Daybreak

by Leafdoggy

Chapter 21

“Have I ever actually shown you around the hive?” Thorax asked. Even with the stress of the situation, his voice was still full of its usual pep.

“Not really,” Daybreak said. She was back on the floor, walking beside him, but she was sticking as close as she could and hid away from the changelings they passed as much as she could.

“Oh, well heck, I messed up!” Thorax chuckled softly. “I was supposed to be teaching you about the changelings whenever you came to visit.”

“But not about my mom,” Daybreak grumbled.

“Sorry,” Thorax said. “But hey, now that the cat’s out of the bag I can tell you whatever you wanna know!”

They’d been walking through nondescript hallways ever since leaving the room full of pods, rarely seeing another changeling as they wove their way up through the maze. Thorax knew the paths well, but to Daybreak it felt like they were just taking turns randomly, and she’d quickly lost track of where in the hive they might be.

Finally, the hallways opened up into something more. They entered a long, narrow chamber that was buzzing with movement. The floor, walls, and even the ceiling were marked with strange, curving lines that Daybreak couldn’t make sense of, and in the center of the room, a group of changelings were crowded together in a blur of movement.

Something broke out of the crowd and whizzed through the air at them. Daybreak yelped and ducked, but Thorax didn’t bother to move. As it approached, the strange object started to curve upwards, and it slammed into the high ceiling with a rubbery thunk long before it ever reached them.

Thorax laughed and caught the little beige ball as it fell back down. He lifted Daybreak up off the ground and patted her on the head. “You okay?”

Daybreak took a moment to catch her breath, then nodded. “Y-Yeah… What was that?”

Across the room, the changelings had seen what happened and were scrambling to arrange themselves in some sort of orderly fashion. One of them was taking charge, telling them all where to stand, and then turned towards Thorax. “K-King Thorax!” He said nervously. “I’m so sorry, we didn’t see you come in, and it just—”

“It’s quite alright,” Thorax told him. He nodded to Daybreak, then started walking over to the changelings. “Daybreak, this is our sports team. Their captain is Instar.”

“That’s me,” the changeling in the lead said. He was a tall, lanky changeling, almost rivaling Thorax in height, with a rich blue coloration that stuck out against the tan of the room around them. He shot a goofy smile towards Daybreak.

Daybreak waved nervously, then looked up towards Thorax. “What kind of sports?”

“Hm?” Thorax gave her a puzzled look. “You know… Sports!” He gestured vaguely at the room they were in.

“Sports?” Daybreak repeated.

“Yeah!” Thorax nodded enthusiastically. “You’ve never seen it?”

“Uh… No,” Daybreak told him.

“Oh, you’ve gotta see it,” Thorax said. “I wish I could stay and watch now, but I don’t think I have time for a full game. Still lots of preparations to get done for the Birth Day celebration. You could stick around though, Daybreak! I bet Instar and his team would be happy to show you the game.”

“It’d be our pleasure!” Instar agreed.

“U-Um…” Daybreak pursed her lips and looked over the team. They’d been watching her curiously since the game stopped, but most of them did their best to smile when she glanced at them. “I don’t know…”

“We can show you how to kick the ball around,” Instar said.

“Mm…” Daybreak shuffled awkwardly where she stood.

Thorax kneeled down beside her. “Really, Daybreak, they’d love to show you the game. None of the changelings are unhappy to see you here.”

“How do you know that?” Daybreak asked.

“It’s my job to know those things,” Thorax said. “I’m their leader.”

Daybreak scuffed a hoof on the floor. “Do you really think I should stay?”

“I think you’d have fun,” Thorax told her, “and that’d make you feel better.”

“Mm… Fine,” Daybreak mumbled. “I’ll try it.”

“Awesome!” Thorax rustled her mane and stood back up. “I’ll see you in a bit then, Daybreak. Love ya!”

“Love you too,” Daybreak said under her breath.

As Thorax left, Instar took the ball and sat on the floor near Daybreak. “So, Daybreak, was it?”

“You know the answer to that,” Daybreak grumbled.

“Fair enough. Well, do you wanna try kicking the ball around?”

Daybreak shrugged. “I guess.”

“Well, c’mon, I’ll show you how it works.” He got up and walked to the center of the room, beckoning for her to follow. “So, you see these lines?” He asked as they walked. The other players all moved to the sides of the room to watch or whisper amongst themselves.

“Uh-huh,” Daybreak said.

“They’re how we score,” Instar explained. “Hit a line, get a point. The walls give double points, and the ceiling gives triple. Easy enough, right?”

“Why wouldn’t you just fly up to the ceiling with the ball?” Daybreak asked.

Instar pointed to a little circle in the center of the room. “Shots only count if you’re standing on the ground in that circle,” he explained. “Otherwise, you get nothing.”

“Okay,” Daybreak said. “Sounds easy.”

Instar laughed. “It’s tougher than you’d think. C’mon.” He put the ball down in the middle of the circle and pointed to it. “Give it a shot.”

Daybreak walked up to the ball and rolled it back and forth a couple of times. It was small, firm, and a lot heavier than it looked. After testing it out a bit, she pulled a front hoof back, then shot it forward into the ball.

