Daybreaker steals Twilight

by SamSwordsman123

Rating: everyone
Tags: Daybreaker, Twilight Sparkle, Twilight Velvet, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Night Light, Princess Luna, Drama
Length: 8319

Daybreaker returns and steals Twilight Sparkle from her parents. Its up to Twilight's friends and family to save her.

In the aftermath of the battle with the Changelings, everypony is feeling guilty for not heeding Twilight's warnings and hopes for a chance at redemption. But when Daybreaker suddenly returns and kidnaps Twilight, they're going to get a chance much sooner than they thought.

Published 2020-03-07 23:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2020-03-29 05:14:21 UTC

Chapter Two Twilight Gets Stolen

Twilight Sparkle sat at her familie’s dinner table. It felt like an eternity since she’d been here with her parents Night Light and Twilight Velvet as well as her brother Shining Armor. Since moving to Ponyville, Twilight had been so busy with her studies on the magic of friendship, she never had time to spend with her family sending reports to Princess Celestia as well as battling the villains like Nightmare Moon, Discord, and most recently Queen Chrysalis.

The last one had really shaken the family as they’d seen Twilight fight against Queen Chrysalis and get poisoned after Chrysalis bit her.

“I’ve forgotten how much I missed your cooking mom,” Twilight said as she ate her celery soup and daffodil sandwiches. “I can never seem to make it as tasty as you do.”

Twilight Velvet giggled. “That’s because it’s missing the special ingredient. Love.”

The two Twilights nuzzled each other while Night Light, Shining Armor, and Spike watched with small smiles.

“I must say its good to have all of us back together for a little while,” Night Light said. “You both have been so busy with duties as Captain of the Guard and the protégé of the Princess. Protecting Equestria can sure you keep both busy.”

“It sure does Dad,” Twilight agreed.

Night Light looked at his daughter for a moment. “Twilight, honey. There’s something that’s been itching me. I want you to know I’m proud of you and all you’ve done… but…. I’m scared for you.”

“Scared for me?” Twilight repeated.

“Both you and your brother,” Night Light concurred looking at his son as well. “Shining Armor was hypnotized by that Changeling Queen. You nearly died of poisoning! There’s been a lot of trouble in Equestria lately, and frankly it looks like you are being relied more to deal with it than the royal guard is.”

“Well, my friends and I do wield the elements of harmony,” Twilight reminded him. “They’re the most powerful weapon at Equestria’s disposal. Not just any pony can wield them.”

Night Light sighed. “I know. But-

“The threats of Nightmare Moon and Discord weren’t some ordinary force that the Royal Guard could handle. They were both really powerful. And Shining did get rid of the rest of the Changelings with Cadence.”

Night Light looked at her. “You’re right. But… I just don’t want to lose you. Either of you.”

Shining Armor nodded. “Me neither Dad. But a soldiers life is dangerous. One day, all of us will leave this life.”

“You’re right son. No pony lives forever, except Celestia perhaps. But I want both of you to live long and happy lives. I want you to marry Cadance have a family. The wedding will be ready to be redone as soon as the repairs around Canterlot are done.”

Shining looked down. “I’m not sure I should marry Cadence anymore.”

This shocked the family. “Why Shiney?” Velvet asked. “You’ve been keeping yourself locked up in your room ever since we got the family together. What’s wrong?”

Shining lay his head down on the table. There were visible bags under his eyes, he hadn’t slept well since the attack. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to tell his parents what had happened.

“You guys weren’t there the night of the rehearsal. I just can’t get what I said to Twilight out of my head. I kicked you out of the wedding Twiley! I reacted in a cruel way over a simple misunderstanding! I came to close to disowning you! Then the Queen sent you down to those caverns. You could have died if you hadn’t found Cadance and gotten both yourself and her out of there and it would have been my fault! You could have died from the poisoning, that’s twice in one day I could have lost you! It’s my responsibility to protect you as an older brother but I failed that day… twice. I also failed Cadence, she got kidnapped and put in the caves as well.”

“None of that was your fault, Shining,” Twilight said getting up from her seat and walking over to her brother, placing a hoof on his.

“Don’t blame the brainwashing, I can be a real jerk when I want to be, you know!” Shining Armor said taking his hoof away.

In the seat next to Shining Armor, Spike looked down as well, tears appearing in his eyes. “And I walked out on you too, and I wasn’t brainwashed at all! I just wanted to avoid being kicked out too! How can you still call me your number one assistant? I ought to be tossed out on the streets of Ponyville for that! You were sent down the caves under Canterlot because we didn’t listen to you!”

“Spike, Shining, I know you both feel guilty for what you did. But brainwashed or not, I still love you both!” Twilight told them. “And what happened with the Queen sending me down to the caves was kind of a good thing in the end. I found the real Cadence down there. Maybe she thought I would kill Cadence… I nearly did.”

“You what?” Shining Armor exclaimed.

“I didn’t know that it was the real her!” Twilight said. “She told me that we were both put down there by an imposter. I didn’t believe her at first, then she did the rhyme we always did when I was a filly and I knew it was her. We all made big mistakes that day, and we will continue to make them. But the important thing about mistakes? We learn from them. I forgive you both, you’re my family. My BBBFF and my number one assistant, you’re both the most important colt and dragon in my life. Can you forgive me for attacking Cadance?”

