Rainbow Dash lives an exciting life and is swiftly becoming the most daring, awesome pegasus in all of Equestria. She would gladly give it all up, though, just to confess her love to Applejack.
Rainbow Dash felt a very familiar chill run down her back as she entered a very familiar room and gazed upon a very familiar door. The frame of it was lined with brass pipes, hissing vaguely in a persistent exhale of steam.
"Tell me, my little pony..." Queen Shindig trotted towards the abominable door in question. She gazed upon it with a dull expression, her jaw muscles tight and firm. "Have you ever lost anypony close to you?"
"I... uhm..." Rainbow cleared her throat, gazing down at the floor. "Yeah. I've... lost two ponies close to me, as a matter of fact."
Shindig glanced over. "Friends? Family?"
Rainbow tilted her ruby eyes up, glaring. "The same two ponies everyone loses eventually."
Shindig nodded gravely. Her head tilted towards the doorframe once more. "Would you like to have them back?"
"I think I'm a lot cooler with moving on," Rainbow said, cocking her head aside. "And making the best out of the life I have live." Her brow furrowed. "Isn't that what we all gotta do? Isn't that the grown up thing?"
Shindig took a deep breath. "And what if you lived for so long with a special somepony that they practically became your life," she said. "So that existing without them would no longer be existing at all."
"I wouldn't know about that," Rainbow said.
"Wouldn't you?" Shindig gave her a sharp glance. "You've gone to great lengths to save that which you consider a 'friend.'" Her eyes glinted in the distant lanternlight, matching the sheen of the adjacent brass pipes. "I've only ever fought that hard for one soul in my life, and I've named this great city after him."
"And yet, as much as I care..." Rainbow gnashed her teeth. "...love the one I'm giving my all for, I'm not about to give somepony else's all."
"I don't quite read you."
"Sacrifice!" Rainbow grunted. "A ritualistic gutting of the soul or what-crap!" she spat. "I care for my friends, but the most I'd ever give up is myself. Bringing other souls into it?! Especially without their consent?" The mare frowned hard. "Very uncool."
"And just who do you think I'm sacrificing, Blue Jay?"
"Who else?!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "Applejack! The one you call Apple Jewell! The Cider Princess!"
Shindig's muzzle hung agape. "And why in Celestia's Green Earth would I wish to sacrifice my very own daughter?!"
"Okay, for one, we're not on Celestia's Green Earth," Rainbow exclaimed. "For another, she's no more your daughter than I am your friggin' son! And third..." Rainbow growled, "I know all about the plan! So cut the act!"
"The act..."
"Silver Shill filled me in on it all!" Rainbow paced before the Queen. "You... Flim... Flam... you all arranged this 'interview thingy' with the various cuisine experts of Equestria! That's how the likes of Gustave, Mulia, and Joe got mixed in all of this! And that's how you came upon choosing Applejack for your... s-sacrifice thingy!"
"I assure you, young one," said Shindig, "My daughter intends to lend her glorious powers of rule in a completely consensual manner. Through her grace, all that was once lost will be restored. I can be with my beloved Philanthropy again—"
"Pffftyeah!" Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Once that crazy black door thingy sucks all the life juice from her!"
Shindig gestured at the brass pipework. "Admittedly, this portal is the only means by which I've been able to commune with the remnants of my beloved's spirit. But all the Cider Princess intends to do is facilitate a bridge between Philanthropy and the ciy named after him." She narrowed her eyes. "This... 'sacrifice' that you speak of? What makes you so certain that such an endeavor would cost Apple Jewell's priceless life?!"
"Isn't it obvious?!" Rainbow exclaimed. "It's one life exchanged for another!" She gestured wildly at the walls. "Here in Cider Space, the fabric between realities are super thin! I know this because the super adoracute chaperone left by the alicorns who mod'd this place told me!" She fumed. "In the real world, doing such a crazy thing with the spirits of ponies would be next to impossible. But here? Where the spirit is strained to death—like a noodle—who knows?! It's open game on morality, and I'm not gonna stand for it one bit!"
