Beyond Horizon's Edge

by Broseph_Stalin

A Dramatic Turn of Events

Chapter XII. – A Dramatic Turn of Events

Twilight sat sniffling quietly in a large purple chair that waited outside the audience chamber. She heard the muted arguments and conversations of Celestia and Luna, and the occasional moans as Ento tried to answer the questions that the pair and been shouting at him. Twilight winced every time he began talking, because either Celestia or Luna burst out in anger before he could finish what he was trying to answer.

You asked him a question. Don’t unleash a firestorm on him when he only does what you’re asking, Twilight thought with a whimper. Looking at the grand carpeting on the floor, she had the inane sensation of being a schoolphilly that had broken a rule at school with another pony, waiting for the principal to finish up with her accomplice and dreading what would come at her turn.

Except you didn’t just “break a rule,” Twi. You know what the Princess said. You should have told her right away what was going on, shouldn’t have been such a foal and kept Ento all to yourself, like some kind of prize. She screwed her eyes closed bitterly. An “I told you so” flashed to her mind, and she shook her head violently to clear the vindictive thought.

Much to her frustration, the thought lay burned in place. She gasped as her head surged, the vestiges of a headache beginning to form behind her eyes at the violent shaking she had attempted.

She heard the click of the door, and looked straight ahead, listening intently to the sounds of hooves upon the carpet. She caught within her peripheral vision the figure of Ento, still in chains, led by a Night guard down the long hall. A long cloak was thrown haphazardly over the manacled body. Twilight figured with a frown that it was to ensure nopony around the castle realized what he was.

“Twilight Sparkle,” she heard Princess Celestia’s voice call to her. At this, Twilight straightened up, fast. “In here, please,” she added with the same falsely disarming and passive tone she had used in Ponyville. Twilight obeyed, walking slowly into the room.

Within the audience chamber sat Celestia on a great mound of violet silk pillows, with Luna pacing actively around the door to the balcony, seeming pent-up. Twilight noticed Philhelmina perched grandly on her golden stand, surrounded by ancient maps and logs that had been arbitrarily laid out on the grand oak table beside the stand. She raised an eyebrow slightly as she realized she had no idea what the maps were of. Across the top of each map was scrawled the word Forbidden in rough charcoal etching. A grand red stamp mark left the word Confidential directly underneath it.

“Twilight,” said the sun princess firmly. Twilight's eyes locked straight ahead as she realized she had been obviously staring at the maps. Celestia indicated a plain chair in the middle of the room with a slight movement of her head. Twilight took a seat, wincing as she found it hard and extremely uncomfortable to sit on.

“Now, Twilight. I believe I, we, owe an explanation to you,” she said, her cool eyes glancing over her old student with an empty calmness. Her voice, though, betrayed an anxious energy. Twilight could tell that she was anything but calm. The mask of stately grace she always wore was strained after the stress she had just endured with Ento.

Luna walked over to sit with her sister, lying on her respective pile of azure silk pillows. She still seemed restless, not familiar with such delicate processes after having been trapped in solitude for so many years.

“Yes,” Luna added firmly. “The past hour has been, well, taxing on us. You don’t exactly realize what you’ve stumbled into here, Twilight. This entire situation is far bigger than yourself, almost more so than us,” she added with an enigmatic look.

Celestia nodded slightly to her sister's warning.

“Twilight, I cannot say what it is you possibly may know, but the Ekina, Luna and I don’t—”

Twilight interjected with a slightly scornful tone as the memory of a bound and degraded-looking Ento flashed to mind reproachfully.

“Oh, I know all about what’s happened, Princess. The war, the deal you brokered, the fallout, the reason why there aren’t any Ekina here. Everything.” Twilight shut her mouth quickly as she realized what she had said.

Both princesses’ eyes went wide for a second as what Twilight said hit them with shock. Celestia’s trained face returned to calm neutrality quickly, but Luna’s stayed at an unpleasant frown.

“And how do you know that, Twilight Sparkle?” the shadowy Princess implored, her voice bordering on what could only be described as dangerously foreboding.

Twilight didn’t say anything more. Her mind flashed, bathed in a panicking light as she realized what she was about to tell the princess could hurt Ento more than anything else she could say. Luna bobbed her head impatiently.

“Well? We demand you tell us now, Twilight.”

Celestia raised a hoof calmly to her sister.

“Please, Twilight, answer the question. Your friend won’t come under any harm from us. This I can promise you,” she said with a gentle smile.

Twilight’s mind flashed brilliantly again: anger. It remembered the one-sided shouting match that had occurred in here not five minutes ago. Ruefully, she opened her mouth to tell all about what Ento had accounted.

She described the entire story from memory, staring a black hole into the floor as she did so. When she finally finished, she hazarded a glance to find both princesses’ faces captured in their own unique methodical thought. Twilight remarked with a slight smirk that they seemed as exact opposites to each other.

“Such an ignorant and single-minded history those Ekina have been teaching their foals,” Luna spat bitterly. “‘Figures of purest white and deepest black?’ We apparently threatened them? The lies they told their people about us? Really, the denigrations they come up with to cover their idiocy…” She sighed heavily.

