• Published 9th Mar 2013
  • 9,052 Views, 10,169 Comments

Innavedr - Imploding Colon



A broken party of friends struggles to reunite. Rainbow Dash continues to fly east.

  • ...
44
 10,169
 9,052

PreviousChapters Next
I Know, Right?

“Dare I ask, what's the purpose of the silver finish?” Crimson asked.

From across the veering cabin, Tweak smirked while polishing his pistol. He held the shiny white stock of the crystal-powered weapon in the crook of his hoof and said, “Family heirloom. My great granddad used it to fend off Searonese bandits back in the Great Sapphire War.”

Crimson raised an eyebrow. “Was there really such a conflict?”

“Feh. No. But that's what they should have called it, instead of the South Aurum Searonese Incursion. It's the damned Ledomaritans that get to write the history books around here. We just harvest the crystals they need to power up the Spark-forsaken printing presses that make 'em.”

“Still, it is a very nice gun.”

“Damn straight it is.” Tweak clicked loose a hoofbrace from the weapon's left side. “Practical, too.” He slid the metallic ring over his right forelimb, so that he could hold the barrel out at leg's length. “Fits right around the leg, so you can come out of a full speed gallop and wield it when running into a fray.”

“What's the firing mechanism?”

“Same as any weapon. It was built by unicorns, you know, only custom fit to channel crystal energy from a bearer such as myself...” Tweak glanced up with a wag of his shiny eyebrows. “Or like my grandpappy. There's an old family tale about how he once fired a full clip into a hydra's chest. He did it in less than two seconds; didn't even have to reload. Damn near died from all of the energy output, but it worked. The hydra's heart exploded from the inside. Heh... for two generations, the family crafted harvesting equipment from the pathetic creature's orange scales.”

“That would explain a few things I saw on the farm,” Crimson said with a nod. He gripped a bulkhead with a metal limb as the bounty hunter's ship bobbed through a burst of turbulence. “You ever taken it into action?”

“Tried to frighten off a few metal mares with it,” Tweak said with a sigh, sliding the pistol off his hoof and clicking the brace back into the stock. “Didn't work much. Those body thiefs only ever responded to long ranged rifles anyways. It's a crying shame my grandpa isn't around still. Spark knows, he could have shot the nose off of a Killa from the far side of the village. Who knows how many holes he could have put into the metal mares. Now there was a stallion who knew how to make use of something that was built for perfection.”

A voice groaned from across the cabin. “Mares, stallions. You're all the same.”

Both ponies glanced over.

“Hmmm?” Crimson blinked.

Imre looked up from where she was preparing a field med kit. “Always so obsessed with weapons. So what if you abort the egg sack of a black widow at a million hoofball fields or whatcrap. I swear, does anypony these days not think about killing?”

“We're about to go into a dangerous situation,” Crimson said with a furrowed brow. “It helps to be prepared.”

“Spoken like a true soldier,” Imre grumbled. “Killing is like punching a clock, isn't it?”

Before Crimson could respond, Tweak loomed over her. “Now, that isn't exactly fair! You know how much he's stuck his head out for weak lil' sissies like you?! He's lost his best friends trying to fight for what he believes in!”

Crimson sighed, waving a metal hoof. “Tweak, please...”

“Nah, I ain't finished!” Tweak frowned at the mare. “Just what have you done to prepare for out little shindig in Pale Shelf! You're guiding us through there, Miss Commando! Or have you forgotten?”

“As a matter of fact, I haven't forgotten.” She zipped up a saddlebag full of supplies and hoisted them over her flanks. “And I am preparing... preparing for all of the bodies you're gonna drop between here and rescuing two of Rainbow Dash's best friends.”

“Belle and Pilate have been taken against their will,” Crimson said quietly yet firmly. “The enforcers of Ledo have proven time and time again that they do not listen to reason, nor are they capable of grace. We have no other choice but to rescue the beloveds by any force necessary.”

