"The writing on the pages before and after the sheet of symbols is rather vague and poetic," Pilate explained to the group. Bellesmith paced anxiously behind the zebra and two buffalo as O.A.S.I.S. scanned more of the old book. "It details the 'blessings of the angels' and how they brought 'life and animation to the dead world.'"
"Who would the angels be?" Little Breath remarked. "The alicorns?"
"It'd make sense for the Bethlemites to have given them an otherworldly description," Great Stare said.
"Many cultures speak of alicorns," Pilate says. "This really shouldn't be a big surprise."
"But what about the 'life and animation' they brought to a 'dead world?'" Little Breath asked.
"I'm not entirely certain," Pilate said. "But obviously these 'angels' had an important role to play in the land that was once Blue Shelf and its surrounding regions." O.A.S.I.S. flickered above his head as he pointed at a corner of the page. "Here, the translation conveys that the ancient caribou never built their temples above a certain altitude, but instead at the foot of the mountains. They apparently did it in order to not 'impede the will of the angels.'"
"They didn't want to rob her of her wind," Belle murmured.
The group turned towards her.
"What was that?" Great Stare asked.
Fidgeting, Belle turned and looked at the group. "I have met an alicorn," she said. Upon the buffalo's stupified stares, she clarified, "In my visions, dreams afforded me from the sequencing, I was spoken to by an alicorn named Whitemane."
"How..." Great Stare squinted at her. "How is that possible?"
"A hallucination?" Little Breath remarked.
Belle gulped before speaking. "I was there. I felt her wings encircle around me. I felt her warmth as she let me release all my pent up fears and sorrows." She sniffled and smiled warmly into the sunlight pouring through the window. "She truly was angelic in every sense of the term. But then she told me that I had a purpose, and it was to 'bring the wind to Austraeoh.'"
"And just who is this 'Ostr-ay-oh?'"
"The subject that she's sequencing with," Pilate said. "Erm... presumably." He tilted his head back from where he sat. "Right, beloved?"
She trotted over and stroked his shoulder. "Yes. And Whitemane also told me that I was to bring about something called 'Eljunbyro.'" She gulped and said, "I know this all sounds very strange, moronic, even. As a scientist, I'm not supposed to rely on intuition or dreamy notions. But I just know that a clear and distinct message has been delivered to me. What's more..." She pointed at the two pairs of symbols specifically. "I know that these two emblems refer to what she's told me."
"Well..." Pilate thought aloud as O.A.S.I.S. hovered over to the page adjacent to the sheet of exposed illustrations. "I had noticed long ago that the writings in this book contain a noticeable structure. There's a great bit of poetry in this section alone, and the number of cryptic messages are equal to the pairs of emblems."
"You think there may be some correlation?" Great Breath asked.
"It's quite possible," Pilate said with a nod. "Belle, darling. Would you read the third paragraph on this page?"
Belle leaned over, squinted, and read aloud, "'She will head into morning, for she sees the dawn and becomes it, and the equine knows no end until the world knows no end. Her wings bring animation, as they bring hope.'"
"That, presumably, corresponds to 'Austraeoh,'" Pilate declared. "And the twelfth paragraph?"
Belle read, "'A heart that doesn't bleed is a heart that cannot live. Her spirit will be frightened into and out of the darkness, so that endless guile will be her sustenance, along with the rising sun.'"
"'Eljunbyro,'" Pilate said. "Though I'm no literature professor, I think what we have here is a potential analysis of Whitemane's words, presuming they truly carry the wisdom of an alicorn." He pivoted about, facing the group. "Whoever this equine is, she's destined to head east, and she doesn't need the wind—she needs it returned."
"She seeks rejuvenation," Little Breath remarked.
"Rebirth," Belle said.
The others were silent.
"Guys..." Belle gulped and looked nervously at the group. "I know that what I'm going to say may sound heretical... dangerous, even. But..." She glanced out the window at the blue sky. "What if the Beloved Spark—that which we all respect and live for—somehow died ages ago, and it's needing to be reconstituted?"
The two buffalo glanced at each other nervously.
Pilate spoke, "A spark is something that only happens once, or randomly and at fleeting moments." He smiled awkwardly. "I've always known that. I just believed in my heart that the Spark leads to something that is everlasting. I've told you that before, Belle."
"I know. I'm just speculating..." Belle shuffled around, breathing heavily. "What... What if..." Her chestnut eyes wandered towards the group. "What if this world has been needing the Spark all this time, and that Spark is not just a force, but a pony?" She exhaled. "And what if all this time I've been crossing minds with her? The one and only? The Spark?"
Oh wow.
Stuffs going down.
Austraeoh and Eljunbyro prophecies? Hints that RD is getting revivedm? More suggestions that the entire thing runs deeper than the Midnight Armoury?
