Kera on the Run
Kera snuck her way down the central crawlspace in the heart of the Ledomaritan battleship. As she passed crossbeam after crossbeam, the flimsy hint of light danced through the thin spaces between the wall panels and floorboards. She passed a room with steam machinery, and her tangled mane flounced from tufts of mist hissing through the fine grooves. After that, she found a thin vertical space leading towards a lower part of the vessel. Using the book, she illuminated the drop below, eying the total height and its copious collection of cobwebs.
“Nnnngh… There’s gotta be a way off this stupid flying goose,” she muttered to herself. A cold chill ran through her shoulders. She glanced back the way she came. “I am so not spending the rest of this voyage with Captain Conniption Fit.”
So, with a deep breath, she flexed her limbs and jumped down the space. Stifling the urge to shriek, she cast her horn down and channeled a burst of magic into the wooden floorboards before she could land. The energy acted as a cushion, and she landed with relative ease, her ears picking up dozens upon dozens of muffled voices.
Kera judged that she was in a hollow wallspace between two separate crew quarters. The wooden corridor led in the opposite direction from which she had crawled down the upper level. Kera figured that she had access to the greater length of the ship now, seeing as she was below deck level and she had started in the cabin near the stern.
So, with gentle hoofsteps, she crawled her way towards the far end, unfurling her cloak every now and then so that the runes of the book would give her a forecast of the dusty sojourn ahead. She had to keep her hoofsteps slow and steady, or else the aging wood might creak under her meager weight. As she proceeded, she heard the muffled voices of crew ponies in greater clarity.
”...the second week in a row. You think he would have given us some express instructions from the Council by this point. Say, you remember those days? When the Prime Enforcer would actually brief us?”
”He’s got more pressing concerns…”
”Like what? Babysitting?”
”Huh?”
”What business does the stallion have with a tiny Xonan filly?”
”That was a filly?! I didn’t notice. I was too shocked that we hadn’t eliminated the target after all.”
”I know, right? I never knew so many ships piloted with skystone. That was the third one since we left Blue Nova. The source of propulsion is super rare material, isn’t it?”
”Heh, well it’s rarer now. That’s for damn sure.”
”Say what you want about the Prime Enforcer. He’s certain efficient.”
”I was gonna say ‘cold.’ When do you think he’s gonna level with us?”
”Beats me. I never signed up for a ‘secret mission.’ Sheesh… what I wouldn’t give to be allowed to send just one message to my beloved through sound stones.”
”I swear, everything’s changed since the Captain died. Evans is good and all, but I think he takes his position a little too seriously.”
”If you were the only stallion the Prime Enforcer talked to, you’d be super dead serious too.”
”Or just super dead.”
”Tell me about it. That foal doesn’t stand a chance.”
Kera gulped, finally crawling beyond earshot. As she proceeded down the corridor, she brushed past another muffled conversation to her right.
”...to do something. We’ll be running out of rations, and the morale is low.”
”Shhh! We agreed not to talk about this!”
”Look, I’m just being realistic!”
”You’ll be dead! You know who we’re dealing with!”
”No! No, I don’t! For Spark’s sake, he’s got everypony wound tight around his fetlock! And for what?!”
”My break is ending soon. I just want to make my bed, clean my gun, and get back to my post…”
”This is a wild goose chase! You know that, r-right?! The moron’s gonna take us straight into Xonan airspace and we’ll be blasted out of the heavens just like all those poor saps with the skystone!”
”Just what in Ledo’s name do you wish to do about it?!”
”He’s just one stallion. Just one. Think about it!”
”No. He’s just one stallion who has killed more mares, monsters, and airships than either of us will ever see in our lives. I’m not about to touch that, pal. You wanna prepare your own funeral, be my guest.”
”You see, it’s that sort of attitude that’s gonna be the end of all of us! I swear! Why don’t you agree with me?”
”Buddy, I’d rather be alive than sensible. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got…”
Kera exhaled once she was a good dozen paces away from the crew quarters. The shadows grew darker towards that end of the crawlspace, and she heard fewer and fewer voices. The air grew stuffier, and she sweated through to her cloak. Nervously, she approached the last few beams and leaned towards it, attempting to look through the seams.
She saw a supremely dark room. There was a dim, dim torch lit somewhere in the distance, as if in an adjacent hallway. It cast a slight sheen over the floor on the other side of the wall panels, illuminating a throng of randomly placed straws of hay. Kera took one inhale, and she nearly gagged at a horrible stench of mold and equine filth.
