"Ohh, hate magic! Like you haven't tried that before!" Celestia cackled madly as she deflected a blast of magic from Mavis with ease, "I think the last time you tried that was when you saw me gut Dusk Star, your fiancee at the time!"

Mavis simply ignored the mare and sent out another volley of spells. So far their fight had raged for over and hour, and a good portion of the courthouse had been destroyed. Spilling out into the street, Mavis grinned as Celestia tumbled into the cobblestone path, her head making a sickening crunch as it struck a manhole. Even still the princess lifted herself from the ground, seemingly unharmed.

"You can't stop me, Sparkle, you haven't ever been able to stop me! For a thousand years you have tried, and yet you still fail! Why continue? Just let me destroy your pathetic resistance, wipe your memory, revert your age and we will start from scratch, just like always!"

Refusing to listen to the babbling of the mad princess, Mavis slammed the mare's head down repeatedly against the manhole it had already hit until Celestia finally broke free.

"Still some fight in your blind carcass? That's fine, you can both have this magical bomb, and the wonderful blame for destroying half of Canterlot along with it!"

With a evil grin Celestia set up a pulsing orb on unstable magic, then melted away. Mavis quickly moved in to investigate the 'bomb' and found that it indeed carried enough power to destroy not only just half, but at least two thirds of Canterlot. Two third of all the innocents there.

"Innocents..."

Mavis' mind flashed back to the last words Jubilee had said to her before she'd left.

"You got mad so you nearly killed her?! For what?! Mouthing off?! I was just going to slap her and leave, but....but... UGH! I guess this is what she was talking about, Twilight always killing the innocent...Leave, just leave, I don't want to ever see your face again..."

Knowing full well her next act would in all likely hood kill her, Mavis pull the orb of energy into her own body, every nerve alighting with pain as copious amount of white hot energy began arcing over her body. The alicorn fell to the ground, breathing shallowly and barely moving.

Funny enough, she swore she could see a bright white light.

^~^~^~^

*Thok thok thok*

"Go 'way!"

"Open the damned door Jubilee!"

"Fuck you Rainbow!"

"Applejack? Please?"

"You got it Ardee!"

"Alright! Fuck, I'll get the door, gimme a minute!"

A few thuds and a little bit later Jubilee threw the door open. Her eyes were red and puffy, her mane a mess, and she smelled like she hadn't bathed at all in the past week.
"The fuck do you want...and why is Eepy here?"

Rainbow just wore a cocky grin that let Jubilee know she wouldn't like the answer.
"We're off to save your girlfriend, and you're coming with. Come on, let's go."

"Wait, what?!"

Rolling her eyes Rainbow pushed her way into the house.
"Get washed, get your battle dress on. and get some supplies. We just got word that Mavis showed up in Canterlot, poicked a fight with Celestia and then promptly disappeared with a group of pirates on a floating ship. Needless to say, she's probably got herself into some sort of trouble."

With a nod Jubilee turned and disappeared into her bathroom.

^~^~^~^

Spike couldn't help but wear a smile as he carried a snoozing Myst on his shoulders. The pair had become fast friends in the past week, and when the ground in the Dragonlands grew to hot for her to walk on Spike hadn't hesitated in lifting her up. Even still, the young drake couldn't help but notice that Starswirl was almost always staring at him.

"What's up, you've been watching me since we entered the nation. You expect me to turn on you or something?"

With a chuckle and a shake of his head Starswirl answered Spike.
"In my time dragons were vicious cruel creatures. You aren't, and I've been watching you and Icene Myst. You're both cute together. Keep yourself safe on this venture, and keep her safe and I'm sure you'll have found a lasting companion."

"I.." Spike started, half wanting to defend himself but not finding the words, "I'm sorry dragons used to by such trouble in your time."

"Don't mind it colt, anyway, we seem to be lagging tally ho and what not."

Spike nodded and watched Starswirl trot forward, doing his best to carry himself and Icene at a quick pace. The bumping seemed to awaken the crystalline mare though, as she stirred on Spike's shoulder for a moment.

"Mmm, still walking?"

