The Alicorn Warrior

by iAmSiNnEr

First published 12th of July, 2020

Twilight Sparkle was banished from Equestria a long time ago. Now when the rest of the Mane 6 finds her, they find that she has changed.

Twilight Sparkle was banished from Equestria a long time ago for a crime she didn't commit. The rest of the Mane 6 have been searching for her to tell her that she can return. When they do find Twilight, they realize that the trials of surviving outside Equestria have changed their old friend. Not all the changes are necessarily good.

My first try at a story. If there's any grammar, vocabulary, or any kind of mistakes, comment down below and I'll try to fix them. Suggestions welcome in comments! Updates will be irregular, but I'll try not to leave it for more than a week or two at a time. Co-authored by computerneek and writing assisted by Skittlebug and Holtinater
Cover art: https://www.deviantart.com/zig-word/art/Battle-arena-709346440

Prologue(Rewrite)

Author's Notes:

Prologue has been rewritten. Old version can be found here . Rewritten prologue was edited by Speccer.

The winds blew around her, going so fast they whistled in her ears. The sand blew into her eyes, and her attempts to keep the sand out were in vain. Her throat, parched from days of trekking the unforgiving desert, hurt. She dragged her hooves along, and struggled to keep her mind clear, always looking at the horizon to watch for a city or town she could stay at. But as always, for the past few days, all she saw was sand.

The sun glared angrily at her, seemingly reflecting Celestia’s anger. Her wings hung limply by her side, and she could barely lift them up, let alone fly. Twilight’s hooves ached, she really needed rest. She sat down and looked around her with bleary eyes. She had barely gotten any sleep for the past few days, always needing to keep the makeshift fires burning so that the wolves wouldn’t get her.

Like the past few days, she summoned her magic, and cast a spell to draw out water. The spell drained almost half of her magic reserves before she was able to get a few mouthfuls; the desert was that dry. Twilight didn’t complain. She kept silent, as her hooves took a break. For the first time in days, she remembered what happened back in Ponyville that had led to this happening. It would take a long time to remember everything, but she needed the rest anyways.

Twilight watched as Starlight waved goodbye to her friends. Starlight had immediately taken to them, which wasn’t hard as they were easy going and had been nothing but nice to Starlight since she had been announced as Twilight’s newest student. Granted, Rainbow had been a bit apprehensive about it, and didn’t trust Starlight yet, but Twilight had assured her that Starlight had reformed. After that, Rainbow had slowly warmed up to her.

Twilight yawned. It had been a long day, after all, what with fighting Starlight several times in different timelines. Her magical reserves had been drained and were almost empty.

“Starlight, your room’s this way.” Spike was leading Starlight to her room. It was bare, but it had the essentials—a bed and a desk. In time, Starlight would fill it up with memories, but that was for later lessons. Twilight was already looking forward to planning all the friendship and magic lessons that she would teach Starlight. She yawned again. Trudging up the stairs, she collapsed into her bed. Suddenly, her door opened.

“Twi’! Princess Celestia sent a letter!” Spike entered the room, and he was out of breath after climbing all of the stairs. What was so urgent that her mentor had to send it late at night? She thanked Spike, and walked him back to his room, before retiring back to her room to read the letter. Twilight unfurled it with her magic, and read it.

My… faithful student.

It has come to my attention that you were using a large amount of time magic, and I felt it shake the foundations of Equestria. Did I not tell you the dangers of it the first time you asked about it? I am very disappointed with your actions. Starswirl locked away all of his scrolls containing time magic for a reason. You could have caused a catastrophe! Because of this, I have come to a decision. This letter is imbued with a spell. I will know when you have read this. When you read this, I will teleport to you, and tell you what I have planned. Know this, I am more disappointed with you than I have ever been in my life.

Your Princess,

Celestia.

As Twilight read the letter, a flash of white magic blinded her. Princess Celestia stepped out of her teleport, and looked around at Twilight with- was that anger and disappointment in her eyes?

“Twilight.” It was an unfriendly statement, unlike her mentor’s usual friendly ‘Hello, Twilight’. Twilight had read the letter and knew why she was here. She opened her mouth to try to explain, but Celestia’s magic clamped her mouth shut. “I do not want to hear any excuses, Twilight.” Celestia’s eyes burned with unforgiveness.

Twilight was afraid. Her mentor had never gotten this angry before, not even when she had accidentally blown up her room when she was a filly.

“The amount of time magic you have used was too much. I felt it from Canterlot, and it shook the foundations of our very world. As a punishment, I have decided to banish you. You do remember the mare I banished in front of you as an example, don’t you?” Twilight’s eyes widened. The magic around her mouth released.

“Nonononono, Princess, it wasn’t me who-” Princess Celestia’s eyes bore into her.

“If not you, then who? You live alone with Spike, and he cannot cast a spell. Therefore it must be you.” Celestia’s eyes softened. “I am sorry for what I have to do, but it is for the good of Equestria, and I will put Equestria before my emotions.” Twilight tried to say something, but her mentor’s horn lit, and all she saw was white.

When Twilight blinked away the white spots in her eyes, all she saw was the desert. She couldn’t even see Equestria’s borders anymore! She looked around her frantically. There was nothing but sand. So what she read about banishment was true. The spell was a randomised teleport, and it would deposit her randomly outside of Equestria. The banishment spell essentially erased all magical traces of her in Equestria, and the ancient magic that protected Equestria would not allow her back in.

Twilight struggled to her hooves. She had to find a town or city so that she could send a letter back into Equestria to her friends and family for help pleading with Celestia. For now, all she could do was survive. She shivered. It was late at night, and the desert was chilly at night, due to the lack of clouds. She had to build a fire, or she would freeze to death. It took the better part of an hour before she was able to gather enough dead bushes to build a small fire. With her horn, she cast a small fire spell. The fire devoured the dead bushes hungrily, burning into the dry vegetation.

A wolf howled. Twilight jumped in fright. She had read about the desert wolves before. In the book, it said to not approach them, as they had powerful jaws and their coat was impervious to most magic, except for fire and lightning. It was a good thing she had built a fire, then. The fire would keep away the wolves. The dead bushes were being consumed faster than she liked. Twilight looked at the ever dying fire and sighed. Her magic was almost depleted, but she could do this. She transformed a huge chunk of sand into a pile of firewood, and set that on fire too. Now her fire was a roaring blaze, and it kept her warm.

Twilight remembered a book that she had read—Basic Survival 101. In it, it had detailed how to create a small alcove in the sand so that she could curl up comfortably in it. She dug into the sand, creating a small alcove. Twilight curled up in it. As she closed her eyes, trying to fall asleep, another wolf howled. This time, it had been closer. Twilight was afraid now. She evidently couldn’t fall asleep, as if the fire burnt out while she was asleep, the wolves would attack. She wanted to live long enough to return to Equestria. She sighed. It was going to be a long night.

Twilight struggled to her hooves. It was dawn, and the wolves were gone, having slipped away when the first vestiges of light began to shine upon the desert. During the night, she had ascertained that it was the Badlands that Princess Celestia had sent her to. The Badlands was the only place a desert this big existed, and also one of the only places that the desert wolves lived. But the fact that it was the Badlands heartened Twilight. She knew that in the Badlands, several towns and cities had sprouted up, built by banished ponies, and their descendants. She could seek shelter in one of these towns, and try to contact her friends and family in Equestria.

As she trudged through the desert, she realised she was hungry. Twilight looked around her. Barely any vegetation grew in the desert, so she decided on flying to try to find some food. She opened her wings and flapped. Before long, she was soaring over the desert, scanning for a town or an oasis she could rest at. As she flew, she saw nothing. Nothing but sand. Slowly but surely, the hours slipped by. Her wings grew leaden, and they could barely flap anymore. She glided down to the ground, and collapsed. She had never flown that long before. She desperately needed water to drink

Twilight focused her magic, and cast a summoning spell that targeted water. Almost three-quarters of her magic reserves were depleted before a few mouthfuls worth condensed into a ball in front of her. Twilight released the spell, concentrated on levitating the ball of water, and began drinking greedily. Not a few seconds later, the water was gone. It was approaching night, and she began preparing as she had done the night before.

The wind howled. Twilight spun around and peered out into the distance.

Was that... a sandstorm!

Twilight immediately gathered up everything with her magic. Transfigured logs or not, it took a lot of magic to get those logs, and she was not about to waste them. The sandstorm howled in the distance, heading for her with a speed greater than any winds during a storm in Equestria. She scanned the area around her. The desert presented no hiding spots. She grimaced. This would take a lot of magic, but she was not looking forward to spending any time in a sandstorm.

Using her magic, she lifted a huge amount of sand up, creating a small hole that she could stay in. As she levitated the sand up, she cast a spell to transfigure the sand into planks of wood and lowered them over the hole as she hopped into it. With a final anti-elements shield over the wood planks, she curled up in a ball, waiting for the sandstorm to pass.

Throughout the night, the wind howled and bit into her, and sand flew everywhere in her makeshift shelter. The sandstorm raged above her, trying to get to Twilight.

“Skrrrrt,” a noise came from the corner of her shelter.

Twilight blearily turned her head, scanned for the source of the noise. A small desert bug had just burrowed into the shelter. Its wings were torn, possibly from the sandstorm raging above. Twilight tilted her head. The desert bug looked at her warily, staying away from Twilight, yet trying to get as close to the makeshift fire as possible.

Twilight considered the bug. She was no Element of Kindness, but she could do this. Lighting her horn, she cast a spell on the small desert bug to repair its wings. The bug squeaked as it felt the magic run across its spine, but calmed down when it realised that its wings were repairing. The wings knit together, and membranes grew in places where there were holes. The desert bug squeaked and flapped its repaired wings.

“Skrrrrt!” It chirped in joy as it flew around the makeshift shelter. Twilight smiled. She had been able to bring joy to something in the barren desert. Finally, the desert bug settled down, and scooted closer to the fire. It was still wary of Twilight, but it understood that Twilight meant it no harm. Twilight smiled once more, and finally fell asleep for the first time in three days.

Wolves howled. It was the eighth night, and Twilight was even more hungry than before. She had been able to get water using a spell, but food had been scarce unless she wanted to eat the insects that lived in the desert, which she didn’t. They reminded her too much of the desert bug she had met a few days ago. Speaking of which, it had disappeared the morning after, but it did leave a leaf behind. Twilight had appreciated the gesture, small as it was.

The wolves howled again, closer than before. Today was the first time she had caught a glimpse of one of the wolves. It had stared at her from the gloom with blood-red eyes, before Twilight had chased it away with a burning stick.

Twilight shivered. The wolves had been getting braver by the day, coming closer and closer. She had barely been able to keep them away with burning logs spread around her.

Suddenly, a log burned out.

A growl, and a wolf leapt forward over the burnt log. Twilight’s eyes widened, and she dodged as the wolf attempted to bite into her. Panicking, she cast a quick fireball spell and tossed it into the wolf. The wolf howled in pain, and leapt away. Twilight hurried to replace the burnt out log with a fresh burning log. As she levitated a new burning log over to the empty space, she saw three desert wolves staring at her, hungrily licking their lips.

Twilight rubbed her eyes. Another mirage! For the past few days, she had been seeing several mirages, and every time she saw one, she would rush towards it in joy, only to find out that it was a fake image.When she had seen a shimmering oasis in the distance, she had trudged wearily towards it, only to find that it was another mirage.

She sighed. She had not drunk water for the past few days, as she had been trying to build up her magic reserves. Her wings sagged by her side, and Twilight had not found the time to preen them. Feathers hung out and at this point, they served no purpose other than to keep Twilight warmer at night, she was that tired. She also sprouted a few scratches on her hooves from the desert wolves. She had burnt one pretty badly in defense, but the rest were more wary of her now, and only attacked when she was nodding off. The wind had gotten stronger the past few days, and more often than not the sand blew into her eyes. The sun felt hotter than before, but Twilight dismissed that as a wild thought from the days wandering in the desert.

It was the thirteenth day and Twilight could take no more. She collapsed on the desert floor, and closed her eyes, wishing with all her heart for a miracle to drop out of the sky and save her from the pain that she had endured from both hunger and the scratches from the desert wolves. Twilight opened her eyes blearily and stared out ahead. She blinked. Was that a town ahead of her? It seemed to be teeming with ponies and… were those griffins? A circular structure was erected behind the town, and it loomed over the town. Twilight tried to rise, but her hooves gave out under her.
So close, but of course, I can’t reach the town. Twilight thought bitterly. Definitely not a mirage, since mirages can’t fake life, and I can see the griffins and ponies. Twilight felt her consciousness slipping from her grasp. She sighed, and slowly closed her eyes. As her mind began to shut down, a shadow loomed over her, and a claw extended into her vision before everything went black.