“Nnnngh! Jeez!” She waved a hoof before her muzzle. “Is this what I think it is?”
She shuddered, glancing back over her shoulder at the way which she came.
“Mmmf… buck it. I want out of this flying wooden casket.”
One panel at a time, she shuffled across the wall, pressing against each square inch with her forelimbs and shoulders. After ten minutes of scrutiny, she finally stumbled upon one panel in particular that creaked from her shoving limbs. Holding her breath, she shoved and shoved and finally kicked against it. The panel dislodged from its frame, opening slightly ajar. Holding her breath, Kera squeezed on through, dragging the length tails of her cloak along with her.
When she finally emerged into the room on the other side, she was surprised to find out that it wasn’t a lavatory. She stood up straight, blinking at her nearby surroundings. At last, as her eyes adjusted to the new layers of darkness, she noticed black bars erected before her.
It was a jail cell; she was in the brig.
Biting her lip, Kera trotted forward, feeling around until she found a hinge. Tracing the metal door up, she found a flat panel and shoved against it. A rattling sound echoed from the other side.
“The lock…” She squinted at the round, dangling shape. “Seems simple enough.” She licked her lips. “Guess these idiots forgot to design it for unicorns.” Her horn glowed, and with careful concentration she was able to fiddle the tumblers free from the inside out. With a victorious clicking sound, the lock feel free, thudding to the wooden floor. Kera pushed against the door, and the metal hinges squeaked hauntingly into the darkness.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped out into the main corridor of the brig. She turned to face the dim torchlight from the far end, only to discover shadows arriving from the adjacent hallway.
“Oh crap!” She stammered, trotting backwards as a panicked hyperventilation filled her petite body. “WhatdoIdo? WhatdoIdo?”
Before she could even answer herself, a grimy pair of hooves flew out of the darkness like spider legs and clamped over her mouth.
“Mmmmmf!” Kera gasped, her green eyes wide as she was dragged back into the dark corner of the cell.
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It's nice to have a reminder that not all of the Ledomaritans are stone-cold bastards.
Spiderlegs! Put that filly down!
Seems like the crazies are aboard =/
So the morale of the Steel Wing's crew is starting to drop.
I'm not saying I want them to mutiny against Shell, but I do want them to mutiny against Shell.
Also, I sincerely hope that those were friendly hooves at the end.
Or maybe it's Nightshade.
Is she still on board?
Thank you for having all the Ledo soldiers not be mindless drones, ):(.
Here's your reward: fifty pushups. Don't say I never gave you anything. Knock 'em out!
SUDDENLY PESTIFEROUS
lol nah
Also, we're one fifth in.
Yay!
Remind me. Is Filta dead?
Kera, remember Maxim 29: The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more, and no less.
Kera should really be more keraful.
~bass
I hope whoever grabbed Kera at least had good facial hair
A mutinous crew is not going to stop Shell. That crazy bastard has nothing to lose now, and that makes him oh-so-frightfully dangerous.
Eeeee...a brig is not a good place for a filly to be.
3315868
You know something, I bet it is Nightshade. This is gonna be a lovely reunion.
Kera, no! It's Jafar in disguise!
3316002 Not to mention that Kera happens to have a certain relic with her...
A starving pony will sell out for half a rotten apple.
They will usually pause if offered a full, unblemished, rosy apple.
Especially if the pony offering is insane and a known poisoner.
3316019
Oh, right. Her. Don't think she's dead yet.
Of course, we don't know how fast Roarke and co. are going. They may be closer than we think.
3316111 No headsplosion, no confirmed death.
And as fast as RD and Roarke are going, I don't think they could catch up with the Herald's ship, much less the Steel Wing, that easily, it still could take them a couple of chapters.
Phew, caught back up with the most recent chapters. As soon as those cultist fuckwits started going west, I knew they would run into Shell. It added up too nicely not to happen this way....
All in all, I feel pretty terrible about how things have turned out for Shell so far. He's certainly a villain, yes, and he's done terrible things... but he also seems to get the short end of the stick so often, he just can't catch a break. Seeing him in such a broken state, it hurts. He was once a proud, determined, solid defender of his country. He's still determined, but his pride has turned sour with loss, and his solid composition has decayed into something unstable and diseased. I still hope that, by the end of his journey, he will have found some measure of peace, and may the men under his command make their way back home safely.
