Fractured

“Are your tunnel crews ready to go?”

“All of the Unicorns are ready to blast through.”

“Good. Commander, are the special forces ready to break the wall?”

“Yes, all of us are ready.”  Replied a deep booming figure

“Then we’re ready to begin the assault on Canterlot, Spike, take the walls down”

“FORWARD MY BRETHREN” Spike shouted. “For Victory!”

The surviving dragons form the Great Purge rush forward from the underground cavern, distracting the guards form the real goal of the attack, the vast libraries of Canterlot.

“Trixie, are the unicorns ready to get the knowledge we need?”

“Almost Fluttershy, we just need a few momen….”

“We don’t have the time! Get in there before we lose the advantage of surprise! This raid is costly enough as it is! ”

“Of course, if we are not back in a few minutes call it off, we won’t be coming back out.”

The unicorns formed a circle and began the transportation spell. Trixie knew the risks involved in this skirmish; it could mean the freedom or enslavement of the entire world. After a series of arcane words and several flashes of light they disappeared from the battle field.

“Ok while they’re doing that, Spike!” Fluttershy yelled “How much longer till we can send in ground troops?”

“Momentarily” he replied

A large crack sounded overhead. Fluttershy and Spike watched as a large turret vanished into the graying sky.

“She knows; we need to leave or attack with all hooves now.”

“Give them more time” Spike replied “I’ll handle her if she causes trouble.”

In the library the eight unicorns flash into the room.

“You two check for guards, we need to test the spell on someone. Rarity I need you to craft a distraction in case we’re found. You three guard her with you lives. Night you’re with me.”

They all scattered to do their jobs. Trixie and Night quickly withdrew into the aisles.

“Anything to do with memory, take.”

“Yes sir”

Rifling through the shelves they began to take several old books. A distant boom shook the room.

“What was that?” Night asked

“Nothing, get back to work”

“Yes sir.”

“Stop calling me sir, I am a mare not a colt.”

“Sorry Ma’am”

“That’s better”

A muffled thud sounded a few aisles down. Two of the ponies came back with a third dragging behind them.

“Here’s the guard you ordered”

“Put him over there and get back on watch”

“Yes Ma’am”

A large crash sounded from the hallway and Rarity came running in.

“She’s here”

“She can’t be; we need more time!”

“Maybe not” Night said “I think I found i-.”

His sentence was cut off as Rarity’s three lookouts came flying through the door with more bolts trailing behind them. The two guards and Night were immediately struck down. Rarity and Trixie began to fire back, ducking behind the shelves.

“We need that book! Cover me!”

“Go! Go!”

Trixie crawled towards Night’s body. Bolts continued to reign down as orders were bellowed from the hallway. Trixie reached Night to find him still alive.

“Get up! We need to leave, now!”

“I don’t think I’ll make the trip today Trixie” Night said wincing “But I do have enough power to hold them back”

He begins to stagger to his feet, but Trixie pushed him back down.

“You’re too weak to fight; you need to come with us, you know what she does with cap…”

“I said go! I would rather die then risk this! Just make sure my family is taken care of by using the spells in this book.”

Finally managing to rise, he began pouring bolts down the hallway.

“Go! And when Luna returns tell her what I did for my people!”

With a war cry he charged through the smoke. Several flashes came from the other side of the entry way and more shouts echoed through the library.

“Rarity, come on. It’s time for us to leave”

“You’re just going to leave him?”

“It’s what he wants, now let’s go!”

Trixie cast first a message saying to call the attack on the walls and a second to take them home to the New Lunar Republic.

“Spike! We have what we need, let’s go home.”

“RETREAT!”

Beside Spike and down through the ranks of the rebel army, horns called the retreat. The dragons began to pull back, leaving the walls behind them in crushed ruins. More soldiers from the defense began to pour through the hole and pursue when they all suddenly stopped and marched back inside. The dragons took flight while unicorns transported their teams back home.

A dark purple alicorn stepped out onto the library balcony. Behind her, the guards set about checking pulses. They found only one prisoner. They stacked the rest of the bodies into a pile just outside the library door. Not bothering to turn around the alicorn spoke.

“Were there any survivors?”

“Yes malady, the sole survivor is the one you knocked unconscious yourself.”

“Good, question him, find out what he knows and if he doesn’t tell you anything of use, I will talk to him myself.

