//------------------------------// // Chapter 17: Control // Story: Cracking Dawn // by Didily Winkles //------------------------------// Chapter Seventeen Dawn woke up to a constant wing flapping in her face. April was flapping away with a silly grin on her face, asleep and sprawled open, lying in her own drool. In conquest for dryer bed, she set to invading Dawn's bed territory. Dawn blinked away the sleep in her eyes, focusing on the clock on the other side of the room. She slipped out of bed and quietly left April to her dreams. Her stomach did not agree with her on last night's choice of food; it groaned for some healthier choices in the future. As soon as the bedroom door was closed behind her, she teleported to the dinning hall with a pop and flash. Princess Celestia and Luna were both sitting at the table, looking at her as if she had interrupted their conversation. "Good morning!" Luna greeted loudly. "Not hung-over. I didn't drink." Dawn revealed. As Luna drooped, Celestia rolled her eyes. "Your name isn't so ironic any more is it? I just raised the sun a couple minutes ago." Princess Celestia chuckled. "Did you talk with April?" "Well, no. Not really, drunken April fell asleep in my arms, sober April might be a bit harder to talk with." Dawn said, taking a seat at the table. "She was a bit hysterical last night anyways." Silence grew between the three ponies at the table. I think I missed something. It wasn't until after the cook came in to take their orders that any one said anything. "So Dawn…" Luna began, looking cautiously at her sister. "Do you still feel different?" "Hmmm?" "Last night you did a spell that would have exhausted you normally..." Luna clarified. "I do not think this is the best place to discuss such things." Princess Celestia interrupted as she shuffled in place, scooping some of her morning cake to her mouth. "And where would be the best place to? Something is happening to Dawn and I want to know what." Luna said defensively. "Well… err… I feel fine." Dawn mumbled as she pondered the question. It completely left her mind last night. "So I guess that is different…" "Have you noticed anything else?" "I planned to study it after I settled things with April." She admitted. "I figured I would start with draining myself of magic any way possible. See how much my magical well has expanded..." I could test that spell ... "I'll probably ask Twilight to help me. Her mind is probably rolling around just as much as ours." She sai, addressing Luna. "Most sensible." Luna agreed, nodding. Princess Celestia sat still, hiding any sign of discomfort. "Honestly, what harm could it do if you just told us?" Luna suddenly snapped at Celestia. "Celly! I know you know what's going on." "Poor Luna, spent all night looking for my diaries. Getting a little bit frustrated?" Princess Celestia said with as much couth as a teenage filly. Luna, just a little bit larger than a normal sized mare, bit her lip as she glared at her sister. She then pounded on the table with her hooves in anger before disappearing in a puff of the void. Princess Celestia gave out a labored sigh as the smoke of her sister dissolved into the castle's draft. "I'm sorry Dawn." She said after a moment dedicated to her thoughts. Dawn just shrugged it off as the two sisters typical bickering. She has seen them do it before. "As much as I want to know the answer as well..." She started to say not really knowing where her words were going. "...I'm just going to have to trust you know better, faith and all that junk." She finished saying, looking back into Princess Celestia's eyes. "I don't know anything, Dawn." She rebutted with a straight face. "If you are going to lie to a habitual liar you should at least put effort into it." Dawn chuckled as she repeated Celestia's words back to her. "I do consider you to be one of the most honest ponies I know." She said with the same seriousness of the moment previous. "Then I know I truly am good at it." Dawn said, pounding her chest like a proud pegasus. Princess Celestia gave a light laugh then regressed into thought as her enchanted fork fed her bite after bite of cake. They ate in silence, both not really minding it much. Dawn thought it strange to still like something she had millions of pony life spans worth. Silence was still precious to her for what ever reason. She let her morning set mind wander until her plate was empty. She excused herself as she seeped back into the void, gently placing herself in her bedroom where a pegasus slept. She had rolled to the other side of the bed, wings were now tucked in. She gave the pegasus a quick inspection and resisted the urge to cuddle up next to her. She was swept up back into the void, finding footing in the castle's kitchen. "Lady Dawn. How can I be of service?" Chef Stew greeted, bowing. The stove behind him was alive with a red flame. "Please don't let me keep you from what ever you're working on." Dawn said quickly, noting that he was probably burning something. He got up quickly to his stove and flipped the contents of the pan on the stove in the air. "I was just wondering if I could make something myself." "Uhh… By all means milady but I can certainly make you anything you desire." "This is a less than palatable dish and I've become a master at making it." The Chef looked momentarily insulted but he quickly turned back to his work. "If I can be of any help just tell me." Dawn searched the kitchen, opening the pantry doors and cupboards for the things she needed. Blender, eggs, heavy cream, radishes, potatoes, nuts of all kinds, beans of all kinds, grass, hay, and one glass. Dawn smiled as her magic pulled all her ingredients to