The Amazingly Awesome Adventures of Tank the Tortoise (by R. Dash)

by Bradel

Postscript – One Year Later

Dear "A.K. Yearling",

Thank you so much for the advance copy of your new book! It arrived in the mail today, and oh my gosh, was I excited to see it! I've been reading it to Tank all day—he's my tortoise, and he really likes your books too. I guess there weren't too many surprises in this one, but that doesn't mean it was any less radical seeing everything written out there on the page. Tank is totally enjoying it. I didn't tell him anything about what happened, 'cause I didn't want to ruin the surprises.

Oh, by the way. That cover art? Soo cool!

Anyway, my friend Twilight said I should write you a thank you letter. She's the purple pony with the wings and the horn, and she's usually right about this kind of thing. She also told me I should send you some of my own writing. I don't really know if that's a good idea, but she was pretty insistent.

On the other hoof, Pinkie always says you can't get better unless you show other ponies your work. She's the pink one, and she's pretty awesome at writing too. Seriously, you should see her story for yourself! Um... nevermind.

My stories aren't anywhere near as amazing as yours are. But they're fun to write, and you're kind of my writing hero. I didn't even like books until I read Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone. So I guess what I mean is, I'd really appreciate it if you could look at my stuff and give me some pointers.

I'm sending along my first story about my tortoise, Tank. It's a little rough, but I still think it's pretty awesome. Also, I'm including a couple pages from the project I'm working on now:

Your friend,
Rainbow Dash

——————————————————————

"Captain! Come quick—there's a problem on the obstacle course!"

I blinked the sleep out of my eyes, struggling to sit up. It took me a moment to get my bearings. My neck was sore, like I'd been sleeping on a pile of...

I looked down. Paperwork. Ream after ream of paperwork. Cloudmaker requisitions, airshow schedules, leave-of-absence requests. Groggy, I plucked at a few sheets with one hoof. Was that a marriage certificate for Fleetfoot and Rapid Fire? Why did I have to sign off on that?

How could it be so boring, being captain of the Wonderbolts?

"Captain! It really can't wait!"

I squinted at the pony in front of me. "Sergeant Whiplash?"

The black-maned pegasus slammed his hooves on my desk. "We can't stop them, Captain! You know you're the only one who has a chance against them!"

My heart skipped a beat. "Them?"

"The Sky Pirates."

Ba-bump.

"Where are they," I asked, my face stern.

"The obstacle course," Whiplash muttered. "Which you would have known twelve lines ago, if you hadn't been so busy sleeping on the job. Captain."

Ba-bump.

I buzzed out of my chair and into the air, zooming out the door past Whiplash. A second later, the old sergeant flew beside me as we headed out of the Wonderbolt offices and back toward the training grounds.

"Soarin and lieutenant Blaze already tried fighting them off, Captain, but... well... The lieutenant just vanished, and Soarin came out so beat up that it's a wonder he can still fly.

Ba-bump.

Ahead, a dense fog obscured the skyland at the heart of the obstacle course. I knew that fog well. I'd known it since I was a filly, since She first earned her cutie mark.

"Break off, Sergeant. I'll handle this from here."

Ba-bump.

Whiplash peeled off the the right, flying to where a crowd of blue-uniformed pegasi had formed. I pulled down my goggles and sped forward into the fog. For all my courage, I couldn't keep my hooves from trembling.

Finally, at the center of the skyland, the fog thinned to nothing and I was able to see the pair of them. They were tall, lean, and muscular, wearing dark brown coats that covered their flanks.

Ba-bump.

Instinctively, my eyes locked on to the smaller of the pair. I landed, and tried not to betray how unsteady my hooves felt. The smaller pony stared back, but after a few moments she turned her head as if ashamed. It was the taller of the two that stepped toward me, her eyes hard.

"Y'know it don't got to be this way. You may have turned your back on us, but we ain't giving up on you. We don't care about none of this Wonderbolt nonsense. If you ain't willing to come back to Ponyville, we're just gonna have to come up here. An' if we've got to make your life miserable before you admit you miss us, well gosh darn it, that's what we're gonna do. We're the Sweetapple Sky Pirates now, and there ain't nothin' you can do to stop us, Scootaloo."

Author's Note:

"Daring Don't" was a little too wonderfully on-point for me to stay quiet. So just a few pony words from me tonight. I hope you enjoy!

Comments

[GhostOfHeraclitus]

Sweetapple Sky Pirates! Ya-harrr! Hoist the tastefully dyed red-with-gold-highli...Rarity! Leave our flag alone!

Anyway. Yes. There are Bradel pony words to read. All is well in the world.

[AerialReptoid]

CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS SKY PIRATES!!!!!

[Nadnerb]

Ho-lee crap. This episode sure brought all the writers out of the woodwork! I came back this evening to six (6!) new Fimfiction posts from people I follow. That's a) a record b) over 60% of the total number of writers I follow, and c) just this afternoon, there were more this morning. I suppose, as authors, this episode was rather relevant to their interests.

I totally didn't expect an update to this story either, it being complete and all. How awesome!

As for the actual content of the manuscript: However did you come up with that ingeniously woven, intricate plotline?

Seriously though, perfect fit for Dash's totally canonical book about a totally awesome pegasus who becomes Captain of the Wonderbolts! I totally thought I saw the twist coming, but then it was twistier than I thought.

Good to see you back! Now how 'bout that blog post you said you'd write?

[Bradel]

3595021

Blog post. Um. Yes.

Let me just... <stares at other window>

...=Xβ+Zγ+ε... I mean... writing's all about how, y'know... characters, and...

...gotta weight the observations by the value of the posterior pdf on the day the data gets...

...Setting and... um... theme! Yeah!

<hides again>

[Nadnerb]

3595052
Funny response from a guy who just posted a blog entry earlier today.

Oh well, I'll let you get back to your statistics.

Or, uh, adding hats to your Fimfiction avatar.

[Bradel]

3595234

I'm a bad statistician!

[Soge]

Great complement both to the story and yesterday's episode. Specially how you managed to show growth in her writing.

[keaton-furman-prower]

...Scootaloo?

Not quite as mind-blowing as that episode, but close

[Commander Rainstorm]

Scootaloo! Gasp!
Love it, though!

[Sonata Dusk]

Well written and heartwarming, what more could you ask for? One of my favorite stories, excellent work.

[Bradel]

4582734
I'm glad you liked it!

If you don't mind me asking, though... I noticed you're new to the site (and welcome, by the way!) so I'm a little curious how this story came to your attention. It's older and while it was well-received, it isn't especially well known. As a writer, I always find it helpful to know how people find my stories, and given the context, you seem like a good person to ask.

[Sonata Dusk]

4583180 I found this story on equestriadaily a long time ago. I had only read a little of another story before, and it was very well written, but it was too sad for my taste(I still need to finish that story). So I then found this story, and I loved it, I read the whole thing in one night. And even though it's been over a year, I thought I would come back to this story and give you some positive feedback

[Bradel]

4584717
Oh, well, thank you very much!

[Sonata Dusk]

No problem, keep up the good work

[Fana Farouche]

Dr Angelbunny

That was the point at which I knew i would fave this.

Pinkamina Lovecraft?

[My name is R]

2057337
It isn't fanfiction. It is just plain fiction. Fanfiction is when you use another fiction as your base, Dash is using "Reality" as her base.