Hell yes.
Close, maybe 1/6'th of the spark
am i the only one reading this and waiting for poo to hit the fan? kinda like watching a scary movie and thinking "dont go in there you moron, the killer is right there!" except without all the scary movie feels.
ok i lost myself there
And it all comes together. It's what we have been guessing at for a while now, but it's finally certain.
I worry about the bleeding heart in the 12th paragraph though. I can only hope it's supposed to be figurative, but it may be literal.
Either way, I expect the next chapter to be the Enforcers storming the house and grabbing Belle (who they have been monitoring). Pilate may or may not survive.
Subject: Bellesmith
Suffix Title obtained: "of the Spark"
-Minty
I'm not used to things being this straightforward. The amount of vindication in this chapter is surprising and quite thrilling. The amount of meta in this chapter is not surprising at all, however.
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Pilate analyzing Pilate's analysis?
coedmagazine.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/xzibit-lead.jpeg
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I have to agree that this cannot end well for those assembled. I unfortunately believe that Pilate will be either killed or captured, but I think Belle will make a getaway that begins her adventure. We're getting into the meat of it now!
1588449
The zebra seems confident enough in most of his interpretations of the text. Of course, sort of impossible to independently verify. What strikes me more than anything else is the sort of matter-of-fact delivery; Belle and Pilate bounce the analysis off each other to reach a pretty solid conclusion in a short amount of time. That speaks highly of their previous working relationship in better times. I am curious, though, that the Eljunbyro paragraph was so quickly analyzed.
The conclusion the group reached was one we all sort of had already, Dash needs to be "reborn" in some fashion or another and she needs to be returned to glory. Pilate claims it an analysis of Whitemane's words, but let's unpack it a little bit. The heart passage is in reference to beloveds and emotional sympathy, one needs to love to live. As an aside, an interesting alternate interpretation that applies to both Dash and Belle would be that one needs to be injured, bedraggled to live, to be reminded of purpose. Being frightened in and out of the darkness, clearly a literal reference to Dash's comatose state. Finally, the last passage endless cunning intelligence to feed the Austraeoh in conjunction with a literal sunrise, the implications of what happens after this are left undetermined. Belle could continue with Dash, but now I doubt that. Belle's job is simply to get Rainbow moving again.
Like I said, the straightforward writing in these last few chapters is like a bucket of ice water over the head, suddenly all the speculation takes a back seat to unsuspecting exposition that vindicates quite a number of theories.
Oh lawd.
I can't even come up with some outlandish prediction for what will happen next. Other then that they will have to somehow find Dash, and get her free in order to revive her. But then again we all figured that out anyway...
I don't have a clue about how that will be done, or how anything else will progress, so these next chapters should be very interesting.
Onwards!
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Though the sudden clarity is startling, I don't know how much more the story could progress without giving some concrete info. It's already gone nearly 300k words without telling us much of anything.
As for the passages from the book, I believe the "bleeding heart" line has dual meaning as well, but I'm skeptical about the second meaning being physical injury. One has to know sympathy and love in order to live, but one must also know loss and pain. Without life's lows, the truly meaningful moments of happiness have no meaning and no contrast to make them special. Dash lost AJ & her friends, and unfortunately for zebra Pilate, I think Belle is going to experience that same loss to galvanize her will to make her fated journey.
"Spirit frightened into and out of darkness," yeah, unconscious Dash comes back, fairly simple.
"Endless guile will be her sustenance" This passage makes me stop to think. Does 'endless guile' refer to Belle? Will she somehow become part of Dash's drive? Maybe she will become part of the 'wind'? So many possibilities...
omg i can't wait to find out more!
I don't know about you guys, but I am a believer of prophecy. Specifically, Biblical prophecy.
Take cover men!!
"the equine knows no end until the world knows no end." So does this mean that dashie cant die or find peace until she's adverted the end of the world?
Armageddon - Gamma Ray
Now that is some straight up power metal stuff. I know I've heard something like that somewhere.
This just made my day
"She will head into morning, for she sees the dawn and becomes it, and the equine knows no end until the world knows no end."
This bit especially caught my eye. Its seems to me that unless the completion of RD's quest brings about the end of the world, she will be immortal. Now, does this perhaps imply she will become something of a demigod, somehow? If Alicorns have faded into legend, it can be assumed that there are none left for whatever reason. Perhaps she will become the newest? It seems crazy, but this story never fails to surprise me.
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The thing that I love about those two snippets is that they carry many meanings behind them.
It means two things: First, it means that Dash will not find her peace or rest until she gets to Midnight Armory and saves the world.
But second, it means that she will not stop for anything.
And the only thing that could bring her down is the End of the World.
She will either find an end at the End, or in the End.
She will save the world, or die trying.
Imploding Colon: Lore Master and Prophet.
