Star-Crossed Lovers: A Pony Tale

Years pass peacefully for the Sun Kingdom though tensions grow between those who lived in the Pride Lands and Discords followers who had been banished to the Outlands, a land where little grew, its earth was brown and cracking and the only thing in abundance there were the termites.

Unconcerned of the tensions a young purple filly cantered out of Pride Rock eager to play, this was Princess Twilight Sparkle, though at first the young princess hadn't understood the point of playing or making friends she soon met five other fillies that quickly became her friends: Rainbow Dash, a young Pegasus cyan mare with her name sake rainbow mane and tail and rose-colored eyes, she was fond of flying and loyal to her friends. Fluttershy, a yellow Pegasus mare with a pink mane and tail with blue eyes she was shy but kind and she could talk to animals. Applejack, an orange earth pony mare with a blonde mane and tail with green eyes the corners of which had white freckles, she was stubborn but honest usually working on her families apple farm, she commonly wore a light brown cowboy hat and could work for ages without getting tired. Rarity, a white unicorn mare who came from a well off family and was very generous even if she was a bit of a drama queen who had a neatly styled mane of dark purple and blue eyes. Finally Pinkie Pie, true to her name Pinkie is a pink earth pony with a puffy pink mane and tail, she was always smiling and worked her hardest to make every pony around her smile as well though no one quite understood how she could do some of the things she could do. The Pridelands, unlike their Outlands counterpart was a large wave of green alive and thriving the Pridelands was enjoying the warm light of Celestia's sun for as long as they could, it was the perfect time to relax and play.

Twilight, though she had hoped to make it off Pride Rock before she was caught her foalsitter commonly called Cadance, a young pink Pegasus with a mane of pink, purple, and a very light yellow her cutie mark was a blue crystal heart while two decorative gold swirls lined the bottom, stopped her with a smile and a chuckle. Though Twilight enjoyed her time with Cadance, she really did, she didn't like all of Cadance's overprotectiveness the purple filly wiggled to try to get out of Cadance's wing grip. "Cadance!" she whined with a giggle "let go" finally she managed to get free and started to run off again, but was stopped by Cadance who stepped into her path again.

"I just want you to be careful" she said with a gentle smile "anything can happen you could easily get-" she continued though Twilight knew where she was headed and finished her sentence for her.

"-Hurt or stepped on or even get lost" the heir half smirked at her foal sitter before continuing "and stay in sight of Pride Rock at all times, and if I see any strangers don't talk to them, come straight home, okay okay can I go now please?" Twilight asked with an innocent grin.

"Mind your sitter Twilight" Celestia gently scolded while Cadance snickered behind a hoof at Twilight's words far used to the filly to be offended in the least. When Twilight nodded Celestia continued "and stay away from the outlands, I know Rainbow Dash has been stirring up trouble on the border but you can't turn your back on the ponies that live there" Celestia warned her face unusually serious.

Twilight glanced between Cadance and her mother looking confused and curious, the filly was always hungry for new information and enjoyed learning new things, sure she had heard of the outsiders lots of times but never in such detail before, maybe she could finally learn what the big deal was! "Really? How come?" her purple eyes bright, looking forward to the answer, but her mother merely shook her head nudging her along promising that someday she'd understand. Twilight, though now free to go and find her friends was not pleased that she hadn't gotten an answer usually her mother was willing to give her whatever information she asked for both because she'd be ruler one day and because Twilight was very mature for her age, at least most of the time anyway.

It was always easiest to find Applejack and Rarity first as they usually were working or at least nearby their family businesses, Applejack's family ran a farm which grow apples for the Pridelanders while Rarity's family, when not advising Celestia, usually spent their time weaving and spinning cloth so they could make clothes as well as making sure that no outsiders crossed the border to cause trouble their main concern was Timberwolves who were known for attacking anything that crossed their path. Fluttershy and Rainbow were a little harder to find as Fluttershy spent more time with the animals than other ponies and Rainbow was usually up in the clouds napping the day away. Pinkie Pie though, no one really needed to ever look for Pinkie Pie as she had a habit of just popping up whenever someone needed her, how she did so was a mystery most ponies had stopped trying to solve though.

