Fractured

by TheEighthDayofNight

Rating: teen
Tags: Tragedy, Dark, Alternate Universe, Human, Adventure
Length: 16514

It’s a changed Equstria. A long bloody power struggle as wrought the land. Using the powers granted by her transformation to alicorn Twilight has seized power from the old reign. All who opposed her have fallen. Harmony is all but lost.

Under edits! (once more)

It’s a changed Equstria. A long bloody power struggle as wrought the land. Using the powers granted by her transformation to alicorn Twilight has seized power from the old reign. All who opposed her have fallen. Harmony is all but lost. Her spells keep an army of brainwashed slaves. The rest of Equstria listens out of fear. Her former friends lie scattered, broken, or have been laid to rest. Celestia has fallen, Luna has been banished once again. Only three fight against the oppressive reign. They are leaders of what was the crystal empire and is now called the New Lunar Republic. Here they wait for Luna to return from her exile. It has been a decade since Twilights’ ascension to an alicorn, nine since the war started, and five since anyone openly rebelled. But there has come a new hope in the night.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-02-07 18:50:47 UTC

First Strike

“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.”

Drawing Plans

The walls of the New Lunar Republic glistened with armor and weapons. Fires would soon be lit as night fell. Even with constant hunts to keep creature at bay one could never be too sure. The teams of soldiers flashed into the commons as medics raced in to treat the wounded. Uninjured spread out to keep families and onlookers at bay long enough for medics to treat fresh battle scars. Fluttershy quickly darted from her battle group, dodging medics trying to treat her wounds. Suddenly Trixie and Rarity flashed out in front of her. Rarity collapsed to the ground with a small burned hole through her shoulder. A medic barged in shouting,

“Out the way! I don’t care who you are but she needs help, and it’s my job to help her so MOVE!”

Trixie stumbled out of the medic’s way into Fluttershy’s war path. She knocked her down and stood over her, shouting,

“WHERE IS THE REST OF YOUR TEAM?!?”

“This is the rest of my team; the rest fell to her and her guards.”

“Impossible, you had one of the most powerful warriors we have with you. Where is he? Where’s Night?”

“Last I saw him he was taking bolts as he covered our escape, per his demands.”

Fluttershy involuntarily took a step back. Night was smarter than that. Why would he rush into danger like that? It was so… brash. That was Rainbow’s job… Then once again she realized, Rainbowdash is dead, killed by Tyrannus.

“Did you get what we need?” she asked with a stone-faced stare.

“Night seemed to think so but I didn’t have a chance to look over it.”

“Send a message to AJ, Pinkie, and Spike. Tell them to meet us in the war room.”

“Yes Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy had a lot to ponder over. One was Night’s actions. Why had he done that? He knew he was one of the most important assets they had. So why waste his life? While the chances are slim he died, Fluttershy thought, the chances of him going through torture were extremely high. He knew almost as much as she did on the where-a-bouts of most strike groups. He also knew where Luna was hiding. Luna, Fluttershy thought, who was going to tell her the news? How could anyone break the news that her best friend was captured and possibly dead? It was going to be a long day.

In the war room Spike and Applejack were waiting. Trixie came in trailing Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetiebell.

“What are those three doing here Trixie?”

“We can answer for ourselves you know, we aren’t kids anymore.” Applebloom butted in.

“Yes I know, but that doesn’t mean you can just come in here and…”

“We have to help out somehow. We couldn’t go on the attack and now you want to take us out of planning too? No, not today.”

“Let them stay, this concerns them too.” Fluttershy said “they are going with you Applejack.”

“And where exactly am I goin’?”

“To tell Luna the news of... Night's capture.”

The room gasped in disbelieve, save Fluttershy and Trixie.

“Night was captured?” Scoot asked “But I thought he was one of the best fighters we had.”

“And that’s where I last saw him, fighting so Rarity and I could escape.” Trixie snapped.

“Wait, wait, and wait. You left him?”

“Yes, I felt the information we needed was more important! Besides, he told me to leave him.”

Scootaloo scoffed at her.

“I’ll make sure to leave you next time you need help.”

Trixie opened her mouth to yell another retort when Fluttershy slammed her hoof down on the table.

“Enough, both of you! Applejack that is your task, take these three with you just in case.”

“Alright” To Applebloom she said “Grab your friends and let’s get packing, we have a long journey ahead of us.”

“Yes Applejack. Let me help you with your chair.”

Applebloom trotted over to drag Applejack’s wheelchair down the hallway. After the door closed Fluttershy said,

“I still can’t believe the doctors are going to repair her spine after all this time. She might get back to kicking like she used to.”

“Are we going to get started with the book?” Spike asked

“Yes, Pinkie will be here soon anyway. Taking over classes for Cherilee must be difficult to adapt to.”

“Yes I suppose it would be.”

All three turned to the book and began studying the pages. After a few moments Pinkie walked in trailing a small wagon, stacked full of books.

“I thought these might help with finding any answers to questions you might have.”

“Thanks Pinkie, we think we found the answer to our problems.”

“Good, I promised Cherilee I would stop by later to talk with her.”

“Is she still grieving?”

“Losing Big Mac without him seeing there child hit her pretty hard. She needs all the support she can get.”

“Well than you can go. Just leave the books here and I’ll make sure they get back to the library.”

“Thanks Fluttershy.” Pinkie said as she dashed off. With Twilight corrupted, Pinkie still spread happiness but felt happier searching for an answer on why it had happened. It was her form of coping. Trixie Poured over the books while Fluttershy and Spike began planning out their next series of raids. After going through half a dozen books, Trixie finally spoke up.

“Well Fluttershy, there’s good news and bad news.”

“What’s the good news?”

“I think I can perform the spell.”

“And the bad news?”

“We need a test subject.”

Spike and Fluttershy exchanged glances and then stared back at Trixie. Trixie continued.

“This looks to be a diary of some sort. I think it was Twi-“

She corrected herself when Spike growled at the name.

“I mean Queen Tyrannus’s. It has an odd assortment of spells and some gibberish about something called a human. I can’t male a lot of it out, but it looks like she made the spell and the counter spell at about the same time.”

Trixie looked up from the journal.

“With your permission Spike I’d like to keep it, and go through it. She may have written counter spells to some of the wards on Canterlot.”

Spike waved a  clawed hand.

“Take it, it’s not like I want it. Twilight died a long time ago. Anything to hurt the monster that took her place is alright with me.”

Trixie nodded and stowed the book in her saddle bag. The trio turned to the map that was sitting on the table. “So how should we proceed?” Spike asked.

“Here is a map of all the townships with guards. Most are near our border or the border of the Everfree forest.” Fluttershy responded

The map was old and rotted. The edges were browned and slightly burned, it was probably saved from the library before Ponyville was razed, Fluttershy thought.

“We’ll have to eliminate towns with large or very small watches’. Either is a risk of being captured. Let’s also stay away from the forest. It may give Tyrannus second thought about searching the area.

“With those criteria in mind we have three possible towns in reach. Cliffside, Dragons keep, and Coltsdale.

“Eliminate Coltsdale, it’s too far in.”

“Cliffside is the smaller of the two. The only difficulty is that it is located in a cave. Dragons Keep was used to repel hordes of dragons during the Purge.

“Then I guess Trixie and I are going to Cliffside, because you have to get us close enough to cast a teleportation spell. Trixie shouldn’t be trying any long range spells after the close call at the library. So, let’s get to it. We leave within the hour.”

Fluttershy ran through a quick checklist of what she had laid out for the small raid. One her bed lay a pair of saddlebags, two wing-blades, a small communication crystal, a small dagger and a small canteen of water.

She draped her cloak over her armor. A small piece of paper fell out and fluttered to the ground. Fluttershy scooped up the small picture and sighed. They had taken the picture a few days after the first time the met. Fluttershy sighed again. She felt old. That picture felt like another life. Stowing it in her saddlebags she packed the rest of her gear and walked out of her small bedroom.

Fluttershy ducked into the small tent, and narrowly missed crashing into a medic. The tent stank of sweat and enormous amounts of blood. Holding her lunch in, she made her way towards a small cot at the far edge of the tent. Occasionally she stopped to thank medics or wounded soldiers for their jobs. She could tell she was making an impact, albeit a small one.

