Even Braver
Belle and Pilate gasped as they were dropped onto their hooves along a dizzied Dalton. The three stood with swaying legs atop an outcropping of rock beside the dense forest. The red hues of the sun set split through the branches, casting a crimson kaleidoscope on their coats.
"Whew!" Rainbow Dash hovered before the group, adjusting the medal-studded beret on her prismatic scalp. "Aside from that freaky kerfluffle with the junk compactor and a brief scuffle with Shell the Army Guy, I'd say that went pretty smoothely!" A Ledomaritan bunker exploded in the distance, sending a shockwave over the landscape. Rainbow Dash winced and dripped forth, "Well, smooth enough. Ooooh! A pear!" She plucked a piece of fruit off a tree and shoved it into her mouth, scarfing down the juicy fragments. "Mmmmm-mmrmmff-Goddess! I'm so hungry, I could eat my own barf! Mmmmff..."
Pilate's ears twitched. He pivoted towards the sound of Belle's panting breath and shrugged with a smirk.
Belle gulped and turned towards the mustached stallion. "Well, it doesn't get much closer than that, but we made it." She stood still, blinking. "Dalton...?"
The aged unicorn was staring at the massive surge of ponies flocking around the trio of boats just five minutes' gallop away. He took a deep breath, his ears drooping in the scarlet sunset.
"Dalton..." Bellesmith trotted over and rested a hoof on his shoulder. "What's going on? Tell us what's on your mind..."
"It's not my mind that's being weighed down," Dalton murmured. He gulped. "It's my heart." He looked over with glistening eyes. "Things could have gotten a great deal more smoothely if I had just acted without fear..."
"You would have destroyed yourself if you defied Shell to his face," Belle said. "Trust me, I know how evil he can be." She gulped and gave a sympathetic expression. "As for your grandfoals—"
"They are no longer my concern," Dalton murmured.
"Huh?"
Dalton gave her a weary smile. "All the Enforcers who knew anything about me and my relatives are gone now, sealed away in the heart of that machine." He shuddered. "Or, if I play my cards right, I'm officially 'dead.' Either way, if there is any honor to be had in the souls of Ledomaritans, then the offspring of my offspring are safe. It's not how Mildred would have wanted to see it come about, but everything stopped being pretty long after she left this world. Well..." He chuckled breathily and stroked his hoof across Belle's bangs. "Most everything..."
She smiled weakly, then grasped his hoof in her own. Leaning forward, she spoke in a wavering voice, "What now, Dalton? Where is there for you to go?"
Dalton waved his horn towards the group gathering below. "Perhaps I'll leave it up to them. No doubt they'll wish to flee towards the land southwest of here. Blue Shelf has always acted as a barrier to Ledomaritan patrol. They'll likely make enough distance to spread out and hide amidst the rural populace before the Confederacy can catch up with them."
"What kind of a life would that be for you, Dalton?" Belle's brow furrowed. "Can you afford to be on the run at your age?"
"Do I have a choice?" Dalton gazed up at her. "Or you, for that matter, darling?"
Belle bit her lip. She gazed over at Pilate. The zebra's head was already hanging low.
"Face it. Shell and his lackeys may be gone, but if the Ledomaritan penchant for record-keeping is as zealous as ever, then the knowledge of our existence won't be wiped out so easily. The Queen will send meaner and uglier soldiers after us. Our days are numbered if we choose to stay in one place."
"He's right, Belle," Pilate murmured, lifting his head with a pale expression across his stripes. "We may be free, but freedom is a huge target in the Queen's land."
"Which is why I feel like I should be joining them," Dalton said, pointing once more at the crowd where the distant figure of Garnet could be seen. "They're not only free, but they're energized. And that's because they have something that they believe in. It's... been a long time since I believed in anything."
"Well here," Rainbow Dash said, tossing fruit down at their hooves. "Believe in pears. Your stomach will thank you." She took another bite and spoke with her mouth full, "Can't say the same about your ego though. Hrmmmf..."
Belle shook her head with a smile, then gazed lonesomely in Dalton's direction. "I'm sure that they'll do what they can to get you to safety, Dalton."
"And what of you, darling?" Dalton's lips persed as he squinted at the pair. "What of you and your beloved?"
Belle bit her lip. Pilate drifted over and held a hoof over her shoulder. "We... uhm..." The zebra fridged as he said, "We need to discuss that, Dalton. But..."
"But what?"
"...somehow I doubt that we'll be taking those ships with you and the others. As a matter of fact..." Pilate gulped. "You will all likely be safer without us."
Dalton stared for a few seconds, then thought aloud, "Because Bellesmith is a sequencer, and even with the subject unaccounted for, she's the closest link to the anomaly found in Aridstone."
