//------------------------------//
// Chapter 06 - Crash Landing 
// Story: Twilight Daylight: Dawn of Equus 
// by thedarktome 
//------------------------------//

Twilight "Arcadia Nova" Sparkle may have been gone, and her effigies that dotted Psera may be in the process of being torn down, but Dawn knew she was never truly gone. They would need her again, as much as they all needed the sun. They made a mistake. They had time to reflect on it, to think about it, to reflect on any pasts they may have had with Twilight. But instead, they thought about the one time she messed up, and used that as an excuse to rid of her.

Now here Dawn was, parentless. Legally speaking, she was supposed to go with Twilight. But she insisted she stay in Psera. Both Psera and IHT did not fight it, let alone mention it. Another big mistake. Narmeelah was going to pay for messing with her family. Dawn will fight until her last breath for tearing them apart.

After the trial, Dawn was flown all the way back to the castle, this time in a protected chariot that kept the cool air from beating into her coat, failing to cool down the heated rage she felt in her soul. A league of seventy Royal Elite guards surrounded her and the rest of the family in transit. Dawn did not speak, she did not look at them. Instead, she kept her mind on other things. Such as how she was going to get to that Diary of Narmeelah without being seen.

A plan needed to be made. A plan as deep and secretive as the depths of the sea. How was she going to do that, especially with the entire country out to try and kill her? It was a thought interrupted by the sudden voice of Merry, sweet, delicate, and careful.

"So, I know you're upset about your mother's exile."

Dawn blew a strand of mane from in front of her face. "That's putting it lightly," she grumbled.

"But we're going to help you move forward with your life in Psera."

Her Majesty Molten Ice asked, "What is it that you want to do with your life? You have so many choices."

"That's a lie, grandma, and you know it." Dawn turned around and glared at the both of them. "Be honest with me. I can't be what I want here, can I?"

"You can," Merry said. "You just have to try hard enough, and keep pushing forward."

Dawn turned back to the window. They could say what they wanted, but Dawn knew the truth. As the daughter to the rogue queen who betrayed her country, there was no way she could go to a college. Let alone...

"Tell the truth, Grandma." Dawn turned back around and faced them with the glare of an upset filly. "How many requests have came in for me not to attend high schools around Psera?"

She saw Grandma Ice swallow hard. "Well . . . there have been multiple reports and requests. I haven't had time to count. But if I had to guess, there have been over four hundred."

Four hundred. There were only four hundred and twenty-eight schools in Psera. She's only been back for a day and a half. Yet here they were already keeping her back from her rights in Psera. And legally, they could. The laws in Psera dictate that all ponies had the right to equal education, an easier choice of words translated from their legalese. However, those same laws never declared how that pony gained that education, a legal flaw that cost the educational experience all foals should've been granted from day one. Instead, here she was riding inside of an armored chariot surrounded by Psera's Elite Guard because the ponies on the ground wanted her dead, and she couldn't even go to any school in the country.

But it no longer mattered. Whether she was homeschooled in the castle or out beyond its walls. It would be lights out for Psera in two days. If mom said it'll happen, then it would. Question is, how bad would it hit? Would it be hard enough that the backlash would fall back on Dawn, or would it be so bad that Psera would barely notice? Okay, so maybe that last one was less than realistic, but Dawn was preparing for the worst.

The armored chariot touched down in the back of the castle, protected by brick walls older than time itself, and the doors for the Royalty were opened. Dawn jumped out first and made her way up to the back entrance, speeding away from her grandmother and aunt as far as possible before they could stop her.

Molten stepped out and called after her. "Dawn—"

"I'd like to be alone for awhile," she interrupted. They said nothing.

She walked into the warmth of the castle with her security on her tail. All eyes on her, and will be more in the future. The silence has never been more comforting. the way the castle blanketed her in a cocoon of tranquility and peace made her shiver in love and affection. She could feel her parents still here with her. Despite everything that has happened.

But Dawn knew they were gone. It would take a miracle to get dad back, and mom was across seas almost out of contact. She could still feel her, diving under the waves and coming back again with the movements of the whale, as if she herself was her mother.

Twilight left a mission for her. Figure out Narmeelah's plan. What was she up to? What were her steps? How exactly was she going to reset Equus?

"Princess Dawn!" Dawn blinked out of her thoughts and focused on an approaching Pseratep. The one who works with her sister Gardeen, what's-her-face. She was skipping up to her with the smile of a proud teacher, carrying a messenger bag.

Dawn stopped walking with her security. "Oh, hey uhh..."

She stopped in front of Dawn. "Hot Stop."

"Right. Sorry. How are you?"

"I'm doing great! Thank you for asking!" If she gets anymore excited, Dawn was sure she'd be sick for the first time in her life. "I wanted to speak with you for a second regarding your stay here at the castle. Gardeen had listed out a few things regarding visitation and quarters."

