Of Course
"It's over here, dudes!" Rainbow's voice called out.
Stepping over high bushes and shrubbery, Crimson and Zenith emerged from a line of foliage. They froze in place, squinting from where they stood between the trunks of massive oaks.
Lying in a sunlit clearing, as clear as day, was a slender black vessel, built like a giant bottle made out of reflective metal panels. Four sets of landing gear propped the heavy craft atop the soft soil beneath it. Sharp foils spread across three ends of the vehicle's rear, outlining a circular assortment of jagged crystals. The surface was so smooth that it was difficult to to ascertain where the cockpit was, much less a doorway of any sort.
"Okay, I give," Rainbow Dash muttered as she hovered above the thing. "How the hay does it fly?"
"I would venture to guess the bounty hunter lends it some of her hot hair," Zenith droned.
Crimson rolled his eyes as he stepped closer towards the vessel. "Most likely, it's powered by enchanted crystals that propel the ship through the air. At the notorious speeds these Searonese vessels are known for, it'd be no surprise if the crystals burn out at a swift rate."
"Just where do they get the crystals?" Rainbow Dash asked, circling the craft from above. "I thought I heard that the ponies of Searo were mostly earth ponies."
"Ledomare trades enchanted materials with them," Crimson said.
"What for?"
Zenith answered, "For what Searonese mares are good at: finding and destroying enemies of the state."
"Ew. So, like, Ledomare just buys ponies from outside the Confederacy to do its dirty work?" Rainbow frowned. "Is there a kingdom beyond Dream Valley that doesn't believe in some ridiculously stupid system or another?"
"Huh?"
Rainbow Dash sighed. "Never mind. Just forget I said anything."
"Hmmm..." Crimson marched up to the ship, squinting at his reflection in the black panels. "The metalwork here is amazing. Not even Xonan armor has this immaculate quality."
"Haven't you bumped into Searonese airships before?"
"This is the closest we've ever come to one," Crimson said. "Metal mares work alone. The only reason a mercenary such as myself would cross paths with the likes of Roarke would be if there was a bounty on my head."
"That's kind of what happened," Zenith muttered.
"Soldier..."
"Either of you ever flown a manaship?" Rainbow asked.
"We've never flown, period," Zenith stated. "All the places we've ever gone, we've marched. The Council of Ledo doesn't exactly provide transportation to Blades Guild members."
"'Cuz you're from beyond the border, right?"
"Exactly."
"Then I guess this will be a learning experience for all of us," Rainbow Dash said, rubbing her hooves together.
"What do you propose we do?" Zenith raised an eyebrow. "Snap this thing open, ignite the power core, and fly east to pick up the others?"
"Power... core...?"
"All Searonese technology has a central conduit," Crimson explained. "A metal mare has several of her natural organs removed right after birth, replaced by a mana crystal that powers the prosthetics she will have attached to her when she grows up." He looked up at the pegasus. "The same method is used with most of their vehicles."
"So, let's get in there, then!" Rainbow Dash flew to the very top of the vehicle. Her expression brightened. "Hey! I think I see a doorframe here! Lemme just pry this open—"
Crimson gasped. "No! Don't—"
It was too late. A bolt of blue energy flickered all around the body of the craft and surged into Rainbow's body. With a dramatic, voice-cracking shriek, she flew back from the vessel and slammed into a tree. Her body slumped down to the ground, dizzy eyes flickering ruby to yellow and back to ruby.
"Unngh... should have guessed some crud like that would happen."
"Heheheheheh... heh..." Zenith cleared his throat and went deadpan again under the glare of Crimson. "Ahem. Sorry..."
Crimson sighed and trotted over to Rainbow Dash. "Are you alright?"
"I've been through worse—like—just this friggin' morning." Rainbow grumbled as Crimson helped her up to her hooves. "Seriously, though, what gives?"
"Searonese security. I should have warned you. If it's any excuse, I always thought that such a thing was only rigged on larger battleships."
