Author's Note

WIP on this is ongoing right now, will continue as i'm writing this on the go on the website myself. I will update tags as I add things, including the possibility of going from teen to mature rating. Please forgive any sudden changes that may occur.

Chapter 1: A fallen star

It took little time, everything was upside down and the world had become dominated by more than just darkness, it reminded her every day of her own failure, the beginning of the end and yet she felt nothing, no remorse and no sorrow. Why did it hurt so much then? Every day was night and every night was a nightmare, she couldn't stand the idea of twilight everlasting yet she never felt a thing about it until now as the world become a cascade of perpetual falling. Would it ever stop or has it already stopped? The pain, the sorrow, the mystery of what had went wrong never came to light again as the ponies hunkered down for the dark night, the moon was the only naturally binding light anyone could ask for, devoid of the supposed face of an even darker pony forgotten and alone.

How did it come to this new world devoid of what seemed like hope and essence, she had to stay strong as ever now and guide the inhabitants of this world to a new era of darkness. Shadows bounced in the light from the shower of magical sparks filling the night, her long horn glowing a colorful purple filled with specks of yellow and white and icy blue. It was almost enough to stare at how beautiful her magic was while it lit her path through the dark everfree and yet it was so peaceful, animals had abandoned the woods for safer haven, not a bird chirped nor a wood pecker tapped in the darkness. Her head hung low as warm liquid drooled from the open gashes spread over her body and drizzled from the slashes and holes in her armor, barely clinging to her form by a few straps and threatened to be left behind forever.

They had lost, the princesses scattered and the world turned to darkness, a sister had won but the other was gone, trapped in a fortitude of light never to be seen again, banished to the sun for one thousand years as punishment for her own desecration of the new queen, Queen Luna, the Nightmare of Night. With every step she was reminded of her own failure to protect Equestria and the throne of the two sisters, never had such devastation been seen in the lands since the dragon wars almost twelve hundred years ago. Even she had her hand in the pot when it came to stopping Nightmare Night... Luna from taking over Equestria but how did this happen now, at the height of the kingdom's beauty and power. The elements of harmony unfounded, stored away in secret locations only Celestia knew where and the ponies supposedly tasked with finding them had failed, faltered under the weight of the responsibility and with the trickery of the new queen.

She could feel it now, the ground coming up to her face fast but it felt like eternity as her body hit the ground, tripped from a devious root or floundered by her own sheer exhaust it was undetermined, but she knew the end was coming, her weakened state made it neigh impossible to perform the required healing, broken left hind leg, multiple lacerations spread out over her body, one large stab wound on her left side just under her ribs but barely missing any vital organs, this must be it... Star Light... the Celestial Twilight of guidance, her grave would be here among the starry night, pale bluish-white light of the moon in a hostile wooded area many knew as the everfree forest and yet she didn't mind, there were worse ways to go, even the dragon inside of her could not find the beginnings of life in her deeply weakened state.

The last thing she could remember was her magic waning, flickering and slowly being swallowed by the darkness as her magic shook its own life away along with her and she was left to listen to the silent night and forest and the cracking of leaves and branches in the distance getting closer. Every motion was like an avalanche of problems so she stayed still as her consciousness flickered much like her magic, looking into the dark as a pair of hooves lay there in front of her and the echo of a voice dimmed into the darkness of her own mind. She must not dream, she cannot, it wasn't worth reliving such a painful past, nearly twelve hundred years since that time as her mind warned her not to venture too far from the path, she could only feel what was once the happiest times of her life, to live out a dream of pure wonder and beauty while her lover gave all they could for her, looking up into the green eyes of a massive, strong and otherwise dominantly powerful being. Scales flickering in the waning life of her mind as she could remember her love, oh! The love of this once powerful dragon standing above her small pony body, he laid his claws on her side and smiled, showing off those dangerous teeth before her mind snapped back, recoiling from the dragon whom slipped silently back into the darkness of her mind and tears welled up, deep inside, ever fighting for control of her emotions.

Days, weeks, months, who could tell anymore, the night never told, never showed and never cared for the days or years of the ponies, she stirred from her slumber on a softness she could only guess was a bed. She had no clue how long she had been out but it wasn't long until she began to realize she wasn't dead and nor was she necessarily safe, a banished princess in a hostile land that was Equestria now, she could only hope it was a friend that had brought her there. She cracked an eye lightly to look around, keeping her breathing slow as she examined the room around her, darkness was ever looming out of the windows but the interior was lit up nicely with lanterns and candles along with a warm and inviting fire lit to perfection where it should be. It didn't take much time for her to spot the pony that had supposedly saved her standing over by one of the various tables lining the sides of the wall filled with vials, potions, flowers and other such items used in alchemy and mixtures. This pony was hard to make out in her dazed state after waking up but it didn't take long to figure out who and what this pony was; Zecora, a zebra unlike any other, living in the everfree forest and made remedies and tending to Ponyville's many residents and their ailments. The realization she was in the care of a friend and a rather good friend made her heart flutter, she groans as she suddenly tried to stand up while her body ached all over she had never felt such pain before as stitched wounds threatened to tear open and she collapsed back to the bed.

