The ringing in Bellesmith’s ears was still settling by the time her vision returned. The first thing she saw was the horizon tilted at forty-five degrees. Smoke billowed out from the starboard stern of the Noble Jury, and it parted just long enough to reveal the looming shape the Steel Wing above.
“Pilate…” Her lips moved slowly. She pulled herself up, wincing. Her ears popped as she forced her jaws to open and shut. “Pilate, beloved, where… where…?”
Something pierced the ringing noise: a dull shout. In a blink, time resumed, and Belle spotted a mana-powered skiff hovering abreast of the Jury. The first of many stallions stood on the edge, training a manarifle on the top deck of Floydien’s ship.
A lavender body blurred past Belle. She felt her breath leaving her, but she still couldn’t make out the sound of her own lungs producing the ex mercenary’s name.
“Freeze!” The enforcer atop the transport vessel shouted. “Hold your ground--”
“Everpony!” Eagle Eye shouted to the air as he levitated his sword and shield in mid gallop. “Get below deck!”
“Eagle--” Ebon’s voice sputtered from the far end of the ship.
“Take him down!” The stallion aboard the skiff fired.
“Nnnngh!” Eagle blocked with his shield, spun, and swung his sword high. “Yaaaaugh!”
The blade sliced clean through the soldier’s rifle, littering his body with flying crystal fragments. As the soldier fell back with a gasp, two more jumped out and landed on the Noble Jury’s top deck. They drew sparkling tasers and twirled their way into Eagle with a series of rapid attacks.
The unicorn blocked and deflected, sparks showering between him and his foes. Sweating through his violet bangs, he caught the forelimbs of one attacker with his hooves and tripped him. Twirling his body, he launched the stallion’s figure like a club into his partner.
Three more stallions jumped down. They surrounded Eagle Eye on all sides.
Belle stood up. “Eagle Eye! Stand down!” her voice cracked. “They’re too much for--”
“Get off our ship!!” He charged one, sword-and-shield criss crossing.
The stallion knocked the blow aside and stabbed forward with his taser.
The attack grazed Eagle Eye in the shoulder. He hissed, bleeding from the sliced throw, and bucked the unicorn in the side.
Two more attacked his flanks.
He threw his shield at them then attacked as they ducked. He pressed his blade against their combined tasers, then gnashed his teeth as a beam of energy coursed through his horn. The air whistled, and then the sword flew back on lavender streams, ricocheting off the two enforcers’ skulls like coconuts.
A series of hooves landed heavily behind him.
“Raaaugh!” Eagle Eye spun, only to feel his sword freezing in mid-air. His body jolted to a stop from the telekinetic grip and his eyes widened.
Shell’s singular gaze narrowed in response. With a tattered gray mane blowing in the wind, he simply thrust his horn forward.
Eagle’s own shield uppercutted him across the chin. He fell back, only to be pummeled in the skull by the handle of his own blade. The petite stallion fell down to the ground in a crumpled mess, spitting up blood and wheezing in pain.
“Eagle Eye!” Belle shrieked.
Two stallions stood achingly up besides Shell. A beam of golden energy flew out of nowhere and slammed one to the ground. Shell’s head jerked to the side.
“Away with your stabby glimmer!” Floydien hissed, crawling up from behind Props’ and Simon’s writhing bodies. The elk gritted his teeth around a bloodstained muzzle as he charged across the deck with sparkling antlers. “Away with it! Blast you--”
With a dim aura, his antlers detached from his own skull. The elk’s energy field died out. Floydien’s eyes cooled to a panicked brown as he gawked at the floating branches--only to be pummeled several times in the face by the things. “Ooof! Auggh! Spit!” The antlers swept low, tripping his cloven hooves out from underneath him. Floydien fell down hard, his weight making the whole ship shake with a miniature thunderclap.
Shell’s horn stopped glowing. As the antlers clattered to the deck, he glanced aside and motioned to his fellow enforcers.
Getting up and gathering their weapons, the Ledomaritan soldiers swiftly and mercilessly dragged the crew of the Noble Jury into the center of the leaning deck. Props’ groaned in fitful spasms as she and Simon were shoved against Belle’s right side. Ebon and Eagle Eye were dragged and forced to sit behind her, with Ebon receiving a swift kick to the spine for good measure. And to Belle’s left--
“Ooomf!” Pilate hissed, half of his mane soaked in fresh blood. He twitched as he sat on bruised knees.
“Pilate…” Belle turned towards him, and she started to hyperventilate. “Oh, Pilate!” She leaned in, nuzzling him desperately. “I thought I had lost you! I thought I had--”
“Rrrgh!” An enforcer reached in and slammed Belle’s shattered horn with the butt of his rifle.
“Aaaugh!” Belle cried as she slumped to the top deck.
“Don’t touch her!” Pilate snarled with sudden menace. “Do you hear me?! Don’t touch a single hair on her--” The enforcer’s rifle swung again, this time across his lips. He spat blood and leaned over, sputtering.
A deep voice cleared its throat.
The bedlam died in an instant. All was wind and shuddering breaths.