"So what now?" Rainbow Dash shrugged, smoothing back her straight strands of prismatic hair. "The thing is charged to fry whatever nuzzles it!"
"Most likely the enchanted crystal core inside the metal mare's body could be used to deactive the shield," Zenith said.
"Alright!" Rainbow Dash's wings flapped. "Then let's grab her, drag her over here, then turn the stuff off!"
"I seriously doubt it will turn off without her expressed permission," Crimson said. "And Searonese are especially picky about keeping other ponies from messing with their equipment."
"I'm sure she can be persuaded to turn it off for us," Zenith said in a distant voice.
Crimson glared at him. "Don't even pretend to insinuate what I think you're—"
"You have a better idea for how all of us can get out of here?" Zenith pointed up towards the sky. "And outrun the artillery of a freakin' battleship?"
"If we can reason with her and get her to understand the trouble that she too is in—"
"Cap'n, I love you to death, but you know as well as I do that nothing's ever gonna be that easy with that hydraulic freak." Zenith frowned. "Miss Wildcard here just spent the better part of an hour locked in mortal combat with the she-devil. What makes you think she will cooperate like a sane equine?"
Crimson shook his head, glaring towards the vessel. "We have a ticket to freedom right here, and yet it feels like it's a continent away."
"So let's do something about it!" Zenith squawked. "Let's show the metal mare we mean business and get her to open the ship or else!"
"Or else what?"
Zenith shrugged. "She's had organs ripped out of her before, right?"
"That's totally not cool!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"Lady, at this rate, the world's gonna be scorching!" Zenith frowned and pointed. "The fact is, all seven of us have very few easy ways to get out of here, and all of them could end up with our flanks full of mortar fire. I'd say we accept the metal mare as a casualty that she brought upon herself and run with whatever assistance she can give us. Kindness be damned—she sure as heck isn't about to show us any reasonable mercy."
"Zenith, do you even hear yourself?"
"Do you even see where we're at?!"
"You know what I see?!" Rainbow Dash barked. "I see a big ugly black banana pretending to be a ship and it's a real stupid shame that I can't unpeel it!" She flew over to Zenith. "You got that polearm?"
"What about it?"
"Do you have it with you or don't you?"
"Of course. I carry the darn thing all the time."
Rainbow turned towards Crimson. "And you've got your hammer?"
The muscular stallion nodded. "I think I see where you're going with this..."
"Good, cuz between your guys' weapons, your guys' telekinesis, and my wings—I don't see why in the sparkly mane of Luna we can't open this piece of crap on our own. So let's stop squabbling with each other and work on something that matters while we still got daylight. Got it?"
"Pfft!" Zenith spat. "Since when were you elected leader—?"
Rainbow Dash's glaring eyes were in his face. "Got it?!"
Zenith stared back, frowning. He glanced aside at Crimson.
The muscular stallion slowly nodded.
With a sigh, Zenith levitated his polearm and plopped it into Rainbow's grasp. "There. Try not to break, then the only use I'll have is digging latrines for that worthless prisoner you've bestowed us."
"Yeah, maybe you can bore a hole in yourself and fill them while you dig." Rainbow Dash flew up with the pointed weapon and nodded to Crimson. "Captain? Thank you can lend a hoof—er—or a horn?"
"Absolutely. Just try not to shock yourself again."
"I'm making no promises."
Crimson trotted after her.
Zenith was left standing alone, staring at his hammer-wielding superior... or more specifically staring at a particular pocket of Crimson's vest. The hint of blue light emanated from within. Running a hoof through his mane, Zenith grumbled and marched off into the shade.
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Think.
----------
Nice chapter as usual. Wonder if they can "peel" the "banana" open.
Gosh darn it, Zenith, if you ever so much as try to give away RD by stealing that stone, I swear I'll...
Uh...
I'm not entirely sure what I can do, actually. I'm sure it'll be horrible, though.
Zenith is bad news.
