Author's Note

MERRY CHRISTMAS! HO HO HO!

It's been quite a while, hasn't it?

First, I would like to sincerely apologize for my lack of updates for just a little under two months. Quite a few things have been going on behind the scenes lately, and I simply haven't gotten the time to really lock into writing like I usually do. Once again, I am sorry for that.

Secondly, I'm changing the plans of this chapter. By that, I mean I'm going to put this out in two parts.
That's right! A two-parter! Ain't that something?

Now, I know what you're thinking, "But Baroque, why separate them into two when you can release it as one chapter?"
My answer to that is: My gut feeling told me so and it's always been right, so I'm not questioning it. So I'm releasing part one as a sort of 'introduction', with chapter 9 being the focus of the session!

Chapter 10 will be about Daybreaker finding out the consequences of her FlameBoom, and Opaline will instead be focused on an interlude after it. hopefully I won't change my mind again...

Anyway, that's all for now, I think. If you're curious of what I'm planning after I get to the interlude, you can take a look at this blog post!
(Disclaimer, changes to this timeline are already at play)

"Glory and honour, the Land of Equestria."

Chapter 8: Critical Roleplay [Part 1]

"It's not your fault, sister..."

"Do you understand what this means for us? For all of Equestria?"

"There's no turning back now..."

"Fools! Do they really think that they can fight against the unfathomable power of the sun itself?!"

"Burn them. Burn them all."

"Leavenonebehind."

Daybreaker jolted awake. Her eyes cracking open instantaneously as her dream ended abruptly. She raised a foreleg to rub her bleary eyes, but realized that she... stumbled?

She quickly put her leg back down to stabilize herself. The sensation of nearly falling had practically jumpstarted her mind and made her acutely aware of her surroundings.

"What the heeee- hrk- khk!"

The former human then choked on her own spit when she finally registered what was actually happening around her.

There she was, on the balcony to her room, the morning breeze flowing through her flame-like mane, her horn alight with powerful red magic, and the sun jittering ever so slightly in the sky every time she moved her head.

It didn't take her long to put two and two together to realize...

"CRAP! THE SUN! I'M CONTROLLING THE SUN! HO SHIT! WHA-"

Unfortunately, she still wasn't awake enough to gain full control over her motor functions, and her airway was once again blocked.

"Hhkk! AIR- SPI- WRONG! ENTRY!"

She continued to try and not get assassinated by her own bodily functions while the magic on her horn was still connected to the massive ball of plasma in the sky. Obviously, having the sun start breakdancing in what was supposed to be the early morning wasn't something that most ponies—and likely other creatures—would appreciate very much.

With one final cough and sharp inhale, Daybreaker slumped on to the railing and tried to focus on the literally glaring problem in front of her.

"What the hell happened here?" she muttered.

So... she can raise the sun now. It wasn't totally unexpected really, considering that Daybreaker—the pony—was Celestia herself. The fact that she still had the princess' cutie mark as well should have been a dead giveaway.

The flaming mare tiredly rubbed her muzzle, "It's too fucking early to deal with this shit..."

Thankfully for her, it seemed like sompony had heard her silent—to be more accurate, 'loud'— pleas, as Celestia descended from her own balcony with a flourish of her wings.

The princess looked at her advisor with worry, "Daybreaker, what are you doing?!"

Daybreaker, still in a state of fatigue, confusion, distress, and advanced confusion, practically whipped towards her 'counterpart'. The former human's slitted eyes bored into Celestia's, causing the monarch to stumble backwards.

"Help. Me." she begged through gritted teeth.

Daybreaker hadn't realized it, but by the time she finished her... request, she was only a few inches away from Celestia's face.

The princess gently nudged her 'other self' away, and relaxed her stance once Daybreaker's eyes turned to somewhere else.

"Could... you tell me what happened? You were doing fairly well these last few days, I'm wondering what could have caused you so much distress." Celestia replied after a passing moment.

That got Daybreaker's attention.

The fiery alicorn raised a hoof, "Hold on. What do you mean by 'these last few days'?"

Celestia raised an eyebrow, "We've been taking turns raising the sun for the last week. You were the one who started first. Don't you remember?"

Daybreaker took a moment to mull over that information. She looked back towards the sun, which jittered slightly whenever she moved her head.

'For the last week?!'

She sat down on her haunches, put her forehooves together close to her muzzle, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.

Daybreaker opened her eyes again, and stared back to Celestia.

"I don't. I don't remember ever waking up this early, I don't remember ever walking out to this balcony, and I definitely don't remember ever raising the sun. This—" she gestured towards the massive ball of flames in the sky, "—was all involuntary. I had no expectations waking up to this today." the ex-human ranted. The surrounding temperature noticeably felt warmer.

