"Nnnngh!"
Up above, in the flame chamber, Kera telekinetically pulled the last of the six skeletons out from their chambers. The petrified pegasus bones flew across the metal grating, scattering everywhere. As a direct result, sparks danced along the fluctuating mana conduits. The ruby flame, cut off from half of its energy source, spun and billowed with chaotic abandon. Kera paid it no mind. Instead, she scampered briskly down the winding stairwell.
Galloping on petite legs into the sequencing chamber, she saw Belle sitting up in her cot, rubbing her head and wincing quite lucidly.
"Belle!" Kera dashed over to her. "You're awake! You're awake!" She paused at the mare's bedside, wincing. "Aren't you?"
"Yes, Kera. I'm back..." Bellesmith shuddered, removing the wires from her stub and fluffing a mane that wasn't there. "Wish my migraine wasn't..."
"Well, good! Cuz we gotta get out of here!"
"Nightshade. I think she... she..."
"Come on, Belle!" Kera tugged and tugged on the mare's front limbs. "We gotta go! They're coming soon!"
"Huh? Who is?"
"Nightshade's cronies! Now move! We gotta split like a mule's butt!"
"I don't get it..." Belle spun around, and progressively her eyes widened. "Phoenix..." She gulped. "Spark alive! Where is Phoenix?"
"He's holding them off! He's helping us!"
"No... he... he c-can't just let them have him!" Belle stammered, stumbling dizzily up to her hooves as she gawked at the door to the operation room. "Nightshade tortured me in the spheres. Heaven only knows what they'll d-do to him..."
"We can write a song about him later! Come on!" Kera dashed towards the stairwell. "I mean it, Belle! We're totally crapped if we stay here!"
Belle stumbled after her, still wincing as she rubbed her head. She heard the stirring bodies of sniffling, emotionally distraught foals in the center of the room. "The children. They... they're going to face her wrath..."
"I'm sure they're used to it! Come on!" Kera scampered back to Belle and telekinetically tugged on the front half of the mare's body. "We can save ourselves! Let's not ruin that!"
Belle grimaced, her eyes moist as she trotted limply after the foal. As she ascended the stairwell, she paused, gave the door to the operations room one last look, then finally disappeared.
Kera has her priorities straight, at least. Save your own skin, then worry about others. Although I sincerely doubt she's going to bother about anybody else. The flame seems to be doing something funky, too. Wonder how angry Nightshade will be when she sees it disconnected from all those pegasi.
Six of them, turned to dust -- does this eventually happen to everypony who tries to use the elements of harmony?
Shit's getting cray.
Someone's been dipping into the store of exclamation marks.
well this answered my question from before, and im sure Phoenix can take care of those buffoons, unless Kera and Belle decide to come back to the rescue later.
Oh wow the updates are really flowing out. I wonder if Phoenix is actually gonna get rescued though. If Colon wants to kill him off and give him some heroic death to redeem himself in the eyes of Belle, its gotta be soon.
I hope Belle doesn't beat herself up too much over the foals later on...
I hope i'll understand what's happening soon...
Those foals are totally gonna be okay, though not sure about Phoenix. I hope hey don't torture him too much. Just when I was beginning to like him...
when is the trinity of badassery going to come back? i am starting to miss the antics of roarke and dash.
Well... Now we have a lot more information... And I am still as confused as ever.
This is Australia...
Ok, so pretty sure Nightshade just tried to posses Belle and failed (hardcore insane mode go). Also, can't really believe Colon managed to pull off a scenario where it looks like Phoenix is coming out alive. My theory though is that the unstable flame is going to cause some pretty major problems very soon, very fast.
I wonder how much Nightshade knows about the world. She didn't reveal much, but her plan to 'reinvent the world'' coincides well with the impending end Axan told Dash about. Tapping into the energy source that runs the machines, using pegasi bones, talking about utopia... it all fits in with a messiah complex that Nightshade may be harboring. What better opportunity to remake the world than when you don't have to do the work to get rid of the old one? It's probably nothing, but the coincidence should at least be noted.
Did anyone notice how its really hard for characters to die unless they've been explicitly described as such? If Phoenix's battle is kept off screen, it would appear to be more likely for the dramatic reveal to happen when he reappears. Shell was dropped off the edge multiple times, and each time the other combatant left, they managed to survive.
...I just signed Phoenix's death warrant, didn't I?
2738136 More than likely.
Phoenix => to the torture cells. Now who else do we know that is in the torture cells? Ah yes, Mr Floydien. . . looks like we may be seeing Pilate meeting Phoenix sometime in the next fifty chapters.
