Bellesmith pushed and shuffled her way through a thick cluster of bushes. When she emerged, she saw a shimmering vista consuming the eastern horizon. Rolling hills of dark emerald tree tops slept under a silver sheen of moonlight. If it weren't for the waving of leaves and the occasional hoot of a lone owl, she would have perceived the world awash in a green sea.
Before this sight, Rainbow Dash perched, her hooves inching along the crumbling edge of everything. With dull, ruby eyes, she bowed her head and stretched her wings out into the wind.
"Going for a walk?" Belle mused.
Rainbow Dash's ears twitched. "Heh..." Her lips icily curved. "A sky walk. Sure."
"Rainbow Dash, I heard what the Princess said."
"Does it matter?" Rainbow Dash's head pivoted towards the unicorn. She bore a placid expression with the residual hint of a smirk. "Since as long as I can remember, I knew that life was worth as much as I was willing to live it, no matter how short. So maybe I have the same expiration date as before I met you and the only non-rhyming zebra in existence. Big deal."
"Of course it's a big deal!" Belle exclaimed. She trotted forward with a sympathetic face. "Rainbow Dash, I couldn't even comprehend how I would function while knowing how few days I had left to exist! How can you—"
"By being awesome, that's how!" Rainbow Dash snarled. "Look, I'm glad that you're—like—uber concerned and stuff, but I got this! If there's anything I've ever been in life, it's in control of things!"
"Are you?" Belle's gaze took on a piercing edge as she came to a stop before the pegasus. "Rainbow Dash, today you went ballistic on an Enforcer and nearly got a village torn to bits!"
"If I recall, it was lardo with the stupid magic gun, not me." Rainbow Dash chuckled. "And why are you complaining? We got the crap that we needed, didn't we?"
"That's not the point! There were at least a dozen other ways we could have gotten those materials without turning it into a circus act!"
"Hey... chaos is the name of the game." Rainbow's nostrils flared as her wings drooped. "Or maybe you've forgotten exactly what you've fished out of that silver fart box down in Blue Shift."
"Blue Shelf—and no, I haven't forgotten." Belle gulped. "But that doesn't matter. I know that, deep down inside, you're a creature of harmony, Rainbow Dash."
"No offense, Ding-Dong, but you don't know anything."
"Yes, Rainbow Dash." Belle frowned. "I do." She took a deep breath. "And you know it."
Rainbow Dash looked at her, her teeth clenched. There was a weak twitch to her eyebrows, and she wrenched her gaze away, digesting the stars instead.
"Maybe... Maybe it's time that we just... that we just slowed down and talked about what we both know, Rainbow."
"There is no slowing down," Rainbow Dash muttered, looking away. "That's not how it works. Not for me."
"Are you in such a desperate race with yourself that you will reject healing?" Belle asked. "You have so many days left in that body of yours, Rainbow. For your soul's sake, don't make the time any shorter."
"Hah. Yeah, that's some real confidence you're showing in me, Ding Dong. Maybe you and Stripsey would have enjoyed things better on that boat heading west with whats-his-mustache."
"I trust you, Rainbow Dash." Belle leaned forward. "But I have to trust that you won't get me and Pilate in unnecessary danger all the same. I adore my beloved too much to go on the same blind adventures that you do."
"And you're the one to lecture me on living?" Rainbow Dash flashed her a frown. "You're pathetic."
"I'm loyal," Belle calmly retorted. "I love Pilate, and I love you."
Rainbow Dash bit her lip.
"Did you not think that was possible?" Belle smiled softly. "Did you not think that you still had the capacity to make friends? That you were a soul capable of being loved? Like you were always meant to be?"
Rainbow Dash's limbs started trembling. She faced east again, as if it was her only recourse.
Belle's breath left her. "Rainbow Dash—"
"I... I just need to fly..."
"Where to? For how long?"
"Don't know. Don't care." Rainbow Dash flexed her wings. "I just... I-I just have to fly."
She took off, only to lurch back to the ground. With a muffled grunt, she gazed back over her shoulder. "H-hey!" her voice cracked. "What gives?"
Belle was hugging her from behind. Hugging her tightly. "Stay still for once, Rainbow Dash."
"Let go of me ya pincushion head!" Rainbow Dash grumbled and squirmed. "I'm totally not kidding! You're cramping my style!"
"No, Rainbow Dash," Belle peacefully said, nuzzling the pegasus. "I'm not letting go."
"Don't be a duncetard! I... I can totally fly loopty-loops with you clinging to me or not! Now let go!"
"Then you'll have to take off with me."
"You could get hurt!"
"I don't care..." Belle clung tighter, her voice deep and resonating. "It's a risk I'm willing to take."
