//------------------------------// // Episode 14: Dawning of Doomsday: Part 1 // Story: My Brave Pony: Starfleet Magic (Season IX) // by DakariKingMykan //------------------------------// EPISODE FOURTEEN One night, Grand Ruler Celesto was tossing and turning in bed, unable to get a goodnight’s sleep. Reason being, it wasn’t as nice or as cozy sleeping in this giant bed all by himself, and missing the comforting warmth of having his wife beside him. Celestia had been frozen and contained for nearly two weeks, and he was finding it very hard to stay strong and not release her just yet, especially with Daybreaker still out there and hoping to merge with her. Worse than that, the children were growing restless being without their mother. He pulled out Celestia’s orb, with her still inside it. He looked at it with a tearful expression, really wanting to let her out. “I’m sorry, Celestia.” he said softly “I just can’t do it yet. Not until it’s perfectly all right.” He wasn’t the only one having trouble sleeping… Cadance and Saber… For nearly two weeks now, Cadance’s husband was still trapped in his insect forum, making it hard for them to sleep in the same bed due to his larger size, and his extra limbs often extending beyond his control and tickling Cadance in her sleep. She had tried her hardest to adjust, but it all caught up to her several days ago, and she insisted that he sleep on the sofa-bed. Saber had it harder than Cadance, having to try to sleep with his unusual forum, and finding a comfy position, and he like his uncle-in-law, hated being separated from his wife. Then of course there was Flurry Heart… She began to cry from her crib, needing a diaper change. Saber got up first and walked over to the crib, still desperately trying to connect with his daughter, but to no avail-- Flurry still fussed and backed away at the sight of him. “Honey, it’s just me. It’s Daddy.” The baby still didn’t trust him. Cadance came over to tend to her, but she looked at her husband, feeling as crushed as he did. “We can’t go on like this.” she said, taking the words right out of his mouth. He just walked back to his bed and sat down feeling too upset to sleep. Still desperate, he fruitlessly tried pulling his stuck mask off-- nothing! “I want this thing off! I don’t care if it means trying something drastic, I got to get it off!” Cadance didn’t know what to say or do. There was also another restless someone… Daybreaker herself! Ever since her last defeat, Daybreaker had been doing all she could restore her powers to their peak. She would bask in the sunlight, bathe in lava pits. “Ugh! This isn’t enough!” she growled “Even with my power this high, those meddlesome fighters will most-likely one-up me again. If I could only merge with Celestia, my power would grow to incredible lengths, and I will be invincible!” She laughed wickedly, but then growled as she threw a rock into the lava. “Somehow I’ve got to force their hands and make them give Celestia to me.” She grabbed another rock, crumpling in her bare hand, and then she gazed down the pebbles she held, and grinned wickedly. “…Yes, it’s perfect.” The next morning, Spike went to the hospital first thing to see Rarity again. This was her third day in self-isolation. According to Penny, she wouldn’t leave her room, or even get out of bed, and resorted to use of the pan under her bed. She had hardly eaten much either; she was too depressed and shocked at her new appearance to feel much hunger. “Rarity?” he called softly to her “Rarity, its Spike, and I brought Twilight.” His wife hardly made a sound, and the blankets barely stirred. Twilight could almost sense her mother’s presence and reached out for the blankets. “Rarity, please come out.” begged Spike “Twilight misses you. The family misses you. The team misses you. …And I especially miss you. Don’t do this to yourself, to us.” Rarity’s soft and rather raspy breathing could be heard, and her voice was so hoarse due to lack of use, she could barely speak. “…A freak!” she groaned “A monster! I used to be beautiful, but now I’m…” she stopped there and sank flat down on the bed again, and she said no more. Little Twilight began to fuss feeling upset, and Spike decided to take her away, and Dr. Penny, whom was watching them, feared she was going to have to deliver Spike even more bad news. Later on, Spike was having breakfast with Lightning, Starla, and Krysta, and he gave them the same bad news. “Penny says that if Rarity doesn’t start showing signs of improvement, she’ll have to be sent to the asylum on Planet Xandra.” “Oh, Spike…!” said Starla. Lightning sighed, “If only we could convince her to venture out again.” Krysta asked Spike, “How’s the family taking it?” “Not very well, especially for Sweetie Belle, she went out to hang with the other crusaders, and search through her feelings. Her parents aren’t taking too well either, but they’re still helping me around the house, and looking after the baby.” Lightning felt very frustrated, and he knew he couldn’t just order Rarity out of bed; she was in no condition to listen anyway. For now he had other things to deal with. Apart from The Devils always attacking, where