Dawn's Sentry, daughter of Princess Twilight Sparkle and Flash Sentry; pupil of Princess Celestia; the Rapunzel of Canterlot... whatever name ponies knew her by, they could all agree upon one thing: she loved Celestia. How far was she willing to go?
Dawn's Sentry, daughter of Princess Twilight Sparkle and Flash Sentry; prized pupil of Princess Celestia; the Rapunzel of Canterlot... whatever name ponies knew her by, they could all agree upon one thing: she loved Princess Celestia. So how far was she willing to go for her? Would her love translate into heroism? Or, afraid of failure, will she crack under the pressure and retreat? Perhaps the friends she picks up along the way will have something to say about that.
Nighttime was hard to get through now that Celestia was gone. It was Dawn's Sentry's - well, Dawn. No-one really called her that except for her angry mother- least favorite time of the whole twenty-four hours. Quite noticeably, it always lasted longer than it was supposed to. When Celestia was there to raise the sun into its highly exalted place among the clouds and overshadow the stars with its blazing beauty, things were right. Nothing was out of place. Everything was the way it should be. Now, with Prince Umbra in charge of the celestial body that was the moon, nighttime overstayed its welcome. Not that the denizens of Equestria disliked the night; it was simply that day was far superior for enjoyment, seeing as the night was mainly used as time of slumber. Adding more hours to this time was unnecessary. It left something to be desired, and it said something about the sole sovereign of the night.
Without Celestia, the day was not enjoyable - unless you were a fan of chaos a lá Discord or you just really liked the night. Like a night owl or something. If you looked close enough, you could see that there were blotches of the dark seeping in through the cracks of baby blue illuminated with yellow. Fluffy white clouds stretched by the imagination to be whatever shape possible in ones own realm were now ignored. Most would rather gaze at the stars as if searching for eggs on Easter or presents on Hearth's Warming. The day was often spent halfway between light and dark. However, most went on with their day, trying to focus on this obvious flaw that they knew was not right.
The true heir to the sun who might possibly know how to operate the celestial body, Prince Aethereus, was nowhere to be found. In fact, there was not a single soul who had ever laid eyes on even a speck of him, so there could be no way of ever finding him. There wasn't the slightest hint or indication of who his father was. All that was known was that his father stole away with him soon after his birth, thereby assuring only few if any knew of his existence. Besides, that was long ago. So long ago that his birth was something that most didn't even remember. Hope that the true heir to the sun would return was pointless.
The cravings grew stronger and stronger with each growing day for just that, but maybe longer. Longer than it had been the last day. Longer than that the next even. Dawn thirsted for the sight of sunlight day after day. Typically only a third of the twenty-four hours was devoted to the sun, even in the summer times. After summer, it became worse. Soon, night took over and eventually, only an hour -maybe even less than that - was dedicated to day. The moon was now a symbol of hatred for Dawn and many others.
The dark became the usual, so it wasn't much of a difference for Dawn to lock herself in her room all day, every day, shutting out all possibilities of light. The warmth of Celestia's sun was all she ever wanted - ever needed. In its absence, only dark remained and only dark she saw. What difference did it make for her to substitute Prince Umbra's darkness for her own? It made none, at least in her own eyes. What she didn't take into account, was what she was missing. There were still very few moments of sun raised by her mother and she didn't get to see them because she was always in a room to herself. But did she care? No, she did not care if she missed out on what she craved. It wasn't enough to satisfy her wants and needs.
Outside, nothing mattered to her. She didn't care about the flowers which rarely bloomed without Celestia, and friendship was not something she yearned for with the same zeal and fervor she passioned for the sun which no longer carried the same weight it used to. Sustenance like food no longer drove her. It was only necessary for survival, not living. The sustenance she truly required was the sun. The sun was the savior of her happiness and gaiety.
She tried to bring it back. Of all of the books she had read, at least one of them had to include a spell to raise the sun. However, the ones she did find were difficult to preform. She tried to request longer days just like the other citizens of Equestria. But much like them, her requests and demands fell on deaf ears and night continued to reign over the day.
Her room was spacious and lonely like the den of a wolf which hosted no pack, but a solitary alpha. As the case with a library, the room was filled to the brim with bookshelves and books sitting atop them. Of the countless thousands of books, she had read about ninety percent of them. Entrapped within her mind was a treasure trove of information, most of which she didn't need in order to be a functioning citizen. She needed the information to feel important. Knowledge is power, and power attracts attention.
So alone she sat at her desk. Using a magic of a carmine hue, she levitated the single quill of a snowy owl. She dipped it in tar black ink and brought it to her paper.
