//------------------------------// // Meet Your Maker // Story: Daybreakup // by Str8aura //------------------------------// There was always somebody following Celestia. One could call it near obligatory, but Celestia was royalty- By kingdom law it was obligatory. Just when she thought she had escaped her everpresent companions on the way back to her room, she happened to run into a guard all too happy to fall in line next to her and immediately begin offering up his services. "Your Majesty! Where do you need to be escorted?" The guard barked. Celestia shut her eyes, putting on a pleasant smile. "I am simply returning to my quarters. You may be at ease, my little pony." She kindly answered, not slowing her pace. "Unthinkable." The escort responded, struggling to keep up with the princess' much longer legs. "My post must always be with you. I will ensure your rest is unmolested." "I thank you, but... That is not necessary. I do not wish to be in the company of anybody, even through closed doors." The Princess insisted. The guard seemed to falter, put off by a command violating his core tenants. "Your majesty..." He began. Celestia put hammer down. "My little pony." The imposing princess turned, looking down at her escort with a commandingly straight face. "You are to return to your quarters. You are to tell the Day Guard that I do not wish to be disturbed for the remainder of today. Should you follow these instructions, you will be rewarded handsomely. Do you understand?" The guard paused, wiltering under a millennia-honed eye, before nodding solemnly. "Very well, your majesty. I believe you can protect yourself." Celestia's warm smile returned. "I thank you." The two parted ways, and Celestia sighed as she finally reached her private quarters, while the Guard spontaneously received an excellent fanfiction idea. "Our love must not be disturbed!" Cried the Solar Princess as she cast away the judging eyes, desperate for a night of passion with her subject... In the real Princess' room, preparations were being made for a very strange ritual indeed. Her doors were locked, by every normal means and quite a few abnormal ones, before Celestia removed all pillows from her grand beds and set them on the floor. She took her seat on the impromptu pillow pile crosslegged (A difficult pose for an equine), and levitated over a blank scroll, quill, and inkwell. In the modern era, many new improvements had been made on the art of calligraphy, but Celestia was nothing if not a sucker for formality and permanence. Quill to ink, pen to paper. She wrote small in the very top right, leaving as much room as she possibly could. Then she set the scroll in front of the pillows on the hard floor. Now, the hard part. Celestia took a breath, lifting her chin to the air and shutting her eyes. Her heartbeat calmed. All auditory disturbances had been removed from the room. Her head ebbed and lulled. She felt as if she was falling asleep, drifting out of her own body... Awake. Her eyes shot open in a wave of sparks, many of which landed threateningly on the beanbag chair. Her lips peeled back, revealing a new set of yellowing fangs, and she snarled with a huff of blazing hot air from her flared nostrils. Like a wild animal she rose onto her haunches and scrambled for purchase on the pillows, leaping off and spreading her wings. Her entire fur coat was curling, turning a buttery yellow from the intense heat she was putting off, threatening to burn off completely as she flew like a shot towards her own bed and latched onto the frame with her teeth. The wood chipped and snapped as she whipped her head back and forth, finally tearing off the leg and moving onto the sheets. Midway through her tantrum she froze, head perking up and shooting towards the door. Escape! The only trace of Celestia was her vibrantly multicolored hair floating like a body of water, and even that was quickly corrupted by flame, spreading through it like a disease and turning it into a plume of orange struggling to keep up with her head as she flew for the door. She slammed into it and threw her entire body again and again into the frame in a wild attempt to break the charms that had been put on it. When that did not work, rage siphoned her wit and she fluttered through the room like a caged moth trying to break free of a bottle. After several minutes of this she began to calm, still snarling and sparking but undeniably catching her breath when she found nothing substantial to take her anger out on. Her nose twitched and she looked back to where she had started, noticing for the first time the note with her own scent on it lying on the ground. Daybreaker slunk back, poised low to inspect the note with narrowed eyes. I'm the only one who can enchant against myself. It read in impeccable calligraphy. You're not getting out. Now talk to me. I know you're an intelligent creature. Tell me what you want. Daybreaker's magic was much more volatile than Celestia's, despite coming from the same horn. It fizzled and cracked as she lifted the pen, snapping it in two and writing