Iota Force Issue #1: Baptism by Fire

by The Iguana Man

Next time on Iota Force...

“Pleasure doing business with you!” Remarked the old, gray earth pony as he put the little filly’s bits in the register. “I hope you enjoy your purchase!”

As he adjusted his hat, he saw a shadow come up to the door window reading “Uncle Wing's Curios”. As soon as he noticed this, the door slammed opened and a terrifying looking pony rushed up to him.

“Have you sold any comic books recently?”

Wing was so startled by the question, he entirely forgot about the filly he'd just served. “Well, I... I don't know... so much comes in and out of this store, you see...”

“This is important!” The anxious pony grabbed him by his scarf. “I sell these things... enchanted comics, I... I shouldn't have let it go... I didn't realize it was that one I was selling. That one's dangerous! I tracked it to here, please tell me you still have it!”

“I... I can certainly have a look, young pony.” Said Uncle Wing, disentangling himself from the hysterical pony's grasp, doubting both his story and his sanity. “But I don't know that I'll find anything.

Neither of them noticed the filly exit the shop. Nor, alas, could they see into her saddlebag, where the comic they were searching for lay, a green tendril of hair slithering out from within its pages.

Comments

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

Now that's a heck of a cliffhanger right there...

Great story, all in all! I really loved it from start to finish.

[The Iguana Man]

9477500

Thank you, both for that comment and the ones you've been leaving throughout - I really appreciate the encouragement.

And, like I said, Issue #2 will be coming out as soon as I can get it edited. So, you should hopefully expect it some time before the sun burns out.

[raven618]

9477507
Um, I think you forgot to post chapter 5.

[The Iguana Man]

9477689

...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

Four years. Four... friggin'... years. I finally publish this story after four... YEARS! And then, when I finally get it all sorted and start putting it up, I just... forget to publish the MOST IMPORTANT CHAPTER! The climax of the whole blasted story. And I just... forget to hit publish on it. And instead skip straight to the aftermath, both robbing that of context and giving away what happens.

I... I just...

derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/9/2/416825.gif

*Sigh*

I am... immensely and sincerely grateful to you for pointing this out to me, thank you. I have now published chapter five so hopefully I look a litte less of a fool. Like, 0.01% maybe?

It's a start.

[raven618]

9477720
Don't beat yourself up about it, I once left a chapter unpublished for two months. TWO MONTHS!

And about your need of an edited. I am willing. However, I don't have Discord, or Facebook, or anything like that. I'm also a college student so my schedule is a bit, iffy. If you get a better offer I would suggest you take it, but if not, well you can't go much worse than the bottom of the barrel.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Well, apparently I sleep when it comes to this story. In any case, fantastic stuff all around. Definitely looking forward to the next installment. I'd offer to edit, but I'm not sure if I have the time. Still, thank you for this.

[hawthornbunny]

Picked up this issue on FoME's recommendation, because this kind of thing is right up my street. I really enjoyed revisiting the golden days of season 4/5 again, back when the Ponyville foals were more celebrated than they are these days. Great to see the laid-back Gamer Luna too.

I like how nobody is really trying to hide their secret identity (although I guess the unimportance field produced by the badges means they don't need to). Also yes, even despite being a longtime fan of the Ponyville foals, I have to admit that Lance went completely under my radar. A great choice for the team. :)

Also, Iota Force - Icy Flight - coincidence?

[The Iguana Man]

9724336

My word, you're right, that must be... completely unintentional, but I'm happy with it now that you've pointed it out.

In fact, the reason she's named that is because, back when I first came up with the idea and characters, I was replaying the original Spyro the Dragon and realized that many of the flight levels would make great pony names and that Icy Flight would be great for my OC cryomancer.

Anyway, happy to hear you enjoyed the story and I hope you'll stick around for a few more from the team.