Strong Ponies
The cold door slid shut behind Belle as she sat at the stool before the barren desk. The reason there was no echo was because of the multiple bodies filling the air of the room.
What was once a well-furnished office had been stripped bare of everything except the grand portrait of Queen Ledo. Shell stood behind the desk, levitating a crystal over glass tablets as he "signed" off various documents. Without looking, the scarred war stallion spoke, "Garnet has been relocated. As Prime Enforcer tasked with overseeing the functions of the Blue Shelf facility, I have appropriated his office. In the meantime, he's been relocated to another part of the facility where his managerial skills may be placed to better use."
Belle sat still, twitching from the proximity of the rigid, uniformed ponies on either side of her. Two more flanked the desk. The room felt hot and stuffy from all of the still, unmoving bodies at attention, as if everypony was waiting for a gunshot.
Instead, Shell's voice rose yet again, "Such is the way of Ledomare, after all. Our talents are as important as our bodies, only... our talents can't be moved elsewhere. Our bodies, however, can." He paused and stared up at her with his one good eye. "Garnet had nothing to prove. And what about you?"
Belle bit her lip. She could only stare in pensive silence at the officer.
He blinked at her. Pointing the crystal with a tilt of his magic, he said, "Now you can't possibly be mute again. That elder worker... what's his name? Dalton? He told me that you were capable of speaking. That's why I brought you here, after all." He stood up, his hooves scraping sharply against the concrete floor of the stripped room. "Because if you can speak, then perhaps you can explain things to me. For instance, why—in five long days—has Blue Shelf's most prized sequencer produced absolutely nothing to stand on?"
Gulping, Belle dryly spoke, "I sequenced with the subject. I had a vision. And..."
"Hmmm?"
She bit her lip. She squeaked forth, "It's all gone."
He shuffled to a stop, staring at her. "Gone."
She nodded pensively. "I don't remember anything beyond the first jump. All of the spheres that Dalton claims I sequenced with, I—"
"Dalton claims nothing," Shell said, his voice hard and metallic. "He's a scientist. He collects empirical data and relates it to his colleagues. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what you have a learned diploma in, Doctor Bellesmith."
"I know, sir—"
"Then explain to me how you could lose track of an entire week's worth of research," he said. "Is there history of deterioration in the short term memory of ponies who've sequenced with a subject's spheres?"
"I haven't a clue, Enforcer."
"Why not?"
She gazed strongly at him. "Because no unicorn has gone as deeply as I have."
He stared at her for a few prolonged seconds. Inhaling, he paced over to the far side of the office, standing beneath the portrait of the Queen. "I've seen a great deal of conflict in my life, Doctor."
She stared at him, shivering slightly.
"I've killed ponies up close, and from afar," he stated, his good eye lazily drifting towards the edges of the Queen's picture frame. "Xonans, pirates, outlying rogues. In truth, none of those deaths have moved me much. Whether you kill from a distance or you see the life drained from their eyes, they're still the enemy, and I've never been bested by a single stallion in combat. But I do remember one scuffle I had. I came out the victor, but I didn't feel so at the time."
He pivoted his face towards her and pointed at the right side of his face.
"It's how I got this, you see," he said, pointing at the scar. "I had gone on an expedition in the southeast jungles. We were attempting to find a mining facility run by Xonan militants. It turned out to be a wild goose chase, but that didn't stop my company and myself from galloping deep into the sweltering foliage. At one point, our unit got attacked by a pride of manticores. Half of our numbers were wiped out, so I grabbed a managun and I eliminated two of those beasts for every good Ledomaritan slain. That's when the leader of the pack singled me out. He pounced on me. The scuffle seemed to last for minutes. I took his life, and he took half of my face."
Belle flinched as Shell's hooves scuffled towards her.
"It was the most harrowing experience of my life, and I assure you that I remember every damned second of it," he marched icily towards her. His good eye glared. "Because after going through hell, I'd never forgive myself if I willingly chose to forget the one moment in my life that made me strong." He shoved a hoof in her chest as his voice rose, "So now I want you to ask yourself something, Doctor. Are you sure you haven't made yourself forget something you're too weak to handle, or are you just not a very strong scientist?!"
Belle blurted it out immediately; it almost resembled a squeak. "Austraeoh."
Shell's eyebrow raised.
