Game, Part 1
From: MinCol@ColMin.gov
To: demosthenes@hushcom.nl
Subj: It’s time
Attch: Summary Report (Auto-Shred on Closure)
Encryption Alg#: 6532187945NGE
Ms. Wiggin,
It pleases me to report that we have made a small amount of progress in the search for your brother. Details are included in the attached document.
I want to thank you again for your cooperation and restraint in this matter. Eros is not the easiest place to live, a situation made worse, I’m sure, by the inability to communicate with the rest of your family.
In return for your patience, I would like to invite you to join me on the Argyris. I promised that you would be present if we ever found Ender - by the time you arrive, I believe we will be very close.
Tug #871 has been re-tasked to transport you. Contact Lt. Mathers on board when you are ready.
Graff
☽
Ender struggled to consciousness. Eyes heavy with fatigue, he felt as if he had spent the last few hours in the battle room rather than in bed. Groaning, the soldier sat up and rubbed his eyes. The room felt decidedly colder than usual.
That’s strange… normally I have to move Luna’s horn out of the way... Ender’s thoughts trailed off as he opened his eyes and tried to comprehend what he saw.
Six of the Night Princess’ armored guards stood around the bed, looking down at him steadily. At his movement, the two near his feet turned to look behind them as Comet Chaser approached.
“V’ha nees, zhyet,” the captain intoned.
“What? I don’t-” Ender stopped. She’s not here, he realized as a feeling of unease formed in the pit of his stomach. It had not occurred to him that in the days since applying her translation spell, Luna hadn’t left his side, at least while he was awake. The boy had forgotten that it wouldn’t work if she wasn’t nearby.
“V’ha nees.” Comet Chaser stepped back and pointed towards one of the couches near the bed. Peering over the guards’ backs, Ender could see his dress uniform laid out.
He must mean ‘get dressed.’
As he stood, the guards stepped back. Rather than turn to leave, they stayed with him in a rough circle, always standing just out of arm’s reach. Ender couldn’t be sure, but as he looked into their eyes, he saw a mixture of distrust and, yes, even fear.
The boy was crushed. He had never given these ponies a reason to be afraid. He could only come to one conclusion. She must have seen something in my head… seen something and told the others.
He almost laughed at their reaction. After the details of his life were made public, he had expected this very look from from the colonists on Eros. Instead, they had cheered him, felt sorry for him, or made excuses for him. It took intelligent horses on an alien world to finally show a reasonable response.
Ender bent over in the cold air, conscious of the now seven pairs of eyes staring intently at his every movement. It was as if they expected him to lash out at any moment. Despite his discomfort, the soldier couldn’t help but notice how his uniform had been laid out in precisely the fashion he would wear it. Every angle and crease had been ironed perfectly and there was not a single speck of lint to be found. Ender looked around, and sure enough, saw Dusty’s face peeking in through the door to the balcony. Following his gaze, Comet Chaser noticed the maid and stomped angrily. A short command sent the poor mare scurrying across the room and out the main door.
Eyebrows furrowed, Ender caught the captain’s gaze as he turned back, looking down on the pony with a narrow glare. Comet Chaser seemed unphased at first, but after a few moments, he glanced away with a muttered, “V’ha nees, duhna.”
Exhaling sharply, Ender pulled on his uniform, stretching some parts carefully over the few bandages that remained. Standing to his full height, he looked down at the guards and pointed emphatically at the restroom. Chaser seemed to understand and nodded. Mercifully, the pegasi did not follow him in.
They were waiting for Ender as he emerged, arrayed in a semicircle. Without a word, the captain turned and began walking towards the door, clearly expecting the boy to follow. As he obliged, the escorts closed in behind him, again forming a ring just out of his reach. Dusty’s door opened slightly as they passed it, but Ender couldn’t see anything beyond the dark crack.
Where are they taking me?
The spiral stairs were a bit awkward. The guard ponies could not comfortably fit abreast of Ender, so they settled into a pattern of four forward and three behind. As they descended to the castle proper, the soldier evaluated his circumstances.
Luna is powerful. She could have easily dealt with me herself, without involving the guards, he mused. The retinue, and their insistence on his dress uniform, indicated some kind of formal proceedings, perhaps a trial. After all, he reasoned, they could have seized me while I was sleeping and simply frog marched me to a prison cell in my underwear. Or, one of their unicorns could have teleported me there. Ender had seen the horned ponies on Celestia’s staff perform similar feats, such as magically summoning a cook from the kitchens so the Princess could express her thanks after a sumptuous meal. There was no reason they couldn’t do the same to him.
Or could they? he wondered. A number of unicorns, and even Luna herself, had remarked on his resistance to the ability they called magic. Ender wasn’t immune; the unicorns just had to put more effort into what they wanted to do. Perhaps he could use that to his advantage.
As the party emerged from the stairway and the guards again formed a circle around him, Ender started to memorize the path they took. The castle was confusing, and if he needed to make an escape, he reasoned that his first priority should be to recover the PAC from Luna’s chambers.
But would I even be able to overwhelm the guards?
He glanced down at the ponies surrounding him. Though he was about a head taller, the ponies were thick and well-muscled. Their armor posed another problem, as did their wings. Years of training in Battle School left Ender strong, nimble, and fast, and the months he spent surviving in the forest had only improved those traits. Even so, how long could he evade opponents who could fly, and drop down on him with metal-shod hooves? The soldier could move quickly, but he didn’t know how fast these guards could run, and as far as he knew, there wasn’t a man alive who could outrun a horse.
My only chance would come from surprise and savagery, he concluded. The guards’ armor did not cover their noses, and Ender seemed to remember something about a horse’s nose being sensitive. He had no desire to harm these ponies, but if he had to run for it, he’d have to stun at least one of them. Turning around would put him face-to-face with the rear-guard. Ender hoped that a hard punch to the nose, followed by a kick to the back as he vaulted over the pegasus would be enough to drop him. Given what he’d seen of the ponies’ interactions, the soldier suspected that their first move would be to tend to their comrade instead of giving chase. That would allow him just enough time to get around a corner or through a door and hopefully break their line of sight.
But then what? Even if he somehow made it to Luna’s room and recovered his PAC, he’d be cornered. He would *maybe* have enough time to pull the jump rig out of his gear and make a leap off the balcony, but what next? He’d be in the middle of a city filled with unicorns. Who knows how many of them would have the capability to hold him in place until the guards arrived?
And who’s to say that one of the unicorn guards or the even the Princesses themselves wouldn’t catch up to me before I even got that far?
Ender grimaced, realizing that his chances of escape were slim. He was only considering it as an option of last resort, but he’d be more comfortable knowing that it was at least a viable out.
I’ll need to play along, and hope I can talk my way out of whatever trouble awaits me, he concluded.
Comet Chaser led him down resplendent corridors he had never before seen, and though it was the middle of the morning, the party never encountered another pony. The soldier figured that other guards must have cleared their path.
Seven of Celestia’s Day Guard stopped Ender’s escort as they approached a massive set of gilded doors. A unicorn approached, his unique purple armor and crested helm marking him as an apparent counterpart to Captain Chaser. The captains exchanged a few hushed words, glancing back at Ender as they spoke. Finally, Comet Chaser nodded and walked away, followed by the other pegasi who had escorted him. They were soon replaced by three white pegasi and three gray unicorns, all bearing golden armor. The captain approached, the lighter streaks in his otherwise dark blue mane catching the sunlight that streamed through the windows on the opposite side of the hallway.
“You are about to enter the throne room and the presence of Her Majesty. Conduct yourself accordingly, or there will be trouble. Do you understand me?” The unicorn’s eyes narrowed as he looked up at Ender.
“Yes,” the soldier replied. To his shock, he did understand. Luna must be nearby, he thought, surprised that despite the circumstances, the notion filled him with hope.
The captain nodded and turned, his horn glowing as he enveloped the massive double doors in a blue aura. As they swung open, Ender was momentarily blinded by the bright light streaming through dozens of stained glass windows on either side of the immense room.
Looking up, the boy couldn’t help but gape as his eyes adjusted to the light. If the rest of the palace was opulent by his standards, Ender couldn’t even think of a word to describe the throne room. The wide hall soared nearly thirty feet high. Stained glass windows of every hue flanked both sides, separated by tall ionic columns. Stretching floor to ceiling, the windows cast prismatic shadows across the marble floor.
A prod from the captain’s hoof broke the boy’s stare and started him down a blood-red carpet that ran the length of the room. Ender resisted the urge to turn back towards the unicorn captain; the last thing he wanted was to show agitation or weakness in front of what he assumed to be Celestia’s court.
As they moved down the long hallway, the soldier realized his assumption was incorrect. He spied a few shapes near the throne, but otherwise the vast room was empty. The sound of the guards’ golden horseshoes echoed freely as they marched in step beside him.
The throne itself was as imposing as the rest of the room. An immense installation of what looked like solid gold, the arching structure featured a three-tiered base that stretched into an equally-broad ceiling fixture. Backed by a vast mauve curtain, twenty-foot blue and violet tapestries flanked the fixture, their dark colors making the seat appear even brighter by comparison. Drawing closer, Ender noticed a massive stylized sun inlaid in lighter gold set over a comparatively small band of night sky.
No question who the dominant power is in this room, he noted. I wonder if Luna has her own seat, or if she has to share this one with Celestia?
As the guards came to a halt in front of the carpeted ramp leading to the throne itself, Ender took note of the other ponies before him. In the center sat Celestia, her large form nearly dwarfed by the massive golden arch above. Six other ponies were arranged two to a tier on either side of the princess. The boy was relieved to find that he recognized most of them.
