Protector of the Dawn

by PatteringHoovesofDawn

2. Hath Taken Hold

Dawn's eyes had adjusted to the darkness. What with fifteen years of dark consuming her, one would grow to accept and conjoin with the black eternity. So, when she awoke, her eyes did not search for the light switch, instead, she searched for the book laying next to her. She didn't have one anyway.

Hours were not something she kept track of. Clocks did not exist anymore. They just mocked her in their presence, what with their silly concepts of ante and post merediem. It didn't make sense in this world. There was no such thing as midday any longer, how could it? If there was no day, then there was no middle of the day. Clocks made no sense. To Dawn, to own a clock was an act of insanity on one's part.

And since clocks did not matter, Dawn worked herself for hours on end without knowing, and not caring. She sat at her desk, scribbling away at a thesis paper concerning the return of the sun's power that was already four paragraphs longs. It suggested that the sun should have more time in the summer and spring, and the moon could have more time in the autumn and winter. This was only one of many drafts she had made, though she hoped this to be her final. If her trash can could talk, it couldn't say anything about her for it was trying to scarf down many pieces of parchment.

Accompanied by an orchestra of the creaking noises of a door, the blinding white light inched ever near to Dawn's desk; first climbing its way up the legs of the wooden object with its grubby little hands, and then finally ruffling her fur with its cold touch. Looking outside her shadow, for only a second, she allowed herself to see a glimpse of the light. Fear settled in and she returned to the black she created on the desk.

The clacking of claws against the cold, hard floor sped over to her and her desk. They told her it was the mail-dragon, Flame. She braced herself for the voice she hated to hear. It was one of her top five worst, right up there with Princess Twilight, and her brother. His voice was typically nasally and sounded like it should come from one who partook in athletics often.

"Today's the day!" said Flame, his voice filled to the brim with concern over something she knew not.

Dawn sat back in her chair, rubbing her eyes with folded hooves. "What do you want now? Your time is wasting."

"Remember the fairytales you used to read to me? Of Apollo? And of Artemis? How it prophesied their return to be today? How only the Elements of Harmony could stop them?"

"Yes, we believe that we do remember," said she, going back in time for a few moments. Awaiting an answer out of the long silence, she tapped her hoof on the floor, shaking the desk and ink. The ink fell over and spilled out onto the floor. "But what do you want?" she screamed with every fiber of her being.

Scaring the young dragon to halfway to death, he screeched a reply, "I think Miss Sparkle might want to hear about its prophecy! Celestia believed you when had read the fairytale to her. She even went out to find them."

"'Miss Sparkle'?" she spat.

"Yes, Miss Sparkle. Yesterday, you asked me not to address her as Princess Twilight." he informed her.

"She is not a 'miss', you imbecile! She is a 'mrs'! We did not raise you to disgrace the name of Flash Sentry! And furthermore, we do not discuss that tragedy. It was years ago. It took years to forget. Must we reprimand you each and every time you fail to understand this?"

"Apologies, but ignoring that, you must inform Mrs. Sparkle of these lowlives! We cannot allow them to silently edge into Equestria and take over whilst we sleep!"

"It is no problem of ours. We have tried talking to her of this matter. She does not believe us. She believes 'tis only a foal's tale. But we have done our research, we know these miscreants to be in existence."

"Could you perhaps tell Prince Umbra? Maybe he would believe you seeing as the two of you aren't exactly a secret."

Dawn pondered on this for a moment. "Yes, we do believe that would be a good idea. However, we think it would be best to try to stop them on our own. We do not wish to sacrifice anyone over our own concerns. Not even you."

"I understand your plight, but I will be going with you to the ends of Equestria. I shall inform Prince Umbra that you wish to speak to him immediately."

"Yes, yes. If you wish. And turn off that dratted light. How it blinds me so."

Claws clattered away, bringing close to the light with a loud creaking, sucking it back to whence it came from.

Dawn found herself stealing away through the halls in the dark. It seemed that the castle was in a deep slumber that nothing, not even the pattering hooves of Dawn would awaken. She supposed she preferred it this way to everyone being astir and galloping all through the artificial light seeping from the ceilings. Darkness and quiet were her preferences for a stroll.

