And When the Sun Rises...
Daybreaker sighed as she leaned her forelegs over the balcony of the Canterlot Castle. The Moon was rising in the east, wrapped in red-hued magic. She stared longingly up at the gray patterns that marked the surface of the Moon, looking at the Mare on the Moon.
“Looking up at your younger sister again, Celly?” a voice asked from behind her.
Daybreaker sighed once more, lowering herself off of the railings and turning away from the Moon. “You know, Stellar, I’m only letting you get away with calling me ‘Celly’ because we’re not in public,” Daybreaker said with a cold stare that would have caused most ponies to shrink away.
For the midnight blue pegasus standing in front of her, however, it only had the effect of eliciting a smirk.
“Oh, please, you like it when I call you ‘Celly’ and you know it,” Stellar Flare countered, an all-knowing grin plastered on her face.
Daybreaker merely sighed and shook her head. “Sometimes, Stellar, you are just…,” she said before shaking her head once more.
“You know, as your official marefriend, I am sure I can call you ‘Celly’ whenever I like,” Stellar Flare continued, not taking that smug grin off of her face.
At that, Daybreaker couldn’t help but break a small smile. “You should consider yourself lucky that you’re my marefriend, or I would have wiped you off the face of the planet already.”
“Like you ever would, Celly. Like you ever would,” said Stellar, clearly taking joy in teasing her lover.
A sinister grin made its way onto Daybreaker’s face. “Oh, and you think I can’t?” As Stellar Flare shook her head, she said, “Well then, watch me,” lighting her horn.
In an instant, Stellar Flare was encased in the red-colored magic she had seen numerous times. She yelped as she felt her hooves leave the floor before getting harmlessly tossed onto the soft sheets of the alicorn’s bed.
Before she could regain her bearings, Daybreaker pounced upon her, digging her golden shoes into Stellar Flare’s sides and delivering a flurry of tickling attacks. Stellar Flare let out a squeal of laughter, squirming under the fiery alicorn and trying to escape the merciless attacks that rained upon her.
“Eek! Celly, no, stop—! Ack, hahahaha, no, stop! No, not there—!” was all she managed to squeal before breaking into a fit of laughter, continuously attempting to stop the incoming attacks and escape her marefriend’s wrath at the same time. Both her wings sprang open, one of them hitting Daybreaker in the muzzle, but that didn’t faze her in the slightest.
No matter how hard Stellar Flare tried to escape, Daybreaker had her magical grip tight on her and was preventing her escape while she continued to dig her hooves into the poor pegasus trapped underneath her. A wide grin of joy was plastered on her face as she relentlessly tortured her marefriend, every squeal and every laughter music in her ears.
After what seemed like minutes of ticklish torture, Stellar Flare finally surrendered. She threw her forelegs up before shouting between gasps, “A—alright, I give up! You— you win, Celly! You— you are definitely capable of wiping me off the surface of Equus!”
“You should have conceded defeat earlier, my little subject,” Daybreaker said with a laugh, wiping sweat off of her forehead.
Stellar Flare replied with a fake glare and a playful shove before collapsing back onto the bed, still panting yet grinning widely. Daybreaker soon lay beside her, taking off her shoes with her magic and placing them on the floor next to the bed. She brought a hoof up to Stellar’s face and caressed it, the pegasus purring and melting into the soft touch. She scooted closer to the warm, soft body of the alabaster alicorn, snuggling into her and nuzzling her head against her lover’s neck. She reciprocated the act, tenderly kissing Stellar Flare on the forehead.
Daybreaker draped a foreleg over Stellar Flare’s back before spreading her wing and covering it over her pegasus lover. A content sigh came from the smaller mare safely snuggled under the alicorn’s wing as she slightly shifted to get as much of the warmth as possible.
“So, you want to go to sleep?” Daybreaker asked. “It’s barely eight in the evening now.”
“Well, I certainly wouldn’t be against it,” Stellar Flare answered with a giggle. “And, I must say, I really can’t imagine anything being nicer than this. Being in love with you, lying by your side, just… seeing you. I mean, if this is what you’re like after you changed, I can’t imagine how nice you were when you were still called Celestia. Not that you aren’t, you know, Celestia anymore.”
Daybreaker stiffened at Stellar Flare’s words. She slowly retracted her wing back to her side.
Stellar Flare looked up at her with a concerned expression. “Celly? Did I say something wrong?”
Daybreaker took in a deep, shuddering breath. “Stellar Flare, do you know how I became Daybreaker? Did they tell you about it?” Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper.
