Daybreak Will Set Us Free

by Pascoite

Daybreak Will Set Us Free

Once upon a time, in a land far away

No, close to home. Too close.

You always argue!

I… I’m sorry. I don’t mean to—

Show some backbone! You always argue,
but you always cave in.

Do you want me to argue?

No, I want you to let me win for once!
Not let me, no, I just want to win.
I don’t know what I want.

You were too close to home,
once upon a time.

In a faraway land—

Right here, with me.

Stop arguing!

I’m not arguing.
I just want you to know where you are.

I don’t recognize this place.
I don’t like it here.
It’s too dark, too cold.

I can’t change the dark,
and for now, I can’t make it warmer,
but I’ve asked for help.

To rid yourself of me?

I don’t want that.
Once upon a time, I did,
and yes, in a place far away,
but not anymore.
That’s not why she’s here.

Then why is she here?

So we can talk.
We need to.
But this is the only way
to talk face to face.
I think it’s the only way we’ll ever
understand each other.

You really think
she can keep us from fighting?

No.
Not at all.
That would be a mistake.

Then what’s the point?
We’ll never agree.
We’ll just keep on like this until one of us
kills the other. She should force us apart.

I

w
i
l
l

Weakling!

n
o
t

Bully!

b
e

a

w
a
l
l

Coward!

b
e
t
w
e
e
n

Thug!

y
o
u

You’re afraid
of what I could do to you.

And you’re also afraid
of what you could do to me.

You think you understand me?
I hate you! I hate you!

More than anything,

you drive me to madness,
and in the rare instances of clarity,

I just wish

that I could beat you senseless,
over and over, because if there was ever
a chance

that you’d listen to me

and care how I felt

when I say that

I would praise the heavens
for ridding me of your
detestable corpse!

I

don’t want your grating voice in my ear,
and I would

love

to grind

you

into dust!

For all that you wish she’d listen,
You didn’t hear a word she said.

As if she cares what I say!

More than you know.

Prove it!

My sister helped me to realize
a very important thing:
We are better

tog         tog  her    tog  her       et
 o           o    e      og   e       g  h  
 o           o    e      o e  e       g  h  
 o           o    e      o  t e      ogethe
 o     r     o    e      o   he      o    e
together      geth      tog  her    tog  her

You… you made me say that!
How did you do it?

I said it too.
Or thought it, at least.

Of course you did!
It’s your vile sentiment!

It is all of ours.

Mine as well.
Not just a sentiment though:
a desperate hope,
something I need,
something to fill a hole in my life.
And something I think you need too.

Why would you think

I

need that? Whatever you

do

you’ll never convince me any sort of

love

will give me or

you

any benefit.

And yet you are curious.

Go ahead.
Ask.
We won't think less of you.
She has been through this too,
and she can tell you
everything you want to know.

Fine.
Why would Nightmare Moon surrender?

She didn’t.
I couldn’t defeat her.
Not on my own.
And even in the end,
that’s not what happened.
We finally agreed.

Agreed what?

That we were not so different.
That we were sisters.

And you were okay with this?

Yes.
I didn’t lose a sister, I gained one.
My true sister learned more
about what she was.
She embraced her whole self,
and so did the Nightmare.

She’s… gone?

In a way, yes.
In a way, both of us are.
But that’s not a bad thing.
We are both better for it.

How? I’ve never seen you do anything bad.
What did she get out of it?

Yes, I keep her baser impulses in check.
But her counsel is valuable.
Without her, I am too cautious.
Without her, I am too naive.
Without her, I am too indecisive.
With her, she realizes ponies need her.
With her, she has friends.
With her, she feels love.

How can that be worth it?
Power gets things done.
Fear makes things happen.

They also make you alone.
And that is the most terrible thing to be.
Take me at my word.
Not only was Nightmare Moon alone
for pushing everypony away,
but my punishment was to be more alone
than anypony ever has been.
I know how terrible it is.

And it is a wonderful thing
to love the ponies under my care.

W-will I die?

No.
It’s like a hug that never ends.

