This isn’t how Equestria was meant to be...it should be a peaceful land all creatures living alongside another in harmony. Four princesses ruling over the ponies of the world, the Sun, the Moon, Love, and Friendship. But that’s not this world, no one knows where she came from. The Empress, she appeared long ago and attacked Canterlot by herself. Starswirl and the pillars tried to fight her, tried to keep the city from falling. But they weren’t enough, she defeated them all, she destroyed the seed of harmony and kept the tree from ever being planted. No one knows what became of the two princesses, were they killed? Did they escape? Only tall tales and rumors of their fates exist now. The Empress then destroyed Canterlot leaving behind a ruined city as a warning to all who would oppose her rule. Over the next few centuries a handful of ponies, griffons, diamond dogs, and changelings would pledge their loyalty to her and her new Empire. The few creatures who resisted went into hiding, while the ponies who remained free would become nomads. Traveling from place to place in caravan herds, but never gathering or staying in one spot for too long in fear that the Empires forces would find them. But if there’s one thing that Equestria’s history has taught me, besides how much fun chaos is...its that a single pony can turn a ripple into a tidal wave with the right motivation.

Starlight Glimmer lay in bed, she slowly woke to the smell of campfires nearby, the chatter of the other ponies going about their morning routine outside. She stretched her legs letting out a soft moan, she opened her eyes to find a blue leg draped across her from behind. She looked back to see a gorgeous white mane and the blue pony it belonged to sleeping behind her a smile on her face. “Trixie...its morning, we need to get up.” she said. Trixie groaned and hugged Starlight tighter, “Just a few more minutes...” she whispered. Starlight rolled her eyes, normally she’d humor her but today was a different story. “The herds moving out today, we need to get up so we can pack. You don’t want to get left behind do you?” Starlight asked, Trixie opened her eyes to an annoyed gaze. “I hate packing everything up, it takes too long just to set everything up as it is...” she groaned. Starlight sat up and looked back at her, “Tell you what, I’ll go see about getting us breakfast while you start packing all the small things ok?” she asked. Trixie still looked annoyed but Starlight could tell she was listening at least. Starlight hopped out of bed and went through her things putting on her poncho and saddlebag, “Make sure to get some oranges or mandarins today, we’ve had apples all week. I want something less sweet today.” Trixie said as Starlight left their tent, “Okay Trixie, whatever you say.”

Starlight walked through the camp, most of the herd was already beginning to pack up their tents and caravans. They’d been at this spot for almost a week now, that was longer then they should’ve stayed in one spot and most of the ponies knew that. Starlight approached a white caravan on the far side of the camp, she knocked on the door and waited for a moment. The door opened to reveal a white unicorn with a curled purple mane,

“Starlight, so good to see you this morning Darling.” she said. Starlight smiled and stepped closer,

“Morning Rarity, do you have it ready by chance?” her voice turning into a whisper. Rarity smiled and looked around whispering back,

“Yes of course, I’ll be right back.” she went back into her caravan for a moment before emerging again with a small box.

“Here it is Darling, I just finished it last night.” Rarity said. Starlight took the box and opened it with a smile, inside were two silver necklaces one with Starlight’s cutie mark the other Trixie’s. Rarity danced with excitement, but kept her voice down.

“I can’t believe it, you’re actually going to propose to Trixie? You have to make sure I’m there when it happens darling, I can’t wait to see the look on her face.” Starlight closed the box and put it in the pocket of her poncho.

“You think she’ll say yes?” she replied a smile on her face, Rarity gasped in shock,

“Of course she will, you two have been inseparable since you were foals. And take it from me, I just know she can’t do anything without you.” Rarity answered.

“Rarity!” a voice shouted, Rarity and Starlight looked to see an orange pony with a cowboy hat approach, a slightly annoyed look on her face.

“Have y’all seen Applebloom this morning? She was supposed to help Ma and me pack up the caravan.” she asked, Rarity stopped to think.

“No Applejack I can’t say I have...now that I think about it, I haven’t seen Sweetie Belle all morning either.” Applejack’s face turned a little red with anger as she threw her hat to the ground.

