“Nungeon?” Applebaum deadpans, raising a single eyebrow in a time-honored family tradition.

“It’s a play on words?” Lemon replies with a smidge of uncharacteristic exasperation. “You know.” She twists her hooves with each word, “Nu-rsery and du-ngeon,” then slams them together. “Nun-geon.”

Apple Bloom snorts. “We ain’t callin’ the new nursery a nungeon.”

Scootaloo ignores her. “C’mon!” she exclaims impatiently, her hooves tapping a rapid dance as she looks over the trapdoor for any way to open it. “Let’s start exploring the Nungeon!”

“Uh,” Sweetie Belle says as she drops low. The door, or to be more accurate section of wall, looks like it came straight from one of Sweet Apple Acres’ old barns. She peers at each corner. They blend into the surrounding dirt with no obvious hoofholds or protrusions. “How do we open it?” Her horn flares a dull green, but her attempt to lift fails with a crackle and fizz of shorting magic. “Ow!” She rubs her horn, wincing. “Oww. What the hay?”

“Language,” Hedge chides, if softly. Sweetie Belle drops down to her haunches, rubbing harder.

“Twilight put Prostigal’s Post Protection on a portal?” Starlight says with a mix of admiration and exhilaration. Her eyes glow white, horn a brilliant turquoise as she scans the inner workings of the spell. “That shouldn’t be any trouble to…” Her muzzle curls upward to a mischievous grin. “Oh! Oh, clever… You thought I wouldn’t see that, did you? A trap if I tried to remove it, hmm? And one behind that?”

Trixie opens her mouth to say something, then stops, her grin matching the maniacal one spreading across Starlight.

“And another… and another… and another…and another...” Starlight frowns to herself, stamping a hoof in frustration as her eyes cross. “Alicorn or not, you shouldn’t be nesting these more than two layers deep! If they catch one, they’ll catch them all, and they’ll keep looking until they get to the end and all you’ve done is waste effort!” She huffs, her look of concentration deepening, her pupils nearly disappearing into her nose. “And another…”

“It’s simple,” Trixie smirks, barely able to contain her laughter, as her horn lights a light magenta. The door pops open with a slight outrush of air. The action startles Starlight out of her unbounded immersion, the light pink unicorn glaring at her azure counterpart. “It’s a recursive loop that waits until you realize you’re caught, storing up energy the whole time.” She waits a beat.

Starlight’s eyes narrow and teeth grind together.

“And then it shocks you.” Trixie sticks her tongue out just as a raspberry tinged lightning bolt zaps out and - safely, of course - electrocutes Starlight.

“Ow!” Starlight exclaims, rubbing her horn just like Sweetie Belle. It lights briefly, then sputters out with a pathetic dribble of sparks. “That could have really hurt!”

“Would you believe that I, the Great and Powerful Trixie! taught her that trick?” The afore-mentioned unicorn grins, though it quickly turns to a scowl. “Maybe with inspiration from that Sombra fellow. Not that Trixie would need to use the spell, except for those two colts always poking through my stuff!”

Starlight merely pulls her hoof away, glaring. “Why would she even…”

She halts as she and the rest of the ponies gather around the now open doorway and look down.

At the bottom of a sheer, vertigo-inducing drop of at least four stories is a massive circular crystal table, easily large enough for the entire herd to eat at if a few don’t mind sitting on top. Or they could if it wasn’t for the scale model of Equestria, done up in a rich variety of gleaming blues. From their high vantage point they can easily make out the majestic Canterhorn in the middle, Canterlot a shining bastion jutting off the lonely peak. Six white, high-backed human-style chairs surround the map, casting long shadows along the plain magenta floor. Dull green light from five upside-down doors on the upper walls barely beats back an inky blackness, leaving the rest of the edges of the cavernous entrance chamber shrouded. Nopony has the temerity to glance farther inside.

At least until Scootaloo brazenly jumps down, wings buzzing madly to keep her at a slow fall instead of a speedy plummet that, being a bit sturdier than your average pegasus, she probably would have survived with only a few bruises. She zooms around the darkness, traveling from one scarcely lit door to another, delightfully screaming all the way down. Before too long, though, and she’s fallen too far to reach any of them, and she hits the ground with a determined huff and charges up the closest wall.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exchange nervous glances. The unicorn speaks first. “Uh… You next?”

“Pff,” Apple Bloom snorts. “Ah remember what happened to Big Mac.” She glances at Trixie. “Can ya levitate us down? And then back up?”

