Despite the utter danger Kodo could feel himself in just by approaching the insane alicorn, one fact kept Kodo calm.
“So,” he noted, as soon as Day Breaker was in range. “Who am I speaking to? The Princess who wanted to protect her little ponies? Or the False Queen who can’t stand not having the entire world under her hoof?”
Day Breaker chuckled in amusement. “You stand before Day Breaker! The better, prettier and more powerful version of Celestia!” She giggled as she felt herself up. “Oh, it’s been so long since Celestia let me out. I feel like an old dress she never wears.”
She glanced back with a grin at the fires. Kodo’s heart churned as he saw one of his diamond dogs - now mostly just a burnt carcass.
“Then again,” She noted. “Every time she lets me out… someone dies.”
Kodo bristled. “My pack…” he whispered. “Muffins…?”
Day Breaker turned to grin at Kodo. “Oh, don’t cry for the little mutts. I’ve saved them the fate of seeing what I’m about to do to you.”
“Me?” Kodo asked, before he let darkness billow over his form.
“Or me?” Sombra growled, appearing over Kodo in an outline of shadow.
Day Breaker merely cackled. “Oh, look at you, Sombra. You’re really going to fight? Or are you going to cower, scream and rage quit like you did against my sister?”
“Make your jokes while you can, Day Breaker,” Sombra growled. “Because we all can see the peak of your power, while I’m merely beginning to tap into mine. You see, when I took refuge in Shiva’s womb and by extension her children, I was given access to the very magic that powers her core. The magic that grows stronger when she connects with others. As Kodo has rampaged across your lands, his pack swelling with changelings, wild dogs and storm creatures, I have grown stronger and stronger. And while Nightmare caught me by surprise, she showed me exactly how to deal with you. And once I defeat you...”
Day Breaker scoffed. “Seriously?” She asked. “You get beaten by my younger sister, and you think you know how to handle me? Let me tell you something, Sombra: whatever you've done to prepare yourself for this moment? It wasn't enough! And by the end of this, you are going to be crying. Just like one of his women.”
She pointed at hoof at Kodo, who snarled.
"Was that a jab at my mother?!" he demanded before taking a shot at her.
Easily dodging, Day Breaker returned fire. Dodging the blow, Sombra blasted at her with obsidian. But another beam from Day Breaker disintegrated his shot. Yet as Kodo matched the attack with another chunk of obsidian, he noticed the lights casting shadows over the rocks.
“Sombra, the shadows,” he noted.
“Good!” Sombra growled, yanking the shadows from the ground, and condensing them into a beam that sent Day Breaker stumbling back.
“Ha!” Kodo cried in glee, before noticing Celine looking at him worriedly. “Don’t worry guys! I got her on the ropes!”
“You've got me on the ropes?!”Day Breaker cackled. “The ropes surrounding the hole you’ve just dug yourself into maybe.”
Kodo paused. “I’m not in a…”
“Dodge, you foal!” Sombra boomed, keeping Day Breaker from blasting Kodo right into the ground.
Summoning more shadows from the light, Sombra and Kodo tried to envelop Day Breaker with a series of shadow blasts. But the alicorn flew almost casually away, every shot going wide.
“I don’t get it,” Celine whispered. “Why isn’t he hitting her?”
“Because he keeps aiming where she is instead of where she’s going to be!” Skippy growled, before Day Breaker shot right by them, smirking cruelly.
“Oh, crap… DODGE!” Luke yelled, tackling Celine, Skippy and several of the diamond dogs out of the way before Sombra’s shadow bolts could hurt them.
“GUYS!” Kodo yelped, shutting off his bolts… and promptly getting Day Breaker's hoof in his face. He skidded across the ground, nursing a bloody nose, as Day Breaker smirked down at him.
“Are we done playing children’s games, Sombra?”
"Indeed we are," Sombra growled, lifting Kodo high into the air.
“Sombra, this better work,” Kodo warned.
“This is everything I’ve got,” Sombra admitted. “It has to work.” Out loud, he roared at Day Breaker. “TAKE THIS, YOU SUN-BUTTED WITCH!” And fired the biggest shadow bolt of them all…
Only for Celestia to disintegrate it with a beam of light that barely missed Kodo’s nose. Kodo and Sombra stared up at the beam as it rapidly vanished into the sun.
Kodo croaked in horror, before Day Breaker rose up into his field of vision.
“Just like you told you, Sombra,” she pointed out, indicating the tears in Kodo’s eyes. “Like a she-dog.”
“That’s not me!” Sombra insisted, even as his voice wavered. “That… it’s Kodo! He’s…”
"Oh, yeah, back the train over me, while you’re at it,” Kodo snapped.
Day Breaker hummed. “Odd. I almost feel bad. Usually, I just blow up whatever’s in my way. But with you, I swear Celestia’s gotten kind of attached. It’s almost like putting down the Royal Consort when he’s gotten too old.”
Kodo blinked. “That’s a thing?” he whimpered.
“A sad thing, admittedly,” Day Breaker noted. “But before we part ways, Sombra, let me tell you… a tail!”
