Twilight found herself floating through nothingness, unable to move. It was unlike any dream she ever had before; she was simply gliding through a pigmentless void. If that wasn’t worrisome enough, she couldn’t recall going to sleep that night, or, in fact, anything about the happenings of the day before. The only thing that had stuck with her since she was lulled into the depths of silence was a sensation of horror. It dug deep into her soul as she tumbled through the silent darkness, and it brought her to realise that, whatever had brought her here, it was something, or somepony, downright terrifying.

         The thought sent a shiver down the purple alicorn’s spine. As she drifted through the quiet, she envisioned a villain pulling her into a quagmire that was virtually inescapable, or worse. But, whenever she tried to focus on the task at hoof, her mind wandered away, as though somepony was pulling her thoughts just out of her control. It irked her, not being able to decide what she thought about and when. Being in a place like this was the ultimate torture for a pony like Twilight Sparkle.

         Soon, though, she began to see shiny, whitish blue crystals glowing in front of her. They sparked and shrunk and grew before her eyes, a bizarre display of magic. She wanted to contemplate what they could possibly mean, but she found her mind once again disobedient. As her eyes wandered about the star-like figures, she felt the fear inside her pull itself from her grasp. She fought it, for she knew the fear may be the only thing that was pushing her to find reality, but once again found pugnacious outbursts futile. She, instead, drooled out a careless whimper as she drifted onwards, nothing but dead weight riding on the wings of darkness.

         The stars were growing and, as they did, Twilight could make out a high-pitched hiss as well as frequent crackles each time they glimmered. They were almost electrical in nature, the strange forms of magic that reached out to her. She found herself wanting them close to her. She was indeed carried closer, and, as they drew nearer to each other, Twilight was filled with emptiness. It was a feeling she found almost unbearable and yet attractive at the same time. A light-hearted carelessness took up arms against the dark mass of confusion, frustration, and sadness in her heart. The battle left her as nothing but a shell for the time being, but, somehow, that lack of emotion was appealing to her, which she could never have explained.

         At last, Twilight was completely encompassed by the beautiful array of stars. They glowed and vibrated around her, lulling her to sleep. She, at last in control, rolled over on her side. Despite being given the option to fight her cage of light, she did nothing but drift into the warm wrap of slumber, oddly numb to her surroundings and captivity.

         Soon, the darkness no longer tugged at her exhausted body. It had become a peaceful, dreamless sleep, much like how Twilight had hoped death might be. She had, at this point, determined that she was dying, but she had no will to fight it. She was absolutely certain that it was simply her time, that she had done all that she could to serve as princess, no matter what had taken her life.

         At least until she heard his voice echoing through her soft realm of sleep.

         “Twily?” Shining Armour called her name, sounding like he was yelling into the depths of a cave. At first, the lavender pony ignored his beckoning, drawn to her world of beautiful restfulness. She felt her soul tugging at her, trying to get her to reply to her brother as she knew she should. But her body was heavy, and it was relieving to be carried by the gentle clouds of sleep.

         “Wake up, kid,” Shining Armour’s voice spoke up again, this time sounding even more worried than before. The pony couldn’t quite place a hoof on it, but something sounded different about her older brother, although it was still certainly him. She once again simply blew her confusion away, taking the easier choice of rest.

         “Twilight?” Princess Celestia spoke now, sounding extremely concerned. Upon hearing her mentor, Twilight felt more inclined to respond. At last, she pulled her spirit back into her soul and, with all her might, pulled her eyes open.

         It took her a minute for Twilight to comprehend her surroundings. She glanced around her, her head throbbing as it tried to process reality. She lay in a regal-looking bed, velvet blankets and soft, silk sheets clenched to her chin. She felt droplets of sweat dripping down her forehead, and her stomach churned as confusion slapped her across the face.

         Princess Celestia was bent over her, her eyes closed and a tear crawling down her face. This alarmed her; the lavender pony couldn’t remember ever seeing the royal figure in such distress. But it wasn’t only that. Twilight’s parents were behind her, her mother sobbing into her father’s coat. Shining stood between the princess and their parents, his hoof resting on the bed, eyes wide as he stared at the ground. As the element bearer looked at him, she could hardly believe what she saw. Shining looked many years younger, still about a year or so from adulthood.

         Twilight swallowed the wretched acid that her stomach heaved up into her mouth and gasped for air. This drew the attention of all the parties in the room, but Shining was the first to react. “Twily!” he exclaimed, rushing past Celestia to stand beside his little sister.

         She felt a bit of fear starting to creep in as the colt grasped her hoof and shot her a broad smile. But her fear was only doubled when he did this; she looked down to see that her hoof was about a third the size of his. But… that was impossible…

         Princess Celestia drew back, happiness flooding her visage quickly. Her parents likewise looked extremely pleased. Twilight Velvet wiped a stray tear from her cheek and rushed to the other side of Twilight’s bed, her maternal instincts apparently kicking in. “Sweetheart, can you talk to us?”

