//------------------------------//
// Chapter 09 - Debrief 
// Story: Twilight Daylight: Dawn of Equus 
// by thedarktome 
//------------------------------//

This was their operations headquarters? This was where they decided to host all of their experiments? Sunset Shimmer was sure that this was all a setup now. After traveling across almost all of Equestria in a matter of a few hours, their journey finally ended with them standing at the front porch of a townhouse on the busiest street of Manehattan. Chariots rolled by, horns honked, ponies shouted at each other on separate sides of the road.

But what lied before them fell short of what was envisioned. As vast and expansive as Manehattan was, all they had to offer in terms of a laboratory was a townhouse?

Sunset shared a glance with Starlight filled with ambivalence. "What do you think?"

Starlight seethed and shrugged, a vague answer. "It seems more like a startup to me. Maybe give it a shot?"

Why not? If they had some kind of information regarding Twilight's magic lingering around Equestria, they had to gather that information for themselves and deliver back to higher authorities.

Sunset walked up to the door and observed it carefully. Based off its state and the rolls of news, the only contact here were with the newsponies. Sunset's hoof when she knocked was just another addition to the number of those who visited them.

They waited for a response under the sound of honking horns and passing ponies. Were they even here? Sunset glanced to Starlight. She shrugged. "Maybe try again?"

Before Sunset could knock, someone called out to them from the side.

"Hey." They turned to an alley, inviting them with the wave of an orange hoof before drawing back around the corner.

Sunset teleported into the alley, hopefully to catch a glimpse of who it was before they could disappear. But they were gone, leading into the backyards. As fast as they appeared, a shadow in the day.

"Strange," Starlight whispered.

Sunset trotted to her side. "Travel the mysterious alley?"

Once again... "Why not?"

In a flash, Sunset teleported to the back with Starlight. Empty. This was too weird. Why invite them then run away? Was this some sort of trap? A sick game to play on curiosity itself? Sunset's seen too many of those to be made out like a foal. She narrowed her eyes, checked her surroundings,

"Psst." They turned around and faced the back of a townhouse. A hoof poking out of a door beckoned them in. "In here. It's best no one sees us."

Okay, Sunset's had enough of these little games. "Before we go stepping into a house that doesn't belong to us to meet someone we've never seen, can we, at least, have a name?"

"Fine." Their contact leaned out the door with a bland expression. A mare. "Trust me, I didn't want to do this anyway. My name is Lead Writer, Assistant Researcher at Integral Magics. Please, come in and we can talk."

Finally, some professionalism. Lead Writer walked inside and flipped on a light switch.

"Your guests are here," She announced.

An overhead bay light shone on Snap Seed sitting behind a table using her magic to write on a few documents. A large grin adorned her features upon recognition.

"Yes, yes, hello!" She teleported across to shake Starlight and Sunset's hooves. "Greetings! I am Snap Seed. Thanks so much for coming."

Sunset wasted no time. "Why are we here?"

"Straight to business. I like that." Snap Seed teleported back to her desk. "Come, come, and I will explain everything."

Snap Seed teleported back to her seat in the desk. Taking on the form of a mare shrouded in the shadows, ready to conduct business. She was joined quickly by Lead Writer, standing to the side, watching the commune take place.

Snap's throat was cleared loudly, taking on the tone of a mysterious character. "Have a seat."

Sunset and Starlight cautiously sat down on the two pillows in front of the desk.

Starlight asked, "So what's up with the dark room?"

"Because what you are about to learn..." Snap Seed levitated a black case over the table that was dropped loudly between them. "...cannot leave this room. I have reason to believe that even light itself is a spy."

Snap pulled a key and unlocked the case. The lid was lifted, exposing its contents. Documents, photographs, folders, Twilight's face. Weird. Sunset really wanted to take this seriously, but so far everything here has been rather incredible.

"My name is Snap Seed. Expert magician, valedictorian for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, and Hall-Of-Famer for the first unicorn to ever levitate twenty items at once for the entrance exam."

