A Viral Legacy

by Dustchu

Rating: mature
Tags: Tragedy, Alternate Universe, Human, Sad, Dark
Length: 4126

There are several families throughout Equestria who know nothing of their family legacy... Rainbow Dash is going to learn about hers, and she may not like it.

Very few know of their family legacy, as most of their history was lost to time. There is one in Ponyville who can't remember anything beyond her arrival in Cloudsdale… her name, is Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow has never wondered about her past, putting it off as forgotten childhood memories, that is until she is plagued with visions that come out of nowhere when she's awake, and memories of a strange pony, odd ape like creatures, grotesque monsters, and screams that fill her dreams every night. She just thought they were nightmares… but a nagging feeling is telling her its something more.

Now she's on a mission to find out who she really is. With the help of Princess Luna, the athletic and brash Element of Loyalty will have to delve deep into the recesses of her own mind to find the answer she so desperately seeks.

And she may not like what she learns.

Written by: Dustchu
All characters belong to their respective owners.
I only own my characters who will be listed at the end of the story.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-07-21 07:36:37 UTC

00: Dreams

I 'awoke' yet again to the screams of people dying around me, the thunderous roars of disfigured monsters chasing down unarmed and defenseless people before ripping them apart, the cracks and booms of firearms that the hooded ape like creatures held in their hands. The air smelled of smoke, iron and decay, the ground shook from the tank's advancement as they crushed cars and other smaller monsters under their treads, the buildings around me burned brightly like torches as whoever was inside burned along with it.

The roads and buildings around me were covered in massive amounts of a weird glowing red like growth, it, whatever it was covered the entire city almost. Massive long tentacle like appendages held buildings together like huge fleshy ropes, tendrils expanded outward crawling along side the buildings and cars, covering them in more of the growth. I didn't know what it was to be honest, but the only thing I could come up with was it was some sort of growth, like moss or something... only more... gross and fleshy.

I was trapped again, unable to move save for my head. I could only watch as hundreds of those monsters ran through the streets, attacking anything and everything. The most prominent ones were small, about the size of the ape creatures shooting their rifles if not a bit taller. Several of them were disfigured and deformed, sporting growths on their bodies like small blades or bone protrusions. They were everywhere, and these soldiers were being killed one by one.

Blood and gore flew from the bodies as they were brought down and ripped into, sliced open and eaten alive. Their dying cries... their screams of terror would forever remain with me.

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Thankfully the dream ended and I woke up this time around, in my house as opposed to a war torn city undergoing some kind of weird attack. I could feel sweat matting my mane to my forehead, my body felt cold and shivers controlled my movements. Sitting up in my bed I could tell once again I woke up in a cold sweat... one of the most uncool ways to wake up, but these Celestia damned dreams kept coming back and kept getting worse.

At first I just... I just thought it was that movie me and Scoots saw that one time. Something about town in the hills, and it was silent or something. After watching it, I was... kinda of scared, but not enough to give me nightmares, or so I thought until the first dream appeared. I was in the city, but it wasn't as messed up as it was in this dream. this dreams always come to me week after week, day after day. All these memories, thoughts and things I had no clue what they were, I... I don't know what to do or think of this.

Rifles, soldiers... where's my pencil!? I wondered, frantically looking to my nightstand and spotting my sketchpad. After the first three months of having to endure these dreams I started... getting a little loopy, and had the urge to draw whatever came to mind. I haven't drawn since I was a little filly, so I was a bit rusty but that didn't stop me from drawing all of these images that came flooding into my brain. Grabbing a hold of my pencil in my mouth I opened my sketchpad to a fresh page and drew what I saw. First I drew some of those tanks I saw, they were big and colored black, matching the color scheme of the soldiers that I always saw. But these had a plow on the front, and a massive cannon, from what I've seen they're powerful.

Equestria had tanks, something like them anyway. They were basically big boxes on treads almost, and had several small cannon ports. We didn't have that many though, too time consuming to build and we weren't at war with anypony, as far as I know. Even if we had a hundred of those tanks, the ones I had seen in my dreams could destroy em with a single shot.

