> Carol of the Daybreak
>  by Str8aura
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Sweet Silver B... Different guy.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twas some time before Christmas, and all of that lot

But for one Alicorn north of Dreams, time was not.

Daybreaker of Equus, she once had been dreaded,

But now lived as a slave to a god she detested.

How she longed for her past back, to let loose chained wings,

But for now she's a guard dog of masters' prized things.

Most prized her casino, whose floors Daybreak now prowled,

Just downtown of nowhere, where Umbra spirits howled.

A hive for the villainous, most wretched of scum,

To gamble their coins, earning Eris her sum.

For dragons and windigoes, girls and boys,

Cold bastards who'd separate babies from toys.

And this, reader dear, is why it came a surprise,

When Daybreak found a child before her sharp eyes.

Twas a salmon pink filly, with blue curly locks,

A mile wide smile, and the gaze of a fox.

Daybreak looked into her, and knew she was vicious,

But knew still worse things here would find her delicious.

So she spread her wings wide, tried to seem kindly,

And hid her sharp fangs she had filed quite finely.

Then she showed the girl off to a corner booth near,

To watch her and ensure she had nothing to fear.

After ordering a virgin drink, kid-safe and cold,

She was given her new friend's name, one Cozy Glow.

And whilst trading their stories, both recent and old,

Daybreaker heard a story she'd never been told.

Twas Cozy's favorite ditty she heard every year,

Of a man who once long ago spread festive cheer.

With tight shoes and loose screws, heart size roughly an inch,

This kindly old man who brought Christmas was The Grinch.

So to Daybreak she told her enrapturing tale,

Of her one greatest hero, from start doomed to fail.

The Whos were all parasites, this Cozy believed,

Their life's goal to find brains from which their young could feed.

And Whoville was an angler's lure, cheery and bright,

To lure closer their prey, and to their waiting bite.

Though she'd never tell Cozy, this Princess of Fire

Had heard the young foal's words and became inspired.

So that night, as casino floors shut down en masse,

Daybreak hatched a cunning plan, inhumanly fast.

Tis Christmas, she murmured, And whatever that means,

It seems nearly the same as our Hearthswarming things.

The mortals below me deserve Christmas as well,

To thank Faust they don't live in a life like my Hell.

And as Faust rains down sunshine, so shall I rain cheer,

But before all of that, I must find a reindeer.

(Does that still fit with the Grinch's scheme? Fuck if I know)

(Shit's hard enough already, counting syllables)

For two weeks more she worked under cover of night,

Sewing in the dark what she stole during the light.

Til with patches and seams and loose strings aplenty,

She found herself fashioned a new identity.

Then prowling the floors of a funky villain rave,

She abducted a changeling, her jolly bug slave.

With a bit of brainbreak, just shy of what would kill,

Her escape plan was right for a night of good will.

Under cover of darkness, her coat shining bright

Her flame mane a beacon spilling heavenly light,

With a huff and a puff and a Canterlot Voice,

She blew out a wall, fleeing her cage with rejoice.

And riding her steed through a whirlwind of worlds,

Cried out her intents as her escape plan unfurled.

From here until Whoville, and wherever between,

The right hand of Eris will slice Scrooges and fiends!

For uncountable hours, she shot through the fold,

Seeing planets and stars of whom mouth had not told.

In a city she landed, a tower's tall tip,

And hopped off of her steed, his brain fried from the trip.

Down the flue she descended, on white wings she flew,

Through smog to the hearth's top, with a present brand new.

She looked out the window, to a city of coal,

Where slavers and the penniless earned Scrooges their gold.

And behind her she heard, no louder than a peep,

The voice of a filly, fresh woken from sleep.

Where Cozy's eyes shone with a flicker of malice,

This one bore innocence, shone gold like a chalice.

Whereas Cozy's white bow hid the horrors within,

This filly's showed only what she seemed on the tin.

"Are you the great Santa, belly round and face red?"

She asked the gaunt horror, whose glare brought only dread.

No, Said the Daybreak, A different spirit am I,

Whose belly is the sun, and from whose face Faust shies.

I come to this city, for I know what it needs,

Bearing only a star for the brightest of trees.

Has your bright face been sullied, by greed, vice, and pride?

Or do you recognize love, and what it provides?

"Yes I have," said the Filly, "I've been good this year!"

"What I'd like is a dollie, whose locks I may shear!"

No dollie have I, but for you something better,

My bright shining star, which no shadow may fetter.

Fore you rest, place my star on your tree with great care,

And waking will show you your great gift- if you dare.

The filly accepted, taking star in her scarf,

And on tip-toppest step gave the tree her white dwarf.

Away went the red mare, back up to her rooftop,

Not a sign she had been there, but one distant hoofclop.

And that night as the filly swam in her sweet dreams,

The star shard lit up, smoldering with evil means.

She awoke to the smell of a great Christmas feast,

Of fire and charring, red meat from the deceased.

Around her, her living room, household and city,

Went up in the night, shades of orange so pretty.

As sinner and saint, colts and mares young and old,

Died screaming in the bonfire that came from the cold.

Her star shard had woken, craving food and cruel fun,

As her city blazed down in red hot teeth and tongues.

But even as she cried, at her hooves she fast found,

No flame lock would touch her, to her flesh this god bowed.

And far from the filly with the star-granted wish,

Horrid fangs flashed a grin, and her victims heard this:

BURN, said the demon mare, with flaming eyes of coal

To all a bright Christmas, and to all a purged soul!