The Break of Dawn
Chapter 1
Late Nights
With a quick flare of her wings, Rainbow Dash landed in a slow trot on the cobbled streets of Ponyville. The sun hung high overhead, bathing the world with its golden light and baking the ground in the heat of summer. Reaching a hoof up to her forehead, Rainbow wiped away the beads of sweat gathering there and sucked in a breath of thick, stagnant air. She let it out slowly, scanning the street she'd landed on for a few moments before spotting what she was looking for and heading towards the blessedly air-conditioned cafe.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped through the glass double doors, taking a moment to enjoy the refreshing coolness before looking out over the veritable sea of tables and ponies hiding from the heat. The table she was looking for wasn't exactly hard to miss; it not only contained the most hyperactive mare in Equestria, a pony who would grab anypony's attention, but it also seated the newest Princess who, it seemed, still couldn't gain control of her wings.
“Hey girls,” she greeted, weaving through the tables and chairs until she reached the one with her friends and pulling out the last remaining empty seat for herself. “What'd I miss?”
“Well Rarity was just talking about how her new summer hats are selling super-duper fast and Fluttershy said that the heat was affecting her poor little critters and Applejack was-”
Applejack rolled her eyes, jamming her hoof into Pinkie's mouth. “Nothin' much. Most of us just got here.”
“Indeed... although it seems some of us are more here than others...” Rarity noted, glancing towards Twilight, the alicorn currently seated against the wall with her wings fanned out wide against it and her head slumped back. Quiet, near-inaudible snores emanated from her muzzle.
Fluttershy, sitting on the opposite side of Twilight from Rarity, awkwardly leaned away from one of the alicorn's impressive wings. “She's barely said a word since she got here... you girls think something's wrong? She's been like this for a couple days now...”
“I'm sure she's fine,” Applejack said, watching Pinkie with a cautious glare as she removed her hoof. “Probably just up late studyin' again. Y'all know how she is.”
“Maybe she was up late studying how to be a super spy!” Pinkie offered, sounding totally serious. She leaned forward over the table suddenly. “Maybe she's already a super spy, and spent all night doing her super spy stuff.”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I don't think Princesses moonlight as spies, Pinkie. Somepony wanna wake her up?”
Before anypony could offer, Twilight yawned loudly, stretching out her forelegs as her head fell forward. Slowly, her eyes opened, and she blinked heavily, before freezing as she noticed the five pairs of eyes resting on her. She blushed. “I did it again, didn't I?”
Rarity nodded. “I'm afraid you did, dear. Is everything quite alright?”
Twilight sighed, momentarily struggling to get her wings pressed back against her sides before giving up and slumping forward onto the table. “Yeah, just a late night again. I'm really sorry girls, but the Princess just sent me a bunch of new books to study. Stuff about Equestria's legal system.”
“It's fine, Twi,” Rainbow said, waving her hoof dismissively. “Long as you ain't hiding a new Daring Do book from me to read it yourself first, that is.”
Twilight smiled, shaking her head. “Trust me, Rainbow, these aren't anywhere near as interesting as Daring Do.”
“Were you being a super-secret spy!?” Pinkie asked enthusiastically, grinning as she leaned over the table conspiratorially.
Blinking, Twilight regarded the mare for a few seconds, noting that Pinkie was steadily growing closer, slowly but surely pushing into her personal space. “Uh.... no?”
“Okie Dokie Lokie!”
Applejack sighed, hooking her hoof over Pinkie's shoulder and pulling the mare back into her seat. “Don't be puttin' too much pressure on yourself, ya hear? Even you princesses need breaks from time to time.”
“Hopefully tonight will be the last night,” Twilight said, leaning her head back against the wall. “One more night... it'll be nice to actually stay awake during our outings again.”
“Do you maybe want some company?” Fluttershy offered quietly. “It's always easier to work when you have somepony there with you. I know Spike's there but he really shouldn't be staying up so late...”
Twilight sighed. “No... Spike goes to bed long before I do.” She looked up, smiling thankfully at her friend. “I'm fine, Fluttershy. Like I said; just one more night and I can hopefully start fixing my sleep schedule... that's going to be a nightmare....”
“Ha! Only you would have a schedule for sleeping, Twi,” Rainbow guffawed.
“Technically, everypony has a sleep schedule, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight corrected with an exaggerated role of her eyes before looking away bashfully. “Although... most don't actually have it written down...”
