Appledashery

by Just Essay

Occupied

Stu Leaves trotted backwards out of Silver Shill's stagecoach. With a scowling expression, he tossed a pair of metal shackles onto the dirt floor in front of the trembling stallion. "Hoof-cuffs? Hoof-cuffs?! Really?"

Silver Shill gulped. "You see... I-I ran into some... c-complications with the first guest." He nodded his head towards the factory. "Mulia Mild. She d-didn't drink as much as she needed to in order to enter the meeting. I... uh... I had something of a struggle on my hooves." He smiled awkwardly. "But I managed to get her to take another sip so she conked out!"

Stu nearly wretched. "I don't know what's more pathetic: the fact that you can't seem to tell how disgustingly atrocious this whole 'cider meeting' is, or that you actually take pride in shoving these ponies into this mess against their will!"

"But... you d-don't get it!" Silver Shill gulped. "Mulia Mild, Donut Joe, Gustave le Grand—even your fair Applejack! They're all getting the opportunity of a lifetime!"

"Don't you mean Shindig's lifetime?" Stu's eyes narrowed. "What's so honorable about her achieving her dreams if it's at the cost of other bodies and souls?"

At this point, Rainbow Dash rolled out of the stagecoach, shoving a half-empty crate of bubbling cider. "Nnngh... guh!" She hovered above the container, panting. "Okay... so what about this cider makes it carry ponies into la-la land?!"

"For the hundredth time," Silver Shill moaned. "It's not the cider! It's the Chalice! Only it contains the encanting alicorn touch that takes the drinker onto another plane of existence! You could put any kind of cider in it. It doesn't matter! The Chalice has a special relationship with those who consume the drink from it! It's... it's like a free pass to another world!" He smiled with sparkles in his beady eyes. "A world far older and more glorious than this one!"

"You know what I think?" Stu frowned. "I think you've been brainwashed by these Flim and Flam floozies into excusing their abductions in any way possible!" He pointed an angry hoof. "And the moment we bring the police down on this whole mess—"

Rainbow Dash, who had been staring off with a sullen expression, suddenly reached in and hooked her forelimb around Stu's. She pulled the surprised and blinking stallion aside, then murmured in a low voice. "Stu, maybe he has lot his marbles, but I think there's something to be had in his story."

"What...?" Stu Leaves did a double-take. "Rainbow, maybe the humidity's getting to your skull out here, but... think about it." He gestured towards the factory. "I admit that even I was captivated by his madcap story! Because I want Applejack to come out of this safely! But... face it... what's the simplest reality that we have to face here?" His face hung sad and pale. "That Applejack's been swept off to some mental fantasyland? Or that we have a very real creep here doing very real bad poisony stuff to our very good friend?"

"Then what explains the freaky machine with the sparkling electricity, huh?" Rainbow asked. "Or the glowing dark crystals and Shindig's urn?"

"I dunno!" Stu cackled loudly, pulling at his mane. "Maybe Nightmare Night came early this year! Rainbow Dash, this is crazy! We—"

Rainbow placed a hoof over his mouth. She took a deep breath and calmly said, "I couldn't agree more. But I think this freakazoid is onto something."

"And what in Celestia's name makes you say that?"

"Because... because a bunch of the crud he's claiming matches some of what I saw inside the house."

"House?" Stu blinked. "What house?!"

"The dusty abandoned one I totally snuck my way into via a two-story window that this wimp couldn't climb through even if he tried."

Stu gawked at her, then at the Shindig household. "Rainbow..." He winced, looking at her again. "You didn't."

"I did," she said, frowning. "And I'm glad, too. Because now I'm willing to bet that we'll find more answers in there than we will from this floozie."

"And meanwhile, what's Applejack to do?" Stu hissed. "Waste away on a gurney while we chase a paper moon?!"

"Wouldn't she give us the benefit of the doubt if your or I had drank from the Chalice instead?"

"... ... ..." Stu Leaves took a deep breath. "Rainbow, I..." He shuddered. "I'm not used to this crazy sort of nonsense." He gulped, eyes moist. "Where you lead, I will follow. Especially if it means helping Applejack."

"Good boy." Rainbow nodded. "First thing's first..." She spun about with a frown.

---

Whump! Silver Shill collapsed inside a cramped outhouse, having been thrown on his rump.

"Ooomf!"

