"By the Queen's craphouse!" Josho barked, pointing breathlessly towards the sky. "She's falling!"
"Your gift for the obvious is much valued, as always, Enforcer." With a sighing expression, Captain Filta turned towards Shell. "Sir? Shall we still fire?"
Shell was rubbing his chin. His one eye narrowed, and after two and a half seconds of thought, he said, "Better do it now before your stallions catch up with her."
With a single nod, Filta turned towards his crew ponies at the guns. "On my mark, stallions!" he shouted. "Ready..."
Rainbow's body plummeted towards the forest floor.
"Aim..."
The cannons glowed bright blue, aiming at the pegasus' helpless body.
"Fire—"
A black body soared overhead, buzzing violently close to the hull of the Steel Wing. The air thundered from the conjoined power of quad mana-thrusters. Everypony on deck went deaf for five seconds, and when they recovered they found the whole body of the Steel Wing rocking from the near collision.
"Whoah!" Josho flailed, his fat body almost completely plunging over the ship's edge. "What in the Spark's spit was that?!"
"Captain?!" Shell shouted. He clung to a metal beam, his face registering anger and confusion. "Why didn't your ponies identify a rogue vehicle?!"
"It came from the north, sir!" A crewpony shouted from a platform of the massive zeppelin above. "It must have been utilizing enchanted arcanium on its hull!"
"A cloaking field," Captain Filta murmured aloud. His eyes blinked wide. "That's Searonese technology..."
"Searonese?!" Josho grunted, pointing towards the east where a black metal body was darting over the forest. "You mean to tell me that a friggin' metal-mare is in that thing?!"
"Captain!" Shell shouted again. "Do your stallions have the target still in sight?!"
"Look!" A crew pony shouted.
Everyone watched as the black bogey soared effortlessly through the air battle. There was a puff of red energy, and suddenly a thick cloud of black smoke was obscuring the entire sky. The inky mist spread with such swiftness that the managliders were forced to break off from their pursuit of Rainbow Dash's plunging body. The multiple vehicles almost collided with each other as they split in two separate formations, attempting to outfly the expanding sphere of opaque smog.
"Find the target!" Captain Filta shouted. "Fire at will!"
"Sir, she's vanished!" one of the ponies at the cannon stammered. "The cloud—We can't see through the bogey's smoke screen!"
"Then fire anyways!" Josho growled. "Blow up that part of the forest where she landed!"
"Captain, sir..." The nearest cannon operator glanced forlornly between Josho and Filta. "Our stallions—we might hit them."
Filta said nothing. He turned and looked at Shell.
Shell's jaw clenched for several seconds, then relaxed. With flaring nostrils, the Prime Enforcer mumbled, "Withdraw your stallions. Send in a rescue party for those who're lost in Foxtaur."
"Aye." Filta gestured towards his crew. Several ponies ran up to opposite ends of the deck and flashed lightning symbols towards the distant gliders.
"By the teats of the moon!" Josho flung his beret down onto the deck and slurred, "What's that stupid manatard from Searo think it's doing sticking its muzzle into Ledomaritan business?! We almost had that blue bastard!"
"Undoubtedly he or she is here to collect on a bounty for the same target that's brought us here," Shell said in a groaning tone. "I do believe the hunt has gotten a great deal more complicated, gentlecolts."
"Maybe my stallions on the ground can find the body of the target before the Searonese intruder," Filta said.
Shell took a deep breath. "I wouldn't count on it, Captain. If you've dealt with Searonese like I have, then you'll know they're even craftier than Xonans. I fear we might be chasing that bogey before all is said and done."
"So what do we do?!" Josho gestured wildly towards the black horizon. "Just wait for the storm to clear?"
"What the Searonese doesn't have on their side is firepower," Shell firmly said. "Their metal guile is hollow and heartless. Once we bright the Steel Wing through their smokescreen, they'll have no choice but to flee from our wrath—" Shell's voice trailed off at the sign of a pony marching up.
