Exiled From Equestria

`Twilight’s closed eyes twitch. For the first moments of waking up, she forgets all about what had happened this past week. She imagines herself waking up in her nice warm bed back at the Golden Oak Library where everything was so peaceful…

But that’s not the scene bestowed her. She plucks herself off the ground, standing on all four hooves. Around her is darkness. From left to right, all around her are some kind of walls, too dark to see from where she stands. Her horn sparks and begins to emit light. From her point of view, she is in a large enclosed room made of crystals. It reminds her exactly of the time when she was trapped in the underground mines beneath Canterlot. Except, this time there’s no changelings, and instead of rock, she’s surrounded by crystal.

Twilight doesn’t notice she backing up until she bumps into a crystal wall behind her. Her teeth chatter, even though she is not cold.

“Hello?” her voice echoes through the small crystal room. “What’s going on?”

Her shining horn shows a small cloud of black fog creeping toward her. She looks around but finds no where to run. Once the fog is a tail-length away from her, it somehow takes the form of a pitch black alicorn pony with a flowing green mane and purple eyes. It’s horn is red. He’d look like King Sombra if it weren’t for his different size, mane, eyes, wings, and no cape or crown.

“Who are you?” Twilight asks.

The black alicorn pony smirks. “I am the dark magic casted upon you.”

Twilight aimlessly backs closer and closer into the wall behind her. “H-How are you a pony?”

“I’m not,” he replies.

Twilight cocks an eyebrow.

“I only look like one because this is apparently how you imagine me.”

“How I…imagine you?” The purple unicorn glances around. “Are you saying we’re inside my…head?”

“Quite frankly.”

“Am I…dreaming?”

The alicorn pony shrugs. “You’re unconscious at the moment. I suppose you could call this a dream.”

Twilight stops backing into the wall. Everything feels so real, but if it’s not, then there should be no reason to panic. “Why am I dreaming about dark magic?”

“It’s not necessarily a dream. It’s your body reacting to the massive cloud of black fog inside of you.”

The thought sends shivers across Twilight’s spine. “But…I’m still fine…right? It hasn’t taken over me?”

He snickers. “Not yet.”

Fear grips Twilight heart. This can’t be happening. It can’t be, it just can’t! Everything is happening too quick, it seems like.

“That powerful spell you just cast really sped up the process,” the black alicorn adds. “That much dark magic at one time…at this rate, you’ll definitely be corrupted by the time you reach Equestria.”

“Never.” She glares at the pony form. She doesn’t feel infuriated at all, only frightened. But cowardice is a weakness, and the more weak she is is just how much faster the dark magic will take over. At least, that's what Twilight assumes. “The dark magic will never take a hold of me.”

He laughs. “Honestly, Twilight. Do you really believe that?”

No. “Yes.”

He narrows his eyes, his smile fading. Twilight begins to think deep about how much the dark magic is alike Sombra’s.

“Now that I’m thinking about it…aren’t you the same dark magic in King Sombra?” she pauses. “The spell that Discord cast upon me…it’s so similar to King Sombra. Did…did he cast the same spell?”

The black alicorn paces a little around the room. “I’m not an informational book–I’m an image. I’m only in your head, Twilight.” He stares at himself. “You’re the one who pictures me like Sombra. Tell me the answer.”

King Sombra has a red unicorn horn, green eyes with red irises and dragon-shaped pupils, and purple flowing from his eyes. His unicorn magic was also purple and green. Not to mention his fangs. All of these side-effects of his dark magic are exactly like Twilight’s, except fainter at the moment and besides the fangs. So, in a way, she is turning into a Twilight Sparkle version of King Sombra.

This sends the biggest of chills through her body. “Why does Discord want me to turn evil? I-I don’t understand! He’s the one who wants to take over. Why doesn’t he just kill me?”

The black alicorn gives her a look of defeat.

Twilight’s eyes narrow. “You don’t know?”

He fakes a grin. “I’m just in your head, remember? I’m not actually here. I only know as much as you do. Hey, put that down!”

Twilight has broken off a piece of crystal from one of the large crystals about the room jutting out from the walls. She aims in the crystal at the black alicorn, ready to throw to release her anger.

Seconds before it touches him, Twilight wakes up.

She is more confused about Discord’s plans than ever.

***

Cranberry Tart, who has been half-conscious, blinks back to full awareness. The sun is setting, mixing a crimson glow with the green haze of the swamp. His wife, Emerald Haze, is lying unconscious beside him. The cragodile is gone; an apple tree stands in it’s place.

