Ark: Friendship is Survival

by Pomp-Neigh

Chapter 86 - The Bearer of Bad News

Rainbow Dash sends her map away to her inventory, flapping her wings and hovering in place. “These green and white drops are absolutely lame,” she complained, having recently accessed a green supply crate before checking her map.

She shrugged, “Eh. Anyway, I’d best be off to meet the merchants and get Vanellope back.”

As she resumed her flight, the pegasus could see other supply crates of varying colors in the distance, most of which were beyond her ability to access, save for the blue ones.

She had always found the way these drops worked to be ridiculous. Why not just allow anyone to access them all without a required level? Of course, she had asked HLN-A about this. Naturally, she received some eggheaded explanation. No, she isn’t going to repeat it.

She could, however, offer a simplistic answer: it would be too easy. Life on the Arks wasn’t meant to be easy by intentional design. All for the pursuit of preparing survivors to save Earth.

Understandable. Pretty dark, but…she gets it.

-Eastern Swamp Biome-

The artificial late morning sun blankets the island as Rainbow flies along the eastern coast. She soon tilts her body to the right, turning as she draws near a familiar swamp.

As she approached, a series of texts suddenly appeared before her eyes.

Your Vanellope - Lvl 117 (Raptor) killed a Raptor - Lvl 69!

“W-what?!” Rainbow cried out urgently, stopping and hovering in place with wide eyes. “Oh, no…” She shook her head, “Vanellope!” The pegasus darts forward with absolute worry present on her face.

She shot her head side to side, scanning the vast beach that stretched on and melded into the swamp, eyes shuffling through numerous lifeforms. There were the typical beach-faring entities, like dodos, carbonemys, and dilophosaurs, just to name a few. But she then spots the green-texted identification of Vanellope as she hurriedly approaches the swamp, a perk granted to her via the mare’s implant.

Rainbow finally spots her prehistoric tribe member. On the beach and just 20 feet or so away from the swamp itself were Vanellope and that rainbow-feathered male raptor the pegasus once saw at the Traveling Merchant’s outpost. Walken, she believed his name was.

Both Walken and Vanellope looked injured and stood back to back while five other raptors surrounded them, with three of their own lying on the ground as their blood soaked the sands.

Rainbow’s attention was momentarily drawn to a pair of paraceratherium remains resting at the base of a nearby cliff, both having been picked to the bone. And an ominous sense of familiarity began to…

No…that couldn’t be…

The pegasus shook her head to regain her focus and quickly bolted into action to aid Vanellope and Walken, conjuring a bow along the way with twenty arrows ready to be plucked from her inventory, one already being drawn and begging to be let loose.

“Hey!” The pegasus roared, gaining the attention of all raptors. “Get away from them!”

It was only then that Rainbow noticed something was different about these raptors. Their eyes…are red. Not red as if they lacked any sleep, no. It was fiery red energy, almost like the eyes of a timberwolf but crimson in color.

Even so, that would not stop her!

She slows her approach, narrows her eyes in concentration, and lets loose the arrow. The projectile soars through the air before finally reaching its mark, piercing through one of the opposing raptors’ eyes. The action was so swift and effective that the carnivore couldn’t do anything, not even let out a single sound as its form fell limply to the sand.

You killed a Raptor - Lvl 92!

It didn’t matter what level these things were. A shot through the eye would always be fatal.

The death of their pack member and the cyan-colored threat firing at them from above was enough to cause the remaining raptors to flee as they maneuvered around Vanellope and Walken.

Rainbow glares at the retreating pack as they run toward the duo of paraceratherium remains and scale the cliff swiftly in retreat. But her heart suddenly began to race as a cold chill traveled down her spine.

It was just like that time when Herbert and Shirley led her through the swamp. Something was watching them from the dense forest beyond the cliff’s precipice. Then, as the pack disappeared into the woods, so too did that horrifying feeling, and dead silence took hold.

“W-what in Tartarus was that…?” Rainbow managed after moments of shock ticked by. She soon sighed to regain her composure and slowly turned back to Vanellope and Walken, “I’m just glad that I came-” her eyes shot open as she saw the two raptors splayed out on the sand, having collapsed while she looked away.

The pegasus needed no words, only action, as she dived down and landed before Vanellope. “Vanellope!” She desperately called out, the raptor looking up at her weakly. Up close like this, the equine could now make out several wounds, each caused by the slashing attacks of those jerks that ran off.

She’d hunt them all down right now were it not for Vanellope’s current condition.

“Hey there, girl,” Rainbow said sweetly as she repeatedly swept a forehoof across Vanellope’s back. “Don’t worry. I’ll get you some help.” She turns to Walken, who also looks at the equine feebly. “Both of you.” She offered a genuine smile. “Thanks for having her back, Walken… I appreciate it.”

Walken chirps as he lowers his head to the sand, closing his eyes and falling unconscious. Vanellope tries to lift herself, only to fall back down, but earns Rainbow’s furious gaze.

“Stop it!” She scolds. “You need to recover! Only I get to be the idiotic, reckless one here, got it?!”

Vanellope exhaled in submission, resting her head on the sand but staring back into Rainbow’s eyes, which began to water despite the equine’s apparent attempts to fight back the tears. The raptor closed her eyes with a grateful smirk and drifted off to slumber seconds after.

Rainbow could tell just by looking that these two had been fighting for Celestia knows how long. An hour? Two hours? That was about how long it’s been since she- wait, were they fighting ever since she left for the Redwood Biome?

Many questions rattled her mind, like what was the deal with the eyes of those raptors. But what mattered now was the safety of Vanellope and Walken.

