The Echo of Betrayal
Chapter 2
“Ah-ha!” Bary shouted from the other dais as his hoof slammed down on the page he was reading. Twilight hurled her book into the air in surprise.
“What?!” Twilight snapped as she tried to slow her rapidly beating heart.
“Hm?” Bary said as he looked up from his book “Oh sorry, I think I found something that might help explain this situation.
“Really?” Twilight said beaming a grin.
Bary continued reading a few more lines then tsked.
“Drat, false alarm. But can you blame me? I mean, how many other unicorns can get so angry that they spontaneously combust?”
“Oh, you mean when I was trying to understand Pinkie Pie’s Pinkie Sense?”
“Ugh,” Bary shivered, “don’t get me started on the whole Pinkie Sense thing. It makes me want to bang my head on the wall.” Bary shivered again at the thought and then switched to a different book. “How far are you into your book?” the Alicorn asked as he turned the page, “again” he added rolling his eyes.
“You just finished telling me my entire life is in this prison.” Twilight said, ignoring Barys obvious taunt.
“Do you think I was too theatrical with the explanation?” he asked looking up from his book, “I was still surprised you were there in the first place. So no prep time sadly.”
“Well I am sorry to say Bary, but -” Twilight stopped as the tome on the stone lectern slowly rose from the stand and floated through the air to take its place alongside the other books on the shelf. Moments later with a small flash of magic a new tome appeared in its previous place.
“Ah, the latest book is finished, I might as well give it a read,” Bary said as he cantered over to the newly written book and took it over to the nearest lectern. After opening the cover to the first page Bary remembered that Twilight was speaking and turned back to her.
“Oh sorry Twilight, you were saying?” Bary looked on quizzically.
Letting out a huff Twilight continued. “Yes you were too theatrical Bary.” With that she turned back to her book.
“Well...I will have to remember that” Twilight heard Bary say but she ignored him in favor of her book and with that she continued to read:
Twilight simply stared at Bary for a few moments, blinking occasionally.
“I am sorry, what?” Twilight finally asked, “These books are my life. That is what you said, yes?”
Bary nodded.
“So you’re telling me that if I pick up a book it will be about my past?”
“Take a look for yourself.”
Twilight reached over and picked up a book that was beside her on the step and looked at the cover.
“Lesson Zero? That’s the name of the ‘incident’ the newspaper used when it ran a segment on what happened when I missed my weekly letter to Princess Celestia”
“Oh yes, that was a surprising one.” Bary said with a smile.
Twilight opened the book to a random page and started to read aloud:
“‘I know!” Twilight said as she rubbed her hooves together with a mad grin upon her face, ‘If I can’t fix a friendship problem I will MAKE a friendship problem!’”
Twilight dropped the book in surprise, and stared at her hooves.
“How can this be?” She asked shocked. “How can my entire life be in this place...
this prison?”
“Surprisingly, that is a question I can answer. In part at least,” Bary said, drawing Twilight’s focus back to him, “the reason is what makes you special.”
“What makes me special? You mean the element of magic?”
“Exactly!” Bary said firmly planting his front hoof down to stress the point, “For reasons I am unable to elaborate on, every bearer of the element of magic have had their entire lives archived here. Everything they have ever done, everything they ever thought and every book they have ever read is stored here.”
Bary stopped for a moment as he waited for a reply but received none. Twilight simply stared at her hooves and then to all the books around her.
“My life... is in a prison?” She mumbled.
As Bary waited for Twilight to come to terms with what she had just heard his eyes suddenly widened as he gazed upon her. Unbeknownst to Twilight her body color had started to shift to the same dull gray as everything else in the prison. Thinking fast, Bary spoke.
“I would also like to add that I was ever so happy when you were born Twilight Sparkle. Having nothing new to read for over 400 years was really starting to get to me. Although I wish you could have been a bit more active in your early years, they weren’t exactly the most thrilling of reads. But the past few months have made up for that in spades.”
Bary looked at Twilight with a small smile on his face as the shift in the young unicorns color paused but Twilight sat unmoving.