the counter closest to her. She drained the can of beans then dumped it in the blender while adding the heavy cream, and four crack eggs in. She pushed her magic through the blender to turn its contents into a pink slurry. All the while the potatoes were being skinned and cut into sloppy slices. The grass and hay were being washed in a nearby sink. Chef Stew watched the practiced magic work around him. He put his pan on the side and turned his attention to the pink unicorn. "What in blazes are you making?" "Protein shake. My Dad's recipe." Dawn answered as she stopped the blender and added the rest of the ingredients save the nuts into the blender. When the lid was replaced the blender came back to life, turning the pink shake into a deceptively chocolate looking color. When the shake turned into a smooth solution, Dawn poured the drink into the glass and sprinkled nuts on top to complete the deception. She giggled at herself. "Here, clearly some one has made an enemy of you so add this." Chef Stew added a small sliced strawberry on top. "There looks delicious… if they didn't see what went into it." "Thanks." Dawn said as she put everything away where she found them. "Celestia help who ever has to drink that." "I added grass for flavor." Dawn chuckled. "Good call milady…" "It's for April." "Ahh, that explains it then. For months the Princesses have had me 'fattening' up her food, kinda hard to do with salads." Chef Stew explained, recollecting the memory of the request. "Going for a more direct approach." He went on to nod in agreement. "If you ever need to make that again my kitchen is at your beck and call." "Much appreciated." Dawn said as she finished up cleaning her mess. She picked up the large glass full of the deceptive brew and sunk into the shadows with drink in tow. Her hooves clopped on the ground as her bedroom fell into place around her. April churned to the sound of hooves on the ground. "Good morning." She groaned into the sheets of the bed as her eyes creaked open. "Good morning!" Dawn greeted brightly, causing April to bring her hooves to her ears in pain. "It is nearly eight o'clock, Friday morning, and I made you breakfast. She added just as brightly. "Breakfast?" She asked, peaking her head out from under her hooves. "Oh, yes!" Dawn exclaimed as she placed the large glass on the night stand. "Something truly special. I made you something the Wonderbolts themselves drink for hangovers, fatigue, sore muscles, illness, sleep depravation, depression, being unmotivated, having lack of blood flow, too much blood flow, constipation, diarrhea…" "I get it…" April deadpanned as she crawled over to inspect the magical brew. "Speaking of the Wonderbolts they are in town and we are going." Dawn said sounding excited as April picked up the glass with her hooves. "I haven't been since I was a foal on my dad's back. You know... when he dropped me..." Dawn shook her head free of the harrowing experience. "But Twilight taught me a cool spell to walk on clouds. It'll be fun!" "I really should be studying..." She replied as she started to sniff the drink in her hooves. "What is this?" She asked when she smelled nothing. "Breakfast, I've made this hundreds of times." Dawn answered smiling back at her. "It looks good… but it's warm." "I’m told it's best warm. Drink up!" Dawn willed her magic, tipping the glass into April's mouth. Only to pull it back once she was met with protest. "Holy Celestia what did I just swallow?" April asked while holding a hoof to her mouth as if to stifle back her gag reflex. "Down the hatch." Dawn bid, before using her magic to pour the drink down April's throat while at the same time holding her protesting hooves down. When April's unwilling cheeks filled up, Dawn used her magic to massage April's throat to let down the ill-flavored brew. Dawn giggled at the pain she felt for doing such a thing to April. I haven't had to do this in years. Oh Celestia I hope she forgives me. Once the glass was empty, she returned April's faculties and teleported the glass to the kitchen sink to clean itself. "Try to keep that in." She said more casually than she thought possible for the moment at hoof. "Don't EVER do that again!" April snarled. She looked angry, disheveled, violated like so many ponies before her that Dawn had done that to. Her wings were in full attack mode, extended instinctually in front of her. "You have done so many things for me. This is one thing I can do for you." Dawn replied as she poked April's exposed ribs. April recoiled to the other side of the bed on Dawn's touch. Dawn closed her eyes to the painful sight. "Eat right. Make yourself healthy. And I will never do that again." Dawn opened her eyes to look at the recoiled April strait in the eyes. "I already told you I am willing to sacrifice the one thing I cherish most for you." Dawn turned around to leave the room. "I'm told it is worse coming up than going down so don't chuck that up." Dawn said coldly as she left the room. Dawn let out a heavy sigh in attempt to assuage the agonizing feeling that had filled her. It's for the best. I knew that wouldn't go swimmingly. She walked down stairs and pulled over her book from her desk. Books are good. They let me forget for awhile. She hopped on her couch and assumed her reading position, letting her book float above her head. Several pages later, April came out gently flying through the air. She landed just before the balcony doors. Dawn watched her open the doors and fly away without a single glance back. Dawn felt tears run down her cheek but paid them no mind and returned to her book. ------ It was nearly noon and no sign of April at her tower. Dawn was keeping