Even the cultist fellows aren't all bad, as shown by Zaid. He was a decent sort of guy who just got thrown in with the wrong lot, and paid the price for their actions. If he had been able to get away from those overzealous nuts, I get the feeling he would have made a pretty good life.
See, that's one of the great things about this story, even the villains are extremely three-dimensional. You can see where they're coming from, sympathize with them, feel for them, and recognize that some of them really are just innocent people thrown into the mess whether they like it or not.
I hope Kera gets off the Ledo ship before Dash and Roarke arrive, but judging by the Jury group's luck lately, that probably won't happen. If anything, the Ledomaritans will probably find Dash and Roarke before they even know that Kera is still alive.
3315972 nice pun.
...Ya know, i was just thinking that shell couldn't possibly go crazier...
And we have a mysterious person kidnapping Kera. You know, again. I think its R.D or another rescuer.
As far as antagonists go, I'm torn between hating the cultist and hating shell more. They are both unbelievably annoying, but Shell at this point is more pity-able than hate-able, and the cultists do have an honest belief that they are doing the right thing...
Na, until the cult start making human (PONY?) sacrifices, Shell easier to hate. Its at least partly his fault his insane.
My money says it's Nightshade. After all, she was in Shell's custody last time we saw her, if I'm not mistaken (she helped guide them to Deep Ridge), and it makes sense that she'd be in the brig rather than just roaming free. Plus, with her past with Kera, there're interesting storytelling possibilities there.
Also, that ship needs a good, old-fashioned mutiny.
I need a score card for all the characters, is there a wiki for this story yet?
3316339 And let's not forget that Kera is carrying the book with her. Best case scenario, Nightshade let's Kera hide with her and tries to use her to break free.
That is, if Nightshade is the one in the jail cell.
3316398 There's a TvTropes page.
3316339 This. All of it.
3316398 Yeah, but it's still being developed.
I shouldn't read the comments. You guys are too smart. However, the comments in this story are great because you're all smart... well, most of you
JUST KIDDING
3316398
Yes there is.
3316002
A mutiny wouldn't stop Shell, I agree, but once Kera and the Relic are away from him, it would effectively render him a non-threat. If he had no way of catching up to Dash and the others, it doesn't matter HOW powerful or insane or driven he is. He'd still chase them, but he'd be so far behind, that it just wouldn't matter.
Frankly, I think that that might be the most painful way for him to exit the story, simply becoming irrelevant. No dramatic death, no big final fight, the story just moves beyond him. And to be honest, I think it might be about time. I just read through this entire story, all 600+ chapters, this past weekend, and I found Austraeoh to be the most interesting portion or the narrative thus far. Part of that, I think, is because of the shift in pacing between Austraeoh and the rest of the story, and part of that is from a personal dislike of 1984-esque false utopias (especially contrasted with the many different, vibrant cultures we saw in Austraeoh), but Shell's continuing role as an antagonist also plays a part in this.
In Eljunbyro, the change in pacing from Austraeoh hurt him, as the antagonists in Austraeoh shifted far more frequently, leading to the expectation that, following his defeat in Blue Shelf, a new setting and antagonist would be introduced. However, he stuck around, which would not normally have been a problem once the shift in pacing became obvious, except that he continued to stick around past the end of Eljunbyro, and began to steal the spotlights from the new antagonists that he encountered. His presence as a looming threat detracted from Nightshade's role as an antagonist, and culminated in his usurping the role of antagonist from her altogether. The same thing thing appears to be happening here, with the Eljunbyro cultists. The story positions them as the new antagonists for this book, and then Shell shows up out of nowhere, and now he is the antagonist again, the one who RD will come into conflict with to in order to rescue Kera.
Speaking of conflicts, that is the other big issue I have with Shell: his conflict with the protagonists isn't very interesting. His goals can be summed up simply as "Shell wants to defeat Rainbow Dash." It is a simple goal, and one that puts him directly in opposition to the protagonists. Contrast that to Nightshade, Pestiferous, and the antagonists in Austraeoh, who could be said to have had goals and schemes at right angles to the protagonists' goals, and only came into conflict because of coincidence or because the protagonists choose to become involved. They were not defined by their opposition to the protagonists, like Shell is. The backstory connection between Imre and Shell could have added an interesting dimension to both of their characters, but it was only revealed for a single chapter before it stopped being their conflict, and became his madness.
Kera could really use a soliton radar:
tearfulwolfstudios.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/soliton-radar.png
3315942 My enemy's enemy is not my ally, but we can work together to eliminate the greater threat before turning on eachother
3316398
There's a character list I've been keeping up to date.
