//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Daybreak // by Leafdoggy //------------------------------// “I’ll not be shown up by Applejack, of all ponies.” The evening air was still and quiet. The room was dark, only lit by a little book light that hung above Twilight’s head. Stars were beginning to crop up in the sky outside as the sun slid below the horizon. It was late in the year, Sweet Apple Acres had just finished their big harvest, and Applejack and Luna had chosen that time to make a very big, and very surprising, announcement. Now, hours later, Twilight and Chrysalis were lying in bed together and discussing the days. Twilight had a book—she always had a book—but she marked her place and gently placed it down on her chest to give her full attention to the conversation. “Chrysalis, having children is not a contest.” “Many, many things are not contests,” Chrysalis replied. “That doesn’t mean they cannot be won.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “I’m not having a kid just so you can beat Applejack.” “We want one anyway,” Chrysalis argued. “What’s the harm in taking this incentive to stop putting it off?” “We’re not ‘putting it off,’” Twilight said defensively. “We’re just… Making sure we’re ready.” “Have you ever been ‘ready’ for anything in your life?” “Wow, okay, rude.” Twilight huffed. “Is it really such a bad thing to want to be prepared? I mean, we’re already running a nation, a child is a lot of responsibility to take on!” “We’re running a city,” Chrysalis said. “Between Fluttershy in Trotsylvania, Applejack and Luna in Ponyville, and Rarity’s constant butting in, we barely have to lift a hoof to keep things going.” “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take it seriously.” “Twilight, do you really believe that I am not taking my position as Queen seriously?” Twilight groaned. “I never should’ve given you that title.” “You know you couldn’t say no forever,” Chrysalis replied with a laugh. She rolled onto her side, reached out and put a hoof on Twilight’s cheek. “I really do want to have a child with you. I think it’s time.” Twilight blushed and put her own hoof over the one on her cheek. “I… It’s just a hard decision to make. I mean, how can I know if I’ll even be a good mother?” “You raised Spike.” “That’s different, though. Spike’s like a little brother.” Twilight sighed, moved her book to an end table and rolled over to look into Chrysalis’ eyes. “How sure are you that this is the right time?” “That’s not something you can really be sure of,” Chrysalis said, “but I can pretend to be sure of it if that’ll help.” Twilight chuckled. “It might.” She leaned forward and gave Chrysalis a soft kiss, then wrapped her in a hug and squeezed her close. “Let’s sleep on it, ‘kay?” Chrysalis ran a hoof gently through Twilight’s mane and nodded silently. She turned off the light above Twilight, pulled up the covers, and the two of them gently drifted off to sleep. Chrysalis watched as Twilight paced nervously around the castle library, flipping through several books at once. They’d redirected all their meetings for the day to Rarity and sent the guard away, and it was so early that they had the entire library to themselves. Chrysalis was sitting patiently at a reading table, waiting in case Twilight needed her for something. “Okay, so… And then…” Twilight was mumbling under her breath, then suddenly stopped walking and looked up. “Chalkboard! I need a chalkboard. Chrysalis, where’s a chalkboard?” Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. “Couldn’t you just conjure one up with your magic?” Twilight gasped. “Chrysalis, you’re a genius.” With a quick burst of magic, Twilight pulled her own personal chalkboard out of her room and into the library with them. She was scribbling notes onto it the second it was there, the cavalcade of books floating around her as she needed them. “Okay, so if I do this, then this…” Chrysalis watched as almost entirely illegible text quickly filled up the board. Twilight’s writing was tiny, but even then, she wrote so much that it could barely fit. It was only a few minutes before she had to flip the board over and use the other side, and a few minutes after that she was almost out of room on that side, too. Just when it seemed like she’d need a second chalkboard, she slapped down the chalk and grinned. “Got it!” “Oh?” Chrysalis looked past her at the board, but the mess of scribbles and diagrams meant nothing to her. “Mind sharing with the class?” Twilight practically bounced along as she flipped the board back and started to explain it all. “Okay, so, obviously a pony and a changeling have never had a child before.” “Correct.” “So, of course, there were the standard solutions. Adoption, a surrogate, that sort of thing, but… Well, it’s tough.” She turned away from the board and looked into Chrysalis’ eyes. “I know you. You want a changeling.” “Well, yes, if I had a choice,” Chrysalis said, “but I was operating under the assumption that that wasn’t on the table.” “I want it to be, though!” Twilight trotted over and leaned on the table. “It’s a big part of who you are.” “No changeling would ever entrust a child to me,” Chrysalis replied. “I raised many of them myself. They may forgive me, but they will never forget.” “I know. But I want you to have the option.” “I appreciate the thought,” Chrysalis said, “but I’m not sure I want to raise a clone of myself.” “Exactly.” Twilight hopped back over to the chalkboard. “If I just made a changeling, they’d just be you