Real World
When the darkness cleared and Belle's eyes opened, the blue sky was gone. The chaotic clouds were gone. A gentle breeze wafted through the windows of her home, stabbing her eyes with the golden haze of a brilliant dawn.
She winced only once, stirring. She felt a warm duvet covering her limbs, and an even warmer shape beyond it. Gazing down at herself, she found that she was lying in the bed at her cottage. What was more...
"B-beloved?" she stammered breathlessly.
Pilate was seated by her bed, his upper body draped over the middle of the sheets. His features slowly rose and fell as his striped head lay in her lap. A single hoof was outstretched to constantly be in contact with hers. It was apparent that the stallion had remained in that position overnight.
She inhaled sharply, her eyes watering as she reached down to rub his forelimb. "Pilate... Pilate...!"
"Mmmff..." He stirred slowly. His ears were the first to move, flicking at the sound of her voice. His eyes opened, gray slits that peered thinly into nothingness. "Belle?" he entreated. "Are you awake finally?"
"Oh Pilate!" she flew forward and engulfed him in a hug, burying her face into his black and white coat. "I was gone! I felt like I was so far away! So far fr-from you!"
"It's so good to hear your voice again," he said, summoning a strong voice as he smiled and nuzzled her back. "A group of enforcers brought you here two days ago and—"
"Shhh!" she hissed, kissing his muzzle and murmuring into his ear. "I don't want to hear about the facility. I don't want to think about Blue Shelf anymore!"
"But... But I-I don't understand, Belle!" he stammered. "You were gone for so long! I thought that you had been drugged! What... wh-what's happening to you?"
"I don't know, and I don't care!" She sniffled and wept. "I-I just want to hear your voice. I just w-want you to hold me..."
"I'm here for you, Belle," Pilate said, engulfing her in his forelimbs. "I won't leave you. Someway, somehow, we'll get through this."
"I miss you," she whimpered, shamelessly. "I miss you so much."
"It's okay. Shhhh... You're here now. Just gather your breaths, beloved. I'm not going to leave you..."
She smiled painfully as a few lasting tears trickled down her neck. She looked past him through the windows, towards the tiny sliver of daylight lingering beyond the windblow curtains. For a moment, she thought she saw two pear blue spots beyond the clouds. But as the tears cleared and her vision returned, everything was clear and normal once again.
So she shut her eyes towards everything and reveled in the scent of her beloved as Pilate rocked her gently.
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this is interesting
it's italicized, so that might mean a memory
wut
Those. Italics.
This line right here, super important.
Shit. SHIT. SHIIIIIIIIIIT.
Italics are only present when Belle is experiencing a memory in the interface.
At some point, the dominant consciousness has switched to Rainbow's. Bellesmith is no longer viewing, but is rather being viewed.
This has implications. So many terrible implications.
But! In terms of temporary good news, this does demonstrate that Rainbow Dash is at least subconsciously lucid.
1569923
Belle is still the primary consciousness, she just keeps getting lost. She feels more connected in Rainbow's memories than in her own, to the point where she's losing herself in them.
1569944
Granted she's still mostly dominant, but she's clearly receding. Note how Rainbow reacts to the Holy Voice in the same way that Belle reacted to spontaneous incidences of Dashie when she was out of the sequencer. I still maintain that the perspective is either rapidly shifting, or has already shifted, to Rainbow Dash being the Viewer and Bellesmith being the Viewee.
Rainbow Dash
, what are you doing?
1569962>>1569944
I feel that you are both sort of correct.
These last chapters I feel represent the precipice in which the primary viewer is beginning to change. RD is beginning to see into Belle's mind, while Belle is still going through RD's memories.
Or they are going to mentally meld into a giant superbeing and kill everything.
1569962 1570013
You imply a control, that the two minds are sharing one body. I posit that two bodies and two minds still exist, Belle is just falling deeper and deeper into a personality she's come into contact with. Whitemane's interruption last chapter is evidence that the mission is to get the physical Rainbow Dash back, not just the psychological one. We're dealing with layers. Belle, who thinks she's Rainbow Dash is looking at Belle's memories or is otherwise disoriented when waking back up in her cottage. That does not preclude that this chapter is a memory, only that it's still Belle remembering.
Belle is the confused one, Rainbow Dash is in a coma.
Listen Belle. You're messing yourself up with this sequencing stuff. I think Subject 16 in AC:Revelations put it best:
"Here's the problem. Your brain is hash. Too many ghosts in your head, too many voices."
Obviously Belle needs to find a Synch Nexus.