However, the most disconcerting thing is his new unicorn friend. Her lavender body is limp except for rigid breathing. What really catches his eyes is her unicorn horn. Before, it was a soft purple. But now…now it’s a deep shade of ruby red, slowly fading to the point where her horn stops. Secondly is the odd purple mist flowing from her eyes. He can’t remember what had happened after her was whacked in the face with a rock tail.

Ow, Cranberry thinks, suddenly noticing the stinging pain all over his face.

He shakes Emerald. Her golden eyes slowly blink open. She sits up and glances around, feeling her head. “What happened?”

“I’m not sure, Darlin’,” Cranberry replies with worried eyes. He lends her a hoof. “We both went unconscious. Not sure where the cragodile went, but I can give a pretty good guess.”

With an apple tree where the cragodile was and Twilight being a unicorn and all, it’s not that hard to guess.

“Whoo-wee, that must have taken a lot out of her! Magic like that is…actually, very unusual.” Cranberry taps his chin. “I don’t understand; shapeshifting spells are so advanced that only alicorns and such can cast, with the exception of amulets. But that gal ain’t an alicorn, ain’t a draconequus, and she ain’t got no amulet on. What’s up with that?”

Emerald Haze wanders over to her. It does seem strange that a unicorn like Twilight could perform advanced spells for alicorns. And what is up with her horn and eyes? she wonders.

The emerald earth pony taps Twilight lightly on the shoulder. She just means to slowly shake her awake, but instead, she leaps from her spot onto all four hooves. This quick movement is so sudden that Emerald doesn’t even realize that the weird purple and green glows are gone.

Twilight shakes her head groggily. She blinks away the fog clouding her vision from a deep sleep. “How…how long have I been asleep?”

Emerald Haze, whose shock is slowly fading, clears her throat. “As long as we have been, Dear.”

Cranberry observes the scenery surrounding them. “By the looks of them sun, probably five hours or so.”

“Five hours?” Twilight exclaims, unable to believe her ears. It only felt like 10 minutes. Plus, another hour in this swamp is another hour that Nightmare Moon could be terrorizing the citizens of Equestria. I’m so close, Twilight thinks. A warm fuzzy feeling builds up inside of her. The corners of her mouth curve upward. I’m so close to my friends.

“Excuse me, Twilight, but…what exactly happened?”

“When?” she answers Emerald.

“Before Cranberry and I passed out.”

“Oh, that.” It takes a few moments for realization to sink in. The dark magic inside of her is growing. Discord wants her to turn evil, and she doesn’t even know why. Maybe he wants to because he’s bored. Or maybe because it makes so sense to.

How did he even escape his stone prison, anyway?

Did something bad happen to the Elements of Harmony?

Has something life-changing happened in Equestria while she’s been gone? Does anypony even care that she’s gone?

Does Shining Armor know?

Get a hold of yourself! Twilight pushes her questions to the back of her mind. All these answers are out of her control. The best thing to do right now is hurry back home, and quick.

“Twilight?”

“Hm?”

Emerald Haze stares worriedly at her friend. “Where’s the cragodile?”

Twilight immediately glances at the apple tree behind Cranberry. She feels her cheeks warm up. “I couldn’t kill him, so, I…I turned him into an apple tree.”

“Aha! I was correct,” Cranberry announces. “Where’d you get the power to cast a spell like that?”

Twilight gulps. Sure, she’s turned mice into horses on the night of the Grand Galloping Gala. But cragodiles are much bigger, and she was too scared to concentrate. It was my dark magic, she wants to say. The evil magic that’s slowly taking over my mind.

And now that I’ve performed that advanced spell, the process is speeding up. So we should really get going now.

Do you know how ridiculous that would sound? And possibly frightening for the couple? All Twilight wants to do is return to Ponyville without having to worry about a single thing.

Like that’s going to happen.

“I guess I just work well under pressure,” Twilight lies. “Can we get going now? My home is so close, I just want to get their as soon as I possibly can.”

“Sure thing, Dear.” Emerald Haze peers over the edge of the cliff. Down below, their chipped wooden boat rocks in the river. She sighs in relief that it’s not all torn, then grumbles when she turns to the sunset. “I don’t know if we can leave at this time, though.”

“Please?” The purple unicorn claps her two forelegs together and makes a pouting face. “I’ve already spent almost a week to get to this swamp. If I wait all through the night, I’m just not sure I’ll get home in time.”

“Get home in time fer what?” Cranberry Tart asks.

Twilight gulps. She doesn’t exactly know what it is, but something tells her that something is wrong in Equestria. Whether it be Discord or Nightmare Moon, something is happening right this second, and she has to get home to stop whatever the problem is.