with the still dripping end. All the same- At the end of the sentence the rest of the quill caught fire and turned to ash this close to an enraged Sun God. I want out. I want out I want out I want out I want out Celestia woke up. She didn't know how long she had been out, but Daybreaker clearly hadn't relinquished control easily- the room was in tatters, and several small fires still blazed, including the one at the end of her rear she quickly sat down to put out. Celestia took a deep breath, running a hoof through her hair to stabilize its wild motions. She would need heavy grooming by the time this was done, but it looked like she had gotten some modicum of success- sure enough, the note had been written on. Rambled on, more like, filled front to back with the same sentence in paper-tearing letters, but this is why she had brought extras. Celestia fetched a replacement quill. She would get through to her other half if it damn well killed her. I understand you want out. I don't like imprisoning you. But you're a danger to me, to yourself, and to my subjects. I Ccan't move. I can't think I can't talk I can't I can't Let's calm down. Steady your quill- I'm giving you this chance to defend yourself because you deserve the same chance every pony does. I want to help you. I don't want your help. Frankly, you don't have a choice. Who else knows you exist? Your sister. She knows what that blasted Nightmare does to ponies. I don't want her to have to put up with another one of her own creations. She's guilt ridden enough as it is. This is my problem to s Celestia tore the paper up, starting a new one. Must choose her words carefully. I don't want her to have to put up with another one of her own creations. She's guilt ridden enough as it is. You're my responsibility. I'd slit our own throat if we weren't immortal. Bless our mother above for that. I can think of a healthier outlet than that. I want you to have the same freedoms I do, but I don't know if I can trust you. You can't. If there's a way to make you hurt, I'll find it. You can't defeat me by pulling other ponies into this conflict. I'm sorry for what I've made you become. I remember Nightmare Moon all too well, and the idea that I could have turned into someone like her is an idea that my entire kingdom once lived in fear of, in those years when the Nightmare wasn't just a fairy tale character but a very real threat. I let them rub off on me, and when I found out I had been infected in a similar way I did everything in my power to repress you. I didn't see I was making my own monster, doing the same thing to myself I had done to my sister. But I know you can be someone different. This is my olive branch, and I can only pray you take it. When she returned, no response had come. Passing control almost completely nyxed Celestia out of existence, but felt very much like going to sleep. Giving- not losing, but giving- that complete control to someone as uncontrollable as Daybreaker was the biggest show of trust she could imagine. But when Celestia tried to fade back into that sleep, tried with all her might to slip into zen and hand control to the creature that normally spent all hours fighting for existence, she found for once it was silent. The sun was lowered from her bedroom that night. Day Court the next day was cancelled, as well as the next day after that. For two days Celestia remained vigil in her bedroom, holding only curt conversations with those who checked up on her save reassurances to Luna. She read her personal library of poetry and ate the food she was brought, but for two days straight refused to even entertain the thought of leaving her post. And she waited. 'Robins will wear their feathery fire' 'Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;' Celestia fell asleep on the third night with the poetry book gently lying on her barrel. When she woke, a neat note had been scribbled into the margin above the excerpt she had fallen asleep on. I regret to say I believe you. Any progress was progress. Celestia quickly fetched a quill from her bedside, still dripping ink. I need to know I can trust you. You are still a princess, and a princess' word is gospel. Luna once swore she would never betray the Crown. You are not Luna. Daybreaker slowly exhaled when she read those words, calmly bringing quill to paper. Her magic no longer sparked, but flowed. Then I swear, by my name and yours, if you give me my freedom I will not use it to put any of our subjects in danger. The mind of an Alicorn opens infinitely inwards, capable of thought leagues beyond the most intelligent mortal. Few beings in existence could claim to be as old as Celestia and few had seen just as much as she had, as voracious for knowledge as she had been as a filly. Deep within her psyche, roots stretched and latched onto her thoughts with such an iron grip it had long since become a part of her. The parasite fed on her emotions, feasting and burrowing further and further over its long lifespan, until grinding to a halt... The Nightmare dislodged itself, moving for the