was Daybreaker, and when and where she would strike next, but most of all… how to defeat her once and for all? Starla finished feeding Shining Light and put him down in his pram, but she sighed at all the frustrations, “This is all like one big nightmare, and it keeps getting worse and worse.” Lightning’s head perked up, “Nightmare…?” Then he remembered during the last encounter, Buddy Rose mentioned something similar. “Is there any way to be rid of this nightmare?” And of course, that brought on the memories of when Daybreaker attacked everyone… “…In our nightmares!” “Lightning…?” said Krysta. “What are you saying?” asked Spike. “Don’t you all get it?” said Lightning “Daybreaker was originally a nightmare, born from Queen Celestia’s subconscious. Maybe that’s the key to defeating her.” Starla suddenly caught on, “You mean, somehow if we can turn her back into a dream?” “That’s exactly what I’m saying. After all, as scary as dreams are, they cannot really hurt you.” Krysta and Spike caught on as well, and began to agree with the theory. “Wait a minute…” said Spike “Are you suggesting that Daybreaker and Celestia should merge again. It was hard enough to separate them… and all the good that did us-- it made her come to life.” Krysta tapped her wand while pondering things, “We’re also forgetting… Daybreaker wants to combine with Celestia to increase her powers. We can’t let her do that.” Lightning realized this as well, “Then it’s all the more reason Celestia should merge with her, and send her back into the subconscious from whence she came.” A moment of silence flowed, and everyone began to feel this plan was starting to sound more dangerous and risky by the minute. Lightning decided to send his majesty a letter at once. He wrote down his idea on a napkin, and had Spike send it to New Canterlot. “Do you think his majesty will go along with this? asked Starla, Lightning could only ponder, figuring Grand Ruler would be almost desperate enough to try anything. While waiting for a reply, Rarity got loads of visitors in the hospital, from her friends and her family, all trying to give her hope and begging her to come out. Buddy and Applejack brought her flowers, and Tree Hugger placed a special atomizer on her table. “What’s that for?” asked Applejack “This thing here emits soothing scents that soothe you. You know, help your take in the air, let your chakra melt into total bliss, and achieve pure inner peace with your thoughts.” She shut her eyes and sighed long and softly, much to Applejack’s gawking. “She’s really knows her stuff. Just go with the flow.” Buddy whispered. Applejack nodded it off and then whispered to Rarity. “Come on, Rare… buck up, for all our sakes.” Fluttershy and Rhymey came along… “Rarity, you can’t live your life under blankets like this.” said Fluttershy. “I’ve no choice…” Rarity responded “I can never show myself in public again! They’ll laugh at me! I’ll be the laughingstock of the fashion world as I know it!” She began to weep softly. Rhymey shook his head and told her… “You think that’s only your looks are what matters, Even you know this isn’t really true, It’s the heart, the soul and the feeling that counts All that is what makes up you.” “He’s right,” agreed Fluttershy “Rarity, you have friends, family, and people who count on you and your great fashion ideas, and your fighting capabilities. Think of it like a caterpillar that’s become a butterfly; sure, it looks different, but it can do so much more, like fly about, and land on leaves and show off how pretty it is.” she stopped right there when Rarity began to cry hysterically at the mention of the word “Pretty” “I’m hideous!” she wailed “A deformity, a cruel creation. I’ll never be pretty aga-heh-heh-hen!” Fluttershy felt her own tears coming, feeling ready to kick herself for only making things worse, but Rhymey comforted her and they both decided to leave. Fluttershy sniffled, “The poor thing… I hope she comes round.” Her husband nodded in agreement. Pinkie visited too, with a special cupcake she had baked just or Rarity, hoping she would at least eat it. It had a beautiful red heart on it with a white star in the middle. “Rarity, I just want to tell you that I’m sorry. It’s all my fault you ended up like this, and you don’t know how devastated I was when I heard of your condition. But I’m so happy you’re still alive, even if you look different, but I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive myself for what happened.” A tear rolled down her cheek, “Rarity, please come out! Please say we’re still friends! I can’t bear to think of you all broken down like this… because of me!” She had to stop when she felt herself starting to cry. “Excuse me…!” she sobbed as she left. Rarity felt a little touched by Pinkie’s sobs, and began to peek out from her sheets slightly, and she looked at the cupcake, as well as all the flowers and cards from everyone else. It made her cry softly seeing how much everyone cared, but she still didn’t have the courage to really get out of bed, still fearing the worst for her reputation and such things. “I just can’t!” she thought to herself “How do I know what will happen