Ark: Friendship is Survival

by Pomp-Neigh

Chapter 78 - Ankylo-trapper

The rays of the morning sun waged war with bushels and trunks of trees as the Survivor, donned in his ghillie suit, crept through the forestation, knees bent and arms offering balance.

He soon entered a grassy clearing and approached one of the nearby boulders offering a generous elevation. The distant forms of the hovering green obelisk and the redwood biome’s towering red spires offered a fine scenery and a visible, foreign water source that sated one’s thirst.

But now wasn’t the time for absorbing the Ark’s beauty. The Survivor was a man of focus, commitment—pure willpower. And right here, right now, he’d- oh, his stomach’s growling.

Reaching the boulder, the Survivor began to scale it while munching on some cooked meat. It was quite thoughtful of Applestack- er, Applejack, to make this for him earlier as they prepared for their goal, which consisted of one or, if all went according to plan, several things.

Case in point; resource harvesters. And as the Survivor reached the boulder’s precipice, a bite-sized scrap of his snack held firmly in his left hand, he immediately nodded upon spotting his target.

A spyglass manifests into the human’s right hand, and a single eye hones in on the dinosaur with the useful item, their identification presenting itself on the Survivor’s HUD.

Wild Male Ankylosaurus - Lvl 46

The herbivore’s brown and green armor with piercing black spikes protruding off its back reflected the sun. All while the beast itself grazed peacefully as its rock-shattering, metal-bending sledgehammer of a tail swayed side to side lazily.

The Survivor and Applejack had spotted the renowned metal harvester near their home yesterday evening and tracked it down after finishing their morning preparations. It was the perfect opportunity. Actually, this would be the human’s test for his equine companion. Speaking of…

A familiar orange form donned in hide armor stirred and stood on an adjacent boulder to the human’s own.

-Ah! There she is!- He said internally. -Seriously, though, her bright colors can be both a blessing and a curse. Hmm. I should have her cover up more of her fur. In any case, let’s see if you’ve been listening, pony.-

……….

Applejack looked down upon the quadrupedal living tank with a smirk, the Survivor visible on the boulder across from hers.

“Ah’right, ankylo-feller.” She chuckles, “You’re ours now.”

She summons a crossbow, and a series of green arrows laced with narcotics holstered in a brown hide quiver. The orange mare immediately equips the items, forelimbs entering the looping straps of the quiver so it rests firmly on her back.

Applejack plucks an arrow from the quiver and spins it around in a forehoof before holding it between her teeth. She then pulls back the crossbow’s string, sets the arrow on the flight groove, and aims at the dinosaur’s exposed forelegs.

-That armor’s g’nah be a problem. Luckily, the guy’s got that same ol’ weakness as ol’ Tank: mighty slow, ‘as got a soft underbelly… and them exposed legs.-

The pony had never wielded such a weapon before in her life. Sure, she often saw the guards of Ponyville and Canterlot–particularly pegasi units–favoring the ranged weapon. And yet, with a simple application of Engrams that flooded her brain with information–that was the best way she could describe it–she reckoned that she could give every guard in history a run for their bits in an archery contest.

Applejack breathes in, and pulls the trigger as the tranq arrow is let loose.

[KSHLANK]

The projectile soars through the air, and the earth pony exhales just before the arrow makes its mark.

The ankylosaur is startled and roars out as a jolt of pain travels up through its leg, along with the subtle effects of the tranq arrow taking hold.

The dinosaur slams its tail on the ground in a threatening display, creating an indent in the earth and causing a small tremor as it swivels its head to survey its surroundings.

The prehistoric beast rotates in place while hunkering down, but another arrow pierces its right hind leg, causing the tank to shift toward the direction quickly. The herbivore’s eyes finally managed to locate its orange opponent, and with a roar that sounded like a honk mixed with the blowing of a saxophone, the dinosaur galloped forward.

Seeing the Ankylosaurus’s steady, albeit slow approach, Applejack took her eyes off her opponent and hurriedly pulled back on the crossbow’s string. However, her gaze immediately shot back to the dinosaur as her ears picked up a commotion, eyes widening in shock.

“Oh, my apple-buck’n gawrsh!”

The orange mare immediately jumps off the boulder to dodge a barrage of rocks and debris hurled at her, caused by a mighty strike of the ankylosaur’s tail plunging into the earth.

A small crater is present at the dinosaur’s rear, and it begins to charge at the pony at the boulder’s base once more like an armored freight train.

Applejack may have lost her vantage point, but she simply smirks as she runs a short distance from the ankylosaur–which changes direction in pursuit–loads up another arrow, and takes aim before pulling the trigger.

But the dinosaur displays some intelligence as it seemingly anticipated the equine’s shot and hunkers down, causing Applejack’s arrow to ricochet off the dinosaur's armor. With the coast clear, it begins the chase anew.

Applejack was both impressed and a little frustrated by how things were going. Still, the cowmare has her speed advantage. She loads another arrow onto her crossbow’s flight groove, before running around the dinosaur while staying beyond the range of its club tail. She very much enjoys not being a stain on the ground, thank you.

The ankylosaur simply rotates in place while crouching low to the ground, so if the equine fires another shot, he’d be ready to deflect it with his armor. Applejack tries to juke out the dinosaur, but it flawlessly rotates itself in perfect sync.

-Luna, dangit!- The orange mare cursed internally. -It might not be a fast runner, but this thin’s mighty quick at turn’n! Horseapples. If ah don’ come up with somethin’, ah’m gonna wear mahself out.-

……….

The Survivor observed the spectacle from his vantage point with crossed arms, and like his equine companion, he had long since noticed that Applejack was ironically playing into the ankylosaur’s strength.

