• Member Since 9th Mar, 2012
  • offline last seen Mar 22nd, 2022

Owlor


Swedish guy with too much imagination. Draws comics as a hobby and writes as a diversion.

E

What possessed an upwardly mobile tailor to forsake her one chance of a comfortable high-class life and take up living as an outlaw? With the help of her loyal crew, she takes to the sky in her specially-designed airship as the first and most prominent sky pirate in Equestria. Making herself a personal enemy of Queen Celestia, she is hunted by Her Majesty’s special Task Force. But the sky is full of secrets, more so than what anypony actually realizes...

With the tribes of the pegasi and the unicorns having died out, the sky remained unconquered... until now. While corruption has its roots deep within the Equestrian society, I have aimed for the impossible. I've aimed for freedom.
~ Quote from Captain Rarity, self proclaimed 'Sky Matron' and 'Liberator of Equestria'. Excerpt taken from ‘Equestria's Most Wanted Criminals

Written/edited by: capt'n Owlor and Lucefudu, the coxswain
Edited by: MikhailInspired
Idea by: Lucefudu

Chapters (4)
Comments ( 37 )

Criticism is much appreciated.

Interesting way of establishing the backstory. It gives a lot of information in very little text, so kudos for that.
The "earth pony only" setting of the story is kinda weird, it feels strange to think of the known characters as an all earth pony crew. I'm curious how it'll turn out, so I'll be watching this.

Wow that's an amazing story atmosphere. I do agree that it's kinda strange to think of all of them as earth ponies (unless, of course, some of them retain their canon race, other than Twilight, but I don't think that's the case here), but I guess it'll get easier to picture as the story goes on. I'm really interested in what else is going to be revealed in the backstory.

And in my mind, that title will always have the attached "And the World of Tomorrow".

1302556
Luce didn't want us to go out with an explanation for all the in-story slang right away, but this one is hinted in the chapter, so I might as well clarify and hope he doesn't get too angry at me. :twilightblush: The term "unicorn" in the context of the story isn't meant litterary, it's pirate slang for for their enemies, pretty much. There is a reason for this, but that's something for another time... :trollestia:

1302595
Ah. I'm all in for "another time" by the way.

"get us out of her as fast as possible" - oh my :rainbowderp:

I haven't seen anything with a premise quite like this before, and I'm enjoying it so far.

1304670
Thanks for pointing that one out. :facehoof:

Great story. I'm really liking it so far, it's a very interesting setting and I can't wait to find out what happens next!


:rainbowwild:

Where are all the comments? This is one of the most awesome concepts I've seen here, and it made it just in time for "Talk Like a Pirate Day!" I hope it's coming soon to an EQD near you. Great story so far! :raritystarry:

1311390 We actually sent it to EqD one day before "Talk Like a Pirate Day!" It was fun because me and Owlor began to joke that we have future-predicting skills (this is not the first coincidence we've stumbled across after publishing this story).

1307705 We have a whoooooole lot planned for you guys, this is all I can tell without spoiling. :pinkiehappy:

Finally got around to reading this chapter. Hooray for backstory!

Excellent again, though you should take another proofreading pass - lots of little mistakes. And soon, I hope, the absent mane cast members will appear. :raritystarry:

1323264 Yes, we are currently looking for an permanent editor and we have someone from Ponychan to help us out this one time. It's just that mine and Owlor's mother tongue isn't English, so we do struggle with it a bit (as you can see mainly with commas and awkward phrasing). I'm glad you're liking it nonetheless. :twilightsmile:

1323981

I didn't guess you weren't native speakers - it's amazing that you are writing poetry in a second language. I do love the story, and I hope you keep at it. :raritywink:

1487285

Thanks for the comment, it was very interesting. :pinkiehappy: I don't think this ambiguity is necesserily a bad thing, tough we'll definently take it ino account for further chapters. I mean, very few people or institutions are actually "eeeevil" just because, there's usually a reason, even if it only makes sense for a twisted perspective. :derpyderp2: In the end, one persons freedom fighter is another persons terrorist. :derpyderp1:

I actually tried really hard to write Celestia to the point where her ideas make sense, it isn't just "I'mma rule the world, just because." She is VERY proective of her country, and her opressive tendencies is born out of a desire to create a strong state, at the cost of the individual (fascism 101, basically). That's the reason, for example, of the mechanic- and clockwork motif surrounding her. To her, everypony is just a cog in a machine, and it's her duty to keep it well-oiled and functional.