Shining smiled. “Of course, I can. Wasn’t your fault you didn’t know. I probably would have done the same.”

She nuzzled her brother and wrapped a hoof around Spike.

“I’d never throw you out on the streets of Ponyville, Spike,” She added. “And like I said, I did act like a jealous foal throwing a temper tantrum. If that had been the real Cadence, I would have been wrong. Probably would have deserved to be kicked out of the wedding.”

Shining shook his head as he rubbed her back. “Maybe not be Best Mare anymore, but I would have let you back in! You were what caused me and Cadence to meet! The wedding wouldn’t be complete without you there. Still, I feel like I really need to do something to make this up to you.”

“You don’t have to Shining Armor.”

“But I want to! So that I can feel better!” he said. “Tomorrow let’s spend the whole day together, like we used to, LSBFF!”

Twilight looked at him and nodded. “All right. I could use some quality time with my BBBFF before his big day. We might not get another chance for a while.”

After they put their dishes in the sink, Twilight went to her old room planning to read before going to bed. But when she climbed the stairs and opened the door to it, she found an unexpected guest inside. A red eyed pony with a mane made of fire and metal laced wings. Beside her lay a small basket, though Twilight was certain that hadn’t been in her room before.

“Daybreaker!” Twilight shouted.

Daybreaker grinned at her. “Yes, Twilight. I am here.”

Daybreakers horn lit up and she fired a spell at Twilight who just managed to scream.

*

The sound of Twilight’s scream filled the house. Downstairs, Twilight’s family heard.

“Twiley?” Shining Armor looked up at the sound and quickly dashed to Twilights room. Inside he saw Daybreaker levitating a small foal with her magic. A foal that looked just like Twilight!

The baby Twilight noticed her brother in the door. “Shiney!” she called in a squeaky voice.

Shining Armor glared at Daybreaker, his protective big brother instincts toward his (literal) baby sister kicking in.

“Let my sister go!” he growled, charging magic on his horn.

“I think not!” Daybreaker said as she placed the baby Twilight in the basket. “I think she needs a new family. Or I do!”

Daybreaker then looked at the floor and blew, her breath fire like Spike’s. Flames stood between her and Shining Armor, preventing him from getting to her and saving his sister. He could only watch helplessly as she opened the window to his sister’s bedroom and flew out with her in the basket.

“No!”

Author's Note

: Oh no! Daybreaker has baby Twilight! What does she have planned?

Chapter Three Gather To Rescue

Shining Armor stood stunned for a moment as he looked at his sister’s room after she’d been foalnapped. Seriously, he was useless as a big brother right now! This was the third bad thing to happen to Twilight since she'd come back to Canterlot.

“Shining? What’s going on son?” Night Light said as he walked up by his son. Sniffing the air he looked into Twilight’s room and saw the flames. “Ahh! Fire!”

“Fire?” Velvet repeated as she too arrived. “Oh Sweet Celestia! Where did that come from? And… where’s Twilight?”

“Daybreaker took her!” Shining told them

“What? But Daybreaker turned back to Princess Celestia when she saw Twilight in the hospital!” Spike said.

“Well she’s back now!” Shining told them. “And she took Twilight!”

“What?” Both the parents and Spike exclaimed.

“Yeah, she turned Twilight into a baby and flew out with her!”

There was silence among the family. The flames crackled in Twilight’s room. Then Twilight Velvet let out a mad scream, the scream of a mother whose child had been stolen.

“I’m going to get Daybreaker for this! When I get my hooves on her…” Velvet growled.

“Velvet, calm down, you can’t attack Daybreaker. She’s Princess Celestia!” Night Light put a hoof on his wife’s shoulder.

“I don’t care if she is Princess Celestia or not, she’s going to pay for stealing my child!” Velvet snapped. “I’ll battle the entire Royal Guard if I have to in order to get Twilight back.”

She was off, galloping back down the stairs while Night Light, Shining Armor and Spike looked after her.

“Looks like Momma Bear's out of her cave!” Spike noted before looking at the fire in the room. “We might want to put that out before we go rescue Twilight.”

*

Velvet made her way to her front door and opened it with her magic, planning to sprint all the way to the castle and rescue her daughter. She didn’t expect to see Twilight’s friends in her doorway with Applejack about to knock.

“Oh, howdy Mrs. Sparkle. We were just-

“Out of my way!” Velvet snapped, using her magic to levitate Twilight’s friends out of her path and resuming her run.

The Mane 5 looked after Twilight’s mother.

“What’s got her all riled up?” Applejack asked.

“Perhaps she’s just realized she needs to get her mane redone?” Rarity suggested, as Velvet’s mane had been damaged during the changeling invasion. “It did get messed up when a changeling bit it.”

“I don’t think there’s any mane stylist open at this time of night,” Rainbow Dash said.

“You’re right!” Rarity said. “Velvet, do wait up darling! I can make that mane fabulous in a but a moment!”

Velvet stopped and glared back at them. “Twilight has been taken! This is no time for makeovers!”

“What?” the Mane 5 exclaimed.

Suddenly Spike appeared in the doorway.

“Daybreaker’s back! She turned Twilight into a baby and took her!”

The Mane 5 all gasped.

“We got to get her back,” Rainbow Dash yelled.

