The Cold Cacophony Of The Damned

Chapters

I-When Twilight Falls
II-By Brightest Morning, By Coldest Day
III-Melancholic Forest
IV-Forestry
V-Into The Unknown I
Interlude: Those That Stayed Behind
VI- Waking Up
VII- Establishing Connections
Interlude: Judgement
VIII-Time
IX-Reflections
X-Folklore/Interlude: The Day After The Empire
XI-Conversations
XII-Rising Crescendo
XIII-Into The Unknown II
XIV-Cresca, City of Lights Daytime - I
XV-Cresca, City of Light II

I-When Twilight Falls

"You have a lot to think about"

Princess Celestia said this as she walked past Twilight, closing the doors behind her. Twilight saw the look that her mentor had given her, the stone cold face that showed her disappointment in her eyes. Twilight couldn't keep herself from crying, the tears threatening to burst forth from her, and drown her in them. She in her turmoil, decided to teleport herself, she didn't care about the destination, she let her body relax as her magic took control, and when she opened her tear-ridden eyes again, she found that she was in the guest room reserved for when she was visiting Canterlot. Twilight's thoughts turned towards the event that had just occurred a few minutes ago within the throne room.

She couldn't believe that her friends didn't believe her, even Princess Celestia didn't! Twilight knew that something was weird about Cadance, she didn't act like this! She was kind, caring, and certainly didn't act mean towards other ponies. Twilight made her way across the room, heading towards the bathroom. As she gazed upon the mirror she thought about what she did wrong, and how that could have changed. Maybe if she had sure-proof of Cadance being evil, they'd believe her and do something about it! Twilight organized her thoughts while cleaning her face, and while thinking on ways to go about getting the proof, she came across a thought that certainly wasn't one she would ever do, but she was desperate for the truth to be revealed and despite what Shining told her she found herself not believing in a single one.

She focused on the thought she had, taking into considerations of the consequences this plan had should it turn out she was wrong. She could very well be punished even harsher should she be wrong, but she had never been wrong before when the possible fate of Equestria hanged in the balance. This plan of hers, she would attack Princess Cadance. Normally, she'd have used the elements of harmony to do it, they seemed capable of exposing any evil that lurked in the shadows, but she knew that wouldn't have worked because not only could she not get them, but all of her friends would refuse to wear them for the sake of validating a claim. Twilight reiterated her plan, attacking a pony with the elements is one thing, they wouldn't attack anypony that was good and surely if she exposed Cadance for her true colors, then everypony would listen to her and they'd be able to stop this wedding before something bad went wrong.

There was a small thought eating away at her while Twilight thought about all of this though, what if she was wrong and it turns out she just attacked a stressed out bride for no reason? Twilight shook away the uncomfortable thought, deciding that it was nothing more than skepticism in her abilities, this would go perfectly and then everypony would see that she indeed was correct.

Twilight hadn't made her presence known in the castle at all, hoping that it served as a distraction so that she could isolate Cadance alone. She kept having that nagging thought in her head about whether this was the correct course of action or not, and each time, she closed out the thought. She considered it briefly at one point, but knew that her plan couldn't fail, at least... it shouldn't. Twilight kept a vigilante watch, finally spotting a chance as she saw Cadance split off from everypony else. Twilight slowly made her way down the hallway with her, she would attack her as soon as she reached her room. Twilight only knew that was her destination based upon prior knowledge, and as Cadance reached the door, she looked around before walking inside, closing the door behind her.

Twilight increased her speed, gunning it towards the door, and as she reached it, she screeched to a halt. She took a deep breath, calming herself so that her heart rate could go down. She could feel her heart beat slow down momentarily, so she took the chance and knocked on the door.

"Come In"

The voice from inside spoke loudly, Twilight started to push the door open, the door creaking open as to give her a warning.
As Twilight slipped inside, she noticed Cadance's gaze upon her, it a mix between surprise and... loathing?

"Hello, Twilight. Come to apologize? Or maybe claim that I'm evil again?" The pony princess remarked as she brought up the fresh memory that had occurred mere hours ago. Twilight shook her head to the latter statement, deciding to play it cool before striking. 'This certainly is something Rainbow would've done' Twilight thought as she opened her mouth to speak.

"No, I'm not here to do that again. Look, I just wanted to apologize about earlier." She lied through her teeth, taking not as to be careful with her words, lest she get caught now. Princess Cadance's look turned from it's previous shape into total surprise, it looked like she didn't expect a thing. Twilight waited with baited breath, as Cadance walked towards her. Seconds turned into Minutes, Minutes into Hours. Everything seemed to slow down as she came into range for Twilight to think she was close enough. She wanted to surprise her, and rough her up. What she would do wouldn't have harsh effects, and were only meant to give her a scare quick enough for her true colors to show, if she had that then maybe she could turn the wedding around.

Twilight lit her horn, it's hue glowing as she restrained Cadance in her magical grip, before throwing her towards the bed. She remembered her words, she didn't want to hurt her to badly, just enough for everypony to see. She watched on as Cadance's look of surprise remained as her body flew backwards, jutting toward the bed frame, and as she looked on, she could've sworn she saw her smile.

Cadance crashed into the bed, the covers flying to and fro, while the frame itself creaked under the velocity at which she had been flung. As she impacted with the bed, Twilight got up close to her, getting ready to slam her hoof into the mare, aiming to hit her just shy of her face, she wanted the fear to be believable but the damage to not be. In that instant, Twilight felt the presence of magic on her, holding her down to the ground. Confused, she looked up, her vision suddenly groggy and she felt herself fly through the air, before crashing into the wall beside the door.

Her vision rapidly fading she saw what looked like royal guards holding her down, she also saw several other ponies beside the princess of love. Twilight realized too little too late that in her rush to be right, that she had willingly decided to hurt another pony, and not only that, she could feel something be slapped onto her horn, 'an inhibitor ring' she thought before drifting out of consciousness.

Author's Note

To those that have read some of my other stories, Hi! To the new people, Hello There! This story was made not only with the vision of another banishment AU being made, but is also more or less influenced by the author Centurion Pike-Wall. As such I would like to extend my gratitude to you kind centurion if you ever find yourself reading this, for you have probably inspired many others like myself to write! To those that are familiar with a newbie type writing style, this story not only servers the aforementioned purposes, but it also is a way for me to stretch my capabilities to their max. Because of this, this story will take a more cohesive, lengthy writing style unlike my stories like The Light's Chosen. Either way, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter with hopefully many more to come.

II-By Brightest Morning, By Coldest Day

Twilight slowly opened her eyes, not sure if the darkness she saw was natural, or whether it was just a dream. Her senses came back slowly to her, her mind starting it's slow sputter to life. She had never slowly moved like this, so why did she now? Her eyes soon sharpened to the surroundings, the dark grey stone of a jail coming into focus. She sat unmoving, processing why she was here. 'Maybe use a spell? So I can at least see where I'm at?' She thought as she attempted to focus her magic in her horn, only to feel nothing except the spread of cold in her body. Twilight's mind decided that there had been enough time passed, and started to shove information down her throat, making fresh memories made known.

Twilight realized that if she were anywhere, it would be in a jail cell. She had attacked a Princess, they had put an inhibitor ring on her. What did was she thinking? She started to panic, reassurance surged in, drowning her fears out. Princess Celestia would understand if she showed her the point of view! Right! All she had to do was wait till Celestia showed up, and then everything would go back to normal. Twilight looked from beyond her cell bars, trying to place a guard so that she could get their attention, but found nothing. It looked like she would just have to wait... that wasn't a bad thing right?

She had been waiting for hours and nopony had showed up yet. What was taking so long? Twilight considered the possibilities that maybe something had gone wrong, and they were occupied. This justification was quickly dismissed, as she heard the sounds of doors opening, and she found herself happy to hear something other than her own thoughts.

"Thank goodness somepony finally came down here! I was beginning to think that I'd never get out!"

Twilight's voice faded as she looked at the two guards that had came towards the cell. Normally, the guards would hold a stone statue look on their faces while on duty, but these guards looked angry. Maybe something did happen and they were coming to get her? Twilight could only stare on, her mouth making words but no sound coming out. No words were exchanged as a guard opened the cell, and forcefully grabbed her from it, yanking her along. She took this gesture as to stay quiet and follow them, and she did as they lead inwards into the castle. While they were moving, every so often she could feel the tug of the front guard increase, it was slightly but noticeable to her. It looked like they didn't like what she had done to Cadance.

She had kept her eyes to the ground, and soon she noticed that they were outside, going into one of the larger gardens, as as they arrived to it she could see the figures of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, their heights making them stand out, she also noticed her friends gathered, as well as a surplus of guards. She could also see countless other ponies who she did not recognize, their looks to be angry, furious. She knew their reasoning, and as she reached the front of the gathering she saw them, her mother and father. Her mother looked like she had been crying for awhile, while her father was just holding her. They didn't look up to her as she passed. She soon arrived, the guards' swift motions telling her to stop.

She looked up towards Princess Luna, who had been closer, the dark alicorn only met her gaze briefly, her eyes filled with sadness, and anger. Her gaze shifted to Princess Celestia, and she found it unnerving. She hadn't noticed that she had been looking at her, and when she looked into her eyes searching for the calmness that she usually found, she saw a raging storm. Celestia was angry, and even that was an understatement. Upon further inspection of her mentor she saw that her mane looked to be more alive like fire. It hadn't strayed from it's usual coloration so maybe she was just seeing things? However her eyes were still unsettling, they didn't move from hers, and she could've sworn that she saw flecks of gold in them? Now Twilight was definitely seeing things.

"We will now begin the judgement of Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight shuttered in confusion. Judgement? Surely they were joking right?

"We find Twilight Sparkle guilty, of not only attacking a princess out of false pretenses, but also of threat of death."

This came from Luna. Twilight had grown even more confused, what did they mean by threat of death? She hadn't done much harm to Cadance as to put her on a deathbed or even near one! This has to be a mistake! Yet for one of those rare moments in her life she found herself unable to say anything to plead her case.

"I hereby find Twilight Sparkle guilty of the same charges, and as such subject her to her punishment. We hereby decree that she is banished from Equestria."

This cold voice didn't register on Twilight, but she already knew it was the voice of the solar diarch. Twilight finally found her words, as she saw both princesses horn light up.

"Wait! I'd never do something like this! You've gotta believe me!" She pleaded, looking at her friends, they quickly avoided her gaze, with Applejack even going as far as to use her stetson to avoid it. She turned to her family with hope in her eyes, to find that they had turned from her, opting to look into the ground instead. 'They knew what was going to happen, and they are just going to watch?!'.

Twilight felt herself hyperventilating, she didn't think her deeds warranted her getting banished! She soon felt the presence of a searing heat on her flank, and she twisted in agony to see that there was a light glowing, where her cutie mark was. It hurt, badly. She felt her mind fracture at the pain, as it spread over her, and in her agony she looked towards the princess of the day, and she felt her body jut forward on it's own. Fight or Flight, and she couldn't escape, so she had to fight. She had limited time, and she didn't ever get to the princess as she felt her body be pulled into the nothingness, the cold surrounding her as she passed out from the pain, she could see visions of a blinding sun and a broken moon, and as she fell to the ground there was a melancholy tune.

