Long ago, in the broken remains of Equestria

by thegenieworld

Chapter 1

“Equestria is not falling apart as long as we are here to put it back together!” The council and some extra audience were all looking at Princess Twilight Sparkle as she finished up her speech. Starlight was invited there as she didn’t have a lot else to do, but now she was getting tired of hearing the same words over and over.

It had been years since the war started. Twilight had barely had enough time to settle down as a princess before the biggest problem she’d ever faced had slapped her in the face. Her, and the rest of Equestria.

Now she was done having her weekly speech filled with hope. It helped in the beginning. Everypony were feeling motivated and ready to face their problems like they’d done so many times before. They were ready to save Equestria again. And days passed. And weeks, months, years. Even Twilight herself looked like she didn’t believe in what she was preaching. Discord, who found a way to entertain himself and everyone else in most situations, no matter how serious, sat in a corner with a dull expression on his face. Pinkie Pie, the happiest pony around, looked like they found it hard to smile.

Starlight herself had given up once she realized that nopony were going to trust her enough to allow her to help in any meaningful way. It did make sense, she’d done some horrible things to Equestria, but she was still Twilight’s student, wasn’t she? It just felt so unfair.

Twilight closed the magical communication portal she’d opened to speak to the other two regions. This was the usual signal that the meeting was dismissed. Starlight stood up, and by habit, she trotted towards Twilight.

“Hey, Twilight?” she began. “I thought, you know, since it seems like the troops are struggling to fight the shadow creatures and stuff…” she trailed off. Twilight looked stern, and most of all annoyed. She never gave Starlight looks like this before the war.

“Starlight, how many times do I have to tell you? You’re not allowed to fight in this war!”

“But princess, I just want to help! It’s not fair that I have to sit inside and watch people leave the castle, maybe for the last time, without getting to help at all!"

“You are helping enough already. And don't call me princess.”

“By studying in the towers by myself? You don’t think I realize that you only gave me those stupid assignments to keep me busy?”

“Seriously Starlight? This is where you want to take this fight?”

“Maybe it is! I have been outside around four times this year! I barely get to breathe fresh air for God’s sake! When are you going to realize that I need to fight?”

“Starlight, that’s enough! You’re dismissed!”

Closing her mouth before she said something she’d regret, Starlight left. Once she got out in the hallway outside the meeting room, she kicked one of the pillars by the wall. It wasn’t fair.

Walking down the hallway towards her lone tower, she started doing what she normally did in the castle. Watching other ponies. Commander Dash was clearly having some strategy planning with some of the soldiers. Applejack was heading towards the training rooms. Pinkie Pie was on their way to the kitchen, which reminded Starlight that it was almost time for dinner. While staring after Pinkie, Starlight bumped into someone.

“Oh! Darling, you need to watch out!” When she looked up, she saw Rarity carrying many boxes. She’d clearly dropped some and was trying to pick them up. Starlight quickly picked up one of the boxes for her and Rarity smiled in return. “Would you mind joining me to my workshop?”

“Not at all, I don’t really have anything better to do,” Starlight replied. Rarity seemed to have missed the last sarcastic remark, or she was pretending to. So instead of continuing an awkward conversation, Starlight walked with her to the workshop. Once they got there, she could see Rarity’s assistants hard at work.

Originally, the Guardians of Harmony had all had their own work to do and they all seemed to work alone. Then, over time, more ponies joined in on their work. Now, meals were ready faster because Pinkie didn’t have to work alone, clothes were created faster because Rarity had received help, and both Rainbow Dash and Applejack were joined by fellow soldiers. In fact, most ponies who joined the cause seemed to be soldiers.

“There we are!” Rarity said and one of her assistants hurried to help with the boxes Starlight was carrying. “Thank you for your help, Starlight.”

“What are you working on at the moment?” Starlight asked. Looking around the room she could see both fabric and metal lying in heaps on the floors beside the different workstations.

“We’re actually creating a bit of armor.” Rarity pulled some metal out of one of the boxes she had been carrying, similar to that already on the floor. No, the ones Rarity had were cleaner, less dusty. “It’s a bit out of our comfort zone if I’m being honest, but some armor gets damaged beyond repair in battle, and - oh dear, you probably think this rambling is boring.”

"You know, I could probably help you!" Starlight picked up some fabric and a piece of metal. "It can't be too hard, and you seem like you need an extra pair of hooves!"

"Listen, Starlight, it's not like I don't appreciate the offer." Rarity used her magic to take the things Starlight was holding. "But as far as I know, you don't really have the clearance to work here. And I'm sure Twilight has some important work for you elsewhere." Starlight almost started arguing back, but realizing there wasn't really any point to it, she simply nodded before leaving the room. Rarity was one of Twilight's council members, so it wasn't surprising that she agreed with whatever the princess said.

Heading towards her tower once again, she decided that maybe it was best to just do what she was told. If she could at least prove that she was a good student, maybe Twilight would throw her a bone and let her do something more meaningful.

Picking up the books Twilight assigned her, she sat down on a nearby cushion and started skimming through it. Nothing was really interesting, a lot of the magic this book discussed was things she already knew. Every so often there would be an entry that piqued her interest. There were some about the anatomy of timberwolves, and something about merponies that seemed to be a lesser known fact.

Stopping suddenly, Starlight realized she was looking at a picture of a shadow creature. There was also something about the elements of harmony and… a spell? Throwing herself onto her hooves, she ran down the steps of the tower. Did Twilight not know about this book? It always seemed like she’d read every book in the world, but maybe she’d missed this.

“Princess Twilight!” Starlight kicked open the door to the throne room. Both Twilight and Discord looked surprised at the sudden intrusion.

“Starlight, I’ve told you not to call me princess.” Twilight began. “Is there something you need to talk about?”

“Yes, yes there is! I think I found something in this book concerning the Nightmare and you might already know about it, but if you don’t I think you should have a look and -” Everything came out in a blur, but she stopped as soon as Twilight stood up. She looked more surprised than Starlight had expected her to.

“What did you find?”

“Uh, just something talking about the elements. And a spell.” Twilight’s surprised expression seemed to hold so much more, but she turned away from Starlight and spoke to Discord.

“Could you find the council members for me? I’ll need them to hear this.” Discord nodded and just like that, he was gone. Twilight turned to Starlight with a smile.

Author's Note:

I'll try to add the next chapter every Friday.

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