Light of Day

by PonyUpYourBits

Chapter 4

The white alicorn standing before Twilight’s party rolled her eyes and groaned. Her confident grin quickly changed to a miffed frown.

"Oh come on...I know you're not fond of me but try not to steal my thunder," she said with a tinge of frustration in her voice. The other six ponies looked back at Starlight Glimmer and Princess Luna, perplexed how they knew her name before she introduced herself.

Daybreaker slowly made her way down from the platform on which the two thrones were placed. As her hooves touched down, small flames were produced by her footsteps, leaving singed patches of ground where she walked. At the base of the platform she looked back at the trail of burn marks behind her. "Once I'm in charge I'm going to have to invest in some fire-resistant flooring..." she mumbled.

"Who are ya and what have you done with Princess Celestia?!" Applejack interjected aggressively, readying herself for a fight. The other five Element bearers also braced themselves.

"Oh you are just adorable," Daybreaker said patronizingly. She chortled before continuing. "I am 'Daybreaker'. I am the one making better use of the power your 'Princess Celestia' refuses to use. Celestia is a weak-willed foal who has ruled over Equestria for thousands of years with a limp hoof. In that time the kingdom has seen masters of chaos, tyrannical kings...the nightmares that walk among us..." Daybreaker shot Luna a smug glare, which Luna returned with a bitter scowl.

"But she always found ways to avoid doing what was necessary, what was right," Daybreaker continued, her tone becoming more aggressive and impassioned. "She held back, she relied on others, and for what? A kingdom that was constantly assaulted from every side in a never-ending cycle. None of these events ever inspired Celestia to take her role seriously and stop holding back...and that's where I come in." The vile smirk returned Daybreaker's face with the end of her declaration.

"But...but how can you be real?" Starlight Glimmer stammered. "You were just a dream!"

Daybreaker turned her attention to Starlight and laughed. "You'd really be so naive to think that I only existed in your dream?" she admonished the unicorn. "Think about when you saw me, what happened in that moment: Celestia had entered your dreams. The power of the dream-walking spell requires a connection between the user's subconscious and the subject's. I have always existed within the inner reaches of Celestia's mind. She simply exposed me to you because of her amateur attempt to use that one's magic." She aggressively pointed her hoof towards Luna.

"Well whoever you are, you aren't going to take over Celestia!" Twilight Sparkle said. "We won't let you!"

"It's a little late for that, don't you think?" Daybreaker responded flippantly, her fanged mouth smiling with devilish pride.

Twilight and the other five ponies focused their energy and the Elements of Harmony began to glow. Beams of light connected the six ponies and they levitated off the ground as they had before. Daybreaker looked unimpressed and dismissively yawned at the ponies.

"These are the Elements of Harmony," Twilight told Daybreaker. "They have the power to defeat the darkness that dwells within Celestia's magic. You!"

Daybreaker scoffed. "'Darkness'? You might want to rethink your choice of words, little princess!"

Twilight said nothing in return. Instead the six ponies gathered the magic of the Elements of Harmony and collectively fired a powerful rainbow-colored beam at Daybreaker.

The villainous alicorn stood her ground. She grinned then raised her forehoof. As the beam approached, she swatted at it, deflecting the beam away entirely and up to the ceiling, where it punched a hole in the roof of the castle.

"No!" the six ponies gasped in unison. Daybreaker completely negating the magic of the Elements of Harmony was something none of them were prepared for.

"But...how...?!" Twilight cried, caught off-guard.

"Oh that was an impressive little light show you put on there," Daybreaker chided, unfazed and unchallenged. "How about you give mine a try?!"

Daybreaker opened her mouth and charged up a ball of flame. She launched it at the six levitating ponies, who couldn't defend themselves. The fireball broke the magical bond between the six ponies and threw them out of the air, scattering them across the throne room.

Daybreaker laughed once again at her success. "Well I had fun with you lot but there is more...'remodeling' to do on this sorry kingdom! If I see you again, I’ll be sure to show you what I’m really capable of!"

With those words, Daybreaker spread her large wings and took to the air, flying through the hole left behind by the deflected magic. The other ponies just looked up as the evil alicorn fled the throne room, powerless to stop her.

Starlight Glimmer and Luna ran over to the fallen ponies. "Twilight, are you alright?" Starlight asked.

"I'll...be fine," Twilight assured her, getting back to her feet. Her facial expression was one of despair and disappointment.

Shortly after, all six ponies had stood up and were facing Luna and Starlight.

"How did you know her?" Rainbow Dash asked the pair, recalling them saying Daybreaker's name before she had a chance to say it herself.

Starlight and Luna looked at one another. "It...was a dream I had," Starlight explained. "On that mission from the map that sent me to Canterlot. I was so stressed out about the situation I put Celestia and Luna in that I had a nightmare where they turned into Nightmare Moon and...that."

"Celestia had entered Starlight's dream in order to help her, as she had control of my magic at the time," Luna continued for her. "It was as Daybreaker said: using the dream-walking spell requires the user to keep their own consciousness separate from that of the subject's. Without taking this into account, the spellcaster will unintentionally create a joint consciousness of their own and the subject's dream; in this case the piece of Celestia's mind that contains Daybreaker appearing to Starlight. Celestia had pulled me into Starlight's nightmare because she was overwhelmed and needed my assistance, which is also how I encountered her."

