Innavedr

by Imploding Colon

Chalk It Up

Pilate's ears rang from the sound of a chalkboard being slid across the room.

"Here we have our latest design for the... "cage," as we are apt to call it," Jasper Clark said. "Though, it's not so much a cage as it is a container..."

"And it's not so much a container as it is the golden nugget of a rumble-tumble magic machine!" Props' voice chirped.

"I see..." Pilate said. "Or, more appropriately, I am about to see..."

"Is this for real?" Ebon Mane could be heard saying. Pilate sensed him and the other two ponies bunching together from another one of the pulses emanating from Simon's position. "That metal ball thingy is going to help you read what my buddies here have been working on?"

"It's not nearly as user-friendly as it sound," Pilate said, all the while loosening his O.A.S.I.S. sphere and levitating it towards the chalkboard. "It helps to concentrate and have a mimetic memory, both of which I excel at."

"Er... does that mean that we all gotta shut our traps?" Ebon asked.

"So long as you don't blast music into my ears or ask me to dance..." Pilate's metal brow furrowed as he activated the manasphere, flashing a wide beam against the chalkboard and sweeping across. "...I should be fine..."

"Ooooh! Lookie! Lookie! He's got his own headlights!"

"Those are runes, Props. They're obviously facilitating the channeling of magic without the aid of physical mana conduits." Clark's voice was droning. "I mean, just what have you been working with all this time?"

"I just never expected to see them on a living, breathing, ear-twitching pony!"

"I, for one, have never seen them in action," Ebon Mane said, and his smile could practically be felt through his voice. "Though, I'm rather envious. I've heard of chefs from clear across the Confederacy who have used rune spells to heat up stroganoffs and omelettes... like... perfectly."

"Awwww! Well, Ebony, I betcha you could have saved up for some runes and made us an omelette in Gray Smoke!"

"Props, what good would runes be without a horn? I don't have one, remember?"

"Not on your head at least. Snkkkt-Heeheehee!"

"Ungh... Just what did you eat in Gray Smoke before I found you? Engine grease and dead pigeons?"

"Enough!" Clark grumbled. "The both of you! Can't you see that he needs to concentrate in order to evaluate our—"

"My stars..." Pilate murmured, his jaw dropping. "This... this is uncanny..."

"Ahem..." Clark's hooves clopped closer as he shuffled towards the zebra. "It's our latest prototype, mind you. The first three failed because the metal container wasn't strong enough to contain the energy source. The purpose, you see, is to keep the energy intact while at the same time using it to power the zeppelin in its trip. The sheer amount of propulsion that the vessel will receive is beyond average—"

"I have seen these runes before..." Pilate pointed blindly to where he had sensed a series of symbols built around the circumference of a solid ring. "Do you know what their purpose is?"

Clark sighed and said, "Blasted if we did. We don't know their names or their meaning, only that they are bound to the energy and the engery is somehow bound to them all the same."

"It's like a whole heapin' mana family!" Props exclaimed.

"But..." Ebon shuffled closer. "How could you have seen any of these runes before? They're top secret information kept by Nightshade and her guards!"

"In my travels," Pilate murmured. "I have stumbled upon them." He pointed at a pair of emblems. "This is Austraeoh." He pointed to the next couple. "This is Eljunbyro..." At last, he pointed at a singular emblem that almost looked like a vase or a dumbbell. "This... I have seen from a book pried from the dead hooves of a centuries-old pegasus, lost within the bowels of an abandoned cave..."

"Oooooooh..." Props cooed.

"A... pegasus...?" Ebon stammered.

"He means a fabled flying pony," Clark remarked. "Although... coming from him, I trust it is not so fabled..."

"What in Spark's name could Nightshade need or want with these runes?" Pilate swept the beam of O.A.S.I.S. across the chalkboard again, sensing the symbols in their entirety. Altogether—in singulars or in pairs—there were twelve runes total. "What's more, how did she stumble upon—?"

Just then, the building shook and the windows rattled. Simon chattered in mixed anger and fear, and in the next pulse from O.A.S.I.S., Pilate sensed half-a-dozen metal bodies surging past the floor they were on and heading south towards the zeppelin crash site.

"Ungh!" Ebon's voice grunted. "I really, realy hate it when they do that!"

"You'd think they'd have better sense around their own property," Clark grumbled.

"Those... didn't sound like the same aircraft that Nightshade uses," Pilate said. "The noise of the manathrusters is different."

"Yeah! He's right!" Props exclaimed. "The engines sound way cleaner and fresh! Like they were manufactured within the last year!"

"What, pray tell, are you trying to tell us?" Clark said.

Pilate couldn't help but shiver. "I think... uhm... I think that I should be trying to get you three out now, sooner than later..."

Comments

[FloydienSlip]

So Nightshade knows of Austraeoh, Eljunbyro, and presumably Innavedr, eh? How interesting...

