Ark: Friendship is Survival

by Pomp-Neigh

Chapter 94 - Pinkamena

Wild Female Therizinosaurus - Lvl 97

Pinkie Pie’s torch rests on the ground and staves off the grasp of night with its orange hue while rumbling steps carry forth the savage therizinosaur with outstretched arms and claws, who lets out a haunting screech along the way.

During the feathered theropod’s battle charge, Shellshock waddles forward, passes by Pinkie, Sedan, and Urd’s wall formation, and positions himself alongside Captain Jack.

The yeti grins and grabs onto Shellshock’s shell, flips over his tortoise companion, and lands behind them before reloading another tranquilizing dart into his longneck rifle.

“On my command, maties!” Jack orders—the pink equine and duo of direbears obeying his command.

Shellshock turns sideways and presents his shell as the theri closes the distance and performs a flesh-rendering, downward slash with both claws. The clawed strike is repelled as the theri pulls its arms away in recoil, whereupon Jack spots an opening.

“Sedan! Urd!” The yeti calls out, having wholly reloaded another round into his rifle. He points an index finger at their foe. “Grab on and hold it tight, ladies!”

The direbears roar and rush forth in unison, their combined girths shaking the general landscape to a degree even more potent than the theri ever managed. Before the theropod could react, Sedan bites down on its right forearm. At the same time, Urd clamps onto the left forearm, and both ursidae use their forelimbs and paws to grab onto the theri’s neck, effectively preventing any potential retaliation via its claws or bite.

As the feathered entity roars in defiance of its snow-coated adversaries and struggles against their grasp, Jack produces a coil of rope from his inventory.

“Pinkie!” He bellows, gaining her attention and tossing the rope her way, to which she catches perfectly within her muzzle.

“Tie one end of that rope onto those boulders over there and get a tripline going!” The yeti barks while gesturing at the same series of earthly materials that once concealed the therizino.

Pinkie nods in affirmation as she hurriedly runs off to perform the task while Jack aims his rifle, pulls the trigger, and fires another sleeper agent into the struggling theropod, who roars out as the needle pierces its flesh.

Pinkie focuses on her task despite the almost deafening sounds of the nearby clash of titans, reaching the collective of boulders, uncurls the coil, drops one end of the rope, and bites down on the other end before lapping around the obstacle and returning to the starting point.

The pink mare had to admire the exceptional length of the rope, which was now wrapped around the boulder, as she then created a lasso using a quality tie she’d picked up from Applejack. With that complete, the equine bites down on the other end, the slack, and tugs on it with all her might, thus fastening the rope onto the boulder.

By her estimate, fifteen hooves worth of slack were available. The problem, however, was that the theri and the party mare’s ursine allies were well beyond those lengths.

“Captain!” Pinkie shouts, having spat out the rope she bit down upon into a forehoof, gaining the yeti’s attention as they were in the process of loading up another tranq dart. “Can our beary bear friends bring Mr. Scissors closer to me?!”

“Aye, matey!” Jack responds, placing and holding his rifle beneath his left armpit, gesturing a forward action with his right hand to Shellshock. “Help the wee lass with the rope, Shelly.”

Shellshock croaks affirmatively and waddles off toward Pinkie Pie, leaving behind Jack as he beats on the left side of his chest with a closed right fist and roars out in primal fashion before running toward the theri.

Jack charges at the theropod’s stomach region and grapples onto it, pressing himself against the feathered entity. The combined strength of the two direbears and yeti is enough to push the theri across the land despite its attempts to resist by driving its feet with dagger-like nails into the earth.

The trio drives the therizinosaur back further and further in spite of its struggles until ‘Mr. Scissors’ felt sudden resistance against the back of its feet.

“Now!” Jack shouts, having taken notice of Pinkie and Shellshock establishing the tripline and biting onto the rope to hold it firm, which is now pressed against the back of the theri’s leg.

Jack, Sedan, and Urd grunt in unison as they channel their strength into one more conjoined push, tripping the theropod over as it falls onto its back. The direbears immediately pounce onto and pin the feathered being to the ground, each ursine securing its arms and head. Furthermore, Shellshock could be seen shuffling over to them before climbing onto the theri and splaying out on its stomach, the tortoise casually laying his head down lazily.

As Pinkie observes the now-restrained theropod kick at the air in its attempts, but to no effect, a particular rifle suddenly enters her view, seemingly being offered to her by a black and gray hand.

“Want to give it a go, Pinkie?” Jack offers.

“C-captain?” Pinkie asked in slight disbelief as she slowly looked up at him. “A-are you sure…?”

