Forward

Cipher tightened the bandana that folded around his head. He needed a place to settle in and he won't let annoying jolts in his brain stop him. He trotted at the edge of the steep rock he was on and looked down.

"If only I can teleport, I would've been outside this place already..." Cipher grumbled, wishing he could do the spell.

The indigo unicorn was very talented in magic. From performing simple dowsing spells to conjuring elemental attacks, he could basically cast more magic than any ordinary unicorn could.

He is also a quick learner and he possesses very powerful intuition on things—allowing him to understand something almost immediately. Force-fields, magic reflection, psychokinesis, transmutation, you name it. He spent almost all his spare time (when he's not reading or fighting monsters) in practicing magic. But despite all his efforts, there are some spells he could never conjure—even some simple ones.

He knew how to do it though. The whole process of imagining the destined location in one's mind and concentrate energy to transfer on that location was something he knew how to execute. It's just that he couldn't do it in action.

It wasn't just on teleportation. He also had difficulties conjuring other spells—even those that he found easy to learn. The only thing that was preventing him from performing those spells is his injury in his head that causes the zaps.

Whenever he focuses on something for a long time, his mind goes overdrive and causes these annoying jolts when it can no longer handle the information being processed. He had difficulties doing activities that require full concentration and whenever he does, he gets interrupted by the pain that occurs. He was lucky to even comprehend ideas that he learned when studying.

"I still can't believe what was written in the scroll. I know it's written by Ink Slinger, but to have a manuscript that existed so long ago that practically talked about evil rulers before Equestria came to be is so unbelievable. I mean how come nopony knew of this or no information about these ancient lords were written in history books?" Cipher thought of the idea that he failed to process from before.

"Well, there are no teachers or historians in the Badlands or even anypony who I could talk to in the place that know these things. They probably just focused on trying to live, like what I was doing for the past 'twenty' years..."

Cipher remained deep in his thoughts. Had he actually been living in the Badlands for twenty years? Did his parents actually live there too? Did they leave him there after a while? Or were they dead the moment he was born?

Cipher knew both his name and age. He did an age-determination spell a few days back and his age revealed to be twenty years, three months, and twenty-eight days. He at least knew his date of birth, but not his place of birth. He didn't know how to perform a spell to identify his place of origin, so he just assumed that maybe he lived his whole life in the Badlands. But because of his amnesia, however, he could be completely wrong.

Having 'amnesia' was an analytical assumption. He can recall the first time he'd seen himself living in that old hut of his but the certain memory was hazy. Thanks to all the reading and all the studying, he concluded that there was something wrong with him and that it wasn't just some accident that made his memories before whatever happened to him disappeared.

He could recall memories of himself asking the locals for help about why he was there, like a poor foal asking where his parents were. He kept asking them the same questions: "Where am I?", "What is this place?", "How did I get here?"

But nopony approached him. Nopony gave him help. Nopony gave him answers to his questions. Nopony at all.

Being tired of not receiving any help, he decided to do something about it. Having amnesia didn't stop him from learning his way around. If it wasn't from the books he read, he would've already died while still asking for answers.

At first, it was very difficult to cope with the surroundings. Being very clueless of where you are can get you into a lot of trouble if you don't know what you're doing. And being in one of the most dangerous places in Equestria, stupidity is just straight up asking for death to get you immediately.

How he was able to live for a long time despite his condition was very fascinating. And being able to adapt and learn magical spells while fighting monsters all the time was something too legendary to be true (I mean it's better than saying plot armor so...).

It didn't take long for him to find some explanations for his current condition (again, thanks to the books he was able to scavenge during his time there), but being able to come up with a conclusion of claiming to have 'amnesia' took him a long time to do. It took years of research and studying—it would've been easier if not for being disturbed by the brain zaps and the monsters who always bother him.

Since there was nopony to help him during his time in his chaotic home, he only relied on himself. He lived far away from the locals and only visited the marketplace when he needed to buy stuff. Whenever he went to the marketplace, ponies would freak out or run away. That's why when he needed to buy something, the merchants just gave some of their goods to him because of fear. Not that Cipher would steal the goods anyway or just forcefully take the stuff from them—he was a loner but he wasn't a bad pony, even if the locals think that he was.

