//------------------------------// // 1 - 1: you'll find one for thee (DB) // Story: Four Stars // by Moterius //------------------------------// Daybreaker blinked when she heard the eruption of magic behind her, reacting just in time to throw up a shield. In front of her, she could see a white unicorn with the same statue as she had, facing away from her. A flaming sword appeared in her magic grip, and she let it luge forwards, aimed at the horn of the pony. The exact same sword popped into existence, parrying the strike, not making any sound. The horn of the mare in front of her glowed for a moment, but she seemed not aware of it. Quickly glancing at the sides of what she had presumed to be a unicorn wearing saddlebags, she realized it were wings, instead, and another look made her realize that the alicorn bore the same cutie mark as she did. The only reason she did not immediately realize that there was a double of herself in front of her was the fact that her mane was not set ablaze. Either she was very calm right now, very angry, or suppressing her magic from flowing through her mane and tail. Considering the cursing, it couldn’t be the first option. “…course we would get separated! Wait – maybe someone here knows more,” Daybreaker heard, quickly deciding to disguise herself. Luckily, a spell to hide her form from the eye was quite easy, and reducing her power was simple, as well. Both combined meant she looked like an advisor she had a few decades ago, fiery red, but not ablaze mane, lanky, but not alicorn-tall figurine, as well as only having a horn instead of a horn and wings. Then, she dispelled the spell that made her voice echo, before opening her mouth and calling out to ‘Daybreaker’. “My queen?” She could swear that she heard her double whisper ‘queen?’ before turning around. The eyes of the pony in front of her were empty, as in not showing emotions, but there was a fire behind them. She was impressed by this, but not intimidated as she could do the same. The stare she received was the same she was used to give, so she recognized it easily. ‘Talk, or you are dead,’ it said. “It is time to raise the sun,” the (from her perspective) real Daybreaker continued, and the alicorn in front of her gave an almost invisible nod, her horn singing with power. That power, though, carried an abstract promise of pain. It showed three other magics, of the same strength as the alicorn in front of her. Daybreaker was suddenly very glad she did not try to fight her double any further, as it would have meant facing three other alicorns of roughly her strength. With her and Nightmare destroying everything that could pose a danger to them, and by extension to other mature alicorns, there also were no artifacts besides her personal weapons and armor that could hurt them. She could feel the sun rising in the east, basking the land with its power. Interestingly, it seemed like the double in front of Daybreaker decided to lift it with slightly less power than she normally did, making the day a bit colder than usual. The ponies would probably approve, be confused, and disapprove, depending on who and where they were. You could never satisfy everypony, even if you threatened them to burn them to shut them up. Sighing, she told the ‘current ruler’ of Equestria that breakfast would be ready in ten minutes before excusing herself. (DB) GREAT start into the day. My first priority after finding out where I landed and why that pony did not freak out about my form would be finding out how to get back to ‘Celly’. The reason I choose her was that I was confident that my other versions would try the same. She is the ‘first’ one of us and should therefore be the one we use as ‘anchor’. Does not explain why I cannot feel her anymore, though. Additionally, when we separated, I felt something inside of me change. There is a good chance my judgment is impeded right now. Deciding to go with the flow, for now, I ‘dressed up’ before walking down the hallways that would lead me to the dining room. I could tell where it was thanks to my nose, as my sense of smell was considerably better than as a human now. Breakfast was a quiet affair, only the servants were nearby. Interestingly, this world’s Daybreaker still seemed to be a pony, as I was served no meat. Then a messenger came. He waited until I beckoned him to speak, which he did, surprisingly without fear entering his voice. He probably had already served for a while and knew that good messengers were hard to come by. “Your majesty, your sister sent a letter that she would visit this afternoon, concerning an artifact she had found. Will you meet with her?” I nodded in response. “Yes. If it is what I think it is, then it will help me …greatly with a personal project. See that a room is prepared for our meeting,” I responded, standing up. Then I turned to the red-maned mare that told me about breakfast. “What else has to be done today?” A few minutes later, I was sitting in court, watching the ponies below try to get their case before the throne and hindering each other while doing so. Eventually, I got bored by the bickering