“I don’t see the harm in it.” The yeti reasoned. “Besides, you once told me that you lacked any experience using guns, so you’d best get used to it now.”

The pink mare nods as she rears up onto her hind legs, claims the rifle, which is almost the same length as her, and carefully studies it.

“H-huh…” She comments. “It’s…just a mini-cannon.”

“A ‘mini-cannon’ loaded with tranq darts, that is,” Jake chimed in. “Now get to shooting. It’s a simple task of aiming and pulling the trigger. Savvy?”

Pinkie nods as her face morphs into determination, shifting her stance, closing a light-cerulean eye, and taking aim with the other.

“Remember this feeling, mate,” Jake comments during the moment. “Feel the weapon in your hands- er, hooves. Cast away any and all doubts, and do what must be done.”

Jack steps away and presents the scenario unfolding before the mare’s eyes. “Aye, this be a simple taming venture. But the time will come when you must fire another type of ammunition… One that helps to take life, not tame them. Savvy?”

“I…” Pinkie’s words falter and die in her dry throat caused by realizing the gravity of this moment.

A quick recollection of HLN-A and Granny Pithecus often teaching and telling them to do what was necessary to progress through the Ark flashed through her mind, only to be encouraged even further by Jack’s own words.

Now wasn’t the time for any such restraints…she knew that. In other words, Pinkie Pie would have to change in more ways than one.

Jack raises an eyebrow as he witnesses something quite peculiar happen. “Well now… What do we have here…?”

The pink mare’s once poofy mane suddenly goes limp and drapes over her shoulders as her usually vibrant colors gray out slightly before the yeti’s eyes.

As for Pinkie, something appears at the top of her HUD in gloomy-gray bold text.

Pinkamena Mode Activated

Her change in demeanor doesn’t go unnoticed by the nearby yeti, who observes with great interest as the changed mare snorts before pulling the trigger without hesitation.

The resulting therizinosaur’s cries signal the dart making an impact, but Pinkamena raises a hoof toward Jack as if expectantly.

“Another,” she monotonously said.

Jack adheres to her request and continues to supply the gray mare with more darts after every shot. This cycle continues until after the seventh dart injects its torpor-inducing substance, and the theri finally falls unconscious.

As the therizino lies unconscious, Shellshock, Urd, and Sedan observing the soon-to-be latest addition to their crew, Jack nods in satisfaction before turning to the still-gloomy equine alongside him.

“Pinkie, would you be a dear and retrieve the narcotics and kibble back at the ship below deck? You’ll find the kibble within a preserving bin, but make sure that it’s of exceptional quality. No need to worry; it’s all labeled, courtesy of Mr. Pecks.”

“Kay,” the equine responds blankly before setting off.

“Oh, and one more thing, lass.”

She stops in place and looks back at him, “Hmm?”

“There be some leftover Sweet Vegetable Cake in there. Feel free to finish it up for a job well done.”

"Wait... What...?"

Jack is about to respond, but his eyes shoot wide open as he witnesses the equine's abrupt change again, now with Sedan, Urd, and Shellshock also bearing witness from nearby.

“Did you just say Sweet Vegetable Cake?!” Pinkie screamed in excitement, now returned to her normal self and hopping in place. “And it’s all mine?!”

“A-ay-”

“Yippee!”

And just like that…she was gone, leaving behind a very confused pair of direbears, tortoise, and pirate-hatted yeti. After moments of stunned silence passed by, Jack raises a hand and rubs his temple.

"What was in that barrel of beer...?"

Author's Note:

Fun fact: Pinkie isn't the only one with this feature. Someone else among them has something quite similar.

The concept itself is heavily inspired by several creatures in-game, as well.

Comments

[Marauder15]

"What was in that barrel of beer...?"

It’s Pinkie
Don’t question it
Ever

[Pomp-Neigh]

11722015

[Green-Venom]

Pinkamena Mode Activated

[dragonus85]

11725964
except when a raptor catches you unawares at night when you think your being careful and stealthy then its a nightmare. then it gets better and find it awas a pack of em and you stood no chance. my first ever encounter of them, actually scared me.

[Zubric]

Huge dinosaurs in creature sounds cool and then you remembered that the square cubed law exists. Then again I guess magical goo element, kind of cheats.

[Pomp-Neigh]

11728683
Indeed.

The titanosaur, for instance, should literally suffocate under its own weight. Heck, even the giganotosaurus.

But the Arks have artificially designed these creatures to be able to support their body structure.

Of course, like you said, this is the same universe where elemental liquid and goo can turn a man into an eldritch abomination and birth what’s basically Godzilla. (King Titan.)