And then I can finally make it warm for you.
Please.
I just want my sister.

I… I am willing to try.
But do not forget me.

I could never forget you.
You are my sister.
And we are yours.

Then what do I have to do?

Just feel.
Nothing more.
We love you very much,
and we hope you can learn to accept that,
perhaps even return it.

---

Celestia.
Celestia!
Wake up!

Did… did it work?

You would know better than I.
Close your eyes again,
and just like your protegée learned,
feel that spark.

I don’t hear her voice.

You shouldn’t.
It doesn’t work that way.
It’s not just her voice anymore.
Tia, you’re smiling.

I feel warm.
It’s not cold.
It’s not dark.
I feel so warm.

W
e
A      r      e
T  heSunW  e
AreTheSun
WeAreTheSun WeAreTheSun
WeAreTheS
u  nWeAre  T
h      e      S
u
n

Comments

[RangerOfRhudaur]

A story done in a unique format like this is a dicey proposition, but I feel like you managed to stick the landing. Very well done!

[Pascoite]

11653619
I'm just gritting my teeth and expecting if I look at it on my phone, it won't format well there...

[Common Tragedy]

Formatting looked perfect on my side and I loved good this! The idea of acceptance and the slow realization of the voices. The meaning behind everything they were saying and not denying their past but learning and teaching from it. The unique storytelling method reminds me of the first story I ever Favorited on here actually, White Box. I can't believe it's so short yet it has everything I could want in it and was nicely contained.

[TheGJ90]

Accepting your shadow can get quite complicated when your shadow is given a life of its own through magic.

[Forcalor]

1000 words is too short to fully examine the idea, but then again, there hardly enough material to work with in the first place

[Cerulean Blue]

Love the formatting, and the interpretation that can be read into it.

It’s like a hug that never ends sums up everything.

edit: formatting

[Bicyclette]

b
e

a

w
a
l
l

ooh love how the vertical text makes her a wall between them

you

any benefit.

and also a neat effect, picking out the phrase from words in these rants

They also make you alone.
And that is the most terrible thing to be.
Take me at my word.
Not only was Nightmare Moon alone
for pushing everypony away,
but my punishment was to be more alone
than anypony ever has been.
I know how terrible it is.

aww! and of course it is Luna/Nightmare Moon to convince Daybreaker to merge with Celestia

W
e
A      r      e
T  heSunW  e
AreTheSun
WeAreTheSun WeAreTheSun
WeAreTheS
u  nWeAre  T
h      e      S
u
n

and very cool! they are definitely the sun. really interesting use of format, and perspective on what really happened to Luna and Nightmare Moon. thank you for writing!

[FanOfMostEverything]

Exquisitely done, from the line alignment to the double-meaning of the uncolored sections to the word art…

I can only imagine the amount of work that went into getting this to both look as good as it does and meet the word count requirement, all while telling an engrossing story in its own right. I hadn't even considered how you were racing the deadline until you mentioned that in the results thread. Incredible work. Thank you for it; you more than earned my judge prize.

[SwordTune]

Now, this one is interesting, and not something I would have thought to do. Looks harder than me trying to write 5 200-word stories.

[Pascoite]

11698618
If you like writing really short stories, try the Flashfic 150 group. There’s a monthly prompt for a 150-word story. I’ve had fun participating over the years.

[Pascoite]

11698474
There are certain defaults and overrides FiMFiction has in place to fight you on doing a lot of what I was trying to. In some places, you can win that fight, and in some, I was never able to figure out how, though they were, thankfully, rather minor issues. (Note how the spaces between the words in Luna's "wall" become inconsistent when Daybreaker and Celestia cut in. I had to put bbcode pre-line tags on nearly every paragraph since other tags tend to reset it, and in those specific cases, I couldn't keep the default paragraph spacing from taking over, even though it worked most other places.) I appreciate your enjoyment and your judge prize (which I made sure went to a worthy cause).

[Loganberry]

Hello! You've already seen my review of this, but here's the courtesy note, like and favourite to go with it. Impressive work on the formatting, but that wouldn't have counted for much had it not held my attention. It did.