A Dance Between the Sun and the Voice in Her Head

by MistOverMoon

Chapter Eighteen - Last Gasp

It didn't seem like much of a celebration if you asked Daybreaker.

The wrapped mummy-like ponies sat in a circle around the central unlit bonfire. The night ruled now, overhead the moon seemed larger than ever. The stars overhead felt like eyes pricking into Daybreaker's coat. She could imagine Luna looking down through them at her. She wondered if Luna would visit her dreams if she slept? How did she forget about that?

Their eyes followed her as she walked. In the night Daybreaker stood out like a flare. The flames of her body produced a light that made it hard to see the stars but illuminated the area around her.

"You need me to light the bonfire?" Daybreaker asked. "Let's get this over with then."

"Not yet." Sandy said. "Sit first, join the circle."

Not really understanding what the point of all this was but not wanting to disrespect the dead, Daybreaker strode towards the circle. The dead may be gone but there was no need to step on their graves.

Ponies moved out of the way as she approached. When Daybreaker sat in the sand the circle of ponies shifted into more of a half circle. She felt like she was at the head of a crowd and addressing her subjects. With her wings folded and golden armor shining in the firelight she looked like a conqueror of old.

"Now, before we can light the fire and begin the celebration, we must complete the circle." Sandy sat on the opposite side across from Daybreaker. "Spread out a bit ponies, this isn't a circle."

The ponies didn't budge as they watched Daybreaker.

"Try loosening up a bit, would you?" Sandy walked over to her. "You look like your about to issue an execution order."

"This again? I already came out to this celebration, isn't that enough?" Daybreaker sighed. The urge to just leave was growing with every passing second. There were better things to do with her time.

"Loosen those shoulders, nopony is going to judge you." Sandy said. "Make yourself at home. You look like you have a stick up your rump."

"I should turn you to ash for that." Daybreaker snarled.

"Don't you want to get this over with?"

"Fine." Daybreaker said.

She tried to relax a little. Yet, every time she tried to; she could only see the ponies staring at her. It was impossible to relax in these conditions. How could she relax when other ponies were looking at her? No, she wasn't going to relax. Nopony could see her weakness, no pony could-

"Are you a fire spirit?" A small but chipper voice came from her hooves. "Mommy told me about you, you must be here to release the dead!"

Daybreaker glanced down to see a filly next to her hooves. It was a tan coated filly she had seen before. He looked skinny but full of wiry muscles. While his coat and green mane were dull and full of sand, his blue eyes sparkled like Luna's stars. The sight caused her to pull back her hooves, she didn't want to accidentally burn him.

"I'm just here to light the fire, nothing more." Daybreaker looked down at him with a grin. "What about you?"

"I think your cool, your massive too!" The filly poked her in the side. "Nopony new comes around anymore."

Daybreaker tensed up as the hoof poked her. Where were this filly's parents? Oh right, frozen in place on the other side of the fire.

"I'm on fire." Daybreaker scoffed. "I don't think that counts as ...cool...as you say."

"Don't care, doesn't matter, your cool and that's final." The filly jumped between her hooves. "Your warm, it makes me feel comftorable... your here to release us, aren't you?"

"Release you?" Daybreaker said.

"Release me from this boredom!" The filly smacked her leg then wrapped himself around it.

For a moment everypony froze. Daybreaker glared down at the little filly. She met his sparkling blue eyes and sighed. The little pony was too precious. She saw all her ponies were her filly's, but that didn't make the little ones any less cute. She relaxed her shoulders and smiled; a sight full of sharp teeth that the filly didn't seem to care about.

"Yes. That is what I'm here for." Daybreaker her leg up, causing the filly to dangle from it. There was no weight to him, the filly clearly needed some more food. "Your princess of the sun has come to release you!"

"Finally!" The filly shouted. "I was getting sick of waiting!"

The ponies at the other side of the fire stood up. Their tired gazes warmed a little. A few shuffled closer until the circle was complete. Daybreaker still wondered why they didn't say anything.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Sandy chuckled. "Now we can actually start the celebrations!"

"What exactly does this celebration entail?" Daybreaker glanced to her sides where ponies now sat close to her. She forced herself not to tense up again. They weren't even looking at her anymore, they were looking at the fire. For once, she wasn't the center of attention.

"We don't have much, but we have each other." Sandy said. "Once the fire it lit, we will dance and play games until sunrise. This day is for the dead, they will be with us tonight, and we must show them a good time!"

"When do we begin?" Daybreaker asked. To get these celebrations over with faster of course.

"On your mark Daybreaker. When you light the flame, the celebration starts." Sandy said.

Daybreaker stood and walked towards the ashen cold bonfire. It looked old, ancient even, but it would burn. With her magic, Daybreaker directed her flaming mane towards the bonfire. It waved ethereally through the kindling. Then, the match was struck, and the long dead embers began to ignite once more. Flame caught to the charred wood, and it began to burn. In the dark night, the light of her fire spread.

