John prepared himself to leap at a moments notice, he heard the waitress welcoming the guards in down stairs,“Welcome! He’s just upstairs getting ready.”
He could hear the guards as they questioned the mare,“And who would that be? We came here for drinks, we weren’t expecting to see anyone here.”
The mare replied to the guard,“He said that a group of guards were coming to pick him up for the royal guard offer, he told me to keep an eye out for you.”
After a moment of constant silence, the sound of clanking armor and rushing hoofsteps could be heard approaching the room. John readjusted Dusk on his back and prepared to burst out the window. “Fuckin’ windows.” He sprinted towards the slightly open window and slammed straight through it as the guards knocked down the bedroom door.
The author landed on the hard ground from the second floor of the building and fell to his knees with the sleeping mare on his back, and surprisingly the loud crash and the shock from the fall hadn’t woken her up at all. John’s feet hurt, but the inebriation from the drinks slowly eased the pain. They needed to keep moving unless they wanted to be caught, so John stood to his feet once again and took of in a full sprint down the street. As he ran with the sleeping mare on his back, John found himself becoming tired. Once they neared the public library, John stopped and thought about how to hide themselves from the guards. Then an idea popped in his head,‘The library.’
He knocked on the front door and and looked from side to side to watch out for the guards. After a moment of waiting, he was greeted by a very tired Twilight Sparkle. “I’m sorry but the libraries closed, if you wish to...” she trailed off as she gave a yawn and tried to wipe the sleep from her eyes.
As she yawned, John spoke,“Hello miss Sparkle, terribly sorry to disturb you at this hour but if you wouldn’t mind, I need to retrieve a book from your library. I really need it.”
As she finished trying to wake herself, she pondered the prospect. After a second of thought, she said,“If it is just one book, then I see no problem in it.” She invited him in and as he passed by, she noticed the sleeping mare on his back. “Wait, who’s that?” she questioned as she closed the door behind them.
“Oh, I’m sorry. This is ‘Dusk’s Shadow’, daughter of Moon Shadow.” Replied the author, it didn’t matter that she knew her, as long as John hid himself.
Twilight’s eyes shot open and a large smile plastered over her face,“I’ve always wanted to meet her daughter but after Moon disappeared, the chances of me meeting her flew out the window!” She jumped in joy and I could hear spike calling from his bed upstairs.
“Twilight! Baby dragon trying to sleep here.” Spike called out.
Twilight’s voice and prancing calmed down considerably, she whispered back to spike,“Sorry.” she turned her attention back to the hooded man with the sleeping mare on his back. “So what book are you looking for, mister...” She looked to the hooded figure and nodded to signal for him to speak.
“Oh, sorry again, I’m... Dark’s younger brother, Daylight’s Break. I was brought to this world by accident, and I’ve been here for quite a while now. I’m constantly on the road, so I haven’t nested down yet.”
“I wasn’t aware that Dark had a younger brother, besides his little brother Nicky.”
“We all had different fathers. I was living with mine and I suddenly came to this strange world.” he told the violet mare. She nodded as she accepted the pieced together lie and signalled for the hooded man to follow her.”So what are you looking for Daylight? I’m sure I know where it is.”
John thought to himself for a moment, a quick book to search for to distract the mare, giving them a bit of time to distance the two from the guards as they searched. Once a thought came into mind, John quickly said,“Guardian lore: The Ages Between.” John smirked to himself because he knew it would make it difficult to find.
“I know we have that one here somewhere, but where is it?” The violet mare frantically searched through the many bookshelves in search of the book in mention. John knew that Dark once borrowed it and didn’t return it, and a small ever present smile crept across his face.
Through all the rustling around the library, Dusk began to stir from her sleep. As she slowly awoke from her sleep, she kept her eyes closed and whispered into the author’s ear,“John? You didn’t need to carry me.”
He replied quietly to not alert Twilight as she searched,“If we have any chance of making that ball to save Ditzy, then we need to use our time wisely.”
“So, you’ve been up all this time?” The mare whispered back. John simply replied with a nod and turned his attention back on Twilight.
“I’m sorry Daylight, but I can’t seem to find it. Perhaps someone borrowed it? I’m not entirely sure.” The violet mare lowered her head in shame. “I was sure I had it here.”
John placed a tired arm on the mares shoulder to comfort her,“It’s quite alright miss Sparkle, I was mainly looking to read on it. It’s not crucial.”
She slowly raised her head and gave a weak smile,“Thanks Daylight.” She turned her small smile into a sad frown. “Have you heard about what happened to your brother Dark?” Twilight asked.
“Yes, when I heard about it, I was enraged by this. But I’ve come to terms with it. That’s what he would have wanted.” John told the mare.
She lowered her head once again and he could see teardrops falling to the floor. “That new guy... What did Dark do to him for him to take Dark away?” The mare buried herself into John’s chest as she started to sob. In her sudden movement, she pushed the hooded man just a bit too much and almost made him drop Dusk.
Taken back, the mare on his back made groans to signify she was waking from her false nap. Twilight still cried into John’s shoulder and Dusk continued to find ways to break her away from the author. John quickly thought to himself,‘I should be going, before I make this even worse.’ He place a hand on the sobbing mare’s chin and raised her chin to have her look into his eyes. “Twilight, I know it must be tough. But do you really think that Dark would have wanted this? He would want for you to be happy even though he were gone.”
She began to wipe the tears away and spoke through smaller cries. “You’re right, Darkmoon would’ve wanted me to stay strong.”
John slowly edged himself towards the door, trying to return to the task at hand: Rescuing a grey pegasus from the dungeons of Canterlot castle. Twilight caught site of this and quickly spoke up,“Oh, you’re leaving.”
“I must dearest Twilight, for I have an important meeting to attend to.” He balled his fist and placed it over his chest and gave a bow. “Farewell.”
Twilight gave a confused look,“Do all of Dark’s relatives bow like that?” John looked to her and shook his head. She turned to a bookshelf and grabbed a small book and tossed it to the hooded man. He caught it and looked to the cover:
Rules of the Multiverse, the hooded figure looked to the mare worriedly. He had feared that he’d been caught, but the unexpected happened. As she slowly trotted up to him, she tried to look into his eyes but was denied this by the hood he wore. “Do you believe in other worlds Daylight?” Asked the violet mare.
“Believe? I am from another world, there’s no need to believe.” The author stated with a smirk, causing the violet mare to face palm at her question.
"That's not what I meant, When I meant was that I believe that you're a newer symbol."
"Newer?"
"You are his brother, that alone would get you respect. You could continue work with the guardians in Dark's place. This is most exciting, I'll have spike write a letter to Celestia in the morning!"
With the worry of being caught set aside, John said farewell to the librarian and looked towards the horizon. The sun was beginning to rise and it told that it was the start of their time limit. They needed to reach the castle by nightfall and save the grey mare before further harm could become of the lazy-eyed mare.
As John continued to carry Dusk on his back, she whispered into his ear tiredly,“You know” She let out a small yawn and rubbed her eye as she continued,“That’s a good name for you, Daylight Break. Kinda like the opposite of Darkmoon’s Crescent.”
“Kinda just made it up on the spot, but yeah. Instead of John, call me Daylight from now on.”
“Alright Daylight, ha. That rhymed.”
“Not bad, not bad.” Daylight quick let out a small laugh,“But not good either.”