“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.”

– Albert Schweitzer

Moving Out

"OWW... my head! Again with these stupid brain zaps!" a unicorn complained, putting his hoof on his head.

The young unicorn trotted beside a canyon. He had an indigo-colored skin. He had spiky layered dark red and goldenrod mane and tail, and his horn consisted of goldenrod stripes. He had heterochromatic eyes. His left eye was azure blue and his right eye was crimson red. He also wore a red bandana on his head.

Of all his physical attributes, the one that stood up the most was his cross-like pale red scar that ran across his right eye. His cutie mark consisted of a light blue double star-shaped sigil-like symbol within a light blue circle, surrounded by six small bright yellow stars and a red diamond on the center.

[What he looks like:]

Speaking of where he lived, he can barely call it a home. It's located in one of the most ridiculous locations in Equestria—the Badlands.

The Badlands was famous for its hostile environment and aggressive monsters that nopony dared to even roam the place.

The thought of this idea made the young unicorn confused as he had no idea why there was even a village there or why he was there in the first place.

The unicorn went by the name Cipher Emblem—the only thing he fully knew about himself. He was never sure of his condition or why he was living in a very dangerous settlement. He barely knew his parents and his memories of the past were foggy due to the recent accident he had—if he even remembered how it happened, or at least that's what he assumed anyway.

He did know that the accident did lead to an injury in his brain and that he wore a red bandana on his head to act as a bandage. To his dismay, this didn't stop the sudden brain zaps that sometimes occur. He also does not remember how he got his scar nor how he got heterochromatic eyes.

The most painful part was that he did not know how he got his cutie mark. He didn't know the reason why he got it or what he did to earn it.

Cipher took a look at his cutie mark and sighed. He did know the nature of cutie marks and how a pony earns one. He just wished he knew the story behind his like anypony did. He assumed that he must have done something related to magic, like creating a new spell since his cutie mark resembled something that could be found in arcane circles or witchcraft. But with so many possibilities, he was never sure.

For all he knew at this moment in time, he'd been living in this hell-of-a-place for as long as he can remember. He had instances where he can only recall certain events of his life, but anything that occurred way before he even remembered the first time he saw himself in the Badlands was impossible.

His thoughts were then interrupted when he felt a hard object on his leg that made him trip over.

"Ow..." Cipher gave a rather monotonous expression as he tried to pick himself up from the fall.

He looked down at the object that made him trip and pulled it off from the ground using his magic. It was a brown-colored cylindrical holder for a scroll, caps on both ends resemble the head of a dragon and ancient runic symbols were carved in the center. He was surprised to see an odd-looking scroll holder just lying buried in the ground.

He levitated the scroll holder with him in his azure-colored magic and went back to his abode.

After walking for hours, he finally reached his home. The sun had already set and the stars began to fill the night sky. The house appeared to be in very bad shape and loose cracks were surprisingly abundant both on the outside and the inside of the house. As he opened the door, the hinges that were barely holding on finally gave away, breaking the door in the process. Cipher gave a heavy sigh and thought about fixing it after dinner.

After eating what seemed to be what's left in his kitchen, he focused his attention on the scroll holder he found in the canyon. He didn't check it yet if there was a scroll inside, but judging by the audible noise it made when being held in his magic was proof enough that there was indeed something inside. He opened the cap and took out what appeared to be a worn-down scroll.

"Judging by the appearance of the scroll and the runic symbols from its holder, I assume that this scroll existed long ago," Cipher thought to himself as he tried to open the contents of the scroll.

After opening the scroll, he was marveled by its contents. The writings were written in some sort of ancient code.

For a normal pony, one would just probably go ask a professional for translation, but Cipher isn't a normal pony. He's a unicorn with a number of spells in his arsenal, and he would not pass up this opportunity of learning something new especially something ancient just because it's written in a code that existed eons ago. He always loved learning new things and studying ancient remnants of the past—basically anything that would educate him.

He concentrated his magic on his horn and a bright azure blue-colored light began to emanate. He closed his eyes and focused on deciphering the ancient writings and translated it (a very impressive feat for somepony who has amnesia). After a few minutes, his horn stopped glowing. He took a look at the scroll and to his relief, the words were translated. He started reading the translated text from the very top.