"The fire is lit." Daybreaker turned to the ponies. They all stared at her in a way that made her want to say something. It reminded her of the looks her ponies gave her when she was orchestrating a celebration. They wanted a cue to begin, a signal. "Let the celebrations begin!"

Immediately cheering filled the night. Ponies grabbed each other and started to dance. They seemed ethereal in the moonlight, like dancing shadows. They danced with passion, it was not the fake elegant twirls of a ballroom, it was filled with meaning as if it was their last night on the world.

"Come on. Let's forget the dancing and play!" The little filly grabbed her leg again. "This night won't last forever!"

Daybreaker huffed as the filly tried to pull her along. This once, she let him. His little friends came out of the crowd until she was surrounded by a two more of them. One of them shyly approached her.

"Sorry I ran away." A little filly with a white bow on her head approached. "Do you want to play with me?"

"Very well. If you wish to play tag then I have one question to ask," Daybreaker stood tall, her flames billowing behind her as a wicked smile crept across her face. "Can you outrun the sun?"

They shrieked and started running, and she gave chase. She made sure to give them plenty of time to get away. Daybreaker held herself back from catching them, she played out the chase with a smile on her face and she listened to their giggles and shrieks of joy and playful fear alike.

A distant memory came to her then as she chased them. She saw herself chasing a little Luna. Back before they were alicorns, back before the darkness came, a millennia ago. They laughed in the chaotic world they lived in, a place where the sun and moon had no one to control them. The world spun on endlessly in an unpredictable cycle. A time of hardship.

Then she saw a little Gaiya. He stood proudly as he blocked Luna's fleeing. Together they caught her and went down in a laughing, screaming pile of limitless energy. That night they watched the stars and moon together, they took in the feeling of the earth beneath them and relished in their existence. They existed in a strange, cruel, and dangerous world. Yet, it was bearable. It was bearable because they existed together in that strange world, and together they could face any darkness that came their way.

As Daybreaker chased her littlest of ponies, she could barely see them anymore through the tears building in her eyes. Where had the time gone? What happened to them? What happened to those three little fillies who were there together and forevermore?

Those times were never coming back.

Daybreaker stopped in her tracks. She held back the choking sobs that threatened to force their way out of her throat. There could be no princess who showed cracks, as surely as the wind blew the next morning, she would stand forever. No matter what came her way she would endure it. Alone she stood, protector of Equestria. There could be no consolation for the sun because the sun didn't need it. She couldn't need it.

"Hey, what's wrong?" The filly ran up to her. "Are you tired of playing tag?"

"Nothing is wrong." Daybreaker said. "I'm just... tired of playing."

"Aww, your done so soon?" The filly whined. "But we don't have much time!"

"The night is long." Daybreaker gave him a sad smile.

"Don't pester her." Sandy's voice came from behind her. "You can't force somepony to play if they don't want to. It ruins the fun."

"Alright. I'll see you around then Daybreaker!" The filly gave her a salute. "Maybe I'll see you later sometime!"

The filly ran away chasing his friends around the fire. They disappeared into the throng of dancing ponies. Daybreaker was left alone with Sandy. He sat next to her. Together they watched the festivities play out in the camp. They looked so happy, playing and dancing with each other.

"You seem sad." Sandy said.

"I am not sad." Daybreaker said with a spiteful tone.

They watched the ponies dance. For some reason there seemed to be fewer of them. Some of them must have gone to bed. Even though Daybreaker sat only at edge of the light from the fire, they seemed so far away. Maybe it was the moon behind the flames. It reminded her of something distant, something fated to be.

"Do you want to hear an old stallion's story?" Sandy stared into the flames.

"Why would I want to hear your story?" Daybreaker kicked some sand near her.

"Because it might help you. You helped us, so it's only fair that I help you." Sandy said.

"All I did was burn something, it's hardly difficult for me."

"It means more than you know to me." Sandy glanced over at her. "Hear my story, if only so I can repay you."

Daybreaker sighed. She just wanted to be alone again, flying over the endless sands until she could forget it all again. Why did she have to stop here?

"Okay, I'll hear your story." Daybreaker said.

"Good. I wasn't going to take no for an answer." Sandy said. "Now, where to start..."

Daybreaker nearly got up and walked away after that remark, but she didn't. She was curious as to how these ponies had come to live in the badlands. It wasn't a hospitable place to say the least.

"We have lived in the badlands for generations; I was no different." Sandy said. "However, there lived a clan of diamond dogs nearby. They demanded gems as tribute."

"Gems?" Daybreaker asked.

