Chaos Reborn: The Corruption of Harmony

Chapter 3: Marble Ponies

The girls treaded carefully, deep within reaches of the Everfree Forest, a dark and foreboding place filled with all kinds of dangerous animals and plant life. Most ponies knew to steer clear of the forest in general and especially to never go alone, but the five of them were on a mission to find anypony that looked suspicious and bring them back to the princess to answer for the atrocities in Canterlot. Fluttershy cowered and huddled up next to Rainbow Dash for support as they walked.

“Not so close, Fluttershy. You’re gonna me make trip over a hoof.” Rainbow Dash said, trying not to be tipped over by frightened pegasus nuzzling against her.

“Maybe we should ask Zecora if she’s seen anything out of the ordinary.” Twilight suggested to the group

“We don’t even know what this guy looks like, Twi. And even if we figure that out, how do we know he’s even still here?” Applejack questioned.

Twilight thought for a moment, “Well, I’m sure Princess Celesi-"

“HI!” A pink pony popped seemingly out of nowhere, startling the girls.

“Pinkie Pie! You scared us.” Rarity scolded.
“I thought you were with the princess, and what happened to your mane, Darling? I like what you’ve done with it. Though I never thought it possible for anypony to tame those curls of yours.”

Pinkamina’s mane was flat and hung down over one side of her head

“Oh this? Well, you see…” She began to attempt an explanation.

“We don’t have time to talk hair styles right now. Pinkie, I’m glad your back, but we have work to do.” Twilight said redirecting the group back to the task at hoof.

As they walked, Pinkamina gazed leeringly at Rainbow Dash. The cyan pegasus could feel the eyes on her and turned to Pinkamina.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Rainbow whispered to her, trying to figure out was drawing the pink pony’s attention.

“Oh, it’s nothing Dashie. I just missed you. That’s all.” Pinkamina said with a smile.

“Um... I'm glad to see you too, but we’ve only been separated for a few hours, Pinkie.” Rainbow Dash said to her, touched by her friend’s affection, but a bit confused as to why she’d miss her so soon.

“Yeah, I guess it just felt longer to me.” Pinkamina said with a frown.
“You’re my best friend, Dashie. I’m so glad I have another chance to spend some time with you. The last time seemed so short, but we’ll get it right this time. I Pinkie promise.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled nervously.
“Hehe… Th-thank’s Pinkie, but you’re kind of creeping me out.”
She looked ahead to avoid eye contacted as the pink pony continued to stare.

The six of them came up to a tall red watch tower. It was rectangular in shape, and hollow. There was a ladder inside, but the entire thing was obviously abandoned and in need of repair. There were areas where the wood was rotting and the paint was flaking off. Just at the entrance there was a marking scratched into the wood, a circle with an "X" through it. The girls looked at it with curiosity.

“What do ya make of it, Twilight?” Applejack asked, scratching her head.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. I could check the library and she if we could math the symbol, But what purpose could a tower like this possibly have in a thick forest? The top doesn't even breach the tree cover and according to my map, here’s nothing around here to see for miles.” Twilight tried to wrap her head around the purpose of such a structure.
“Either way, it doesn’t look like anypony’s been here quite some time.”

Behind them, the faint rustling of the leaves and the occasional sounds of breaking twigs could be heard. Nopony seemed to notice, as a few thin, black tree trunks in the forest twisted and creeped in, ever so slightly, behind them. They were all too focused on the tower and the strange symbol.

Pinkamina, standing at the back of the group, smiled. Knowing what was coming, she grinned from ear to ear as her eyes opened wide and glanced to one side, anticipating the events to follow.
“Party time.” She whispered.

Rainbow Dash suddenly began to cough violently, collapsing to the ground holding her hoof up to her mouth as she continued on. The girls turned to her in concern.

“Are you alright, Rainbow…” Twilight’s voice began to fail her as she and the rest of her friends looked up and gasped.

Behind the incapacitated Rainbow Dash, who seemed to be having some sort of seizure, there stood an impossibly tall, thin pony, wearing what looked like a black suit. He towered over the group, with legs twice as long as any Alicorn and seemingly flexible, as if they were not legs at all, but some sort of black boneless appendages lifting him up off the ground. Most disturbing of all was his face, or the lack thereof. It was just a white mane-less head with no mouth and no openings for eyes. It looked down at them for a moment, then focused its attention on Rainbow Dash who was still coughing and spasming on the ground.

“Oh no you don’t, you big brute!” Rarity yelled and stood in front of her friend to protect her. Twilight and Applejack took position behind Rainbow Dash preparing for a fight, as Fluttershy fell to the ground cowering in fear and covered her eyes. Pinkamina didn’t move, waiting to see how the events would unfold.

The faceless pony stood there and slowly lifted his head, fixing his stare at Rarity. He tilted his head slightly as a series of black tendrils emerged from his back. One of them reached out and grabbed the white unicorn blocking his path.

“Put me down this instant!” She commanded, trying to struggle free.

As he lifted her high into the air, Twilight’s horn lit up, firing bolts of magical energy at the monster.
"Let her go!"

Not even a flinch. It was as if he didn’t even notice. Looking up at his captured prey, he began to draw the tendril back into his torso and Rarity with it.

“I’ll take care of this, y’all!” Applejack charged full speed at the slender pony. With one of his spare tendrils, he effortlessly swatted her away and into a nearby tree, knocking the orange mare unconscious.

Rarity screamed, now right up against her captor’s body, she could feel the flesh of his back give way and begin to swallow her in whole.

Twilight looked first to Fluttershy, who was still cowering on the ground and then to Pinkamina who simply stood watching.
“Come on, girls! I need your help. I can’t stop him by myself!” She put her hoof forward, preparing to stand her ground, as her horn sparked with magic once again.

The tall equine figure simply looked down at Twilight as he completely engrossed the screaming Rarity into whatever dark abyss lay within him. He looked over at the smiling pink pony for a moment, and then turned his full attention to Twilight.

Suddenly she felt ill. It was as if her entire body was somehow shutting down under the power this thing emanated. Her muscles grew weak and her vision began to blur and go dark. Twilight buckled to the ground, struggling to breathe.

Fluttershy felt the effects too. She began to cough and whimper as she lost what little strength she had.

Fighting to stay cognizant, Twilight looked around, helpless to stop what was happening. Fluttershy was already out cold. She struggled to tilt her head up and see Pinkamina trotting over to her. With the last of her strength, she reached out her hoof to the pink pony and softly called out “Help…”

Pinkamina looked down.
“Don’t worry, silly. This will all seem like a bad dream in the morning.”

Twilight fell limp as her eyes closed.

Pinkamina looked over to the creature who, in turn, stared back at her.
“Well that was fun. You take Rarity to the princess for her going away party. I’ll deal with everypony else.”, she said with a enormous grin.

The slender pony looked down at the unconscious Rainbow Dash.

“Oh her? I have plans for her. But first I need to get everypony else back home and in their beds. They need plenty of rest for the big celebration. You should come too. I think you’ll really like it.”
Pinkamina licked her lips in anticipation.
“I’m bringing my special cupcakes.”