Long before Equestria was founded, tyranny ruled the lands. Every creature succumbed to the infectious force of chaos and conflict, which led to destructive wars and endless battles between different races. Each race was led by a lord, lords who happen to be megalomaniac dictators who would do everything to raise power beyond others. They didn't treat their subjects fairly. They would always lead them to wage war against other races, resulting in collateral damage and irreversible losses. They continued to reign supreme for a very long time. That is until—

Cipher's reading was cut off due to the torn section which led him to the bottom part of the parchment.

"What?! A portion of the scroll is torn off!" Cipher complained, disappointed by getting cut off by the missing torn-off piece of the paper.

His curiosity grew even more and having a cliffhanger from a fascinating read just like that would very well upset anypony. He grew impatient and thought that maybe he can find the torn-off piece of the scroll somewhere near the spot where he found the scroll holder.

He also concluded that if he did find the torn-off piece, the information from the scroll won't be enough to fully tell him of the events that took place. He put the scroll back in the holder.

"The scroll stated that there were ancient evil lords that ruled the lands even before Equestria was founded! I know that the information provided from the scroll was very vague, and there are no pieces of evidence of the so-called lords that ruled before existed. There are no verifications that what was written in the scroll was true but there are no proofs either that would go against what was stated," Cipher pondered for a moment and deeply focused his attention on the overwhelming information in his head.

Suddenly, a loud noise interrupted him in his thoughts. He came to look for the source of the noise when suddenly an odd-looking creature crashed through his house. The creature revealed to be an Ophiotaurus, a creature with the head of a bull and a body of a snake. Cipher quickly jumped out from his position when another Ophiotaurus crashed in his house.

"Oh greaattt... I have visitors again," Cipher voiced out in a dull tone as if the whole thing wasn't new to him anymore.

Cipher prepared to concentrate his magic in his horn. Just before he was able to conjure a powerful magical blast, another Ophiotaurus crashed from behind him making him tumble to the floor. He quickly got up and conjured a weak but quick blast directly on one of the monsters. The monster that was hit stumbled over a short distance. This provoked the other two and came on charging on the unicorn.

Cipher was quick to react and performed a backflip blast on one of the monsters charging at him. The recoil of the blast, however, made him vulnerable to the Ophiotaurus that was behind him and was heavily struck to the back by its horns.

"AGHH!" Cipher cried in pain. As he tried to stand up properly, the three odd-looking monsters were already charging at him.

"Heh... can't believe I have to do this again," Cipher smirked at the incoming stampede.

For Cipher it only meant one thing—he will have to perform the same spell he used to fend off the Maulwurf that recently attacked him a few days ago. He didn't want to do the spell as it completely drains him afterward.

He had the ability to convert all the damages that were inflicted upon him into a magical energy output—or at least that's what he theorized, he doesn't exactly know how he could do that but it was something he concluded logically. He can then add that magical energy into his own natural magic to strengthen the force of any kind of spell he will conjure. In this case, he will use the energy output from all the damages he received that day to strengthen a normal shock wave spell.

He performed the 'damage conversion' using his magic and transferred the energy output to the shock wave spell that was waiting to be released. His horn glowed in a crimson hue, instead of his usual azure blue magic.

He finally released a powerful bright crimson-colored shock wave, destroying everything that came in contact with it.

The amount of energy he gave away to perform that powerful spell depleted his strength completely making him collapse to the ground.

"Wha—what happened?" Cipher opened his eyes, only to see the blazing light that was shining upon him.

"Ow... my head!" Cipher exclaimed, having another one of those brain zaps. He looked to see that he was out in the open, the sun shining directly above him. He realized that he wasn't in his house and that he must've fallen asleep on the ground. He tried to remember the events that happened last night only to come to the conclusion that—

"I destroyed my house, huh..." Cipher said aloud to himself.

Indeed his house was destroyed. He noticed the remains of his house: floorboards, wooden planks, and the remains of his things were scattered around the ground.

"Oh no! The scroll!" Cipher panicked over the thought that the spell he conjured last night must have destroyed the scroll. He ran across the scattered objects to search for the scroll. After minutes of searching, he finally found the scroll holder. He opened the cap, relieved that the scroll was still there.