"As long as I'm alive, I'm a bigger target than you and all the slaves will ever be," Belle murmured. "I'm so very sorry, Dalton." She leaned into Pilate and closed her tearful eyes. "But... but I can't go where you're going."
"Then just where will you go?"
Pilate and Belle said nothing. The couple leaned against each other, trembling slightly in the evening wind.
"Mrmmmf... Could life get any juicier?" an oblivious Rainbow Dash said as she hovered above with pears. A resounding belch wafted through the tree branches.
Dalton looked at her, then at the couple. He slowly smiled a knowing smile. "Hmmm. I see." He leaned forward and whispered, "Be it ever so awkward, I suspect you are in good hooves."
"We'll see about that," Pilate whispered back. "Dalton, I know what you may be feeling about yourself, but I want to thank you for being around when we needed you. Belle's depended on your support all those days in the facility..."
"One cannot help but cherish such a wise and gifted mare," Dalton said, shaking Pilate's hoof and smiling Belle's way. "Especially one in possession of a heart as exquisite as her mind—" He gasped, his eyes wide.
Belle was hugging him dearly, having thrown her forelimbs around his neck. She nuzzled him and spoke in a wavering voice. "You have been like a father to me, Dalton. There are no words to say how much I will miss you."
Dalton blinked. With a warm smile, he stroked her mane. "I'm sure you'll find the words, darling. And when you do, maybe you can share them with your children, and make future Ledomaritans that will bring righteousness to this landscape in ways I never did."
She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "You have in more ways than you think," she said, then backstepped over beside Pilate. "I think Mildred would be proud of you."
Dalton's eyes watered, but he dried them with a lasting smile. "I'll be sure to tell her you think as much." With a gentle wave, he turned and trotted off into the sunset.
Belle shuddered, leaning against Pilate as he wrapped a forelimb around her trembling figure. "Oh Pilate... what's in store for us?"
"I don't know, honey," Pilate said, nuzzling her ear. "You've been such a brave pony as of late." He tilted his head towards the hovering pegasus above them. "You think you're ready to be even braver?"
Belle couldn't speak; she could hardly think. She looked at the image of Dalton walking towards the boats along the glittering river, and closed her chestnut eyes to the memory of Blue Shelf forever.
Stats
Page generated in 0.063 seconds
Total duration
710 users online
1,024,869 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Rainbow Dash
Title gained: "Classy As Fuck"
Belle and Pilate are gonna travel east with Rainbow Dash? Oh boy! Oh boy oh boy oh boy!
You just keep being your sexy awesome self, Dash. No obstacle can hope to stand in the way of such natural badflankery.
1862464
Subject: Rainbow Dash
Suffix title Obtained: "The Classy"
Preview: "Rainbow Dash, the Classy" (User:RoboRed)
-Minty
Wrapping things up nicely. Not too drawn out or awkward, but a satisfying conclusion in its brevity. Just a few pieces remaining, now...
-Minty
Awww.
You write couples so nice. 
Hmmmm... We still got 98 chapters left before we hit the limit. What's in store next?
1862571
More East!
And then Shell came along and killed Pilate and/or Belle...
-Minty
I wonder how Rainbow's going to react to having Belle and Pilate tag along with her. Unless she carries them, it'll slow her progress east. And we all know what a little speed demon Rainbow is
*Dalton left the Party*
1862484 ... how? I mean, they're sooo sloooow.
1862950 Dash will find a way. She's awesome like that.
1862957 Maybe a wagon. Ponies pulling wagons full of other ponies go faster than ponies on foot. It's canon!
Dash still doesn't seem all there to me...
What was done there, I see it.
1862672
Eljunbyro: you only die if you're not an equine.
1862696
1862964
Zeppelin.
1862860
You deserve an upvote.
I like that freedom is to the west, Dash is going east.
1863036
Oooh, good catch. Even more evidence that poor Dashie is on a one-way trip. Hopefully the new blood doesn't meet the same fate. I'm kind of a big fan of your zebra alter ego.
Something tells me that Pilate and Belle aren't going to be coming along on this trip.
Item used: Blue Shelf Pears
-98 hunger +100 Anti-Doctor points
Rainbow dash is now a third wheel. Traveling with a couple is a drag. Good luck with that Dash.
Alternatively they could overthrow the Monarchy because, well, it's probably in some centralised city lying East and thus on the way.
1863610
That would make conversation Dalton and Belle had early on about "Bellemare" a foreshadowed reality. I would approve.
Awwwww.
See that? I like this arc ending. It's got a slightly bittersweet "character leaving" moment, but Rainbow and Pilate and Belle are all still happy. Definitely a change in style from the old ones where it required that Dash left everyone she'd helped behind forever.
Now, I'd assume, we leave my glorious crapsack land in search of greener and more easterly pastures.
