Lesser Sparks
Several moments ago, and high up above...
"Just kidding!" Rainbow Dash had barreled through the shrieking guards, knocking herself and Shell off the platform.
Belle gasped, gawking at Rainbow's surging comeback. She looked through the sea of sprawling guards to see Pilate standing between two Enforcers.
"Pilate!" she shouted.
The zebra's head turned her way. Across the dimming expanse, he gritted his teeth and uncoiled his muscles. His rear hooves bucked hard into the unicorn at his left. Caught off guard, the stallion flew off into dark space, screaming. The guard on the other side of Pilate growned and wrestled with the zebra. The two equines fought precariously on the edge of the golden platform.
Bellesmith winced and broke into a heavy gallop. As she did so, a guard telekinetically grabbed her hair from behind. "Gaaaugh!"
"You're staying right here, lady!" the Enforcer shouted, illuminating the bridge with an unsheathed taser.
Belle gnashed her teeth. Her chestnut eyes flickered back, and in a flash of platinum light she envisioned herself inside a wooden shack, struggling with a heavily muscled minotaur. After another flash, she frowned and yanked her head forward with surprising strength.
"Whoah—!" The guard was flung forward and onto her saddlebags, just in time for Belle to give him a timely buck to the midsection. He flew off, slammed against a swinging pendulum, and fell in terror to the darkness below.
Not wasting a second, Belle ran towards her beloved on the other end of the bridge. A guard appeared in front of her, swinging a glistening taser up high.
Belle blinked, and she envisioned leathery bat creatures swooping at her over the rickety platforms of a mountainside village. When her eyes reopened, she was already diving, flexing phantom wings as she rolled over, slid underneath the guard's quivering legs, and kicked him hard into a metal support strut. He fell unconscious as she scrambled up to her hooves—only to have a third guard tackling her from behind.
"You stupid mare!" the twitching Enforcer shouted. "I'm taking your head!" He raised the taser up high to cleave her skull in two.
"Raaaugh!" a gray figure blurred into him, shoving his weight off Belle's body.
Bellesmith looked up, hyperventilating.
"I've got him, darling!" Dalton managed, struggling with the stallion as the two wrestled over the taser. They rolled across the bridge, exchanging telekinetic punches and headbutts. "Nnngh—Go! Save your beloved!"
Breathless, Belle sat up and looked behind her.
Pilate had overpowered his opponent and was forcing the unicorn's cranium into a headlock. Seething, the guard merely jabbed his head up. His horn grazed the side of Pilate's cheek, spilling blood.
"Gaaah!" Pilate hissed in pain, twitched, and lost balance. Soon, the blind zebra and his adversary were teetering over the edge of the bridge.
"No!" Belle shrieked. Hissing for strength, she jumped to her hooves and sped towards the scene.
But Pilate was already plummeting. "Nnghhh-aaah!" He plunged into the black abyss below.
Belle jumped, slid on her chest, and flung her forelimbs over the edge of the bridge. Her upper body tensed, and her sweating face stretched to the breaking point. After several quivering seconds, she pulled and pulled, her rear hooves scuffing against the surface of the metal platform. Finally, with several squeaking breaths, she stood back up, pulling a frazzled zebra with her.
The two slumped onto the floor. Pilate was out of breath, and it didn't help that Belle's smothering kisses weren't allowing him to get the much-needed oxygen. He hardly complained. Hugging her back, he nuzzled her dearly and inhaled her scent, tears streaming from his gray eyes. The glow of the manasphere pulsated between their chests, making the couple look like the heart of the dimly-lit machine.
"Somehow I knew..." Pilate stammered. "Somehow I-I knew that you weren't... th-that you were never—"
"I will never leave you alone again," Belle murmured, sniffling as she nuzzled his cheek and kissed him repeatedly. "Do you h-hear me?" She hiccuped on a sob and whispered into his ear. "Never."
Pilate ran his forelimb through her mane, shuddering. "You... You came with Rainbow Dash..." He gulped. "Where is she?"
"Last I saw, she went plunging over the edge with Shell." Belle bit her lip. "You're... You're the only source of light in this strange place now."
"I hope she turns him inside out," Pilate spat. His facial features paled. "Wait... Where's Grinder? I haven't heard him at all since you arrived."
Belle was silent for a few seconds. Eventually, she whimpered and said, "He didn't make it, Pilate. He... He's the reason why I'm here... why Rainbow Dash is saving us as we speak."
Pilate slowly nodded. "I see. Well, at least we have—" His speech was ended by the butt of a taser sword slamming across his metal plate. "Unngh!"
Belle gasped and looked up.
A snarling guard slammed her in the face.
She fell back, spitting blood. Belle barely had a chance to breathe before the guard pounced her, his hooves gripping her neck.