Shifting his eyes Spike cast a look over at the awakening mare.
"Yup, figure we'll be taking a break soon enough though."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, Luna is giving me one of those looks hehe." Spike replied, having to shift his weight and reached up and grab Myst before she could hop off of him.
"And you can stay right there, just because I'm moving slower doesn't mean I can't still carry you, that and we don't need you hurt on my behalf."

Giving a joking elbow to the dragon's neck Myst replied.
"Yeah, instead we're just gonna let you hurt your legs. Okay then."

"So long that I can use my arms. Besides, you're not th...er...at all heavy in anyway. Light as a snow drop." Spike insisted, hoping Myst hadn't caught his near slip up.

Giggling slightly, her cheeks turning a darker shade of icy blue, Myst leaned in a gave Spike a just slightly more than friendly nuzzle.
"Thanks, that was sweet of you to say."

Grinning like a goof Spike put a joking swagger into his step.
"Well, you know, that's me, all sweet and caring and stuff. Anyway, you have any idea why all these ponies are popping up from the past?"

At this Myst's features grew a bit more sombre, but she nodded.

"While I was captured with Starswirl he told me what was happening. Essentially way back then Luna had started having both nightmares and old dreams. After searching for a way to stop them for two or three years he finally made a connection between the start of Luna's dreams and the disappearance and supposed death of Celestia's most trusted knight, Nightshine. He did some digging and found out that Nightshine bore striking similarities to Celestia's old political adviser, Quick Quill, who in turn bore a resemblance to Daystar, a previous court mage. He also found that they all would just up and vanish, only to be replaced some ten years later with a new foal. It was then that he discovered the truth, that each of the new foals was actually one singular being, the original Celestia. Deducing that the false Celestia was in charge, Starswirl left his notes hidden before sealing himself in stone under the guise of a magical accident. This led his student Clover to accuse Knight Regent Sombre Winds of the accident, seeing as Starswirl and Sombre had had a falling out. To clear his name Sombre Winds found each of Starswirl's clues. Before he could reveal this though, he suddenly was stricken by the need for power, using dark crystals that thrived off of hate magic. Clover then sealed him away as well, but not before discovering the truth and taking it to Luna, who did not believe her and sealed her in stone for her heresy. Still, years went by and Luna started to pick up on these inconsistencies until she too was struck by an all consuming hatred. Thus Nightmare Moon was born and banished by the false Celestia. Of course then Twilight Sparkle can along, the latest recreation of the same mare. The false Celestia sent her to die at the hooves of Nightmare Moon, sent Trixie to bring an Ursa into town, sent the Parasprites, released Discord and pitted her against him, put Twilight up against Sombra too. At this point there were too many lives involved in Twilight's for her to simply go missing, so Celestia one upped it after Twilight the alicorn came close to discovering the truths about her origins. She framed Twilight for murder, claimed that her friends had tried to aid her in over throwing the throne and that they had re-corrupted Luna. Now we're here, trying to free Twilight from her curse."

Spike couldn't help but let the shock of it all still him as he realised that everything he'd thought he had known was all different. That Twilight Sparkle, his mother, had led so many lives before now. Sure he figured maybe one life every hundred years, but a new life every twenty to thirty years or so? It was ridiculous!
"So, how do we get Twilight back the way she is supposed to be?"

"That," Luna's voice rang out, "Is relatively simple, overcharge her with magic."

^~^~^~^

Mavis' eye's shot wide open, blinking rapidly against the almost too bright light that assailed them. Surprised at both the fact that she could see, and the fact that she oddly enjoyed the sensation of closing and opening her eyes. Feeling giddy, the mare rolled on the extremely comfortable bed that she was laying on. Getting a firm hoof hold, Mavis stood to find that she seemed taller. Running a quick scan she was able to ascertain that she was roughly in between Cadence and Luna's height.

"Am I...dead?"

Wandering about the wooden room Mavis took in many things, including that the vent on the wall next to the floor seemed to have been tugged or pulled at.

"Well, I guess so. I mean, I can see, I feel great...guess I'm dead."