“Twilight is getting into a lot of danger lately, and its all because of us,” Fluttershy said sadly.

“Well we gotta save her just like we did when she was poisoned,” Applejack said. “Maybe saving her twice will be enough to make up for it?”

“She’s still going to get ten new dresses free from my boutique though!” Rarity said. “If we live through yet another life threatening experience!”

“Come on, lets got to the Castle!” Shining Armor ordered.

Sprinting toward the largest structure in Canterlot, Twilight’s family and friends were met with unexpected resistance. The royal guard stood ready for them. Their eyes glowing red like Daybreaker’s.

“She has them under mind control!” Shining Armor said. “Looks like we’ll have to fight our way through the royal guard!”

“No problem!” Rainbow Dash said confidently. “We save Equestria way more often than these lame guards!”

Shining Armor scowled at her. Noticing this she waved her hooves.

“Though you guys do have cool armor! I’ll give ya that! Uh oh here they come!”

The royal guards charged at them with drawn spears.

*

Meanwhile, up in Celestia’s (now Daybreaker’s) chamber, she tended to a little foal in the basket. Or at least attempted to.

“Twilight, you and I are going to be spending a lot of time together now,” Daybreaker said with what was her version of a soft smile. “You always liked that didn’t you?”

The infant Twilight Sparkle didn’t look at Daybreaker as though she liked her. She looked at her as though she were afraid of her. Then she started crying.

“Quiet!” Daybreaker said. “I’m your mother now!”

“I wan Celestia!”

Daybreaker looked at the foal Twilight for a moment. It seemed even though Twilight was a baby she still had the memories of her previous life. She knew who Daybreaker was, and saw her not as the beloved mentor she had in Celestia but as a monsterous fire pony that had burned half of Canterlot and wanted to kill her own sister. Luna was away right now in the dream realm, but Daybreaker would deal with her when she got back.

“It would seem I have to start from scratch,” Daybreaker said. “I will have to do more than turn you into a baby. Maybe I should just get rid of your memories altogether and raise you as my own from there. Well, I believe there is a spell that could achieve something like that in the archives. Let us go, shall we my dear daughter to be?”

She took Twilight in her magic again and began to walk toward the door of her chamber. Soon Twilight’s memories would be purged, than her family and friends would have to be dealt with to prevent further interference from them. She was going to have Twilight to herself and nothing was going to stop her.

Chapter Four Captured

The Mane 5, along with Spike and Twilight’s family fought against the Royal Guard of Canterlot. Shining Armor had experience with fighting, he used his horn to shoot beams of magic and his hooves to fight the guards. Twilight Velvet, driven by her motherly fury, charged forward.

Night Light looked at his wife in concern, she had a tendency to be a bit of a daredevil and doing crazy things. He remembered the time she went bungy jumping over Luna Bay. His wife was not a very big pony, Twilight was only a teenager, and she had grown to be taller than Velvet already. The Royal Guards were all fairly large male ponies, but Velvet charged at them without fear. As she did so, she put up a shield in front of her and rammed into them. Three unicorn guards shot magic at her, their beams halting her charge, though she remained unharmed thanks to the shield. The guards maintained their beams, hoping to break through. Night Light felt his own protective nature kick in, he focused on the guards attacking his wife, and gathered yellow light to his own horn. A ball of it shot up into the air several feet than split apart into three homing missile spells that knocked each guard down.

Velvet looked back and gave her husband a thankful smile before continuing. Night Light looked around. He saw Twilight’s friends, Shining Armor and Spike were all dealing with the guard in any way they could.

Rainbow Dash flew into the air as Pegasus guards flew up at them and began to try and draw their attention away. Many of them chased her while others continued down toward the ground where the others were. Rarity and Shining Armor shot beams of magic at the incoming Pegasi. Applejack, an insanely strong Cowgirl pony, flung her lasso and tied up one Earth Pony royal guard before doing the same with several others. Another group of Earth Ponies came in from the other side, and Pinkie Pie was ready. She seemed to pull a confetti canon out of nowhere and a large amount of confetti hit the front guard in the face, causing him to trip, and in turn the others behind him tripped as well.

“Dad! Go!” Shining Armor shouted. “We’ll hold them off!”

Night Light gritted his teeth uncertainly as fear gripped him. His wife was headstrong enough to charge into the castle blindly but he knew better. There was no way they were going to be able to take on the guards inside themselves, much less Princess Celestia (or Daybreaker as she was now). Still, he had to save his daughter. Taking a breath to calm himself he ran after his wife in an effort to catch up with her.

*

As they continued to fight, Rarity was suddenly lifted off the ground by a pair of Pegasus Ponies.

“Unhoof me at once!” she demanded, struggling to get free then noticed the height she was ascending too. “On second thought, don’t. I would prefer not to fall to my death. But please treat a lady gently!”

“Rarity!” Spike cried out. “Help her!”

Then suddenly he was picked up in a ball of magic by a unicorn guard. He tried to breathe fire out but the ball kept it contained. Thank goodness dragons were fireproof, or Spike would have burned himself.

“Spike!” Shining Armor shouted, looking in the direction of his sisters number one assistant.

A pair of Earth Pony guards took advantage of the Captains distraction and knocked him out. Now the only ones left fighting were Pinkie Pie and Applejack (Fluttershy, being the kind one, couldn’t even bring herself to fight). They pinned the two earth Ponies down and easily took Fluttershy in hoof irons as she whimpered.