Chapter 1-Discovery and Revelations(Rewrite)

It might have been a valley of little more than rock and dirt in the sweltering sun of a Badlands afternoon, but that didn’t stop the local populace from flourishing. Dragons, kirins, and ponies alike wandered the valley floor, exploring a marketplace made up of similarly varied vendors. There was no law to break in the Badlands, so many of the products sold would have been confiscated by the border patrol of most countries. Not that it mattered - anypony desperate enough to come here had been banished from the League of Nations, led by Equestria, and so couldn’t cross the border anyways.

This was not so for a group of six ponies and a dragon walking in one end of the marketplace. Many of the existing shoppers ignored them; one or two opportunistic ponies approached them, believing them to be new banishees, from their disheveled appearances. They declined all the ‘help’ offered, though, and shopped around for a few minutes before huddling together outside a cafe that served enchanted drinks.

"Ah don't think she’d be here, Rainbow,” Applejack muttered, glancing nervously around the valley; there was something about this place that put her on edge. “This place is just screaming dangerous to me.”

"Well, it’s the best lead we’ve got so far,” Rainbow answered, also glancing around nervously. “This place is on my nerves too- but at this point, it’s probably the only place we haven’t looked.”

“And the first place we’ve been to that doesn’t appear on any map,” Pinkie scowled, her mane hanging uncharacteristically flat against her neck. It’d been doing that a lot. “I feel like a party wouldn’t be welcome here.”

“It took us the better part of four years to find this town,” Starlight grumbled. “What’re the chances Twilight is here?” She paused. “Yes, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy, who had been trying to gain her friends’ attention in the least attention-grabbing manner possible, flinched at the sudden attention. “Somepony was talking about being unable to see a match with ‘Sparkle’ at the hotel over there.” She pointed a hoof.

“A match?” Rarity asked. “What kind of… match?” She spoke the word with a certain flair of distaste.

“That’d have to be a gladiatorial battle,” Starlight scowled. “We already know those are pretty popular around here.” She glanced at Rainbow. “Dash, were there any arenas in the area?”

Rainbow shook her head. “Nope. I can check again, though.”

“Let’s hope that’s not necessary,” Applejack muttered, and stepped slightly aside to stop another patron on his way past them, into the cafe. “Hello, Sir- we were interested in watching the match, but seem to have lost the info. Could you point us to it…?”

The patron, a grey earth stallion with a grumpy facial expression, snorted. “We don’t have an arena here,” he stated. “Too flashy. It’s twenty leagues due east. All the brochures are at the Arena.”

“Got it, thank you,” Applejack nodded her head thankfully, and withdrew; the stallion continued on his way. She turned back to her friends, the pinkest of which now had a slightly fluffy mane. “Here’s hoping we’re not chasing shadows… again.”

Starlight nodded. “Celestia help us.”

Starlight Glimmer checked the clock on the wall once again, and scowled at the door. “Lesson one, and you’re late,” she grumbled. “Unless…” She shook her head. “No, you wouldn’t have forgotten about it. And you wouldn’t be avoiding me either, I think. So why half an hour…?”

Finally tired of talking to herself in an empty library, she trotted out. Perhaps Twilight had meant to refer to a different one of the Castle’s four separate libraries- something which made no sense to her, since they could be made into a single, larger library without issue- when she’d told her where her first lesson would take place.

But as she checked the various libraries, they were all empty.

As she walked steadily up the passage from the fourth one, Starlight couldn’t help but feel like something was… off. She checked the kitchen as she passed; empty. She knocked on Twilight’s bedroom, no response.

She pushed the door open.

Empty.

Where had Twilight gone?

She cantered down to the Cutie Map. That would tell her.

She was feeling distinctly uneasy.

She quickly cast her spell on the map.

Nothing.

Twilight was out of range.

Which shouldn’t have been possible- this thing could find anypony on the entire continent!

She had just barely drawn in her breath to call for Spike when it happened.

She felt her Cutie Mark respond to the magic of the Map. It was calling her.

Seven cutie marks formed over the map- no, six; the last one was Spike’s head.

Five of the six Elements of Harmony were represented in the floating symbols. Twilight’s Mark was absent, having been replaced by her own.

The seven symbols spread out and started circling the entire map.

The entire map.

At the same time, to Starlight’s horror, Twilight’s throne darkened, the purple gemstone fading to grey.

Spike trotted in, stifling a yawn. “Mornin’, Starlight,” he greeted. “Got a call from the…” He trailed off, staring at the map.

Starlight looked back at it. “Twilight’s gone.”

Right at that moment, Twilight’s cutie mark appeared, right on top of the Castle- then whisked off towards the badlands, and faded into nothing about halfway there, before repeating.

“Is that a clue?” Spike asked, jumping up on the table to look.

“Spike,” Starlight muttered, half-stunned. “Take a letter. To Princess Celestia.”

It took Spike about three seconds to retrieve a quill and parchment from his mini-throne. “Got it.”

Princess Celestia arrived in a flare of bright golden light at about the same time as Applejack, the last Element Bearer to arrive, trotted in the door. “What in tarnation-?” Applejack began, staring at the Cutie Map spectacle.

“Twilight is gone,” Starlight stated, without preamble, before looking up at Princess Celestia.

Princess Celestia looked… vulnerable.

“What-?” Starlight asked. “Princess Celestia?”

Princess Celestia took a deep breath, tears rolling down her face. “I… I made a horrible mistake,” she stated.

“What is it?” Rarity asked.

“I…” Celestia began. “I banished Twilight last night. F-For using time magic.”

Starlight blinked. “That-!” she began, but Celestia cut her off.

“That was a terrible mistake,” Celestia declared. “And-!” She took a deep, shuddering breath.

“That was me,” Starlight stated. “I used the time magic, and nearly destroyed Equestria in the process. If you want to banish me instead, go ahead. Everypony knows I deserve it.”

Celestia stared for a second. “And compound my mistake? Absolutely not!” Her voice had some steel in it as she refused, but that quickly disappeared again. “When I did it, I was… influenced. I don’t know what did it- banishment is a last resort, and time magic has a habit of punishing its own abusers, so I don’t usually enforce it. But something- something made me banish her.” She sighed towards Starlight. “Meaning, even if I hadn’t made such a mistake, I would never banish you for time magic.”

“Well, can’t you just, you know, un-banish her?” Rainbow asked.

“I can’t,” Celestia stated. “The magic of Equestria doesn’t know her. That’s why the Element of Magic has gone dormant.” She gestured towards Twilight’s throne. “She can’t enter our land unless the magic of the land knows her. And the only way to teach it about her…” She took another deep breath, visibly steeling herself. “I… I have a mission for you. For all of you.” She looked across them. “I… I will make you seven Wardens of the Land. Your mission… is to find Twilight, and bring her back.”

“But if she can’t cross-?” Starlight began, leaving the rest unsaid.

She nodded. “The… the only way to teach the magic of her once again… is for a Warden of the Land to touch her whilst standing on Equestrian soil.” She looked across them. “That is your mission.”

“That sounds simple enough,” Spike stated. “Where is she?”

“I have no idea,” Celestia informed them. She looked at the map. “That… looks like a clue, but she could be anywhere out there. One moment.” She closed her eyes, and her horn glowed brightly.

Six mares and a dragon stopped on the approach to the massive arena they’d finally located, after almost two full days of hiking east.

“Listen,” Rarity, who had signaled for them to stop, hissed.

They all went silent, and listened. They could hear a chant coming from the distant arena.

“Spar-kle! Spar-kle! Spar-kle!”

It repeated over and over.

“Well,” Rainbow muttered. “We’ve found something named Sparkle. That’s new.”

Everyone looked at her.

She looked back at them. “Let’s get moving!” she barked, and took to the air with a shockwave of rainbow energy.

Draw out the fight, Twilight told herself. Give them what they want. They’ll pay better.

She really didn’t like participating in these fights, but Celestia had thrown her out, and she had been unable to reach her friends- it was all she had left.

And even if she had been able to reach her friends, it wasn’t like she could cross the border back into Equestria. Her biggest regret was that she had never been able to say goodbye.

She expertly dodged the massive dragon’s smashing claw, and snarled at it. “Close one,” she stated aloud, even though it was actually nothing of the sort; she’d only made it look like it was one.

The spectators roared. They loved the style she’d developed, where she’d make it look like she was losing, before becoming ‘desperate’, turning the tide, and winning by the slimmest of margins, She only rarely killed or permanently injured her opponents; usually, she was able to knock them out… which had the extra effect of looking like she was only barely strong enough to defeat them.

Over the noise of the spectators, she heard a sudden boom in the distance. A sudden, familiar boom.

She dodged the next swipe on autopilot, sending a magic pulse out to scan the area around the arena. That could not have been a Sonic Rainboom.

Her pulse got back.

It was.

Twilight’s game had suddenly changed. Her friends- the other Element Bearers- must be nearby. And, for their own safety, she could not allow them to interfere with this fight. Which, she knew they would try. Just like she would, had she walked in on Rainbow fighting a gladiatorial battle in the Badlands.

Fortunately, that was fairly easy. None of them had entered the arena, or its immediate airspace, just yet- so a simple dome shield over the entire thing was enough.

She flapped out of her draconian opponent’s reach. One of his wings had been chopped in half during a fight with another dragon the month before, rendering him flightless. She gazed at him, sized him up… and realized that taking into the air had been a stroke of genius. Her goal had shifted to ending the fight as quickly as possible, without letting on that anything had changed- and the old dragon had attempted to follow her into the air, only to crash right back to the ground on his injured wing.

“Ah-Hah!” she announced, flying higher to avoid his fire breath and conjuring magic missiles with which to bombard him. The discovery of a crippling weakness would always bring a swift end to a fight.

He still put up an impressive fight. She made it look like she had to maneuver hard to avoid his fire breath, flapping at least three times as often as was necessary for the maneuvers she was performing. The crowd roared, chanting her name continuously. She felt a couple of impacts against her shield, then another signature she’d memorized so long ago.

Starlight Glimmer had come as well, and was trying to find a way through her shield.

She used a rapid sequence of completely ineffective magic missiles to shroud herself in confusion. While they were ongoing, she layered her spellwork, teleporting a quill, parchment, and ink to her. She scrawled just two words on the parchment, before teleporting all three away once again… though the parchment went straight to Starlight, rather than back to where it had come from.

Starlight was, after all, the only one that might have a chance of penetrating her shield.

Wait.

-Twilight.

Author's Notes:

Chapter 1 has been rewritten, so if you didn't read it yet, reload page or something.

Chapter 2- Arrival and Combat

Author's Notes:

Chapter 2's finally released! Thanks for your patience! Chapter 1 has undergone a complete rewrite with the help of my co-author, computerneek, so go check that out to follow chapter 2. Hope you enjoy and leave a comment if there's anything wrong. Stay safe!

Wham!

Rainbow slammed into the lavender dome of energy over the arena mere moments after it appeared, and fairly bounced off of it, falling to the ground. “Ow owowowow,” she complained, rubbing her forehead with one hoof while Rarity put her down with her magic, having caught her short of an even more painful landing.

“How many times do ya have to do that, Rainbow?” Applejack asked. “At least this time, somepony stopped you from charging right in and involving yourself with the battle!”

“But Twilight’s in there,” Rainbow argued back. “We have to help her!”

“But it might be Twilight in there,” Applejack corrected. “And if she is, she’s been living out here for years, and can take care of herself for a few more minutes.” She sighed, and turned to Starlight. “On that topic, do you think you can get us through this barrier- to at least see what’s going on in there?”

Starlight rolled her eyes. “If you want to see, just have Rainbow fly over the dome and look in. But…” Her horn glowed, and she nodded. “Yep, this is Twilight’s magic, all right. And if she’s locking us out, she both has a reason to do that… and knows we’re here.” She glanced up at Rainbow. “She probably expected you to come charging into something dangerous, and acted to stop that. Very possibly saved your life, Dash.” She sighed, looking at the barrier. “I’m going to make an opening for us, then we’re going to walk through to watch from afar, no matter what is going on in there. Twilight can obviously take care of herself right now, and we won’t be of any use if we get ourselves killed.” She angled her horn down, and fired a beam of energy into the barrier.