And now, it was Celestia's turn to process the information. She gave Daybreaker a blank look, which slowly developed into bewilderment.

"So all that time..."

Daybreaker sighed and rubbed the bridge of her muzzle, "Yes. It seems like I've been rather busy in my sleep..."

'Let's just put it like that. Gonna have to deal with this later...'

She looked back to Celestia, "Just... help me, please."

The princess, in turn, looked at her like she had removed all the cake from the castle's kitchen.

"You... don't know how?"

Daybreaker's eyes widened as she realized her slip. It seemed like roleplaying with a groggy mind wasn't very viable, especially when your... everything, depended on it.

'Crap, crap, crap! Quick, brain! Think of something!'

Her mind went into overdrive. Thinking swiftly with the knowledge she had obtained throughout the years as a fan of various types of media, the former human once again weaved another... lie? Right in front of the solar monarch.

She did her best attempt at looking remorseful, "Well... when Equestria fell... and I gave into the dark powers..." Daybreaker took a small breath,"The sun... was used as a weapon. For a desperate last resort."

A glance at Celestia showed that the princess appeared to be quite engrossed with the tale. Years of donning the mask of a wise ruler helped her stifle a reaction, one that Daybreaker nearly missed.

The flaming mare turned around and looked towards the sun, its golden rays illuminated the balcony in such a way that helped set the mood for her 'backstory' greatly. Celestia noticed how Daybreaker's body seemed to stiffen when she sat back down again.

"As far as I can remember, with the remaining fragments of my full memories, I decimated an opposing force by channeling its power into myself. That was the moment where I became... well, me."

Celestia tentatively stepped closer to her. Daybreaker had rarely spoken about the future she came from with this much detail, and with every small mention and description, that future only seemed to get darker and darker.

"Then... what happened to everything else? Without the day-night cycle, how could the world function properly?" the princess asked.

The advisor closed her eyes and shook her head lightly.

"The last time I was there, before I transported myself through time... the world was nothing more than a vast, empty wasteland of sand and dust."

Celestia could only stand in stunned silence. She didn't even know what to say to that.

A moment of silence passed before Daybreaker spoke again.

"I haven't seen the sun in... a very long time, I suppose."

A pause, before she continued, "Feeling its presence in my magic again feels... alien. Like I don't even recognize it. But perhaps... I still have some sort of connection to it."

Celestia, finally given the chance to think over Daybreaker's story, decided to step closer to sit beside the fiery mare.

She took a careful look at Daybreaker's expression and noted that it looked... distant. Hollow, even. As if the mare she had been listening to wasn't all there, so to speak, with her eyes blankly locked on to the horizon with the sun idly sitting upon it.

The princess sat beside her 'counterpart' with thoughts whirling through her mind. Both alicorns sat in silence as they gazed upon the sight of the still stationary sun looming over Equestria.

Realizing that Daybreaker had seemingly stopped channeling her magic, she decided to reach out to the sun with her own and went through the usual process of raising it.

After properly placing the massive ball of plasma where it should have been, Celestia turned her focus back to Daybreaker, who was still oddly stationary.

She reached out a hoof towards the advisor's foreleg.

"Daybreaker?" she called out softly.

The fiery mare jumped in place when she made contact. Her eyes widened and snapped to Celestia..

"Uh... r-right. Thank you for that." she replied. Before looking back into the distance with a confused expression.

'Just blanked out there for a sec... what happened?'

The monarch kept her gaze upon Daybreaker for another moment, her face barely giving away any internal thoughts she had.

She breathed out a small sigh as she spread her wings to take flight.

"I should get going. We'll meet each other again for your lesson, yes?"

Daybreaker looked back to her. Celestia noted that the blank look was gone.

"Uh, right! Yes. We'll all meet up again in the dining room at six PM."

With a nod, the monarch of Equestria ascended back to her balcony with a single flap of her wings. As she watched Celestia return to her chambers, Daybreaker turned back to the now properly placed sun in the sky.

She sighed heavily and put a hoof on the side of her head, "Aaand now I've got a headache. Fucking great..."

With one last adjustment, Daybreaker took a few steps back to get a good look of her finished setup. Back during her little shopping trip with Sunset, the former human had decided to restrain herself from going all out as she did before her transformation. While the possibility of finally getting her dream setup with quality miniatures, terrain, and custom everything thanks to royal funding was incredibly enticing, she really didn't want to cause suspicion by purchasing the store's entire stock of O&O products.