The brainwashed guards took them to the Castle Dungeons.
*

Twilight Velvet made her way through the massive castle, her heart racing as she sprinted through the castle. Adrenaline pumping through her veins. She had to find her daughter and get her back from Daybreaker.

“Velvet wait!” she heard a voice call behind her.

Velvet turned and saw her husband panting behind her.

“We… can’t take… Daybreaker… ourselves,” he said taking deep breaths.

“It doesn’t matter!” Velvet snapped. “We have to try! Our daughter was taken! And I don’t care if it was by the monarch of Equestria herself. I’m going to get her back if it’s the last thing I do!”

She continued. Velvet had been to the castle several times, but she did not know the location of Princess Celestia’s chambers. This place was so huge!

And so full of guards with red eyes. Soon another group of them came out from around the corner. Velvet readied her horn, ready to push past them by any means.

But she didn’t have to. The guards were suddenly swept aside from an attack that came from behind them. Velvet felt a wave of heat, and when the guards fell the ground, she saw her quarry. Daybreaker stood there with baby Twilight in her magic.

Seeing her daughter as a foal again caused Velvet’s mind to wander back to the days when Twilight had been that size. How Velvet had gone through such pain giving birth to her. How she’d feed Twilight at her breast, and eventually settled on being called by her surname to avoid confusion with her daughter. She’d often noticed how much Twilight admired Celestia, and was pleased with the bond that the two shared. Celestia sometimes seemed to be a secondary mother figure to Twilight. But Velvet had never imagined that it would come down to actually being at odds with her.

Velvet felt a sudden tinge of regret at this. But she cast it aside.

“Give me back my daughter Daybreaker!” Velvet ordered.

Daybreaker merely laughed. “She is my daughter now!”

Baby Twilight looked at Velvet. “Ma!”

Daybreaker frowned, and looked from Twilight to Velvet. “Or she will be… once I erase her memories of you!”

Horror filled Velvet at these words. She would be forgotten by her own daughter?

“No!” she screamed.

Raw emotion powered through her and she gathered as much magic as she could. Her body glowed as she prepared to release the most powerful attack she had ever learned. This was one not even an alicorn would be able to stop.

“Velvet no!” Night Light said, putting a hoof on his wife. “You’ll hit Twilight too!”

Velvet hesitated, her husband’s words piercing the fury. This magic could have destroyed Daybreaker, or at least wounded her very badly. But it would be so powerful that Twilight would have been caught in the blast as well. And even if Twilight was out of the way, and Celestia was lost… then Twilight would lose somepony she loved. Velvet could not do that… she could not kill somepony whom her daughter looked up to so much.

Slowly she ceased the flow of magic. Daybreaker however, didn’t hesitate to attack them.

Chapter Five Luna Leans In

Princess Luna was busy in the dream realm. Many ponies in Canterlot had been having nightmares since the attack by Changelings. She heard a scream and flew into the dream from the pony it was from. Luna ended up in a familiar scene. It was the alley, the same alley she’d saved that family of ponies from during the attack. Looking down, she saw not the family, but the little filly that had been a part of it. The filly was surrounded by Changelings, who hissed at her. The filly shivered.

“Help! Mommy! Daddy!” she screamed. “Anypony!”

The changelings advanced on her as she backed into a corner. Luna flapped her wings and flew downward, lighting her horn. She let out a wave of magic and destroyed the nightmare changelings.

The filly looked up.

“Princess Luna, its you again!”

Luna nodded. “Its alright little one. This is only a nightmare.”

The filly smiled. “Thank you, Princess.”

Luna returned the smile. “Sleep well now.”

She exited this dream and immediately stumbled upon another nightmare.

“Twiley! Twiley no!” Shining Armor’s voice called out.

Luna pulled the Captains dream to her. Upon entering she saw Queen Chrysalis in the wedding hall. She and Twilight Sparkle were fighting, Chrysalis shot a beam down at the unicorn who teleported above the Queen and landed on top of her. Chrysalis threw Twilight off, then pinned her to the ground and bit her. Twilight screamed.

“Twiley!” Shining Armor yelled.

He ran to his sister. But suddenly the scene changed. Another Shining Armor was in the room, and Chrysalis was gone. Twilight stood in front of the other Shining Armor who looked angrily at her. She reached out as he groaned in pain, but he swatted her hoof away.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and comfort my bride!” he said, pushing past her. “And you can forget about being my best mare! In fact, if I were you… I wouldn’t come to the wedding at all!”

The real Shining Armor watched as his sister fell on her stomach and began to cry.

“Twiley! No! I’m sorry please don’t cry!” he said trying to get to her.

The scene changed again. Suddenly a fiery pony was there, holding a baby Twilight in her red magic. Daybreaker laughed.

“You sister now belongs to me!”

“I don’t want you meany brother!” the baby Twilight said.

Shining Armor gritted his teeth in horror as Daybreaker began to fly away with Twilight.

“No come back!” he yelled.

“Shining Armor!” Luna called out.

“Come back, don’t take my sister!” Shining Armor said as tears flooded his eyes.

“Shining Armor!” Luna said again.

He looked at her. “Princess Luna!”

She’d been in his dreams several times since the attack on Canterlot.