While Stu Leaves dusted off his forelimbs, Rainbow Dash leaned forward and hoof-cuffed the frail stallion's rear leg to a rusted pipe through the tiny lavatory's concrete foundation and deep into the earth.

"Hey!" He gawked, his muzzle hanging agape. He yanked and pulled at the bindings, then looked up at the two pegasi. "But I helped you!"

"Believe me, pal..." Stu Leaves scowled. "Helping is the last thing you've ever done."

"Please, you have to understand..." He stood up as much as he could, anchored into place by the unbreakable manacles. "They promised me a future in the Alicorns' plane." He grinned drunkenly. "If you've experienced that sort of bliss, you'd have followed the orders of Felix and Frederick too!"

"Well, somewhere, you made the wrong decision." Rainbow Dash gripped the door. "Maybe, amidst all the smell, you'll wake up to it soon." She then slammed it shut.

"No, wait—!" Silver Shill pleaded.

SLAM!

Rainbow Dash spun around, seething. "Ohhhhhhh how I wanna do worse than that to him."

"I'm beyond pleased that you've held back, Rainbow," Stu Leaves said. "And... who knows? Maybe he can still be useful to us."

"Yeah. As a throw rug." Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, then motioned the stallion along as she glided towards the house. "Come along."

Stu flapped his wings. "What exactly are we looking for?"

"Anything to do with an 'Alicorn Chalice,'" Rainbow Dash said. Her eyes narrowed. "And 'Phillip Pilanthropy.'"

"Who?"

"You'll see..."

Comments

[Elsaack]

And I thought RD was going to jump headlong after AJ into this Alicorns' Plane. Let's see this plan of Shindigs explained.

[Sharp Quill]

"But... you d-don't get it!" Silver Shill gulped. "Mulia Mild, Donut Joe, Gustave le Grand—even your fair Applejack! They're all getting the opportunity of a lifetime!"

By some amazing coincidence, I do believe these were all participants in the MMMystery on the Friendship Express.

Rainbow placed a hoof over his mouth. She took a deep breath and calmly said, "I couldn't agree more. But I think this freakazoid is onto something."

I remember Freakazoid.

[YoshiFawful64]

Time to get to the bottom of this...
PS: Incidentally, it is currently 2:15 am where I live. What is this "sleep" you speak of?

[Sharp Quill]

Occupied

Oh, I see what you did there!

Paying homage to Austraeoh's one word chapter titles.

Or a lavatory joke.

Or both!

I think by the time Silver Shill gets out of there, Rainbow Dash will have reached the Midnight Armory in that other series.

[Lightning Bearer]

Looks like Silver Shill's in a bit of a shitty situation.

[RainbowJack2000]

"Good boy." Rainbow nodded. "First thing's first..." She spun about with a frown.

I'm the realist.
Sorry. Had to do that. I've disgraced you all.

[Sam the Anti-Ninja]

5505189 wait, you mean that guy with crazy hair? Who runs around in underwear? Man, that takes me back. Back to a time when revenge was a dish best served with pinto beans and muffins.

[Leftover of Saikano]

Rainbow Dash, your plan is not stupid enough to work. You should have made Stu drink from the chalice, force the other guy to drink too (after beating him) and then drink it yourself.

[Sharp Quill]

5506795 Yeah, one of Spielberg's attempts at cartoons twenty years ago.

[Sam the Anti-Ninja]

5507645 Personally, I preferred Animaniacs. Saddest day of my childhood was when they were taken off the air.

[Shipmun]

"Good boy." Rainbow nodded. "First thing's first..." She spun about with a frown.

Rainbow, Stu has the possibility of being a good, reliable friend to you. And you're mistreating him. And also sexist.
Stahp dat

[aleistergreynight]

"One: these very same moments of catastrophic circumstances, as I've just told you. They work like freeways through harmonic space—like bridges across a tranquil sea, so to speak. It just so happens the islands have ponies and other living things meeting unsavory ends instead of palm trees and coconuts. Eheh..."

Chapter: "The Cute Continuum"
Now for about the 73rd time, I am going to ask, "Where is Lancie!?"

[DrEggnog]

Silver Shill gulped. "You see... I-I ran into some... c-complications with the first guest." He nodded his head towards the factory. "Mulia Mild. She d-didn't drink as much as she needed to in order to enter the meeting. I... uh... I had something of a struggle on my hooves." He smiled awkwardly. "But I managed to get her to take another sip so she conked out!"

Ah, that makes a little more sense. It would have been astounding if there had been NO complications.