Limits of the Horizon

by Beware The Carpenter

20 - Kill Him

Dust and rubble were falling through the air; mingling with the destruction of Twilight’s former life. It had all been true; her life was a lie, her family had betrayed her; she had heard it from Shining Armor’s own mouth that he had murdered Zohan and now he had admitted to wanting to kill Obtillion. It didn’t matter why. It only mattered that Obtrillion had been right all along and that she had been used and betrayed by those she’d loved.

The building in front of her glowed brightly with Shining Armor’s telekinesis and then imploded; wrapping itself around a red energy shield, trapping Obtrillion inside. Shining Armor charged for a blast that would kill Obtrillion, but she not let him take her son from her.

Not again.

Twilight opened with a barrage of missiles and magic-guided rocks she used to pummel him with from every direction. She knew it wouldn’t be enough to break his shield, but he would need to refocus his energy, giving Obtrillion a chance to escape. The sudden lack of resistance caused Obtrillion’s shield to expand rapidly, flinging a dome of rubble towards the city and towards them.

Twilight raised shields to protect herself, and then watched as Shining Armor’s defenses were swallowed from view; as several tons of rock came crashing onto them as they raced their way to oblivion. When the rubble was gone, the dust remained; choking her lungs and her vision except for the silhouettes Shining Armor charging the frame of Obtrillion, as two jagged boulders came zeroing in on him from behind.

Twilight tried to yell a warning, but through the dust all she could to do was gag. The rocks crashed into Obtrillion’s side, forcing a pained shriek as the air was knocked from his lungs and his hooves failed him. Shining Armor charged his horn to kill her son and Twilight lost all pretense of thought or strategy. She teleported between her brother and son, and raised her shield to its maximum, knowing that it wouldn’t be enough to stop Shining Armor and stood; ready to die like she should have done nineteen years ago.

Shining Armor approached without hesitation; cold, calculated and eager… too eager. When he saw she as there protecting him, he tried increasing the power of his blast mid-way, and poured too much energy into a spell that he’d already made the foundations of. The spell backfired, and split his own horn, knocking his head back as his forward momentum kept the rest of him moving forward, causing him to flip into the air and land painfully on his back… he was alive… but unconscious.

Obtrillion heaved a gasp as the air returned to his lungs and Twilight spun around, pulling him back to his hooves and embracing him. He was safe. That was all that mattered. Obtrillion formed a gust of wind that blew the dust out of the area, and they both turned to the broken, grime covered body of an enemy who had once been Twilight’s brother; “Kill him mom.”

They could walk away; but then he would come looking for them. She could break his horn off entirely, but that still wouldn’t make justice for what he had done. He’d taken innocent life, in return he deserved to die. Twilight took a deep breath; somehow this seemed wrong. Maybe she should have talked to him a bit more before trying to leave; no, he would have just told her more lies. This was the only way.

Obtrillion looked at her confused, “Well?” Twilight had been wrong, Shining Armor wasn’t unconscious. Half of his face was buried in the dirt, but his free eye was open and looking at her; it wasn’t begging for mercy, it wasn’t even apologizing, it was saying goodbye. “Mom?”

Twilight stepped back, hooves shaking; “You do it.” she said, “I forfeit right of vengeance to you; you’ve suffered more.”

“With pleasure.”

Obtrillion looked down at Shining Armor for a moment, vindication playing on his lips, and then launched with a single, clean thrust of magic which fell a split second too late. A layer of golden shield was protecting Shining Armor. Obtrillion gave small yelp of frustration and struck again, much harder which shattered the golden shield, but not the pale blue one that had formed underneath it; and then an arrow buried into the ground next to Obtrillion’s knee.

Three sides of the ruin were swarming with Shining Armor’s Sun Guard, who’d heard the commotion of war and come running. They hesitated a moment, seeing Twilight there, as if they were unsure what to do, but when Obtrillion launched a third failed blast at Shining Armor, he was answered by four lighting blasts and another arrow which were barely blocked by Twilight’s re-formed shield.

Obtrillion struck the ground to re-create dust-cover to hide their warp-scars, and then teleported himself and Twilight away.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Twilight’s sides were splitting by the time Obtrillion let her rest from their headlong flight from the Sun Guards. Twilight knew that tracking teleporting unicorns was an almost impossible task; but she knew the standards that Shining Armor kept for his elite, formed for the eventuality of a third appearance of Nightmare Moon. Fortunately, Obtrillion seemed to be far more experienced at running from elite pursuers then she was, and knew these parts of the city like they were his home.

