Exiled Magic

by Lawpony

Pt. 5: What's happening out there?

Twilight awoke early in the morning to train and then head to breakfast. She may have been the leader but she gave herself little royalty. She ate, trained, and fought along side her followers. The only difference being that she was much more powerful, and she had a better room. On her way out, she checked her bandage-free face in the mirror. Her fur had grown back and she had complete control of her magic. Three weeks ago, it hurt to use magic, now she had absolutely no problem casting spells. She did still have a few scars around her eye, though fur covered most of it. She was content with how much her face had healed.

She smiled and then put on her training uniform. As she headed out the door, she flung a dart at a poster of Rainbow Dash with her magic, hitting it and making yet another hole in the poster. The poster Rainbow Dash's face alone had hundreds of holes and would be unrecognizable if not for her signature rainbow mane flowing from the hole riddled mess. As she exited the main tower, she found herself in a large courtyard surrounded by massive stone walls. She looked around, the size of her accomplishment never failing to fill her with awe. She looked out at the training grounds where soldiers took turns in various open or closed off spaces, performing different exercises. She took a deep breath and trotted over to a group of four ponies training together. She walked right up to them and joined their circle. The ponies were used to their leader's fondness of rejecting praise and reverence. She just wanted to practice with her soldiers. She hated being alone, and she valued their more personal bonding and respect of her personal relationship with each and every one of them. She walked into the group smiling from ear to ear. It truly brought her joy to see their familiar faces again.

"Hey there Wind Snapper, nice day isn't it?", Twilight cheerfully piped up as she approached.

"Good morning Ms. Twilight! Did you sleep well last night?", Wind Snapper replied.

"Actually, I did, in spite of the circumstances. Thanks for asking," Twilight responded as they began doing wing pushups.

"No problem your highn-sorry, Twilight. I keep forgetting about that," he stammered.

"No sweat. Hey Emerald, how's it going?", Twilight looked over to the green unicorn mare.

"Great! Thanks Twilight. I always love it when you join our exercises!", Emerald squealed out happily.

"No problem! I always enjoy training with you guys. I just try and pick a different group every time. Don't want anypony feeling left out. Speaking of...where's Ruby?"

"Oh my sister's in the doc's office. She's got a stomach bug," Emerald took a few quick strides and whispered in Twilight's ear. "I think it was the egg salad for breakfast yesterday. I took one bite and knew it was just barely too old but she insisted on eating it. But don't worry, the doc said it was just a stomach bug and that it would fix itself. She does feel awful though."

"Well I'm sorry to hear that. I'll have to pay her a visit on another one of our signature slow days. My calendar's so empty this week I could go tomorrow morning and not even look at my planner."

Emerald trotted back to her spot and continued her wing pushups.

Twilight looked over to the pony next to her and could tell she wasn't in the mood for conversation. Something must be bothering her.

"So...Cherry Bomb."

"I'm sorry Twilight, no offense but I don't feel like talking about it now. Maybe later," she smiled a weak smile that showed she was both tired and distraught.

They stopped their wing pushups and began jogging in place.

"Oh that's okay. I've had days where I would rather be alone than talk about it. You should go to the mess hall right now and give them this, my treat," Twilight pulled out a pink piece of paper that had a picture of Twilight's smiling face on it.

"Aw, a Twilight shake? I couldn't, it's not my birthday," Cherry Bomb stammered out.

"Take it, you need it. And then meet me in your quarters in an hour. We need to talk about what's bothering you. I may not be the designated therapist here, but I've had my share of helping friends out. Plus this seems like a more personal situation and a soldier's shrink would be better for helping with battlefield related illnesses. This isn't battle related is it?"

"Gosh. Thanks Twilight, I don't know what I would do without you. And no it's personal," she took the piece of paper and walked inside.

Wind Snapper began walking over to Twilight, obvious he had something more private to say, but as he got her attention, one of her higher ranking soldiers motioned for her to come over. The soldier was standing with other highly ranked and trusted allies of hers, all wearing battle gear.

Wind Snapper cursed himself as she walked towards them.

Twilight walked toward the soldiers in a happy-go-lucky pace. She then noticed the urgency in their faces as the one motioned for her to quicken her pace and began to look even more worried himself. Twilight began walking faster toward them. One of them opened the door to the barracks with his magic and looked into it with an obvious "Get inside!" in his eyes.

Wind Snapper cursed himself over and over again in his head. Then another voice began talking. "Now! Do it now! Our window is closing fast!"

Twilight was nearly to the door when she heard a scream come from where she just came from. She whipped around just in time to see Wind Snapper break Emerald's neck and jump across and stab the only other pony in that group in the chest with a hidden blade.

Twilight took a step toward them but the soldiers behind her pulled her into the door. Just as the door shut a group of five near the door jumped at it to no avail.

"Twilight." one of them said.

Twilight, who was zoning out, looked at him.

He opened a chest sitting next to him which held her armor. "You might want to put this on."

Author's Note:

Hey guys. I hope this chapter wasn't too short. I was going to have it as one giant chapter(giant being my terminology for probably barely over 2000 words :P) but then remembered how much I personally hate extremely long chapters, and as of right now I am planning on the next one being about the same length as this one. Plus who could resist the chance for that cliff hanger?

Anyway, please take this as a promise chapter that I am still trying to write this story. I've just been hit with an epic case of writer's block, and life has gotten me kinda busy. So I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and knowing me, if I promise a specific date for the next part, I'll probably forget or get busy again. This is literally the first time I've been able to have an hour or two to sit down and type. Thanks for the patience with me. Hope you like/will like where this is going!

Thanx,
Law.

Comments

[Lawpony]

Oops. Did I sign off as Law? But here I'm Lawpony...

Well...oh well.