"You!" he snarled. "It's your fault for bringing that demon pony here!" His eyes twitched in fury and hysteria. "All of my fellow soldiers are gone! Do you realize what you've done!"
"Get away from her!" Pilate snarled, charging towards the sound of the guard's voice.
The guard easily bucked the zebra away and tightened his grip on Belle's throat. "I'm going to crush your larynx, and while you sputter for breath, I'm gonna skin your beloved alive!"
Belle hissed and sputtered, her eyes rolling back in their sockets.
"Do you hear me?!" The guard snarled. "I'll make sure Shell paints the walls of this place with your insides—"
A taser sliced in out of nowhere and lopped the stallion's horn off at the base.
"Haaaugh!" the stallion screamed, magical sparks spitting chaotically from the shattered stem on his skull. He clutched his skull as blood trickled out of his ears and eye sockets. Before he could produce a second scream, a hoof slammed him upside the chin and sent his body flying off the bridge.
Belle wheezed, clutching her own throat as oxygen found its way back into her lungs. She gazed up with teary eyes.
A thoroughly bruised and bloodied Dalton stood, leaning against a metal support strut as the taser levitated in his magical grip. He finished panting in time to shake the sweat off his mane and mutter, "I do not expect f-forgiveness, darling..." He gulped and continued. "But I do expect you to pardon me if I faint." That said, his elder body slumped to the floor as he wheezed for an even breath.
Belle stared at him, slowly nodding. Pilate crawled over, and the two cradled each other beside Dalton as the three ponies recovered from the violent ordeal. After a few moments, Pilate murmured, "Now what?"
"Now..." Belle gulped. "We do what we've always been doing."
"What's that?"
"We wait for the spark..."
Stats
Page generated in 0.093 seconds
Total duration
943 users online
523,634 hits today, 2,571,732 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Well. I picked the right time to be online, then.
Don't you mean "wait for Rainbow to inexplicably come back and save you all"?
Also, it seems like Belle is mostly playing the damsel in distress here; she's being saved by other people, rather than taking her own initiative. I'm hoping some more of her "Dash" side comes out, 'cause man, it's awesome when it does.
Use the Dash, Belle...
This whole sequence reminds me of Star Wars, and good on you Dalton.
DUN DUN...
DUN DUN...
DUN DUN...
DUN DUN.....
it's 3am... why is every story updating?
1834432
I don't know, man, I'd say she kicked some serious butt in this chapter, especially considering that she's been through quite a bit of peril. Rainbow Dash has the advantage of wings and such. Belle, meanwhile, took on several guards by herself and just happened to get some help along the way and a lucky break or two. You can also interpret the title of the chapter to imply that Belle (or even the whole entourage) is important and kick-ass, but just not as much as Dash is. The real moral to takeaway from this is that most ponies work better as a team. Dash is a lone warrior, alone on so many levels it has changed who she is. Even then, despite how much she wants it to be true, she can't always do it by herself.
That is sort of their job, is it not? Belle's job was to get Rainbow Dash out, now it's Rainbow's turn to save the world.
Also, "taser sword" is totally lightsaber, you know it to be true.
1834458
It's 12:00 am, why is everyone on the East Coast?
1834460
True, very true. Just saying Belle needs an extra push before she can become really heroic (and awesome!). I doubt the story's going to leave Pilate's and Belle's character development behind; by the end of all this, no doubt that both of 'em will have an important role to play before Dash moves on.
1834460
I figured they were metal blades with electric currents running through them.
Well, someone definitely took a level in badass.
1834491
We'll see. I'm am deeply curious to find out how this resolves. Belle/Dash has been an interesting compare/contrast throughout the last 90 chapters of story. Each had a piece of each other form the start, but one's adoption of the other's character traits has really made things quite interesting. That said, Belle has always been playing a support role here, the entire ensemble of Ledomartians has. Their entire culture is one of dependence taken to an, ironically, monogamous extreme. I'm not sure Belle is the type of hero Dash is, and that's what makes the contrast so powerful. Think back to all those chapters of Belle living Dash's life. Dash's main turmoil stems from her inability to reconcile her fierce independent streak with her desire to be among a group. She only comes to realize she truly hates being alone once she has no one to come back to. The difference is that Dash really shoves that emotion deep down inside herself and draws strength in her outward bravado. Belle, so used to being a dependent, is extremely outward (once lucid) about her need for support.
The result is that each can learn valuable lessons from the other regarding the proper balance of going it alone and never going anywhere without support. Both ways let you kick some flank. I hope that perhaps Dash will calm down and be able to see some of that once the fighting is over under Blue Shelf, she could use some company, and someone to empathize with. She has that in Belle, now.
1834499
This does not negate their being analogous to lightsabers.
ok, that was dark... too dark... o.o
I'm glad the three survived after all of that.