“Twilight?” Bary asked. “Are you alright? I know this might be a bit much to take in but -”
Bary stopped as her saw her eye twitch
“Ohh horseradish” He said, quickly turning an even lighter shade of pastel grey as he realized what was about to happen.
Twilight Sparkle exploded.
“How dare you!” Twilight screamed bolting to her hooves, “What gives you the right to read my life! Like I am just some passing amusement for you!” Twilight took a few menacing steps towards Bary. “Are you some sort of super stalker or something? Or are you trying to find secrets about Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?” Another light bulb appeared over her head again, but then quickly shattered. Bary tentatively stepped back from the approaching Twilight then bumped into the stone lectern at the center of the room. “That’s it isn’t it! You’re using me to get the the princesses!” At this point she was in the Alicorn’s face with literal flames in her eyes. “Well if you think I am going to let you harm Celestia, by her name, you have another thing -”
“Twilight.” Bary said interrupting her.
“WHAT?!” Twilight shouted back.
“Feeling better?”
Twilight blinked a few times in surprise as she tried to understand the question. Then, after realizing what she was doing all the anger she had felt quickly changed to embarrassment.
“Ohmygosh! I am so sorry Bary, I don’t know what came over me.” Twilight said as she quickly stepped back and hung her head in shame. “I was listening and trying to understand what you were saying but you said something that made me feel angry and I suddenly exploded at you. I am so, so, sorry.”
Her head sunk even lower.
“It is alright fair Twilight Sparkle. I am sorry for causing you anger but,” as he talked Bary stepped over to Twilight and softly raised her head until she was looking at his eyes, “it was required.”
“What do you mean?”
“Something I forgot to mention was that negative emotions are magnified one hundred fold in this prison. So when I realized you were feeling uneasy and afraid at what was going on you had actually started to lose all color in your coat.”
“You mean?!” Twilight said with understanding in her voice.
“Yes, just like when you were fighting Discord. The only difference is that in here it is practically permanent, and if you give in to those emotions of sadness and depression you will be cut off from your magic.”
“So you made me feel angry to stop the change.” Twilight said with softness in her voice.
“That is correct, though I would have preferred a less conflictive method but time was of the essence. In truth, I have felt extremely honored to be able to read your life through these pages. Unlike every pony that came before, you are the only one who actually tapped into your element to such a great extent and lived to tell the tale. I hope you can forgive me for making feel angry.”
“There is nothing to forgive,” Twilight sniffled a bit as she wiped away a errant tear. “I would have been stuck here if it wasn’t for you.”
Bary placed a hoof on Twilights shoulder and gave her a comforting smile. As the moment passed he moved away from Twilight and back to the book lying on top the stone lectern.
“Yes, about that, we should really try getting you out of here. Can you tell me what you were doing before you came here?” Bary asked as he stated to skim through the pages.
Twilight chuckled a bit as she cleaned herself up. “I thought you can read my entire life in here.”
Bary scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin. “Yes well, I must admit, I have fallen a bit behind. I am not one for weddings and sort of skimmed over the more recent events.”
Twilight groaned “Well you might want to take another look then, it was far from ordinary”
“It looks like great minds think alike.” Bary said as he quickly read through one page after another. Twilight smiled at the compliment then looked at the book Bary was skimming through.
“Is there anything special about that book? She asked.
“This book here in the center is the most recent tome and will write up to 500 pages before magically moving to a shelf on the wall and a new book is created to take its place. The Alicorn explained.
“How recent?” Twilight asked as she came over and peered around Bary’s shoulder.
Bary flipped to the last page of the book and Twilight read aloud:
“‘How recent?’ Twilight asked as she came over and peered around Bary’s shoulder.”
“Wow, now that is up to date.”
Bary chuckled then looked lost in thought for moment. “I wonder...” Bary replied then flipped back a few pages, “hmm, interesting.”
“What is?”
“Well this book records everything you do, except for - apparently - when you read from a book here. Instead it states that you picked up the book ‘Lesson Zero’, read a few lines, then dropped the book and stared at your hooves.”