Applejack and Pinkie Pie sat at his own level, each one in front of a small reflecting pool pressed into the marble floor. On the second tier, next to burbling fountains that fed the pools, he saw Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. The blue pegasus was struggling not to fidget, and his rescuer looked downright scared. She flinched at his glance, hiding behind her mane.
She did the same thing when she first met me, he recalled sadly. After the guards, Ender expected this kind of reaction, but it hurt to actually see it from her, especially after she had started warming to him the evening before.
Two unicorns sat before Celestia on the top tier. Rarity he knew, but he had never seen the lavender unicorn to Celestia’s right. She looked down on him intently, her eyes moving back and forth in short, quick motions, as if she she were taking in every detail.
This must be Twilight, Ender realized, recalling Luna’s descriptions of her sister’s protege. I could understand her presence here, but that doesn’t explain the rest, he thought, glancing quickly around the otherwise empty throne room. They hardly seemed like adults yesterday, much less important government officials.
It was then he saw the golden jewelry, five necklaces and one tiara, on the otherwise unadorned ponies.
Those symbols…
“Kneel.” The captain’s youthful voice interrupted his train of thought.
Ender almost balked, but quickly contained any outward show of indignation or hesitation. Making his movements as controlled and graceful as possible, the soldier sank indifferently to his knees, as if the act hardly mattered. Keeping his shoulders squared and head up, the boy looked Celestia calmly in the eyes. Though he was surrounded by the trappings of her power, he wasn’t about to let it show in his body language.
At least this carpet is thick. Kneeling on the bare stone would be agony.
Celestia’s visage was completely still as she looked down on Ender. Gone were the good-natured smiles and warm beneficence to which he had grown accustomed. Now the alicorn’s features seemed to be carved from cold marble.
The retinue of guards moved back, out of the soldier’s peripheral vision. He heard the clicks of their horseshoes recede until all sound was swallowed by the echoing slam of the throne room’s main doors. Still, the princess remained silent and motionless. When at long last she spoke, it was in a deeper, stately timbre the boy hadn’t yet heard from Celestia.
“Ender Wiggin, we are convened today to determine if you are a threat to Equestria and her ponies.” The alicorn’s voice resonated across the empty hall.
Does she mean the royal ‘we,’ or is she referring to Fluttershy, Rarity, and the rest? Ender wondered. Except for Twilight, the others did not look like they belonged near the throne. Most were glancing around uncomfortably, and Pinkie Pie seemed to be paying attention to something in the far back of the room rather than listening to her ruler.
“While my sister was… treating you,” Celestia hesitated over the word, “she discovered a memory most disturbing. Her understanding of the events she saw is limited, however, and we will not pass judgment with so few facts. You have been brought before us to clarify the matter.”
She paused, perhaps expecting him to reply, but Ender remained quiet. This was her game, and he was not about to make a move until he understood the rules, and saw as much of the alicorn’s strategy as he could. Met with silence, the princess furrowed her brow and glanced behind him.
“Because of the unique language barrier between us, Princess Luna will be casting a variant of the translation spell on you throughout these proceedings,” she began. Ender turned to look for the younger alicorn, but she was nowhere to be found. His spirits dropped; he was hoping for at least one ally in the room.
Assuming she still is an ally.
Celestia continued, ignoring his movements. “We will see your memories, as you witnessed them, projected above you. The spell will both verify the accuracy of what you say, and ensure that nothing crucial is lost in translation. The potential consequences are too dire to chance on a misunderstanding.”
The unsettling prospect of having his memories put on display evaporated from Ender’s mind as the alicorn’s words triggered a sudden realization. The symbols on the base of Discord’s statue leapt into his mind as he looked again at the jewelry worn by the ponies in front of him.
These must be the Elements, and they must be the ‘new bearers’ Luna mentioned. That means…
“Am I to be turned to stone?” he asked, keeping his voice level and his face neutral.
If Celestia was surprised by the question, she hid it well. The other ponies, however, looked at each other with varied expressions of shock or surprise. Fluttershy and Applejack each started to speak, but a furtive glance back at the princess stifled their words. The small gasps and murmurs were ended abruptly by the alicorn’s response.
“I hope not, Ender.” For an instant, a hint of warmth crept back into the princess’ voice, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared. “Luna and I no longer command the Elements of Harmony. They now answer to Twilight and her friends, and I will not simply command them to take such drastic action. That is why they are here - they must decide for themselves what is appropriate after seeing the facts.” She paused, looking down at the smaller ponies before her. “Young though they may be, it is a responsibility only they can bear.”
If they’re really that young, then at least I’m getting a jury of my peers, Ender thought wryly.
“Let us begin.” Celestia glanced above and behind Ender, nodding slightly.
The soldier’s head swam momentarily as he felt a warmth encompass the top of his head. Dizziness overcame him for a few seconds, a sense of vertigo rising and falling within before it drained away. The warmth, however, remained.
“Let us begin, Mr. Wiggin.” Celestia’s voice cut through the haze, causing him to open his eyes. Everything looked the same as before, but now all seven ponies before him were bathed in a soft cobalt light that was clearly not coming from the windows on either side of the hall. Ender tried looking up, but the source seemed to always drift just beyond the upper edge of his sight.
“You will not be able to see the spell, Mr. Wiggin, though your memories should be much clearer when you try to recall them. Whatever seems clearest to you will be what we are also seeing.”
Valentine’s face was the first thing to come to mind.
Ender gasped at the power of the spell. Without even closing his eyes, he could remember every detail, down to the pattern of her irises. It wasn’t the same as seeing her in front of him - he was still looking at the princess, after all - but it felt like he had a desk’s crystal-clear holodisplay inside his head.
Celestia cleared her throat to silence the oohs and ahhs from the smaller ponies. “Let us start with something simple to make sure the spell is working. Who are your parents?”
The images came unbidden as he responded: his father’s stoic face, his mother waving from the front door. “John Paul and Theresa Wiggin.”
Ender could even hear their voices echo across the throne room.
The ponies’ coats shifted slightly in color as the images changed in his mind. It’s like they’re watching a giant screen, and the program is my life, he realized. Sure enough, the room was soon filled with the hiss of static and a flickering of black-and-white patterns as he remembered an old-fashioned television.
Celestia’s voice drew his attention again. “For the record, what is your name?”
“Ender Wiggin,” the boy replied, but as he did so, he felt a haze press in on his mind. It wasn’t painful, but it was persistent.
“Hmm,” the alicorn admonished, “not a lie, but not fully the truth either. Please remember, we will know if you try to deceive us. Again… what is your name?”
Ender bristled, but did his best to conceal it by looking down at the carpet between his knees. “I did not mean any deception. I have gone by ‘Ender’ for as long as I can remember. My given name is Andrew Wiggin. ‘Ender’ was how my older sister pronounced it when she was small. She and I were very close, so I preferred her way of saying it over everyone else’s. After that, ‘Ender’ stuck.”
The soldier raised his head and looked Celestia directly in the eyes. “Does that answer your question?” he challenged.
The princess nodded, an inscrutable expression crossing her face. “Very well, then. Luna?”
A small rush of vertigo overtook Ender. He felt like he was flying, skimming over a landscape of images. He blinked as the sensation departed, and he found himself picturing an often-recalled memory.
I should have known, was his first thought.
Stilson.
He felt a twinge of shame as the memory appeared to him, as fresh and sharp as it was on the day he experienced it. Back then, the bully had been huge, at least compared to Ender, but now he looked small. Had it really been seven years ago?
Stilson and his friends had been waiting for Ender as he left school. He had waited, had tried to avoid them, but they were too intent on their prey. That was the day Ender had lost his monitor, and their first opportunity to do what they wanted without an adult knowing about it. Luna’s spell brought forward details that had long since faded from the soldier’s natural memory. The late afternoon sunlight had cast long shadows behind Stilson and his friends, making them seem even more sinister than they already were.
He watched the ponies as they observed his memory. All but Fluttershy looked on with wide-eyes and gaping mouths. Only the butter-yellow pegasus seemed to see what was happening. She had drawn her wings up over her head, peering through the long pinion feathers.
Stilson accosted him, despite his attempts to ignore the group. Within seconds, they surrounded Ender-that-was.
“Are you going to let me through?” The soldier found himself mouthing the words he had said so long ago.
Laughter. “Sure we’ll let you through. First we’ll let your arm through, then your butt through, then…”
Ender shuddered. It was one thing to constantly return to a particular memory throughout your life. Hearing Stilson’s voice as if he was standing nearby was completely another. The rest of Fluttershy’s friends seemed to catch on, and their faces showed a ranging mixture of worry and unease. Rainbow Dash visibly squirmed.
Soon the boy was being pushed back and forth by the group. He made a grab at Stilson, but was seized and held in place by the rest of the gang.
Ender-that-was laughed. “You mean it takes this many of you to fight one Third?”
The soldier remembered how hard it had been to manage laughter through his terror, but it had worked. Stilson’s sarcastic rebuke and dismissal of his stature caused the gang to let Ender go.
He knew what came next. The ponies didn’t. They all gasped in shock as the little boy kicked high and hard, catching the other one in the chest. Stilson crumbled to the ground.
Ender had no desire to see what came next, but the memory marched relentlessly onward. He saw himself stalk forward and viciously kick the downed boy again and again in the ribs, the gut, and even the crotch.
Ender-that-was looked up with the coldest eyes he could muster. “You might be having some idea of ganging up on me. You could probably beat me up pretty bad. But just remember what I do to people who try to hurt me. From then on you’d be wondering when I’d get you, and how bad it would be.”
He couldn’t believe how soft and high his voice was then. Had he really been that young? Ender shut his eyes as hard as he could. He heard the gasps of his audience as he saw the rest of the memory play out in head.
