//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: Daybreak // by Leafdoggy //------------------------------// “Daybreak!” Twilight walked into her daughter’s bedroom and looked around with a frustrated glare. “C’mon, I know you’re in here. Quit hiding.” She waited for a moment. The room was still. Daybreak’s room, long since converted from the nursery, was a cozy, messy little place. There were a few loose articles of clothing scattered around the floor, and the pile of stuffed animals at the foot of her bed was in constant disarray. Still, it wasn’t too messy; for the most part, she tried to keep it just clean enough that she wouldn’t get in trouble. Twilight made her way in and started to search the room. She checked all the stuffed animals for duplicates, then did the same for the little bookshelf that doubled as a bedside table. She checked under the soft gray covers that shrouded the bed, then checked under the bed itself, but found nothing. She even checked the shelf that held the little collection of bugs Daybreak had caught, even though looking so closely at them grossed her out. When nothing turned up, Twilight sighed and moved back to the door. “If I find out later that you were in here, you are so grounded,” she said. “You can’t just skip school. It’s important! I mean, you… You… Augh.” Twilight turned around and walked out, grumbling under her breath about talking to an empty room. After the door clicked shut, the room fell silent. Nothing moved, nothing changed. Nothing at all happened. At least, not until Daybreak was absolutely sure her mom had left. Then a tall, thin book on the bookshelf started to wobble a bit. It teetered back and forth, further with each swing, until it toppled over the edge and went careening to the floor. Just before landing, Daybreak turned back into herself with a puff of smokey magic. She was a tiny little thing, even compared to the other first-year students at her school. Her legs were stout, and while she wasn’t overly thin, she didn’t take up very much space. The only sizable things about her were her mane, which was long and unkempt, poofing out a bit as it fell across the side of her face, and her eyes, which had never lost their striking purple hue. Her tiny fangs glistened as a toothy grin crossed her face. “Heh. Dummy.” Chuckling softly to herself, she trotted over to her bed and retrieved the book she’d been copying from her pillowcase, slotting it neatly into its place on the shelf. Then she made her way over to the window, pushed it open, and hopped outside. Her light, thin wings buzzed as they propelled her into the air and away from the castle. She spared a single glance back, and when she saw that she hadn’t been noticed, she gave herself a quiet cheer and sped off into the city. She skirted through alleyways and over the tops of buildings as she zipped around Canterlot, doing her best not to be noticed. The wind felt incredible as it rushed by her, her wings cutting through it effortlessly. She pushed herself faster and faster, testing her limits as she left the denser parts of town and approached the outskirts. There, away from the bustle and the crowds, she got bolder. She left the safety of the alleyways and flew over the streets, and a few minutes later through the streets, weaving her way around ponies who were going about their days.  It was utterly thrilling, and she started to get cocky. She skirted closer to the ponies she swerved around, tilted sideways rather than going further out. It was simple for her, even at such a young age. She had no fear. She wouldn’t fail. As she closed in on a stallion carrying a heavy load of groceries, she decided to show off. Instead of going around him, she was going to go over him, but not just by flying. No, she was going to do a flip. Just before she got too close to him, she angled herself down and dug her front hooves into the dirt road. Her momentum started to push her hind legs over top of her, and she went with it, pushing off with her front legs and springing into the air. She cleared the stallion easily enough. The flip, though, was a different story. She realized quickly that she wasn’t going to make it back to being right-side up. In a last-ditch bid for control, she flapped her wings desperately, but that only made her spin more erratic and out of control. She tumbled through the air, getting horribly dizzy as the world whipped past her, and landed on her side with a dull thud. She groaned and shook her head, trying to shake off the disorientation. Slowly, she pushed herself to her hooves, wobbled on them for a moment, and then found her balance and planted herself firmly on the ground. A small crowd had started to gather around her, some whispering amongst themselves, others talking directly to her. “Is that Daybreak?” “What happened to her?” “Shouldn’t she be in school?” With an awkward cough, she tried to sidle her way past the gathering ponies. “U-Um, sorry, everypony,” she said. Even meek and embarrassed, her voice had a kind of edge to it. “My bad. I was, um… Late for school! Yeah, so, uh, gotta go!” Not wanting to deal with any questions or gawking, she quickly flapped her wings and shot down the street, making a beeline now for her destination. Near the edge of the city, the population got a lot sparser, but the buildings stayed nearly just as dense. The excess buildings were used for all sorts of things, from office space to small, niche shops that didn’t need to be in a more central area. Plus there were warehouses, lumber yards, and everything else generally considered too unsightly for the high society streets elsewhere. Her destination was a warehouse, small by most standards but still larger than most other buildings in the area. She snuck around to the back and used her magic to unlock a door, then quickly glanced around before ducking into the building and re-locking the door behind her.  