Night Lily has ruled the bat ponies in their self imposed exile in The Everfree Forest for centuries. When a group of Timberwolves get too close to the border for comfort and supplies start getting low, she must venture out of her home to find food.
After Nightmare Moon was banished, the bat ponies were society's scrapgoats. Despite Celestia's best efforts, they exiled themselves. Now, a thousand years later, they have settled in the Everfree. When supplies start getting low and Timberwolves grow bolder, Night Lily must leave her home and live among the ponies, waiting for the right time to reveal herself and her people.
'The nobles are not happy. Well, that is an understatment. The nobles are furious. Celestia has been trying to call them down for hours now. She's also been trying to sheild me. She thinks that she's succeeding. It's been like this since last night, when Nightmare Moon was banished. They need somepony to blame. They've chosen me.'
The young mare closed the book she had been writing in when she heard a sharp knock on her door. It was a tradition in her family to keep a diary. With their long lifespans, it got difficult to keep track of what happened when.
"Come in."
Another bat pony walked in, a member of the Lunar guard.
"Night Lily, Princess Celeatia has requested that you stay in your chambers for the time being, until she can clean things up with the nobles."
"I was expecting something like this. Is it just me the nobles are trying to punish or all bat ponies?"
The guard hesitated. He knew Princess Celestia had been trying to keep her in the dark, but her question clearly meant the older princess was failing.
"All of us."
"I thought so. I want you to talk to the others and see what they think about leaving."
"I mean no disrespect, but Princess Celestia-"
"Thank you for your honesty about what you think, but you know as well as I do she'll fail."
The guard looked down at the ground, unable to defend himself.
"I will obey your command."
He turned and left, and Lily started preparing. Celestia was too optimistic, thinking that they would be happy when the one responsible for all this was banished. They needed someone visible to punish. The public wasn't much better. Whispering about them in between celebrating the end of the battle. Few of the bat ponies had helped their former ruler when she fell. Most of them had fought her, working with the Day guard. Those that refused to fight their queen helped with the injured.
She pulled her teal mane up, twisting it into a bun. Grabbing her saddlebags, Lily raided her closet. In went her cloak and a hat. Buried under everything else was her formal attire, a silver circlet with a purple gem in the middle, a purple torc, and matching shoes. Anything else needed to wait.
Two weeks later and the bat ponies were in agreement. Too much was too much, and Night Lily would lead them out of Equestria. The nobles were acting the exact opposite of what the title would imply. They had been whipping the common ponies into a frenzy, calling for blood. Lily sat down to write.
'Dear Celestia,
Please don't blame yourself. This is our choice, we held a vote. The bat ponies have decided on exile. This is the best choice for both us and Equestria as a whole. The nobles and the public have their punishment, and we'll be were nopony else can hurt us. You can't tell me everything will be okay when there was a death last night, a preventable one.I'm leading them. Don't worry, we'll be fine. Don't stress yourself out.
Night Lily'
Her task was done. Night Lily had agonized over every letter. She was about to fly out the window, and hesitated. She was forgetting something important. Lily looked around and saw her diary. She was planning on leaving it behind, since she could only take what would fit in her saddlebags. Changing her mind, Lily pulled a dress out and wrapped the diary in it. She was ready now. Lily jumped out the window and flew.
"Goodbye Celestia."
The whisper unheard above the wind. Slowly more and more ponies joined her in flight, as they went far far away from their home.
Home had changed. The dark magic fallout from the fight so long ago had changed the surrounding forest. No sane pony would dare enter, for fear of the feirce animals that lived there. And that was why this was the bat ponies home, after decades of being nomads. Nopony remembers that time. Except Queen Night Lily. Generations had gone past, and finally Lily started seeing the signs of her return. She had felt hope for the fist time in ages. And then it had been crushed. Lily saw the rainbow coming from her old home, now forgotten ruins. The elements had banished her again. But she had to move on. She had a people to rule.
Lily was walking through the castle garden, which she had planted herself. That was her special talent, gardening. Not ruling. She had planned to step down once they finally settled in the Everfree, but the others had said they would ignore everything any other ruler said. Lily heard hoof steps coming toward her, and saw her assistant walking toward her.
"Inked Parchment. How is the situation with the Timberwolves."
"They've attacked again, Your Majesty."
"I've told you before, just call me Lily."
"It's against protocal. That's not the worst thing, however. They attacked the agricultural district. We're already in the middle of a shortage."
"So we need to find a way to get more food."
"That would be a different problem. Somepony has to volunteer to leave the settlement."
"I'll do it."
She needs to see her family again. Lily misses her. And these years of isolation are starting to get to her. She had also been receiving letters from some of the other settlements, reporting that some ponies had left after Nightmare was banished again. Lily wanted to see what had happened to them.
"We've all heard the stories, what if you get killed?"
"Set up a democracy."
"Your Highness, don't be so flippant. This is a serious issue."
