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.