"Good thing I put the scroll back in here," Cipher thought to himself. "The blast destroyed my house, my things, and probably those Ophiotaurus last night. But this scroll holder looks undamaged. Seriously, what's this thing made of?"

He put that thought aside and changed his attention to where he was standing.

"Okay, now that I destroyed my house... where the heck do I go?" Cipher asked himself. "Should I ask if one of the nearby locals have a house to spare?"

Cipher directed his view to the houses that were a few miles away from where he was. The houses were far apart from each other. He carefully studied the possible consequences of this idea.

"Welp that's a no. The houses look the same as the one I destroyed and the locals here still see me as a weirdo, so they probably won't let me live in any of the spare houses. That is if there even is a spare house."

Cipher sighed. He never really did like this place. He always complained about the monsters that suddenly raid him and the locals being afraid of him (probably because of his physical appearance—the scar making a bad impression and the locals think that he had some kind of infectious disease because of the heterochromatic eyes), that's why he never received any help from them, not that he needed any.

The one thing that he liked about the place is that it's mostly quiet during the day and that his house was far away from the locals. He never really liked being around ponies that much and he certainly wasn't interested in making friends. He thinks that friends are just obstacles in life and that he always believed that he can live life just the way it is without making friends.

After thinking for a while, he finally decided that it was time for him to look for a new place to live.

"I guess it's time for me to find a new place where I can settle in. Hopefully someplace where monsters aren't the main topic of the local news and where I can study in peace." Cipher looked ahead with determination.

He quickly created a small pouch out of the torn rags that were under the remains of the things with his magic and placed the scroll holder in it. He thought to himself that he was lucky to still be able to do magic despite the sudden brain zaps that occur. Cipher started walking away from what remained of his old home.

"Now that I think about it, where the heck do I go? I don't know any places in Equestria and I doubt that the locals can help me with directions," Cipher said to himself, thinking of a solution to his predicament.

He looked to the ground and noticed a large road that ran across the hills.

"Or I could simply just follow this road," Cipher commented at the most practical solution he thought of at that point.

Being an inhabitant of the Badlands, he always doubted the place of being anywhere near helpful. He always thought that there was some kind of catch for every good thing that happened in his life. But being in his situation, what's there to lose?

"And maybe while I'm at it, I can look for the torn-off piece of the scroll," Cipher thought, hoping he can find it lying around near the canyons.

He continued to follow the road and made a little detour at the canyons that he wandered around the day before. He tried to remember where he found the scroll holder and to his luck, he found a small dug-off part of the ground—the exact spot where he took the scroll holder from. He went near it and saw something that was hidden below a pile of dirt.

He took the object out and it revealed to be a torn-off piece of paper. He connected the piece to the scroll using a simple paper-binding spell and deciphered the remaining code.

—the day when all the lords came together. A powerful magical blast suddenly took place where they were. The blast was so powerful that it destroyed the nearby towers and mountains and the shock wave that came after produced earthquakes and tsunamis. After that astonishing event, the evil lords were no more, never to be seen or heard from ever again.

Cipher couldn't believe what he just read. There were so many things going on in his mind that prevented him from processing the information on the scroll. He tried to re-read again, but he stopped when he saw a signature at the bottom.

Ink Slinger

"Ink Slinger? As in the legendary journalist? The Ink Slinger? That dude was a legend!" Cipher blinked in surprise.

Cipher took another look at the signature to make sure it wasn't fake. He used a special forgery detection spell with his magic to confirm the nature of the signature and it appeared to be real and legit, leaving Cipher surprised.

"Okay so the signature is legit and it's Ink Slinger who wrote this scroll describing something that happened years ago before the founding of Equestria. Then that confirms that the scroll is real and that these evil lords did exist long ago. This changes everythi—OW!" Cipher yelped, having another one of his signature brain zaps.

"Agh! I hate when this happens!" Cipher sighed, putting the complete parchment in its holder and placing it in the pouch. "Well, I really want to process everything I just read, but these zaps in the head are preventing me from doing so."

Cipher gave another sigh. "I need to find a place to settle in first. Then maybe I can try to find out more about these evil lords." The information from the scroll greatly piqued Cipher's curiosity.

