"So, what is it?" Rainbow Dash asked, her prismatic tail flicking back and forth as she crouched along the hilltop.
"It's a town," Belle whispered back.
Rainbow glared. "I can see that. But what kind of town? You're the local Ledo Martini here, Ding Dong."
"I'm not sure," Belle remarked with a shrug, gazing down at the bustling settlement in the valley between forested hills. "It's not large enough to be any of the towns I heard of back in the facility. It's easily bigger than Blue Shelf's village. I can already count about twenty two-story buildings."
"Undoubtedly it's a trading post of sorts," Pilate remarked behind the two of them. His gaze blindly scratched the blue morning sky. "This far south into the countryside, zeppelins rarely fly."
"Except when they're looking for three unlucky ponies," Rainbow Dash added.
"Still, I imagine this must be a commune of sorts," Pilate said. "I've been to several myself before I landed in Mountainfall. Usually a single Enforcer is in charge of the local militia, and they have a crystal mana beacon to alert the central city-states of the Confederacy for when there's a Xonan incursion."
"Wowsers, you really know your stuff, Stripsey," Rainbow Dash squeaked. "You think if there was a map in that place, you could make mane or flank out of it?"
"A map?" Belle remarked, squinting.
"Yeah, normally I'm not a fan of them," Rainbow droned. "It loses the surprise and all. But I've got two satellites to juggle in my orbit, so it helps to be prepared."
"Seeing a map would help refresh my memory of the local geography," Pilate said.
"And my beloved has the best memory of any pony I know," Belle stated.
"Well, there's one objective then," Rainbow Dash uttered with a grin.
Belle gave her a double-take. "You're thinking of going in there?"
"Well, we could totally use one thing, assuming they have it!" The pegasus glanced at the other two, smiling bashfully as she rubbed a hoof over her blue tummy. "My stomach can think of another thing."
"Are the random fruit trees and tall grass not enough for you?" Pilate asked with a soft grin.
"Is it enough for you two love birds?"
Belle and Pilate said nothing.
"Right. So I think it's time we did some shopping."
"But it's not like we can just waltz in there and ask for stuff!" Belle exclaimed. "We're wanted equines, not to mention bitless!"
"Who said anything about waltzing?" Rainbow Dash smirked and began flapping her wings. "I'll be in and out before they knew what hit them."
"Wait!" Belle clasped onto her spectral tail with two forelimbs. "You can't be thinking of actually stealing from them?"
"Can't I?"
"Don't we have enough on our plate as it is?"
"Uhhhh..." Rainbow Dash's ruby eyes narrowed. "In case you haven't noticed, we're not exactly gonna be making friends with the citizens of Ledomare anytime soon. If they're so preoccupied with slitting our throats, I don't see why we gotta be so worried about following the Ten Commarements."
"It still doesn't feel right!" Belle hissed.
"Ten... Commarements..." Pilate mumbled limply into the wind, his ears twitching.
"Don't sweat it, Ding Dong. I'll take the fall for it. Besides..." She grinned from where she hovered a few feet above. "Once we're way out of this nasty Queen's bloated territory, then maybe we can account for our sins."
Belle frowned. "Can we at least try to do something a bit more... subtle?"
"I agree with Belle," Pilate said. "If we can avoid any actions that alert the locals of our presence here, it would be for the best."
"Nnngh..." Rainbow Dash plopped down onto her hind quarters and folded her forelimbs. "Fiiiiine. Either of you two geniuses have an idea?" Rainbow Dash's left eye twitched. "Doing stuff with subtlety is too smart for me, and I've n-never been all that good at... hmmm... brain sparking..."
"There must be a way in which we can proceed into the village and get the things we need in a civil manner," Pilate said. "Well, maybe not all of us."
"They've undoubtedly been warned about three fugitives," Belle said. "Perhaps four, if they think Dalton went with us."
"So which of us goes?"
"None of us are exactly inconspicuous, are we?" Pilate remarked with a smirk.
"Huh?" Rainbow Dash squinted his way.
Belle sighed. With a defeated smile, she pointed and said, "You've got wings, Rainbow. My beloved is a blind-eyed zebra. And... well..." She blushed and pointed to her stub of a horn.
"So?" Rainbow Dash blinked. "Why not let us chop the rest of it off and put a hat on your head!"
"Out of the question!" Pilate growled.
"I think she was joking, dear..."
"We'd call you by an earth pony name!" Rainbow Dash said with a smile. "'Dung Dong.' Heck, you're boring enough to pass as an earth pony."
"Uhhh..." Belle squinted. "You are joking, right?"
"We'd better make a decision soon," Pilate said with a long exhale. "It's still early morning. There are less ponies in the streets than there will be later. Now would be a good time to go about a plan."
Rainbow Dash was staring long and hard at the zebra. She rubbed her chin and spoke aside to Belle. "Hey Ding Dong, we still got at least one good blanket inside the saddlebag, right?"
