Steel Wing
It was pitch black. A deep hum filled the darkness, punctuated by the occasional sounds of his labored breaths.
A metal brace surrounded his right hoof and forelimb. With a humming noise, the prosthetic lit up in a haze of bright blue mana. He shuddered, his weary features wincing from the waves of magic coursing through him. Then, as he grimaced in the darkness, a sparkling surge of magic rode up his body, shot out of his horn, and materialized in a spectral band of equine figures, leering down at him in the darkness.
"Report," muttered the middlemost of the flickering profiles in a ghostly voice.
"We have picked up the Enforcer of Green Slope Province," Shell said, lifting his head up. He finished wincing in time to open his one eye and gaze neutrally past the projections. "His alicornia condition has been tested by two specialists from the Council of Ledo. There is no doubt that his leylines have been temporarily fused with the device belonging to the beloved of Dr. Bellesmith."
"So, then, this Enforcer is able to lead you to the location of the fugitives from Blue Shelf?"
"He is able to convey to me the whereabouts of the sphere within their posession." Shell took a deep breath. "Whether or not the winged subject is to be found their company remains to be seen."
"For your sake, you had best hope that she is with them," one of the profiles said, its eyeslits glaring above a blurred array of military medals. "It was because of your incompetence in the field that the target was lost in the first place."
Another projection leaned forward and added, "The only reason you are tasked with this hunt and not another more qualified Enforcer is because you have had more experience with this pegasus than any other high ranking officer in the Ledomaritan Defense Initiative."
"And I promise you that I will seize her and the power contained within before the target has any hope of leaving the Confederacy's borders." Shell took a deep breath and continued, "Already we have determined the sphere to be located west of the Foxtaur Forest, bordering Sapphire Province."
"Then if she is with the possessors of the mana-sphere, that means she is heading east. She will be within proximity of Blue Nova soon if you do not capture her sooner."
"I have already assembled the resources to intercept her swiftly."
"Must we remind you, Enforcer, that your best opportunity to capture her is now?" Another projection hovered directly overhead. "If she and her accomplices pass beyond the Sapphire Plains to the east of Foxtaur, they will have entered the realm of the Green Mountains. She will be very difficult to capture in such a vast wilderness between Blue Nova and the Eastern Front."
"She will not make it to the Xonan Battlegrounds," Shell said with a frown. "I will bring her to her knees or she will bow down to the Queen in pieces."
"You would have won our confidence with such words, if your actions as of late have proven to hold as much weight, Enforcer."
Shell clenched his teeth shut, staring into the blackness beyond the images.
"We shall hail your fellow captain's vessel in a week's time to find out the nature of your progress." The projections began to dissipate. "We trust that you will make good with your loyalty."
"In honor of the Queen," Shell bowed. "I give myself."
With a splash of manalight, the projections died. All was dark and dull noise yet again.
Shell clenched his eye shut. After several seconds, he stood up—hissing through his teeth in pain as he shifted weight on his glowing blue prosthetic. Swiveling about, he marched down the echoing blackness until he approached a thin, vertical slit of metal. With a wave of magic, he pushed the doors open.
Light exploded into the cabin, along with the noise of wind and steam. Marching, Shell strolled onto an immense deck of dark gray metal bulkheads. Ledomaritan stallions in blue uniforms rushed past him, their hooves dutifully flurrying over various levers, knobs, dials, and handles. The ponies shouted commands and instructions over the high-pitched whine of gusting steam. Overhead, the bulbous copper body of a dirigible fluctuated in the wind. Tight ropes and metal coils groaned as the immense, steel zeppelin angled its way eastward.
It wasn't alone. Flanking the starboard and port sides of the cannon-covered battleship, two smaller aircraft of like design rode the cloudy currents. With telekinetic prowess, uniformed unicorns stood on the edge of the decks, waving red flags and signaling from one ship to another. Beyond the gusting steam and the venting engines of the armored blimps, jutting mountains and ocean-blue skies lingered. Down below: rolling green plains and emerald forests stretched far and wide, engulfing the Ledomaritan countryside with color.
Shell gazed at everything indifferently. The only thing his face registered was the knifing pain from his limb, but even that was a minor twitch at best.
Shuffling up, a stallion his age in a decorated blue uniform stood straight and saluted. "Prime Enforcer Shell..."
"Captain Filta..."
"The Steel Wing waits for your command. What news from the Council, sir?"
Shell's mouth hung in thin line. He reached lethargically into his uniform and pulled out a plain, drab, blue article. "They haven't sent me a new beret..."
"Sir?"
"We, my good Captain, are tasked with finding our elusive blue pegasus with wings of the west and a heart of chaos." Shell limped across the deck, his metal limb making dull thuds against the bulkheads as sweating crewmen dashed left and right before the strolling pair. "When we find her, we will drag her down to the ground until her spirit has no choice but to follow along with it. And there, in the shadow of her failure, where she has no friends except the bitter kiss of pain, we will hollow her out for all that she's worth."