Hall-of-Famer. How come Sunset's never heard of her? Sunset crossed her hooves and smirked sneakily. "Impressive."

"But what a lot of ponies don't know about me is this: I am Twilight Sparkle's biggest fan."

"I think a lot of unicorns are." Starlight Glimmer pointed to herself. "Myself included."

"Then perhaps you can answer this question." Lead Writer slid the case a little closer to them. A photograph was lifted and placed before them. "Queen Twilight 'Arcadia Nova' Sparkle's lightning trajectory was a little off during her attack on Equestria. While we were busy dealing with her attack on the ground, she had a little something going on in the air. Why?"

Sunset lifted the photograph for a closer examination. Whoever took this photograph was nowhere near Canterlot. The quality was awful and overall pixelated, but the circle pointed their eyes to what Snap wanted them to see. The lightning striking from the violet clouds overshadowing Equestria.

Starlight glanced up to Snap. "What is this?"

"That is one of Twilight Sparkle's bolts, controlled and manipulated by her. You can see her magic, the color violet. She turned her magic into lightning. But instead of aiming it at the princesses..." Snap slid a copy of the photograph their way, this time with a lot of notes taking up a majority of the page. "She's aiming directly over the entire city entirely."

Sunset sighed and rubbed her face. "Are you sure that was controlled by Twilight Sparkle? Not just a natural occurrence?"

"Absolutely!" Snap bounded out of her seat and jabbed at the photograph multiple times. "According to the wind, time of day, and direction of the clouds, this bolt was manipulated."

"Why are we here?" Starlight queried.

"Because of what that bolt, along with many others did. I tracked and followed it. Uh huh, yeah. It was certainly magical." Snap threw five more photos down in front of them erratically. "It streaked approximately eighty-six miles away from Canterlot and landed in the Forests of Marid, deep within the Badlands, through the mountains, and into an oasis on one of the many coasts of Equestria. Now, guess what I found there."

Sunset set down the photo she was holding and crossed her hooves again, nonplussed as ever. "What?"

"A rune."

A rune? Interesting. Starlight and Sunset glanced at each other before another picture was slid before them.  On the edge of a promontory, a large boulder engraved with a rune clearly glowing violet with magic stood tall. Carved into the stone surrounded by a scorch mark, it was evident that wasn't a natural occurrence.

Sunset grabbed the photo and examined it closer. "Where did you get this?"

"From the edge of Equestria; and there's more." She slid in photographs of runes, all the same burned into different structures and products of nature. "Canterlot, Manehattan twice, The Crystal Empire, they're everywhere."

Sunset turned around the photograph she was handling and announced, "We have to report this, Snap."

"Buh buh buh, nuh uh. No you're not. There's a reason I called you two here and not Celestia, Luna, and the entire Royal Guard with IHT. It's because I knew you two would trust me when I say this: Twilight Sparkle came here for something else. Something only she knew."

Starlight stood up on her hooves and pointed to the windows. "Do you have any idea on what's going on out there right now? All of IHT is under threat by—"

"Imminent decomposition of all matter? Yeah, I already knew of its possibility before the news even reached IHT. There's a reason for that too, but one step at a time, ladies, please. Sit."

Begrudgingly, Starlight dropped back down into her seat.

"The reason I called you here is because you're the only two I can trust in Equestria not to rat these out. Whatever these are for, they're not to suck the life out of everything. Because, for one, they're only on Equestria."

"How can you be sure?" Sunset asked. "Did you visit the other nations in a day?"

"No. Psera's currently in the midst of an uprising. Anything Twilight related is being destroyed. Heck, they tried to assassinate her daughter when she stepped off the boat." She pointed to the corner where a display screen sat hooked up with multiple of wires. "I managed to put together a device that rigs directly into their feeds. It's weak, but it's enough. I learned a little bit of Old Pseratopian. That, and there was footage of their Elite Guard throwing Dawn into a pod and racing away from Aquata Zero. There was also footage of Arcadia's statues being pulled to the ground, her flags being burned, and the castle itself being shot at.