again. Plus…” Twilight blushed. “I mean, I can’t really deny that a part of me wants that… Connection. I’d love our child the same no matter what, but… I want to know what it’s like, you know?” “So, what? Two children?” Twilight shook her head. “Come on, do you really think I’d need all this to come up with just having two kids? That… You know what, that actually would have worked just fine. I guess I didn’t need to do this.” Chrysalis laughed. “I can’t imagine you’re disappointed that you got to do all this.” “Oh, not at all.” Twilight chuckled. “It’s not like we can’t still use it. So, the basic idea—” She flipped the board over and pointed to an oval shape drawn on the other side. “—is that you use your cocoon… Web… Stuff, and spin up an egg, and then I can use my magic to, um… Well, you get it.” Chrysalis nodded. “So, how big should this egg be?” Twilight shrugged. “Baby sized?” And they got to work. First, they returned to the privacy of their bedroom, and Chrysalis quickly spun up a little sphere of webbing. Then Twilight spend some time measuring it, doing calculations, and making sure everything was prepared perfectly. Finally, they both stood back and held each others’ hooves as Twilight focused, took aim, and fired a tiny sliver of magic at the egg. They stared at it in silence for a long moment, neither of them daring to so much as breathe. Their hearts were pounding, and adrenaline raced through their veins. After a few minutes, Chrysalis broke the silence. “Um… How long is this going to take?” “I… Don’t know, actually,” Twilight said. “A normal changeling birth would’ve been over by now.” “They’re not a normal changeling.” Chrysalis looked down at Twilight. “Wait, are they going to be…” Twilight looked up and grinned. “Half pony? Of course, silly. I am a pony.” “How will that even work?” Twilight shrugged. “We’ll see.” There was sudden movement before them. A tiny hairline fracture ran down the egg, followed by another, and more and more. The cracks slowly covered the entire surface, and then a piece broke off. Light poured out of the shell, not blinding, but an undeniable glow. Every piece that fell let out more and more of the light until they had no more than a glowing ball on the low table the egg had been sitting on. When the final piece of eggshell toppled, the light started to die down. Twilight squeezed Chrysalis’ leg tightly in anticipation. The couple stepped forward in unison, desperate to get a better look at the child, at their daughter. At first, she just looked like a pony. Her fur was a muddy green, and her mane was a darker shade of a similar color, save for the singular stripes of purple and black that ran down one lock of hair. A stubby, rounded horn sat nestled in her mane.  Then they noticed the thin, bug-like wings on her back, and realized that her tail wasn’t made of hair, but rather the same flimsy material that made up her wings. Both her wings and tail looked tattered, not full of holes like her mother’s but torn into shreds at the ends, and her ears looked similarly torn. Then she opened her eyes, and they saw something neither one of them had expected. She didn’t have the sharp, glistening eyes of a changeling, but neither did she have the wide, round eyes of a pony. They weren’t sure what kind of eyes she had. They had no pupils, no irises, no whites. Her eyes, in their entirety, were a single mass of shimmering purple that stared wondrously up at them. Tears welled up in Twilight’s eyes, and a massive smile grew on her face. Chrysalis held her close, and couldn’t keep from grinning as well. Neither of them could find words, they couldn’t move, they couldn’t do anything other than look at their beautiful new daughter. Eventually, Twilight managed a tiny, squeaking whisper. “We… We have a baby.” “Mm-hm.” “Chrysalis, we have a baby,” Twilight repeated, a bit louder. “That we do.” Suddenly, the dam broke. Tears poured down Twilight’s face, and she hopped in place excitedly. “Chrysalis, we have a baby!” With an excited squee, she scooped up the foal and nuzzled her gently. She flapped her wings and took to the air so she could hold her without worrying about her balance. Chrysalis smiled, leaned in and kissed their daughter on the forehead, then kissed Twilight on the cheek. “I’m glad to see you so excited.” “Well, aren’t you?” “Of course,” Chrysalis said, “but one of us has to stay composed.” “Says who?” Twilight replied, without taking her eyes off of the newborn. “Do you want to hold her?” Chrysalis nodded and sat on the floor as Twilight handed the baby over. Chrysalis held her close, and as she looked down she felt tears welling up in her eyes as well, which she did her best to push back down. A thought hit Twilight. “What are we gonna name her?” “Hmm…” Chrysalis played with the foal’s hooves as she thought. “I’m quite partial to ‘Nymph,’ myself.” Twilight sat beside Chrysalis and leaned up against her. “I like it, but it’s not very pony-like. I feel like her name should have bits of both our worlds.” “Your family has kind of a theme, right? Twilight, Shining, Night Light… Do you have anything like that?” Twilight thought hard, going through every variation she could think of in her head until finally, she landed on one she liked. “I think I’ve got it.” “Do tell.” “Daybreak,” Twilight said. “Daybreak Nymph.” Chrysalis looked up with a grin. “It’s perfect.” Twilight let out another excited squeal and gave Chrysalis a loving kiss, thrilled at the prospect of moving on to this next part of their lives.