Starlight Glimmer and Twilight Sparkle dueled in the skies over the junior flight camp in Cloudsdale for the very fate of Equestria. Streaks of light purple and magenta streaked back and forth as the two fought. Two beams caught in a clash for dominance as the unrestrained fury of Starlight pushed against the learned skill of Twilight, between the two of them, their magic formed in a ball of swirling magical energy. In a deadlock, the ball exploded sending the two combatants flying backwards. Almost immediately they recovered and they rushed at each other, horns locking in a shoving match. Twilight's greater physical strength began to overwhelm Starlight, who in a move as much in desperation as a dirty trick, slammed her forehoof into the eye of the lavender alicorn.

Twilight lurched from the blow, giving Starlight an opening to buck her hind hooves into the alicorn's face. Twilight quickly recovered and wiped the trickle of blood from her nose. Twilight gave a smirk and flew up until her body was between Starlight and the sun, it was a trick Rainbow Dash had taught her. Twilight dove downwards, aiming her horn at Starlight, she knew that Starlight would dodge and prepared. Magic wreathed around Twilight's horn as she prepared a spell.

At the last second Starlight teleported out of the way onto a neighboring cloud and Twilight teleported herself in pursuit. In flashes of light, the two two combatants appeared and disappeared, unleashing blasts of magic or raining blows down on each other. Starlight appeared in a flash expecting Twilight to appear in front of her and instead was shocked when the lavender alicorn tackled her from behind. The two plummeted down towards the ground, raining blow after blow on each other. At the last second Starlight gained the advantage and shifted her weight until she was on top. Starlight sent a blast of magic into Twilight. Twilight's body slammed into the ground, digging a furrow where she laid limply. Starlight levitated herself down to the ground, standing over the limp form of Twilight and gloated while a trickle of blood leaked from the corner of her mouth.

"Well princess, it looks like you have failed.", Starlight said proudly, "What will it take to get through your thick skull that you cannot beat me? I know!" She raised a hoof in preparation to stomp down on Twilight's throat. "Good bye forev-AAAUUUGGGHH!"

Spike who had been enchanted with concealment and flight spells chomped down hard on Starlight's hind leg. As the time portal began to open, Twilight, who had been playing possum, leapt forth and tackled her opponent. All three of them got sucked in the portal. Through the tunnel in time, the two mares brawled. Blow after blow rained on the faces of the mares. Starlight grabbed Twilight's mane in a hoof and shoved her face into the side of the time tunnel. Twilight screamed in pain before summoning up every last ounce of strength and shoved her head back. She grabbed the back of Starlight's head with both forehooves and slammed her rear hooves hard into the unicorn's gut. Starlight gasped in pain as the air was driven out of her lungs. In a rage, she shoved both her forehooves into Twilight's eyes, then kicked her away hard and summoned up her magic, launching the alicorn through the wall of time tunnel.

"TWILIGHT!", Spike shouted in shock and despair.

Starlight cackled as she grasped the drake in her magic. "With any luck she has been torn apart in the space between spaces! Now to flense the-GAH!" Pain wracked her body as fire, lightning and ice swarmed over the time tunnel. "This can't be happening! My spell shouldn't be rebounding!" She stared in stunned shock as Spike began fading into nothingness. A split second later blinding while light filled her vision and she found herself free falling through the air. Pain exploded across the side of her body as she slammed into the map table and bounced off, soon after the world faded into darkness.

Starlight opened her eyes slowly, she didn't know how long she had been unconscious. The smell of iron filled her sinuses as the taste of copper filled her mouth. Slowly she rose to her hooves, groaning in pain and looked around. She found that other that the map table, there was no sign that the Castle of Friendship was ever there. Looking over the map, Equestria still looked mostly the same, though it showed the Crystal Empire was in ruins, Vanhoover was a blackened plain and there was no sign of her old village of Equalton. "Where am I? When am I? What happened here?" A flash of light from above made her dive for cover underneath the map and the parchment containing her altered time spell floated to the ground.

Gathering up the parchment and stowing it in a pocket dimension, Starlight began making her way in the direction of Ponyville. Cresting the hill that overlooked the small town, it still appeared to be the same idyllic little hamlet, though there were some grisly changes. In the center of town stood several gallows, the bodies of five ponies still hanging from the ropes, poles lined each street with cylindrical cages hanging from them, several of the cages still held the remains of ponies. Starlight took an uneasy breath and began walking to town.

As Starlight walked into Ponyville, the mares and stallions cautiously eyed her. "They don't know who I am, do they?", she thought to herself. She stopped at one of the cages and gasped in shock, though the cutie mark was different, the cyan coat and multicolored mane and tail show the emaciated corpse to be Rainbow Dash, a sign hung on the cage reading "High Treason". In a neighboring cage she saw a familiar emaciated corpse of a mare who had an orange coat and blonde mane and tail, the sign on the cage read "For Bringing Water To A Condemned Traitor". As she continued to walk through town, she saw a familiar earth pony filly with a golden coat, red mane and tail, she was missing one of her forelegs and branded on her side was the words "For Daring To Steal One Of Their Majesties Apples".

