//------------------------------//
// Stretching The Bounds of Imagination 
// Story: Beyond Horizon's Edge 
// by Broseph_Stalin 
//------------------------------//

Chapter VI.– Stretching The Bounds of Imagination


Twilight awoke, one eye opening slowly. Dim grey light shined in through the ornamental window, bathing her body in the warmth of a sun that had been filtered by clouds as tiny drops of water pattered against the glass. Twilight yawned and sat up, head clearing. To her mild surprise, a set of blankets fell off her body as she sat up. She hadn’t gone to bed with a blanket, nor a comforter, being too tired to bother making up a bedspread. 

Her confusion was even more apparent when the clock’s hands jumped out at her to read the time of a quarter past four. She heard the sound of a busy kitchen downstairs, and subconsciously found it as a cue to get out of bed. 

Dragging herself to the bathroom, she ran hot water in the sink, and proceeded to wash up. After she felt more refreshed, she put on a smile, and walked gingerly down the stairs, as she did when she were a little philly coming downstairs to see what was for breakfast on Sunday mornings.

Turning into the kitchen, she was startled as she saw the form of Ento at the stove, vigorously stirring a large pot. Shaking off the tiny heart attack, she sauntered across the room. The smell was palatable, if not slightly bitter as it wafted throughout the kitchen. Ento greeted her cheerfully, although he did not turn from the stove.

“Good morning Twilight!” 

Twilight mumbled a reply as cheerfully as she could muster as sleep still clung at her conscious. 

“Mail came. It’s on the counter. Such funny letters you ponies send,” he continued on without skipping a beat at the stove. Twilight glanced at it as she walked towards the table. As far as she could tell, the mail looked exactly as it always did.

Twilight took a seat at the table, set in a ridiculous fashion. Silverware lay in the wrong place, some not even present, some seeming to have no use at all for the current meal, and some empty spaces that seemed waiting to be filled. Twilight stared at the setting, mind blank. 

"Last time I stay up so late" she mumbled into her bowl, shaking her head in attempt to clear away sleep.

Ento finally came over to sit down, carrying the large steaming pot of steaming foodstuffs gingerly between his sharp teeth. He set it down in the middle of the table, and served the two of them.

"What's that?" he asked to Twilight's listless form.

"Erm, nothing," she added quickly with a painted-on smile. She could feel her mind finally click into place, jump-starting as sparks ignited a cool, precise flame. Awake at last.

“I tried not to make too much of a mess. I had some leftover kuta wrapped up in my bag, and I found some spices above the sink. It looked like they had been alphabetized… But, er, they aren't anymore... Sorry” Ento chuckled as he finished filling up his bowl and started in on Twilight’s.

Twilight watched as a thick, phlegm-like green stew was ladled into her bowl.  Chunks of what looked like stringy gourd sat in it, and a wafting aroma rose up from it as well.

“So, what is this, exactly?” Twilight asked with the best smile she could muster. She didn’t want to be rude, but she didn’t know if she could eat this, let alone try it.

“Ba family kuta soup. It’s a long held family recipe. Basically, it’s the flesh of the kuta plant, dried and stripped, boiled in water. Add spice as desired. Simple, but effective.” Ento winked. “Half my journey was off this stuff. Vari Mena.” He laughed, and dug into his stew with a voracious appetite.

Twilight held her smile, and then looked down at the steaming green glop in her bowl. She sniffed it: it smelled of musty vegetables. She prodded it with her spoon: the stew barely moved under the pressure, and the dent she made didn’t reform, either. Finally, she decided to taste it. She nearly gagged as the bitter taste hit her tongue, and what little she had tried slid around her mouth mercilessly. She forced down the mouthful as quietly as she could.

I can’t eat this! she thought, feeling violently nauseous. She decided to stall for time. 

“What’s a kuta?”

Ento stopped eating and looked up at Twilight, mouth nearly bursting with green soup. He swallowed, asking:

"You don't know what a kuta is? Really?" His gaze turned skeptical as Twilight shook her head slowly. "You’ve got to have that here." Another no. His eyebrows furled, his face screwed up in what Twilight guessed to be a mixture of disbelief and amusement.

Finally, Ento let out a hearty chuckle, and, clearing his throat, proceeded to tell all about the wonders of the kuta fruit (as Twilight would soon learn, there were many).

“Well,” he said carefully, “the kuta is a large gourd-like plant. It was the first food that Tuni’Ro showed the Few what to take advantage of. High in viable energy, you could feed an army off a single Kuta plant, it’s said.” Ento began tapping one hoof with another, counting off. “This thing has unlimited uses. You can bake it, broil it, roast it, rotisserie, soups, stews, pies, tarts, deep fried, pan fried, seared, puréed, juiced, bar-be-q, salads, frozen, ferment,  even on a stick.” Ento laughed at this last possibility, the memories of magnificent fairs with brilliant banners in the careless breeze of a summertime Brelset stinging at his homesick mind. 

