"She does not feel the wind, because she thinks it isn't there."
Bulbs of moisture lined the ends of Belle's fluttering lashes.
"Find her, rescue her, and show her that she isn't as alone as she thinks."
Belle's eyes flew open. She shot up, tears streaming down her face.
She was lying in bed. The window to her cottage was shut. The light was dim, and everything was still.
Belle took several breaths. As the beating pulse softened in her ears, her face grimaced. She bent over and wept quietly into her hooves, hiccuping and shuddering from each wave of sorrow. Her sobbing noises echoed against the shadows of the place.
Eventually, she looked up, brushed a hoof through her mane, and whimpered towards the far ends of the room.
"Pilate?"
There was no response.
She blinked, swallowing a lump down her throat. Her jaw trembled.
"P-Pilate?"
Silence.
On numb hooves, she scampered out of bed. Making a bee-line for the kitchen, she looked all around the cottage.
"Beloved? Are you here? I... I've awoken. I've seen so much..."
Her shuffling hooves were swallowed up in ghostly stillness. She paced over to the study room. Upon taking a look, she gasped.
Pilate's desk was completely empty, swept clean, abandoned.
Her heart raced. She glanced towards the door and bolted towards it. Sunlight stabbed her through the trees. Her stomach was empty; her limbs were weak, but nothing stopped her from trotting limply down the rows of gravestone houses.
"Pilate?!" she exclaimed, louder, in desperation. "Somepony! Anypony! Have you seen my beloved?"
There were no answers from any of the houses. Panicking, she spun around and sped to her next door neighbors. She banged on the front door. "Kenna! Baxter! Are you there? Please! I need to find Pilate!"
There was no response. The house hung in silence. Only the rustling of leaves and pine needles could be heard in the wind above.
Peering closer at the windows, Belle could see into the anteloupes' house. Nothing was inside; even the furniture was gone.
Feeling a cold chill, she backtrotted, swirled around, and ran down the mountain trail. She slipped numerous times, only to pick herself back up and gallop even faster. Her course took her into the heart of town. Finally, see saw ponies there, but it was a tiny number, dwarfed by the population that had inhabited the village of Blue Shelf just four weeks ago.
"Please! I'm looking for my beloved! Have you seen him?"
Several depressed faces glanced up at her once, but continued on their course.
"His name is Pilate!" she exclaimed, her voice cracking. "He's a zebra, with a floating mana sphere for a seeing aid! You can't miss him! Please! He's not home, and I fear something's happened to him!"
The villagers simply trotted by, carrying their tools, wares, and carts full of belongings.
Frowning, Belle reached over and grabbed the nearest pony she could find. "Pay attention to me! The pony that I care for is missing! We have to alert the Enforcers—"
"Bellesmith, calm down," a deep voice said from behind.
Belle let go of the stumbling pony and spun around. She gasped with a tearful smile. "Great Stare!" She ran up to the front porch of the village archives and stood, panting, before the buffalo. "I'm so glad to see a pony I still recognize! So many are missing!"
"I know, Belle. About Pilate—"
"Yes! I was out for so long! Please tell me where he is!" she exclaimed, hyperventilating. She shook her disheveled mane back and gazed at him with imploring eyes. "He must be worried sick!"
Great Stare tried to smile, but his jaw failed him. He exhaled strongly and finally gave a limp murmur, "He took a zeppelin out of Blue Shelf just two days ago, Bellesmith."
Belle's eyes twitched.
"I'm so sorry, my dear," Great Stare said. "He... he left you..."
Pilate left...
Well at least now there's nothing stopping Belle from freeing RD
Also...FIRST
Either this is some sort of weird hallucination or the Thought Police mopped up Blue Shelf pretty good
The past couple chapters of this story made me sad.
I hope something happy happens soon.
Pilate! How could you?!
1640208
Great Stare looks like he's going to have a bit to say, we're back to italics, and I can't help but get some strange tones from this chapter. Something is amiss.
Something is very wrong.
1640235
You... you BASTARD! How could you?
Seriously, though, I'm feeling a bit like Cortana's first line here
That's the last time I leave wifi range as long as this story/series continues. I'm too far behind to offer any analysis that real Pilate hasn't given already. Next chapter...
1640291
Seriously, though, it's way to out of character for the zebra, and the neighbors, to up and leave without a good reason or by force. Combined with the established Orwellian "Big Brother" style enforcement of living quarters, and the sudden number of missing ponies atop an apparently fearful village population, the only viable explanation is that something is "wrong." Either the enforces are clearing out the village to get Belle to cooperate, Shell found something, or Belle is dreaming.
I'm excited for what Stare has to say about all of this.
1640320
Considering the double, triple, and quadruple veils of secrecy and misdirection I've come to expect from this fic, it's probably all three of those things plus something else from out of left field. Stare is currently the Walking, Talking Plot Device. Let us see what he has to offer.