“It wouldn’t be this bad.” The younger boy turned and kicked Stilson in the face as hard as he could. Blood sprayed in an arc across the cement. “It would be worse.”
The warmth dissipated around his head as the spell faded. Ender exhaled and slumped forward, drained.
The ponies lay still, eyes wide and unmoving save for Fluttershy who had now fully buried her head under her wings. Her body quivered slightly.
Celestia was the first to recover, her violet eyes transitioning from shock to sadness. Blinking, she opened her mouth to speak but quickly stopped herself, looking down instead to the others in front of her.
She seems serious about letting them take the lead, Ender thought, taking notice. While he was glad that this wasn’t a show trial, a mere pretense for Celestia to make whatever decision she felt appropriate, it complicated his own position. The boy was confident he could reason with her; Fluttershy and the rest were mostly unknown variables. He would have to think on his feet and change his approach based on their reactions.
The orange-coated pony to his left was the first to find her voice. “Why’d ya have to keep kickin’ him after he was down? That just ain’t right, even if he was roughing you up.”
She held the perspective of fairness and justice. I can work with that.
“Was it right for him, a bigger kid, to show up with all his friends?” Ender asked.
The mare looked thoughtful. “Well… no, I s’pose not, but he was out. You’d won. Why’d ya want to hurt him so bad?!” Applejack’s tone rose as she fixed the boy with a glare.
There was no point in agitating her, so he kept his voice level. “You’re right. I had won. But you heard what I said… I wasn’t fighting him anymore. I was was fighting them.”
His memory of the other kids standing before him, slack-jawed and frozen, leaped to the forefront of his mind. Ender knew from the ponies’ expressions that the spell was still working and that they saw the same thing.
Interesting… the spell works both ways. I can show memories independently of their questions or direction.
The soldier pressed on. “I shamed them into letting me go, and surprised them by attacking. Any other kid, or at least the kids Stilson picked on, would have either tried to run or just stood there and taken it. But that shock would have changed to anger if I stopped. They might have jumped me then, or they might have waited a day or two, but eventually the whole group would have taken their revenge and beaten me to a bloody pulp. I could not let that happen.”
The blue pegasus to his right chimed in with a sarcastic tone. “So you’re saying you didn’t want to hurt him? It looked like you were enjoying it to me.” She huffed, rainbow forelocks flying up with the rush of air. “He may have been a bully, but what you did was… was,” she flailed for words as she gestured down at him, “you’re a monster!”
That’s perfect, Ender thought as her accusation spurred another memory from that day. He saw himself walking away calmly from the scene as Stilson’s friends clustered around the prone figure, commenting in wonder at what they had just seen.
“I needed them to think I was crazy,” he narrated as Ender-that-was continued to walk away, “so that they would never even think about trying to hurt me. And for that, I had to act crazy, so they’d believe without a doubt that even with their size, strength, and numbers, they’d be hurt if they tried to come after me.”
The boy remembered walking towards the bus stop, turning a corner, then looking back to make sure he was out sight. Only after he was sure that he hadn’t been followed did he let himself collapse against the wall. Ender-that-was stayed there, crying steadily until the bus came.
As his sobs echoed through the airy room, the ponies watched, entranced. The soldier softened his voice, forcing them to look down at him and strain to hear what he was about to say.
“I never wanted to hurt anyone, but Stilson left me no choice.”
Rarity blinked. “No choice?” she asked indignantly. “You could have, no, should have told someone. I-” the unicorn faltered, doubt creeping into her voice as she spoke over the sobs coming from his still-audible memory, “I can see that you weren’t trying to take revenge, but surely there was another option.”
They clearly hadn’t expected to see that. Ender focused on something else, silencing the memory. I think I’m getting the hang of this spell.
Looking up at the unicorn, he asked evenly, “How would that have helped me if they decided to respond then and there? With five of them, I’d have been lucky to tell anyone anything through a broken jaw.”
Rarity looked down, clearly not comfortable with that line of thinking. “But surely-!”
A purple hoof settled on her shoulder. Ender shifted his gaze to see Twilight looking down at him intently.
“Why did they attack you? Did you do anything to make them want to hurt you?” she asked.
It was a potentially difficult question. Ender wondered how much he should explain, and how much they would even understand.
“It wasn’t anything I did,” he replied. “They disliked me for what I was.”
The unicorn didn’t miss a beat. “A ‘Third?’”
Ender nodded and a rush of memories involving taunts, teasing notes, and jabs from his childhood rushed through his mind. Young voices echoed across the throne room.
“Dirty Third!”
“Stupid Third, why do you even…”
“Go home, Third!”
“Third!”
“Third!”
The ponies shifted uncomfortably and remained silent, leaving Twilight to continue.
“Forgive me for bringing up such memories, but I need to ask… what do they mean by ‘Third?’” She ducked her head apologetically.
Ender wasn’t sure how this would play out, so he answered as reticently as he could. “They mean ‘Third’ as in ‘third child.’”
His audience blinked and looked at each other, not quite understanding. Applejack was the first to respond.
“You mean like the third child to be born?”
The boy nodded.
“Well what’s wrong with that?!” she asked indignantly. “There’s plenty of third children in the Apple family, and ah don’t know what’s-”
“Applejack!” Twilight hissed.
“Wha-?”
The unicorn blushed as she cleared her throat. “I mean to say,” she glanced back at Ender, “it could merely be a cultural taboo. We don’t want to be disrespectful. Am I right, Mr. Wiggin?”
This one was quick, and insightful. If my fate lies with these six, the soldier mused, she’s the one to reason with. She’s also given me a way out without having to explain more. He didn’t want to raise the subject of the war if he didn’t have to.
“You’re exactly right. Having more than two children carries a strong cultural taboo on my world.”
The orange pony was not deterred. “Well, ah still wanna know what’s wrong with havin’ a third child!”
Twilight opened her mouth to respond but then closed it. Judging by her expression, she wanted to know too.
Ender thought carefully on how to frame his response.
Remembering a vid of New York City he once saw in class, he brought it to mind, showing streets teeming with humanity. Pulling back, the boy pictured the endless skyscrapers as you could see them from space: hundreds of miles of steel, glass, and concrete stretching from Manhattan Island all the way to Maryland in one continuous expanse.
“My world struggles with overpopulation. Decades ago, nations banded together to support a decree limiting the amount of children a couple could have. It took a long time for everyone to come into compliance, but when the realities of resource shortages became impossible to ignore, even the most stubborn communities gave in.”
Twilight’s jaw hung open. “H-how many pon, er… how many people live on your planet?” she asked, staring in amazement at the image Ender presented.
He answered casually. “Last time I saw the figure, it was somewhere north of eleven billion.”
That drew the unicorn’s attention back to him. “Billion? As in… one-thousand million?”
“That’s a real number?! I thought the translation spell just hiccuped…” Rainbow Dash looked up at the unicorn, surprised.
Ender nodded.
The group fell silent, absorbing that fact.
Celestia spoke up, her voice drawing the attention of the other ponies. “What happens to third children when they are born?” she asked with a small amount of trepidation.
The soldier looked up at her. “Nothing, your Highness, though their families suffer harsh economic penalties such as higher taxes and exclusion from state-provided education and health care. There is also the cultural taboo, which you’ve seen, that evolved from the legal prohibition against third children.”
She blinked. “And your people agreed to this?”
“Yes, given that the alternative was mass starvation.”
Silence reigned for a time as the ponies looked at each other uncomfortably. In the end, it was again Twilight who took control.
“So… if I am to understand this correctly, the others attacked you because you were a Third?”
“Yes,” Ender replied, but as he did so, the pressuring haze from before set in while other memories flashed by. The only reason Stilson and his gang had come out on that day was because Ender had finally lost his monitor. They had been holding themselves back for years, enduring a Third constantly showing them up in every activity at school. After he lost his monitor, they could finally act without restraint.
But explaining the monitor meant explaining everything else, and that would lead to things Ender didn’t want to show the ponies. He bore down, trying to push the memories away, but that made them appear even more vividly.
“What is this?” Rarity asked, her white coat reflecting different colors as the images shifted rapidly. “I can’t make anything out.”
Dash stood, her eyes narrowing as she looked down at the boy suspiciously. “What aren’t you telling us?”
Ender regained control, focusing on a single sight: the Earth, as seen from one of the viewing ports at Battle School. Breathing steadily, he looked up at the blue pegasus. “Nothing that changes what I’ve already said: I was attacked because I am a Third Child. I acted in self-defense.”
“No, Mr. Wiggin.” Celestia’s deeper voice cut off Twilight and Rainbow Dash as they started to respond. “We need to know everything; the consequences are too dire.”
The other ponies looked back towards him and nodded.
Ender sighed. Fine. If they want to know everything… so be it. Let the chips fall where they may.
Sifting through the previous jumble of memories, he selected one and focused on it. The agonized screams of Ender-that-was echoed across the throne room as he recalled the removal of his monitor. The doctor’s office had been such a pristine shade of white.
Letting the sound reverberate into silence, he began to explain. “The reason I was attacked so violently is because that was the day my monitor was removed.” As if on cue, the haze lifted. Blinking, the boy waited for the obvious question.
“Your monitor?” prompted Twilight.
“A device that allows others to see through your eyes and hear through your ears. I was being evaluated,” Ender continued, heading off the next obvious question, “by the government for my potential as a soldier, or more specifically, as a military strategist.”
Surprisingly, it was Rarity who spoke next.
“But you were - ARE - a child! Why in the world would they do such a thing to… how old were you then?”
“Six,” Ender answered.
“My word...! Why would they do such a thing to - to…” She faltered.
This is the moment to explain it from the beginning, the soldier realized. As foreign as conflict is to their society, this perspective could be the best way to get them to understand mine.