Captain Filta cleared his throat. "Well, then, shall I set coordinates to such a noble juncture?"
"No, but you can send those qualified ahead." Shell shuffled to a stop, squinting into the wind as he digested the eastern horizon. "Have your stallions prepared the gliders?"
"See for yourself, Prime Enforcer." Filta marched up to an upper platform of the deck, pointing towards where a miniature runway had been erected upon the bow of the battleship. Three metal, mana-powered aircraft were being rigged with rockets. Two pilots per craft were settling in, checking their instruments. "They're prepared for their instructions. Are we certain we know the whereabouts of the subject?"
Shell's nostrils flared. He pivoted and gazed towards the stern of the ship, where a obese stallion with a gray mane was leaning over the edge of the battleship, his coat having taken on a sickly green hue.
"It would seem that though my reputation is the only thing on the line, it's not the trust that's being tested," Shell muttered.
"Who? Him?" Filta trotted over and squinted. He glanced tiredly Shell's way. "He's been trying to talk to you all journey, sir. I had imagined the two of you had personally convened in order to... strategize over this 'special condition' of his."
Shell shook his head. "That was something I've had the luxury to avoid... until now." He winced as he forced his forelimb into a steady trot along with the rest. "Be prepared for my order at any given time, in the meantime, guide the Steel Wing towards the northeast corner of the Foxtaur Forest. I must converse with our... 'guide,' here."
"Sir, wouldn't you rather stay down below?" Captain Filta pointed at the glowing blue prosthetic. "There are plenty of places in the cabin where you can rest yourself."
"I've no time to recover," Shell hissed, trotting away. "This mission is of supreme importance to Queen Ledo."
"If you insist, sir. I can't imagine the pain."
Shell grumbled as he approached the lurching figure of Josho. "Something tells me I'm just about to..."
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Oh no...
Mmmmm, mana-punk goodness. 3.bp.blogspot.com/-woPf9TPpoS8/Tajg-2kpjDI/AAAAAAAAAx8/Wc0DPJyfIPg/s1600/drooling-homer-simpson.jpg
No push-ups this chapter, ):(, but you're walking the line letting Shell live on...
IT BEGINS
And so the hunt begins
Somewhere between Captain Hook and Darth Vader is Enforcer Shell; perhaps he has a dash of Captain Ahab as well. Looks like quite the little showdown in the future, just hope Dash gets back to the pair before the fleet does. Though, O.A.S.I.S could always lose power before they get there. There are all sorts of mana-tastic possibilities here, and all sorts of opportunities for awesomeness.
Geez, they just don't give up, do they?
I'm a battleship? That is... kickass!
images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111121223952/simpsons/images/2/26/Woo_hoo!_poster.jpg
I wonder what obstacles this will present to our heroes...
This conversation is going to be good!
*dafiltafish salutes*
i shall be an honorable captain for the glory of Ledo.
Shit, there are Candlemass songs less depressing than that.
Also, I'm putting five bucks down on them getting jumped by sky pirates or something at some point.
The Rivalry - Running Wild
Dohoho
1944760 ALL OF MY YES
Hey, great chapter. I'm hoping that we will find out more about the Sapphire Plains and Blue Nova, as they appear to be in Rainbow's path to the Xonan forces. A small potential arc there, perhaps?
Oh boy. I hope the trio hurries up, they don't have much time, considering their pursuer has an airship.
1944569
Sigh again.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Prime Enforcer Shell is pony Quaritch.
You might not like him, but he's so tough you have to respect him on some level.
If Rainbow Dash sent that airship down aflame with all on board, I would not be surprised at all if Shell, on fire, calmly finished his cup of coffee, swatted out the flames, and then hopped into a big mana-powered combat mech (also on fire) and then pursued Rainbow Dash to take her on again pony-au-pony.
Aw, I was really enjoying those bits of happiness and openness.
I hope they actually notice they're being tracked down 'cause of the magical sphere thing and manage to "fix" it.
I don't think so, Khao...
I'm feeling like something very bad and very big on the on the scale of a big manure wagon careening out of control towards Mr. Breezy's storefront window is about to go down.
Buuuut... I've been wrong about everything else, so I'm probably wrong about this as well.
A big manure wagon doesn't sound that bad after all that's happened so far, actually =P
Hmmm... Rockets...
Good for explosions...
I like explosions.
Shell is going to be channeling Ahab in the not-so-distant future, methinks.
Also, semaphores? That's serious business, but I can't help but wonder why a manapunk society built on the precepts of magic don't have some sort of communication device that uses said magic. I know they could at the very least do blinking lights, but considering the radically advanced technology we've seen so far, a radio isn't out of the realm of possibility.