Yep, you're not helping your case here, Dalton
Not a bad chapter, all in all. We got some more flank-kicking action, Dash's memories actually having a positive effect on Belle (for once), and a nice touch of redemption. Still, I can't help but look forwards to the fall out from this
I say, darling, that laser sword is so last season.
Subject: Bellesmith
Prefix Title Obtained: "Sequence Warrior"
Preview: "Sequence Warrior Bellesmith"
They're waiting for the spark, but I have a feeling that red flame is going to come back. Shell really wants somepony thrown into it, and Dash is the only pony around. If you remember way back to the last time that happened in Austraeoh, well, it wasn't good. I think they'll need to take the initiative to outnumber and overpower Shell before he takes them all out one by one. RD and the Prime Enforcer may have fallen off the edge, but I doubt it'll kill either one of them.
1834946
This. So much this.
Ouch, that's a brutal take on horn removal. What with the bleeding from the eyes and ears.
Also, Dalton... Oh my.
-Minty
Well, these guards are lame if a few civillians can make good work of them.
Then again, they did tend to gloat too much, and the civilians were probably high on adrenaline. 
RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPE
1835448
Horn removal made even more horrifying!
PREPARE YOUR ANUS
1834537
Perhaps. But I'd be hard-pressed to call them "an elegant weapon, from a more civilized age."
I'm not going to be reading for a while because Ill be reading DUNE. goodbye every one. I will catch up again... some day...
Dash-Belle is best Belle?
That was certainly interesting to see how after sequencing with Dash for all of that time how Belle has been influenced (not really changed) by Dash's personality. I remember at one point when we were all worried that Belle would completely loose her identity, which she nearly did, however she now is more of her "normal" self, with a dash of Dash.
Get it?
A dash of Dash?
It's funny because she's called Rainbow Dash...
Sorry...
Onwards!
Ok, I guess Dalton is cool again. He sacrificed them once, and then saved them, so it kind of evens out. Except for poor Grinder...
Nice to see Belle and Pilate kicking some ass, too. I'm guessing Shell will get booted into that red flame thing and that in turn will jumpstart the whatever it is that's supposed to be jumpstarted. Unless this is the end and Dash gets put into it to renew the machine of the world. Which would kind of be a shame - she just got back, after all.
Anywho, looking forward to how this all plays out. Until the next chapter
"I know Dash-fu."
"Show me."
Taking pointers from Miss Awesome. Props to you, Belle
I Had this playing through the whole chapter...
And for a brief moment, Hat Fortress becomes Team Fortress again. Until
Saxton Ha-Rainbow Dash comes back.IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
This chapter is rather interesting. We get lots of action from non-Dash characters, which is cool because it shows that they can hold their own against simple adversaries. But Belle gets her fighting techniques by mind sequencing with Dash. I am unsure if she can now do this at will or if Whitemane activated it to help her, but it means that Dash and Belle are still mentally connected I'n some way. Just something to keep in mind. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
1834491
Australians are awesome! So are British people!
I live in Australia!
This is Australia...
1967270
You know....I just thought she just learned some impulsiveness from that whole trip and did what she instinctively thought was right.
but your theory can still hold....somehow
THEY ARE REUNITED!!!!!
>The guard on the other side of Pilate growned
Is that a groan and a growl at the same time?
Woohoo! Dalton, thank you!
Now back to Dash.
Lol I just realize what all that Sequencing has amounted to.
I know how to Awesome.
3687052
It only happens during frisky sex.
I hope that Dash comes out of this alive. Also, I wonder what happens after this. After this is all said and done.
Started off Ummagumma.
It's nice and long, so it can make up for the fact that I did not read anything last night.
And god damn, with just a little help from Rainbow's spirit, these three can kick some ass.
1834946
1834717
1835448
IMPLODING COLON CORRECTED SOMETHING IN HIS STORY. WHAT IS THIS BLASPHEMY?!
5958758 I call it a doctrinal revision.
"Rainbow dash fighting memories successfully downloaded."
Bellesmith: cdn.meme.li/i/hw391.jpg
Oh damn, you let Dash inside your brain and the awesomeness rubs off.
Choosing the right side at the moment of truth makes up for a lot, especially when it involves saving a couple of important lives at the same time.
Well, Belle's channeling Chuck, and I have to go listen to Cake music now.
Does that make RD Casey? Cause I would love to see RD as Casey.
Auugh, the effects of horn amputation are horrifying.
8050231
oh, that made me think of Estee's stories: if a unicorn got hit in the horn with a solid object while casting a powerful spell, the resulting "backlash" could cause internal injuries or even death if her horn was charged up to "triple corona" levels.
what's a "triple corona" you ask?
8537069
I see four coronas there.
8799302
Funny that you mention corona...
1834432
Isn't that exactly what she said?
2005444
British person here; you clearly don't know us too well.