Author's Note

And so we come along the trip, to see the fall. Though, it won't be the longest drop. Now, I know that people also wonder about why a Element would be banished and to that I say, why would they need the elements in the first place if they had a good army? Another thing is that I have figured out certain nuances that I will tell you when the time permits. The final announcement, is that this story will be going up alongside my other story that is being written, and they will be updated, with The Light's Chosen receiving one chapter a week, and this one receiving two. This is subject to change, and the reason for me doing this is because one: Writer's block with the continuity of Light's Chosen, and two: I've been organizing the thoughts of this story, and somehow, I've managed to list out things for the next 20 chapters. I'll update this story for each day till it has the five beginning chapters, and then it will go on this set schedule. I hope you all enjoyed, and I can't wait for the fall to continue. (No I am not sadistic in any way, shape, or form!)

III-Melancholic Forest

For what seemed the second time within 48 hours, Twilight opened her eyes, her senses coming back faster than the previous time, with the exception of one. She couldn't feel anything, she felt no presence of an inhibitor ring so it couldn't have been that, perhaps she was just tired. She looked around her, taking in the area she was in, the trees that were way taller than any she had seen, their colors ranging from muted reds to light browns. She craned her head upwards, following the trunks of the monster sized trees as the took off from the ground before creating a large canopy that bloated out much of the sunlight. This forest was different, it was similar to Whitetail woods because of it's serene look, but it kept the sinister feeling that was akin to the Everfree forest. If Twilight weren't in this situation, she would've taken time to study the trees but she didn't feel like she would want to study them anyway.

Her sense of touch slowly came up, and she felt the presence of something on her flank. Turning to the protruding object she took note that it was a saddlebag, or at least as close as she was going to get to one. The brown object in question looked like it had been made hastily, and looked as if it were tearing at the seams. It wouldn't be long before it fell apart. Twilight stood up, the bag sliding off of her, and she started to reach down to grab it, figuring that it would have basic supplies in it, after all she had it for a reason. She stopped, focusing on something on her cutie mark. Upon closer inspection, sitting directly over her cutie mark, what a black mark depicting a sun, with a half crescent moon on the inside. She had been branded, and right on her cutie mark at that! It was like spitting in the face of Faust herself and expecting good things to happen. Not only had she been removed from her home, but she also had a brand! It's like Celestia herself told her that even her special talent wasn't worth anything anymore.

Twilight became infuriated, her anger leading her thoughts as she yelled obscenities that the lavender pony would normally be incapable of doing.

(For the sake of my sanity, I'm using the actual curses and not the pony ones...)

"Screw you! Fuck You! Go Throw Yourself Into Your Own Sun Celestia!" She yelled at nothing in particular, the anger draining out of her system as quick as it had come. Twilight suddenly heard the soft sound of water hitting the ground. She realized that it was starting to rain, and judging from the sky, it would be long. She focused on the task of finding shelter, if she were in the woods, she'd hopefully run into an unoccupied cavern so that she could vent more of her anger out at Celestia. She didn't know why she was particularly angry with her, but it strove to drive her forward, so she would use it to her advantage.

After a few hours of searching in the rain, Twilight had finally found a suitable cave that wasn't filled with something. The last one she came across made her heart stop figuratively, she decided to remove herself from there as quick as possible. Either way, Twilight had finally found someplace to take cover from the rain as it had begun to pick up, and she guessed that it would last until the next day. She decided to take assessment of what she had, and used her magic, pulling her bag from her back and opening it, spilling out the contents. She was greeted with an array of objects, one being a loaf of bread. She also spotted some other things upon the pile, namely letters, in total, she counted four.

Twilight took them in her magic, the letters floating in her magic as they came towards her face. On them she could see that only one of them bore a royal seal, meaning that this one was from Celestia. She decided to read this one first, better to get the anger out of her system right? In the dim light of her magic, she opened it, reading it's contents.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,

It has come to my attention that you decided to take matters into your own hands, and even worse, took it upon yourself to attack my niece. I cannot condone this behavior, even from you Twilight. Know that despite your banishment, there have been measures taken to insure the safety of Equestria. Know that also, should you be found in Equestrian territory or any allied territories, that brand you bear will light up, teleporting you to the dungeons underneath Canterlot Castle, where you will then be served a death sentence. Know that I am disappointed in your actions -

Twilight had stopped reading it halfway through. Her anger had returned, and before she could register it, she had took the letter and applied a pyrokinesis spell to it, the letter starting to burn, producing a purple flame before it turned into a shade of red. It would burn long enough for her to not need the use of her horn's light, but she decided to keep it on as she opened the next letter. She immediately recognized the handwriting as Spike's, despite it obviously being written on the verge of tears, seeing as it had numerous dried dots on it, with the addition that the handwriting seemed shaken.

Hey Twilight.

I guess this is one of the first times I've had to write without you saying anything huh? Its weird, but this isn't the reason why I wrote this. Almost everyone is so hellbent on you being wrong, and banishing you that they aren't looking at the bigger picture. While I don't like what you did I have to say that I don't care, I don't believe that you could ever harm somepony that much if you ever wanted to, and I certainly don't think you'd attack without justifiable reasoning. I tried telling Celestia these things but she just brushed it off, and told me that was "young and impressionable". To be honest Twi, I don't trust anyone here anymore and I can't find myself staying with the people that took my mother away from me. I just feel, numb... to say the least. I haven't told anyone yet, but I don't plan on staying at all, and I'm probably going to leave and head for the dragonlands. I just don't want to be here anymore now that you aren't around, and I really don't feel like staying up at the castle. Just know Twi, if no one else believes you I did, and I'm pretty sure your parents did too, but couldn't find the right words to say it. I'm so tired... Goodnight Twilight, and don't forget: I'll always be waiting for you.

Your Faithful Assistant, Spike.

Twilight started crying, no words could convey what she felt. Despite it all, Spike still believed her, and he couldn't do anything because of his age. She wanted to be able to teleport back to Equestria right then and there but she felt like if what the burning letter said was true, then she'd find herself much more quickly six feet under than in the arms of Spike. She looked at the last letter, recognizing the neat and careful folding that her parents were for. She didn't want to open that one, she couldn't. She didn't have the strength to read what they had to say, and if she did, it would've broken her even more. She placed the final letter back in her bag, along with Spike's letter and the bread she had received. She hadn't paid it any mind, but she also noticed a cloak among the items, it was black but held no features among it, so she recognized that this couldn't have been one of Rarity's works. She put it on, it fit over her hiding her features.

Twilight wanted to do more, but with the rain pouring down outside and she stuck who knows where, she decided that the only thing she could do was sleep. It would only be for a little bit after all, at least until the rain let up and she could explore more.

Author's Note

Can anybody guess what the trees in the forest are based off of? Anybody at all? Anyway, I'd like to thank you all that have shown your support for the story so far, and I also want to say thank you to all of you who've placed this story on various shelves. Onward to the next!

Αυτή είναι η επίσημη γλώσσα του έθνους.

Also, if you all are wondering about the symphony, think Moonlight Sonata, or Lacrimosa, or if you know Overwatch: Sigma's Origin Theme.

IV-Forestry

Hours had passed since Twilight had tried to lay down to sleep, she found that she couldn't. She needed to keep herself busy, and as she looked towards the maw of the cave she found that the rain that had started when she was out in the wilderness of the forest had stopped. The rain here... well, wherever she was; was entirely irregular, and unlike the planned weather of Equestria. That wouldn't help her situation to study the clouds and weather, she needed to move and maybe find some sort of civilization out here. Twilight thought on, as she left her temporary shelter, thinking about where she should head. 'Maybe survey the land? Find somewhere high?' she mused, thinking on where she could possibly find a place high enough to see over the land. It then hit Twilight, maybe just climb to the top of the forest. Or, not exactly climb, but levitate?

Twilight eyed the top of trees, the extended canopy interlacing with the surrounding trees. Sure they were tall, but maybe she could climb them?, they had low enough branches that looked like they could support her weight. The lavender pony decided to get a move on, it would be now or she keep wandering the forest at ground level, where creatures could attack her. she started her climb, only get about a quarter up the tree before slipping and falling. As she fell back down she knew she'd be at this for awhile.

Twilight looked down from her position. She had finally reached one of the thicker branches of the tree, and was now three-quarters of the way to the top. If she were to fall now, she wouldn't get back up with nor only just a broken leg, it'd probably kill her from this height. She huffed in slight annoyance, she could have reached this spot an hour ago by teleportation, but each time she tried to focus on teleporting, a searing pain shot up from the brand. She guessed it was to "discourage" her from teleporting back to Equestria, but a warning had already been given, this one seemed like overkill.

Twilight focused back on her task, knowing it would be better to get to the top, since she was burning precious daylight. Focusing the energy into her horn, and then spreading it over her body, she began to float up into the canopy, before she reached the top, going to a branch that looked like it would survive her weight, despite it's small appearance. She turned her head, looking out from over the various treetops, looking for something that might be a clue, she had hoped to spot something, but she couldn't see that far over the trees, seeing as how some of them were larger than this one, how that was possible, she didn't know. She had also spotted what looked to be a river in the distance, but it was clearly something moving, so it had to be a source of water. Wait. What was that?

Twilight looked further down from the supposed water source, seeing smoke in the distance. Smoke meant there was fire, and that meant there was civilization! Twilight quickly made a mental note in the direction of the smoke, hoping that she would find somepony there. She quickly reversed the steps she took to get to the top, floating down as close as she could before she expended her energy, and climbing down the rest of the way. She turned towards where she had seen the smoke, and started to go in that direction. She looked to the sky, surmising that it was getting close to sunset, and if she started now she'd probably have to deal with nocturnal creatures, so she took a few small branches off of nearby trees so that she could use them for a fire, and began her trek back towards the shelter she had made.

'I'll set off tomorrow. I still have bread, and I found a small pool of water in the cave'. Of course drinking water from a unknown source wasn't favorable to her, but she didn't have any other choice. She hadn't been given anything to drink from, so she had to make do with what she found. She realized that she should try to find the source of that smoke quickly, because once she leaves her shelter, if she didn't have any water, that would be- Twilight broke off the line of thinking. She would deal with it one step at a time.

Twilight made it back to the cave just as the sun went down over the horizon, and the moon came up. She set up the fire, using her magic to start the spark and as she looked as the flames consumed the wood she imagined that instead of wood being burnt it were ponies. In particular, six ponies to be exact. She hadn't yet looked at the last two letters, but she knew who the final one came from. She had the feeling to burn it, but she decided against it. She would read it at her own pace. Twilight watched on as the flames eventually became embers, and as the blaze died down she laid down to sleep, using leaves from the ground as a makeshift bed. She closed her eyes, letting the cold of sleep take her.

