Just Refresh. Damn...
"Spkkkt—Guhhh!" I gasped and sputtered. I felt sopping wet bangs flinging past my horn as I thrashed at the surface of the pond. Lavender starlight glittered in my foggy peripheral vision.
I plowed through wet sand, my hooves clambering to anchor myself. Grass blades tickled my neck and forelimbs. As I crawled onto land, I heard children laughing... giggling... chanting. I rolled over and shuddered, trying to fill my lungs with air.
"Jazzuluth thriem slien. By the everlasting winds we summon you, the missings ghosts of the twelve. Haliem mussu drellen thritt. Follow the wings of your children to our hearts and minds..."
Wheezing, I rolled over to my left. What I saw made me blink.
A Xonan child—devoid of tattoos—floated through the air upon a slab of clay where he rested. Above him and to the side, another child floated, upside down. Finally, a third meditating foal levitated past the starlight. All three orbited a powdery flurry of dust in the air. I watched as the white, calcified material solidified in the form of a pegasus skeleton, blew apart, and reformed. The dust cloud brimmed with twinkling energy, resonating with the lavender aura all around us.
Lavender...
As two other foals scampered past me—giggling—I sat up in the grass besides the pond and looked to my left.
I saw nothing but purple starlight, an infinite expanse of stars, stars, and more stars.
Curious, I spun and looked to my far right.
More stars. Nebulae and gaseous clouds bathed the heavens. All that separated me from the infinite expanse was a paper-thin stretch of land.
Breathing easier, I nevertheless looked ahead of me. I saw grasslands, valleys, rivers, hilltops, and mountains—but no horizon. So I looked up... and up... and up further. My jaw dropped more and more as I saw nothing but landscape as far as my vision would allow. Eventually, I was looking straight up, and it felt as though I was floating hundreds of miles above the world and looking down. Beyond a haze of cosmic forces, I could see entire continents and oceans mingling across a narrow strip of fragile terrestria. At last, the swathing band of landscapes rolled straight around to come up from behind me.
"It's round..." I thought aloud, hearing my trembling voice squeaking between the high-pitched giggles of the foals. A gasp escaped me as I stammered, "A ring... it is a ring."
More chanting kissed my ears from afar.
Gritting my teeth, I stumbled up, pivoted around, and faced the direction of the voices. I made an assessment of the foals cavorting about this patch of soil. It took a few seconds of ascertaining all three dimensions of movement around me, but I realized that the twelve sequencers were accounted for, including the young colt who I had spoken to earlier.
I saw him standing at the edge of the pond besides two other foals in deep concentration. They tossed stones against the water with glowing horns. As droplets of liquid flew into the air, they paused and hovered to form various symbols—some recognizable, and others perfectly random—before falling back down once more into the pond's rippling surface.
"Tulunzien melethrikk balasaad austraeoh revvunaart urohringr," the colt said. "Skim like the spark and bring wholeness to the ring."
"Hey!" I scampered towards them. "Eljunbyro! Innavedr! Remember? Please! I need to speak with you!"
"Lassuun thiel odrsjot helissa austraeoh reste," a filly chanted, tossing another stone. "Through a frantic compansionship will the spark complete its journey."
I bit my lip. Then, with a bright expression, I shouted, "Kera!"
All three foals froze. The splashing water stopped floating, cascading neatly into the pond as they turned slowly around to face me. I saw their eyes reflecting the lavender starlight all around us... and beyond us.
I gulped. "You know her... you know that she got out of here..."
The colt gazed at me with jaded eyes as he said, "She does not have the power to know. She dies alone."
"But you all know something..." I trotted forward, my brow furrowed with emphasis. "And I would kindly like you to share it with me..."
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Wait...so is Equestria a ring world, then? I was under the impression earlier that it was a massive flat mass with two sides (light and dark), and had more width than length (I believe it was mentioned that the trip North/South would be shorter), like a big rectangle.
"She dies alone." Ouch, that's a bit harsh. Also, was Nightshade planning on dropping a ring planet on the xonans? Because that's a bit overpowered...
2701209
We're not in Equestria anymore, Dorothy.
2701209
They can connect on the other side, no? I think it's important to remember how the Innavedr symbol looks. That description doesn't contradict the world being a ring.
My guess for Kera is that she ran away before they could take the horn, and thus she does not have "the power to know."