After drawing the tank, I draw the soldiers next. Only a couple of the ones I had seen running away from those giant gorilla things. They were tall, and wore funky armor and had hoods, and weird glowing blue eyes. Something... felt off about them, and I couldn't tell what it was though. But I drew them anyway.

With a sigh I put the sketchpad down, the tank and a couple of the soldiers being the only new things I've seen so I didn't have anything new to add... the urge was gone, gone like my time being wasted drawing when I could have been working out. What is wrong with me? I didn't know, but I was slowly starting to get sick of it. Time to get ready for the day, first up, a shower. I told myself, pushing my sketchpad aside and getting up before trotting over to my bathroom.

"Shower, here I come."

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A Viral Legacy

A Story of Terror, Loss, and Despair.

Written by: Dustchu.

Duo Story to A Golden Legacy

MLP:FIM belongs to Hasbro and Lauren Faust.

I own only my OC's and certain elements.

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Chapter 00: Dreams

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An hour had passed and my shower was done, I decide to take an extra long one to fully get rid of the sweat and icky feeling that dream left me with. It felt nice, but I still felt sick to my stomach regardless. For now though, I was sitting in the kitchen munching on a daisy sandwich with a nice cool glass of OJ to down it with. The sun was just rising over the horizon, the bright morning rays peeking in through my windows and making my head hurt.

My sandwich was halfway done and done, a few petals fell out as I picked it up and bit into it. What a night... I need to... find out what's causing these weird dreams so I can get a good night's rest for once. My thoughts then turned to my sketchpad, the one currently tucked within my wings. At least twenty pages are filled with drawings of that world I dreamed of, the buildings, the growths, monsters and the military goons. I pondered just what was going on, and why I was dreaming of it.

It didn't seem normal, and day after day I was starting to wonder if Luna was playing some trick on me. I immediately shot that down, she wouldn't do that to me, we're on good terms.

With a sigh, I looked up at one of my clocks, I saw it was nearing six o clock. Not time for my job, but close enough.

Ugh... time to go to Ponyville. I stood up, stretched my wings and trotted over to my door before I suddenly felt a chill overtake my body. I shivered, my shackles raised and my eyes hazing over. Not again! I couldn't stop it, the visions! Damn it! I cursed as I gripped my head, falling to the floor.

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My vision swam by me faster then you could blink, snippets of memories from my childhood, my time in Ponyville with my friends, and others from my life. All of them were connected by some kind of weird strands of orange, and the memories I had were inside small round balls with spikes jutting outward. All in all, it was pretty cool in a way. If it didn't hurt like all Tartarus, that is. This isn't the first time this has happened either, its happened more than once and its... confusing.

I watched as I soared through the balls of memories until my vision went white once more, and I was looking up at a ceiling. One of those ceiling fans hung overhead, on a slow setting inside of... where ever it was I was at. I heard hoofsteps next to me, or was it footsteps? These creatures don't have hooves, and I had to ask a certain mare about what they were called but I forgot, but I do know they have feet, not hooves.

Next to me I heard a voice, it was low, a stallion most likely.

"What's the status of Project DX-1120 B?" He asked, from his tone I could tell he wasn't wanting anything that was bad. Anything less than satisfactory, and he'd probably throw a bitch fit.

I felt myself turn around and there I saw him. He was short, I guess by ape dude standards. And wore a black suit with a black tie and white undershirt, his face was set in a grimace. Like he didn't want to be in this room anymore then whoever I was did.

Oh yeah. Every time one of these happens, I'm always somepony else in them. Like, I'm looking through the eyes of somepony that isn't me. Its so weird. I can feel everything, see everything, hear, taste, smell, touch, but I can't control myself... Looking at the guy, I felt my mouth open, and the words spilled out without me controlling them. "The subject is... not doing well, this is the fifth failure today. The subject can't handle the virus, it's too weak to handle this new strain of the D Code virus."