"Aye, gems. We lived in this here camp, and our gems were running low. I had heard tell-tale of gems deep into the badlands. Mountains of it, so many gems that nopony could ever dream of bringing it all back. So, I decided to set out."

"A noble goal."

"Thats what I thought too. Yet, when I told my wife I was leaving, she begged me to come with. My entire family did." Sandy looked down at his hooves.

"You didn't bring her with you then." Daybreaker said. "Everyone is still her after all."

"No. I didn't." Sandy met her eyes. "I left them here and set off on my own. I told them that I would handle everything. I packed everything I had and set off for the badlands. I thought I could support my family alone."

Daybreaker looked back to the camp. About half the ponies that once danced were still there.

"I found myself in the middle of the badlands, alone, drying out like a dead fish." Sandy said. "The only thing keeping me going was my drive to support my family."

"So, you took their burdens upon yourself." Daybreaker said. "Is it not a powerful feeling to do so?"

"It was. I felt like nothing could stop me. Nothing could stop me from finding those gems. I walked for days, I walked until my legs felt like dust and my coat was stripped from the sand. I walked until I found it buried in the mountains. Chunks of gems, enough to feed my family forever." Sandy sighed. "Unfortunately, there was no way to bring it back. I was alone, and the gems were too much to carry. I picked up what I could and started making my way back."

"Surely even one cluster of gems would have been enough to pay the tribute?" Daybreaker asked.

"It would have been. But when I returned..." Sandy's voice shook.

Daybreaker froze.

"The Diamond Dogs had come while I was away looking for the gems. There was nopony left." Sandy's face was hard as stone.

Daybreaker looked towards the dancing ponies. Only a few remained.

"I thought I could bear all of their burdens, that I could do everything on my own. Yet, when they needed me most, I wasn't there. I was too wrapped up in being the figure everyone could rely on to realize that if only we worked together, things would have been okay." Sandy's form seemed to shimmer in the moonlight. "I tell you this because I see myself in you."

"How could that story be true?" Daybreaker scoffed and gestured towards the tents. "Your family is dancing right over there."

"Are they?" Sandy asked.

Daybreaker turned to look at the tents. The bonfire burned but there was nopony around it. There were no tracks in the sand or cries of joy. The tattered tents blew in a cold desert wind like hollow vessels. Where had everypony gone? Slowly, her gaze turned back towards Sandy.

Instead of the old stallion she knew, something else stood. A withered, dried out corpse of a pony. His skin was pulled taught over his dried flesh and where there were once brown eyes, only hollow pits remained. His bones could be seen, blasted by sand to a smooth porcelain like texture. The cloth wrapped around him blew in an ice-cold wind like the drapes of a fallen battle standard.

Daybreaker leapt to her feet and took a step back. A shard of ice went down her spine at the sight.

"I stacked them on a pyre to send them off. I was never able to light it." Sandy's voice almost seemed to echo, as if he was speaking from away but close all the same. "I could never leave this place while bound by my guilt, they stayed here with me until I could. Thank you for lighting the fire, now that they have been sent off properly, I feel as if I can finally move on."

"Your... dead?" Daybreaker eyed the specter. The mere sight of him made her feel cold, as if she was stepping on somepony's grave.

"We all died long ago. I stayed here, bound by regret. My family stayed with me, not able to move on until I did." Sandy appeared to almost blow in the wind, his form flickered and faded. "I never forgave myself for my failures. If only... if only things could have been different. If only I hadn't been so foolish. Then maybe we could have got out of this mess together."

"How is this possible?" Daybreaker said. "When a pony dies that is it, they are gone forever."

"The past never dies. Sometimes, no matter what you do, it won't stay buried." Sandy said. "It has taken me centuries, but I think I am finally ready to forgive myself."

"Failure never leaves you." Daybreaker snarled. "Just look at yourself."

Sandy regarded her with his empty eye sockets. It was unnerving, no, it was haunting.

"I will give you one warning before I leave Daybreaker, no... Princess Celestia." Sandy stepped forward until his dried skeletal face was right in front of hers. "Continue down this path...and you will share my shoes."

The wind blew once more, and the form of Sandy faded into streams of sand. In his place, only bones and a single polished skull remained.

Moonlight gleamed off the edge of the eye sockets as if sealed within.

Then there was a sound like shattering glass which came from her tent and Daybreaker went running.

Comments

[Salkitsune]

this was perfect, the construction was excellent, she needs to make a choice she never thought about making, ask for help, and that sound of vido, gaiya is getting closer. And speaking of him, I expect an epic scene, after all he should be at the discord level if not higher, after all he has all the darkness in the world.

[JustPlayshik]

Wow. I did not see that coming. Great chapter.

[des-pair-2]

"Are they?" Sandy asked.

I think the chapter would have been better if Sandy didn't talk after this, just leave it to the reader if it really happened or it was just her imagination.