DUN DUN DUN
In all seriousness, though, I love this story, especially this chapter. I'm a sucker for good comedy, so allow me to reiterate the two best parts:
Ouch, I'd imagine that would be quite painful. Again.
MR. GRIIIIII-INCH!
Zenith has already activated that stone hasn't he.
Zenith is just bad news. Every time he opens his mouth, it's like he's getting closer to betraying the whole group. I even feel like I should understand his point of view better than the views of the others, but I just get bad vibes. Bad vibes, man...
Somehow I don't think this will work.
Rainbow Dash! What're you thinking, bashing it in with hammers and poles?!
We're not caveponies!
We can solve this with technology!
1.bp.blogspot.com/-WpRDcyNc_7s/UGMppryekiI/AAAAAAAADYs/6l4Rg3Ev33Y/s1600/tumblr_ljsdmfvF7L1qe3twro1_500.gif
Goddamnit, Zenith, shut up.
Bannana and can't open...Curse my dirty mind.
2174711
Why Not?
Hammers work.
This is Australia...
That little communication device to talk to C2 would come in very handy right about now. Too bad she is stuck dealing with technology the pegasus way.
I get Zenith's reasoning - in times of war sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do - but I'm glad Dash isn't giving in. Also, traitor Zenith incoming. I give it another two or three chapters before he rats them out. And I can't be the only one thinking that a metal pole-arm plus an electrified ship is a really bad idea. Glad Dash is made of at least 40 percent black matter
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So Zenith is becoming more and more separated from Crimson and Dash as this fic goes on. I'm worried that, at some point, tempers will flare and Zenith will do something drastic. Also, Zenith has a quote here which seems minor, but could be significant - "Kindness be damned." Remember that Kindness is one the Elements. So that might come into play later on. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. 2174899That made my day.
I knew what the gif was before I opened it.
Quick! EE! Gather up everyponies' saliva and slather it on the manaship - stat!
and nobody else is disturbed by this?
zenith i a douchebag
I'm actually hoping Zenith will turn out all right in the end. Three guesses why.
Roarke is going to have some less-than-pleasant things done to her i can tell already.
Whelp, we got a fair bit of the technology explained, although I am still very intrigued as to how they charge the crystals with Mana.
We have seen instances where crystals naturally contain mana (Dash retrieving crystals for O.A.S.I.S.) so I suppose that they could be naturally imbued with the energy and need only be mined. However, the sheer scale on which they're used, plus the fact that crystals can be enchanted with mana raises other posibilities. Do Unicorns use their own magic to empower the gems? (possible, but it would have fairly low yield per unicorn, seeing as most aren't magically gifted. The ones that are would probably be used for other, high-skill jobs rather than being low-class magic producers, which stretches the plausibility of this theory). Or do they instead channel some external source of energy to empower them (This may explain the extraordinarily high energy usage). If so, does the energy come from material goods - wood, coal, oil - or from the world itself? The latter option carries large implications if the worlds inhabitants are gradually using up the world's (a machine) energy. . .
Meh, enough over-analysing energy sources
On to a few technical points:
I felt that this was a fairly poor description of the vessel. How can the vessel have three ends at the rear? Perhaps you meant that the foils spread across three of the planes that composed the hull, assuming that it is made from flat, rather than curved, plates. I got the impression that it was a fairly sleek, streamlined ship, so did you instead mean that the foils radiated outwards from the crystal array, set something like 120 degrees apart? I'm not too sure, but this small discrepancy makes visualising the ship difficult for me.
Dayum Zenith, didn't know you were into copper-bound dreadlocks.
All in all, it was a pretty decent chapter. Zenith's impending betrayal is building up even more tension, although the ways that it will play out are still numerous. The detail given to the mechanics of the ship were pretty good, although some of the information given could have been weaved in a bit more subtly over a longer period rather than a simple info-dump. That said, if they don't get into the ship, that closes off any immediate opportunity for further development, and I don't know exactly how much is to come. In retrospect, the information given here might be very little in comparison to what we will be told.