She couldn’t leave them here to the mercy of any other carnivore looking for an easy meal, and considering the nearby swamp, it was dumb luck that her general area wasn’t filled with giant snakes or sarcos. Yet, that is.

The pegasus begins to search her surroundings with a plan in mind, spotting several trees on the beach. Perfect.

“I’ll be right back, guys.”

She quickly runs across the sand, positions herself at a particular angle with the closest tree, keeping the two raptors within sight, and brings forth a hatchet from her inventory. Her resulting strikes against the tree echo out, followed by the inevitable creak of the tree falling over.

A considerable amount of wood and thatch is harvested, and Rainbow makes her way back over to the slumbering dinosaurs before accessing Vanellope’s inventory.

“Thank Celestia, she still has some.” Rainbow removes a large amount of hide and stores them in her inventory. With that, all that’s left is some fiber, thus allowing her to craft what would work perfectly for this situation.

Wooden spiked walls.

……….

Just shy of fifteen minutes pass by as Rainbow hovers over and looks down upon a series of spiked walls surrounding both raptors in a near-perfect triangular shape. She made doubly sure to plug any holes with some rocks, holding those in place with bolas and fiber threads.

If she were to be honest, only the largest of creatures on the island could ever hope to breach this barricade.

“That should do it.”

Now that the raptors were secured, something else was bothering the pegasus as she focused on the two paraceratherium corpses across the way. Some of those giant dragonfly things were now swarming the bodies, and Rainbow knew that the longer she was delayed, the more the possibility of those bodies attracting something even worse rose.

Still, she had to do this. She had to make sure it…wasn’t them.

The pegasus swallows a lump in her throat as she flies over to the bodies, but not too close as to disturb the swarm. Those things’ names were lost on her, but she knew how ferocious they could be when something intruded upon their feast.

Goodness sake, the smell is awful now that she’s much closer. She changes her position to look at their faces which, thankfully, seemed to be in perfect… No. Oh, sweet Celestia… I-it’s…

The urge to vomit then overpowers the pegasus as she turns away and hurls. Her throat burns in the process, and she coughs after emptying her stomach, wiping a forelimb across her muzzle.

“H-Herbert… Shirley…” She said somberly. “I’m so sorry…”

-Eastern Swamp Biome: Traveling Merchant Outpost-

The outpost is lively as apes and creatures work together to transport goods and show off the settlement’s wares.

“And here we have our weapons and equipment on full display,” Thrum, the top hat-wearing traveling merchant, presents with a gesture in front of several representatives from other tribes. “As you can see, we have turrets, guns, platform saddles, anything and everything you need to-”

“What in the Dead Isle is that?!” One of the representatives suddenly shouts as they point skyward, causing the others and Thrum to turn toward the appointed direction.

“Is that a…flying equus?”

“It is! Amazing!”

“Hmmm. It looks too small to ride.”

“Seems like a useful shoulder pet.”

“Is that thing a part of your collective, Thrum?”

The last question managed to pull the merchant out of his grinning stare with a chuckle. “She’s not a part of our tribe, but she’s a pleasant ally. Her name’s Rainbow Dash. I sent her to do us a favor earlier, but she failed to return at a specific time. Still, she’s got a good head on her shoulders.”

“Yo, Rainbow!” Tharn called out while waving from his overwatch. “Good to see ya again!” He lifts a radio to his mouth and presses a button, “Stand down apes. That one’s a friend. Over.”

The pegasus soon lands in the outpost, and although she gains the attention of curious onlookers, which would normally cause her to soak in all the attention, she seems to ignore them as she looks around and finally spots...them.

With ears folded against her head, Rainbow walks over to Moss and Harley with an aura of sadness. This didn’t go unnoticed by those who watched her as they even wondered what was wrong with her.

“Oh, Rainbow!” Harley greets while wiggling her ears, standing alongside Moss as they had just set down some large crates. “It’s so good to see you again.”

“Yo,” Moss greets with a gun gesture as both titans look down upon the mare who now stands a few feet in front of them.

“Oh my…” Harley lowers her neck to look at Rainbow in worry. “Are you ok? You look so sad.”

“If it’s about that challenge you had with Thrum, don’t beat yourself up about it,” Moss said with a chuckle. “If you ask me, that seemed kind of rigged from the start given what, or who, we know lives there.”

Rainbow remained silent as her eyes were glued to the ground as the duo spoke. Thrum can be seen approaching behind her, having stepped away from the representatives.

“I heard that, Moss,” Thrum responds while resting a hand over his chest. “You wound me from the implication, my friend.” Moss rolls his eyes as Thrum looks down at the sorrow-radiating equine.

“Rainbow? Are you alright? You don't seem as awesome as you tend to boast.”

The pegasus finally breaks her silence with a sigh. “No… I’m not feeling so awesome right now. Listen, I really need everyone's help.” She lifts her head and locks eyes with Moss and Harley.

“And…there’s something you two need to know…”

Comments

[Charlie_K]

Hell is brewing, war is coming. And Walken might be getting the nickname Limpen for a while.

The pegasus finally breaks her silence with a sigh. “No… I’m not feeling so awesome right now. Listen, I really everyone's help.” She lifts her head and locks eyes with Moss and Harley.

Might want to put "need" in between "really" and "everyone's".

[Pomp-Neigh]

11616708
Thank you!!

[Frostgear]

Never fun to be the bearer of bad news.

[Pomp-Neigh]

11616713
Indeed.

[ShortCaveman]

Ooff all the sadness.