Also, she wants to get home before the Dark Magic spreads through her. Maybe Princess Celestia will be there to reverse it in time.

“I can’t say. Just–please? Traveling through the night might not be as dangerous as you all think.”

Cranberry and Emerald exchange glances. The last golden rays of sunlight disappear over the mountains in the distance. Twilight bites her lower lip by habit. It feels sore now. “Well?”

“Ah guess we could try,” Cranberry murmurs. “But once we reach Crystal Reef, we are waitin’ ‘till sunrise. Nothin’ is worse than bein’ in that awful place with no daylight.”

***

It doesn’t take long for them to get going again. Emerald’s paddle is fished out of the icy water with an incredibly long twig. They start paddling down the river with only Luna’s night to light their path of the river.

Twilight wriggles her nose deeper into her warm, fuzzy jacket. Her breath is easily visible. The trees block some of the wind, but enough wiggles through to chill the three ponies to the bone. Their teeth chatter so much that Cranberry and Emerald have to start paddling with their hooves. They don’t even have a jacket, unlike Twilight, all wrapped up in her spring green coat and four soft boots. She offers multiple times to give them to Emerald Haze, but she only shakes her head.

The crickets chirp. Owls hoot. The swamp looks black and isolated. At one point, she thinks she hears a timberwolf’s howl. Twilight becomes jumpy at every tiny rustle and sound she hears; even the croak of a small green frog sends her leaping an inch or two off the boat. She lands back down somewhat hard, rocking the boat a bit.

Emerald Haze stops paddling and turns around. “Twilight, are you okay?”

“I-I’m f-f-fine,” she whispers between chattering teeth. “I-I’m just not a-as used to th-th-the cold.”

“Oh, there’s been colder nights, fer sure,” Cranberry adds. “Are your sure it’s just the cold? Ya seem to be a bit jumpier than usual.”

Twilight closes her eyes. She wishes she was back home with all of her friends at a slumber party, drinking hot chocolate. She remembers the beginning of her journey when she was drinking that hot liquid at Midnight and Star’s house. How did she get from there to here so quick? She traveled more than halfway home in seven days! All the way from the other side of the world. All she has to do now is cross through Crystal Reef to Kalbure, then to Jeleron, and finally through the Frozen North to Equestria. According to the maps, Kalbure and Jeleron aren’t so big. Hopefully, she’ll reach Ponyville in a week or so.

“Twilight, wake up.”

“Wha?” Twilight doesn’t remember when she fell asleep, but she must have at some point because Emerald is shaking her awake and her view is entirely different. The river that had been long and endless now breaks off into a large lake surrounded by more of a forest than a swamp. What had been a night sky is now a sunrise blur.

She rubs her eyes and glances around. “Are we at Crystal Reef?”

Emerald shakes her head. “It’s only about ten minutes away. I woke you up to see if you wanted any breakfast. I know it’s still early, but we didn’t have dinner last night.”

Twilight suddenly realizes how hungry she is. She hasn’t eaten since she was at Amber Eye’s house two or three days ago.

“Leave it ta the stallion ta forget ta bring food and fresh water,” Cranberry mutters with his back turned to the others. He reaches into some kind of chest underneath his chair (a wooden plank a tail-length off the bottom, stretching from both sides of the boat) and places it onto his lap. It opens with a click. From her view, Twilight can’t tell what’s inside. A few moment later, the periwinkle horse tucks it back underneath his seat. Only when he turns around to face the two mares does Twilight realize that it’s a two-inch, fine-point dagger. She raises an eyebrow.

“Are you really so weak that you need a dagger to cut cranberries off of vines or whatever plant we’re going to eat?” she asks sarcastically. When they stare at her, she realizes what she had just said and blushes. Her dark magic pounds against her skull, urging to take control. It hurts enough to give her a short, but painful, headache. Twilight finds her darkness to be growing stronger every day, especially since she cast that powerful spell on the alligator.

She clears her throat. “I mean…why do you need it?”

“It’s not for cutting plants,” Cranberry replies, eyeing Twilight.

Wait, you don’t mean…

“It for killing fish or snakes.”

Twilight’s heart pounds against her chest until it hurts. “I-I’m a vegetarian! I thought all ponies were!”

“Only foolish ponies,” Cranberry retorts as payback for Twilight’s harsh comment awhile ago. “You’ve missed out on great sources a' protein. What’s wrong with eatin' a cow? It ain't like you’re eatin' a pony.”

Twilight makes a sort of choking sound. “Maybe it’s different outside of Equestria, but inside, cows are like another type of pony. I could never eat one.”

“Well, yer gonna have ta suck it up and eat a fish because there are no proper sources of protein out here ‘cept for those.”

