---{Dilan Shier}
I was just getting used to the swing of things. But then I heard someone's evil cackling through the walls. I decided I had to go find out what was going on. Otherwise, Luna would probably blame me for it... again. I sensed a Nightmare's fragment behind the large door. I burst through, and immediately regretted it.
My whole world turned into a ring of fire before my vision blacked out.
---{Reflect Sun}
I stood up on my hooves and applied a subtle heat shield spell around this body. Why didn't this fool check for heat on the latch before barging through? I shook my head. What was done was done. I could probably deal with this new Nightmare fragment no problem, seeing as how I was the strongest one in our current collection of personalities.
I walked through the fire without flinching. On either side of the hall, it looked like flowers were hanging above the windows. But they were currently burning to ashes. Curiously, the passing dust smelled like lavenders. That's when I came face to face with the Nightmare I was looking for. Yet... I was perplexed. Their energy felt somewhat like my own, and yet not at all.
"And just what are you supposed to be?" asked the other being.
Had one of the fragments really been brash enough to try to take over Celestia even after I had previously failed? But why would it do that? And why did it look nothing like I did?
"I believe you stole my question." I resumed my default expression. "Nightmare Sol and Corona Blaze called. They want their original character back."
"BWA ha ha ha ha ha!" laughed this Nightmare of Celestia look-alike. "Fool! I'm no mere Nightmare. I'm what Celestia can be without holding her power back. I am... Daybreaker!"
Fires burst out of the floor on either side of the hall. I rolled my eyes at the display.
"I don't have time for this nonsense." I stomped my left foot forward, cracking a tile.
---BEGIN!---
I drew energy from her magical fires into my own magic. I sent it forth at her, but she flew out of the way. My spell scorched the throne she was sitting on and turned it into a pile of dust. The alleged Daybreaker flung red and orange spell beams my way. I teleported upward, yanked a burning flower pot from its overhead hanger, and threw it at her head.
The pot broke upon impact. She yelped and turned her head, looking rather upset. Another double-strength spell was launched from her horn, and I flew downward. The spell was getting closer and larger as I took a right-angle turn to fly the length of the hallway's floor. I took a U-turn and flew right at her while putting up my shield spell.
Daybreaker tried to push me back with her spell, but I was getting ever closer to her position. Our spells were clashing for control of the ever-shrinking distance between us.
"The day will rule forever!" Her eyes glared in dark orange.
"A scorched nation is no kingdom at all!" I gazed ahead.
At the last second, I threw in some levitation to force my shield to accelerate. I slammed into Daybreaker, causing her beam to overcharge and explode in her face. She went hurtling down and bounced off the floor backward. I flew down after her and whipped my gaseous tail at her neck.
Her eyes snapped open and she breathed fire at my tail. Without my heat shield in place, I yelled out in pain. She bit my freaking tail and flipped me over her head to crash against the floor. She then had the gall to stand up, trot over, and laugh at me. I slammed a hoof against the floor, causing the equivalent of an earthquake.
It was just a split-second of her being caught off guard, but I used it anyway to teleport behind her. I summoned a golden axe of solar energy and smashed it against her back. She fell face-first against the floor. I jumped onto her, with each of my hooves on top of one of her own. I clanged my horn against hers and held a null spell as my internal magic glowed, starting from my chest.
"Gotcha!"
*BOOM!*
...
I was later told that most of the windows had been completely shattered by my Supernova explosion. Back in the moment, I was simply glad that Daybreaker was burned and not moving. I sent the tail demon in to finish the job, making this all nothing more than a bad dream. Afterward, I felt the urge to pull out the Pinnacle Epee and swipe an S-shaped pattern in front of myself.
---Reflect Sun wins!---