Into the Drink
“That's a negative, soldier!” Shell said into a shoulder-mounted sound stone while trotting firmly down a wide, bricklaid corridor. A dozen officers marched after him, their hooves trudging collectively through the sludge and muck of the sewer around them. “I need Evans and his armada to remain east of the hangar doors we've just discovered.”
”This Searonese craft is really giving us a run for the money, sir!”
“Does the pilot have any backup?”
”N-no, sir.”
“It is just one craft and you have many,” Shell said. “Obviously this is an attempt to distract our forces. We cannot allow that to happen.”
”Orders, sir?”
“Tell the managliders not to hug the ship's tail like ducklings. There's no need for excessive force, especially with citizens present.” The sound of rushing water echoed off the walls in a deep hiss as Shell and his company rounded a junction in the brickwork, coming out onto a series of ledges situated above a three-story drop into a basin. Unnatural waterfalls cascaded on either side of him. “I don't want any repeats of Foxtaur. Have our ships draw back, form a line, and shoot the intruder out of the sky.”
”And what if we discover more, sir? What if this is the first sign of a Searonese invasion?”
“That's highly doubtful, but it matters little,” Shell said, trudging around a ledge. “Keep your eye on your current situation and deal with it accordingly. There's no need to get unnecessarily obsessed with one single target—” Shell bumped straight into Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash blinked.
Shell twitched, his one eye focusing.
The pegasus gawked.
Tweak and Imre gasped while the soldiers flinched.
One second of silence. Two...
”Is that all, sir?” the sound stone warbled.
Shell gnashed his teeth and reached for a taser.
“Nnnnngh!” Rainbow Dash plowed straight into him. The two went sailing past the soldiers in a gray and blue blur, slamming hard into a brick wall and bouncing off so that they splashed into the basin three stories below. As the sound of Shell's rattling tasers echoed across the sewer walls, it was replaced with the metallic ring of every soldier in that place unholstering and cocking their manarifles.
“Let 'em have it!”
“Drop 'em!”
Tweak let out a yell for good measure, shoving Imre back as he trotted backwards with his pistol outstretched. He fired broad swaths of bright blue energy, forcing the soldiers to drop prone to the muck or duck behind outcroppings of brick. Imre trembled as Tweak shoved the two of them into the middle of an underground aqueduct, choosing a vertical pillar to hide behind as a frothing wave of hot manafire sailed after them.
Both ponies flattened their backs to the pillar, panting as hot streaks of energy surged by, eating away at the brick and mortar that made up their flimsy barricade.
“I hate to say it, but it looks like your feathered friend is showing her true colors!” Tweak reloaded his gun after having already expelled its entire clip. “I know she's after savin' her buddies and all, but d-did she really need to ditch us?!”
“I think...” Imre trembled with sudden shivers. “I-I think she's doing us a f-favor...”
“By taking out one measly stallion?!” Tweak crackled, slapping his silver pistol back into working order. “I know she's capable of more than that!”
“I... uh...” Imre clung to the wall, flinching as bolts of mana landed closely around the two of them. “I think sh-she's doing us a favor...”
“Just who in the blue blazes was that one-eyed creep anyways?!”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Uh huh. Well, I ain't here for no guessing game.” Tweak slid the pistol through the brace of one hoof and gripped the rifle with the crook of his other forelimb. “If these sewer suckers here want their skulls evacuated of their brains so badly, then I'm happy to oblige!” That said, he flung around the corner with a hollering breath. “Ya hear that, city slickers?! Tweak the crystal guy ain't going down without a fight!”
Two stallions fell down, clutching their bleeding chests and shoulders in pain. Several of their comrades dragged them away while the other half returned fire, their aim thrown off as they flinched from Tweak's wild, dominating blasts.
“Yeah! Yeah! You'd better run, saddle stains!” Tweak snarled, firing wider and wider bursts as he channeled his own energy into the weaponry. “Not so easy doing the Queen's dirty work when you're staring down the barrel of death, huh?!”