The foals are certainly searching for something, some combination that can unlock and energy or power. They are "in tune" with the world, and attempting to decipher secrets that they probably aren't actually privy to. Curious what will happen is Rainbow ends up seeing all of this, or touching that giant flame.
I don't know anymore......
The foals seem to say one sentence in Old Horse, and then repeat it in english. Judging by that, the word "austraeoh" seems to literally translate to "spark". Every Old Horse sentence with "austraeoh" in it is translated to an english sentence with "spark" in it.
With a few more examples, maybe we'll be able to make an Old Horse dictionary!
2701287
From last chapter:
We can knock that one out, too. I would fancy that urohringr = ring, as well.
It's an "almost" one to one translation. There is always the possibility the other words are just gibberish for the sake of it, though.
Yeah, the kids are still creepy. I don't blame Kera for leaving - and not wanting to return. If you want to get technical, everyone dies alone, so snuffing it with an intact horn seems preferable to being in weird experiments without one.
Also, the suspense!
What are they going to share? (aside from cryptic/morbid snatches of speech?) I'm not used to this nonsense. I was spoiled with my chapter stockpile, and now its gone. Well - until tomorrow, then! 
2701209 Your assumption was correct to an extent, since if you unravel a ring it becomes a long rectangle, but I didn't see that ring world thing coming either.
It's not a ring, it's a halo.
so the dark side would be the inner part of the ring, or the outer part? this is really starting to get interesting!
I'm starting to get the impression that Celestia and Luna had no intention of Rainbow reaching the midnight armoury.
I'm starting to believe that they just want Rainbow to make her journey around the ring and come home.
2701442
Fancy seeing you here! :D
Yeah. I cannot wait for the revelations!
It's a ring.
Okie-doke.
What are the obelisks then? Giant spokes? Is the machine world really just a bike? Mkay
(mind blown)
Somepony call Niven!
We found his ring.
Either Celestia and Luna lied about the nature of the world and there IS no eastern edge, or they SOMEHOW didn't know.
Or the ring is literally broken. That'll be a fun construction project. Time to break out the duct tape.
Assuming this whole thing isn't some sort of metaphor
2701209
The other side is Black Mesa.
Where John-117 kicks chaos aliens.
2701978
Heya! I suppose this story does technically have some Appledash in it, so it makes sense we're here.
Also, yay, more people are discovering the awesome-ness that are these fics.
A ringworld? Cooler than a flat plane.
Also, people are going to look back at this particular sequencing at one point and say "MAN, IT EXPLAINED EVERYTHING!" But we have no idea what's going on so not yet.
I totally made the Halo connection like 300 chapters ago
2702568
I actually am the one who added it to the appledash group ;) I forget when I started reading this. I think innavedr had just started?
Now i'm even more confused...
2701607 s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr06/2013/5/31/15/anigif_enhanced-buzz-7614-1370026917-25.gif
2702933
It's a ringworld, ya dingus.
And who's to say its not a Mobius-strip-world?
Whitewater - Kyuss
2703026 Call it Ringworld, I have no problem with that... But calling it Halo rustles my jimmies in violent ways
2701245
2701455
True, but strictly speaking, a circle/ring does not have an "end". They way Celestia explained it earlier, it sounded like East/West had defined endpoints to where one could progress no further.
So if the world of Equestria is a ring world, and Dash's goal is travelling to the end of the world, she logically cannot on the path she is given, for she would eventually just loop around back to the kingdom of Equestria. Of course, her main goal is finding the Midnight Armory, anyways. Not just navigation.
(I could be wrong about this, but I'm too damn lazy to go fishing through Eljunbyro.)
Sudden new thought: maybe there is indeed a point on the ring where it is inhospitable enough that it cannot be progressed past. That could be defined as an end.
Anyways, we've still only got what Belle sees right now to work with.
2701924
You know, this could very well be possible. But on the other hand, I think everyone fully expected Dash to die from her curse before making the journey. Unless Celestia knows something else...
2701882
Methinks the light world is the outer part, while the dark world is the inner part. Belle noted being unable to see a horizon, and one would be able to see the structure of the ring on the horizon if they were on the inside.
Not technically Austraeoh fanart, but made me think of it~
fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/049/1/f/when_the_end_arrives_by_labba94-d5vd92f.jpg
2703041
If we can already see both the moon and the sun from the ground quite clearly, the intire ring would be visible from the inner part, so yeah, light world can only really be outer part.