         “I…” Twilight said, wincing at the sound of her voice. She was once again plagued by that same, squeaky instrument she carried everywhere in early foalhood. Pushing thoughts of her voice away, she looked up into her mother’s compassionate blue eyes. “Wh-what happened?” she said, stuttering as she tried to separate the strings of jumbled questions that filled her mind.

         “We don’t know, Twilight,” Celestia answered, drawing everypony’s attention to her with her voice, which carried an air of warm regality.

         “You passed out in the middle of your magic practice,” Shining Armour informed her.

         “You don’t remember?” Night Light asked, his worry seeming to grow.

         Twilight struggled to decide how to reply. While the honest answer was “yes”, she feared it would only cause them more worry. Her instincts told her she had been brought to another world, although she wasn’t sure how. She was willing to bet her friends were here somewhere, too; all she had to do was find them. Maybe they were even in the same predicament.

         She knew, though, that her protective family was likely to limit her activities and call for a doctor if she told them the truth, based off how she remembered being treated as a filly. So, instead of simply being honest, she pretended to ponder the question before looking at her father with the most filly-like grin she could muster. “Oh, yes, I remember,” she nodded overdramatically, being the terrible liar she had always been. Then, she glanced at the princess, trying to fill her eyes with a look of remorse. “I’m so sorry, Princess Celestia. I tried one of those dangerous spells without you around.” She lowered her head and used the tears she held in from the stress of her situation to her advantage.

         The princess sighed, resting her hoof gently on Twilight’s shoulder. “I know you’re eager,” she said, carefully picking her words. “But you must promise to wait for me from now on.” Twilight nodded as Princess Celestia wiped her tears away.

         “Wait, dangerous spells?” Twilight Velvet spoke up. “What dangerous spells?”

         Oh, mare, Twilight thought. I completely forgot about mom… Her mind spun as she desperately tried to think up a solution.

         “Oh, that’s nothing to worry about,” Princess Celestia promised. “They aren’t dangerous as long as she has my supervision. And you don’t have to worry about her trying them on her own anymore…” the ruler of the sun hid a playful smile with a look of seriousness, although her real merriment was painfully obvious, “does she?”

         Twilight shook her head quickly, putting a wide smile on her face. “No, I promise!” she said cheerfully, resisting the urge to yank out her voicebox as the irritating sound buzzed through the room.

         The filly’s mother looked unsure, but Night Light trotted over to her. He placed a hoof on her shoulder and nodded to help reassure her. “Well, okay,” Twilight Velvet replied warily.

         Everypony stared at her for a minute. Uncomfortable in the spotlight, the young unicorn’s eyes fell upon an elaborate gold and red chair that sat in the corner. Twilight’s face contorted into downright confusion as she glanced around at the ornate furnishings of the room she was in. She had originally assumed she was in a suite at the Canterlot castle, but this wasn’t one she had ever seen.

         “Uh, where are we?” she finally asked, directing the question at her parents.

         Everypony exchanged glances heavily weighed down with worry.

“We’re in your bedroom, honey,” Night Light finally answered.

         Upon hearing this, the filly was rattled to her very core. She stared at him, her eyes widening slightly. It took her a minute to regain composure as she reminded herself that she had to hide her confusion. She let an artificial smile tease her lips. “Of course it is, Daddy,” she said. “I was just kidding!”

Night Light gave her a skeptical look, but it quickly fizzled into something of minor amusement, likely because he had decided a filly couldn’t possibly think to create a scheme like that. After all, what did she have to be trying to cover up?

“You need your rest, Twilight,” Celestia said in a motherly tone.

“She’s right, sweetheart,” her mother agreed. Twilight just nodded, figuring she could use the time alone to try and decipher what exactly was happening to her.

As the others filed out of the room, a question popped into Twilight’s mind that she figured she should ask while she had the chance. She glanced up, fearing that opportunity walking out the door. “Shining?” she called hoarsely.

Shining Armour turned around to look back at her. “Yeah?”

“Ah, I was just wondering… where’s Spike?”

“Spike?” Shining stared at her in befuddlement. “Who’s Spike?”

For a moment, the filly was caught off guard. If she was Celestia’s student, that would have to mean she had already attended the entrance exam and should have previously hatched her assistant. It didn’t make any sense. She looked at her hooves as she thought this through, opening and closing her mouth as she desperately tried to come up with what to say. She finally settled on the best excuse she could think of. “My imaginary friend,” she replied with a wide smile. She was unaware how old she was exactly, but she had an idea based on Shining’s age and the fact that she was under Princess Celestia’s tutelage. All she could do was hope having an imaginary friend was appropriate for her age and didn’t seem strange to the colt.

