Bellesmith gasped. Bellesmith sputtered. Her eyes opened, brimming with tears. Something foggy was scratching at her ears: a sound, an echo, a voice. Voices. Bodies were shifting towards her right. Everything was dark and cold.
She sat up, her every muscle electrified. She brought a hoof up to her horn-stub; it was smoking. A cable dangled, affixed to her cranium. She plucked it loose with a shower of sparks.
The burst of light illuminated black metal bulkheads with iron rivets surrounding her like a golem's stomach. The world teetered as the voices to her right came into clarity.
Belle glanced aside. She was sitting atop a metal slab, and across the way lay Nightshade, writhing in the throes of tortured sleep. Two ponies in company uniforms hovered over her, fiddling with the instrument panel of the sequencing machine looming over her mattress.
“She's going into shock again!”
“Bring her out!”
“I'm trying! She's locked between spheres and—Wait!”
“What is it?”
“I think she's coming to, finally!”
Belle bit her lip. She looked straight ahead.
A metal door with a valve lingered before her. Something was pounding and scraping against the other side, filling noisy reverberations through the metal room.
Belle looked to her left.
A bright chamber—sealed off by a sheet of metal reinforced glass—showed all twelve Xonan foals sitting in their respective chairs, their skulls hooked up to glowing gables.
Belle spun on the bed and looked behind her. She saw a table with Princess Luna's saddlebag lying open, its contents spread out across the metallic surface. Affixed to the wall, above the table, were two metal fire extinguishers.
She glanced at the two soldiers; their backs were facing her. She slowly slithered off the bed and over towards the wall where her things lay.
“Careful! We have to prevent a rapid disconnect!”
“What's causing it? I didn't bring her up. Did you?”
Belle grabbed one of the fire extinguishers. On silent hooves, she trotted over towards the pair of uniformed ponies.
“The server is still functioning. The twelve are still sequenced.”
“Then how did she come out of sequence... unless...”
One of them turned around—
“Nnnngh!” Belle swung the fire extinguisher with the force of both forelimbs.
The stallion swung from the impact. A pair of loose teeth rattled across the floor. The second charged at Belle. She spun, dodged his blow, and slammed the extinguisher so hard over his spine that the nozzle broke off, filling the room with a bright white mist.
The window to the room with the twelve foals fogged up. A door beside it opened, and a stallion's body came bursting through.
“Madame?! What's going on in here!? Are you alright?” A bright taser lit the room like a floating buoy. “Madame Nightshade?”
A golden body stalked him from the shadowed corner of the room. With a rasping shriek, Belle launched herself at the figure, attacking it like a chaos creature in mountain mists. She grabbed onto his neck and held on for dear life. Startled, he thrashed and bucked to get her off. Belle's eyes twitched, as if touched with a ruby shine, and she dragged her hooves against the floor just enough to get traction. Then, with an animalistic growl, she body-slammed him through the sequencing bed like a meaty minotaur through a pile of lumber.
The stallion rolled to the side, lying unconscious besides the other two ponies. As the extinguisher expelled the last of its contents, the cold gases faded, just in time for Nightshade's eyes to flutter open.
With a pained wince, she hugged herself, as if making sure her body was intact. She sat up, hyperventilating, eventually calming as the shadows of the room enfolded her with a familiar embrace. Gulping, she blinked, then scanned the interior of the room.
She saw the fogged glass, a shattered table, her unconscious guards, and then a snarling golden muzzle flying into her face.
Bellesmith headbutted her savagely.
Nightshade flew back against the bulkhead, rattled, and rolled off the mattress. She teetered on the side, painfully dangling from the sequencing cable's attachment to her horn stub.
Belle ripped the cable off, then hoisted the gasping mare up in a merciless headlock. All Nightshade could manage was a guttural squeak as she struggled for breath.
This didn't stop Belle from growling into her ear, “Yes, this is real.” Her voice cracked, “It's as real as you've made it, and as real as you're going to end it.”
“How... h-how did you...?”
Belle yanked Nightshade out of her words and snarled, “Where... am... I?”
I've heard the phrase "reality comes crashing down," but this is ridiculous. Belle, dear, you make a great action hero, but please work on your heroic one-liners.
He he he! Austraeoh references!
Badass Belle.
Belle has gone potato. Everypony run for your lives.
Finally, Belle has mastered Dash-fu, the art of the headbutt.
And now all is set for a great reunion.
I am sensing some major flank kicking. Hopefully, Rourke's sensors will pick up O.A.S.I.S. as it should be very bright with all the energy being channelled through it and RD will have a chance to participate.
If only I could use the L-space and read the future chapters now...
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She's like the Incredible Hulk, but she turns blue instead of green.
GIVE 'ER THE CHAIR!
Holy shit.
Dash-belle.
Everypony is utterly, utterly screwed. Cause when Dash-belle finds herself missing her wings, she's going to be very, very, very pissed.
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That's her secret... she's always awesome.
Damn...you go, girl!
Hell, yeah! Get some, Belle! There comes a time in everyone's life when you just gotta get mad.
Twenty-five four-count flutter kicks, ):(. Knock 'em out!
