//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 - DrakeyC // Story: SunLight Sliders: Infinite // by Amber Spark //------------------------------// Twilight stepped back as the armored Sunset approached her. The Sunset stopped and looked at her carefully. “You have a Midnight Sparkle?” “Uh...Yes?” Twilight nodded. “Good.” The Sunset smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “But, I’m going to have to ask you to prove it. Is Middy in there now?” “Middy?” Midnight choked out, glaring. She raised their hand and summoned an aura of pale blue magic. “Excellent.” Sunset clapped her hands. “Bravo, well done Sirens. I told them to keep an eye out for a Twilight who could help me, but this is better than I expected from them.” “Daybreaker.” The armored Sunset turned. Another Sunset in an identical suit of armor stepped out onto the balcony with an unconscious Sunset over her shoulder. Twilight recognized the bushy afro. “I’ll take it from here. You make sure the others are secure. And do something about the Twilight.” The other Sunset set the Sunset with the afro down, saluted, and turned to run off. “Well, let’s get this party started.” The Sunset apparently called Daybreaker snapped her fingers. A wet cloth appeared over Sunset’s face and wrung itself out. Sunset sputtered and coughed, blinking awake. “What?” Sunset looked up at Daybreaker and grimaced. “Please tell me you’re friendly.” “Depends on how many tequilas you buy me.” Daybreaker grinned and held up a hand. “Have a seat.” She snapped her fingers again. Suddenly they were sitting in plush wingback chairs, a round table between the three of them. Twilight leaned on the arm of the chair and held her head. She tasted copper. “How are you doing that?” she asked. “My mentor taught me a few things.” Sunset looked at her. “Princess Celestia?” Daybreaker burst out laughing. “Not quite.” “That other Sunset called you ‘Daybreaker’,” Twilight noted. “Yup. My mentor gave me that name. Said a friend of his used it once and he liked the sound of it.” “Enough with this. What do you want?” Midnight snapped. Daybreaker smiled. “I want your help. I took a few hostages to get you to stay a while and listen.” She looked at Sunset and snorted. “Though I do find it more than a little funny that they bump into you in the company of a Midnight Sparkle.” “Ha ha, yeah, hilarious,” Sunset muttered. “Why are they working for you?” “I made an arrangement with them.” Daybreaker shrugged. “But that’s their business. Our business is something else.” She clasped her hands together and leaned forward. “I need you two to perform a very specific task for me.” Sunset looked at Daybreaker with new suspicion. “What ‘task’ exactly?” “I need you to kidnap a Twilight for me.” Twilight squeaked. Daybreaker scoffed and waved a hand. “Oh, not you! I think that’d be a little redundant at this point anyway.” “Then who?” Sunset asked. “My Twilight.” Daybreaker sat back. “I told the Sirens to keep an eye on any Twilights they find that might be able to help me, and they got me a Midnight Sparkle. I dunno about you two, but I feel like I just pulled a golden ticket.” “What do you need me for?” Midnight asked. “Hang on.” Sunset held up a hand. “You want us to kidnap your Twilight. Why?” Daybreaker pursed her lip in thought. She looked at Twilight. “Middy, Sparky, you two share control now, right?” “We do,” Twilight said. “Good.” Daybreaker held her hand up, fingers poised as if to snap. “Because I really don’t wanna have to use this. But I will if you start getting uppity.” “Bite me,” Midnight growled. “You wish.” Daybreaker leaned forward, her joking demeanor fading. “Now, listen very, very carefully.” Sunset and Twilight nodded. “My Twilight is something far worse than the normal Twilights you find. And you two — you three, whatever — are going to help me rein her in before she does something multiple versions of us will regret.” “Like what?” Sunset asked. “Like say, turn that Twilight against you and convince her to abandon you.” “I would not!” Twilight cut in before Sunset could. She paused for a moment and shook her head. “I wouldn’t abandon her. She’s a… friend.” “I thought the same thing about my Twilight, once. I was wrong.” Daybreaker sat back. “We used to be like you guys. No joke intended. Voyagers. We spent