Cipher didn't have a job nor was he rich, so when the locals decided to not give Cipher the food that they sell anymore, Cipher thought of growing his own food in the back of his house. It didn't take long for the food to grow since he used magic to make the crops grow faster.

He also discovered a spell where he can materialize bits—it's one of those spells that proved to be very useful in his situation but thought it was a bit unfair for others who have jobs. He rarely used the spell and the only time he really used it was when he was desperate to buy a book to read.

Though it still confused him as to where the bits were coming from. The Badlands was a closed area, giant steep rocks and canyons surrounded the whole place, making hiking or trekking impossible. The marketplace had an unstable economy. There's never enough stock for items, items are either too cheap or too expensive, workers are either too sick or in no condition to work, items have no variety, and of course, monsters sometimes destroy the goods.

But despite all those, the marketplace was still making business and selling goods. He didn't know if there was some sort of black market or if there was actually a way for the other places to import and export their goods with the marketplace in the Badlands. Whatever the reason was, he didn't care any longer. His house was destroyed and he needed a new one.

Cipher snapped back from reality and realized that the sun was already setting.

"Jeez, how long was I spacing out?" Cipher blinked to his surprise. He had been spacing out for too long and he wasn't even able to find a way to jump down safely, until now.

"Oh wait, I can do this..." Cipher activated his magic and his hooves started to glow. He took a few steps back and galloped over the edge of the steep rock. He landed on the ground, safely and without causing a loud sound. The landing, however, created a small gust of wind from the ground.

The spell he conjured allowed him to fall from high places without feeling the force of impact when landing on the ground. The magic that was in his hooves served as shock absorbers, dissipating the massive amount of kinetic energy that entered his body and the remaining energy was then absorbed in his magic. The remaining kinetic energy absorbed was then released the moment he landed, producing a small gust of wind, making his fall painless.

Cipher turned around and took a look back at the place where he once lived. He was finally going to leave. He was unsure of what to feel at that moment.

He wanted a place where he can feel at home, without the disturbance of the uncertain weather or the ravaging monsters that always interrupt him. He wanted to learn and do new things—things he couldn't do in his old home. He wanted to be free. And now, this was it. This was the moment he had been waiting for.

It wasn't because he deeply hated the place. Sure, just walking around the canyons and immediately getting attacked by giant moles or bull-serpent creatures was rather annoying. Locals thinking you're a monster or unpredictable weather occurring every day can very much irritate anypony.

But Cipher was able to adapt to that kind of style in his life. He got used to living in an extremely hostile environment but like any other living being, he too had limitations.

He grew tired of being vigilant all the time. He wanted to eat without being paranoid of what would come for him on the front door. He wanted to sleep without always having to cast a magical barrier around him (this sometimes drain his energy in his sleep, so he ends up not being able to sleep at all). He wanted to walk in the hills without the need to look above for falling rocks.

The unicorn gave a heavy sigh and trotted forward, for it was the only direction he intended to go to.

Forward.

Author's Note

Okay here are a few notes to take in mind:

• Cipher's pyschokinetic abilities can range from holding a small rock to a large object such as a bookshelf. He can't lift anything bigger or heavier like something as massive as a boulder. If he could, he would have been able to get out of the Badlands just by stacking boulders or compiling everypony's houses in the remote village. And, no, he can't lift himself or fly.
• Cipher's transmutation capabilities are impressive but not immensely powerful. He could transform any object like a cup or a plate into something entirely different from the original object. However, his injury in his brain prevented him from transforming objects into something complex, like contraptions or machines. He also can't transform anything gigantic like mountains or houses. So yes, if you thought that maybe Cipher could've transformed an object into a catapult to launch himself out of the Badlands or turn the canyons into something small so he can just walk out from it, then sadly, no.
• Chapter 2 and 3 was only supposed to be in one chapter but since I made Chapter 2 focus on Cipher's past, I figured that his travel would be kinda irrelevant to the main topic of this chapter so I put that in Chapter 3. Sorry if this chapter was short.

Please do leave a comment below if you see any errors, I will correct them as quickly as I can.

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