“Because my people… all of humanity… had been at war for decades.” He paused, letting the fact sink in. “Almost a hundred years ago, we were invaded by a hostile race.” Ender recalled the vids from his earliest memories at home: a Formic ship destroying dozens of mining craft in the asteroid belt, Formics assaulting the science ship at Eros, cutting into the hull and tearing apart the crew, the Scathing of China. They were easy images to conjure. He had seen the vids nearly every night as a child.
Ender remembered one famous sequence - a shaky vid from the helmet cam of a deep-space miner as he and his crew fought a Formic hand-to-hand on the hull of its pod. Dismissed as a hoax at the time, it had turned out to be humanity’s first hard evidence of extraterrestrial life. The boy froze on the image of the ant-like alien as it attacked one of the miners.
“The scientists called them Formics. The rest of us called them Buggers. For everyone, they meant death.”
Silence reigned. Ender realized too late that he should have avoided some of the more graphic images of crewmen dying. He was used to them, but poor Fluttershy was curled into a tight ball. The other ponies sat frozen and wide-eyed.
“Did… did they ever say what they wanted?” the princess ventured.
Ender shook his head. “No, never. There were many attempts to communicate with them, but they never gave any sign that they even noticed.” Even at the bitter end, he added silently.
The soldier focused on a less bloody, but equally impactful image of China after the Scathing. Seen from orbit, the descent path of the three Formic landers made it appear as if a giant claw had raked the lush countryside, spreading a dark blight across the wound. In the end, hundreds of thousands of square kilometers had been rendered lifeless by their enemy’s first attempt at terraforming Earth.
“What we called the First Invasion was no more than a vanguard… one ship, which we barely stopped at great cost. I said we had a population of around eleven billion. Back then it was closer to thirteen.”
Twilight groaned in disbelief.
“At the time, space flight was in its infancy. We were only just able to move around our own solar system with enough efficiency to make asteroid mining cost-effective. Our survival of the First Invasion was nothing short of a miracle.” Moving forward in history, Ender pictured the IF flotillas as they always appeared in the tiger flicks: shining gunmetal behemoths in ordered rows advancing bravely into the abyss of space. As he predicted, the ponies looked up with hope.
“But we banded together after the invasion and learned quickly. We hadn’t even discovered the areas of science so casually exploited by the Formics, but we adapted as fast as we could. Within a few years, we had hundreds of ships deployed to the comet shield with the best weapons we could muster.” Ender remembered the formations and arrangement of the original International Fleet with crystal clarity. He had spent hundreds of difficult hours gleaning the information from propaganda vids, after all.
To illustrate his point, Ender shifted his thoughts immediately to scenes of the aftermath. The IF crest burned slowly in plasma fire as the gutted hulls of cruisers and dreadnoughts drifted lifelessly into each other. “In the end, our attempts at high strategy were laughable at best. The Formics brought thousands of ships in the Second Invasion, but even without numerical superiority, the way they fought was simply too different from our concept of warfare. The Formics seemed to place no value on individual lives. They would gladly sacrifice hundreds of their own for a temporary strategic advantage, oftentimes shooting through their own ships if it meant destroying an equal number of ours. Our entire fleet was not even a speed bump in their march towards Earth.”
Ender took a moment to look over his audience. They were transfixed, and even Fluttershy had lifted her head over her outstretched forelimbs to see the outcome.
“All remaining ships,” he continued, “had been ordered to regroup behind the asteroid belt. But one junior officer disobeyed, hiding behind Saturn - a large gas planet - with his strike force until the Formic fleet passed.”
Mazer’s attack may have well been burned into the boy’s brain for the countless times he had watched it in Battle School, trying to discover exactly what the man had done to defeat the Buggers. Ender showed his audience the entire sequence as he had eventually seen it years later.
“The officer, Mazer Rackham, saw something that no-one else did. He found the eye of the Formic fleet, the “I” of the fleet, as it were.” Ender tapped his own chest to emphasize the point. “There was one ship about which all the others moved, from which he could tell that all decisions were being made. It held the Formic queen, for lack of a better term.”
In his mind, Mazer’s tiny force jumped out from behind Saturn’s rings, dodging a continuous hail of plasma as they cut between the Bugger formations. Rackham’s ship fired on the queen’s vessel, and it disappeared in a flash of light. Within seconds, the entire Formic fleet went dead, continuing on momentum without any further maneuvers. Most either collided with each other or with the rocks in Saturn’s rings.
“One man had the insight to see what everyone else missed, and the initiative to disobey orders and do what needed to be done to save humanity.” Now was the time to drive home his point. “The purpose of the monitors,” he flashed a memory of the device when it was still in his neck, “was to evaluate brilliance and tactical acumen from an early age so that the IF - the International Fleet - could find and develop as many Mazer Rackhams as possible.”
“But,” Twilight motioned at the air above his head, “Why? You had already defeated them.”
Ender shook his head, recalling a map of known space. “For the billions of us the Formics killed, we had only killed one… one queen. Once we knew what to look for, our astronomers discovered that the Formics had nearly a hundred worlds. For all we knew, each one had a queen and countless more drones just waiting to descend upon us.”
While the unicorn sat back trying to comprehend this, Applejack spoke up.
“Now wait just a darn minute here,” she said rather heatedly. “All this happened before you were born, right?”
He nodded. “Long, long, before I was born.”
“Then how do we know any of this is true?!” She motioned emphatically to the rest of the ponies. “Ah’m no expert on magic, but the princess said that this spell would show us memories. How could you remember something that happened before you were born?”
Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie nodded their assent.
Ender looked up at Twilight. “Do you have cameras? Did that word even translate?”
“Yes, of course we do.”
Ender recalled some of the Second Invasion vids again, this time from his perspective watching them at the dinner table in his old house. “Everything you saw was recorded, and rebroadcast to the public frequently. It was important to keep the memories fresh as the time between invasions lengthened. Even at the speeds the Formics could travel, it would take years to travel between star systems… from the government’s perspective, complacency was just as dangerous as the enemy.”
“It’s like a movie, Applejack. Just a lot… clearer,” Twilight explained.
“Oh.” The earth pony looked crestfallen. Apparently, she had been hoping the whole thing was a fabrication.
The purple unicorn cleared her throat. “Well, my apologies, Mr. Wiggin. You were right about one thing: as… important… as those events were to your people, the reason for the monitor does not really change the circumstances of the attack on you. We should not have doubted you, but we wanted to be sure.”
“Of course.” Ender inclined his head respectfully.
She glanced around at her compatriots. “If that is all, then I think we’ll step outside to discuss-”
“What happened to him?” a soft voice broke in.
All present looked at Fluttershy, causing the pegasus to flinch.
“To…?” Ender prompted.
“The boy who attacked you. What happened to him?”
Flashes of Graff’s trial shot through Ender’s mind before he reigned in his memory. He had hoped to avoid this detail, but now that it had been asked, there was no way he could lie about it. The soldier managed to maintain a sober expression but he cringed inwardly as he answered the pony.
“I killed him.”
His audience gasped. Even Celestia looked on in shock.
“I never meant to, and I didn’t even know that I had until many years later. If the incident had happened later, after I had been trained, I may have been able to protect myself without doing permanent damage. If I had that option, I certainly would have chosen it.” He sighed. “But back then… the only way I could have safety walked away from that confrontation is by doing what I did. Believe me, I’ve been over that day hundreds if not thousands of times in my head. I had known those children for years. The only other alternatives would have resulted in me either being permanently injured or just as dead as Stilson, and I could not allow that to happen.”
Twilight stared down at him, opening and closing her mouth as she tried to speak but stopped short.
Finally, she sputtered, “Are - are you saying that you are… somehow alright with his death?!”
This will have to be handled delicately, he thought. Ender had only recently come to terms with his actions… how well could he explain his motivations to individuals who didn’t even share the same psychology?
“I am…” he started slowly, “responsible for Stilson’s death, but the blame - the fault - is his.” Glancing around, Ender saw that none of his audience had turned away or otherwise shown dismissal or disgust. At least they’re listening.
“I never sought the fight, and I never once provoked conflict with them.” Ender remembered the various pranks and other incidents with the Ground School children over the years. Hopefully the ponies would see the truth in his words through their spell. “Stilson sealed his fate when he approached me with his gang. Had he been alone, or had he simply berated me instead of threatening to beat me, I would have acted differently. Does that make sense?”
Ender couldn’t predict whether his logic would be understood. Luna herself had only fleetingly grasped a similar train of thought when they were in the statue garden with Discord.
The ponies looked from one to another, disquiet etched on their faces. They murmured back and forth, voices too soft for Ender to hear.
“It does.” The statement was made softly, but it carried through the throne room and silenced the others. Once again, they all looked over at Fluttershy.
“If Mr. Manticore tried to eat a deer and the deer bolted, kicking him in the head, who’s fault is that?” she asked, looking up at Twilight.
“I…” the unicorn trailed off, looking down. Celestia, Ender noticed, was examining her protege closely.
Rainbow Dash cut in. “How… how could you not have known you killed him for years?” A rasp distorted her voice slightly, as if she was holding something back. Clearing her throat, the pegasus continued, “Didn’t you go back to school? Wouldn’t his parents have… I don’t know, said something?”
Looking up at Twilight, the soldier considered asking if the question was even relevant to their decision, but refrained. Doing so would only draw suspicion, and it wasn’t as if he could hold anything back from the spell’s effects anyway.
Just how much will they demand to know, and how will they react if they hear everything? Ender tightened his jaw to hide his discomfort and steel his nerves.
“I was selected for Battle School and taken by the IF the next morning. I was absent for any fallout from the event, and like I said… I wasn’t told.”