Actually, what I find more interesting is that Kera knew what the rune meant when she saw it on the book (Innavedr), but these guys have no clue.

[Ms_Fruit_Bat]

Oooooooh.....

Parties:
Industrial: Pilate, Simon, Props, Ebony, and Clark.
Nightshade HQ: Bellesmith, Phoenix, and Kera.
Wilderness( hot and heavy fun times ): Eagle Eye and Josho.
Crystal Village: Rorke, Rainbow Dash, Crimson, Emo Mare Extraordinare, and the Crystal Ponies.
En Route to Blue Nova: Shell....

[Jake The Army Guy]

Whoa. These symbols are a damn mystery. I both like and dislike this. Like because I love Applejack-level thickness in plots, dislike because I can't figure it out.

Forty-five four-count jumping jacks for making me ponder and make sexual references about best pony. Knock 'em out!

[The Great Turnip]

The plot thickens. Maybe. I don't know, this is all going way over my head at 4:30 a.m.

Props is crude. I like that. Crude jokes don't give me headaches likes reasonably complicated mysteries.

[RoboRed]

2671464
Hmm...we haven't heard from Shell in a while, have we?...

[Relevant Heavy Metal]

Will Props ever run out of horn-based penis euphemisms? Only time will tell.

WYSIWYG - Clutch

[That_one_guy]

And here comes our favorite broken sociopathic dickwad.

[Aqua Fortis]

Seeing Props' name in a chapter anymore just makes me smile. She's the best and I want to hug her.

[Personifire]

I do wonder what the names of the rest of the stories are going to be. I already did predict that this was going to follow vowels, and I don't doubt the next will start with an O, but how's twelve stories gonna come out of five-ish vowels? Hrm.

[Personifire]

2670747
According to this, no, it's not. Although according to that, a two-way mirror is the same thing. CONFUSING

[Honeytiger]

2672106Will any of us even live long enough to read them?

[SearoDess]

2672106 There is a Sixth,

A,E,I,O,U, and sometimes Y

So with twelve waf- er Stories, we might expect 2 of each vowel.

[Cynderfall]

[KMCA]

2671464 Hey! Be nice to Imre... She holds a special place for me

[The Casual Bro]

we have a long way to go before the story ends

[zaponator]

Reunion reunion reunion!

[Wobble]

I'm extremely concerned with just how dangerous this building might be, as in maybe it's going to violently explode if agitated? Maybe whoever's attacking should calm down a little...

[Emberspeak]

Oooh, I hope it's Shell. That guy can liven up any party, especially with Seclorum thrown in the mix.

As for the symbols, seeing as they're taken from the machine-world technology, it's reasonable to assume that they what govern the control of the power source (the flames). If this proves true, it would seem that Nightshade has her hooves on one of the flames and is trying to harness it. :shrug:

Also, twelve symbols? Sweet mother of marathons, Colon. If that is anything, it's ambitious. :flabbergasted:
Ignoring that, perhaps we will see the six traits of the elements of harmony on this side of the world, then their inverses on the other? Chaos and Harmony working together to reach the the Midnight Armory and return life to the machine-world? Seems appropriate.

[Lightning Bearer]

Shell, perhaps? He was on his way to Blue Nova, wasn't he? If he tracked the stolen zeppelin to its crash site, then it would make sense.

The whole thing with the runes is interesting. The thing is, what is the "cage" transporting that would need those runes' magic? I know others have speculated that Dash was destined for it, but that doesn't seem to be the case at this point.

2671423

My theory has been that something in Xonan culture has knowledge of the runes, the machine world, etc., and Nightshade is using the Xonan foals (in their library work-place) to research and get the information it wants. It seems that information is then passed on to the engineers (Clark & Co.) to integrate the runes into the designs. No surprise to me that they wouldn't tell said engineers too much, especially if they're being kept there under duress.

[PropMaster]

I can't wait for my sweet and hilarious namesake to meet up with Rainbow Dash. Oh Props, why are you the show-stealing ball of randomness?

[dafiltafish]

enter badass 1, badass 2, and badass 3

[Cobalt Swirls]

Still dying to see Grey Smoke.

[Personifire]

2672322
Not entirely sure why you responded to that comment rather than the one about the vowels, but I did say six-ish! Perhaps it will be two of each.

[Nevlamas]

Clark sighed and said, "Blasted if we did. We don't know their names or their meaning, only that they are bound to the energy and the engery is somehow bound to them all the same."

So it is the machine's inherent power. The earlier statement that it seems like nothing from that world is about as false as it gets, then. This also further reassures me that the Spark is indeed no power of harmony. If it is an inherent part of the machine, it must be older. I shall now dive into Skype.

Ceterum censeo Searinem delendam esse by discussion.

[AppleTank]

With the help of the Elements x 2, RD will be the power source that powers the airship to the Midnight Armory. The first 6 stories might be the "to" like the Iliad and the other the "back again" like the Oddessey.