to me if I go out there?” She could only lie down and fall asleep in her dark room. Meanwhile, Grand Ruler Celesto and Princess Luna had read Lightning’s idea. “It is so incredibly crazy!” said Luna “Merging with Daybreaker, that is precisely what started all this. It is just crazy.” “Agreed,” said her brother-in-law, “…It’s so crazy it just may work.” His sister-in-law actually agreed with him too, and they both looked down at Celestia’s orb, and nodded at one another. Grand Ruler released her from the orb. There Celestia stood feeling her face all over as her eyes slowly opened, “Oh, my…!” she groaned. “Luna…? Celesto…?” The others looked very happy to see her, and that made her remember what happened—how she had gone insane during the battle with Daybreaker, and nearly destroyed herself to stop her. Her husband approached her softly. “Celestia…?” he spoke ever so softly, and looked her deeply in the eyes. “Can you ever forgive me?” Looking deep into her husband’s eyes, and knowing he had good reason for imprisoning her-- she herself would have acted no differently-- she reached up with her hand and softly caressed his cheek, and she pulled him closer, bringing their lips together. Luna could only gaze sweetly at the couple. Just then, the door opened and the children came running in crying, “Mommy! Mommy!!” “Oh, Children…!” cried Celestia as she got down and hugged her little darlings and pecked them on their heads sweetly. Cadance and Saber saw she was back too. “You’re free again!” said Saber, but his wife then nudged him, warning him the children were there. “Uh… I mean, free from that conference you were at.” Celestia was confused at first, but when she saw her husband motion at the children, she played along. “Oh, yes… that. Oh, very busy, but I’m so happy to be home.” Cadance smiled warmly. Daybreaker’s eyes snapped wide open. “I can feel it-- Celestia has been released. I can sense her energy by our spirit-link.” She stepped out of her lava pit and her flames began to flare brightly. “It’s time I made my move, and I know just how to get their attention.” Later that day, Grand Ruler wrote a letter back to Lightning and the rest of the team, informing them that Celestia was free, and she was made aware of the idea of merging with Daybreaker again. Lightning gathered everyone together at New Sweet Apple Acres for a meeting, and further discuss things. “I sure wish Rarity was here.” said Spike. “So do I.” added Pinkie. Everyone felt the same way, but Lightning cleared his throat, “I understand how you all feel, but we need to focus now. Now, their majesties have agreed to the idea, but it still is very risky.” “No kidding.” said Artie “If Daybreaker merges with Celestia there’ still a good chance the evil could still gain control.” “That means she’ll have more power than ever,” said Applejack “She’ll not only be stronger in battle, but she may gain full control of the sun, which means the planet will be toast!” “Well, we’re not going to let that happen are we?” said Dyno. “Si, we’ll make her sorry she’d ever showed her hot-head around here.” agreed Myte. The brothers bopped fists and butt heads softly. “Yeah, uh… just one little thing,” Rainbow pointed out “Where exactly do we find Daybreaker? She’s too hot for our sensors to locate.” “I don’t think we need to worry much about that,” said Starla “Given our experiences, we won’t have to look for her, she’ll show herself eventually.” Everyone stopped right then and looked all around expected something to happen that very second… …Nothing happened. “Well, that’s a first.” joked Krysta. Rhymey then suggested “We should take the babies to daycare, They’ll be much safer and sound there.” Buddy Rose stood, “Tree Hugger can look after them. She’s real hip with kids, literally.” Spike took Twilight home so Rarity’s folks could look after her, and then soon, Shining Light and Button Fly were playing with Seedling in her playpen. DD was making goofy faces at them all to make them laugh, and playing Peek-A-Boo with them too. Buddy pecked his wife on the cheek. “You rock, honey.” “No sweats about it, dude.” said Tree Hugger “I’m chill with looking after the sweethearts. I can accelerate the water-flow of my parental waves, and intertwine with my wishful thoughts, and besides its good practice, for if you and I have another someday.” She gave him a flirtatious wink after that, which wooed the others. Buddy felt awkward as he rubbed the back of his head “…I don’t think we’re ready for that yet.” “Hey, Bud…” called DD “Just you make sure you come back. Remember you promised to train me.” Buddy nodded at her “But remember what else you know about Starfleet?” “I know, I know; there are no real promises in Starfleet. What happens just happens, and you have to be prepared to take it. Still, just be careful out there.” Buddy hugged her softly, and then the parents bid goodbye to their respective babies before leaving. “I love you so much, okay?” cooed Fluttershy. “You be good for Tree Hugger now.” said Starla. The fathers extended the same gentleness with their sons. No sooner had the team left did the two babies begin to cry loudly, and that made Seedling cry