Daybreak

by Leafdoggy

Chapter 34

“What are you gonna do? You can’t hurt me,” Daybreak taunted. She stuck her tongue out at Rainbow Dash. “Are you gonna lecture me? Go ahead, it’s not gonna stop me from sucking every last drop of fear from—”

Rainbow Dash steeled her expression and blasted forward. In a single, swift movement, she grabbed Daybreak from behind, pinning her legs to her chest, and lifted her into the air.

“I don’t have to hurt you to catch you,” Rainbow Dash told her.

“Let me go!” Daybreak flailed her hind legs and struggled against the firm grip.

“Uh, no?” Rainbow Dash chuckled. “C’mon, kid, get your… Friend, there to stand down, and we can go back to the castle and wait for your parents.”

“No! You don’t get to tell me what to do!” Daybreak growled and lit up her horn, hoping to drain something from Rainbow Dash, but she couldn’t find anything to latch onto. “Gooey!” She groaned and shouted across the room. “Do something! Get me down!”

Frightened ponies scurried away and cleared a path as Gooey slowly meandered back towards the stage. They tilted their head curiously as they drew closer. “How?”

“Hit her,” Daybreak hissed.

“Did you say Gooey?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that your cat’s name?”

“I grew up,” Gooey said. “Hi. I don’t think we met much.”

“Gooey, quit introducing yourself and help me!”

“You really shouldn’t,” Rainbow Dash said. “C’mon, just let these ponies go.”

“I can’t let them go,” Gooey said. “Daybreak needs them here. I don’t really want to hurt you, though. Can you please just let Daybreak go?”

Rainbow Dash stared at them in bewilderment. “I… No? I can’t just let you two keep hurting ponies.”

“I’m not hurting them,” Gooey said, “Daybreak is. I’m just stopping them.”

“Augh! Fine, whatever, I’ll do it myself!” Daybreak grumbled and lit up her horn before firing a blast of magic blindly backward.

Rainbow Dash barely moved her head out of the way in time to avoid getting hit. “Woah! Dude, watch where you point that thing!”

“If you don’t wanna get hit, let me go!” Daybreak fired off another shot, which Rainbow Dash also dodged.

“Not happening!” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and started towards the hole she left in the ceiling. “We’re going back to the castle. I guess I’ll just come back for Gooey later.”

“No!” Daybreak thrashed around fruitlessly. “Gooey, at least stop her!”

“Okay.” Gooey raised a hoof and aimed it at Rainbow Dash. Suddenly, her leg shot forward, turning into a long, spindly tendril that she wrapped around one of Rainbow Dash’s hind legs.

Rainbow Dash jerked to a stop in midair. “Hey!” She growled and tugged against Gooey’s grasp. “Seriously?”

“Hah!” Daybreak tilted her head back to try and laugh in Rainbow Dash’s face. “Serves you right.”

“Yeah, great, you stopped me,” Rainbow Dash grumbled. “Now what? Are we just gonna float here until one of us passes out?”

“Nah, I’m just gonna go back to what I was doing.” Daybreak chuckled and looked down at the mass of ponies still huddled against the walls below her. “Hey, you all! Did you pick a volunteer yet?”

The ponies below started to murmur amongst themselves. Rainbow Dash tugged harder against her restraints. “Don’t do it, Daybreak,” she said quietly. “Seriously. You don’t need to hurt these ponies.”

“Well, maybe I want to.” Daybreak blew a raspberry before glaring down at the crowd. “Well? No volunteer? I guess that means I get to pick!”

Daybreak lit up her horn and tugged her head back violently. Strands of light erupted around the audience, flowing up towards Daybreak as several ponies yelped and collapsed.

“Dang it, Daybreak, what do you want?” Rainbow Dash asked, sounding increasingly worked up.

“I want my parents to care!” Daybreak growled and ripped the fear out of a few more ponies. “And I’m gonna do whatever it takes to make that happen! Hear that, ponies? You better start picking volunteers, cuz if they don’t show up soon, I’m gonna have to do more than just make you pass out!”

“Seriously?” Rainbow Dash shouted over the increasingly panicked chatter from below. “Do you hear yourself?”