"I am starting to see now that you're not a villain after all," Shindig droned. "But merely a confused miscreant."
"You certain I'm not the one who's confused?" Rainbow paced closer to the mare. "You brought me for a reason. Obviously you know something is up."
Shindig said nothing. Her gaze merely fell to the floor.
"What are you so afraid to ask that it'd make you go silent all of the sudden?" Rainbow squinted. "Just how much do you trust your sons?"
"With my life," Shindig said.
"And how many lines do you think they'd cross in order to maintain that trust?" Rainbow asked. "You know, there's loyalty," she said. "And then there's just plain stupid."
"Sadly, Blue Jay, you won't be around long enough to know the difference between them both."
The hairs on the back of Rainbow's neck stood on end. She spun towards the entrance of the room, and her eyes reflected a pair of steam rifles being aimed at her body. "Ahhhh... sonuva..."
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And so I once again say... "I CALLED IT!!"
...Crud.
5842283 Rub it in, why don'tcha...?!
5842301 My thoughts exactly.
And just when I was actually starting to think that Shindig was as much a victim as AJ is in all this, too.
Welp, I'm back to hating her again.
But on another note.........
Dang, I hate it when Stu's right..........
That said, I don't know who said this (probably one or the other of the twin idiots), but it's patently obvious that they don't know that they're talkin' to the gal who's Loyalty Incarnate.
Too bad for them.
And I hate it when you end a chapter on a cliffhanger.
To the point that you guys better be glad that I can't reach through this laptop screen, or else I'd do so and throttle you for it.
*grumbles irritably* Now I gotta wait another day to see how she gets out of this.
The hero and the antagonists gathered in the same place as a mysterious, otherworldly object of potentially incredible power? Well, it turned out well for the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
5842283 MEEP!!!!
Oh, goody. The boys are here to play. As much as I want RD to headbutt their eyes through the back of their skulls, there is, was, and always shall be only one head that deserves that privilege.
And that head has freckles.
5842359 Don't forget Epcot said she was "the safest she's ever been", so we'll just have to wait to see what she meant... A wait of just one day. Don't complain, I've faved fics that have had longer hiatus per chapter (my stoy included, so even I am guilty of that crime, much to Skirts's frustration ).
Shindig is so insistent that Applejack is her daughter. Could it be true or does she bear a striking resemblance to a daughter she had...?
Maybe the others are the sacrifice, including her sons so she can be with her husband. So why was Applejack brought here...? A simple, last meeting with mother? What else is there to it? To switch places with Shindig?
5842378
Well put.
5842514 Hmmm, this is true. So I think I'll trust her intuition, rather than his on this one.
Again, very true. I'm just the semi-impatient sort who doesn't like waiting, is all.
Oh, I'm not, for that very reason. As you so very wisely pointed out, there aren't that many fics (here, or elsewhere) that update on a daily basis (or even nearly daily), so I'm not complainin'.
Not really.
5842641 In a word, no. The mare is delusional. AJ's mother died years ago. Fliam and Flam taunted Stu with that a few chapters back.
Or at least, going by what her scoundrel sons have been telling her.
As to all of that, I guess that we'll all just have to wait and see.
5842766
Nah. Shindig is Confabulous. Everything else believes her to be delusional. There's a difference of perspective.
5842818 Hmmm, well, I guess you have a point there.
Open the pod bay door Rainbow Dash!
This is the part where rainbow will say "I'm not trapped in here with you, you're trapped in here with me".
I think my theory is pretty spot on. She doesn't know the depth of what the Twins are doing. She doesn't even know the place isn't real. I'm guessing she fell into a coma in the real world and this is what the twins are doing to keep her going...
Does feel weird that they brought Joe, Mulia and Gustav though...
The Mind Crush is closer every chapter.
Crud crud megacrud!
Now I don't know what to think. Is She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named-(By-Me) evil or not? What will happen to Rainbow? Will the cuddling ever happen? Find out in tomorrow's chapter... Or not.
What a twist! Now kick 'em in the head for bringing guns to a hoof fight.
And now the other horseshoe drops. Shit.