Fluttershy finally came upon Rarity, already trying to keep clean in the dirty tent. Watching Rarity squirm brought a grin to her face. It brought back a sense of the normal. Rarity brightened immediately when she saw Fluttershy. They hugged and started making small talk. Eventually Rarity noticed Fluttershy’s battle gear.

“Fluttershy, darling, you can’t tell me you’re going out again so soon? It hasn’t been an entire day yet.”

Fluttershy smiled,

“No rest for the weary right?”

Rarity huffed,

“You really should take better care of yourself Fluttershy; everypony needs their rest, even you.”

Fluttershy smiled and stood to go.

“I’ll rest when we get back Rarity; right now there are more important things to do!”

Rarity smiled and shook her head.

“I’m going to hold you that promise Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy waved goodbye and the made her way back across the tent.

Soon after leaving the medical tent, Fluttershy, Trixie and Spike were flying towards the small town of Cliffside. Fluttershy sharpened her wing-blades while Trixie went through a list of spells in her head. As they approached Spike growled

“Get ready.”

Trixie lit her horn and the two ponies disappeared from Spike’s back.

With a flash the two appeared in a dark alley between two tall buildings. Fluttershy peaked around the corner onto a dark street.  Trixie crept silently beside her.

“Where to?”

Fluttershy pointed towards the only lit part of the massive cavern.

“See if you can’t get us any closer to that.”

Trixie lit her horn and the pair vanished once again with a flash. They appeared in the center of a large gathering of ponies. Fluttershy shook off the teleport-daze and balked at what she saw.  Guards were closing in on her and Trixie had one hoof stuck in the ground. She wailed in pain, distracting Fluttershy for a heartbeat. A guard lunged and Fluttershy reacted on instinct.

With barely a whimper the guard slumped forward in a rapidly growing pool of blood. Fluttershy stood in front of Trixie. She would not be taken without a fight. With a yell she sprang at another guard and plunged her wing-blades in deep.

Too Much to lose

“So, what have you learned about the Everfree forest today?”

“I learned that ponies don’t control the weather and that animals fend for themselves.”

“Very good. Go set up for lunch then after I will tell you another story.”

“Ok!” Dawn squeaked.

While she ran into the kitchen to prepare lunch Luna sat down to think. Her nightmare still hung fresh in her mind, constantly nagging her. What did it mean? Shaking her head she stood up and stretched. Oh well, Luna thought, I’ll think after lunch. Suddenly she saw a bright flash through the cottages window.

“Dawn! Hide quickly, just like we practiced.”

“Ok!” Dawn replied

Luna knew this could be anything, an attack, messengers, but she couldn’t be too careful. A knock on the door alerted her they were already close. She crept to the hidden side door and crept on top of the roof. She couldn’t use her wings fear of being heard. A muffled voice spoke out from underneath the overhang.

“This is the place right? You did do the spell right, right?”

“Of course I did, I studied it for hours, and this should be it.”

Luna knew the voices were familiar. But they seemed older, more mature. I’ll fly around and watch from afar, and then I’ll make my move. Slinking off the roof, Luna glided around to land behind the trio and their contraption. Sitting calmly she spoke softly to them.

“Hello there, and what can I do for you at my humble abode.”

The trio spun around to find Luna sitting calmly on the ground. Luna was shocked when the machine spoke,

“Hey turn me around y’all, I can’t see!”

Then the tallest one spoke out,

“Hey Luna don’t you recognize us? It’s Applebloom, Scootaloo, Sweetiebell and Applejack!”

That’s Applejack? What had happened while she was away? She quickly jumped to her feet and said,

“Why didn’t you call out? Come in! Come in!”

Opening the door she shouted,

“Dawn! You can come out!”

“Who’s Dawn?” Applejack asked.

“Why she’s my daughter. Didn’t Night tell you?”

“He’s the whole reason we came sugar cube.”

What’s that supposed to mean? Luna wondered, Could it somehow be connected to her nightmares? Applebloom pulled AJ into the cottage while Scoot and Sweetiebell followed with luggage. They have all grown so, different since I last saw them, Luna thought. All three now sported cutie marks on well trained muscles and battle hardened skin. Sweetiebell had a song note, (real surprise there) Applebloom had exactly that, an apple bloom. Finally Scootaloo’s was the strangest; it seemed to be a black shield of some sort. If only she could get a closer look. But, at that moment Dawn came sprinting into the room to find four complete strangers sitting in her house. For once she didn’t ask any questions, just sat there and stared with wide eyes.

“Now Dawn it’s not polite to stare. Why don’t you make lunch for our guests?”

“Oh Ok.” Dawn said still staring at the ponies sitting with her mother. She quietly backed out of the room, hitting the wall on the way.

“I’m sorry about that; she hasn’t seen any one accept me since she was born.”

Applejack was the first to respond.

“That’s okay; we figured you might avoid much contact with us.”

“Well my husband always kept me updated on the war effort.”

“Husband? I didn’t know you were married.”

“Of course, I’m married to a jet black colt with dark hair.”

All four sharply took in air. Applejack was the first to breathe slowly out.

“His name wouldn’t happen to be Night, would it?”

Luna looked around the room. Everyone’s eyes except Applejack’s were avoiding here gaze. She felt the rock drop in her heart. She called out to Dawn.

“Sweetie?”

“Yes mom?”

“How much longer till your done making lunch?”

“It might take awhile.”

“That’s okay, take your time.”

She turned to Applejack whose eyes were lit with pity.

“Tell me everything quietly; Dawn doesn’t need to know yet.”

“We went on a raid of the Canterlot libraries. While our army attacked the walls a small team teleported into the library. Night insisted on being in the group. Led by Trixie they managed to find what we were looking for, a spell to end the mind control. By Trixie’s account all their guards died within a minute and Night also took a hit. She went to check him and found that he was still breathing. He told her to go while he covered them. She then said he charged into the smoke and that she had to leave on fear of losing the book.”

“But why would he do that? He could have covered them and still gotten out. If…”

At that moment Dawn came in balancing a tray of plates into the room. She placed them on the table at center of the room and went over to her cushion and sat down.  The room sat in an awkward silence. Luna was the first to speak up by saying,

“That looks like a wonderful lunch you’ve made us Dawn.”

“Thanks” she mumbled. She still couldn’t break her eyes away from the four strangers in her home.

“Did you want to ask them any questions about Equstria, or the outside world?”

“There from Equstria? Does that mean they’ve met my father? What’s he like? Is the war over? Is he coming home?”

“Look darling if you’ll just let us tell you our story.”

“Wait.” Turning to Luna she said “You said he would come home when the war was over, so why isn’t he here unless…”

She sat deflated on her cushion and stared at Applejack with huge eyes.

“He isn’t coming back, is he?”

“Let me explain first, he would come back if he could but he can’t because he was captured on a mission. Otherwise he would be here instead of me.”

“So he still cares about me?”

“He never stopped.”

Dawn leaped from her seat and jumped on Applejack with a hug, tears streaming down her face.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! I thought he may never see me!”

Dawn continued to hug Applejack, while Luna exchanged a look with her. An unspoken, will finish this later, drifted through the air. There was still much to discuss.

Clash of Wills

An hour had passed since the last beating. His head still felt fuzzy, like someone was playing in it. He did recall a few things though. One, he was trapped; Two he had information someone else wanted and three, for some reason he couldn’t remember his own name. A couple images made it to the front of his mind. The moon, the sun dawning in the early morning, a vast expanse of stars, brilliant green and blue flashes through the starry void. Then it all came rushing back and he threw his psychic walls up in a flash. The guards must have been trying a new tactic to weed the location of Luna from him. He had to try to get a letter out. But first….  With intense concentration his manacles dropped to the floor. He scrambled to his feet and took stock of his cell. It was a bare room with a wooden table and a windowless door. He crept near the door and put his head near the wall. He could faintly hear armor shifting to the left side of the door. He went to the table and broke a leg off. Hopefully this will attract attention, Night thought. The door clicked open and a dark form was shoved into the room. He lit his horn, prepared to fight his way out when he recognized the blue body in front of him.

“Trixie?”

He walked over to find her badly beaten and her back hoof, horribly mangled.