“Er… yeah. They said that when you defeated Nightmare Moon and banished her to the Moon, you gained her power and glory and ascended once more to become Daybreaker. You ruled Equestria with fairness and justice after that,” Stellar Flare answered.
“That’s… not true, Stellar. That’s… propaganda, lies I made up to ensure order continued in Equestria,” Daybreaker replied, her eyes squeezed shut. She shivered as if she was about to cry.
“What? But, then… how?” Stellar Flare asked as what she had known as the truth shattered into a thousand pieces.
“As you already know, Nightmare Moon was my younger sister,” Daybreaker whispered. “Her name was Luna before she became Nightmare Moon. She was lonely through her desolate nights and became jealous of the fact that everypony looked up to me, but not to her. Then, the Nightmare came. It exploited Luna’s emotions. It corrupted her, tainted her with anger and jealousy, and manipulated her into trying to destroy me. I had no choice but to banish her to the Moon.
“I thought that the Nightmare was some magical entity that none of us had foreseen. That it was an alien creature that could seep into the minds of the strongest and twist them into madness. I was wrong.”
“What happened, Celly?” Stellar Flare asked, her cyan eyes looking up into Daybreaker’s golden irises.
“I heard the news when I was mourning about how I had to send my sister away. About how fate had to be so cruel upon the two of us. When I heard that report, however…,”
962 years prior
Celestia lay in her bed, not eating anything, not leaving her chambers. The night she had fought for her life against her younger sister replayed over and over in her mind, filling her mind with guilt and causing her heart to wither. She blamed herself for sending her sister to the Moon. She blamed herself for having used the elements, Equestria’s last line of defense and a measure to be strictly used against villains only. She blamed herself for not looking out for her when she had needed her older sister the most.
As she lay in her bed, her face down in her pillows, a knock came on her door.
“Thine highness, there is an important message thou might not but best be delivered to thee,” Ink Note’s voice came from the other side.
Celestia didn’t respond.
“Thine highness, this message concerns… er…,” Ink Note’s voice faltered mid-sentence. After a moment, she cleared her throat and continued, “this message concerns thy younger sister, thine highness.”
In a flash of golden magic, the bedroom door was opened in such a violent manner that it was almost torn off of its hinges.
“What,” Celestia snapped in a tone that barely concealed her sadness and anger as she stood in front of the young assistant, “is it?”
Ink Note just stood there, momentarily frozen in terror. She managed to regain her composure and stammered, “Er… it’s… it’s about her… her highness’s… recent… recent descent, thine highness. We… we believe that… that somepony is behind her… her fall.”
“And, prayeth bid, where is the parchment that carries this message?” Celestia inquired, fire beginning to burn in her eyes.
Ink Note silently passed the scroll to Celestia, too terrified to speak lest she provoked the Princess’s wrath further.
Celestia unrolled the parchment and read the report written on it. Instantly her eyebrows furrowed while her mouth curled into a vicious snarl. She crumpled the parchment in her magical grip, her eyes turning into slits with yellow irises.
“Summonest my guards and tellest them to attend mine orders. We shalt findeth the ones behind mine sister’s corruption,” Celestia ordered her assistant. As Ink Note bowed and quickly cantered away, Celestia whispered to herself, her mane beginning to turn a fiery orange: “They shalt payeth in their own blood.”
…
The wooden doors to the underground office were blasted off of its hinges. Celestia, wearing her royal golden armor and helmet, strolled in, followed by her guards. There he sat, in front of his desk, staring back at Celestia in surprised terror as she glared at the accused stallion.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Celestia gripped the stallion’s collarbones and slammed him against the stone wall. “Thou shalt knowest thine own sins!” Celestia barked, her muzzle an inch away from the stallion’s.
The stallion merely looked back into Celestia’s burning eyes, then began to chuckle. His chuckles soon became full-blown laughter, the stallion laughing as Celestia snarled in his face.
After a few moments, his laughter died down, a crazed look in his eyes now. “Well, well, well. Thine highness, thou hath played this game well. After all, we wast aiming for thee, not Princess Luna. But alas, my game is over, and my time hath come!”
With that, the stallion bit down hard on something inside his mouth, a crunching sound coming from his mouth. The poison’s effect was instantaneous; his eyes rolled back in his head, while white foam formed at his mouth. Within seconds, the stallion went limp, his lifeless body dangling from Celestia’s telekinetic grip.