Twilight opened her eyes as she looked at the murky darkness, as the world around her began to take shape. Suddenly, images of a blazing sun and a fractured moon took shape, and she could feel liquid flooding over her, threatening to drown her in it's red depths. She rapidly tried to swim up to the river's surface, only for her to be held down by magic, and as she feebly fought against it, she could see who was holding her in the magic, from the gold horseshoes to the white coat, to the flowing hair. She yelled in anger, as darkness claimed her.

Twilight woke with a start, sputtering out unseen liquid from her lungs as she tried to get her mind under control. She didn't know what she had made her body react so violently like this, and as she got her breathing under control she quickly went through her dream to find that there was nothing. She peeked her head out of the cave, to see that it was still night, and that it wouldn't be day for another few hours. She couldn't go back to sleep now that she had been woken like that. Twilight thought for a moment, deciding that it would be better if she got a move on and go in the direction of the smoke she had seen earlier. The quicker she was out of this forest, the better.

Author's Note

Bonus chapter for tonight! Which means I'm writing another in the morn. I was originally going to post this tomorrow, but decided against it because I'm wide awake, and I'm enjoying writing this. I hope you all enjoyed it, and to those that talk in the comments and not only give me suggestions, or have really well drawn out speculation, I'm glad you took the time out to. I enjoy reading the comments and I tend to respond when necessary. And yes, I'm refering to some in particular (Yes, I'm calling you out!): Thule, TwilightSparkleRocks, Telwyn Freecolt, and Kyuubi325. Also special mention to bronyoftherevolution, for giving me a particular scary idea. I'm glad I was given it! I'm sure there were others that thought it but didn't comment, but I now realize I've gotta be wary of you cheeky buggers. You all are able to snipe backstory before I even write it! I won't say what exactly, and your just gonna have to guess until then! :twilightsmile:

PS. I didn't have a better chapter name for this one, and went with "Forestry" for it's allusion.

V-Into The Unknown I

V-Into The Unknown

Time passes by, minutes spin to hours, hours to days: 1 Week, 2 days since Banishment.

Twilight huffed in annoyance. She didn't know how much time had passed since she had been in this forest, but counting the day and night cycle, she deduced that it had at least been a week since she climbed that tree. She wanted to be out of the forest quicker, but fate has a strange habit of turning something that should have been easy, into a much longer than needed situation. She had managed to find what she thought was a water source, and it indeed was, but the problem was that she was out of food. Now normally, this could be easily fixed by going to get food or going to the market, but this wasn't Ponyville let alone Equestria. Twilight had taken to eating the leaves in the trees and while they weren't good by any means, they were at least edible.

During her arduous treks across the forest, she had taken to sleeping in the trees, on thicker branches. They protected her from the animals that roamed on the ground, and while she hadn't seen any, she had heard the howls of wolves in the area... well, she hoped they were just regular wolves; she didn't want to find out what they were if they weren't. Twilight kept going, putting one hoof in front of the other. It had just turned day, so she had plenty of time to move across the forest.

Twilight kept moving till she heard a branch snap, she turned toward the sound, igniting her horn. Normally, she wouldn't immediately try and fight a noise, but you spend a week in a forest alone and say that you wouldn't jump at the first noise that wasn't you own. She careful moved towards the area it came from, slowly coming around a tree to jump back in surprise. Standing there, eyeing her was a giant deer. It was bigger than the ones she had seen at Fluttershy's cottage, and it's rack looked like gold. It just stood there, before it swiftly turned it's head in another direction, and bolted away. Twilight couldn't comprehend the giant deer that ran away, when it moved it was gone within an instant. She bet if she could get it to race a certain pegasus, she would lose and it would win. She was just confused as to why it's horns were so abnormally colored, normal deer antlers weren't anything like that. 'It must be natural to this land' she mused.

Twilight decided to continue on her trek, after all it wasn't like it was going to get done itself. As she continued on, her thoughts shifted back to the unspoken words given by her mentor and her sister... and her friends. None of them said anything, and it could be arguable that they agreed with them. Thinking back on it, she couldn't believe that they didn't believe her, surely they had learned to trust in her after the whole discord fiasco right? Apparently she had been wrong, and suffered terribly because of it. Twilight thought on her current state, the messy mane, the unkempt coat, all of it. She didn't want to keep it like this, and wagered if the smoke she saw was indeed from a civilization, the first thing she would do is clean herself.

Invigorated by this thought, Twilight began to pick up her pace speeding up into a trot. She would show them that she could succeed even without their help. If she could do it before she became an element she can do it after! That would show them. She continued without delay, she had spent more than a few minutes looking at the giant deer, because the sun was now towards the middle of the sky.

Twilight had finally gotten to the edge of the forest, much to her surprise, there was a path. It was littered with stones sunken into the ground, akin to cobblestone, but not exactly. 'Wait. A path? That does mean there's civilization somewhere!'. Twilight broke into a full on gallop, sprinting alongside the path, hoping to find what she was looking for quickly. Her thoughts were out of control, but she didn't care, she finally wasn't going to be alone! Maybe she could finally get some answers to where she was, hopefully there were some ponies around.

Twilight kept going, her body screaming at her to cease with her fast paced running. It would seem spending a week in a forest made her slightly malnourished, she would take care of it later. She rounded an upcoming bend, before coming to a screeching halt. She looked forward at the state of the village in front of her, the broken down destitute buildings. She could see different beings moving about, but she realized the atmosphere of the village was really poor, it reminded her of lower Manhattan, with everypony just going back and forth just doing things.

As Twilight walked forward slowly, she could see numerous eyes upon her, with greed in them. She didn't like this place whatsoever, but she had finally found civilization, a couple of ponies looking at her strangely wouldn't make her back down. She approached the entrance, and saw what looked like guards, they watched her, creating vicious smiles at her, seeing sharp teeth and a few missing ones. What most took her by surprise is that she thought that there were ponies, but she could only see a few, and all of them looked to be earth ponies. She hadn't ever seen many other non-ponies, but these surprised her.

Going back and forth from place to place were large foxes, the same size as her, but unlike the foxes of Equestria, they had numerous different colors like ponies, and had more than one tail. Some had two, others had three, she had even seen a large one with four tails! What were these beings? Twilight started to step forward so that she could ask one of the ponies she had seen a question, only to feel her legs refuse, and as she fell, she watched darkness lay claim to her eyes.

Author's Note

And so we have the Fifth chapter. Can someone guess the foxes she saw? This is one of the three "species" planned to be introduced in this story, I have yet to hint at the others, and I'm still figuring one of them out. I hinted at what the culture would be in this land earlier, whether it was a comment or a author's note. I do hope someone looks back upon it, and do know, the deer, while not completely relevant, is based off of mythology, and it is native to this land. Also, get ready to be confused for some chapters, because now we start to get into another language, and to better prepare you, I've already written what it is as well, take a look back and see if you recognize it.

Το Κερύνειο ελάφι είναι ένα εγγενές πλάσμα σε αυτά τα εδάφη.

P.S. Yes, the name was definitely supposed to be a joke to a movie. At least Twilight isn't singing it at 3 in the morning.

Interlude: Those That Stayed Behind

Time passes by, minutes spin to hours, hours to days: 1 Week, 4 days since Twilight's Banishment.

'I never expected those despicable princesses to act so rashly against one of their own.' Chrysalis thought, while laying in bed "recovering" from being assaulted by the lavender pony. In truth, she had done this damage by her own will, subtlety making use of her wings to drive her farther into the ponies' throw. She never expected the results to be, so... amazing. Truly, while Celestia was an idiot, her other side, was not. She had known Princess "Cadance" was a farce all along, and had used Twilight as a means to an end so that she could cripple the elements of harmony. It only made her laugh on the inside even more that Celestia had no clue about her other half, undermining her from right inside her. Her crazy decision to banish Twilight? That was the other's doing, and she had easily manipulated the solar princess into doing that just as easy as counting to three.

Chrysalis of course had no idea what the other's motive was for, but she certainly didn't want to get on the bad side of whatever it was. If a being lived inside of one of the strongest ponies in Equestria, and even she didn't know it, that meant that she could easily take over Equestria. Chrysalis would play the fool for now, but her plans had only been set on guard, because she didn't know what the other wielded, but she would find out, nothing would stop her from taking over Equestria, nothing.

She of course decided to take a much more, different approach than before, going so far as to poke around in the actual princess of love's brain and switch them out, after making sure she looked like she had after a scuffle with Celestia's student. Chrysalis had to play this carefully, she had both a princess, and her consort. She would be slowly undermining Equestria's guard, infiltrating it with some of her own. She went as far as to start doing it with some of Canterlot's well known ponies, having spies track their movements, learn their actions and personalities. It only took some spiked punch or a flirtatious pony here and there to capture them, and replace them with her own. This is a giant scale of chess, she would play it correctly. All would be done and prepared within a few years time, and they had nothing to stop her. First she would take Equestria, and then for good measure, she'd take that being living inside of Celestia for her own.

[Elsewhere: Ponyville]

The main five gathered at Sugarcube Corner, they all hadn't got over their friends banishment, and hardly spoke about it. Applejack was the first to speak, she didn't want to, but she knew if she didn't then nothing would get done.

"Ah know you all don't want to talk about it everypony, but we all knew what was gonna happen if we did say anything, but we gotta keep going, live our lives an' stuff, even without Twi. The princess said that she wasn't in the right state of mind, an' she was a danger to everypony an' herself." she started off.

This was hard, talking about Twilight. They had so much more they wanted to say to her, but instead they only watched on as she was banished. She'll never forget that look in her eyes, the fear of losing everything she had ever known. Of course, they had all taken the task of running the library in her absence, but it was never the same, and eventually the memories would be too much to bear. Her line of thought was interrupted:

"We all know, but we didn't do anything, instead we pushed her away when we most needed it" This came from Pinkie, who's mane seemed to have lost a bit of it's luster, but it retained it's poofiness, so that had to be a good thing right? All of them agreed that they shouldn't have done it, well... almost all of them. The ones that strongly opposed that notion were Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy surprisingly. None of them had shared their reasons for it, but it didn't take much reason to figure out why. Rainbow saw herself so loyal to the princesses that she would oppose anything that harmed them, friends included. Rarity thought the methods taken were brutish yes, but she saw it more as generosity for her to even live, despite it not being in Equestria. To attack a princess was the gravest crime to ever be done, and it was usually punished by death, but banishment had to be a more generous one instead of taking Twilight's life. Of course, the world knew it as Twilight having been controlled by dark spirits, but they knew better.

Fluttershy, well... she didn't say much, but their was now a certain animosity in the room when talking about the lavender pony. It was everyponies guess as to what was going on in her head, but she it probably had to do with the fact that she was so kind, and she would never be unkind to anypony. She was the element of kindness for Celestia's sake. She wouldn't ever associate herself with someone that practically bullied a princess with their magic.