"Unacceptable!" The man groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose before he eyed me. "We need something new to combat Zeus and Heller, now! We're losing a piece of New York City day by day to that thing, this project is meant to kill it, and I am expecting results!"

A sigh from me, and a headshake. "We're trying our damndest Dr. Andrews, and we'll keep on trying until we get it right." I assured the man in front of me as he scowled even further.

"See that you do, or I'll have you replaced with someone else Dr. Stark..." He narrowed his eyes, clasping his hands together. "Someone more competent." With that, he turned around and walked out of the door, leaving me alone.

Beside him however, I was shocked to see Princess Luna watching the entire ordeal.

Before I could even try to ask, my vision faded.

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A gasp and I regained consciousness, my eyes felt tired and they stung. Shit. I cursed again, shaking my head and rubbing my temples. "Just what is this supposed to mean? What Test Subject? What Virus?!" This was new to me, I don't remember there being anything about a Subject or a Virus. It was always some random memory about this place called New York, and how a bunch of creatures died. Just thinking of the virus made my body tingle and shiver, what is this? What's going on? I couldn't stop shivering, so I just laid on the floor, writhing from the sudden onset of cold shivers. And how did Princess Luna get into my visions?

"Hey Rainbow!" A voice called out to me, a suspiciously familiar voice. "Got a package for ya!"

Looking up with bleary eyes I caught sight of Derpy flying around my windows, I'm surprised she hasn't flown into my house yet. Oh how the world has changed in the past few years.

"Dashie? Are ya there?" I heard her ask again, knocking on my cloud door.

Struggling to stand I held my head with one hoof as I made my way over to the door, my head throbbing and my vision hazy. Every time that, memory thing happened my head hurt for hours on end, my body ached, and I just felt like shit really. No amount of headache pills or spells could stop em from coming, all I could do was endure them for the time being.

Walking over to the door, I pushed it open and saw the ever happy Derpy Hooves standing there, package balanced on her back. "Oh, I was wondering when you were going to answer the door silly." She giggled, dropping the package in front of me as one of her eyes locked on me. "Hey, are you alright?" She asked me, worry lacing her every word.

No not really. Was what I wanted to say, but I had an image to maintain damn it! "I'm f-fine Derpy, no need to worry bout me." I reassured her, smiling and immediately wincing as I did so. Her eyes widened just a fraction, and she took flight.

"I should, probably go get Twilight, you don't look so good Rainbow." She told me, watching as I swayed from side to side, I suddenly felt faint.

This never happened... uh oh.

Just as I thought that, I fell to the floor, my world spinning as Derpy flew back down to me and saying something. I couldn't hear her though, I was too busy feeling sick to my stomach. I felt her hooves leave my cloud home and she flew off, her hazy figure taking flight and towards Ponyville.

Great... what's... ha-happening n-now? I wondered as my eyes closed, and my world was plunged into darkness.

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Rainbow.

My head hurts... why does it hurt?

Rainbow.

Who is that talking?

Rainbow.

Is this a dream, or...?

"Rainbow!" I heard a voice call, it was Twilight! "Rainbow, please wake up!"

I snorted, my eyes opening to see Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Applejack's worried faces looking down at me. Their bodies jut oozed fear for myself, I think... what happened?

"I don't know, we were hoping you'd tell us." Twilight said. Guess I must have said it out loud.

With a headshake, I grabbed onto my head and squinted from the light above me. Bright piece of shit. "I don't know Twi... one minute, Derpy's giving me a package, and then next thing I know I'm on the floor... then I'm here." I told her. I knew that the real reason why I was floored had to be because of the vision, I was always dizzy afterwards, but this time I passed out... so uncool. That, and I didn't know how to go about explaining the visions, or the dreams, or the aches and pains.

I could already tell Applejack saw through my lie, but she said nothing, also noticing the look I was giving her through my headache. Everypony with the exception of Twilight backed up a little, no doubt to give me some breathing room. I saw my best friend eye me with concern as her purple eyes inspected my own. "Have you been sleeping well at all Dash?" Twilight asked, a thoughtful frown on her face.