He was now eager to know more about this historical remnant about the evil lords and he wanted to find answers. But first, he needed a place where he can live—a place outside the Badlands.

He never really left the Badlands his whole life. He knew before that there was a road stretching across the place but a stranger once told him that if he didn't know where to go, he could end up in the Forbidden Jungle—which the stranger claimed to be a place even more dangerous than the Badlands.

The stranger also claimed that the other side of the road does go to other civilizations but giant Maulwurfs are commonly found on the edge of the Badlands. Of course, he never believed the stranger completely but when he tried to go there himself, he was indeed attacked by giant Maulwurfs.

Sure he can fend off one Maulwurf, but being around a bunch is downright suicide. So after the assault from a bunch of those mole freaks, he learned his lesson to never go outside of the Badlands.

The thought of having to face a group of Maulwurfs again sent shivers down his spine. He knew that he would have to face them eventually, and having a new home at stake, he had no choice. He continued to trot down the road until he heard a familiar roar.

"And here they are, great timing too..." Cipher smirked. He knew that roar very well. As he prepared for the worst, a giant Maulwurf appeared below the ground followed by four other Maulwurfs that came with it.

"Ah, here we go again..." Cipher sighed heavily. He carefully analyzed the situation he was at. He knew to himself that fighting them off would be a terrible idea, but running towards them wouldn't be wise either. So he deduced a brilliant plan.

He closed his eyes and quickly conjured a massive flash of light with his magic, blinding everyone whose eyes were open. He then opened his eyes and quickly ran through the stunned Maulwurfs.

However, as he was about to pass through the edge of the Badlands, the Maulwurf that was near the edge got out of its trance from the flash and tried to smash the incoming unicorn with its arms.

Cipher was very quick to react and was able to dodge the raging mole's arms. He blasted the Maulwurf with his magic and jumped over its head, doing a series of hardcore parkour over the stones that were reachable above the mole's head. He then finally jumped over the steep rock that marked the edge of the Badlands. The Maulwurfs, however, were out of their trance and started climbing the steep rock where Cipher was.

"Dang, these freaks are persistent!" Cipher growled, starting to get annoyed by the monsters. He then saw a conveniently-placed boulder that was just beside him.

"Well, I ain't complaining about this." Cipher said as he trotted behind the boulder.

He used his magic to create a pushing force at the boulder, slowly moving it to the edge. Just as one of the Maulwurfs was about to reach the top, the boulder was already on the tip of the edge of the rock causing it to fall. The boulder dropped from the steep rock and pushed all the Maulwurfs down with it.

"Take that you nasty little—AGH!" Cipher's words were interrupted by a shocking pain in his head. "I'm gonna need to remind myself to visit a doctor after settling in."

Author's Note

Where does Cipher Emblem get food you might ask? Well, there is a local market in the remote village selling all kinds of goods. The problem was there was no variety. Since the Badlands don't have fertile soil, the locals have a hard time growing different crops so the only plants that they could sustain are cacti, blackberries, and figs (I researched for some edible fruits that can grow in the desert). And the monsters mostly destroy the crops. Water is also scarce since the only sources of water are from rain showers or cacti (the juice inside at least). There are good kinds of stuff that are being sold in the marketplace such as metal, old books, weapons, tools, and other kinds of stuff. But summarizing all the bad stuff that happens in the Badlands, you might question yourself: "How if life even possible there?" or "How are there ponies living in this hostile environment?"

Well, I don't know the answers to the questions. Let's just say that the land of Equestria is so magical that living in another planet could be possible there without the need for oxygen, unlike in ours. Yeah, let's go with that.

Other questions about how Cipher Emblem ended up living on the Badlands or why he was there in the first place will be answered on the later chapters (or possibly in the sequel that I prepared for this story). Just keep reading.

This is my first fanfic so if it's terrible then I apologize xD. Also if you notice some errors then do comment below. I would appreciate it and I will correct that error as quickly as I can.

EDIT1: The art was made by a friend of mine (Hope you liked his work! He was also the one who made my profile pic in this site!)

EDIT2: A big thanks to 'Kujamih' for helping me proofread!