Applejack focused back up, she was getting side tracked again. This meeting was going to be long.

[Elsewhere: Canterlot]

Shining Armor was going about his royal duties, much to the frustration of his parents. What they didn't realize, was that this was his way for grieving. He didn't grieve for his banished sister though, he could have potentially lost his to be, luckily she was just in a coma; and the way he saw it, she got what was coming to her. Shining refocused on his task, now wasn't the time to get sidetracked, he had to meet with the princesses about an oncoming event happening close to Equestria's borders. He tried to recall what it was about, something about an Empire?

Author's Note

To those asking about what's wrong with Celestia, there indeed was something wrong with her! I know it maybe to early to know about it, but I assure you it's just the tip of the iceberg. I just want to say, I hate typing AJ's speech. I always will, but I do it for you all.

Also, I just want to clarify, Interlude's are what's happening outside of what Twilight sees. This could also include events happening that lead up to Twilight crossing paths. You'll see many examples about this later on.

"Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.” -Sun Tzu, Art of War.

VI- Waking Up

Author's Note

Sorry for this one running late! I kinda spent some time watching a movie and it slipped my mind... I also want to preface this, the quotes that show up in yellow text give hints onto future events. There may not always be a quote every chapter, but they add up and will show a secret, so please read them if you want to figure out a part of the puzzle. Get ready to be confused unless you have a basic grasp of this language! Hint: There are two that will show up other than English (ponish I guess).

Let me know if there are spelling errors, and if you respond about there being spelling errors without ever responding back I will assume your a bot! (I've gotten two comments like that, this message exists for that reason)

"We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality." -Albert Einstein

VI- Waking Up

Twilight groggily lifted her head up finally waking up, attuning to her surroundings. She had noticeably placed in a bed, and the only visible light in the room came in the form of a small candle beside her. Worried, Twilight's thoughts began to race, mainly pertaining to her current location. She began to shift out of the bed until she heard a unfamiliar voice speak in a tongue she didn't recognize:

Xaplóste to paidí, den prépei na kineíste akóma. (Lay back down child, you shouldn't be moving yet.)

Twilight recognized the heavy speech to be feminine, and as she turned her attention to the direction of the voice, she saw one of the dark grey foxes that she had seen earlier look at her. She cocked her head in confusion, thinking that she must have misheard the fox, and that maybe her mind hadn't quite woke up yet, so she continued with getting up, only to get pushed back down to the bed by a grey paw.

Sas eípa na xaplósete paidí, den prépei na kineíste akóma! (I told you to lay back down child, you shouldn't be moving yet!)

The fox sounded much more frustrated than before, and Twilight took the speech as to stay in the bed, so she plopped right down on the bed and stayed unmoving while watching the fox. The being seemed to perk up at that, and began to move away from her, heading towards a cupboard while speaking.

Apó ó, ti boroúsa na do, faínetai na échete ypositismó. Eán den sas eícha ftásei tóte, tha boroúsate na eíste to katoikídio zóo kápoiou. (From what I could see, you seem to be malnourished. If I had not gotten to you then, you could have been someone's pet.)

The fox continued on, rummaging through the cupboard, not realizing that the unicorn didn't understand them, till she looked back to see a even more confused look on the mare's face. It did a double take, before smacking itself with it's right paw, before it walked over to her, and began to speak.

Den me katalavaíneis, étsi? (You don't understand me do you?)

Twilight watched on as the black fox swiftly moved out of the room, returning within moments with what looked to be an herb in her jaws. She watched on as the leaf floated in the air, seemingly strung up in a faint glow, before she turned to the unicorn, and gave it to her. The lavender unicorn was perturbed by what had just happened, but she still didn't know why she had been given a leaf that had just floated. She looked up at the fox, the canine dipping her head down at her before speaking again in that unknown tongue.

Tróo. Aftó eínai evlogiméno, tha sas epitrépsei na me akoúsete. (Eat. It has been blessed, it should allow you to hear me.)

Twilight felt like her brain may shut down, from not knowing what they were saying, to being handed a leaf. The fox made a motion with it's paw, bringing it up to it's mouth before clamping down. Twilight took it as a sign to eat the leaf. She looked back down at the green and amber colored leaf, before taking it in her magic and gulping it down in one swoop. When her eyes returned to meet the fox, it was farther than it had been before, and looked slightly unsure of itself. It then realized it's stupor and began to move toward her again, the canine's soft voice ringing out again.

"Doúlepse? Den íxera an skéfteste na eíste-"

Twilight's brain snapped to focus on her, her mind taking in the movements of her tongue, and her speech patterns. It was like somepony had finally managed to close an unruly door, it's lock clicking into place.

"an abnormal looking terran. I haven't ever seen one with a horn like your's." The fox said, eyeing her again.

Twilight's brain decided then and there it had enough of the bullshit, and decided to crash, she was stuck with her mouth open, unable to speak. After a few awkward moments of silence, her brain started running again.

"Wait. I can understand you? I'm so confused! Who are you? As a matter of fact, what even are you? I've never seen foxes this size." She said while keeping caution not to move too much. The fox looked at her with a look of mirth, before speaking.

"Well, glad to know it does work and I have just saved a rude terran." It said, faking being hurt by her words. "And for your records, I am no fox, I am a reynard. My kind may look like foxes but we definitely aren't related. Usually, courtesy indicates that the guest tell their name first but I guess we'll have to skip over that. My name is Misako, and you are in my clinic. Well, as much as it could be called a clinic anyway. You are?"

The newly named Misako looked towards her, waiting for an answer Twilight obliged.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, thank you." The mare said while breaking into a cherry smile for what had felt like ages since she last did. Twilight then opened her eyes again, not skipping a beat before going into full on info mode.

"What was that you did with that leaf? How did you do it? Is it magic? If it is magic I've never seen that type of magic before! Also, where am I? What's this village called? How d-" She was abruptly cut off by a paw being stuffed into her mouth.

"Not too fast with the question child, or else you might just break this old nard. Now, I'm willing to answer your questions, but firstly I need you to answer some of my own. I want to know how you look so malnourished, and why did you scream out in the middle of the night? I had a hard time giving reasonable answers to some of the people going about their business. I tried to get you to stop but I was only able to dull the pain from that mark on your side." Misako said while sitting in a position that finally showed her features a bit more clearly.

The reynard was about to speak again before a rumbling sound cut clear across the room. When she looked into Twilight's eyes the mare stared back with a sheepish grin.

"Sorry."

The ebony canine looked to be in thought momentarily before voicing words that Twilight hadn't heard in a week.

"There is nothing to apologize about child, if I had been malnourished and then passed out in the roads I would be hungry too. Let us get something to eat first, and then we can talk.

VII- Establishing Connections

Time passes by, minutes spin to hours, hours to days: 2 Weeks since Banishment.

Twilight learned through Misako that the town she had found herself in really didn't have a name, and instead often found drifters or were subject to... less than desirable outcomes. Other than that and the fact that not all the locals were friendly unless there was something in it for them aka Quid Pro Quo. While this bothered her that to receive help you should be able to supply the pony, or person with something in return.

She had also learned that this place was also under "protection" by the local warlord, who Misako didn't name. The only thing she told her was, if she ever came across anybody that worked for him, she should flee as quickly as possible as it turns out the warlord favored to blood eagle victims. Needless to say, Misako didn't need to go into such detail about it, but she did say that it was done often, and in the town's square to remind them of who they were under.

Speaking of the reynard, Misako had given her the option to stay with her since she didn't really have anywhere else to go, and she didn't even know the language, which the reynard had called it the "language of mortalis"; whatever that meant. She had also said there was another language, but she could not teach it as it was only available to those at the main part of the country. Twilight didn't know what that meant, but decided that it would be easier to stay here for now, as to learn more about the place before leaving to go somewhere else. Even though in her heart she wanted to tie Misako up and ask her every question under the sun, she didn't feel like doing so not only in her head, but also in her soul. 'It must be something to do with this accursed brand' she thought as she moved towards the 'living room' area of Misako's home.

While she had been resting, Twilight had been contemplating what she could do to pay Misako back. She didn't have a job, but maybe she could find one by searching for one in the town? That could work. Twilight decided to ask around the town, hoping that she find something that would allow her to repay the reynard for her kindness. She would have to act quickly though, she had taken another leaf this morning, and it's power would soon run out.

According to Misako, that was the power of what this country calls "The Source" or whatever that meant, and Twilight thought to compare it to magic, but instead of it being from one's own being, it draws from the land into the person, and allows them to briefly use that other language that Misako had talked about. Overall, she was excited about learning something new since it kept her mind busy, but she still had the problem with the nightmares. 'Hopefully they have zebras that can make potions too.' Twilight thought after she had been told about the main four species of the nation's populous.

First, there were reynards, who all were similiar to Misako, but all had differentiated tails and whatnot. Next, there were the reynard's wolf-like cousins (yes, wolf-like vs IRL counterpart.) called jackals that have only one tails and were more tribal. She had seen a few from one of the windows in the house, and out of the ones she did see, she could see what looked like runes carved up into their skin. That must have been what Misako meant by tribal. Thirdly, there were the ever elusive mylodons; who she had only seen two from the window. They were bigger than every other creature, not by much, but they all had a muted color palette, the two she had saw were white with a spine of dark black hair running down their backs. Lastly, there were Terrans, which were essentially earth ponies but they didn't seem to have the natural magic that those of Equestria did.

Twilight sat down in front of a particular well dressed terran, the pony wore what looked like a white suit with gold accents, she could also see that he had a thing for stetsons seeing as the whole room had some crudely made ones. The room she was currently in had been inside one of the more well looking buildings in the town, and even had marble. She didn't know how somepony could afford something like this, but she guessed they were a merchant. She had finally concluded walking through town looking for work, and had been made an offer from this pony after he had seen her magic, something about keeping order of shipments? She didn't care much about what it was so long that she could do something. The grey coated stallion began to speak, taking in a long drawl of a cigar before actually speaking words.

"Like I said, all the job is; is keeping track of my shipments and whatnot, and making sure that everybody that is employed under me gets properly paid. That also means taking care of when someone steps out of line, and from what I've seen, you could probably easily correct that. After all, we could use your help, seeing as the previous secretary was unable to keep up." The pony said with a wink.

Twilight was confused by what he meant by "correct them", but chocked it up to making sure that if anypony did something wrong, she needed to just reprimand them and tell them to do it properly next time. She also reminded herself that she had yet to know the name of the pony wanting to employ her, so she wagered it might be easier to ask him now since he had finished talking.

"Wait, you never told me your name sir. If I'm gonna work for you, I need to know what to call you." The pony eyed her for a second, remembering that she wasn't native to these parts. He took in a long drawl again, his eyes fixating on her like a predator waiting to jump a fantastic piece of prey.

"Well, I can't have my secretary not knowin' what my name is now can I? It'll make it easier for the both of us if you call me Gray, with a 'A' instead of an e. Also, that's Mr. Gray not just Gray. Now, how about we get you started?" Mr.Gray said while holding out his hoof.