and pointed at a white stallion with blue hair and a suit I knew I’ve seen before on the show. “You there, what is your name and case?” “My name is Fancy Pants.” Pony names are still stupid. “After an incident last week, a part of my belongings were destroyed in a fire. I would like to hand the land I have no use for over to the crown, under the condition that there would be built something to benefit the city, like a library.” “Considering this is the most intelligent proposal of those I heard in this room today, granted. Everything else is rejected and be glad I am not throwing you in prison for trying to bring matters like your personal gain in front of the throne. Fancy Pants, you will speak with one of my aides about this,” I responded, referring him to the redhead that was following me around. “The rest of you are dismissed!” The ponies quickly left the room, and Fancy Pants followed the aide, but as soon as they left, I heard someone call out to me. “Your majesty!” Turning my head, I noticed a guard walking up to me. It was a pegasus mare I knew quite well. That rainbow mane was hard to hide, even with dye. I tilted my head. “Brazen of you, calling me out like this. I presume you have important news?” “The dragons have declared war on us, but unlike the gryphons, they have prepared themselves! Somehow, they have become resistant against lightning and most spellfire, and while cursed flames still hurt them, there are far too many to stop them with such an energy-intensive attack.” My face turned into a mask. “I will deal with them later. They have to be on their way here, thinking they can take me out.” She nodded. “They rain fire down upon villages, but they do not stop flying in this direction.” “How long ago was this?” “This morning, your majesty!” I thought for a moment about it. “Considering the distance, this is a surprising speed and endurance. Well done, you’re forgiven for interrupting court,” I responded, noticing the time. “Now, which of the conference rooms does my sister currently destroy?” I asked, getting a sigh from the aide next to me. “Number two,” she responded, and I nodded. After telling the guards to inform the ponies that court had ended for the day, I made myself scarce. When I stepped into the room, I could tell that something was wrong. My magic seemed to cut off from me in a sense. I could still feel it, but not access it. “Nightmare,” I said, looking at the alicorn opposite of me. “Celestia,” she responded, causing me to tilt my head. “We both know that I am not her. I never was.” “But you will be soon enough,” she responded, her magic lighting up. Interestingly, her horn glowed in a pale blue, almost white color. What she was using was holy magic. Cleansing magic. “You learned a magic you hated just to have a shot at defeating me,” I realized, tilting my head. It was impressive. For her, that is. “But what is it supposed to do?” Her smile grew wicked. “Simple. It will separate you from your host and send you back to the fiery hell you came from,” she responded, while I could feel my strength flowing away. “And I know that in such places, one does not survive long,” she said, blasting me with the spell she built up, sending me to the sun. Having finished talking with Fancy Pants, Daybreaker made her way over to the conference room her double and her sister were in, overhearing their conversation and feeling the spell cast. If it had landed on her, there was a good chance it would have ripped her in two. However, the presence of her double did not transform, it just vanished. Daybreaker could not help but wonder what that meant. For a moment, there was silence, but she then realized something. A build-up of magic. Not next to her, not even in the city. But thousands upon thousands of miles above her. Like in a trance, she walked in the courtyard, her magic sense telling her that her sister did the same. Looking up, she could spot the sun, which was slowly darkening, becoming a bloody, crimson red. Then, a lazy looking flow of energy separated from it, coming down towards the planet. But to anyone knowing how far away the sun really was, they knew of the speed it really had. Within a few seconds, it became closer and closer, condensing into a thin beam of energy that penetrated the atmosphere, creating a sonic boom while doing so, and landing in the middle of the courtyard, shattering a nearby fountain and damaging the marble of the palace upon impact. In the bright red glowing stream of energy, a form became visible. It was her double, but all sense of calm was gone from her face, and her voice was a snarl when she spoke after the energy transporting her back to the planet ceased. “Did you really thought I would die… just because you killed me?” Then, without any warning or even detectable buildup of energy, a thin, blue beam of energy shot out of her horn, nearly skewering Nightmare. The latter barely dodged the beam in time, which splayed against the wall, revealing itself as concentrated flames, at least several thousand degrees hot. They also heated up the air around them, causing a small shockwave, which caused