Rainbow scowled, looking at Starlight’s beam; it didn’t disappear, maintaining a continuous presence. “Are you done yet?”

“Patience, Dash,” Starlight ordered. “I think I can break through it, but the only way I’m getting in within the next hour or so is if she lowers the barrier. So I’m not even trying to mask my spell from her.”

Then, there was a sudden pop of air, right in Starlight’s face. Her spell shattered in moments, and she leaped backwards with a small scream of surprise.

“Whazzat?” Pinkie Pie asked, her mane mostly puffy once again- it’d been getting progressively puffier ever since Starlight had confirmed the origin of the barrier.

Starlight snatched the piece of parchment out of the air with her magic and, breathing deeply to calm herself down, examined it. “She… She wants us to wait.”

“Wait?” Rainbow demanded. “What for?”

“Hay if I know,” Starlight barked back. “But she’s obviously got a reason. We’re going to wait for her.” She glanced at the arena. “Here, where she’ll know where to find us.” She placed the parchment flat on the sand in front of her, where everypony could see it, and Rarity broke out her picnic basket.

“Get down here!”

“Can’t catch me!” Twilight pranced back and forth in midair, taunting the massive dragon. Now that he’d revealed his weakness, she needed to make him feel like he was winning- then, he’d get careless, and give her an opportunity. And as usual with dragons, the first step was to get him to blow fire. Once he did- she was well within the range of his fire breath- she could exhibit a little bit of panic, let him get full of himself, and take him down a peg.

That was what she did, and what gave her the charm, in the people’s eyes. No matter who she was up against, she started by sparring close, with a fair fight. Then, when she got bored, she’d push them to reveal a weakness she’d spotted to the entire audience, and exploit that weakness to infuriate them, get them to reveal a hidden strength. Then she’d play victim, get them to overestimate themselves, and win.

That was, perhaps, the main reason they loved her so much. That worked every time. She knew there were dozens- even hundreds- of betting pools going around, about exactly how much it would take to stand up to the Sneaky Sparkle, as she’d come to be called. And every one of her opponents, over the last year and a half or so, had been utterly convinced that they wouldn’t fall for her ploy.

She did a quick barrel roll, showing off her maneuverability while she rained little magical firebolts on the dragon. “Can’t Catch MeeeeEEEeeeEEEeee,” she sang.

But that was why she fought normally for the first while: That gave her more than enough time to read them.

The dragon roared in fury. Gotcha! She told herself- then effortlessly tracked the edge of his following fireball.with the very tip of her tail, while yipping in feigned terror. The dragon snarled, grinning, and started blasting fire at her, bolt after bolt.

She let her attacks fall off completely as she wove her way through the air, dodging columns of fire. A few times, she deliberately crashed into something, and waited to ‘recover’ until just barely in time.

“Ah-Hah!” the dragon announced, between gouts of fire. “You’re toast!”

She sighed as she dodged the next couple fireballs, then used another couple as cover as she dove to the ground behind him. He’d gotten careless, and was firing randomly into the air. She looked around at the stands, made a quick pose for the crowd, and turned to start building a large, flashy magic ring in midair, facing the massive dragon.

The crowd went wild. They knew she’d already won, and he just didn’t realize it yet. There’d only been once when she’d had to resume fighting after reaching this point.

Her ring was standing, and she was yawning exaggeratedly to the crowd, for a whopping ten seconds before the dragon stopped blowing fire to taunt her again. “Ha Ha,” he jeered. “How was that? You still alive up…” He started looking around. “Where’d you go?”

“This is boring,” she complained loudly.

He yipped like a terrified puppy as he spun in a circle, lashing out with one claw. He knew as well as she did that the fight was over.

Before he got to her, though, she activated her ring. She blew him clear across the arena, wrapped in thaumic lightning bolts. Perhaps her favorite thing about her draconian opponents was that they could tolerate a lot more abuse than anything else.

When he landed and slid to a stop, he lay where he fell, completely unconscious, but still largely unharmed. She posed for the crowd, and listened for the announcer.

It seemed to take them forever. “And the Sneaky Sparkle has vanquished her challenger once again!”

The announcer went on to discuss some of the other attractions going on that day, but Twilight ignored it, instead heading for the door out of the arena at a casual trot. She knew the crowd knew she was powerful enough to blow her opponents to dust with her opening move- but where was the fun in that?

And besides. Starlight hadn’t drilled at her shield since she’d sent that note, though she had registered a few impacts from the air. Probably Rainbow Dash, watching the fight and fearing for her.

She stepped out of the ring, underneath the stands, and turned down the empty passage. Her work here wasn’t done yet- but while she’d been amusing herself with the dragon, she’d thought of a way, time, and place for her to meet her friends.

Well… old friends. She wasn’t sure if she could even still call them friends, after the years of silence. She certainly missed them, and hoped that they hadn’t gotten themselves thrown out of Equestria as well. Whether they had or not, this was all she had. She couldn’t abandon it for them.

She made a quick glance up and down the passage- it was clear. She summoned her writing tools and a fresh piece of parchment, wrote one word and a code- “Meet 3d”- and scrawled a quick map on it, and sent them back away before checking the passage again. She never knew when someone would come looking for her- and out here, she never spoke to anyone that wasn’t very important. That made the fights with her even more of an attraction, since that was all they ever saw of her- and her fans always wanted more.

As such, she was actually pretty rich, and wasn’t sure what to spend it on any more. Even when she disguised herself and hit the town, she couldn’t spend anywhere near as much as they paid her. She was, after all, the biggest attraction in this part of the Badlands… and was starting to attract more fans from further away. Two entire settlements had already sprung up nearby because of her.

She was sure she could force her way back into Equestria. She’d examined the magic that was blocking her a few times- and had only stopped when she’d remembered that Celestia had thrown her out, and hadn’t let her back in. She was clearly unwanted, and hadn’t wanted to start a war with her mentor.

A door next to her opened, and the stagemaster stepped out of it, yawning. He paused. “... Twilight,” he muttered, surprised. “You’re done early.”

“He was a pushover,” she shrugged. “With one wing clipped, I couldn’t draw out the fight for very long.” She sighed. “I was thinking about taking a vacation in a few days, perhaps spend a couple weeks exploring the desert. That going to be okay?”

“As if I could stop you,” he shrugged, then glanced back at his desk. “I was going to ask you to do something like that soon anyways- the Arena has been at capacity for every one of your fights all month, and it’ll give us some much-needed time to expand the thing.” He looked back up at her. “Feel like stretching your vacation to a full month? If so, we can probably account for future growth at the same time.”

She tilted her head contemplatively. On the one hoof, she’d have more time to help her friends, if they happened to have been banished as well. On the other hoof, she’d have no income for a whole month.

She grinned, silently berating herself. At her current expense levels, she had more than enough to comfortably last her- she did some quick mental math- six years. That wouldn’t be an issue at all.

“Yeah, why not?” she chuckled. “So, I know I’ve already got a match for the day after tomorrow, but shall we call it after that?”

He nodded. “Yeah, there’s nothing else on the docket right now. Had another potential contestant in my office earlier, while you were winding that dragon up, but he wasn’t sure yet.”

“Really?” she asked. “What was he?”

He shrugged. “Weak little pegasus with an artificial wing and a major limp. You could probably laugh him out of the ring.” He tilted his head. “As a matter of fact, he didn’t look much better than Quick Leash did when you were done with him.”

Twilight wrinkled her nose. Quick Leash had been the master of this arena when she’d first been captured- and he’d forced her to kill a lot of times. Now, though, there had been a change in management after she broke free of her metaphorical chains and dealt with Quick Leash. Everyone thought it was Hard Line, her stagemaster- but no, it was actually she who was in charge, who had completely reinvented the battle concept and drawn in thousands more spectators than any other arena. Most of the money they made went right back into the Arena, for the renovation and maintenance fund.

“Did he really think he’d stand a chance?”

Hard Line nodded. “Yep. I think I got him convinced, though- he said something about a friend being willing to fight for him. Your reputation for drawing out the best and the worst in each of your opponents, and leaving them alive at the end, has gone far.”

She nodded. “I’m glad.”

Chapter 3- The Calling Out

Twilight let out a small sigh as she glided down towards the little town. It was a full two days’ walk due West from the Arena, but that suited her. It was far enough away not to attract attention, as a tiny little hamlet she’d discovered herself only about six months after she was first captured. It was a rare safe haven amongst the Badlands, where thieves, traders, killers, and so on all came to do business with each other.

And never, ever, steal, hunt, or whatever else, in or near the town.

Why? The place was a very well-kept secret. It didn’t appear on any map- only those that had been invited knew of its location.

Perhaps the biggest thing she was worried about was the map she’d sketched her friends. If they had a good sense of direction, which she knew Rainbow at least usually did, her friends shouldn’t have had any difficulty finding the town… unless they expected it to be closer to the Arena. There was every possibility her friends would be late to the meeting she’d asked them for.

She glided in on silent wings, landing just beyond the limits of the town, and trotted in. She was, as usual when she left the Arena, in disguise- it wouldn’t do to have just any pony, griffin, dragon, or whatever else realize just what she did during her time off.

The open-air cafe she’d marked out on her map was a very short walk from that entrance and, horn completely invisible and coat dyed magically blue-green, she trotted right in. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted her friends, looking much worse for wear than she remembered- which made sense, this was the Badlands- idly watching passersby.

As expected, they didn’t recognize her. It hurt, in a small, petty kind of way, but…

No, wait. She used a quick visual amplification spell; with her horn hidden, and the thaumic mask she’d worked into habit by now, nopony would know she was casting a spell.

She confirmed what she’d glimpsed. Starlight Glimmer looked distinctly confused, and more than a little uneasy, as she scanned not just passersby on the street but everything and everypony around her. She knew she was there- could sense her immense magical reserves, even as expertly hidden as they were.

She turned forwards, and trotted up to and into the building itself.

“Good evening, Gusty Serenity,” the chef greeted her.

“Good evening to you too, Cold Cuts,” Twilight answered, as always. “How’s it been?”

He shrugged. “Same as usual, mostly.” He gestured out towards the cafe area with the knife floating in his aura. “Been wondering about those mares and the drake, though. They visited about a week ago- looked like they were searching for somewhat. Returned last night, and have been watching the road all around ever since. Been wondering how I should throw them out- one of ‘em has a lot of power.”

Twilight tilted her head at them. So, they apparently hadn’t figured out that she’d written ‘3d’ in order to specify ‘3 days’. Whatever- at least they got here.

Unfortunately, as she’d known when she’d drawn the map, she wouldn’t be able to appear to them as Twilight Sparkle. Hopefully, they’d be able to figure out who Gusty Serenity really was.

“Huh,” she muttered. “I’ll handle it. Which one has the power?”

He smiled, and sighed. “Brave as always, eh, Boss? It’s the purple one. She might even be able to give ol’ Sparkle a run for her money.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Hmm. I wonder if she could break Sparkle’s streak?” Her public persona, Gusty Serenity, was an avid fan of the Great and Sneaky Sparkle, and always flew out to watch every match.

Cuts let out a derisive snort. “As if,” he stated. “We know Sparkle has a ton of power, but I know for a fact she’s taken out ponies with less than a tenth the power as they demonstrated themselves. She don’t need that power.”

“True,” Twilight muttered, snickering internally. Her record held a disparity of almost forty thousand times less power than her opponent- though that poor stallion hadn’t been very bright, either. She’d practically scared him unconscious.

And against a wise and talented mare like Starlight, Twilight was genuinely curious if she’d be able to go with her normal methods, or if she’d be forced to dig into her immense Alicorn reserves.

But that was for another time. She headed back out of the building, and trotted over to her old friends. As she went, she snagged a notebook and ledger, so she looked like a server, rather than the owner of the entire place- or just any other customer.

“Can I get something for you, ladies?” she asked- and quickly teleported a ‘pre-inked quill’ into the ledger, as she’d purposely forgotten one on the way out. It was one of her inventions as the eccentric (and very rarely in town) ‘Smoking Gears’ unicorn that ‘lived’ on the other side of town. It was a regular quill, with a small, enchanted pouch of ink attached to the tip, such that just the right amount of ink would trail out onto the tip as she wrote that she wouldn’t have to dip it in ink… and her writing wouldn’t fade out, either.

Hopefully, Starlight would notice even a masked teleportation signature from this close, and realize that she wasn’t really the pegasus she looked like.