Twilight reluctantly took his hoof and shook it. It's not like she had any choice, better to get a job so she could repay Misako, or go back to the forest... and she wasn't going back to that place.

Author's Note

A few notes for readers (and myself): Jackals are more wolf-like than their real life counterparts, and are slightly larger. Think that the jackals are all essentially a mix between having the structure of a jackal, but have more wolf features. (Can't explain it exactly.) These "jackals" will be referred to as Ashina in later chapters, based off of the chinese legend of Asena, who is a she-wolf that nurses an injured child back to health, and gives birth to ten half breed children, which establish a clan called Ashina.

Mylodon appearance are based off of FFXIV albeit slightly smaller to fit with the size of all the other species. After all, if they were the same size as their game counterparts, every other species would've been dead by now.

I did have plans to introduce a griffin type creature called the Hieracosphinx and even thought about introducing mini sphinxes like the show's canon sphinx. I ultimately scrapped the Hieracosphinx because of it's similarities to the demigryph, and I scrapped the mini sphinxes because of how less they lined up with the planned story.

Also, get ready to hate me for the time skips. Yes, I hate em too but there are reasons why their used. It's not like I'm gonna fast forward years, just months at first anyway. The next three Interlude chapters that come along will be set two years from each other. You'll figure out why.

"Small communities grow great through harmony, great ones fall to pieces through discord." - Roman Historian, Sallust.

PS. Do you like the name change? I think Cacophony fits better given it's definition.

Interlude: Judgement

Author's Note

I gotta say, I was thinking of Princess and the frog's "Are you ready?" song while writing this. My personal playlist didn't help either. We've come to a portion of the story that some of you have been ready and waiting for, yes I know it seems early, but it's a method to the madness. With out further ado, Interlude: J̴̡̛͙̀ṷ̵̧̉͌d̴̢͔̼͍̀͋ġ̴̝̮̦̤́͋e̷̫̎͋͑m̶̻̹̤̲̌̌̑͝e̸̖͒n̴͎̈́t̵̘̬̞̋͘.

P.S. Let me know if there are any spelling errors or words that don't make since, I tried to skim through most of it and catch any mess ups but I may not have gotten them all.

Interlude: Judgement

[Before Discord's Defeat: Minutes Before]

Discord chuckled on as his power went rampant, creating confusion which made the draconequus laugh even more.

"Chaos is a wonderful, wonderful thing." The chaotic god chuckled as the element bearers he had mischievously disbanded.

"Not as wonderful as friendship." Discord did a double take at the comment from the ring leader, Twilight? Was it? He couldn't help but laugh at the comment, breaking out into unseen hysterics.

"Oh, this again?" He said as he straightened up, and snapped his fingers, his magic dispersing around them. No visible change was created, but still it bothered the ponies in his presence. Rainbow Dash was the first to speak up about it.

"What did you do!? I saw you snap your fingers!"

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. So demanding. If you must know, you'll learn later. You can call it a parting gift my little ponies" He said, making light of the situation. He could hear the voice of the merged being in his mind, them whispering as their souls became one, and disappeared. The element bearers would learn later what he did, he was sure of it. That would be a giant test to see if not only they could hold up, but if the princesses themselves were up to the task. Discord hoped he was right with placing this task in the hands of ponies, if it went wrong not only would the world be rules by a tyrant, but it would also be built on a mound of the dead. 'Here's to hoping Celly can actually see through the chaos'.

"Enough of that. You couldn't break our friendship for long." The draconequus turned his attention to the element of honesty, before he spoke.

"Oh, Applejack. Don't lie to me. I'm the one who made you a liar. Will you ever learn?" Discord said. He knew what was coming, and he would play along accordingly. Such was the process of this 'test' of his. He chuckled at the sudden thought, it was more like a exam that would be failed either way, with multiple ending to it. He doubted that the event would happen now, but it would probably be between 4 to 8 years, hopefully much sooner.

[End of Flashback]
[Canterlot Castle: 3 Months since Twilight's Banishment.]

Applejack trotted on with her friends as they came to the throne room. When they arrived, they noticed the presence of not only both princesses, but the Captain of the Royal Guard was there as well, aka Shining Armor. As they approached the princesses, the elder alicorn started speaking.

"Hello my little ponies. It is good to see you all again, even if it is under different circumstances." Applejack was confused by this, luckily, she wasn't the first to voice her opinions.

"What do you mean 'under different circumstances' princess? Is there somepony that needs to be smacked by the elements?"

The farm pony didn't even need to turn her head to know who this came from. That tone of voice and cocky attitude only belonged to one rainbow haired pegasus. Princess Luna in turn answered their fears.

"Hopefully not Rainbow Dash. The circumstances of this visit are because a ancient kingdom known as the Crystal Empire has returned after one thousand years. We have called you here so that you may be sent along with Captain Armor here, along with the elements of harmony."

She paused as Princess Celestia continued on.

"Despite... recent events, the elements should be a powerful boon as you will be tasked with not only securing the Crystal Empire, but you will also be tasked with defeating the previous ruler of the Empire. King Sombra, a unicorn whose heart was black as night, took over the empire. He was promptly defeated and turned into a shadow. However, before he could be banished, he cast a curse over the empire, causing it to disappear into thin air."

She paused before continuing onward.

"I believe that before we leave, you will need these" Celestia said as she warped a box that everypony in the room recognized. The ones that contained the elements of harmony.

"Now, I know that we may not have Twilight here, but I am sure that they will still work even with a different-

A loud noise could be heard from the box, as it forcibly opened, the box splitting in half with the light pouring from it's cracks.

"We do not approve!"

Everypony was in shock at the voice they heard. It sounded like Twilight, but there was no way that it could be her.

"We will not support traitors!"

"We are not tools for unkind ponies!"

"We are honest! You are not!

"We despise those that bring sadness!"

"We scoff at your so called generosity!"

Silence echoed in the throne room as five objects floated from the cracked remains of the chest, slowly taking shape until five alicorn shaped beings floated down to the ground. (Think in regards to the look of the tantabus.)

"We repeat again! We have watched, and we do not approve!" The twilight-like voice said again as the purple one stepped forward, with the element of magic glittering inside of it. There was something completely different about it, in the place of it's radiant purple, the edges had turned wisteria. This didn't seem to affect the element though, as it continued on it's tirade.

"What is this!? What has happened to the elements?" The lunar princess screeched in shock. The elements turned, and seemed to fold into the purple one, before it spoke, the element of magic rose to the surface, breaking the surface of it's magic.

"SILENCE"

"We will not be used like this no longer!" It turned back towards the main five, it's energy lashing out of it's mane in anger.

"You want to know what has happened to us? YOU! You who we have entrusted in, have failed us! You have failed the most important lesson for our use!"

The ponies could only watch on in silence as the being continued.

"Twilight Sparkle trusted in you as friends, and yet you said nothing! You did nothing! You are unprivileged!

"What do you mean?! she attacked Princess Cadence! You can't judge us!" Rainbow said as she shot up and towards the elements, they in turn moved to the side, dodging the pegasus's speedy attack.

"While we agree that her methods were less than favorable, you gave her no other choice. You took no responsibility in trying to figure out why she did it. You, her friends did nothing!" It then turned towards the princesses, specifically Celestia.

"And you blindly believed the lies that thing told you! You distanced yourself from the truth! You decided to suspend your disbelief because it was your niece! And even worse, you have abandoned your student! You are even more foolish than I thought Celestia!"

Celestia was unable to speak, finding her voice unwilling to converse with the elemental being. It was at this time that Rainbow decided to retry her last trick, and no one could stop her as she zoomed into the air, heading back towards the being. If shock wasn't already signified, what happened next would forever remain in their hearts. The element of magic fell back towards the other, and the change was instant as loyalty rose to the surface, the purple hue changing to the dark red of it's magic.

Loyalty snatched Rainbow out of the sky, before flinging her toward the castle ground. It snarled as it spoke:

"Try that again, and you will end up with a lot more than a bruise!"

"Element bearer of Loyalty, would you like to know what you did wrong? You decided to stick up for ponies other than your friend. I swallowed my pride at first, hoping that you would learn from your battle with Discord but it seems I was wrong. You, decided to put your ego ahead of yourself, and in doing so, decided to believe the words of others instead of your friend that literally knew Cadence when she was younger. For that, I am no longer yours to command."

In a flash of light in the being, they heard a loud *CRACK* as the element of loyalty lost it's glow, becoming a solid grey. The alicorn double's color briefly changed grey, before turning into a dark pale blue.

"Element bearer of Generosity. You stand before us to be judged. There is no plea. You decided that to be silent at your friend's hearing was generosity at it's finest. I am ashamed to believe that we chose you. For that transgression, you may no longer call upon me."

A second flash of light happened, along with the same loud crack. It was obvious to everypony what was happening by now. The elements were dispensing judgement. There was another change in color, this time, it was blue like the sky. As it's voice took hold, it sounded more disappointed than angry.

"Pinkie Pie. How could you, you who knew the feeling of sadness turn your back upon a friend that was obviously in need of some laughter? You bring shame upon that mark upon your flank." It paused as pinkie's mane fell flat, losing it's usual flamboyant flair.

"You feel that feeling? Remember that. That is what Twilight felt when you left her. For your actions, you will no longer call upon me."

A third flash of light with a resounding crack sounded, and the element of laughter was gone. Everypony recognized the pink color that took hold next, it's serene voice cutting through the air like a knife through an apple.

"You are a kind mare, Fluttershy. But you went down the path of unkindness when you decided to leave along with the others, subjecting Twilight to a treatment no pony should be. Even you are not above such indignations. For your lapse in judgement, you may no longer use me to spread the joys of kindness. Farewell."

Another flash of light with the sound of an element cracking, and there stood an orange alicorn. Applejack recognized her own color in this one. She already knew what she had done wrong, she didn't need salt rubbed in the wound.

"On the contrary, while I agree that I shouldn't rub salt in the wound, it seems that it is needed. Applejack, you have your own siblings in which you have learned the art of catching lies from truth. I leave you with this question: If you had already known that Twilight was foalsat by Princess Cadance, why didn't you figure out that she was telling the truth? Think on that, the answer may surprise you more than you think."

Everypony was in a state of fear, watching as the elements had slowly cracked, falling from the body until only a purple hue remained, one that was much weaker than before. In place of it's bright purple core, there lied a lifeless grey. Even though it didn't have a distinct form, it looked frail. Like it was dying.

"You ponies have been judged fit as they have seen. I leave with you advice. We will not return unless you are capable of proving that friendship should be given another shot. Perhaps if Twilight were here, none of this would have transpired." It looked lost in thought, before speaking again.

"If you can bring Twilight back to Equestria, with her willingly coming, we shall contemplate on lending you our strength again. She must come back willingly, and if you try any tampering with her mind, we will react accordingly."

Princess Celestia finally found her voice and asked one question that had come up since those words were uttered.