“Still not fully recovered from that guilt are you?” Luna asked.

Shining shook his head. “Luna, I need you help!”

“I’ve told you, you must make things better yourself,” Luna told him as she had for the past few nights. “Like you I too did something terrible to my sibling-

“Its not what I did! Not tonight!” Shining Armor interrupted. “Luna, you don’t understand! Daybreaker’s back and she took Twilight!”

“That was only part of your nightmare,” Luna tried to assure him.

“No!” he insisted. “She’s really back! Your sister’s turned into Daybreaker again, she broke into my parents house, turned Twilight into a baby and took her! We just tried to save her, but… I don’t know what happened!”

Luna gasped. Silently hoping this was just a part of his nightmare, she did what she had to.

“Here, I’ll cast a wake up spell on you!”

She lit up her horn and shot Shining Armor with the said spell.

*

Shining Armor opened his eyes and found himself in a cell. They were in the castle dungeons of Canterlot. He was in a cell of his own, nearby in their own cells were Twilight’s friends as well as her and his parents. Twilight Velvet and Night Light were both unconscious. Shining Armor grunted and got to his hooves

“Hey y’all, Shining Armor’s awake!” Applejack called, noticing him.

They looked in his direction.

“Are you alright darling?” Rarity asked from her cell.

Shining Armor shook his head. “I won’t be fine. Not until we get Twilight back.”

“Fat chance of that happening now,” Spike lamented. “We’re all trapped in these cells.”

“Oh, I hate to imagine what Daybreaker is going to do with poor little baby Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “We’ll never be able to rescue her now.”

Shining Armor shook his head. “Don’t give up yet everypony! Luna came to me in my dreams, I told her what’s going on! She’ll help us!”

Everypony looked at him.

“Well, I hope she does something quick. Like super quick!” Rainbow Dash said.

*

At that moment, Luna was back in the physical world. She reappeared straight in the bedroom of Princess Cadence.
The Princess of Love was sleeping rather peacefully tonight, though Luna had needed to help her through a nightmare last night about being trapped in the caves again.

“Cadence, dear, wake up.” Luna shook her niece.

Cadence opened her eyes. “Aunt Luna?” she yawned. “Am I dreaming?”

Luna shook her head. “No, I need your help! Its my sister! She’s turned back into Daybreaker, and she’s turned Twilight Sparkle into a baby, and imprisoned her friends and family!”

Cadence was wide awake at this news.

“What do we do?”

Luna levitated a book in front of Cadence and flipped through several pages to a spell. “I was able to retrieve this from the archives. It should work to undo the guards brainwashing. Free Twilight’s friends and family, get the elements. I will hold my sister off until you arrive.”

Cadence nodded and jumped out of her bed.

Author's Note

Should only be one more chapter to go. Anything you think is missing I will try to correct as best I can.

Chapter Six End of Daybreaker

Daybreaker made her way into the restricted section of the Canterlot Archives, carrying baby Twilight with her. She walked up to a torch sconce and turned it with her magic, caused the wall between two bookshelves to slide down and reveal a hidden room. Entering it, Daybreaker saw the many magical artifacts that she had collected as Celestia. Both because they were dangerous in the wrong hooves, but she cold make use of them.

Daybreaker looked over them until she found the one she was looking for. The Memory Medallion. Put this around the neck of any pony for an hour, and all of their memories would be erased… forever. With this, Daybreaker would erase all knowledge of Twilight’s previous life as the daughter of Twilight Velvet and Night Light. She would raise her anew, as her own daughter.

Daybreaker began to laugh, levitating Twilight out in front of her and placing her on a table nearby, she then took a key from the wall and opened the case containing the medallion. Levitating it out, she wrapped the chain around baby Twilight’s little neck as Twilight cooed. The sapphire in the center of the medallion glowed as it began the process of wiping Twilight’s mind. Twilight’s eyes glowed blue as well and she seemed to zone out in a way similar to how Shining Armor had been when under Chrysalis’s control at the wedding.

“Soon, you will be MINE! Forever!” Daybreaker grinned down at her daughter to be.

“I think not, sister!” a voice stated from behind.

Daybreaker turned and saw Luna standing there in the entrance to the hidden room.

“Back already from the dream world?” she asked. “Well, saves me having to wait for my chance to destroy you.”

Luna assumed a battle stance. Causing Daybreaker to laugh as she recalled the last time they had come face to face like this.

“Going to actually fight me this time little sister? Not going to simply stand down and let me destroy you?”

“Yes, this time I will fight you. To protect Twilight Sparkle!” Luna stated. “I will not let you take her from her family.”

Daybreaker growled. “She will be more family to me than you ever will be! Once I get rid of you, and raise her, she will have both the moon and the stars!”

It would have been fitting for Twilight to rule the stars, given her cutie mark. But Luna would not have that.

“The night is mine! Mine alone!”

Her fur turned slightly darker in response to her anger. But she shook her head, she would not become Nightmare Moon again.

“Distracted by your darkness sister?” Daybreaker asked. “Well you better keep your mind in the fight if you want to live!”

She prepared to fire her horn

….

Cloaked by an invisibility spell, Cadence walked down to the Canterlot dungeons, sneaking past the guards. Their red eyes caused her to shiver, fortunately they did not see her. She managed to make it to Shining Armor’s cell and saw her love inside.