Starlight didn’t look at her, though, busy scanning the next door neighbor’s yard. It was a school playground, where all the town’s colts and fillies were playing under the watchful eyes of all four teachers.

After Starlight, Twilight expected Pinkie to be the first to look at her.

She wasn’t. Instead, it was Rainbow Dash, who looked at her for a few seconds, sizing her up, before answering. “A menu?” she asked, sounding both irritated and bored- a combination that, as near as Twilight could remember, usually meant trouble was on the way.

“Oh, I’ve got those right here,” Twilight stated, before running a quick teleport to transfer a menu into her ledger as she opened it. “Six adult pony menus, and will the Spykoranovantilosaurus Rex be taking an adult or junior menu?” Hopefully, that’d jog somepony’s memory. Or confuse Spike enough for him to call her out to the others.

“Ahh,” Rarity muttered, turning to her. “Um, he’ll take a junior, please.”

She hoofed out the menus, teleporting more in underneath as she went, such that the teleports were completely hidden, and she ended with an empty ledger. Theoretically, at least one of them would notice. Spike wasn’t even looking at her, staring down the street.

Rainbow tilted her head. “How… How did these menus fit in that ledger?”

“Mm? Oh, it’s enchanted.”

“Ahh,” Applejack muttered.

Twilight very nearly winced. The Element Bearer of Honesty had just eaten a lie, and not called it out. Was her disguise magic just that powerful, or had Applejack lost her touch with her Element? “So, can I get you something to drink?”

Pinkie Pie twisted in place, from where she’d been staring down the street like a statue, didn’t even glance at the menu, and ordered the dish that happened to be of Twilight’s own invention. “Daisy banana cream pie.”

Twilight took it in stride, and scribbled it on her notebook. “Would you like something to drink while you wait for it?”

“Pumpkin cream sundae.”

“Going for all the sweets today, are we?” she chuckled. “Anypony or Rex else?”

“What in the world is a… whatever that was Rex?”

“Hmm? Oh, it’s a dragon breed.” She nodded respectfully to Spike. “I recognized him instantly as a Spykoranovantilosaurus Rex.”

This time, Spike turned sharply to stare at her.

“Ahh… I’ll take, um…” Rarity began, opening and quickly paging through the menu.

“Pony menu?” Fluttershy muttered softly.

She nodded. “Yes. It contains the same stuff as all the other menus, it’s just been organized so the things that would be appetizing to a pony are up front- and the ones that won’t be remotely appetizing are all on the back cover. You can still order anything you want, though.”

Starlight pointed a hoof at her ledger. “That’s not enchanted.”

“I know.”

Applejack looked up from where she had opened her menu. “Why’d you say it was?”

“Why’d you ignore the lie?” Twilight didn’t miss how everypony- and Spike- all looked at Applejack.

“I didn’t know it was a lie,” Applejack argued. All eyes shifted to Twilight.

“You’re the Element Bearer of Honesty.” It wasn’t a question.

Silence reigned for almost ten full seconds.

“How…” Rarity began. “How do you know…?”

Spike stood up. “Spykoranovantilosaurus Rex,” he stated. “That’s not my breed.”

“Oh?” Rainbow asked, as all eyes shifted to Spike.

“That’s my name. Which means…” He jumped up on the table, and pointed directly at Twilight. “You’re Twilight.” All eyes shifted to Twilight.

Twilight grinned, and turned sideways, posing so they could see her cutie mark. “Well of course not,” she informed them. “I’m Gusty Serenity, the manager and owner of this fine cafe. Though, I do watch every one of the Sneaky Sparkle’s matches.” As she spoke, she felt Starlight probing her with her magic.

Then, exactly as expected, Starlight spoke. It wasn’t an accusation, nor a question, but a statement of fact.

“She’s Twilight.”

Author's Notes:

Omake: Sorry, 4th Wall

Written by Computerneek

“Good evening, Gusty Serenity,” the chef greeted her.

Twilight sighed. “So, why’re you using my full name all the sudden, Cold Cuts?” She scowled. “And me yours, for that matter?”

Cold Cuts, the chef, shrugged. “Exposition. Why else?”

“But exposition for what?”

“You don’t know? Huh. I thought everypony did. We’re on TV.” He gestured towards the floating camera.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Oh, all right. So, what all are we supposed to say for them right now anyways? I mean, they already know I’m actually Twilight Sparkle.”

He blinked. “Wait. You are?”

She nodded. “Yeah, but you’re not supposed to know yet. Or at all, I think… Not sure.”

“... Ahh. Alright, I’ll just forget that, then. So, um… How about those six ponies and a dragon that’ve been waiting for you all day? I… I forget exactly what I was supposed to say about them.”

Chapter 4- Answers for One, Please!

“She’s Twilight.”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, the Sneaky Sparkle is properly named Twilight Sparkle. She’s just… Well, she has a reputation. You’d have to see one of her matches to understand it, though- it’s like… She has this power, but she doesn’t use it. Frankly, she doesn’t need to- she’s got her technique down pat.” Then she scowled. “Though it seems to change with each match, it still follows the same general pattern every time. Makes it very hard to follow, at times, but I’ve managed to learn quite a bit.”

She spotted more than one raised eyebrow, before Rainbow spoke.

“So… How would somepony talk to… her?”

She winced. “For most? You don’t. She only ever meets with the truly important ponies. That said, the Arena has been shut down for a month, for expansion- so it’s entirely possible you could run into her on the street or out in the desert somewhere.” She paused to take a breath. “So, does anypony or drake else want something to drink, or…?” She gestured with her notebook.

“Ahh… Can we talk, or…?” Rarity asked, seeming uncertain.

She rolled her eyes. “Well of course, I own the place and it’s not too busy right now anyways. But if Pinkie is to get her food, I’m going to need to tell my cook what to make.”

“So,” Cold Cuts began, sounding confused as Twilight returned to the kitchen. “I… guess they’re customers? But…”

She shrugged. “They’re old friends of the Sneaky Sparkle. It seems they were hoping to meet her here, but, well, you know.”

He nodded. “I do. So, how did you get those menus…?”

“Hmm? Oh, that? It’s a sacred art, called Menu-do. Only the finest servers can ever manage it, let alone master it.”

He blinked a couple of times. “... Okay. So, what’d they get?”

That was one of the things she liked about him: He never asked too many questions, and always respected the strengths of others- including the ones he couldn’t understand. In practice, that meant he thought she knew a very large number of ‘sacred arts’ that were actually accidentally-cast magic spells. At least that one had been planned.

“Mostly drinks, but we’ve also got a food order already. The pink one- her name is Pinkie Pie- must’ve memorized the menu last time they were here. She wants a daisy banana cream pie.”

“That’s the one you invented, isn’t it?” He chuckled. “It’s been pretty popular.”

She smiled. “Yep. Anyways, she also asked for a pumpkin cream sundae, and the others are reading their menus, so…” She shrugged her wings, trotting over to one of the counters to start making the sundae. It’d only take her a minute- and Pinkie’s pie would take a lot longer than that for him to make.

“Well,” Starlight muttered, lifting and opening her menu. “We’ve found her.”

Rainbow opened her menu flat on the table. “But what next? We can’t exactly drag her back to Equestria.”

Rarity, however, looked at Starlight. “When you say she’s Twilight, how sure are you?”

Starlight looked back, and spoke in a low tone. “Very. Same magic signature as that shield three days ago. But she obviously doesn’t want us yakking about it here, so order something. She’ll probably come find us on the street or in the desert sometime, as she said.”

“She seems… different,” Fluttershy muttered.

“Of course,” Starlight answered promptly. “She’s been out here, all alone, for the last four years. We’ve had each other, but even we have changed some. At least they didn’t make her kill that poor dragon.”

“Well of course not,” Gusty Serenity stated so suddenly that everypony jumped, trotting up with Pinkie’s sundae balanced on a wingtip. “Nobody has to fight the Sneaky Sparkle. At least, not any more. And she never kills… well, anymore.”

“Anymore?” Starlight asked.

“Well yeah. When she first arrived at the Arena, she was dragged in by Quick Leash and his gang, and they forced her to kill or be killed.” She shrugged her wings without upsetting Pinkie’s sundae, and held it out to Pinkie, who accepted it in an oddly normal manner. “Two months later, she adjusted, and turned on him. Hundreds had tried before her, all to no avail- but that time, lots of griffins died, and there was a change in management. Now, Hard Line runs the place- and now, nobody is forced to fight- they go in voluntarily.

“You can challenge anybody in that Arena, if you want- and as long as they’re willing to take you on, you can fight them in a contest of strength. Then of course, Sparkle is willing to take anyone on- though Hard Line will try to dissuade the ones that won’t have even a snowflake’s chance in Tartarus, like that poor stallion Sparkle knocked unconscious last year by greeting him from behind.”

“... Wait,” Rainbow muttered. “She knocked somepony out by greeting him?”

She nodded. “Yep. I was there. It was a very… short match. He marched his way into the middle of the Arena, yelling for her like all the idiots do.” She shrugged. “We call ‘em idiots because when they do that, they then proceed to lose in a really silly way within five minutes or less. Like this stallion. She, as she always does, entered the Arena after he did. I think she raised an eyebrow at him, before slipping around behind him- she moved through the shadows, so he didn’t see her- and walking up behind him. Then…” She paused.

Fluttershy squeaked, and hid behind her mane.

“She… whacked him from behind?” Rainbow suggested.

“Oooh! Oooh! Oooh!” Pinkie said, waving one hoof in the air, half-eaten sundae held in her other hoof. “She threw him a party!”

Spike raised an eyebrow.

“... Presumably, she greeted him,” Starlight deadpanned.

Gusty nodded. “Yep! She just said ‘Good morning’ in a normal, conversational tone. He screamed, and leaped into the air… then fell down flat and didn’t move. She poked him a couple times, shrugged, and trotted back out of the Arena with her victory.” She paused to look around at them. “Um, did you want to order some food, or no?”

Silence held for about three seconds.

“Uhh,” Rainbow muttered.

“I mean,” Gusty shrugged her wings. “This is a cafe.”

“How about,” Spike muttered, browsing through his menu. “This… gem souffle?”

“Gem souffle?” Rarity repeated.

“That’s not even possible,” Rainbow stated.

“Uh, yes it is,” Gusty stated simply- then she flipped Rainbow’s menu over, and pointed at one of the little list entries on the back. “See? Right there. It’s in the main portion of the dragon menu, since it’s actually edible for them. But Cold Cuts back there is a pretty good gem chef, according to the few draconian customers we’ve had. I think the average is four point six one three stars.”

Starlight raised an eyebrow. “What about for pony food?”

She smiled back. “That one starts with four point nine seven and has twelve decimal digits.”

“... Right. Um…” She flicked quickly through her menu. “Nothing I’m familiar with in here, so… I’ll take whatever you’d recommend, I guess.” Then she looked at Pinkie. “And how did you order the one pie in the entire menu off the top of your head?”

Pinkie shrugged, then spoke in time with Gusty. “A hunch.”

Then Pinkie turned to Gusty. “Wait a minute.”

She grinned. “A hunch to that too. And that. Perhaps you should watch some of Sneaky Sparkle’s matches sometime.”

“Definitely,” Pinkie agreed, before upending the remainder of her sundae into her maw.

Then Gusty looked at Starlight. “And she probably picked it because it’s the one item on the menu that I invented myself. Well… the one pony-edible item on the menu.” She grinned at Spike. “Gem souffles didn’t exist either, until I arrived on the scene.”

“Well then,” Rarity flicked her mane, opened her menu… scowled, paged through it, and sighed, laying it flat. “I must admit, that pie is the only thing in this menu that I recognize, both from Equestria and from elsewhere in the Badlands. So…” She shrugged. “Chef’s recommendation, I guess.”

Gusty chuckled. “Oh, this’ll be a fun one.” She scribbled something on her notepad.

Rainbow and Fluttershy looked at each other.

“I’ll take…” Rainbow poked randomly at her menu, which still lay face down on the table. “That.”

Gusty snorted. “No you won’t. Have you even read what it is?”

“Huh?”

“That’s roasted cockatrice feathers, Dash.”

Rainbow practically leaped backwards, right off her seat. “It’s WHAT?”

“Roasted cockatrice feathers,” she repeated. “Not only that, but it’s impressively toxic to ponies. You’d turn to gravel before you finished the first bite… then catch fire.”