"What will you do?" The purple alicorn turned to her, making what looked to be eye contact with the mare.

"We will react accordingly. There is a trial that has already been started Celestia. One that challenges even your ability to lead as much as your subjects. You would do well to tread carefully with that demon in your mind."

For the first time since the chest that held the elements had been forcibly opened by them, there was complete silence. With that open ended statement, there was one last flash of light followed by a crack, and as the element of magic fell from the air, dull grey and lifeless. It clattered throughout the quiet throne room, judgement rendered.

VIII-Time

[3 Months After Exile]

Twilight awoke to the sunlight pouring through her room. Even though she had officially moved in so long ago, she still felt like it was the first time she had woken up in the home of Misako, the reynard offering her to stay here. Even though she was a strange pony by the beings of this town, she had managed to snag a job courtesy of her boss, Mr.Gray.

Even though she hadn't known what he meant by "reprimanding with troublemakers" long ago she soon found out what he meant within two weeks of working for him. Twilight recalled the memory of her first "reprimand" or what she would call maiming.

[2 Months ago]

"Twilight. Looks like you get to deal with someone after all. Looks like we've got a reynard named Dularn that's been slacking with delivering packages." Mr.Gray paused to take a breath from his cigar before continuing.

"It's a damn shame too, young fella that was one of the fastest reynards underneath me. I want you to bring em in and set em straight. And don't get cold feet sparkle" He finished.

Twilight huffed in minor annoyance. Mr.Gray had taken to calling her the last part of her name instead of just using "twilight". While she didn't mind all that much, she felt it rude to do so, and presumed that he just couldn't decide on using either her full name or her first part, so he decided on the only consonant. She needed to get a move on, and find this "Dularn". Apparently, he was one of the few reynards' in town that had a full grey coat, with no other color on him. That should make him easy to spot despite the gloomy backdrop of the town, and the various meat-shops.

Twilight shuttered at the thought of eating meat. Even though she had been with Misako, she never ate any meat, and when she had told the reynard about this when they met, she had burst out laughing, saying something along the lines of "you may or may not have a choice later on in life, especially dealing with the creatures out here". She still didn't know what she meant by that, but she hoped that there was nothing bad associated with it. Again, she was getting off-track, the more she thought about her place here, the more she felt.... angry? No. It wasn't that, she just felt kind of useless, but she had a task to do and she would see it done.

[Flashback: 1 Hour Later]

Twilight had just left the room after following the commands of what Mr.Gray told her to do. She couldn't help but feel disgusted having to do that to a pony, let alone an intelligent being. She had been told "Only to harm him enough so that he's be able to be back on his feet after long." and when she had questioned that, he had told her he meant that he had told her to break one of his legs. She had understandably questioned doing so, but she ended up doing it anyway.

'What is wrong with me?' Twilight thought as she not only just willingly hurt somepony, but she did it without thinking several thoughts on it. Maybe stress? She doubted that. Could it have been? No. They weren't capable of that, they only dampened those terrible nightmares of the burning sun and fracturing moon. Twilight decided to chalk it up as Celestia having a stick up her ass. Twilight reeled back on her use of lightly throwing the sun princess's name in that way. She would have never have thought about saying something like that. Then again, maybe it was deserved. After all, it was Celestia that put her out here along with Luna. She couldn't help but feel angry at them both, but she realized her anger was just towards her former mentor. Luna looked like she wanted to say something, but didn't. It was likely that she was just following the orders of her sister. Perhaps Twilight was just stressed out after all... she needed some sleep, and they would ensure that she get some.

[Present Time]

Twilight got out of the bed, and started to get ready for the oncoming day, as it was one of her days of leave from working, she would make the most out of the day, and learn even more from Misako. About a month and some change, she had started to learn the language she had been speaking without the support of those leaves that Misako had been giving her. Despite Twilight's large intelligence, she found it difficult to learn it considering how different the alphabet was, for instance. In the language, Cyrolian, the only similarities with Ponish was certain letters such as A and E. The main differences came in the form of howthe letters were said. Like the letter B in Ponish would sound as it looks, but in Cyrolian it sounds like a V. and is said like vee-tah. It confused the hell out of her, and every time she would pronounce a word wrong Misako would look at her, silently and letter her continue saying the word wrong until she got fed up with it. The reynard reminded her a lot of her teachers she had when growing up, albeit with more patience, which she likely got from living for so long.

Twilight freshened up in the bathroom before taking a peak around her room before using her magic to pop a floorboard underneath the bed out. She had discovered the cove a month before, and had since been using it to hide one singular thing that she knew the reynard of the house would not like. She slowly took up one of the white thin cookie like tablets and popped one in her mouth. She tended to take one everyday in the morning, and they helped with the nightmares she had. She had procured them of course, from her boss. Twilight knew she shouldn't be taking them, but it's not like she had any spells that removed the cause of the nightmares right? These were the next option, and even if they were just as bad as not taking them, she felt it better that her emotions and nightmares be dampened, instead of outright having to feel every bit of pain that came from them.

Twilight heard shuffling coming from somewhere else in the house, meaning that Misako was awake and would soon be coming in to check on her, she quickly hid them back underneath their hiding spot before making herself presentable. She soon spotted one of the three letters that she had kept, burning Celestia's during her stay in the wilderness. She knew that one was from Spike, and another from her parents. Based on those two guesses, the last one had to be from her "friends" and she wasn't going to bother opening it now. Perhaps later she would, when she would be in capable reach of smacking the taste out of their mouths for any "badmouthing".

[Warning. Time skips. Yeah, Yeah. You can King Louis the XVI me later!]
[6 Months Later since Exile]
Twilight had since grown accustomed to speaking without the leaves, and had also gotten use to her 'other' job working under Mr.Gray. She still took Aloe, which relieved most of the nighttime problems she had, but had started to feel more and more as if Misako knew about it, asking her questions about whether or not her dreams have been ok as of late. She didn't want to know the answer even though she recognized that the reynard probably already knew by now.

Twilight looked at the time, and saw that it was getting past noon. She would be late, and Mr.Gray would not be happy about that if she were, she needed to get going now. Putting off her pondering, Twilight made way to get to work quickly.

[Nearly 9 months after Exile]

Twilight hated the cold. She hated it, and would rather spend her time jumping through numerous hopes or maybe even being banished to the sun than have to deal with this. Looking out in front of her, her vision narrowed at the light frost appearing on the glass outside. She was inside, and still could feel it! After she figured out how to manipulate weather magic, she would be having some nice words with the weather. She huffed, and decided she had better not deal with a unknown entity, and would rather go warm herself next to the fireplace. She would get warm even if she had to snuggle up to Misako, as it seemed that even though the reynard had more fur than her, she still got cold. What hell decided to freeze over and fuck this area? She thought as she made a move on. Surely even Mr.Gray was curled up inside as well, waiting for this blizzard to pass over that way they could get back to work

Author's Note

It's finally here after fighting with myself on whether or not I should make this a second Interlude of the previous chapter! I ultimately decided that should not be the case. You all will find out the repercussions of the elements not being in play later, let's just say that I was half and half on the situation.

On another note, I have a question for you all. IF you were a unicorn that was the leader of some type of army, if you had an option between two weapons which would you wield?

A. A Greatsword that is capable of becoming a spear when the handle slides out from the pommel of the blade?

B. A greatsword capable of splitting itself into two seperate longsword, which then can become tiny blades, held within magic.

It's an idea for a story I've had in recent memory so I'd thought I'd ask. Also, original plans for this chapter included many different things, such as gruesome depiction, as well as her reading the last letter she still had not yet opened. I decided to go against it, for undisclosed reasons. As to the future, we shall see!

"Strong is the will of a tyrant. Even stronger is a nuke." - The King Of Spades

IX-Reflections

Twilight looked on out the window as she thought on her predicament that led her to her current location. How she had attacked Cadance and had been exiled for it, and how she had found a small glimmer of hope in a citizen of this town. Of course, it still didn't have a name, but most called it Hindrun; she surmised that it was because of the deer native to the forest that she had emerged from so many months ago. Her thoughts shifted onward, of her present company in another room, namely the swift-tongued reynard Misako.

Twilight hadn't know what to expect when she first came here, but she certainly didn't expect that she would be living with the female. Speaking of the vixen, she had been very busy as of late, spouting off random thoughts, mumbling something about a "Emperor". Emperor Kichiro? Emperor Nero? Maybe? Twilight didn't know and didn't care much as long as it didn't put her or the reynard at risk, so she didn't ask Misako. Don't get her wrong, she wanted to ask, but felt that doing so would have been a breach of her privacy, it's not like Misako asked her about what she did before getting the day started, so it isn't like she should do that.

Twilight decided maybe a brisk walk outside might pull her thoughts away from such things, and decided that despite it being cold from the winter winds outside, she could live with it long enough. In making up her mind, she grabbed a scarf nearby; one that she had received from Mr.Gray of all ponies, and made her way to the door. It was really surprising to have been given one by him, he mumbled something out such as "can't let my best worker get cold now can I?" or something of the sort. It didn't matter to her much, well most things didn't anyway ever since...

On another note, Twilight had found the town much more bearable than when she first came here, despite it's many differences to Ponyville, and even though she knew she shouldn't compare this place to her former place of residence, she couldn't help but to. There were so many differences, like the fact that no one here is openly friendly with another, they were only friendly if you could provide a favor to them, and she didn't like the way some of the males looked at her in recent memory. The most glaring differences that she could compare mostly to the majority of Equestria as a whole would be the fact that meat was consumed here. Of course, she expected it from more of the carnivorous beings, but she didn't expect to see ponies much like herself chowing down on pieces of meat. Of course, thanks to Misako she needn't worry about something like that, considering the reynard had never forced her to eat some meat, and Twilight herself wouldn't ever do something like that unless she was that desperate.

Twilight rounded the bend, the cold breeze flowing off her body as she trotted past many different buildings, never losing pace with the thoughts in her mind.

One thought came across Twilight's mind as she kept on her light walk. She hadn't thought about it much, but she hadn't yet seen a library in town. Of course, she had questioned it before somewhere along the line, only to get an answer that she didn't like. It wasn't that it looked like there wasn't a library, it's that there wasn't one. Apparently, there weren't any the farther you went from the capital, and in knowing this tiny little fact, Twilight really wanted to explore more of this land, and become familiar with it. She had approached the idea once before, only to dismiss the idea and never thing of it again. Why had she done that? She'd always love to visit another library, especially since t was in a country that wasn't related to Equestria in any way, shape, or form. She'd contemplate it later.

Twilight finally rounded another corner, spotting her destination directly to her north, coming back into view of her place of residence. She opened the door, and stepped inside, heading straight to her room. She had been bothered by one of the two single letters that she had received, she knew one was from her parents, and had surmised that the other be from her "friends". At first she had refused to open it, considering to extend it the same warm invitation that she had with Celestia's, but the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to know it's contents. It had been nearly a year right? She could read one lousy letter. As for her parents' letter, she had felt that she couldn't face the words they had said, regardless of time. So in her weakness, she had decided to give it to Misako, trusting that the reynard would at the very least keep it safe from harm, and at the most, hide it away for when the time was right.