He remembered walking into the parlor on that sunny morning. Motes of dust had filled the sunbeams as his parents accosted him for putting Stilson in the hospital. Graff had merely stood behind them, silently watching.
That’s right, Ender remembered ruefully, he didn’t even have the decency to lie to my face. Instead, he lied to my parents so he could better watch my reactions as they questioned me about the incident.
The soldier heard himself explain his actions to his parents and the then-unknown officer. As his past self broke down and began to cry yet again, Ender remembered his shame at the time and tried to bear down to stop the memory. An uncomfortable warmth pressed down around his skull, forcing it to continue.
“You took away the monitor,” he heard himself say accusingly. “I had to take care of myself, didn’t I?”
“Ender, you should have asked a grown-up for help,” his father started.
“Exactly!” Rarity exclaimed. She was shushed by Twilight.
The soldier ignored them, witnessing again the time Colonel Graff had first introduced himself and asked him to join the IF.
“But the monitor-” he had protested, thinking that its removal had meant failure.
“The final step in your testing was to see what would happen when the monitor came off. We don’t always do it that way, but in your case-”
“And he passed?!” His mother had always been reserved, polite, and gentle, but there was steel under that exterior, and this was one of the few times the boy had seen it bared. She glared openly at Graff. “Putting the Stilson boy in the hospital? What would you have done if Andrew had killed him, given him a medal?”
It was darkly funny in hindsight. As it was, they gave me quite a few medals, he thought. Ender had never read the citations - one of them could quite easily say, “For exemplary performance in defending yourself against a gang of elementary schoolers.”
“It isn’t what he did, Mrs. Wiggin. It’s why.” Even then, Ender noted, Graff’s voice had been gravelly. He had never known the older soldier to smoke - it was forbidden in the oxygen-rich atmosphere of space stations, anyway - but his voice certainly sounded like he did.
Graff handed his mother a sheaf of documents. “Here are the requisitions. Your son has been cleared by the IF Selective Service. Of course, we already have your consent, granted in writing at the time conception was confirmed, or he could not have been born. He has been ours from then, if he qualified.”
At the time, those words had startled Ender, bringing the whole purpose of his life into focus. It was common knowledge in the family, but like the proverbial elephant in the room, it was almost never said openly. Now though, he wondered why Graff had even brought it up - it certainly wasn’t news to anyone present. He probably wanted me off-balance for the discussion we had next.
“Wait, I don’t understand.” Twilight’s voice interrupted Ender’s train of thought, dissipating the memory and returning his attention to the throne room. “He said ‘... or he could not have been born.’ Didn’t you just say that nothing happened to third children except the restrictions put on their families after their birth?”
What she’s really asking is ‘Are you able to lie through this spell?’ Ender noted. Nothing gets past this unicorn.
“Normally, yes, if the family disobeys the law or the child is an accident. I was a different case. The government specifically requested my birth, and granted my family an exception from the normal proscriptions against thirds,” he replied.
“...in exchange for your service.” Rarity sat back, disquieted by the notion. The white pony looked off in the distance, her eyes unfocused.
“Did… did you even have a choice in the matter?” Fluttershy ventured hesitantly.
Graff’s voice answered her from Ender’s memory before the boy could. “Conscripts make good cannon fodder, but for officers we need volunteers.”
“Cannon...fodder?” Rainbow Dash turned the words in her head for a moment until the realization of its meaning caused her to sit down abruptly. He guessed that the translation spell rendered the words literally and that the phrase didn’t carry the same meaning here.
Pinkie laughed. “Well that’s silly! Why would a cannon need food?”
Applejack was quick to reach across the carpet to silence her. “Forget about it, Pinkie. It’s not a joke.”
“But-” An orange hoof appeared in her mouth, stopping any further words.
In his mind, Ender saw Graff separate him from his parents, electing instead to continue their conversation outside. Would I have still agreed had they been there?
The boy didn’t know.
The force guiding his memories, presumably Luna, was absent. Rather than share the accurate, but nevertheless brutal, dissection of his family life that Graff had used to convince Ender to leave, he pushed forward to the part they would understand.
Graff took the hands of Ender-that-was. For the life of him, Ender could not remember the former colonel doing that, even though he could “see” it now clearly. Was Graff ever that personable?
“Ender Wiggin, if it were just a matter of choosing the best and happiest life for you, I’d tell you to stay home. Stay here, grow up, be happy. There are worse things than being a Third, worse things than a big brother who can’t make up his mind whether to be a human being or a jackal…”
“What’s wrong with jackals…?” Fluttershy started asking before Twilight shushed her.
“...Battle School is one of those things. But we need you. The buggers may seem like a game to you now Ender, but they damn near wiped us out last time. They had us cold, outnumbered and outweaponed. The only thing that saved us…” Graff went on to make the same argument he had just presented to Celestia and the others, the one every kid in Ground School heard whenever they questioned the need for the ever-present monitors. Mazer saved the day, Mazer made all the difference, and humanity’s best hope was to find and train as many Mazers as they could for the upcoming war.
Even now, Ender could not find it in his heart to fault the old man. What would have happened had he said no that day?
“...if there’s a chance that because you’re with the fleet,” Graff continued, “mankind might survive and the buggers might leave us alone forever - then I’m going to ask you to do it. To come with me.”
How shrewd he was, Ender mused, never lying, but always presenting the truth in a way that would elicit only the desired response.
“I’m afraid,” Ender-that-was said quietly. “But I’ll go with you.”
“Tell me again.”
“It’s what I was born for, isn’t it? If I don’t go, why am I alive?”
“Not good enough.”
“I don’t want to go, but I will.”
Even now, Ender couldn’t have said it better. I never really wanted any of it, did I?
As the memory dimmed, the ponies remained silent, turning their eyes back down to him. The soldier took the opportunity to finish making his point.
“Graff didn’t want me to find out what I had really done to Stilson for fear of how it would affect me,” he said, looking straight at Rainbow Dash, “and I never returned to that place. That’s how I went so long without knowing what really happened to him. Does that answer your question?”
She nodded quickly. Shifting uncomfortably, she looked back towards Twilight. The rest of the ponies followed suit, expecting her to take the lead. The unicorn balked momentarily, blushing at the attention, but soon recovered and cleared her throat.
“As I said before… I think we’ve seen all that we need to see. If Princess Celestia doesn’t have any objections,” she turned around to face the alicorn, “then we will excuse ourselves for deliberation.”
“I…” the princess cut herself off as she suddenly stood, looking intently above and behind Ender. After a moment’s pause, she blinked, then gazed critically at the soldier as she returned to her seat.
“You have done a commendable job, Twilight, but my sister feels that there is something missing. Forgive me, but I must inquire further.”
Rainbow Dash, to Twilight’s horror, let out an audible groan. The other ponies only glanced at each other nervously. Even Pinkie seemed upset.
The princess looked to the side momentarily, collecting her thoughts. Turning back to Ender, she asked, “My sister has explained your condition, has she not?”
He nodded. “To the best of my understanding, yes, though I’ll admit that I still don’t grasp it fully.”
“Then I will summarize for the benefit of Twilight and her friends. Your subconscious is under extreme stress. Though this wouldn’t be a problem under normal circumstances, the power left behind by my sister has given it the ability to literally tear itself apart.”
Twilight opened her mouth to ask a question but immediately clamped it shut with her own hooves.
“Luna found this memory of… Stilson, as you call him… when she was searching for the reason why your mind was so self-destructive. If you are as accepting of your actions as you appear to be - and I see no indication that you are lying - then something else is driving the turmoil in your mind. That is what we must now discover.”
The warmth seized his mind again, and Ender began to feel the crushing sense of entrapment that had dogged him since Eros. One part regret, one part guilt, and two parts despair, it stemmed from his fundamental inability to answer the only question that mattered anymore:
Why did they die?
In his mind’s eye, Ender fell through a whirling vortex. At the core he saw five red orbs, four outer spheres orbiting one central. One by one they whipped in front of him. As if from a distance, Celestia’s voice carried over the wind.
“Luna found five memories at the base of the turmoil. One was the incident we just discussed; the others are unknown to her, but I suspect they are also involved.”
At once, the obs spiraled into him. Ender caught only flashes, but he knew immediately what they were.
Stilson. Bonzo. The final exam. The trial. The ship.
Suddenly, the boy’s eyes were open, and he found himself staring rigidly up at the alicorn.
“If a murder,” Celestia continued, “even one committed in self-defense, isn’t the reason behind this distress, then something worse must be. We must know what it is before we can decide your fate. ”
She raised a foreleg and the warmth receded. Ender still felt horrible, but now that his mind wasn’t being forced onto that particular subject, he was able to regain his thoughts.
There was no way he could tactfully omit portions of the truth. To explain that feeling, he would have to explain everything, and there was no way to lie with the memory spell in place.
Ender heaved a sigh of fatigue.
Well it’s about time someone judged me for what I’ve done, he thought ruefully, and it’s not like I have another choice in the matter.
“Very well.” He looked from one pony to the next, then back to Celestia. “Are you sure you want them around for this?” he asked flatly, letting all the warmth bleed from his voice. After seeing the younger ponies’ reactions, Ender had no desire to drag them through anything else they would find unpleasant. “They may find the rest of my story more disturbing than what you’ve already heard.”
All save Twilight looked up with hope, clearly wanting out of the room.
Ender pressed on before Celestia could reply. “I’m sure they would defer to your judgment on the matter, and I would not object to you being the sole arbiter.”
...not to mention that you and Luna may be the only ones in the room capable of understanding what real war is, and the things one must do to survive it, Ender added silently, remembering Luna’s description of the fall of her race.
The alicorn shook her head resolutely, to Ender’s dismay.
