Eljunbyro

by Imploding Colon

Cold Sweat

Belle sat up in the chair, gasping and sputtering. Her eyes flickered red, then back to chestnut brown as the wires flew free of her glowing horn.

Dalton rushed over to brace her down. "You're back! It's okay! The sequencing is over!"

"Nnngh... B-beloved!" she exclaimed breathlessly, sweating all over. The other white-garbed ponies flurried over the instruments behind her as she stammered, "I saw... I saw it..."

"Just try to calm down. We don't know what happened, but the sequencing fused with your leylines and pulled you away from our monitoring—"

"A tablet!" Belle exclaimed, looking at him with twitching eyes. "I need a tablet! Something to write on!"

Dalton bore a confused face. "To... write what?"

"Please! This is very important! Blue Shelf needs it!"

Dalton turned and motioned at one of the ponies. A mare in white rushed over with a writing pad and a pen. Sitting up in the chair, Bellesmith held the instrument in the crook of her hoof and began hastily sketching two symbols. She held her breath until the task was done, then limply passed it into Dalton's grip.

The old stallion held it, gazing intently. He glanced at Belle, then at the illustration once more. "Belle, darling, what is this?"

She had slumped back into the seat, panting for breath as her heart began slowing to a normal beat.

"What do these mean...?"

She gazed up, her eyes thin. She saw obscure shapes in the windows above. One of them was a tall figure, stocky and fitted with thick Enforcer Armor. After a prolonged stare, he placed the shape of a beret over his horn, turned, and marched into the shadows beyond the translucent sheets.

Then Belle closed her eyes...

Comments

[PropMaster]

I'm assuming that the symbol is the 'omega and sun' sigil that we've seen before.

[j-grizz]

Cool, new story. Here we go again.

[Lordmiak]

This just keeps getting better and better.

[Psyco Josho]

A BERET?!? That's never a sign of good ponies in stories like this.

[RoboRed]

1487117

I second this idea.

[IfOnlyICouldDeactivate]

1485912
Oooh...

I see your points there, about the whole resurrection thing. But I will be stubborn and still disagree with you. Something monumental has happened after the end of Austraeoh. And I still think that this "something" is enough to keep Dash alive, however not really very conscious.

We will just have to wait and see.

[Arkenai]

I'm going to assume that by the 'Who are you' Belle got sucked into the sphere and thought she was RD. Also, is it me or did that memory get changed by the future?

[That_one_guy]

Everything's worse with berets.

[That_one_guy]

1485912

Maaaaaybe. But it's implied that the others were, well, vaporized, if Dash's reactions to the piles of dust are any indication. She never flipped her shit that badly before, it was obviously a PTSD attack triggered by something that reminded her of her friends' probably horrible demise.

It's still Dash's journey, and she has to make it alone.

I love the idea of Bellesmith as Sleipnir, rescuing the "brave god" though. Love me some Norse mythology.

[Rara]

It's the sigil! And Blue Shelf?

...her beloved? Oh man, the suspense is killing me. Wouldn't have it any other way, though.

[Aqua Fortis]

That symbol... It's arguably the least understood motif of Austraeoh, and it's making a big comeback here. I imagine it will be as central to this story as Dash's chaos dizzy spells were to Austraeoh. We are dealing with SS&E, though, so...

1487328

$10 says she ends up with eight legs at some point.

Also, inb4 Pilate for the first time in weeks

[Pilate]

1487829
Some of us have to work for a living

1487117
That would be my guess as well.

[Chaotic Note]

no...no...NO...NO! NOT AGAIN! THAT RAINBOW DASH ONE TOOK THE FEATURE BOX FOR TOO LONG!

(I will read this.)

[Fishberry]

For crying out loud, people.

Eight limbs. Four legs, two wings.

[Silverstein]

1471149

Nice piece of music.

Silver out!

[Aqua Fortis]

1487950

Given how often you comment before me, I'd say it's an accomplishment for me.

[stringtheory]

1487980 um, four plus two is six, not eight , where did you get that?
my opinion is that she was technically two ponies at the same time herself and Dash right when she was connecting, thereby having double the normal set of legs, two sets of four legs

[MellowMabari]

Uh oh. Evil slaver pony, ahoy! And what the crap does that symbol thing mean? Austreaoh, maybe? Which means...something. Apparently something that dragons are familiar with. Why am I not surprised that even the end of the 200 chapters of the first story left so much still up in the air?

[blackwindwalker]

Any one else notice that all the updates so far have been posted in multiples of 2. (IIRC 6,4 2,2)

[Axan Zenith]

1488981

I second this, but I think we may see just updates in pairs from now on, in keeping with the theme of two.

[Badgie]

1487960
This is the sequel to Austraeoh, so you'll probably want to read that first.

[Emberspeak]

1487117
It would sure seem that way.

Things are gonna get interesting back in the real world, which will definitely be a good read, but at the same time I want to find out what happened to RD so badly. Maybe we will get both?

[RainbowThis]

WHO ARE YOU?!

This story is getting very craqzy very quickly, but in dealing with the remnants of Austreao, I guess thats not too surprising!

SS&E, where are you taking us with this?!

[Pilate]

1489216
1488981
It's all about pairs, pairs of eye, pairs of souls, pairs of stories, pairs of symbols (merging with one another) so on and so on.

[ShadowBro]

Huh. I made a theory that got referenced at a later date? Damn.

In other news, berets are NOT a good sign. They always are accompanied by serious badasses who do the work of the Overlord without question.

Agree with the omega-sun symbol theory. Interesting fact: Omega is used in the bible as a reference to "the End", which is to say: God ("I Am the Alpha and the Omega; the Beginning and the End" - Some Verse). The sun is also a pretty common pagan symbol for rebirth and for life.