“Now, now Luna,” Celestia rebuked, a lecturer’s tone taking over her voice, “We haven’t exactly been sharing the true knowledge, either. We destroyed those books and records of Strei and the Ekina, you remember? Not to mention the record keepers we had to bribe,” she added firmly. She turned to Twilight. “When you told me that you had found a mentioning of the Ekina in a book at the Archives, you have no idea how shocked I was to hear it. We spent countless years tracking down and destroying any knowledge of the Ekina that we could, so that a problem like this would never have to come up unexpectedly.”

Twilight’s face was set in a stony disbelief. Not sure what to believe, she opened her mouth, and carefully asked, “So, was what Ento said correct, or was he lying? Or at least saying a lie he had been told?” she added, hastily. She found it hard to believe a creature would lie outright to a stranger. Not just a creature, this is Ento, remember...? Her thoughts turned muddled as she struggled internally to grasp what was quickly unfolding before her.

Celestia shook her head.

“What he told is... more or less 'true'... but yes, there are some considerable fabrications in there obviously he would not have a knowledge of. Yes, the deal was struck in succession, and Luna and I had believed it would go through without problem. We had no idea the Ekina Elders planned to deceive us, though,” she added with a slight grimace. Her face changed back quickly as her subconscious realized it wasn’t wearing a look of mild interest. The princess's mind, however, was racing. It steadily picked up in vivacity as she remembering things that had happened so long ago.

“The war was a rallying point for the unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. Not having any common ground to come together on, the challenge of a separate foe set their differences aside and allowed a young Equestria to finally function for the first time. And after the war had ended, with the promise of desperately needed raw materials, we knew we would be able to continue on with founding a peaceful kingdom.”

“But their betrayal was unforgiveable, Twilight,” Luna continued on for her sister. Her voice weighed heavily on Twilight, but she seemed to stumble as she went on. “When we came back, simply to find that we were hated, we vowed to never associate with them again. Returning with our hooves stained in the… blood of our murdered soldiers, we lost more and more power over Equestria.” Luna’s face sunk in saturated despair, her head hung in painful remembrance.

“And then… the first Discord Incident began. He fed off the chaos that the Ekina had started. It was like setting a match to a tinderbox. Eventually, we had entrapped him, but the stress of it on both of us, as well as losing control over the kingdom led to… when our fighting began to tear even Celestia and I apart. I finally cracked under so much strain as I watched indomitable change overtake the land and sister that I loved, right before my very own eyes. And it happened, after I changed myself... The banishment,” she managed to sob. She closed her eyes in excruciating emotional pain as the dark memories flooded over her.

Twilight watched pitifully as Celestia comforted her weeping sister. The sun princess turned to Twilight and said in a calm but determined voice, “You understand why we would want that part of our history out of memory. For mortal ponies, the pain would decline through generations. To we eternal beings, the pain will always be fresh.”

Twilight looked back down at the carpet as Celestia comforted a sobbing Luna. She found her mind torn as she realized what this meant: Ento was a part of a horrible time for Equestria. Not directly, but he had lied to her about it… a lot of it. At this thought, she could feel a single spark spawn in her mind and float on the gentle breeze of consciousness.

A choking sensation seemed to grab her very being as the pain and anguish of everything that had happened today finally crashed down on top of her. It was like the unstoppable cascade of an enormous waterfall.

As the single spark alighted, a fierce fire of anger burned up in her. She felt her mind reeling in the hideous ecstasy of rage.

He lied to me! she thought bitterly. The misgiving blazed like a wildfire, burning up all the dried-out thoughts of reason and compassion. Twilight looked up at the princesses, her eyes smoldering with an intense passion. The stately pair had returned to their normal composure, though Luna still sniffled slightly.

“So what is happening to him,” she said, a tinge of fire peppering her voice. Celestia seemed taken aback by her tone.

“Well, we were going to escort him back to his kingdom, to the Lord and Lady. Such is the punishment for what he has done, and our stately duty as a diplomatic force.”

“Wait, what do you mean, ‘punishment?’” she said, slightly startled. Her eyes hardened slightly as the sparks swirled around inside her mind.

“He has told us that travel beyond the north gate is forbidden, on pain of death,” Celestia said, matter-of-factly.

More fuel poured across the fire in Twilight’s mind as anger and fear shifted interchangeably. Ento, you fool, you idiot, how could you risk something so valuable as your own life? she screamed in her mind. She felt like she were about to burst into tears at any second. She gasped in breaths, deep breaths, trying her absolute best not to let this happen. Her mind spun in shocked confusion.

“Is everything alright, Twilight?” Celestia asked, concern growing on her features.

No, it’s not alright! Not at all! she wanted to scream out loud to the princess, to watch that stupid, silly mask break away and get some real emotion out of her, for once in her miserable life! She wanted somepony, anypony to know the intense, burning pain she felt in her mind right now!

Twilight managed to whisper a weak “Yes.”

Celestia opened her mouth to speak, but stopped short as a guard captain entered the room.

