m not so sure Twi, if they played such an important role, why weren’t they mentioned by the Princess?” Applejack pressed. “I don’t know. Look, we don’t have time for this now, we need to continue on and find out what’s going on with the elements. If what you said is true Applejack, then we need to find out fast who is causing these events,” Twilight looked at Rarity, who seemed to shrink a little, “you have to go first Rarity. It would be better if I went last, because if the one behind all this is waiting in mine, I can close these portals before they can get through.” Rarity groaned loudly in frustration, looking at the portal with her picture. She really didn’t want to go through. It’d either send her to the past, where a Discord ruled Equestria waited, or send her to a horrible future. And after what Rainbow Dash had been through, and the forgotten memory of the alternate future for Pinkie Pie, it was undesirable to Rarity to learn which she would get. With a gulp of nervousness, Rarity stepped through the portal. -- The sight beyond the portal quickly overwhelmed Rarity. She stood in her shop, Carousel Boutique, which now looked long abandoned. Cracks formed along the walls, and the windows had been broken and mostly opaque from dust. Vines climbed around the walls and the floor was dirty as it possibly could. She looked back where the portal should have been, but as expected, it wasn’t there, like it hadn’t been there for Fluttershy and Applejack. Rarity sighed, she was stuck with a mess of a store, clearly in the future. She stood alone for a moment, thinking to herself about the possiblities of this future. If her shop and home was a mess, then where were her friends? Where was her family? Somepony would have come to look after it after she had failed to return, right? But by the state of the building, she immediately begun to worry about them all. What had happened to them? Were they alright? She was trying to the decide who she’d be searching for first, then— “Ah, hello there fair, white filly.” Came a soft voice behind her. Rarity looked up at the voice, and before her stood Ulysses. While he smiled, it seemed more mocking than friendly. “And you are?” Rarity asked, narrowing her eyes. “Really? Your friend Applejack never mentioned me? Oh well,” he bowed, “my name is Ulysses, do try to remember it, in case your friends see me and ask it. Now, what is going on?” he asked. Rarity stared for a moment, bewildered how fast Ulysses had just gone from a soft, gentlecolt like manner of speaking, to an almost rushed and crude normal way of speaking. She shook her head, and narrowed her eyes once more towards Ulysses. “I don’t know. You expect me to have an idea of what I’ve stepped into?” she snipped. Ulysses glanced down, and begun grinning. He looked Rarity in the eyes. “Well, at least when it comes to that I do.” He remarked, pointing his right front hoof at her hooves. Rarity glanced down, and screamed. She stamped her hooves in an attempt to remove the offending dropping, ignoring Ulysses as he burst out laughing with deep, booming chuckles. “Could this get any worse?” Rarity whined, checking her hoof for any remaining dirt. “Oh why does everypony say that?” Ulysses asked aloud, looking out of a window. “What do you mean?” Rarity questioned. “Every time somepony says ‘could this get any worse?’, then yes, it will get worse. A lot worse. And I know the situation you’re facing. Here’s a hint, it was already pretty bad before you said that.” Ulysses replied. “Already?” Rarity asked, her eyes wide. Ulysses said nothing, but rather pointed to the window. Rarity approached it and looked outside, her jaw instantly dropped. The sky was a deep crimson colour, as the sun and moon hung near each other in the sky, bathing the parched and burnt land in the colour of flames and blood. Houses and buildings in Ponyville, while they hadn’t been set on fire, had clearly fallen to disrepair. The ground was covered with dried grass, and the soil underneath had become hard and crackled with the lack of water. Rarity slowly turned to face Ulysses. “I told you it was already pretty bad.” He stated, his face blank and indifferent. “What about my friends? And my family?” she questioned quietly. “In this time, I just bet they’re dying to meet you,” he paused to grin, which remained on his face even when Rarity didn’t laugh, “as for where they are, you’ll have to find out by yourself.” he concluded, waving a hoof in the direction of Canterlot. “What even caused all of this? My boutique looks like a mess, and you know what is going on, so maybe you can tell me?” she asked him, batting her eyelids at him. “It doesn’t work like that, even if I told you what happened, you still have to find the source yourself to trigger the way back. Nice thinking however.” Ulysses replied, smirking. Rarity sighed, turning her head to the walls and thinking. Eventually she spoke up. “Well, the sooner I get this done, the sooner I go back home, right?” “Oh yes, that’s true,” Ulysses said, turning away from Rarity, he added under his breath so she couldn’t hear, “for now anyway.”