"How was she not affected by the Elements of Harmony?" Fluttershy asked. The other ponies looked dejected that their most potent ability did not affect Daybreaker. "Have the Elements gotten weaker?"

"I think we need to inform Star Swirl," Twilight said, her voice conveying the lack of options they had.

---

Map Room, Twilight's Castle

The doors to the map room opened and Twilight Sparkle's party returned from Canterlot, unsuccessful in their mission to free Celestia from the dark magic. Star Swirl the Bearded and his assistant Stygian were waiting for them along with Spike. Spike ran up to the group as they entered the map room.

"Did you save Celestia?" the young dragon asked hopefully. Twilight looked back at her friends, who shared her downtrodden expression, before she lowered her head and shook 'no'. Spike's expression quickly faded to an equally sullen visage.

"What happened?" Stygian asked.

"The Elements didn't work!" Pinkie Pie said on behalf of the group.

"We gave it everything we had but Cel-...'Daybreaker' wasn't affected by it," Rarity explained. "She simply brushed our magic away like it was a mere fly!"

"'Daybreaker'?" Star Swirl questioned.

"That's the name the monster that consumed Celestia is calling itself," Starlight Glimmer told him. "It's something I first saw when Celestia entered my dream..."

"Celestia went into your dreams?" Star Swirl asked, puzzled. He looked in Princess Luna's direction, whom he knew was the one with the power to visit dreams.

"Uh...it's a long story," Starlight said with a sheepish blush to her face. Star Swirl's only response was to frown at the unicorn.

"Well, in any event, I hadn't prepared for Celestia's magic becoming this strong," Star Swirl continued, troubled that the Elements had not freed Celestia. "If she can resist the power of the Elements of Harmony, that means this evil entity is amplifying her magic."

"She said something about Celestia 'holding herself back'," Rainbow Dash recalled. "I didn't think Celestia had that much magic..."

"What can we do...?" Applejack pleaded.

"I've never seen any creature capable of completely deflecting the Elements of Harmony," Twilight desperately claimed.

"Do not worry," Star Swirl assured them. "I have little doubt that the key to our problem is the Elements of Harmony. However we must find a way past Daybreaker's power."

"Would I be able to assist?" Luna asked Star Swirl.

"Unfortunately, we require the magic of friendship, which your magic lacks," Star Swirl declined. "In order to save Celestia, the magic that created Daybreaker must be repelled by the Elements of Harmony and the power they hold."

Star Swirl began to pace around the map room in thought. "I'm afraid to say it but the dark magic taking over Celestia's mind may have grown too out of control at this point," he told the others. "The situation may have gone past the point where the negative energy can be separated from Celestia's magic as you did with Nightmare Moon and Luna. The best we can hope is to use the Elements of Harmony to seal Daybreaker and keep her from reaching Celestia's conscious mind."

The other ponies looked disheartened upon learning Celestia may never truly be free of Daybreaker.

"Come on, girls," Twilight said. "Even if we can't completely eliminate the negativity in Celestia's magic, we can still do some good...at least...we could if Daybreaker wasn't so strong..."

"What we need is something to amplify the Elements of Harmony to overpower Daybreaker," Star Swirl surmised. "Something that can redirect the magic of the Elements with a greater magnitude..."

"The Tree of Harmony...?" Stygian proposed.

"Perhaps, that might work," Star Swirl said. "But...no, it draws its magical energy from the Elements themselves. To achieve the necessary amplification we would need to pass the magic of the Elements thro-..." he cut himself off. Star Swirl glanced around the map room quickly and erratically. The other ponies attempted to follow his darting eyes but he wasn't focusing on any one point in the room, which confused the others. "Yes...yes...yes!" Star Swirl said, excitement growing in his voice.

"What is it, sir?" Luna asked, eager to know what had sparked her mentor's inspiration.

Star Swirl pounded his hoof on the map table in the middle of the room, startling the other ponies into focusing on him. "Of course, that's it!" he proclaimed. "This castle!"

"The...castle...?" Twilight said, uncertain of where Star Swirl's logic was leading.

"Yes, Twilight, the castle itself!" Star Swirl reiterated. "The castle is the product of the Tree of Harmony. The magic that flows from the tree is being channeled by this castle!"

"Of course!" Twilight said, her eyes lighting up with enthusiastic understanding. "If we route the power of the Elements through the castle, we would be able to tap into the friendship magic that created the castle! We would have both the power of the Elements and the magic flowing from the Tree of Harmony!"

"Would that be enough?" Applejack asked, still shaken by their earlier encounter with Daybreaker's immense power.

"I believe so..." Star Swirl assured.

Comments

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

The white alicorn standing before Twilight’s party rolled her eyes and groaned.

"Oh come on...I know you're not fond of me but try not to steal my thunder," she said with a tinge of frustration in her voice.

This made me laugh, in spite of the situation.

But anyway, good work with this chapter. I really like where it's heading, especially with the newest plan that the Elements and the Pillars have come up with. Now of course, there's the issue of it'll actually work...

[Vansho-Lakon]

Daybreaker just became the most badass villain, she bitchslapped the T.T.R beam away like a boss!