Daybreak

by Leafdoggy

Chapter 35

“So, where are we going?” Gooey was starting to sound impatient. They’d been ducking through alleyways for a while, now, with nothing to show for it.

“I don’t know,” Daybreak grumbled. “The only place we have is the clubhouse, but if we go there I’m probably gonna have to fight Rarity, and—”

“Don’t you dare,” Rainbow Dash groaned.

“I don’t wanna hurt her,” Daybreak said. “I don’t know where else to go, though! I mean, it’s gotta be somewhere they actually can find. We can’t just go sit in a cave.”

“I’m not sure I understand why we’re even hiding,” Gooey said.

“Cuz I want them to have to find me,” Daybreak told them. “I want them to stop me, but I can’t just give up. If I do, I did all this for nothing!”

Rainbow Dash coughed and adjusted herself so she could stare down Daybreak. “Sounds to me like you don’t actually know what you want, kid.”

Daybreak spun around and pointed a hoof in Rainbow Dash’s face. “I want them to care about me,” she snapped. “One day they’re gonna go out and die and all I’ll have to remember them is a bunch of lies and I hate it!”

“So your solution is to try and kill me?” Rainbow Dash shook her head weakly. “You’re not helping anything.”

“Well, what else am I supposed to do? Huh? Tell me!” Daybreak stomped her hoof hard on the ground, then shut her eyes and shook her head as she felt tears welling up. “They won’t listen to me.”

“Daybreak, I’m sure if they knew you were this scared—”

“No!” Daybreak cut Rainbow Dash off. “Stop trying to talk me out of this. You lost! And, hey, it worked, didn’t it? You have to listen to me now! If I beat them, they’ll listen, too!”

“They already listen to y—” Rainbow Dash started, but Daybreak suddenly focused her magic, and Rainbow Dash clutched her chest and shuddered as she was wracked with pain.

“I said stop,” Daybreak said coldly, and she turned her attention away from Rainbow Dash.

“None of that explains why we have to hide,” Gooey continued.

“Because, we…” Daybreak groaned. “Fine. No more hiding.” She took a moment to steel herself, wiped her tears from her eyes, and made her way towards the closest street, followed soon after by Gooey.

It was a quiet, narrow residential street that they found first. It was by no means empty, but was nowhere near as packed as other areas of Canterlot. Ponies were scattered about here and there, some in groups, most alone, as they made their way back home or were just setting out for the evening. None of them even noticed as Daybreak and Gooey walked out from the shadows.

At least, not at first, but Daybreak quickly saw to that. “Alright, Canterlot,” she announced loudly, “hope you’re ready.”

Up and down the street, ponies turned their gazes to her, and a light murmur came from the scattered groups.

With their attention grabbed, Daybreak picked up Rainbow Dash with her magic and floated her out of the alley for all to see. Gasps and confused, nervous whispers filled the tiny street.

“I’ll make this quick,” Daybreak said. “The first pony to bring me my parents doesn’t end up like your favorite Wonderbolt, here.” When all she got was confused looks, she scowled and stomped a hoof on the ground. “Go get them before I eat you!”

That got the message through. The street quickly emptied as ponies fled the scene.

“There.” Once all the ponies were gone, Daybreak set Rainbow Dash on the ground and sat down. “Now, we wait.”

“They’re just going to run away,” Gooey said, “not get your parents.”

“Word will spread,” Daybreak replied.

As they sat there in the quiet, the only noise the sound of Rainbow Dash’s labored breathing, Daybreak couldn’t help but focus on it. On the slow draw in, and the wheezing breath out, over and over. It was like she could hear every bit of the pain Rainbow Dash was in.

The pain that she’d caused.

She frowned and let up on her magic until only the tiniest sliver was coiled around Rainbow Dash’s anger. Just enough to keep the connection, if she needed it.

As the pressure let up, Rainbow Dash coughed and groaned. Soon, she was able to muster up the strength to push herself up to a sitting position. “About time,” she grumbled. “Geez. You didn’t need to torture me.”

“I—” Daybreak started to protest, but stopped herself and shook her head. “I’m… Sorry, Rainbow Dash.”

“A bit late for apologies,” Rainbow Dash replied. “But… Thanks, I guess. Why the sudden change?”

Daybreak shrugged. “I’ll let you go when they get here. I just… Need to make sure they come.”

“You could’ve just asked for my help, you know.”

“You would’ve just tried to take me back home. Even if I hadn’t hurt anyone, you’d tell me I had to go home before you’d help me.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yeah, I do.” Daybreak took a breath and idly scratched her leg. “Then you would’ve left. You’d never help me at all.”

“That’s definitely not true,” Rainbow Dash protested.

“Whatever.”

Suddenly, there was a rush of wind, and the sound of flapping wings filled the air. Daybreak let go of her hold over Rainbow Dash, narrowed her eyes and stood up as her parents landed on the street nearby with heavy thuds.

“Finally,” Daybreak growled. “I’ve been waiting for you all—”

She cut herself off. She’d been expecting them to show up in a fury, magic at the ready and prepared to take her down, but that wasn’t the case at all. Chrysalis looked stern and imposing, but that was a far cry from the wrath Daybreak was expecting, and Twilight…

Twilight just looked sad. Her ears drooped, she was frowning deeply, and her eyes radiated an intense sense of worry and fear. She also looked unsteady on her hooves, like she hadn’t slept, and she had bags under her eyes.

“Daybreak…” Twilight took a cautious step forward. “Are you okay?”

“I—” Daybreak hesitated, but finally clenched her jaw and shook her head vigorously. “No! I’m not okay! How could I be okay when my own parents don’t care about me?”

