The words echoed around the palace known as Canterlot Castle. The air was full of disappointment on this day. They had trusted one particular pony so much, only for her to fail them. To one, it didn't seem like much, failing a test. You could say they were over reacting. This was not the case. This was so much more than a test. To a small unicorn mare, a test was the peak, a thing to see if you had the skills or knowledge to pass a subject. She failed. What was her test, may you ask? Nothing too hard. Defeat a foul demonic dictator of the north, one that tortured the inhabitants of a Crystalline Empire for generations.

To the mare, this demon of the northern hemisphere seemed to be just another baddy. She had defeated the goddess of the night, corrupted by envy and jealousy. A chaotic god, prone on turning Equestria into an anarchy filled country, an entire species of love eating terrorists. This seemed no different. It was just a master of the dark arcane. Who can harness fear and feed off it. It was weakened by returning into this realm once more. This demon was banished to an ice equivalent of Tartarus for a thousand years. In pure solitude. Training, waiting, boiling with anger. This demon's name has become a curse. Nopony speaks it. It has been dubbed 'The King', to avoid the curse upon its name, The King was the mare's demise. It destroyed everything she loved, indirectly.

"But-"
The mare spoke, in a desperate attempt to reclaim the kindness of her teacher, the goddess of the sun. The goddess of the sun was busy, filing plans and papers. Signing allowances to take arms.

"I'm sorry Twilight. There is no longer anything you can do."
The unicorn mare shook, starting to hyperventilate. Her pupils dilated as her ears pushed back up against her head. She had seen this scenario before. It was playing out according to what she had seen before. Her eyes darted over a glass window; the window did not show the outside of the palace, rather, it showed a picture. The King was at the top of the picture, a sickly happiness about it. The Crystal Heart hovered just above a small horse. The pony was falling into the flames below her. This picture had depicted what had happened in the Crystal Empire. That mare was Twilight. Twilight Sparkle was falling into those flames.

Twilight had lost her friends to what had happened in the Crystal Empire. They are now slaves. They told her to run. Run to the sun goddess in Canterlot. She didn't want to leave them, but she had to. She would have been a slave as well if it weren't for her friends. She could remember the memory very clearly.

Twilight was stuck at the top of the crystal empire's castle. Greed had struck her when she first saw the Crystal Heart. She, in awe of its beauty, approach it slowly. She triggered an alarm when she approached it, triggering a defense mechanism from The King, who had just now re-entered the empire. Black crystals sprouted around the mare, at lightning fast speeds. She had managed to knock the Crystal Heart out of the cage that had now formed. It was flung onto the floor, in front of her most trusted assistant.

After a couple words had exchanged, her assistant was now running down the crystals that the King was sprouting off the tower.
"THAT IS MINE!"
The King roared from down the street. With ungodly speed, The King was now climbing up a self-moving crystalline platform. Up towards the dragon. There was no escape. The roars and cracks of the crystals could be heard as it moved upwards.

Slipping off the tower, her assistant was now plummeting down to the death making demon below. The Crystal Heart fell out of his hands as he fell, and he swiped at the air, in a desperate and useless attempt to reclaim the heart. With nopony intervening and the princess weak, there was an obvious victor. As The King rose upwards, its shadows split from it, revealing an equine form that contained all of its power. It was an intimidating figure, almost fully armored with metal on its hooves and chest. A red cape lined with a white luxury fur whipped in the wind, along with a jet black mane and tail. A tall crown stood upon The King's head, holding back its mane. It licked its chops, bearing its dragon-like teeth as it prepared to regain the Crystal Heart and slaughter the fool that was falling towards it.

The King hissed in victory, as the heart was now only a couple feet away. The dragon braced itself, hoping for a saving grace. That grace never came.

The heart shoved itself right into The King, in which The King grabbed it, stabbing into the heart with the sharp canines it was born with. A sickly grin was put upon The King's face as a crystal wall formed on the platform and blocked the dragon from falling into The King. Smashing into the black crystal wall with a crack, the dragon was dazed, knocked unconscious as he slipped off the wall, and limply down into the crowd of Crystal Ponies.

The King rejoiced, taking the Crystal Heart from its mouth and holding the heart up high. The crystal ponies below screamed in fear, panicking while The King laughed wholeheartedly. The Crystal Heart adapted a cracked outside, turning its beautiful cyan into a dull, crusty blue as it stayed within The King's metal covered hoof.

"But.. What do I do now?"
Twilight shook the memory, sorrow filling her mind. She was going to be banished. She failed her test, betrayed her friends, and now, disappointed her teacher. Nothing could describe this experience. In a futile attempt, Twilight reached out to her teacher with an outstretched hoof. Hoping to gain back what she had lost.