Twilight paused a moment as she passed the large statue of Discord, the creature who had taken her father away from her, though she knew she should be afraid or even hate him, she found she couldn't do so, Discord had been lonely he never had any friends and if she hadn't been forced by her mother to make some friends she might have become just like him so no she couldn't hate him or even dislike him the only thing she could muster for him was sadness and regret she would've loved to be his friend, if he had waited.

Twilight cantered off with a shake of her head instead focusing on finding her friends so that they could play, at the top of a small hill spotting the brown mass of land that was the Outlands and felt curiosity tickle her, what was so dangerous about the Outlands, it didn't look all that scary to her, determined to find the answers to the questions that her mother wouldn't answer and she knew just the five other fillies to invite on her mission. Twilight gathered her friends easily, moving through animal herds and greeting other ponies as she saw them, waving to her friend Derpy a grey Pegasus pony with a light yellow mane and tail and crossed yellow eyes, her namesake though she was also called Muffin because of her fondness of the treat of the same name, though not as close to her as Applejack and the others were Derpy was still a nice pony and Twilight easily called her a friend. The princess reach Sweet Apple Acres first greeting Big Mac, Applejack's older brother, a dark red earth pony with green eyes that had white freckles like his sister and an orange mane and tail. Apple Jack and Big Mac, along with a young filly whom Twilight knew very little about other than the fact that she was named Applebloom, lived with their Granny Smith a dull lime colored earth pony with orange eyes and white hair and tail who commonly wore an orange shawl with red apples dotting it. She had an apple pie cutie mark and was known for being a little odd but well-meaning and if given the chance having a few really interesting stories to tell.

Applejack took a little persuading to join Twilight, not that she didn't enjoy her time of course, she was just so hardworking she didn't like leaving the job until it was perfect in her eyes but Granny Smith nudged her along promising that the job would get down and she should have some fun. The others were far easier to convince, most wanting the adventure, and a few just wanting to have fun but soon the six fillies were heading for the Outland's border, curious as to what they find there.

The border was deserted both by ponies and animals alike, most creatures afraid of what lay beyond the dead cracked earth, a terrible omen of what could happen to anyone to goes there. Bones and skull of animals who passed on there dotted the ground, the only thing as far as Twilight could see that was actually a different color other than brown.

Twilight was the first to cross over the others following excitedly, other than Fluttershy who had to be pulled along by Rainbow Dash, but as they were crossing a rotting log it split under Twilights weight and broke sending the purple unicorn into a wild roll, which was soon stop when she hit another filly. Both fillies took a moment to recover from their contact before the new filly leapt up her wings fluttering angrily.

"Who are you Pridelander?" the filly growled gleaming with dark magic, the filly was dark blue with black hooftips and light orange eyes she had a mane of black and white that stopped just in her eyes but not so much as to block her vision with a matching tail and a span of white freckles above her nose. Her body language sent messages of danger but Twilight knew if she remembered her mothers words she'd be alright, at least until the other found a way down her, Rainbow Dash would probably find her first cause she was a strong flyer so all she had to do was wait and avoid any attack this filly might throw at her. When the filly would leap from the left, Twilight would leap right and vice versa until the blue filly straightened looking confused.

"What are you doing?" the filly asked raising an eyebrow, her ear flicking hearing the other voices in the distance but they were to far away to be heard they were probably running away though so she didn't concern herself with it.

"My mother says to never turn your back on an Outsider" Twilight replied her face going from looking scared at the threat to an intense expression of distrust she didn't know this filly and they had done anything worth Twilight's trust as of yet.

"You always do what Mommy tells you?" The filly smirked her tone going from confusion to condescension in the blink of an eye her eyes flashing with disdain.

"No!" Twilight denied her coat ruffling a little she didn't like the way this filly seemed to look down on her just because she took her mother's words to heart but even as spoke the fillies smirk just widened.

"Bet you do, I bet you're mommy's little filly" the dark blue mare laughed for a few seconds before puffing out her chest a bit and turning toward a wide cloudy river walking over the odd-shaped logs that touched the bank "An Outsider doesn't need anybody, I take care of myself" she added looking rather full of herself as she looked back at a mystified Twilight.