Meanwhile, Imre trembled, huddled against the pillar to Tweak's side. She gazed down with wide eyes into the deep basin below.
Far away from the firefight, a deep current of congealed sewer water bubbled beneath several bricklaid pillars and aqueduct supports. After a prolonged period of silence, a single pony burst out from the depths. With a gasp and several sputters, Shell waded across the surface, his sopping gray mane devoid of his beret. He tried paddling towards a platform of mildew-stained brick, an effort made difficult by the fact that one forelimb was weighed down by a metal cast.
Just then, a sky-blue torpedo surged through the waters and straight towards him.
Shell spun around, his one eye widening. He gritted his teeth and summoned a bright pulse into his horn.
It was just in time, too, for Rainbow Dash shot out of the muck with a rising uppercut. Shell took the brunt of the blow with a telekinetic shield, but it nevertheless knocked him back like a hoofball, so that he landed like a wet sack of meat against a wall far across dry brick.
“Ooof!”
“You!” Rainbow Dash spat and sputtered, leaping out of the depths so that she landed on the edge of the platform across from him. “You simply don't know when to quit, do you?!”
“A sentiment...” Shell stood up, wincing only slightly. “Nnngh... th-that we both seem to share.” He cracked the joints in his neck before glaring at her. “Albeit, one with a great deal less intelligence than the other.”
In one motion, Rainbow Dash took off from the ground and surged towards him with both hooves outstretched. “Smart your way through my hooves, boot-licker!” She grunted as she was suddenly levitating to a stop in mid-air.
Shell stood a few inches from her, calmly forcing her to a stand-still with his horn. “Old habits are hard to break, I see—”
His face became the receiving end of a pair of burning hoof-thrusters. As Shell ragdolled away, Rainbow cut her engines and landed expertly in her Searonese armor. “No, some ponies just can't learn new tricks! Haaaaugh!” She galloped straight at him.
Shell stood up, then immediately ducked a hoof-swing. He backed up from her violent advances, side-stepped, then flung her against the wall with a telekinetic burst.
Rainbow Dash grunted as she slammed face-forward against a wall. Before she could trot away, Shell rushed up and held her from behind, shoving her muzzle harder against the brick. She writhed and struggled for a few seconds, before biting onto the controls sticking out of the neck of her armor. With a flare of thrusters, she shot the two of them up all three stories. Her armor spat spikes as it grinded along the brickwork, but the reward was Shell's skull and horn colliding heavily with the bottom of an aqueduct above.
Hissing in pain, Shell fell back.
Rainbow Dash flipped about, kicked off the aqueduct, and soared towards him. With a flicker of magic, Shell was ready, and the two fell diagonally together like a conjoined comet, exchanging kicks, bucks, punches, swings, and finally a headbutt.
With a hideous splash, both bodies went plunging into the sewage yet again. All was silent, save for the distant thunder of Tweak's firefight with the Ledomaritans.
At last, Rainbow Dash emerged from the depths, gasping and sputtering. She tried firing her thrusters, but mere bubbles flew to the surface of the pool around her. She cursed under her breath and waded towards a stretch of brick to stand on dry ground again.
Just then, a gray figure burst out of the water behind her and threw a pair of forelimbs around her neck.
Rainbow Dash gasped, her throat being squeezed shut by a slick metal leg-brace being pressed tightly against her skin. She wheezed and thrashed about.
Shell's face was as still as stone. He took a deep, deep breath, then suplexed Rainbow Dash into the sludge behind him. The two plunged again, writhing and wrestling through the muck. When they emerged yet again, Shell still had the upper hoof. He waded backwards until his rear hooves were perched steadily on dry ground. From there, he combined his upper muscles and telekinesis to keep Rainbow's skull below the waves of soiled water.
