Appledashery

by Just Essay

What a (flying) Mansion!

The interior of the castle was very dark, dank, and—above all—cramped. More to the point, the hallways were undeniably too small to fit a full-sized dragon. Rainbow suspected that many of the dragons circling the place were younger than the average fire-breathing lizard, but even still it was obvious to the mare that the inner corridors of the floating structure were not built for them.

And the castle was definitely not built for ponies.

"See the paintings?" Rainbow muttered, gesturing up at the framed landscapes and tapestries that blanketed almost every wall of the castle's brick-laid innards. "They're all positioned too high." The mare squinted, her muzzle scrunched. "No pony in their right mind would put those things there. I mean—unless you were a giraffe—then what's the use? They're totally out of range of a normal pony's casual view!"

"I thought your unicorn friend with the corkscrew tail was the interior decorator among your friends," Lancie mused. "What's her name again? 'Elusive?'"

"Rarity," Rainbow grunted. "And the point I'm making is... nothing here makes sense."

"Ah." Lancie leaned forward in her satchel, a smile brandished across his fanged features. "Suddenly, I am awake."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say the dragons... like... stole this from someone."

"Stole what? The Castle?"

"You heard me."

"To what end?" Lancie shrugged. "Seems to me that dragons have all they need to get around on their own. What, with the whole leathery wings thing."

"We both know that Aatxe wants the remaining shards," Rainbow said. She added with a gulp: "The shards that I have back home."

"Your point...?"

"Well, to conduct his search, maybe he and his fellow broodlings... like... need a mobile base of operations? I mean we both know how friggin' long it took just me to get here, and I'm the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria!"

"It'd help him and his fellow fire-breathers to have a moving launchpad, eh?"

"Eh!" Rainbow frowned, descending a flight of stairs and shuffling down another long corridor full of dusty tapestries and cobwebs. "Y'know, I'm willing to bet that this whole moving castle thingy is what's allowed Aatxe and his reptilian cohorts to pass the Griffon barricade."

"You think this castle can withstand the winds?"

"It's not just a castle, Lancie," Rainbow said, passing dilapidated furniture and moldy bookcases. "It's built on top of a friggin' mountain. Whatever powers this place up most definitely trumps the ancient stuff that the griffons have ever had up their sleeves."

"And I think we both know exactly what powers it up."

"Yeah, but—like—how?" Rainbow Dash frowned. "Is this really chaos' bag?"

"We are talking about a lot of chaos strips, here, Sparky," Lancie said, pretending to examine his talon and wrist. "Basically the entire remaining half of me."

"Yeah, but... h-how could they do it all on their own?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I mean... take me, for instance. I've gotten some pretty schnazzy stuff done with the help of your shards. But all because of you!"

"Hmmm..." Lancie fidgeted, glancing over his shoulder. "Indeed."

"But Aatxe hasn't had you. He hasn't had Lancie, the one sentient part of the shards that matters! So... like... what's his ignition key for this whole mess? How's the Big Boss able to make the stones tick?"

"Dragons are older than most living things, Sparky," Lancie said. "Heck, some of them may even be older than me."

"Pffft." Rainbow rolled her eyes, smirking in mid-trot. "Yeah right."

"The point I'm trying to make, my little pony, is that I don't have all the answers."

"Yeah, but these are your shards." Rainbow Dash passed something tall and shiny. "One would think that you'd—" The mare froze in place, jerking to a stop. She spun her head aside, blinking inquisitively.

A suit of armor stood against the wall. Only, it was no normal suit of armor. Instead of resting on four limbs, the thing stood vertically on two legs, with another pair of legs dangling at its side. A round—almost spherical helmet rested on top of a rigid pair of shoulder plates. A polearm leaned into the frozen armor's metallic grip, almost as stiff and rigid as the thing's invisible spine. All in all, the inexplicable figure towered over Rainbow Dash, standing at nearly ten pony heights tall.

Rainbow's eyes narrowed. Her muzzle hung open for a bit before she summoned the strength to murmur: "Maybe... there are things older than dragons, Lancie."

The statue slowly shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Rainbow peered at the thing for a few faltering seconds. Then—battling goosebumps—she trotted briskly ahead, ducking around another corner.