Keep up the solid work, IC.
2174711 you fly the damn thing, you should know if it works or not.
2176736
Do not forget that Crimson and Eagle Eye both were able to manipulate O.A.S.I.S., as was Belle and several others before them. Manaobjects seem to retain the magic that is supplied to them, and the object then exploits that power for a specific purpose. Recall that Darkstine employed a similar methodology. Additionally, Ledomare has no qualms about using conscripted labor to achieve its goals. Do not think for one moment that the council would not utilize that type of mass labor to power its machines.
2175229Well, I don't know where Racine is, so...
But your idea for an oc sounds cool.
...um...I'm glad you like them that much...? Seriously, I'm glad. Perhaps I'll evaluate other fics as well...
Speaking of which, my oc's cutie mark is the Aperture Science logo.
That explains her latest fight...SPOILERS.
2175660Well, perhaps the annoyance was her trying to mask her true feelings and she just broke. I'm not really sure.
2175685There you go.
2176163Oh, jeez...
2176211And now you have a name.
2178605Huh...she has been getting more violent lately.
2178543I guess that makes sense. Still...
2178774I can see that breaking down scene happen. I seriously can.
2178942Thanks.
2178042 You misunderstood me, I meant that I doubted their ability to enter my ship without my help.
Considering that Roarke calls the others breeders we can probably guess which organs were removed. Killer bounty hunters probably don't have much time for kids. (We could probably get into a whole existential discussion about the symbolism of life-bearing power causing the ship to work; and perhaps the ship being streamlined [almost metallo-organic] and plugged into Roarke, is symbiotic....)
This is going to be fun to watch. I have a feeling that that pole-arm will conduct pretty darn well.
Is it wrong that I'm sympathizing with Zenith?
2176009 You mean, like your other half? That overgrown salamander is such a nice fellow after all.
Our travelers have now chanced upon a lone "black banana" ripe to be peeled. The situation is made complicated however, by the presences of unyielding magic that is preventing our travelers from peeling said banana...
Nonetheless, our heroine, Rainbow Dash, has devised a cunning and clever plan to outmaneuver the defensive energy surrounding the manaship, involving telekinesis, flying, and a multitude of re-purposed weapons.
Will it work? Or will it not? Find out, in the next chapter!
Onwards!
NO FUCK YOU ZENNITH!!!
Yay for terrible metaphors by Dash.
...
Okay, that done, let's see how they open this up, and...
ZENITH I WILL RIP YOU APART AND THEN USE YOU AS THE SUBJECT OF MY NEXT GORE READING.
nojk
Come on, Zen. You're better than this.
Mh, I do think it would be best to force her to help, but again, it's totally in character for Dash not to do it. let's see if it works this way
If I were Roarke, and thank god I'm not, I would just rig the thing to explode when everyone got on
just some strategy, is all
2185349
Zenith, if you do what I think you're going to try, everyone will die.
Before this story is over, I hope Zenith does try to betray them and Shell ends up splattering him just on general principles.
Edit: Yeah I take that back.
Is it weird that I kinda agree with Zenith?
Probably not as violent as he imagines, but if there was no other way for them to get on that ship, I think it'd be more important that they got on that ship and to safety, than keeping a mare who's just tried to kill Rainbow alive. Though torturing her into doing it would only be a last resort, and as I said before, I wouldn't like it as violent as Zenith would. But if it had to be done for their survival, then I think it would've been the best action to take. It seems like Dash has found another way to get in though. Phew! 
2185349
oh yup
This ship probably has more security than a bank vault. Also, I wonder if I’ll ever stop imagining Zenith as female.
So, our group has arrived at Roarke’s ship, which didn’t take long. However, they can’t get inside. Now they have to find some way to do that.
Also, can I just mention that their objects for the plan sound like a shopping list? A polearm, a hammer, and sheer wit.
Anyways, neat chapter.
Rainbow Dash is automatically the leader by virtue of being awesome and also Jesus