years exploring the multiverse; young, adventurous, and in love. You could write a cheesy romance novel about the adventures we had.” She gave a soft smile. “And of course we met other Twilights and Sunsets. All so similar and so different. We enjoyed it, it was fun seeing what our other selves were like. My Twilight began to catalog them, she came up with dimensional designations to differentiate them.” Twilight nodded, ignoring a mental groan from Midnight. “She called us the Prime ones, because we were the baseline she would measure the others against. I was Sunset Shimmer Prime, dimensional designation AAA-1.” Her expression clouded. “That filing system quickly became too limited. Too many Sunsets, too many Twilights…” She trailed off. Daybreaker’s expression twisted to something between sadness and disgust. . “What happened?” Sunset asked. Daybreaker sighed. “She became obsessed. She cataloged everyone, everything. Every Rainbow Dash, every Applejack, every Celestia and Luna. Every Ponyville, Canterlot, Crystal Empire. “Patterns emerged. We settled down and she poured over her data for days without rest. I would come in her lab in the mornings and find the floor covered in charts. She told me she was onto something. She tried to explain it to me and showed me her findings. I didn’t understand it until I took my own time to read them, but by then it was too late.” Daybreaker spread her hands. Like projections, light shone about her, orbs showing dozens of Twilights and Sunsets interacting. She breathed deeply. “Universal Constants.” While the words were familiar, something about the way she said them made Twilight shiver. “A fancy term. Really it just means that across a multiverse of infinitely chaotic possibilities, there are certainties. In fields of random data points, you can find some that are immutable… except, that’s not right, is it? How can one thing be set and others not? If there is a pattern, it is likely to be absolute. You just have to look deeper.” Twilight swallowed heavily. Her Twilight looked deeper. “What did she see?” “Get enough points of fixed data and you can graph a line. Graph a line and you can form equations. Form equations with reliable constants and you can solve the variables. One by one the unknowns become the knowns. Suddenly everything is a universal constant on a fundamental level. Everything is predictable, everything can be predefined. And when you have that reality staring you in the face, there is only one logical conclusion.” Daybreaker looked at Twilight evenly. She drew her hands in and the images around her vanished, and she held up her hand with fingers poised. “My Twilight abstracted the multiverse down to its most basic reference point. She discovered the mathematical formula for destiny.” “That’s impossible,” Sunset blurted instantly. “I know. But she did it.” Daybreaker shook her head and shrugged. “She vanished one night when I was asleep. I looked over her notes and began to piece together what she had discovered. And when I read her diary and realized what had been going on inside her head… that was when my mentor found me. And we went into hiding.” Daybreaker fell silent. Twilight looked over at Sunset but her expression was unreadable, her eyes staring at nothing. Twilight turned her attention back to Daybreaker. “What happened to her?” Daybreaker snapped her eyes up in a dark, knowing look. And Twilight knew the answer before she gave it. “You’ve met her.” “Lady Sparkle,” Midnight spat. “In the Laboratory, with a Transdimensional Portal Talisman." Daybreaker chuckled. There was no humor in it. “What does she want?” Twilight whispered. “Freedom. To disprove the very thing she discovered, the equation that tells her that her life is not her own. Our bond, the universal constant of Sunsets and Twilights, is the keystone of her theorem. Remove either of them and the equation becomes false.” Daybreaker scowled. “She thinks that the only way for a Twilight to be free from her Sunset, or vice-versa, is to permanently separate them. Split them apart and suddenly fate leaves the building. It’s absurd, but that’s how she thinks. She’s a bit crazy, I’m sure you noticed.” Sunsets bring trouble. Sunsets bring chaos. Nightingales do not flock with skylarks. “She was going to kill me,” Sunset