“Hmm… this is unlike anything I have seen before,” Princess Celestia mumbled with a sliver of awe in her voice as she observed Rainbow’s tortoise fly around the throne room, constantly bumping into the marble pillows. “I don’t know what to really say about this.”
“Are you sure there isn’t really a way to reverse the damages? I believe this could cause some unbalance in Tank’s life,” Twilight asked, her face clearly filled with concern.
“Twilight, I don’t need this! I think it’s freakin’ awesome that he has wings!” Rainbow insisted, against the idea of taking away his wings. Sure he was even clumsier than ever before, but Tank can learn to use those feathery babies, right?
It was only an hour that took the Elements of Harmony to arrive in Canterlot quickly to announce the good news to the sun goddess that the threat of the cat sorcerer was gone, but Twilight also insisted to bring along Tank so they could have his troublesome wings and horn removed. They seemed to be moving on their own, which wasn’t really a good thing for the poor thing. However, Rainbow was determined to teach her pet a few tricks or two in order to get him to fly better. After all, there was only so much that a magical propeller can do.
Of course, Twilight was not pleased at the prospect of Tank keeping his new limbs. “Rainbow, I don’t think you understand how important it is to have Tank transformed back to normal. Yes he may have gotten used to flying, but I’m pretty sure having access to magic will lead to bad things! We don’t really know what he can do with that thing! For all we know, he could turn everypony into lettuce!”
“Oh come on!” Rainbow said as she grabbed Tank, who was passing by in the air in an upside down matter. She flipped him upright, and gave him a loving noogie. “You don’t really think this guy will hurt anypony, right Tank?” The ex-tortoise craned his head slowly, like all tortoises do, and gave his owner an unsure frown. However, Rainbow took that as a yes. “You see? Innocent as a feather!”
“Ironic, given how his wings were giving him some trouble earlier,” Twilight uttered underneath her breath to herself.
Celestia, who was watching the entire conversation, coughed a couple times before stepping in it herself. “Well I think it is safe to say that Tank is harmless, but Luna and I will look into this matter. In the mean time, I think you should take Tank home. I’m sure the familiar sights will ease him.”
“Yes! Let’s take Tank home!” Rainbow agreed, silently planning of all the training exercises Tank will be going through once she gets him in Ponyville.
The Elements of Harmony left shortly after giving Princess Celestia their goodbyes, talking among themselves about what they’ll do once they get home.
“I think we should throw Tank a party for his new limbs and horn!” Pinkie Pie suggested with excitement prancing in her steps. “I mean who wouldn’t want to celebrate the first ever Alitortoise!”
“Alitor- what?” Twilight questioned with confusion.
“Alitortoise,” Pinkie Pie sounded out in a paced way. “It’s an Alicorn plus tortoise! Tank is a tortoise, and has pegasus wings and a unicorn horn! Thus, the Alitortoise!”
“Sugarpie, I still think it’s a little too soon to be namin’ things,” Applejack commented, not too sure on what her exact opinion is on her cyan friend’s pet’s new extensions. “I mean Tank is still mighty confused about this. You can clearly see on his face that he has no idea what’s going on.”
The apple farmer’s words seemed to hold true as Tank was still awkwardly flying, his wings flapping at in an unsynchronized pattern.
“Which is why I’ll be teaching how to fly,” Rainbow reminded her, flying underneath Tank so she could prop him over her head. “In fact, I think I’ll give him his first lesson now!”
“Can’t we just go home already?” Rarity whined, looking really tired. “It’s almost feeding time for Opal, and Sweetie Belle is still at school! If I had known we would be taking this long, I would have taken Opal with us so I can treat her to something delicious. I can now imagine my shop in shambles right now!” The unicorn cried out, almost fainting at the thought of her dresses being torn apart because an upset cat couldn’t get her food.
“We’re almost there, Rarity,” Twilight assured, pointing out the fact that they’re boarding a train now. “But I’m serious when I say that I have a bad feeling about all this.”
“Oh come on, Twi! What can possible go wrong?” Rainbow asked.
Anarchy. Pure, chaotic, panic-inducing disorder.
That was the state Ponyville was in soon after arriving in their town. Tank’s horn was on the fritz as some stupid idiot decided it would be a good idea to flick his horn to see if it was a fake. As it turns out, it wasn’t such a good idea. The moron was now a ball of lettuce.
Amid the chaos, the six friends were all hanging around a coffee table, each with a cup of ice tea in their hooves. All of them stayed quiet, not wavered by the Lettuce-apocalypse accidently being caused by Tank as his wings flew him out of control in the blue skies above.
“So Twilight… “ Rainbow spoke up first, “should we send a letter to Celestia?”
“Yes. I think that would be a lovely choice to make… if Spike wasn’t turned into a ball of vegetation!” Twilight yelled, pointing at the green veggie in her lap.
“Sorry Twilight,” Spike’s voice muffled out, which was strange considering that he doesn’t have a mouth. “I didn’t know it was going to happen!”
“It’s not your fault, Spike. Although really, I don’t think it was truly anypony’s fault. Except for that one filly. What was her name again? The one that flicked Tank's horn?”
"Diamond Tiara," Applejack said in a growl. "That filly is no good. Apple Bloom always came home, telling me that filly did something bad to she and her friends... so what now, Twi? Do we just let this happen?” Applejack asked, worried about her hometown.
“Unfortunately, the answer is yes. We just have to pray that Princess Celestia will hurry soon,” Twilight professed with a sigh.
“I see… how long can you keep that shield up?”
“As long as it takes.”