"Z-Zecora? W-what happened.." She stammered, the pain was too much to keep normal speech possible as the zebra gasped, running over and examining her patient before giving a sigh of relief and answering.

"My Princess, your wounds were quite the issue despite most of the tissue used, rest is what you need or your countless pains will not heed. The forest almost swallowed you whole and so I must warn to not go alone." A good look at the zebra was all she needed, the pony looked exhausted, bags under her eyes had formed and bloodshot had filled much of the white and the cabin was worn down a bit, messy and littered with dead plants, broken bowls and glass vials swept under tables. The mare tended to her wounds and nearly ripped stitches, not talking much and a bit wobbly at the legs, days would pass before she was able to stand again with some pain from the damages, using her magic at times to help seal some of the wounds delivered by the halberd used by Nightmare Moon.

The poor abused body of the pony princess of the celestial twilight greeted her eyes as Zecora brought a mirror over to give her a view of her own body, one of her draconic horns were a bit chipped, scratched from the battle and part of her ear got clipped, slicing it half ways through the tip of her long ear, that would heal over. She examined her body over, a rather large alicorn princess, half dragon half pony, it's what made her so powerful, being able to wield the power and magic of not only an alicorn but the untapped power of a dragon as well. She was Princess Star Light.. At least she was, now she was just Star Light, banished princess of Equestria, and her body was sore and bloodied, much of it was staining her white coat as she looked over the damage to her belly plates, silvery and magnificent to look at on a normal day, but today they were devastated. Dirty and scarred from battle, the wound that had barely missed killing her had found its way between the plates and shoved underneath, blood stains had colored the area to see. Looking back at her tail it didn't seem to have taken much damage, some of the fur tufts were cut and frayed for sure, dirtied by her time in the forest and near-death experience but otherwise undamaged, breathing a sigh of relief as her slitted eyes, softly glowing yellow like the stars of the night, looked back to Zecora.

"Zecora, how long..." She was cut off by the sounds of wings flapping overhead, the silence of the birds was enough to heighten just about every sound in the world, a patrol she was sure, looking for her or other princesses that have yet to flee. She didn't have time, it was not on her side, she had to get out of here as every second increased the likelyhood of being spotted and caught.

"Long in the woods, I must say, nearly a week you were here my princess.. What will happen to us when you are gone, where is our trust?" The zebra looked at her with her tired eyes wide open, she was alert and scared and unsure what would happen.

"Zecora, i'm tasking you with an important job, building the resistance here against nightmare moon, she cannot have this victory so easily, you are one I can trust, your skills at woodland survival is important to the future of Equestria and you cannot fail me, the very future depends on you, when I do return I will help lead all of us back to the light and get our beloved Celestia back." The mare stood there, eyes unbroken from the princess as she listened but nodded, standing up as much as she could.

The sounds of the flight came back and the world became loud again as they both went silent, listening to the sounds of multiple wings flapping, this time however it didn't move on, it grew closer and closer until the sounds of hooves hit the ground and began moving towards the hut!

"Blast, I need to get out of here, they are coming to search the place, where can I get out?" She whispered, trying to look around for an escape and moving out of the way of the windows, she spotted some old ragged clothing probably used as a costume for Zecora during nightmare night. The zebra pointed to a small hatch behind her kitchen area, it was hidden behind the counter and under a rug, she grabbed the clothes off of the line and placed the hood over her head but she was a big pony, about the same size as Celestia and it was hard pressed to hide her bright white fur. As she slipped into the crawlspace she realized it was too small for her body to go much further, so she laid there under the hatch, looking up at the movement of the floorboards as the rug was placed back over the hatch just as there was a raspy banging on the door of a hoof.

"Zecora, we know you're in there, come out please we just want to talk in the name of Queen Luna, The nightmare." The muffled voice could be heard outside, he sounded familiar, possibly one of the royal guards once tasked with protecting Celestia? She couldn't tell what was happening only hear things and guess, the door opened and the two started talking in muffled mumbles at first before she heard Zecora raising her voice.

"There is nothing here for you good sir, please vacate my premise, the queen does not need to bother me with trifle placate! You should be ashamed, shining, what would your wife think of what has became?" This made her freeze in her thoughts, her worst fears coming to fruition as she heard the name of the one speaking to Zecora, Shining Armor, the captain of Celestia's royal guard, a traitor!? Her heart raced and she wanted nothing more than to burst out, pin the royal guard captain to the ground and break every bone in his body! But she had to stay calm, closing her eyes and trying to think of anything else but that, her heart rate slowly began to slow down to a normal pace but missing much of the conversation while focused on keeping quiet.

"Look Zecora, if you spot any princesses around, just... j-just protect yourself, don't anger the queen, we are all just trying to survive here and I know you are too, she is too powerful and we just have to do what needs to be done." Zecora huffed at this from the captain before slamming the door shut in his face and moving towards the window, watching outside while the guards get ready for flight formation. She could feel the sadness in the sound of Shining's voice, the strain and pain of having to say some of those words, it was rather clear he didn't want this but had to do it to survive, but it wasn't enough to abstain his judgement over his betrayal of the princesses, yet.