Moving to the door, Mavis magically pulled it open and tried to walk through only to jerk her head back, rubbing the tip of her now lengthy horn ruefully.
"Ow, okay not dead, and damn that hurt."
Making her way through the door Mavis found herself in a large hallway that ended in a flight of stairs. She also realised that the floor seemed to be swaying slightly. Putting that thought to the back of her mind, Mavis was more surprised to find she was neither lavender nor grey, but a soft creamy white colour. Perplexed, the mare took a look at her mane and tail, then cutiemark. The former was now a moonlight yellow with two thin streaks of colour, one dusk pink, the other morning-like orange. Then there was the latter. It still held her star, but on one side of the star was a faint visage of the sun, while the tips of a crescent moon connected to the upper most and lower most tips of the original star.
"Odd...well, time to get back to being grey."

...

"Time to get back to being grey, come on now..."

....

"Then back to purple...maybe?"

...

'No? Okay then, certainly not the worst thing to happen to you, so...huh, new name then. Starlight? Nightstar? Starshine? Twinkle...hell no...Dawnbreak...Duskfall...'

"Fuck yes, that actually sounds awesome, Dawnbreak Duskfall, alicorn of...okay fuck, need to work on it."

New name and appearance in tow, Dawnbreak made her way up the stairs, muffled singing from above becoming clearer and clearer until she stood on the deck of a large ship surrounded by singing crewponies that were tossing barrels to each other.

"Twenty three barrels of mead in the hold, twenty three barrels of mead, toss one down, shift 'em 'round, twenty four barrels of mead in the hold!"

Walking amongst the deck the crew barely seemed to notice her as they started bring another barrel in off a dock made of clouds.

"Twenty four barrels of mead in the hold, twenty four barrels of mead, toss one down, shift 'em around tw-"

All singing stopped when Dawnbreak, who had accidentally walked into the path the barrel was to take down into the hold, had caught the barrel so it wouldn't hit her. Out of pure guess work Dawnbreak put on her best smile and tossed the barrel spinning into the air before guiding it fancily into the hold.
"Twenty five barrels of mead in the hold!"

Nopony made a noise for the first couple of seconds before every crew member broke out in a chorus of exuberant shouting, starting up the song again as they brought in barrel twenty six. As for Dawnbreak, she couldn't help but laugh at the attitudes of the ponies, any previous worries pushed to the back of her mind.

"Well, Concordat, it seems our new guest is faring quite well"

"I would agree Peregrine. Good to know she's okay, but the real question..."

"Ah yes, but mayhaps we should introduce ourselves first?"

At a nod from Concordat the pegasus stepped forward with a proffered hoof and a warm smile.
"I am Captain Sir Peregrine and this is my ship, the Bleeding Bitch, my friend is White-gold Concordat."

When Dawnbreak just looked like she was trying not to laugh Peregrine got a twinkle in his eye.

"Sure she's got a funny name, but when is a mare at her most dangerous? Well, during those four weeks in a year. The Bleeding Bitch'll either take a shine to you and treat you like a king, or will crush you into the dirt. All depends on how you handle her."

Dawnbreak laughed as she put two and two together and took the offered hoof.
"Dawnbreak Duskfall, and may I ask why I'm on this ship?"

At this Concordat stepped forward, offering his hoof as well.
"You're an enemy of the fake Celestia, so that makes you a friend to us."

"Oh," Dawnbreak muttered, kicking a hoof absently, "I guess that makes sense. Um, you two know anything of befor eI picked the fight? I know there are things there, but I can't seem to remember. I know there is a mare...I'm pretty sure I love her, but...I dunno. And I have friends, five of them, I love them like sisters, we're very close. And I remember, I was purple for a time once, and I think grey too...actually, I think I've been a lot of colours."

Upon noticing the two stallions staring at her questioningly Dawnbreak realised that perhaps she should save her ruminations for later. Taking Concordat's still awkwardly extended hoof and giving it a shake.

"So, ignore my previous mutterings, I'm just having some trouble remembering everything. That doesn't matter though, what does matter is that we find a way to take down Princess Celestia-nrgh!"

Dawnbreak's eyes rolled up to the back of her head for a moment as a memory or vision, she didn't know which, ran through her head.

"Don't worry, dear Lulu, I will go find what is troubling our little ponies, and then when I get back we can have your birthday party, I promise!"

"Hey there Princess Luna, can you believe I got promoted to High Archmage?!"

"Don't worry about what Celestia thinks. If she's half the big sister you say she is she won't have any problem with us. Now lay back and spread 'em."