[MellowMabari]

Quoi? Who's attacking now? It could be any one of a zillion different people, so I ain't gonna even try to predict that one.

Also, more on the mysterious words that comprise this series. They keep popping up more and more frequently, so we'll probably get some more concrete answers soon. I suppose "soon" is relative in a story as long as this one, though Welp, down to six chapters! Homestretch - onward!

[Riverwing]

I suppose we'll find out the meaning of each of those symbols eventually. maybe in a hundred chapters or so.

[dashie76]

IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!

I'm...lost, actually.  What are they looking at again?  Whatever it is, it means that Nightshade knows about Austraeoh and Eljunbyro.  That third one that Pilate saw must be Innavedr.  I have no clue as to how she came across them, however.  But they must hold a powerful magic that Nightshade is going to send to the Xonan warfront.  These are my thoughts so far. 

-MASH

[tailspin]

2743655 your lost?! And you admitted it! Wow someone(pony) call a doctor I think MASH is sick again from reading this AWSOMELY EPIC story.

I'm guessing that nightshade is trying to help the Xonan's and know's the symbles the same way that Kara does (what ever way that might be)

[MuggyPony]

I get back and there's plenty to read... Sweet.

[Hap]

2672322 And in Welsh, there also is the w. Ond that makes seven, and ruins the symmetry.

[Super Trampoline]

Altogether—in singulars or in pairs—there were twelve runes total.

Huh. all twelve symbols. You know, 12 is a nice number. I wish humans had an extra finger on each hand so they used a base twelve system. much more useful than base 10. anyway, ):(, being the meanie he is, is going to only reveal one or two symbols every couple hundred thousand words, isn't he.

[whizzball1]

12 runes... 12 books...

-Spirit

[BabySkittleMonster]

3815113
Oh, good. Another Welshie. Dydi 'na ddim llawer o pobl Cymraeg yma, am rhyw rheswm. Rwan, na'i trio cadw fynu hefo stori 'ma - ond mae'n andros o hir, de?

[Slip Kid]

4444466

How can you even pronounce any of that?

[JustAnotherTimeLord]

4758886
Very carefully.

[JustAnotherTimeLord]

I believe that our antagonist has arrived.

[remnants]

The symbols!

Also I bet a certain Prime Enforcer has arrived. I sense another Shell Smackdown coming at some point

[Regidar]

Ah, so Nightshade Industries has gotten ahold of whatever these symbols are. Presumably, they're going to be using them to control Rainbow Dash...

[Seraphimus]

You know, Thinking back on this chapter (I'm a ways ahead now) something struck me as odd, I'm not sure "Mimetic" Is the correct word for it. I Thought that maybe he'd be "Eidetic", but I am not sure, and I can't find a definition of what a Mimetic memory would be. Anyone happen to find info on that sort of thing, lemme know.

[Hazard]

I bet it's a device to lead Dash to the line whereupon it might somehow remove her pendant...maybe.

[Cyonix]

12 runes, eh?

So that means, assuming an average rate of one chapter per day, Colon will finish this story on...

The 6th of July, 2018.

Well.

That sure is a heck of a long time to wait. By the time it finishes, this is gonna be like, half as old as me!

[SolidFire]

The plot thickens! Heh, I haven't been commenting on this one like I had the others. Things have either been too intense, too uneventful, or I've just been busy. Rest assured though, I've been reading! All in all, things are about to pick up quite a bit. I hope I can get through a bunch more today.

~SolidFire

[CrystalWaters]

Shell was talking about using Rainbow Dash as a weapon.
I'm thinking this 'cage' might be the delivery mechanism.

[James Fire]

6687536
The plot does indeed thicken, too many cupcakes, courtesy of Pinkie Pie

[Nonchalant]

6450218 Can we get a new estimate on that completion time?

[aRestlessCreativeGamer]

6051211 well, mimetic pertains to imitation as in mimesis. Mimesis is the representation or imitation of the real world in art or literature.

Passin through on a reread.

[arancaytar]

Altogether—in singulars or in pairs—there were twelve runes total.

Prediction for the total length of this series?

Or maybe it's people - after all, apparently RD is Austraeoh and Belle/Pilate are Eljunbyro. Maybe Innavedr is someone as well.

Edit:

I just learned that eoh is an old English word for horse, and austra means east. East horse. Fuck me, I'm late to the party aren't I?

Edit: Also, eohippus is an extinct genus of equids that were the precursors of horses in the Eocene (a few dozen million years ago). It literally means Dawn Horse.

[Tim the Planes-pony]

"Though, I'm rather envious. I've heard of chefs from clear across the Confederacy who have used rune spells to heat up stroganoffs and omelettes... like... perfectly."

So like a magical microwave hm, that's neat.

05/13/2017 20:52 UTC

[Prism Break]

Altogether—in singulars or in pairs—there were twelve runes total.

So it seems this would tell how many chapters there will be