“Oh boy,” a voice trailed in, from the direction of the kitchen. “What happened this time?” It was the chef, trotting out with Pinkie’s pie- and glancing at Rainbow, lying flat on the ground.

“Uh-!” Rainbow began, flipping herself upright.

Gusty chuckled. “She stabbed at the back of the menu.”

Cold Cuts let out a snort of laughter. “Oh boy. What’d she get?”

“Nononono!” Rainbow yelped.

“Fried ‘Trice.”

He laughed. “Yeah, definitely not. That’s only even edible to Smoozes anyways.”

Gusty chuckled again. “Eh. But don’t worry, we got enough fun coming. Already got a server’s recommendation and a chef’s recommendation coming.”

He grinned, hoofing Pinkie her pie. “Yeah, that will be fun, won’t it?”

“Well of course, what kind of party wouldn’t be fun?” Pinkie asked.

“The Grand Galloping Gala,” Gusty answered instantly.

Pinkie flinched, then nodded in agreement.

Cold Cuts wrinkled his nose. “I never could stand galas either. That’s actually why I left Equestria- they kept asking me to go to those terrible things, no matter what I did!”

“Wait. You left Equestria? I thought you were banished!”

He shrugged. “Well yeah. Every fifteen minutes or so, there’d be some new gala that somepony would want me to attend. And I got so sick and tired of ‘em that I figured I could make it by myself a little further from civilization.” He shrugged. “Glad I ran into you, Gusty. Finally got back to doing what I enjoy.”

Rarity gasped. “You- You’re- You’re The Cooking Baron!”

He rolled his eyes. “I was The Cooking Baron, yes. But I haven’t been for almost ten years now, and I don’t plan on going back. I’m staying here, as Gusty’s chef Cold Cuts, and anypony with a Gala invitation is going to be served fried ‘Trice.”

Everypony shuddered. Even Gusty did.

Then he shrugged. “Not really, I’m not homicidal. And it’s a bit stupid to shoot the messenger anyways, especially with Sneaky Sparkle’s occasional crime sweeps. But their answer is always going to be a no.”

“Crime sweeps?” Rainbow asked.

“Yep,” Gusty nodded soberly. “Every once in a while, the Sneaky Sparkle will show up at some town or another, silent as a ghost, and enforce the rules for a little. Nobody ever knows when she’ll show up, nor where- we’ve tried, but we can’t find a pattern. She’s only been through this town a dozen times that I know of, in the last few years, but she could be by anytime. And rumor has it she’s around a lot more often than people realize, since there isn’t always someone breaking the local law.” She scowled. “And by the time anyone realizes she’s there, she’s gone.”

“As for me,” Cuts sighed. “I just wish she’d stop by to have a bite sometime. See what the great Sneaky Sparkle thinks of my cooking.” He shrugged. “Whelp, I’ll be in the kitchen, whipping up a Chef’s Recommendation.” He said it like it was the name of a dish. “Lemme know when you got the rest of the order, alright?” He trotted back to the kitchen.

Rainbow watched him go. “... That has so got to happen.”

Gusty nodded, a mischievous grin developing. “Yes, yes it has.” Then she tilted her head. “And I think I forgot to pick up a notice from the Arena, so I’ll know when they open it up again, too.”

Applejack grinned as well. “Ought to be fun. You heading out as soon as we finish, or…?”

Gusty shrugged her wings. “I was thinking I’d take everypony’s orders up to him, then let him take over while I took care of that, actually.”

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the delay, here, have an update!

Chapter 5- Breaking the Chains

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the long wait, everyone! Really was just fresh out of ideas and had some things to do irl. Hope you enjoy my longest chapter yet!
Also, prologue has been rewritten, with the fight removed to be added back in a flashback.
I've also been interviewed by a friend, Nailah! Go check out the interview here!

The interview is in a roleplay style, so be warned!

The cafe was relatively quiet after Gusty Serenity left. A couple of other ponies showed up to place orders, and some kitchen help showed up as well. Nopony bothered the six mares and the dragon, though—save for Cold Cuts, when he delivered their food; it all smelled really good—and asked if they’d like anything else. Their answer had been no.

Eventually, Starlight broke the silence. “So, who all wonders if Twilight is actually going to show up?”

Pinkie looked at her incredulously. “Well of course she is! She said she would! And you know, breaking a promise is one of the fastest ways to lose a friendship…” She inhaled dramatically- and then a young mare from a nearby table bounded over to say the last word with her. “FOREVERRRRR!”

Starlight looked at the strange mare. “Uh… Who are you?”

The mare blinked. “What-? Oh, me? I’m Serene Peace.” She took a deep breath and turned to Pinkie. “Were you imitating the Great Sparkle? I love it when she does that!”

Starlight couldn’t help but notice when a mare, passing their table on her way in, used a purple hoof to draw her cloak just a little bit tighter when she heard that.

Pinkie blinked. Applejack spoke. “Imitating the Sneaky Sparkle?” she asked.

“Uh, no, not the Sneaky Sparkle, though lotsa ponies call her that. She’s the Great Sparkle to me.” She had a lot of energy in her, definitely. “It took absolutely forever for ponies to figure out not to promise to beat her in the Arena because every time they do…” She stopped herself, and seemed to deflate, almost exactly like Pinkie Pie. “... Ponies usually complain about me explaining,” she muttered.

“Ah, no, we won’t,” Starlight announced quickly, and at least a little bit distractedly; the cloaked figure had disappeared somewhere, and she couldn’t figure out where. “What happens?”

This brought Serene Peace back to her alarmingly Pinkie-like energy levels. “Oooh, ooh ooh ooh!” She bounced up and down.

Pinkie joined her. “It’d start with the contestant being all ‘I promise I will beat you’,” she told Serene.

“How’d you know that?” Serene asked, tilting her head. “I mean if you’re asking…”

Pinkie shrugged. “A hunch.”

“Don’t mind her,” Starlight informed Serene. “She does that to everypony.”

Serene giggled. “Hey, I do it too! Sometimes. But then, the Great Sparkle would be like ‘You know, I wouldn’t advise a promise like that. You don’t know if you can keep it’.” Her serious face made even Fluttershy giggle. “And they’d be like ‘Well, of course, I can keep it!’ And the Great Sparkle would be like ‘You know, breaking a promise is one of the fastest ways to lose a friendship’...” She trailed off, then leaned to the side and put her hoof up, to make an aside. “This is where she beats them down in three seconds or less, wins the fight, and poses over them.” Then she straightened up again, took a deep breath, and spoke with Pinkie.

“FOREVERRRRR!”

Then all three of them smiled.

And the third one, a cloaked figure with a mask that had just appeared next to Serene, shrugged. “Though I would argue that I was imitating Pinkie, not the other way around.”

Serene froze for a half-second, before turning to Pinkie. “P-Pinkie? Like, Pinkie Pie? The Great, the Wonderful, the-!” She stopped to take a quick breath. “The amazing party pony and friend of the Great Sparkle?”

Pinkie nodded, bouncing in time with her constantly increasing rate. “Yes! That’s me!”

Serene immediately clasped Pinkie’s outstretched hoof and shook it harder than Applejack had shaken Twilight’s when they’d first met. “Woohoo! You’re my role model! I wish I could be like you, and move to Equestria, and throw parties, and-!” She went silent out of what appeared to be excitement.

The cloaked figure shrugged. “Well, why not, Serene? Unlike me, and your mom, you weren’t banished.”

Serene gasped, whirling to stare straight into the hood. “Uh… Who…?”

Twilight Sparkle removed her mask, smiled, and reached out to put one hoof to Serene’s lips.

Serene spent a few seconds alternately vibrating and wobbling and finally settled on a more sedate pattern. “Why? Ponies that were born out here can’t enter Equestria, even if they weren’t banished themselves.”

“Because you were born in the Canterlot General Hospital three years before your mom was banished,” Twilight answered. “I know, I was there. Celestia wanted to show me something.” She shuddered. “And… when she banished your mom… she didn’t banish you, even if you were teleported with her. I was there for that too. So she can’t go back to Equestria, and I can’t, but you can.”

Serene blinked, jaw articulating for several seconds. “So… why are you here? I mean… you don’t normally start chatting…”

Twilight shrugged again. “To catch up with old friends,” she stated. Then she hugged Serene lightly with a wing. “And of course, it never hurts to make new friends, either. Even if I’m not using an alter ego this time around.”

“Speaking of alter ego,” Applejack scowled. “How come you ended up fighting in that arena? Ah thought you were more the studying sort.”

Twilight smiled. “Funny story, that.”

It was time.

Twilight stumbled and nearly collapsed when the griffins shoved her into the Arena.

She’d known this was coming. How could she not? Once Quick Leash, which she’d learned her captor was called, had realized she’d made a friend amongst the other fighters, he’d started priming her to fight him.

But she couldn’t fight Hard Line. She just couldn’t. He was the stallion that had helped her come to terms with her task, come to terms with killing to survive. That was just the way it was in the Badlands. One had to kill… or be killed. He’d helped her to stop thinking of her opponents as people, but as creatures- not as animals, or even as enemies, as she’d thought of Starlight during that time fiasco- but as monsters. It didn’t make killing them anymore right, but it made it possible for her to stomach it.

She still had to concentrate to avoid seizing up before- or after- the deed.

And now, they were putting her in the Arena… against Hard Line. She couldn’t think of him as anything other than a friend. She couldn’t kill him. She couldn’t even fight him, any more than she could have fought Fluttershy.

Her head hung as she listened to the announcer, calling out the battle. Quick Leash would be up in the top box, with his announcer and a few of his griffin guards.

Yes, it was a battle to the death. Not all battles were that, as she’d quickly found out- but in a battle to the death, only one walked away alive.

She knew already that it would be Hard Line. He’d be the one to walk away since he was more experienced. He had killed ponies before. He would be able to kill her… and she wouldn’t- couldn’t- resist.

And she knew Quick Leash would be disappointed by her performance. It’d be absolutely unspectacular in every form of the word.

Not that it’d matter to her- she’d be dead before long.

It took Hard Line only sixty seconds to march across the Arena and slap Twilight in the face. “What are you doing?” he barked. “Fight!”

She didn’t move, ignoring the painful strike. She was an Alicorn- she couldn’t be harmed by blunt-force trauma. Or if she could, she had yet to experience a blow that could hurt her. He had a blade, though, and those could still hurt her. “I can’t,” she muttered, head still hanging.

He snorted angrily. “Of course you can! Now Fight!” He pulled her blade, a two-foot-long two-edged sword, from her scabbard, and yanked up one of her forehooves to push it into. She didn’t even stumble, her pegasus magic allowing her to shift her weight faster than she could think. “Fight!”

She shook her head. “I can’t,” she repeated. “I can’t kill you.”

He paused for a second, before punching her in earnest, allowing her blade to fall to the ground. “Yes you can!” he declared. “You’ve fought, and killed, before, and I’m no different! Now fight!” He struck her again.

“No, I can’t,” she answered indignantly. “I-!”

He cut her off. “Getting angry? Good! Hold on to that feeling, and FIGHT!”

“B-but I just can’t!”

“Listen to me, Sparkle. You have friends to get back to, don’t you? You need to fight so that you can right the wrongs against you and return to them. As for me?” Hard Line spread his wings. “I have no one. Cherish your friends and family before it's too late. I learned that lesson too late.”

At the mention of her friends, Twilight froze. She had mentioned them to Hard Line as a motivation to return to Equestria and when Hard Line heard, he had started to help her the next day. She never knew what made him decide to help her. Now she knew.

She could fight and survive because Hard Line was giving her the chance to go back to her friends in Equestria.

No, not could.

She would.

A maelstrom of emotions began to churn inside of her, and she began to feel something rising inside of her.

No. She would not kill her friend, she would find another way.

Hate for Quick Leash for what he had done to them bubbled to the surface, and Twilight turned to Hard Line.

“I’m not going to kill you,” Twilight stated. “I was once the personal student of Princess Celestia, not only for my intelligence but for my magic.” Twilight closed her eyes, pausing for a moment, thinking deeply. “There is always another way for those who look for it.”

Twilight grasped her locked magic. It hurt, but she needed this. She tugged at the magic and she felt the bonds unraveling a little, but they held strong. By this point, the audience was silent, watching the exchange between her and Hard Line, and Quick Leash was demanding why they weren’t fighting.

Twilight pulled harder at her magic and for the first time in weeks, she began to feel her magic again. After weeks of disuse, her magic had been restored, her mana levels had never been higher. Her magic was a raging maelstrom of power begging to be used, to be released. She gripped it and pulled.