"Really?" the purple filly asked in awe, her anger disappearing as her curiosity won out Twilight followed the mysterious blue filly out onto the bumpy logs "Cool!" Twilight watched as the filly turned, her ears going down against her head and her eyes widening as she let out a scream. Twilight turned just in time to see a large crocodile leaning close to snap her up in its jaws, letting out an echo of the other fillies scream she barely managed to leap-out-of-the-way as it lunged.

"Run!" she needlessly yelled as the other filly was already running along more crocodiles to scrambling up a small rock formation that stuck out of the river turning to pull Twilight up behind her. But unfortunately it was not quite tall enough to save them from the threat on their lives as the beast grew closer, eager for a meal. "This way" Twilight ordered, seeming also as much a leader as her mother in this moment, leaping off the rock with the Outsider as the crocodile snapped at their heels. Twilight lead the way stepping stone to stepping stone until, their adrenaline fading, the two fillies stopped to catch their breath next to a bare tree branch, both of them chuckling at their luck.

"That was a close one" the Outsider smirked as she began to regain her breath, Twilight giving a relieved chuckle in return but it seemed that they hadn't hit a lucky streak yet as soon the lumps they had found safety on began to move, revealing themselves to be more crocodiles, once again having to avoid becoming lunch Twilight took to the tree, climbing it clumsily with her hooves only to look on in horror and confusion as her new friend decided to take a different path.

"H-hey what are you doing, wh-what about me?" Twilight asked looking at the growing group of crocs that gathered around her little haven.

"I'll distract them, run!" the filly replied leaping from croc to croc her wings fluttering to make her hover when the distance was too long to jump across. Twilight watched in horror as the filly landed on a crocodiles tail as it dived in the river sending the panting filly into the water. Thankfully however the filly surfaced a moment later her hooves flailing wildly as she coughed up river water in exchange for air. Twilight didn't even notice that the crocodiles were leaving her in exchange for the easier target of the filly in the water.

"Look out!" she cried as the filly swam clumsily toward a branch much like Twilight's own, but the filly didn't seem to have the strength to pull herself onto the branch as the crocodile swam closer, its jaws opening wide as the filly let out another scream...

SNAP!

The stream of rainbow color was barely beginning to fade as the cyan filly known as Rainbow Dash landed on the crocodile's snout closing its jaw inches from the Outsider. "Move it!" Rainbow ordered pushing the filly up toward the branch, before flying over to help Twilight, the other four fillies waiting on the Prideland border ready to help the others reach safety. Twilight and Rainbow reached dry land first as the Outsider climbed the branch hoping to reach the others before the crocodiles, who were now beginning to climb the branch as well, snapped it in half. One croc, a bit smarter than the others, clamped its jaws on the branch in hopes of doing just what the fillies fears. With the last burst of her strength the Outsider leapt her wings arching out slightly to try to glide, she hit the orange earth pony with a grunt and the entire group went sprawling gasping from excitement and fear.

After taking a few moments to catch their breath the fillies moved together to peer over the edge of the cliff of land they were standing on, except Fluttershy who nearly fainted away from fright. They all stood in silence watching the crocodiles crawl over each other snapping and hissing in outrage before Twilight broke the silence.

"We did it!" she cheered sticking her tongue out at the bodies below and blowing a raspberry at them before leading the group away from the edge as Twilight and the filly told the other of their little adventure in excited tones unaware they were being watched.

"We make such a good team!" Twilight nudged the dark blue filly with a mile wide grin "You were really brave" she whisper her eyes full of admiration and awe once again.

"Yeah?, well you were pretty brave to" the filly responded "My name's Thunder Mist, but you can call me Thunder" she added her chest puffing out a little bit once again.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, this is Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash" the purple filly introduced her friends one at a time point to each friend in turn as their names were said the fillies unaware of their watcher's outrage at the introductions suddenly the puffy pink party pony bound over to Thunder and poked her in the side.

"Tag!" She cried leaping away but unfortunately for the playful pony Thunder merely looked at her in confusion "Hello? You run, I tag get it?" Pinkie Pie questioned but Thunder only looked more confused. "What's the matter don't you know how to play?" understanding suddenly dawn in Pinkie's eyes "Oh...." she crouched letting out a playful growl, and Thunder finally seemed to understand mimicking her pose as the other fillies looking on torn between amusement at Pinkie and sadness for their new friend.