"But it's not your risk!" Rainbow Dash hissed. Despite how tightly Belle was clinging to her, the pegasus' lungs were panting faster and faster. "None of this has anything to do with you!"
Belle softly gazed at Rainbow with misty eyes and an angelic smile. "Have you ever truly, truly been so alone?"
Rainbow Dash's face paled. Slowly, like melting ice, her wings drooped. She gulped, shivered, and said, "I never... n-never meant to abandon them..."
Belle hugged her, watching, listening.
"But... b-but I couldn't stop myself..." Rainbow Dash swallowed again as her lips quivered. "Discord... he... he used me. I tr-tried to fight his magic, but he t-tore me away from my friends... he t-tore me away forever..."
"There was nothing you could have done, Rainbow Dash..."
"And now he's inside m-me... killing me... but not fast enough..." Rainbow Dash clenched her eyes shut as she trembled, collapsed. Her voice hiccuped, "I'm alive, and all I-I can think of is that... th-that... that I n-never got to tell them..." She whimpered and covered her face with her shivering hooves. "I never g-got to thell them that I loved them..." Rainbow Dash sobbed, her voice a muffled sound cascading down the moonlit mountain. "Oh Goddess, I loved them so m-much..."
"Shhhhh..." Belle was cradling Rainbow Dash at this point, resting the mare's tear-stained muzzle on her forelimb as she stroked her mane with the other. "And you still do, Rainbow Dash. Each and everyday." She nuzzled her gently. "I know that too..."
Rainbow Dash's reply was an agonized wail, piercing the eastern horizon like a dying siren, challenging the sun to rise. All remained dark and cosmic, but for the first time in waking months, Rainbow Dash did not care. She fell to the earth, adrift in sobs and gasps, and Belle held her until the turbulence had run its fragmented course.
Wow. Just... wow. I don't really have much to say right now, other than wow.
Well damn.
D'awwwwww. Great chapter.
That.
Just that.
Subject: Bellesmith
Suffix Title Obtained: "The True Friend"
Preview: "Bellesmith, the True friend"
-Minty
Rainbow Dash is Alive — with all the pain that comes with that.
See this? This right here is where we see how truly ):( gets Rainbow Dash. All the parts where she's brash, cocky, headstrong, anyone can pull that off. But he breaks her down and shows her true pain. The moments where her walls crumble and she cries in sadness. THAT is where we see that Tainbow Dash isn't a stereotype or a caraciture, but an actual character.
Two points, ):(.
Now gimme twenty-five for making Dashie cry! KNOCK 'EM OUT!!!
So many powerful moments in this chapter, and so many concise metaphors that do a perfect job of painting the emotional landscape. I'm glad Belle has gotten Dash to open up, she really needs it. Jake's got it right, the real awesome thing about Dash are the layers she has. The awesome thing about the story is how well it shows that characterization coping without the growth it should have experienced.
The feels! It was obvious that after so long without them, they were going to return. Also, featured again.
I thought about it a little more.
This line really speaks to the strength of Belle's character. The quite apparent, but rarely brought up subtext to the saga is Dash running, or flying, from any new relationship. (Running its self a separate theme, particular with the three fugitives at hand).Every time Dash gets close to having anything more than a passive relationship, she runs off east, unwilling to put herself, but more importantly anyone else, at risk of such loss ever again. Even those who she felt she could confide in, or rely on for emotional support she never let get at the heart of her own turmoil. Gold Petals was too close to Applejack; Whitemane remained a distance power; Cold Canter was always the subject of conversation, never really Dash herself; and Ember was never given the chance before Dash did something brash. It sayas volumes that Belle, perhaps because of her unique status as Eljunbyro and her insight, is able to actually stop Dash in her tracks. Be it literally or otherwise. It also hits right at the heart of Dash's own character growth in this universe that she's letting some of her guard down.
/)^3^(\
Well...damn that was good.
1927341
I think you're getting at something when you say it's Belle's unique status as Eljunbyro that allows her to slow down Dash where nopony else previously could. We've debated endlessly as to the nature of Eljunbyro and its effects on Dash, whether the 'wind' is literal or metaphorical or both. The past thirty chapters or so have been the restarting of Dash's journey east in a physical sense. Maybe now that she's got some space between her and those pursuing her, we will start to see Belle have an emotional effect on RD to once again give her journey meaning. I doubt that her reawakening in a land with a conflicting culture of love and fear is mere coincidence. Given Dash's cavalier attitude towards her limited lifespan, perhaps Eljunbyro will convince her that there is something still worth enough to stop the insane risks she takes.
Those Are Some A Grade Feels You Got Here.
Wow... she loved them so much and never got a chance to tell them she loved them. I can relate to that and got a bit... sad. The same thing happened to me about 4 yrs ago. I still have some resentment for myself for not being there.
