"H-how far until we reach the t-top?!" Belle stammered, hanging dearly to Rainbow's leg.
Rainbow grinned as she bolted up, up, up towards the lavender glow. "Until we hit something!"
"Th-that's not very encouraging!"
"If you wanted encouragement, you grabbed onto the wrong pegasus!"
"Do not worry, beloved!" Pilate exclaimed as he held onto Dalton. "I'm quite certain Rainbow Dash knows what she's doin—Aaaugh!" He gasped as his body surged in Rainbow's grip.
The pegasus had come to a stop, hovering within the hollow of a domed alcove. A circular wall of consoles surrounded the group, covered with levers and switches and knobs. As Rainbow's pendant flickered red, the golden aura caught up with her body, making the tiny room turn bright as day.
"Well, if this place doesn't look... nice and complicated?"
"Where in Spark's name are we?" Pilate exclaimed.
"Oh, so now you're panicking!" Rainbow Dash chuckled, looking every which way. "Hang on a sec, lemme just... Here!" She reached for a lever that was glowing the brightest shade of lavender before her eyes. After yanking it, the walls shook, and a platform of metal extended in a circular pattern along the interior of the place. "Let's let you guys have a breather, huh?"
She placed Belle, Pilate, and Dalton down. Belle reached over and checked on Dalton before giving Pilate a gentle nuzzle. She held her beloved close as she squatted on the platform with him, gazing curiously up at Rainbow Dash.
"What exactly are you doing?"
"I'm not all that sure, but if this works as well as it did last time..." Rainbow Dash licked her lips and started grabbing levers and knobs at random. "Then the world outside is gonna get a new fashion statement."
"You've done this sort of thing before?"
"Kinda, sorta." Rainbow Dash chuckled slightly as she twisted knobs and pulled at levers. With each manipulation, the lavender light dimmed rewardingly in her vision. "I was a bit preoccupied at the time."
"With what?"
"Oh, it's all foggy. All I can think of is floating lightning balls, ugly gas masks, and a bunch of dead foals."
"Wait... what... I... huh...?"
"Exactly." Rainbow Dash pulled hard at a lever. Suddenly, a loud hum filled the chamber, echoing down into the bowels of the machine realm below them. "Ha! Success! Er... I think."
Belle's ears drooped as her face winced.
"Hey, don't be so freaked out," Rainbow Dash said. "This formula always works for me. Lavender light... flank kicking... machine fiddling... escape!"
"I... I don't..." Belle's eyes narrowed. "Lavender light?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Pilate said, then gasped as the entire place started shaking.
Even Rainbow Dash had to stop hovering. She gripped onto a side of the chamber and held on, her knees smacking together as the alcove shook more and more violently.
"I don't get it!" Belle shrieked, hugging Pilate close as her face paled. "What did you do?! Are we m-moving?"
"Feels like it," Pilate murmured.
"Yes, but where to?"
"If you wanna take my bet?" Rainbow Dash smirked with sparkling eyes. "Up!"
The ponies clung to themselves and Dalton, keeping steady as Rainbow Dash's dry chuckles added to the cacophony of the moment. Bright beams of gold light emanated from the console and swam down into the depths of the metallic place.
As the glowing lines wormed their way down, they illuminated the shivering body of a muscular stallion. Seething through his teeth, a bruised and bloodied Shell was in the midst of yanking telekinetically at a loose strip of metal. After much grunting and effort, he snapped the platinum shard loose and levitated over beside another one. With a pained expression, he began forming a rough splint around his broken forelimb.
When the glow of the place reached him, he paused in his agonizing ordeal and glanced up—sweating and panting—as the machine world came to life around him. Gears moved, conveyor belts hummed to life, and pistons thrusted faster and faster. The air filled with a rusted smell, humming with something not quite like mana, yet more powerful.
He gulped and murmured aloud, "It's her..."
Not... HER.
Seriously though, he could be referring to a bunch of different things. Whitemane? Maybe. The Spark? Most likely.
...me?
Bleh, we'll find out later.
Also, fucking Shell, becoming the primary antagonist and refusing to die. Jeesh, can we get a break?
It seems that this time Shell has a very much so changed attitude to "her," whomever or whatever "she" may be.
1849675
Yeah, I kinda wish Shell would take the hint and just die already.
iIRC, there was a queen of ledomere as well? ( or I could be completely wrong again) maybe another alicorn is going to show herself soon.
1849694
Yeah. The reason why the country's called Ledomare is because that's the Queen's name. The "mare" suffix denotes "her" as queen. Thus, if Belle became queen she'd be the Bellemare.
We haven't seen me yet, though, so I have no idea what I look like.
1849675
It would be REALLY cool if he got reborn as a Guardian of the Spark or something.
Her?!? Who is "her?!?"
He is pissing me right the hell off. Dash does not appreciate it when her hard work goes to waste, and she went through a fine bit of hell to off his hypocritical ass.
