Appledashery

by Just Essay

The Manehumpin' Project

Rainbow Dash waited...

And waited... ...

She paced in tiny, dirty circles.

She took turns staring at the Hump Gang's compound and at a cleft of mountain peaks to the west. Earlier that day, Listing had explained to her the exact point the sun would be in relation to the summits for Rainbow to know it was seven twenty.

Rainbow bit her lip, fighting the urge to sweat. She looked at the compound again.

There was definitely activity at the Hump Gang's headquarters. Of all the dark specks trotting across the brown spaces between buildings—she could not begin to guess which one belonged to Listing. She was almost afraid to.

The only sound that carried across the valley was the hush of arid winds. In less than an hour, the sun would be down, and the desert would be bathed in darkness and cold.

Rainbow couldn't wait for an excuse to shiver.

She looked west and looked west again. At last, as the sun was starting to clip the mountaintops, she took off in a blue blur.

Fwooosh!

---

Rainbow Dash glided towards the Hump Gang's compound. She was not fast about it.

Clenching her jaw tight, the mare tilted her head left and right. She squinted hard—struggling to see beyond the shadows of the dying day.

Figures congregated near the east side of the compound. Rainbow saw many figures facing in a half-circle—and then she saw nothing. She had flown so close and so low that the main building was blocking her vision.

"Shhhhhhhhhhh-shoot,," Rainbow hissed to herself. She immediately clamped her lips shut, gliding lengthily along the rusted, barbed wire fence. She eyed the rocky ground, looking for a spot... the spot. Each second it took for her to locate the empty space that Listing mentioned, her heart shook... throttling inside her.

Just as panic was about to set in...

...she saw it... and it had been blocked up with rocks.

"...!" Rainbow touched down next to the spot regardless. As soon as her heart sank, her lungs refilled with a calm breath. It was a cruddy job, and Rainbow could tell that the rocks were incredibly loose. "Pffft... mules."

Rainbow squatted low, reaching in to pull the rocks out of the space.

And then she remembered how useless her forelimbs had become.

"... ... ..." Rainbow grimaced. She thrust and dug and clawed at the rocks. After a full minute of work, only a few pebbles were removed from the cleft. "Crudddd..." She hissed.

Voices.

"...!" Rainbow froze, her body pressed down to the cold dirt.

More voices. They were coming from the front the compound... due east. Among them was Listing Breeze's chuckling breath. The crafty mare was doing her best to use charm and wit on the Hump Gang thugs. Rainbow knew that she was gifted at neither of those qualities, and judging from the droning tone in the unseen mules' response, she could tell that the conversation was going to last for a while.

But not forever.

Rainbow threw herself at the rocks. She bashed against them. She slammed her elbows and kicked with her legs, causing dust to spread across the wobbling metal fence. The mountains had sliced an extra layer off the sunlight, bathing Rainbow in shadow—which was the only reason no one could see her.

At long last, she had forced a narrow space between the rocks and the fence.

Desperate, Rainbow took a few steps back, flapped her wings, and glided through the rough niche like a missile.

Cl-Clanggg! The fence shook, wobbled, and was still.

"..." Rainbow crouched on the other side, ice-still. She heard a few hoofsteps... a few more... then nothing. She was inside the compound, facing several broken down buildings—including the main warehouse where the vault was located. Listing's voice drew closer and closer towards the front, forming an echo. The window of opportunity was passing.

Silent as a whisper, Rainbow slithered forward, hugging the wall of the main building, rushing towards the front entrance.

Comments

[Sharp Quill]

The Manehumpin' Project

The Manhattan Project.

What these chapter titles have in common is that they're references to the development of the atomic bomb, the yield of which will be minor compared to the blow up that's about to happen.

[Phoenix Kitten]

This is all about to go gloriously sideways isn't it?

[DrEggnog]

*holds breath*

[CommanderCuddle]

7219559 you mean listing is going to betray rainbow? because that's been my guess

[Lightning Bearer]

Why couldn't she just fly over the fence again? Am I forgetting some key detail?

[Sir Mediocre]

7219559 What have I been saying?

[krakentoa]

7219808 I suspect the roof of the compound is fenced too.

[zaponator]

Sneaking mission start!

[RoboRed]

Well, that was a little close. Buuuuut.....

[DeathFox4]

7219547 No. It's not the atomic bomb.
It's the Hydrogen bomb.