"I was told a word in the first vision," she hissed through chattering teeth. "It's what the symbol means."
Shell grumbled, "What symbol?"
"The one Garnet wanted me to learn more about." She gulped and very bravely added, "Or were you too busy to learn that when you fired him?"
Shell was silent. His nostrils flared, and he glanced up at the soldiers flanking her. All he had to do was nod.
Suddenly, Belle was being hoisted up by glowing telekinesis. She gasped, flailing in a panicked fright as she was being pulled out of the office. "What?! Wh-where are you taking me?!"
"Do you care about your beloved?" Shell asked.
In a jerk, Belle looked up at the Enforcer.
"That zebra," Shell asked, his eye hard and sharp. "Do you love him?"
Her eyes moistened slightly. "Y-yes," she stammered.
"Then you would do best not to ask too many questions." He whistled.
And that's when the bag was placed over Belle's head.
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yeayuhhh update
Subject: Shell
Prefix Title Obtained: Warhorse
-Minty
You know what?
This Shell fellow.
I'm not sure that he's a very nice pony at all.
I think we should take Shell behind the chemical shed and have him suffer and... accident of some sorts...
1541795
static4.fjcdn.com/comments/3389197+_d5e263284c9924563380c00c0d836dde.jpg
"exposition in the southeast"
Hehe, I think you meant expedition, but that little slip makes sense in an ironic sought of way
Oh damn.
Looks like Belle annoyed Shell a little bit too much, but could the "bagging" also be something that was bound to happen anyway? Generally, a bag is used to disorientate the victim while they are moved from one location to another, in order to keep the new locations secret. However, why would Shell move facility if he just took over this one? I think that we are either looking at Belle being moved to a more secret part of the facility, or she is being taken to an interrogation chamber of some sort.
1541874
I think you got ninja'd, ember.
Chances are the Blue Shelf Facility is much larger than we've seen, and has more areas than Belle is normally privy to. They're taking her somewhere "special" that she can't know the way to. Either that or they're going to attempt to kill her.
Be sure to really pay attention to Shell's expedition exposition, though, it is quite revealing as to who his character is. He charges in with false info, finds the info to be false, and looks to take out an enemy regardless. He leads his unit into a bad situation that gets half of them killed, takes on the manticores by himself, and then boasts about his strength after nearly dying, wearing the scar as proof of his strength. He is proud of his actions even though it got ponies killed and had zero merit. He's like Sam Rose (sorta) but without a noble purpose. It's hollow and it is very revealing of his motivations and dedication. His brand of blind loyalty is quite different than the Zebra's. An apt name if there ever was one.
1541896
Pray to the Spark, my friend. Your life is in Belle's hooves.
Well, that wasn't nice.
1541863 I see what you did there!!!!
1541896
Well friend, i think you're pretty much toast.
The Fingermen! It's the Fingermen!
They've black-bagged her!
1541966
1542086
Leveraged toast!
Right then. I'm off to tell Shell that there's an ancient, powerful artifact in Fluttershy's shed.
1541133
shouldn't eating 4 of something non-existant be pretty easy?
In my mind, Shell is voiced by Ed Harris. It makes him sound awesome.
Anyway, it looks like Shell wants to know more about this "Austraeoh" thing Belle is talking about. That, or he already knows a lot more than it seems and Belle just took her first step into a much larger, much more dangerous world. Either way, Belle is likely in for a lot of pain over the next few days. Now would be a good time for a Whitemane ex machina that allows Belle to escape and start her journey for real.
1541896
I think you're misreading that story. He was ordered into the jungle on intelligence that wasn't his own. It says he was attacked, not that he sought out the manticores. In the chaos of combat, he did what was necessary to save the remainder of his company. Based on the change in his demeanor after Belle reveals what she learned, he may end up being an antihero for the remainder of the time we see him. He learns what he needs from Belle before letting her go to complete Eljunbyro. If he knows, somehow, what's at stake, I see him as the type to get Belle out of Blue Shelf, even at the cost of his own life.
Then again, it could all just be played straight and Shell may just be an
hole.
So, to summarize:
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU~~!!!!
1542246
Maybe.
The Mission.
This is the sentence in question. The phrase "turned out to be a wild goose chase" implies that they didn't know until after the fact, but "that didn't stop my company..." can be interpreted to imply that they continued on despite knowing they had bad intel.