“But is it absolutely necessary?” Imre asked in a droning tone. “Couldn't somepony, I dunno, use a weapon by not using it for once in this world?”

Tweak stared at her as if she was made of clouds. “Were ya born yesterday, girl? Do you even hear yourself?”

Imre sighed, rubbing a hoof over her short mane. “I... I don't know. I guess I just wish things would stop repeating themselves.”

“Repeating themselves?”

“Where I come from. The way I was raised. I... I...” Imre bit her lip, staring towards the cockpit.

Around that time, Rainbow Dash trotted up. “Whew... I think the dizzy spells are over with for the time...” She shook her colorful head and squinted at the trio. “What's going on? Having chit-chat?”

“Nnnngh...” Tweak turned around and trotted loathesomely towards his seat. “I wouldn't mind myself having a barbecue. Dumb mare over roasted flames.”

Rainbow Dash blinked at him. She turned to gawk at Crimson. “Is it the crystal ponies' time of month?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” Crimson shrugged with a smirk.

“Once every four weeks, they form synchronized cracks and jab into ponies' fetlocks?”

“What the Hell?!” Roarke suddenly barked from the cockpit.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Yes, I know. Not my best quip—but I was just doing the vomit tango back there! Cut me some slack—”

“No, it's not that.” Roarke slowed the vehicle as she brought up the copper map of raised needles. “I'm detecting something.”

“Something?!” Rainbow Dash galloped towards the front, immediately followed by a breathless Crimson. “Like a black and white and blind all over something?”

“Pretty damn much.” Roarke rotated a valve and slapped a crystal diode. A series of pins raised up, fluctuating with burning ends, and they were positioned northeast of where the speedy craft currently was. “There be your favorite zebra,” the metal mare said through her helmet. “Or, presumably, his mana sphere. Here's hoping it's still attached to his head.”

“But that... that...” Rainbow Dash's jaw hung open.

“It most definitely is not Pale Shelf,” Imre said, trotting up.

“Then... what in the heck is it?” Tweak asked, craning his head to see from a distance.

“It's a city,” Rainbow Dash said, then squinted. “At least I think it is, unless all those big pins are trying to suggest that Pilate and Belle ended up in a forest of flu shots.”

“The only city in this area of the Confederacy is Blue Nova,” Crimson said. “A major shipping port, zeppelin manufacturing center, and also the headquarters for Nightshade Industries, if I'm not mistaken.”

“Blue Nova?” Rainbow Dash made a grimacing expression. “Sounds like a stallion who stole a kiss from me at Flight Camp.”

Imre glanced at her. “Stole a kiss from you?”

“Yeah. They all called him 'Blue Nose' for two months straight after that.” Rainbow Dash cleared her throat and leaned in. “Is this—like—current? Is this totally where Pilate is?”

“Most definitely,” Roarke said. “Or, like I said, the O.A.S.I.S. sphere that's ordinarily fused to his nervous system and runic skull plate.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Crimson.

The stallion glanced back, patient.

With a deep breath, Rainbow Dash nodded and said, “Then we're totally going there. Let's hope his stripes are still attached too, ya dig?”

“Oh, I dig.” Tweak smirked. “A friendly little romp through a stuffed-up city. Whew! The day just keeps getting better and better.”

Imre glared at him. “You're impossible.”

“And your head looks like a hoofbrush.”

“Shhhh!” Rainbow Dash hissed. “Knock it off until you get to knock bad ponies' blocks off! It's time to do less saving and a lot less suck!” She tapped Roarke's shoulderplates. “You mind doing the honors?”

“Hey...” The bounty hunter shrugged and veered to the right, angling the craft northeast. “It's only my airship and your best friends.”

“Remind me to give you a lecture about guilt trips later.”

“You suck at lectures. I like it more when you kick flank.”

“Yeah, I know, right?”

PreviousChapters Next