track of her through the void the best she could. Her magical perception had increased many times from what it used to be but that was something to study some other time. It was a quiet morning of reading, finishing one book and starting another. A near frantic knock appeared at Dawn's door that led down the spiral stair case. "Come in." Dawn called out in response as she lowered her book to see who it was. "Milady, Princess Celestia requests your presence in the throne room right away!" The servant said while gasping for breath. "Alright. Thank you." Dawn said before teleporting to Princess Celestia's throne room with a flash and pop. "What's the matter?" She asked once catching the princesses worried eye. "Where is April?" Princess Celestia asked in a near frantic tone. Dawn closed her eyes and extended her senses to April for the dozen-th time today. "Down that hall?" Dawn raised an eye brow at the sun princess as she pointed to a closed door. "Good. You will not be in here when she gets back are we clear?" "Alright…" "I gave her the week off to be with you. Why is she working here?" She asked, her eyes darting up and down Dawn's body as if the answer was written some where. "I ended up relenting to her demands and putting her to work." "Could be because she's mad at me? I forced her to drink a protein drink. She didn't care for that much." Dawn flinched as Celestia winced. "I was going to find her for lunch in a bit…" "Okay." Princess Celestia closed her eyes to think. "Change of plans. You will put everything right before she yells at another noble. I do not want to see her back in this throne room until then are we clear?" Princess Celestia ordered as casually as ordering a slice of cake. How am I going to do that? "Alright." Dawn turned around to the door she previously directed to. Something is telling me, walking to her would be best. She broke into a trot with purpose as she followed her horn to where April was. April's saddle bags were empty and Dawn could only assume she was on the way back to the throne room. She ignored Dawn all together as she started to pass her. "April? Mind if we talk?" Dawn asked in such a sincere voice that it surprised April and even herself. April paused in mid step to turn around to face Dawn. "I'm busy." She said coldly only to turn back away, quickly. "It'd be real quick I just want to take a little walk with you..." Dawn plead, ignoring the angry glare she had received. "I said ‘I'm busy’." April repeated, not turning around this time. "It won’t take long I promise." Dawn pleaded again, as she skipped up to April's side. April stopped to look Dawn in the eyes. "You're not going to leave me alone are you?" "Never." Dawn answered, sternly. April let out an ebbing groan. "Fine..." She relented while still giving Dawn a nasty glare. "How are you feeling?" Dawn asked, waving a hoof to a nearby door that led outside. "Can we just get whatever you wanted to talk about over with?" April asked, ignoring Dawn's suggestion. "I was hoping we could talk while we walk." Dawn said, re-gesturing to the door. April reluctantly followed Dawn out. "So how are you feeling?" "Fine." The gentle winter breeze grazed Dawn's summer coat. It would be refreshing if it wasn't freezing. "Good. I've seen that protein shake cure everything short of a broken wing." April scowled at the mention at the events of this morning. Her wings and tail betrayed her agitation. Not to the best of starts… "I was hoping that sober April would tell me what's going on in her mind." April remained silent as she tried to recall what exactly transpired last night. "I'm just worried is all..." Dawn started to say. "Let's see..." April interrupted, while kicking some snow up. "My fillyfriend decided it would be a good idea to force feed me vomit this morning." She said, belittling Dawn. They turned a corner towards one of Dawn's favorite parts of the east gardens. "There's more to this than that. Six months ago I would have thrown out my eyes and ears for lying if I heard or saw that you broke some pony's heart." They turned another corner April's wings were in fight of flight mode. "Or that I would to see this weak fragile thing before me, who's not very confident in herself, so much so that just to get her to spend a day outside away from studying somepony has to trick her." April remained silent. She looked down at the ground mournfully, making her look even more pathetic in the less than favorable light of the sun. "I just want to know what is going on." Dawn continued. "I know I'm awful at this kind of stuff but I might surprise you like I've been surprising myself lately." Dawn paused to meditate on her words before continuing. "You once said I could tell you anything. Shouldn't that work both ways?" April stopped walking. She looked at the snow covered grounds deep in thought. "I feel suffocated next to you." She blurted out as if it wasn't planned. Dawn's mind reeled way back, trying to figure out what that meant. She fell on her quarters in the snow as she tried to make sense of it. "Do you… Do you want a break from me?" Dawn asked, fearful of the answer. "No!" April yelled out surprising them both. "I mean yes…" She admitted quietly. "I don't know…" Dawn sat still, trying to make sense of the mix message. "Umm... Alright... How do I suffocate you?" "It's not just you…" April looked past Dawn in thought. "It's my teachers, the princesses, your parents… everyone…" "I see…" I know this feeling. "I feel everything I do is watched." April paused to think on her own words. "No…" She mumbled. "That’s not right…" "Well I'm sure we can figure out something…" Dawn said, smiling, trying to cheer April