“What the hell did they do to you?” he whispered

Her pulse was strong but she was bleeding heavily and wouldn’t last much longer if he didn’t heal her. He first concentrated on her small wounds to steady her body, and then he began to work on her leg. With effort the bleeding slowed to a trickle. So far so good, he thought. Then the leg flung out of shape and began to bleed again. If he concentrated harder the leg worsened. Laughter sounded through the cell and a voice spoke out of the air.

“That’s not going to work little man.”

Little man? Impossible, she couldn’t possibly know about,

“Oh I know all sorts of the things in your head. For some reason you seem to guard your precious wife’s location more than your fractured past. Why is that? What are you trying to hide from me? Tell me and I will allow you to heal your friend.”

“If you already know my secrets then you know I have other ways of helping her.”

He tore two legs from the table and began to splint Trixies leg. All the while he felt a growing pressure inside his head. It willed him to give in, to further mangle Trixies leg. Then Trixie groaned and her eyes fluttered open. The pressure lifted from his head and Trixies eye color changed. She stood on all four legs despite the pain she had to be feeling.

“You witch” Night whispered.

“If you value your friend’s life, give me the information I require, or you will fight till one of you dies.”

An idea clicked in his head and he reached into Trixie’s mind. He began a contest of wills with the Queen. Suddenly his surrounding changed. He stood on two feet in the center of a desert. He was wearing his traditional battle armor and robes. His saber hung clipped to his belt. A dark form stepped into the front of his vision. It called out to him,

“This is what you wanted, is it not hero? A chance to kill me?”

The figure stepped into the light and he was stunned by what he saw. Tyrannus was now a tall human. Her hair was dark but her eyes were bright like the stars. In her hands she held a pair of light sabers that were both black, black. What that could possibly mean was beyond him. All he knew was that he had to win. He unclipped his saber and ignited its brilliant blue blades.

Night snarled and sprang towards Tyrannus. She laughed and ignited her own lightsabers. They met with the sound of sabers grinding against each other. Night grit his teeth and pushed forward. He drove a knee into her chin and landed another hit against her torso. He took a chance and swept both of his lightsabers at her legs.

A foot cracked into his face, breaking his nose and sending him spiraling backwards. Night landed with a thud and jumped to his feet. Tyrannus was on top of him in a second. Night fiercely parried her lightsaber strikes and responded with his own. He scored two more nicks on her face. She plunged her lightsaber through his shoulder and landed another kick to his face.

Night caught both of her lightsabers and punched her clean in the face. She staggered back and grinned.

“I do love a fighter.”

She sprang forward. Slipping one lightsaber onto his belt Night lashed out with a punch towards her face.  She ducked under the attack and struck at his exposed ribs. Night sucked in his stomach to avoid getting impaled and called his other lightsaber back to his hand. Blades flashing, he swung them towards Tyrannus’s head. She brought her own sabers up and blocked the attack. The sabers locked together, bringing the two face to face. Night growled and head-butted her. She stumbled backwards, holding her broken nose and Night pushed forward.  He battered her lightsabers out of line and snapped a kick to her face.

The foot connected and sent her sprawling backwards. Night kicked her again and put another fist into her stomach. He drove a lightsaber through her thigh and took another swing at her face. The punch hit hard and put her on the ground.

“Not so funny is it?”

Night cocked back his foot and planted it in her ribs.

“Do you enjoy losing at your own game? I certainly hope so, because it ends now.”

Night plunged both lightsabers towards her chest, only to have her disappear into thin air. Night instantly fell back on guard. He spun around when he heard her laugh. Night paled. Tyrannus laughed at him even louder.

“What? You can’t heal all of your wounds? Too bad, that means our game will be much shorter.”

Night bellowed a war cry and leapt forward.

Fight On

Applejack, Applebloom and Luna were sitting on the porch. Scootaloo and Sweetiebell were inside entertaining Dawn while they discussed what needed to happen.

"You came here to tell me of Night's capture, but how did you get here? I thought he refused to tell anyone.”

“He only told Fluttershy, he knew she could resist many of the Queens tricks.”

“I see, but why did you come? He would have sent a letter to me had this happened to anyone else.”

“Only he could send the letters, they could only be sent here by one pony or else they could be tracked.”

“So do you want to ask me or make me ask you?”

Applejack looked at her with a question in her eyes.

“Ask you what?”

“You did come here to ask me to come back with you, correct?”

“That’s what Fluttershy wanted, but now that we’re here….

Her sentence drifted off as she looked through the window to where Dawn was beating Sweetiebell at tic-tac-toe.

“You have a daughter, I can’t ask you to bring her into this.”

“She wouldn’t have to, three of you could stay here and one can help me on the way back. When it’s over I will come back and you can leave.”

“That’s not a bad idea. But who would go?”

“Sweetiebell probably.”

“I see, what do you think Applebloom?”

“I will stay here if I need to, but I would like to go back with Luna.”

“May I ask why you feel this way?” Luna asked.

Applebloom drew in a large sigh and gave her explanation.

“I feel that I haven’t done enough in this war because I’ve always been looked on as immature, or weak. I feel like babysitting is just another, another busywork!”

“Applebloom” Applejack cautioned. If she read the princesses eyes right this could go badly.

“Busywork? You think caring for my daughter is busywork? Let me give you my view of your reasoning. I would be leaving my daughter. Do you realize what I would be asking you to do? Feed her, train her, and teach her. Most of all protect her if someone attacked. Never call caring for my daughter busywork again. No pony trusts you because unless you’re in the heat of battle you consider what you’re doing worthless. You don’t think. You just act. Now I will ask you, will you care for my daughter? If so, then tell those three what is to happen. You’re their leader. Lead them.”

Applebloom nodded and went inside. Luna turned to Applejack and asked,

“So how did it happen?”

“What?”

“What happened to your legs?”

“Ahh. That’s a long story.”

Applejack adjusted in her chair and began to tell the tale.

It happened right after you had been driven away. Rainbow and I were trying to get as much food away from the farm as possible, when she came. Without warning a storm of her guards ambushed us and we had to fight them back. After a dozen or so of her guards fell she decided to get closer. Rainbow raced at her with all her speed, but then the unthinkable happened. Twi- simply grabbed a spear and threw it right into Rainbow. The shock left me petrified until I noticed that her guards were flipping the food wagons on top of me. They left me for dead. I was found a few days later by Macintosh and Applebloom. Once they had unburied me I noticed that every single body was gone .They even took Rainbow’s. We all assumed the worst.

Luna realized she had tears streaming down her cheeks. She asked quietly,

“So you can’t confirm that she’s dead?”

Applejack looked at her with hard eyes.

“No one could have survived what Twi- did.”

Luna sagged and began to think. Twilight’s turn of heart still baffled her. She had seemed so calm and controlled, and then one day she just... snapped. It started when she used a spell to accelerate Spike’s growth. It worked. But then she kept pushing her experiments to the extreme. Celestia had decided for a confrontation but by then... it had been too late. Twilight had gained so much raw power that nothing could stop her. Her anger overwhelmed them, and they lost.

Applejack said something.

“I’m sorry, what was that Applejack? I wasn’t paying attention.”

“I asked if you think we can help her.”

Luna shook her head.

“I don’t know Applejack. I just don’t know.”

Night fell back as a fist broke more cartilage in his nose. He desperately fumbled to block the following attacks. Another burn raced down his arm causing him to yell in pain. He cut one of Tyrannus’s fingers off, allowing him enough time to spring backwards and recover. He leaned back on his right leg to find that it no longer supported his weight. He sank to one knee and tried to catch his breath.

Tyrannus laughed at him again.  Her finger grew back right before Night’s eyes.

“It doesn’t matter how strong you are, I’ve fought many more powerful than you. They all wore down in the end.”

Night grinned and attempted to wipe the blood off of his face.

“Tell me, does it hurt?”

The question seemed to unsteady Tyrannus for just a second.

“Of course it hurts; I can only heal wounds, not numb pain.”

Night laughed and spat into the dirt.

“Good, then every little bit is worth it.”

Night suppressed a groan as he pushed himself onto his feet. Night pointed a lightsaber at Tyrannus.

“There is only one way this ends, and that’s when one of us drops. I perfectly intend to make you pay for every inch. Now come, I will show you how much of a ‘hero’ I am.”

