Beyond Horizon's Edge

by Broseph_Stalin

Proper Introductions

Chapter IV. – Proper Introductions

Twilight settled herself, attempting to calm the shaking that dominated her body. She took quick, deep breaths and finally steadied herself, her eyes coming down to rest on the scuffed black book that lay on the floor in front of her.

“Oh,” the creature said in his liquid tone. “Let me get that…” He began to step forward to retrieve the book, but Twilight interjected politely.

“Oh no, that’s fine, I-I’ve got it,” she said, voice quavering, and with a red sparkle, lifted the book into the air, along with the creature’s pack and other belongings that had spilled on the floor. The creature stopped in his tracks, eyes wide and mouth agape as his belongings floated around him into his pack. Twilight inspected each one with deliberate interest: small maps, a compass, a folded leather object, an intricately designed pocket knife, a leather satchel that read MECDIIN, and a small package wrapped in twine and paper. The majority of it was alien to her, but she handled it all carefully just the same.

Once everything had been packed in as neatly as only a pony such as Twilight could muster, last came the black leather-bound book. Twilight eyed it appreciatively, laying it neatly on top of his things.

“The Exploits and Voyages of Entar’Ma the Brave, hm? In all my years of studying and reading, I’ve never come across this book.” She managed a polite chuckle. “Well, I mean, I’ve heard plenty with a similar title, and I’m certain a similar plot but... Entar’Ma? My, such an odd name, isn’t it? Then again, I suppose it isn’t the weirdest one out there I guess. Why, you take my friend Pinkie Pie for example…” She stopped about three feet from the creature, a smile slowly growing on her face as she spoke. She’d been rambling again, she realized, and quickly added with a blush:

“So, you, uh, like to read? Yes?”

The creature didn’t seem to be following what Twilight had even said. He looked from the pack, to the book, his eyes coming to rest at her horn with a slightly depreciative glare. Twilight felt the odd sensation of being scrutinized overtake her, and gulped nervously. Finally, the creature spoke, slowly, as though he were picking his words very carefully.

“How…? Did you do that…With?” Although it sounded like the creature was taking great pains to compose a viable question, he was still tripping over his words. His liquid voice seemed almost to Twilight as a stream being caught and ensnared on great rocks.

“Oh, you mean my horn?” she said, bringing up a slight burst of magic to light up the beacon at the pinnacle of her crown. Sparks shot out, and seemed to only make the creature’s face more and more confused. Twilight stopped, a puzzled look forming on her face as well.

“Well, I’m a unicorn,” she said, matter-of-factly. Stopping, she corrected herself. “Er, well, an alicorn now.” With a flutter of her wings, she regarded the creature’s increasingly incredulous stare once more. “Regardless, all alicorns and unicorns can use some sort of magic. You… don’t have those where you’re from?” she asked, astonished. The creature shook his head, his mouth hung open still.

“Well, ah,” Twilight said, and laughed nervously. She straightened up as best she could muster, and asked:

“Where exactly are you from?”

The creature seemed to have snapped out of his daze. Collecting his bearings, he looked down on Twilight and answered.

. . . .

“Well, the kingdom of Ek’Rael,” Ento said. His mind was on fire with the amassment of questions that had borne out of everything he had seen in the last seven minutes. This purple creature certainly is, well, peculiar. Especially so when she sat screaming on the floor. Is that the customary greeting for guests? The more he thought, the more Ento had no idea what was going on. He certainly had gotten his money’s worth on this trip so far.

“Ah, well… Okay I’ve never heard of it but it sounds, well… exciting!” she replied. Her enthusiasm was easily discernible, despite the fact her voice quavered with nervousness.

“What’s your name?” she added.

“It’s, ah, Ento. Ento’Ba.” He extended a hoof for a fellow Ekina embrace, but was surprised to find the purple creature shaking it instead. Weirder and weirder, he thought. He broke into a small smile. I’m going to like it here.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle, but you can just call me Twilight, if you like,” she added, a grin spreading across her face as well, as she shook his hoof with alarming intensity. ”So, Ento’Ba--”

“Please,” Ento chuckled, as the alicorn’s strange embrace began to finally taper off in intensity. “Just Ento. We rarely use our family name unless it is by royalty or identification.” He looked down again at the small unicorn, his eyes glowing amber.

