Eljunbyro

by Imploding Colon

Sugar Cube

I winced through the layers of white hot pain, my every limb tingling as if being stabbed with a thousand knives. Through it all, a strange voice wafted towards my twitching ears, tickling my breath loose with a ridiculously melodic drawl.

"Land's sakes! Are you okay, sugarcube?!"

My eyes opened. She came into focus, standing upside down below me, gazing with bright green eyes shadowed by an old, weathered hat. Behind her, rows upon rows of apple orchards glistened in the noonday sun, and yet no single fruit held the same sparkling glint as her worried gaze.

"Nnngh... What did you just call me?" I grunted.

"You just crashed into one of my trees."

"You didn't answer my question."

Suddenly her lips smiled, only she was upside down, so she was frowning. "Now look, I came gallopin' here all worried-like cuz I figured you banged yerself up pretty bad. But if y'all are just gonna be plum rude, then maybe you can do us both a favor and disentangle yer keister from them there branches!"

"Wow. Listen to you!" I grunted and stirred, trying to climb my way out of the sea of twigs. "You sound like somepony put a Whinnie Nelson record on repeat—Gaaah!" My voice cracked as I fell loose, tumbled, richocheted off a lower branch, and fell flat on my shoulders with a grunt. I groaned, seeing stars dancing between me and the blue sky. "Nnngh... th-that was fun..."

"What were ya doin' flying so low over these fields anyway?" She trotted towards me. She had thick, muscular limbs attached to her hooves. The filly must have been a professoional runner or something. But—wait—that was a farm...

"I was testin' the winds around this place," I grumbled, rolling over until the world hung in the right direction. "Cloudsdale's got it in their big heads to transfer me to this boring little town to do weather work."

"Yeah, well, this 'boring little town' happens to be where my family and I have lived for generations, and I don't take kindy to y'all sassin' it so. And I definitely don't take kindly to y'all flying low enough to strip the combs off of our roosters! T'ain't a good way for a pegasus weather flier to make a good impression, no-how!"

"Hey! Now listen here, hayseed!" I stood up. "I—Yeowch!" my voice cracked again.

She raised an eyebrow beneath her blonde bangs. "Now what's the matter?"

"N-nothing!" I hissed, flinching from a sharp pain just above my left wing. "I'm fine, I just need to fly it off—" I flapped my feathers and immediately sunk to the ground. "Nnnngh!"

"Here, now, lemme see..." She trotted towards me.

"What are you doing?! I said I'm fine!"

"Whew..." She whistled, gazing up close at my spine. "You've got a whopper of a splinter dug into your backside, just a hair's smidgeon above them blew wings of yern. Reckon it's from how hard you slammed into the tree. Good thing you didn't touch none of my apples."

"Ughhhh..." I shuddered all over. "Is it bad? If my wings go numb through this, the weather council won't let me hear the end of it! I'll be dead meat on my resume!"

"If you leave it in, then ya might have somethin' to worry about. I'd better take it out."

I blinked at her crookedly. "Take it out?!"

"Just gimme a sec..." She trotted over to a wagon.

"Uhhhh..." I was sweating profusely. "Uhhhh..." I heard the ringing of metal and my face paled.

"Mmmf..." She carried a thick pocket knife over in her teeth. Standing on her rear limbs, she braced herself against my shoulders and positioned the blade in the crook of her hooves. "I gotta pull the thing loose real quick. Now hold still."

"Whoa whoa whoa whoah!" I flinched and quivered under her weight. I hadn't realized until then that she was kind of bigger than me. "You're not a nurse or anything! What the hay are you?! Don't—"

"Quit yer dag-blame'd squirmin!" she exclaimed, holding me tighter. "I've done this hundreds of time, with sheeps in the field, mind you. At least they were a might bit easier to deal with. Now stop budgin'!" She planted the very tip of the blade against the splinter.

"OhgoshOhgoshOhgoshOhgosh!" I heard myself hissing as my entire face contorted with fear and stress. "Just do it quickly! Please! Nnnngh—Get it out get it out get it out—"

"Relax."

"Get it out get it out get it—"

"I said be calm! I done pulled it out seconds ago!" she lifted a bloodied stump of a wooden splinter in her orange hoof. "See? Quick and easy."

I blinked at it, sweating with embarassment. "Oh. Huh..."

"Still, no sense in ya flailin' around like a school filly." She tossed the splinter into the bushes before dusting off her hooves. "Though I guess I can't blame you at yer age..."

"At my age?!" I frowned at her. "Hey! I'm twenty-two years old, lady!"