up. "It's not something you can fix!" April yelled, gaining the brief attention of some sky guards of the castle. "Oh…" "You guys can't do everything!" She yelled again almost breaking into tears as she did. "Who are you talking about?" Dawn was sufficiently confused now. "Everyone…" April whimpered. "No one…" Dawn's face scrunched up as she tried to figure out what the heck that meant. "Princess Luna told me what you did…" April said as the beginnings of tears started to drop down her face. "What did I do?" "You had me put into the university." April said her voice full of indignation towards Dawn. Dawn winced at the anger in her fillyfriend's voice. "I thought you wanted that…" "I did…" April flared her wings ready to take off, her eyes full of tears. "Forget about it." She said as she took off to the sky. "April..." Dawn was quick to react. She pulled April to the ground against her will with a pink aura. "Please, let's talk about this." "Let me go!" April snarled loudly. "I don't want to let you go!" Dawn cried back, tears started forming in her own eyes now as she planted April's feet into the snow. April was breathing hard, gasping for breath. "I can't breathe around you..." She cried. "I can't do anything around you." She wailed into the snow after collapsing into it. "What are you talking about?" "EVERYTHING!" She screamed, popping her head up from the snow. Dawn was silent as she watched the pegasus cry on the ground. Tears were pouring down Dawn's face but she did her best to ignore them. Seeing such pain in the skyblue pegasus was heart wrenching. "I didn't get in to CU, you got me there." April said, getting up to her feet angry as ever. "I didn't get the job as Canterlot's weather team captain, the princesses did!" She started to yell. "I quit that! Princess Celestia puts me to work for her. No discussion or arguments about it! I DON’T EVEN GET TO EAT ANY MORE! YOU’VE TAKEN CARE OF THAT NOW." She screamed on the top of her lungs, her face was drenched with a blind animosity. "I'm sorry..." Dawn muttered through her own tears. "To Tartarus with it!" She yelled at Dawn's apology. "I don’t get to do anything!" She started to cry again. "How can you make this right?" Dawn asked, trying her hardest to keep a level head against the waves of anguish she was feeling for the moment. "Going to be taking over my thoughts now too, Dawn?" She cried out satirically. "Wouldn't think of it." Dawn said with unfounded calmness, tears still flowing freely down her face. She closed her eyes to clear her vision and gather her thoughts. "I can certainly give you some advice though." "Yes! Let's hear the almighty Dawn and her wisdom!" Dawn opened her eyes to look into April's. Dawn was shocked to see how those grey eyes had changed. Tears flowed more freely down her face than ever before. She took a deep breath to clear her voice of any agony that might be there. "Change your life the way you want to." She paused for herself. "Move away. Go to the school you want to. Eat the food you want to eat." She said, tears now streaming down her coat. "Date the ponies you want and deserve." She said, through the pain in her throat. April stood still, not knowing how to respond. "You are feeling like you have no control over your life. You feel like you are living in my shadow, drifting in my wake. There was nothing you could do about my disappearance. Nothing you could do about your living situation when it was just given to you. So I say this to you now, 'It's your life take charge of it'." Dawn said sternly. She wiped her face clear of the tears. Her heart was pounding and the pain in her throat throbbed. "If you want my help just ask." Dawn added, trying to put up a smile but she was on the brink sobbing. "You have all the power in the world." April stood there mediating on Dawn's words. Her eyes softened and stopped producing tears. She looked at the green eyes that were looking back at her. They were hurt, almost tortured, aged, but they were right. April closed her eyes to be spared the painful sight of the crying yet smiling unicorn. "I need to think." She said calmly, her voice sounded fatigued and raspy. Dawn stood still and watched the pegasus take off into the sky. She ignored the cold shivers gifted by the snow and wind. Her eyes followed April's trajectory until she was well out of sight and a long while after. She clenched her chest in pain as she teleported to her bed. She buried her head under the covers and curled up into a ball. I choose to do this. She let a dreamless sleep take her. When she awoke it was just a couple hours after noon. She slid down from the bed, hitting the floor with a honed grace. She walked out into the main room and reassumed her reading position. She was emotionally and physically numb, the book just completed her. It didn't feel very long before her reading was cut short with a small flash and pop, who she knew was Princess Celestia. "I have yet to hear from April. I trust everything went well?" She asked as she walked over to the couch Dawn was sitting on. "She's thinking right now." Dawn answered, hiding behind her book. Princess Celestia crawled to the other side of the couch from Dawn leaving just enough room for Dawn. Dawn repositioned herself appropriately to continue to hide her face behind her book. "About?" Princess Celestia asked calmly. "Control." Dawn said bluntly. Tears started to run down her face again. She ignored them. Princess Celestia didn't respond forcing Dawn to elaborate. "She's going trough something I was able to relate to, though I went about it a completely different way." She admitted. "I see, so you were able to help her." "No." Princess Celestia