//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 – Tank to the Rescue! // Story: The Amazingly Awesome Adventures of Tank the Tortoise (by R. Dash) // by Bradel //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash laid on a small white cloud, her papers spread out in front of her. She chewed idly on the nib of a quill, staring at her work. She had to admit, writing was much harder than she had expected. Dash thought she might be able to excuse the author of the Daring Do books – a little – for taking so long to write them. A shadow crept over the papers as she read them, but Rainbow Dash was too engrossed to notice. "Maybe if Tank had brought the... Hmm..." she muttered to herself, scribbling at the end of the last sheet. "What'cha doin!?" No! Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder, eyes wide. Pinkie Pie was floating behind her with a raft of balloons tied around the pink pony's midsection. Dash turned back to the pages and, lightning-fast, piled them all up, turned around, and sat on them to keep them out of view. "Oh, h-hi Pinkie." Dash tried to give her friend a smile. Pinkie Pie's head was cocked to the side, like some sort of predatory bird watching its prey. "You're writing something!" A huge grin split her face. "I'll bet it's something super spifferooni, isn't it? Are you writing to Princess Celestia about when you went camping with Scootaloo and saved her from that hungry pack of EEVIL squirrels?" Rainbow Dash blinked. "Pinkie, there wasn't any pack of—" "Ooh, ooh! Is it a story?" Pinkie looked like she was trying to hop up and down, but with the balloons holding her in the air, she didn't really move. "Can I read it?" "No!" Dash snapped. "It's not for—" She caught herself and blushed a little, digging at the cloud with her hoof. "I mean... it's not... ready yet. I'm still making it cooler. I can't let anypony read it until it's totally cool." With a nervous laugh, Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her mane. "Oh, okay. I guess." Pinkie sounded disappointed. For about five seconds. "Hey Rainbow Dash, do you want to go to the lake and go swimming?" Her grin was whiter than the clouds. Rainbow Dash stared down at the corner of one of the pages sticking out from under her and chewed on her lip. Well, maybe I'll just save these for tonight. I can read them to Tank and see if he has any suggestions. Dash looked up and nodded at Pinkie Pie. "Sure. I'll meet you there in fifteen minutes?" ——————————————————————————————————— The Amazingly Awesome Adventures of Tank the Tortoise By R. Dash Chapter 2 – Tank to the Rescue! Tank the tortoise could see the spiky red head of the dragon bobbing above the trees of the Everfree Forest as it approached Ponyville. Smoke poured from its nostrils and its red eyes burned with hate. Tank knew not all dragons were evil – his friend Spike was proof of that – but this one looked like bad news. As Tank flew forward as fast as he could, the dragon roared and breathed a huge jet of flame into the air. Tank tightened his goggles and gathered his courage. The dragon noticed him and gave a dismissive laugh that a tortoise, flying or not, would try to get in its way. But it didn't know Tank. Pulling his legs and his head into his shell, Tank turned his propeller to overdrive and rocketed forward. The tortoise's shell slammed into the dragon's face, right between the eyes, and the blow seemed to give the creature pause. Backing up so the dragon could see him, Tank came out of his shell and used the Royal Canterlot Voice he'd learned from Princess Luna when he'd gone to train in the secret arts of the rulers of Equestria. "FOUL CREATURE! TURN BACK NOW, OR I WILL BE FORCED TO HURT YOU AND HUMILIATE YOU IN FRONT OF ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS!" For a moment, even the dragon looked shocked by the power of the little tortoise's voice. But his heart was set on rampaging through Ponyville, and he wasn't going to give up that easily. "Puny turtle," he laughed. "How do you think you can stop Grogmarch the Destroyer?" Tank's eyes narrowed, and his voice got dangerously quiet. "You called me a turtle. Nobody calls me a turtle." Hurtling forward at the speed of awesomeness, Tank tucked in his legs and opened his jaws wide. He crashed into the snout of Grogmarch before the dragon could react, and his jaws snapped shut fiercely. (Tortoises have a really strong bite!) The dragon howled in pain and tossed its head, trying to dislodge the tortoise, but Tank was trained in the arts of combat and not so easily dealt with. When he saw his chance, he let go of the dragon's nose and dived toward his soft belly scales. Tucking himself into his shell again, he slammed into Grogmarch's diaphragm. The dragon hiccuped a huge gout of flame and then found itself gasping for breath. Finally, Tank inverted himself and used his propeller to drive his body up into the dragon's chin like a magically motorized hoof. One nice thing about being a flying tortoise with a propeller was that you didn't have to worry about pesky things tortoises usually worried about, like being upside down. Grogmarch roared in frustration and sent a burst of flame in Tank's direction, which he easily avoided. The dragon howled again, but he knew when he was beaten. He turned and began to slink back into the Everfree Forest. Tank turned and flew back to the edge of the forest. He found Opal and Gummy there, panting hard with the exertion of running across Ponyville after him. He landed, pulling his goggles up to rest on his forehead and giving them both his coolest smile. "Oh Tank," Opal cooed. "That was magnificent! I've never seen flying like that before in my life!" "Yeah, Tank, that was sooo cool!" Gummy rolled his eyes around in excitement. "I knew you were awesome, but I've never seen ANYONE who could do that to a dragon! What would Ponyville do if we didn't have you!?" "I'm sure you'd figure something out, Gummy." Tank chuckled at the look of incredulity on the little alligator's face. "But don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. As long as I'm around, the residents of Ponyville will always be able to sleep safe at night." The end. For now. ——————————————————————————————————— Tank grinned at Rainbow Dash from his seat on her bed, later that night. "So whaddaya think, buddy? Good story?" She squared up the pages she'd just read him and set them on her nightstand with the first part of the story. Tank's eyes narrowed a little as he thought about it. Finally he replied. "..." Dash sighed. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. Daring Do always has lots of adventures. She could beat up a dragon, sure, but she does so much more than that too! Like find treasure, and escape danger, and her enemies are always harder to beat." Tank listened patiently as Rainbow Dash thought it through. "But I really like this story, don't you? Yeah, I thought so." She grinned. "It was a lot of fun to write, too. But the next one... the next one's gotta be cooler. It's gotta have more awesomeness in it. Like danger and mummies and... ooh, I know, and magic!" Rainbow Dash got out a fresh sheet of paper and started scribbling down notes. She and Tank had another adventure to plan!