Rainbow and Applejack snickered.
“Do take care of yourself, Twilight,” Rarity urged. “No offence but you look like you haven't had a proper sleep in weeks, when it's only been a few days.”
Twilight sighed. “It's the wings, isn't it?” She asked, motioning to the appendages still spread out against the wall. “I haven't quite gotten the hang of preening... does it really show?”
“Uh....” Rainbow trailed off awkwardly, “I wasn't gonna say anything, but since you're asking... Twi, I've seen foals who preen better than you do.”
Cheeks burning a little brighter, Twilight crossed her hooves on the table and buried her face in them. “I can't even properly control them! I never learned how to work these things; I wasn't exactly born a pegasus and all I have are books...”
“Heh, maybe when I start giving you flying lessons I'll teach you some of the finer points of wing care... first though, you really need to learn to control them,” Rainbow said, reaching over and patting Twilight's shoulder. “Try relaxing your shoulders first, then bringing them in.”
Twilight looked up, examining her wings and nodding slowly. She rolled her shoulders, letting her muscles relax before trying to bend her wings. They barely twitched. “Aug! They won't work!”
Smothering her mirth behind a hoof, Rainbow got up from her seat and walked around to Twilight's side. “Here, just let them go slack for a second.” When the alicorn complied, she carefully grabbed the leading edge of Twilight wing and gently folded it in until the entire thing rested neatly against her barrel. Repeating the process on the other wing, Rainbow nodded approvingly before she went back to her seat. “There. Better?”
Twilight sighed, ruffling one of her wings with a hoof. “Much. Thank you, Rainbow.”
“Excuse me, but are you all ready to order?”
Pinkie grinned up at the waitress who had approached the table. The mare seemed a little nervous, and as Rainbow leaned back in her chair, she caught site of a few other waiters and waitresses hiding in the kitchen and watching nervously. She chuckled.
“You're gonna need more paper,” Pinkie said, motioning to the small slip the waitress had brought with her.
Somehow, in a feat that nopony would never fully understand, Pinkie was comparable to a black hole when it came to food. Always ordering the most and making it vanish just as quickly as it showed up, nothing could escape her pink event horizon.
Rarity's normally shining white coat was looking a little more green than usual as she watched the mare eat, while most ponies at the table tried to ignore her. Rainbow just snickered while Applejack tried to hide her enjoyment at Rarity’s awkward shifting. The meal was mercifully short lived, and before long the table was filled with empty plates and surrounded by content ponies with full stomachs.
Twilight looked significantly better after eating, though the dark bags still hung under her eyes and her feathers were a mess, perhaps somehow worse than they were at the beginning of the meal. Slowly, the mares stood from their table and said their goodbyes as, one by one, they went their separate ways, each braving the heat to return to their respective lives and duties.
“See ya, Fluttershy!” Rainbow called, waving as the mare walked out of the cafe, a small wave of heat briefly rushing in through the opened doors. Giving a sigh, Rainbow stood from her seat. “Well Twi, I guess I should- Twi? Twilight?”
The alicorn had once again slumped back against the wall, snoring rather loudly as her wings slowly fanned out in her sleep. Rainbow sighed, reaching a hoof over and shaking the mare's shoulder. “Twilight? C'mon, Twi; everypony's gone.”
“Huh? Wuzzat? Where's the- oh.” Twilight blushed, sitting upright and wiping away a small line of drool trailing down from the corner of her mouth. “Everypony left already...”
Rainbow smiled. “Yep, and I was just about to leave to.” She paused, watching as Twilight rubbed her eyes and stood up slowly, stretching and yawning. “You sure you're alright? You want some company or somethin' while you read?”
Bones cracking quietly as she stretched, Twilight grunted softly before focusing on the question. She shrugged. “I'm sure you have more exciting things to do today than sit around in a boring old library.”
Rainbow shook her head. “In this heat? I'd die if I tried any training and all my weather work's done for the day. Besides, my house gets real hot 'til the sun goes down. I'd probably prefer it in the library... even if it is boring,” she added with a teasing smirk.
“Well, if you want,” Twilight relented, heading for the door. “I have to warn you though; the place is... a bit of a mess.”
“Isn't it always?”
Twilight rolled her eyes and together the two made short work of the walk back to the library under the scorching heat of the sun. Hardly a single breeze blew across the hills outside of Ponyville, and even less found its way between the many houses and shops lining the streets. Very few ponies braved the heat outside, leaving the sun-baked streets desolate and only encouraging the pair to walk faster as the library came into sight at the end of the road.
