Appledashery

by Just Essay

Will the Cider Be Unbroken?

"REPEAT. DO NOT MOVE FROM WHERE YOU ARE."

Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth. "These punks must have been 'dreamed' yesterday." She squatted low, flexing her muscles. "Buck this noise like yesterday's body pillow..."

One of the officers on the nearest gyrocopter gasped. "The Blue Jay's preparing to fly away!"

"HALT! THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING!"

"Sniff you jerks later!" Rainbow shouted.

Th-Thwickkk! A pair of steel-reinforced leather wings swung out from either side of her corset. Rainbow Dash looked back and did a double-take at the ridiculously artificial limbs. "What in the spit?!"

"SNKKT! SHOOT HER! SHOOT HERRRRR!"

Rainbow winced. "Omigoshomigoshomisgosh!" She plunged forward. Then, unexpectedly, a pair of steam rockets roared to life on either side of her flanks. "Gaaaaaaaaaaaaiiie!"

She threaded furiously through the gyrocopters, missing their beating blades by a hair's width. The uniformed stallions on board gasped as their vehicles reeled from her steam output. Without wasting a second, they pivoted around and swooped after her, sirens shrieking.

"Uhhhhhhh..." Rainbow Dash twitched, spiraling in mid-air as buildings and pipes and smokestacks blurred past her. "Uhhhhhhhh!"

Her wildly-firing steam thrusters shoved her through the narrow and narrower spaces between skyscrapers. Families in the courtyards gasped and lovers flinched atop their balconies. Rainbow pulled up with her ornately-constructed wings, barely avoiding a messy, splattering end across the bricklaid platforms below. Entire throngs of citizens ducked low, coattails and crinoline skirts billowing from the breeze of the dreamer's rocketing flyby.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaah!" Rainbow flailed, twirling more wildly. Up ahead, she saw a tight array of steam pipes clinging to a hovering building-face. "Mmmmmmm!" Biting her lip to the point of bleeding, Rainbow crossed her forelimbs over her face. Bzzzzzzzzt! To her surprise, a pair of fetlock bracers came to life, extending tiny steam-powered chainsaws. CL-Cl-CL-CL-CLACKKK! The rotating blades lopped the pipes ahead of her cleanly in twain, carving a tiny path for the mare's runaway body to fly through freely.

Behind her, the pursuing gyrocopters were engulfed in violent gusts of steam. The officers on board sputtered for breath, swerving every-which-way to avoid the cloud. Inadvertently, they collided with one another. Blades shattered as their heavy crafts plunged towards the platforms below, losing Rainbow Dash entirely.

Wheezing for breath, Rainbow Dash tilted her body up, rocketing skyward. She jerked left and right, shrieking, doing her best to avoid innumerable flagposts and waving banners as she scaled the summit of a towering skyscraper.

"Come on... turn off, ya stupid fart tubes!" She shook her hind quarters, reaching a hoof back to smack the steam cylinders. Whack! Clang! "I mean it! Shut. OFF."

At last, with a lone sputtering sound, the engines dulled. Rainbow drifted upwards in dull silence.

"Whew..."

The skyscraper blurred to a stop. Rainbow felt her inner organs shifting with the tug of gravity.

"Wuh oh..."

Rainbow's mane flew forward as she fell, toppeled, and plunged straight back down, hooves flailing.

"I didn't mean it! Honest!" her voice cracked as she sailed past balconies full of gaping, wide-eyed citizens. "Turn back on! Turn back--"

The mare gasped. Several thick, dangling chains loomed right beneath her, criss-crossing beneath her shadow.

"Ah jeez... ah jeez! Uhhh..." Rainbow's hooves drifted close to a building. With a gasp, she briskly kicked against the speeding face of the structure, shoving herself forward. "Glide!"

Her leather wing-constructs caught the breeze, and she sliced forward through the air.

"Uhhh... aaaaah!" Rainbow nevertheless flinched as the forest of criss-crossing chains whipped past her. Thw-thw-thw-thwisssh! She sliced her way past them, being grazed on more than one occasion. At last, she spotted a warehouse looming ahead, and below it: nothing but a dark canyon floor full of jagged rocks. "Come onnnn! Make it!"

FWOOOOSH! Rainbow Dash shot straight for the warehouse's lower balcony... and struck a window instead.

SMASSSSH!

Rainbow flew into a dark-lit storage room, flew past several racks full of metal engine parts, and slid across the concrete floor.

"Guhhh--"

She rolled, toppled, and landed upside-down against the wall on the opposite end. WHUD!

"Ooomf!" Her whole body winced. Seconds passed. She unclenched her eyes, staring up-side down at the trail of dust and steam lingering between where she lay and the smashed window full of bright sunlight. "... ... ..." At last, her body relaxed. "...whew."

PFFFFT! Her flanks' steam thrusters belatedly powered up, shoving her into a stack of metal nick-nacks.

"Oh come on--!!!"

SMASSSH! The shelf collapsed entirely, piling crates and supply boxes high on top of her. Rainbow winced, her eyes rolling back as she surrendered to the pressure, falling unconscious.

"Unnngh..."

The last thing she consciously remembered was the sound of a metal door sliding open, followed by fervent hoofsteps headed her way... and then a gasping noise.

All went dark.

Comments

[YoshiFawful64]

"What in the spit?!"

First Epcot, now Rainbow. Everyone's trying to be Floydien these days.

[Elsaack]

Dash... are you an earth pony now? Buck that, make yourself a pegasus again through force of will. Maybe keep the steam gadgets though, could be useful.

So are the ponies here projections a-la Inception? Or free thinking unconscious facets of the dreamer not tied to their will?

We shall see.

[Aatxe360]

Yes.

The only way to break the Cider is to make it not Cider. You could always try breaking what is containing the Cider.

[Lightning Bearer]

"SNKKT! SHOOT HER! SHOOT HERRRRR!"

This would be a very, very different chapter if this sim was based on that universe.

[FloydienSlip]

"What in the spit?!"

Excuse you.

[Sam the Anti-Ninja]

5653515 Yes yes yes

... Applejack? That's my guess at our gasping mystery mare.

[aleistergreynight]

For the 97th time, I am going to ask, where the F*** is Lancie!?!?

[SwiftShad0wWing1]

Where the hell is Lancie? Didn't he say he was suppose to teleport to Rainbow when she was too far away? I THINK THIS IS FAR AWAY!!

Good job though.

[aleistergreynight]

5657073
For the love of Luna's Moony butt, finally I am not the only one asking this!

[Sarda]

5657073 I am not in the least surprised that he can't get into cider space.