Night sprang forward and battered Tyrannus’s lightsabers out of line. He snapped an elbow into her face and felt the satisfying crunch of bone. Reversing the grip on his lightsabers he plunged one into her shoulder and the other into her thigh. He ignored the drawn out shriek from Tyrannus and tore the lightsabers from her body. Night choked off the scream by punching her in the throat, causing her to choke.

Night ducked under a wild swing, and balancing on one foot, snapped a kick into Tyranuns’s face. The force from the kick sent her spiraling backwards, and she disappeared in a whirlwind of dust. Night crouched, lightsabers bare, and waited for her to come back.

A buzzing filled Night’s ears, slowly growing until he heard laughter echoing around him. Night spun about, trying to discern where the laughter originated from. Night screamed into the cloud of dust.

“Come out you coward! Face me!”

Night saw stars as his face cracked against the ground. He let out a shout when a lightsaber pierced his shoulder. Searing agony raced up his arm, causing his shout to grow louder into a scream. Tyrannus slowly twisted the blade, causing more pain to race through his arm. Wracked with pain, Night struggled to free himself, kicking Tyrannus in the stomach. The lightsaber withdrew, and Night crawled forward.

A kick met his ribs, and he fell to his side, breathless. It was followed by another kick, further driving the air from his chest. Night choked as blood filled his lungs.  The lightsaber plunged though his back and out his chest. The blade scraped against his ribs, sending waves agony about his body. Screaming he launched a kick as hard as he could at Tyrannus’s face. He felt connection and she fell back, leaving the lightsaber in Night’s back. Night staggered to his feet, shouting in pain the entire time, and pulled the lightsaber out.

He projected a message out in the few seconds he had left. It had only one word. Run.

Night stopped shouting, and then stopped breathing; he felt his will curl in on itself. The dreamscape disappeared and was replaced with darkness. Never-ending darkness.

Apocalypse at the door

Dawn was sitting in the living room listening to the plan for the following weeks. Like any of this is actually going to happen, Dawn thought. She began to plan a way for her to sneak along with Luna on their trip back to Equstria. In the back of her head a small sharp pain began to expand. Suddenly it roared to a peak and she fell to the ground writhing in pain. On the other side of the room Sweetiebell also fell to the ground in pain. Applebloom and Scootaloo called out, trying to find the source of their friend’s pain.

“Applejack! Luna! What’s happening?!?”

Their cries fell on deaf ears as Applejack struggled to help Luna who had fell to the ground only moments before. All across Equstria the scene was the same. Unicorns of all backgrounds collapsed in pain, the same message being said over and over.

“Run!”

Even the Queen felt the blow of the message. Her guards milled about in confusion, unable to find what was attacking her.

“You were a strong one, weren’t you?” she said to Night’s inert body.

Once Luna recovered she raced inside to check on Dawn. She lay between Applebloom and Scootaloo, sleeping. Tears were streaked across her face.

“Is anyone hurt?”

“Sweetiebell went to the kitchen, so I think she’s fine, but I’m worried about Dawn. Sweetiebell had just looked to be in pain, but Dawn was screaming. She would say over and over, “He’s dead! He’s dead! Their all dead!” What does it mean?”

Applebloom looked like she was about to cry. She must be terrified, Luna thought, I just shoved her into being a leader and in five minutes everything has gone wrong. Luna sat beside her and tried to calm her down.

“It’s Ok. This isn’t your fault. It was a freak incident.”

Luna sat down and began to think aloud.

“He must have been trying to say something. Or if we look at in another light, she’s right and he really did just die. He wasn’t meant to be here anyway, his staying could have had nasty effects.

“What do you mean? He looked fine to me, he was just more confident. A good leader.”

“That’s a story for another day, but for now we mu…”

Sweetiebell suddenly crashed into the room. She had a wild look in her eyes and her body looked scorched. She screamed at the top of her lungs,

“IT’S BURNING! IT’S ALL BURNING!”

“Sweetiebell calm down and speak at a lower voice so we can hear you.”

She jumped around like a nervous rabbit.

“I figured out what the message meant!”

“What message?” Luna asked

“THAT DOENS’T MATTER! But, anyway, I went to find out if what it said was true and it was! Everything is burning! Even the sky is raining fire!”

“Show me.”

With a flash they appeared on a hill outside the city. Luna turned to find everyone still with them.

“Sweetiebell I said me! Not to bring all of us.”

A crack sounded behind them. The sky was a sickly red. The defenders of the city clashed with the Queens troops in the streets. Slumped shadows littered the ground. Some were the size of dragons. The artist of the scene stood on the opposite hilltop with her troop of body guards.  Luna fought the urge to attack, but resisted. Now was not the time for personal vendettas. A large form cast a shadow over the hilltop.

“You picked a bad time to come back, luckily most everyone managed to escape. I will show you where we are gathering.”

Luna looked to the battle still taking place in the streets.

“But, what about the fighters? Can’t we help them?

“They’re doing their job, now let me do mine.”

They all climbed onto his back and he flew in the opposite direction of the slaughter. They came upon a large camp, where ashes rained from the sky.

“We moved here after Trixie and Fluttershy were captured. We feared with our leaders scattered we would come under attack. Nights message confirmed it.”

“Who received the message over here? I thought they were either captured or in a hospital.”

“Every unicorn collapsed at the same time, so I would assume everyone.”

They landed in a small clearing. Everyone climbed off his back, except Dawn who Luna had to carry. The little filly could really sleep when she wanted to.  Turning back to Spike Luna asked,

“So is everyone all right?”

Spike glared at her with one eye.

“Does it look like everyone is alright? Most of our soldiers are dead or dying and all of these ponies were just forced from their homes. Does that qualify as ‘all right’?”

He was really getting angry,

“And I’m not even getting started. Night is potentially dead. Same with Trixie and Fluttershy. Rarity is in a coma and you come out of nowhere asking if everything is all right? Who do you think you are?”

“I.. I don’t know what to..”

“I thought not. You don’t have any answers. You can’t help. It’s gonna end up with some more ponies dying and you’ll be left high and dry. Just like always. I don’t have to deal with you and I won’t.”

He turned back towards the battle and took off. Luna just stood there, taking in what she had just heard. Applejack rolled up behind her.

“He blames you for leaving when you did. Now with everything that’s happened, all the friends he’s lost. Seeing you, he can blame something.”

Luna nodded slowly. Then shook her head and turned back to the situation at hand.

“Well what are we going to do?”

Looking over the long rows of shelters she saw how much the world had changed in the time since she had left.

“We have to move everyone away into somewhere safer. We can’t leave them here.”

Pausing she added, “And I think we might need a more private place to talk.”

Around them a small circle had formed. Many of the looks were innocent and curious, but some had blame and hatred in them. Quite a view shared Spikes viewpoint. A familiar pink shape pushed through the crowd. Pinkie Pie shoved to the front and looked at the small group in the center. She vainly tried to shout over the growing noise.

“Follow me!”

The group followed her to a large tent filled to the brim with books. Two guards limped over to take post at the entrance.

Luna looked at the exhausted warriors and said,

“That will hardly be necessary.”

The guard with a sword wound down his back cut her off.

“It will be an honor to serve in the same place my father served years ago princess. He died fighting for you and I hope nothing less for me.”

Pinkie stuck her back outside the tent.

“Despite the welcome you received earlier, some still believe in you. Let them keep their faith. It helps keep everyone sane.”

Luna nodded and ducked into the tent. She didn’t even recognize who the guard was, let alone his father. She had so much to catch up on.

“Sorry for the mess” Pinkie huffed “right now this is where the library lives.”

“You look well; did you manage to get it all?” Luna asked

“You mean the books?”

“Yes, we don’t need the empires knowledge burned.”

“You mean the republics knowledge” Applebloom corrected

Luna put a hoof to her face.

“All of you know that I don’t like the name being changed. It was fine the way it was. Anyway that’s not important right now.” Turning back to Pinkie “Is everyone safe?”

“Almost, once we got the warning we began moving the population away. The attack happened very quickly, so we didn’t get everyone out. The fighting has been fierce, and...”

She walked over to a small fire and poked at it with a stick. She tried to change the subject to something else.

“So did you receive the message?”

Her eyes darted to the ground, avoiding Luna’s stare.