telekinetically took control of the book between them and set it on the desk behind her. She looked into Dawn's crying eyes with enough sympathy to cover all of Equestria. Anything that held back her tears at all were gone now. Dawn whimpered as Princess Celestia pulled Dawn into a hug. "It will work out in the end. I promise." She whispered while wrapping her wings around the pink unicorn to complete her embrace. Dawn cried into the sun princess's alabaster coat until no more tears would come. All the while Celestia just hugged her tightly never letting up. When Dawn pulled away from the very warm and welcoming warmth of the princess, she looked up to Princess Celestia. "Thank you." "Of course." Princess Celestia said, smiling as she retracted her wings to her side. "While I am sure you will not want to do anything other than just sit here and bury your woes in books, I suggest you join me to watch the Wonderbolts. They start in a couple minutes." Dawn just nodded. She likely would have nodded at anything the princess suggested after what she just did for her. Princess Celestia lit up her horn and pushed them both through the fabric of space to the front of the front gates of the castle with a flash of sunlit magic. A chariot being pulled by the most burly looking pegasi guards waited for them. Princess Celestia stepped on, patting the floor next to her, beckoning Dawn to join her. When she did, the chariot shot off straight up leaving the castle behind her. The chariot did the typical royal pageantry around the stadium, only to stop at some very fluffy looking clouds that presided over the stadium for them sit on, giving the best view, the royal view. Dawn dug into her mind for that enchantment Twilight showed her when she felt some pony's else's magic work on her. Princess Celestia had beaten her to it as she walked off the chariot in hover. She tucked her forelegs under her as she lay down on the cloud, welcoming Dawn to do the same. Dawn took a cautious step on the cloud, it felt soft and yet, somehow, unyielding under her. She put her whole weight on it and crawled on the cloud to sit next to the princess. The cool wisp of cloud under her felt good until the wind blew freely though it, making her shiver. Princess Celestia extended her wing over Dawn to shield her from some of the cold. Dawn gave an appreciative smile in return. The show started with, of course, the Wonderbolts in formation, charging through the air, leaving behind a trail of thunder clouds and a rainbow. They broke apart in many directions, only for each of them to do a round about to collide with each other. The show continued with daring exploits of near collisions and speed. The show went along with music of horns and drums. When it was time for a brief intermission they introduced Dawn's mother to the middle of the stadium. The middle aged black mare rose slowly in the air to the middle of the stadium only to receive thunderous roars of cheer. She began with a full corkscrew spin around the stadium leaving a spiraled cloud trail in her wake. She then broke into loops at speeds that would be neck breaking for any other pony. She continued to do things like this for sometime only for her act to come to its natural conclusion with some aerial acrobatics of raw speed and grace that made her previous tricks pale in comparison. When it was all over she flew around the stadium waving to audience, soaking up every bit of the attention. "Why don't you go to her." Princess Celestia whispered to under her wing, after Dawn's mother disappeared below. Dawn obediently nodded and focused on her mother, extending her senses through the void to make sure she wouldn't be falling to her doom if she teleported to her. With a wisp of black smoke, she dissolved out from under the alabaster wing. Her hoof found support on another cloud as she opened her eyes to spot several pairs of eyes looking at her. "Dawn?" a couple voices asked out of surprise at once. Her mother was sitting next to her, very much out of breath with her father's wing wrapped around her. Five Wonderbolts sat next to them with, who she recognized as, the other coaches. "Ha! Stu you taught your grounded daughter how to walk on clouds. Figures." One of the coaches said in a harsh voice of approval. Dawn went over to give her parents a quick hug. "That was a really nice performance, mom." "Forget about that, what's wrong Honey?" Dawn's mother asked, coming out from under the wing of her husband. I can see how Twilight got her cunning… "Nothing." Dawn deadpanned. "Don't give us that." Dawn's father said, getting up himself. "It's nothing." She lied to deaf ears. "Alright Wonderbolts! Up and out!" one coach yelled. "Hoorah!" the Wonderbolts cheered as they launched off the bench they were perched on into the stadium above them. "It's April." Dawn's mother said, after studying her daughter's face. Dawn's father sighed. "Come on Sweetie let's hear all about it in here." He said, waving a hoof to an opening behind her which looked like it led to the locker room. The high altitude wind blew through the cloud walls and floor unhampered, chilling Dawn to the bone. As soon as they all made it to the middle of the room, Dawn's father extended his wing over her daughter, keeping her warm against the wind. Her mother sat in front of Dawn, studying her further. "We're listening, Dawn." Dawn felt powerless to defy them. She backed deeper into her father's wing, letting it wrap completely around her. She let out a defeated sigh as she gave her mother a thousand yard stare of recollection. "You remember when I asked to stop getting magic lessons…" "What about it?" Her father quickly