Makes me wonder how in the world is rainbow going to get into the armory just by flying east.
I think they mentioned it being on the center of the other side, does that mean that the Midnight Armory lies in the middle of the ring? Like... on the "sky" of the dark world? That'd mean that Rainbow hasn't been getting closer to it at all.
This is just crazy.
"How can you know this way not that?
You choose the door, you choose the path!
Perhaps you should be coming back
Another day, another day!
And nothing is quite what is seems
You're dreaming! Are you dreaming?
Oh, Alice!
So many doors, how did you choose?
So much to gain, so much to lose!
So many things got in your way!
No time today, no time today!
Be careful not to lose your head!
Remember what the Dormouse said,
Alice!"
But is Belle Alice, or is it you - or is it me?
I think I've been annoying the living hell out of everyone for the last half hour or so. I am utterly confused and absolutely thrilled. You really are a genius. I find it unbelievable that you can do something like this without even putting your heart into it. Time and time again, you managed to plunge me into squirming unrest, crawling confusion, slithering exhilaration...
2701287>>2701307
Quite a few tidbits of "Old Horse" can be found in the Old Norse language.
For example: Austraeoh--"austr" in Norse translates to "eastward." Eljunbryo--"Eljun" translates to "endurance." Innavedr--"Inna" translates to "accomplish."
In this chapter, the Old Xonan language has a fair bit of Norse in it as well. "Urohringr", or more specifically "hringr", is what translates to "ring." There's also a bit of Norse grammar and syllables, such as how often the Xonan kiddies use "th," the Norse pronunciation of ƿ, which I swear every other frankin' word uses.
So my guess is that some of the ancient language is based from Norse words, and likely other old languages that nobody understands. That, or I'm completely wrong and wasting my time. Whatever, theorycrafting is the shiet.
Why am I spending so much time rooting through a dead language to better understand a horse story? Because it's a goddamn beautiful one.
2702013
Hahaha, yeah. That was an excellent series.
I had that weird little suspicion a while ago that it was supposed to be a ringworld, but dismissed it since the alicorns know the world is a flat plane. It made some sense what with it being soo much longer than wide, and all that. Of course, it could be a broken ring... And the machinery is supposed to pull it back together.
2703602
We've known the direct translations for a while:
Austraeoh = East Horse
Eljunbyro = Endurance Birth
Innavedr = Accomplish Wind
However, the story is not using these translations. Instead, you need to look at the context provided by the Xonan foals. (Nor, by the way, do I think the language is Xonan, I think it's unique to the machine world and the journey).
So, from the story's context we can gather that:
Austraeoh = Spark
Eljunbyro = Re-birthing Endurance (I think Belle didn't quite get it right)
Innavedr = unknown
Odrsjot = Companionship (frantic could be included, journey could work, too)
Urohringr = Ring
The rest of the "language" appears to be inconsequential. If anything, it's ancient Alicorn.
Everything else is rather straight forward, the sequence is dream-like and heavy in metaphor, so I want to wait for it to conclude before, well, making conclusions. However, I think it is safe to say that the nature of the world as "a ring" is something that will carry over, so to will the already known (and somewhat obvious) metaphors surrounding the Spark/Austraeoh/Rainbow Dash are all known already. We know that Eljunbyro brings back and sustains Austraeoh, i.e. Belle and her beloved sustain Rainbow. The rest of the metaphors have a lot to do with the world becoming whole, another piece we knew back with Whitemane and Axan. Moreover, each metaphor is saturated in terminology related to "wholeness" and "companionship" and other basic tenets of harmony.
Dash is the Spark, is the Energy, is Harmony. This is a story about filling a void, for both Rainbow Dash and the world.
2703889
It's not about filling a void. It's about completing a circle.
2703889
There are so many questions/theories I've had about this series that it makes my head spin.
So Kera could read the symbols in Belle's ancient book, meaning she'd seen them before... So did she learn to read them in Nightshade's place or because they're Xonan? I remember it being said earlier that the Xonan language likely evolved from the language present in the book, which I'm assuming is the same language the foals were speaking. But what if the foals were just speaking Xonan, because the languages were so similar? What connection does Xonan society have to the pegasi and the book and all that jazz?
Then there's that whole crud about the end of the world, which Axan was pretty straightforward about. If the world's a machine, and it's "ending," then it stopped working. So the Machine lost it's spark, but why? And how long ago? I also remember Belle and Pilate discussing the possibility of another Austraeoh in the past, so were they Sparks too? Was the world ending back when they were flying east? Or were there never any other Austraeohs at all?