And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
1570016
I would characterize the link as something more closely resembling a magically stabilized remote desktop connection. The analogy is as follows:
In the original arrangement, Operating System "Bellesmith" would utilize the Sequencing Handshake Protocol to log onto the RainbowDash Desktop to peruse the files contained within. However, recent events from celestial beings have caused the RainbowDash Desktop to activate its personal consciousness subroutines, which would eventually lead to the booting of the "Rainbow Dash" Operating System. Being a pony and therefore a social species, the RainbowDash Desktop pinged for any open network connections despite the lack of a direct order to do so. All handshake protocols were refused, except for with the Bellesmith Desktop, which had previously established an open port directed towards the RainbowDash Desktop. However, due to the nature of the hardware connection between the Bellesmith and RainbowDash Desktops, the WPA-2 Personal network key for the Bellesmith Desktop was saved onto the network, allowing the RainbowDash Desktop to use said key to log onto the Bellesmith Desktop and establish a remote access link. As the RainbowDash Desktop begins its boot sequence, the repeated pings from said desktop have begun to overwhelm the OS installed on the Bellesmith Desktop, which may or may not have sufficient security protocols built in to resist the volume of network activity.
Yes, I did just analogize ponies to computers on a network. Hush.
I know it's become an overused cliche but this shit is getting REAL
Italics! Italics! :O
I no longer know what's real and what's not!
awaiting the next chapter~
1570081
It's a nice analogy, but it's a three-way connection: Whitemane/Austraeoh magic is still there to remind Belle of who she is. Our ideas are not mutually exclusive, but do not discount that Whitemane throws a life preserver to Belle, she does not warn Rainbow to stop messing with minds. It's very possible we are seeing Rainbow's perspective here as a result of memory sharing, but I think it goes a little deeper than that with Belle facing identity crisis intrinsically rather than actual mind-sharing.
An alternate thought is that we've switched narrators, which is maybe what you were trying to say in the first place: not that Dash has taken over, rather the perspective has switched. That would play into the "pearl blue" Belles see along with the other themes regarding the sun and light. (Or that was just a lingering effect of being pulled back to "the real world")
1570122
While I am saying that we've shifted narrators, I would argue that this is not an innocuous shift.
Your point about the life preserver is important. I guess that this would be analogous to a third party erecting a firewall, preventing the pings from overwhelming the core OS processes?
What would the "pearl blue" represent though? Dash's fur is more of a Sky Blue than a Peral Blue, which is really just a somewhat luminescent desaturated sky blue, so the Bellesmith-OS is not seeing the RD-Desktop's fur. I can't think of any other symbols that would match.....
This is getting too trippy for my mortal, pegasus mind...
1570182
Whitemane's Eyes.
There are so many different way to interpret these two chapters, everything from Inception dreamscapes to narrator shifts to body swaps and so on. There is a lot of imagery to digest, especially with the dawn playing such a large role with Belle waking up to golden hues and sharp hits of light, to look and see a sliver of daylight rising out of the east. Is that symbolic of Belle taking control? Dash waking up? Purpose being bestowed and affirmed? There's also Belle's "I miss you" instead of "I missed you" to consider in the context of when this chapter takes place.
The way I interpret it Belle is still Belle, but she's not sure about it right now. Whitemane pulling her back to reality is taking a bit of a toll on her mind as she tries to stabilize all the information she's been exposed to after being near the machine. Whitemane is observing still, and the sunrise and breeze represent Belle having a better idea of what to do to get Rainbow up and moving again.
I suppose we'll have to wait and see.
Don't worry, we'll only have to suffer through another 30 or so chapters of confusion before IC pulls strings together
I always like a good ship
now the decent into madness that eventually leads to some crazy attempt at whatever the heck needs to be done shall begin.
1570215
Blurgh. So many possibilities.........
Yikes, I can't believe it took me this long to find the continuation,
I don't think Whitemane would enlighten Belle to the extent she did in her previous sequencing, and then all of a sudden switch the narrators, I think Belle is melding with RD and that they'll either become aware of each (this may be how Belle awakens RD), or Whitemane will interfere again and Belle's perspective will return
Darn it. Just as we were about to see what Discord does...
No...
No no no no NO!
Italics??? Nooooooooooo!!!
I noticed 1569923>>1569944 and 1570013 had a good long chat about it, so I needn't say more...
But I'm still worried that this might mean that Dash won't be coming back.
Eep...
1570215 1570182
Both points that you guys have brought up are pretty convincing, but I think it's more like Pilate says, with Belle losing her ability to distinguish between her memories as Dash, and her real life. What guides me to this belief is the fact that even the memories are similar to the events inside the Sequencer: many times Belle came to believe that she was Dash while sequencing, however certain events that were significant to her but not to Dash 'woke her up' to the fact that it wasn't her memory. This happened again in Dash's memory of the pink clouds, when Whitemane's eyes appear and Belle is startled into separating from the memory of Dash once more.