Some of the inspiration for this story comes from "V for Vendetta", which is ALSO a story where its kinda hard to choose sides. :twilightoops: I hope we haven't lifted too much from that story, the only cahracter that takes a direct inspiration from a character from "V for Vendetta" is Twilight. :twilightsheepish:

1492287
Actually, In the chapter we're currently writing, we ARE going to go in on the backstories of some of the pirates and hopefully give a better sense of why they are dissatisfied. But at this point in time, I think the main in-story hint that she's a tyrant is this part:

As Twilight admired the statue, she couldn’t help but wonder if there was any portrait left from before the old queen liberated Equestria from the two other tribes. If there were, they must be in private collections, because if one happened appear in a museum, Celestia would’ve seized it for being anti-Equestian propaganda and had it destroyed.

This is prolly very revealing of my own personal politics, but I consider censorship and the destruction of historical artifact to be truly despicable actions. :twilightangry2:

And no, you comments isn't bothering me, I LOVE that you're thinking about the story and has your own opinions on it, it i quite interesting. :pinkiehappy: I'll keep your comments in mind while we're writing it. :twilightsmile:

1492287
Actually, In the chapter we're currently writing, we ARE going to go in on the backstories of some of the pirates and hopefully give a better sense of why they are dissatisfied. But at this point in time, I think the main in-story hint that she's a tyrant is this part from chapter 2:

As Twilight admired the statue, she couldn’t help but wonder if there was any portrait left from before the old queen liberated Equestria from the two other tribes. If there were, they must be in private collections, because if one happened appear in a museum, Celestia would’ve seized it for being anti-Equestian propaganda and had it destroyed.

This is prolly very revealing of my own personal politics, but I consider censorship and the destruction of historical artifact to be truly despicable actions. :twilightangry2:

And no, you comments isn't bothering me, I LOVE that you're thinking about the story and has your own opinions on it, it i quite interesting. :pinkiehappy: I'll keep your comments in mind while we're writing it. :twilightsmile: 1492379

for example it is prohibited (at least in my country) to propagate nacism by wearing it´s symbols or agree with it publicly -

Hmm, lemme guess, you're german, right? That's the only country I know have that policy in place.

I can see their point and as such don´t deem this act as necessarily tyrannical - for it to be tyrannical, we need to know what happened in the past and why does she want to hide it.

Well, needless to say, that isn't the ONLY thing Celestia's done, like I said, the chapter where more of the pirate's motivations is fleshed out is coming up, it's simply the main thing on display so far. The story is just beginning, after all. :twilightblush:

Even today, many people accept what they´re saying, even though it goes against what Marx said and as such it isn´t really communism

Tell me about it, you encounter a fair degree of wannabe communists here in Sweden. :facehoof:

I will be doing a review for this story very soon. Though what I've seen so far is, in short, quite amazing.

BTW, what is you guy's native tongue? Mine is Spanish. Just wondering really.

1497113

My first language is swedish, and Luce's is Portugese (Brazil Portugese). How similar is spanish and portugese by the way? Is it like swedish and norwegian (It pretty much just sounds like funny swedish to me.), swedish and danish (I can understand it if its written, but when its spoken it sounds like soeone trying to talk with a hot potatoe in their mouth), or swedish and icelandish (I can, if I squint hard enough make out some words and be able to guess the context, but msot of it is just gonna go right above my head.)

1497226
Well, if I had to put it in those styles, Spanish and Portuguese would be like Swedish and Icelandish. Some words are shared, and the two languages have similar roots in Latin, but other than that, they are very much different. I doubt Lucefudu and I can commune using our native tongues.

1502003 Since Spanish is the superior language when compared with portuguese, you'd probably understand me without many problems. I, on the other hand, would have trouble understanding you.

1512458
Not quite. There would be confusion all around. Also, Spanish is not the superior language; that would be Latin.

1512811 I know that Latin is the one which ours derive from. But Spanish is superior to Brazilian Portuguese (and, I'm guessing, European Portuguese as well).
I traveled a lot to Argentina. And although I'm aware that slangs may change, they still understood me perfectly. But I couldn't understand their Spanish. Not a single word.

1512885
Spanish can get tricky, as there are many dialects. Portuguese, in that regard, is better, because the language has remained unchanged.

Excellent chapter, I really like the premise of this fan fic. I'm putting my bits on Applejack joining the Elusive in the next chapter and possibly for things to get crazy with Twilight bringing back the guards and such.

Or Granny Smith throwing a pot at Rarity.

One of those two.

:rainbowwild:

“I think that the delicate centrifugal governor exceeded its capacity when I deployed the duster to increase our vectorial acceleration, meaning that it is no longer properly regulating the engine’s Rankanine cycle, creating a dissonance in the rollers that is in turn causing the posterior helix to miss approximately...” she stopped, and with her tongue sticking out her mouth, gesticulated with her forehooves as if she was pressing invisible buttons over Rarity’s head.

“Five point seven cycles in every minute,” Pinkie Pie concluded before smiling proudly.

