//------------------------------// // One Last Disguise. // Story: Writer's Block. // by xXCondemnedSoulXx //------------------------------//         Daylight slid passed the guards without a hitch and met with the scorpion along the way. As he passed by the buffet table, his small friend was sitting and waiting for his master to return. Daylight noticed the scorpion and held out hand just below his arthropod. It jumped onto his hand and crawled up his arm and sat on his shoulder.         As they moved through the room, Daylight turned his attention to the scorpion,“Nothing to bad?” The scorpion motioned a nod. “Good.” After twisting and weaving through the crowds of Equestrians, Daylight finally made his way into the main hallway. “Now, I just need to find the throne room.”         The scorpion that had been laying on his shoulder stood to his feet and crawled back down to the floor. “Where are you going?” Daylight asked the little arthropod. As he watched it, it seemed to be trying to lead him somewhere. “Do you want me to follow you?” He asked. The scorpion nodded and turned back down the hall. As he quickly sped through the halls of the castle, Daylight followed in step. With only a few guard encounters and quietly slipping past them, Daylight and his creation had arrived at two very familiar golden encrusted doors. The arthropod crawled its way back up to Daylight’s shoulder and rested once again. “Are you sure that this is the Throne room? This looks a lot like Celestia’s royal chambers.” He asked the scorpion. Once again, the scorpion nodded and resumed resting. “Ok.” Daylight gave himself a quick look over. He was still wearing the Joker costume suit but needed one last costume. He entered a nearby room and scooped out the area for any others that could be lurking in the shadows. Once the coast was clear, Daylight summoned his last outfit. With a bright flash, the attire came into existence. He took the scorpion into hand and set him down on a nearby table. Daylight began to undress from his costume and could feel every emotion driving throughout his body. He let the coat drop from his arms to the floor in a heap. The next things to accompany the coat on the ground were the vest, shirt then tie. He slid off the dress shoes and pants and once he was finally undressed, he turned to his new suit. He slid the dark blue jeans on, next to come were the greeves. Once done, he picked up the black and grey long sleeved shirt, next to come was the white collared overshirt. He rolled the dress shirt sleeves up and clenched his fists together in a test to see if he could move comfortably. He turned back to the rest of the attire and grabbed the shoulder pauldron. and strapped it to himself, followed by the chestpiece. He grabbed the right and left gauntlets and strapped them on. He laced the sword strap around his waist, and sheathed the sawn-off in its holster. Lastly came the hood. As he pulled it over his head, he gave himself a quick look over once more and gave a small stretch,“It may not be the Dark’s armor, but it should be convincing enough.” He turned back to the scorpion and asked him,“How do I look?” The scorpion just stared at him for a moment and jumped onto the floor. He crawled back onto Daylight’s uncovered shoulder and rested once more. “It’s good enough, I guess.” He left the confined room and strode up to the golden doors. He took a deep breath and placed his palm against the door and pushed, the door looked a lot heavier than it actually was. The door flew open and slammed against the wall. He quickly scoped out the room, it was indeed the throne room, and there were six guards standing in uniform, on either side of the walls of the room staring at him. Ditzy was standing inside the steel cage crying, the cage was hung from large iron chains that hung from the roof. Celestia was sitting in the throne, eyes wide open. Daylight spoke up,“Tell me, why is it you do this?” He slowly began to approach the center of the room.         Celestia began to stutter,“D-Dark? Is that you?”         He began to near the throne,“You’ve resorted to something like this? Kidnapping and imprisoning a mare that did not deserve such a fate? And you have the audacity to hang her from the roof as if she was a prize to be won?”         “Dark, it’s not like that!” She stated.         “Stop calling me Dark, I am not him. But I am at the same time.”         “What?”         Daylight pulled the hood away and revealed himself. The room grew deathly quiet, but the silence was broken as Daylight spoke up,“My name is Daylight’s Break. I once lived in this land at a time, but through the eyes of another. You all cherished him, though you ridicule me and my companions. But no more. Upon arriving in this land, I sought freedom. A chance for a fresh start, but I was denied this pleasure by you and your stubborn ways.”         “My stubborn ways? What do you mean? We’ve never even met.” She asked.         “This wasn’t the first time we’ve met, princess. I once went by the name of John Dixon, but after our last encounter, you marked my face and name as a monster. A guardian slayer. All lies, and you know this to be true. Had you listened to my words and allowed me to explain, my life would have pleasant one. But you denied me all this by casting spells of fire and carving lies from the far truth.”         Celestia stood from the throne with rage building in her eyes. “I do not lie, you’ve slain Darkmoon and now you insult his memory by wearing his garments? Guards!” At her command, the six guards drew their swords and bolted towards Daylight but stopped dead in their tracks as they laid their eyes on the events to come.         “Sit down!” Daylight yelled, while the guards and Celestia were caught up in the excitement, everything seemed to stop as he drew the sawn-off and held it in his right hand with the end of the barrel pointed down at the regal figure. Other than the sound of Daylight’s voice, the only sound that could be heard was the hum of the sawn-off being powered by magic. In his other hand, he held his sword that was pointed toward the guards. Everything and everyone stood still until Daylight demanded,“Sit Down!”         