croaked. “Really? Even for her that’s a bit much. Did you steal her Smarty Pants or something?” Daybreaker snorted. “Usually she charms Sunsets with an personalized banishment spell. Keeps them from coming too close to a Twilight. Think of it like a heavy duty restraining order. With a transdimensional taser duct taped to the fine print.” Midnight nodded. “And she wants to do that to every single Sunset and Twilight she can find.” “Bingo.” Daybreaker nodded. “Get it now? Between me and her, the fate of unknown thousands of Twilights and Sunsets hangs in the balance. But it’s a cold war. As long as I exist, she is bound by the equation, and I can't risk that changing. I’ve tried to fight back without directly confronting her, I rounded up as many of her exiled Sunsets as I can to help. It hasn’t worked well, her Twilights outnumber us by too much.” Daybreaker smiled brightly. “But now things are different. You have a Midnight Sparkle, an active Midnight Sparkle. That changes everything.” “Why?” Midnight asked. “Twilight Sparkles are inherently logical, rational beings. Knowing what my Twilight knows, most of them would ally with her. But Midnight Sparkles are a different story. They’re more emotional, selfish, defiant. Horny, even.” Midnight gave Sunset a wolfish grin and waggled her eyebrows. Sunset squirmed in her seat and avoided eye contact. Twilight wanted to find a hole and hide for the next few centuries. “Midnight Sparkles are more inclined to keep their Sunsets close than your average Twilight is. The only catch is that it’s incredibly difficult to find one that’s active. Most Twilights with Midnight Sparkles suppress them, and the ones that can't tend to draw too much attention and get themselves killed or imprisoned.” Daybreaker looked Twilight over. “Whatever you two are doing, it’s different, and it’s the first time I’ve seen it. I’d prefer a dominant Midnight, but half-and-half is better than none at all. It’s a gamble I’m willing to take.” “If you want me to be dominant, you just have to ask,” Midnight whispered. “Stop that!” Twilight said immediately after, blushing furiously. Daybreaker snickered. “So, that’s my offer. Come with me to meet my mentor and hear us out on what to do about my Twilight…” she held up her hand, the TPT floating over her palm, “and I’ll fix your TPT and free your friends you made in this universe. Deal?” Sunset leaned in her chair to look at Twilight. “Are you okay?” Twilight hesitated for several seconds, and then nodded. “I… I will be. This is hardly the first shocking revelation I’ve taken in in the past… I don’t even know how long.” “I’m here to keep her in check, too,” Midnight said. She looked at Daybreaker. “You have a deal.” “Goodie.” Daybreaker stood up and stretched. “Now I can introduce you to the boss. Good thing too, you need to get out of this dimension anyway." Twilight frowned as she and Sunset stood up. “Why?” Daybreaker jerked her thumb at the door. “Because this dimension’s Twilight works for her.” “What?” Midnight gasped. “Lucky for you I was able to track Aria across the dimensions and intervene before she could contact them.” Daybreaker put a finger to her mouth to wet it and then drew it down in the air. A glowing purple slit appeared in the air and she pulled it open to reveal a portal. “After you.” She stepped aside and gestured her arms to the portal. Twilight looked at Sunset as the two stood. “I can do this,” she whispered. Sunset nodded. “I’m sorry, Twilight. I didn’t know about any of this...” “It’s not your fault.” “I promise, once we help her, we’ll get you home.” “What about you?” “I’m not worried about myself right now.” Twilight looked down at Sunset’s hand sliding into hers. She raised an eyebrow, but she didn’t pull away. Instead, she just nodded. The two stepped into the portal together. The portal closed and Sunset fell onto cold black and white tile, Twilight landing beside her. She winced and looked around, noticing she was a pony in this world. She frowned when she saw her mane, now tied in a long pair of pigtails that almost hung to her hooves. Daybreaker, also a pony, walked out beside her. “Boss! They said yes!” “Wonderful! Oh my darling little Daybreaker, I knew I could count on you!” Sunset slowly looked up at the being smirking at her, applauding wildly. Discord.