“Shiney!” she called softly, hoping he would hear but the guards stationed nearby wouldnt. “Shiney, its me Cadence!”

“Cadence?” he asked, a little too loudly.

“Shh!”

Cadence looked back at the guards. Their expressions had not changed, they did not move. But she noticed that they held the keys to the cells. She needed to get them! Or undo the spells on those two at least, then they could release the prisoners.

She looked back at Shining Armor who was looking at in the direction she was, though he couldn’t see her of course.

“I’m going to get you and the others out, just hang on!” she said.

She crept over on her stomach, trying to avoid making noise with her hooves should it alert the guards and result in her captured. Thoughts of how the Changeling Queen had taken her into the tunnels caused her to shiver as her mind wandered back to that. Somehow she got directly behind them, then quietly opened saddlebag she had on her back, took out the book Luna had given her, opened it to the marked page and performed the freeing spell.

The jailors shook their heads.

“What happened?” they asked.

“You were put under a spell,” Cadence explained. “Please free these ponies!”

The guards didn’t question her orders and immediately used the keys to free the ponies and dragon. Shining Armor hugged Cadence, then looked at his parents who were still unconscious.

“Mom, Dad!” he said approaching them.

Twilight Velvet opened her eyes. Daybreaker’s assault had left her badly burned, she couldn’t move. She grunted.

“Shining, please. You have to save Twilight!”

Shining nuzzled his mother. “I will Mom. I won’t fail Twilight again.”

“But how are we going to stop Daybreaker?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“The elements of harmony!” Cadence said. “They worked for Luna, they’ll work for Celestia as well!”

“Go,” Twilight Velvet said.

Shining nodded, then looked at the jailors. “Please take care of them.”

He then ran with Cadence, Spike and Mane 5.

“Luna guessed that Daybreaker is going to use the Memory Medallion on Twilight to erase all her memories!” Cadence said as they ran. That’s stored in the hidden room in the archives where Celestia keeps forbidden artifacts!”

“We best get those elements and get to Daybreaker before she uses that,” Applejack said.

“Its okay, we still have time.” Cadence assured them. “The medallion takes an hour to erase all the memories forever.”

“One problem, we got the entire royal guard to deal with again!” Rainbow Dash said as they exited the prison, only to meet a platoon guards.

“Oh dear, I do not want to be thrown back in that awful cell!” Rarity said. “I swear I saw rat droppings!”

The guards began to approach them. Cadence looked at Shining Armor.

“Do your shield again, quickly!” she said, bringing magic to her horn.

Looking at his love, Shining Armor smiled. He brought magic to his own horn and put it on hers. The mind freeing spell mixed with his shield spell which he spread across all of Canterlot in an instant just as he had during the changeling invasion. The red eyes turned back to normal on the guards.

“That takes care of that, now lets get those elements, and put Daybreaker out!” Rainbow said.

With the guards out of the way, getting to the door of the elements was easy. But-

“Come on, open up!” Rainbow Dash said as they got to the chamber with the gold exterior contain the chest with the elements.

“One problem there darling,” Rarity said, recalling the last time they’d been here. “Princess Celestia herself said that only she can break the spell protecting this chamber.”

“Ah come on!” Rainbow said. “We need you elements!”

“They’re not just gonna come out ya know,” Applejack told the Pegasus.

Suddenly the doors to the chamber glowed, causing the cowgirl pony to widen her eyes before they opened.

“Or maybe they are.”

“Looks like the elements could hear us when we needed them!” Pinkie said, bouncing.

Rarity levitated each element on to necks of herself and the others while taking the tiara bearing Twilight’s element in her magic. They then went to the archives section, finding Luna waging a defensive retreat as Daybreaker threw beams of magic at her sister’s shield. Luna had been hit several times, refusing to harm her sister, her coat slightly singed. She didn’t have the strength to keep this up for much longer.

Entering the hidden room, Shining Armor spotted Twilight with the Memory Medallion on her. He quickly picked his baby sister up with his magic and removed the medallion from, praying she still remembered him and everypony else.

“How do we turn her back?” he asked, looking at Cadence. “Can you do it?”

Cadence shook her head. “I maybe an alicorn, but my magic’s honestly not the highest level. I don’t know a spell to reverse this!”

“Well, guess we best try the elements. They’ve never failed us before!” Applejack suggested.

Rarity put the tiara on baby Twilight’s head. They then shot beams at her, and suddenly a fully grown unicorn was in the place of the baby.

“Uh- what happened?” Twilight asked.

Applejack approached Twilight. “You haven’t forgotten us have you Sugarcube?”

Twilight looked at Applejack in confusion. “How could I ever forget you guys? But, what am I doing in the archives of Canterlot?”

“No time to explain! We got to use the elements on Daybreaker!” Rainbow Dash said.

“Who?” Twilight asked.

Apparently the Memory Medallion had taken some of the most recent memories away.

“Princess Celestia turned into a dark alicorn like Luna did!” Fluttershy told Twilight. “We need to use the elements to turn her back.”

That got Twilight’s attention. Her face turned into a determined look.

“Where is she?”

They lead her back to where Luna was still holding Daybreaker off. Just in time to see Luna get hit by a blast of red magic. Daybreaker than pinned her sister to the floor, about to finish her off.

