Chaos Reborn: The Corruption of Harmony

Chapter 5: What have I done?

Twilight and Applejack prepared for their trip back into the Everfree Forest. They packed their bags as Twilight formed a search plan. Magically, she lifted a map out of her saddle bag and laid it out on the table.

“All right. Applejack and I will head here to look for Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie.” Twilight said as she marked the location of their last encounter on the map.

“Shouldn’t we wait for morning, Twi? The forest is dark enough during the day time, but we won’t be able to see an inch beyond our noses at night.” Applejack argued.

“No time to spare. They could be hurt. Morning may be too late. I’ll use my horn to light the way” Twilight's horn lit up to demonstrate.
“Fluttershy, you stay here with Spike just in case the others show up. They may need help and you’re the one with the most experience care taking.”

Fluttershy nodded her head in acknowledgement.

Twilight turned to her assistant
“And Spike, I need you to write a letter to Princess Celestia, letting her know what’s happened. Tell her we encountered some sort of monster and we may need the Elements of Harmony. Then I want you to search every book in the library to this symbol” She took a piece of chalk and drew out the strange marking they'd found on the tower.
"It may give us a clue as to what we're dealing with."

“What do we do if that thing shows up again?” Applejack asked, with a worried look on her face.

“I-I don’t know yet, but we have to find our friends. With the six of us are together, we can use the Elements to fight whatever this thing is.” Twilight said with determination and a little uncertainty in her voice.

Applejack nodded her head in acknowledgement “Right! I’m with ya, Sugar Cube.”

“Then let’s go.” Twilight motioned to the door, as they prepared to head out.

Suddenly, the door slammed open. Standing in the doorway was Dash's counterpart holding a seemingly unconscious Rarity.

The girls gasped, alarmed by the sudden turn of events.

“Rainbow Dash! Where have you two been?” Twilight asked in surprise and concern.

“We don’t have time for that right now! Rarity’s hurt.” Rainbow placed Rarity's doppelgänger on the floor.
“I found her like this at the boutique and brought her here to get help.”

“Now wait just a minute, I checked Rarity’s place this mornin’. Nopony was home.” Applejack said, trying to piece together what happened.

“Uh, you must have shown up after I left.” Dash lied, trying to avert suspicion.

“But what took you so long to get here?” Twilight asked.
“Rarity’s obviously in pretty bad shape. With the severity of her wounds, she needs to see Nurse Redheart over at the Ponyville Hospital.”

“I don’t know Twilight! I panicked. We can talk about where I’ve been all day later, but right now we need to do something about Rarity” Dash blurted out, in an attempt to end the series of questions.

Twilight’s eyes narrowed for a moment, then she snapped back to focus as she mentally revised her plan. “Right.” She said with a nod.
“Fluttershy, I need you to take Rarity to the hospital. Spike, you meet up with her after you’ve written the letter to the princess. Rainbow Dash, have you seen Pinkie Pie?”

“Nope” Dash lied
“But I’m sure she’ll turn up sooner or later if we wait here.”

“After seeing what happened to Rarity, we can’t risk waiting. You, Applejack, and I are going back into the Everfree Forrest to look for her.” Twilight demanded.

“Fine” Dash rolled her eyes. “Let’s get this over with.”

Twilight’s group headed out the door to the forest, and Fluttershy exited after, carrying the mutilated Rarity over her back.

Twilight turned to face to everyone.
“One more thing, if we getting separated again, let’s all agree to meet at the hospital where Fluttershy, Spike, and Rarity will be.”

They all nodded once in acknowledgement, and parted ways for their respective tasks.

Back in Pinkamina’s basement, she and Princess Trollestia looked down at the remains of Rainbow Dash. Blood was splashed over various places on their coats and manes.

The princess looked over to the pink pony who was licking some blood off of her hoof.
“So how was it this time? Was it everything you wanted?”

Pinkamina turned to Trollestia confidently and took a breath to answer, but then paused for a moment as she thought about the events that transpired

“No…” Pinkamina’s confident smirk sunk into a frown, as tears began to well up in her eyes.
“It…it still feels like before. It still wasn’t enough time.” She sunk her face in her hooves to hide her tears.
“She's still gone! I-I still miss her so much.”
Pinkamina angrily grabbed a large knife from the tool desk and, in frustration, sunk it deep into Dash's empty socket.
“WHY?! WHY DO I KEEP DOING THIS?! WHY...does it always end this way?”, she screamed aloud and looked into the one remaining lifeless, rose colored eye of the mare she considered to be her best friend.
“I was supposed to get it right this time. This was my chance to tell her good bye. To show her how much she meant to me.”
She looked down at what she’d done and began to back away, a look of horror grew over Pinkamina's face as tears flowed down her cheeks, mixing with the blood that had soaked into her fur. She backed up, bumping the table behind her, and then collapsed to the floor sobbing. Pinkamina looked up at the princess, her vision obscured through the sorrow that filled her eyes.
“I don’t think I want to play anymore.” The pink pony whimpered, then hung her head and continued to weep.

“There there, little one.” Trollestia disingenuously tried to console Pinkamina, snorting as she held in a chuckle.
“Don’t be sad. You shouldn't dwell on the negative… she wasn’t your Rainbow Dash anyways, but you had fun playing her, right?”

Pinkamina wiped the tears from her eyes with a hoof, and looked again the body on the rack.

“I gave you this so we...er, I mean, you could have fun.” The princess smirked as she put a wing over blood and tear soaked mare, as she continued insincerely comforting her.
“Dry your eyes. We’ve got some baking to do, a party to plan, and more ponies whose numbers are up. I’ll make you a deal. If you keep the fun going just a little longer, I might let you have round three with the other Dash once she's played her part.”

Pinkmina looked up at the princess and her ears perked up as she imagined how she would handle things differently on her third try.
“I’ll do it…" She dried the remaining moisture from her eyes, excited by Trollestia's new proposal.
"But for a party as big as the one you’re planning, I’m going to need some assistants.”

The Princess's grin grew to a smile once again.
"Of course."
Her eyes widened and her horn glowed as a wisp of magic floated to the darkest corner the the room. Three small pairs of eyes became visible in the shadows, one pair glowing bright red. Pinkamina stood up to accept her new playmates as a trio of familiar, blank flanked fillies stepped into the light.