1589961 Your name is Ledo? Lucky bastard...
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Silvadel is best dystopia.
1590058 Sorry you might think im stupid but i dont know that word. Im sad you lucky peoples got to be in the story. It is a fanfuckingtastic story though.
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Wait a minute.
Guile. It has synonyms like deceit, and strife.
And, perhaps...
...chaos?
1590148
Silvadel or Dystopia?
1590306
I had interpreted it as cunning, sly wit, intelligence. Your interpretation makes things more interesting, though.
Brb brain shutdown
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Hadn't thought of interpreting "guile" as "chaos."
That could bring with it some heavy implications...
"I had noticed long ago that the writings in this book contain a noticeable structure. There's a great bit of poetry in this section alone, and the number of cryptic messages are equal to the pairs of emblems."
Meta?
Meh, at least we are getting some some pretty clear explanations here, but, nonetheless, more questions have been raised in true IC fashion. I'm still waiting for the
thought policeenforcers to bust in though.1589947
I was thinking this refers to Rainbow making it to the edge of the world, especially with the mention of the dawn.
But becoming the sun, definately sounds like some sort of transformation.
AHA! I put that wild theory down in a comment a few chapters ago! Riiiiiiiiiight...
1548662
There!
I'm sensing Twilight
1589947
I'm agreeing with this theory. The first book was about rainbow flying (wings), the second is about unicorns and magic (horn). If the theory is right then the third book (if there is a third) should be about earth ponies, with rainbow picking up the traits of each species along the way.
Certainly Celestia wielded the elements of Harmony on her own.
"A heart that doesn't bleed"
Tragedy for Belle?
"into and out of the darkness"
In and out of sequencing, or perhaps Rainbow's mind?
Onward.
Somebody probably already said it in the bajillion comments I was too lazy to read, but Dash is the Spark that will restart the machine of the world, isn't she? And "Her wings bring animation" - animation to the machine, and perhaps the dead Elements of Harmony? I know so far it seems like the rest of the mane 5 are deader than dead - but what if Rainbow didn't know that she was this Austraeoh thing (nice insert on how to pronounce it, by the way) and her reanimation powers? Belle could tell her about them, and maybe... possible happy ending in sight? Somehow I still think that Dash will have to give up her (second) life force to jumpstart the machine, but still, it could happen. Onward!
So much italics
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So we get some prophecies to digest here. Also, before I get into that, I'd just like to say that it's cool that Belle has realized that Dash is the Spark that will empower the Machine. Okay, on to the prophecies:
"She will head into morning, for she sees the dawn and becomes it..."
Rainbow flies to the east where the sun rises and thus begins morning, and Dash becomes the dawn for a new metaphorical day for the world.
"...and the equine knows no end until the world knows no end."
Dash will never stop untilthe world stops.
"Her wings bring animation, as they bring hope."
Dash will bring life and hope for the world.
Now for the Eljunbyro prophecy:
"A heart that doesn't bleed is a heart that cannot live."
A life without pain is no life at all. Perhaps signifying that Belle will go through much pain in get journey to revive Dash.
"Her spirit will be frightened into and out of the darkness..."
I'm not sure...perhaps meaning Belle will have both good and bad times?
"...so that endless guile will be her sustenance, along with the rising sun.'"
Is this saying that Dash will be Belle's sustenance...? Obviously, the Eljunbyro poem is more confusing since we know less about Eljunbyro. Hopefully we'll find more about it in the upcoming chapters. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
Compared to the rest of the sentient population, pegasi appear to be endangered.
Seriously, it appears that the only place pegasi exist is within Equestria itself.
now it starts to build up!!
You ah wizard Bellesmith
Heh, this is the most opaque IC's ever been and it still manages to create more questions than it answers.
Welp, until I become clever again, gonna revert back to the old show...
Been 16 weeks since anyone last passed through.
It's gonna be a lonely road...
2711360 I'M HERE NOW THOUGH! I'LL CATCH UP EVENTUALLY
Confirmation I've been pronouncing it correctly
Called it! RD is The Spark.
Wait was all this prophesied in a book, or is the book just a manual to restart The Spark?
If only they knew.
Rainbow Dash a God? Man, here we go . . .
I hope Dash didnt fully and truely die from those injuries Axan gave her. fatal as they were. Because my phillosophy is that when a being dies, their soul moves on. And thats that. Even if you manage to re-animate them, even retain their memories with it, it isn't really and truely them. Just a copy. A clone. It would be VERY disturbing to me if i ever found out in real life that this is not true. Unless their soul is returned to their body.
So apparently, Rainbow Dash is god.
I am completely lost.
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Could also mean that she becomes the herald to a new age/time
Does this mean she will die at the end of her journey? I hope not. Love the imagery this chapter conveys, even though it just asks more questions.