Why would the duster (being essentially a large steam-jet directed vaguely down and back from the ship's centre of gravity) be tied in to the centrifugal governor? Redirecting the pressurised steam through the nozzle should bypass the steam turbines of the ship's power plant, thereby isolating the mechanically-integrated governor from the duster's effects. Even if the governor was damaged enough to allow an over-rev condition within the steam turbines, the only way this would cause the rear rotor to miss is if one or more teeth inside a geared transmission were sheared, meaning that the governor would be the least of their problems when the time came to perform repairs.

I am left to wonder which members of the Apple family shall be spared when Twilight's crew comes to raze the farm. The image of a winged airship bursting through the roof of a burning barn in a cloud of billowing embers is the mythical end that does indeed justify the means...

1636508

Why would the duster (being essentially a large steam-jet directed vaguely down and back from the ship's centre of gravity) be tied in to the centrifugal governor?

Oh sush, :trixieshiftright: I'm a biogeek and my co-author is a med student, neither of us are engineers in any way, shape or form. :twilightblush: If our technical descriptions sound off, it's just cus it's Pinkie Pie designed technology, and it works differently than normal steam engines. :pinkiehappy:

1637020

All things considered, the basic design of the Elusive really isn't that far from being sound. The wings are probably the most dubious bit of engineering, but aerostats using wings for propulsion (with and without propellers for additional thrust) were successfully built and flown back in the late Eighteenth Century. The size and bulk of the three- or four-level car beneath the envelope would merely necessitate a larger gas envelope to compensate, and (assuming a non- or semi-rigid design without too many gas cells) could fit within a large barn once the envelope was deflated.

I know I'm over-thinking it, but truth be told I'm having a blast doing so. :pinkiecrazy:

1643088

I know I'm over-thinking it, but truth be told I'm having a blast doing so. :pinkiecrazy:

Overthinking is fun, knock yourself out. :pinkiehappy:

The size and bulk of the three- or four-level car beneath the envelope would merely necessitate a larger gas envelope to compensate, and (assuming a non- or semi-rigid design without too many gas cells) could fit within a large barn once the envelope was deflated.

That's a load off my mind then, I was afraid that someone would point out that Applejack barn must be ENORMOUS if an entire friggin airship can fit it. :rainbowlaugh:

All things considered, the basic design of the Elusive really isn't that far from being sound. The wings are probably the most dubious bit of engineering

TO put it MILDLY :rainbowderp: I mean, Gadget Hackwrench would be proud of this design, but it does owe its existence more to victorian science FICTION than it does victorian science... :raritydespair:

Pinkie Pie's little tirade in this chapter is pure technobabble, read it as "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow..." or eqvivalent. :twilightblush: We do like to discuss while writing about how various pieces of tech works, we developed no less than three systems Twilight could use to reload her gun when our pre-reader complained about it not being clear exactly HOW she did that, and not satisfied with my explanation ("Uhm.... it's like cunnulingus, it involves the mouth and a lot of enthusiasm." :rainbowwild:) But there's a limit to how realistic one can make a 1600-era pirate ship being airborne with 1800-century technology, at one point you just have to go "it just DOES, okay?" :twilightblush:

1644481

That's a load off my mind then, I was afraid that someone would point out that Applejack barn must be ENORMOUS if an entire friggin airship can fit it. :rainbowlaugh:

Well, suspension of disbelief and all that. :raritywink: I've been picturing each deck of the car having ceilings just a bit taller than the head of an average pony, leading to an overall car height somewhere in the neighbourhood of two stories tall. Deflate the gas cells in the envelope, fold the wings, and I can imagine the whole thing fitting inside a lofted barn with tall double-doors. I'm picturing a gabled American-style barn here, and those can be rather large inside.

TO put it MILDLY :rainbowderp: I mean, Gadget Hackwrench would be proud of this design, but it does owe its existence more to victorian science FICTION than it does victorian science... :raritydespair:

Using wings for propulsion was something the French were experimenting with alongside hand-crank propellers, back before on-board powerplants were seriously experimented with. They never really worked all that well (aerostats were little more than hot-air balloons at this point in time), but such a system was proven to have some functionality over their contemporary conceptual competitors. The steam engine and rotor render the wings largely pointless, but they're just lovely to imagine. :raritystarry:

... We developed no less than three systems Twilight could use to reload her gun when our pre-reader complained about it not being clear exactly HOW she did that, and not satisfied with my explanation ("Uhm.... it's like cunnulingus, it involves the mouth and a lot of enthusiasm." :rainbowwild:).

... I wasn't going to bring that one up. :twilightsheepish:

1658258 Lucefudu has [jokingly] asked me to ask you to take over this story a long while ago. I simply forgot about it until stumbling upon your comment here. Well, I guess that, from what he told me of his chats with Owlor, that dude would be okay with it too.

But I don't want to be pushy.

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