"Next, we have all of Twilight's Tomes being removed from Psera and The Forgotten Lands, and being delivered to Equestria. I'm sure more of Arcadia's influence is being removed from wherever else it may lie. Doesn't seem like a lot, but that's all they had in the term of Twilight's magic. Anything else either wasn't reported or cared for."

"None of that proves that these runes aren't sucking the life out of our lands."

Snap Seed wasn't here to argue. Time was running short for all of them. Lead Writer turned to her and said, "Snap. We have to get moving."

She was right. Snap sighed in discontent. "Ladies. I know this seems like a threat to ponykind. But all three of us, we either know or know of Twilight Sparkle. She doesn't like to hesitate, not if she can help it. If she wanted to destroy Equestria, she had an open window and she took that window to target the Princesses. She was winning the fight against all of us. The only reason she stopped was because Dawn returned. But if she hadn't, we would've lost. During that time, runes were being placed all over this country. A complete set of thirty two hundred that surrounded only Equestria. Twilight wouldn't hurt Equestria for revenge. Even when she had the power to do so, she targeted only individuals. During her life, never full-on countries. You and I both know she would never do that. Why now?"

Snap stood up and lightly tapped at the photographs. Her eyes pleaded with them, singing stories of a future unknown. "I'm telling you, because you are the only ones here on this continent who could possibly understand. Celestia only sees fear, Luna, danger; Cadance, pain; Shining Armor, confusion. But you two, your minds are still on straight. Twilight Sparkle is trying to tell us something. Those runes are for defense, entrapping Equestria in a circle while we move about our daily lives. Whatever that something is..."

Snap slid over another stack of documents. One she flipped open to display charts adorned with red squiggly lines slowly climbing the sheet. Live maps. "...they're being measured and a certain peak is going to activate whatever these things do. The faster we find out what these runes are for, the faster we can prepare. Just don't tell the Princesses. Then all that Twilight has done to come to this act of defense will be for nothing."

Sunset wanted to talk, to sing all the information she knew thus far. Twilight's magic was nothing to play with. With the power of this magnitude was a death sentence for not only Equestria, but anyone in sight of the power.

But Sunset was also knowledgeable of Twilight's methods. Snap was right, this crazy mare sitting in the dark. If Twilight wanted to destroy Equestria, she would've done so. If she wanted to kill the Princesses, she could've.

Sunset stood up and sneered at Snap. "We'll think about it. Nothing concrete yet. This is critical information, Snap, with an equally as critical outcome for any paths we decide to take. We have to ponder this."

"That's all I ask for."



The Senate Board had gathered in Founder's Circle. Why here? Why after mom's attack where evidence of hate rained the streets. Where Pserateps peacefully demonstrated their wishes of her own banishment? Where signs were lifted of Fresh Dawn either being kicked off Psera, or much worse. Was it to scare her? To make Dawn feel guilty for some unknown reason?"

The crowd was tremendous. Pushing up against the security gates of Founder's Circle while the escort team of the Fire Family rode in behind them. Their pods were surrounded by Guards before stepping out. The moment Fresh Dawn was in sight, their shouting grew louder, the chanting more vindictive.

Merry placed a wing over Dawn, shielding her from their hurtful words and to keep her sights focused, and guided her quickly with the guard over to the buildings across the courtyard.

"Don't listen to them," she said.

It was a struggle not to. A challenge to rid of their echoing words from her mind. To fight against their slurs, she continued pushing forward, walking through the rest of Psera's observant leaders whispering amongst themselves during the journey towards the Circle's Hall.

She rode down the escalator in between Molten and Merry, eyes forward, ignorant to the stares of the rest of their party. She had a mission to complete. A mission her mother assigned her: Save Equus; and it all would start here. In a few hours. Start the countdown.

They stepped off the escalator and walked through the damaged corridor for the hall they were needed in, filled with evidence of mother's tirade. Holes and cracks from impacts. A picture frame of father upon his throne was all that remained on the wall. Unstained, unbroken, perfect for decoration. Hopefully, it would remain that way.