Either way, she needed to know, needed to see that fourth letter. It would bug her to her grave if she didn't. Twilight headed to her destination, using her magic to grab the letter out of the 'bag' and bring it towards her. She idly stared at it in curiosity. 'Now or never Twilight, here we go' she thought as she tore open the letter in her magic, removing the contents from it, noting that it was actually five different letters, and so she began to read to herself.

Hey there Twilight!

In case you were wondering, this is Applejack. It's kinda weird having to write something like this
to you, considering what's gonna happen and all. I hope your doing well wherever the princesses sent you,
they didn't even know the destination, so long as it wasn't in Equestria. To be honest Twilight, I'm mighty disappointed, and I can't really say that it's just with you, I'm disappointed with myself really. How can I call myself a friend if I didn't stick up for you? Even after what you did to the princess. I just feel... I don't know, confused about the whole situation. I mean, I'm the element of honesty, and I can't even pick lie from truth? I feel kinda like a phony. But listen Twilight, I don't know what's gonna happen to you out there beyond Equestria, and on my family's name I swear that I want to do more to help. Take care of yourself Twilight, and please. Please don't do anything that would get you killed.

Hoping for the best,

Applejack

Twilight stared on at the letter, rereading what she had read. She had never taken Applejack as a mare to willingly open herself like this, considering her stubborn tendencies like when she refused help for applebuck season. Twilight was... thoroughly confused to say the least, and she looked at the other letters, and decided that maybe it wasn't bad after all as she took another paper from the bunch, determined to read through them all.

Author's Note

Small little chapter for you all, and yes, I would've written out all of them but I'm too tired and I just wanted to get this one out before I forgot about it. I turn a year older today and nothing feels different! I dislike this whole "becoming an adult thing". I want my childhood back! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed everyone!

"The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way" -Keanu Reeves

X-Folklore/Interlude: The Day After The Empire

Time passes by, minutes spin to hours, hours to days. Time since banishment: Approximately 1 year, 1 Month, 3 days

[Day After reading letters]

Twilight was happy to be back to working and keeping herself busy. Especially after reading the rest of the letters after Applejack's. Needless to say, she hadn't expected to find another letter similar to hers from Pinkie Pie. Either way, she was glad to see that there was still a modicum of hope from the two, even if it had been told too late. As for the others, she found herself thinking thoughts she could only akin to her employer in regards on how to deal with them. Now don't get her wrong, she had expected negative feedback from Rainbow Dash, and she had thought it would be a fifty-fifty with Rarity what with how she presented herself as vain despite being the element of generosity.

Twilight was most surprised however, to see that Fluttershy was in opposition as well! Now that was a unseen event in her mind! She had never thought that the yellow pegasus had been capable of something so... cold. Her presence certainly didn't show it, but if their fight with Discord was anything to go on, how she had acted probably were feelings she had bottled up, and throwing them all to the surface in the form of the letter was her way to get them out. The lavender pony wanted to get rid of the letters, and had started to burn the offending ponies' letters, only for Misako to smell it. She may be an older vixen, but she could smell her magic fire burning. It made her question Misako's past. She never talked about it, and instead told Twilight fantastic tales of recent legends of the country.

For instance, the one Misako had settled on telling her in detail, was one about a reynard of the 'mists'. Apparently, she was what was known as a Black Centurion of sorts, and when she had inquired what Misako meant by the term, she said it was a title reserved for only the most elite of soldiers. Anyway, Misako told the tails of this reynard who had on her own, fought against a tide of bandits, and after the battle, she was nowhere to be found. The soldiers she battled alongside only finding a leaf in place of where they last saw her. The part that surprised Twilight the most though, was that apparently this 'legend' was recent, and had happened in fifteen years ago. Even more, was that the reynard apparently could manipulate the air with her unique connection to the source. Even to this day, it infuriated Twilight to not know more about it, she needed to get to a library soon.

That wasn't the only legend she had been told too. The first Emperor of this country was also a legend, and had united the many different ponies across the land under the one banner, and years later he had been put to rest by a disease that had taken him in his sleep. Apparently, he was a great tactician, and had unified the land in under half a decade, he also had been the one to put in place many of the rules that remained unchanged to this day. Misako never spoke the first monarch's name, but part of the 'folklore' was that he had been given the disease as a way to provide the most good before his demise, and after his death, he had become one with many of the gods of the country.

While Twilight didn't believe much of it, she found that she couldn't just throw it to the wind. After all, her former mentor had lived for thousands upon thousands of year, surely this ruler had done something similar?

Twilight zoned back into what she was doing, making sure that everything was on track so that she could move onto other things in the day. Mr.Gray had taken to sending out more carriers at a time, with a good portion going to more well known towns. While it confused her, Twilight didn't need to see a reason why she should ask; and she didn't want to ask, knowing his temper. It was good enough to just be at the sidelines comfortably making sure that stuff came and went efficiently.

After all, while Twilight sort of enjoyed what she did, she wanted to explore more. To do so, she had been saving up little by little, so that she could go to one of the towns that had a library, the closest one apparently being about a month away. This was also the reason Mr.Gray punished interlopers severely, as lost packages would take a long amount of time to recover. Twilight her clopping hooves coming from her right outside. 'Speak of the person and they show up. Pinkie's rubbing off in all the wrong ways. Looks like he's in a great mood today.

"Now how're you doing Miss Sparkle?" The pony said as he came made along inside the building. Twilight feinted pondering, looking into the air before responding.

"I'm doing well I've gotta say. Everything's been running smoothly here." Twilight answered, briefly thanking that it had gone well and she hadn't had to do anything to anyone as of yet. She also wanted to ask a question about the various towns across the country, and Mr.Gray seemed to have the answers to her question.

"Mr.Gray, I was wondering what are the other towns and libraries like here? I've heard things but not much." She finished as the gilded gray pony looked at her with a raised eyebrow before her words registered.

"Oh. You mean the more well known places and whatnot. They're definitely different than here. While they have stuff like libraries that might interest you and all that; they've also got a major problem with crime and all that of it's type. See here, the guards under my employ keep hostilities to a minimum, and as long as they're paid, everything goes smoothly and we all don't have to worry about anything." He paused to take out one of his signature cigars that she had gotten used to seeing him smoke.

"But in those cities, it's all over the place. Yes, they've got official guards from the military and everything, but it seems like half the places just got bandits in guard clothing. I reckon it's just they're commander that's got them on the edge of looking for new work. Damn shame what it is. Now, I don't know what your thinking with that there question Miss Sparkle but I'd steer clear of them places if I were you. You may have that there magic, but it'll likely get you in more trouble seeing as some of the folks in this country love the exotic." Again, Mr.Gray paused, lighting the cigar with a lighter he had in one of his pockets.

"Though I'd say no one likes the exotic more than our 'loving' emperor."

Twilight perked up at this comment. She hadn't heard anything about the ruler of this place, maybe this would be the time to learn about it.

"I don't believe that I've heard anything about the emperor at all. What's he like?"

As the question left her lips she saw that the pony had gained a look of confusion momentarily, before their face relaxed.

"I forget your not from around her what with the mark and all. I can't believe you haven't told you about Emperor Kichiro, or as the people call him Emperor Nero. He's the leader of Cyrolia, but if you ask anyone with a brain; they'd tell you it's more like he's a tyrant. The reynard's definitely got a couple of parts loose in his noggin but that's about it. If you want to know more, I'd suggest you'd talk about it with that there reynard you live with. Though definitely ask her about it in private."

Now it was Twilight's turn to have a look of confusion. What did Misako know about the emperor that even Mr.Gray was unwilling to share?

[Elsewhere: Equestria. Months Ago, Return of the Crystal Empire]

Well, the Crystal Empire was saved, and with the heart found they could begin repairing the damage of the battle with Sombra. Now, one wouldn't define this as a battle, it was more of a fury from the solar princesses's part. The elements had recalled the glint of fury in Celestia's eye as she ordered everyone to evacuate as far behind her as possible, before she razed Sombra along with everything in her path. Overall, the kingdom was in a better position than it was before, it no longer had a maniacal pony trying to control it. Yet, now it had to begin with repairing the grass that had been blackened to near ash because of the sheer force behind the solar beam. "Repairing" is a term used lightly, considering that there was no possible way that life would ever grow back from it, at least not natural grass. This, along with the melted crystal buildings that had been caught in the blast as well, led to an extremely weird structured city. Almost half of the city had been razed, with the other half being in natural condition. Thankfully, nopony was caught in the blast.

Applejack thought on as she continued her "assessment" of the land that had been caught in-between Sombra and Princess Celestia. She had been tasked by the princesses to do so, and while she did think that the method of getting rid of Sombra may have been too much, it probably wouldn't have come to this if they were capable of using the elements. Unfortunately, that play was out indefinitely until either they could find a new bearer that the elements would accept, or they could get Celestia to begin searching for Twilight.

The farm mare was thoroughly bewildered, recalling the princesses unwillingness to do so, and while she understood to some extent, she still couldn't figure out why. When she had talked to Princess Luna about it, the lunar diarch had only added onto her fears, claiming that for some reasons even she couldn't get her sister to see that Twilight was needed, regardless of past crimes. It seemed to her that Celestia was growing more unhinged, hopefully she was just tired and needed rest.

Author's Note

First off, I'm not turning this into some Sci-fi thing. It was one of the many planned things for this story, and it will not affect Twilight's journey or development much. I the author, will give you a freebie. Manipulation of the source, is based upon not only race of the being, but also that the use of it's language is largely forbidden. That is all I shall tell for now.

Secondly, what's up everyone? I told you it would be done hopefully before Wednesday and I intend to deliver, it was a fight again on whether or not to make it a Interlude or a Chapter for Twilight. Then I had a epiphany, why not both? That way you all get a update on Twilight and on how badly the Crystal Empire is in after not having two of the most influential characters.

Lastly, I do believe that it is that time that I shall get an editor, and while that may slow chapter updates down slightly, I do promise that the editor I get will be allowed to kick me in the shins if need be for me to make sure to update the story. While I'm not entirely sure on doing it, I'm at least contemplating it. I'll let you know if I have one by the end of this week, if I don't let you know, there's a possibility I'm either busy, or I didn't get one.

Lastly x2, I'd like someone to wager who the First Emperor's legend is based off of? Hint, Hint. If you don't know, it won't be long till you figure it out.

"Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit! -Caesar Augustus, First Emperor of Rome.

XI-Conversations

Author's Note

Sorry for running late with this chapter! But, I finally have decided to start moving up with timetables in the story, and at the two year mark we will get into one of the biggest events in the story, The Fall of Canterlot. It'll be a treat!