What? What was Hot Stop talking about, she was living with her Grandmother. Wasn't she? Hot Stop pulled out a document and held it out for her to take and read. "Gardeen just wanted to make sure you knew about your schedules for this upcoming plan."

"Plan for what?"

"Well for the school year, silly!"

School year? These were classes? Where?! Hold on for a minute.

"Where is Gardeen?" Dawn asked. She held up her ridiculous schedule. "I need to speak with her about this."

Hot Stop turned around and pondered, "She was in her office on the third floor last I saw her."

The third floor it is then. Dawn and her security walked around Hot Stop and continued on her journey through the castle before her family members could catch up. She and Gardeen had to have a little talk.

Hot Stop waved after her. "Okay, I'll just wait here then . . . or, walk around!"

Dawn didn't care what she did.



The sea was extensive, going for miles in endless directions. As far as Twilight could see, she was surrounded by blue waves and blue skies. The air was cold, chilling her to the bones. The water was of no assistance to her warmth. But at least she was close. For hours, she and her whale have traveled further and further away from the societies she has come to know as home. Equestria was no longer a choice. Psera was no longer a choice. Both of her families . . . gone.

A rage filled Twilight. A furious inferno that blazed within her heart. She wanted to spit that fire over Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and her cowardice brother who sat there and watched it all unfold. She was more a soldier than he ever was.

The whale she rode on the back of blew water from its spout, splashing Twilight in the face. She sighed in dismay and wiped it off.

"Yes, I'm awake. What is it?" She looked up and widened her eyes. For in front of her lied the biggest storm she could have ever witnessed. Dark clouds filled the skies. She could see lightning flash across the sky, rain fall from the heavens. How she didn't notice the wind picking up was a mystery.

The whale she rode upon suddenly turned around, swinging Twilight off its back and into the water. He dived deep below to get away from the lightning and thunder rumbling across the sky, fleeing for safety while his passenger had nowhere to go.

She splashed to the surface and bobbed with the waves. Great, now she was stuck in the middle of the ocean facing an incoming storm. There was no land in sight, and her only ride just swam away. If she had her magic, she could push aside those waves. Alas, it was stolen from her.

She's never felt more hatred for ponykind than now.

The wind blew against her. The swells of the waves ascended higher and dropped her harder until the rain hit. Saltwater splashed against her face and threw her under.. She swam back to the surface and breathed in a lungful before she was once again bashed with the water of Equus. The sky turned dark, bringing night to day. Her world tipped and moved with gravity while she tried desperately to stay over the surface.

She was so happy that Dawn stayed back on Psera. It was a lot safer than being out here in the middle of the ocean with nowhere to go in a storm.

Another swell lifted her and brought her up to the sky. Flapping her wings as fast as she could. She managed to free herself before falling back under the surface of the ocean. The sea was no longer hers to command. She was weakened. With only one working eye and small wings too weak to lift her fully off the ground, she was now at the mercy of the elements.

The thunderous lightning made her ears ring. Her hearing cut and disappeared while she was once more brought up and slammed back into the ocean. Fatigue filled her being. She was tired, exhausted. Her strength from having her magic taken away had yet to return to her. But she had to stay awake. At least a little longer. She swam back to the surface and stared up to the sky.

After all that she's done for this world and this was how it treated her? After saving it?! Giving up her life and family for it?!

Hate held at bay for years finally leaked from her eyes and washed away with the sea. When the waves lifted her once again, and the flashing of lightning reflected from her eyes, Twilight took in a deep breath.

"MAY FIRE RAIN DOWN UPON ALL WHO LIVE IN YOU!!!" She screamed, loud and proud, before falling victim to the waves of terror and pain, finding herself once more in the comfort of unconsciousness.



Gardeen's busy days used to consist of following Queen Arcadia everywhere she went. Filing her paperwork, scheduling her meetings, setting up appearances with ponies who didn't pay their taxes and credits to work out a payment plan with the rest of the federal government's internal currency system. But now, ever since Queen Arcadia's sudden abandonment and exile, her duties now consisted of busy work. She was in charge of multiple ponies who were now in charge of little Dawn's duties as Crown Princess of Psera. She would be the one to supply her security, to set up her life before it even began.

How boring.

Instead of being out there, here she was in her office surrounded by books and silence, typing away on her computer and watching the screen dance with time. She could use a break. She leaned back in her chair and covered her face. Why do the days have to be so long now?

A sudden knock pulled her from her thoughts. She quickly straightened up and placed her hooves on the keyboard. "Come in!"

The door was opened and in walked the pony of the year, glaring at her. "Whoa, Dawn, that smile's upside-down. Might wanna fix that."

Dawn turned around and told her security, "Give us ten minutes." Then closed the door before they could reply and faced Gardeen again. She held up the schedule. "What is this?"