A question suddenly comes to her mind. "Cranberry," she says, "if you've had that dagger, why didn't you use it on the cragodile? It just seems like something you would think about..."

"Ah had no point in usin' this dagger, Twilight. It's only big enough fer small critters. Usin' this against a creature made of solid rock, or even somthin' like a hippocampi, would be pointless."

Before Twilight can continue, Cranberry leaps from the boat onto the shore. They must have docked it while she was sleeping. Emerald climbs out next, and Twilight follows hesitantly, unsure if she will eat or not.

***

It feels like hours until Cranberry Tart finds an East Diamondback Snake slithering through some tall weeds. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut as the blade met the innocent creature. Emerald taps her shoulder. When she opens her eyes, the snake is lying lifeless and dead.

How come these ponies have the courage to kill an animal but not me? Twilight asks herself. She is about to reply to her own wonder, but Cranberry calls her name, startling her out of her own thoughts.

“Can you gather some firewood to make a fire?”

Twilight nods. She won’t be able to speak for a minute or two. Never had she ever thought that somepony could be so violent. Sure, that cragodile wanted to eat Twilight, but that doesn’t mean she should act the same way.

She soon returns to the campsite with hooffulls of twigs and branches, piling them on the floor while Cranberry rubs a thin twig’s end against the middle of a fat branch. As soon as it sparks, he places the burning ember on top of the firewood. A minute passes by as the fire emits heat. Emerald lugs over a fallen tree trunk by the fire for them to sit on.

Twilight’s gaze intense on the flickering flames. She thinks back to when she cooked marshmallows over a like fire with Rarity and Applejack inside her library. They were laughing and smiling, despite some bickering. The warm thought feels painful. Homesickness quickly overwhelms her. What she would give to be back in Ponyville, throwing a party and having a blast with all her friends. She’d gladly trade her dark magic for the moment. However, when she thinks this thought, the dark magic lightly hammering against her skull seems to feel...enraged, as if it were an actual living being.

The lavender unicorn snaps from her thoughts as Cranberry carries the lifeless snake toward the firewood.

“Emerald, Darlin’, will ya come here for a sec’?”

“Sure,” Emerald replies, hopping off the log. Twilight stays quiet as Cranberry instructs her to stand on the opposite side of the fire and hold out a thick, pointy, spear-like branch. Then he wraps the snake carefully around the wood and starts turning it clockwise, Emerald following. Soon the dead snake’s skin makes some kind of sizzling sound and they stop hovering it above the fire. They place the creature on a fat gray stone. Then Cranberry grabs his dagger to begin peeling off the skin.

Twilight leaps behind the log and quivers.

Endless minutes pass by.

“Alright, Twilight, have ya made up yer mind yet?” Cranberry asks. Twilight peeks out from behind the log. The sight of cooked snake meat makes her want to gag. “You gonna starve or what?”

Twilight’s stomach growls. After skipping eight meals or so, she doesn’t feel so good. Everything inside of her denies the option, except for her stomach and dark magic. Her mind tells her no, her stomach tells her yes, and her dark magic tells her that she shouldn't care if it’s a dead animal or not.

Finally, Twilight decides to accept the meat. If it’s the only source of protein for miles, she’ll have to eat it at some point.

Cranberry extends his left hoof (holding a chunk of snake meat) toward Twilight. She gulps and accepts the meat, holding it between her own two hooves. Sweat runs down her forehead. She never knew that eating meat would be this hard.

Emerald takes a bite of snake meat and smiles. “Don’t worry, Twilight, it tastes delicious.”

She smells the meat then gags. Come on, Twilight, it’s just meat.

Her front teeth slowly clasp a corner of the chunk. After she chews it and swallows it, she takes a few more bites. Soon enough, she’s devoured the entire chunk and is licking grease off her hooves.

Cranberry laughs heartily. “See? Good fer yer stomach, good fer yer taste buds.”

“I’ll say,” the lavender unicorn replies. She becomes oddly excited and interested about eating meat. Her eyes widen. “Is there any more?”

“Help yerself.”

***

Applejack stares out the train window and sighs. It feels like only yesterday her friends and her were riding a train to Manehatten for Princess Celestia’s birthday. Now their riding a train to the Crystal Empire to ask Princess Cadence to bring a possibly dead Twilight home. But she knew as well as the others that it has been nearly a week.

Rainbow Dash waves her back legs back and forth as she shifts uncomfortably on her seat. It feels like she’s been sitting for hours now, which she has. “How much longer until we get there?”

“The same answer you received ten seconds ago,” Rarity replies deadpan. “Three hours.”