He wore a goofy grin when she looked up at him. “I thought you were too into logic to like a thing like that, but, hey, things change, right, Twily?” he winked at her before leaving, closing the door behind him with his magic.

As soon as the young unicorn was left alone, her thoughts began to buzz. Clearly, she had been sent to another world, but why? Was it the Princess who sent her here? Or did she make a mistake with her magic and accidently open a portal to an alternative past? She put a hoof to her head, the headache she was struggling with when she first woke up beginning to return. Tears were forming in her eyes as she worried that she may be stuck here; there didn’t seem to be a clear way out. She felt as though the rational part of her had shrunk along with her body.

Fear once again reigned over her as she climbed wearily out of the large bed, hooves tied to the weight of fatigue. She trotted across the room, weakly pushing an ornamental hoofrest to a spot below the window. She climbed on the stool and looked outside, wiping the foggy surface. Outside, the world was buried beneath snow. A tree branch skidded across the street, which was dusted with a few ponies, here and there. She observed a family of unicorns beside the house to her left playing in the snow in the shadow of their gigantic home. Across the street two more unicorn fillies playfully threw snowballs at one another, their magic reflecting off the snow and lighting up their yard.

Twilight sighed. She didn’t feel like she was getting anywhere. The resources in this room for discovering more about this very different world seemed extremely limited. She sat down on the hoofrest and pouted, her eyes falling to the floor. Then, though, she caught sight of something under the bed; a small violet book protruded from beneath the mess of bed sheets.

Curious, she made her way over to the small object, nearly tumbling over a smarty pants in the process. She stretched out her hoof and pulled the blankets out of the way. She now recognized what she was looking at; it had been one of her most treasured books throughout fillyhood, and she was always looking for somewhere to hide it.

It was her diary.

Rainbow Dash groaned as she found herself pulled into consciousness. Another fall? she thought to herself with a sigh. She could already tell from her strange positioning and the dull ache that was spreading across her back that that was definitely the case. She opened her eyes slowly, wondering where she managed to crash this time. As she looked around, though, all she saw was a mess of gnarled trees, their branches so intertwined that only small parts of the blue sky were visible through them.

“Huh?” Rainbow said. A stab of pain wormed its way up her side, reminding her of her uncomfortable position. She was upside down leaning against one of the rough trees, her wings seeming to have taken most of the impact. At this, Rainbow felt worry take its place inside her. Gingerly, she rose to her hooves, her muscles screaming from the effort. She ignored the pain of her legs and tried to stretch her wings.

Her right wing obeyed her commands, albeit the groaning and popping of her joints as they slid back into position. Her left wing, however, was less cooperative. It was gripped by tension, and, when she tried to push it fully upwards, she would hear a soft snapping sound and a jolt of unbearable pain. She crumpled to the ground, grimacing.

She gave herself a few minutes to recover before she stood again, examining her surroundings. It appeared that she had been above the Everfree Forest before her fall, and, from her knowledge of the place (she had fallen many times there), she deduced that she was about four miles from Fluttershy’s. She wouldn't be able to go home tonight since she was grounded, so she figured she could just stay there.

But that was a lot of walking for the wounded pegasus, and Zecora’s seemed like it might be a better option. She could probably even make a potion that would help Rainbow heal faster, and the zebra was always welcoming to guests (of course, assuming that those guests don’t destroy her home, as she and her friends had once). Besides, she was less than a mile away, assuming her location was where she thought it was.

Decided, Rainbow began to make the journey. As she was walking, she noted that the trees seemed strangely large. She wondered if she wasn't in the Everfree after all, but she could hear the cries of the Timberwolves in the distance as night began to approach. What with Timberwolves only being native to this part of Equestria and the only other forests being too far away from Ponyville, Dash knew that she wasn't anywhere she hadn't been before. That was always comforting to her.

As she continued on her way, she saw parts of Zecora’s tree hut through the trees. She released a sigh of relief at this, glad she was nearing her destination. The closer she got, though, something seemed off. There was no warm light in the windows and the absence of Zecora’s chanting gave the silence an eerie edge. She wondered why the zebra wouldn't be home at this time of day but thought perhaps she was feeling ill and went to bed early. She still held hope that her friend was present. She could not imagine having to walk to Fluttershy’s once night fell; the Everfree was a dangerous place after dark.

As she made her way to the door, she noticed a piece of paper tacked to the door. She fumbled up to the doorway eagerly upon seeing this, curiosity eating at her. But as she skimmed the words, the pegasus felt her stomach flip.

“With the passage of the Unicorn Protection Act, no zebra shall henceforth take residence within the confines of Equestria. The current owner of this property has been determined to be a zebra by the citizens of Ponyville and is therefore evicted and banished from this land until further notice.”

Rainbow’s eyes fell upon the one word that really stuck out to her. The one that really made her head throb and her stomach churn.

Banished. Next Chapter: What is this Place? Estimated time remaining: 16 Minutes