Hmmm.....

Well, the Alicorns did "start the great machine". And the shutting down of said machine corresponds to the end of the world, right? So Omega-Sun symbol implies that the Alicorns are both the Beginning and the End of the world. As a consequence....

...well I'll sleep on it. Interesting thought though.

1487980

4 + 2 = 6

Sleipnir => 8 legs

[Axan Zenith]

I don't care who this beret wearing figure is, Belle needs to take a break and get her shit together. If she keeps sequencing like this, the bleeding effect is gonna screw her up bad.

[Municipal Engines]

Let me guess, this is sometime after Dash failed her mission and they're all in this society and acting like this because of it. They're trying to do... something with Dash's memories or body or whatever in order to help save the world. Possibly. I keep wondering what this "beloved" is all about. Also, what happened to Rainbow Dash. And the Elements of Harmony and the Mane Six. And Celestia and Luna. Basically, I'm still wondering about all the questions that weren't answered in Austraoeh. The lack of answers still really annoys me to no end.

[Thunder twister]

1492182

We all know that feel

[SearoDess]

The next chaper must be a long one if he hasn't updated by the time i get home from school...

[bigchibz110]

You do not cease to blow my mind...

[Regidar]

Goodbye blue sky... goodbye...

[Csquared08]

Hmmm, so a much clearer result than last time, it seems.

And that guard wasn't ominous at all...

[dashie76]

IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!

So we get a few strange things in this chapter. First off, I'm pretty sure that the symbol that Belle wrote down was the hoofprint and sun that was printed onto the Machine's doors. Second, I get the feeling that that beret wearing pony is going to go to whatever big official runs this society and tell them about how Belle was reacting from sequencing in order to shut down the sequencing operation. That, or they're a friend of Dash Belle will meet later. Also, once she woke up, she recovered startlingly quickly from having joined with Dash. I worry that the two will not be able to join completely in the real world...These are my thoughts so far.

-MASH

[AppleTank]

To all who dislike the beret, don't rain on the Hyneman's parade, man.

[CrimsonPhoenix]

Hey guys what if....and I may be crazy about this but what if....those two symbols.....are completely diferent?
Just joking but yeah even though she saw it, she still has no idea what it means.

[ThatPoemGuy]

1487211
It's always the Frickin' French.

This is Australia...

[FloorBelow]

Austraeoh = Loyalty
Eljunbryo = Honesty

(?)

[Tetrominon]

1491047
Except it's not really an omega, it's a horseshoe.

[Ophidian Eremite]

I know I'm really late to the party and no one will likely read this, but I simply had to mention this because I'm surprised no one seemed to make the connection between this mention of Enforcer armor on a tall figure:

She saw obscure shapes in the windows above. One of them was a tall figure, stocky and fitted with thick Enforcer Armor. After a prolonged stare, he placed the shape of a beret over his horn, turned, and marched into the shadows beyond the translucent sheets.

and a very similar mention back in Chapter 6 (Professor Garnet):

"Our project of sequencing answers to a higher soul between Big Shelf and Queen Ledo herself. Shell is constantly watching, constantly observing. He wants results, and he wants them now."

Bellesmith closed her eyes. When she did so, she envisioned a dim room, reeling, and with a glass sheet of windows looming above. She saw several dark shapes from beyond the translucent material, and one taller and more rigid than the rest.

"Can I rely on you to appease Shell and his Enforcers?" Garnet asked with an inquisitive glare. "Can your beloved rely on you? Time is of the essence, my dear."

So I think it's fair to say this is the first (non-verbal) encounter with Shell we've had so far. Either that, or this was so painfully obvious that only I bothered to point it out.

[Merip1315]

1855433 awww yeah!

[AfterTheEnd]

When are we going to learn what that symbol means and where it came from? It obviously has high significance since it has now migrated from Dash's adventure to wherever Belle is. Imploding will probably reveal it at the end of the last chapter, as usual.

[whizzball1]

One of these symbols might be the Solar Crest. I wonder what the other is?

[Enix]

Hang on if they don't know what the symbol is, then it's not the Omega and Sun symbol. I mean they don't know what that is either but they are at least familiar with seeing it before. I wonder what it is.

[JustAnotherTimeLord]

2029774
God damn, you are a genius.

[JustAnotherTimeLord]

It seems this is far more important than it seems warranted.

[Zecoro]

2029774 is there a specific language like that?

[Aiyonbeam]

So it looks like Belle's eyes aren't changing into Discord's.
They're changing into Rainbow Dash's.
Now that Blue Shelf - and, through Blue Shelf, Ledo - have the symbols, the question is:
What do they plan to do with it?

Maybe they're trying to open a Portal of Truth...

[Amaponynoob]

4933992 A quick internet search turned up this for me,

Austraeoh comes from Old Norse austri, meaning east, and Old English eoh, meaning horse. In the series, Austraeoh is also translated as "the Spark".

So, yeh, it means a 'horse goes east' . What a shock !
As for what this storys name means,

Eljunbyro comes from Old Norse eljun, meaning endurance, and byro, which is generally thought to mean birth. In the series, Eljunbyro is translated as "Endurance's Rebirth", or occasionally "Endurance's Burden".

So, I'm guessing it is indeed something to do with Applejack and/or honesty
All of this makes me wonder which came first, the idea to make the storys or the idea to call them these names ?

[FOXTrot2]

7495197
So they're all Old Norse...

[Jex]

Wait, Blue Shelf? I thought it was Iron Plate Gold Plate Big Shelf!

The glorious return of the mixed up names.