And now that we know Nightshade has some of the magical flame, how much else does she know? It's not surprising if she knows the world is a Machine, but does she know that it's broken? Does she know about Rainbow Dash? Whose side is she on, if she's against the Council of Ledo but still experimenting on children?
And then there's the Grand Choke, which countries far west of Ledomare knew plenty of without knowing of the existence of Ledomare, which seems like a pretty huge place. If legend of such a place spread that far, while smothering any knowledge of neighboring civilizations, it's gotta be more than a big plot of sand.
Then there's the chaos rift, how Ledomare got chaos metal to contain Rainbow Dash, Axan following Rainbow Dash, the rest of the Divine Five, including the one on the dark half of the world, etc...
I never thought I'd read a story where daily updates weren't enough.
2704361Is Dashie ever going to get to the grand choke?
Now I see why rainbow went east instead of north or south. Also 1st person? Far out broski..
2704074
I contend that to complete a circle is to fill a void. The shapely metaphors are recent and, I suspect, the result of some other, newer, influences. Regardless, both metaphors revolve (heh) around the same central theme of harmony.
2704361
Kera was once a part of the sequencing group. We have seen them studying the symbols in their off time, probably to better understand what they are sequencing such that they can translate it for Nightshade. Kera has her horn, so I find it unlikely she sequenced, but she certainly knew enough just being around the facility. Xonan linguistics is a complex and nuanced thing, but Kera was equally confused about Innavedr's meaning. I find it more likely that the language is more ancient, and I would theorize belonged to the Ancient Alicorns. I leave room that it may be even older than that.
Don't overload yourself with questions. Axan contended that the world was doomed, but changed her mind upon seeing Dash wearing her element. You can see some of my older comments, but what I've taken from this is that Dash's quest eastward is one to restore harmony to the world, i.e. the machine as well as herself. Celestia and Luna were not able to convince Axan everything would be ok because they have been too far removed from the world to remember or even know in the first place. Axan, having either a better memory or less to occupy her time, knew of the end, but also knew of a way to save the world. Moreover, Dash's quest east started as a personal attempt to go out with a "bang" and perhaps be saved in the process, but it turned into the very quest that would fulfill Celestia and Luna's contention. In short, the Princesses knew the world would be ok, but not how. Axan knew how, but hadn't seen it yet. They are looking at the same thing from two perspectives.
Nightshade was fed information from Blue Shelf. Presumably she knows of Rainbow Dash, or at the very least a living chaos-pegasus, and of the machine world. She is attempting, it seems, to manufacture the same weapon they were at Blue Shelf, but with more resources and less morality. It seems to have been hinted that Nightshade is doing this do end the fight with Xona, permanently, similar to the arms race during the Cold War. I figure she thought she could do it faster, or otherwise had some other advantage and motive. Remember that Belle recently mentioned how odd the flame looked in comparison to the others. It may be "artificial."
Mythology is important. The western cultures know of the Grand Choke as a concept, much like we might consider the River Styx a concept. It's a loose analogy, but it's important to note that regular ponies only know of it as a myth. This is akin to Stratopolis. Based on the narrative, I would describe the Grande Choke as the barrier between the inhabitable and uninhabitable parts of the world.
Chaos Metal seems to be a common theme, and it's abundance in Ledo suggests that they knew of its properties prior to finding Rainbow Dash. They recognized her chaos energies and put the metal to use. Axan remains to be seen.
2704741
The world was described as wider than it was taller. I kind of hope that "the ring" thing is literal and not just metaphorical.
2704074
In the context of circles and rings, lighting up the darkside of the world becomes a possible outcome of this journey, though I still think it might be more personal than that.
2705132
I will respectfully contend that to complete a circle is to CREATE a void, or at the very least bound it. The story is beginning to run more like a prophecy fulfillment cycle rather than a personal journey of discovery and healing. It's been moving this direction (heh) for quite some time. The hole has been filled. Dash has her frantic friendships. Now comes the true task of completing the ancient project and coming full circle and goddamn these ring metaphors are everywhere!
2705153
Will the circle / be unbroken?
