//------------------------------// // A dangerous wish granted. // Story: The wrath of Daybreaker // by Hyper44 //------------------------------//    Luna flew so swiftly across Equestria that the castle vanished in seconds and within heartbeat she saw the rocky hills looming before her. She hovered over them knowing that there were many caves and crevasse for a dragon to hide. This was no problem for Luna however. She closed her eyes and darkness overtook her. When she opened them again dreams contained in orbs floated all around her. In the network of unconsciousness there were a few nightmares echoing in the background. Luna hardly noticed them. Her keen eyes swiftly searched the minds of sleeping creatures and she quickly found what she was looking for. There was the brown dragon laughing in a sleep fantasy while chasing ponies who fled in terror. In a flash Luna was inside his dream and under the wash of a white light she transformed her image to that of a small dragon. Leaping in front of him Luna wasted no time.   “Where did you hide in the hills?” She demanded. The dragon jumped and stared back in surprise. “Where?!” Luna roared.    “The one with the narrow entrance beside the claw shaped rock. Why? Do you need to hide from ponies too?” He asked but the dragon in his dream just vanished leaving him suspicions and confused.   Luna left the dream world and began scouring the hills for the right landmark. Quickly she spotted a large boulder that was curved in the shape of a talon. She swooped down and landed hard on the slope. Small rocks rolled down as she walked along the hill. It took her a moment but soon she found the narrow entrance that was well hidden by nature. It was a tight squeeze for an alicorn but she would have carved out the rock if she had to.      The cave widened as she slipped inside and there at the back was the wish dragon. His eyes quickly snapped open and locked on Luna. He jumped up with a snarl. “I knew it!” He roared pointing an accusing claw at Luna, “Greedy ponies can’t help themselves!”   “I have not come for a wish out of greed but for one out of desperation!” Luna snapped glaring at him with blazing eyes. “And I have much to trade. I can grant you land, I can make any decree that you want, rooms full of jewels. What do you want?”     The dragon stared warily at those angry eyes blazing with a white light. “What is it that you want? You look like a Dark mare.”     Luna snorted and stomped a hoof. “Mares of darkness do not exist! That’s an old pony’s tale. Alicorns do not turn evil based on mood. As for what I want, I want sister to suffer as I have. I want her to feel the pain and frustration that I do! I want her to look on as ponies praise and adore me while she is ignored. I want ponies to look at me the way they used to look at my sister. No! I want them to adore me even more.”      The dragon tapped a claw on his chin as he looked critically at Luna. “If you want her to feel exactly as you feel now this would likely be tampering with things too much because that would mean altering the heart of a pony. In this case I think it can be done but you do realize that not all wishes are harmless. Wishes that may tamper with fate are very dangerous.”   “I will not stand my fate any longer! What will you take in exchange for granting my wish.”   The dragon tried not to flinch as she glowered at him. He looked away and in spite of the situation bared his teeth in a grin. “I’ll require nothing in return, your wish is enough.” He raised his claws and they began to glow. “If this is what you wish for then simply say so.”   “I wish it to be!” Luna declared loudly. Light flashed out from the dragon’s claws filling he cave with blinding light. Luna gasped and doubled over in excruciating pain as suddenly she felt as if searing hot claws were clutching her heart. The pain was horrific, like some beast was viciously clinging to the muscle to keep from being torn away. Just as she thought her heart would be ripped open the horrible talons vanished and there followed a feeling of a massively heavy weight falling away. Luna looked up feeling a clarity that she hadn’t known she was missing. She still weary from the effects of whatever had happened but Luna was aware of the absence of a fog that she never known was ever encompassing her. More than that, Luna was aware of her mind working clearly for the first time in a very long time. Thinking back to recent years each memory seemed like a dream or even a drugged stupor infused with the most horrible of feelings. Then she suddenly she felt horrible in a different way. As she remembered how she had acted and treated her sister a massive wave of shame washed over her. How could she had done so? It was like she wasn’t truly herself. She could hardly believe that those memories were real.   “Feeling better?” A voice suddenly cut into her thoughts.     Luna remembered the dragon and turned to him. “What happened? What did you do?”   “I granted your wish,” The dragon replied as he slipped past her to the cave entrance motioning for her to follow.   “Yes, but what did you do?” Luna persisted as she followed him out into the night air.     “You got just what you asked for but there is one more thing for you to do,” The dragon said pointing up to the star-studded skies. “Fly up and bring out the dancing night lights, or whatever you ponies call it. Then go find the first village where ponies are stirring.”     “Why?” Luna asked still reeling from the shock of what had happened. “What for?”   “Just do it!” The dragon snapped. “You can ask me later.” Luna blinked at him for a moment but then spread her wings and flew upwards towards the stars. The wish dragon watched her for a little while then grinned a grin of pure malicious joy. “Or not. Your traded my perfect revenge on ponies but sadly I can’t be around to be caught up in whatever disaster follows.” Silently he flew low and fast over the hills heading as far away as possible.   The crisp night air refreshed Luna as she tried to comprehend what had happened to her. Her mind was clear yet she was so confused. What was that pain from her heart? How could she be in such a daze without even noticing that she wasn’t herself for so long? How could she let jealousy make her act the way she had? Most of all, what had happened at the moment of the wish and what did it mean now?     