“What aren’t you telling me about the battle? You know something but don’t want me to know. Tell me.”

Pinkie’s eyes flitted to Dawn who was still sleeping.

“Who is that?”

Luna leaned forward and caught Pinkie’s eyes.

“That would be my daughter, now please reveal to us what you’re hiding.”

Pinkie shook her head.

“Not with her in here. She can’t know.”

“Know what? She’s sound asleep; she won’t hear you, now speak.”

Pinkie looked from Dawn to Luna with pleading eyes. She turned and sat on a small pile of books and took a large breath.

“I got this from the guard you talked to earlier. A few soldiers thought that if they could kill Tyrannus they battle would end, so they grouped as many as they could and attacked her. Most were cut down before they got close but a few…”

She broke down into a sobbing fit. Scootaloo walked over and calmed her down. She managed to coax her into continuing.

“Come on Pinkie what were you trying to say?”

She sniffed and attempted to continue.

“They saw, they… they saw.”

She began to sob again.

“Pinkie, look at me.”

Pinkie looked at Scootaloo with tears streaming from her eyes.

“Would it be easier if you just told me?”

Pinkie nodded and whispered into Scootaloo’s ear. Scootaloo’s eyes flicked to Luna. Pinkie finished and sat back silently. Scootaloo took a deep breath and spoke.

“Yeah, ummm. How do I phrase this? Yeah, whew Pinkie said that the soldiers told her that um, Night was helping to protect the Queen. She, she said that he was.”

Scootaloo lost her cool and broke into her own crying fit. Pinkie managed to finish the sentence.

“He was killing them! They said he was killing his own friends and looked like he was enjoying it!”

She broke down into another sobbing fit. This time though no one could comfort her. They all sat in shock at the revelation. Luna looked to Dawn who was miraculously still sleeping. If she knew what her father was doing her whole life would be crushed. Luna wondered what her little daughter was dreaming of.

Dream's and Nightmare's

Dawn stood in a dark room. It was divided into two halves. On the left a lone figure stood in the light. The right was shrouded in shadow with several more figures standing in the darkness. A bright flash blinded Dawn. Once her vision returned all of the figures were lying dead on the ground. A dark blue pony walked slowly up beside her.

“Let’s get out of here; we need to talk somewhere safely. This isn’t the place.”

She turned to the pony.

“What is this?”

“A memory of a bad time. Come, we need to move quickly.”

Dawn backed away.

“I’m not going with you; I don’t know who you are.”

The pony winced.

“Ouch, that actually hurts a little. I’ll explain on the way, just follow closely.”

He turned and walked into the darkness. Dawn ran to catch up. The scenery changed until they were both standing in a desert.

“Ah, finally we’re here. It’s so good to see you again. You’ve grown up so much too!”

“Who are you? I have no idea who you are, or where we are.”

The pony smirked.

“Just like your Aunt Celestia, always questioning what she didn’t know. You look like her too.”

Dawn shook her head.

“That doesn’t answer my questions. Who are you and where are we?”

“Well currently we are in your dreams. This is probably the only safe way we can talk in private. As for who I am, well let’s just say I’m here to help you succeed. Anything beyond that is trivial and unimportant.”

“Well that’s not an answer. I want to know who you are, not what.”

“An important difference, I’m glad you noticed. I’m going to be your teacher. You’re going to need it and I can’t train with you during the day.”

“Well why not?”

“You’ll probably find out when you wake up. I’ve done some very, very bad things.”

“Like what?”

“Let’s not focus on me, let’s focus on you. Again I am not important, you are.”

“Why do you keep saying that? You obviously know what you’re doing and I don’t. Shouldn’t that mean you’re more important?”

The blue pony started pacing back and forth.

“While having knowledge and experience are powerful, you have more potential than anypony alive today. Your inexperience is why I am here. I will help you in the art of combat until you can use that power to its full potential.”

Dawn cocked her head.

“Combat?”

The blue pony winced again.

“Wow, your mother really held no bars in sheltering you, did she?”

Dawn took a small step back.

“We live in a forest with no one else around. We didn’t exactly have anyone to talk to.”

“But surely she taught you about Equstria’s many wars? They’ve been fought time and time again to protect the peace so many take for granted. War keeps the world spinning. Without it the world would just be arguing bureaucrats fighting for petty titles.”

He shook his head back and forth for a second.

“Sorry, that isn’t what we’re here for; back to the subject at hand. Do you have any combat training?”

Dawn shook her head.

“No, and I still don’t know what combat is.”

“Combat is fighting between two or more groups. Could be individuals, small squads or entire armies.”

He looked over to her out of the corner of his eye.

“You might want to sit down; this may be a long lecture.”

“Sit where? There are no pillows, or furniture of any sort.”

He stared at her with his mouth agape.

“You could say, perchance, sit on the ground.”

Dawn plopped onto the sand and stared at him.

“May I ask one question before you start?”

“Yes, what would you like to know?”

“What should I call you? I mean I can’t just call you ‘tool’. It wouldn’t feel right.”

The pony burst into laughter. Wiping a tear from his eye he said,

“No, I guess not. My name is Night, Night Drakthuul, at your service.”

He did a small bow; smiling at her all the while.

“That’s an odd name.”

He winked

“Well I suppose, around here it would be. But, where I’m from its fairly common.”

“Well my name is…”

“Oh, I know who you are. Dawn, daughter of Princess Luna, heir to the throne. You’re relatively famous, even the Queen has heard of you. That is the reason I am training you. You need protection against the most corrupted ruler in the world. She has an army of slaves at her beck and call. She also has some considerable herself.”

“Wait why would she want me? I’m just a little filly. I’m nothing special.”

“And that’s where you’re wrong. Your next to the throne, you’re extremely important. But let’s change subjects and go back to a history of war and combat.”

Dawn slumped as Night began his lecture. She pondered what he had said. How was she royalty? Luna had never told her anything about being a princess. How could this Queen know about h…

A pole snapped against her hoof.

“Oww!

She fell backwards and felt her eyes begin to tear up. Night stood in front of her with the pole suspended in the air.

“Why did you do that?”

“You weren’t paying attention. I’m sorry if it hurt but I’m going to have to be harsh to get you into shape. At your age I watched as my parents were cut down and I had to kill the criminal myself. If being an ass is what it takes then I will be one.”

“Ass?”

Night winced again.

“Don’t repeat that, ever. It wasn’t supposed to slip out, my mistake.”

“Wait, but what does it mean?”

Night rubbed his hoof behind his head.

“Let’s both just pretend I never said it, alright? Your mother would kill me if she found out I cursed in front of her child. Let’s get back to the matter at hand.”

Dawn stood and brushed herself off.

“Alright, the first thing I need to know is how much control you have over your magic.”

Night put the stick in between them.

“Take it from me.”

“What?”

“Use your magic and take the stick.”

Dawn held back a smirk. Luna had practiced this exercise with her before and she had easily beaten her. The aura around the stick changed color and the stick flew next to her. Night nodded slightly and brought it back to the middle.

“Good, now do it again.”

“Why? I already beat you.”

“This isn’t a test of strength but one of endurance. Do it again.”

The aura changed color again but this time the stick didn’t move. Night calmly gazed at her.

“Well?”

Dawn concentrated harder. The stick began to wobble. Night’s eyes went from calm to concentrating. A small crack formed in the center of the stick. They both stood there silently, as the stick pulled in each direction. Sweat poured down Night’s body as his hooves dug into the ground.

Then the stick caught fire. Dawn lost her concentration and the stick flew towards Night. His eyes widened as he ducked under the flaming projectile. Once he stood up he stared at Dawn for a while. She cringed, thinking he would yell at her for almost killing him. She was surprised when she saw a smile form on his lips.

“That was great! You managed to pass weeks of training, just in that instant. This will make things so much easier, you just don’t know! I’ve known fillies your age that couldn’t lift a pebble, but you, you are just fantastic!”

He walked over and plopped her on his shoulders. He began trotting towards a door sitting in the middle of the desert.

“What is that?”

“Were in your dreams, remember? That is the door back to reality. Once you go through you will be back with your mother in the waking world.”

“So I just go through and wake up?”

“Pretty much.”

“I can’t wait to tell everyone about what I’ve learned! It will be s…”

He set her beside the door.