Twilight laughed along, for reasons close to home as well. 

“Wow. You know, you sound an awful lot like my friend Applejack. I tell you, that pony has more uses for apples than a dragon for treasure.” Twilight glanced over at Ento with a grin. His face had become serious, and seemed confused.

“What’s an apple?” he asked.

To this, Twilight could do nothing but burst out with an ecstatic giggle.




.   .   .   . 




After dinner (or to Ento, a hearty breakfast), and much apologizing of uneaten soup (“I just don’t get very hungry after I wake up, I promise!”), the two cleaned up and cleared the table to talk more. Two steaming cups of tea sat in front of their respective owners.

“So, Twilight, tell me more about your species. Ponies, is it? Tell me about the land I’m in here.” He skimmed the room as he said this last part, as if he were gesturing the room to be the entirety of Equestria.

“Yes, ponies, that’s correct, and we’re currently in Ponyville, Equestria. Let me start back at the beginnings of Equestrian history, so you can get a full measure of what we ponies are all about.”

And so Twilight went on, in the scholarly manner she exploited so well. She explained the events told on Hearths Warming Eve, the settling of Equestria, and the founding of Ponyville by the Apple family. She covered again in more detail the three main species of pony, and told him about the annual dragon migration that passed through Ponyville. She highlighted some points of interest within Equestria, such as Manehatten, Phillydelphia, Las Pegasus, and Neigh York. She delved into details on the rise of the two princesses, the building of Canterlot, the first Discord incident, the banishment of Luna, the return of Nightmare Moon, the second Discord incident, the Battle of Canterlot and the Changelings, the rise of the Crystal Kingdom and King Sombra, and how she and her friends had defeated them all. 

Ento stopped Twilight.

“Whoa, wait. So, you’re telling me that you and five other ponies stopped a goddess of the night, the lord of the draconoqui, an army of shape-shifting insects and their queen, and a shadow king with the elements of, er…?”

“Harmony.” Twilight said firmly, and let out a deep breath “Yes, I know it sounds hard to believe, but it really did happen,” Twilight appealed. She smiled awkwardly, realizing how foolish it sounded to a stranger.

Ento merely shrugged, and said:

“I believe you. I’ve seen the things that horn of yours can do, Miss ‘Element-of-Magic.’” Ento winked and laughed. “It’s a heck of a lot more than any shaman in Ek’Rael can pull off. You should see some of the claims those Ekina make, ridiculous, I swear.” Ento shook his head, smiling as he remembered home, another jab at his psyche. It seemed so far away now.

Twilight picked up on the vibe Ento began to give off. She put a hoof on Ento’s, and smiled. He looked up at her, returning the smile. A broad mouth of razor teeth gleamed back at her. At this Twilight receded slightly, and then cursed herself for doing so.

For Celestia’s sake, Twilight! she scolded herself as she saw the slight drop in Ento’s face. He leaned back in his chair, smile slowly returning.

“I have to ask. Why is it that you, well, screamed when you saw me last night? I mean, I can’t possibly be that ugly, can I?” Ento winked at this, a hidden fire burning behind his eyes. Twilight silently remarked at how incredible that veiled look thrilled her as it plucked out some invisible chord deep in her gut.

Twilight laughed awkwardly, catching herself staring at the alien impression that imprinted upon her. Her gaze fell down to rest on the table. The tablecloth has a stain on it… she mused as her ever-active mind fired away in distraction. She realized halfway through deciding to use bleachgrass to get out the stain that Ento had asked her a question. She looked back up, meeting his patient gaze.

“Well, you see… Never having seen an Ekina before, you could say I was, well, startled at your appearance.” She laughed awkwardly again. “Having a creature walk into your house in the middle of the night that looked exactly like a- well what I mean to say is that your- I mean, you aren’t exactly- well no, I mean you’re not- oh, dear…” She trailed off, not sure what to say.

“Go on,” Ento said patiently. He seemed privately amused at Twilight’s fumbling.

Twilight let out a sigh. Here goes nothing.

“It’s just that, with your teeth and horns, and long, thin body, not to mention those deep crimson eyes, you just look a bit,” she gestured into the air, searching for the right word, “startling to a pony seeing you for the first time. Especially if they’ve been up reading ghost stories half the night,” Twilight added awkwardly with a small laugh.

Ento smiled at this.

“I guess I could see that. Comparing myself to you, I’m sure that I look really… well, different. Then again, maybe you ponies are the scary looking ones?” he remarked, the fire in his eyes still burning just as bright. Twilight felt the same pang of indescribable feeling again in her stomach; it tingled in a strange and novel way. 

Twilight acted upset, and said in a tone of mock hurt:

“Ouch, Ento. I didn't know Ekina could be as cruel as they are unpleasant to look at!” She laughed at her little joke, and was joined in by Ento's deep laugh as well. 

Laughter swelled up to the ceiling, melting away the tension both had been feeling up until now. The rain outside pattered away against the kitchen window as the sky grew steadily darker.