“I’m sorry, Ender. While I share your sentiment, that doesn’t change the fact that I cannot command them to carry out a sentence without knowing the reasons why. One way or the other, they will need to live with their actions today, and the only way they can do so with a clear conscience is to see the facts for themselves.”
“Then imprison me,” Ender replied, extending his arms to either side. “You know what my abilities are; I don’t pose any kind of danger, especially to a unicorn who could just as easily pick me up without breaking a sweat.” He looked around again for Luna, frustrated at his inability to see her, even though he knew she was nearby. “Your sister said she was trying to find a way to send me home. If she does - great, I’m no longer a problem. If not, then I stay in prison and I’m still not a threat. There’s no need to continue this, your Highness.”
Celestia tilted her head to the side, a small smile playing across her features. “An admirable offer, but you assume Equestria has prisons, and that we would consent to hold a living being captive.”
The boy raised an eyebrow. “Petrification is somehow better?”
“As a measure of last resort, and an alternative to killing - yes. Most importantly, it does not require the continual involvement of ponies in a penal system. That would create… undesirable societal effects.”
Ender blinked. Trapping Nightmare Moon for a millenia is right and proper by her standards, but a penal system isn’t? He didn’t buy it, but now was not the time to challenge Celestia’s method of rule.
The presence returned, pressing against his skull; it was hot, almost to the point of pain. Memories began to stir, unbidden.
“Will you show us?” Celestia asked, her gaze unwavering as the images swirled in the boy’s head.
...or will we have to look? The threat went unspoken.
“Alright!” Ender said forcefully, clutching at his ears. In an instant, the feeling retreated completely, leaving him dazed. Shaking his head, he looked back up toward the princess, only to see her attention directed towards Twilight. The unicorn wore a puzzled expression and seemed to be asking a question, but Celestia silenced her with a glance and turned to meet Ender’s gaze. Admonished, the unicorn looked back as well, her head hanging slightly.
The boy looked from one pony to the next, considering how to proceed. To his right, Rarity sat primly on her haunches. She kept her head still and her features neutral, but the unicorn’s drooping ears and furtive glances toward Twilight and the princess betrayed her real emotions. Below her, Rainbow Dash had stood up and was shifting her weight back and forth. She seemed anxious, and by the small shivers rippling through her wings, Ender guessed she wanted nothing more than to fly off and be done with this whole affair. Across from Dash, Fluttershy was the polar opposite of the blue pegasus. She lay completely flat against the floor with her forelegs pulled up over her head. Fluttershy’s hair nearly hid her entire face from view; a glint of blue from behind the pink cascade was the only indication that she was even looking at him. Below Fluttershy, Applejack sat restlessly. Though she sat back on her haunches like Rarity, the orange pony looked to be anything but relaxed. She stared downward, a look of intense contemplation etched across her features. Applejack looked up and opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something, but as she locked eyes with Ender, she exhaled forcefully and looked away, her momentum lost.
Looking to his right, the soldier saw that of his entire audience, Pinkie had undergone the most radical change. Ender had almost forgotten about her presence, and now that he looked he was taken aback. Gone was every vestige of the carefree, energetic personality he had briefly observed the day before. Now Pinkie sat like a statue: a mirror of the unicorn above her, but with no sign that she was even paying attention to her surroundings. The pony’s eyes were unfocused, staring through Ender as if he wasn’t there. Strangely, her mane hung in an absolutely straight line from her head to the floor, though the boy could have sworn that it was a mess of curls before.
For better or worse, this is my jury, he thought as he looked back up at Celestia. Ender didn’t understand her true purpose, and that bothered him. If neutralizing any potential threat from him was her only concern, she could have easily done it without anyone else even knowing. Reservations against a penal system aside, Ender was sure she had the power to build and maintain any manner of prison without involving her subjects. Alternately, she could have told Luna to simply keep him asleep. Celestia’s denial of his offer only strengthened his suspicions. She wanted him here, and she wanted him to tell his entire story to these particular individuals… why?
The answer would be the key, and to his frustration, Ender could not find it.
Was it a love of procedure and rule of law? He could buy that explanation, but it didn’t seem to be her style. From what Ender had seen of the princesses, that sentiment would be more characteristic of Luna than of Celestia. Was that it? Was Luna the driving force behind this inquiry? She had initiated it, after all.
No, Ender concluded. He had put in enough time with Luna on the Dodge City/Appleloosa case to know that if she wanted to see these proceedings receive their due diligence, she would be conducting the inquiry herself.
The seconds stretched on, and Ender sensed the need to start talking before Luna went back into his mind. One last idea surfaced before he launched into his story.
Twilight is Celestia’s protegee - could this be for her benefit?
But he didn’t have the time to continue that line of thought.
“To properly explain… all that,” he made a wide gesture with his right hand, indicating the emotion brought on forcibly by Luna’s spell, “I’ll have to cover about six years of my life.” It was a last ditch effort to get Celestia to relent.
“Time is not an issue for us, Mr. Wiggin,” Celestia replied patiently.
Ender exhaled slowly, steeling himself.
“Five memories...” he began, then drifted to a stop as he collected his thoughts. “You’ve seen the first. The second was-”
‘’Another killing?’ Another act of self-defense?’ If I heard that, even *I* would doubt my own credibility. Despair shifted quickly to hope as he remembered the effects of the spell. It doesn’t matter if it sounds incredulous or not, they can see what happened for themselves!
Ender looked up at Celestia and her retinue, who looked back at him expectantly. ‘...and the truth will set you free,’ indeed, he thought with a wry smile.
“The second memory was this:”
The sound of falling water surrounded him as he remembered that day. The bathroom had been unusually quiet - the result of his choosing to clean off rather than to go to lunch that day. Ender’s Dragon Army had just finished beating Badger in an arduous battle that had been weighted strongly in favor of Pol Slattery, the opposing commander. It was the instructors’ latest attempt to defeat him by bending the rules of the game, and though he prevailed, Ender was exhausted both physically and mentally.
A mass of footsteps was the first signal that something wasn’t right.
Ender-that-was turned around to see seven boys sneering at him from the other side of the room. Fully clothed, it was obvious they were not here to use the showers. In his memory, Ender was bigger - nine years old instead of six - but that didn’t make much of a difference. The others were all older and bigger still. Bonzo, the bulky Spaniard, loomed at the head of the group.
“Ho,” the younger Ender ventured while the older mouthed the word.
Silence.
The boy in the shower turned off the water and turned to face his adversaries.
“Your move.” His voice was neutral… calm even.
“This is no game,” replied Bernard, his speech stilted with a French accent. “We’re tired of you, Ender. You graduate today. On ice.”
Twilight’s voice interrupted the soldier’s train of thought. “Wha-what’s happening?” she asked hesitantly. “I don’t understand, why are they threatening you with graduation?”
Ender opened his eyes to look up at her incredulously. He thought the unicorn was joking until he saw her genuinely confused expression. Twilight’s friends looked at each other uncertainly, mirroring her unease. They knew something was wrong, but couldn’t understand what it was.
What about ‘on ice’ doesn’t… oh. Remembering some of the small societal differences he had encountered so far with Luna and her subjects, the boy realized what might be confusing them, and briefly wondered about the ponies’ funeral rites.
“We keep the dead cold until such time as they can be buried,” he said quietly. “Graduation ‘on ice’ was their way of threatening to kill me.”
“What is it with you po-po… you people,” Rarity spat, “and killing?!” Everyone, Celestia included, looked over at the unicorn, wide-eyed at her outburst. “Is that just your go-to response to everything?” She stamped two forelegs into the golden pedestal for emphasis.
Ender didn’t know what to make of her reaction and kept his voice as even as possible to avoid further agitation. “Not at all, no. This,” he waved ineffectively at the space next to his head as he searched for the right words, “this… altercation came about after years of bad blood, and specifically because of something Bonzo - he’s the ringleader in the middle - perceived as a slight against his honor.”
“A slight,” Twilight repeated skeptically. “What did you do to insult him so badly?”
These were questions that required complicated answers, but Ender did not think that they wanted long, drawn-out explanations at the moment.
Simple is better; stick to the truth.
“I beat him badly in a game he should have won. It made him look incompetent”.
“That’s what this is over? A game?” Now it was Pinkie Pie’s turn to get upset. Ender was taken aback by the sheer amount of venom in her voice. He didn’t think she had it in her, and moreover, he did not understand what was upsetting the group. “Games are supposed to be fun!” she continued. “Why does he want to kill you over it?”
Ender held his ground, masking his unease as best he could by keeping his voice level and metered. “The battle room was more than a game. It was everything in Battle School. To a commander like Bonzo, it was even more important than most. He viewed his performance as his primary means of maintaining face...” The boy faltered, wondering if that concept would translate. He added, “...of maintaining his personal status among everyone else.”
“So, did everyone just go and hurt one another if they were beaten in this… in this game?” Rainbow Dash asked amid rising murmurs as her friends started whispering back and forth to each other. Her use of hurt instead of kill wasn’t lost on the boy.
“As I said, not at all.” Ender raised his voice slightly, trying make himself heard. “This was a unique circumstance that was-”
Celestia cut in, her voice a resonant wave that rolled over the others, bringing order and quiet. “Perhaps it would be best to start from the beginning.” She looked meaningfully at Ender.
Context. It hit him all at once. No wonder Twilight and the others were becoming agitated. Seeing his memories wasn’t enough - they had to understand them. I should have known better, he accosted himself. I saw what one violent memory did to them and I rolled right into another one. Of course they would react accordingly.
Truth was a matter of perspective. Twilight and her friends did not even have the frame of reference to account for Bonzo’s attack, much less adequately judge Ender’s actions. The boy remembered the level of explanation they needed for the Stilson incident, and bullying was a concept they already seemed to understand.