“That is the last thing I need to talk to you about tonight. You can’t tell a soul, not anyone.”

“Why not? You’re just helping me, so shouldn’t it be Ok?”

“Some ponies believe I can’t be trusted because of my past. In fact you’ll probably hear some pretty terrible things about me at some point, but I want you to know that you can trust me. Alright? If you ever have doubts about me, tell me and I will stop visiting you in your dreams. Until then, keep practicing and I will see you tomorrow.”

“Speaking of you visiting my dreams, how can you do that? Luna told me only she could do that.”

“Where do you think I learned the trick?”

He winked and nudged her towards the door.

“Off you go now, no more questions. You’ve slept long enough. People are starting to get worried.”

“People?”

“Questions later, wake up now. Go on, you have ponies waiting for you.”

She stepped through the door and into a tent full of books.

Dawn sat up in the center of the tent. It was lit by a single candle, which hung above Dawn’s head. Shadows cut deep within the tent. Cold, unfeeling eyes stared at her from the darkness. She called out.

“Hello? Is anyone there?”

The flap at the front of the tent was flung backward and a tall, violet pony stepped into the tent. Dawn noticed that she had both wings and a horn like her mother. The purple mare’s hair was flowing and long. Her face wore a deep scowl. Dawn cringed back a little on instinct.

“W..who are you?”

The purple mare’s smile had no humor in it.

“Why, I am your queen little filly. And who might you be? You show great skill to be able to travel through dreams and you are so young. Who taught you how to control your dreams?”

“Are you the pony that was waiting for me? Mr. Night said I would wake up after going through his door. So am I awake?”

The ‘queen’ looked surprised.

“Night? How do you know him?”

The tent flap parted again. The queen spun around.

“Well speak of the devil.”

Night remained silent. Dawn shrunk back a little more. This was not the same stallion as moments ago. His eyes burned with a hateful fire. His body was covered with slashes and cuts. Beside him stood a large sword, soaked in blood.

“Dawn I need you to come here, Now.”

His eyes never left the queen. A smirk was spread across her face. Dawn crept around her and stood beside Night.

“I’m going to need you to run as fast as you can to the door just outside the tent. It will lead you home.”

The scowl deepened in his face.

“The other door was a trap.”

“W..well how do you know this one isn’t a trap? It could be worse than the last!”

“Dawn, just trust me. This one will take you home. I can’t give you anymore, not right now.”

Dawn shook her head and backed away a little. The Queen started to laugh.

“You fool; do you really think that she would listen to you? You’ve betrayed her once today; would she really be willing to try again? Come child; come to the safety of your queen.”

Night’s face slacked in panic and he turned to Dawn.

“Please don’t listen to her. I know this looks bad, but going with her? Ju..just trust me. Go outside to the door and you will be safe.”

The Queen held her smirk and with a wave of her horn, two earth golems stood by her side. Dawn scrunched up her eyes and tried to make herself smaller. Both said they were right. Who should she trust? Night sighed.

“Just do one thing for me Dawn. Whatever happens, don’t go with her.”

The sword leaped forward, surrounded by a dark blue aura. It cleaved into one of the earth golems, cutting its head clean off. Night placed himself in front of Dawn and sent the sword at the second golem. He shouted over his shoulder,

“RUN!”

Dawn sprinted out the front of the tent. A door stood open to her right. She looked back towards the tent, where bright lights flashed from between the flaps. She walked slowly to the door and looked inside. The image showed her sleeping beside her mother in a dark tent. Dawn took one last look at the tent behind her and stepped through the door.

Infinite Dreams

“Again”

Dawn ducked under the sword’s sweep. She responded in kind with her twin daggers. Made of pure diamond they were her greatest weapon. She could hamstring most other fighters within a heartbeat. But not right now.

The bastard sword swung in again and left a fair sized divot in the stone behind her. She sent one of her daggers toward the dark blue unicorn in front of her. She followed it with an arrow made of energy. The blue pony ducked under the dagger and cleaved the arrow in two. He again led with the bastard sword and leapt forward with multiple strikes too fast for the eye to follow. With only one of her daggers she barely managed to dodge and block all of the attacks. She called her thrown dagger back and launched a spinning kick at the unicorn. He blocked the kick but she was now under his guard and at an advantage with her short daggers. One blade locked under the hilt of his sword and the other drew a thin line of blood from his throat.

They both stood tense and ready until he smiled and let his sword slide to the ground. He held his hooves in the air in surrender.

“Alright, you win. Let’s do that one again.”

Dawn kept her dagger at his throat. He looked at her in confusion.

“The round is over Dawn. You can get your knife from under my throat.”

Dawn shook her head fiercely.

“Not until you listen! You’ve been ignoring me when I try to talk about the plan we came up with, Night. Now listen or we can stand here all day!”

Night scowled and his eyes narrowed.

“When the hell did I teach you how to be so assertive?”

Dawn grinned and dropped her dagger into its sheathe.

“About the same time you remembered to stop cursing around me.”

Night opened his mouth to reply, but found he could say nothing. He shook his head.

“You’ve grown up too fast; it’s making me feel old! Next I’ll be checkin’ for white hairs.”

Dawn laughed as she dismissed her battle armor and her weapons. Training during the day and then at night had made her one of the best fighters in the lunar elite guard. She excelled in all of the training save destructive magic. Something just didn’t feel right about totally obliterating her targets.

The mindscape changed shape and color as Night manipulated it. Dawn always felt strange that Night was playing around in her mind. Someone moving things around in her head was unnatural. Night conjured a table with two chairs. On it he laid multiple maps of Equstria, several were marked with Royal troop emplacements.

Dawn took a seat and sorted through the maps until she found a detailed map of Canterlot. She set a few chess pieces on the map to outline their strategy. Night looked over her shoulder as she began to describe their plan. Dawn had thought of most of the plan herself and with the help of her friends had managed to refine it to perfection. Every step had a contingency and if anything went wrong they always had an escape plan. She just had to run it by one more pony…

Night poured over the plan pointing at any potential faults and adding a half dozen other problems Dawn hadn’t even thought of. He drew all over the map pointing out dozens of traps and secret guard posts. Finally he stepped back and nodded, feeling satisfied. Dawn cast a spell that would transfer the information on the map into the real world.

She turned back toward her mentor to find that he was smiling broadly at her. Dawn was slightly taken aback. Though Night smiled often around her when she did well in their training it was never like this. This smile was more similar to the smile of a proud parent then of a happy friend. Tears rimmed his eyes as her stared at her. She stepped closer and pulled him into a hug.

She had only seen him cry once. The practice had started as normal but slowly Night had let his emotions show until finally he broke down right in front of her. She had pulled him close and asked what was wrong and he spilled his story. She had known Pinkie had died in an attack but had had no idea that Night himself had led the attack. He had been unable to do anything to stop his soldiers as they slaughtered everyone.

She held him tight until he recovered himself. He stepped back,

“Sorry, its been a long day. I’m just so proud of you, not a few months ago you could barely fight. Now you plan fights and duel skillfully and that makes me happy as can be.”

Night cleared his throat and stared into the blank distance of the mindscape. His smile had dropped now and his face adopted its customary frown. Dawn sat beside him and stared into the empty plain in front of her.

“There is one thing about your plan I didn’t comb over.”

She faced him, her curiosity piqued.

“What? Did one of the back up plans look funny to you?”

He shook his head and took a deep breathe.

“The plan is perfect to the letter, but there is just one thing.”

Now he faced her in full.

“I hope you realize you’ll be fighting me and my own soldiers in your assault. Both will be trying to kill you. You can’t hold back, no matter what. You have to do more than cripple them, because if you don’t then they will keep coming until you’re dead.”

Dawn sighed; they had this argument almost constantly. Night would tell her that his soldiers would have zero mercy and then go on about how she should be killing her enemies, including Night himself. But she refused to do it. She felt that the soldiers were innocent because the Queen controlled them and that they were helpless, just like everyone else. She stood and walked towards the Door.

“Night we’ve both been over this before. I will not kill anypony. That’s final, let it go.”

She walked through the door and slammed it behind her leaving Night alone with his thoughts.