"Oh! Uhm... Yes, I think so." Belle leaned back and reached into Rainbow's satchels on her flank. She pulled a brown article out. "But, y'know, 'good' is a relative term. I've tried for the last three nights in a row to shake this thing clean. How did you get so much sand in this?" Belle's face stretched. "Oh, wait. Now I remember."
Rainbow glanced down. "You do?"
"What do you have in mind, Miss Dash?" Pilate asked.
Rainbow Dash grinned back at him and said, "Try that again, only more like 'What are you planning, Rainbow Dash, though I hope it's not a plan most rash?'"
Pilate's ears drooped. "I beg your pardon...?"
"How's the juice in that magic ball thingy of yours?"
"Uhm... I do suspect it will last another two days. Why?"
"Heeheehee!" Rainbow Dash's giggling voice cracked as she flew down beside Belle with the blanket. "Okay. Here's the plan..."
Then, I kept reading:
Wha... but.. yeah, pretty much how it went...
So, it's safe to assume that basically every town in Ledomare will have a nice, big distress signal somewhere. It's Splinter Cell time.
1892758
Play as Tom Clancy in Tom Clancy's Tom Clancy by Tom Clancy.
I... actually didn't really care for this chapter (though it did confirm my theory that there was a town). If they get caught, this might segue into a new arc!
Also:
RD is really under the wrong impression about most zebras...
1890580 I kinda figured as much, but you never know...
I've been over-thinking a little bit about:
i.imgur.com/aucBm.png
Bear with me as I make a few logical leaps about the symbolism.
By this point it's pretty clear to everyone that the symbols represent Austraeoh i.e. Rainbow Dash i.e. The Spark and so on. Within the greater message the symbol portrays are two smaller pieces of symbolism. On the left is the upside down Greek Omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet and humorously hoof-shaped. Omega represents Rainbow Dash. She is the last of her kind—the Elements—and the end of an era. More bluntly, the hoof motif makes this clear regardless of potential greek origins: the left symbol is for a pony. To the right is the sun, light waves pointed poignantly eastward. The end goes east into the rising sun of renewal. The Omega to the Alpha, the end to a beginning, Austraeoh, the spark and so on.
Eljunbyro brings us:
i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad214/shortskirtsandexplosions/screwyoupilate.png
Let us assume the symbolic scheme is similar. To the left, then, I would guess is the greek Zeta, with stylization to add flair. To the right, what appears to be a snake with a flashlight head, the more metaphorical of the two symbols. Now, Zeta is pretty uninteresting as far as the greek alphabet goes. It's the 6th letter, but holds the numerical value of 7. I suppose it would be a bit of a stretch, but non-the-less interesting, to say that Belle is represented by Zeta as either the same sort of emotional stability Dash had as part of the mane 6 or by the addition of a 7th confidant. To the right stands the more abstract symbol, but upon closer examination I can't help but feel like the glowing, east-pointing, flashlight with stripes running down the side is rather similar to the zebra's mana orb: O.A.S.I.S. If that's the case, the symbols are Belle and Pilate: Eljunbyro.
I am rather confident in the meaning of the Austraeoh symbol. Eljunbyro, however, remains more or less up for debate. It could very easily be that the right-side symbol is representative of the path eastward towards the light/sunrise/grand choke/world-end. It could easily be that the left-side symbol holds some other meaning as well. For example, take how fluid the right symbol is compared to the rigidity of the left. One could postulate that the left symbol is Ledomare (or Shell) while the right is the balance strived for by the local population. There are several possibilities. Still, unless I'm missing something glaringly obvious (a distinct possibility), I think it stands to reason that the symbol representing Eljunbyro would portray the ponies that are supposed to embody it.
Okay, I need to admit something: I love horse puns WAY too much. I can tell because I liked the Ten Commarements...
Grr... another teaser. ):(, 25 more push-ups! Knock 'em out!
1892864
.
.
.
.
Guh?
1892864
Were it so easy.
All these typos are harshing my Eljunbyro buzz.
1892864 I agree with that. A perfectly sound analysis.
Since you mentioned O.A.S.I.S., what do you think it stands for, besides the obvious symbolism of being an enormous help and haven to your namesake?
Let's see how badly Rainbow dash canscrew this up. Or how badly she screws over the town, either one works.
Oh, boy. I love sneaky shopping time! I dunno what you've got in store, Dash, but I can't wait!
Heh. "got in store". Puns.
It's okay. We all make terrible puns sometimes.
idea:
What if they carry a small bag of those chaos strips. It might be a last ditch attempt to heal RD's wounds, if any. Or does it just make everything worse and I should feel bad for suggesting that.
Hmm, I believe we have an Unspoken Plan Guarantee here.
1893331
A Rainbow Dash acts precisely as she means to. If things don't go according to plan, it's because she intended to go against the plan the whole time.