But just as their game was about to begin a blast of magic had Thunder scrambling away though the magic was not close enough to actually hurt the filly it was just a warning shot, which was quickly met another, but of darker magic. The dark pony who appeared was black with a light blue starry looking filled mane and tail with purple lining and light blue eyes. She wore battle armor in the form of a light blue helmet, matching necklace with a crescent moon in the center and matching hooveshoes that nearly went all the way up the front of her legs she bore a light blue crescent moon cutie mark with a splatter of purple behind it like the night sky.

Celestia stood protectively in front of her filly while the newcomer did the same to Thunder. Her violet eyes narrowed a little as she recognized the newcomer and her voice came out stiff and chilled "Nightmare..." and the newcomer smirked

"Celestia..." Nightmare Moon purred in response crouching to leap at the white alicorn, but froze when more ponies appeared in the grass, Cadance, Shining Armor: a white unicorn guard with a blue mane and tail with a light blue highlight and bright blue eyes he had light purple hooves and a dark purple shield which had a pink six pointed star in the center and three light blue stars arching across the top, wearing full golden armor the helmets feathered top matching Shining's mane were the first to arrive, followed by Granny Smith, who lost her wandering look for one of determination, and other guards.

Nightmare's eyes flickered across the group and she relaxed, she may be evil but she wasn't stupid, her eyes locked on Candance and she snorted "Still playing second fiddle eh Candance?" she chuckled as Candace's expression became one of barely controlled rage.

"Get out of our Pridelands" she hissed at Nightmare her eyes flashing as her hooves dung into the ground, Shining setting in front of her both in an effort to protect her and keep her back in case she did try to leap at the Outlander.

"Your Pridelands?" Nightmare raised an eyebrow her horn lighting up in an instant and blasting it toward Cadance, but Celestia blasted the dark magic with her own and after a brief sizzling the two powers cancelled each other out. "These lands belong to Discord!"

"I banished you from the Pridelands!" Celestia stepped forward, knowing she had the upper hand at the moment "Now you and your young foal, get out." Said filly let out a terrified squeak but Celestia barely spared the cowering blue filly a glance, the other fillys' eyes widening at what they were witnessing, but Nightmare was not going to back down easily.

"Oh, haven't you met my daughter, Thunder? She was born to be Discord's heir, to follow in his hoofprints and become ruler of the land" Nightmare spoke in her still confident purr, circling her filly and smirking at Celestia who merely glared back at her before turning her gaze to Thunder, who seeing Celestia's gaze on her crouched low in fear trembling and shaking.

"Pfft, that's no ruler, that a fuzzy maraca" Granny Smith snorted not even flinching when Nightmare glared in the elder pony's direction before returning her dark gaze to Celestia.

"Thunder is my first born, after you exiled us to the Outlands, where we have little food, less water" Nightmare's voice turned soft and sad, as if trying to gain Celestia's pity, but the white alicorn would not bend under her tricks.

"You know the penalty for returning to Pridelands" she said her body tensing her chin jerking up a little in stubbornness, she was as unbendable as steel but her words seemed to be just what Nightmare had been hoping for, because her smirk appeared a tiny bit and she nearly leapt on her next words her tone nearly a snarl as she spoke.

"But the foal does not! However, if you need your pound of flesh, here..." the Outland pony stepped behind the dark blue filly and pushed her toward Celestia's hooves with her snout, her smirk widening as Thunder cowered more and Celestia looked at her in confusion before her eyes narrow and she scowled at Nightmare.

"Take her and get out, we're finished here" Celestia said picking Twilight up with her magic and laying her down between her wings before turning back to a still smirking Nightmare Moon.

"Oh no Celestia, we have barely begun" the dark mare's eyes locked on Twilight and she chuckled causing the purple filly with cower on her mother's back. Nightmare then turned picking up Thunder quickly in her own magic and laying the filly on her back while the two parties parted ways, all of the fillies muttering an awkward goodbye as the adults took them away.