At command, Celestia sat back down on the throne, and the guards seemed to back off. With the scorpion on his shoulder and ready to attack, Daylight turned to him and said,“I can handle this, you get up to that cage and try to open the lock. Do you understand?” As if already expecting such, the scorpion began crawling down his body and eased himself onto the ground. Daylight turned his attention back to the princess,“Now. I’m going to sheathe my weapons, and you’re all going to sheathe yours. Should any of you not comply, I am one click away from ending this negotiation.”         The guards slid their swords back into their sheaths and laid their cases and helmets down on the ground. Celestia spoke out,“Why are you doing this? Why are you such a... monster?”         “I am no monster, but forced to be one. Because of your little lie, I have gone without sleep for nearly two weeks. Fun fact dear princess, did you know that if one goes 72 hours without sleep, they are deemed mentally unstable? Insane even? I’m in a waking nightmare, and it’s all because of your sister and her husband. Should I go back to the dream realm, my life is thrown into forfeit. I’ve gone so long without what is a necessity that I’ve come to do something I would have never even considered.” Daylight sheathed the sawn-off and sword and stood before the sun goddess. “I’ve come here for Miss Ditzy Doo, I am leaving with her and you and your ‘friends’ will not move from your spots should you choose to live.”         A loud clank could be heard from behind as the lock struck the ground after it fell from the cage above. “Thank you.” Voiced Ditzy as she grabbed the scorpion and flew the both of them to the ground. “John? Is that really you?” Daylight kept his focus on the princess but replied to the grey mare,“Yes kid, it’s really me. Come on, let’s get going.” He motioned for her to get onto his back and she did without hesitation. He looked to the guards and spoke,“If you were smart, you’d stay in your places.” He adjusted Ditzy into a position so that he could run. As he made his way over to the door, the princess called out from the throne,“Daylight! I will have you found! I’ll get all of Equestria coming after you! Your end will be most unpleasant, and your story forgotten!” Daylight stood at the door with his back facing the regal princess and said,“Do you honestly think I care? I’d rather be forgotten.” As he made his way down the hall with his sawn-off drawn, he proceeded flawlessly as he scared each group of guards into submission with the power he held in his hand. Ditzy whispered into his ear as not to catch the attention of any other peering ears that could eavesdrop,“You’re not going to hurt anybody, are you?” Daylight shook his head and continued through the halls. After a while of walking, they finally arrived back at the ballroom. Every pair of eyes, glaring down at him. The churning began to settle in once again. Thinking quickly, Daylight called out into the crowd,“Everyone, onto the ground and no one gets hurt!” With one swift motion, every party member laid down on the ground. Their faces buried into the ground and their eyes hidden behind closed lids. The sickening churning began to ease away and Daylight carried Ditzy over the crowd over to the far end of the room to the door on the left. The guards that stood at the door were standing with their swords drawn, ready for what was to come. “Stand aside.” Daylight said calmly but the guards wouldn’t listen. “I said stand aside!” his voice thundered throughout the room. One guard dropped his sword but quickly caught it and stood back into position. “We’re not scared of you!” claimed the guard on the left. “Yeah!” The other said through a shaking voice. Daylight had begun to grow tired of their fruitless attempt and raised the sawn-off up to them. “Stand aside.” The guards dodged to the side and cowered for a moment. Within this small moment, the door was clear. A loud and thunderous shot went off and the once solid oak doors turned into toothpicks as the shot rammed straight through it. Cries of terror roared through the room as the shot went off and the guards sat themselves over beside the rest of the floor guests. “Stay there.” Daylight stated before descending the stairwell. Once he reached the bottom, he called out for his companion,“Dusk? Dusk! Where are you?” “I’m over here! Hurry!” She cried back. Daylight quickly made his way over to the cries of his partner and found the mare on the floor trying to break free from the grasp of the orange stallion. He had managed to grab hold of her ankle through the bars and was trying to pull her inside his cell. “Com’ here.” the stallion said with lust in his voice. “I’m not gonna bite. Not yet anyways.” Daylight was surrounded by darkness and it seemed that the stallion hadn’t caught sight of him yet. Rage was building inside Daylight as he watched as the stallion tried to pull Dusk in with him. “You’ve got some fight in ya, I like that in a mare.” He slowly turned his gaze away as a sound came into his ear,“Eh? What’s that hummin’ sound?” He looked up and found the dark silhouette of Daylight with the barrel of the sawn-off directly pointed in his face. He let go of the mare and raised his hands in the air, an inch above his face. “I’m sorry, jus’ that I haven’t seen a mare in so long!” Daylight focused on the stallion,“May the Dream realm be pleasant, for you’re gonna be there for a bit.” He readied his finger on the trigger. “Oh please no!” Cried the stallion. Just before Daylight pulled the trigger, he pulled his finger away and rammed the end of his knee into the stallions muzzle and he flew back. “you’ve gone an’ broke mah damn nose!” He was quickly silenced as his head was kicked against the wall, knocking him unconscious. Daylight turned to the frightened mare and said,“Come on. We’ve got Ditzy, I’m tired of being here anyways.” He gave a small yawn and gave a quick smile. “Maybe just tired in general.” The price of one’s actions, to be wise and observant of their surroundings and deal with a situation quickly and efficiently, or bold and brash, charging through the problem head on, hoping for the best. The action always has a price, and sometimes... other’s follow.