Appledashery

by Just Essay

==Part Twelve: We Dug Too Deep and Wheels Were Waiting==

Night hung still and murky over the riverbanks of Fillydelphia. From the southwest, a petite blue figure flew in low, her mane shining in the starlight. Rainbow Dash glided over the rooftops of warehouses and factories, holding her breath as she pierced wave after wave of smoke. At last, she approached the corner of a very familiar building that stood against the banks of the city's filthy river.

Th-Thap! The mare touched down on four healthy limbs. She took a breath of relatively fresh air and trotted forward, approaching the edge of the warehouse.

"Noir...?!"

Rainbow's voice echoed across the brick and concrete.

"Hey, Noir!"

There was no response. In the distance, a freight ship's fog horn sounded off, and then was silent once more.

With a sigh, Rainbow Dash paced around the edge of the building. "Come on, Noir, I know your leafy ears can hear me, dude. I grabbed another shard. I came here to talk to you about the next one." Her hooves scuffled against the loose gravel across the ground. "You see, I know it's someplace far north, but all that's out there is desolate wilderness and mining quarries. I was wondering if maybe you knew enough about the landscape to..." She shuffled to a stop. "...help me." Her eyes blinked.

The door to the warehouse was wide open... and empty.

"... ... ..." Rainbow Dash craned her neck. "Uhm... Noir?" Her fuzzy nose wriggled. She looked behind her at the empty side streets of Fillydelphia, then back at the warehouse. "Uhhhh... yoohoo... Bat Horse? I need you, pal. Now's not a good time to be as silent as the night." Gulping, Rainbow Dash crouched low and slinked forward. "Noir? Are you in there?"

Silence.

Rainbow walked up to the doorframe and peered inside. It was too dark to see down the narrow corridor, though she knew with all of the steel doors within that there wasn't much worth seeing.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," she muttered. All of the sudden, she could swear she heard a tiny sizzling noise. Sniffing, she detected the scent of gun powder. She glanced down, and her eyes twitched.

A cluster of blood-red dynamite sticks clung to the inside of the building's corridor, and its sparkling fuse was burning up.

"A super bad feeling!" Rainbow's voice cracked. In an instant, she spun and flapped her wings--

KAPOWWWW!

"Aaaaaugh!" Rainbow shrieked as the sheer burst of the blast sent her flying for several feet. She screamed something else, but she couldn't hear her voice from the intense thunder of the explosion. High above her, chunks of concrete and aluminum went flying sky high. The entire industrial district lit up with bright orange flame as what was once the warehouse erupted in a gigantic, burning plume. "Ooof!" Rainbow finally struck the ground, rolling to a stop and grunting in pain. She looked up, squinting, and gasped. "Noir?! Noir!"

Several hundred feet way from the explosion--as well as Rainbow's shrieking figure--several stallions were hidden behind a parked wagon. They peered through binoculars and spyglasses, admiring the flame's devastation.

"Whew! That's gonna make one hell of a tax write-off!"

"Feels like old times. But still--how do we know that the freaky stallion bit it?!"

"Gentlecolts, use your heads for a second," hissed a cold, leering voice. Romulus emerged beside the group of surly stallions, peering with his one good eye at the blaze. "The Sarosian was not our target."

The mobsters glanced at him. "He wasn't?"

"No..." Romulus smirked beneath his beak and pointed with a razor-sharp talon. "She is."

"Hey! You're right! It's that dame!"

"The Duchess from Manehattan!"

"Idiots!" Romulus snarled. "The 'Awesometopia' story was simple misdirection. That's why your illustrious Don Canter has gone nowhere in tracking her down!"

"And lemme guess; you can get her to sing?"

"Oh, she'll tell us where the shards are, alright..." Chiiing! Romulus brandished his talons as he flew out from hiding. "...if she values her inner organs. Follow me, gentlecolts..."

---

Part Twelve: We Dug Too Deep and Wheels Were Waiting
(Where Rainbow Can't Even Pinch Herself to Stop the Insanity)

---

Comments

[RoboRed]

WELP, HERE WE GO

[Lord Dragon]

So is Noir dead or alive?

[Tchernobog]

[Aatxe360]

5028025

This is going to be exciting!

[Lightning Bearer]

33.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5l6arjb4v1rn95k2o1_400.gif

[Fishberry]

[youtube=http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XzlgJ58d0BU]

[Full-time_Introvert]

All I can say is, ONWARD TO THE NEXT ARC!

[YoshiFawful64]

Lunapoop.

[TwilightUCrazy]

5027991

Noir's an OP Gary-Stu. He'll never die. He'll be the one to save Rainbow.

[Lord Dragon]

5029767 Heh, yeah. You keep up good work on your stories, too. Ya hear me?

[Jay_Baker]

Ooooohhhh this is gonna be good!

[Dash32]

Uh oh

[arancaytar]

With a sigh, Rainbow Dash paced around the edge of the building. "Come on, Noir, I know your leafy ears can hear me, dude. I grabbed another shard. I came here to talk to you about the next one." Her hooves scuffled against the loose gravel across the ground. "You see, I know it's someplace far north, but all that's out there is desolate wilderness and mining quarries. I was wondering if maybe you knew enough about the landscape to..." She shuffled to a stop. "...help me." Her eyes blinked.

Dashie, there's an entire league of villains founded with the express purpose of killing you and taking the shards.

Little louder, please?