Although I doubt it's the last of my character's influence we'll see yet. As Dalton said, she's probably going to send a ton of soldiers after the party.
Or maybe I'm just still clinging onto the idea that my character will appear as more than a name and a horde of Green Helmets.
Either way, this group's got plenty more tasks ahead. They've got 100 chapters more, at the least!
So, I have fin ally finished Austrailiyu-Gi-Oh.
Words.
I have none.
Now, I start on this one.
Beware, ):(, Drill Sergeant Tweak comes for thee now...
I'm not a clever pony, but I'm clever enough to know the next leg of Rainbow Dash's journey has begun.
We have stepped back onto the path of Austraeoh, my friends.
Also, I doubt Shell is so easily forgotten. I believe that he may still be a problem for those in Ledomare. However, this is Rainbow Dash's story, not his. If he continues, we may well still leave his story behind. This is the way of things, we cannot follow everypony
Oh Dash, you're such a tool
- buts its adorable, so you're off the hook 
No Ledomare showdown? Yeah, I guess that would be a bit dramatic and out of nowhere considering the fact that only one portion of the empire has been liberated. But I refuse to believe that we've seen the last of Shell's ugly face. He'll be wanting his beret back, after all.
In other news, I'm glad Dalty-poo is off to find his new place in the world - its nice to have those loose ends tied up in a relatively positive manner before the next chunk of the journey begins. I'm thinking we'll be in for a bit more serious Dash once the three set off on their own. Belle will probably try to wheedle some linear logic out of her, at least. And now Dash has someone who understands her whole situation - so they can talk about it, for better or worse. Here's to hoping the next hundred or so are just as great as the last
1862672
Lawl
So maybe Shell did finally die.
Hmmmmmmm....
Eastwards!
I know that's a saying and all, but... TRICYCLE.
1887436
The new saying shall be a second steering wheel
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So I guess that's the last we'll see of Dalton. I thought that the way he left was done well - It was bittersweet, but it didn't tear our heartstrings to pieces like some Austraeoh leave-behinds did. But the way he let makes me wonder - I'n the description for Eljunbyro, it says something about Belle and then "Rainbow Dash continues to fly east." We've about hit the halfway point of this story, and Belle's part is pretty much done, so I'm pretty sure that Dash will be continuing to fly east for the remainder of the story. Not something big, but I just noticed it. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. Sadly, I'll be gone for a few days on vacation. I'll return Sunday afternoon, so wait for me until then!
Au revoir Dalton, may your knowledge serves righteously.
You silly old mustachioed stallion you.
Shut up you get hugs now.
1980622 i know im behind but i am also leaving for the weekend
I think that Pilate and Bellesmith are going to go with Dash, even though it's going to slow her down.
Oh wait, it says they are already 
They're going with RD... but how? Surely Rainbow can't carry them...
And Shell's still alive.
Head east! Head your separate ways!
1864925
Shell the Army Guy doesn't like you.
The crew has begun.
I feel the writing has really improved in the chapters since my last comment. I'm still sick to bloody death of characters whose "lips curved" rather than simply smiling, and "sundered" could do with a rest, too, but on the whole the prose is considerably smoother now. The story itself is still meandering a bit, but with Rainbow about to start east again (I assume) I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing what happens next. I've even warmed to Belle and Pilate, though you'd think they'd have found the odd synonym for "beloved" by now.
This phrase was really intrusive and immersion-breaking, though. References to real people (well, Fimfiction usernames) just don't work (for me) when they're that blatant. It was way too shoe-horned in.
muggafugga
1887436 I'VE GOT A TRIKE
YOU CAN RIDE IT IF YOU LIKE
Our hero fillies and gentlecolts.....yeah we are screwed.
Sounds like the blue shelf arc is coming to a close. A bittersweet one, but it probably couldn't have a better one that still felt honest.
Behold, the rainbow pegasus, so majestic and refined.
Dash is going to outright refuse them, but she'll end up taking them with her somehow, whether that means carrying them, flying back every now and again to check on them, or finding a way for them to fly, or something else.
...Well, may as well get on with it!
Looks like the ever-eastward journey is about to continue!
Silly Rainbow, don't acknowledge it. Cool mares don't look at explosions.
Is this going where I think it is?
Achievement unlocked: Acquire companions!
"... You aren't going to make me carry you the whole way, are you?
"
You know, despite having read all of the story that has been posted more than once, I cannot Remember Belle ever mentioning her family outside of her Beloved, Pilate. I wonder what happened to them. Same with Pilate's.
05/02/2017 23:35 UTC
Imagine a Hasbro Rainbow Dash toy with catch phrases like this.
6497581
She could carry them if they fix up an airship somehow or in an attached wagon of some sort. Though she'd have to fly much more carefully in the latter case and if there's one thing Rainbow's not...