asked, likely not wanting to remember the events leading up to it thoroughly. "I guess April is going through the same thing…" "Ah..." Her mother managed to connect the dots. "Your 'death' affected us all, Honey." Her mother crept up to nuzzle her. "I still can't believe you're back still myself." "I pushed her away. And I told her what you told me..." Dawn's words hung in the air as her parents figured out what she meant. Dawn's father's wing tightened around her as he kissed the back of her head. A common understanding was held between the parents and child. "I'm scared..." Dawn admitted, looking down and expecting tears to fall. None did. Dawn’s mother swooped in for a close embrace with her daughter under her husband’s wing. "When are you going to talk to April next?" Her mother asked quietly in mid embrace. "I don't know." "Well when she does come for you." Her mother continued. "And she will." Her father added. "When she does, you tell her everything. Then everything will be fine between you two. I promise." She said, pulling back to look Dawn in the eyes. "I hope so." ----- "Good morning..." Greeted a curled up purple dragon behind a thick veil of black smoke from the void. "And here I was being sneaky..." Dawn queiltly said as she walked out into Twilight's library. Dawn's hair was a messier than normal, her face lacked the tenacity to remain taunt, and her eyes were as dim as her coat seemed to be. "When ever you do that poofy thing I can smell it." Spike said, still curled up in a ball against a book shelf, his were eyes closed. "It doesn't smell like anything..." "Yah. It does." Spike reaffirmed as he put a spare claw over his snout. Dawn relented with a sigh. She knew better than to argue with him in the morning. She looked around at the empty library. A cool morning chill crept up her spine as she did. She was alone with Spike. "They awake?" "I heard them moving around but its best we wait for them to come down. They get angry with me anytime I open the door to their room in the morning." Dawn took in a deep breath of the woody morning air of the tree. "WELL I HOPE I DON'T DISTURB THEM!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. Dawn could hear a frantic shuffling about from Twilight's room only for Twilight appear soon after with a full blown case of bed head. "Dawn?" She greeted when she saw the lone pink unicorn in her tree. "Good morning!" Dawn cheered as an equally bed headed Trixie appeared behind Twilight. Twilight grimaced at Dawn's greeting only to resolve to give her a scrutinizing death glare that she likely picked up from Celestia. "So tell me, are you going to stop using dark magic?" She asked haphazardly. "Nope." Twilight gave a heavy sigh as a brush flew out of her room to start working its way through her mane. "Well than, what are you doing here?" She asked as she descended the stairs. "It's Saturday..." Trixie answered. "Oh that's right..." Twilight's thoughts looked to be no where near her as she planted herself on her quarters as she continued to brush the rest of her tail. "Come now Twilight, it feels like it was just the other week since we had breakfast." Dawn said in a cheery tone, walking up to Twilight proper. "I thought you said 'your life was microscopic compared to the time you spent in there' for us it's been only six months." Trixie mocked with a sly grin on. Dawn forced a laugh out when she spotted Twilight's glum face. "Well I wouldn't hope a vile harpy such as yourself to understand what the absence of time means to an individual. So I won't bother explaining." Dawn said to Trixie in the typical banter tone they used for each other. Twilight looked from Trixie to Dawn, noticing that all eyes were on her. She put up a smile for their sakes and stretched out her legs as she looked around the library. "I'm pretty sure Pinkie cleaned out my kitchen again last night." She revealed with an irritated tail whip. "I guess we can go to the café down the street." "Yes, let's." Dawn cheered as she led the charge out the front door. "Spike you coming?" She called back to the still curled up dragon. "Err, no maybe some other time..." He grumbled back. Twilight guided Dawn out with Trixie tightly in tow. "He's been having a hard time adjusting to his size." She revealed as she took the first few steps in the morning’s freshly laid snow. "What have you been feeding the boy? He's grown at least a dozen hooves in height alone." Dawn said, thinking she was being cute. "Not enough..." Twilight said with sullen tone. "I can't get him to eat what a growing dragon requires... you know meat." Right... Dragon... "Gross." "That's what he thinks..." Twilight said with a small sigh. "He's been getting by on a pony diet and the gems Rarity can spare but it's not enough. He should be at least double his weight at his age." "Where would you even find ‘meat’?" Dawn asked not thinking of the consequences of the question. "Well uhh..." "Do I want to know?" "You really don’t..." Trixie answered as she pushed a door open leading to the café. "Gross." Dawn said again as she was welcomed by the smell of baked goods, brewed coffee, and the warmth that accompanied them. "Where's your better half." Trixie asked, hoping to derail the conversation. "You know the half that's worth a damn" "I do not know." Dawn lied. She was, really against her better judgment, still magically keeping tabs on April. She was in the school library studying away since the wee hours of the morning. "Did something happen?" Twilight asked as she took a seat at a small table. "Just a little spat. It will blow over." Dawn said waving their concerns away with a hoof. "I’m thinking for Spike, perhaps you can