Luna sighed, she would have no answer now and there was no point in not taking the last steps. Closing her eyes she reached out to the sun on the other side of the earth. Once she felt it she struck out with magic made it pulse. Soon she could sense the lights dancing on the poles of the Earth. With a sudden flash of her horn she sent a powerful burst of magic to it. Like waves on the ocean the magnificent lights of the aurora borealis spread across the skies of Equestria. The landscape below was bathed in blues, greens, and purple patters that were never still.     Luna watched it a moment thinking of all the ponies who miss things like this. She felt a pang of sadness but her heart now was void of anger. Of course, there was her wish. Luna began flying casually back and forth looking down at each village and town that she passed over. Each one she saw was like they always were, quiet, dark and still beneath any beautiful night.     Luna was beginning to think that she had been duped and her wish was just one mean trick when she spotted a light that did not come from the sky. She stopped and hovered to get a better look. There in a small farming village lanterns glowed from one of the houses. A triangle of light was suddenly cast on the ground as the door creaked open. The with wide eyes, a mare strode out never taking her gaze from the skies. She sat down in the dirt and stared up with her mouth open in a silent expression of awe. Three foals raced outside and huddled around her as they too stared up in wonder. Luna couldn’t hear them but it looked like they were begging their mother for answers.     The windows of another house suddenly lit up. The door slowly opened as a stallion walked out while staying protectively in front of his family. However, it wasn’t long before they too just sat and stared. More candles began to flicker and little by little more ponies ventured out. Any sleepy eyes soon opened wide. Foals began racing and squealing with joy beneath the lights while most of the older ponies watched in awestruck silence.     From above Luna looked down on something that she hadn’t seen in many years. So many ponies awake and appreciating the night. Lights appearing one by one near the horizon let her know that other villages in the distance were stirring as well. Not sure what to do next, Luna just hovered in the air mostly hidden by the bright dancing lights. She knew that she should likely fly down there and let them know what was going on but still she worried about their reaction. Would it really be any different? After all, they were even more likely to think that this was a dream.   Luna’s silent watch was suddenly interrupted by wild whoops and excited laughter. She turned to see a virtual swarm of Pegasus streaming out of their city to chase the lights. Luna couldn’t help but giggle at the sight of strong warrior ponies playing like foals alongside their children. A yelp suddenly sounded over the noise and a colt who had lost control came hurtling through a wave of blue light. Luna caught him in her hooves and steadied him.     He hovered in front of her a moment then replied, “Sorry, I was trying to catch that light.”   “Not if I catch it first,” Luna replied dashing off after the wave.   “Hey!” The foal yelled flapping after her with his tiny wings. Luna slowed so that they reached it at about the same time. “This is the best dream ever!” He declared.     “This is no dream,” Luna replied with a smile before descending towards the ground leaving a stunned colt poking himself with a hoof to see if he was really awake.     Some ponies gasped when Luna landed among them while the foals raced eagerly over to see what was going on.   “So, we are dreaming,” One of the said aloud.   Luna shook her head. “No this is very real.” She spread a wing a pointed to the skies with its tip. “This is the aurora borealis. It is caused when the sun’s fire touches the pole of the earth and I usually only bring it this far ever hundred years or so.”   As she spoke a filly had been creeping forward as the other foals watched intently. When she reached Luna she tapped a hoof against one of her silver shoes. The clink of the metal was faint but clear. “She is real! So this is real.” She stated pointing up at the sky. The foals gasped.   “I always thought the night was scary,” The filly said looking up at Luna. “Not anymore.”   Luna smiled back, “The night is not the kind darkness that you find in nightmares. It is a time of rest, a break from work and a time to see the lights that you never see when everything is bright.”   “I never knew such things existed,” A mare said breathlessly barely taking her eyes from the lights. “There is nothing like it during the day.”    “We’re always so tired at the end of the day that we’re asleep the moment Princess Celestia sets the sun.” A stallion added. “Will we ever see it again?”     “Please!” The filly cried wrapping her hooves around Luna’s leg. "Please bring the lights back again before a hundred years!”   Luna smiled back. “I can bring them back regularly, perhaps yearly or even more often but only if you promise to find even just a little bit of time to enjoy the night.” * * *      The northern lights began to fade as the time for the daybreak grew near and tired ponies went off to bed to sleep the dawn away. Luna flew back to the royal castle in the Everfree feeling just as exhausted and perhaps almost as awestruck as they had been. Her wish had been granted. With every town or village that she had visited she found it to full of ponies who reacted in much the same way as the first. When it came to ponies who had a hard time believing that she existed outside of dreams it didn’t bother her as much. It wasn’t just the fact of finally having her wish granted or that the ponies reactions to her were any different. The fact was, she was different. Whatever had happened inside her had taken away all that anger and rage leaving Luna herself again. It made her wonder about old legends of Mares of darkness, alicorns transformed by letting dark emotions consume them. The whole thing almost made her believe it.   There was one thing she did seriously consider though. The other half of the wish. In her enraged state, she had wished for Celestia to feel as scorned and neglected as she had. Now that Luna was herself again she would never want such a thing to befall her beloved sister. Especially with knowing what that felt like. As the castle came into sight Luna made a vow, she would do everything within her power to stop that from happening. Wish or no wish she would make sure that her sister did not come to know the pain that she had. Surely she could do that with what she knew now.   As Luna made her vow Princess Celestia woke up.