Well, I am curious how far this all goes. I mean, all of Dash's friends have destinations, yeah? The Franzington ponies mostly have families, Belle and her beloved are trying to escape the country, Kera is.. Kera.. point being that eventually, yeah, I suppose the friends can't "stay" forever. All of this has happened before and all of this will happen again. Didn't think it'd get all Battlestar in here, but seems it may be so.
I think ultimately, though, there is a deep resonant friendship moral that lives obliquely under the surface of all this machine prophecy. Austraeoh can't go on without Eljunbyro, companionship and journey go hand-in-hand. Friendship IS magic, and without it the world suffers. The machine is a physical manifestation of those bonds and connections, and it's fueled by the harmony created therein.
I'm a little late to this party, it seems. Read the chapter, the old Halo fan in me popped up and was quickly suppressed, and now I feel like I know less than when I started. Apparently two more titles were revealed? I missed them. Of course, I'm also dead tired. Not sure why.
2702673
Oh, cool - I was wondering who added it.
I joined about midway through Austraeoh, and have been hooked ever since.
2705132
Sweet fluffy marshmallows, you know your stuff. I guess it makes sense, considering you're more tied up in the story than most. Lucky goober.
Urgle. I need to get a few friends hooked on this so I have someone to talk to about it. Probably woulda served me better to do more commenting and less lurking in Austraeoh's early days, but whatever, I'm sure I can find a person willing this far in. The thing's only a little longer than The Lord of the Rings.
It's never too late to catch up, right? Right?
Here's a question -- Is traveling East going towards the edge, or just around the world? And
This implies that the ring isn't whole, first off. How could the spark make the world whole? Does that mean a sphere, or something weird? Whatever.
So the world is ring-shaped, eh? That begs some questions.
For one, is the chaos realm on the inner curve of the ring, or simply the far side of the outer edge? The foals implied the ring isn't whole. Was that just metaphorical - representing some inherent state of unrest and disunion in the world - or is it literal? Is there some break in the ring? Might this be the fabled "Grand Choke"? Where does Stratopolis fit into all this? I also find myself wondering about the purpose of the world-machine. I believe it was said that it was already there before the alicorns "discovered it". So who made it, and what does the machine do? How much of the language at work here, and the symbols, and the whole mythology of the spark and so on is pre-alicorn, and how much post-alicorn? And what of the symbol? Is that a mock up of the world? Or something vaguer and more directly symbolic? Also, I just noticed that the horizontal line cutting across the symbol has twelve lines branching from the top, and twelve from the bottom. I'm also intrigued by all these words here. I wonder how many future titles are buried in here (I know people have already assumed "Odrsjot" and "Urohringr" will be used, which makes sense). AND I wonder how this language (the language of the machine...language of the alicorns, too?) ties into Xonan language. I seem to remember Pilate (the character) discussing Xonan linguistics back in Eljunbyro. Just what is the Xonans' relationship to the machine world (if any)? Or to the ancient pegasus culture (if any)?
You have to wonder where all this is going. Perhaps Dash's journey will be one great circumnavigation of the ring world.
Jeez-a-loo, I love all this mystery. Just when I think I'm starting to get a handle on this story, something like this comes along to mess with my head. I love it!
2703041
That point would probably be the "Grand Choke" that a lot of the characters in Austraeoh mentioned.
2705535
Since it has a machine world in the underbelly, perhaps the Spark would just trigger an auto-repair mechanism.
Or it could mean that only half of the ring is free of chaos, whereas the other half is mired within it. When the princess said that there was a different side to the world, she could have easily meant the side of the ring opposite, not the actual outer surface. And the spark could clear the other half of the ring from chaos.
FUCKIN' REVELATIONS MAN
2705503 Join the jury. I waited half an eternity before I did. Don't. I'm having the time of my life there. In a very unsettling way.
2705503 And by the way, since you appear to love Old Norse / Germanic at least as much as I do: I've been wondering since quite a while and on multiple similar occasions - with a title like this, how to pronounce it correctly? The way it would be pronounced in the author's own language and perception (Aus-TRAY-oh) or in the language the word actually derives from (OUS-trah-EH-oh?) The same question applies to English characters with Latin names, like Lux. Does the language or the author have the right of it? Can an author misuse his own words when they existed before? I've always wondered.
2706854
I've always gone with the second pronunciation you listed, but that's probably incorrect. Meh, works well when I wanna say something worthy of a fancy mustache stroking. After all, gotta love them German 'staches.
2706854
Also, your suggestion sounds friggin'sweet, how would I go about doing that?