Inside, she lit up her horn to see in the darkness. Around her were stacks upon stacks of palettes filled with cloth, fabric, dye, and all sorts of other materials. There were huge amounts of everything, but that was only in this one aisle; generally, about half the warehouse stood empty at any given time. The warehouse itself was used by Rarity as a storing place for out-of-season styles and materials, and most of the time it just sat there, empty of ponies. When Daybreak found out about it, she made a desperate plea to Rarity, and after many, many attempts, Rarity finally relented and decided to let her use it for a clubhouse. Daybreak scampered through the aisles and over to a corner of the building filled with massive crates of finished clothes. It was one of the most over-stuffed parts of the warehouse, and as such, she’d decided it was a perfect spot for a secret base. With a few flaps of her wings, she soared up to the top shelf, which from the outside looked like a solid wall of heavy crates, and started to feel around on the wood. Finally, she found what she was looking for. When she pressed down on one piece of wood, it gave way, and with a bit of effort, she pushed open the secret door that led into her clubhouse. The whole top shelf had been converted to suit her needs. The wall of crates on the outer edge was just a facade, behind which sat a veritable palace. The long, narrow room was filled with comic books, comfy pillows, toys, art supplies, and anything else she and her friends had ever thought to bring up there. After shutting the door again, she flicked on a dim lamp in the corner of the room. It buzzed and flickered as it sparked to life, the tiny bulb struggling to put out light. It wasn’t much, but it was enough that she was able to extinguish the light on her horn as she plopped down on a cushion with a contented sigh. After relaxing for a minute, Daybreak sat up and glanced around the room. “Angel?” She called out into the darkness. “You there?” “Duh.” Daybreak spun around towards the voice and grinned as her friend stepped out of the shadows.  Angel Trifle looked, at first glance, like a normal earth pony. She was a bit bigger than Daybreak, and despite her bright pink fur and long, well-styled and stunningly yellow mane, she wore an expression so perpetually sour it managed to make her look mean.  Closer inspection, though, started to reveal some oddities. Most notable were her eyes, which were a dark, piercing gray that almost seemed to suck the light from whatever was unlucky enough to meet her gaze. Then there was the tendency for her shadow to flicker and move even when the sun sat still, and her tendency to always appear just out of sight whenever anypony talked about her.  Angel Trifle unsettled most of the ponies her age, and they never got to know her much more closely than that. Daybreak had never been bothered, though. She’d spent enough time with Fluttershy to know that Angel just took after her mother in a lot of ways. Angel jumped onto her own cushion and aimed her steely gaze towards Daybreak. “No school today?” Daybreak’s voice was slow and calm, more like her aunt Maud’s than either of her parents. Daybreak shrugged. “Didn’t feel like it.” “Your moms aren’t gonna like that.” “My moms ain’t gonna find out,” Daybreak told her. “I mean, if I’m not in the castle, how can they prove I wasn’t at school? I can just say I was hiding from the teacher.” “What if they try to quiz you on whatever you’re supposed to be learning?” “I—” Daybreak huffed. “Don’t act all high and mighty. You’re not at school, either!” “I can still hear the teacher.” “Whatever.” Daybreak stuck her tongue out at Angel, and Angel shot the gesture straight back. “So,” Angel said, deciding to move on, “what’re we doing today?” “Iunno. Any sign of Ro-Gal?” “She’s at the farm,” Angel said. “Wanna go drop in on her?” “Yeah!” Daybreak hopped up excitedly. “Can you manage the trip?” Angel didn’t respond, instead just rolling her eyes as the shadows in the corners of the room started to stretch and warp. They spun up around the two ponies, wrapping around them quicker and quicker until they were both cocooned in darkness, at which point they squeezed in and crushed the spots the two of them had just been. The next thing Daybreak knew, she was in a tree. She had to act fast to find her balance on the flimsy branches. Confused, having expected to show up on the ground, she turned around to look for Angel. As soon as Daybreak turned around and they met eyes, Angel gave her a mischievous grin and pushed her out of the tree. “Gah!” Daybreak stumbled backward and tripped over herself, toppling down through the leaves and branches and apples that were in her way. She just barely managed to right herself by the time she broke the canopy, and she flapped her wings frantically just in time to avoid falling on the pony who’d been leaning against the tree eating an apple. “Wah!” The pony dropped her snack and sprang up as Daybreak fell out of the sky. “What in the burnin hills of hay is your deal, Daybreak?” Royal Gala was a tall, thin filly who towered above Daybreak on her tangle of legs. Her fur was a rich, dark blue, and her short mane was filled with the oranges and yellows of a blazing sunset. Her height made her look older than she really was, which wasn’t helped by the long, sharp horn on top of her head or the lengthy, narrow wings that sat curled at her side. “Wh—I—” Daybreak stuttered. “Angel pushed me!” Angel hopped out of the tree and landed beside them. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Royal Gala huffed and sat back down. Slowly, she picked up her apple, dusted it off a bit, and returned to her snack. “Gonna hafta tell Granny Smith we got pests in the trees.” “Hey!” Daybreak pouted. “This one isn’t my fault.” Royal Gala scoffed. “Yeah, this one.” Idly, she plucked a couple of apples from the trees with her magic and tossed them to the others. “So we doin anything or what? I’m itchin for an adventure.” Daybreak shrugged. “Any ideas?” “I ain’t the ideas pony,” Royal Gala said. They both looked towards Angel. “Well?” Daybreak asked. “Yeah, I think I’ve got something,” Angel said. “You guys down for going into the Everfree?”