Nightshade?
OK, so let me get this straight.
-Shell's insane/not quite in his right mind. By a long shot.
-Nightshade may/may not be spider-legs.
-Kera still has the book.
Well, RD isn't spider-legs (she'd be useless with the book un-protected as it is), and neither is Roarke. I doubt Roarke would leave RD behind for this.
Shell appears to be killing anyone who goes against his orders, if the dead Captain's anything to go by.
That about right?
There's a Kera on the Run
Through vents she's squirmin' like a toad
Take a long flight away
Xonan children play
If ya give this foal a ride
Khao's family will die
Kera on the Run, yeah
The way I see it there are three possibilities:
1- Nightshade
2- An enforcer Shell didn't kill
3- New character type.
3315942 I know a lot of the characters aren't Roarke but we need to see more Maxim 6: If violence wasn’t your last resort, you failed to resort to enough of it.
With a victorious clicking sound, the lock feel free! Must be a feeling of joy. Victorous, clicky, joyous freedom.
Moar! Also possible Nightshade. Yay?
3318295
pheh. why fire ball bearings when you can fire balled up bears?
Madame Nightshade Zachanassian thought that her money could buy anything, even justice. Boy was she wrong. She remains my favourite villain, especially with the strong chance of redemption that both her character setup and current situation allow (I am sure Belle would be simply delighted to see her again, after their last meeting went so well!). Nightshade has always been no more than a beacon involuntarily spreading her own sorrow around. Evil but guiltless. I do love her so very much. I can't wait for the next chapter.
How nicely put!
3315942 Murdered when Shell took over the Steel Wing, yes.
3316832 Giving Shell no great finale after all this would exactly for the mentioned reasons be the worst for the character, not for the person - or in other words, it would just be bad writing. Suspense is fine and dandy, but some reader expectations simply must be fulfilled in light fiction - a massively anticlimactic finale certainly isn't one of them. Just like Shell doesn't want to defeat Rainbow Dash. She is means to an end to him, like she was to Nightshade or Khao - to Nightshade, the ends were even the same: using Rainbow to end the war. Of course, Shell understands himself as a servant to his mission, it is all about his hunt, his goals. Before Imre's death, he might even have forgotten that his eventual goal was peace - I for one am convinced that it was really a personal matter to him. Before. Nightshade has a more sophisticated, independent approach, but her intentions are the same. If you want a villain that just antagonizes Rainbow for the heck of it, look to Pestiferous or the Searonese in general: blood and violence as end, not means, without any purpose or underlying motivation. Shell maybe very simple in comparison to Nightshade or Khao, but the Searonese are very simple in comparison to him.
Oh look, a possibly new pony! Honeytiger just loves possibly new ponies!
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Huh...I really like how Imploding characterizes the Ledo soldiers as not all being mindless drones. It's pretty cool. I think that what's going to happen is that there will be a small mutiny, but Shell will just destroy it immediately. Also - friendly hooves at the end? Better be. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
3318390
Master has given Lockey a click! Lockey is free!
In other news, Kera's really getting around, isn't she? From rainbow fanatics, to Shell, to (probably?) Nightshade all in the span of like, an hour. I'm not sure if it'd be better for her to stay put for five minutes or to keep getting passed from villain to villain like a tattooed hot-potato.
3315942
Shell's crew could also be remind of Maxim 1: Pillage... then burn.
Who is it now?
-Spirit
The little bits of dialogue from the unnamed NPC's serve to humanise...equinise? 'em. That's pretty cool.
I have a feeling that the crew will prevent Shell from getting what he wants sooner or later, whether it be through mutiny or their deaths.
Shell's crew is beginning to fall apart... they're beginning to notice that he's unhinged, even for... well, HIM. This remnant of operation's going to fall apart at any moment...
Here's hoping whoever's got her now is friendly.
6247477 I think being a good person/pony/creature is the only crime in Ledomare, so I'd say the chances are good.
Hmm. I can't think of many ponies who Shell would bother taking prisoner instead of just killing.
Except maybe...
I share every one of the concerns mentioned. The big problem they all seem to have is that (apart from Kera) none of them can think for themselves. If they all said no, even if Shell kills them, he cannot fly a battleship by himself. He likely knows that, and at this point any non indoctrinated crew would have mutinied by now. Shame he can appeal so well to those around him.
05/22/2017 00:02 UTC
Don't drop the soap