“Do you hear me? I said I’m gonna do whatever I have to! I don’t care who it hurts! I’ll hurt you, I’ll hurt Rarity, I’ll hurt Scootaloo—”

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth. “Kid, you are really testing my patience!”

Daybreak smirked. “Good.”

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash felt something tight in her chest, like a vice around her heart. The wind got knocked out of her as Daybreak latched onto her frustration and tugged hard, and Rainbow Dash started to plummet towards the ground.

With the grip around her weakened, Daybreak finally broke herself free just before the two of them hit the ground. She shot out her wings and hovered nearby as Rainbow Dash landed with a hard thud. Somehow, she’d managed to land on her hooves, but her legs were shaky.

Daybreak looked at Rainbow Dash with a wicked grin. Her horn was still lit. She was taking her time. “Yeah, that’s right, get mad. I mean, really, you should be angry at yourself! Too weak to stop a little kid. Too weak to protect any of the ponies you care so much about.” As she egged Rainbow Dash on, her magic got stronger and stronger, squeezing the well of anger growing inside her as much as possible.

Rainbow Dash coughed and fell to her knees. “Daybreak, please,” she wheezed. “This is too much. You’re going too far.”

“Am I? Cuz I don’t see my parents here! Apparently, I’m not evil enough for the great saviors of Canterlot!” Daybreak sniffed and wiped her eyes, then bared her fangs and focused her growing frustration towards Rainbow Dash. At the same time, she stopped absorbing her anger at all. After all, she didn’t want it to run out. Instead, she just squeezed harder, putting more and more pressure on the already strained emotions.

Rainbow Dash grumbled incoherently under her breath, then took a deep breath and shook her head. “Ugh. F-Fluttershy, you there? I could really use some help, here.”

Daybreak scoffed. “I’m way past being scared of Fluttershy. Sure, though, let’s see what she does to stop me.” Daybreak fell silent, staring down at Rainbow Dash with a smirk and never letting up on her magic.

After a minute of waiting, Rainbow Dash gave in. “W-What happened to Fluttershy?”

“Oh, I’m sure she’s fine,” Daybreak said, “but, you know, this is why Angel actually watches things. She’d actually notice if something was being hidden from her.”

Rainbow Dash groaned. The strain on her psyche was starting to take a toll, and she fell from her knees onto her stomach. “Daybreak,” she said weakly, “you’re not thinking straight. Your parents are out looking for you. That’s why they’re not here.”

“That’s a lie! You’re just like everyone else, telling me whatever lies you need to for me to do what you want. Well, I’m sick of it!” Daybreak stomped a hoof on the ground. “I’m sick of all of you!”

“If you’d just come home—”

“No! I’m not doing what you want me to!” Daybreak shut her eyes tight, and the light on her horn grew intensely. A second later, Rainbow Dash doubled over in pain. “I’m not stopping until they stop me!

“How will they even know I couldn’t stop you?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Nopony can leave to tell them.”

“I…” Daybreak growled. “You know what? I don’t need all these ponies, anyway. I’ve got a pony they actually care about now. Gooey, let everyone but Rainbow Dash go.”

“Alright.” Gooey nodded, and the walls blocking the exits splashed down onto the floor. The terrified crowd immediately stampeded towards them, pushing and shoving each other in their desperate flight.

Daybreak ignored them. “Alright, let’s go,” she said coldly. “We don’t wanna make it too easy for them. Gooey, can you carry her?”

Gooey nodded and gently scooped Rainbow Dash up onto a thin sheet of water that flowed around on the ground beside them.

“Thanks,” Daybreak said. She took a deep breath, then started towards the back door, never once letting up on her grip around Rainbow Dash’s anger. “Oh, and splash her in the face if it seems like she’s gonna pass out. If I’m gonna learn to be evil enough for them to care, I’m gonna need her to be awake to tell me how I’m doing.”

Comments

[Chrome Reader]

This is a brat that needs an all-through beat down to send a message to her close-mindedness she has for a brain

Goddess.. I'm loving this story

[Myrkin]

Daybreak, eat a Snickers.

Daybreak: Why?

Because you're not you when you're hungry.