Her tail was made of fire, but it still hit like a club, throwing Kodo across the wasteland and sending him careening off a rock and into a lake.
“The end,” Day Breaker noted cheekily.
“Son!” Luke yelped, before a pack link from Celine held him back.
“Dad, we can’t!” she insisted.
“But Kodo…” Luke whimpered.
The younger diamond dog didn’t appear from the lake. Not until Day Breaker descended after him. The water evaporated mere feet from her, eventually revealing Kodo sprawled out on the lake bed.
“Sombra,” Kodo thought as Celestia’s aura lifted him up. “Please tell me you got another trick up your sleeve.”
"Uh… do you mind Caritatin Hive being banished with us for 500 years?” Sombra offered.
Kodo growled, before Day Breaker’s voice cut him off.
“Oh, Sombra~,” she teased.
“I’m in here too, you know…” Kodo tried to say, only to scream as Day Breaker’s hoof sunk into his gut.
“Why are you hitting yourself?” Day Breaker asked, before kicking him with her back leg. “Stop hitting yourself!”
“I…” Kodo said, only to scream as she hit him right in the spine. “AUGH; YOU’RE THE ONE HITTING ME, YOU WITCH!”
“Oh, on the contrary, my furry friend,” Day Breaker replied. “You brought this upon yourself!”
With another devastating kick, Day Breaker launched Kodo out of the lake, and sent him tumbling right into Luke’s paws.
“Dad?” Celine whimpered, as the elder diamond dog stepped over his son, and marched on the advancing alicorn.
“F-Father?” Kodo mumbled.
“No,” Luke growled. “I’m not standing by anymore.” He glared Day Breaker down. “I stood by while Shiva was taken by these monsters. I stood by while Sombra took my son’s mind. I’ve stood by long enough.” His march turned into a run. “For once, I’m gonna…”
Day Breaker’s horn flashed. And with a blinding beam of light, Shiva’s mate was turned to ashes. Not even his armor survived.
Kodo and Celine stared, unable to comprehend, as their father’s ashes fluttered to the ground. Several diamond dogs howled in horror, while even others backed up in alarm.
“Dad…?” Kodo whimpered.
“Daddy?!” Celine started to cry, as Skippy and Shining pulled her away.
“Anyone else?” Day Breaker asked coyly, grinning at the changelings and diamond dogs specifically. “No? Just going to sit there cowering like the mutts you are?”
"RAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” Kodo roared, his pack link flaring out and linking with the diamond dogs, changelings, and even the ponies. He blasted forward, both armies collapsing as he pulled every ounce of power he could get...
Only for Day Breaker to bat him right through the ruined outer shell of Caritatin Hive.
No one dared stop her as she floated over to Kodo’s broken form, and enclosed her aura around him again. Kodo was barely able to open one eye to glare at her.
“It seems our game is over, Sombra.” Her eyes glowed maliciously. “But before I send you running home to Daddy…” She turned to the crowd of diamond dogs. “How about I give you some company on the way down to Tartarus?”
“NO!” Kodo stammered, trying to flail his broken body. “Don’t hurt them. I’m the one you want to hurt! It was all me!”
Day Breaker’s grin was worse than any villain Kodo had seen. “I know.”
Her aura brightened. Several of the diamond dogs tried to run, only to pause as a flash of white raced towards them. And Kodo and Sombra were only able to look on helplessly as Day Breaker fired a death beam for their pack.
But suddenly, the flash of white jumped into the beam. Day Breaker grimaced as white tendrils of light wound around her beam and entangled her horn.
Her beam condensed, turning into a pack link. And as pack links moved down to the diamond dogs, they gasped… and cheered in realization.
“M-Mom?” Kodo whimpered as the light stabilized and Shiva came into view. Her fur glowing brighter than it had ever glowed before. Her dark eyes narrowed at Day Breaker in pure anger.
“I have no idea what’s going on,”Shiva admitted. “But I do know that you don’t threaten my children and you do not attack my pack.”
“No?” Day Breaker growled back. “'You' should have thought of that before you stole what was mine!”
Lashing her hooves out, Day Breaker sent out pack links of her own. They caught the very dogs Shiva had just linked to. Shiva’s tail tucked. Her determined look shot through with horror.
“How…?” she stammered.
“I lack Celestia’s compassion and mercy,” Day Breaker boasted. “But I have more than my fair share of her memories. Including everything her faithful student sent me on your pack links.”
Shiva’s ears flattened. “Oh, son of a…” Shiva mumbled.
But before she could think of a good curse to explain her situation, Day breaker gave a yank upward. Shiva was pulled forward, struggling to reign her links in, even as they began to glow golden, and strange pulsing tumors began to run – from Shiva, to the dogs, to Day Breaker and back to Shiva.
“And also, the fact that all that magic you’re using?” Day Breaker noted. “All of it is stolen from its rightful owners. They might be willing to let you take it, but I’M NOT!”
The links turned red hot. And as the magic shot through Shiva and her dogs, they all began to wail in agony. Shiva’s arms began to burn, her fur turning ashy black as the magic seared into her skin.