"Hah!" She guffawed. "Hahahahaha!" She guffawed again, pulling her hat off to beat her left knee in the shimmering sunlight. "Hoooo boy! That's rich!"

"I mean it! I'm the best and fastest flier out of Cloudsdale!"

"Reckon you mean that you flew out of your momma's womb a month early." She smirked and slapped the hat back on her golden crown. "T'ain't nothing to be ashamed of. My cousin Caramel Apple is the same way; he's a small fry. They had to make a tiny plow for the poor little feller."

I fumed, gazing back at my splinter womb as I fluttered my wings with relative ease. "I am not tiny," I uttered, though my voice cracked to spite me.

"Awww, don't take it the wrong way, sugarcube. I'm just teasin' ya." She cleared her throat and stood in front of me. "Think you can be a kind neighbor and avoid flyin' so low above these orchards from now on?"

I avoided her gaze, frowning. I grumbled something.

"What was that?"

"Ugh..." I looked directly at her. "Fine! I'll stear clear of your farm, if only to—" I paused. I wasn't used to country pony manners. Her face had to have been no more than five inches from mine. I could smell earth and sweat and apple seeds. A pale array of spots dotted her hard, chiseled frown. "Did you—like—fall into a giant vat at the freckles factory or something?"

She blinked at me several times. With a groan, she rolled her eyes and trudged angrily off. "Pegasi. I swear to Celestia, they're a bit per bushel..."

"Hey! I'm sorry about the tree!" I called after her. "But in my defense, if you were growing bananas instead of apples, then maybe I would have bounced off it!"

"Go huff a cloud or somethin'!"

I turned around and flexed my wings. I felt my heart beating swiftly, but oddly enough I wasn't flying yet. I stood frozen in place, fidgeting. My heart had only ever raced when I was diving from a great height or soaring against the pull of gravity or something like that. What was going on here?

A brisk wind blew against me. I glanced down at a series of leaves scattering through my legs and past my tail. Suddenly—in perfect coordination—the leaves coalesced to form two symbols on the ground. I squinted at them, my brow twitching in confusion.

"What in the heck?"

"Bellesmith! Can you hear me?"

I tiled my head up, panting. I saw the blue sky melting away as a cascading layer of whiteness flooded the globe.

"We've located your sphere! We're pulling you out!"

"Who are you?!" I shouted, but my voice was being drained from me. I felt two painful spots forming on my brow. I fell to my knees, shuddering. Something flickered in my peripheral. I looked up and saw a stream of light—bright and lavender—pulling at me, tugging, burning the leaves' symbol right into my eyeballs with a horrendous flash.

Comments

[Psyco Josho]

So it's NOT called 'Emerald Eyes', or anything like that... I guess I was wrong.

Still... I'm not surprised that RD and AJ met this way at all.

[SearoDess]

"We've located your sphere! We're pulling you out!"
"Who are you?!" I shouted, but my voice was being drained from me.

Oooooh so now the spheres are starting to connect to Dash as well!?

[IfOnlyICouldDeactivate]

The plot thickens...

Also I'm loving the way we get to see how Dash met the rest of the Mane 6, and this one in particular sounds so believable! It just seems like the way the two characters would interact with each other.

And nice flying Dashie.

[Rara]

It's great to see a bit of Dash's life before the tragedy and Austraeoh... and the minute I saw the title "Sugar Cube", I knew it was gonna be profound. Poor Dashie... Poor AJ...

[Aqua Fortis]

"We've located your sphere! We're pulling you out!"
"Who are you?!" I shouted, but my voice was being drained from me.

Looks like Bellesmith's loss of identity is happening faster than anticipated. She's already forgetting Dalton's voice.

I looked up and saw a stream of light—bright and lavender—pulling at me, tugging, burning the leaves' symbol right into my eyeballs with a horrendous flash.

That symbol has been the object of speculation since the first major arc of Austraeoh. Are ponies more than just visitors on this artificial world?

[Riverwing]

So Belle lost focus of who she was. That can never be good.

[MellowMabari]

Aw...poor Dash and AJ. I like how they met, but I always figured it would've happened earlier on in their lives - still, its interesting to see a version that has them meet up when they're already grown up. I can't say I know exactly what's going on, but when do I ever? Belle should take a break so she can get her stuff together, or she's gonna be lost in sphere memories or whatever these things are supposed to be. Still waiting to see if Dash is salvageable at all, and for Belle to get to the Discord section of Dash's memories. Onward!

[RainbowThis]

Lol, Dense Rainbow Dash is Dense

[eucatastrophe]

1487308

I think its more that Belle is assimilating to Rainbow Dash's memories to the point that she can no longer differentiate herself from Dash.