-Interesting. Very interesting. It would seem that the Ankylosaurus species have developed their leg muscles—not for running, but for precise turning. And, of course, to help them bear the weight of the heavy materials they harvest.

Things truly have changed here… this is going to get complicated.-

He remembered how different things were when he first arrived on The Island. Simply put, this island's creatures were much dumber back then, and an anky was absurdly easy to bring down. One could even use a simple slingshot to do it, so long as they had enough rocks for ammunition, resources to repair their slingshot, and time to spare.

But now he was facing a new island altogether, one where its creatures have varying levels of intelligence—Helena’s sake, some could even talk! And there was also the fact that the gigantopithecus species were humanity’s replacements on this Ark, complete with their own implants and the capability to respawn.

That, paired with what he had experienced when he first returned here after barely escaping from Rockwell’s so-called ‘Seat of Divine Ascension,’ only meant that tribal warfare would be inevitable… It was only blind luck that he and Applejack–yes, he finally got it right–haven’t run into a large enemy tribe yet.

It was Aberration all over again, where he had first experienced warfare against other humans, let alone anything that could rival your own intellect that wasn’t an Overseer.

Well… minus the high radiation levels, earthquakes, freaks lurking in the darkness, and mushrooms that make you poop uncontrollably while also choking on your own vomit–you know what? Never mind all that.

Still, it was nice to have Applejack’s company. She was practically another human, just like him, only equus-shaped. Or pony, as she had often corrected him. He naturally still had a lot of questions, but for now, it would be best for them to prepare for a rendezvous with the rest of her tribe.

Shaking those thoughts away, the Survivor realized he had averted his gaze from the conflict between pony and dinosaur during his reflections. Applejack was clearly becoming fatigued while the ankylosaur waited patiently, still hunkered down and practically daring the equine to get closer.

The Survivor figured that he’d best get involved. His student was progressing, but she clearly needed to be reminded of–wait a second…

A grin forms on the human’s face hidden beneath his ghillie mask.

-Well, well, look who’s finally thinking outside the box. Or, should I say, building one.-

……….

After distancing herself from her foe, Applejack began constructing six wooden foundations as their green holographic outline indicated where they’d be placed.

The foundations form a perfect rectangle following an explosion of blue and white lights. Then, Applejack quickly crafts nine walls, a singular door frame, and a ramp, all made from some wood from her inventory.

Thank Celestia, the orange mare still had the resources to do this. She began to construct something with a plan in mind while heeding her teacher's advice.

-Use your building capabilities to your advantage, Applecrack. A well-placed trap can make things much easier; just be careful not to use fragile materials.-

Due to his speech disability, the Survivor simply wrote his thoughts on paper before passing them along to her. Simplistic, yet effective.

The ankylosaur gallops towards the hastily-crafted, box-shaped structure Applejack had made. It lacked a rooftop, but that paired up well with the ramp outside the structure, allowing someone to fall inside the structure. Or, more accurately, a trap. And it was at the lowest point of this ramp where the cowmare stood.

“Come ‘n get me, ya armored cow!” She taunted, shaking her flank while looking back over her left shoulder. “Ah know that yer a male, but ah’m still call’n ya Betsie when this is all over.”

The dinosaur roars out as it’s now only a few feet away from the equine, prompting her to scale the ramp while internally praying that her armored pursuer wouldn’t catch on. Luckily, the anky didn’t catch onto her plan, and Applejack jumped into the trap with a resounding ‘Yeehaw!’–followed immediately by the herbivore.

The anky’s sturdy frame slams onto the wooden foundation, and Applejack swiftly makes her way out of the trap through the door frame she had placed adjacent to the ramp. The anky attempts to swing its tail against the wooden structure, but lacks enough clearance to swing with enough force to shatter the walls, only managing to dent them.

And there was the added benefit of preventing the ankylosaur from rotating in place.

The anky’s eyes rested on Applejack, who grinned from beyond the door frame. “Heh. Sorry about this, big guy.” She loads her crossbow and takes aim.

“Hope there’s no hard feel’ns ‘tween us when all’s said and done.”

[KSHLANK]

After several more arrows pierce the anky’s forelegs, the dinosaur finally succumbs to the tranquilizer’s effects, prompting the cowmare to cry out in celebration.

The sound of clapping hands approaches from her rear as the Survivor compliments his student’s efforts.

Comments

[demondude123]

... I feel kinda weird, yet gratified that I was able to help edit this story like I did. It's kinda nice knowing that it's gonna be here for long time, to boot.

[Pomp-Neigh]

11530620
Oh, yes - indeed! Thank you for your help.

I made a promise to myself and readers that I would never make a story only to abandon it halfway, like what tends to happen with other stories on the site. Ark will see its end, as will all of my other stories.

[demondude123]

11530628

Sweet, no prob.

[Charlie_K]

Betsie is gonna be pissed when he wakes up with a hangover from all those narcotics he got loaded up his butt.

[Legioner8]

He remembered how different things were when he first arrived on The Island

Ah, yes. The days of the Early Alpha release.
astroweb.case.edu/ssm/darkmatter/ElrondWasThere.png

[Frostgear]

Don't name him Betsie Aj. You don't need a tame that despises you like Rarity does.

[Pomp-Neigh]

11530657

[Pomp-Neigh]

11530696
Heh. We vets are those old people who look at what the newer generation has and say:

"Why - back in my day, we didn't have none of this Kibble stuff you youngsters have!"

[Pomp-Neigh]

11530718

[Charlie_K]

11530848
You didn't have the Overseer and the Redwoods either. And tamed gigas didn't suck.

[Zubric]

Whether it’s Ark or Minecraft you can always rely on the classic ramp into fence off area tactic

[Pomp-Neigh]

11533553