//------------------------------// // Good Pegasus, Bad Pegasus // Story: Appledashery // by Just Essay //------------------------------// "So, let me get this straight..." Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed while she pressed Silver up against the wall. "Serenity Shindig deliberately and methodically invited each of these guys to her abandoned farmland just so they could take a sip from an Alicorn Chalice and fall into an unconscious haze?!" "Not unconscious! Er... not precisely!" Silver Shill gulped. "You see, they're all conscious... but on another plane." "You really expect me to buy that?!" Rainbow snarled. "But it's true! I... I-I've been there myself!" "You've what?" Stu Leaves remarked, squinting. The frail stallion smiled awkwardly at him. "I was one of the f-first test subjects after the Flim Flam brothers excavated the Chalice! According to legend, the alicorns who once populated this world chose to leave this plane hundreds of thousands of years ago via a separate sphere of consciousness! They essentially projected their consciousness to a higher realm! Otherwise, we'd have way more gods and goddesses controlling the heavens other than Celestia and Luna!" "This is all bunk," Rainbow Dash grumbled. "You're just trying to distract me from a totally uncool crime you've been committing under the nose of all Fillydians for Celestia knows how long!" "Tell us how to wake up Applejack!" Stu Leaves insisted. "Then we'll go about waking the others!" "I... I-I can't..." "Why not?!" Rainbow snarled. "Because... b-because they can't be woken up once they've drank cider from the Chalice!" Silver Shill gulped. "Not now! The only way they can come back to this plane is if they willfully choose to exit the collective subconscious meeting! But..." "But what?!" "Well... it's j-just that Shindig and her sons organized this meeting! And they didn't tell me exactly what they would be orchestrating from beyond the enchanting chalice's influence! All I know is that Shindig sits at the heart of the sphere and Flim and Flam are acting as her buffers—a gateway into the other plane! Since they started this meeting, it goes to reason that only they have the power to stop it!" "So, what you're saying is..." Stu Leaves rubbed his head, wincing. "They're all sharing some sort of crazy dream now... but only Shindig or her sons can bring an end to it?" "Well... yes!" Silver Shill nodded. He then blinked, his eyes squinting beneath their thick lenses. "Erm... then again, in theory..." "What?" Rainbow Dash hoisted him higher in her grip. "What's in theory?!" "Guh!" Silver Shill winced, his lower legs flailing. "You don't get it! I was a failing research assistant when Frederick and Felix met me! My life was in the pits! They fostered me and gave me a second chance! I owe them everything... everything." "So, lemme guess..." Rainbow frowned. "...you're not going to help us." Silver gulped. "I'm sorry... but I've already made my commitment." "... ... ..." WHUD! The tiny door to the factory flew open. Rainbow Dash soared out, carrying a screaming Silver Shill in her grasp as she ascended like a rocket towards the blue skies above. Two seconds later, a stammering Stu flew after her. "Rainbow! Rainbow! Don't—" "Stay out of this, Stu!" Rainbow was already at cloud level. She tossed Silver Shill to the winds, clapped her hooves together, and dangled him hundreds upon hundreds of feet above Shindig Soils by his scrappy tail. "So, about those commitments of yours," she spat. "How about we talk about 'em?!" "For the love of Celestia!" Silver Shill's voice cracked. His glasses flew off, sailing past Stu Leaves' panicked figure. He dangled in a twirl from Rainbow's grip of his tail. "Are you crazy?!" "Says the stallion who willingly drugs ponies and turns them into freaky experiments for his cider-squeezing lords and mistresses!" "But th-th-they're all part of the 'experiment' as w-well!" Silver Shill whimpered, covering his eyes. "Why would Shindig and her sons partake in something th-that would hurt them?!" "Maybe because they're more whacked out than a sea serpent vacationing in the desert!" Rainbow hissed. "And besides, if it's so damned harmless, then surely there's a way to get in there and pull Applejack out! Now start talking!" "Rainbow Dash!" Stu Leaves hovered at eye-level with her, shivering. "You can't just do this! What if he dies?!" "Hey, that's a good friggin' question!" Rainbow Dash leaned in, speaking beyond her grip of his tail. "What if you die today, buddy? You think they have corrective eye surgery in the Harmonic Fields?" "I'm n-not turning my back on Frederick and Felix!" Silver Shill whimpered. "I made them a promise!" "Is it as unbreakable a promise as gravity?" Silver's tail slipped an inch, his whole body jostling. "Cuz the laws of physics are ahead of your cheapskate buddies by about four billion years!" "Rainbow..." Stu leaned in, grimacing. "I want to bring back Applejack just as much as yo do, but think about what you're doing! You're an Element of Harmony!" "Stu, I'm Loyalty," Rainbow Dash said, glaring up at him. "'Kindness' stayed at home." She glanced down at the dangling stallion. "Though, if this waste of bones does fall, I'm sorely tempted to try out 'Laughter' for a lonnnng while." "Okay... okay!" Silver Shill sobbed, clasping his forelimbs together and pleading. "I'll talk! I'll tell you everything I know! I pr-promise!" "Then what's stopping you?" He hyperventilated, teary eyes squinting. "The Chalice." He gulped. "Drink from the Chalice, and you'll join them on the plane." "Pffft. You mean, after all this, you think I'll actually fall for that?!" "You d-don't get it!" Silver Shill gulped. "Shindig and her sons only planned for four guests! They simply don't have the headspace to handle any more visitors on their plane! They're able to control things just enough from Shindig's sphere of influence, but the Alicorn magic is still a huge mystery to them! It's a mystery to everypony!" He slipped a few more inches and yelped. "Th-th-there's no possible way to wake them from the outside! It's gotta be done from within! So, if we were to join them on the plane, we might be able to bring them back to the waking world!" "Might?" Silver Shill bit his lip. "When I had my turn to enter the plane, the only way I could be brought out was by Flim and Flam personally! And... and..." "And what?" "Well... for as long as I was in there, I-I didn't want to be brought out!" Silver shuddered. "You have no idea what it's like in there without a firm controlling sphere. All of your dreams come true. It's like heaven in a passing thought! Time slows down and... and you're experiencing pure ecstasy!" "So what are you saying...?" Stu managed to murmur. "Your friend Applejack?" Silver shook his upside-down head. "...she may not want to be pulled out of there by this point." Rainbow Dash took a deep breath... then let go. Stu Leaves gasped. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiieeeee!" Silver Shill flailed as he plummeted to his death— FWOOOSH! Rainbow Dash flew underneath the stallion and caught him within a dozen feet of the ground. "Guh!" Silver shuddered, breathless. He glanced down at the blue pegasus underneath him. "You... y-you caught me?" "Don't be stupid," Rainbow grunted. "I was always going to catch you." "Oh... bless you! Bless y—Aaaugh!" He yelped as he was tossed unceremonoiously to the dirty ground. THUD! Rainbow Dash and Stu Leaves hovered above him. "Now..." Rainbow Dash leaned in, glaring at Silver Shill's trembling, pale face. "Explain to us how the Chalice works." "I..." Silver hugged himself, shivering. "I'm not sure I can..." "Want to go for another flight?" "Okay! I-I'll try! I'll try!" "Much better..."