1488694

On the contrary, i'm pretty sure that that is necessary to achieving Belle's ultimate goal. It would be worse if Rainbow Dash and Belle couldn't meld into one personality.

1490131

She is also dense

[bigchibz110]

Well, this is shaping up to be very interesting story. Good on you, sir!

[Regidar]

Could this be a bigger trip than Austraeoh?

Prolly not.

[Csquared08]

Assimilation: Progressing as scheduled.

[dashie76]

IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!

So we get a rather sweet chapter with Dash and Applejack meeting here. Also, I've stopped trying to rant about shipping - I decided it wasn't going to produce anything good. Doesn't mean I have to like it, though. Regardless, when Dalton tells Belle that he's going to pull her out of Dash's sphere, she asks who he is. She has forgotten his voice and is now becoming a second Rainbow Dash. If Rainbow Dash did die at the end of Austraeoh, then Belle will carry out her mission. These are my thoughts so far.

-MASH

[AppleTank]

Wow, one story later and we never actually found out what the symbol represented.

[CrimsonPhoenix]

Well at least the Appledash in here isn't bluntly rushed.

[FloorBelow]

Ooh, snap. She can't even remember. Lavender, symbol - a forve is drawing her in, and it's powerful. Perhaps this is The Spark?

[Tetrominon]

1706394
O ye of little faith.

[Super Trampoline]

hey it must be that one symbol thingie.

[AfterTheEnd]

So here's the sphere where Discord posesses Dash. And I'd bet that the symbol is the hoofprint-sun one from the parts of the Machine that Dash visited in Austraeoh.

[whizzball1]

Two symbols? What's happening to Dash?

[Enix]

Bet it's the Omega & Sun symbols. For added twist I hope Dash wakes up as BelleSmith.

[JustAnotherTimeLord]

Hmm, I wonder if it is the symbol we already have seen.

[Tim the Planes-pony]

First meeting with AJ and

the leaves coalesced to form two symbols on the ground.

what is this, something unusual it looks like.

[Aiyonbeam]

So now Apple Horse and Racing Horse have met, and RD's love begins to show its early stages.
Then, leaves become the Machine's activation symbol, and Twilight makes sure Belle is gonna remember them for a good, long while. Maybe she's reaching out, making Belle an unwitting tool in Rainbow's revival? Only time will tell.

And man, I never realized how dire RD's injuries were. She's gonna need a Philosopher's Stone to come back from that one...

[TheGreatEater]

But if y'all are just gonna be plum rude, then maybe you can do us both a favor and disentangle yer keister from them there branches!"

you [or combine you and are].
________________

I don't take kindy to y'all sassin' it so. And I definitely don't take kindly to y'all flying low enough to strip the combs off of our roosters!

you
____________________

So I take it that sequencers have a nasty habit of loosing themselves in their subjects ... that sucks.

[Zeno]

6970754
I take it you've never been to the southern US? "Y'all" is like the first entry in the countryism dictionary

[arancaytar]

Huh, after the pattern I was really expecting this one to be "Emerald Eyes".

I felt my heart beating swiftly, but oddly enough I wasn't flying yet.

Awwww.

What was going on here?

You're in love, you dummy.

[Tim the Planes-pony]

Suddenly—in perfect coordination—the leaves coalesced to form two symbols on the ground

Now this sounds important. Maybe what is being searched for?

04/07/2017 23:23 UTC

[Grey Rebl]

Damn. The pattern broke. Oh well, I'll still show the song.

[5plus5seconds]

"Did you—like—fall into a giant vat at the freckles factory or something?"

This cracked me up!

[Zyrah]

"Reckon you mean that you flew out of your momma's womb a month early." She smirked and slapped the hat back on her golden crown. "T'ain't nothing to be ashamed of. My cousin Caramel Apple is the same way; he's a small fry. They had to make a tiny plow for the poor little feller."

...

ROAST

[CrystalWaters]

This whole memory-sphere-diving thing just seems like it's doomed to awesome failure.
Are we eventually going to be seeing Rainbow Belle?

[Pseudonym1]

I've got a prediction. I'll spoiler tag it in case I'm somehow right.
Rainbow dash might be dead according to a previous chapter. Yet, the story description says rainbow dash flies east. What if belle becomes the new dash, and continues east in place of the original?

[Smithers888]

1777684

Also, I've stopped trying to rant about shipping - I decided it wasn't going to produce anything good.

I've seen enough of your evaluations to know it mostly produces downvotes. Like, in the first book I could go through and tell you without reading a word which chapters have AppleDash (or PetalDash) implications just by looking for a little red thumbs down next to your icon.