//------------------------------// // Dash Delivery // Story: Eljunbyro // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// "Do you remember the way in which you and Rainbow Dash came in?" Pilate asked. "I... I..." Belle winced. "It all happened so quickly. Rainbow Dash carried us in here on a wing and a prayer." "I'm guessing y-you were the prayer," Dalton wheezed. Bellesmith spun and questioned him. "Do you remember how Shell brought you in?" she asked. The aged unicorn sat up on the platform, shuddering. "It was more or less a straight line. But I doubt we'll make it far in this abysmal darkness." "Besides, the energy is draining from O.A.S.I.S.," Pilate said as he tapped the gradually dimming sphere that was hanging from his choker. "I can feel my way around for eternity, but I'll be just as lost as you, with or without my device being lit." He managed a weary smirk. "The good news, at least, is that my headache is waning." Just then, a blue pegasus shot up and gripped the zebra's shoulder. "Oh my goddess!" she gasped in his face. Belle and Pilate jumped. "What?! What is it?!" "You're not rhyming!" Rainbow Dash stammered, her ruby eyes wide. Pilate's brow furrowed. Dalton slumped back to the floor while Belle sighed. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage," Pilate said. "Something tells me that's easy to do." "I can't believe it..." Belle crawled over and planted a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "You're still alive!" "Yeah, that happens a lot, these days." "But... but you fought Shell!' "Buck yeah! I fought his horn off!" Rainbow Dash grinned, then twitched. "Okay, well, maybe not his horn. But the next best thing." She adjusted the beret on her head and struck a pose. "Ta-daaaaaa." "Uhm..." Belle smiled awkwardly. "It's... uh... it's nice, Rainbow." "It'll look even nicer in the sunlight, I bet," Rainbow Dash said. She squinted at the others. "You do have the sun in the sky over this place, right?" "So I've been told," Pilate muttered. "Rainbow Dash," Belle remarked. She trotted around the pegasus and marveled at the sight of a bright golden aura washing over the nearby machinery. "We need to get out of this place, and you're the only light source we have down here. Could you help us out?" "First thing's first. Who here is a big fan of Black Shark?" "Uhm... it's 'Blue Shelf,'" Belle said. She pensively raised a hoof. "And I, for one, am not a fan." "There are countless hundreds of equines being enslaved in the caves just outside this place," Dalton managed to say. "So long as this facility stands, Ledomaritans will find ways to exploit their fellow ponies." He gulped. "I should know this truth quite well..." "Even if we get out of here," Pilate said, "We'll have countless guards with manapowered weapons attempting to ensnare us." "Yeah... so, like..." Rainbow Dash fished through piles of discarded berets. "I was thinking, why not stick it to this Ledo Martian crap? I mean literally?" She grabbed a beret and flung it at the zebra. "Here ya go. Catch." Pilate stretched his left hoof out. The beret landed far to his right. After a deep sigh, Pilate's face went tight and he growled, "I'm blind." "Of course you are." "Uhm..." Belle strolled over to Rainbow Dash. "What did you have in mind?" "Well, uhh...." Rainbow gazed straight up. A pulsating orb of lavender light glistened above her. She tilted her head back down and smirked at the others. "It'd be a lot easier to show you." "You want us to go up?!" Belle exclaimed. "How... How do you expect us to follow you?" "Let me worry about cheating gravity," Rainbow Dash said. She finished grabbing several berets and shoving them into the saddlebag around Belle. "I'm pretty good at giving thermodynamics the raspberry." "Uhhh..." "Everypony grab ahold of one of my limbs," Rainbow Dash said, stretching two of her hooves out. "We'll do this the hard way until I find an elevator or something." "You certain you can... uhm... carry all three of us?" "Two of you," Dalton said. Belle looked over, jaw agape. "Dalton...?" The mustached stallion waved his forelimb. "Face it, I deserve to be stuck here. I've done nothing but bring you and your beloved pain and misery." "Dalton..." Belle's face went long. "You came through for us in the end. You don't deserve to be abandoned in this forsaken place." "I'm responsible for Grinder's death!" Dalton frowned, his gray features paling in the gold light. "And Shell wouldn't have gotten a single hoof on anypony if I wasn't so willing to assist him." "Your grandchildren were being threatened and—" "I'm not going to argue, darling! I'm staying here and that's final. I've lived a long life. I've had my days..." "Belle?" Pilate asked. "Yes, beloved?" "Help me over to Dalton." "Uhm... okay..." Belle trotted over and gave Pilate a shoulder to lean on. Together, the ponies shuffled over to where the elder stallion was squatting. Once they reached him, Pilate bent over, felt around with his hoof, found Dalton's midsection, and punched it hard with all his zebra strength. "Hcnkkkkt!" Dalton's eyes crossed as the wind was knocked out of him. He fell over in an unconscious slump. "There." Pilate dusted his hooves off. "I'll carry him if you carry me, Rainbow Dash." "Gotcha. I like how you think, Stripesy." "Beloved? Think you can grab onto Rainbow Dash's other hoof?" "I'd be delighted," Belle said with a nervous smile. "At least I know she's not about to punch me." "Uh huh. Let's do this, Rainbow." "Dash Delivery!" Rainbow Dash hoisted the three with mighty, flapping wings. "Next destination: Lavender Central!" "Uhm, Belle? What does she mean by—?" "Just roll with it, Pilate." And their breaths were stolen as they soared ceilingward in a multicolored blur.