About time.
Anywho, awesome stuff Colon. T'was pretty beast to see Belle channelling some of that glorious yellow-and-red chaos energy.
2738503
It would be cruel irony if a character referencing me killed him. I might flip a table.
You know what, I'll just shut up now.
Solid three chapters. And good to see Belle out of the sequencer before the turds got in. That just leaves Phoenix and the foals hanging. I foresee Phoenix being taken prisoner and maybe, perhaps, running into Pilate at some point (as others have suggested). It's looking less likely that he's gonna go out in a heroic blaze of glory, though, at least for now.
I hate to say it, but I foresee more than a few deaths before this installment of the saga ends. Even if a few key characters travel with Dash afterwards, most will probably be expendable in the long-term. I say it'll be Belle, Pilate, EE, Kera, and Roarke that stick with Dash for a while, at least, since none of them really have anything better to do (family, etc.), and that makes a nice, tidy team of six.
But then, my track record for predictions is abominable.
I think that by pulling the skeletons out of their coffins, Kera destabilized the flame. There goes Nightshade's work.
Huh, almost surprised that Belle bailed out on Phoenix and the foals. Not that it wasn't the right thing to do, but I thought Belle was a tad more Dashy then that. Meh.
Pity about the fire. Nightshade's plan for reinventing the world and roasting some mean ass marshmallows is probably going to be put on hold.
I wonder what the purpose of the pegasus skeletons was. Belle didn't seem to enter their memories, instead communicating with the foals and Nightshade. And somehow Novus's memories were obtained. I guess Nightshade had sequenced with him before. Is Novus's horn removed too? Anyway, the pegasus bones were still crucial for the sequencing to work for some reason.
2736554 Imagine where Rainbow would have ended up with that philosophy.
2738136 Not taking the self-refuting prophecy effect into account, I'd actually agree with you. after they managed to capture Phoenix alive, it would make no sense for them to kill him without some serious interrogation.
2739824 Those memories of the ringworld had to come from somewhere.
2739153 Maybe I've read too much Game of Thrones and developed some kind of masochistic instinct, but I think it would be awesome if one of the major characters died. Say, Belle or Pilate. Can you imagine the earthquake that would cause in the story progression? Watching that would be AMAZING!
The only way that both their group and Pilate's are going to escape is if Nightshade and Shell meet and subsequently ruin eachother's chances.
Somehow, I don't see Nightshade's sob story about Novus tugging at Shell's heartstrings. Hell, Shell would probably bash his skull in for being a failure.
2740601
Yeah, it would be interesting from a narrative angle, but still:
2740601
That reminds me of how one pony mentioned how she hasn't died yet, or something. Reincarnation foreshadowing?
We need some Dash action! No seriously Dash is needed on like isle everywhere.
What is in the operations room?
2740601
But we already read about Rainbow losing her friends. All of them. And though the melancholy that came from it was really heartwrenching and artistic (not to mention plot developing and tone setting, especially for Austraeoh and parts of Eljunbyro) doing it again would feel like kicking Dash just as she's starting to get back up.
Also, poor Phoenix and the foals. I'm hoping someone comes in to bust them out before Nightshade and her lackeys get too crazy, but we haven't had a character death in quite a while, so...
2786552 But from a narrative point of view, the other Mane Six were never even important to the story. They were dead from the very beginning after all. Pilate and Belle, however, are key characters of the entire narration. They are surrounded by the typical main character aura of immortality. If that aura was to be taken from them, things would get a lot more interesting than in any other kind of narrative - that is something that Martin quite forcefully taught me.
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So at least Belle's now awake. It ordinarily wouldn't be like her to leave behind all of those foals, but I suppose that she didn't really have a choice here. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
2741022 Nightshade did mention that Belle couldn't be reborn if she hadn't died, yet.
However, Eljunbyro did die. Belle died, when Pilate died. When they are reunited, Eljunbyro will be reborn.
At least, that's my guess. And hope.
*wipes sweat from brow* We have woken Belle.
-SPirit
In the nick of time, too. Too bad they're trapped.
The petrified pegasus bones flew across the metal grating, scattering everywhere
well there goes any chance of waking THEM up,
Tactical retreat; some call it cowardice, but if you live to fight another day, you can return back with guns blazing and properly win your fight.
Good thing Kera realizes that, conscious or not.
That is not Kera. No way is she that scared.
We're not retreating, we're attacking in the opposite direction.
Belle is the median between RD and Kera. RD would try to save everyone. Kera only wants to save herself. Belle considers both options.
2761978
That's where Phoenix is.