“My ladies, the carriage is ready. The high value pony is... ready to go.” He paused mid-speech, and managed a sidelong glance at Twilight’s gasping form. His years of drilled-in training, coupled with a "Leave it" type of glance from Celestia stopped him from doing anything else but maintaining a forward vigil to his princesses.

“Very well, Captain, we will join you in a moment,” Celestia said with her usual court grace. The Captain nodded curtly, shot his sister a wary look, and took his leave of absence.

Celestia turned to Twilight, who was still breathing just as raggedly.

“Do you wish to accompany us to Ek’Rael, Twilight?” she said with a calm, if not concerned, demeanor.

. . . .

A battle raged inside Twilight’s mind.

A fierce and bitter Twilight appealed to her, hair in knots and eyes ablaze: Anger.

Go on. Let’s go watch that liar pay for his crimes! He more than deserves it. The lies he told you were simply atrocious! it enticed, a comical smirk forming on its lips. Its eyes struck over her again, fierce and terrifying. You know he deserves it, Twilight. The sick animal deserves to be put down for his idiocy. A bitter laugh resounded in her head, echoing shrilly in the boundless confines of her mind.

At the final end of the echo another voice whispered from the form of a curled up and bloody Twilight lying sprawled out next to her: Fear.

Don’t go Twilight. How can you watch it happen in front of you? You’re so much better here, focusing on forgetting a creature who you’ll never meet again. There’s no point in it. Why bother trying? The entity sobbed quietly, getting steadily louder and louder until it seemed horribly deafening.

Twilight had no idea what she would do. She was torn between action and inaction, apathy or anger. Hate demanded retribution, while indifference held her down. She stood in the middle of it all, head bowed, miserable tears rolling off her face.

"You love him. Go save him."

Twilight looked up slowly, ears pricked up at the sound. The voice had been barely below a whisper, yet she had heard it perfectly. She looked around. Anger and fear had vanished to leave an empty grey expanse before her, an infinite palette of options.

But she knew who had said it.

Hope.

. . . .

“I’ll go,” Twilight answered firmly, her breathing evening out. The unicorn's face hardened in a determined gaze as she looked onto the princesses.

“Very well, my dear,” Celestia said evenly, and stood up gingerly as she stretched out her numb legs. Luna followed suit, and the two sisters walked outside.

Twilight leaped off the chair, her body numb but a resolute feeling in her mind.

“Princess?” Twilight called. She stopped to turn to the purple pony.

“Yes, Twilight Sparkle?” she asked expectantly, though her eyes betrayed a slight impatience.

“We need to stop by the library in Ponyville. It’s very important,” Twilight said firmly. Her unwavering stance seemed to echo her words exact.

“Of course, Twilight. We will stop by the library.” She turned back to join Luna as they approached the runway balcony.

Twilight joined the princesses in their ornate private carriage. Promptly taking off south for Ponyville, she looked through the window to see a small carriage behind theirs, painted plain and ambiguously. Her heart soared as the thought of her and Ento’s embrace passed into her mind .It felt as though it had happened a lifetime ago. A tug at her heartstrings told her the sentiment was shared by another.

No power of reason or magic could explain how she knew that. It was simply a feeling as observable as the setting of the sun and the melt of springtime snow.

I’m here for you.

Comments

[UnintentionalMishap]

Keep writing, I'm always looking forward to your updates!

[Barbecue Sauce]

Me too!

[Broseph_Stalin]

My beloved readers:

I am considering putting chapters 7-12 into a single chapter to streamline this story. The chapters will not be edited in any major way, but will, together, be a hefty 7,800+ word monster. I will be dividing them into five parts, each aptly named for its individual character.

For the sake of space and neatness, what do you think?

[Lord Fuzzy the Mad]

OOHHH!!!! I like monsters! But....on the other hand, I like being able to find my spot without scrolling much. It takes too much time! I have important things to do like make......uh....toast? What do you think, Chives?

Well, sir, having the chapters condensed could certainly assist continuity, as the writing suggests that 7-12 are essentially a single chapter anyway, merely scattered across multiple chapters for convenience. It would certainly decrease the amount of space the chapters take to display which could make the story less daunting when new readers discover it. On the other hand, nearly 8000 word is quite a lot to read without a break, and finding the specific spot where a reader stopped could be problematic. In addition, new readers may find the large chapter in an already hefty story too daunting and be driven away.
While the benefits and deficits of each plan mostly balance out, it is my opinion that leaving the chapters as they are would be best as it would allow for more breaks. The slight distraction of changing web pages every 1500 words or so could assist in maintaining reader interest, and large tasks such as reading the aforementioned chapters become much easier when broken down into easily manageable segments. Despite the divisions within the mega-chapter, it would still be observed as a single large task as opposed to six much smaller tasks. Thus it is my opinion that the chapters should be left as they are.

.......Yes, what Chives said.

[Seraphimus]

Interesting thus far but alot of it feels rushed. And i dunno, twilight feeling lied too immediately after asking if it was him repeating a lie he had been told himself seems out of place. In the context of the story and the characters and relationships you started to build, i feel like she'd be much more inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt then be angry about him lying. Even in opposition to celestia.