With a loud, appreciative sigh, Twilight opened the front door of Golden Oaks library and stepped in, quickly followed by her sweating companion who closed the door quickly, thankful to be away from the stifling heat.
“Spike?” Twilight called, glancing around the silently chaotic state the library found itself in, much like it always was during her study sessions.
Rainbow glanced around the towering stacks of books and papers, a small smirk spread across her lips. “One more night, huh egghead?”
Twilight blushed, grinning sheepishly. “Well... maybe a day and a night?”
“You can take a break you know? I'm sure the Princess wouldn't mind if you took a few days to finish all this... whatever it is,” Rainbow explained, motioning around her at the towering stacks.
“It's really not so bad...” Twilight trailed off, frowning. “Spike!?” She repeated, still getting no response. Sighing and rolling her eyes, she said; “Knowing him he's probably down by the lake. I did give him the day off, I guess... you want anything?”
Rainbow shrugged. “You got some lemonade or somethin'?”
“I just might. You know where the Daring Do is; go ahead and I'll be back in a second.” With that the alicorn disappeared into her kitchen, leaving Rainbow alone in the front room to manoeuvre her way through the books to the shelf in the back where she knew her favourite books hid. It was a veritable jungle in the front room, but she made it without toppling a single tower, an act she took no small amount of pride in. Her eyes trailed up to see the spines of her favourite books lined up neatly on the shelf, and if she didn't know better she'd have sworn she almost started drooling.
Scanning the spines, she frowned slightly when she reached the end without seeing a new book, but shrugged it off as she picked out a random one from the middle to read. Rainbow made her way back through the obstacle course to the couch next to the fireplace, slumping down onto it and flipping the book open to the first page just as Twilight cantered back into the room with two glasses of lemonade in her telekinetic grasp.
“You could just take the book out, you know?” Twilight offered, passing one glass over to Rainbow as she sat down at her desk against the far wall. “You don't have to stay here.”
Rainbow's eyes narrowed. “You know it almost feels like you're trying to get rid of me.”
“That obvious?” Twilight asked with a sigh, her shoulders deflating slightly as the pegasus nodded at her. “I'm sorry, I'm just really busy with this stuff and I think you'd much prefer it if you were somewhere less... well, nerdy.”
Shrugging, Rainbow sank back into the couch. “Nowhere's more comfortable to read than a library, Twi. Besides, if what you're doing is really that boring then you could use me around to liven things up a bit, especially if Spike's out doing whatever it is baby dragons do.”
Twilight relented with a slow nod. “Alright, I guess. If you're sure. Feel free to leave anytime though.”
Rainbow made a motion with her hoof to acknowledge the sentiment, nose already buried deep in her book. Twilight snorted, smirking slightly before turning back to her desk and pulling out a map.
Hours passed in the library, silent save for the occasional shuffling of papers and ruffling of feathers. Time passed without any real meaning as noon gave way to evening and in turn evening to night. The sun was setting behind the mountains when Rainbow finally pulled her muzzle out of her book, yawning and stretching languidly as she slithered off the couch.
“Twi?” She called, glancing around the room after noting the distinctly empty desk beneath the darkened window. Frowning, Rainbow trotted over and looked outside at the sky, wincing as she realized just how long she'd been there.
“Twilight!?” Still no response came, and Rainbow sighed quietly, assuming the egghead was too wrapped up in a book or some-such to hear. She brushed it off, opting to let the alicorn study in peace. Before she could leave, however, something on the desk caught her eye.
A map of Ponyville had been rolled out across the wooden surface and various ink markings had been scrawled across it, mostly indecipherable scribbles of nonsense. One thing she noticed was a few houses with X's through them, as well as a few circled with what seemed to be notes jotted down around them.
Rainbow squinted, trying to decipher the scribbling but ultimately failing as she shrugged and turned away. Probably some princess business or something. Reaching up she pushed the window open, fanning her wings and jumping through into the cool air of sunset. With a few hard flaps she took to the sky and turned towards her home, intent on finding some dinner before hitting the hay.
Rainbow Dash shot upwards, blankets flying from her bed as her eyes sprang open. The sound of her heart pounding filled her ears along with her own breathing as the quiet night air wafted through her bedroom. Waiting in dead silence, she calmed her heart and held her breath, ears swivelling.