Belle felt a cold, cold hoof tilting her chin up. She wearily complied, and the first thing she saw was a dangling pale horn at the end of a chain. She recognized the color instantly, and the taste of bile rose in her throat.
“My good doctor…”
With quivering lips, Belle was forced to tilt her head up. She followed the metal chain from the horn to the stallion’s scarred face.
“...I have come to collect one of two things,” Shell hummed, his one good eye twitching beneath a frazzled mane. “The Council’s target… or your cowardly spine.” He swallowed and leaned forward with a rattle of the necklace. “Do you not see? I’ve given you the gift of choice. Now…” He gritted his teeth as a hellish spark billowed behind his pupil. “...choose wisely.”
That's one hell of a fashion statement Shell...
...and all the feels from Imre's death are back
there are no words.
damn it all.
You know, maybe having the princess turn Dash into a weapon won't be such a bad thing. Well, at least until Shell's dead.
Fucking Shell, man. Just die already!
3493573 But can he summon Imre out of it like the Xonans do with their snakes?
Shit...he is not going to like the answer he's about to get...
I don't know if it's plot armor or villain sue-ishness, but he just. Won't. Die. So much for batshit insanity being a weakness, I get the feeling that it's just made him worse. This will end in tears. Character death in three... two...
...OR, there's some kind of mega plot twist and he ends up helping the gang because he'd rather lower himself to that level than let the Xonans use his prize against him. Patriotism first, maybe?
Nah, someone dies. Or he dies at last and Filta takes command and, being far more reasonable, imprisons the gang and flies the Steel Wing to the front and ends up rendezvousing with Seclorum and friends for the huge final-ish battle against Dash of all things, since she'll probably be a near-mindless war machine at that point.
Or it's none of these and I'm speculating blindly.
I wonder if it was just a plot contrivance, or if Shell wa spying them and waited for Josho to leave and for Floydien, Eagle Eye, Simon and Pilate to be physically and mentally exhausted.
Either way, we hate you, Shell.
I think the thing that might happen here is the mentioning of Kera being taken by them - and THAT will set of Shell in a different route.
Josho got out just in time...
If Shell wants Paint Bucket, he simply has to sneak into the most heavily guarded Xonan outpost and retrieve her for himself.
Belle can always send two enemies after each other. The only problem would be contending with Shell at the moment, but if she can get him to do what she wants, then she only needs to worry about getting caught in the crossfire when Shell inevitably brings them all along for the ride.
... Okay, that's probably gonna be a problem too.
3493693 His leaving the crew is gonna end up becoming their salvation. I'm kind of scared that I'm betting so heavily on the Ledomaritans being the Jurists' saving throw.
The Xonans, the Ledomaritans, Shell, and thee Heraldites are all about to converge upon each other, and their paths are gonna cross right over the Noble Jury. This is gonna be one helluva battle.
3493689
That's the only silver lining I see.
THANK YOU SHELL!
BUT YOUR TARGET IS IN
ANOTHER CASTLE!
Should have warped to world 8, dude.
3494004
My thoughts exactly.
Remember back when we used to love to hate Shell? Now he's overstayed his welcome after just two chapters. He's obsolete and irritating at best, like a great-great-grandmother who keeps droning on about how great the Confederacy was.
Well
should probably just tell 'im
3493650
Who said insanity was ever a weakness?
xkcd.com/556/
Alt text: "The moment their arms spun freely in our air, they were doomed -- for Man has earned his right to hold this planet against all comers, by virtue of occasionally producing someone totally batshit insane."
This is Australia...
3494309
Well he seemed for a while to be completely broken by madness, what with him keeping Imre's corpse around and hallucinating that Kera was Imre, but apparently that just makes him more dangerous. Not that he ever had restraint in the first place.
Okay, Im really glad I can switch off most of my intelligence and instead do mr bunny there. Cos Shells current behaviour would otherwise remind me of what happened to my grandma, and I dont want to have to clean the resulting mess up.
KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL!
KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL!
KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL!
KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL!
KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL!
KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL!
KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL! KILL SHELL!
Pilate and Josho's leylines are entangled, right? Could Josho get Seclorum to send somepony against Shell, who has already been officially declared a rogue?
~Basso
An illusion of choice...
The way that i see things going down is that Belle is going to let Shell know that Rainbow Dash is being held captive by the Xonan Queen in her stronghold, which would prompt Shell to attack the stronghold around the same time that Seclorum will, thus causing a lot of mayhem, and giving the Ledomaritans twice the firepower, in spite of several casualties against one another during the siege.
I love my theory.
The rage I feel toward Shell is undescribable. He just won't die. Then again,the story just wouldn't feel the same with him gone.
There is always a choice. There just might only be one option.
Oh Shell, you poor fool, holding on to the hope that if you bring in Rainbow, you will end the war and be heralded back into Ledo's arms. But that's all anyone wants at this point, isn't it? An end to the war? Ledo and Xona have suffered enough, both sides want to stop, no matter the cost.
Nightshade? She just wants to stop the bloodshed, to stop anyone from having to feel the pain of losing a loved one.