1640320
Seconded. There's more to this than a disgruntled husband.
1640235
Yeah, same here. If nothing else, we might have a case of Unreliable Narrator on our hands.
1640391
The lovely thing is that Belle may never have been. What is nice to see is at least a little clarity with Whitemane speaking at the start here, and thus providing at least some evidence that Belle was being shown something, not being "converted."
If this ends with them commiserating over mutual lost beloveds, and not just Belle's deep understanding of Dash's situation, then I will be very sad.
I got to thinking about how all these chapters start with Belle waking up, and that first time Whitemane was lucid in her mind, Belle ended up losing 5 days of memory. I think it plays into the theory that Belle is sequencing somehow, still, even outside the machinery. Whitemane's interference does quite a number on the mind and it's possible Belle has been asleep for a week or longer.
I'm going to have to agree with Pilate on this one. There's no way the zebra would abandon Belle normally. I'm just hoping this picks up again really soon.
So.....
Lashing of profanity. That is all.
dontdrinkbeer.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/there-be-a-shit-storm-a-brewin.jpg
Use the power of chillstep BELLE!!!!!
"I'm so sorry, my dear," Great Stare said. "He... he left you..."
LIES AND SLANDER
1640235 How could you!!
Down with Big Brother
I don't trust that buffalo. He's definitely not saying everything. How could Pilate even fly away if Belle's been sleeping for two days straight?
Also, how does one pronounce his name? Pilate I mean.
Is it /Pee-leyt/ or /Pay-leyt/ ...?
1641464
Say it like "pilot."
/Pi-lut/
I call bullshit on Pilate just leaving.
Now Belle won't be seeing in black and white anymore!
there is no greater enemy than one with nothing to lose... I think I messed up that quote but its meaning is there my prediction: next 20 chapters belle waking up and talking to dash, next 50 chapters after that traveling, random story arc, and meeting pilate again who says him leaving was all a cover up and is surprised to see dashie... but I'm never good with predictions and that is a rather optimistic prediction, pilate was probably killed in the zeppelin.
I'm betting that either Belle is being fed some weird-ass memories to keep her complacent for the thought police, or that she's been sequencing for many weeks, and everyone has slowly left.
Either way, incredibly creepy and foreboding.
I wonder if it's going to he like V for Vendetta, and it's all a hallucination, simply to give her a greater understanding of Dash's loss.
1640235
Almost dreamlike in quality, where RD's sequences used to be fragmented, it seems the balance is shifting
1641464
1641607
1642057
Me too.
1642822
Perhaps, it certainly does feel dream-like. It could just as easily be some meddling from Enforcer Shell, though.
Edge Of Thorns - Savatage
I find Great Stare's phrasing odd. "He left you." implies that Pilate left of his own volition, but I'm doubting that's the case. Maybe its just code for "Big Bro's watching so I can't say they forcefully evicted him or I'm next" type of thing. And the start was actually creepy. Waking up and realizing that everything you're used to is gone is... a startling image, to say the least. Looking forward to more
1642850
Too many players and forces at work here, it's a wonder Belle's mind hasn't imploded completely
1640235 Why Pilate? WHY DID YOU LEAVE?
...something is amiss.
1647579 I miss her more...
There is nothing right about this, nothing right at ALL...
Pilate has just buggered off, and something tells me that he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. He's gone, but we will see him again, however I am worried that he will either be dead or imprisoned or something along this lines.
Onwards!
Is it possible that I feel bad for an OC?
Great Stare doesn't sound quite right. Something's definitely up.
As for the title chapter, it seems as though Belle's experiences are almost moving parallel to Dash's. They've both lost their friends and their beloved, now, and it seems like it's drawing them closer together.
This chapter feels a lot more like a nightmare than reality.
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
So this sort of came out of nowhere. First off, I'd just like to clear up that Whitemane at the beginning was saying that Dash believes that she is dead or otherwise consumed by the mind of Discord, and that Belle must help her. But then everyone is gone, for some reason. But everyone leaving on this massive of a scale must mean that governmental force was implemented. It's just not in character for Amy of the neighbors to up and leave like that. Same goes for Pilate - it just wouldn't be in character for him. These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
I have a bad feeling about this...
...
Symphony of Solitude.
1640235
How could you!
1640235 you son of a bitch ect
Why?! Pilate is gone now... On purpose? Or did the enforcers get rid of him and tell everypony to lie to Belel?
Well this was the other horseshoe that I was expecting to drop. Thought I wasn't expecting him to willingly leave her. Can't blame him, probably thinks she's gone irreversibly cuckoo. Or she's comatose a crazy dream.
Yep, somethings wrong here.
4417627 I would like to believe the latter...i PRAY its not the former...
You bag of ass.
1640320 If you remember (and I understand you are epically far ahead of me, im doin this for my own clarity really), Zebra Pilate on the last Belle chapter had said that he didn't like what she was becoming, so that at least provides an excuse for it.