The fact that she has gained Dash's purpose, 'the wind beneath her wing', is probably also distorting her ability to distinguish herself from Dash; her reality from Dash's. As that instinctual drive that comes with 'the wind' kicks in, Belle is going to be fighting (or, as we've seen so far, swept away) to keep a hold on her identity.
So, yeah, I think that Belle's current symptoms and inability to determine what is real and not, is a result of too many of Dash's memories being forced into her subconscious over those five days rather than Dash's own conscious or subconscious interfering with Belle's (although 'the wind' might have that effect on her). However, it is certainly possible that there is a magical link between the two that extends being having been synchronised and both having possessed 'the wind', and we might see Dash's conscious making an appearance in the future.
Belle... she can't even discern her real life from Dash's.
No matter if she's in reality , or in memory, she can never truly escape.
The only way to save herself is to open her eyes before she forgets...
Before it's too late.
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide;
No escape from reality.
Open your eyes
And see....
1570016
I agree with this interpretation. Lets see how long it takes to get Jossed.
.1570215
Speaking of eyes.....
I'm wondering: Since when have Pilate's eyes been visible?
I had the impression that the rune covered metal object on his head was like a magical version of Geordi's visor. Am I wrong?
1572040 You misunderstand, what did the cotton candy cloud of Discords have to do with it being "under Austreohs wings"?
1570215>>1571145 I wish I could upvote this comment.
So here's a question. Last chapter is Dash's memory, and halfway through, we see her/Belle receiving some message from Whitemane. Importantly, Dash appears to react to it, not just Belle. Is this simply something that's been inserted into Belle's viewing of Dash's memory (like adding subtitles to a video) or is it that there is some two-way communication between Belle and Rainbow? And if so, which Rainbow? The current one (dead/suspended animation/coma) or the one of the memory (i.e. in the freakin' past)?
1572048
There are mentions of his greyish, empty eyes if I recall correctly. I'll go back and re-read, but the impression I got is that O.A.S.I.S is a skullplate/choker combo.
1572080
The story Austraeoh revealed to us that an event spurred by Discord results in Dash being infected by some sort of chaos energy—this is evidenced by her eyes changing to yellow/red during those dizzy spells in addition to horns attempting to pop out along with a host of other subtle clues—and the death of the mane 6. This chapter marks the beginning of the fic's divergence from show canon, as what follows these memories are the events that send Dash on her journey. \
While watching/living this memory, Belle gets interrupted by Whitemane who reminds her that her job is to get Dash moving, bring the wind to Austraeoh, not to live Dash's life.
1572154
i.imgur.com/ulgY9.gif
Im confuzzled... I like it.
Ooh, confusion ahoy! What's real, and what's a memory? Belle's losing herself a bit. Go free Dash, lady, before you guys end up mind melding or something. Seems like Whitemane's trying to keep Belle on track... Onward!
I don't think the title is entirely truthful.
What is going on?
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So this chapter is rather unsettling. It describes what could be a memory of Belle's but it seems like a current event. Except it's italicized. So here's my theory - for the past few chapters, we've seen some of Rainbow's memories, not in italics. I worried that Dash and Belle had become the same entity, seeing as how Dash's memories now seemed to be the more real ones. Now, we get something from Belle's life in italics. It is possible now that Dash has switched places with Belle - meaning that Belle is now in a sort if cryo-sleep/coma, and Dash is the awakened sequencer experimenting on Belle. If so, this means that Dash is back! Of course, Belle is in said coma, but still! These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
RD
Waht are u doin?
RD
Stap
worlds are about to collide.
They unplugged her!
What the hell?
Oh god, that chapter actually sent a shiver down my spine. That's never happened before.
Personality Morphing in Three... Two... One...
Yay She's safe! for now...
Wait, what?
What is this?
Have the last 15 chapters been a dream?
Things are getting deep.
4735933 Been looking at your mom recently?
....Why is this chapter all in italics? ....thats illusionary text...oh Lord...i get it...
I quote Sam Worthington from Avatar
"Everything is backwards now. Like out there is the real world. and in here is the dream."
God damn confusing italics...
Colon you tease!!!!!!
Okay then perspective switch happened and I found myself once again delightfully, exhileratingly lost. Dangit, Colon.
Hey, this is kinda like when Al was questioning his own sentience!
...I am really pushing this whole FMA angle, aren't I?