Shell? He's just so invested in this project that it has consumed him, and if he does end up defeating Dash, he'll likely just fade away.
Tania? She's chaos-bat shit crazy. If she wins, then Tania the Tyrannical shall rule with chaos' hand.
The Jurors just want to leave all of it behind, to head east and find peace.
But no matter who wins, a war has been fought, lives have been lost, and the scars on the land may never fade. And in a war, you may have a choice, but the only option is to fight.
3493650 I'm fairly sure I remember Filta getting brutally murdered by Shell when he took command of the Steel Wing after naming Filta a traitor. Or maybe I was just too busy thinking about the awesomeness that is Zadubadabu.
I..... caught up? I finally caught up?!!?!??
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/242/149/8ca.jpg
And then this shit happens. I couldn't have picked a worse time to catch up.
hehehehe...give him the target Belle, HAHAHAHA, he'll more than likely drag you all to where she is, you'll be there with her and Roarke and maybe when Seclorum shows up, he and the Xonans can blast the Steel Wing into scrap AND maybe Rainbow Dash with what she's transformed into will tear Shell into bloody globs. So yeah, do THAT belle.
Beating up an elk with his own antlers. That's pretty low.
Goddamn Shell, man. I mean, seriously. Dude's gotta go, y'dig? I think Belle's best bet is to tell Shell exactly where Dash is. Then, while Shell and Lasairfion are dropping their drawers and comparing the sizes of their insanities, maybe Rainbow & Co. can escape.
Also, dat Imre horn. Not sure if or
This is a gift,
It comes with a price.
Shell actually reminds me a bit of Voldemort by now: he may have started off as the evil overlord ruining everyone else's day, but by now he has become his own victim first and foremost. Even with all the pain and misery he's caused, I think that no soul suffered as much from his deeds as his own. Related picture for today:
31.media.tumblr.com/e539440d282685d4f92882e49878d49e/tumblr_mtvbk7ma5h1qc5ffho1_1280.png
"Professor, what is that?" "Something beyond either of our help."
3493675 I don't think that with a ship like the Steel Wing and her entire crew at his back and with the immense combat-prowess at his personal disposal, Shell would have needed to wait. I also don't believe that he's even capable of sober planning at this point - with all that batshit insanity going on in his head and all that. You know how it goes. Especially you.
3495127 Oh, the choice is real. It's just a binary one with both options being utter crap - but hey, he's completely honest!
3496324 Hey, I'm mostly sane by the standards of this universe.
And I guess it just was rotten luck for the Jurysts that Shell happened to show up at that precise moment.
Send shell on his suicide mission, it will be fun to watch.
Why is Shell wearing that? He freaked out when Imre died, so we've already established he's not heartless monster. Maybe its a sentiment thing
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Eh...I guess that this was bound to happen. I forgot about Shell's insane telekinetics. However, all hope truly seems to be lost for the Noble Jury. If Shell was smart, he'd use the Noble Jurors as bait for Dash, but something tells me that's not how it's going to go down. Then again, mabe hat will happen...These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
Shell, haven't you already ruined enough lives? Go curl up in a corner with your creepy necklace and die.
>“Everpony!” Eagle Eye shouted to the air
I was just coming to terms with Imre's death, and then you do that. I see how it is.
Also, Shell's Moral Even Horizon was crossed a while back, and he now is well into the depths of bat*@!t insanity. Maybe he can help the Jury defeat the Xonans? He wants Rainbow Dash pretty bad, after all...but with someone that unstable, it's hard to say who he'll hurt/what he'll do in the process...
Onward!
-Spirit
... Please? Please kill him? I'm so tired of this character. I still hate him, but even my hatred is a pale imitation of what it once was at this point. I just want him gone.His story is told, he's outlived his usefulness, and he's a complete asshat. Let us move on. He's like the fallback 'oh shit!' enemy that just pops up out of nowhere for another bout of completely needless and unreasoning dickery. "A thing happened! Oh no, wait, here's Shell again with his ridiculous Plot Armor to fuck everything up again. Well that momentary lack of Shell-induced suck was short-lived!"
It's The Austraeoh Series Drinking Game! Take a drink every time Shell survives something that should easily kill him. Take two every time Shell appears out of nowhere at an extremely inconvenient moment. The game ends when Shell dies or you expire from liver failure.
4620817
You can't just kill Shell. He's the Megatron of Ponies.
He's like a sickness that won't go away.
Ahah! Perhaps this leads to opportunity... the Steel Wing engaging the Xonan fortress while Secolrum comes in for backup! RD and co. escape while the Xonans and Ledomartians duke it out!
Pfft, as if. Still, nice to dream.
The council's target isn't here, Shell. And you certainly aren't taking Belle's spine.
5479708 as I read this for the first time, I learn that a little bonfire (with a corpse) goes a long way indeed.
Man, nothing ever goes right.
Something ALWAYS goes wrong.
Too bad his target is in the heart of enemy territory.
Now how oh how will he retrieve his target now? With only a battleship and crew of angry ledos?