I know that she's still connected in a way to Rainbow Dash, but why do I get the feeling just that much more of RD's personality has somehow infused itself with Belle's own personality? I see a very enraged mare making her way out of Nightshade Industries destroying all that gets in her way in the near future.
Daaaaaamn, Belle! Time to kick some ass!
Now, let's just hope that the scraping ruckus behind the metal door is being made by safe little tattooed hooves.
PILE DRIVEEEEEEEEEER!
No more running.
2906846 Yes. We must all embrace the Dashie.
At least there isn't dismembered body parts and and guts exploding all over the place now...
Way to kick off the last quarter of the story with Belle beating the shit out of Night Shade!
ohhhhh shit!...Belle is Dash...oh dear. Nightshade doesn't even get a reprieve from Dash even waking up, lol...I'd feel sorry for her but...I just won't.
I'm still reeling over how she body-slammed the guard through the METAL table!
Ah the traditional Krogan greeting,the headbutt.
So that explains what was up with Dash in Roarke's ship...
unless I miss my guess...Dash and Belle have swapped bodies.
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He's saving that for next chapter. Y'know, for after Belle gets all the info she needs from Nightshade
Now Belle, I know that you are a doctor, but you're not that kind of doctor, and you're definitely not qualified for impromptu dentistry. . . . Actually, screw it. Go nuts.
As ever, awesome stuff. Liiittle bit worried 'bout the mind-meld going on here. That last line -- "Where . . . am . . . I?" -- prompts me into thinking that Dash might actually be possessing Belle, or at least consciously being merged with her, because Belle knows where the children are kept. She's been there, and if she is in an adjoining room, surely she'd be aware of where she is, wouldn't she? Might be that Dash is more in control of Belle's body than Belle is at the moment.
Worryin' stuff for Belle.
is dash in belles body?! can not wait for more!
And suddenly Belle becomes a murder machine. It's like somepony ran a jiu jitsu training program while she was under.
I like bad-ass Belle.
WAKE-UP CALL! DING DONG, MOTHERFER!
This chapter made me realize just how much you messed with my brain. I have a hard time believing that this is... you know, real life. Well, but at least we now have a rather clear idea when exactly Belle's dream sequence began and where she is.
Crimson glanced back. Rainbow was still twitching, but seemed to have gotten better. "Rainbow, are you alright?"
"Ow...wait, Rainbow is here?" Glances at her hooves. "Well, that's new. Nevermind for that, we have to go to Blue Nova. It's where I'm, er, where my body is at."
As fun as it is to see Belle kicking arse, this is seriously worrying.
Belle has been possessed by her memories of Dash. ...No matter how you think about it, that is a really crappy situation for Belle.
I wonder if this is affecting Rainbow at all? Does the Dash in Belle's mind know what is going on? Is Belle herself conscious in her own head while this happens?
Oh. Well, shoot. When and where did Belle get picked up, and where are Phoenix and Kera?
Wut... Defuq... Just happened?...
WE MUST GO SHALLOWER!
For we do not yet wake.
That... is one really good Dash Emulator you're running Belle.
Where can I get me one of those?
So I guess Belle isn't bouncing back from this brain buster as quickly as before, eh? I wonder if the Dash with Roarke and the others is asleep or unconscious or anything while all of this is going on. Her conscious can't be in two bodies at once, can it?
Either way, Nightshade seems royally fudged. Or, as Floydien would say: "Mean stabby stabby should prepare to go boom boom!" Or "Boomer lady soon to be stabbity stabbity!" Its hard to tell what means what with that guy.
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Oh, yeah. What with everything in the last chapter I forgot that Belle had to have been captured at some point. She's got to be at Nightshade Industries...Is Kera there, too? These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
cant wait to see kara again, also bell was bad ass
Belle's still channeling Rainbow massively, to the point of her voice indulging in the trademark crack. Badass.
2906859 I you guys!
Yay Belle!
-Spirit
Let out your inner Dash.
Madam Nightshade, here is your Rainbow Bella Dash combo with extra kick ass and a side of chaos
Belle's not cut out for the fight life, but damn, she does her best to make it work anyway!
Was no one else reminded of when Belle freed Rainbow in Eljunbyro? I'm not sure whether Belle is channeling her 'inner Dash' as everyone keeps calling it, or whether she actually thinks she's Dash again.
Congratulations, Nightshade. She's awake, and she's pissed.
"... Now I've awoken, and I'm taking back control..."
I think the song "awoken" in its entirety can be repurposed to describe this chapter.
This story is not over while a single tooth yet remains lodged in an equine jaw.
Awe-ha-some!
Get some, Nightshade!
Belle gets the Badflank Award of the Universe after pummeling Nightshade in both realities! Woohoohoo!
Hahahahaha!
Sorry, can't help myself over the over-bearing levels of pure awesome Belle channeled. Woo! Ridin' on a Bellesmith high!
WHOO HOOOOOO!
1:10 a.m. MST 6/12/17
These ponies really loves headbutting aren't they?
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Don't forget suplexing! There's been a lot of suplexes!
It's, like, the second most common attack pattern in the story...albeit unique to RD most of the time.
She sure does love suplexes.
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And kicking the groin
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And don't forget bashing others with things laying around.