“Princess Celestia, stop!” Twilight called out.

Daybreaker looked over in their direction.

“No! How dare you steal my daughter from me!”

“She’s not your daughter! No matter how much you might want her to be!” Applejack said, putting herself in front of Twilight who was still a bit confused. “Now, we’re going to give you what for!”

The elements activated, Twilight and her friends levitated into the air, she felt a little guilty knowing she was using them on Princess Celestia, but knew it was the only way to get her back. White light filled the archives and a rainbow laser shot at Daybreaker.

“Noooo!”

When the light emerged, Daybreaker was gone. Princess Celestia lay there on the ground as Luna looked up. Seeing her sister back to normal brought a smile to her face. She then walked and embraced Celestia who looked up sadly.

“I’m sorry little sister,” Celestia said.

“Its alright big sister. Its over now. Daybreaker should be sealed away for good since the elements were used this time,” Luna told her.

Seeing Celestia apologize caused Applejack to remember why they had come to Twilight’s house tonight in the first place.

“Hey, Twi. I know you’re probably tired of hearing this… but we’re still really sorry for what we did at the wedding rehearsal.”

Twilight frowned. “What wedding rehearsal?”

Author's Note

: So the Daybreaker fiasco is over. But Twilight’s lost some of her memory. How much you might ask? Well, that will probably be another story that will come out some time.

Chapter One Guilt and Reemergence

Rarity pounded a hammer with her magic. Sweat trailed down her usually beautiful head. Her mane was not in its usual style, it was tangled and hadn’t been brushed in days. Her coat was also covered in ash. She had not bothered to clean or keep herself beautiful, for right now she felt like one of the ugliest ponies in Equestria. At least her tail had grown back since she and her friends had used the elements of harmony to save one of their own. But now Rarity had a lot to make up for, along with her other four friends helping her with the repairs around Canterlot.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all worked various tasks in helping rebuild the homes of Canterlot which had been greatly damaged during the attack. Some of the damage was from the invading Changelings, but most of it came from the battle between the two leaders of each side. Queen Chrysalis, the now dead former queen of the Changelings… and Equestria’s own ruler Princess Celestia… or as she had been for that brief time when fighting the Queen, Daybreaker. The two of them had engaged in a literal firefight with Celestia eventually killing the Queen as Daybreaker, but also burning a good amount of the city in the process.

All of this could have been prevented though, if Rarity and her friends had all been willing to listen to one pony. Twilight Sparkle, the only one of her friends not working in the community service, had seen through Queen Chrysalis’s disguise of Princess Cadence. The Queen, using her shapeshifting powers had imponienated the fiancé of Twilight’s brother Shining Armor. Twilight had noticed something was off about ‘Cadence’, but Rarity and her friends had been too busy with their preparations for the upcoming wedding to notice what should have been rather obvious rude behavior from the imposter. When Twilight had finally lost her patience after they ignored her and she’d seen Chrysalis brainwashing her brother, she’d burst into the rehearsal and accused the imposter of being evil. But Chrysalis had cleverly pretended to be hurt and ran away crying, causing everypony to turn against Twilight.

Rarity thought back to how Twilight had sat down sadly after her own brother had kicked her out of the wedding for making ‘Cadence’ cry. How she and all the others just walked away from Twilight as though she were some bad pony. Then when Twilight had burst into the wedding hall with the real Princess and the truth was revealed, Rarity had felt like the world’s worst friend. She and all the others were lucky that Twilight had been so forgiving, because their actions were not very forgivable at all. They were also lucky Twilight was still alive, their friend had fought the Queen in an attempt to get revenge on her for turning everyone she loved against her. Though Twilight had put on a very good fight, she’d eventually gotten bitten by Chrysalis and poisoned.

Repairing Canterlot caused a major reflection in Rarity as they thought back to how they could be so careless and what it nearly cost them. If they had just listened to Twilight none of this would have happened. So many ponies had lost their homes, a few even their lives, and Twilight had gotten her heartbroken and nearly lost her life. All of it was their fault, Rarity sighed.

“Hey, Rare, you okay sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

Rarity shook her head. “How can I be okay darling? This whole mess is our fault! If we had just listened to Twilight none of this would have happened!”

“I know,” Fluttershy said softly as she flew down from the now repaired roof. “I feel so awful for all those poor ponies who’ve lost their homes and family members. A few foals have been put in an orphanage since their parents were lost in the attack.”

“Can’t believe I put a party before a friend!” Pinkie cried, her usually puffy mane deflated.

“I should have stayed with her!” Rainbow Dash said. “What kind of element of loyalty am I?”

“What kind of friends are we?” Rarity sobbed, letting her tears come out. “Rotten ones!”

“Yep,” Applejack said, letting out tears as well, something she didn’t usually do. “She nearly died because of us not listening to her! We’re lucky she’s still our friend!”

“We really don’t deserve it though,” Fluttershy said. “Not after how unkind we were. I don’t feel like I deserve to wield the element of kindness anymore after being so cruel.”

“Maybe none of us deserve the elements now,” Applejack suggested. “Maybe we should just stop being the bearers.”

The element of honesty’s statement caused the other ponies to look at her.

“We can’t do that Applejack!” Rainbow Dash stated. “It’s not like the elements can just pick new bearers or anypony can use them.”

