Appledashery

by Just Essay

Trixie Lulamoron

“Trixie...” Rainbow Dash trotted closer, raising a turquoise-sleeved forelimb. “Do you remember anything from the last hour?!”

“Yes!” Trixie upturned her nose. “The Great and Powerful Trixie had a dream that she got her show wagon back and was freed from annoying little ponies who stuck wet hooves in her ears!”

“Ew, that's a boring dream!” Pinkie licked her hoof and leaned in again. “Maybe I should try the other ear.”

“Pinkie, stop!” Rainbow held her back. “Once is enough!”

“Will somepony explain to Trixie just where we are?!”

“You don't remember?” Maud droned. “You brought us here in a trance.”

“Hmmph! That is highly unlikely!” Trixie folded her hooves under her robe and stuck her nose in the air. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is an especially trained unicorn in the magical arts! There's no way she could ever allow herself to be subjected to invasive leylines—” FLASH! Trixie's eyes rolled back like slot machine lemons, replaced with glowing irises. “WheEeEeEeEeEels!”

Rainbow did a double-take. “Ah jeez... not again.”

“WheeeEEEEeeeEEEEeeels!” Trixie stumbled forward, one hoof outstretched.

“Heeheehee!” Pinkie giggled. “Awwwwwww! She's so cute when she's possessed and drooly! Almost like Gummy after I feed him too much cake frosting!”

“Alright, Pinkie.” Rainbow sighed. “Prepare the wet hoof, again.”

“Roger that, Captain Voice Crack!” Pinkie stuck out her tongue—and Daring promptly grabbed it.

“No!” Daring hissed. “You don't want to do that!”

Pinkie's blue eyes blinked with little squeaking sounds. “Ibhh dunbb?”

“The hay are you onto now?” Rainbow muttered.

“Shhhhh...” Daring let go of Pinkie's tongue and gestured at Trixie, smiling. “Let's see where the almighty wheel trance takes her.”

“What for?”

“Come on, think, Champ!” Daring grinned, floating behind the stumbling unicorn. “If there's something of super importance down here, then it's gotta be connected to the shard somehow! So if Trixie's drawn to it...”

“...then she'll lead us right to the shard.”

“Correctomundo!”

“But...” Rainbow winced. “What if—like—she suffers brain damage or something?”

“Huh?”

“Some super ebil power is jackhammering into her brain sponge. Isn't that... I dunno... bad?”

“I've been around many places, and I've seen a lot of magic crap,” Daring said. “If you ask me, the worse that could happen to her is that she might turn dumb.”

“You mean... unable to talk?”

“Precisely.”

“Heeeeey, Trixie!” Rainbow grinned wide, gesturing out the ancient shaft. “Lead us to the wheels, girl!”

“Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeels!” Trixie lurched on ahead.

“She appears to be headed toward those descending stairs,” Maud said.

“What stairs, Maud Maud?” Pinkie asked.

“The ones appearing along the penumbra of Trixie's glowing horn.”

“Ohhhhhhhhh! Those stairs!” Pinkie grinned. “Wow, you must have been a really bored elder god to have carved them babies!”

“No, something's different about them, actually,” Daring droned, squinting at the stone steps that Trixie descended. “They appear to be new.”

“Like, how new?” Rainbow asked.

“I'd venture to say a few months... even weeks.”

Rainbow shuddered. “Weeks? You mean whoever carved those things was recently down here?”

“Looks like it.”

“How in the frig do you know that?”

“Fresh gravel from the chiseling.” Daring pointed. “See? And all of the hash-marks are perfectly even.”

“Meaning...?”

“They weren't done by hoof. So none of the earth pony residents of Dredgemane made them. I think we're dealing with some magical being.”

“Like a unicorn?”

“We're not the first ponies to come here,” Daring said with a grin.

“Ooooh!” Pinkie clapped her hooves while she and Maud trotted after trixie. “I'm so nervouscited!”

“Usually, knowing somepony's visited a dungeon right before you is a total buzzkill,” Daring said. “But now I'm starting to guess that we're talking about the same pony who brought the shard here.”

“Yeah... but for what?”

“Hey! You're just a rookie sidekick!” Daring winked and flapped her wings. “I can't expect myself to explain everything to you on the first day!”

Rainbow gritted her teeth. “Grrrrr...”

Daring floated over the mares' heads. “Keep up the pace, adventurers! Perilous death and danger await!”

“Oooh!” Pinkie bounced. “That's my favorite kind of death! Also danger!”

“Am I to understand that we are entering an arcane sanctum made of stone that's been turned into a fiendish pony's rock lair?” Maud asked.

“Yup!” Daring said. “It's a true novel hit in the making!”

“Just as I thought.” A three and a half second blink. “I never thought I would die while feeling this happy,” Maud droned.

“WheeeEEEEEeeeels...”

Comments

[Sharp Quill]

“Hmmph! That is highly unlikely!” Trixie folded her hooves under her robe and stuck her nose in the air. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is an expecially trained unicorn in the magical arts! There's no way she could ever allow herself to be subjected to invasive leylines—” FLASH! Trixie's eyes rolled back like slot machine lemons, replaced with glowing irises. “WheEeEeEeEeEels!”

There's your problem! Now maybe if you were especially trained, you'd be able to resist it.

[Aatxe360]

What's below the city, I wonder?

[Sharp Quill]

5169910 A machine world, with giant pendulums and gears?

Maybe we'll see just how much this story shares with Austraeoh.

[TwilightUCrazy]

Every time I think you're nutso, you turn around and blind me with brilliance.

STAHP!

[Lightning Bearer]

I was half-suspecting (half-jokingly) that it might be the Machine World, too. But the fact that the stairs are new might rule that out. Even if it isn't the Machine World, and there is no connection to Austraeoh, there's still something odd going on. Perhaps a connection to the EoP mythos (Consus, was it?)?

[RoboRed]

“If you ask me, the worse that could happen to her is that she might turn dumb.”

“You mean... unable to talk?”

“Precisely.”

“Heeeeey, Trixie!” Rainbow grinned wide, gesturing out the ancient shaft. “Lead us to the wheels, girl!”

5170440
Not really noticing any connection to the EoP mythos in the spooky mine right now, but who knows. It might pop up at some point.

[Lightning Bearer]

5170464

I just mean with regards to Dredgemane and how it was supposedly created by Consus' fall.

[YoshiFawful64]

5170140
>implying brilliance and insanity are mutually exclusive

[Fishberry]

I have super ebil power jackhammer into my brain-sponge on a daily basis.

I just can't give up my java.

[silverspawn]

Oh, come on. I mean yes, it was funny in the context, but Rainbow would not just risk trixie becoming dumb. at least not, like, hey she won't be annoying anymore.

[TartariusTheEvilOne]

5175253 ALL HAIL AERIS!!

[Davidp1522]

"But what if she gets brain damage?"
"The worst thing that could happen is that she gets brain dammage."
"Oh well that's fine then."

[arancaytar]

“I've been around many places, and I've seen a lot of magic crap,” Daring said. “If you ask me, the worse that could happen to her is that she might turn dumb.”

How would you tell

“You mean... unable to talk?”

“Precisely.”

“Heeeeey, Trixie!” Rainbow grinned wide, gesturing out the ancient shaft. “Lead us to the wheels, girl!”

Oh dang

[ThePonyWriterThing]

WHEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLSSSS