A Dance Between the Sun and the Voice in Her Head

by MistOverMoon

Chapter Seventeen - Nomad

The old stallion guided her to the tents.

"My name is Sandy Kicker in case you were wondering." The old stallion said. "What's yours?"

"Daybreaker."

"Pleasant name." Sandy glanced over at her fiery mane. "Fitting too."

"Why are you taking me to your camp?" Daybreaker asked. "Are you not afraid that I'll turn you to dust?"

"Not particularly." Sandy kicked some sand out of the way.

"Then you are a fool." Daybreaker hissed.

"When you get to be my age you stop caring if ponies see you as a fool." Sandy said. "Look now, here we are."

Daybreaker was hesitant as she saw the other ponies turn to look at her. Once again, she was the center of attention. She stood taller, her mane and tail straightening out. The ponies, all dressed in cloth, looked up at her with wide eyes. A foal took one look at her and shrieked before running behind her mother.

"She won't hurt nopony. I know she looks like some kind of vengeful sun goddess come to burn us all to withered husks, but she seems nice enough." The old stallion said.

The ponies said nothing as they stared at her with wide eyes. The ponies seemed to be move strangely amidst the sand, as if gliding over it rather than touching it. They must be experienced with life in the desert.

"Come on then, Daybreaker. These ponies won't hurt ya." Sandy said. "I've got something that might take your mind off of whatever troubles yer dealing with."

"Troubles? I have no troubles." Daybreaker said. "I tend to leave such trifling things behind."

"Rubbish. I know troubles like yours when I see them. Now shut yer trap and come along." Sandy said.

Daybreaker had half the mind to burn the stallion to ash. But she didn't. Instead, she followed him towards a large tent. On the way they passed the bonfire. It was a strange bonfire. It looked burnt out and old with charred logs stacked in a log-cabin formation. It was much too organized and blocky for a normal bonfire. In the old ashes beneath she saw shards of something white as porcelain.

She walked past it and followed Sandy into the large white tent. The tent was a tattered thing of cloth strung up on old wood. Scattered around the tent were lockets and trinkets half-buried in the sand. There was no soft bedding to sleep on or anywhere to store belongings. It was bare as bare could be.

"You can stay here." Sandy said. "This is the main tent, but you can use it."

"Nopony else is using it?" Daybreaker asked. Now that she was looking at it, that wasn't a question she really needed to ask.

"Not at the moment." Sandy pointed to one of the half-buried trinkets. "They left some time ago."

"I see." Daybreaker said. "I will remember your hospitality."

"Don't mention it. Now that you know where you're going to stay, I have something to show you." Sandy said.

"Well, what is it?" Daybreaker huffed.

"Follow me." Sandy said.

"Again?" Daybreaker snorted.

"Just do it." Sandy walked out of the tent again.

Feeling as if she was chasing after a wayward wind, Daybreaker rolled her eyes and followed him again. Maybe she would burn him, just a little bit off the back hooves...

Sandy walked out into the middle of the camp and Daybreaker followed. As the eyes of the camp's ponies went onto her once again, she straightened her posture and poise. She gave them a wicked smile that caused them to step back. The sight of them moving away from her in fear reminded her of her last encounter with Luna.

"That's what I wanted to show you." Sandy gestured to her.

"Me?" Daybreaker looked down at her body. "What? My posture is perfect."

"Exactly. You're scaring the ponies." Sandy gestured around him. "You need to loosen up."

"What is the point of this? I am a princess, my posture-"

"You told me you don't know what you are." Sandy said. "How are you ever supposed to know if you hold up invisible walls to every pony you meet?"

"This is ridiculous." Daybreaker snarled.

"Give it a shot." Sandy said. "They won't judge, I promise. They are well past that point."

Daybreaker turned to look at the ponies who watched her. She could feel their eyes burning into her. They were her ponies; they could never see her weakness. They would never see.

"As I said before, your hospitality is appreciated but I won't entertain this ridiculousness any longer." Daybreaker turned back to the tent. "I will be in my tent."

"If you say so." Sandy shrugged. "Nopony has to listen to an old stallions' words."

Daybreaker shut the tent flap behind her. That pony acted like he knew her, what a joke. She was immortal, she had been alive since the dawn of time. What could a mortal teach her that she didn't know already? She had better things to do than listen to an old pony's ramblings.

She set down the amulet on the sand in front of her. With a blast of magic, she turned the sand to glass to create a flat surface. Then she weaved her magic until the molten glass was turned into a flat plane. She set the amulet on top of it. The small hair-line cracks had grown just a bit further.

Without hesitation, Daybreaker cut her leg with the sharp edge of her horn and splattered blood onto the glass. Then, she began to weave a small spell matrix around the amulet. She forged one idea into the matrix, Containment. The matrix burned into place with a surge of her magic. That would hopefully slow Gaiya down.

"Cute spell." Gaiya said.

"It is nothing more than a temporary measure." Daybreaker snorted. "Now, begone with you again."

She forced him out of her mind before he could respond. It didn't work forever, she had learned that long ago, but it gave her another moment of peace. The spell matrix needed work. It couldn't wait any longer.

The original matrix was easy for her to remember now that her memory had been restored. While not all of it was, this was one of her prime memories. Daybreaker drew the spell matrix in her mind. She analyzed it as much as she could. Every line and angle she looked at, thought about, pondered on. How could she improve its design to make sure this never happened again? A design to make sure that Gaiya stayed buried forever in lost memory. The last matrix had clearly been flawed; this one needed to be perfect.

Yet, even as she mulled over for hours, nothing came to mind. It was simply impossible to improve. There was nothing that she could see that would make it better. The only thing that she knew she could do was repair the spell matrix already there. She would have to go into the amulet and repair it.

It was hard to improve something only she had looked at. If only she could get Twilight to help her with it again. How could she face her student like this though? She wasn't the princess she was before. No, she wouldn't get Twilight involved in this again. Her student deserved her happy little town in Ponyville. Besides, Daybreaker was sure that she would see Twilight soon enough. Only Twilight would be holding the elements of harmony, and they would be aimed at her.

Daybreaker laid down with a grunt. The sand here was hardly comfortable. She felt something stabbing into her side. Daybreaker huffed in annoyance and shuffled over. Where she had been laying there was something half buried in the sand. It was an old, tarnished gold locket. It was oval in shape and had a worn chain hanging off of it. She gently picked it up in her magic and placed it in her hoof. Curious as to who had left this tent behind, Daybreaker opened the lid of the locket.

Inside of the locket was a small photo. It lay behind the teeth of cracked glass.

The photo was of two ponies. One was a dust coated stallion, it was Sandy, except he didn't have the cloth wrapped around him. The other was a brown coated mare with a bright smile and a dark red mane. They stood together, the mare hugging Sandy to her side. Only, Sandy had a hard look on his face as he looked into the camera. He stood rigidly and proudly; his head held high.

Daybreaker set the locket back on the sand. Why would Sandy have a locket in a tent that wasn't his own?

She sighed and laid her head on the sand. It wasn't something that she should ask about.

The events of the day weighed on her. She was tired, it seems that even the overwhelming power of the sun still needed sleep. A spike of excitement shot through her at the thought of sleep. She could finally try sleeping in for once! With that in mind she settled down into the sand and closed her eyes.

As time passed, she felt a tug in the sky. Something was trying to move her sun from the sky. That something had to be Luna. Daybreaker smirked and held her sun firm in the sky as the moon rose. Maybe she would pull a little trick on her dear sister, show her how fun it was to deal with the panicking populace. Daybreaker had always dealt with that before.

She stuck her head out of a hole in the tent to look at the sight.

Both the sun and moon were high in the sky. The two sisters, moon and sun, both in the sky at the same time. It was a sight that was strange to Daybreaker because she had kept the cycle perfectly for thousands of years. The stars could be faintly seen behind the blinding daylight.

Daybreaker snickered as she moved her sun behind the moon. A celestial event that few ponies had ever seen occurred then, an eclipse. The world went dark. The moon was ringed with a blinding ethereal light. She locked her sun into place. Somehow, it didn't make feel any better. It just made her hate more. What she hated she didn't know anymore, she just hated.

"Having fun?" Sandy said from behind her.

"With what, this eclipse?" Daybreaker turned to look at him. "Only Princess Celestia can control the sun you know."

Sandy gave her an unimpressed look.

"The celebration is starting." Sandy said. "It can only take place at night."

"Celebration?" Daybreaker asked. The mood had not exactly been festive when she arrived. In fact, nopony besides Sandy had even said a word to her or the ponies around them.

"Yes. Celebration. Your invited." Sandy said with a straight face.

"What for?" Daybreaker glanced behind him. The ponies in the camp seemed unbothered by the eclipse. "This isn't exactly a party mood and yet everyone seems so unbothered. Is my event that dull?"

"The dead." Sandy said. "Tonight is a celebration for the dead."

"The dead." Daybreaker said. She thought constantly of the dead as an immortal. Of all the friends she had lost. Of the times that had gone spinning by. Lost forever to the sands. "Why would you celebrate what is already lost?"

"To move on and be made whole once more." Sandy turned to walk out of the tent. "I need you to light the fire for the celebration. I can't do it alone."

Daybreaker looked up to her eclipse. Suddenly, it didn't seem so great anymore. With a magical tug she pulled her sun from the sky. Immediately the stars brightened, and the full splendor of the moon could be seen once more. A thought came to mind then, Luna's night was much more beautiful than the eclipse. Daybreaker resisted the urge to shout from the sudden seizing in her throat. She stomped out of the tent.

So much for sleeping in.

Comments

[Salkitsune]

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