//------------------------------// // Moonlighting // Story: Appledashery // by Just Essay //------------------------------// Several steamp-powered gyrocopters with mounted lanternlights soared over the floating cityscape, threading their way through the towers, bridges, and rotating windmills of Philanthropy. Once one such flying patrol had passed a series of steam pipes, Rainbow Dash poked her head out from behind a thick brass junction. Epcot hovered above her, twirling on steaming jets. "Okay." Rainbow's voice wafted through the nightly winds of the canyon. "I think we've got a clear path to the tower." "Is it? Is it really?" Gustave leaned out from a criss-crossing nest of pipes below her. "One would think these wicked dreamers have more eyes in the sky!" "It's rather obvious that Shindig's sim operates by a specific set of rules. And, right now, we've got ourselves a loophole to fly through." Rainbow looked up at the floating sphere. "How about it, Epcot? Are we clear?" A scratchy voice crackled: "YES." Rainbow waved a hoof. "Then lead the way." "YES YES YES." The sphere dotted off, heading northeast towards the tallest skyscrapers. Rainbow turned towards Gustave. "You go first." The griffon gave her a double-take. "What? What for?! I'm no hero named after a ridiculous songbird!" "Look, we're trying to get there quick!" Rainbow hissed, frowning. "And it's for the best that I go last! I... uh..." She shuddered, flexing her artificial glider wings. "I'm still trying to get a hang of these." "Oh, very well then." Gustave spread his gray feathers and launched off the side of the pipework, wings slicing the air. "But if I get caught, then I'm naming a licorice delight after you!" Rainbow shuddered. She stepped back on a horizontal length of pipe, held her breath, then galloped for the edge. A valve hissed random steam as she passed by. "Aaackies!" Rainbow flew off at a declining angle. She descended, madly pulling back on her corset's stiff wings in order to get level. "Nnnngh... c-come on...!" She dropped straight for a marketplace in between three dangling buildings. An abandoned cart and several signs loomed in front of her. Rainbow gnashed her teeth—then retracted her wings at the last second. She slid under a cart, bursting out the other side with her legs kicking against the ground. Without losing momentum, she shot straight up like a cannonball. Thinking fast, she spread her wings, caught air, and leveled herself out into an easy glide. "Whew..." Pivoting to her left, she angled the Blue Jay's suit north and coasted after Epcot and Gustave. The three headed towards a cluster of bright gold lights brimming towards the top of the skyscraper. As they approached their destination, something glinted in the moonlight. Rainbow Dash looked up and to the right to see three gyrocopters returning on their aerial patrol. "Luna poop..." Rainbow flailed in mid-air as she sailed towards the building. "Darn it... glide... f-faster! Nnngh!" Epcot came to a stop, and Gustave perched on a balcony dangling with vines and flowery foliage. He turned around, and his hawkeyes spotted the incoming vehicles. He motioned desperately for Rainbow Dash to hurry. "Guhhhhh—!" Rainbow hurled herself forward. As the balcony came within view, she retracted her wings and dropped like a thrown anvil. Gustave caught her... or at least as best as he could. WH-WHUD! The two slammed into one another and collapsed across the surface of the balcony. "Ow!" Rainbow's voice cracked. "Watch it!" Gustave grumbled. "You almost broke my pristine beak!" "Oh hush!" Rainbow sat up, frowning. "It's not your real body anyways—" "Shhhh!" Gustave held a talon before his beak. Scuffling on all fours, he flattened his body against the balcony's flower-studded railing. Rainbow did the same. The noise of gyrocopters grew louder. Epcot fluttered down, and Rainbow Dash grabbed her, hugging the steamy sphere to her fuzzy chest as the three squatted in dead silence. At last, the vehicles soared by, their propellers disturbing the air, then growing faint with distance. Gustave exhaled. "That was a close one." "Tell me about it," Rainbow said, nodding. "But hey... at least we got to Shindig's tower." She blinked, her ears tickling to the sound of cellos and piano. "...say, do you hear music?" FLASH! "Well of course you do, silly!" Epcot grinned, reclining fuzzily in Rainbow's arms. "They're having a party, after all!" "Huh?" Rainbow stood up, helping the dressed mare to her hooves. "Who is?" "Heehee! Who else?" Epcot frolicked towards the glass doors to the balcony. "The Queen of this town does need to live up to her name every once in a while?" Rainbow blinked at her, then looked over at Gustave. "What now, Blue Jay?" Le Grande asked. "Never ask a genius how she gets stuff done." Rainbow took a deep breath, then snuck towards the brightly-lit window. "But, all things considered, I'm pretty friggin' flummoxed..."