Ender bowed his head in agreement. “Of course, of course. Let me just think of how to go about this…” he trailed off as he reexamined his audience. Thankfully, Celestia’s words had calmed the others.
As he spoke, the boy examined his past, looking for a way to explain his actions to individuals with such a different perspective. On their own, his memories offered little help, but when he considered Graff’s point of view, based on what he knew of the man’s motivations, the soldier saw something: a framework he could use to help them understand.
The princess is right, I need to start from the beginning.
☽
One universe and fifty million miles away, Valentine Wiggin moved swiftly down the main axial corridor of IF Tug #871, a small luggage set in tow. Behind her, the ship’s pilot followed nervously, struggling to keep up. Ignoring the man’s stammered insistence that she wait, Valentine palmed open the nearest passenger room door and slung the hovering baggage inside.
“Um, that’ll be fine, ma’am. I guess you can have any cabin you’d like since you’re the only passenger.” The short lieutenant wrung his hands. “Is… is there anything I can get you?”
The teen’s hair swayed behind her as she turned her head to fix the officer with an intent stare. “Unless it’s something that gets us out of here any faster, Lt. Mathers, no.”
The man blinked, not expecting such a harsh answer. “Of… of course. I’ll be on the bridge then, if you need me. He turned away, shaking his head as he retraced his steps down the corridor.
Stepping into her cabin, Valentine closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief.
Finally… finally Graff had made some headway. The former colonel wouldn’t expend the resources to bring her all the way back to Earth for nothing. For the first time in months, she allowed herself a small sliver of hope. Now there was a chance, however remote, that she would see Ender again.
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New chapter up. Thanks to those who suggested splitting it - 30k+ words was way, way too long. It took me a bit, but I finally found a place where a break would work.
Thank you to my impromptu pre-readers as well. Editing truly is the hardest part of writing, and I've found that it is physically impossible to edit your own work, even if you are a good editor. Your brain will always over-write what is written on the page with what you intended to write, causing you to miss errors.
Apologies for the long wait, but the good news is that next chapter already has 16k words down and is nearly complete. Hopefully I'll get it done by the end of the week.
Blargh cliffhanger.
Looking forward to the second chapter! :P
CLIFFHANGER
RAHHHH
And then Ender told them his entire life story. Take notes, Twilight; maybe you can write a book about it. Give it a catchy title.
But seriously, I'm looking forward to the next part. And to finding out Luna's perspective.
That ending
bas wass doo!
Think of what you will.
The good news: you made the featured box! The bad news: It was around 4 AM Pacific time in one of those spots where it drops off after a little while.
I used to absolutely love the Ender series before Orson Scott Card went completely
. (The bit discussing the parable of Jesus and the adulteress is still my defining idea for what Christianity means to me.) I've never really found another author quite like Card--John C. Wright almost had it, but then he had a stroke, starting hearing the "voice of Jesus" in his head, and went even more 
. I look forward to checking this out some time that is not 4 AM, and I hope it can fill in the Ender-shaped hole in my heart.
Can't wait for them to go into the "xenocide", that Ender has committed. Makes him a worse monster than all of their own baddies combined. This will be fun.
Edit: Also, on the subject of love thy enemy. He should chat with Cadance...you know given his unique nature and view on love. For those of you who know what I'm talking about, that would be awesome right? For those of you who don't...do read the book, it make things so much better. And builds up the anticipation so much more.
4127076
Don't forget about the constant rephrasing of every sentance, that's the hardest part of self-editing.
Can't wait for the next chapter! This is definitely, if not my favorite story, then it is my most anticipated.
Mares and Gentlecolts, praise Celestia we have an UPDATE! !!
The bullshit idea that rendering someone as a conscious statue is somehow better than killing them is one of my biggest pet peeves... not to mention he is as they say a child.
I really hope they finish this kangaroo court, find him ‘not guilty’ and when they are about to do the pity thing he just says that he’s leaving.
Update! Hell yeah!
I don't have any useful critique to offer, and I shan't waste your time by gushing. I'll simply confine myself to saying, "Excellent."
(How the devil did I fail to like and fave this when I first came across it?
)
I wonder if the Mane Six will call any Guard officers in, to get some Equestrian opinions of Ender's training?
"They set out to raise a generation of Bucephaluses, and trained them to win no matter what. Then after the war was over, they had no plan but to exile them?"
I can understand them wanting to figure out what's up with him, but it seems like a major- and I mean MAJOR- violation of Ender's trust in Luna for them to be doing this. Forcing their way into his mind as such seems like an unnecessary measure, and one likely to cause ill will. If one wants to figure out if someone is a threat, why go about it in a way that seem guaranteed to antagonize the subject in question? That would just make the whole gesture pointless. Not to mention it feel extremely hypocritical of Luna to be treating him as such, when he treated her quite fairly even though he knew about Nightmare Moon. It would make more sense for Luna to attempt to help him work through and fight his issues like he did with her, instead of treating him like a monster and putting him on trial.
Its my birthday today, and I couldent ask for a better present: A chapter update.Thanks
I've always agreed with his reasons. While ender thinks with logic the ponies think with emotion(a terrible way to think) that cultural prospective would be the hardest thing to deal with.
Great writing. Keep up the good work!
I just now came across this after seeing it in the featured box. I'm amazed it doesn't have more thumbs up. To be honest this is probably the first story regarding Ender's Game I've ever read that wasn't written by Orson Scott Card. It definitely stands up to the standard. You've done a good job at including elements like the emails sent between characters. I look forward to the next chapter, though given your speed at chapter posting it will probably be a while. Eh, I can wait.
That is going to apply to so many things, but I think it's going to have to change to 'If Flim and Flam conned a deer to eat Mr. Manticore, who's fault is that?' to remain relevant for the Final Exam.
fc04.deviantart.net/fs9/i/2006/014/2/8/Today_is_your_final_exam_by_rubendevela.jpg
Stilson, Bonzo, and the final exam are one set of things that are related to each other - murder both personal and grand, and the trial was basically putting Ender on trial via proxies so I can see how all of that would cause bad memories and feelings, but while I'm having difficulty grasping The Ship. Sure, Ender was forcibly put in charge of the colony ship and booted out of the Sol System, but that was Val's doing, and he seemed to be okay with things after she explained them to him. Mostly. Maybe the ride mellowed him out because he seemed to be better adjusted by the time they got there.
I hope that the next chapter comes soon.
-Stares blankly at the screen-
Eeeheheheh. . . EEEEHAHAHAHAHAHA! -Super squee-
THIS UPDATED.
Dear lord I'm looking forwards to the next few chapters.
I wonder if the ponies will be able to properly understand the context of the Xenocide. As in, Ender thought it was only a simulation.
4128115
Agreed but there's the bigger issue of involving the Mane Six in this. Twilight thinks more logically than most ponies so she's his best bet but the others...no. Just no. Terrible idea. They judged Zecora on superficial details alone and reacted horribly. Now she's using them to determine his fate and hoping they make the decision not to petrify him? Honestly there's trust and then there's whatever Celestia is doing; that is to say she has far too much faith that they won't imprison him anyways and Celestia is left to deal with the fallout from Luna. This is a potential Third Coming of Nightmare Moon here! I'm not exaggerating either, this could definitely destroy Luna's faith in Celestia's decisions! Well maybe she won't turn into the Nightmare again but it would certainly drive a colossal wedge between them.
4128860 Speaking of which, where exactly is Luna? I'd think she would insist on being involved. Did I miss a few lines?
4129122
I think she is there and watching but out of sight.
4129122
4129147
Then that's another thing to call her out for... Remember they are talking about blasting a child here. Even if it was a cultural requirement for him to murder some one at 5 years old, the ponies have no right to judge shit. if he actually committed a 'crime' on their soil then there's an argument to be made.
I'm just going to wait till the next chapter, because the more I think about this the angrier I get. I just hope he calls them out, or just straight up goes to leave because of it.
4129220 I actually like how screwed up the pony values system is. Killing is wrong sure, but mental invasion and horrific sentences are A-ok? Imposing their values on every society? Interesting dissonance, I hope they come to realize how blatantly horrible they are by almost any human standard. It is almost like they have children writing their laws... which in this continuity might as well be true.
4129240
I always think of them having a blue and orange morality in that regard. I mean 'reform spells' are a thing there, and Luna straight up said its her duty to invade their dreams... (after her reputation as nightmare moon how did that not cause riots?)
I don't mind that its a thing, in fact I'm going to use the value dissonance as a main thing in my own story. I just hate it when its hand waved away and not pointed out how fucked up it is by our standards.
4129291
Honestly, this discussion is fascinating... there are a lot of points I never considered.
Remember that if there is anyone capable of handling blue and orange morality, it's Ender. At this point, he's not the middle-aged Speaker for the Dead with the life experience needed to understand the Pequeninos, but the core skill set is there. If he didn't rage at a seemingly vivisected human, he's not going to flinch at what the court is doing to him now.
Just to clarify, yes, Luna is there. I alluded to it subtly and overtly, but in case you missed it, she's the one casting the memory spell. She just doesn't want to be seen.
A new chapter only a week after I thought about it!? And another on the way within a week or so!?
NYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!
Holy shit, I LOVE ENDER'S GAME!
4129661
When you say 'wont even flinch' what do you mean?
If he just goes along with this without at-least calling it out, even passively then it will kind of be a dampener on the story for me, but like I said its one of my deepest pet peeves.
Plus I don't really think it would fit his character, which is probably why its annoying me so much.
Oh. Ohohohoho.
Yes.
I was hoping for something like this public memory viewing.... I wanted to see their reactions.
So far, I have not been disappointed... and we've only just begun. I wonder how they will react to the ending?
I wonder how the IF and humanity as a whole will react to the ponies... and whatever they decide to do to Ender...