She could hear the representatives voice their confusions as to why they were summoned beyond the door, way before it was ever opened by the Guards standing beside them.

All rows of the stands were occupied, filled with the powers of Psera and their respective hosts who rose to their hooves, whose sights swiveled to them upon entry. More specifically, her. Dawn could feel the heat searing into her fur, the flames of fury and confusion. They didn't understand why her presence was needed.

Molten raised her wing and guided Dawn to one of the seats underneath the Senate Board watching them. She leaned in close and whispered into her ear. "We are only here to inform and devise a plan. Remember that. Keep it at the front of your mind."

Right. That's it. Inform and plan. Dawn nodded and walked up to her place under the Senate Board, which would be under Queen Molten Ice and next to Merry Fire.

Once they were all ready, Molten spoke. "You may be seated." All of them lowered to their flanks and focused on the Fire Family. "Thank you all for coming on such short notice. A shadow plagues our nation. A shadow of fear, hate, and sadness. Queen Twilight 'Arcadia Nova' Sparkle is no longer, King Shimmering Madun rests in peace. But the last survivor of hate and fear lives, Princess Fresh Veola Dawn."

The congregation either glanced or locked on her. She met their gazes with the strength of her mother and father both.

"I am aware that many Pserateps wish for Princess Dawn not to live among us on Psera. But it is with a strong backbone that I say this: She is a filly. A child. A foal with no parents. She has done nothing to us. She is as innocent as you are in this. I am ashamed of Psera, of all of you that I have to ask of this. Leave my granddaughter in peace.

"Now, as for the reason we are here. A very important discovery has been made and unraveled that will permanently affect all of us. To explain further, I now call upon Princess Fresh Veola Dawn to take the stand."

She knew this was coming. Why come if she didn't have to speak? Dawn rose from her seat and walked around Merry for the steps leading up to the Speaker's podium. Molten nodded to her and stepped back so Dawn could take the mic and become the center of attention to the eyes of all Pserateps everywhere, or anyone watching.

"Thank you, Queen Molten Ice," she said. "Before my mother was expatriated, she left us all a message: that we made a mistake. That an ancient evil will rise, that a deep darkness would plague our lands. That her magic, services, and protection will no longer be available to any of us. She was right.

"Upon further thought and investigation, this darkness is what she has given us. It is no spell, it is no mere descant, sung by a mage. It is a process mother and I called Multifarious Transmogrification. When matter is able to change shape multiple times into multiple forms. Mother used this method constantly and taught me how to do the same, but only to an extent that allowed me to. My mother's magical skills were beyond understanding, even for me. But this skill, it is something that continues throughout life until it is disengaged."

Dawn cleared her throat. "Now, this is important for a few reasons. My mother used this skill to give us all what we have today in the form of magical energies. From decades ago when she first set hoof on Psera, this was used to give your land, food, and material to build shelter, as well as power. Multifarious Transmogrification was used to fix your homes and heal the land of all countries after Maheera Vs. The World, and magic is what it has been all this time. Even the seats you sit upon are magic, just in a different form.

"But as I've come to realize, magic is conscious. It has a mind of it's own. It follows the laws of nature, a law so ancient and overlooked that even Equestria doesn't know of this: magic can fade. It can return to its original caster if the spell will allow it. Multifarious Transmogrification is one of those spells."

One of the diplomats raised their hoof from the crowd. "What do you mean, Princess?"

"What I mean is that we have not only damned my mother, but also ourselves. By allowing Arcadia Nova to fall and exiled her away from all of our shores, this magic that she has gifted us will return to her side within a matter of hours to heal her, and there will be nothing we can do to stop it.

"All of what we have built using the material that rooted back to my mother's arrival will break down into magic and return to wherever she is, from all countries. Our Aquatas which were created by steel may be able to survive this, but that has yet to be determined."

"LIES!"

All turned to the mare who cried that word. She rose from her seat in the congregation and pointed down to Fresh Dawn. "You lie, Dawn! All of this isn't magic! It's real! This is real wood, real metal!"

