Limits of the Horizon

by Beware The Carpenter

4 - Full Circle

Gale force sands were rippling over Twilight’s head; her mouth was parched and magic waning as she struggled to maintain the feeble magical barrier around her.

The map that Shining Armor had bought for her had been very old, but by Twilight’s experiences so far, very accurate. Although the Zaharren was dry as bone on the surface, three great rivers that originated in the mountains that made Equestria’s western border and coursed through the desert, each dotted intermittently by wells, with stone markers every few kilometers so travelers wouldn’t get lost. In earlier times, each well sustained a small village around it; which sold water to passing caravans to supplement their incomes. When the trade routes dried up, most of the desert tribes remained on their ancestral lands, growing what food they could from their wells. The tribes were almost exclusively earth zebras; and most of them kept their tradition of immovably interlocked families, but aside from that there were no unwavering similarities to the zebras of Timbucktoo or one from another.

That was what made them so interesting.

One desert tribe’s stallions might treat mares as slaves, another as equals, one tribe might be ruled by a chief, another by a council of elders, one tribe may be atheistic, another fiercely religious, all living in three parallel lines that crossed the desert. That said, living in one of the most inhospitable places on earth, forged hard, and often inhospitable zebras; if one tribes crops failed, they might have no choice but to raid their neighbors and so all the remaining tribes had a reputation as fierce warriors.

With barely two or three travelers passing through a tribe’s territory a year, it was entirely possible that some tribes would be mistrustful or hostile towards outsiders, and so Twilight had kept her mind’s Zaharren setting for the time being, but still needed to be careful. The first well Twilight passed was inhabited; Twilight paid the price the zebras demanded for their water without haggling, filled her canteens and left. The second well was uninhabited, but was still open with a bucket and winch and Twilight spent the night. The next morning Twilight continued her journey, and believing she was nearing the next well, began being liberal with her water; when she found the third well, it was long since deserted and had caved in on itself. Twilight was faced with the dilemma of trying to dig through an uncertain amount of unstable sand, trying to cut the next thirty miles east on a third of a canteen or cut northwards into the center-river route, the closest of which should only be about twelve miles away.

The tribes of the central route had more savage reputations than their northern or southern neighbors, mostly because they had twice as many neighbors; doubling their chances to raid or be raided. Shining Armor had emphatically insisted that Twilight avoid the central route at all costs; but Twilight knew she could defend herself against a whole tribe of earth zebras if she needed to, and opted for trying to cut the central route; and now regretted it.

For most of her life, Twilight had been an expert navigator, and was good at pacing off miles… on solid ground, but as the sand groaned beneath her feet, Twilight realized her steps were carrying her less far than they should and compensated… a little too much.

She marched on; trying to find any sort of landmark, but all she could see was sand, sand and more sand in endless hills. When her canteen was down to its last drop, Twilight was forced to conclude she had overshot her target, and was now somewhere between the central and northern well lines. Ordinarily she would have double backed towards the central well line, but the strong north wind seemed to make the idea of continuing north a better idea. Twilight had been in deserts before, and knew a spell to cool her, meaning she used less water to sweat, but it only slowed the process, and if she didn’t find a well within the next day or two, all she would have done is bought herself a more painful death.

The only good thing about any of this was that it was a distraction. Of course Twilight was curious about what Shining Armor had told her, anyone would have been, but she’d given her word not to pursue it. She’d locked her curiosity in the deepest cellar she knew how, but it had been roaring for release ever since, barely contained by chains forged from her trust in Celestia, Shining Armor, and her friends; and her unshakable belief that they would not lie to her, unless it was absolutely necessary. In her current state of dehydration, even her curiosity was too tired to yell anymore, and finding water had become the first and only thing on her mind.

That wind grew stronger by the hour as Twilight began to falter; it festered into a sandstorm, blocking all visibility. Twilight knew that traveling in sandstorms was dangerous, but she also knew they could last for days and without water she wasn’t sure she could survive that long, especially holding her energy shield to prevent herself being sandblasted into oblivion. She was certain she had to be close to one of the northern wells, if it wasn't for the sandstorm she could probably see one but hadn’t the faintest idea which direction, to go. Twilight forced herself to continue, clinging to her last, desperate hope that she would find an oasis of life giving water.