Not that I'm complaining, mind you, I actually think semaphores are rad. Also I suppose that the whole point of an anything-punk society is that there's a mix of old and new technologies.
Wait, Dash is the one who's going to be harvested for her power? Why not harvest Shell? He's clearly got enough resilience to supply an entire army with extra lives, because he JUST. WON'T. DIE.
He reminds me of Alec Trevelyan from Goldeneye, but with less charisma.
Careful Shell, Josho can learn more about you the more you talk.
1946917Oh, yes. Except this time, the advantage is mine! WAHAHAHAHA!!
Well... shit just got real.
I'm getting some Darth Vader feels from Shell here. Losing a limb and his beloved, being all crazy and evil...
There's a lack of female Enforcers.
Well then. Maybe the cave is a good place to be - they'll never suspect it, and won't be able to find them if they're in a giant airship. Though they probably won't stay in there long, unless the cave has a path in it that leads all the way through the forest or something. Well, only one thing to do - Onward!
And So they meet!!! Im so exited!!!!
This is like your saturday morning cartoon where you see both sides perspective.
so awesome.
Also yeah This makes Eljunbyro quite distinctly different than Austraeoh,
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Well then. It appears the cavalry has arrived.
So the first thing here is that we finally get to see what is probably the Council of Ledo. They seem to be as expected - high up, no nonsense, don't care about anything except for the job getting done. The perfect rulers of the corrupt state of Ledomare. Also, Shell now has a prosthetic leg, so I'm not sure if that will have a part in the plot in the future. Also, these battle blimps (nailed it!) seem quite menacing. They also seem hot on Dash's tail, so she'd better pick up the pace a bit. This also bodes for some action sequences soon, so I'll look forward to that as well. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
Eep
If that... voice... was Queen Ledo.....
She scares me.....
Onwards!
Seems His encounter with Rainbow Dash gave him a little something to think about.
1950097
Not to mention conversing with creepy holographic projections of his immediate superiors. Although I guess Vader was usually the one being projected, except for that one time with the Emperor, but still. Ain't nothing says "evil" quite like that, lemme tell ya.
oh, 120 chapters! Honeytiger thinks this story needs more fire...
and le moustaches. Never forget le moustaches.
Uh oh. Run, Dash, run!
And don't forget Stripesy and Ding Dong. 
Hmmm, I just realized Shell is like some bad version of Rainbow Dash. Both are loyal, both do awesome things (For shell everything he does is awesome for Ledomare), both are persistent and don't know when to give up, both can change the world, both are opposite and similar in different ways I haven't even though of yet but I'm sure are there. It's ridiculous that I haven't noticed this till now. It makes keeping Shell alive more... interesting.
4423929
Hmm, interesting idea. It makes quite a bit of sense, actually.
Josho is in for a great talk.
img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130514042714/studioghibli/images/9/90/Fulllength.jpg
what i picture chasing them down. And im not even including the air combatants
Ugh, Shell again
however
Shell and Josho together
their histories clashing as they hunt Dashie and our two lovebirds
ooh, this will be a treat
I wish someone would draw up the steel wing, I would do it myself, but I can't draw.
Sending an entire air wing after a HVT? This is going to be interesting.
Oh great, so Shell is reporting to a collection of mysterious holograms. That always ends well.
An airship? Neat. Let's steal it.
Hahaha. In before the berets turn out to be unexpectedly significant.
Three rocket powered gliders versus Dash? Here's to the three upcoming explosions, may they be extra explodey.
One of the best descriptions of her so far.
Shell: "I must capture the
AvatarAustraeoh to restore my honor!"Josho: "Why don't you relax and have some calming tea instead."
This and Shell's formal speech patterns remind me a bit of Darth Vader.
Meanwhile, the rest of this so much resembles the Days of Wasp and Spider setting (in that ponies are escaping from a magitek civilization of slavers) that I keep mistaking the Ledomaritans for diamond dogs.
7189885
Omg, I fucking love you!
It would be priceless if they started acting like Zuko and Iroh
Ik this is off topic and all, but just imagine suddenly all the ponies shes made friends with just poo outta nowhere by some spell or something;
Just imagine how awkward it would be if Gold petals and Ember speak metXD
Ember speak|Gold petals
"so, uh, did she kiss you?"
"yup. "
" did you kiss back? "
" kinda.."
"..."
"..."
"god dammit Rainbow "
He wants that beret back
The stallion with a vocabulary as colorful as the sea
And an uptight stoic no-shit shitface cyborg.
Yeah, o can see that conversation going swimmingly. Do you some cheese with your whine, good sir?
Perhaps some crmpuets to crumble?
4942944
the picture is dead ;-;