The guard bowed and signaled to two guards. They dragged Night’s still body down the hallway, towards the torture chambers. The alicorn smirked and gazed out over the city. She already knew they wouldn’t break him. It would be fun to try though.

A door slammed and the first screams rang clear through the castle. Twilight’s smirk shifted to a full smile. Yes, she thought, tonight would be fun indeed.

Luna tossed and turned in her bed shrouded in nightmare, an odd thing to happen to the princess of the night. In her dream she sat helplessly and watched as a dark form, chained to a wall kept writhing in pain. It screamed over and over,

“I will tell you nothing! Witch!”

Every time it said this it began to start in pain once more while a voice said,

“Tell me, TELL ME! We know your hiding them! Now I command you to speak!”

He continued to resist, spitting back,

“Your mind games won’t work on me foul creature! You’re going to have to try harder than that!”

Another form entered and struck him. This time he fell silent and hung limply from his chains.

“When he wakes try again. If that doesn’t work keep going until he dies.”

“Yes malady”

Suddenly another voice entered the dream saying her name over and over.

“Luna! Luna wake up! Come on mom it’s morning!”

Luna shot from her dream to find a small fire-haired filly standing on her. She looks an awful like Celestia, Luna thought.

“Yay! You’re awake! I made you breakfast! After that you can tell me some stories!”

The young filly bounced down from the bed as Luna rolled over. Her dream still lingered fresh in her mind. Who had that stallion been on the wall? What had they hoped to get from him? Why did she have a nightmare of it happening? Was it significant in Equstria? She hadn’t gotten a letter in days…. No, she thought to herself. The front may just be hard pressed, a letter will come. With this assurance to herself she pushed out of bed to begin her daughter’s studies.

“Do you like it?” Dawn asked

“Mmmmmm. It’s wonderful” Luna replied as she ate another fork-full.

It was better than last weeks “surprise” breakfast. Dawn could be a wonderful chef after more practice, Luna thought.

“Are you just saying that? Cause last week I saw you feeding some of my toast to the birds.”

“That’s because I believed everything should have a chance to try your cooking, even the birds.”

“Oh! I never thought about it like that. I’ll go get ready for class today. You promised stories!”

She ran off squealing as she went about setting up their “classroom”. The small log cabin made it cramped but allowed for little notice if anyone were to stumble upon it. It also made it hard for Luna to keep hidden any memories of Equstria. Most of her things were hidden under her bed, in a secret cellar her husband had built when she was banished by Tw-… No, Queen Tyrannus. Once Celestia had fallen nothing could keep the armies from falling under Tyrannus’s spell. After that she quickly banished Luna and any rebels captured the crystal empire, naming it after their hero. With walls of ice surrounding it Tyrannus was content to let them sit, for now.

But, that wasn’t a concern right now. With her subjects safe and her life secure in the Everfree forest, nothing could go wrong. Cleaning the dishes she entered the living room to find everything set up and Dawn sitting on her cushion ready to learn. They grow up so fast, Luna said to herself.

“Well what do you want me to tell you about?”

“Are there other ponies, like us?”

“Of course they live all over the planet. I used to live in a nation called Equestria.”

“What’s it like there? Why did you leave? Is that where Dad is?”

“There’s the story I will tell you. The story of, Equstria.”

About a thousand years ago two sisters ruled over Equstria in peace and harmony. They kept everypony under their watch safe for years until one day a great darkness swept over the land that they couldn’t handle alone.

Luna carefully omitted anything about her ordeal over this time. Dawn didn’t need to know about Nightmare Moon until her father came back. Then they would tell her that story.

The elder sister called upon her student to aid in this problem. With the help of her friends the student vanquished the evil, and again harmony reigned. This happened again and again, with more creatures stepping up to take away harmony. One day after another crisis had been solved the two sisters deemed she was ready for more power to lend to the struggle. They helped to transform her into an alicorn, like them. For a time everything was right until one day the power she had wasn’t enough and she demanded more. The two sisters tried to stop her but they had given her too much.

“That war is why I left and why your father isn’t here now. He is out there, protecting us from harm’s way.”

“Wow!” Dawn said; her eyes lit up like the sun. “Will he win?”

“Why of course, and then he will come home.”

“I hope he wins fast cause I can’t wait to meet him!”

“Okay you silly filly, sit back down and let’s start your lesson.”