The sheer amount of efficiency at which Twilight worked, was a wonder of the world in and of itself. Some days, it rivaled Celestia’s ability to make overly complicated millennia extended plans that eventually get seen and written down as prophecies. Others, it made Luna’s stars pale in the absolute brilliance in which every piece fell into place with the most minute accuracy.
For Rainbow, it was like gazing into Tartarus as she stood seconds away from getting pushed in by a demonic lavender alicorn. Twilight at least showed some form of mercy by turning her away to face the corner as she got about halfway through the setup, but it only served to leave her unable to know just how much her friends had in store. The moments when the room was utterly silent scared Dash almost as much as when Twilight was joyfully humming.
The scent of burning hair also flowed through the room when the lavender mare was present. “Come on Twilight! I said I was sorry! Can’t you unfreeze me already? I promise I won’t do it again!”
“Rainbow, you know I can’t do that just yet.” Twilight continued setting up the last details of her complicatedly contrived contraptions. “But don’t worry; once the others are back, we can all take a few minutes for you five to explain yourselves as a whole.” A merry giggle sent shivers down Rainbow’s spine. “Besides, I can’t move you from that spot just yet. I need you there as bait.”
The sound of hooves trotting away was all the prismatic pegasus could hear as she tried to look over her shoulders. “Huh? Wait, what do you mean by that? Twilight? Twilight!?” The echo of a door shutting was all she received as an answer. Before that moment, Rainbow never really considered how terrifying staring at a corner could be.
Now she knows.
Minutes passed before the chime of the portal whirring to life behind her got Rainbow’s ears to perk up, and quickly hone in on the sound of somepony landing with a thud. “Ow... Never gonna get the hang of all these fancy magic doohickies Twilight ends up with.”
Rainbow strained her head as much as she could to look behind her and instantly perked up at the sight of a particular familiar orange pony. She leaned over and started to talk in a hissed whisper. “AJ! Quick! I need your help! We need to get out of here!”
Applejack shook her head as she stood back up, and rubbed her forehead with a hoof. Taking a quick look around the room, it looked just like it did when they all headed off to the other world. Raising an eyebrow, the farm mare looked at her cyan colored friend. “Uh, Rainbow. What are y'all talking about? And why are ya standing in the corner whispering like Tirek’s leaning over your shoulder?”
Beads of nervous sweat trickled down Rainbow’s face. During the entire time Twilight was setting up her plan, she was never gone this long. “It’s Twilight! She found out! You gotta help get me outta here before she gets back!”
Silence reigned for a split second before Applejack started laughing loudly and adjusting her hat. “Alright, ya got me Rainbow. That was a good one.”
Rainbow’s jaw dropped as she felt an eye twitch. “Twilight froze me in place because she caught me when I came back through! What part of this makes you think I’m joking!?”
Still chuckling as she fanned herself with her hat, Applejack rolled her eyes. “Well, that’s what ya get for being careless while coming back. Though I gotta admit, seeing ya like this is pretty funny.”
If Rainbow could bash her head against the wall right then, she would have. Instead, she decided to forego caution and just shout. “For Celestia’s sake AJ! Get me out of here!”
Still laughing at her friend’s plight, the farm mare finally relented and started walking over. “Alright, alright, let’s get g-” Applejack paused as she felt something under her hoof. Looking down, she saw she’s stepped on a small line of rope that was painted the same color as the floor.
The sound of a latch flicking open made her look up, and watch as a parade of apples rolled down a series of chutes, tumbling back and forth down the wall. “What in tarnation?”
She followed the apples as they moved down one extended chute, before they funneled into a small cannon, also painted. One apple landed inside, the second knocked it over, pointing it at the far wall, and the last apple fell on the button on top and fired the fruity artillery. The apple flew out the window and hit a bullseye that was just outside the castle.
In that moment, the farm mare learned how quickly it felt to be in one of those dunk booths, watching as the target gets hit with a perfect bullseye. Only instead of going down into a fish tank, the farmer was launched out the window herself by the springboard under her hooves.
Screaming in surprise and fear, Applejack flailed through the air until she found herself landing in one of her harvest baskets, attached to a rail by a set of metal bars. Shaking her head as she sat upright, she looked over the edge and found herself and her basket farther in the air than she would have liked. The basket began to roll down the rail, now loaded with enough weight to start it’s momentum downward.
Faster and faster, the basket circled the castle with each pass, forcing Applejack to hold onto her hat as she descended. Getting closer to the ground, the orange farmer learned where her ride would soon end, however, as a hay baler was positioned at the end of the rail. “Oh, Sweet Apples!”
The basket hit the stopper at the end of the rail and Applejack was sent zooming forward, straight into the chute leading into the baler. The machine sputtered and spurred as it worked, and shortly after flying in, a series of hay bales fell out.
The top bale had applejack’s hat sticking out of it until her head popped out in its place. She was dazed for a moment before the bail was hefted off the top of the pile and onto somepony’s back. She shook her head and looked down, only for her blink in surprise. “BIG MAC!?”
“Eeyup.” Sure enough, the red stallion was carrying the freshly baled Applejack inside, where a patiently waiting Twilight sat on her throne, and her mane just a bit damp. “Here ya go Twilight.”
Smiling politely, The princess trotted over and took Applejack off of her brother’s back in her magic. “Thank you for letting me borrow your family baler, Big Mac. I promise to return it once everything’s settled.”