“I can see why that would be an issue,” Twilight exclaimed as she nodded in understanding, “If the newest book recorded everything I read here then that would quickly double the amount of books.”
“Exactly. So you came here after the wedding right?”
“That's right, it is one night after the wedding. We took a late train to Ponyville so we all went to bed shortly after getting home.”
“Alright lets see...” Bary stopped a short way in and skipped past the wedding to a few pages from the end and quickly brought himself up to speed.
“Hmm so you just fell asleep and found yourself here? Interesting.”
“Yup.” Twilight agreed with a nod of her head.
“Well.. why don’t you try falling to sleep here?”
In response she blinked a few times then cocked her head to the side.
“Do you really think it would be that easy?” She said with skepticism in her voice.
Bary shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt?”
“Well I might as well give it a try,” Twilight said as she moved to the stone bed and laid down upon it. As she closed her eyes the last thing she saw was Bary with a sad smile on his face.
“Good Night Twilight Sparkle.”
“Good Night Bary.”
As her eyes closed they opened again to reveal her own room. The moonlight’s rays shining through the window and casting long shadows upon her bed. Rubbing her eyes Twilight looked around the darkened room then blinked groggily. “I guess it was just a dream.” She thought to herself before laying her head upon her pillow and going back to sleep.
Moments after Twilight fell asleep she awakened to the sound of Bary’s voice.
“Well, this could be a problem.”
“Yes, yes, we all know what happened after that Twilight,” Bary said as he snatched the book from Twilight’s hooves invoking a yelp of surprise and protest, “you spend the next few days testing the limits to this prison and discover that whenever you lose conscious, be it though sleep or an errant apple to the forehead you appear in this place.” Bary said as he cantered back to the stone lectern, looking to the book every few words to make sure he was on track.
“Give that back Bary!” Twilight shouted and charged him with a growl.
“Oh and I missed this part,” Bary said while twisting his body causing Twilight to crash into a pile of books, “while in this prison you can lay down on the stone bed and close your eyes to wake up, and you can do this at any time.”
Twilight rose from the pile of books and shook her mane to knock off a few stray tomes. She looked to Bary as he stepped up to her and placed the book on her head.
“We know this already Twilight” Bary said, to which Twilight only growled, “instead, how about I ask why you didn’t tell me about Rarities idea? I seriously have no idea why neither of us thought of it.”
“I-I oh forget it” Twilight said as she batted the book off her head.
The smile fell from Bary’s face as he said “Never mind that, how are you holding up?”
“You have the book there, you tell me” Twilight snapped.
“Just as snappish as usual lately,” Bary said with a small smile, “that's good, at least it is annoyance and not depression or sadness.”
“Can you tell me again why I can’t tell my friends the real reason I have been so tired?” Twilight asked suddenly as she prodded a book beside her.
Bary drew a breath and let out a long sigh then came over to Twilight and sat down beside her in the pile of books.
“I am truly sorry Twilight Sparkle, but it is both for their protection and yours. If those who put me here were to realize you are contacting me the result... would not be pretty.”
“You are just looking out for yourself” Twilight spat at him in anger to which Bary just laughed. “Twilight there is literally nothing more they can do to me here, and while I enjoy your company; both your life and the lives of anyone who knew of me would likely be forfeit should they learn of what is happening.
“I... I understand Bary,” Twilight said softly, “I am sorry for being so mean to you these past few days.”
“Its no problem at all Twilight,” Bary said with a smile, “If anything it shows that you're still fighting. now why don’t you just sit and relax for a bit before waking up and I will continue looking for a solution. It should be morning in an hour or so.”
“Alright Bary,” Twilight said as she placed her head upon the books in front of her, “oh, and Bary?”
“Yes Twilight?”
“Did you ever find out why I was brought here?”
“I am afraid the rules of this place forbid me from answering that.” He said with a shrug and a sheepish grin.
“So should I take that as a yes?”
“I cannot answer that as well.”
With one last groan of exasperation Twilight Sparkle laid down upon the bed of books and closed her eyes.