Fractured

Night watched silently from the bushes, waiting patiently for Tyrannus to go inside. He had ditched the guard armor and was instead wearing a bandolier of hastily made throwing knives with a long bandanna wrapped around his head. He took one such knife in his hoof and crept up silently behind a guard. Using one hoof to hold the guards mouth closed and the other plunge the knife in the ponies throat, Night slipped the cooling corpse to the ground before moving on to his next target.

Night spied his target across the path, a unicorn with a small crossbow floating in a green aura next to him. Night kept one eye on the house while he charged a stun spell with his horn. A small voice at the back of his head began to speak as he charged the spell.

Why aren’t you helping guard our Queen? It is a privilege that we were chosen for such a duty. We should be doing our very best job to protect her.

“Shut up.” Night growled to himself. He fired the spell, hitting the unicorn guard dead on. The crossbow and guard both dropped to the ground with a rustle, causing Night to flinch. He shot another look at the cottage before he crept across the path and dove into the bushes.

Night took the bandanna off of his head and wrapped it around one of the crossbow quarrels. Using a small fire spell, he lit the quarrel and used the crossbow to send it flying into the woods in the opposite direction of the cottage. Since the war had started, few pegasi were left to manage the weather. The result was a relatively dry year with a very wet winter.  The brush caught fire quickly, sending smoke spiraling into the air. Night watched as all of the pegasi guarding the cottage sped towards the fire. They were followed by most of the earth bound ponies, leaving only three or four for Night to deal with.

Night took off the armor of the stunned unicorn and donned it, covering all of his features. The voice in his head grew stronger as he moved closer to the cottage, almost overriding any other thoughts.

Guard your Queen! This is your one and only job, you need not think about anything else!

Night pushed the voice away once more and took up a standing position to the left of the door. None of the other guards questioned his presence and the voice in his head finally shut up now that it thought he was doing his “job”. Night took a deep breath and slowly began to weave a small illusion with his magic. The other guards stiffened as they “saw” a pale earth pony leap out of the bushes. The pony “panicked” and sprinted back into the woods. The guards hesitated.

“What are you waiting for? Track that pony down!” Night yelled at them. The guards took off in pursuit of Night’s illusion, leaving the blue unicorn by himself. The cottage door opened, revealing a guard in a different set of armor than Night’s. It was a more crimson color and didn’t include a helmet. Night noticed that the guard had clear eyes unlike so many of the other guards.

Night held back a scowl. This was one of the few ponies who actually liked the way things were now, the queen’s ‘elite’ guard.

“What’s going on out here?” the earth pony asked.

Night answered with the best monotone voice he could pull off.

“I have sent several of the guard to deal with a fire in the forest and others to catch an earth pony that’s loose nearby. There is nothing else to report.”

The voice in his head screamed at him to reveal his freedom, but Night said nothing and instead just stared at the pony.

The earth pony glared at him for a second before grunting and slamming the door. Night grinned and took off his armor before knocking on the door. As the door opened, Night shot a stun spell into the earth pony’s face, blowing him backwards. Using the advantage of surprise Night stepped into the cottage and lifted the table that Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Tyrannus were all sitting at. Using the table like a club, Night slammed it into Tyrannus, throwing her against the wall. Night then lit the table on fire and threw it at the startled alicorn.

Night switched his focus to Fluttershy.

“Get Pinkie and Dash close to you!” he shouted. The pegasus pulled her two friends closer and Night fired a teleportation spell at their feet. They dropped through the blue teleportation circle, disappearing from sight. Night then shot a fireball at the floor where the teleportation circle had been.

Night panted and tried to prevent himself from passing out. He had never used so much magic in such short time. The flaming remains of the table crashed into the wall beside him. Night’s ears flattened as he faced the worst part of his plan. Actually facing Tyrannus. If he could fight her up close, then he might have a chance, if he had to fight with magic... He was going to lose, badly.

“How dare you! You insolent worm! That was the closest I’ve been to most of my friends in years!” Tyrannus screeched.

“And that’s my fault? It’s my fault that you drove your friends away?” Night shot back.

“It’s always your fault! Everything you and your kind do causes death and destruction!”

Before Night could say anything else, Tyrannus shot a spell at him. He conjured a small shield in front of his body, bracing for the beam’s impact.

Night had a split second to watch as the beams went straight through his shield and traveled into his horn. He screamed as his horn exploded into thousands of pieces. Tyrannus picked Night up in her magic and slammed him through the ceiling. She then dragged him across the wall before finally tossing him onto the floor.

Night watched, paralyzed with pain, as Tyrannus lit the ceiling on fire. Her earth pony guard got back to his feet and walked over to stand beside her. She gave the crimson clad pony a glare before she turned and shot another fireball at a wall. She turned to Night, the fire reflecting brightly off of her purple eyes. Night vaguely noticed the yellow tint to her iris’s and struggled to process what that meant.

“You want to play with fire? Fine then, but now you get to feel the burn.”

Night watched as both ponies walked out of the burning cottage and continued to watch as the building burned around him. His vision blurred and he cried in pain as he tried to move. Failing to move at all, Night felt a faint falling sensation as he passed into oblivion.