"Your majesty, I was told by her Highness Princess Celestia that I am to be your personal guard."

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to run into you your greatness! I was just reading this book assigned to you by your sister, Princess Celestia!"

"LUNA!" Dawnbreak cried out as her eyes shot wide, "Luna knows the answers, we need to find her!"

Both Peregrine and Concordat looked at the odd alicorn uneasily as she rose to her hooves.

"Ma'am, are you sure you're fit to travel...and make decisions?" Peregrine asked as tactfully as possible."

Dawnbreak walked up and down the length of the ship a few times before turning to the two stallions. Sweeping forward, she brought the two of them into tight hugs, but nothing too intimate. She then let them go, gave Peregrine a wink and moved to the helmsponies wheel and allowed her magic to flow, powering a spell that she somehow knew would lead her to Luna, and that she believed was from when she remembered guarding her.

"I hate to take your ship under my command Sir Peregrine, but this is more important than you might realise. You see, we need to find Luna, she knows things about me, she knows things about my past that I don't, and I'm sure that she knows how to stop the false Celestia!"

Peregrine tossed a sideways smirk at Concordat before nudging him.
"Well, she didn't kill us, now I just have to hope she doesn't take my ship haha!"

^~^~^~^

"I dunno but I think we may have made them just the slightest bit angry!" Spike yelled over the din caused by the drakelings, part bat part dragon beasts that were carnivorous and trying to make a meal of their party.

Using her ice magic as best as she could, Myst was throwing up shield and firing razor sharp shards of ice at any of the little beasts that came too close as she used Spike's belly as a platform, Spike himself laying on his back whilst firing upside down at the drakelings with his rifle.
"Really? What gave you that idea? Missed one, on your right!"

Just as Spike shot the drakeling out of the air Luna, Clover, Sombre Winds and Starswirl ran over to them and the unicorns all threw up a magical barrier while Luna tried her best to fight off any of the magic resistant pests caught inside the shield. Luna suddenly titled her head to the side, eyes going wide as her ears picked up on something. Throwing up a shield of her own, white hot flames suddenly roiled around them, crushing the shields of the unicorns and toasting any drakelings still flying around as well as raising the temperature enough for Spike to need to curl around Myst to protect her.

Once the flames cleared Luna dropped her shield and quickly levitated Myst from Spike's protective embrace to her side just as orange flames licked around the dragon for the briefest of moments, the traditional greeting of dragons. Standing and turning to face the gargantuan draconian features of their saviour Spike simply pulled the side of his duster over to reveal a scar where his primary heart should beat beneath.

"Misfortune seems to follow us all these days, young one. Fear not, unlike some, I take no offense to your grievous wound, and the mere fact that you still fight is more than enough proof that you are honourable. Ah, and Luna, a long time it has been since I last laid eyes upon you."

Luna smiled and gave a slight bow, levitating Myst back over to Spike.
"Stygian, I am glad to see you are faring well. Tell me, do you still preside over the brood?"

Stygian gave a rumbling laugh that sent tremors into the ground around him.
"A bit old for that am I. My hatchling presides over the brood these days. Now, I am curious, what brings you to the dragon lands?"

As Luna launched into her tale of what she had been up to for so long Spike and Myst sat off to the side, the former tearing his fire resistant duster into strips to wrap around the ever warming Icene Myst.

"How're you feeling?"

Myst shrugged with a slight smile on her face.
"Well, I for one never need ask how a snow ball feels in the middle of summer. Hey, you know of any nice cold climates? Think I'll need a vacation to the arctic after all this."

Giving a grin, Spike took out one of his three canteens of water and poured it out slowly from the dock of Myst's tail to her head, the cool water doing wonder for the mare.
"Hey, how about I take you up to the Crystal Empire? Saved the place, you know? Got a older brother that lives there too. So, how's this, once all this is said and done with, I'll take you there, show you around. It'll be one nice big vacation."

"Oh my," Myst asked in a joking tone, "Is some little dragon asking me out on a date?"

Rather than get flustered or embarrassed Spike just shrugged, a cocky grin on his face.
"Depends, if a little dragon was, would you say yes?"