He may not have gone in looking for a fight, but they didn't exactly shy away from one either.
Then, what does
imply? That Shell didn't get involved in the fray until half his unit was already dead?
Either because Shell is an awful story teller, or the chapter was just hastily written, there's that ambiguity. I interpreted it to mean that he was foolhardy, arrogant, full of pride and bravado. He's telling a story you tell your chums at lodge, not a story of any great glory. He's saying, "look how fearless I was" to try and instill fear in Belle.
Ohhh, boy. We get to see Shell being a probably-jerk-but-possible-surprise-hero, and we get extra expedition (whoops! Exposition
). Also: Queen Ledo, eh?
This Austraeoh word needs to be explained in heavy detail. It's being used far too much in the story for it not to be.
1542712
Its that thing. Y'know the thing thing. A thingy that thingies things. A thing with which other things get thingied all up in the thingies.
Room A Thousand Years Wide - Soundgarden
1541896
Yeah, looks like I did :P
I would partially agree with you about Shell. When he tells that story to Belle, his objective is to intimidate her. Now, this intimidation is probably one of his primary techniques in controlling subordinates (who wouldn't be scared of a "war-hero" with half a face and a bad attitude?), however he was doing it with the knowledge that she apparently had nothing to offer him. So he may have been doing it to try extract information and reinforce his superior position, or he might just be sadistic, getting pleasure out of seeing others cower in fear. The very fact that he is using fear as one of his main negotiation tools is pretty telling about his character: He's cold, hardened and probably quite sadistic.
I also agree with the idea that the story gives him a sense of pride, however I don't think that he and his men were in that jungle of their own accord. If you read the start of the paragraph again, he says,
The expedition was to find a mining facility in the jungles. Furthermore, they would only have found out that it was a wild goose chase by getting there and finding no mining facility. So chances are, they were already in the jungle searching (they didn't know it's location) for this facility when they got attacked. So it wasn't really a sense of blood-lust, pride or foolishness that caused him and his party to get attacked, just bad intel.
On that note, due to the cramped, low-visibilty nature of jungle warfare, it is highly unlikely that there was one big fray, and Shell only joined in once half of his men were dead. It is much more likely that it was a kind of guerilla warfare, with the pack of manticores picking his men off then disappearing into the jungle.
Drawing back to what I said at the start of this paragraph, Shell is probably proud of what he did in those jungles, but at the same time it was probably quite a scarring experience for him, hardening him and changing the war into something much more serious.
ok, damn that pony! that manticore should have finished him off!
1543376
Agreed.
1541874
I think it was bound to happen at some point. I think it's because Belle is the deepest sequencer.
Is it me or does this seem like something Dash would say?
mother bucker!
1543439
I meant it more as in, "were they going to bag her regardless of what she did?" If only because why would they have a bag at the ready otherwise? It might be that they planned to do it whenever she found out enough, but it seems to be more Shell's style to just bag her, put something important on the line (Pilate) and take her to a location where they can make sure she works tirelessly to give them the information they need. Cruel, but efficient.
1543548
I think they probably would have done anyway in that scene :P
Shell is a prat.
I think Shell is a pretty cool guy. He kills manticores and doesn't afraid of anything.
I'd say Shell is lawful evil. Not a truly irredeemably horrible guy, probably, but he certainly makes no effort to change the fucked-up status quo. I think his justification for getting mad is perfectly reasonable, even if he's a bit of an asshole about it. And he certainly succeeded in jarring her memory.
/devil's advocate
1541896
Shell kinda reminds me of this guy from Avatar:
25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m48baxrBBD1rp46olo1_1280.jpg
Its interesting how you can read his character though; in one sense you can say he's all about battle, not caring about the merit of the actions. But in another sense, the exposition he gave us could also show us that a.) Shell isn't beyond admitting that the leaders in Ledomare can make mistakes (he outright tells Belle they were given bad info, one more concerned with honor or more fearful of reprisal would probably have downplayed that) and b.) he at least believes himself to be very loyal and caring of fellow Ledomaritans ("I killed two for every good Ledomaritan slain").
This certainly gives him some not-so-subtle Colonel Kilgore qualities. Again, can't wait to find out if this dude's really a complete jerk, or if he has something else going on thats just making him act like one at the moment.