No. Was what I wanted to say, but instead I replied with. "Uh, yeah of course!" Real smooth. "Why wouldn't I be sleeping well?"

"Your eyes darling, they look positively horrendous!" Rarity waved a hoof in my general direction. "They're all, bloodshot and icky looking!"

Are they? I guess I forgot to look in the mirror this morning. I felt another headache coming on and rubbed my head, feeling a cold sweat coming on. "I'm alright, really. Must have been something I ate, I didn't exactly wake up feeling good Rares." I told her truthfully, I did wake up feeling pretty bad, almost on the verge of throwing up.

Rarity didn't like the short answer, but nodded anyway. "I'm terribly sorry dear, but I simply must get going. Sweetie Belle is all alone and  I don't trust her when she's alone." She turned around and trotting to the door opened it and left. Now that I was fully awake, I could see I was in the castle in Ponyville. Twilight and them must have brought me here after I passed out, how nice.

"I have to go to," AJ said from behind me. "Big Mac will need me down at th' farm ta help prepare for th' Apple Family Reunion. Ah hope you get better soon Dash, don't need ya gettin sick this close to the Gala, gunna need you for comedic relief!" She announced with a laugh as she followed Rarity out, Fluttershy was next along with Pinkie Pie, both of their reasons were both party related.

It was just me and Twilight now, the princess eyeing me suspiciously. "Rainbow, we need to talk." She told me, I felt my heart skip a beat. Why did she want to talk to me? I saw her horn light up, and out came my sketchpad hovering in between us with a purplish hue.

Goddamn it. I opted to use one of the curses those creatures use, my eyes narrowed. "You have my sketchpad, so what?" I questioned, maybe a bit more harshly than I originally planned.

Twilight shot me a sad look, "Rainbow... what are these things?" She asked, flipping open the pad to a page with those gorilla things. Taking a closer look at the page, I saw the words Brawler etched into the page below. "Brawler?"

I saw flashes of images in my head of those Brawlers. Big fleshy monsters with a skeletal face, their flesh is pinkish, hairless, and glows with some kind of freakish mutation or something. There were hundreds in my dreams, stalking the city streets at night alongside the infected ones... they were terrifyingly fast, agile, and could easily kill a pony like me if they got a good hit in.

I opted to lie, Twilight didn't need to know I've gone nuts. "I've been... uh... coming up with a book idea... yeah a book idea." I grinned, puffing out my chest despite the lurching feeling in my stomach.

Twilight looked at the page again, her own eyes narrowing in thought as she scanned the drawing. "Something's telling me this is more then just a book idea." She flipped the pages, no doubt looking at all of the things I've drawn over the past couple of months. "These things you drew look like the humans Lyra's always talking about."

Oooo, humans. I thought, that's what they're called. Before I could say anything I heard a sharp pop noise coming from upstairs, we both looked up at the stairs and to our shock, there stood Princess Luna. She looked tired, her eyes downcast as she looked at me.

"Princess Luna!" Twilight cried, looking over the princess. "Why are you here? Not that I'm now glad to see you, but is everything okay?! Does Celestia need me for something?"

"Calm yourself Twilight Sparkle," Luna said, raising a hoof as she kept her eyes on me. "I am here not for you," She then pointed her hoof at me, and I cursed inwardly. "I am here to talk to Rainbow Dash."

I could only shiver in response, I shook where I stood as I replied. "S-so what do you need to talk to me ab-about? I'm fine Princess, rea-" My speech stopped, my body locking up as my line of sight started getting shaky, I felt my body shake as tremors took ahold of me. Twilight and Luna noticed me shaking and came over to me, worry and fear in their eyes.

"Rainbow, what's wrong?" She asked, me, checking me closely as Luna narrowed her eyes.

Twi... I couldn't speak, my eyes were locked forward as darkness took over me. Then without further ado, I collapsed onto the floor, my ears ringing as my vision faded.