“Well they should,” Applejack said. “We don’t deserve them after what we did to Twilight… and Canterlot. Princess Celestia oughta lock us up in the dungeon!”

“Oh, come on girls! Don’t lose hope! Twilight’s still our friend!” Pinkie said. “She’s still alive and well, we just need to do this community service and then once we’re done with it and the wedding we’re going to do everything we can to make it up to Twilight fully! I know she says she’s forgiven us but there has to be some more penance for this!”

Rarity sighed. “You’re right Pinkie, I just can’t help feeling so ugly for what I did!”

“Well, you do kind of look ugly right now,” Applejack said.

“Applejack!” Rainbow Dash snapped. “I know you’re the element of honesty but that’s way too blunt. Sure Rarity’s covered in ash right now and hasn’t combed her mane and tail in days but give her a break! We’re all feeling guilty for what we did to Twilight!”

Rarity put up her hoof. “No she’s right, I look horrible. I let myself look horrible because I feel so horrible.”

“We all do Rare,” Applejack said putting a hoof on the fashionista. “But there’s no need for you to make yourself look ugly. We all feel horrible because of this. But we have to make things better just like Pinkie says. We’ll get the community service done, and then when that darn wedding is over we’ll do whatever it takes to make up with Twilight for putting it before her. Even if she says she’s forgiven us we need to do something so that we all feel all better so we can forgive ourselves.”

“I know something that can make us feel better!” Pinkie said, her mane puffing up. “Group hug!”

The five ponies wrapped their hooves around each other, some of the ash on Rarity’s coat spreading to each of them. It brought them a little comfort at least.

“We can’t undo the past,” Applejack said. “But we can better the future. We’ll just have to do that. Let’s make a promise, from now on we’ll never leave Twilight again. We’ll believe in her, and never put anything before her friendship again. We’ll be there when she needs us.”

They put their hooves together. Little did they know, Twilight would need them much sooner than they thought.
*

Princess Celestia looked down at her city. It was being repaired, but the memories of what she herself had done to it only days ago remained. Her heart was heavy with guilt as she recalled all the fire, the burning buildings, and the fate of Queen Chrysalis.

Even though the latter had been necessary perhaps, Celestia still felt a tinge of guilt. Chrysalis had been an evil monster, yet Celestia had killed her. She had shown no mercy at all, even when the Queen had begged for her life. Rage was a monster that could eat a pony up and turn them into something terrible. Celestia’s rage had started when she’d learned that she’d been turned against her faithful student Twilight Sparkle. Then it increased to an extreme point when she’d seen Twilight poisoned. That had caused her to turn into Daybreaker.

It amazed her that she could have transformed into a dark alicorn like her sister could... because she cared about somepony.

Celestia walked back into her room, and gazed into the mirror. For a moment she saw her own reflection. The white alicorn with the flowing multicolored mane. She looked down at a photo nearby, one of her and Twilight Sparkle as a filly. The little Twilight was nuzzled up against Celestia’s enormous foreleg. Like a mother to a daughter.

“You want her don’t you?” a voice said.

Celestia looked away from the photo back into the mirror. Instead of her own reflection she saw a horrid picture. One of a fiery maned pony with red eyes and orange armor.

Celestia shook her head.

“You’re not real! You’re gone!”

Daybreaker laughed. “I’m never fully gone! I’m part of you always! We all have darkness inside of us, sometimes that dark needs a little push. You’ve been alone for so long since Luna was gone. You couldn’t really connect to anyone after that could you? You were alone.”

Celestia was silent at her evil reflection. It had a point. During the years after Luna’s transformation into Nightmare Moon, Celestia had become withdrawn. Being an alicorn who would live for thousands of years, she could not afford to get too attached to any of her subjects because they would die one day. But Twilight, she meant more to Celestia than anyone had since Luna. She’d had lots of students, but Twilight had just simply had so much raw talent, Celestia had taken her as a personal protégé. She’d known that one day Twilight would become the bearer of the element of magic, and when the time had come, she’d released her sister from the imprisonment in the moon and left the trail for Twilight to follow to the elements of harmony before sending her to Ponyville to meet her friends. Twilight had done so much for the kingdom and for Celestia herself.

“She’s more than just a student to you isn’t she?” Daybreaker asked. “You envy her parents!”

“No!” Celestia denied with her mouth but in her heart knew it wasn’t true. She had felt a resentment toward Twilight Velvet and Night Light when the two of them had come for their daughter. Now Twilight Sparkle was with them and Shining Armor, spending time with her family until the wedding was ready to resume.

“You know its not true. You love her like a daughter, and wish that she were yours. Well she can be! Just let me take her!” Daybreaker cackled.

Celestia looked from her reflection to the picture of Twilight and her. She couldn’t deny that she had often wished for somepony in her life, somepony who she could call family rather than just a subject as she’d been forced to limit herself to for sanities sake. But if she could have Twilight as her daughter… that seemed so perfect… and Twilight’s destiny was to join the same rank as Celestia.

“I want her for myself!”

Author's Note

Well here's chapter one. Comments for improvement are always appreciated. There can be mistakes the first time around. Though this time I waited to submit before I gave it a final checkup as I rushed quite a bit with the last story and worked to deadlines. Just a little something to set things in motion. Will likely post a new chapter after I do another one for my other in progress story.