first time in centuries. It tore away, and miraculously accomplished something which Luna's own had never. Nightmare Moon was defeated through force and magic ripping it asunder. Daybreaker was defeated through a realization so crushing it could only declare checkmate- It had gluttoned too much. It was now a pony. Daybreaker certainly didn't feel more civilized, but she at least wanted to look the part. "I don't believe it, Miss. You're a spot-on match for Her Majesty's dimensions." The Nightmare spawn still exuded a heavy aura of humid heat that gave her a golden glow in the dark, but she was calm enough now to wear cloth without fear of it catching fire, and intended to take advantage as such. When night fell, her first act as an official citizen of reality was to find an outfit- there was no need for disguise, now that she owned a body of her own. She had more personal reasons for this choice. "I'm inclined to believe it." Daybreaker mused. Her voice was deep and grumbling, but twinged with amusement. It had been a long time since she had spoken words rather than snarled, but her vocabulary was still Celestia's- She did not intend to be an animal anymore. Daybreaker had never been able to 'break out' per se anywhere but in Celestia's own quarters when she could let her guard down, a trend which forever confused the poor maids who had to wonder how Celestia constantly set fire to her bed sheets (Many a rumor had started around this, most of which involved her genitalia in some unflattering way). Seeing the outside for the first time, passing under lamps across the dark streets of an unknown city on the way to the nearest Rarity For You chain felt... peaceful. She didn't know where she was, but Canterlot Castle was barely a blip in the distance behind her, and that satisfied her. The mare working early morning's first shift wiped sweat from her brow as she helped Daybreaker fit on her suit, one using the princess' dimensions but- Something Daybreaker had heavily stressed- Of a make and fabric entirely unique. White with gold trimmings- not the most creative, but something her. Daybreaker's lip vacantly twinged as she stared ahead patiently. Poems, art, music... there was so much she wanted to try, and that she had only been exposed to through Celestia's bedroom. The world outside held more than cake and queen sized beds, she was sure of it. Daybreaker and Celestia stared at each other in disbelief, neither quite sure of what had just happened. For creatures of their ilk, disbelief at all was rare. "I'm free." Daybreaker looked down over her body, a near identical copy of Celestia's save the singed coat, predatorial features, and plume of impossible fire that sprouted from her scalp. And Celestia looked at herself, and saw through a songbird through the visage of a hawk. "I want you to leave this place and never come back." Celestia replied, parsing her confusing thoughts into words with the skill of a diplomat. "You deserve it." "Miss?" Daybreaker started, barely holding her flames down as she turned to the pony crouched at her side, fitting her suit. "Yes?" "Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you!" The pony stammered, clearly intimidated. "I just... you're an Alicorn. I-I didn't know there was a... fifth? Sixth?" "Be at ease." Daybreaker assured. "I am.. not from here. Let us leave it at that." The pony warily watched her toothy smile as she worked. "Those are... some fangs. You part Diamond Dog or something, miss?" "I haven't the foggiest clue what I am." She amusedly noted. "I look forward to finding out." She turned back to the pony. "After all, I seem to have quite a bit of time on my hooves." Daybreaker perched on the windowsill, hooves stabilizing herself on the frame as she breathed in the cool night air. Her nostrils twitched. From hatred of her host she had been born. Going into that hatred, it seemed, would not be her fate. "I will not forget this fast." Daybreaker craned her head back to Celestia's bedroom. "Maybe you couldn't save Luna. But as far as I'm concerned, you're even. Maybe you'll take that to heart more if it comes from yourself." Celestia broke her gaze, turning away. The seamstress stood up with a breath. "Well, your suit is complete. Wool seemed best for someone of your... physical attributes. Nearly completely fireproof, assuming its not pushed too far. May I ask what you intend to use it for?" Daybreaker raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "I supposed I would wear it." The seamstress laughed unsurely as Daybreaker stepped off her podium and withdrew from Hammerspace a sizable bag of coins, levitating it to the worker. "Thank you for your service. I hope we see you again soon, Miss...?" The ex-parasite didn't think she could say much else that would soothe Celestia's doubts. Until recently, those doubts had been the Nightmare's only diet. "You are loved more than you know." Celestia's other half admitted, slit eyes turned low. And she took flight. The alicorn nodded politely at the seamstress. "Daybreaker. You may call me Daybreaker."