1849675
If I had to guess, I'd say that this is Smell finally realizing that The Machine responds to Dash and Dash alone. Maybe he's finally understanding that he could have thrown a thousand other ponies into that flame and it would have accomplished absolutely nothing.
Her as in Rainbow Dash?
Or are we about to meet Empress Ledo (or whatever her name was)?
-Minty
And so he finally realizes that all this time, he was grasping at the wrong key.
Shame that key broke one of your legs, idiot. Anyways, YAY NEW CHAPTER RISING TO THE TOP OF SOMETHING WHAT IS IT FIND OUT NEXT TIME
I'm loving this series of chapters, tons of fun. Zebra forgot his towel, clearly, otherwise he wouldn't have started to panic. Just do that rolling thing, you two, bask in
The Doctor'sDash's confidence and let her operate theTARDISmachine.1849829
That would be my guess, too.
Perhaps he'll be found later sobbing and clutching onto..... er... an empty beret?
dammit short ass chapters
I've failed to mention it, but these last few chapters have been hilarious.
...Her?
God Be With Ye - Cloudkicker
Shell, why aren't you dead yet? Oh well.
And I'm going to be agreeing with Pilate here. These past few chapters have been incredibly funny for such a dark tone with them. That made sense right?
1849720
No. Why would that be cool? You'd have a patriotic psychopath trying to use the planet as a weapon. Not cool at all.
1851544
No no, see, he gets REBORN. So instead of being a patriotic psychopath, he becomes this Warrior of the Spark, utterly devoted to Harmony and Guardian of the Eternal Spark. Thus, he would transform from this horrible power of evil to this great power of good! Kinda cool. Really cliche.
1851559
I see. Kinda cool, and yeah, really cliche.
When Rainbow said "All I can think of is floating lightning balls, ugly gas masks, and a bunch of dead foals."
Was I the only one who instantly thought this?
25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9j14uYsaf1rf1safo1_500.jpg
Of course. Of course Shell isn't dead. Anypony else would have been smashed against the floor in a pony pulp, but Shell survives. Hopefully he gets a worse fate later.
Does anyone else think Dash is acting kinda... off? I realize she just woke up from a hibernation of indeterminate length, but danger and the unknown don't even seem to register with her anymore. In Austraeoh, she at least acknowledged when something was potentially deadly. Now? Not even a second glance.
Yeah, like I said...
Pony Quaritch.
Not to be fucked with.
Damn he scary.
They're never actually dead. You don't just chuck someone over the edge of something without double checking their damage, first. Although, if the villains always made extra sure then a lot of heroes would never live to make their triumphant returns, so I guess a few villains have to snag a bit of luck every now and then, too. Plus, it'll give Dash, or whoever else gets the chance to land the finishing blow, another chance to humiliate him. Or maybe he'll reform and become a nice, gentlecoltly cyclops who takes care of all the orphans he's created over the years in a quest for redemption. Its a toss-up, really.
And her? That doesn't sound ominous at all. I'm guessing he means Ledo lady? Or Dash? Or some other unidentified female thing? Eh, I'll see soon enough. Onward!
Dafuq? Shell? Aren't you dead?
Gawddammit...
Onwards!
Goddammit Shell. No one likes you. I think we should just toss him at the prisoners. All of them would be very happy to see him.,
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So we get an ominous reference to "her" I'n this chapter. Now, there's some speculation as to who Shell is referring to here, but here's my theory - at this moment, when he sees the facility come to life, it really hits home with Shell that Dash is the Spark. So "her" is referring to the Spark. But I suppose we'll find out soon enough. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
That ending, it's always thrilling to see the antagonist still living in implications that it may come back later on.
We have Ignition!
Clear for liftoff!
hmm, Zaponator didn't die either did he?
Shell seriously isn't dead?
And who is he referring to?
Shell, Shell please. Do use all a favor and either die or do something useful like redeem yourself.
Hmm, I believe royalty has arrived.
God damn, Shell can take a beating.
Let's hope Dash breaks her toy sometime soon.
Thank you once again, Twilight!
Which if you think about it is really saying something.
Yeah, of course Shell was still alive. I'll be curious to see if he just had a "come to Jesus" moment.
It seems I misunderstood things, and I apologize.
...Oh, who am I kidding; I'm not sorry at all.
At any rate, it's time for RD to go Fullmetal Pegasus: Sisterhood on Queen Ledo!
We're back, baby!
1852455 i wan't thinking of that episode, per say, but i always felt dash was a bit Doctor esque shortly after her
regenerationrebirthYour enemy with magical powers and mad survival skills fell down and you didn't see his corpse?
Yeah, he's dead.
Her?
8637588
Perhaps Queen Ledo.
8050247
"Never count a Pony as dead until you see his body. And even then you can make a mistake."
8637588
Talking about Rainbow Dash.
I love these callbacks
phew, shell isn't dead. now we can kill him for real.