too, and DD held her ears! “AAAHH…!! Just Seedling is bad enough! Now there’s thrice the noise!” Tree Hugger didn’t seem the least bit disturbed as she approached the three infants and scooped them up in her arms. Then she sat down softly on the floor, holding the babies close, and she softly began to hum deeply to them. The soothing sound of her voice and the soft vibrations of her body actually soothed the babies down, and the drowsed happily in her arms. “That’s it sweet ones, bliss out.” said Tree Hugger, and she continued to hum to them, much to DD’s astounding astonishment. “How does she do that?” she asked no one in particular. Krysta warped everyone to the gates of New Canterlot Palace where their majesties were waiting for them outside. “Good, you’re all here.” said Grand Ruler. Everyone bowed to him, and especially to Celestia, all feeling glad to see her free again. “I promise you all,” she told them “I will never try a foolish stunt like that again, and I hope you all can forgive me for the trouble I’ve caused.” Lightning bowed to her, “You’re most forgiven, your majesty.” Celestia then approached Spike, “I heard what happened to Rarity, and I’m very sorry.” Spike nodded sadly, “…We all are, but right now we should concentrate.” “Agreed,” said Grand Ruler, and at that moment, the temperature was starting to go up. “Anybody else feeling that?” asked Pinkie. Celestia clenched her fists, “Daybreaker…!” The sound of evil laughter echoed in the sky as Daybreaker appeared, high above them all. “Ahh… Celestia. So you finally decided to quit hiding, but that’s beside the point. You know what I’ve come for.” Everyone looked up at her furiously. “And before any of you say anything, you might be interested in what I have to show you.” She extended her flaming mane and showed images of other major locations, including New Ponyville, and then with a single snap of her fingers, the towns and villages were set ablaze! Fluttershy screamed, and everyone else gawked in horrors. “Rarity!!” cried Spike. “STOP IT, YOU MONSTER!!” shouted Princess Luna. Daybreaker then uncast the images. “It was just an illusion!” sneered Lightning. Daybreaker snickered, “Yes… I take it by now you understand. Give me what I desire, or I’ll roast every nation on this planet to a burning wasteland, and this time I mean it!” No one said a thing at first. Then Celestia stepped forth, “Very well, Daybreaker. I will merge with you.” Daybreaker was astounded, “An easy surrender? That’s not like you, I would know.” Celestia fluttered up into the air to Daybreaker’s height, and the two glared at each other like cowboys ready for the big draw. The two began to charge at each other, screaming and roaring, ready to strike, when suddenly Daybreaker zipped out of the way. “What?!” cried Celestia. Daybreaker then appeared before Grand Ruler and Luna, and before anyone could act, she grabbed them both by the necks with her flaming hands. “No!!” shouted Lightning, and he and the team rushed in to attack, but she unleashed a wave of flames at everyone, making huge explosions and blowing them all off their feet. When everyone looked up again, Grand Ruler and Luna’s bodies vanished in flames, and were absorbed into her horn. “Celesto…!! Luna…!!” cried Celestia. Daybreaker laughed wickedly as her flames began to glow brighter and brighter, and her muscles bulged bigger than ever. “What’s happening?!” asked Starla. “I thought she only wanted Celestia?” added Krysta. Daybreaker snickered, “Yes, and I still intend to capture her, but all of you are still a nuisance to me, especially those two that I just absorbed into me and added their powers to my own!” She looked over at Celestia “It somewhat pays be a version of you, and to hold some of your powers. Now that I’ve absorbed your husband and your sister, nothing can stop me from bringing forth Eternal Daylight and you and your precious subjects won’t be able to so much as lay a finger on me, let alone defeat me.” She was right, with Grand Ruler and Luna out of the way, the power of balancing Night and Day, and control of the sun, was now severely tipped. Daybreaker continued to taunt Celestia as she gawked back at her. “Yes, you see now. You could have had so much-- all the power you could ever dream, enough to rule everything you see, and darkness and nightfall would never reign again.” Celestia was quivering with rage. “Well, too little, too bad, and once I absorb you, there will be nothing that can stop me. This world, and everything in it will shroud until the light of Eternal Day, and all will be under my command!” She looked up into the sky towards the midday sun, “The daylight is about to be shine… forever!!” To Be Continued… (Promo) In our next episode: Daybreaker quite literally turns up the heat, using her new powers to halt the sun in the sky, which begins to overheat the planet! The heroes try dangerous and risky maneuvers to vanquish the evil creature, but to, seemingly, no avail as Daybreaker proves to be vilely ruthless. Can our heroes save the planet from this blazing inferno? Don’t miss the next exciting episode of “Starfleet Magic!” (Next Episode: “Dawning of Doomsday: Part 2”)