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I felt everything fly by me once again, another vision, in under one day? This wasn't normal, I usually got these, maybe once every two - three weeks, never twice in one day!

'Damn it what is going on?' I wondered as everything went white, and I was outside. The skies were greying, a thick cloud cover was overhead covering up every inch of the sky. The buildings of New York were covered in that same growth as before, those weird 'helicopters' flew overhead, launching missiles and firing on the infected down below. I felt myself sigh, taking in the sights with a sot of mad glee.

"What a beautiful day." I said. I immediately hated whoever I was, anypony who could like this was sickening. I felt myself look to the left, and there stood another human, clad in a jacket and large hoodie with a dark expression on his face.

"Define beautiful." The hooded man growl, his eyes boring into my own.

I felt something by looking into his eyes... fear... though the person I was inside of didn't fear this man in the slightest, he was as cool as a cucumber. "Pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically, for example." I looked out into the city once more. "This city is quite beautiful."

"Soon the whole world will be as 'beautiful' as this city is." The man suddenly appeared next to me. "This is only the beginning." I felt my head turn and follow him as he walked over to the edge of the building before crouching down and leaping off.

Holy shit... he... he just leaped off, won't he get killed?! I watched as he flew across the buildings, and land on the side of another before running up it... he ran straight up it... like it was no problem.

'Sweet Celestia what is he?!'

"Rainbow? Where are you!" I heard a voice cry out from above.

To my surprise I felt something pulling me, like somepony was using magic to pull me away from my prison, I felt both relieaved and terrified. Who was doing this?! I managed to get a look once I was free, and to my surprise once more... it was none other then Princess Luna. I saw her up high in the sky, her wings flared and her eyes glowing a bright blue along with her horn..

"Princess!" I called out, feeling myself get weaker and weaker. I could hear Luna's gasp from here, and the flap of her alicorn wings as she descended down to me. I felt something warm wash over me, wrenching my eyes open I saw Luna casting a spell on me, and there was a bubble shield over the two of us. "Princess..."

"Rainbow... we need to talk." She told me.

I gulped... this wasn't going to end well...

01: Getting Help

I could only watch as Princess Luna stalked toward me across the rooftop, her eyes locked on my and for a second I thought I was about to yelled at. Yeah, that may be childish thinking, but eh. The princess of the night eventually stood over me, her eyes ablaze in a white aura as she quickly dispelled the war torn scenery around us, then the light in her eyes died and she looked down at me again.

"Rainbow, we must talk." She said, there was no anger, no laughter... just a simple statement, that I knew I couldn't get out of.

I could only nod in reply, looking around the white that surrounded us. I guessed we were in the dream world, Luna's domain. Does that mean everything that happened was a dream? Or...?

"I have been watching your dreams for a long time Dash," Luna told me, sitting down next to me. The only sounds that I could make out was our breathing. "And I am most... disturbed with these images." With a flash of her horn, several images of what I dreamed about came to life in front of me, of the Brawlers, the Hooded man, the destroyed city of New York, and others.

As those images kept coming, I felt myself get sick. My legs trembled, beads of sweat ran down my forehead matting down my mane, my eyes locked on the screaming people. I could only hold myself, my arms wrapped around me as I shivered. "What... what do you want me to say?" I pleaded, I didn't know what to say to her about any of this.

Suddenly I felt a wing draped over my back, and Luna leaned down. Her voice cut through the silence, making my shivers stop. "I only wish to help you."

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A Viral Legacy

A Story of Terror, Loss, and Despair.

Written by: Dustchu.

Duo Story to A Golden Legacy

MLP:FIM belongs to Hasbro and Lauren Faust.

I own only my OC's and certain elements.

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Chapter 01: Getting Help

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After that little talk, Luna had managed to get us out of the dreamworld and back into the real one. I awoke and found myself in the Library, and after a quick look around I didn't see Twilight. Which made me question, "Where's Twi?"

Luna stood next to me, having