The fluttering and flapping of feathers alerted her to the presence of another in the halls. From what she could see, it was a tall, male, blue pegasus; her brother, Dusk's Sentry. He was coated in a golden armor, pieced together by a six-pointed star of a cyan color. His indigo eyes bore down on her with the pressure of a disappointed teacher.

"Why are you up at this time?" he asked, stamping a hoof.

"Time is but a mere concept, brother," said Dawn. "We are searching for our prince."

"Have you finally accepted the way you feel about him?"

"We are simply his friend. We will not be sucked into his corner of darkness."

"Whatever you say," said Dusk's Sentry, trotting down the long hallway. His tail swished in Dawn's face arrogantly.

Dawn continued uneasily to trot further into the castle, searching in the darkness for the throne room. Years ago, it was quite easy to navigate. But that was when light was passed down to Dawn willingly and she had never had a thirst for it. Never, had she ever been so parched for light. Back years and years, she remembered being a filly, guided by Princess Celestia. She remembered being shown the all of the doorways, the nooks, the crannies. She loved every bit of the castle. In her present time, however, she ached to escape the confining walls of darkness.

Dawn didn't have to go much farther to find the throne room which was currently bathing in moonlight. Prince Umbra never slept on his shift, so he was quite the insomniac. The room consisted of eleven glass windows containing the history of the defeat of a a plethora of villains - and there was room for one more which Dawn knew to be hers someday - and two thrones, one for heir to the sun, and the other, moon. Prince Umbra sat atop the one for the heir to the moon. Dawn kneeled before him.

The prince's face was very straightforward. His expression was blank with absolutely no feeling put into it, and yet, when he saw her, he struck a grin that would scare even the devil himself. His ears pricked forward and he took delicate steps off his place of only the highest of respect and confidence to come down to earth to her. His mane and tail flowed like a riverbed full of comets, stars, and vast galaxies moving at lightyear speed. Reflections of his mane had a similar viscosity on his chin and near his cloven hooves. His dark, shaggy charcoal pelt lent itself to hiding in the shadows. Being sired by a goat, his pitch black horns twisted out of his head into something sinister. His eyes were invisible to those who did not look deep enough into his mask of a skull for them. They were like the craters of the moon, and they glowered into Dawn's hopelessly zealous carmine eyes.

"What doth thou desire?" Prince Umbra asked of his subject, cupping a hoof under her chin and bringing her to her hooves.

"We'd like to request an escort to Ponyville. We must acquire the Elements of Harmony," said Dawn.

Prince Umbra thrust his head up, booming with laughter which echoed all around. His burst of laughter came to a sudden halt. His voice became deadly, "Thou shouldst know, we taketh not requests. Nay, we maketh deals. What deal dost thou wish to maketh?"

"What do you mean? We only require an escort. Only one of your fleet of batpony guards," said Dawn, dumbstruck at his demands.

"Oh, mine own love. We cannot simply alloweth thee taketh one guard." Prince Umbra laid down in front of Dawn, knowing full well that even in this position, he was larger than she. "One guard is one too many. Maketh a deal with me. Maketh it appealing, else, thou art wasting our time." Prince Umbra trilled, locking eyes with Dawn and placing a hoof beneath his own chin.

Dawn unintentionally bowed, taken aback by his statements. "We suppose we could offer our servitude."

Prince Umbra stood with grimace that would scare even a manticore. "We doth not hast any interest in a thing such as that! How darest thou suggest it!" he roared, shaking the castle. "What we doth desire, thou couldst never acquireth."

"And that is?"

"Thy brother's servitude." Prince Umbra answered, a dark glint in his eye as he spoke the item aloud.

Prince Umbra smirked. "Aye, we hast did seek after it for many moons. However, we believeth that gent to beest protected by a strange sort of charm, else we shalt has't taken it by force. Thou couldst never get it... unless..." he eyed Dawn carefully.

"Unless what? We are desperate! The fate of the world depends on it! We must get to Ponyville, but we can't do it alone!" said Dawn, stomping her hooves in protest.