Gardeen leaned back in her seat and folded her hooves across her chest. "It's a schedule, what does it look like?"

"It looks like a distraction." She placed it on Gardeen's desk and lowered her voice. "I don't have time for any of that. We're all in danger, Gardeen."

Oh boy, she already had something going on. Gardeen sighed and asked, "What's up, Dawn?"

"Okay, so . . ." she looked back to the door briefly. "You know how mom was always researching?"

Gardeen sighed and closed her eyes to keep those images of the past away. "I really don't want to talk about your mother right now."

"No, seriously. Listen, Gardeen. Because you're not going have this computer working in a few hours."

What? Gardeen raised her eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"Everyone has made a huge mistake. For one, Narmeelah's back; and two, mom's magic is about to disappear with her." Dawn grabbed a chair and pulled it over to sit in. "I came across something while I was away."

Gardeen leaned forward and asked, "Where were you anyway?"

"I was in some time pocket. Made by, get this, Narmeelah."

"Narmeelah," Gardeen repeated. "The Goddess? You've mentioned her three times now."

"Yeah, the entire country has. But check this out, I wasn't alone. There were maybe fifty other creatures there, all misplaced from time who admitted to the fact that they disobeyed some of Narmeelah's rules and were forced out of time. We were stranded on this weird island that would constantly change temperatures and weather. There was this weird pony there named Heated Wings. A Pseratep."

"There were other Pserateps there?"

"Yeah, like twenty."

Whoa, interesting. Gardeen leaned on her hoof. "What happened?"

Dawn raised her hoof above their heads. "There was this mountain that would glow at night. Like a deep red. So, First Light and I decided to check it out. After digging deeper and deeper in, we entered this cavern that was later discovered to be Narmeelah's planning place. She had pictures on the wall of mom, Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Shining Armor, and even cousin Flurry.

"Then, there was this." Dawn looked back towards the door before reaching into her wing and pulling out the map that mom gave her. She unfolded it and slapped it on the desk.

Gardeen picked it up gently, reading the drawings and Old Pseratopian. "This is your mother's hoof writing, Dawn."

"Yeah. She had a copy too. But the original copy was burned to ashes after First Light and I ran into Heated Wings, or should I say..." Dawn whipped out another paper, this time an impressive drawing of... "Shaoloh, the Daughter of Narmeelah."

Whoa, what?! Gardeen dropped the paper to the desk. "Daughter?"

Dawn eagerly nodded. "Yeah. I know. Makes sense though. If my family are descendants then she had to have children. First Light and I figured out Narmeelah's plan. She used us and our 'deaths' as a way to set Twilight off. There were diary entries that Narmeelah felt threatened by mom's power and influence. You know of mom's theory that Narmeelah was going to reset Psera."

Gardeen nodded slowly. "She brought it up a few times, but not too often through the years."

"Well she was right. But she was a little to late. Mom—"

First Light took over Dawn's body and cried, "Hey, let me talk for once, you've had the body long enough." She smiled her teeth to Gardeen and waved. "Hey, Garda."

She waved back. "It's Gardeen, First Light. How are you?"

"I'm doing great. We came across some nasty stuff on Founder's Island. Narmeelah's been planning something big. Mom said that Narmeelah would return, but she was late. Narmeelah's already here. I'm sure she even had a hand in our deaths.

"While we were on that island, we spoke with a few Pserateps and told them that we were attacked by Zebras, and they said that didn't make sense, because the Zebras served directly with royalty. So, unless they were given the order directly by royalty, then they had no reason to attack. Unless given a command by Narmeelah herself. She even wrote a prophecy just to get them to follow along with it."

"Thus starting a war..." Gardeen murmured to herself. "Between Twilight and the Zebras."

"Who are part of IHT. Which meant, Twilight would go against all of her family to get to those Zebras, which would explain the crossed -out faces in that cavern. She set it up so Twilight would fight her family."

But wait... Gardeen pointed out to the East. "They're still alive though."

First Light solemnly shook her head. "It didn't matter. Because the only pony who even had a leg up on Narmeelah's competition was Twilight herself. They took her magic and exiled her from all countries of the world, removing not only our promising defense against Narmeelah, but also our own defenses."

Fresh Dawn took back over and whispered, "Gardeen? Mom's magic is going to fly back to her. Then we're all going to be defenseless."

Whoa, whoa. Her magic was going to fly back? How is that possible, Gardeen thought magic was a static energy. "What are you talking about?" She asked.

"Okay, so I'm not sure how it works, that's more of mom's department. I'll research later, but she said since they took her magic and left her weak, the magic that she deposited over the years will return to her automatically to replenish her health."

Gardeen clearly still didn't understand. But she didn't like the way it sounded. "So . . . what does that mean for us?"

"Gardeen? Psera's about to fall back into the dark ages. The times before Twilight Sparkle ever arrived. And there's nothing we can do to stop it."