Booping Spike on the nose, Myst got up and began walking towards the rest of the group, heat resistant enchanted leather wrapped around her hooves. About half way to the group Myst turned and gave Spike a wink.
"You coming? Sooner we get finished here the sooner I get that date."

Suddenly scrambling to his feet Spike quickly jogged to the side of Myst with a goofy grin on his face, waiting for Luna's next orders.

^~^~^~^

"Oh godessess no," Jubilee screamed as she tried to run out of the room, only for an aura of grey magic to reach out and drag her back into the room she tried to run from, "Somepony save me!"

^~^~^~^

Dawnbreak stood at the head of the ship, her mane flying back in the wind, her wings slightly outspread to catch the wind. Her eyes were closed, helping her concentrate over the many things plaguing her mind. Like how when she noticed a flaccid member earlier half of her wanted to write a thesis and the other half wanted to bend over and beg for it. Or when the singing stopped part of her wanted to continue the song, and maybe kick up a dance, while the other part wanted to thank them all for finally shutting the fuck up. It was as if there were a thousand warring ponies in her mind, all with their own sets of beliefs and Ideals, morals and codes. It was ultimately the most frustrating thing in the world.

Blocking out as much of the warring thoughts and emotions as she could, Dawnbreak opened her eyes, taking in the sights of clouds and the bright blue sky laying before them. It was then that a single voice ran through her mind. It was the 'lavender nerdy one'. It was happily proclaiming that it could see again. Something about the joy in the voice's...well, voice, made Dawnbreak smile as well. This she was okay with, a singular voice every now and again that was happy about something. One was proclaiming joy when she flew earlier, another when she simply walked from one end of the ship to another. It seemed that sometimes the simplest things she did would bring joy to somepony...or something anyway, seeing as she wasn't sure what the voices in her head were. Actually, maybe, just maybe she could talk back to them.

'Hey, hey, any of you voices hear me? I'm sorry if I seem a bit confused, but I really am. I don't have a clue what's going on. I just woke up, and I can hear you all.' Dawnbreak thought.

'Oh, that actually helps explain things!' called one voice, a phantasmic purple unicorn, the 'lavender nerdy one' called.

Another voice, coupled with it's own phantasm, a black earth pony mare, called out.
'It seems our body has died again, but that Amourfous was not present to block us this time.'

'I would guess that is correct, now, dear 'main voice', what, pray tell, is your name?' asked a scholarly looking pegasi.

'I'm Dawnbreak Duskfall...'

'Fitting.' called Twilight.

'Quite,' seconded another mare, 'I'm Stardancer, and I apologise for the...sexually driven thoughts...'

'Now now, she is probably quite confused. Let me explain some things.' the scholarly pegasus interjected, 'You, Dawnbreak, are cursed. A powerful being, Amourfous, took our place many many years ago and has systematically raised us, trained us, killed us, and restarted the process every thirty years for the last two thousand odd years. It seems this time things went down differently.'

'You can give me thanks for that!' hollered an eyeless grey alicorn.

'Moving on,' the the pegasus growled, 'What needs to be done now, is that we need you to find your long long lost sister Luna. She will allow us all to pass on to the afterlife, while you continue this life. Then you need to defeat Amourfous. Once that is done...well, you will be given a choice, but that is for another time. In the meantime, we will try to keep the other 600 or so voices quiet so you can do what you need to do, but if you ever have need of help, you have but to simply ask.'

As Dawnbreak 'exited' her mind she found Peregrine standing next to her, a sad expression on his face.
"Your personalities, they talk openly through you when you do that. I'm sorry for what you're experiencing, and I wanted to tell you that we've tracked Luna to the dragon lands. We're on our way there now."

"Oh, thanks," Dawnbreak smiled half heartedly.

"Will you be okay miss?"

"I...think so. There's just a lot to take in, and six hundred...technically I've been murdered or died some how roughly six hundred times, but each time it was a different me, and each of them have been denied passage to the Summerlands. It all rides on me, or the next me if I die, but it's still me...just, fuck everything!"

After taking a moment to catch her breath and cool down Dawnbreak sighed and turned to Peregrine.
"It's been a long two thousand years..."