“Aww, where’s your sense of adventure?” Applebaum asks with a cocky grin before Trixie can respond. She shimmies up to the edge. “He just jumped and didn’t land right.” She lowers herself as far down as she can before she slides off, spreading her legs as much as possible.

Trixie watches with mild amusement, Starlight with a brief gasp, as the young mare falls about two body lengths before smacking belly-first into a mostly invisible wall.

“What the hay?” exclaims Applebaum as soon as she gets her breath back, testing her precarious position. She’s standing on top of a sheet of transparent crystal. At least it doesn’t shift like a rickety staircase; the walkway is solid and when she concentrates she can barely detect a faint sparkle that leads along the ceiling to one of the walls and then travels down. She trots along, careful to keep away from the railing-less sides that would certainly fail any sort of safety inspection.

Not about to be left behind, especially by her younger sister, Apple Bloom scampers after Applebaum, careful to keep to the same area. “That could’a hurt!”

“Mm,” Applebaum agrees. She’s still not completely comfortable, but obviously more so than her sister. “Learned how to fall, ‘cause ya can’t always trust what your hooves’re standin’ on.” She peers off the edge, ignoring the clenching of her stomach. “It’d be the highest jump Ah’ve made, but not by much.”

Sweetie Belle stammers, her hooves tapping a fast and nervous beat as her sisters get away. “Wait!” she calls as she drops down. “I’m coming too!”

“Don’t get too far ahead!” Trixie calls as she locates the clear crystal steps at the hinges of the opening. “We only explored three of the four doors!” Her horn lights, and it barely illuminates the far-away walls, two of the doors inscribed with a scarlet ‘X’ and one with a cobalt ‘O’. Starlight, still with a bit of a pucker, follows, as does Hedge and Meringue. The pegasus filly hovers off the edge while the earth pony studies the crystal, tracing minute lines like wood grains.

Apple Bloom looks down at Scootaloo, who is standing on the table. She stares up, glaring at Hedge’s aerial display that slowly swoops underneath the walkway opposite Meringue. Apple Bloom grimaces. “Ah don’t suppose any of y’all feel a mite… exposed walkin’ along like this?” Her tail tugs between her scrunched up legs, but she still feels like a sky glider showing off her wares.

“Not that Trixie is implying anything,” Trixie says, tongue pushing at her cheek, “but Doug did craft this whole castle.” She gets a few chuckles and knowing rolls of the eyes, but none dispute her implication, even purely to defend their sire’s honor.

Outside, Spoiled Rich and Diamond Tiara stand with Lemon and Pomarbo. The older mare is slightly wide-eyed at the reckless display and the casual willingness of the others to go along with it. She takes a cautious step backward, doing a poor job concealing her dismay. Yet she maintains a guarded smile, putting up a brave face. Her filly shares some of her apprehension, yet keeps next to the open door, her gaze steady on Pomarbo.

“Hey,” Lemon pipes up, grinning at Spoiled Rich. She returns an unvarying smile that doesn’t match her eyes. “Thanks for letting us use your private car! Even if…” She looks around, Discord nowhere to be seen. She opens her mouth as if to ask where their mysterious benefactor went off to, then immediately reconsiders. “Yeah! Even if you had to let everypony inside.”

Spoiled Rich’s eyes light up, the corners of her mouth widening. “Think nothing of it,” she says with a limp dismissal and wave of her hoof, using the motion to take a step forward. She clearly adores the acknowledgment and gratitude, yet must appear aloof and unconcerned. “It was a better solution than an entire train being rerouted purely to suit the needs of the Princesses’ herd.”

Next to her Diamond Tiara stands a little straighter, mimicking her dam’s deferential stance. She feels it a touch unbecoming, especially around the fillies with whom she grew up. Part of her wishes Silver Spoon was next to her, but Daddy and the Silver side of the herd are staying in Canterlot to help keep things running smoothly. She would have to manage without her best friend and sister. Regardless, times change, and a Rich pony adapts to the circumstances. How else would her great-grandpappy, Stinkin’ Rich, have made both the Apple’s and their own fortunes?

“Oh, yeah, definitely. Hey, DT?” Lemon peers down the door, unruffled by the thought of jumping down onto a ledge she can’t see. “You wanna come with? We could use another sharp set of eyes down there!” She glances back up at the two Rich ponies, grinning widely - though it’s a grin that seldom leaves her muzzle.