"If't be true thee maketh this deal, we shalt bind his magic to ours. Then, we shalt allow an escort." Prince Umbra smirked.

Dawn looked down at her hooves and let her mind wander. She pictured the face of her brother when he realized what she had done to him and the guilt she would feel having done that. Then, she thought of what might happen if she allowed the world to end because she wouldn't give up her brother's free will.

The end of the world as she knew it was not something she often thought about because it was tied to a mare that she missed and wished not to acknowledge.

The end would be brought on by unicorn twins, Apollo and Artemis. Once Celestia and Luna's prized pupils, they eventually turned on the sisters after having different views, authoritarian versus democracy as is the norm with these sour relationships. They had to be sealed away in a deserted land far from Equestria. The unicorns were horribly powerful, managing to surprise the sisters by their ability to raise and lower the sun and moon without breaking a sweat after years of practice. With this immense power, it wouldn't be hard to imagine them taking over Equestria and ruling with an iron hoof. Even with Prince Umbra taking over the daylight, he still held a democratic monarchy over the lands of Equestria. The return of Apollo and Artemis would spell the end of free will as a whole.

"Time is ticking, and by time, I mean our patience." Prince Umbra held out his black, cloven hoof out for Dawn to shake.

She took it willingly.

Prince Umbra rose on his haunches and reached for the night sky, a beautiful grin growing towards his ears, perhaps it would even stretch to his horns if anything more jovial would have happened. He cackled with glee at the fresh deal he had made. He glared down at Dawn with an smile that visibly pierced her heart - she winced and closed her eyes at the thought of what she had just done - and he made a grabbing motion. Soon, indigo wisps of wind filled his grasp and disappeared in surges through his arm.

"Excellent," said he, a guttural growl forming in his voice.

Prince Umbra howled in laughter. He put all four hooves on the ground and cackled. "We shalt sendeth Nocturnal Paladin with thee as thy escort. Now begone. Leave our sight."

Dawn crept back into her room, leaving herself in a darkness much deeper than where she had just been. She silently awaited her escort, looking forward to nothing else but a sweet escape from the Canterlot Castle. She looked around the near empty room which hosted a party of one. The books, her desk, her bed... they all seemed to be giving her disappointed glances from where they respectively sat. She looked down at the floor, and in its cold, glossy finish, she saw her dark reflection, staring back at her with an expression of pure misery and hatred.

Her ears pricked at the sound of creaking doors. Thankfully, the lights stayed held back, and only the clopping of hooves accompanied the sound of creaking.

Quickly, Dawn spun around to see a batpony guard, someone quite obviously under Prince Umbra. His coat was a dark shade of gray, and his eyes were an azure blue. He removed his finned helmet and bowed, revealing a mohawk of messy, golden locks.

"Your majesty, Dawn's Sentry, daughter of Princess Twilight Sparkle," said the guard. He had a thick Manehattan accent. "I came as soon as I heard you wanted to get the heck outta here. I'm Nocturnal Paladin." he put his helmet back on.

"Yes, well, we need to depart right away. We can't stop, either, we must forge on." Dawn trotted over to the guard with a huff.

"'Ey, if you're lookin' to go straight to Ponyville, I'm not your guy. You're gonna want a sturdier guy like ah... Night Light. Y'know, Shining Armor's son? Yeah, him. I need to make a stop in Manehattan, see my parents, refuel... all that. So, uh, take it or leave it, princess," said the guard.

"You're Nocturnal Paladin, correct?" Dawn sighed.

"That's my name. Don't wear it out."

"We suppose we can, if we must." Dawn rolled her eyes.

Nocturnal Paladin led her out of the dark room and through the only slightly less dark hallways.

"And what's with the 'we'? You gotta secret friend? A rabbit in your mane or somethin'?"

Author's Note:

Again, sorry if you thought this was going to be some kind of Celestia x Twilight's child lmao. As you can see from this chapter, it is in fact about Twilight's child going on an adventure out of respect and admiration for Celestia.

I'm thinking of making this darker and maybe even changing the rating to teen. I'll have to see what the next chapter holds to tell, I think it's too early on right now.