//------------------------------// // Surf - AppleTank // Story: Operation Westhorse // by PropMaster //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash stretched her wings, feathers fluttering in the high winds. Her hooves pushed against the cloud she rested on. Oceanic crossings were never fun, though being able to fly over it made it much less of a headache. Her late lunch finished, the pegasus pushed off the cloud to get as far as she could before the setting sun in front of her disappeared over the horizon. It was a fairly uneventful day, with the occasional seabird gliding by to blink curiously at the prismatic mare. As the sun was about to set, Rainbow Dash caught sight of a glint of light far below her. Eager for a bit of mental stimulation, she darted below the cloud cover to examine it. It was a floating golden ring, with strange runes stamped on the edges. There was crackling energy dancing inside the ring, blurring the view of the other side. Huh. Cool, she thought to herself. She bobbed around the construct, a bit confused at what was holding it up when suddenly CheeeeZoom She blinked. She was suddenly underwater, with a bubble of air around her head. A glance behind her showed a giant tear space, of which she could see glimpses of the world she had suddenly left behind. It would be so easy to just swim back out ... No, not looking, Rainbow twisted her head to the side. I said no, she thought, flapping her wings to reorient herself. One wrong move later, a string of numbers was forced into her vision. A softly pulsing line of text that read Time Record: 19:53 The pegasus squinted at the numbers. “....Fine. You got me.” She turned around and floated towards a giant circular platform below her. Lines of green LEDs pointed her towards the center. Hardlight wrapped around her hooves, forming into roller-skates. Right. Ground race. I can still do that. The platform opened up when she grew near, and the race was on. Rainbow took a deep breath as she fell in free fall, then slapped her skates onto the curved track as it came rushing towards her, wings pumping. Moments later, she saw a passage with the road passing over water, somehow without flooding the pipe. On the other side of the glass-like walls, Rainbow spied the shadow of a large fish racing for the gap. She gave a devilish smirk, and shot forwards in a blur of colors. Moments before impact, she leapt into the air. The fish, a giant angler, was unable to correct itself in time and shot below her. “Boop,” Rainbow called, slapping her tail against the fish’s back as she somersaulted. She laughed at the glowering eyes through the murky depths, and continued. The flickering light from the ocean above was soothing, and the sense of speed as she dashed through the narrow road and skimmed over water-strewn gaps made her wings tingle with excitement. She cruised through at high speed, absent-mindedly navigating the tack as she admired the sea life she passed by. Eighteen minutes later, she burst out of the ocean, her mane soaked and a hoof raised in victory. “Aww yeah! Who’s the fastest? I’m the fastest.” She looked around. “Annd it’s dark now. Finding a cloud to rest on is going to be annoying.” She was prepared to dart for the skies when she saw a dark shape bobbing in the distance. She changed course, and soon discovered a medium-sized cruise ship bobbing, its lights dark. Curious, she hovered over and landed on the deck, looking around. Everything seemed to be in perfect condition, if scuffed and somewhat dusty. She could even feel the rhythmic hum of some engine pulsing beneath her hooves... One that was quickly dying out. She felt the pressure of some alien gaze pushing against her. She froze, her muscles tense and sweat starting to bead on her brow. Slowly, her wings began to unfurl... Crash! Timbers ripped apart, and towers fell as the ship seemed to split in half. Claws punched through the deck, reaching for the sky. “Gah!” Rainbow shouted, taking flight, barely dodging the claws that swung at her. Then a new growth made her eyes widen. Gun barrels shown in the moonlight. “Ah, Luna poop,” she muttered as she began frantically dodging tracers and getting away as fast as possible. And there was a shockwave of fire blossoming from the demonic ship’s deck, sending tracers in every which way. Propeller planes barely larger than she was buzzed over her, dropping bombs that seemed to inflate in size in mid air before smashing into the dark ship. Cannon fire from distance rained overhead smashing into or around the burning craft. The reprieve let Rainbow quickly gain in altitude, and she was soon joined by an escort of the tiny planes. Below, the shape-changer ship burned. Rainbow glanced at her rescuers. “Um, thanks for the save. I’d probably have been able to get away ... but it would’ve been a lot harder.” “Desu.” “...Right. You know of a place I can rest for a bit?” “Desu.” The tiny pilot waved at her, and broke off. Rainbow glanced at the night sky, smiled, and began to dive towards a runway of blinking lights. She blinked. Rainbow Dash looked up from the arms of a human female wearing archery equipment. “Bwuh?” At the dawn of the next day, a rainbow trailed blurred into the dark blue of western sky. Far below, and escort ship tracked her shrinking figure with her rangefinders, and smiled. “Good luck,” she whispered. “We’re all counting on you, dess.”