“Thanks, L!” Diamond Tiara offers the younger mare a quick smile. “I’ll be right down.” It feels a little unnatural, being so courteous to the Apples. Especially one of Applejack’s; they never act with proper manners, as a pedigreed mare such as herself must or else face ridicule from everypony who is anypony. They would need to learn, lest the papers have a field day extolling the many mishaps and gaffes of the Princesses’ Herd. And who better to teach them?

Lemon’s smile twitches a little wider. “See ya there!” She turns to Pomarbo, the colt terrified at taking that first step. She briefly considers. She’s gotten a lot better at not just blurting out everything that comes to her mind, even if - especially if - it has to do with helping a pony with their problems. And this is one problem that might not be best fixed by her. So she bounds down, skittering against the slick crystal and quickly catching up to her older sisters.

Diamond Tiara circles around the open doorway, snout slightly upturned, showing a reserved facade instead of the excitement at exploring a Princess’s castle! She can scarcely keep her breath steady and takes the opportunity to collect herself next to the Apple’s colt. Her dam gives her a blank look she reads as quizzical, though the younger mare makes no effort to explain herself. After a brief moment, Spoiled Rich takes a quick, impersonal sniff and turns away, leisurely trotting to Ponyville.

The tiara adorned mare turns back to Pomarbo. She had never spent much time around Applejack’s youngest, instead hanging out with the older trio and, whenever they were around, the middle two, playing sports in the fields by the schoolhouse. The four-year difference was too much, especially with him lacking a cutie mark. It would make things a lot easier if he had one, and not just because she could figure out his interests with a glance.

So she turns her deductive skills, the kind that let her know the strengths and weaknesses of all the fillies and colts over whom she presides, toward the colt laying next to her. He reminds her of an apple tree during cider season when the Apples can’t spare the marepower to harvest every tree and some get heavily laden with apples. His Macintosh mane, red with streaks of light green, is short-cropped over brown flanks. She notes with a bit of disappointment the still blank flank. The rest of his build is slight, nothing like his uncle or more distantly related Apples. His sisters are the same way, taking after their sire. Eyes, green just like his dam’s, squint as he peers down. Could he use a pair of glasses, like Silver Spoon?

A brief nudge startles Pomarbo out of his reverie, or perhaps terror, given the wide-eyed look he gives her. Diamond Tiara smiles back encouragingly and smirks to herself as she watches him visibly relax.

“Are you excited?” Diamond Tiara asks, a bit more imperiously than she meant. At least, that’s how she reads his shy cringe and gulp as he glances down at the other ponies just getting to the crystal table. She gives him another soft nudge toward the steps she can barely make out. One hoof shakes as she goes to step down, her muscles locking up.

You are a Rich pony!

She breathes a sigh of relief at the staccato tap of hoof on crystal. Pomarbo watches her example with fascination. “See?” She takes another step, this one much easier. “Nothing to worry about.” The next few come without any trouble, once her mind is convinced there is nothing to worry about, and she spins around to watch.

Pomarbo nods reluctantly. He closes his eyes as he leans forward, fishing for the step with his hoof. His small size means he can’t reach, at least without toppling off, his muzzle pursing tighter and tighter as wetness spreads to the hair around his eyes.

“Here,” Diamond Tiara blurts out, suppressing her huff. She grabs hold of his hoof, ignoring the tingles shooting through her at the contact, and tugs down.

Any resistance the colt might have had evaporates as he touches the stair. His eyelids spring open, and his quick next step takes Diamond Tiara completely by surprise. She pulls back just as he pushes forward; his uncoordinated hooves aren’t able to catch himself before he plows into her and the two tumble down the remaining six steps end over end and land on the bottom in a pile of limbs. It might have been comical, especially with a few whistles echoing from the bottom, if it wasn’t so terrifying that they might have gone off the edge.

Before anypony can react further one of the unmarked doors bursts open. Discord, wearing a green archer’s vest, quiver, and bow, rides a flying carpet made of smoke. Behind him lurk dozens of malevolent red-eyed vampire bats, half skeletons and half feral. The door slams shut before any can breach into the entrance chamber, meaty thuds ringing out as small bodies slam into the wall.

The draconequus flashes the entire room a swarthy grin. He dances feverishly as his carpet lowers, his paw and claws rubbing together with a maniacism generally only shared by Pinkie Pie or Starlight Glimmer. He bellows, much to the ponies’ consternation, “Who wants to go exploring?!”

Next Chapter: Ch. 7 - Unstable Payload, Part Three Estimated time remaining: 31 Hours, 9 Minutes