Belle burst out onto the deck of the zeppelin's gondola. Panting, she glanced left and right.
An array of startled crew ponies turned to look at her.
Hissing through her teeth, she darted immediately to her left and bolted up a wooden flight of stairs towards the upper deck.
"The suspect is loose!" somepony's voice shouted. It could have been Shell; it could have been the wind.
Belle ran before the thoughts could drag her down. She saw a wide-eyed stallion disentangling himself from a support rope to swing a hoof at her. Empowered by speed and fright, she slammed her shoulder hard into him, knocking the grunting crew pony onto his flank. Bodies bounded towards her in her peripheral vision. She darted past the ship's steering, hopped over a line of supply crates, and slipped past two meaty enforcers lunging at her shaved tail.
A bright flash of light entreated the mare like a soft sunrise. Without hesitation, she bounded towards it, only to find nothing but air. With a shriek, Bellesmith found herself plunging over the railing of the ship's deck. She slid down the sloped hull of the swaying gondola, bounced over a cannon latch or two, before plummeted towards a wooden support beam. Beyond the frame, an emerald patchwork of farmland loomed hundreds of feet below, pock-marked with glittering lakes and streams.
Bellesmith stifled a shriek as she flattened her body back and spread her rear legs. Her hooves came to a stop against the wooden seam of the gondola's frame. It was all that was keeping her from plunging into the merciless winds. She clung to the hull, hyperventilating, her golden face pelted constantly by the cold air currents.
Above and behind her, bodies scurried through the ship. She tilted her head up, and she saw several stallions gazing down, some frowning, others shocked. The entire crew of the zeppelin gawked at her predicament, and it wasn't until Shell's frazzled face appeared that any of them dared to say anything.
"Doctor Bellesmith!" Shell shouted. "Do not make this difficult! If you simply comply with the wishes of the Council, then I still have it within my power to grant you clemency!"
His horn glowed as he extended a field of telekinesis. Belle didn't budge. He hissed in frustration before muttering a few words towards the soldiers on either side of him. The stallions nodded, then galloped down towards the lower decks. Belle could hear them rumbling through the hull directly behind her.
"Do you understand me?!" Shell exclaimed. "The target's failed is sealed! It was before your life ever got complicated by being associated with her! I can still restore your future! Don't allow loyalty to a pitiful fugitive be the sole reason for destroying your reputation!"
Belle kept panting heavily through chapped lips. Her ears twitched. She looked left and right to see that the nearest cannon latches were opening. Stallions' heads poked out, their horns aimed at her as they started to glow.
"Make the wise choice, doctor! You're a scientist! Look at this objectively!"
Belle seethed and seethed. Then, her trembles ended. She closed her eyes, blinding herself to the chaos and lights like a certain beloved once did.
"It's too late for that now," she murmured. A tear appeared on her lashes, blown immediately to mist by the winds. "All I care for is gone. It's too late for anything..."
Shell's voice was already snarling. "Don't you do it—"
Belle did. With hooves spread and her head tilted up, she tipped forward and allowed gravity to take its course.
All grace ended right then. When the mare fell, it was in rapid, twirling motions, sending her flailing and flopping like a branch falling from the world's tallest tree. She tried calming her mind, but no snapshots of her previous life came to her. Instead, she saw shadows, like photo negatives that had been exposed too long, and they all tickled her nose with the smell of sterile electricity and mana steam.
And then, all breath left her. Belle's lungs heaved and buckled, as if she was sailing like a torpedo somewhere underwater. Gravity shifted, and she was certain she was no longer falling—but instead rising, propelled to the zenith of all existence at the speed of light.
It was at that moment that Belle opened her eyes.
The world was gone, only it wasn't. The elements that constituted reality had shattered apart, so that they flew about in whiter-than-white circles, pale spheres that rolled and thundered around her.
Belle tried to scream into the madness, but she found herself whispering like a doormouse instead. "Somepony... tell me what's going on! Blessed Sp-Spark! I'm dying!"
The world ripped apart even more, rippling in the shape and sound of a gentle voice, made bellicose by the sundering dimensions. "You are not dying, Bellesmith. You've accessed a random sphere.
Belle panted and panted. She looked to her left and saw the stars melting into the nether, being swallowed up in utter blackness. There was one last flicker of lavender, like a dying sob, and then it was all emptiness.
"Just relax, Bellesmith."
"I'm going someplace! I don't know where!" Belle tried to shriek. As the blackness overtook her, she felt her head splitting from the top down, as though an axe made out of pure sound was slicing through the top of her skull. "The singing! It's deafening!"