“Dag Nabbit! Those three went wanderin’ off again! Now I gotta spend my morning looking for them instead of helping Ma!” Starlight and Rarity looked at each other, but then Starlight stepped towards Applejack putting her hat back on her head with her magic as she did.

“I’ll go look for her Applejack, that way you can stay here and help your family pack up.” she said. Applejack readjusted her hat,

“I can’t ask you to do that, this here is my problem.” she replied.

“You need to get packed, Sugar Belle’s pregnant right now so you’re shy one set of hooves remember? Don’t worry, as long as they have their poncho’s on I can just use my magic to find them.” Starlight reassured her. Applejack smiled and said,

“Well, if you insist. But try and be careful, I’d hate it if anything happened to y'all while you were looking for them.” Starlight put her hoof on Applejack’s shoulder and made her turn around motioning for her to leave.

“I’ll be fine, their probably by the river anyway. It’ll take ten minutes tops.” she said. Applejack finally walked off to go help her family,

“I have to say, putting that spell on the every ponies poncho was a brilliant idea Starlight. Not to mention it let’s me add a certain flair to them all.” Rarity said as she looked at the poncho across her back.

“Its just seemed like a good idea is all, thanks again for your help Rarity!” Starlight shouted as she left.

Applebloom approached the edge of the forest cautiously, two other foals with her.

“You sure this is a good idea?” she asked, the small pegasus stepped forward.

“Of course it is! We explore this forest real quick and map it out, then head back to the herd before any pony knows we're gone. I’m sure we’ll get our cutie marks from it!” she said.

“Scootaloo’s right, we don’t get many opportunities like this one. This might be what gets us our cutie marks!” the white unicorn said as she pulled out a piece of paper and quill from her saddle bag. The three foals made their way into the forest, they walked close together, even though it was morning there was hardly any light shining down between the tree tops.

“So where should we start first Sweetie?” Scootaloo asked,

“Ummm...I don’t know, this forest is a lot bigger than I thought it'd be.” They walked into the forest, Sweetie bell making a map as best she could, her friends occasionally adding a suggestion. Applebloom paused when she heard a rustling of leaves behind her,

“Did y’all hear that?” she asked. The others stopped and Sweetie asked,

“Hear what?” Applebloom looked over towards the bushes where she heard the noise and slowly began to walk up to it. She was a few steps away when suddenly a hooded figure leapt out in front of her shouting, all three of the girls screamed in fear Applebloom falling over onto her flank. The hooded figure started to laugh before moving back her hood to reveal it was Starlight. Applebloom stood up angry,

“Starlight! That’s not funny!” she snapped. Scootaloo laughed though and said,

“Are you kidding? That was great!” Sweetie and Applebloom glared at her angrily.

“You three shouldn’t be out here.” Starlight said, they looked at one another nervous.

“It’s dangerous to go wandering off like that, I don’t need to remind you what happened to...” Starlight looked to the side upset,

“...to Sunburst...” the three foals could see they’d upset Starlight.

“We’re sorry, we didn’t mean to cause any trouble.” Sweetie said. Starlight smiled and motioned for them to follow her,

“Well maybe if you’re lucky I’ll convince your parents not to be too harsh when we get back to the herd.” Starlight said. The four ponies walked through the forest, they’d traveled quite a ways into it and Starlight knew it be a few minutes at least until the reached the edge. That’s when she noticed something was off, she paused and looked around her. The girls stopped to looked back,

“Starlight? What’s wrong?” Scootaloo asked.

“Where are all the birds? It’s too quiet...” she said. Starlight looked at the three foals in front of her and said,

“Come on, I don’t like this. Let’s get back...” before she could finish a diamond dog leaped out from the bushes towards Sweetie, they all shrieked in fear. Starlight quickly put up a barrier and knocked him away, three more emerged from hiding blocking their path.

“Run girls!” Starlight said, the four of them running away from the dogs.

“Get back here ponies!!!” one shouted as they ran. Starlight ran as fast she could making sure the girls stayed in front of her. She looked back to see the Diamond dogs chasing after them still, Starlight fired a magic blast or two but missed, her aim was off because she was running. She looked ahead as she ran and saw a large tree that was broken and leaning against another.