Ʊ

Night barely registered the door close behind him. His daughter was stubborn, just like her mother. But Night knew what would happen; he had seen it in his visions; nightmares that plagued him every single moment of his life.  He had seen the Queen, Dawn and himself in a large room. His blood spilled before him and he watched as Dawn beat the Queen single handed. He knew what would come to be.

A tear hit the ground before him. The visions always spoke true. Dawn had watched him die not knowing that he was her father. Another tear hit the ground. Night wept silently, alone.

The visions always came true.

Gates of Tomorrow

Dawn woke up and stretched. Outside the tent the sky was still decorated in starlight. She chuckled to herself as she heard a loud snore come from Scootaloo’s side of the tent. She snuck out of the tent and stepped into the chilly nighttime air. Winter was coming fast to the mountain range they now camped on. The Ever Free rebellion had been on the run for what felt like years. They constantly moved from place to place, trying to stay out from under the Queen’s relentless hunting.

Dawn had been moved into a different tent has soon as she had started training with the rest of the militia. She still saw her mother often but now they seemed separated.  Luna had been quickly drafted into a leadership roll almost immediately after arriving, and now ruled the small resistance network.

To her right she noticed a flurry of activity surrounding the medical tent. She crept closer, trying to blend with the shadows as she walked. Outside of the long tent two guards stood watch. Dawn noticed Applebloom pacing back and forth in front of the tent, occasionally trying to get a peek inside, only to be blocked by one of the guards.  She looked to be on the verge of panic.

Dawn stepped from the shadows and rushed to Applebloom’s side.

“What’s wrong ‘bloom?”

Applebloom looked both surprised and grateful to see her. Dawn pulled her close.

“What’s wrong? Something’s obviously bothering you.”

“Thank Celestia you’re here Dawn! Applejack’s getting her back fixed but I’m just so nervous, and the guards won’t let me see her!”

“But Applebloom, that’s great! You should be happy for your sister! She could be walking in no time!”

“I know I should feel happy, but look where we are! I’m just real nervous that they can’t do it right up here. I mean, she should be in a hospital or somethin’! Not some old tent.”

Dawn stepped back and put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder.

“Applebloom, you know that the doctors are going to do the best they can. They’ll fix her up, you’ll see.”

Applebloom pawed the ground nervously.

“I sure hope so.”

Dawn tapped her hoof thoughtfully before she came up with an idea.

“Come on ‘bloom, I want to show you something.”

Applebloom turned back towards the tent in protest but Dawn scooped her up in her magic and started walking away.

“Don’t worry Applebloom; Applejack will still be there when we get back. Besides, it’s something really cool I found in the back of the caves.”

Applebloom stopped protesting enough that Dawn put her down. They both trotted past the perimeter guards who acknowledged them a silent nod. They quietly entered the dark entrance to the cave system. The excavators said that the caves could go on for miles. They were slowly being converted to accommodate the growing population of rebels.

Dawn lit her horn and approached what looked like a blank wall. She dismissed the illusion and walked into the smaller tunnel. Behind her Applebloom asked

“So what is it?”

Dawn smiled to herself.

“It’s a surprise; I can’t tell you what it is. But, I will tell you that it’ll make a great get-well gift for Applejack.”

They continued to walk in the dim light of her Dawn’s horn until Dawn spotted the intersection she was looking for. She turned to Applebloom.

“For this to be a complete surprise, I have to get rid of the light, okay? I’ll lead you through the tunnel.”

Applebloom looked unsure for a moment then shrugged her shoulders.

“Sure, why not?”

Dawn smiled and let the light on the tip of her horn die. Making sure Applebloom kept up, Dawn led her through the tunnel until she could feel a light breeze on her face.

“You ready?” she asked.

“Well don’t keep me waiting.” Applebloom said impatiently.

Dawn relit her horn, and then expanded the spell until the entire cavern was visible. Applebloom let out a long whistle. She took a few steps forward, neck straining as she tried to take the entire place in.

Crystals lined the walls and the ceiling of the cave. The light spell shined off of dozens of different colors. A clear stream ran through the center of the stone floor, adding a slight bite to the chilly air. Dawn waited with a grin on her face while Applebloom took it all in. Applebloom turned back to Dawn; her eyes reflecting some of the crystals.

“I have to say, this place does look really nice, but do ya think she’ll like it?”

Dawn nodded. “Imagine yourself in her place, you haven’t been able to move for years, but as soon as you can walk you get brought here! I promise, she will love it.”

Applebloom sighed. She plopped down on the floor and took her Stetson off. She held it in her hooves for a moment before looking at Dawn.

“Ah’m sorry, it’s just… How can you be so happy with everything right now?  Between the war, and living out here… How do ya keep so… ah don’t know… innocent?”

Dawn sighed and sat down next to Applebloom. She should have seen this coming.  She leaned back on her hooves and stared at the ceiling.

“Can I tell you a secret Applebloom?”

Applebloom cocked her head and nodded slowly.

“Sure, ya can tell me anything.”

Dawn took a deep breath.

“I know this will sound crazy, but… Every night I’m visited by a dark blue pony. He teaches me to fight, how to develop battle strategies; all sorts of helpful things.”

“Ah don’t see where this is going.”

Dawn sighed again.

“He also gives me advice and tells me all about what’s happening in Canterlot. He gives me details on attacks, where defenses are.”

“Well that sounds really helpful. I don’t see any problem with it if the stuff he’s givin’ you is true.” Applebloom said.

Dawn looked Applebloom in the eyes.

“I think he’s one of the Queen’s guards, alright? I can’t tell if he’s a spy or if he’s trying to break free or what, but I can’t trust him and I don’t know how to keep him away!” Dawn shouted

Applebloom flinched slightly and laid back on the cool cave floor. She thought about it for a second before asking,

“Have ya asked yer mom yet?”

Dawn’s ears flattened and she looked away.

“I don’t want her worrying about me. I can take care of myself.”

“Dawn look, ah know you want to be grown up and help out, but trust me, not lookin’ for help when ya need it ain’t the way to go. Yer mom cares about you, and she doesn’t want ta lose you. Ya shouldn’t push her away. She used ta be a princess fer Celestia’s sake. She’s gonna want ta baby you; its just natural.”

Applebloom sat up and put a hoof on Dawn’s shoulder.

“You’ve grown up a lot in these past couple months, but yer still a little filly in her eyes. If ya want, I’ll come with ya when ya ask fer help. She won’t try and baby you in front of me, so ya got nothin’ ta worry about, okay?”

Dawn snorted lightly.

“How did we go from a present for Applejack to me and my mom?”

Applebloom put her Stetson back on and helped Dawn get to her feet.

“Ah don’t know but it helped me get mah mind off the surgery though.”

Dawn smiled

“Yeah I guess it did.”

Applebloom draped a leg over Dawn’s shoulder.

“C’mon, lets go see if their done yet.”

The pair left the cave behind, the light slowly dying as they moved farther away.

Enemies

Fluttershy paced back and forth inside of her small cottage. They had put her here a few days after her capture and routinely dropped off food and other necessities. Occasionaly she even had a few wounded soldiers from the resistance come through, passing what news they could from the front.

Today was different though. The normal guard had been at least tripled and she had heard whispers that “the queen” was coming herself. She stopped pacing long enough to gaze out the window.  The remains of Ponyville could be seen in the distance. It was said that if you looked hard enough, you could see trails of smoke still coming from the ruins.

A light knock on the door brought her out of her stupor and she quickly opened it. Scar, as she had become accustomed to calling the blank faced guard, gave her a slight nod before speaking. She had a feeling that she had met the stallion before but she couldn’t figure out his identity without him removing his deep purple armor. It had the same spells on it that made all of the old celestial guards look the same. The only reason she could tell him apart from the rest was a long scar running across his snout.

Fluttershy stopped thinking about the stallion as his eyes bored into her. She cleared her throat.

“Could you repeat that? I wasn’t paying attention.”

In his monotone voice he said.

“The Queen has requested that several high profile guests stay at your lodging for the next several weeks. If this is not acceptable, the Queen has allowed you to decline.”

Fluttershy shrugged her shoulders.

“Sure, why not? Let them come, it’s not like I have anything better to do.”

Scar stared at Fluttershy blankly for a few seconds before saying

“Your guests will be here within the hour. The Queen herself will be gracing you all with her presence an hour after that.”

Scar then handed her a small folded slip of paper.