"We're pulling you out. Just stay calm, darling!" Out of the blackness, a single spark pulsed, all-powerful and all-encompassing. Belle rose and fell into it all at once, until the spark consumed her. "Just stay calm!"
"Nnnnngh..." Belle flinched against the brightness, outright sobbing the words out. "Twists and t-turns are my master plan. Nnnngh... f-find the elements back where you b-began—"
"Blessed Spark... Bellesmith! Listen to my voice! You must stay focused! You must stay—"
Eljunbyro.
Oh jeeze, what the hell, Dalton?! No one else calls her 'darling'!
2868192
Well, Nightshade does, doesn't she?
It's kind of funny that this dream sequence is written more cohesively than some of the story's fight scenes.
I'm getting deja vu from the first few chapters of Eljunbyro.
And suddenly, two more chapters suddenly appear. Not that I'm complaining, of course.
I'm really starting to think this line might have far-reaching implications for the entire Austraeoh series, though I won't pretend to know how, exactly. Kind of ominous. I know we've pretty much discounted the "the entire story is taking place in Rainbow's discorded mind" theory, but there are still a lot of possible twists for what could come.
2868628
This story is full of twists and turns.
They're finding the elements back where they began.
Imploding Colon is clearly Discord.
2869437
I'm inclined to agree. The emotional shit-storm he put me through, thinking Kera was dead? I'd like to personally take the Elements and shove them where Harmony doesn't shine, but he's too good of an author for me to do something like that, so I'll settle for punching him on the arm (a bit harder than absolutely necessary, true, but nonetheless...) and reading this story.
Well at least I wasn't wrong when I suspected Discord to be in there.
So it was him flashing through her mind when she broke free of Nightshade's grasp. The bold writing clearly isn't Whitemane, but if it is Nightshade, why does it sound so benevolent? And who is 'we' anyways? when exactly did Belle lose her grasp on reality? Is she still back in the complex or in Kera's hideout, unconscious?
These again. This time right before she went full Discord. Is he fighting Nightshade or is he the source of the problem? If yes, why would he aid Belle? Why would anyone?
I get the feeling that there are just way too many higher forces involved in all this. It's like the battle that's about to go down in Blue Nova re-enacted in Belle's poor little head.
2868545Hmmm...
Wha - ?
Belle's mind might as well have a sign posted out front: Open for Business! Come and snoop all you like - mental trauma is encouraged!
I think she's had Dash, Discord, Whitemane and Nightshade all derping around in there at some point or other. Heck, its probably been more crowded in there than Pinkie's head ever was.
Also, listened to this while reading. Fit surprisingly well.
IIIIIt's Dashie's 12th Marathon Evaluation Time!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, good. It was just a sphere. Now I'm just concerned with the subject who she's sequencing with...For starters, since Shell has all of his legs, we know that it occurred in the past. Shell also seemed to be acting like a bit less of a dick, offering Belle all of that stuff in exchange for information. Also, I'm going to assume that Dash is replacing someone else in this sphere. Someone who means as much to the subject as Dash means to Belle. Then there's the whole thing about Kera...I don't think she died, though...but then how does that situation tie in with the sequencing? Or maybe the sphere world and the real world are just muddled together. It would explain the presence of Luna's saddlebags as well as Kera's death. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
P.S. Four left...time for lunch!
Don't you dare bring us back to the beginning.
2949802
you stole the words right out of my mouth
Dalton? What.
so confused.
...Well. That was... interesting. And confusing. And... flashbacky. I'm hopeful for the possible implications of this, though.
PS: This changes nothing, by the way. Shell still deserves a slow, painful, horrible death.
It's just a sphere then. But wait why is she even in a sphere? Also I forgot where that line was mentioned first
-Spirit
wait...what....
And this, everypony, is why you don't take melatonin before going to bed.
huh?
It was nought but a dream
Okay, so are we pulling around to full circle? What's going on?
For some reason I read this in Twilight's voice and this
I read in Rarity's voice
Nightshade must be manipulating Belle's dream state.
Thus the last 200 or so chapters are lies.
My mind cannot take all this fuck.
It was a dream all this time! Muahahahahahahaaaa!
8068197
What the actual fuck has been going on?
Where does the lies begin, and the truths end?
My life is a lie.
8664832
Hah, I knew exactly which part you'd gotten to just from that comment.
Plot twist: Phoenix is in Belle's mind.
My mind soon fell victim to corruption