//------------------------------// // Chapter 61 - A bump in the raft. // Story: Ark: Friendship is Survival // by Pomp-Neigh //------------------------------// Pinkie Pie is having the time of her life as her mane flows in the ocean breeze, her wooden raft riding the waves. Well, there weren’t any actual waves, but she liked to dream.  However, she had noticed something strange via her implant. As she checked on the status of her friends and loved ones earlier in the morning, everything seemed normal. That was until she tried to find Twilight’s name and status… It wasn’t there at all.  Pinkie simply brushed it off as some type of malfunction -- she was never any good with this stuff. Eh, she’s sure Twilight would fix it or HLN-A. “Ok,” She starts as she looks back to her flank, her implant/cutie mark glowing beneath her Hide Armor’s covering. “So HLN-A told me that a nice starter for ocean tames is the Ichthyosaurus.” “Let’s see… now where oh where was that- oh! There we go!” A dossier pops up before the pink mare’s eyes, offering extended amounts of information about the creature in question: “Oh, wow! It eats all kinds of meat. Hmmm. It looks like I’ll have to use fish meat for now. And all I have to do is feed it to them? Perfectoroni!” Suddenly, a familiar Swamp Biome comes into view, causing the pink mare to jolt to attention. Her Pinkie senses were going crazy, telling her never to sail into that place for any reason. At least, that’s what she figured. Memories from HLN-A’s challenge flooded her mind: the frilled snakes, the giant Gummies with teeth, and those vampiric wormy worm things. And that was only some of the swamp’s dangers. She herself wasn't there, of course. But she did have a sort of 'omni-view' thanks to HLN-A. Pinkie wasn’t having any of that, and she maneuvered her raft into going further out to sea.  “Heeeey!” A familiar and raspy voice calls out. “Pinkie Pie! Over here!”  Pinkie’s ears twitch in response, her head turning toward the source as Rainbow Dash waves a forelimb from the shoreline, Vanellope standing next to the pegasus. Her eyes widen in realization. “Oh!” She waves a forelimb, “Hiiii, Dashie! Hiiii, Vanellope! Wait right there; I’m coming!” The pink mare maneuvers the raft towards her friend on the shore via its rudder, coming in at a fair speed before causing the raft to slide onto land with grains of sand building up at the forefront. The vessel stops completely, and Pinkie merrily hops off and dismounts the raft. “Hey, guys!” “Hey, Pinkie,” Rainbow welcomes, Vanellope chirping. “Did you see what happened to Twilight last night?” “Wait, what?” Pinkie inquires in genuine shock. “What do you mean? What happened to her?” The rainbow mare rubs the back of her neck. “I don’t know why, but she left the tribe! Pinkie, she’s gone! Didn’t you see the notification?” “Of course not!” Pinkie responds with shock in her voice. “I-It must’ve happened while I was sleeping. Oh, phooey. Should we go looking for her?” “I considered that, but let’s not forget that HLN-A is with her, not to mention Spirit and Granny,” Rainbow answered with a forelimb resting at her chin in thought, setting it down. “Do you think they’re up to something?” “Well…” The pink mare ponders for a moment. “Twilight and HLN-A are way better than us with all this technical stuff. Maybe HLN-A made her do it?” “Yeah, you do make a good point…” Rainbow answered, slightly convinced yet still worried. “That does sound like something HLN-A would do. You know what, how about this: let’s just believe in them for now. I’m sure this isn’t as bad as it looks, but we should keep an eye out, just in case.” “Okie dokie!” Pinkie salutes. “So, how’s everything been going so far, Dashie?” “Well, Vanellope and I just broke down the temporary shelter we built last night. Don’t want to leave behind any evidence, you know?” “That makes sense,” Pinkie gestures towards her raft, excitement plastered on her features, “You guys wanna come with me to conquer the sea?!” Rainbow shakes her head. “Nah, I want to see if I can find anything awesome. Maybe even tame something along the way. Do you need anything before setting off?” Pinkie Pie ponders. “I was going to tame an Ichthyosaurus, but I need some meat and-” She gasps as her eyes rest on Vanellope. “Ooh! Do you guys have some meat stored away by chance?!” “Some meat?” Rainbow inquires with a smirk. “Pinkie, this is a Raptor. Of course, she has meat.” The pink mare squees, kicking up sand as she stampedes towards the Raptor, accessing their inventory via connected implants.  “Aaaand, there!” Pinkie turns away with a vibrant smile. “Thank you! Now I can really get started.” The pink mare runs over to her raft and pushes the vessel back into the water. One would think that doing so would be impossible, but Pinkie Pie wasn’t just any earth pony; she was a rock farmer. Pushing a raft is about as easy a task as her breaking stone with a single hoof. A fact often easily overlooked due to many taking her for just a common baker. The raft again sails away, with Pinkie Pie looking back over her right shoulder and waving a forelimb.  “Bye, Dashie! Bye, Vanellope!” “Good luck out there, Pinkie!” Rainbow responds, mounting Vanellope as the raft sails away.  She then manifested her map from her inventory and was certainly grateful that a map would always be present even after being reinjected into the Ark.     “Alright, Vanellope,” Rainbow starts, looking down at her map. “Now that we’re here at the swamp let’s try going towards-” An incredibly large and loud splash garners Rainbow’s attention, her gaze turning in the direction of Pinkie Pie’s resulting horrified screams. ………. Pinkie Pie is sent high into the air by a powerful force from below that slams into the bottom of her raft. She screams as she falls into the open ocean, the water’s cold embrace consuming her as her eyes open beneath the water’s surface.  Then, she saw it… a pale white gargantuan fish with a strange aura that flickered orange and red energy: The behemoth then swam down and disappeared into the blackness, only for its vibrant aura to slowly breach back up from the darkness, followed by the sea titan itself. It was coming back up for another ramming action, its target being the heavily damaged raft at the surface that Pinkie Pie had spent so much time- [KTHAMSH] The leviathan breached the surface, and the raft simply crumbled before its might, Pinkie Pie looking on in shock and horror while holding her breath. An Alpha Leedsicthys has destroyed your Wooden Raft!  The Alpha Leed lands back into the ocean sideways like a whale, creating a wave that travels in every direction. The action causes a disturbance all around Pinkie Pie, her form chaotically thrown around underwater. And as quickly as the event had transpired, so too did it reach its climax. Pinkie watched as the white scourge of rafts disappeared into the deep darkness again, never to resurface as its intentions had seemingly been fulfilled. The demand for oxygen caused the pink mare to swim back up to the surface, breaching it with a loud gasp as air filled her lungs. She coughs several times, floating at the surface, absolutely dumbfounded. “Wowie…” She comments in slight dread; her mane soaked as it drapes against her head. “That was… scary…” The mare’s ears flicker again, and due to the adrenaline and chaos of the moment, she hadn’t heard the exclaiming words of Rainbow Dash back at the shoreline until now. “Pinkie Piiiiie! Are you ok?!” Pinkie waves a forelimb, her hind legs working beneath the surface to keep her afloat. “I’m ok, Dashie! I think…!” “Swim back, Pinkie! I guess you’re coming with us now!” Pinkie nods before dog-paddling back to the shoreline, her eyes fixated on Rainbow and Vanellope, who waited patiently for her. -Okay, Pinkie Pie,- She starts internally. -Minor setback! It’s ok; you can still conquer the seas. Next time, I’ll tame an Ichty and try this again.- “PINKIE!” Rainbow screams from the shore. “SWIM! TAKE MY WORD FOR IT AND BUCKING SWIM!” The sound of disturbed water from behind the pink mare graced her ears. Instincts kicked in, as did her Pinkie Senses. And she swam for her life, her breaths becoming more chaotic during her finesse. “SWIM, PINKIE! SWIIIIIM!” She dared not look back; she didn’t want nor need to. And as she fled, it all made sense to her now: her Pinkie senses… they weren’t going off because of the swamp, although the biome was undoubtedly dangerous. It was because of that Alpha meanie! She mustn’t look back… “PINKIE!” Don’t look back! “I’M COMING!” Don’t… look… She looked, and she hated herself for doing so. Fear completely took hold of her as the black fin of a Megalodon with red stripes cuts through the surface, and the shark itself opened its maw, ready to slam shut on its fleeing pink prey. Pinkie closed her eyes as she swam with due haste towards land. But she knew she could never outswim a shark, let alone a giant one like that. A sudden pressure grabs Pinkie Pie’s forelimb, and she’s pulled out of the water just in the nick of time, the Megalodon biting down on nothing but air where she once swam.  Pinkie opens her eyes and looks skyward. “R-Rainbow…?” “Wow, that was a close one!” Rainbow responds, floating in the air while holding onto the earth pony. However, the cloth once wrapped around her ‘broken wing’ has been removed. “You’re lucky that my wing works now. You would’ve been shark food if the Demon King hadn’t killed me.”  ………. Rainbow Dash safely returns Pinkie Pie to land, setting her down gently and onto the sand.  Pinkie Pie greedily grabs mounds of sand within her forelimbs, hugging it. “Ah~. Sweet, sweet, land.” She lifts herself onto her hooves. “Thank you for saving me, Dashie!” “Heh. As I said, you had me watching over you. And you’re lucky that-” Vanellope chirps as the dinosaur observes Rainbow’s wing in confusion, causing the pegasus to go silent with wide eyes.  Rainbow slowly turns back to the Raptor with sheepish laughter. “H-hey there, Vanellope. Oh hey, look at that! My wing’s better!” A momentary silence ensues, and Vanellope stares at Rainbow with the dinosaur’s deadpan expression. Rainbow sighs. “Alright… I admit it,” She looked up at the Raptor, “I’m no good with this sappy stuff, so I’ll just say it: I… I like riding you, ok?”