"Take arms, or hide. Hide from everypony until the threat has died down. This is an order, Twilight. You must leave."
Twilight could feel the tears starting to form in her eyes as she stood back up. Trotting away from her mentor, the pure white goddess known as Celestia. Her whole body shook. She denied this. She could not swallow this. It was too much. Her whole life was gone. In one day. Gone. Her brother was most likely dead or near death, same with her childhood friend known as Cadence. All her friends were slaves. Her dragon, her long-time partner in crime.. He couldn't have survived that fall.

As Twilight exited the room, the doors slammed closed behind her. This was the last time she would be to Canterlot Castle with good intentions. The guards 'escorted' the Element of Magic out of the castle. Looking back at the castle one last time, Twilight broke out sobbing. She collapsed on the stairs leading up to the entrance of the Canterlot castle. Picking herself up was a hard task to do. She laid there, crying rivers and rivers of tears that trickled down each and every step. Stairs. What horrid things. Twilight stumbled to her hooves. Limping away from Canterlot Castle, and into the city of Canterlot itself.

The ponies of Canterlot were stuck up. Usually, they would not notice one pony trotting down the street. When a celebrity trots down the street though, that is a different thing in it's entirely. Twilight could not walk one step without being bombarded by ponies asking her about the Crystal Empire failure. Apparently it was all over the news. They were so quick to report things. Twilight kept her head down, as ponies shoved her about, not on purpose mind you. They were so desperate for details. They wanted to know. They wanted to know everything, Every last thing.

Twilight stayed silent as she wormed her way through her crowd of nosy ponies that only made her tears continue to flow down her face and onto the concrete sidewalk. She found herself at the train station, buying a train ticket. She was going back to Ponyville. She was going to pack her things, and go. Where would she go? Who knows. It was Princess's orders. After receiving her ticket, she waited for the train in silence. The ponies around her refused to leave her alone. They refused to not know. Twilight scowled; her frown was most likely going to be permanent. Her horn flickered a light, sparking a small shield around the mare. She pushed back the crowd, silencing them with her soundproof forcefield.

When the train had arrived, Twilight had stopped crying. Her face was pure red, and her head was hurting, she looked like an absolute mess. Giving the conductor of the train her ticket through her protective bubble, Twilight headed onto the train. The train to her once happy town. Perhaps she deserved this. She left her friends for death, or worse. She stared out the window as the train started along the prelaid tracks. The train was empty. Her shield left her, and she now saw no need for her forcefield. She just wanted everypony to stay away from her, yet, she wanted somepony to hug her. She wanted somepony to help her.

As the scenery changed, Twilight could feel her emotions get the best of her. Emotions ranging from Sad to Angry filled her, causing her to leave the inside of the train a total mess. It looked like an angry dragon stormed through the cart that Twilight had stayed on. When she got off, she headed directly to her library. The old place was useless now. Entering her tree abode, she looked around the first floor for anything useful.

Her horn flurried with light; her magenta aura pulling her books off their shelves and onto the floor. Twilight could care less. She was furious. She hated Celestia. Did she expect Twilight just to sit down and watch her friends die!? Was she really that much of a failure in Celestia's eyes that she was recommended to hide more than she was to fight?! Twilight roared as she flung the books around the free space in the air. Stomping up the stairs, she left the bottom floor as a mess. She had toppled the table in the middle of the room down there. Anger clouded her mind and vision.

Upon going up to the second floor, Twilight repeated the process of flinging everything off of their shelves, and onto the floor. The books flung open as they smashed onto the natural wood of the tree library. Twilight smashed her front hooves onto one of the tables in the room, breaking the table with ease. She ignored the splinters in her hoof as she dished out her anger on everything around her.

It took an hour to 'pack'. The library was trashed. Windows were broken. Books were everywhere. When ponies passed by, they could hear the angry screeches of Twilight when they approached the tree library. Twilight was very, very busy. Her anger suddenly vanished, replaced by sorrow as she collapsed onto the floor once more. Now she was just a pathetic mess. Why did this have to happen to her? Why? Did she deserve this? Is it karma coming back to bite her? Where was this bad karma coming from? There is nothing sinful on Twilight's head! She was sinless! She had never killed anypony! Why did life have just to rip everything from her!? Her teacher, her family, her friends.. Spike. Spike was taken from her. For no reason. That stupid place just had to pop up and take everything from her. What were the odds? Twilight Sparkle, element of magic, famed pupil of Celestia, friend to all princesses is crippled and alone. Sobbing in her library like a worm. Crying over the loss of her friends. Of everything.

"I hope I'm not intruding on anything. I'm looking for the element of magic."

Author's Notes:

This will be my lazy story. Chapters will be.. 1000-4000 words, I guess. I won't update too much. Just whenever I'm bored, and looking for a story to write for fun. Lazy stories are the best.
Also, yes, I do realize that Sombra is of the male gender.