“Keep running! Don’t stop!” Starlight shouted as she fired another blast breaking the damaged tree causing it to fall. The tree came crashing down just behind Starlight blocking the path. She looked back and could hear her pursuers yelling,

“Stupid pony! Go around, don’t let them escape!” Starlight and the girls eventually stopped to catch their breath. They had a good lead on the Diamond dogs, but it wouldn’t last for long she thought.

“Starlight, what’re we gonna do? We didn’t mean for this to happen!” Sweetie cried, Starlight knew she had to keep them safe at least. If she needed to she could fight the dogs off, but not with the girls nearby. Starlight looked around and saw an old large tree, the roots sticking up out of the ground just enough to make a small hole.

“Over here, quick!” she said, the three followed her and hid in the hole like she instructed. Starlight grabbed a few bushes from nearby and went to cover the hole. Scootaloo grabbed her leg,

“Starlight what are you doing? You’re too big to fit in here with us!” she said, Starlight smiled back and reassured them.

“I know that Scootaloo, I want you three to stay here. Once I lure them away I’ll come back and get all of you.” She placed one of the bushes down over the hole,

“But if I’m not back by sundown, I want you to stay low in the brush and make your way back to the herd as fast as you can and tell every pony what happened. Understand?” she explained, they nodded but it was obvious they were still scared.

“You’re gonna come back though, right Starlight?” Applebloom asked, she knelt down and hugged them,

“I’ll come back, no matter how long it takes, I promise you’ll see me again.” She finished placing the bushes over the hole and ran as fast as she could to get away.

Starlight raced deeper into the forest, she knew the Diamond dogs were nearby still. She looked around wondering where they could be, a rustle of leaves was the only warning as she turned to see one leaping towards her. Starlight quickly blasted him sending him back, another ran at her from in front Starlight leapt over him as he slid past her on the ground, she landed and ran as fast as she could just as the last two emerged from hiding.

“You can’t run forever pony!” one shouted, Starlight laughed at how easy it was outsmarting these four. They chased after her as she ran, they were fast but without the girls around Starlight could run at full speed now. She kept looking back to see them chasing her, she smiled seeing that they weren’t gaining any ground, she just needed a way to lose them now she thought. Then her hooves fell forward she turned to see she had run straight towards a steep hill, Starlight rolled down the hill bumping into the rocks and tree roots across it and then crashing to a stop at the bottom. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around, she was aching all over now.

“I got too careless, didn’t watch where I was running.” she thought. She tried to stand when a diamond dog jumped towards her, she blasted him knocking him back. Then two of the others grabbed her from behind and forced her to the ground, Starlight tried to cast a barrier spell when she felt a piece of metal snap around her neck. Her magic was gone once it locked, she gasped in shock,

“Stupid pony, I hate the magic ones...” a Dog grumbled. Starlight struggled and tried to get away, but there was too big a difference in strength. They snapped shackles on each of her legs and attached a chain to the collar around her neck. One of the diamond dogs tugged at the chain forcing Starlight to her feet,

“Move pony!” he shouted,

“What about the other ones?” another asked. The one holding the chain looked and said,

“They were runts, this one will fetch more bits anyway.” He tugged at the chain again trying to make Starlight walk, she stood still refusing to move, that’s when she felt the crack of a whip on her flank. Starlight shrieked in pain, another crack and she started to walk.

“You keep moving or I’ll hit you again pony!” the dog behind her warned. Starlight looked ahead, she was scared, she knew what happened to ponies who got captured. Was she ever going to see her friends and family again? Was she ever going to see Trixie?

Author's Note

Had this story dancing around in my head for a while now, plus I wanted to write a Starlight fanfic. Finally decided to post it, plus I'm really lacking motivation for my Sunset/Adagio fanfic, so this felt like a good alternative until I get back to House of Sun. I'll probably write another 2-3 chapters of this before returning to House of Sun, so in the meantime let's hear some comments and I'd like to know what you think.