“STOP IT!” Kodo wailed, trying to move his broken body. “SOMBRA, DO SOMETHING!”
Briefly, shadows churned around the aura holding them, but failed to break through the magic. At the same time, Shiva tried to cut the links, only resulting in a massive explosion. Kodo watched with horror as his mother careened out of the explosion, her beautiful fur marred and blackened by ash and soot. She hit the ground, just barely managing to roll back to her paws. Even as she snarled at Day Breaker in defiance, her legs still trembled and struggled to hold her up.
The dogs, meanwhile, whimpered and cowered, several of them burned by the power exchange as well. However, as Day Breaker glided down towards Shiva’s trembling form… Celine jumped to Shiva’s side.
“Please, Princess Celestia,” she whimpered. “Don’t do this!”
Day Breaker merely cackled, lighting her horn up. Kodo squirmed in her grip, while Shiva and Celine pack linked. But even then, it didn’t look like they stood much of a chance against the insane alicorn.
“No…” Kodo began to sob. “Please…!”
But just before Day Breaker could disintegrate Shiva and Celine like she had done to Luke… Shining Armor joined their pack link, and stood before Day Breaker in defiance.
“Princess Celestia,” he said. “Enough! Let it end!”
Day Breaker snarled down at the prince. “You would stand against your Queen?” She demanded.
“I stand against cruel and unjust punishment,” Shining insisted, indicating Celine. “She’s but a child. A filly and her mother looking for peace.”
Shiva and Celine smiled thankfully at Shining, and he spared them a small nod of support.
“Who needs peace?” Day Breaker demanded. “I can have it all! All I need to do is destroy everyone who stands in my way!”
Princess Scorpia joined Shining Armor. “Then you’re going to have to fight an awful lot of creatures,” she replied, before Orenta, and Skippy, and Dagda, and all the changelings and ponies and diamond dogs that could stand formed ranks against her.
Day Breaker glared down at them, unaware of Kodo pressing his claw to her force field and creating a link to that as well.
Finally, Day Breaker huffed.
“I can live with that,” she replied, igniting her horn, and preparing to blast the entire group.
However, Shiva was ready. A collective beam of magic – both from changelings, unicorns and diamond dogs alike – clashed against Day Breaker’s beam.
Yet… as they struggled against the angry alicorn’s magic, Day Breaker’s beam slowly pressed down on the group. Flattening them to the ground as the beam threatened to destroy them.
But even as Shiva valiantly tried to keep her pack alive… a second spell hit the beams, producing an explosion that threw Day Breaker into the air.
The force field holding Kodo popped. But as he plummeted, he lifted his broken arm.
"No, boy!" Sombra insisted. "You've done enough! Just..."
But Kodo was undeterred. And a pack link shot out, wrapping around Day Breaker’s hoof. Kodo yelped as his broken body bounced in the air, but Day Breaker didn’t have time to growl at him or try to jar the tendril loose.
Her eyes had turned to the one who had fired the spell: Princess Twilight Sparkle. Her eyes narrowed in rage, and the Elements of Harmony flickering behind her.
“The Princess Celestia I knew would NEVER be able to live with the deaths of her own kind on her head,” Twilight growled. “Pony, changeling, or diamond dog; you always told me that all life is valuable, and that friendship and love can solve any problem!”
“Sparkle…!” Day Breaker snarled.
“You taught me a lot, Princess,” Twilight admitted, her brow furrowing in conflict. “But now... it looks like it’s time for you to re-learn a lesson!”
Day Breaker tried to fire her spell, but Kodo yanked himself up, and her magic flickered as he clambered onto her. His bones creaked and cracked as he moved, and it seemed that he was only held together through sheer force of will. But it was enough for him to clamber onto Day Breaker's surprised back and lock his claws around her horn.
“NO!” Day Breaker bellowed. “UNHAND ME!”
“HURRY!” Kodo screamed. “I-I CAN’T HOLD ON!”
"GIVE UP, BOY!" Sombra bellowed. "I CAN'T BE TOUCHED BY THE ELEMENTS!" He desperately turned to Shiva. "Shiva, help your child! Help your son!"
Shiva obeyed on sheer instinct. Her pack link spiraled up, ready to seize Kodo, when...
“NO, MOTHER!” Celine yelped, snatching her mother’s arm down. Shiva whirled on Celine, her instincts fighting each other, before...
“SHE’S RIGHT!” Kodo agreed.
As the Elements of Harmony began to fire, Shiva and Kodo locked eyes. And though they weren’t linked, Shiva could see what her son wanted to say to her.
“It’s okay. You don't need to help me this time. I can handle this.”
The incident that started this whole mess came back to Shiva: her choice to try and protect her son against something that he didn’t need protection from. Giving Sombra the power to cause all this heartache and loss.
With the memory and his unspoken words soothing the motherly instincts inside her, Shiva let her pack link dissipate into sparkles.
And Day Breaker and Sombra let out twin roars of outrage, that quickly cracked into fearful screams as the Elements of Harmony spun them away into a vortex of rainbow light.