After launching off into a mad sprint of teleports and galloping, staying mostly under cover, Twilight was ready to collapse and Obtrillion pulled her through the curtain of a small lean-to shelter set against the walls of a marketplace. A startled cry from the sleeping mare inside was cut short, first by a light strike by Obtrillion to the mare’s vocal cords to prevent her from screaming, followed up by Obtrillion passing her a small bag of rupees and motioning for silence. Both were effective.

Obtrillion stood guard at the pulled curtain huts entrance, keeping watch for any sign of the Sun Guards, leaving Twilight time to collapse on the ground panting. Their impromptu hostess stayed huddled in the far corner of the tent, staring at them in curious fear, until she eventually began to relax, and offered Twilight a drink from a clay jug which she gratefully accepted. Twilight now had time to think, which gradually brought her to deeper depths of unrest.

What had just happened?

Just a few minutes ago, she'd been thinking about killing her older brother, the stallion who almost raised her… and murdered her husband, family, and tore her child away from her, and right now, wanted to kill her only child. She was so confused; what had even happened to her? She had just been talking, wanting to calmly state her case and then suddenly she was yelling.

Twilight didn't know what she had wanted from Shining Armor. Had she wanted him to get down on his knees and beg for forgiveness he could never earn? Had she wanted him to try and justify that protecting Equestria was worth any cost, or convince her he had somehow done this to protect her from pain? Whatever she had wanted; she had been a fool if she had ever thought she was going to get it. She’d been a fool her entire life, thinking she could trust Shining Armor and all the rest of them; and they’d been playing her for the fool she was, tricking her into developing a weapon system that none of them were smart enough to make.

There was someone outside. Of course the street was crowded, as ponies, zebras and lamas passed by constantly, but Twilight felt like she was being watched; she carefully looked over her shoulder, and saw a filth crusted filly, no more than six or seven, dragging a sack behind her, standing off from the entrance looking in looking confused and scared.

Their hostess looked up from where she was carefully counting the rupees Obtrillion gave her, and tensed; Twilight thought she was about to tell the filly to keep moving but before she did Obtrillion stepped to the far side of the entrance allowing her nearly the full doorway which she took, galloping through the passage to her mother who bundled him behind her and draped a blanket over her.

After that the mood in the hut changed, and the mare redoubled her guard to the strangers, and Twilight felt that it was time to leave. Standing up, she gave a few more rupees to the zebra mare and then thanked her and her daughter, before leaving with Obtrillion; brushing against him as she walked past.

“I understand you’re upset,” said Obtrillion, once they had regained the road and left the tiny abode behind, “You used to love Shining Armor, but you have to let that go now. He’s going to be looking for us; and if we’re going to survive you can’t let your feelings get in the way. If we get another chance to kill him, we have to take it.”

“It wasn't just Shining Armor who told me I had a virus,” Pleaded Twilight, “It was everyone: Celestia, Shining Armor, Cadance, Spike, my friends... if everyone I’ve ever known has been lying to me, I don't know who I can trust.”

Obtrillion took her fore-hooves in his and met her gaze with his clear black eyes, “Trust me.”

And she did.

Comments

[BronyPonyMan]

you fucking little shit! you manipulative, worthless, heartless, stupid, lying, good for nothing sack of horse shit! i know what you did! you Amped your own mothers emotions, and messed with her head! you truely have no limits to your sickness. i eagerly await for the time when it all comes crashing down on your head as the mother you desire so much kills everyone you love, and then tears out your heart! and shall read all about it, and i will laugh at your pain!

[Hurgusburgus]

What is this, a cover art for ants?

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

5339455 Um, you're talking about Obtrillion here, right?

[BronyPonyMan]

5339524 of course.

[Beware The Carpenter]

you manipulative, worthless, heartless, stupid, lying, good for nothing sack of horse shit!

Obtrillion is not stupid; everyone else would be so much better off if he was.

Comments like this do make me consider changing some of the things I have planned for later, but if I don't, be warned; worse things are still to come.

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

5339727 I was kinda thinking so, but got just a smidge bit confused.

And I think you're right; I think that he's manipulating Twilight somehow. Be interesting to see what happens when everything finally all comes together.

Any way you slice it, though, I just have the bad feeling that poor Twilight's gonna wind up being hurt all over again.