This is a short chapter to set up major things in the next few ones, and you all will get a nice change of scenery from the dankness of the current location. I'e also decided that I will not be getting a editor for various reasons that I won't say at this time.

"Folding was never an option." -Cayde 6, Hunter Vanguard

XI-Conversations

"He's a what?!" Twilight yelled out in shock, hoping that she didn't hear Misako correctly about her description of the current emperor.

"He's a paranoid reynard with a twisted sense of humor sometimes. As far as I care to talk about him, his problems seem to stem from his upbringing." The vixen paused eyeing Twilight with a look of concern?

"While we so few outside the capital call him Emperor Nero, his actual title is Emperor Kichiro. Many say his name means 'lucky son' and so he was never told no properly. That's why I say that his problems stem fro his upbringing. No one in their right mind would ever say no to what he demanded, and those that did simply disappeared." Misako finished. She stared up from her tea eyeing Twilight with a flair of anger in her eyes.

"So why don't the people just over-" She was quickly silenced by the reynard who held her paw firmly to Twilight's mouth before looking around the room, looking for things that weren't there. Slowly, she let her paw up from her muzzle.

"You cannot just go around saying things like that Twilight! Even alone we could be watched by spies!" The reynard screeched out, before continuing on.

"You'll get us both killed doing that! I thought you would have known better, working for that employer of yours!"

Twilight's eyes widened in surprise. Misako was correct, she had to be hush-hush with the details that went on with her job so, it was obvious that talking about the emperor of a large country out in the open would probably lead to some unsavory places. Needless to say, the lavender pony was surprised at her lack of filter, and even more so that Misako had shown a side of fury. In her time of knowing the reynard, she had shown many different emotions: happiness, laughter, sadness, a brutal honesty, but she had never seen anger or her being scared. It was as if she was speaking to a whole different vulpine. It kinda scared her.

Misako soon let go of her, unaware that she had started to shake the girl, before redirecting her tone of voice to take on the subtlety that she was known for.

"I apologize, but one does not simply speak about the Emperor without it coming back to bite you. Now, on the term of the subject, you were asking about what the country is like besides here correct? I assume this is because you want to know more about the country? You always do show a fascination towards books."

Twilight was glad that today had not been a complete day of sunshine, and that the clouds partially blocked out the light since she would have glowed if not for them. While there weren't many books that she could read, she definitely wasn't incorrect in saying that she had a fascination towards them.

"Well, Yeah. That kind of was the reason. It's alright here, but I kinda want to see more of this place. I don't wanna be cooped up in one town for the rest of my life. Is there something wrong with that?" Twilight asked, looking at her companion for the answer.

"Dear Twilight, no there is not. To explore is another way to experience the wonders of life. Unfortunately, many experience the "wonders of life" in ways that they never wanted to, similar to how you were when you first came here." She chuckled at the memory, remembering that before she would kind of probe Misako every few minutes, asking a question about the place.

"And while I do not see any reason to fully deny you, I understand that I must do this. I cannot allow you to leave Twilight." Misako said as she stood to her full height, despite her age it was clear that her life had moments of strife in them, small signs underneath her fur showing cuts and grazes though they went largely unnoticed by Twilight.

Twilight had to adjust her head to even match Misako's face, the reynard now being a couple of inches past her height. She had never noticed it before, she surmised that she never saw a need to, until now.

"Oh, that's good. I just wanted to- wait." She almost bit her tongue stumbling on her words.

"What do you mean you can't?" She asked simply, keening her head in confusion.

"Because you can't fight." Misako simply put it. Twilight's confusion simply bumped up even higher now that she recalled what Misako said properly.

"I can fight! I've done it before!"

"Oh really Twilight? If you can fight, simply attack me right now." The vulpine simply said, before sitting down, and picking up her tea, taking a short sip while watching the mare. Twilight was about to say something about Misako's willingness for her to be attacked but quickly stuffed it. She knew that words wouldn't appeal to her, especially since she had known her for long enough.

She decided to take a slow approach, walking around Misako, eyeing her, looking for blind spots like she had learned from many different books when she was younger. The reynard hadn't moved from her spot, and simply watched Twilight as she came from behind her, still sipping on her tea. This was her chance, take it now!

Twilight dove forward with her left hoof in the air, only for her to promptly slip and fall. She looked back, glaring at her legs in confusion, before looking back at Misako to find that she wasn't there at all. she was to her side, sipping tea from her cup, as she was doing mere moments before.

"I did not think you were so... clumsy. I did not expect to be able to move you to that extent."

Misako eyed her with a toothy grin, before disappearing into another part of the house, coming back with a kettle in tow. No words were exchanged from the two as she filled her cup again, and as she sat down she began to speak.

"Would you like to try again?"

Twilight gritted her teeth before picking herself up again. She was going to be at this for awhile.

XII-Rising Crescendo

'Would you like to try again?' Twilight scoffed at the comment that Misako had made a day ago. Somehow, she had yet to touch the reynard, and the next day Misako had decided to make practice outside behind the house, in the small backyard. She had never come out here, but now that she was able to take a look at her surroundings she definitely saw the light beauty in it. The soft but coarse grass as it ran past her hooves. Today happened to be one of the sunny days, the sun breaking past the restless clouds as it beat down upon the pair in the noon heat.

Of course, she had yet to grasp what Misako was teaching her, but then again, she didn't expect to have to fight a seemingly "old" reynard. "Old" her flank! Misako had shown she was perfectly capable of moving around, and had even bopped Twilight a couple of times, putting just enough force into her blows to tip her over, which was needless to say, barely if anything. She wasn't built to fight, she was built to do magic! Maybe if she were a particular prismatic mare, it'd be a different story.

"Do you want to try again?"

Twilight's eyes narrowed in on the speaker, taking caution at the words. Every time Misako said that, she had proceeded to move swifter than before, and even though it was sunny outside, it still felt like there was a mist everywhere. She guessed that this town just had a natural waterfall somewhere nearby that was large enough to produce large amounts of gas. This time she would get Misako, even if it was just slightly.

"Do you want to try again?"

Misako felt that she should laugh at this. Training Twilight reminded her of her youth! When she would dash around quicker than the eye could see, and taking down enemies before they could even sound the alarm. The terran's look made it even funnier to her, as she looked absolutely feed up with her saying the comment. It reminded her of back when she fought.

Shaking off the thoughts, she decided to focus on her opponent. When taking another look at the purple equine, she noticed that she was eyeing her cautiously. It seemed that there would be hope as of yet that Twilight would be special. No point in not getting her there either way, Misako thought as she watched Twilight rush forward, and she swiftly made her move, rushing towards her left side, to give her a soft boop.

Wait.

Misako had noticed it too late. While Twilight had rushed forward, Misako hadn't noticed that her movement was counter intuitive. She was waiting till she closed in to hit her! A smile graced the reynard's muzzle as a hoof graced her right side, going down her side. It looked like that hope would be solidified. Twilight had the knowledge of fighting, and could observe fighting properly, she just needed a solid catalyst.

Misako willingly took the blow, even if it was a small one. As she mock-fell to the ground, she eyed Twilight, the giant shit-eating grin as she had managed to connect with the reynard.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Finally! I was starting to think that I'd never get you!"

Misako slowly got up, brushing the dirt off of her coat as she began to speak:
"Alright, Alright. Settle down Twilight. That was once out of how many times?"

Twilight's grin immediately slid off of her. Misako couldn't hold back her laughter this time as she erupted into soft cackles.
"Don't worry Twilight. I'm sure that you will get better with practice, which is what we're doing now. I won't let you leave until you at least have the basics of fighting down.

Time passes by, minutes spin to hours, hours to days. Time since banishment:1 Year, 4 Months, 2 Days

Twilight stood at the edge of the town, looking out at the road as it led out of the town and eventually out of site. She never thought she'd come to this day. She was finally going to get to explore the country, and hopefully find some interesting books. Misako had manage to teach her the "basics" which were her version of basics. Twilight spent the whole first month trying to increase her speed to keep up with other creatures, considering that Misako had said that half of the country could move quite fast, even the Mylodons, which were bigger than the other creatures here. That meant that bandits also would be capable of fighting at a speed higher than her.

"You're not planning to leave without saying goodbye are you?"

Twilight turned towards the speaker, smiling at the black reynard as she made her way towards the mare. Misako was also carrying a pack on her back, and Twilight knew even though she was old, she certainly would slap whoever so said otherwise.

"No I wasn't. I knew you'd come before I decided to leave, but you didn't have to go out of your way to give me a pack."

"Now Twilight, you would expect me to let you leave without giving you anything. Here, I have this for you as well." She said as she dug something out of the pack, and placing it over Twilight.

Looking down, she saw a necklace, that slowly went into the center of what looked to be a coin. it's shimmering gold sides glowing in the daylight as it slowly trickled into a ring of copper, before bottoming out in the center with a gem of jade. What surprised Twilight the most was how the gem of jade seemed to be two different gems, Jade and Ruby. Overall it looked expensive, no less it probably was. Twilight knew a certain purple haired mare would love to get her hooves on this.

"I-I can't take this. It looks incredibly expensive, where did you get this?" She said trying to understand the gift.

"It's a heirloom. Passed down throughout my family, usually given to the firstborn son. I was the only child born, so it belongs to me, and... and now it belongs to you."

Twilight knew what Misako was implying by her pause. She had never had children, or if she did, something happened to them. She had to accept it.

"Thank you. I-I don't know what to say." She was swiftly wrapped by paws and fur, the latter being extremely soft.

"There is nothing to say. It's said that the amulet there was capable of providing great miracles, and great luck. Ever since it was passed down from my great-great grandfather down through the ages, and finally to you. While it hasn't produced any so-called miracles, it has given relatively good luck. I've no need for it and you, young one, would need it more."

Twilight swiftly wrapped Misako up in a hug again, tears threatening to break through. She would hold onto it for a long time, and never let go of it, or Misako.

"Now. I think while it's still relatively morning you should get going Twilight. The nearest town is after all, one of the capital's subsidiaries. It's dangerous out there, be careful Twilight. And I expect you to write when you get there! Find a Ashinin by the name of Daichi. He's notable by his rustic fur and he is a dothar-ashina. Now, get going young lady!"

And with that, Twilight was off. Into the unknown once again.

Author's Note

And that marks the end of Twilight's time at the small quaint town on the outer regions of the country. Just a heads up, I start a new job soon, so I won't know what changes will be made to my upload schedule, but since it's in the morning, it shouldn't change anything. Another note, the chapter XIV will be a special chapter, and it may end up being a lot larger than the others, meaning it'll take awhile. Does anybody know what the necklace is based off of? Hint, Hint: It uses two different things, One is a coin, the other is an amulet.

"A true friend's silence hurts more than an Enemy's rough words."-?

Also, thought I'd recap what Ashina are. They are wolf-like jackals who value traditions and are more "mystically" in tune than the other species of Cyrolia.

XIII-Into The Unknown II

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XIV-Cresca, City of Lights Daytime - I

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XV-Cresca, City of Light II

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