"Dear Princess Twilight,
My purpose for writing you this letter is because you have not responded to any of my queries about the sun and the reign involving it in person. In fact, it seems you have shut me out of your life completely. Hopefully, you will reply to this, seeing as you often respond as soon as possible to all of your mail. I would like to request a change to the schedule of day and night. I believe that daylight should"
Knock knock. The sound of hooves against a door.
Light, acting as a spirit of hellfire, crept into the otherwise dark room, illuminating even its darkest corners. Dawn shuddered. She was too well used to the darkness to appreciate the warmth of light, no matter how artificial.
Hollow clops of hooves filled her ears which spun and twitched, trying to flee from the noise while remaining attached to her head at the same time. She sat, staring at her parchment as if something was going to magically appear upon it. Turning around was not something she was interested in at that moment. She wasn't going to face him.
"Dearest sister, you must come out."
Dawn's eyes shook, hopping from corner to corner on her paper, tuning out the cries of her brother and absorbing herself into the individual blogs of ink on the paper, grasping for its dark hue.
"Sister, please. It has been a month. I know that our mail-dragon, Flame, has been bringing you the refreshments you require to survive, but you cannot continue to live like this. Holed up in your room, never to come out into the real world."
A sudden bite; sudden snap, she said, "What does it matter!" her voice rose from a whisper to a scream in a matter of milliseconds.
"Please, sister. It matters the world to myself and mother. We care about you very much," said he, not truly knowing how to reply yet taking the passive response.
"Hogwash it is, I tell you. If mother cared so much for us, she would have dragged us out of our castle room and into - wherever she wants us to be, we do not care."
"You must come out to see the light every once in a while, sister. It is quite beautiful. I dare say nothing could rival its beauty. You should cherish it while it is still in existence."
"Phooey! I do hope you realize seeing one hour of sunlight is a waste of my time."
"If that is how you truly feel, I must depart."
"Good riddance, then. Goodbye to you, brother."
"And you, sister."
The clop of hooves slowly faded out, and large doors creaked closed like the gates of Hell pushing back demons aglow with hellfire from its depths. Darkness took hold over the room once more, satisfying Dawn again.
Dawn's eyes had adjusted to the darkness. What with fifteen years of dark consuming her, one would grow to accept and conjoin with the black eternity. So, when she awoke, her eyes did not search for the light switch, instead, she searched for the book laying next to her. She didn't have one anyway.
Hours were not something she kept track of. Clocks did not exist anymore. They just mocked her in their presence, what with their silly concepts of ante and post merediem. It didn't make sense in this world. There was no such thing as midday any longer, how could it? If there was no day, then there was no middle of the day. Clocks made no sense. To Dawn, to own a clock was an act of insanity on one's part.
And since clocks did not matter, Dawn worked herself for hours on end without knowing, and not caring. She sat at her desk, scribbling away at a thesis paper concerning the return of the sun's power that was already four paragraphs longs. It suggested that the sun should have more time in the summer and spring, and the moon could have more time in the autumn and winter. This was only one of many drafts she had made, though she hoped this to be her final. If her trash can could talk, it couldn't say anything about her for it was trying to scarf down many pieces of parchment.
Accompanied by an orchestra of the creaking noises of a door, the blinding white light inched ever near to Dawn's desk; first climbing its way up the legs of the wooden object with its grubby little hands, and then finally ruffling her fur with its cold touch. Looking outside her shadow, for only a second, she allowed herself to see a glimpse of the light. Fear settled in and she returned to the black she created on the desk.
The clacking of claws against the cold, hard floor sped over to her and her desk. They told her it was the mail-dragon, Flame. She braced herself for the voice she hated to hear. It was one of her top five worst, right up there with Princess Twilight, and her brother. His voice was typically nasally and sounded like it should come from one who partook in athletics often.
"Today's the day!" said Flame, his voice filled to the brim with concern over something she knew not.
Dawn sat back in her chair, rubbing her eyes with folded hooves. "What do you want now? Your time is wasting."
"Remember the fairytales you used to read to me? Of Apollo? And of Artemis? How it prophesied their return to be today? How only the Elements of Harmony could stop them?"
"Yes, we believe that we do remember," said she, going back in time for a few moments. Awaiting an answer out of the long silence, she tapped her hoof on the floor, shaking the desk and ink. The ink fell over and spilled out onto the floor. "But what do you want?" she screamed with every fiber of her being.
Scaring the young dragon to halfway to death, he screeched a reply, "I think Miss Sparkle might want to hear about its prophecy! Celestia believed you when had read the fairytale to her. She even went out to find them."
"'Miss Sparkle'?" she spat.
"Yes, Miss Sparkle. Yesterday, you asked me not to address her as Princess Twilight." he informed her.