The crew member bowed low and said, "So sorry to bother you, Prime Enforcer, but it's the Council." The stallion fidgeted nervously. "They are... erhm... they are demanding an audience with you... as swiftly as possible."
Josho bit his lip. Filta glanced nervously towards the commanding officer.
Shell was silent as stone. Straightening his beret, he solemnly turned his flank to the mess on the east horizon and marched like a one-pony funeral dirge towards the cabin below. Everypony froze for the length of time it took for him to descend, and then they sped back into action.
Oh, please let her be like Aloysius in Scarecrow.
This is Australia...
Shell gon' get it!
And a new contender appears! Even more fodder for a big, multi-party conflict at some great crossroads.
i don't know who i am, a friend, or an enemy .
Dang this just got exciting and confusing all too quickly!
Dang. Perhaps we'll see Roarke again.
Perhaps I'll stop making predictions at every chapter.
Okay, one of those is more likely than the other.
This is the bounty hounter we saw some chapters ago,right.
2.bp.blogspot.com/-IpBKsk_19os/T2EXUJJf8cI/AAAAAAAAAJU/k_J_UfN6ruY/s1600/challenger-approaching.jpg
Hey won't that be that bounty hunter mare who's name I can't remember?
If so, looks like we have another issue to deal with. Luckily Shell seems to have given up, but even so. We have a dizzy Dash falling a long bloody way, and a merciless Bounty Hinter in the area.
I assume.
I mean, we don't really know that the Bounty Hunter isn't trying to help Dash. IF that was her intentions, that would be interesting. And that'd even if it is the Bounty Hunter anyway, it may just be completely different Pony.
Onwards!
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So it appears that Roarke has made an appearance! I assume it's Roarke, anyways. Shell's description of a metal bounty hunter basically confirmed it. So I have no idea what'll go down and how Dash will survive Roarke. Perhaps the Foxtaur crew will be able to stop the bounty hunter, but I don't know. And how did Searo know about Dash I'n the first place anyways? Something to watch for I'n the future...And now Shell is going to have to explain to the Council what's going on. So there's that. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
Searonese = Chozo
Its June the bounty hunter! I mean, Roarke. I have to say, I was not expecting that. This'll definitely complicate things, now that the party's all split up. But captured Dash is better than mashed Dash, so I'll take what I can get. Onward!
Well screw me sidewards, I did not expect him to actually stop at anything. Also, for a moment there I thought that Axan finally had had enough and was taking a more active role in the game... well, a man can hope.
It'd take a lot more than an elite army of militant ponies to warrant draconic intervention. Frankly, I'm not sure I want to know what would warrant that, as a matter of fact...
I haven't read past that yet, but I just had to post this. Damn it IC, my sides xD
AWWWW YEAHHHHH
I think this is Roarke. In fact, I'm absolutely sure that it is Roarke.
samus, or chozo, seriously
Council... hmm. The Queen is surely evil too, though, right...?
Looks like Shell has a beret now. Earlier, he had said that the Council didn't send him a new one yet.
Well, not quite a machina, but very much a deus ex.
Shell's in deep shit now!
I guess that's what you get for throwing your men around left and right and DESTROYING ANCIENT FORESTS IN PURSUIT OF ONE PONY
So Roarke arrives on the scene, and her intrusion may just be the distraction Rainbow needs.
Deus ex, indeed. The much anticipated and mentioned Roarke, perhaps? Well timed, regardless.
Have a pleasant conversation, Shell!
6353861
Couldn't happen to a nicer pony
Diabolus ex machina?
"You have failed us for the last time, Prime Enforcer."
Third parties can be either friend or foe, but never fail to make the situation far more complicated.
05/05/2017 16:52 UTC
Ah, and so we learn what faction Roarke belongs too.
Sounds like elite pirates
Crossed with steel rangers.
oooh someone's in trouble~
Obviously, the cloaked ship was operating by the Somebody Else’s Problem Field. There’s no other explanation.
I also can’t complain about this deus ex machina because you literally warned us about it. Other than that, it’s a good chapter.