1927598
For the 3000th comment on this story, this sums up the whole thing quite nicely.
Da feels! Da feels Ah'm feelin' is too many feels foh dis chaptah!
Side note:
Who says "I love you" to a friend?
man i miss ember...
i hope this story goes on forever
Nutshell - Alice In Chains
So, so many feels from this chapter....
1923702
"Haven't read End of Ponies"!? YOU MUST. Seriously, you must. It is a really, REALLY good story, wordcount be damned. It's philosophical, dark, light, humorous, moving, epic, and a whole cavalcade of adjectives across the board. It is, without a doubt, my favorite MLP fanfic, and I've read a lot of stuff. I highly recommend you read it. Have you read Background Pony? If you have and liked it, you'll like The End of Ponies.
Now's still a good time to catch up on it while Skirts is out and preparing his body to return to work on it. Go and read it. If you like it, go and also read the cancelled Petra Arc (link's in a blogpost Skirts made in February), as well as the official sidestory by PropMaster, Red Wings. (which I'm told is supposed to have a tie-in with End of Ponies for the upcoming arc).
FEEL ARTILLERY
1927772
But that's just it. Friends don't say "I love you" to each other.
Family does.
Belle wants to make sure Dash knows she considers her more than a friend; they share a unique bond that goes beyond that. They've practically lived the same life by now. They're related not in blood, but in experience. When you're that close to someone, there's no shame in saying "I love you".
Some things can never be made good. All we can do here on earth is keep living and doing good, hoping for a better future.
And if we can't live on, then the least we can do is live on.
And there comes the emotional dam imploding. And Eljunbyro the counselor is here to help.
1928725 Kudos to you, my friend. Red is on of my favorite bands but they're not that well known... yet...
Also, you're the best drunk I've ever seen!
Eljunbyro indeed. It's impressive, the great insight, kindness, and friendship that Bellesmith brings into Rainbow's life. It's been quite a long time since she's had somepony so close.
And IC, I say this quite a bit, but thank you for the masterfully written chapter.
It's like RD has a slowly imploding colon, that's slowly killing her, and tonight, she got some Novocain.
get it?
...or maybe I've been watching too much house m.d.
Yay! Catharsis!
1930373 Novocain? that's for dental work...
1927772
From personal experience, I do. Not all mushily or anything, but me and my friends have exchanged, "Aw, I love you guys" type comments after giving especially thoughtful gifts or in emotional moments. And then there's the close family friends that I say it to, but then again, they pretty much are family by this point.
As to this chapter - if I could hug my computer screen without looking like a complete doofus, I totally would. Its really nice to see Dash be able to let go and drop the bravado for a bit. And Belle has risen in my books - she was already a great character, but that hug of friendship she unleashed was absolutely adorable.
And on the humorous side - Duncetards. I'm using that at some point in the future. This fic is a veritable gold mine for completely wacky insults I can use in "arguments" against my friends and/or brothers when I want to throw a curveball at them. More than once already its resulted in a pause and then laughter on both sides.
Belle is Quickly becoming my favorite OC
1927192 and I love your exposition on each chapter.
Nice to see Dash get some catharsis for everything she's been holding in.
It started out adorably and then took a turn for the sad. Cleverly done.
The longer you hold it in, the louder it'll be when you let it out.
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Oh...h...hey there, feels...haven't seen you I'n a while...agh...
So this chapter was very nicely executed in a lot of ways. I thought that it was really interesting to see Belle truly talk to Dash, and it's also kind of startling to see someone who is able to hold back Dash and truly understand what she's feeling. The way that ending cry of anguish was described...Also, I also think those two have got to sit down together soon and figure out how much each knows about the other. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
Shut up you get hugs.
Dammit, Colon, how am I supposed to stay mad at her when you pull this kind of junk?
1927113 wow
such chapter
much love
very dash
1927638 MY condolences.
The feels... The feels!
Endure.
1927341
Here's this for analyzing. Notice how the flowery, beautiful writing that we came to know and love is truly a character of its own, the written personification of Dash's loneliness. Over time, Dash has come to meet more people and slowly loathe the loneliness. And really, I think this is a major turning point in the personification of her loneliness.
One, it really is the final axe to the beautiful writing. Not that it will stop, but it won't be a good sign. Notice how, as of late, any time we ever see the same kind of writing as we saw in Austraeoh, it is depressing. Very depressing. In Austraeoh, that wasn't the case. The return of this writing is always a sign of some major emotional strife.
But the bigger part than anything is that dialogue and actual great character interaction is now going to start from here on out. This is a healing chapter, a chapter that kills Dash's loneliness that has hurt her for so long and places a band aid over it.
Now, this is some far-fetched symbolism, but I think it fits.
Let the healing begin.
[half-life intensifies]
The Feels.