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// Prologue: What We Need to Know 
// Story: Star of the Sea 
// by JNKing 
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Equestria was in ruins after Discord’s reign. With the land devastated from his magic, it would take many years for the land to recover. It’s likely the country would have fallen if not for the efforts of the Alicorn Sisters Celestia and Luna. Over time the efforts of the two would eventually restore Equestria to its former glory, where the Ponies could live in peace and harmony. But not all was well: Celestia over time soon lost herself to the praise and love, becoming blind to the nobles doing things that she would have condemned. Luna meanwhile was shunned, though the reasons have been lost to history, many in the modern day believe that the nobles feared her headstrong nature and refusal to be beguiled by their schemes. Add to that her control over the ominous night, and the nobles slowly turned others against her.

Luna wasn’t alone however; there were those that showed her love and praise, among those being none other than one of the Pillars of Equestria Flash Magnus, who would become one of her closest friends. Luna would also gain a lover; a Winged Thestral named Star Hunter.

Star Hunter was a member of the Thestral Clan known as the Star Clan, named for the pattern on their wings which resembled the stars in the night sky. Star Hunter had gotten his name from his habit of flying into the night sky like he was trying to hunt the stars, when in actuality Hunter was merely finding a good spot to read his favorite stories. It was during one of these trips that he met Luna, who was annoyed because each time Hunter would unintentionally keep getting in the way for her drawing the constellations. The two ended up bonding over their shared love of the night and when Hunter finished his Guard training Luna made him her personal guard, where she later discovered that Hunter and Flash were best friends and had been for a long time, even going as far as to call each other brothers. Hunter soon proved to be quite different from other guards in that instead of trying to get the headstrong and boisterous Luna away from a battle, Hunter would give her a spear or some other weapon and let her fight beside him. His antics drove Celestia insane much to Luna’s amusement. Luna and Hunter grew closer as time went on, eventually leading to Flash and another Guard finding the two on Luna’s bed under the sheets, having just “rolled in the hay”. While the other guard was unamused, Flash actually found it funny and when word got out he defended the pair, even going as far as to say: “A guard in bed with a Princess ensures her safety, as the last thing an assassin would expect is a guard waiting under the blankets.” Celestia wasn’t happy though and tried to reassign Hunter to the frontline units, but in the end Luna overruled her.

A mouth would pass and the two had a big surprise; Luna was carrying a foal! News of this shocked everyone as it was once thought that Alicorns could not have offspring, but once it was time Luna proved it was indeed possible. The Foal however proved to be an even bigger shock; for the Foal was an Alicorn!

It took a bit of time to get the newborn Filly wrapped in a blanket as she apparently was tired of being constrained and ended up whacking Hunter and Flash in the face with her wings, which had the same pattern as Hunter’s. Flash and Hunter managed to get the Filly wrapped in the blanket, though neither came out of it unhurt: Flash ended up with a black eye while Hunter got a bloody nose, but both were smiling at the end.

The first year of the Filly, who Hunter and Luna named Star Wing, was among the best for them. But sadly… their happy life was not to last: During an attack by rogue Griffins Luna had been badly injured and likely would have been killed if not for Hunter, who took the would-be fatal blow for her and allowed her to be taken to safety.

While the rogues were defeated, Hunter’s wounds proved too much and he died later that night. Luna was completely heartbroken while Flash broke down crying, the loss of his best friend too much for the proud soldier to handle. While the two would eventually recover, things only got worse: Celestia fell deeper into blindness as the nobles started getting bolder, and though they knew they couldn’t harm Luna less they suffer her wrath, they soon discovered Star Wing was a much easier target. After the leader of the nobles, Lord Ego, managed to manipulate Celestia into jailing a five-month-old Star for the crime of crying too loudly, the young filly’s status as a target was cemented. Star would be treated worse than a slave, referred to only as “Moon Spawn,” given only the absolute minimum of food by cooks bribed by the nobles, and constantly thrown in jail for the pettiest of crimes.

But Star did have those who loved her: her mother tried her hardest to spend every moment possible with her while Flash, when able, would read her stories and share his meals with her. They weren’t the only two either; the other Thestrals, especially the Star Clan, treated Star Wing like one of their own and Flash’s fellow Pillars were also kind to Star, with Meadowbrook being one of the only medical Ponies outside of the Thestrals Luna would allow to treat Star, as those under the nobles’ employ either tried to not heal or or even harm Star.

Despite everything Star went through, she kept a bright smile and made jokes and quips. Thanks to Flash’s stories, Star gained a love for adventures and tales, and, much like her father, read every story she could get her hooves on. Star would even read stories to her mother in attempts to keep her happy, and even in the modern days many believe that if it wasn’t for Star’s positivity, Luna would have fallen far sooner.

Star soon grew to believe that if she could become a hero like the ones in the stories than those who hated her would change their minds, all she needed was a monster to fight and defeat.

Her wish came to her, but not at all like she expected.