Comments

[destinedjagold]

"We are talking about a lot of chaos strips, here, Sparky,"

You mean 'shards', right? Because the strips are in the other dimension.

A suit of armor stood against the wall. Only, it was no normal suit of armor. Instead of resting on four limbs, the thing stood vertically on two legs, with another pair of legs dangling at its side. A round—almost spherical helmet rested on top of a rigid pair of shoulder plates. A polearm leaned into the frozen armor's metallic grip, almost as stiff and rigid as the thing's invisible spine. All in all, the inexplicable figure towered over Rainbow Dash, standing at nearly ten pony heights tall.

I still think they're Lyra's favorite extinct species hoomans.

[Cotton Fluff]

And the castle was definitely not built for ponies.

"See the paintings?" Rainbow muttered, gesturing up at the framed landscapes and tapestries that blanketed almost every wall of the castle's brick-laid innards. "They're all positioned too high." The mare squinted, her muzzle scrunched. "No pony in their right mind would put those things there. I mean—unless you were a giraffe—then what's the use? They're totally out of range of a normal pony's casual view!"

A suit of armor stood against the wall. Only, it was no normal suit of armor. Instead of resting on four limbs, the thing stood vertically on two legs, with another pair of legs dangling at its side. A round—almost spherical helmet rested on top of a rigid pair of shoulder plates. A polearm leaned into the frozen armor's metallic grip, almost as stiff and rigid as the thing's invisible spine. All in all, the inexplicable figure towered over Rainbow Dash, standing at nearly ten pony heights tall.

Humans?
img01.deviantart.net/0d0d/i/2013/042/4/5/overly_happy_lyra_by_the_smiling_pony-d5um331.png

[Lightning Bearer]

Seems like humans, and... well, considering that Sunset Shimmer's in this story... I'm curious to see where this goes.

Also, with regards to Rainbow's contemplations vis-à-vis Aatxe being able to utilize the shards' innate chaos magic: I've just developed a theory. The answer, I hypothesize, lies in this:

"Basically the entire remaining half of me."

What if Lancie isn't the only sentient piece of the shards? What if the half of Discord's shards in Aatxe's possession are also animated? Might we see a meeting of good!Discord (aka Lancie) and evil!Discord?

Seems possible.

[Khao]

6383973

Sounds about big enough for cat-sized ponies.

[Fishberry]

Huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huyuuuuuuuuumans??

[YoshiFawful64]

"Ten pony heights tall" sounds way too much for humans, so... giants?

[Nasty Mister Monket]

6384246 You do know this is written by the same guy who wrote Because Ponies Are the Size of Cats and They Love to Cuddle, right?

[Leftover of Saikano]

This is the kind of lair that falls after the boss battle.

[Leftover of Saikano]

6384794 Well. My theory, that is shared by many people on the internet, is that geese are demons from hell.

[MoonMirror]

In b4 escape from midnight castle

[MidnightReflection]

Amazing how much happens when you don't read for a week and a half. Hmm... no, this castle couldn't belong to humans. It's too big. Maybe giants, or some other kind of bipedal creature. Perhaps minotaurs? No, they don't have round heads because horns... Huh. Oh, well it could be like those bipedal reptilians in Urohringr. They were pretty big, weren't they? Super cyber-enhanced humans? Massive statues of shortskirtsandexplosions?

[JodiePonyPuddinAndPie]

6385169 Makes sense to me. All Hail our Geese Demon Overlords!

[Sam the Anti-Ninja]

6384503 ...So, Midgets?

[zaponator]

Yeah, I thought we established this was human land way back when Rainbow was in those ruins.

[Scohinyha Sanka]

6384246 Well, considering that Scootaloo is the narrator which in turn got it from Rainbow, it could just be a case of perspective.

[viofriedsevey]

0 to human in Equestria real quick.

[Lord Dragon]

6392522 20% cooler in 10 seconds flat.

[DrEggnog]

Humans? Those are technically aliens right?

https://youtu.be/rbBX6aEzEz8

[arancaytar]

6384023

Imagining all of Austraeoh and Appledashery with all of the characters actually being less than a foot tall is hilarious.

(Incongruously so, even. "Aw, look at that widdle Prime Enforcer murdering all those ponies; isn't he precious?" )