It sailed into the air, whooshing as the air passed around it. It went high, higher, far over their heads.

Then it turned and fell back down. Daybreak frowned as the ball bounced to a stop only a few feet in front of her. There were quiet, quickly-stifled snickers from one or two of the changelings on the sidelines, which only made her scowl worse.

“Told ya,” Instar said. “It takes a lot of practice. Here, watch me.” He stepped over to the ball and bounced it high into the air. As it rose and fell before him, he spun around in place and lifted up his hind legs. Then, just as the ball passed by him, he bucked it with all his might.

The ball whistled through the air with incredible speed. It didn’t spin or curve at all, rocketing straight forward until, only moments later, it slammed into the far wall, landing square on a line that curved around the doorway. There was a loud, hollow boom as it bounced off the wall and came flying back, echoing itself with every bounce until it eventually settled right back at their hooves.

Instar grinned proudly and looked at Daybreak. “Impressive, huh?”

“I guess,” Daybreak said.

Instar chuckled. “Don’t be too tough on yourself,” he said. “Some creatures just aren’t built for it.”

Daybreak furrowed her brow. “I only tried once,” she said.

“Sure, sure,” he said. “I didn’t mean to say you couldn’t get the hang of it. Here,” he said, rolling the ball towards her, “wanna try again?”

Daybreak stopped the ball and glared at it for a moment. Then she picked it up and tossed it into the air. She spun around in place, just as she’d seen Instar do, and when she felt the time was right she bucked as hard as she could.

She missed completely.

Her hooves flew back, and she lost her balance. Her front hooves slipped out from under her and she fell onto the floor with a quiet “oof,” followed by a louder “oof” a second later when the ball fell right on top of her.

There were more hushed laughs from the sidelines. Instar walked over and held out a hoof to help her up. “Ouch,” he said sympathetically. “Maybe save the hard stuff ‘til you’re a bit better?”

Daybreak ignored his hoof and stood up with a huff. “Whatever. It’s a dumb game anyway.”

“Aw, don’t say that,” Instar said. “You just need a bit of practice.”

“What, so you can all laugh at me some more?”

Instar shot a look at his teammates, then turned back to her and frowned. “We all want you to have fun, Daybreak.”

“Yeah, right. You’re just doing this cuz Thorax told you to.”

“Nah, we love sharing this game!”

“That doesn’t mean you’d share it with me, though.”

Instar’s frown deepened. “Why don’t you try one more time? Just a regular kick, and try to hit the middle of the ball. I bet you’ll do a lot better.”

Daybreak stared at him for a second but eventually decided it was worth a shot and turned towards the ball. She rolled it around, carefully positioning it in front of herself, and took a step back to prepare herself.

Just before she kicked, she glanced over to the changelings on the sidelines. They were all watching her with bated breath, some already covering their mouths in case they got the urge to laugh again.

She narrowed her eyes at them. “What are you looking at? I’m not gonna mess it up again!”

“They don’t expect you to,” Instar said, “they’re just curious.”

“About what?”

Instar shrugged. “I dunno, maybe you have some hidden talents or something.”

“Or maybe they’re scared of me,” Daybreak mumbled too quietly for anyone to hear.

“What?” Instar tilted his head. “Daybreak, they just wanna see how good you are.”

“Sure,” Daybreak said. “Fine. You wanna see how good I am? You wanna see what I can do?” She turned back to the ball, lit up her horn and lifted it up. “Here’s what I can do.”

“Hang on,” Instar said, “you’re not supposed to—”

He was cut off by an explosion of magic, a boom louder than any hit they’d ever heard. They could hardly see through the brilliant flash of light, but they felt the wind that rushed past them, and they heard the second boom as the ball slammed into the wall hard enough to shake the room.

When everything settled, they all looked up to see the ball embedded in the wall high above the door.

“D-Daybreak…” Instar stuttered and stumbled back a few steps.

Daybreak whipped back around to him. “Happy now?” she shouted. “Now that you know you should be scared of me? Now that you don’t have to feel bad for hating me?”

“Daybreak, we don’t—”

“Yes, you do!” Daybreak’s voice cracked. “Don’t lie to me! I’m sick of everyone lying to me! Come on!” She looked around the room at all the dumbfounded changelings. “Won’t any of you admit that you think I’m just as evil as my mom was?”

A moment passed, then another. None of them said anything.

“Stop lying!” Daybreak yelled at them. “What do I have to do to make you tell the truth? Do I have to actually be evil? Huh?” She wiped tears from her eyes and looked around at them. “Well, maybe I should! Maybe I should just… Just…”

With a frustrated growl, Daybreak turned back to Instar and shut her eyes tight. Then she poured all her anger, all her distrust and confusion into her horn. Teal flames erupted around it, growing larger and more out of control with every passing moment.

Then she screamed and let all that energy out.

Comments

[Lore Horse]

Poor daybreak.

[RandomGuy101]

10177701
Poor rest of the hive. I feel bad for Daybreak, too, but she's powerful!

[Ruthpern81]

This is not going to end well.

[Black_Midnight30]

Oh no if my oc did that there would be a hole on the hive

[Black_Midnight30]

11471566
In*