Operation: APPLECRACK

by Redd Herring

The Big Apple

"-ISH!?" Trixie took a step back, gawking at the huge object.

Upon further inspection, it clearly wasn't a real apple. It hummed pervasively; the vibrations could be felt keenly, both on the ground and in the stomach. It appeared to be some kind of huge apple-shaped machine, with the outside painted a jolly red and the deeper steel-gray mechanics visible through intricate vents and openings cut into the sides of the thing. It seemed to be rotating incredibly slowly, though not doing much else.

"I have to say, this is the absolute LAST thing I expected to find in the center of these woods." said Twilight, walking up to the huge contraption. She tried to look into one of the openings, but couldn't see much. A steady, warm breeze escaped from within and caressed her face, making her eye twitch a little. "This must be the device that's causing the interference. I have to say, though, it really looks like..."

"A gigantic apple. Of all the things under the moon, the grave danger that the Great and Powerful Trixie is to vanquish is a gigantic apple. What kind of story is that!? This won't look good in the papers at all!"

"Shouldn't you just be glad it isn't something dangerous? We might be able to crack this problem without anyone getting hurt!"

"It's such an anticlimax! I thought I would have to combat some extraterrestrial beast or send a monster back to Tartarus! So much for heroics. You solve the mystery. Trixie's going to go take a power nap."

She slunk off to a corner of the clearing to lay down and sulk. Twilight sighed, turning to the mysterious object. “Guess I'll just start studying it.”

She set up with some of Trixie's thaumic instruments, gauging the artifact for various arcane things. She seemed to be getting rather excited as she put some serious brainpower into studying it. After an entire hour of this, Trixie had run out of newspapers to read, and narrowed her eyes at the studious unicorn.

“Aren't you finished yet? What more could you possibly hope to discover?”

“It's interacting with the surrounding magic in some incredible ways. This is so exciting! I've never seen anything like it! We could be on the verge of discovering an entirely new form of Myr!”

“A new discovery, hmm?” A flicker of interest showed on her face. “Hmph. Well, so long as you put Trixie's name on it, I suppose it's worth it.”

“What? But you haven't helped at all!”

“You're using TRIXIE'S instruments, aren't you?”

“But...!”

“You only got here by piggy-backing off of TRIXIE's confidence and poise. Without yours truly, you would still be cowering in Ponyville like a scared child! The LEAST you could do is put Trixie's name on your work!”

“At least help me out a little! You ARE trained in magic, right?”

“Are you even ASKING that question of the Great and Powerful Trixie?”

“...Right. So you can help me, then?”

“Fine, FINE! Once again, you can't do ANYTHING without crawling back to Trixie for help. Don't say I never did you any favors!”

With that, the two unicorns began working side-by-side to study the object. Though Twilight continued to be amazed and excited by it, Trixie did not have the same patience.

“Ugh! It's not even DOING anything!” Trixie cried out in frustration. “What's the fun in magic if it just sits there and spins!?”

“What, not enough snake-ropes and lightning bolts for you?” snarked Twilight.

“Ex-ACTLY!” said Trixie, totally missing the point. “It needs big fancy explosions or sparkles or SOMETHING! This is quite honestly the second most boring magical thing that Trixie has ever had the misfortune of laying her eyes on.”

“...What's the first?”

“Er, nevermind that.”

“I'm sure that if we just continue to carefully and methodically analyze the object from all angles, we can learn more about it and find the safest possible way to shut it down.”

“UGGHH! It's so BORING! Why couldn't it have been some EXCITING danger? Stupid thing!” She kicked the spinning apple in frustration.

Instantly, a shrill and piercing noise rang out through the forest, like an air raid siren but ten times worse. Trixie scrambled backwards as the apple spun around rapidly and one of the panels in the side opened up rather too organically for her taste, revealing a sinister and unearthly red eye that stared accusingly at her.

Twilight was stunned at the sudden activity of the long-dormant artifact, standing transfixed as it turned its eye toward the closer pony. The humming was coming to a crescendo, and a strange pulsing noise was beginning to be audible.

“Get out of the way, you idiot!” Trixie called out, but Twilight was frozen in fear. She hesitated for half a second before cursing “Luna blast it all...!” and charging forward.

She collided roughly into the side of the light, bookish unicorn with a loud THUD, sending her sprawling off to the side of the clearing. Immediately afterward, an ovular blast of energy shot out of the eye, smashing into the ground with a deafening noise right behind Trixie and causing a huge fissure to form in the ground from under Trixie's back hooves and pulling her in. She scrabbled on the loose dirt and rock, struggling to find purchase.

“T-Twilight! HELP!” the proud magician called out desperately as she slowly slid into the huge crevasse. Upon hearing the cry, Twilight finally came to her senses, shaking her head rapidly to clear her blurred vision. She could see her companion clinging to the side of the huge chasm and crying out for help, and almost before she knew what she was doing, she braced herself and concentrated on her magic. Her horn immediately began glowing brilliantly, a huge beacon of power extending from her head. As Trixie clung to the ledge for dear life, she was reminded of Twilight's valiant efforts against the Ursa Minor, marveling at the sheer magical power of Celestia's pupil.

The huge and malevolent apple was now venting a great deal of steam and hot air, its eye glowing brightly, the pulsing noise signaling another shot being lined up. Just as it was again reaching its crescendo, a gigantic boulder came out of nowhere and smashed forcefully into the side of the thing, sending it spinning and crashing off through the trees but not seeming to cause any severe damage. Twilight was dropping the huge rock on the ground, her horn flaring wildly from the exertion, when Trixie finally lost purchase on the crumbling earth and went careening backwards into the chasm.

“TRIXIE!” screamed Twilight, rushing with all of her strength to the edge of the chasm. Trixie fell and fell, her screams echoing up through the rift in the earth, when suddenly she was caught by an unseen force, floating gently but quickly back to the surface.

Twilight was incredibly relieved to see that her friend was safe, setting her down on the grassy earth nearby.

“I'm so glad you're okay! I can't believe I managed to catch you in time!”

“Never mind that, you amazing imbecile! We have to run!”

With that confusing statement, Trixie bolted off into the woods back towards the tunnel they had made, with Twilight following suit while the horrible thing let out an alien bellow behind them. The two of them ran with all of their might, exerting their weak unicorn bodies as much as they could, and didn't stop until they had cleared the forest and passed the hill.

"Well, you wanted it to be more exciting!" said Twilight as they slowed to a trot, still heading back to town.

"Oh, can it!" And the two ponies continued in strained silence, pondering the experience they'd just been through and wondering what they should do next. Although they hadn't yet solved the mystery, an invisible bond of friendship was beginning to form between the two drastically different spellcasters. How ready they would be to acknowledge such a fact, however, remains to be seen.

Comments

[Redd Herring]

1078388

Ahh, sorry it's late! Couldn't keep that promise. It's up now~!

[Frankie]

Amazing imbecile.
Amazing because of how much power she posses...imbecile because she couldn't stop sawking at the big red eye as it was getting ready to blast her flank.
Now what happens? How will they solve this Myr situation?