The magic shot to her horn, the inhibitor rings breaking and falling down to the ground. Her eyes began to glow, and she grinned feverishly. She had gotten her magic back! She glanced at Quick Leash. He was barking and commanding all of his guards to apprehend her.

“Hard Line,” Twilight declared flatly, prompting Hard Line to look at her. “I want you to help me change this arena for the better. You’ve proven that you are more than capable to do it. Will you?”

Hard Line smiled. “Gladly, Sparkle,” Twilight smirked. “Look out!” he cried out, his eyes fixated on something behind her. Twilight simply smiled and lit her horn. The seemingly lethal arrows that were heading for her bounced off Twilight’s impervious lavender shield and fell to the ground uselessly

“Princess Celestia taught me a few tricks.” Twilight laughed. Ah, It felt so good to have her magic back again! “Being her student, she needed to teach me some self-defense. Without my magic, I couldn’t use those lessons. But now?” She grinned. “I can finally put them to use.” Turning to meet the incoming horde of griffins, she extended her wings to open into a wide, fighting stance.

“Come at me, for I am not afraid!”

Twilight materialized a shimmering lavender blade with her magic and sliced down the first griffin.

Yet, when she brought the blade scything down, she couldn’t help but feel a tinge of guilt that trickled through her heart. She felt bad, terrible almost, but the griffin had made that fateful decision to work for Quick Leash. But what if that griffin had a family?

She hesitated.

No. She couldn’t hesitate now.

This was a matter of life and death.

She shook that merciful thought out of her mind and focussed on what Hard Line had taught her. No, she couldn’t take any chances. The next griffin she saw was knocked down to the earthen ground with an intense magic bolt.

By then, the main horde was on her. Concentrating deeply, she cast a spell that she grasped from the distant depths of her memory and shoved it to the back of her mind in a frenzy. A huge explosion of magic burst from her horn knocked all the griffins in a five-meter radius unconscious before they even hit the ground.

Using her magic, she severed the next five griffins’ windpipes in a heartbeat, causing them to collapse onto the ground asphyxiating. Twilight was careful not to get too immersed in the killing and instead concentrate on her magic, else she might have stopped at the horrendous sight of what she was doing.

Not that she had the time to ponder over her morality, as another wave of griffins came rushing forward to apprehend her.

Gathering magic in her horn, she threw a fireball onto the next group of griffins, trying to ignore their wailing screams as they were burnt alive with mystical embers.

She then modified the air currents around them and caused the air in some places to solidify. The griffins heading straight for her smacked their heads into these solid blocks of air with a loud thud and fell unconscious before even having the slightest idea of what actually hit them.

Twilight had to give the griffins credit. Even after she had killed or injured so many of their friends, they kept on coming. She remembered a lesson from when she was younger. Griffins were fiercely loyal to their friends and if one was killed, others would definitely seek revenge. Even now, more griffins were flying over from one of the entrances.

Hard Line was by her side, cutting down the griffins that got close to her as she was slinging spells into the mix of griffins and the unicorn guards who had finally arrived. A horn sounded, the harsh klaxon sound blasting across the arena. The griffins started to retreat behind unicorn barriers into a tight formation. At the sight of this, Twilight stopped casting spells. It would only waste her mana blasting against the shields as there were too many unicorns holding the barrier.

“What now?” Hard Line asked nervously.

Twilight analyzed the situation.

“I can’t try a frontal attack… and there are unicorns who certainly know what they’re doing, so I can’t just try to dismantle the shield by modifying it. Although… yes!” Twilight exclaimed.

Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated. Her horn began to glow in anticipation as she cast a spell.

The ground behind the formation began to rumble and gather into a huge ball of stone and dirt. The griffins screeched in fear and scrambled to get out of the way. The unicorns holding the shield tried to run.

They had forgotten something.

There was no barrier behind them.

The ball fell and rolled towards them with an avalanche of rock and rubble. Crushing several of the griffins that failed to get out of the way, the ball scattered the otherwise orderly formation, causing the barrier to dissipate.

Hard Line grinned.

“Now, that’s more like it!” he yelled, believing that they had emerged victorious against all odds

But suddenly, the griffins began to back up towards the sides of the arena. “What are they-” Hard Line began.

“So you thought you could try to break free of my arena?” a voice spoke from above. Twilight looked up and her eyes narrowed. Quick Leash landed down on the arena floor with a loud thud and glared at them. “So you thought I became the master of this arena without fighting?” he scoffed. “Now, you will see what I can truly do.”

Slowly, he drew his sword out of its scabbard. Runes glinted along the handle as it radiated magical rays from its surface

“Oh, no...” Twilight whispered as she felt her resolve slipping away from her soul.

“What is it, Sparkle?” Hard Line asked.

“That’s..that’s a Spellblade, Hard Line.”

“What’s a Spellblade?”

Twilight just remained silent, her eyes widening at that legendary glowing sword, as she tried desperately to hold her ground.

Quick Leash laughed.

“A Spellblade is a blade that absorbs all magic, imbecile.” Quick Leash pointed the Spellblade at them menacingly. “It was in the possession of a griffin before I acquired it. And don’t think I need a Spellblade to defeat both of you,” he smirked. “I don’t.” He spread his wings. “And be grateful I deign to kill you myself. I have not killed anyone personally in ages. If you surrender, I’ll make it quick. If you don’t?” He smirked. “I’ll kill you as slowly as I can.”

“Never!” Hard Line roared and charged. He swung his sword at Quick Leash’s head. Quick Leash just simply rolled his eyes and danced away. Hard Line swung again and this time Quick Leash parried it.

“Choosing a slow death, eh?. Very good, at least I can entertain the audience for a time,” he spoke.

In a blink of an eye, he charged forward, executing a flurry of attacks on Hard Line, demonstrating an amazing display of his ability with that mystical weapon. Hard Line’s eyes widened as he backed up, barely blocking each attack. Frozen in shock at the sight of this mythical weapon, Twilight could only watch with widened eyes as Quick Leash bore down on her friend, his attacks virtually impossible to keep up.

“Sparkle! Help!” Hard Line cried out, knowing that it was only a matter of time when he would be surely caught out by Quick Leash’s blade. The sudden shriek for help shocked Twilight out of her daze, causing her to shake herself out of her stupor. As Hard Line parried the sword again, Twilight swung her own magical blade at Quick Leash. Faster than her eyes could follow, Quick Leash spun and parried her blade effortlessly. He smiled gleefully as the blade was readily absorbed by the Spellblade.

“You were a fool to challenge me, Sparkle. You really thought that your magic was sufficient to overpower me? HA! I think not. ” he shouted, as his blade glowed ever more brightly with the influx of Twilight’s magical aura. Twilight cried out in pain as her magic began draining out of her at a worrying rate

“No!” Hard Line cried out. He charged, but this time Quick Leash just casually pointed the Spellblade at him. A magical wave of multicolored energy gushed out from the tip of the blade, blasting Hard Line across the arena at a jaw-dropping velocity.

“HA! Just as much as it can absorb magic, it can use magic too, you imbecile!” Quick Leash yelled. Turning back to Twilight, he pointed the sword at her. “Now, give me your magic! ALL OF IT!” The sword began to draw magic from Twilight’s horn again and she bellowed out in pain as she felt her reserves begin to drain. “When I’m done, you’ll be nothing but a useless husk of skin and bone,” he laughed maniacally.

Twilight screamed as the pain grew and grew. Despite the immense amount of pain inflicted on her tortured spirit, she was contemplating plans and thinking of ways to stop Quick Leash. She wracked her mind desperately for a solution, clasping her eyes shut to focus away from the pain that came from without.

But after several long moments of deliberation, she knew that there was only one thing that she could do. She struggled to her hooves and glared at Quick Leash.

“You want my magic? Here, you can have all of it.” Twilight stopped resisting against the pull of her magic and allowed the Spellblade to draw the magic from her in spades.

“Yes, yes!” Quick Leash cried out, “The power coming in...it is incredible!”

Quick Leash could only grin with delight as his sword glinted stronger and stronger with sudden, random bursts of iridescent energy. The runic inscriptions lit up with an awe-inspiring radiance that almost seemed to shatter the blade into bits.

Yet, after many moments, the blade continued to draw energy from Twilight’s almost bottomless reserves of magical aura. The blade continued glowing brighter and brighter and brighter...

“No, NO! The power is too much, stop! STOP!” he yelled, as a burst of energy contained within shot out in all directions, accompanied by a powerful shockwave that ran through the entire circumference of the arena. In the blinding light, the sword’s structural integrity collapsed into a forlorn heap of metallic splinters that landed serenely onto the obliterated surface of the arena.

Chapter 6- Beginnings

“And the Spellblade destabilized and exploded, leaving Quick Leash in bad shape,” Twilight finished her story and paused. “What’s up with you girls?”

Panning the group, a mixture of facial expressions greeted the alicorn. Starlight simply stared at her blankly. Rarity’s eyes were as wide as saucers, her jaws slack. Fluttershy was covering her ears tightly with her forehooves, frightened by her gruesome tale. Applejack was struggling to make her mouth utter something in response but to no avail. Pinkie Pie had stopped twitching for once in her entire life in utter shock. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash remained calm and stoic, her eyes shining with excitement as she listened to Twilight’s story.

After an eternity, Rarity spoke up. “You-you killed griffons?”

Twilight closed her eyes, her morals once again being called into question. “You have to understand, it was a matter of killing or being killed. Even now, there’s not a day I don’t think back and try to find a way such that it could have been settled without killing. It will forever leave a mark on my conscience, I simply cannot forgive myself.”

Hearing this, Rainbow looked indignant.

“Well, I think she did the right thing! From what Twi’ just told us, she was forced by them to kill others, and she almost died several times, too!”

“We shoulda been there for ya, Twi’. You’ve been through a rough few years, and we’re sorry for that,” Applejack murmured.

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t blame anypony, girls. Not even Celestia. One thing that the Badlands has taught me is that holding grudges will eat you from the inside out. None of you should be mad at Celestia, it was a simple mistake.” She tilted her head. “Speaking of which, how are you girls here? Did Celestia banish you too?”

“No, silly!” Pinkie Pie interjected. “She sent us to look for you! She made us whatsit called— Wardens of the Land or something like that— and she said that it would reverse the banishment spell on you!”

It was Twilight’s turn to be surprised. “She did?”

Pinkie nodded her head. “Yes! So you can come with us and no longer fight in that dreadful arena now!” Twilight turned away and sighed.

“What is it, darling? You can come back to Equestria, you should be happy!” Rarity questioned.

“I am, yes, but… I have built up a life out here, Rarity. It will be hard for me to just leave. Many ponies are counting on me for several reasons, and many look up to me. I cannot just leave them. With me here, crime has dropped drastically from what it was before, and I own several establishments, including this cafe.” Twilight gazed into the distance.

“But darling, we need you back! Without you, Ponyville just feels empty, and the Princess felt absolutely horrible about banishing you!”

Applejack nodded. “That’s right, sugarcube. The day after you were gone, the Princess was regretting her decision and was feeling mighty guilty about it.”

Starlight spoke. “And I feel guilty for making you survive out here all on your own. It was my fault that you were banished in the first place. We’ve spent the last few years looking for you, Twilight.”

Twilight smiled slightly. “You did that for me?”

“Of course, egghead!” Rainbow flew over the table and embraced her in a strong, though quick, hug. “You’re our friend, and we’d do anything for our friends!”

Fluttershy nodded energetically. “I tried to get Discord to look for you, but we couldn’t find him. I’m sorry we couldn’t find you earlier.”

Twilight waved her off. “It’s fine, Fluttershy. There is nothing to forgive. You girls did nothing wrong. It was a simple mistake, nothing more. That being said, it is getting quite late, and I think I am right in assuming that none of you has any place to stay?”

They nodded.

“Well, I can put you up at where I live for the night and you can stay for as long as you want. Brace yourself, I’ll be teleporting us there.”

Twilight and the group appeared in a dark room, and as they landed on the floor, everypony except Twilight stumbled. She lit her horn and the room’s lamps lit up.

“Come with me,” she murmured, opening the door and trotting outside. As they exited, they gasped. The interior was decked out in paintings and murals of all kinds, and they were not just beautiful...they were extravagantly lavish.