Celestia dropped the body, staring at it. The guards behind her, noticing their ruler’s weird behavior, approached her.
“Thine highness? Art thou alright?” one of the guards asked.
“Guards,” Celestia said in a voice that plainly showed her fury, “taketh your leave and returneth to Canterlot. Now. And leaveth the other sinners hither.”
Without further questioning, the guards marched out of the room, preparing to return to their posts. Once the last guard left the room, Celestia turned to the unmoving corpse of the stallion who had planned to plant a curse on her. He had crafted his schemes carefully and articulately; designing the curse to plant the seed of darkness in anypony’s mind who came into contact, coming up with methods to bypass the Equestrian Royal Security who screened everything that reached the princesses, and striking when the princesses’ guards were down and relaxed. His plan to remove the Solar Princess had worked flawlessly, just against the wrong pony who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Her fury towards the stallion, towards the organization that moved under his commands, towards everypony who couldn’t save her sister from becoming cursed and turning into Nightmare Moon intensified, a fire beginning to burn in her eyes again. Her pupils turned into slits once more, and her irises turned completely yellow.
A feral scream came up from deep within Celestia’s body as the final walls that held in her wrath collapsed. Her horn glowed, first a brilliant gold hue, then orange, then a crimson red. In her fury, she reached out to her connection with the Sun, fully feeling its power and might and reveling, bathing in all its light and glory.
Celestia’s horn shone brighter and brighter, almost shining brightly as much as the Sun itself. Then she unleashed her magic.
In an instant, a beam of sunlight rocketed from the Sun towards the surface of Equus, right towards where Celestia was standing. It impacted the ground at the speed of light, its heat intense enough to cook everything within a five-mile radius. As the ray of destruction rained down upon her, Celestia let out a feral roar as the heat crashed over her, her body withstanding the immense amount of heat and pressure the Sun was putting on her.
After a few minutes, Celestia opened her eyes. She was standing above molten rocks, the red-hot lava slurring and flowing under her hooves. The basement was gone; the entire building and the village it was situated in was gone, along with its residents. For miles around, the only thing visible was red-hot molten rocks and the steam coming from vaporized minerals.
Her mane was no longer an ethereal mixture of light green, blue, and pink; it was now a mixture of fiery orange and yellow, flowing and moving just like real flames.
Celestia just stood there for a moment, feeling the power surging through her body. She relished in the echoes of the painful screams and the wild squirmings from the stallion’s accomplices, their survival instincts running at full capacity as they burned, melted, then eventually evaporated under the unforgiving might of the Sun. It had been such a refreshing experience for Celestia.
No, not Celestia. The name Celestia did not fit her anymore. Gone was the weak, pathetic ruler of Equestria that knew nothing but petty friendship. In its place stood a better, prettier, and more powerful version of her. And, as a much more powerful being than her former self ever would have been, she needed a new name. A new name that befitted a leader that would bring Equestria into a new age, the age of the Sun.
Daybreaker, she thought with a smile. Her name was now Daybreaker. She then began to laugh, her laughter echoing throughout the barren, molten wasteland for miles and miles.
“And that’s how I became what I am today, Stellar Flare. Against my better judgment, I killed ponies—innocent ponies—because of my anger and despair,” Daybreaker finished her story, a sad light in her eyes.
“But… that… that sounds so different from who you are now! That can’t be you!” Stellar Flare stuttered.
“It is, sadly,” Daybreaker replied, looking down at the sheets instead of her lover’s eyes. “After that incident, in which I killed three hundred ponies, most of them innocent civilians, I was intoxicated by the thrill of seeing my foes die under my wrath. I began to mercilessly destroy any opposition, any rebellion that dared sprout up under my rule. When the griffons invaded the nation’s eastern borders, I erased them with the Sun’s power without even giving them a chance for a peaceful resolution. When a group of raiders took my subjects hostage, requiring sustenance from the nation, I didn’t give them a second chance. I promptly destroyed them, along with the hostages and their village.
“For centuries, I ruled this country with an iron hoof. I forced my ponies to behave, to obey whatever orders I gave them. I wanted them to see me as some sort of a goddess, instead of the pony with the same flaws they have. I created lies about how I gloriously defeated my sister and rose in glory to lead Equestria through its hardships. I was afraid that what happened to Luna would happen to me. I was infuriated that my ponies, my subjects that I treated with love, tried to get rid of me. It wasn’t until five centuries ago that I realized ruling this nation with fury and hatred didn’t achieve anything. I relented, gave democracy back to my ponies, and let them raise their voices should they want to be heard. But my appearance didn’t change back to the kind and wise pony I once was even after that. And along with my appearance, the lies I created stuck with me.