The thing about cloud houses was that they were incredibly silent. They offered excellent insulation against the noises of the outside world, and they didn't make a single creak as they floated in the sky. Rainbow had long since grown accustomed to the unrelenting silence. The only problem was that it wasn't silent.
Quiet, almost inaudible hoof steps could be heard as somepony tried their best to walk silently across the cushy clouds. Had the house not been so silent on a regular basis, they might have gotten away with it. But silent it usually was, and as a result they were caught.
Acting quickly, Rainbow leaped from her bed, but caught herself on her wings before touching the floor. She hovered in place for a moment, focusing in on the source of the noises in her house. From the sound of it, there was somepony in her living room. Just one, and they hadn't been invited. With a silent flip Rainbow flew smoothly out her bedroom window and circled around the house until she was at the front door, landing softly on the porch and pressing her ear to the door. The noises continued; quiet steps, the shuffling of items, the opening and closing of doors.
She took a breath, held it, slammed her door open, and charged inside. “Who's there!?” Rainbow demanded, fanning her wings as much as she could and quickly scanning her front room. Silence; the noises stopped. For a few tense moments, nothing happened. Her heart beat loudly in her ears as she strained to hear anything. Eventually, as she let out the breath she'd forgotten she'd held, a few more hoof steps sounded, and a shadowed figure peered around the doorway.
“Who are you?” Rainbow growled, lowering her head threateningly and beating her wings once.
The pony stepped out further, their own wings fanning out as they stepped into the silver light of the moon streaming in through a window. Blood red eyes shone with a hunger that sent a shiver down Dash's spine. Besides the eyes they looked like a regular stallion; a simple deep orange coat with a short, spiky blue mane.
Saying nothing, the pegasus took a step forward, then another, while Rainbow held her ground. He grinned, and Rainbow's eyes grew wide as two white fang slid out of his gums, protruding down past the rest of his teeth so far the fangs remained visible even when he closed his mouth.
“Alright, that's officially the weirdest thing I've ever seen. What the heck are you? Some kind of Changeling or something?” Rainbow asked, her hooves taking a small step back of their own accord.
The pegasus chuckled and shook his head. He smiled wider still, digging his hooves into the ground, and tensed his wings. His eyes flashed a deeper red and he launched himself forward, his wings giving a powerful beat and propelling him forward at an alarming speed.
“Whoa!” Rainbow rolled to the left, just barely escaping his wing's reach. She tumbled once, twice, before finally getting back onto her hooves. Turning just in time to see him crouch for another pounce, Rainbow spun around, planting her fore hooves on the ground and bucking out as he launched. She felt her hooves make contact with his face, a satisfying crack sounding out as he was sent flying back, colliding into the wall.
“Alright, calm down now,” Rainbow urged, taking a step towards his crumpled form. “I don't wanna hurt you, just tell me why you're here.”
The stallion looked up at her, a small trail of blood running down from the corner of his lips. “Why am I here?” He asked mockingly as he climbed back onto his hooves. He licked his lips, moving around the fangs still protruding from his mouth. “I'm here for your blood.”
Rainbow blinked, raising an eyebrow. “What the heck are you- Hey!” He pounced again, and again she rolled. This time, however, he predicted her doge and stopped himself short, immediately diving again before she could recover. He slammed into her and the both tumbled across the floor until they hit a wall, the stallion landing on top.
“Get... off!” Rainbow shouted, struggling against the floor. Her eyes widened as she quickly realized she'd been rendered completely immobile. This stallion was strong – impossibly strong. Her forelegs gave hardly a twitch as he bared down on her, grinning like a maniac. He opened his mouth, almost hissing as his fangs seemed to grow longer still.
With a flick of her wings, Rainbow managed to throw her weight to the side, making the stallion lose his balance and allowing her to slip a foreleg free from his. She wasted no time in drawing back and punching him across the cheek, knocking him off her and allowing a moment's breather as she scrambled back to her hooves.
“Look, I don't know what your problem is, but I've had it. Don't say I didn't try playing nice.” Rainbow took to the aggressive, launching herself at him while he was still standing back up and knocking him to the floor, sending him tumbling under her dining room table. It took mere seconds for him to stand up, knocking the table to the floor as he growled lowly.