Starlight was forced to leap out of the way as a voice from behind shouted, "Make way! Make way!" Two stallions wearing thick plate armor, one set of armor was bright orange, the set was pitch black, rushed by hauling a wagon with a cage on the back, inside was a terrified pegasus filly with orange coat and brilliant purple mane. Starlight hid within the crowd as they gathered when the cage pulled up to a raised wooden platform with died bloodstains on it. An elderly tan mare, wearing black robes and a curly powdered wig walked up with a dour expression on her face.

"Bring forth the criminal!", the dour mare called out. After the heavily armored guards drug the terrified pegasus filly on the platform, the robed mare said, "Read out the charges of the accused."

One of the armored stallions pulled out a scroll and unrolled it. "The filly known as Scootaloo stands charged with one count of theft of a roll and one count of illegal flight to avoid capture on a wheeled vehicle."

The robed mare stared down menacingly at Scootaloo. "Does the accused have anything to say before I pass judgement on behalf of our most divine queens?"

"I was just hungry! You'd have done..."

"Silence!", the robed mare shouted as she stamped a hoof, "I'll hear no more. I should have your tongue cut from your mouth for even daring to imply that our most divine queens are anything but merciful and generous, but I have a soft spot for foals. Scootaloo, for your crime of theft, you shall foreleg cut off and you shall be branded as a thief. For your crime of fleeing from the guards, your legs shall be broken. For your crimes, your parents shall be given thirty lashes for each charge. Bring forth the accused's parents." When one of the guards whispered in her ear, the robed mare turned, "Really?! Scootaloo, upon the carrying out of your sentence, you shall be remanded over to a workhouse. Failure to maintain the work load will get you ten lashes."

Starlight fled from the crowd and hid. When she heard Scootaloo give a blood-curdling scream, her stomach heaved as she vomited repeatedly. She wiped the bile from her mouth as she shivered. "Oh Celestia! She was just a filly who was hungry and scared!"

"Your first time seeing a public trial?", a voice asked making Starlight nearly jump out of her fur.

Looking up, Starlight saw a familiar white unicorn mare wearing a blindfold, visible scars were at the bottom of the blindfold. "R-Rarity?"

"You seem to know me, but I can't place your voice.", Rarity said, "Hold still, let me feel your face so I can figure out who you are."

Starlight winced as Rarity ran a hoof across her face. "Hmm. I don't seem to be able to place who you are.", Rarity said, "Come along, maybe one of my friends can describe you to me. Have you eaten?"

As Starlight walked alongside Rarity, she noticed the mare had the words "For Daring To Cast Gaze Upon The Body Of The Divine Queens Unprovoked" branded into her flesh. Starlight waved her hoof in front of Rarity's face and asked, "Rarity, did somepony blind you?"

Rarity paused momentairily. "I'm sorry, I've been trying to place a name to your, but for some reason I can't. Were we foalhood friends? When we get to camp, I'll have somepony there describe you to me. Come along." Rarity continued, stopping occasionally to feel the walls with her hooves and listen to or sniff the area, "We shouldn't be far now, if my reckoning isn't off, it should be right around this next corner."

Starlight followed closely behind Rarity, her breath caught in her throat as she looked on at a dilapidated warehouse. Homeless ponies milled about, some living in crude tents, others others laying on the ground sleeping, others still wandered in and out of of the warehouse. The smells of desperation and extreme poverty assaulted her nostrils, the occasional sounds of stallions, mares and foals crying or whimpering in sorrow could be heard. "What is this place?"

Rarity's voice took a slight morose pitch. "When ponies can't keep up their work quotas, we have our properties seized, thrown out in the streets and have our status as citizens revoked. Those that are lucky enough have either enough money hidden or family and friends to help them leave the country, the rest usually wind up in camps like this. It's not all bad though, we all look out for each other and sometimes local farmers or restaurant owners will bring us food they couldn't sale or excess crops at the end of the season. Sometimes when they can...", she leaned in close to whisper, "...ponies from the resistance bring us food."

Starlight cocked her head. "The resistance?"

"Keep you voice down, you never know when a patrol of guards is passing by.", Rarity whispered. She held a hoof up to her mouth and called out, "Sweetie Belle! Sweetie Belle!"

A white unicorn filly came running out of the warehouse. "Wawa-ee! Wawa-ee!", she shouted.

Starlight watched as Sweetie ran up and hugged her older sister. She winced when seeing the brand on the side of her body reading "For Yelling At Her Royal Majesty.

"Sweetie, is Bright Eyes well? I need somepony who can describe our new friend to me."

Sweetie looked to Starlight, then back to Rarity and hummed an affirmative tone before running back into the dilapidated warehouse.

Starlight waited alongside Rarity for several minutes before Sweetie returned with a gray-coated mare with a blonde mane and a pair of misaligned golden eyes. Starlight initially though the mare was an earth pony until she saw the two masses of scars on her back indicating where wings used to be. Starlight placed a hoof to her mouth as she gasped and said to herself, "Am I responsible for all this?"