1893945
Plan? What plan? Pft, plans.
1894051
Ding Dong and Stripsey like to make plans. Dash lives to defy them.
Full Synch Objective: Do not be detected.
Hisingen Blues - Graveyard
Oh God, I can already tell this is going to go craptastically wrong, hopefully in a way rife with wacky shenanigans. Although, Belle and Pilate may be able to come up with better disguises than Dash. Though if Belle's stint moonlighting as a pickaxe is anything to go by... well I'm sure it'll be entertaining, at any rate.
1892864
Ah, yes. *nods sagely while puffing on a pipe* I concur with your hypothesis, good sir. Quite. Indubitably.
Seriously, though, I think it makes sense. Although while reading it I felt like the "I have no idea what I'm doing" dog with the chemistry set
Well, until the next chapter!
1892864
Not sure if theorizing or ARG
Plans....
Uh oh....
Dash's plans are always... interesting....
Onwards!
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So it looks like we've made our way into a new arc! I'm not sure, but is Dash going to pull off a ghost prank with the floating O.A.S.I.S. under the sheet? Just a thought. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
"Ten... Commarements..." did you really?
She's going to use it to cover her wings right?
1892864
I have a completely different approach on that. I am not certain about the signs to the left, but for the right: Let us say the Spark, the fire that ignites the world, represents the principle of creation, beginning. Who formed the world as it is today? And which race is it that is associated with the sun? Not only Celestia herself; I suspect the sun to be a symbol for the Alicorn race in general. Now they are - were - the stewards of harmony and the Elements, having reformed the world into what it is today, but they also fought and defeated disharmony - and Discord with it.
For the Eljunbyro: Wind is strength, the power that carries the Austraeoh onwards. But it also forms its counterpart, just by being the only other thing like it. You called the sign on the right a snake, and I agree with you. But notice: Six stripes along it, four on its head. If you ask me: legs, wings, arms, ears, horns. A Draconequus.
Rainbow is harmony incarnate, the last of the Elements, on a journey to safe the world - to reignite it. Her mission is that of Austraeoh, of the Alicorns of old. But without her inner schism, without Discord driving her, she would have fallen already. I do not think that Bellesmith alone is the Wind. I think that a large part of that strength derives from Rainbow Dash's inner struggle - the fragile equilibrium inside of her threatens to tear her apart, but if you've read about anti-matter, you'll know of the energy that such confrontations spawn...
dafuq is she planning to do? Honeytiger has a confused...
PS 2146787 wat.
10 Commarements?
Besides that... What's Dash's terribly idiotic plan today?
2146787
1892864
Those are interesting theories, to say the least. I'm afraid I don't have anything quite so deep, but I thought Eljunbyro's right symbol might be a burning fuse (lit by the Spark). I'm really not any kind of sure about any of this, though, other than the now-pretty-much-official "Austraeoh is Rainbow Dash, Eljunbyro is Pilate and Bellesmith" thing.
Time for Operation Zecora: Have Pilate go into town with a cloak and dig little holes in the ground while uttering nonsensical rhymes and spook the locals out of the streets! Meanwhile, Dash and Belle can go "shopping" for two hoof discounts in the open air-market, while everypony else is freaking out about evil enchanters doing evil dances, swirly eyes, trances, and tasty stews...
This might be a bad idea.
Ten Commarements... they have an equine name for everything dont they. lol
that racism though
Damn Dashie
going full south on us
1892864 More analysis Ok, I shut up now, hope it continues
This is gonna suck.
4750209 rainbow dash is helping plan it. Of course it's a bad idea.
Rainbow Dash is planning? Celestia help them all, possibly everyone within a 10 kilometer radius.
6328649 Sounds like you aren't planning on their plans being well planned.
Well, this plan is going to turn out absolutely wonderfully.
Yep, nothing could go wrong...
...Absolutely nothing at all...
...Aww, nuts.
The whole ding dong thing is starting to bother me, everything just like why are you being such a jerk...
6503115
Well tropewise. Dashie's always been a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, and a Knight is Sour Armor. So it's kind of cannon for her to be a jearkass, but her hearts in the right place till she gets some more character development [but yeah pre-S3 she was a massive jerk in cannon. Fannon she was pretty cool.]
They're pretty much on the opposite side of Ledomare from the Xonan border though, aren't they?
So... many... questions.
Ewwwwwww
Favorite chapter title so far.
I absolutely adore this story. It's just so much fun. Makes me feel so many things.
6497645
RD has the best plans.
8424633
Watcha say? Race ya to the very end?
Sees chapter title
Brain blasting, you mean
Well so much for the Keep It Simple Stupid approach.
08/27/2019
20:45 UTC
What the heck would an equine Bible look like, and when did Rainbow Dash read it? Was she bored?
That actually makes more sense than anything else, so let’s go with that.
I can't believe I cackled like a demon at the Dung Dong joke