“Wonderful, aren’t they?” Twilight asked with pride in her voice. “I had time to spare, so I tracked down one of the known artists in the Badlands and asked him to teach me. It took years to draw and paint every one of these.”

Rarity found her voice. “Twilight, darling, you painted all of these?”

Twilight nodded. “I had to find something to do when I wasn’t in the arena. Books aren’t plentiful in the Badlands. Almost every night I would sit on the balcony with a canvas and some paint and draw the night. The stars shone for me, and they were beautiful.”

Applejack took off her hat. “Why, Twi’, Ah didn’t know you could paint that well!” Twilight blushed at Applejack’s praise.

“They were just a pastime, Applejack. I’ve definitely seen better works. You see that painting over there?” She pointed to one leaning against a wall. It was a sunset over the desert, with lots of bright reds and oranges, but with subtle hints of darker blues and purples signifying the imminent night. “It’s riddled with mistakes. It and every other painting in here.”

“Even so...darling,” Rarity interjected quickly, “you’ve done magnificently.”

Twilight smiled. “Thank you, Rarity.”

“So, Twilight, who lives here?” Starlight asked.

“Well, this is my home, but it’s under my alias Quick Brush. Quick Brush is a painter that sells some of her paintings for prices that are quite cheap. You can stay here as long as you like, or until you decide to leave.”

Starlight paused. “You’re not coming back with us?”

Twilight smiled sadly. “I’m considering it, Starlight. But in the case that I choose not to, I will come back with you to visit and make amends to Princess Celestia. I will also want to see my family again. After that, I will return to the Badlands. I have built a life here, and I do not wish to just leave it just like that.”

“But you have to come back with us!” Pinkie Pie protested.

“I will, Pinkie. But you have to understand, I have spent four years building things up here, and many ponies depend on me. I will come back, yes, but if I choose to go back and live in Equestria I will still go back and forth. I have responsibilities here, and I cannot just abandon them.”

Applejack nodded. “Ah understand. You don’t want your hard work to go to waste the moment you leave. But if the place is as nice as you say it is, Ah think they can live without you, Twi’. They did so for many years even before you arrived.”

Twilight nodded slowly. “Indeed, Applejack. For now, you girls can choose any room to stay in. Every bedroom is furnished with a bed and a desk, so you can sleep comfortably tonight.”

Spike pulled lightly on Twilight’s tail. “I’ve been wondering, Twilight...you avoided telling us about your first few days in that arena. What exactly happened?” Spike asked.

Twilight stiffened. “Those… were the worst days of my life, Spike. I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Why not, darling? It’s better to get things off your chest, you’ll feel better!” Rarity insisted.

Twilight closed her eyes. “Rarity, I-”

Fluttershy draped her wing over Twilight. “I know this is hard for you, but we’re all here for you, Twilight. If you don’t want to tell us, you don’t have to. But what Rarity said is correct, Twilight. You’ll feel better if you tell us.”

“Yeah, what she said!” Rainbow agreed.

Twilight closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. “I’ll tell you. It all began when I woke up in a cell, with an inhibitor ring on my horn…”

Twilight opened her eyes wearily to see the blankness of stone-paved walls. She was lying down on the floor, and she was in some kind of...cell? For some unknown reason, her throat was no longer parched and she actually wasn’t hungry for once. Somepony must have fed her and given her water to drink while she had been unconscious.

She tried to rise up on all four of her hooves, but she collapsed at the mere effort of extending her legs. Even when lying on the floor, her knees trembled and her hooves still ached, evidently still weak from her ordeals in the desert.

“Hello? Anypony... There?” Twilight called out.

Only silence greeted her.
She struggled to her hooves and stumbled again back towards the cell door. She pulled at it with her hooves and it didn’t budge one bit.
Alright, magic time.

She grasped her magic and cast a simple levitation spell to pull the door open. However, what she didn’t expect was for pain to suddenly erupt in her horn and her magic to dissipate rapidly. Twilight cried out in pain as she felt that her magic was restricted by some unknown barrier.

Twilight looked up towards her horn and realised that there was an inhibitor ring imbued with runic symbols restricting her magic.

Who...who would do such a cruel thing?

“Awake, are you?” A voice rang from the cell door. Twilight turned around and saw a white coloured unicorn standing there, staring at her impassively. He lit his horn and a key inserted itself into the keyhole of the cell door. He beckoned for her to follow him. “Come, the boss wishes to see you.”Twilight stumbled across to the cell door and followed the stallion.

“Where are we?” Twilight asked. “Why do I have an inhibitor ring on my horn?” He kept quiet and led her through a labyrinth of doors and corridors and finally after ten arduous minutes, they arrived at a brown coloured door. The stallion opened the door and she trotted in. Instantly, a few things stood out to Twilight at the moment she entered.

There was a chair facing away from her directly across her and four griffons with swords by their sides hanging there. There were also another three unicorns standing next to the door staring at her emotionlessly. As Twilight trotted in the room, the door closed behind her as the unicorn who had led her here entered and took his place beside the other unicorns.

“Hello?” Twilight said nervously. The chair slowly spun around and there was a white coloured pegasus sitting there.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle,” he stated. “So nice of you to join us in the land of the living, princess. It was touch and go for a while, wasn’t it? The rumours that alicorns are immortal aren’t true, I take it?” Twilight slowly nodded.

“Forgive me if I don’t show the proper respect you deserve. After all, my father was banished by your precious Princess of the Sun, and I have no love for any of the Equestrian Princesses.” Twilight swallowed. This wasn’t looking to be in her favour.

“If you could take off the inhibitor ring and allow me to send a letter back to Equestria, I’m sure I could do something about your situation-” Twilight began.

“No,” the pegasus interrupted. “I quite enjoy what I’ve built for my life in the Badlands, thank you very much.” He smiled. “I just realised I haven’t given you my name yet, have I? It’s Quick Leash.”

Twilight pawed at the ground nervously with her hooves. “What do you want from me?” she asked.

“Straight to the point, Sparkle. I like it.” Quick Leash smirked. “As for what I want from you… I saved your life. I’d like something in return, and you’re going to give it to me no matter what you say. I’d like your life.” Twilight stumbled backwards in shock.

“My-my life? But you just-”

“No, Sparkle. Not that way. You belong to me now, and you will do as I say. I don’t care that you used to be a princess, that does not matter in the Badlands. You will work for me, and if you behave, I will consider letting you go once you’ve earned me enough.”

Twilight swallowed. “What do you want me to do?”

Quick Leash grinned. “I own an arena, Sparkle. I guess you can connect the dots from there.”

“No! I won’t fight for your sick games, Quick Leash!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Now, now, Sparkle. You can either come quietly and fight for us of your free will, or you can be forced. Choose now, Sparkle.” Quick Leash smirked. As far as he was concerned, the debate was over.

“I will not fight,” Twilight stated. Quick Leash sighed.

“So be it. Guards, take her to her first match and do not give her any proper weapon. A knife will do for her defiance. This could have gone better, Sparkle. I could have given you partial use of your magic back, but you didn’t want to co-operate with me.”

“Match? What do you me-” The unicorns lit their horns and lifted her up in their magic. Twilight struggled fruitlessly as they levitated her outside the room.

“Learn or die, Sparkle! That’s the only rule of the Badlands!” Quick Leash called out as the door to the office was closed.

The unicorns threw her into the arena, before shutting the gates behind her. A knife was left on the ground, and Twilight picked it up hesitantly. She didn’t want to fight, but what choice did she have?

Once the audience realised that an alicorn had just entered, they all went silent, murmuring among themselves. An earth pony on the podium walked up to the front and cleared his throat. A unicorn beside him lit his horn and the earth pony began to speak, his voice magically amplified.

“Today, folks, we have a special treat for you all! We have an alicorn fighting in the arena! I promise you nothing less than a day full of excitement here! She’s still fresh, but I’m sure she’ll prove herself magnificently in the fight today!” The earth pony yelled to the crowd. “And now, for her first opponent, a desert wolf, freshly captured from the desert!”

The gates on the other side of the arena opened, and a desert wolf was thrown into the arena. It got up almost immediately and snarled at Twilight.

“Will she survive this? All I know is that it will definitely be interesting!” the announcer yelled. “As for every fight here, it is a fight to the death, and there are no rules!”

A fight to the death? Twilight stumbled backwards in shock. She didn’t want to die! The desert wolf snarled at her one final time, before leaping towards, fangs bared ready to sink into her. Twilight flapped her wings hard and flew upwards, dropping the knife in the process.

“And she dodges!” the announcer happily told the audience.

Twilight landed down on the opposite side of where the desert wolf was and looked towards the wolf. It was stalking her, legs crouched, preparing to lunge at her again. She looked up for a second towards the top of the arena, considering her options to escape. She could fly out, but she realised that there were griffon guards flying above the arena, ready to stop her from doing what she had been planning to do.

While distracted, the desert wolf leapt towards her and sank its jaws into her shoulder. Twilight cried out in pain and lifted her hind hooves to buck the desert wolf. Her hooves connected with the wolf and sent it flying. The audience gasped as one.

Twilight looked down at her shoulder. Twilight's shoulder sported a gnarly gash, the teeth marks showing all around her upper shoulder and down to her upper leg; the wound itself could be identified by the oozing red liquid, congealing and boiling down her side. Twilight's blood. Twilight winced as she tried to move her shoulder; it was useless now. Suddenly, the wolf leapt at her again. Twilight stumbled backwards in surprise and tried to fly away. The wolf barely missed her hooves as she flew upwards. She couldn’t stay in the air forever, her shoulder was causing her too much pain.

Twilight landed down on the floor of the arena again, and this time, the wolf was circling her, wary of her flying away again. It bared its teeth at her, blood evident on its fangs from when it had bitten her. She needed to do something, or else she was dead. She picked up the knife and pointed it towards the wolf, her hoof trembling to hold it straight.

The wolf growled at her. As it circled her, she realised something. The wolf was limping, with one of its hind legs weak from where she had bucked it. Twilight could use that to her advantage.

The wolf snarled once again and lunged. Twilight dodged nimbly aside, wincing as her shoulder hurt. Lifting her forehooves, she brought them down onto the wolf’s weak leg. The wolf howled in pain as the bones in the leg crunched and broke. She then spun around and bucked it in the face, sending it flying.

Thank you Applejack, for all those times you taught me to buck, Twilight thought as she steadied herself. She looked towards the wolf. It was struggling, unable to get up with a broken leg. It howled once and fell silent. It stared at her with eyes that seemed to say, finish it.

Twilight stared back. Even if the wolf wanted her to kill it, she couldn’t. It was a living thing, and it didn’t deserve to be forced into the arena like her. Then she remembered something Fluttershy taught her.
If somecreature is dying, it is merciful to put them down, Twilight. Fluttershy had said. It’s better to give them the release than just let them suffer from the pain.

Twilight approached the wolf warily, the knife in her hoof. The wolf gazed back at her, its eyes defiant. As she approached, the wolf struggled to its legs and lifted its head up. It howled its final howl, its voice full of pain and defiance. It then turned to meet her and closed its eyes. It had chosen to die proud and unbroken. Twilight closed her eyes and brought the knife down.

The wolf went limp and collapsed, the knife sticking out of its neck. Twilight had chosen that area so as to give the wolf a death as painless as possible.

Twilight sat down, her shoulder hurting as the blood streamed down slowly. Twilight concentrated and pulled on her earth pony magic. As she watched, the wound slowly closed. Princess Celestia had taught her this- an ancient earth pony method. Before this, she had thought it useless, but now she was grateful for it.

She turned towards the announcer. Up till now, she had ignored him, choosing to concentrate on the fight as much as possible.

“The alicorn has defeated her first opponent, but will she defeat her next one?” The announcer happily asked the audience. Twilight stiffened. There was another one for her to fight?

“Her first opponent was weak, and she defeated it easily! But her next opponent has proved himself in battle twice, ending the fight swiftly with his axe! Mares, gentlecolts, dragons, kirins and other creatures, give it up for Bruto the Minotaur!” the announcer roared to the crowd.

The crowd roared in excitement as the gates on the other side of the arena opened, letting a minotaur step out, twirling an axe in his hands. Twilight backed up away from the wolf’s corpse as he straightened up to his full height.

He was taller than the average minotaur, and his horns were longer than Iron Will’s. His eyes showed no emotion as he looked at Twilight. She couldn’t do this, she was almost spent on her strength just healing her shoulder.

“I am Bruto. And you will die.” The minotaur rumbled in a deep voice.