Bright Eyes walked up to the two of them with Sweetie in tow. "You needed me for something?", she said.

"Yes Bright Eyes, I need you to describe this mare for me. She seems to know me, but I place a name or description to her voice.", Rarity said in a chipper tone.

Bright Eyes turned her wall-eyed stare to Starlight and began looking her over. "Her coat is a pale purple, she has a darker purple mane with light green stripes, almost aquamarine. Her eyes are dark blue"

Starlight shuddered as Bright Eyes walked around her, a brand on her side read "For Breaking The Queens Favorite Window".

"Her cutie mark is a purple and white starburst with a two-tone swirl with light green and darker green.", Bright eyes continued, "She doesn't have any scars or brands I can see."

"Hmm.", Rarity said bringing a hoof to her chin, "Your cutie mark sounds like you're talented with magic. I've been rude this whole time and forgot to ask your name."

"S-Starlight Glimmer."

"Well miss Starlight Glimmer, welcome to our community. I know it's not much to look at, but here you will be safe.", Rarity said gesturing with her hoof, "You can come and go as you please. But if you choose to stay here, we only have three rules. One, everypony looks out for everypony else here, two, if you have any food, bits or alcohol, please share it with the others and three, if somepony is having a breakdown, help to calm them down and make them feel safe and loved. Sweetie, help guide me and our new friend to our spot. Oh and Bright Eyes, stop by my place with a cup or a bowl and I'll give you some of the pruno I've been saving for a special occasion."

Starlight followed Sweetie and Rarity into the warehouse. The living quarters that the ponies lived in, if they could be called that, were just improvised beds and a few crude shelves, old curtains or sheets suspended from the rafter partitioned off the living spaces. Stallions, mares and foals looked at the three passer-bys with hollow stares.

"Home sweet home.", Rarity said in a sing-songy tone, "It's not much, but you won't have any rain falling on your head and you can sleep here until you can find a place to settle in."

Starlight looked around the "living quarters", it was just a couple improvised beds made from blankets. Several loose cans of food were stacked around the area, on the back wall was a mural that had been scratched in it.

Rarity fished around in a pile of blankets and pulled out a bottle with a stopper in it. Pulling the stopper out, she held up to her lips and took a swallow, her body shuddered after taking the swallow. She offered to bottle to Starlight, "Care for a swallow of pruno? It tastes horrible and smells worse, but it can help you forget the pain for a few minutes."

Starlight took the bottle in her magic and gave it a sniff, she gagged and nearly threw up from the smell. "No thank you.", she said passing the bottle back.

Rarity returned the stopper to the bottle and returned it to the pile of blankets, a moment later she pulled out an old blanket and gave it to Starlight. "Something to keep the chill off." She shuffled to the walls, sat on her flank, fumbled around at the base of the wall and picked up a piece of broken glass.

Starlight watched as Rarity felt along the mural that had been scratched out on the wall and began scratching more on the wall. It almost looked like an artist at work.

After Rarity had finished on her work scratching out the mural, she took off her blindfold and Starlight gasped in shock seeing the two empty sockets where the alabaster unicorn's should have been. "What happened to your eyes?", Starlight said softly in horror.

Rarity turned her mouth downwards in a scowl, then answered, "I had made some tapestries for the queens, they hated it and ripped them apart. Without even thinking, I scowled at them and they ordered my eyes plucked out. Poor Sweetie suffered worse, she shouted angrily at them and even though I begged them to punish me, they ordered her tongue cut from her mouth. Of course I had no way to properly make new tapestries, being bling and all, so they had my shop seized and me and Sweetie tossed out in the street. That was nearly four years ago." She sniffled quietly, though no tears came from her empty orbs.

Starlight scowled slightly, she had wanted to punish Twilight for taking control of Equalton from her, but she didn't want to win like this, if she wasn't shocked and horrified by what she had seen and heard, she would have cried. After several minutes she found the gumption to speak again, "Who are the queens?"

Though Starlight couldn't completely sure, she would have guessed Rarity looked surprised. "You must be from outside Equestria if you don't know who our queens are."

"I guess you could say I'm not from anywhere near here, so today is the first time I've heard of your queens."

Rarity placed a hoof to her chin. "So you've never heard of queens Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon?"

Starlight screwed up her face in shock. "I've heard of Nightmare Moon as an old mare's tale, but not of Daybreaker before. Where did they come from?"

"Around five years ago during the summer sun festival that was scheduled here in Ponyville when Princess Celestia was supposed to raise the sun, she instead disappeared and the mare known as Nightmare Moon had arrived, It turns out she was a ruler from a thousand years ago and had fought against the princess before getting banished. For a week the sun never rose and Nightmare Moon attacked Canterlot. During the battle, Daybreaker must have joined her and either slew or banished the princess. After that the two of them have ruled over us as queens."

Starlight began to hyperventilate. "What have I done?"

Author's Note

Thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoy.

I will try and take all comment and criticisms as constructive.