“The clock will strike soon, be ready.”

Fluttershy’s head shot up, catching only a quick wink from Scar as he teleported away. She scrambled, almost dropping the paper before she could open it.  She opened the slip of paper and read the message.

Your “guests” are well guarded and extraction will be difficult. It is assumed they are rebels but I am unsure as to their identities. This is a rare moment of clarity for me, so we must capitalize on it and initiate a plan tonight. This message needs to be disposed of in the usual manner. I will reveal myself soon.

-N

Fluttershy sighed and closed her door. She hated doing this. Crumpling the paper into a small ball, she stuffed it into her mouth and began to chew. The taste of the cheap paper was terrible, like usual. She gagged as she swallowed it, before getting a glass of water to follow it down. She stood over her sink for a few seconds, pondering how this was going to happen.

From what she had been told, she was being extracted tonight, presumably before Tyrannus got to her house, along with “several” guests. Whom she knew nothing about. It also bothered her that somepony was posing as Night. The signature was his sort of style but as far as everypony knew, he was dead. She ran through a list in her mind of ponies that were vain enough to pull a stunt like that. None still alive stood out, but Fluttershy didn’t let it distract her.

Another knock sounded at the door. Fluttershy groaned. She had an idea what this was going to be and that really made opening the door the last thing she wanted. She crossed her house and opened the door again.

Two more purple armored guards carried a large chest on their backs. She moved aside, allowing the pair of earth ponies to move inside her house long enough to drop off the trunk and walk out the door. One of the earth ponies stopped at the welcome mat and turned around.

“The Queen as requested that you wear formal dress for this evening. Please be ready to receive your guests within the hour.”

Fluttershy waved a hoof.

“I already know when my ‘guests’ as you put them, are coming.  I was told a few minutes ago.”

The guard regarded her with a blank stare before simply spinning around and trotting away. Fluttershy shook her head before closing the door. The spell that controlled all of the guards didn’t allow them to do anything but follow basic commands. The only guards that she saw that actually spoke were the few psychopaths who actually enjoyed what had happened to the world and willingly served Tyrannus as her bodyguards.

Fluttershy didn’t even bothering opening the chest and instead slid it to sit against the wall. She had been sent several like it, all filled to the brim with clothing and other useless accessories. After the first few, she had just stopped opening them and had instead stacked them haphazardly around her cottage.

Fluttershy looked around her cottage for a second, debating what to do next. A third knock from the door decided for her. Somewhat peeved that someone else was at her door, again, she stomped over and threw the door open shouting,

“What do you wan…”

Fluttershy couldn’t do anything. She couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. It just wasn’t possible. The cyan pegasus at her doorstep sheepishly rubbed the back of her head with a hoof.

“Hey there Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy didn’t even blink, scared that it was all a dream. It couldn’t be real, it just wasn’t possible. The cyan pegasus flattened her ears and looked she looked at the ground.

“I know we had a few differences, but that was a long time ago, a- and I was hoping that…”

Fluttershy cut her off by smacking her upside the head. Fluttershy then pulled her into a hug and burst into tears. Rainbow Dash hugged her crying friend, and also looked over her shoulder at Pinkie, who looked like she was on the verge of, tears herself. Rainbow Dash slowly moved inside the house and Pinkie closed the door behind them.

Fluttershy calmed herself down enough that she broke off the hug and took a step back, still processing if this was real or not.

“H-how is this possible?” she asked

Rainbow shrugged.

“Twilight said she would explain it all when she got here.”

Fluttershy pushed off the mention of their former friend. She wasn’t going to let anything ruin this. Fluttershy ran to the kitchen and scrambled together some snacks from her limited food stock and brought it back to her living room. She set the small plate on the dark blue trunk that was serving as her coffee table.

“I know it’s not a lot, but…”

Rainbow laughed.

“Fluttershy, I know we haven’t seen each other in awhile, but that doesn’t mean you gotta go all out for me.”

“Dashie, for us you were dead, and the last time you had talked to each other before that… Well, you can hardly blame Fluttershy for trying.”

Rainbow blew some of her hair out of her face.

“Yeah, I know, but I just really want things to pick up where we left off.”

Fluttershy couldn’t help but give a deadpanned stare towards her friend.

“You’re kidding right?” she asked.

Rainbow shrugged.

“I mean, I don’t see why not. The six of us can work this out if we butt our heads together. We’ve worked through some tough problems before.”

Fluttershy’s jaw dropped slightly. She caught herself and rebuked Rainbow.

“If you haven’t noticed, this is a little more than a “tough” problem. Ponies have died because of this!”

Rainbow sat up straighter on the couch as she got more into the argument.

“I know that, but we could probably save more ponies if we sat down and talked about this like friends.”

Fluttershy threw her hooves in the air.

“We tried that! Twilight changed her name and killed Celestia right in front of our faces!”

“Changed her name? You guys practically gave it to her! You never gave her a chance to explain herself!”

“Explain what?!? She forcefully grew Spike and then tried to argue her case on why she should be the ruler of Equestria!”

“Well maybe of we supported her more, she wouldn’t have lost it like she did!”

“Yeah, well maybe if we had stopped the problem then we wouldn’t have it no-…”

“STOP IT!”

Pinkie shouted, cutting off Fluttershy.

“You haven’t seen each other in years and this is how you want to spend your time with each other? I know things have changed, but we could at least try to act like we’re friends, right?”

She gave a pleading look to Fluttershy who bowed her head and sighed.

“Sorry girls. It’s just… things have changed so much that sometimes I forget what life used to be like, before the war and the fighting.”

Rainbow hung her head guiltily.

“I’m sorry too. I just wish things were different is all.”

A terse silence hung in the air until Pinkie decided to try and change the subject.

“What are all these chests for?”

Fluttershy snorted.

“There all filled with fancy clothes and dresses and things like that. After awhile I just stopped opening them.”

Rainbow smirked and cocked an eyebrow.

“What, didn’t feel like playing dress-up?”

Fluttershy smiled and shook her head.

“No, but I feel like Rarity would have a ball trying them all on.”

Rainbow looked around.

“Is she here?”

Fluttershy shook her head.

“The last time I saw her, she was recovering in a hospital.”

“We were attacked, we’ve moved into the mountains now. She was up and walking around the last time I saw her.” Pinkie said. “Since you got captured, she and Luna have been trying to keep everypony going.”

“So that news is true then? She is back?”

Pinkie nodded.

“Yep! She brought her daughter too!”

“What?!? I didn’t know she had a daughter!” Fluttershy practically shouted, “If I had known that, I never would have sent for her in the first place!”

Pinkie shrugged.

“Nopony really knew. Applejack found out when they got to Luna’s cottage in the Everfree. But don’t worry about Dawn, she’s a really good fighter, or at least was getting there when I last saw her. Besides she has lots of f-…”

Another knock on the door interrupted Pinkie. Rainbow Dash practically leaped out of her chair to answer it. She swung the door open and broke out into an enormous grin. Fluttershy frowned upon seeing the pony standing on her doormat. The tall alicorn hugged Rainbow for a few seconds before she turned and looked at Fluttershy with a smile.

“May I come in?” Tyrannus asked.

Bloodshed

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.

Epilogue

Epilogue Part 1

Dawn shot awake to find that daylight was creeping through the tent flaps. Her mother was still sleeping beside her. Maybe everything would be alright. She snuggled in close and went back to sleep again, not a single dream disturbed her this time.

And so the once mighty Republic was elminated in a single blow. With the majority of their heores dead, many of the rebels scattered, trying there best to return to a semblence of mormality. Without any threat from the now dwindled rebels, the Queen's reign seemed secure. She began a relentless pursiut of Luna and the remaining survivors, determinedly trying to pick them off one by one.

In this time, Dawn grew up from the innocent filly she once was. She quickly learned the tools of the trade, and within weeks of the Republic's fall, killed for the first time. She became a fighter that rivaled the best and a spell caster that made even Queen Tyrannus blink. Her power was not enough to turn the tide, however. The Queen's war machine crushed any attempts to strike back and the noose began to tighten around the rebels' throats.

Broken, beaten and on the run, the rebels retreated into the mountains, a terrain more suited to their style of combat. Here they regrouped and gathered strength.

Here, they created a plan.