5339845

Comments like this do make me consider changing some of the things I have planned for later, but if I don't, be warned; worse things are still to come.

I had a feeling that you were gonna say that.

[BronyPonyMan]

5339890 i know he's manipulating her! twilight is a mare of logic, facts, and reason. it made sure we understood that at the beginning of this story. remember her inner sanctuary place? i don't remember the exact way it was made out, but i do remember that it was neat, orderly, and structured in a logical fashion that made sense to her. but ever since she's met this fucker, she's had to go on nothing but faith that what he's saying is true, bits and pieces of fact that he provided for her, and pure fucking emotion. she is so far out of character that i hardly recognize her. it wasn't until this end of the chapter that i got a glimpse of the old twilight. when she thought back and questioned why she acted the way she did. if you ask me, this was the mark of the beginning of her finally starting to piece together that her son is not being any more honest with her than her friends and family back in equestria were.

[StormyVenture]

5339947
He may be manipulating her, but I doubt it's anything unusual. After all, Mute Wind did get killed. I don't know if Shining Armor was aware, but if he was, he might not have checked (if that's even possible) to see who did it. Based on the feeling I'm getting, he probably thought Obtrillion did it.

Also, I seem to recall it being mentioned somewhere that Celestia (and maybe Shining too) mucked with Twilight's head and did a little construction in her mental space. False walls I think it was described as. They must also have done something to keep her from wanting to poke around in there. It may well be that she is far more open to suggestion that she should be and that it has nothing to do with Obtrillion. What I mean by that is that he may only need to say something for her to take it for granted, particularly if it agrees with her present knowledge. And to be fair, the things that Shining Armor admitted to are a very sore spot for Twilight. Under the best possible outcome at this point she probably would have cut him off altogether and never spoken to him again. It would not take much for her to try to kill him. He was responsible for the loss of her husband, children, and the lives of several others, possibly her extended family. Because of that, she has spent most of her life being miserable and never managed to get remarried and have children with someone else.

What appears to be happening is that he is playing on the hopes and fears she already has. I'm not convinced that's he doing anything beyond that at the moment. And to be honest, if Shining managed to kill Obtrillion, Twilight would probably tear Shining apart on the spot.

She's been at least a little out of character since whatever happened in that 2 year period and whatever mental block they put on her is probably responsible for muddying the water on certain things. It may be that it tries to deflect her from complex thinking and being prevented from thinking complex thoughts while enraged about Shining Armor's betrayal of her trust is probably not good for his health.

[the other sans]

cold, calculated and eager… to eager
Fortunately, it Obtrillion seemed to be far more experienced
Obtrillien took her fore-hooves in his

1. Too.
2. Extra It.
3. Obtrillion.

Well. Would they hunt Twilight down this time? Would they consider her an enemy of the state? Would they even consider trying to capture her? Would Shining just kill her? So many questions... So few answers at the moment. Onward into the darkness where the truth lies. Because not all truths are sunshine and roses.

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

5339947 Well put. You hit the nail right on the head, my friend.

Which why I can't wait to see what happens next and in the next few chapters. Should be interesting to put it mildly.

And if I wasn't making much sense last night, it was because it had been a long day, I, like my sis and brother-in-law, was pretty much wrung out emotionally (one of my brother-in-law's nieces and older brother were both found dead at the end of last week and this weekend (his niece in her home by the local police, and his brother in a storage unit that he's rented for his truck and stuff by Steve and David's surviving daughter; he'd committed suicide in the thing), so I probably wasn't too on top of my game last night.

Which is why I called a night and went to bed before I got your response to my previous comment.

[Beware The Carpenter]

5341109

Praying for you man.

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

5343013 Thank you, hon. I most certainly appreciate that. *hugs*

And so will they, when I tell them.

[user123]

In this universe, shining has 600 more MQ than celestia? Why?

[Beware The Carpenter]

5369558

Various reasons: if you take a look at the comments of Storm Of Secrets Remastered, the most recent half-dozen comments are me and Stormy Venture discussing them.

[dzonewolf]

I'm seeing a lot of chatter about people condemning both Shining and Obtrillion’s actions, but I haven't seen anyone wondering where Obtrillion got his powers. Mind magic is genetic, and Twi's blood isn't really that strong in that department, making it quite likely that his father was a mindmage. If Zohan was even half a powerful as his son, he'd be more than capable of turning that talent towards manipulating Twilight. I'm not sure if that is was happened, but if so, it would explain Shining's actions.