"I assure you that what lies before our eyes is fake. Transmogrified to deliver the feeling of comfort and safety. What Psera had in the early twentieth century we will never truly get back. Not without serious alchemy and magical abilities."

One of the seniors sitting above and behind Dawn asked, "Would you be willing to give us such a demonstration of this Multifarious Transmogrification, Princess?"

There lied the problem. "As much as I'd love to demonstrate this skill, I cannot control that kind of magic. I can only control a different form of magic that doesn't exist here on Psera. I'm different from other ponies."

"And how is that? Last I checked, all magic was the same and had the ability to be controlled."

"May I remind you that we are here to devise a plan to contest against this imminent disaster, not contest my magical abilities. Let's stay focused, please." Dawn turned back to the congregation with a sense of urgency. "Arcadia's warning was over twenty hours ago. If she was correct, then the very place we call home will collapse before morning. We have little to no time to waste. I suggest we prepare rations and temporary homesteads. But if worse comes to worst, I'd like to propose an international migration."

Muttering and words were exchanged among the stand. A migration? Why partake in something so unimaginably large?

Molten leaned into Dawn's ear. "An international migration?"

"Just in case," Dawn whispered back. She raised her voice. "My fair Pserateps. As of this time, all options are on the table. We do not have time to waste."

One of the Pserateps, a stallion with a bushy beard, rose from his seat. "I agree with the princess. We should prepare rations and temporary homesteads immediately."

"But there is still no proof of this 'threat,'" another argued.

Oh, when will they learn? Words fly from their muzzles with little to no merit. Fueled by lies and distrust.

"The proof that you seek," Dawn replied. "...will be when ponies lose their homes, their food, their power, their jobs, their money, and, eventually, their lives. Are we willing to take that risk? We cannot possibly lose our sense of empathy and forethought as the leaders of this nation. I may be young, and be the daughter of whom many of you refer to as a traitor to Psera. But there's one thing I do know that many fail to understand. I know my mother. She doesn't lie. She doesn't misinterpret. She doesn't deliver empty threats. For the last time, trust my mother's warning that Psera is in danger. We must act quickly and not argue."

For a time, the hall was silent, filled only with the careful thought processes of her fellow race.

"I agree with Princess Dawn." All eyes turned to...Secretary Manny?! When did she get in here?!

She strolled from the rear entrance and up to the point of attention. "Through all the years I've known Queen Twilight 'Arcadia Nova' Sparkle, her word is a truth in some form or fashion. If she believes something to be a threat, then we are warned of such threat. The CPC Disaster was one such event where we all learned that even one of her smallest missteps have massive consequences. She warned us about the Zebras and a possible imminent attack from them. She was right. She warned us of a dark ancient evil that threatened the world. She was right. Now, she's warning us again, and we don't have a lot of time to react. Must we question something that has the possibility of not only critically impairing our defense, but also the imminent safety of our loved ones?"

Time wasn't on their side. Danger lurks through the shadows in an endless room full of harmless ponies who dared question against a power they fail to fully understand. Yet, here they were, doing just that, even with this threat latching at their throats, lifting them off their golden ground, and dangling them over the ledge of death, wingless.

"As much as I would love to take action," Judge Mahtoo said from the high rise. "We need evidence to make any moves. Is there anyway to measure or recognize this occurrence?"

There could be a number of ways. But, unfortunately, Dawn knew none. All she had was her mother's word, and, clearly, it wasn't enough. A word is only as good as its proof. With none, Dawn had no hope in getting this initiative in action.

"We would have to outsource to Equestria," Dawn answered. "As the apex of all magic and understanding, they would transfer any knowledge possible to observe Queen Arcadia's magic. If they could remove it, they could track it."

"Then we will have to establish contact with Equestria as soon as possible."

Yes. As soon as possible. But would soon be enough to reach their goal of security? Will soon keep them safe? Will soon keep them warm at night?

Time has never been more important than now for Equus. The term soon fell short for how much of it they had left.