“Ugh!” Rainbow Dash drops her head onto her lap. “I’ve never been so bored in my entire life.

“Ooo! I know! Why don’t we play ‘I Spy’?” The changeling disguised as Pinkie Pie exclaims. “I spy with my little eye, something…blue.”

“The sky?”

“Yes!” Pinkie Pie bursts into giggles.

Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes. “Let’s not.”

“Oh, we could–” Fluttershy is interrupted by a train whistle and an abrupt stop. In fact, the stop is so sharp that it sends everypony falling out of their seats.

Applejack grumbles as she picks herself off the floor. “What in tarnation?”

“We’re not even close to the Crystal Empire,” Rarity adds, peering out the train window.

There’s a loud crackling sound as the speakers turn on and the train conductor begins to explain. “Sorry for the stop, everypony. It seems that we’ve had a major function problem, and it appears that the train is unable to proceed to the destination.” Even from his position in the front of the train, the conductor can hear groans and complaints. “Help is coming in a few hours.”

More complaints.

“However, if you would like, you can walk the ten minutes to Neighagra Falls train station and get to the Crystal Empire from there. That will be all.” The speaker crackles as it turns off.

“Oh, come on! I’m not sneaking onto another train! It takes forever,” Rainbow Dash complains. Applejack whacks her hard on the head.

“We won’t be gettin’ on any trains soon if ya don’t shut yer mouth,” Applejack whispers through gritted teeth.

Rarity sighs. “Well, girls, I guess we have no other choice than to walk to Neighagra Falls. It’s only a ten minute walk, Rainbow Dash, don’t look at me like that.”

Fluttershy taps her front two hooves together. “Um, Rarity, you know, I’ve been feeling awful about sneaking aboard, and I know Applejack has been, too, I…” She gulps. “I don’t think we should sneak onto another train.”

“Fluttershy, Darling, we already had this arguement. There’s no other way.” Rarity trots toward the train cart door. Half of the other ponies were either grumbling on the train seats or out the door. She stops just in front of the steps. No pony is following her. “Girls!”

“Rarity, stop actin’ like the boss of everypony,” Applejack hollers, striding past Rarity out the train car.

“What–me?” Rarity exclaims, hopping out beside her. The green grass is wet and therefor muddy beneath her hooves. She sucks in a deep breath to calm herself down.

Pinkie Pie hops out of the car, landing in between Rarity and Applejack, but slipping on the mud and falling flat on her face. Rainbow Dash follows, laughing at her pink mud-splattered face. Last is Fluttershy who flutters out ever so gracefully.

Rainbow Dash scans the valley while Rarity and Applejack argue. Each word burning with anger is overwhelming to a point where she can’t take it. None of them can take it. “SHUT UP!”

Silence.

“This entire time that Twilight has been time, we’ve been arguing, fighting, bickering…” The cyan pegasus turns to her hooves with guilty eyes. “Even me.” She looks back up at her friends, now with eyes shimmering determination. “It has to stop. I can’t take it anymore, and I know that none of you can, either.”

Rarity glances at Applejack. Her fiery eyes fade back to a sapphire blue. Applejack smiles weakly.

Fluttershy clears her throat. All her shyness seems to vanish as she speaks. “It's been practically a week since Twilight's disappearance." Her friends look to the ground as sorrow overcomes them. “But,” she continues, “there is still a way to bring her back home, and to do this, we need to work together. As a team. So, are you ponies going to keep arguing, or are we going to bring back Twilight no matter what it takes?”

“Yeah!” Pinkie Pie, who stand next to the butter pegasus, extends her left foreleg to Fluttershy. “Team Friendship!”
Fluttershy’s tension fades as she joins her right foreleg with Pinkie’s, smiling, yet gazing with determination. “Well? Team Friendship or what?”

Rainbow Dash shrugs and casually holds out a cyan leg, which Fluttershy holds.

Rarity rolls her eyes, but once she joins her foreleg, too, she smiles as a warm, fuzzy feeling envelops her.

Everypony turns to Applejack. She sighs and joins hooves with Rainbow Dash and Rarity. “This is kinda ridiculous, but Ah do agree that friendship can overcome any problem.”

Fluttershy smiles. She has never been so outgoing before, never really been into confident speeches, but when there comes a time when that action is needed, she will gladly make a stand to cheer her friends, and herself, on. Most of this confidence probably comes from Iron Will’s workshop, too. But in this moment, when four of her five best friends are joining hooves, she remembers just how powerful friendship is.

Fluttershy starts to think that maybe they really can bring back Twilight.

She just hopes she isn’t proved wrong.