“What? Daybreak, we care about you more than anything in the world,” Twilight said.

“You’re lying! Where have you been all day if you care so much?”

“Looking for you,” Twilight said.

“Rainbow Dash knew where I was! You can’t expect me to believe none of those ponies who got away told you it was me in there!”

“Word can only travel so fast, sweetie.” Twilight put out a pleading hoof. “Please, let’s just go home and talk about whatever’s upsetting you.”

“You’re lying! You’re just trying to trick me! You… You… Argh!” Daybreak shut her eyes tight and fired a bolt of magic blindly towards her parents.

They both dodged out of the way, and the magic slammed into the road, leaving a crater in its wake.

“Daybreak!” Chrysalis hissed. “Control yourself! Violence is not the way to get what you want.”

“Well, nothing else has worked!” Daybreak scowled and shot another blast at Chrysalis, who shielded it with her own magic. “You left me at the party,” she said, punctuated with another shot, “you left me at the train.” She let out a third shot, stronger than the other two, and Chrysalis’ shield shattered when it was hit. “You’ll never listen to me! Not unless I make you!”

Daybreak focused her magic and fired the strongest bolt yet. It whizzed through the air at lightning speed, and Chrysalis just barely jumped out of the way in time to avoid the blow.

The magic exploded when it hit the ground where she’d been standing. Chrysalis was thrown across the street by the force, landing on her side near the houses on the other side.

“Chrysalis!” Twilight jumped in between Daybreak and Chrysalis and took a defensive stance. “Daybreak, please, stop this. You’re going to hurt her!”

“Well, maybe I want to!” Daybreak’s voice cracked, and a tear rolled down her cheek. “I mean, if you guys are gonna go out and leave me so you can die, maybe I should just do it myself!”

“Sweetie, you don’t mean that,” Twilight said. “You’re just hurting. Please, let’s just calm down and—” She cut herself off and hurriedly raised a bubble of magic to protect herself from a shot from Daybreak. It stopped the magic, but the shield broke from the force of it, and Twilight was pushed back several feet.

“Twilight.” In the commotion, Chrysalis had recovered and walked up behind Twilight. “Go.”

“What? But…” Twilight hesitated, a conflicted look on her face, before sighing and nodding. “Okay.”

Before Daybreak could react, Twilight stretched out her wings, then shot forward and over Daybreak’s head. In a single, fluid move, she swooped down, wrapped her legs around Rainbow Dash, and then lit up her horn and disappeared.

“Wh—” Daybreak looked at the empty space they’d been in, then back over to Chrysalis. “Seriously? You’re still gonna leave me?”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Chrysalis told her. “So. Are we going to talk? Or do you just want to kill me now?”

Daybreak frowned. "Quit making fun of me! Do you even care about how I'm feeling at all?"

"Of course I care," Chrysalis said, "but that doesn't mean I'm going to just sit here and let my daughter make all the same mistakes I did."

"Then stop me!" Daybreak sniffed hard and shot another blast, but by now her eyes were too blurry with tears to aim and the magic veered off harmlessly to the side. "C'mon! Fight back before I hurt you!"

"No." Chrysalis shook her head and started walking towards Daybreak. "I won't do that. Just talk to me, Daybreak. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"It's too late to talk!" Daybreak shut her eyes tight and started focusing her magic. With every word, the light surrounding her horn grew. "Why didn't you talk sooner? After the moon fell? I was so scared, and you just ignored me! Or we could've talked on the train, but you just lied to me! You said you cared, but then you just ran off again! And now it's too late. Now I went and hurt ponies and everyone's gonna hate me cuz I'm evil and I'll never be good and it's all your fault!

Finally, unable to hold it back any longer, Daybreak loosed all her pent up rage and frustration. There was a boom as a blinding flash of light shot out from her horn, followed by a bolt of energy fueled by every ounce of magic in her little body, headed straight for Chrysalis.

It was too fast. Chrysalis knew she couldn't dodge out of the way, and she'd never get a shield up in time. She set her teeth and steeled herself, staring down the rapidly approaching light.

Then the light dimmed. All the light dimmed, not just from the magic, but from the sun, the sky, the lit windows of nearby homes.

A swirling cascade of shadows quickly rose up around their hooves and swallowed the world around them. The darkness devoured the magic, and at the same time seemed to be eating away at the world itself, from the ground to the sun.

The whole process took only an instant, and then Daybreak and Chrysalis were left alone, staring at each other in a sea of darkness where nothing else existed.

"W-What?" Daybreak looked around frantically, unsure what happened.

Chrysalis moved fast. As soon as the magic was gone, she was moving, running towards Daybreak. She skidded to a stop in front of her, fell to the ground and wrapped her legs around Daybreak in a sudden, unexpected hug.

Chrysalis held Daybreak close and, her voice hardly a whisper, spoke as softly and kindly as she could muster.

"I'm sorry."

Comments

[Lore Horse]

Okay, I'm guessing that Angel got a hold of them and dragged them into the void faster than the magic traveled. If that's the case then there was nothing between the magic and whatever was behind it so, what was destroyed?

P.S. I don't know what the world Angel goes into when she travels by darkness is called so I'm just calling it the void for now.

[Leafdoggy]

10226966
Yea the magic just kinda got like. Eaten by the shadows. Angel and Fluttershy are very strong tbh. At some point I just decided that I don't actually care how overpowered they are cuz sometimes having a character be ridiculously powerful is fun. I mean, there are rules to their powers, there are things they can't do, but they are. Very Strong.