His eyes seemed to pulse angrily as he panted heavily, muscles tensing and relaxing just beneath his skin. He let out a feral shriek of rage as he charged, using his wings to aid his hooves and increasing his speed. Rainbow just barely leaped out of the way, but was forced onto the defensive as he made a tight turn and kept running at her. She dodged again, but he whipped his wing out wide and slammed it into her side, winding her and knocking her into the wall.
Without giving a second's hesitation the stallion whirled around and tackled Rainbow, driving his head into her chest and forcing her back onto her hind legs against the wall. She lashed out with a foreleg, aiming for his jaw, but he caught her hoof in his own and pinned it to the wall next to her head. Her other foreleg was quickly pinned as well, and he leaned forward, forcing her to face him muzzle to muzzle.
A sliver of true panic lanced through Rainbow's heart as she kicked her hind legs furiously at his own to no effect; it was like kicking solid steel. He grinned before opening his mouth wide and tilting his head, leaning forward.
“Get off of me you creep!” Rainbow shouted, thrashing madly as she felt his breath tickle the hairs on her neck.
Suddenly, the front door slammed open and a soot-black unicorn charged in with a shining sword held in a similarly black magic glow. The mare's dark indigo mane blew in the wind as her eyes widened in horror. “Get off of her!” She shouted, charging forward.
“Ah!” Rainbow cried out as she felt something sharp pierce the skin of her neck and sink into her flesh. A sickening slicing sound filled the air, and the stallion's body fell back away from her. His head remained hooked on her neck.
The blood drained from Rainbow's face like the blood splattering out of the stallion's head. She fell to her knees as his head finally let go, rolling a few times before stopping, staring up at her with a wicked grin and lifeless red eyes.
“Rainbow? Rainbow!?” The unicorn ran forward, sword discarded, and skidded to a stop next to the pegasus just in time to catch her head as she fell backwards. Her vision blurred slowly as she looked up into the unicorn's face, her black coat shimmering and changing. Rainbow’s world quickly faded to black and she passed out in the unicorn’s hooves.
“Please... Rainbow.... no....”
A raging inferno of flames consumed a once lush green forest, turned brown and black from the unrelenting heat. Rainbow Dash lay on the scorched ground, staring up at the smoke-blotted sky. Everything around her had been consumed by fire, save the small patch of blackened, dying grass she lay on. The sweltering, smothering heat licked at her coat and singed her feathers.
Slowly she stood, smelling the earthy, woody smoke from the destruction that was her world. The flames' reflections danced in her shimmering magenta eyes as she spun around, looking for a way out. Unfortunately, nothing escaped the burning and all she could see was fire and the death it wrought. Opening her mouth proved to be a fatal mistake as she got a mouthful of soot and sparks that burned her tongue and choked her lungs.
“H-help...” she wheezed through the smog settling in her chest. Her voice was frail and weak. Flaring her wings she jumped up into the air, only to be caught by a harsh updraft and thrown up, her wings faltering just long enough for the descent to be a painful crash back onto the burning ground.
Finger-like tendrils of fire seeped along the ground, reaching for her hooves and forcing her to retreat to the center of her shrinking clearing. The sound of crackling flames and snapping wood filled her ears while the smoke made her eyes sting and tear up. The forest became a blur of angry reds and oranges, getting closer and brighter with every passing second.
“Somepony... please...” Rainbow's please were cut short by her own coughing as the very air around her tried to suffocate her cries for help. An intense heat stung at her right wing, sending a stabbing pain racing along her nerves. She screamed as she looked over and saw the tips of her primary feathers burning, the flames slowly travelling up her wing. Waving it frantically only seemed to encourage the fire, and before she knew what happened it had engulfed her entire wing with a searing heat.
Another scream tore itself from her throat, allowing more smoke into her lungs as the other wing caught fire as well and her clearing was reduced to the grass beneath her hooves, flames licking at her belly and singeing the hair from her legs. Pain clouded her mind and she fell into the fire, screaming and writhing as heat and flames consumed her being.
“Ahhh!” Rainbow Dash shot upright, panting and shivering as she felt the cold sweat covering her body. Her world was dark, but darkness was better than fire, and a bed was better than the floor of a forest. Hastily checking her wings, she breathed a sigh of relief as she found them unharmed, if slightly disorganized.
Blinking, Rainbow's eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness around her, and she could make out the small room she found herself in. A bed lay beneath her and a blanket at the foot. Against the opposite wall a small vanity mirror sat, her own crimson eyes staring back at her through the blackness.