Ahead of her; Twilight could see what looked like a large rock. She knew that she had to keep going, but the thought of being able to lean against it, just for a few minutes, out of the wind was too much of a temptation. A few more steps brought the howling wind to an end, but when Twilight turned to face the rock, she was facing into the entrance of a cave.

Inside it was cool, and quiet, and she would be able to let go the endless pressure of keeping her shield up. She needed to rest; just for a few hours and if, no when, she woke up she would force herself to go on. Twilight scrambled over the thin ledge into the cave, and oblivion claimed her in less than a minute.

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

Twilight woke, her mouth parched and head pounding from lack of water. Opening one eye she realized that the storm had ended, and the sun was beating down on her through the opening in the cave. The thought of rolling over and going back to sleep was almost overwhelming, but that could have been a death sentence. Her only hope to survive was to leave now.

Twilight rolled weakly to her hooves, letting her breath out with a sigh, then suddenly caught it again when she looked up; and not three meters away was what could have been the opening to a well. Daring to hope, she scrambled out of the cave and down a sandy slope to the edge of the hole, greeted by the distant, glorious gurgle of rushing water.

Twilight looked around for a bucket, a rope, anything; but there was nothing. Her only option was to lower her canteen down in her magic, into a raging river a hundred meters below. If she lost her grip, her canteen would be ripped from her grasp and then she would die. If Twilight was at full strength, this would have been easy; dehydrated as she was; she had maybe a fifty, fifty chance.

She didn’t have a choice.

Twilight lowered her canteen, aiming for the middle of the river, certain it would be whisked away at any moment, but her hold remained true and seconds later the canteen was ascending rapidly towards her. She gulped down its water, feeling the life-giving liquid flow through her.

After a few minutes; Twilight confidently lowered her canteen a second time, and this time had the strength to wonder why the pull of the river was only a fraction of what it should have been. There was an iron hook that hung over the edge of the well and so, after testing its strength, Twilight used it to lean over the opening and cast a light into the recesses of the well.

In the center of the river was a huge stone, fashioned into a massive plough, funneling the river off to the sides. Above the boulder, a narrow tree trunk had been suspended horizontally, on one end were little metal shards from where something had been broken off, and on the other side was a water wheel, still spinning furiously under the focused water pressure provided by the boulder.

So someone had harnessed water power, but what purpose Twilight couldn't… she noticed another hook near the spinning wheel, identical to the one she was now standing on. Twilight took a step back, and looked over her shoulder to see a third hook, jutting out from above the entrance of the… cave?

Twilight walked back up the hill and made a slow lap around where she had spent the night, and began clearing the sand away from its base. Except for the hole at the top she’d climbed through; it was a perfect cylinder, about one and a half meters across, three meters tall, hollow, and definitely made of concrete. It was mostly full of sand but otherwise seemed like it had been laid yesterday and a quick test confirmed that the concrete had been infused with powerful preservation magic. In a village of earth ponies; who could have built this, and why… unless – Twilight looked back to the well and imagined a rope connecting each of the three hooks and suddenly the purpose for all three became clear.

In the other villages, she had passed; all water had to be drawn to the surface by a mouth crank, for drinking, washing and watering the tribe’s crops. The first two would have made life hard enough, but growing enough food for the tribe under a relentless sun would require hundreds of buckets a day; easily consuming most of the time, of most of the family. Whoever had lived here had been a lot smarter; by harnessing the power of the river below, they could have made a pulley system, studded with buckets drawing water constantly into… the concrete cyl - it was a water tank!

Twilight skipped over to the water tank, noticing for the first time a set of, now blocked, holes right below the entrance. If these were fitted with pipes and spread over the surrounding area… of course! The water tank didn’t just refill itself, but as more water was poured in, it would overflow into pipes and be dispersed to the surrounding field making a fully automated farm, right in the middle of the desert!