Peregrine nodded, not really understanding, but doing his best to sympathise with the strange alicorn. He turned to leave when the touch of a wing caused him to stop short.

"And Peregrine, I hate asking but there's one more pony I need to find. The last two mes, Mavis Raven and Twilight Sparkle, they want me to find this mare, pink coat, purple mane, three gems for a cutie mark, goes by either Sparkler or Jubilee. They say it's important, and when they think of her...well, I want to find her too. She's important to us for some reason, just not anything I can understand at the moment."

"I'll...do my best, but I can't make any promises." Peregrine assured before walking away.

Letting Peregrine's words bounce around in her head for a time, Dawnbreak looked towards the open sky as the wind whipped around her.
"Funny, I hate promises...goodbyes too...don't know why."

Deep down inside her mind, too deep for Dawnbreak to understand or hear, a lone voice belonging to a white alicorn with a pink mane whispered in the dark.
"I know why."

^~^~^~^

"Od no, no, please, somepony get this thing off me!" Jubilee screamed desperately as she ran from one room to another. Lulianna, Blinky, Rainbow, Applejack and Fluttershy just laughed as the latter's daughter, Darla Discord, a silvery 'alicorn' with bat wings and antlers, chased her around begging for horsey rides.

Deciding that the young unicorn had had enough, Fluttershy swept up her daughter in a motherly embrace while everypony else got serious. Lulianna was the first to talk.

"You say you're looking for an alicorn nopony knows? Peregrine told me he's on his way to the dragon lands to find Luna under the guidance of an alicorn. Says that they thought she'd died after saving Canterlot, but apparently not. Your best bet is to run this intercept course." Lulianna explained, showing the route on the map.

Jubilee was the first to take note.
"And this route, this will get us close enough to hail the ship, so I can get back to Mavis!?"

When Lulianna nodded Jubilee grabbed her gear and was out the door.

^~^~^~^

Spike desperately poured the remnants of his canteens over Myst's body, the mare's breathing having become laboured and her face flushed a darker blue than usual. The wendigo's eyes were unfocused as she whimpered.

"It burns....ow...please, just...make it stop burning..."

Looking around desperately, Spike could find nothing in the cavern, not even the way they had first fallen into the cavern to begin with. What he did know was that the heat was even getting to him, and that meant it was far, far too hot for Myst.
"Just, just hold om for me, okay Myst? Think icy plains, blizzards, snow cones, fucking industrial sized freezers, just...hold on!"

Becoming desperate, Spike suddenly thought of one thing that may save Myst, but put his own life in harms way. All dragons could breath both fire and frost, through their primary and secondary hearts respectively, their secondary hearts were, in fact, meant to cool air to counteract fire breathing. Willing himself to try, Spike began blowing air over and over until he found himself so out of breath that he could barely even sit up.

Laying back, Spike brought Myst up to his chest, hoping to keep her comfortable. Still, though, the wendigo mare whimpered fitfully.
"It burns...I don't want it to burn...I don't want to die...please, I don't want to die...make the burning stop please...please..."

Despite his burning lungs, Spike stood up, his worry for his newest friend driving him to ignore the burning in his muscles as he lifted Myst up, cradling her like a small foal. Willing one foot in front of the other, the brave young drake powered forwa4rd as best as he could, felling Myst's heart beat weakly against his chest, growing weaker every second until...nothing...

Falling to his knees in anguish, Spike curled over the unmoving form of Myst as tears slipped from his eyes. As a guttural roar of emotional pain ripped through the dragon's heart and throat, he didn't even notice cool mist emanating from his maw.

Or the flash of green flames behind him...

Author's Note

That last bit? Cause I'm an asshole, can you tell?

Oh, and I do believe this chapter explains almost as much as the chapter before it, especially on why 'Celestia', or Amourfous(Amorphous, like a blob, geddit?), didn't wait for Twilight to finish her research.

And on that note, this is the final name change, there will be no others. Not a reversion to Twilight, nothing. Dawnbreak Duskfall is her name now, and there is no changing that, well, and technically Twilight and Mavis are both 'undead' as are about 600 others, their all stuck in Dawnbreak's head now. Dawnbreak is a new mare, but now she has the experience and brains of two thousand years worth of soldier, scholars, and in Stardancer's case, sluts.