“Twilight, please, tell me about yourself. What is this place, and most importantly, what exactly are you? Are there more of you here?”

Twilight seemed to take this as a cue, ad Ento could see as her mind engaged off in twenty different directions.

“Well, let’s see. You would currently be located in Ponyville, which is located in, oh, I don’t know, the southern realm of the kingdom of Equestria?” She smiled, and grabbed several books and charts off the shelves form various places with the same reddish sparkle. His eyes followed each illustration and map closely, becoming somewhat dizzy at the multicolored display in front of him. He smiled. Ento could tell that she reveled not only in in having knowledge, but sharing it as well.

The charts disappeared, replaced with illustrations of brightly colored creatures that looked similar to Twilight, with slight distinctions. She continued on:

“And I am a pony… specifically an alicorn. Here in Equestria, there are four kinds of ponies: Unicorns, who have the ability to use magic. The pegasi, who are blessed with the power of flight, use their wings to get around. There are some alicorns, such as myself, who have the abilities of both unicorn and pegasi. There are also the earth ponies, which don’t have any special physical features, except that they are all hard-working and strong. But that’s certainly not a handicap, believe me on that,” Twilight added with a wink. Ento found himself nodding along agreeably, though he was more confused now than he had been originally.

Twilight paused, eyes out of focus.

“I noticed you don’t have a cutie mark. Does your kind not have them?”

Ento stopped, not sure of what to say. A cutie mark? he thought, wondering what in the good grace of Alik’Kr she was talking about. He realized his thoughts must have surfaced on his face as Twilight added without a prompt:

“Yes. You know, a cutie mark! Everypony gets one when they learn about their special talent!” Twilight smiled, wiggling her rump. Ento noticed for the first time that she had a twilight star emblazoned on her flank. “Mine is magic,” she said, beaming.

Ento glanced over at his flank. All he saw was a slightly muddled patch of fur where his “cutie mark” would have been.

“Well, no. I guess we don’t have them, do we?” he laughed.

Twilight’s face suddenly lit up, and then darkened slightly. She added quickly:

“Sorry, don’t worry about it and please, don’t let me blather on all night. Tell me about yourself!”

Ento cleared his throat.

“Well, I am from a little town called Bataro. We’re in the Northern part of Ek’Rael. My father owns the forge there, and the Ba family has been making armor and weapons for the Lord and Lady for, well, over a millennium I guess.” He paused, clearing his throat once more, and thought. Finally, he added:

“Oh, I’m sorry. I am an Ekina, by the way, I—” Ento stopped at a loud gasp. He looked down at Twilight, who blushed, apologizing.

. . . .

I can’t believe it! Twilight thought ecstatically. Zero luck on finding anything about the Ekina, and not but a week later one just walks into my home!

Easy, Twilight, another part of her mind warned. Go off on him and you’re bound to scare him. Besides, the Princess asked us specifically not to pursue information about the Ekina…

The other mental Twilight huffed. Yes, I know. But she didn’t say anything about asking a live Ekina!

The logical Twilight shook her head. Whatever. Just don’t be upset when I say “I told you so.” Twilight came back down to earth, and apologized to Ento.

“Sorry, it’s just that, well, I’ve been…” She chuckled nervously. “Er. Never mind!” she blurted. “Please, tell me about the Ekina! Everything you know!”

Ento raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, Twilight,” he said mildly, a smile on his lips, and began his rendition of the Ekina species.

Twilight listened raptly, her mind a sponge that absorbed every nuance, anecdote, and detail to the letter.

Comments

[Firedon]

ohhh, the puzzle is slowly coming together
Which is something I feared, since you quickly resolved the mystery between the two countries and I thought that it would take a lot of suspense out of the story, but thankfully you avoided that by mentioning Ento's relationship to Twi
So all I can say right now is good work