“I guess this is my punishment for what I’ve done, for all the lives I’ve killed over the centuries. As a result of my sins, ponies were still afraid of me, fearing that they might be killed should they incur my fury while viewing me as some sort of unreachable goddess. Everypony stayed well away from me, and there was nopony that could talk about my predicaments. I was surrounded by so many ponies, yet so utterly alone. Until you showed up, Stellar Flare.”
“M… me? What did I do?” Stellar Flare asked, trying to take in everything Daybreaker was telling her.
“When I first saw you as a royal astronomer, I was surprised by how much you resembled Luna. Midnight blue coat, sapphire blue mane, turquoise eyes, a cutie mark that had the Moon in it. Even the fact that both of you were immersed in astronomy. And when I approached you, you didn’t cower in fear or bow down to the ground, afraid to make eye contact. Instead, you simply bowed and smiled at me. That was the first time anypony had smiled at me in centuries. I wanted to know how this mare could be so unafraid of me as if I was just her boss or colleague.”
Stellar Flare smiled at that. “I just saw you as a normal pony who ruled over Equestria, nothing else. Not as the alicorn who raised the Sun and Moon, not as the Solar Empress everyone feared, and certainly not somepony that would harm others. I saw you as a pony who had the same virtues and fears as others, a pony who has the same flaws that a simple commoner also possesses. And when you called me in for a talk, well, I wasn’t really afraid because I didn’t know what to expect. I just made sure to show respect and listen to whatever you wanted to say.”
“And that’s what made you so special, my little pony,” Daybreaker replied, nuzzling her muzzle on top of Stellar Flare’s head. Suddenly, she stopped, then moved away from Stellar Flare.
Stellar Flare looked up at Daybreaker curiously.
“Stellar, I… I want to ask you something,” said Daybreaker, hesitation and apprehension clear in her voice.
“What is it?” Stellar Flare asked.
“Would you…,” Daybreaker paused, then continued. “Do you still love me… after all I’ve done? Now that you know I’ve killed hundreds, no, thousands of ponies, most of them innocent civilians?”
Stellar Flare looked at her, mouth slightly agape. Then she looked down at her chest, staying silent for a moment as thoughts ran through her mind. She then asked, “Do you regret it? Becoming Daybreaker, killing innocent ponies, destroying entire villages?”
“Never have I stopped regretting my actions since the day I realized violence didn’t help anything,” Daybreaker replied, gazing into Stellar Flare’s eyes. And from those golden eyes, from those slitted pupils, Stellar Flare could tell that she was telling the truth.
“Then that’s enough for me,” Stellar Flare gave her answer.
“Wait, really? But, I—”
“You’ve been regretting your actions for five hundred years, Celly. Five. Hundred. Years. I think that’s enough self-destruction for an immortal like you. What’s important is that you changed. You no longer wish to bring harm to your subjects, and you wish nothing but the best for ponies around you. Sure, nothing isn’t going to bring those dead ponies back, but the fact that you regret it and wish to undo all of them? That’s much better than some ponies I’ve learned from history class. Not to mention that all of this started from your love for your sister,” Stellar Flare finished before reaching up to boop Daybreaker in the nose. “Also, how can I not love somepony who can cuddle me in such a perfect way?”
Daybreaker looked at Stellar Flare for a second before pulling her into a hug. She began to cry as she held her dear lover tight. “Thank you, Stellar. Thank you so much,” she spoke through her sobs.
Stellar Flare patted Daybreaker’s back reassuringly as she hugged Daybreaker back. “Don’t worry, Celly. I’m not leaving you. Not now, not ever.”
They held each other tight like that for some time before Daybreaker’s cries finally subsided. She sniffled as she said, “Thanks, Stellar. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“Hey, don’t mention it. I still love you, after all,” Stellar Flare reassured her.
“As much as you love gazing up at the night sky?” Daybreaker asked half-jokingly.
“Hey, that’s my profession! It’s different from loving a pony! I like looking up at the night sky because the stars are so beautiful! Not as much as you are, though. You just outshine those stars without breaking a sweat.”
“You flatter me, Stellar Flare. Surely my sister’s night is more beautiful than me,” Daybreaker replied, smiling at her before stifling a yawn. “Speaking of night skies, it’s past eleven now. Do you want to sleep?”