"I am being serious. I can't ask someone else to risk their life doing this."
"Your suppose to be our ruler, now act like it instead of being a foal!"
"No I'm not, Parchment. See my cutie mark?! Im a gardener, not a queen!"
Parchment had never seen Lily like this, she was usually so calm.
"Parchment, you will rule in my stead while I'm gone."
Lily turned away from her and trotted back to her chambers, not quite galloping. It.. It felt good to yell at Parchment like that. To voice the thoughts she'd been thinking since they arrived here.. Lily had been thankful she changed her mind about bringing her diary. Sol knows she needs it.
She dug through her chest of clothing before finding the bracelet she was looking for. It was a gift to her mother from the Empress of the Crystal ponies, before she had been over thrown by the Shadow King. The crystal was enchanted to disguise the wearer. Lily walked past her guards, making her way to the edge of her queendom. It's been centuries since she's stepped outside. Slipping the bracelet into her hoof, Lily stepped out of the Everfree, into the sunlight.
The bracelet had made her light grey body even lighter, changing her into a white pegasus. Her teal mane and tail remained the same, as well as her Cutie Mark. It was a good thing the lily was in front of the moon, otherwise it would look like she was a blank flank. Which she had been, for an abnormally long time. Everyone kept trying to push her into politics. Oh, the irony. When she was younger, she had thrown herself into it, as a distraction from the whispers about her lack of a mark. Her mother had reassured her that she could give up politics at any time. Now that she had a mark that wasn't about politics, she couldn't give it up. Maybe this was the reason she had all that pent up anger. Well, besides being lonely. Lily lost her train of thought when she crashed into another pegasus.
"Watch where you're going. Some of us are only trying to do a rainboom."
This was excellent. She finally reached the nearest town, where hopefully she would be able to get help, and she had already messed up.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention."
"Just be more careful next time."
The other mare flew off, leaving Lily shaken. If she was this out of it, maybe she had better stick to the ground. The other pony wasn't the only thing she missed. There was a castle sitting in the middle of the town. She would have to send a letter to the others to be more careful, since this other ruler was so close. Who even lived there? If it was Celestia, she would see through Lily's disguise in an instant.
"Excuse me, but who lives in that castle?"
"Why, you must be new in town, this here castle belongs to Twilight."
The pony had a thick southern accent. Lily took note of the lack of a title when refering to this 'Twilight'. Either she was exceptionaly laid back, this pony was highly disrespectful, or they knew each other.
"Yes, I just arrived."
"Well, you can be expecting a visit from Pinkie soon."
"Who's Pinkie?"
"You'll see. I'm Applejack.Visit the farm sometime, okay? Those of us at Sweet Apple Acres wouldn't mind helping a new face settle in. "
"Okay. I'll make sure to do that."
Applejack walked off, and Lily started heading toward the center of town. Maybe if they get to know each other, she could keep the information about the bat ponies contained to just Applejack's family. If one farm could feed an entire country, albeit a small one, and still make enough crops for their usual customers. That idea was bound to fail. She would have to think of a different way to feed everybody. Who she abandoned. By running away. After screaming at her assistant. Who was probably cleaning up her mess. Lily would have to apologize later, after the whole 'imminent starvation in the next two years' thing was fixed.
At the center of town, she started looking for anything that would help her get settled. As luck would have it, there was a bulletin board by the town hall, full of job advertisements. Lily pulled a piece of paper out of her saddlebags and was about to add her own, when she realized it would be hard for others to reach her if she didn't have an address. Shoving the paper back in, she went back to wandering the town. As she opened the door to Ponyville Realistate and Housing, which Lily thought was a little redundant, a bell rang, drawing the attention of the owner of the store.
"Hello, and welcome to Ponyville Realistate and Housing, what type if house are you looking for?"
"I'm not sure yet. Do you have a catalog?"
"Yes we do, take your time looking, I have time to spare."
"Why? Shouldn't business be booming since the princess is here?"
Lily looked through the catolog as she talked. One of the advantages of being in a position of power, you learn how to multitask.
The other pony chuckled dryly before responding.
"I wish. They're either tourist who stay at the hotel for a few days, or nobles who make a big stink about how staying anywhere other in the castle, I'm beneath them. Hey, did you see something you like?"
She pushed the catalog across the counter to the salespony.
"This one."
"Are you sure? It's really close to the Everfree. Heck, it's almost in the Celestia damned forest."
"I'm sure."
"You seem like a nice mare. I'll make a deal with you. You see, this is one the few buildings I own, instead of selling for others. I'll give you a two week free trial, no rent, and if you make it to two weeks before skipping town or having a monster eat you, I'll cut your rent in half."
"Deal."
After going back to the bulletin board and placing her advertisement, Lily made her way to her new home. It had clearly been a while since anyone lived there. At least judging by the state of the lawn. The house itself wasn't the prettiest, but it had all the basic furnishings. She quickly unpacked, and began that night's diary entry before going to sleep.