Rainbow Dash struggled and fought under his grip, but try as she might, she couldn't raise her shoulders above the depths. Her rear hooves and regrown tail lashed about the surface like a throng of panicked snakes, but her head did nothing but spit forth a cacophonous array of muffled bubbles.
Shell's brow twitched slightly above his scarred face, but otherwise he was calm and quiet, allowing his breaths to even out in steady salvos as he accepted this bizarrely tranquil moment.
And eventually, Rainbow Dash did too, her limbs and tail going limp as all struggles gradually ceased, and her body sank deep into the depths beneath Shell's quiet, steel grip.
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Oh shit.
2975440
Quite literally, in fact.
Oh shit. Please tell me that "pressed tightly against her skin" means that her element has fallen off, and that Shell will get to feel the full fun of Discord whilst in a pool of sewage. Pretty please?
This is probably the part where Eagle Eye shows up unexpectedly.
2975444
nah. it's an aqueduct, not a sewer.
Damn cliffhanger.
That scene of Shell bumping into Dash is priceless. Among the best moments of the series.
How did Dash's tail regrow so quickly? It was shaved just days ago, I think.
Something wrong with that sentence.
Shell is so, badass. It makes me angry and he needs to die; this story only has room for one badass. Well no, that's a lie cause you have Roarke...and Belle...and Crimson...
Shell still needs to die.
Endure and Survive
2975849
Wrong, I always grab my soldiers when I'm in pain.
Endure and Survive
Shell REALLY needs to misplace his cranium...
How did shell strangle dash if she had her element on? From what I've seen the elements act kinda like torc / chestplates
There's gotta be a catch. The decisive battle can't end like this.
Eat chaos, Shell.
Oh, how I love this sentence. It's so perfect.
She's either shitting with him, or the theories of the element having fallen off are right. Only issue with that being no one could stop her then to put the element back on but hey, no one really needed Blue Nova anyways right?
Oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear.
Eagle Eye? Are you there yet? Or Pilate and deer guy Floydein?
And I'm also wondering whether Josho is gonna end up a Chekov or not.
2975979
eh, I don't think so. The Element covers more of her chest than her neck. It leaves plenty of exposed neck for Shell to grab on to. Plus, the Element is not a solid piece of metal, but more of a necklace that flexes along a number of fine metal joints. The metal may protect against a degree of blunt trauma, but it is far from the protective shell of a true chest-plate.
Isn't Terra and company still hunting Roarke?
I suspect the chance of Searonese invasion is non-zero.
Tweak the crystal guy, huh?
Eh, I'll take it. No push-ups this chapter, ):(. I'm at Bronycon, so I'm in a good mood.
That certainly wasn't the epic meeting I was expecting, but it sure was entertaining seeing that "oh shit" moment between the two of them. Things sure aren't looking good for Dash right now, I wonder how exactly she's going to pull back from this.
Inb4 eagle eye(or discord).
You know, if you kill her, you are only going to make her mad
“That's highly doubtful, but it matters little,” Shell said, trudging around a ledge. “Keep your eye on your current situation and deal with it accordingly. There's no need to get unnecessarily obsessed with one single target—” Shell bumped straight into Rainbow Dash.
Hypocrite.
ah damn. there goes the neighborhood.
2976765
She's like a fuckin' Sayan: almost kill her and she'll come back stronger than before, until it gets to the point where power levels are bullshit and scouters are worthless pieces of face tech covering one eye.
She's probably faking it until Shell loosens his grip, then face punch and backflip for style.
I can't remember many instances when I actually did a double-take when reading a story. This was one of those instances. And it was awesome.
I know some people have theorized that Dash's necklace has come off. I suppose it's possible, but for some reason, I'm not feeling it. Besides, the necklace, as someone else said, covers more of her chest than anything. More likely, I think, is that EE, who we know is tailing Rainbow, will save the day.
2976274
Crap, I forgot about Terra and her lackeys. That's all Blue Nova needs: another dose of crazy.