“And… begin!” The announcer yelled. As the crowd cheered, the minotaur rushed towards her, axe lifted up to end Twilight’s life swiftly. Well, she was having none of that. Twilight spread her wings and flapped them, hard.

As the minotaur swung his axe, it sliced below her hooves as she struggled to gain altitude. “I don’t want to fight!” she cried out. Bruto looked up towards her and smiled sadly.

“You will fight. If captors see we are not fighting, they will kill us themselves.” He pointed up. “You see those griffons with crossbows?” Twilight looked up.

“So either I kill you, or you kill me. There can only be one survivor, pony.” Bruto declared. “And you flying doesn’t help you.” As he said this, he pulled back the axe and tossed it towards Twilight. Her eyes widened as she barely dodged aside. As the axe fell towards the ground, he caught it.

Twilight landed down on the ground and eyed Bruto warily. He was twirling his axe and was considering her. As she looked at him, Bruto lowered his head and charged. Eyes widening, she dived aside, Bruto’s horns grazing her hind hooves.

As she spun around, the axe glinted as it swung towards her. Twilight dodged and galloped full pelt for the corpse of the wolf. She would need the knife if she wanted a chance to survive. Reaching the wolf's corpse, she tugged the knife out of the body and spun around, just in time to use the knife to parry the axe headed for her neck.

Twilight grunted as the strength of the swing pushed her back. The knife wasn’t enough to counter such strength and an axe. She needed more.

Twilight flapped her wings as Bruto swung the axe again, this time for her hooves. Narrowly dodging the axe, she threw the knife towards Bruto, the sharp edge first. Bruto easily knocked the knife aside with his axe and lunged for her.

Twilight banked towards the left as Bruto tried to grab her hooves. A glint in the corner of her vision. A griffon guard stood near the gates with a sword on his side. She needed that sword. Putting on speed, she collided into the griffon, the griffon crying out in surprise. She kicked the griffon in the head, knocking him unconscious. The audience gasped at this. This was the first time one of the fighters attacked a guard.

Twilight quickly grabbed the sword. As she did so, she heard snippets of the announcer’s voice.

“The alicorn has taken the initiative and gotten a better weapon! What will she do with it, I wonder?” Twilight grimaced. She didn’t want to use the sword, but the minotaur gave her no choice. That pegasus, Quick Leash was to blame for all this. Hate bubbled to the surface as she dodged the axe swing yet again.

“Hold… still!” Bruto grunted.

“No!” she replied. This time, Twilight was the one to swing her weapon. Bruto parried it easily and knocked her sword aside.

“Nowhere to run now, pony,” Bruto stated. He lifted the axe and brought it down. In her desperation, Twilight did the only thing she could. She created a barrier with her magic instinctively, and the axe slammed into it. Twilight opened her eyes. She… could feel her magic! As the realisation hit her, she looked up to see the inhibitor ring smoking from the amount of raw magic she was forcing through it.

Bruto backed up warily as she got to her hooves. As Twilight looked towards Bruto, she discovered what had happened. Her raw magic had been too much for the rudimentary inhibitor ring to handle, and she had forced through enough magic for simple spells. Twilight tested her boundaries. She couldn’t cast a teleportation spell, not yet.

Bruto lifted his axe and swung. “Even with magic, you cannot hope to beat me!” he roared as his axe connected with Twilight’s sword, lifted up just in time to block the axe. Twilight concentrated and pulled on her earth pony strength.

“Yes..I…can!” she screamed as she pushed the axe back. Twilight spun and swung the sword towards Bruto. This time, Bruto was too slow and the sword sliced into his side. He roared in pain and lunged towards her, hands outstretched to grab her.

Twilight dived aside and got up quickly. Her eyes widened as the axe bit deep into the floor beside her, barely missing her neck. Panicking, Twilight shoved Bruto away with her magic. Bruto stumbled and fell down, hitting the floor face first.

“Please don’t do this,” she begged. “I don’t want to kill anypony!”

Bruto pushed himself off the floor. “Well, I do!” Lifting his axe, he swung it with all his might. Twilight brought the sword up to meet it. As the sword hit the axe, it resisted for a moment, before breaking into pieces. Bruto grinned. “You’re done for, pony!”

Dropping the broken sword, Twilight scrambled back on her back as Bruto swung, again and again, the axe barely missing her. “Don’t!” she pleaded. Bruto ignored her pleas and swung again. Twilight closed her eyes. She hated what she had to do next. As Bruto lifted his axe for the final blow, his eyes widened. A knife had just been driven through his chest from the back, the barest hint of Twilight’s magic on its hilt.

Bruto met Twilight’s eyes. “Good...fight…” he whispered softly before he fell to the ground as his breaths steadily got lesser. He had made the fatal mistake of underestimating Twilight. As she looked at Bruto’s unmoving body, she collapsed on her knees, strength spent and sobbed.

“And the alicorn wins! I sure didn’t expect that, did you all?” The announcer yelled as griffons flooded in, grabbing Twilight and fixing a newer inhibitor ring on her horn. Twilight hung limp, sobbing quietly as they dragged her away to her cell.

The griffons threw her into the cell and locked the door. Once they had left, Twilight buried her face into her hooves, curled up and cried.

Princess Celestia strode out to the balcony of Canterlot Castle, where her subjects were waiting outside for her announcement. She steadied herself and stood up straight.

“Hear me, my little ponies!” She declared. “I have good news, for taxes have been lowered again!” She grinned as the ponies cheered, their love for their diarch showing even more than ever. She then trotted back into the castle. As the doors closed behind her, a laugh rang throughout the empty castle.

Author's Notes:

who said something about me being addicted to SoL?

Updates from here onwards will be very irregular and no exact timing. If I can find the time to write, I will, but updates will be very slow. But for now, I'll have to concentrate on exams so sorry bout' that guys.

Chapter 7- Small Talk

The house was quiet, the silence permeated by occasional snores from the ponies that were sleeping. Twilight Sparkle was the only one awake, silently painting away at a canvas on the balcony. After she had told the rest of her story, they had all reacted with a wide range of emotions.

Applejack had been calm and collected, silently reassuring her with those eyes of hers. Rainbow Dash as usual had been loud and vocal and had expressed her desire to seek revenge on Quick Leash. Twilight had needed to remind Rainbow that she had already taken care of him before Rainbow settled down.

Rarity had shown obvious disgust and Pinkie Pie had just sat there for a while before disappearing into the house. When she’d returned, she had with her cupcakes on a tray. Twilight hadn’t questioned the cupcakes and had eaten some gratefully.

Spike had remained silent, choosing to just mull over what Twilight had told them. Starlight had felt extra guilty, but Twilight reassured her that it wasn’t her fault. Fluttershy, however, had just sat there in shock until Twilight told her the story was over. She then proceeded to hug Twilight, who returned it gratefully.

Another stroke on the canvas. Twilight found that painting helped her think, and her thoughts flowed smoother than they had a few hours ago. Twilight dipped the brush into a glob of green paint, and her brush glided gracefully over the canvas.

Finishing the final stroke, Twilight stepped back to admire her work. It had taken six weeks for her to paint this, owing to the fact that she needed to let some parts dry before she could paint other colors over them.

The painting was of the oasis that sat barely a mile away from her home. During the past few weeks, Twilight had visited it quite often to build up a good mental image. Twilight sighed contentedly as she sat down to appreciate her work.

“And yet, you say there are mistakes,” a voice came from behind her. Twilight turned her head to look, saw Starlight standing there. She trotted over and sat down beside Twilight.

“There are mistakes, Starlight,” Twilight slowly said.

“There’s always one or the other, Twilight,” Starlight replied. “What other ponies see as a work of art, you see as something that needs to be perfected. I can see why you’ve done so well here. All you want is perfection.”

Twilight smiled slightly. “I don’t see anything wrong with perfection, Starlight.”

“And yet,” Starlight countered. “You see the mistakes in everything. Sometimes, you just need to appreciate some things for what they are.”

“Maybe.” Twilight shifted a little as the cold winds blew through the balcony.

“Why are you out here in the middle of the night, Twilight?” Starlight asked.

“I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to complete my painting. It’s been six weeks of work for this one.”

“Six weeks? No wonder it looks so good…”

“How are you, Starlight? I never did get down to giving those friendship lessons, did I?”

“I’m fine, thank you. As for the lessons, you have already given me those.”

“How so?” Twilight tilted her head.

“You introduced me to your friends. They could have ostracised me for getting you banished, but instead, they welcomed me as one of their own, and we’ve been watching each other’s backs in the desert and in some of the dodgy towns we passed through. I’ve learned a lot from traveling with them.”

“Of course. They’re great friends, aren’t they?”

“Yeah. They helped me get through some of my guilt, and that’s ironic since some of them are still feeling guilty about it all, but they helped me anyway.”

Twilight chuckled. “That’s them, alright. I’ve missed you girls all these years. Every time I think about you all, I always have to resist the temptation to blast my way back into Equestria. I also haven’t seen my brother and sister-in-law for years, too.”

“Your brother and sister-in-law?” Starlight was baffled.

“Haven’t the others told you yet? My brother is Shining Armor, and he’s married to Cadence.”

“Cadence? As in.. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?”

“Yeah.” Twilight nodded.

“You have no idea how jealous of you I am right now. You have royalty as family!”

Twilight smiled. “And I’m not royalty?”

Starlight laughed. “Of course you are, Princess. I nearly forgot.”

Twilight wiggled her wings. “How did you forget?”

“Oh come on. I just forgot. Can’t you just accept that?”

“If you say so…”

“How have you been these years? I know it’s been a rough few years for you, and I apologize yet again.”

Twilight waved her off. “As I said, there’s nothing to apologize for. I hold no grudges, and I still love all everypony the same. Celestia made a mistake, yes, but she tried to make up for that by sending you girls to find me. I still love her as my mentor and teacher.”

“Talking about Princess Celestia, do you really mean it when you said you might not stay in Equestria when you return? Your parents are going to be distraught. They already were when we were explaining the situation to them.”

“I was. I’ve grown the arena from a place where ponies fight to the death into a place where ponies can challenge each other in a contest of strength. I also own several establishments, including that cafe you went to earlier. It feels wrong just leaving all of this behind, you know?”

“I can’t pretend that I completely understand how you feel, but I get what you’re saying.”

“Thank you, Starlight.”

“I’ve never understood emotions much. Your friends-”

“Our friends, Starlight. I think you’ve earned the right to call them that.”

“Alright. Our friends taught me a bit, but I still don’t get some things. Even so, I’m trying my best not to become that bitter mare who almost destroyed the time streams in an attempt to get revenge against you.”

“You’ve apologized already, Starlight. Why are you bringing this up again?”

“I’m a bitter mare, Twilight. All this stemmed from because my fillyhood friend got his cutie mark first. All these years, I’ve been trying to find an actual reason why I did it, and I couldn’t. The only explanation I had was that I just couldn’t let go.”

Twilight closed her eyes. “Letting go of something is important, Starlight. I let go of my hate for anypony years ago, and it’s been better for me ever since. Living life without regrets is extremely important, and I can testify to that. Having fulfilled several of my dreams out here such as learning how to paint, I can say that I have never felt better in my life. Except missing you girls, of course.”

Starlight gazed into the distance towards where the horizon met the sky. “Have you ever felt really guilty until it eats you from the inside out?”

Twilight didn’t like where this was going. “No, Starlight, but-”

“Let me finish. I felt like that until one night where I was forced to tell everypony how I felt. After that night, I never felt like that ever again, just the occasional twinge of guilt whenever I thought of you. You know why?”

“Why?”

“Friendship, Twilight. I can tell how you six saved the land so many times. When there is true friendship, I felt like I could do anything. And with friendship, it helped me get over my feelings and I let go of the past. When we return to Equestria, I want to see Sunburst again. Our friends have convinced me of that much.”

“Friendship is magic.” Twilight agreed. “Even out here, friendship has helped me. I have a friend named Hard Line. He’s tough, sure, but he helped me get over killing for my life. I’m not saying that I’m a cold-blooded killer, but at least I was able to do it. He’s saved my life many times over, and for that, I’m thankful.”

“He sounds like a good friend.”

“He is.”

“Do you want to hear some of the adventures we went through in the desert? I can’t imagine they’d compare to your stories, but they certainly were adventurous, if nothing else.”

Twilight beamed. “Do I ever!”

“Alright. So there was this one cave where we encountered the…”

Author's Notes:

Just a quick SoL chat between Twi' and Starlight : D