"She is not a 'miss', you imbecile! She is a 'mrs'! We did not raise you to disgrace the name of Flash Sentry! And furthermore, we do not discuss that tragedy. It was years ago. It took years to forget. Must we reprimand you each and every time you fail to understand this?"
"Apologies, but ignoring that, you must inform Mrs. Sparkle of these lowlives! We cannot allow them to silently edge into Equestria and take over whilst we sleep!"
"It is no problem of ours. We have tried talking to her of this matter. She does not believe us. She believes 'tis only a foal's tale. But we have done our research, we know these miscreants to be in existence."
"Could you perhaps tell Prince Umbra? Maybe he would believe you seeing as the two of you aren't exactly a secret."
Dawn pondered on this for a moment. "Yes, we do believe that would be a good idea. However, we think it would be best to try to stop them on our own. We do not wish to sacrifice anyone over our own concerns. Not even you."
"I understand your plight, but I will be going with you to the ends of Equestria. I shall inform Prince Umbra that you wish to speak to him immediately."
"Yes, yes. If you wish. And turn off that dratted light. How it blinds me so."
Claws clattered away, bringing close to the light with a loud creaking, sucking it back to whence it came from.
Dawn found herself stealing away through the halls in the dark. It seemed that the castle was in a deep slumber that nothing, not even the pattering hooves of Dawn would awaken. She supposed she preferred it this way to everyone being astir and galloping all through the artificial light seeping from the ceilings. Darkness and quiet were her preferences for a stroll.
The fluttering and flapping of feathers alerted her to the presence of another in the halls. From what she could see, it was a tall, male, blue pegasus; her brother, Dusk's Sentry. He was coated in a golden armor, pieced together by a six-pointed star of a cyan color. His indigo eyes bore down on her with the pressure of a disappointed teacher.
"Why are you up at this time?" he asked, stamping a hoof.
"Time is but a mere concept, brother," said Dawn. "We are searching for our prince."
"Have you finally accepted the way you feel about him?"
"We are simply his friend. We will not be sucked into his corner of darkness."
"Whatever you say," said Dusk's Sentry, trotting down the long hallway. His tail swished in Dawn's face arrogantly.
Dawn continued uneasily to trot further into the castle, searching in the darkness for the throne room. Years ago, it was quite easy to navigate. But that was when light was passed down to Dawn willingly and she had never had a thirst for it. Never, had she ever been so parched for light. Back years and years, she remembered being a filly, guided by Princess Celestia. She remembered being shown the all of the doorways, the nooks, the crannies. She loved every bit of the castle. In her present time, however, she ached to escape the confining walls of darkness.
Dawn didn't have to go much farther to find the throne room which was currently bathing in moonlight. Prince Umbra never slept on his shift, so he was quite the insomniac. The room consisted of eleven glass windows containing the history of the defeat of a a plethora of villains - and there was room for one more which Dawn knew to be hers someday - and two thrones, one for heir to the sun, and the other, moon. Prince Umbra sat atop the one for the heir to the moon. Dawn kneeled before him.
The prince's face was very straightforward. His expression was blank with absolutely no feeling put into it, and yet, when he saw her, he struck a grin that would scare even the devil himself. His ears pricked forward and he took delicate steps off his place of only the highest of respect and confidence to come down to earth to her. His mane and tail flowed like a riverbed full of comets, stars, and vast galaxies moving at lightyear speed. Reflections of his mane had a similar viscosity on his chin and near his cloven hooves. His dark, shaggy charcoal pelt lent itself to hiding in the shadows. Being sired by a goat, his pitch black horns twisted out of his head into something sinister. His eyes were invisible to those who did not look deep enough into his mask of a skull for them. They were like the craters of the moon, and they glowered into Dawn's hopelessly zealous carmine eyes.
"What doth thou desire?" Prince Umbra asked of his subject, cupping a hoof under her chin and bringing her to her hooves.
"We'd like to request an escort to Ponyville. We must acquire the Elements of Harmony," said Dawn.
Prince Umbra thrust his head up, booming with laughter which echoed all around. His burst of laughter came to a sudden halt. His voice became deadly, "Thou shouldst know, we taketh not requests. Nay, we maketh deals. What deal dost thou wish to maketh?"
"What do you mean? We only require an escort. Only one of your fleet of batpony guards," said Dawn, dumbstruck at his demands.
"Oh, mine own love. We cannot simply alloweth thee taketh one guard." Prince Umbra laid down in front of Dawn, knowing full well that even in this position, he was larger than she. "One guard is one too many. Maketh a deal with me. Maketh it appealing, else, thou art wasting our time." Prince Umbra trilled, locking eyes with Dawn and placing a hoof beneath his own chin.
