What Comes Next

by Rocket Blaze

Prologue

It was a beautifully sunny day at Sweet Apple Acres, and the harvest was ripe and ready for bucking. Unfortunately, it was also allergy season. While Applejack was spared from the pounding headaches and runny muzzle, both her brother and sister were far too out of sorts to run around with buckets on their backs collecting the apples as they fell, so Applejack was stuck. It was the perfect opportunity to run errands back in Ponyville, and maybe drop in on a few of her favorite friends!

"Y'all sure yuh gonna be okay with me in Ponyvill 'n' all?" she asked for the dozenth time.

"Ee-ee...ACHOO...eeyup..." strained Big Macintosh.

"Would yuh just go already big sis? I'm not going anywhere. I'll be here when yuh get back!" Applejack smiled at her little sister, whose eyes were red as the apples in the orchard.

"Okaaay, well ah'mma goin' now. Hope y'all feel better when ah get back!"

The canter back to Ponyville was long, but Applejack felt rejuvinated by the fresh air and the smell of apples growing for as far as the eye could see. She made it there in less than half an hour.

Muzzling open her saddle bags, Applejack took out the list of things she'd needed to get while she was in town. First on the list: Some pie crusts for the pies she was so eager to make with the new harvest. "Well where better ta get some pie crusts'n at Sugarcube Corner?" she said to nopony in particular. It was well known that the Pies and the Cakes made the best pie crusts in town, and she could drop in on Pinkie Pie to see if she wanted to hang out. "Okay Pinkie, Here ah come! YEEEE HAAAW!" With that she was thundering down the road to visit Ponyville's resident party pony.

Before long she was at the base of the giant confectionary pile pretending to be the place Pinkie Pie called home. With one hoof on the door, she saw the CLOSED sign in the window. "Oh, dag nabbit! Ah forgot the Cakes was out visitin' with family'n Manehattan. Oh well, might as well see if Pinkie's home." Since her hoof was already on the handle, she figured she'd give it a try to see if it was locked. Much to her surprise, it wasn't.

Two steps into Sugarcube Corner, she saw that the lights were on upstairs in Pinkie's bedroom. "Pinkie! Yuh home?" No response. She walked up the stairs, a creek at every step. She peered through the door into Pinkie's room, seeing that there was nopony there but Gummy, the toothless gator.

Dismayed, Applejack turned to leave, when she realized that Gummy's tail was caught in a chest bejeweled with cupcakes and candy. It didn't seem right to just leave him there, so she sauntered over to the chest and opened it to let Gummy free. Curiously peering into the chest, she realized the chest was hollow. Or at least, the bottom which should have been in place was hanging on a pair of dark hinges. Beneath it, Applejack saw a platform terminating into a spiraling stone staircase.

"Uh huh... Pinkie has a... A secret staircase? Well that ain't weird or nothin'..." Applejack knew Pinkie had her eccentricities, but this was entirely unexpected. Even so, she would have just dismissed it outright... until she heard a faint scream coming from deep inside. "WHA-What in tarnation!?" She jumped back, dropping the lid with a loud thud. "Well now, Applejack... What ya done got yerself into?"

A bead of cold sweat rolled down onto her muzzle, and Applejack knew instantly that she wanted nothing to do with it. Okay, she thought to herself, so Pinkie has a secret staircase 'n yer pretty sure yuh just done heard a scream comin' up from Celestia knows where. Yer entirely unprepared for this sorta thing, but Pinkie could be in trouble and yuh don't wanna go trottin around with that on yer conscience. With a deep gulp, she propped open the chest and jumped inside. She had to duck to get under the wall and onto the staircase that only went one way.

Another scream forced Applejack to halt in place.

"Gotta be brave, Applejack. Yer friends may be countin' on yuh." Slowly and quietly, she trotted down the stoney steps, which got darker and darker as she descended. After what seemed like an eternity, there were more noises from ahead, and this time she could make out the words.

"PLEASE STOP! PLEASE, PLEASE STOP!"

That sounded like... "Naw." She didn't know what was going on, but one thing Applejack knew was that something very bad was happening! Shunning all stealth, she bounded down the stairs in groups at a time, her clopping echoing off the walls of the narrow staircase. At the bottom was a doorway, propped open, through which Applejack could hear even more voices.

"This is a little something to take the pain away." said somepony in a very light, almost jovial voice. Moving slowly once more, Applejack crept towards the door."

"Pinkie...?" said another pony in a very weak voice.

"Yes?" said the other (who cain't possibly be Pinkie, thought Applejack).

"I want to go home." Applejack peered through the door.

It was Rainbow Dash!

Comments

[The Cynical Brony]

This is good so far, but it reminds me a little heavily of The Cupcake Chronicles, that suto-sequel to Cupcakes made by the guy behind Letters from a Disgruntled Friendship Student.