Been stuck away for a couple o days, and I come back to this.
I really hope Belle manages to not say anything else to Shell or any other Ledomartian officials. Clearly Belle is meant to do something to help RD that Ledomare won't want her to do, so I'm worried that if the Ledomartian council find out about it, things won't be so good.
1545605
I made that exact connection! Shell seems... like a genuinely thoughtfully asshole? He seems to have reasons to what he does, and he thinks things through, but they aren't exactly the nicest things to the character (Belle) that we care most about.
Also doesn't it say here:
that Austraeoh is actually the symbol as opposed to RD herself, which is the conclusion which I originally came to and I remember others thinking similarly. So now if I take this new information into account, I have a different idea.
Austraeoh, is what the symbol means (the one from Austraeoh) and that when Queen Whitemane told Belle about bringing the winds to Austraeoh, I think the 'winds' are referring to RD.
Then Whitemane mentioned the next phrase of calling (I think it was called something like that) which was indeed Eljunbryo. Now I have a couple of ideas as to what Eljunbryo could mean.
The first idea is that Eljunbryo is something that I'd required to revive Rainbow. I don't know what it would or could be, except for that it would result in Rainbow being fully alive again.
My second theory (and the one I hope not to be true) I'd that Eljunbryo is referring to another pony or other being, (perhaps even Belle herself) that needs to revive the world, which would ultimately mean that Dashie is dead and won't be revived. That is why I hope it's not true.
My third and final theory as to what Eljunbryo means, is that Eljunbryo is the other symbol which Belle found earlier on in this story. In fact, I am almost certain that this symbol and Eljunbryo are related, but then there's still the question as to what Eljunbryo is.
We shall find out more,
So...
Onwards!
That shell guy's an arse. Still wondering what's up with Belle's crappy memory - I don't like her telling the bad guys all about Austraeoh and the symbols and stuff for some reason. She better can the sarcasm and witty one-liners (even if they're funny) is she wants pilate to be ok... well, I guess there's nothing left to do but read some more!
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So if my knowledge of corrupt military states still stands valid,( COUGH ASSYRIA COUGH,) them Garnet was fired for the sole purpose of having the Ledomareitan government having total control over The Facility through Shell. (That's what I'm calling it from now on. Deal with it.) Also just like a military state, it's now corrupt as well. I wonder where they're taking Belle...These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
RDBelle, nooooooo!Wait...where's Slade? I WAS PROMISED A BAD-ASS AND MYSTERIO-
oh
Shell is kind of Bad-ass....AND Mysterious...somewhat
Also I cannot stop thinking of Tony Jay
I may slip the Slade thingy for now.
Ah Shit!
Wow. An ultimatum, because Belle made Shell look like an idiot. Shell may be strong, but he is not smart it seems.
Just another bully.
Welp, into the depths . . .
A bunch of bullies. That's what these are, bullies.
And today's motivation is...
...Because hostages! Woo!
Slade was a typo, then. All good, all good. Shell is exceptionally cold, and that's what he needs to be because this fic needs a strong, solid villain and also I'm a sucker for cold, compassionless killers.
Okay, there's so much wrong with me at this point that it'd be better to ask what's right with me.
Also, does the omega symbol mean 'Austrae' and the squiggly sun thing mean 'oh', or do they mean 'Austr' and 'aeoh' or is it only a word when the two of them are combined? Man, weird before-alicorn-times runes are hard to figure out.
And what about those other two runes? Do they come into play? Do they mean Eljunbryo?
...Holy crap, they probably mean Eljunbryo. We're probably gonna get a different set of runes every fic.
With weird runes that only Dash can see and Belle adopting Dash's traits, the AC vibe has only grown stronger. Onward and - knowing Dash - upward, my friends!
Now that 'Slade' is just a typo, Shell can still be Wrath. Oh, and what a great Wrath he's turning out to be...
Ehhhh. Come on, Shell. Even Evil Horse Duke was smarter than you, and his major contribution to society was kicking foals into a pit.
Edit: So I was wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong.
Man, this guy is a douche. I think he was blinded more by ambition then his missing eye.
And go Belle! You rock! ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWA!
6497155
So energetic.
I like this character, but I want this faction to lose.
it's gonna be satisfying when someone finally slashes Shell's throat open