Stellar Flare yawned as well, folding her forelegs against her chest and snuggling into Daybreaker as she did so. “Yeah, I think that would be a good idea.”
Daybreaker smiled as she once again draped her wing over her lover, providing warmth for both of them. With her magic, she turned off the lights, the moonlight becoming the sole light source for the two of them.
“Good night, Stellar,” Daybreaker whispered before beginning to drift off to sleep.
“Good night, Celly,” Stellar Flare mumbled, already partly asleep. “Also, Celly?”
“Mhm?”
“To me, you’re more beautiful than all of Luna’s stars combined…,” Stellar Flare muttered, her eyelids finally closing as they gave way to sleep.
Daybreaker let out a soft giggle, letting out a happy sigh as she, too, drifted off into the dream realm.
They soon fully fell asleep, dreaming of peaceful and content times as Luna’s Moon watched over them, the Mare on the Moon smiling at the sight of her sister and her lover.
Morning came, and Daybreaker went out onto the balcony to raise the Sun. As she had done for the past nine-and-a-half centuries, Daybreaker connected her magic with the Sun, letting its power course through her and using it to raise the Sun. As she did so, she lowered the Moon, bidding farewell and wishing a good day to her sister.
As she finished raising the Sun, she heard Stellar Flare stir from her bed, the warm golden rays of the Sun reaching her eyes and making her groan and crawl under the sheets. The sight made Daybreaker giggle. She would never get tired of watching just how adorable her pegasus lover was.
She walked over to the bed and began prodding the pegasus hiding under the sheets with her horseshoe-shod hooves.
“Stellar, wake up,” Daybreaker said gently.
The lump of sheets that was Stellar Flare responded with a moan.
“Stellar, if you don’t wake up this instant, I will start tickling you to Tartarus,” said Daybreaker, trying to rouse the sleepy pegasus.
“No… five more minutes, Celly…,” Stellar Flare mumbled through her lips.
“Alright, well, you asked for it.” Daybreaker gripped the blanket with her magic, the sheets glowing a yellow hue. She then tore the blanket off of the pegasus and pounced her.
“Ack! No, not again— hehehehehe! Eek, Celly, stop! No!” Stellar Flare yelped as she began laughing hysterically amidst the flurry of hooves that assaulted her sides once more. However, Daybreaker didn’t relent, continuing to torture the poor pegasus as she squirmed, trying to escape the incoming attacks.
“Alright, alright, I’m up!” Within moments, Stellar Flare bolted up from the bed and into the air, finally having managed to escape the merciless attacks of her marefriend.
“Geez, Celly, you don’t mess around when—,” she said as she turned around in the air to face Daybreaker, only to freeze mid-sentence.
“Stellar? Is everything okay?” Daybreaker asked, concerned by her marefriend’s shocked expression.
“Celly, you… you…,” Stellar Flare stuttered, her jaw threatening to touch the ground. She then scooted over to the drawers, retrieving a hoof-held mirror. She held the mirror in front of the alabaster alicorn, showing her how she now looked.
Daybreaker had completely changed; her mane and tail were now flowing in an ethereal fashion, with stripes of pink, green, and turquoise adorning her hair. Her eyes were no longer slits with yellow irises; her reflection in the mirror looked back at her with magenta eyes and round pupils.
“I… I’m… back?” Celestia muttered. She then turned to Stellar Flare. “Stellar, please tell me this isn’t a dream.”
Right on cue, Stellar Flare bit her own foreleg, before putting it back down and scowling. “Yup, based on the pain, this isn’t a dream. But, but… Celly, how…?”
“The power of love,” Celestia said, her eyes full of love and gratitude. “The love you’ve shown me last night was powerful enough to help me overcome my past and my guilt. And, for that, I thank you, my little Stellar.” With that, she leaned down and kissed her on the lips.
Stellar Flare’s eyes widened at the contact, but she soon melted into the kiss as she fully embraced the gesture. Their lips remained locked for a few minutes, the two mares pressing deep into their kiss.
After what felt like both too long and too short, they separated, flustered and slightly gasping for breath.
“That…,” Stellar said breathlessly, “that was the best kiss I’ve ever had.”
“And only the best befits such an occasion like this, don’t you think?” Celestia asked, Stellar nodding in agreement. Celestia then leaned down once more, nuzzling her muzzle against Stellar Flare’s.
“I love you, Stellar,” she whispered.
“I love you too, Celly. Always and forever.”
