//------------------------------//
// Fractured 
// Story: Insurgence 
// by Rose Quill 
//------------------------------//

I watched as a blue mare trotted up to the group as Sorla finished her summary.

"I turn around to check something out for one minute and you two are off causing trouble again," she said, flipping her pink mane back. "What is it this time, Java?"

The Thestral furled his wings. "A simple misunderstanding, Muse," he grumbled. "I don't know why I'm so on edge lately, it's like I'm waiting for something to happen ever since those quakes started."

As he said this, I felt a thrum in the core of my being as another quake shook the ground, and in the distance, I saw a crystalline pinnacle pierce the sky.

"Luna's Moon," I breathed.

"What?" Sorla rasped. "What happened?"

"Twilight's castle was just fully pulled through the mirror," I said, not believing the sight. "I think we're running out of time."

Sorla turned her blind eyes towards me, the green runes rotating around her horn turning a darker shade.

"Ya think?"





Celestia sat up, her head snapping to the south.

"What is it, Celie?" Luna asked as she saw her sister staring.

"A rift has opened," the Daytime Diarch whispered. "I can sense it from here."

Luna closed her eyes for a moment before her wings reflexively spread out from her. 

"But that's..." she stuttered. "It cannot be."

Celestia nodded.





Chrysalis gloated as she saw the castle pulled into view. Now she not only had an excellent place to set up her new hive, she also had some fresh captures to feed the first clutch with. Even addled as they were by this...whatever it was, their love and friendship was still pure and strong. She could live off them for years if done right.

But the taste of victory soured. Starlight had gotten away again! She really needed to put a leash on that pony. She turned to the pods containing the captured Bearers of the Elements, the Sirens, and the strangely rebellious other ponies. She went up and started feeling the fear wafting off of them and the confusion that colored it from some.

And then one started to glow with a fuschia light and it cracked slightly, revealing Twilight Sparkle through the rift.

"Oh, you're much more feisty this time," Chrysalis cooed. "I'll be sure to enjoy you first." Her horn flared and the pod began to seal again, Twilight's retaliatory blasts only slowing the closing of the fissure. 

Then the ground began to shudder again, and the facade of the school cracked and crumbled as the castle continued to force its way into the realm around them.





"Why not just paint over the brand instead of trying to burn it off?" Harmony Muse asked, scratching the back of her head.

"It wouldn't work," Sorla said. "The shape of the brand would still exist underneath. We probably need Chrysalis to burn it off."

"Which she would never do intentionally," Javarod said, his membranous wings fluttering for a moment.

"Intention doesn't need to be the erasure of the brand," Indigo postulated. "You said she was after you, yes?"

I nodded. 

"Why not do a bait and switch?" the Unicorn asked. "If she is so hell-bent on getting you, the mere image should be enough to incite her desire for revenge. You don't have to be there."

"That would involve me being able to see," Sorla muttered. "And the best I can manage right now is hazy shapes. I wouldn't be able to keep up a convincing act."

"Bait and switch," I repeated. "I might be able to veil you so she doesn't see that you're between her and me. Then her attack would strike you instead."

"Which gets us where?" She asked.

I frowned, then a memory flared suddenly, a scroll floating over the Cutie Map.

"If we were to erase the existing connection, but not the mana channeling spell," I said slowly. "Would you be able to endure tying it to another?"

Sorla turned towards me.

"What is going on in that mind of yours?"

The sight of Azure falling over Gleam's body rose up.

"The possibility of being able to undo a lot of things," I whispered.