Excuse me for bitching, but am I the only one that feels like the progression of the story has slowed down immensely? They've just been dicking around in Ledomare for so long; and I know there's a lot going on here, but remember the pressing matter at hand before? Dash's original goals to reach the Midnight Armory and such? It's as if that's just been put on hold, like some side-job in an RPG. "I can just put that off for a while, It's not going anywhere."
I have no doubt we'll be back on track soon regardless, but this Ledomare business has just completely changed the focus of it all. Time was of the essence, but now it's not even a factor.
Just my thoughts.
DAMMIT! see?! this is just what i was talking about..
“Keep your eye on your current situation and deal with it accordingly. There's no need to get unnecessarily obsessed with one single target—” Shell bumped straight into Rainbow Dash.
!!
!!
3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zs11W1-0efY/UKvM51uTSTI/AAAAAAAAHCI/AM5hrrZFUz8/s1600/cat-boy-that-escalated-quickly.jpg
The irony of Shell's statement is not lost on me... as he is attempting to drown the one, single target he has become obsessed with.
Logic coming into play:
you still have 9 parts to write... Dashie aint done yet.
I feel like Dash is definitely faking it.
Also whatever happened to Luna?
2975849 Her tail regrew faster because of the sapphiric string stuff Imre was using to heal her wing.
2979663
Ah. I was wondering if it was due to Discord, but she hasn't removed her pendant, so it wouldn't make sense.
Shell...
Prepare to have your ass.
Truly and thoroughly kicked.
A rendition of yolo, yes, yes, yes?
Maybe she pretended to die. And now she will jump on Shell's ass when he turns around.
Shell did a suplex so we know this fight is serious business.
2953061Just goes to show you that most of the mystery in the series has evaporated...but it's not bad, just different.
2953141I taught you well.
COUGH
COUGH
At any rate, I doubt Imre and the ever-OP Tweak will be standing there and watching. Nor that IC would kill off RD like that. I mean, seriously.
She's playing him.
She's playing him.
Please let her be playing him.
That was a beautiful amount of irony right there.
Bumping into Rainbow Dash, not her drowning.
Another great action scene all around, though an interjected gunfight does of course do some damage to the speed and energy of a scene fully focused on Rainbow biting people's tails off. I hate my friend so much for spoiling this cliffhanger for me.
2976131 And I almost missed the irony.
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Well, in the words of Ron Burgundy, that escalated quickly. There's no way that Dash died from that weak little fight. They still have a whole battle sequence to go through. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
Sell is the most awsome jack ass of all bad guys. he is just too awsomely bad and i hate him so much but yet i cant hate him just because........ my head hurts
3048569
so when are you going to do another marathon?
So Dash and Shell are both in the sewer now! Its only a matter of time before -
Huh. Well that settles that, then.
Also, Rainbow hasn't gone through as much as she has only to die to a gimpy unicorn in a pile of horse poo. That's a textbook example of the opposite of awesome, and we all know how much of a stickler she is for the correct definition of a certain word.
Okay, how about no? Fuck I hate Shell, but the thing I hate most is that he somehow--inexplicably--manages to consistently get the upper hand when going one-on-one with Dash. He is the ONLY CHARACTER who does so. In every other instance, Dash emerges on top, even if only by the skin of her teeth. I mean, what about Roarke? Are we meant to believe that Shell is somehow better than Roarke and all her weapons and gadgets? Only Plot Armor could make that possible.
I honestly do not care what happens by the end of this other than that Shell dies. I don't care how he dies, I don't care if he even realizes his defeat beforehand. I just want him gone.
Classic, didn't see that fateful meeting coming in this chapter at all. I'm wondering if there's something more to Imre's phobia.
...One day RBD's going to need to learn some tactics. Shell's a bit too good for sheer willpower to overcome him.
3135979
Actually, Dash beat him in their first battle way back in Blue Shelf, remember?
Dash is faking it.
-Spirit