"...loyalty deserves loyalty."
Bellesmith stirred, her lips murmuring unintelligible words. Sunlight cascaded over her golden complexion, and her face tensed.
"Bring the wind... to Austraeoh..."
She gnashed her teeth and hissed.
"Must... Must get her out..."
Bellesmith's chestnut eyes flew open and she saw the platinum glory of the rising sun.
"I must get Rainbow Dash out of the facility!"
A wooly ram blinked back at her with a bored expression. "You don't friggin' say?"
Bellesmith's face paled. She shot up in bed, wincing from her stiff limbs. "I have to get down there! I have to—" She bolted towards the ceiling, only to suddenly be missing wings. "Gaaah!" She toppled, tumbled, and fell out of bed, almost cracking what was left of her horn in half. "Ughhhh..."
Grinder let out a long sigh. "This is the thanks I get? Mmmmfgh... Last time I play hospice for a sissy unicorn." He spun on his hooves and made for the door.
"Mmm—No! Grinder, wait!" Bellesmith flailed upside down with the bedsheets. She dramatically waved a hoof and scrambled across the room, effectively blocking his exit. "Please! Don't go!"
"I've got crap to do, lady," Grinder hissed. "Blue Shelf is a ghost town, and I've wasted enough time force-feeding you in your sleep."
Belle gulped, her cheeks slightly red. "You... You really took care of me all this time?"
"Hrmph..." Grinder folded his forelimbs, glaring off into the far corner of the place. "Well, somepony had to..."
Belle managed a nervous smile. "That... That was awfully sweet of you, Grinder."
Grinder's eyes were momentarily soft as they entreated the shadows.
Belle's lips pursed. "Wait... What about..." She gulped. "What about your beloved?"
"Like I said," he muttered. "This place is a friggin' ghost town. Only fitting that Queen Lame-do decided to dump all her gruntwork on me. Not like it's something I ain't used to. Now will you get out of the way or do we have to turn this into another shove-fest?!"
"Grinder, wait!" Belle held a hoof up. "I thank you for all that you've done for me, and I'm sorry that you've been left alone here with so much on your plate." She clenched her teeth with a foalish expression and said, "But I still need your help."
"Heh. Fitting." He easily shoved her aside and made for the exit of the cabin. "Why don't you go into a coma again so you can be useful for once?"
"Grinder, please!" She scrambled after him, wincing as she fumbled with numb limbs. "There's a reason why they haven't sent you away! You're too important to the facility! They want you around to do more dirty work than you or I can pretend to know!"
"I pretend to know nothing," he said, swinging the cottage door open to the sunrise. "It makes it easier to shove rocks around that way."
"Grinder, you've seen it! You've seen the metal door!" Belle exclaimed, weakly clinging to the doorframe and watching as he marched onto the abandoned street between houses. "You know that there's more to this than any of us are being told! It's something dangerous, something evil, and we gotta keep that door from opening!"
"What do I look like, a key?!" Grinder growled back and made for the center of the empty town downt he path. "Go dream of all the doors you want!"
"For Spark's sake, Grinder, this isn't a dream!" Belle shrieked, frowning. "They... they have my beloved down there!"
Grinder stopped in his tracks, just barely beyond Belle's sight. He fidgeted, his features paling.
Belle heaved painfully and whimpered, "They have Pilate. They're gonna do horrible things to him until he helps them open the door..." She sighed and ran a hoof over her moist eyes. "And it's all my fault that they've chosen him. He didn't need to get involved... but he is... and I-I have to get him out of there..."
Grinder closed his eyes as his nostrils flared. Slowly, he turned and gazed at her. "Shell?" was all he asked.
Bellesmith gulped and nodded slowly.
He gnashed his teeth. After a rolling of his eyes, he produced, "Tell me, how good are you at impersonating a pick axe?"
Belle blinked. "Buh?"
Well that was fast.
And out of italics. Nothing like a fresh sunrise to wash away the foggy dreamscape.
Prison Break: Ledomare
Belle's going to need a good tattoo artist.
Subject: Bellesmith
Suffix Title Obatined: "Part Time Pickaxe"
Preview: "Bellesmith, the Part Time pickaxe"
-Minty
triple-shot today, and glad to see we're finally back on track. The detour to the Austraeoh prequel was nice, but it's time to bust Rainbow out of prison!
So, this is new. Now there's pressure to stop them from opening the door. I didn't think Ledo was capable of opening it at all, though. It seems now that there's a bit of a Pandora's box involved, something beyond just waking up Dash. So what's in that box? Does Dash have to be the one to open it? Is it perhaps something that needs to be avoided?
I would venture that it's perhaps more along the lines of, "We can't let them open that door because they'll end up killing Dash (and Pilate) in the process."
1758311 We know behind one door lays a whole buck load of bat thingies, those chaos strips were locked in one of those places. The question is this the same complex? And if it is, how much time has passed?
1758392 No, it is a different place, but remember all the complexes connect.
Also, Gold Petals x Rainbow Dash OTP
Bellesmith is best pickaxe.
1760025
Well that's a new one. It still sounds better than whatever Dash's disguise was back at the Minotaur base though. Didn't she use a blanket or something? Onward!
Those italics are messing with my head. I have no idea whats going on anymore...
Guess italics = dafaq is going on and
normal = Yes, master, I now know what I mus do.
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Okay, so it looks like some big stuff is about to go down! We're out of the italics, so Belle now knows what's going on. We get some much needed humor here after that hurricane of feels in the flashback, so that's awesome. Also, the atmosphere of the story changed very quickly in this chapter. It really shows how good a writer Imploding is. He went from a dark and depressing mission to save the world to lighthearted comic relief to a comedic yet important mission of rescue. Really quite cool. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
THIS IS GOING TO BE AWESOME!!!!!!
Grinder joins the party.
Ah, now finally out of the dreams proper, however, we cannot wait around celebrating, for the enemy has our ally! Gather our men, we're going for glory, FOR NARNIA!!!!
Action time.
Buck yeah!
Back to Ledomare. Also, 3/8 done!
Pickaxes, eh? Here comes Minecraft.
Arrogant surely but funny. Im now picturing him literally swinging belle against the door like a picaxe...priceless
Man, it's not hard to convince that guy to do stuff
She's awake. Really truly awake for the first time since this hole mess started. She understands what she must do and she's ready to do it... i just hope she lives.
Also getting real fond of Grinder. He's mean and grumpy but He's a good Soul. Just Jaded after all he's been through.
He really does care, that is sweet.
It's odd. I had been looking forward to seeing Dash again for so long, and now it's nice to see Belle again.
Huh. I had totally missed that Pilate was most likely down in the facility, seems pretty obvious in hindsight.
Well, I'm not sure how well she can impersonate a pickaxe, but I think she can be a passable cart of tools. As for the door...
...Could it be the chaos strips? Is that what they're after?
Probably not as good as most unicorns even without their magic.
YEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!
Get ready for a wild ride, Belle
i'm sorry, I couldn't help but imagine grinder holding her by her hind legs while her arms were glued to her side as he bashed her face into a rock like she was a pick axe
8998652
https://youtu.be/ZZaY5kcO3DE
9079237
Oh Celestia, that was too funny.
I needed that, after all those feels were dumped on me.
Ah, the Bellesmith pickaxe, created with a rainbow and a spark.
Do you think she can mine obsidian?
『Grinder』 has joined the party!
Had to come back from a later chapter for this, I forgot how much he contributed...
9406053
I bet she can mine bedrock!
Oh my god, thank you Colon for being straightforward and telling us we're out of the dreamscape!