As others have mentioned the ponies seem to have, by our standards, a messed up moral system. Humanity never reacted too kindly to conflicting moral systems in the Ender series.
If the ponies do anything to humanity's greatest hero... Yeah, that won't end well for them. There's still a lot of military geniuses running around, many of which regard Ender as a dear friend.
I'm hopeful for a peaceful resolution, but... Well, if it isn't at least it will be interesting. Also, I uh... Well, I admit that I agree with those who expressed disgust at what the ponies consider to be fair and just (reform spells = brainwashing? Petrification as punishment? Dream-and-memory viewing without informed consent? That's a lot of my berserk buttons at once) so I... actually wouldn't be too upset if things do go badly... Though hopefully if that does happen things wouldn't go the way of the Bugger War. Yeesh.
I have to admit, Ender would probably handle this situation much better than I would. Much better than most humans, actually. As the author pointed out, he has experience with and is quite skilled at understanding and negotiating with species' with entirely different value systems. Actually, if anything bad happened to Ender, I expect that the only person who could talk humanity down and/or negotiate a ceasefire between the two sides would be... Ender. Yeah. Bit of a problem there.
Best case scenario: Ender manages to prevent a full-scale conflict... And some of the humans chew the ponies out for the shit they're doing right now (probably his sister).
Really good, I hope nothing terrible happens when they meet humans.
Now now, I must know their reactions to the final simulation.
I know Ender's was fun.
4129240
Ender was informed of the memory display spell, and arguably gave consent to it.
As for the 'trial'? It reads more like an inquest. They aren't seeking to punish him so much as determine if he is a threat to others around him. To Ponies Ender has a very alien mindset, and they don't know how or why he might decide to kill again.
We are human, we can understand his soldier mindset, even if some disagree with it. As set up, the Ponies don't. I'm guess Celestia wants to find out A) if Ender can be considered 'rational' to an Equestrian, and B) under what circumstances Ender will find lethal force acceptable.
Also, I wonder if Luna and Celestia suspect that some of Ender's current mental condition is that he hasn't forgiven himself for his actions. Stintson and Bonzo are arguably mistakes made in a fight.
I think that is what the author is setting up, Ender's feelings about the harm he committed in ignorance. Not only the Xenocide, but sending the entire human fleet that hit the Bugger Homeworld on a suicide run. Not because he felt it was the best chance of victory, but because he wanted out. And this was an attempt to blow the test up and get himself kicked out of the IF.
To quote Bujold, Aral Vorkosigan on the difference between reputation and honor:
4129661
Orange and Blue morality indeed. I always found Equestrians culture interesting in the sense that they shrug off things which would be considered jailtime on earth at minimum mere trifles at best simply because they are so freakishly tough.
Mind control? Eh, disrupt the spell and you can bounce back easy. Punted through a wall/tree by your best friend? Make them fix/replant it! Not like it hurt any. Kid punts a bowling ball so hard it flies through the air like a ping pong ball? Give them a glare of disapproval. Local troublemakers launching artillery throughout a fair and wrecking houses? Give them a medal for creativity and make them help fix the mess afterwards.
Yeah, Ender can't do anything other than hope to talk his way out of any problem situation. I do however think that if one were to really consider their personalities across the show, they would be a bit more understanding of his mindset then they seem to be as depicted here. The main 6 have had their fair share of scrapes after all. Rainbow seems a bit too adverse to what's going on compared to her "Fight first(like Luna), talk later personality.
4129220
That's a good point. Then there's the fact that petrification leaves the subject conscious the whole time. If Celestia knows that then she's willingly condemning him to an indefinite prison where he'll certainly go insane.
Based on the title I'm guessing you need to circularize your orbit.
#kerbalspaceprogram
4130726
my first comment
4130769
Yeah. I'm really hoping that Graff and Valentine find the anomaly, go through and find Ender in the middle of the trial. It would be so satisfying to see Valentine, sweetheart that she is, outright shame the ponies for assuming they were fit to judge him in the first place. Then Colonel Graff will add his two cents, the ponies will accuse him of a host of things and then Ender comes out of left field when he declares that he still trusts Graff despite everything.
Kinda assuming the Graff bit but my hopes stand!
4130599
What about when Luna messed around in his head? You know, the thing that caused this whole mess in the first place?
They have all but threatened him with petrification (possibly a fate worse than death, if you are conscious at the time. Otherwise, it effectively is death) if they don't like what they hear, or if he doesn't cooperate.
I suppose I'll have to wait and see what everyone's actual motivations and intents are, though....
Woo! Finally caught up!
The good: A believably broken Ender. I keep thinking of him like he's this old soldier, maybe sixty years old and a veteran of multiple wars, and then he does or says something that reminds me that he's still a child. In a way, he actually reminds me of the Kid from Bastion. "What do you say to a kid who's seen too much?"
Epic-level culture clash. I don't think I've ever seen a crossover address the differences between humans and ponies quite this frankly. It feels a lot more realistic than "Humans awesome, ponies lame" or "Ponies peaceful, humans warlike"--I really get the feeling that these ponies could wind up doing horrible things with the best of intentions.
The mixed: Very, very methodical. I've heard it said that Brandon Sanderson spends 90% of his books setting up dominoes and 10% of his books making them all fall over in a neat line. You're more than 100K words into your story, and my best guess is that you're not even halfway done with the domino setup. I feel like this is going to build to something absolutely awe-inspiring.
On the flipside, this means that it took you 60K words--the length of a short novel!--just to get out of what would normally be considered the prologue. This is gonna turn into Les Miserables if you're not careful. (Though I suppose I would enjoy a chapter of Ender discussing the inadequacies of French sewer systems . . .)
The verdict: liked and faved, though I reserve the right to unfave if this completely implodes on itself.
4131171
That line sums up this chapter perfectly.
4130045
You raise a valid point, even though I don't think I'm interpreting the character the same way you are. I *did* neglect to really explain Ender's reaction to his life being put on display. I touched on it, but it was no more than a throwaway line that probably went unnoticed. This is something I need to rectify, and you've got my thanks for pointing it out.
Consider, though, that Ender's view of privacy is very different from yours or mine. He wore a monitor from his earliest days that allowed adults to see through his eyes and hear through his ears. Nothing he did was private. Furthermore, while Card doesn't touch on it a lot in the original Ender's Game, the later books show that the International Fleet had a MONITOR EVERYTHING approach to surveillance (insert Twilight joke here
). If they placed recorders in every room (to include personal cabins) on a *civilian* colony ship, you better believe that every aspect of a Battle Schooler's life was watched. Bean seemed to be aware of this in Ender's Shadow, IIRC, so it doesn't seem far-fetched that Ender was as well. Bottom line - the majority of his life has not been private, and he acts accordingly.
4131253
Oh,the surveillance thing I get, but the rest, well I'll just wait and see. Enough people have made the same points I have, some more eloquently then I could at 4 in the morning but the fact you acknowledge them is enough right now.
Always thrilled to see more of this. I've loved Ender's Game since I was like ten, and fanfiction (any fanfiction, much less amazing fanfic) of the series is incredibly rare. I'm thrilled to hear that there's a second half to this coming along relatively quickly. This story has so thoroughly infected my consciousness that I'll find myself imagining scenes from it while driving to and from school, and I'm glad to see it continue to live up to and exceed my imaginings.
4131253
I'm not to sure on the specifics but i don't even think they had the right, morality aside, for that trial. At least not giving that it was done in another universe/reality,under different laws and the fact that this is a case of blue and orange morality as opposed to black and white.
4131227 Seriously, i pretty much felt disgusted and pissed at them throughout this entire chapter, Celestia especially using this crap as a learning exercise for twilight.
Hell i'm pretty sure that when his rescue comes ender can pretty much accuse luna of kidnapping and attempted assassination of a high official and have her put on trial back on earth. Complete with the mind f***ary (mental invasion aside they were actively exerting mental pressure to get points across which caused him discomfort and actual pain which is a form of attack and has no room in any type of court), having her personal life and all the (guessing here) painful things she went through criticked and put on display to people who she just met and have no context to see and understand reasoning for doing things and her subsequent fall while forcing her to explain and relive everything.
The ponies cant object since a crime was done against a human by a pony, a ruler no less, which almost resulted in his deaths multiple times, being lost in the wilderness trying to survive for how long and now this entire affair that led to his very mind trying to rip itself to pieces which resulted from the actions of said pony. They're a "justice loving" and peaceful race after all so all of that should be fine.
Really hoping that IF finds a way to breech the tear/rift and call the ponies out on it though that prob wont happen giving the circumstances.
Now that the rant's done
please continue the story since i'm enjoying it quite a bit. 
For those that are considering having the IF tell Equestria off for 'putting Ender on trial'? Consider this, arguably this inquest is a reflection of the IF's decision that Humanity could not exist in the same universe as the Formics. That the two species were so alien to each other that there was no basis for understanding or agreements. The IF decided that it couldn't happen between Humanity and the Formics, so one had side had to die so the other could live.
That I suspect is a question Celestia and Luna need answered. They know Ender is alien to their culture, but how alien? It isn't so much Humanity, or even Ender on trial. It's seven aliens put into a room and Celestia and Luna trying to find out, "Can they understand the Other. And with that understanding form something to keep the peace between them?"
To put it in one sentence: you do a crossover between these two series-es justice; a nigh-perfectly written post-xenocide Ender and ditto for the assorted MLP characters.
4132889 I fully understand and respect that but what they're doing is the absolute wrong way to go about it. They're overstepping their bounds quite a bit in a delicate situation while this entire debacle could have easily pushed him further along in his mental self destruction. They're only saving grace is that ender is who he is since i'm pretty sure thats what would have happened to alot of other people.