Chaos Reborn: The Corruption of Harmony

Chapter 2: Trollestia Be Trollin’

As the train from Ponyville pulled up the station in Canterlot, Twilight and her friends could only stand there and stare, slack jawed. The city streets, normally booming with Equestria’s elite, were vacant and littered with debris. Shops were closed, some with boarded windows. Many buildings were damaged as if hit by a meteor or caught in an explosion, while others were simply left in smoldering piles. The structures that still stood were covered in graffiti with strange massages like “To the mooooooooon!” and “Bananas?”

“What happened here? This place looks like there was an attack.” Twilight looked assessed the damage as she and the girls exited the train.
"Oh no!" She gasped as the realization that nopony, had come to meet her and her friends upon their arrival. Not even a guardsman to escort them.
"I hope we’re not too late."

“Wow! This must have been one crazy party!” Pinkie was in awe as she looked around to see what she missed out on.

“Now Sugar Cube, I don't think think this was no party. There’s no way all these up tight, fancy pants ponies would let any of their poofy high society get togethers end up this out of hoof.” Applejack interjected.

“But look around. There’s confetti and bananas everywhere. Ooooh! I bet it was a jungle themed party!” Pinkie Pie zipped away came back swinging on a vine, and wearing a loincloth as the pointed to the litter covering the buildings and streets. Aside from the rubble and broken buildings, most of what covered the city was just as Pinkie said. Confetti and bananas were everywhere, some of it looked to be burnt and many of the bananas were heavily bruised, but it did seem like weird a thing to be covering what otherwise looked like a the site of a disaster.

“That don’t explain why all the buildings are all smashed up.”, pointed out Applejack

Pinkie put her hoof on her chin and thought for a second.
“Maybe they invited Derpy?” She said with a shrug.

“Maybe Discord is back!” Rainbow Dash jumped in, looking around for the master of chaos, half expecting his maniacal laughter to pop in at any moment.

“No, I don’t think so.” Twilight responded. “This doesn’t seem to be his style. Things are too calm. If it were Discord, there would still be active disorder throughout the city.”

“Come now, darling. I’m sure the Princess will be able to tell us what happened here.” Rarity placed a comforting hoof on Twilight's shoulder before pointing her hoof to the castle.

“Rarity’s right. We don’t have any answers here. Let’s ask Princess Celestia.” Twilight agreed as she and her friends began to trot down the road.

As the mares arrived at the castle, they noticed the lack of security and began to panic. Was they overrun? Twilight ran ahead at top speed into the throne room to see if her mentor was all right. The throne was empty.

There was panic in in the purple unicorn’s voice as she called out
“Princess Celestia! Are you alright?!”

“Of course, Twilight. Why wouldn’t I be?” a voice called out from unknown area of the throne room.

“Princess Celestia? Where are you?” Twilight looked around, puzzled.

“Behind you.” Trollestia leaned in and whispered into the unicorn’s ear, startling the panicked pony and causing her jump.

“Ahh!”, she screamed as she turned around and fell on her plot, doing a double take when she saw the princess.
“What…happened to you?”

Trollestia had done her best to dye her body white, but the job was shoddy at best. There were tufts of pink in a few random places, especially at the base of her wings and around her cutie mark and eyes. Her hair was stiff and obviously damaged from the bleach she used on her coat.
“Oh, this? Haha. I uh…” She tried to come up with an excuse for her appearance while simultaneously trying to hold back laughter over the frightened reaction of Twilight Sparkle.

Just then, rest of the girls finally galloped up behind and caught up. Rarity looked especially horrified, gasping, when caught sight of the princess.
“Oh dear! What happen to you, darling?!” Rarity called out, unable to believe her eyes.
“Your beautiful coat! It’s ruined! This is…the…absolute…worst…thing…EVER! Don’t worry, your majesty, I’ll get you fixed up right away.”
Rarity’s horn lit up as she magically pulled some supplies out of her saddlebag and to tore down the drapes from one of the massive windows in the throne room to fashion a privacy curtain around the Alicorn masquerading as the princess. She quickly stepped in and got to work as the rest of the girls stood outside and waited. The sound of sloshing water and scissors cutting into fur came from inside the makeshift salon. Bits of pink and white hair flew as the curtain shook, but within a few seconds all was still. Rarity dropped the curtain to reveal the spitting image of Princess Celestia with a pristine, beautiful white coat.
“Ta-da!” She announce with pride as she presented her handiwork with flair and showmanship.

Twilight did yet another double take shaking her head in disbelief.
“How did you…?”

“Just between us, Darling, this isn’t my natural hair color. I’ve been dying it since I was a filly” Rarity admitted.

“Right…well back to the matter at hand. What happened here?!” Twilight asked as she turned to the White alicorn for answers.

“Oh this? This is nothing. Um…we had a... um…a party! Yeah that’s it! A big party…with bananas…and then…I dunno…something attacked the castle?” Trollestia put together the thinly veiled fabrication, not used to having to explain the damage from her actions.

“Told you it was a party!” Pinky Pie interrupted, sticking her tongue out at Applejack.

“Not now Pinky.” Twilight hushed her friend and then looked back at the princess. Though her story didn't seem quite right, Celestia had never been dishonest with Twilight in the past, so she had no reason to doubt what she was saying now.
“Is everypony ok? Do you know who did this? Where’s Princess Luna?”

“She’s fine. The princess...er... I mean... my sister is with the rest of the guards. It was quite a day. You could say they’re just a little ‘spaced out’ at the moment ” Trollestia giggled at the hidden pun she’d made.
“But right now I need you to go to the Everfree Forrest and find the pony responsible for this.”

“How will we know when we see him?” Rainbow Dash asked, ready for a fight.

“Oh trust me, you’ll know when you see him. Let’s just say he’s tall and has an unforgettable…face.” Trollestia snickered as she devised a plan for what awaited the girls on the dark reaches of the forest.

“Don’t you worry, Princess. We’ll catch this varmint” Applejack assured her.

“You can count on us.” Twilight said as she took point and headed off with the rest of the girls.

“Just a moment.” Trollestia stopped them “If it’s all the same with you. I’d like the pink one to stay here with me for a while. I need to talk to her about preparing my next…event, and arranging for some baked goods for the guests. I’ll send her to catch up with you and your friends once I’m done with her.”

The girls stopped, a bit confused by the request, but Twilight simply nodded to Pinkie Pie in acknowledgement.

“Sure thing Princess! I’m glad to help, and my Pinkie, silly! You knew that." Pinkie Pie cheerfully said as she separated from the group.

The rest of them walked off to begin their mission. Once the others were finally out of sight, Trollestia turned to the cotton candy maned mare who simply smiled back at her.

“Now what am I going to do with you?” She pondered for a moment.

“I thought I was gonna help you with your next big party.” Pinkie looked up, trying to maintain a smile to hide her discomfort over the unusual vibe she was getting.

“Yeah yeah, we’ll get to that later. I just need to figure out how I’m going to handle you. We can’t have two pink little ponies walking around. Can we?” The Alicorn continued to devise her plan.

“Huh?” Pinkie Pie tilted her head, confused and a little creeped out.
"What do you mean 'two pink-"?"

“Wait, I know!” Trollestia finally blurted out, as she grinned and gazed down at an uncomfortable Pinkie Pie. Her horn began to glow.
“How would you like to go to be a 'Moon Pie'?”