Dawn unintentionally bowed, taken aback by his statements. "We suppose we could offer our servitude."
Prince Umbra stood with grimace that would scare even a manticore. "We doth not hast any interest in a thing such as that! How darest thou suggest it!" he roared, shaking the castle. "What we doth desire, thou couldst never acquireth."
"And that is?"
"Thy brother's servitude." Prince Umbra answered, a dark glint in his eye as he spoke the item aloud.
Prince Umbra smirked. "Aye, we hast did seek after it for many moons. However, we believeth that gent to beest protected by a strange sort of charm, else we shalt has't taken it by force. Thou couldst never get it... unless..." he eyed Dawn carefully.
"Unless what? We are desperate! The fate of the world depends on it! We must get to Ponyville, but we can't do it alone!" said Dawn, stomping her hooves in protest.
"If't be true thee maketh this deal, we shalt bind his magic to ours. Then, we shalt allow an escort." Prince Umbra smirked.
Dawn looked down at her hooves and let her mind wander. She pictured the face of her brother when he realized what she had done to him and the guilt she would feel having done that. Then, she thought of what might happen if she allowed the world to end because she wouldn't give up her brother's free will.
The end of the world as she knew it was not something she often thought about because it was tied to a mare that she missed and wished not to acknowledge.
The end would be brought on by unicorn twins, Apollo and Artemis. Once Celestia and Luna's prized pupils, they eventually turned on the sisters after having different views, authoritarian versus democracy as is the norm with these sour relationships. They had to be sealed away in a deserted land far from Equestria. The unicorns were horribly powerful, managing to surprise the sisters by their ability to raise and lower the sun and moon without breaking a sweat after years of practice. With this immense power, it wouldn't be hard to imagine them taking over Equestria and ruling with an iron hoof. Even with Prince Umbra taking over the daylight, he still held a democratic monarchy over the lands of Equestria. The return of Apollo and Artemis would spell the end of free will as a whole.
"Time is ticking, and by time, I mean our patience." Prince Umbra held out his black, cloven hoof out for Dawn to shake.
She took it willingly.
Prince Umbra rose on his haunches and reached for the night sky, a beautiful grin growing towards his ears, perhaps it would even stretch to his horns if anything more jovial would have happened. He cackled with glee at the fresh deal he had made. He glared down at Dawn with an smile that visibly pierced her heart - she winced and closed her eyes at the thought of what she had just done - and he made a grabbing motion. Soon, indigo wisps of wind filled his grasp and disappeared in surges through his arm.
"Excellent," said he, a guttural growl forming in his voice.
Prince Umbra howled in laughter. He put all four hooves on the ground and cackled. "We shalt sendeth Nocturnal Paladin with thee as thy escort. Now begone. Leave our sight."
Dawn crept back into her room, leaving herself in a darkness much deeper than where she had just been. She silently awaited her escort, looking forward to nothing else but a sweet escape from the Canterlot Castle. She looked around the near empty room which hosted a party of one. The books, her desk, her bed... they all seemed to be giving her disappointed glances from where they respectively sat. She looked down at the floor, and in its cold, glossy finish, she saw her dark reflection, staring back at her with an expression of pure misery and hatred.
Her ears pricked at the sound of creaking doors. Thankfully, the lights stayed held back, and only the clopping of hooves accompanied the sound of creaking.
Quickly, Dawn spun around to see a batpony guard, someone quite obviously under Prince Umbra. His coat was a dark shade of gray, and his eyes were an azure blue. He removed his finned helmet and bowed, revealing a mohawk of messy, golden locks.
"Your majesty, Dawn's Sentry, daughter of Princess Twilight Sparkle," said the guard. He had a thick Manehattan accent. "I came as soon as I heard you wanted to get the heck outta here. I'm Nocturnal Paladin." he put his helmet back on.
"Yes, well, we need to depart right away. We can't stop, either, we must forge on." Dawn trotted over to the guard with a huff.
"'Ey, if you're lookin' to go straight to Ponyville, I'm not your guy. You're gonna want a sturdier guy like ah... Night Light. Y'know, Shining Armor's son? Yeah, him. I need to make a stop in Manehattan, see my parents, refuel... all that. So, uh, take it or leave it, princess," said the guard.
"You're Nocturnal Paladin, correct?" Dawn sighed.
"That's my name. Don't wear it out."
"We suppose we can, if we must." Dawn rolled her eyes.
Nocturnal Paladin led her out of the dark room and through the only slightly less dark hallways.
"And what's with the 'we'? You gotta secret friend? A rabbit in your mane or somethin'?"