synthesise the necessary protein out of plants. I bet we can make a proper spell just for him." "A little spat?" Twilight inquired, cocking her head in curiosity. "Yah what happened?" Trixie asked. Dawn closed her eyes in thought as the two waited for an answer. "I've done a bit of research into denaturizing proteins for easier digestion. I bet we could use that spell as a base." "You did something stupid didn't you?" Trixie concluded. "Dawn, what did you do to April?" Twilight asked, bending forward over the table to look Dawn in the eyes. "Ponies eat eggs... Does Spike like eggs? They should have the proteins he should require. I bet if we figured out how to make really big eggs..." "April didn't look very good at the party. Is it because you had Pinkie feed her?" Twilight asked, bending forward across the table. "Stuff her was more like it. That was hilarious to watch." Trixie said with a hardy laugh. "You didn't do anything more drastic than that, did you?" Twilight asked. "Does Ponyville have any ostriches? We could start an ostrich farm for Spike." Dawn added. "You don't think she did something stupid like force feed her or something?" Trixie asked Twilight. Twilight fell back onto her quarters as she considered the question. "I doubt it... Right, Dawn?" She asked skeptically. Dawn continued her feigned thinking, hoping to ignore the two unicorns across from her. Yesterday's conversation flashed through her mind causing her to wince ever so slightly. Her eyes made contact with her friends' for them to read. "Oh dear Celestia... She is stupid." Trixie concluded quickly. Dawn let out a heavy sigh. In for a bite in for a bushel... "I wonder what ostriches eat. Would they like out of season apples?" "Come on you depraved cretin, tell us what you did." ----- Dawn teleported to her tower, her belly was full of breakfast. She beckoned over a new book Cognitive Psychology: A Broken Pony from the shelves and assumed the position to read it on her couch. She had just cracked the spine when she heard knocking on her balcony and the door opening. "Ahh, good morning April." Dawn said, smiling as if it was just another day. "Hello Dawn." April said, giving an awkward small smile back. Dawn put down her book and let out a labored sigh. "We really did fall in love hard and fast didn't we?" She mumbled just loud enough to be audible. "I think you barely know me well enough to have context to what I said yesterday." She said, cutting off April before she could even open her mouth. "I was hoping I could tell you something. Something I think may help you if you would hear it. Kinda a story of sorts." "A story?" April asked, showing some interest as she approached Dawn. Dawn smiled at her interest. "Indeed. It starts with a unicorn growing up in a pegasus and earth pony town. She gets made fun of all through school. For her horn, cutie mark, funny looking mane." She started while lightly giggling, trying to make light of the somber topic. "I like your mane." April said bashfully. "Well thank you." Dawn smiled, welcoming April to sit on the couch with her. "This is about a little filly that just got her cutie mark." Dawn started with a similar story telling voice as her mother's. "She feels like she can't control anything in her life. Her parents force her to do these magic lessons when she isn't studying for school. She is also strongly motivated by her parents and instructors to put any free time she does have into books and so on. So, what does this little filly do?" She looked to April as if she had the answer ready. "I started to do stupid things around town. Just for something I can control. First I started fires in fields. I was young and not very clever, and I get caught of course." Dawn laughed at her younger self. "My parents were furious. Grounded me to my room, only to come out to eat, study, and school." She ended quoting her father in a deep tone. "That is when I learned to teleport." She laughed. "I taught myself a lot of new spells too. I learned how to create a magical fire that didn't burn anything but created these purple clouds of smoke that rained tiny balls of magic that burped fart noises and spread more fires to do the same... I reined chaos throughout the town of Wingopolis's Shadow. The town is completely baffled by the magical events, except the fire department. They knew me from my first attempts of 'control'. The fire ponies start to yell at my parents, telling them to control their daughter which they were ill-equipped to do. In the end things get worse for me." "That's when you blew up the fire station?" April asked, her curiosity getting the better of her mouth. She had finally taken a seat across the couch from Dawn. "Not intentionally. I ended up destroying my room and our house." Dawn defended herself, shuffling in place. "Luckily the inspector that came to assess the damage was a unicorn that recognized sleep magic, albeit a dramatic sleep magic... But that is aside from the story." "How come I never hear of other unicorns destroying things with their horns growing up?" "Well I know Twilight did it just as much as me. Something about cannibalistic books or something..." Dawn waved a hoof in the air at her imagination. "Aside from the story at hoof." Dawn said quickly before getting back into story teller mode. "My parents thought I couldn't get in trouble if they hired more magic instructors, got me more books to read. They filled my day up so much that I could hardly breath. As a result my little outlet became more elaborate. I created larger spells, I pranked my school, my instructors. At night I filled the skies themselves with my pranks. I kept the books." Dawn smiled as she