Twilight’s curiosity was going for a walk and taking her along with it. Whoever built this was definitely not just some random unicorn that stopped here for a day and decided to make a farm. Someone had spent a lot of time and effort making this, someone smart, and moving the wedge shaped bolder in place, to help power the water wheel, would have required a unicorn with an MQ of about five hundred, at least. But who were they? Why did they leave? Did they abandon their home willingly or where they driven by force… or were they killed? Did they leave any magical artifacts behind?

No one in Equestria was expecting Twilight anytime soon and she had more than enough food to spend the day excavating the area, so that’s exactly what she did. Most desert villages were built with the crops around the well and the houses in a wide circle around them, to prevent thieves stealing their food. Twilight paced off about sixty yards for farmland and then began searching for signs for dwellings.

She found them.

Most of what she found wouldn't have looked like much to an untrained eye, a tent peg, a broken pole, a rug… but to the eyes of an expert archaeologist these were keys to the past. Most of the ruins seemed to be missing however, suggesting either whoever lived here left, taking everything they had with them, or scavengers had come, stripping the village to the bone, but the bone was all Twilight needed. After about four rudimentary items she could safely determine that this village was abandoned suddenly about… twenty years ago.

Twilight continued her search, so far disappointed in her offbeat chance for magical artifacts; her attention was arrested by a grouping of rounded stones, peeping out from underneath the sand. Taking the care of a master craftspony and the eagerness of a school filly on her first date (not that Twilight knew that feeling). Twilight lowered the sand level away until she revealed several rows of tombstones.

Mutra ()
Rice grower
November 3 969 - August, 8, 1005
Loving husband of Yitilla

Yitilla )(
Cook
May 12 973 - August, 8, 1005
Adored wife of Mutra

Twilight counted at least twenty tombstones, walking up and down their uneven rows. They all died on the same day, the eighth of August, but the tombstones didn't say who or what killed them. The tombstones had all been chiseled out quickly and in some places almost sloppily which was strange given the reverence most zebra families gave to their dead. They were also all unquestionably chiseled out by earth ponies, meaning whatever unicorn had built the water tank, had already left or died. Maybe they were killed by whatever killed everyone else?

Everyone died on the eighth of August, 1005, coinciding with Twilight’s earlier estimate of the desertion of the village, the tombstones implied that instead of leaving, the tribe was wiped out, but then where were the children? Everyone in this cemetery was in their late teens at least. Had slavers attacked the village, killed the adults and taken the foals as plunder? But then who buried the bodies?

Twilight kept looking, her mind moving in a dozen directions at once as her curiosity swooned and danced. There was just one tombstone left and Twilight trotted over to it. Only the name was visible, but even that was enough to tell Twilight that the carving was deeper, and more precise than the hurried scratches left on the other tombstones. A chieftain perhaps? Twilight used her magic to shift the sand away to read it; and didn't move again until nightfall; her breath coming in steady pants and her eyes fixated on the last line, carved an inch deep with flawless precision that could have only come from of an alpha unicorn.

Zohan ()
Painter
6 June 974 - August 7, 1005
LOVING HUSBAND OF TWILIGHT SPARKLE

Chapter Five >>> Blackout

Comments

[the other sans]

Well now... This could be one reason why she went insane. But then again, there is obviously something more pressing. The cause of their deaths (but for me, it would be why Twilight married a zebra or rather, how it came to pass).

Another curiosity is about the name of your second story. It's near similar to this, I daresay identical but with just an S at the end.

Hang on... Shining said something happened twenty years ago to Twilight for her to cry bloody murder... Could ponies have attacked the zebra settlement? Or was it some sort of insanity plague? Curioser and curioser...

[Beware The Carpenter]

4293208

Originally and chronologically I was going to begin the story with the kids; but that leaves me with four chapters of character introduction/development before anything serious happens, so I decided to start with Twilight so I could get straight into the plot. I still wondered though, if maybe people would like the kids opening better so I posted it separately and whenever conducting an experiment, you should try to restrict extraneous variables. Looks like the Twilight opening wins.

[TheChronicler]

HOLY FRECK ON A STICK!!!!!