Nightmare who was right next to it to stumble. She lost precious time, and when she had regained her footing, a crimson-clad hoof had punched her, sending her flying in and through the half-molten wall behind her. Daybreaker’s eyes widened upon realizing that her double was not only physically as strong as she was but considerably faster, as well. The sun alicorn that rushed after the night alicorn was showing incredible reflexes, strength, and speed, even for Daybreaker’s standards. Nightmare flew back out of the room, a shield forming around her and a second spell stopping her unintended flight. She settled back down on one of the marble walkways. Then, the double walked out of the room, stepping down, using her magic to form a construct that acted as flooring. “You know, I always preferred to stand on my magic. It is far harder to disrupt than ground is,” she said, dispelling the construct below her forehooves and slamming them in the ground. The resulting tremble in the ground once again caused Nightmare to stumble, but this time she kept her eyes firmly planted on her opponent. It proved to be a good decision, as it meant she saw the next attack coming, stepping out of the way of the plasma blast that was sent against her. But now, the sun alicorn had taken flight, coming towards her opponent with energy formed around her wings. Nightmare’s shield held, but only barely. Then, a sudden, blinding light was seen above her, and when she looked up, she saw an ocean of flames, surrounded by a dark red ring of energy, and held back only by a layer of similarly colored energy. (DB) “You wanted to attack me using the flames of the sun. But how do you think you compare to them?” I asked, opening the portal, plasma pouring down upon Nightmare, who quickly teleported. But a bit of the plasma got taken with the teleport spell, which I could sense. A shield blocked the attack that was launched at me. I responded with yet another beam of blue flames. “Do you know what you did wrong? You did send me to where I get my power from, to the fires of the sun. You did not bind me to it, and as a result, I am overflowing with solar energy. I have enough magic inside of me to completely regenerate my body. About two times over, in fact.” I looked at her, burnt fur, bent helmet. She snarled at me. “I will still defeat you!” My eyes narrowed, and my pupils turned into thin slits. “You will not. If you take another step forward, I will no longer fight you to defeat you, but to kill you.” “You’re bluffing!” Nightmare responded, taking flight and rushing at me, her shield springing back into existence at full power. A massive flash of light was seen, before a thundering sound and a wave of incredible heat rolled over the city, originating from the castle. A cloud of black smoke started rising up from said castle, promising death to any pegasus stupid enough to enter it. Part of the castle started crumbling, causing even more dust to raise up from the ground. Watching from one of the towers, Daybreaker was impressed by what she saw. While her double seemed originally only marginally stronger than she was, being thrown in the sun raised her strength by nearly half. Not to mention the mana. She probably had more than two times as much mana as she had that morning. That told her that even though the sun is a practically infinite energy well, it was not possible to fully tap into it. Or a death sentence to try. The calamity over and sounds of fighting gone, she then decided to go back down, using a spell to get rid of the dust and smoke. What she saw surprised her not much, but still shocked her. At the wall, her sister was lying, her black coloration now stemming from the charcoal her fur and flesh had turned into, instead of the fur she normally had. The armor she wore had melted off, some metal puddles nearby indicating where it had landed. Would Daybreaker a normal pony, she would have gagged at the smell, but she had seen burnt ponies more than often enough to not be moved by it anymore. “Aide, take note,” she then heard her double speak up, suddenly next to her on the tower as well. “Yes?” she asked, her voice even. “Take Nightmare to the dungeon. Allow her to regenerate but place a magic blocker on her. I do not want telepathy, teleportation, hypnosis or just levitating the key for the cell nor sensing her surroundings with magic an option for her. I will take a rest, the battle has exhausted me a little,” she said, and Daybreaker nodded. This also meant a good opportunity to talk with Nightmare without the black mare interrupting her, as she could just clamp her muzzle shut. Usually, a shield would block such magic, but that obviously was no option for Nightmare right now. “What made you think that was a good idea?” Nightmare lifted her arching head, looking at the red-haired mare in front of her, behind the bars. “And… who are you?” she asked, her voice sounding quite dry. The expression of the mare in front of her did not change. “So?” They stared at each other for a few minutes. “Did you know that you did not fight against your sister?” Now that got her attention.