“Not a problem at all, Twilight.” Mac nodded with a smirk, much to his sister’s indignation. “Just let my sister come home in one piece when yer’ done with her.”
“I’m still surprised you had the hay baler foal-proofed at all.” Twilight looked at the machine in slight amusement. “What event would even lead to that?”
Applejack slowly frowned and shook her head as Big Mac's smile grew. “Don’t do it Mac. Don’t you dare. That’s a family secret and you swore you wouldn’t tell a soul.”
The red farmer just kept grinning, looking at Twilight, and nodding his head at Applejack before facing his sister once more. “Ah think she can piece together why just fine, AJ.”
Twilight snickered a bit as she held a hoof to her mouth. “Seriously?” Mac nodded his head, and the princess was having a hard time not laughing, much to Applejack’s embarrassment. The two shared a quick nod before Twilight started carrying Applejack upstairs and Big Mac headed home. “Well, he never told a soul.”
“Don’t you start using semantics on me.”
“Oh, but Applejack,” The farmer felt a chill run up her spine as Twilight smiled at her. “Why shouldn't I? I mean, it’s not like you and everypony else broke into my home and abused an artifact of significant magical power or anything, right?”
Suddenly, Applejack understood precisely why Rainbow was scared earlier. “Uh... Ah, need an adult.”
Twilight carried her up to another room of the castle and set the hay bale down. “I am an adult.” With a flash of her horn, Rainbow was teleported into the room as well, blinking as the spots filled her eyes. “Now, both of you wait right here. Wouldn’t want to miss the show, now would we?”
Once Twilight was out of the room, Rainbow stared at Applejack entirely unamused. “We both could have been free as birds right now, but you had to laugh it up, didn’t you?”
“Ah shut up.”
You know, this quote would go very well with aa later chapter having someone DOOOODGE!!!
Rarity should be forced into a compromising outfit when she returns and not be able to remove it.
Also she shouldn't be able to move or use magic.
Well it looks like AJ was a very adventurous filly when she was younger, or very stupid one I can't quite tell the difference here.
Loving this... lol
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Both are technically correct, which is the best kind of correct.
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I would do that, but I'm pretty sure compromising clothes would ruin the E rating.
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But, they’re usually naked. Revealing clothes would be kinda pointless.
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BONDAGE GEAR!!
harness & bit, reins, blinders, saddle, spreader bars and manacles all in horrible puke green colour
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How fast do you want this story to loose its “E” rating? That would be more appropriate if this story was more mature, but it is not.
This was beautiful. And I definitely got the Scooby-Doo reference here... although part of the buildup in the trap gave me a very Looney-Tunes / Tom and Jerry vibe to it as well. XD
Can't wait to see how you're going to handle the others!
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meh ok the spreder bars a bit much but theres nothing sexual about bits bridals blinders unless you make it sexual
I humbly suggest that the author check out the justly famous Grimtooth's Traps series of books for trap inspiration. Seriously, some of the are awesome.
An Example:
media.diehardgamefan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Grimtooth_Fore2.jpg
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i.pinimg.com/originals/fb/89/d9/fb89d9148029f65157c5bc8ad071f5ce.gif
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I used to have the entire set, and got that look very often. Sometimes it's good to be the bad guy.
THE FIRST TRAP
IS FINALLY COMPLETE
(cue meme-making people)
No. I am your father.
So what will Twilight do if Sunset Shimmer comes through and gets trapped? She's innocent.
Let her out.
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No
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.... My personal favorite was the ten foot deep pit trap no one would ever admit to falling into; it was full of whipped cream (too thin to swim in, too thick to breath through, too slippery to climb out of, and too embarrassing to even think about. The perfect April Fools Day Trap.)
Then again, if Twilight has a copy of Grimtooth's Traps and plans to use them.... then where is she going to get the lobster from?
(Trust me, if you read the books, this question makes sense.)
Here is hoping she doesn't mess Rarity's hair outfit or boutique. I can easily see the next sentence.
"Twilight dear, please fix it before I get charged with regicide"
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Putting it out there that AJ or RD will yell Dodge to one of the others coming back through and that causes the others to lock up like Gohan. If true to form, have it to where they curse Pavlov.
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Out of all the worst possible things, this is THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!
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Just so you know, I'm rooting for Pinkie Pie here on this one.
What kind of name would Rube Goldberg have as a pony? (CMC ICON)
This adult line always makes me laugh when I see it in a story and I have seen it in quite a few.
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It’s probably the most quoted DBZA line I’ve seen in fics.
This made me laugh more than I should.
Everyone's laughing, but she's paralyzing her friends. The people who, except for once (which was still slightly her fault), have had her back through thick and thin, and she has even admitted she would be literally NOTHING without. And she is paralyzing them. Temporarily or not, she is trapping them in their own bodies and removing their basic right to movement. Even when restrained you can still move, even if not much.
If she's going to try and make this sound like she's doing this to them because of law, she needs to treat them as criminals and lock them up and fine them. If she lets them go, then she's abusing her power. But it's clear she's not doing this because of law, she's even said this is just for her stress. She is abusing her friends and sisters-in-arms for her own satisfaction. There is no reason anyone can come up with that makes this okay.
😂 A TFS reference
I concede.
Thou hast done well.
Ha!
I thought this scene was familiar!
And from one of my fave Scooby Doo eps, too.
Well done and well met, dear sir.