looked around at her library. "My parents knew that all the strange things happening around town were my doing but no pony could prove a thing or do a thing about it. The mayor even hired magic investigators to figure things out only for her to turn up nothing." Dawn chuckled at her triumph. "Ponies from town start to harass my parents, my brother. Refusing to sell them food, things like that. My family doesn't know what to do with me. They get some doctor, a therapist to come talk to me." "Did that help?" April asked, edging closer to receive an answer. "I never gave him the chance." Dawn said plainly. "My parents couldn't hold me anywhere against my will. I would just teleport away." She explained. “So my pranks continue unimpeded till about my second year of high school. I calmed down some but there were always those rumors that surrounded me." Dawn chuckled at the thought of the more outlandish ones. "I did get to know one of my instructors really well, Professor Palmer, Doctor to some. He was the only one that discovered how I've been doing all my pranks without any pony finding out. He gets real angry with me, he told me to stop and that I was giving unicorns a bad name, so on and so forth." Dawn said, waving an indifferent hoof in the air. "Despite our small disagreements he still continues to teach me all kinds of magic. Stuff I never dreamed of. All the while my pranks got more extensive because of his teaching. Eventually I get the grand idea to enchant the cherries at Cherry estate. I enchanted the cherries to make every pony that ate them loose their sense of kinesthesia among other things for a couple of minutes. It was hilarious. Ponies were all falling over themselves on cherry bucking day. Every pony in town knew it was me who did it but no one knew how. That's when my parents finally sat me down to talk, I was magically fatigued from the enchanting the cherries, enchanting whole orchards at a time takes a lot of magic." Dawn stopped to consider where to take the story. "After waking up from collapsing, we talked about everything. It took nearly the whole day but they refused to leave me alone until they figured out what they could do." Celestia, I don't deserve my parents. Dawn gave a big sigh for the conclusion. "It all boiled down to control. Control of my life. That day my magic lessons stopped, they didn't even tell me to study for school. They left everything to my discretion. A giant leap of faith." Dawn gave a smile. "For the first time in my life I felt I had control of my life." Dawn looked to April for a reaction. She was thinking of the story. "While my problems were just teenage angst, I can relate to what you are feeling. When you're surrounded by things you can't control like death, other ponies actions, we tend to scrape for what we can control. For me it was my little pranks. For you…" "I understand what you're telling me." April said as she looked back at Dawn. They had a common understanding. "Good." Dawn cheered. "Aren't you curious if I'm going to do what you told me to do?" April asked, cocking her head perplexed. She edged closer to Dawn again for the answer. "I am, but it is not my business." She answered bluntly. "You will do what you do." April was taken aback by Dawn's words. Her mind reeled to the many intricacies of her fillyfriend. "Well if I left or changed anything..." She started pausing to look for answers on Dawn's face. "...it wouldn't change anything would it?" Dawn chortled in place as she gazed out to her balcony. "Not a thing." She admitted as she rolled on to her back over the edge of the couch. "I didn't change a single thing about my life back then. Heck I even continued to prank the town, only difference was my extra time was spent not getting caught. So in the end I guess... life is what you make of it or at least that’s what the ponies say." April sat back and thought some more. "What do we do now?" She asked weakly, possibly fearing the answer. Dawn jerked in surprise at the unexpected question. She wants to stay? Dawn groaned as she flipped to her hooves off the couch. "Well it occurs to me, that while I feel like I dwelled on you for an eternity... we have only been dating for a couple months with a very long break in between." Dawn said, looking up at April now with a business like demeanor. April shuffled in place not liking where the conversation was going. She starred at the ground between Dawn and herself. "And according to Trixie, who I guess is a regular savant on relationships or something..." Dawn said, waving her hoof at the imaginary Trixie in the room. "We should just give each other a 'fresh start'." "A fresh start?" April asked with a new life in her voice. "I had breakfast with her and Twilight this morning." Dawn said, continuing in the business demeanor. "Apparently Twilight and Trixie didn't have the best of first meetings. In fact it was very much like my first meeting with her except Twilight didn't have to pay for a new cart." April giggled. "She told that story for her eulogy at your funeral." Dawn rolled her eyes. "She would." "Oh it was nice." "Aside from the point all the same. She suggested we just put all that was said and done behind us and go on another first date as a new couple." "Huh." April said, donning a smile that couldn't be stretched further across her face. "Yah, that's what I said." Dawn laughed, returning a smile that paled in comparison to April's. "Well I've already seen what you can do between the sheets. I say we start on our fourth date." "Oh?" Dawn laughed before April pounced on her. "Maybe our fifth." She whispered in to Dawn's ear before she started to kiss up and down Dawn's neck.