"Maybe I could join a group or something..."

She paused, "As Dayzie, of course."

After finishing her duties for the day, Daybreaker had rushed back to the dining room to prepare for the lesson she had planned. Unfortunately, it had to be postponed by another day, due to the fact that she had underestimated the time needed to help her new players create their characters.

Thankfully, when she brought this up with Sunset, the young prodigy seemed to be fine with it.

Daybreaker went up to her seat at the head of the table and adjusted her DM screen, "At least I get more time to ponify my setting." she muttered.

As she waited for everypony to arrive, the ex-human idly tapped a hoof on the table and thought of what specific kind of gameplay would be effective for her players. Back home, she was known as the type of DM to let her players goof around the world, even if the overarching story was derailed. She always prioritized the 'fun factor' of her sessions first, with the story second. Sure, it might not be everyone's cup of tea, but her old friends enjoyed them very much, so she didn't have any reason to change her style.

Daybreaker frowned, "Ah, right..."

She slumped down on the table and folded her forelegs below her head.

The former human smirked and chuckled wryly, "So caught up in messing up magical horseland I forgot about you all..."

"Finally got to that point, huh?"

The one thing most humans who get transported to Equestria tend to forget within the first few days, only for it to hit them back with the force of a bullet train, the one thing that makes many humans-in-Equestria bitter and distant, the one thing that only some are truly lucky enough to have it transported with them.

"Living in the land of Friendship and Harmony, without any of my long-time friends... heh, ironic."

A wave of homesickness immediately washed over her. It hadn't truly hit her of how alone she actually was.

Sure, she had Celestia, Cadance, Sunset, and various other ponies who reside in the castle as company, but considering how all of those relations were built upon an unfathomably massive mountain of lies and acting, it just wasn't the same.

Maybe someday she'll be able to reveal everything to them, and be able to be their actual friend.

"Someday..."

The clock had finally struck six, which meant that it was time for Daybreaker's unorthodox lesson to begin. The blazing alicorn took a deep breath and pulled her DM personality back to the forefront. It had been quite some time since her last session, likely a few months, but she was sure she'd still be able to put on a respectable performance.

She turned to the main doors expectantly. Everypony she had asked should be arriving soon.

"Any minute now..."

Just as expected, the doors parted with a visible turquoise aura, revealing Sunset, who had her character sheet floating beside her.

The young mare then made her way to the seat closest to Daybreaker and turned to her current teacher.

"So... how're we going to play? Don't we need like, two more ponies to start?"

Daybreaker merely smiled and nodded towards the door she had came from.

Sunset raised an eyebrow before curiously turning her gaze to where the flaming mare had gestured to.

Recognizing the three figures who were quickly approaching them, she whipped her head back to Daybreaker with a deadpan expression.

"You've gotta be kidding me."

Princess Celestia, Cadance, and Raven, who were all carrying their own character sheets, sat down on their respective seats on each side of the table. The monarch had chosen to sit directly in front of her student, while the young princess chose to sit beside Sunset, making her unnoticeably uncomfortable. Raven sat to the opposite of Cadance, completing the current assembly for the campaign's party.

The fiery alicorn snickered, "I doubt you'd be willing to play with ponies you're not familiar with."

"But!"

She gestured Sunset to calm down, "Now, now, I know you have some... history, with Princess Cad-"

Cadance cleared her throat loudly.

"Cadance and Raven here, but perhaps this is a good chance to mend a few bonds, hm?"

She leaned closer to her student, "And Raven apparently plays, so she's here to help teach you all as we play."

Sunset gave the advisor a look, and quickly glanced at her fellow players.

Both Celestia and Cadance gave their own smiles, with Cadance's being a bit more hesitant. Raven, meanwhile, held the familiar neutral look that she was most well known for.

The prodigy sighed, "Fine."

Daybreaker nodded and smiled, slightly revealing her fangs.

"Wonderful!" she turned towards her players, "Now, have you all finished with your characters?"

Celestia gave her advisor a nod as she levitated her sheet over, "I admit, it was quite enjoyable to come up with my own fictional character. I hope I followed the rules correctly."

Cadance followed suit, "It was kind of confusing at first, but I think I pretty decent job. Thanks for helping!"

Raven slid her own sheet towards Daybreaker, which was promptly picked up, "You said we're starting of simple, yes? I opted for one of my basic characters."

Sunset levitated hers of the others within Daybreaker's aura, "Here's mine. Wasn't all too hard to make."

The advisor shook her head lightly as she sorted each of her players' character sheets. During the extra day between her trip and the lesson itself, Daybreaker had taken the opportunity to help both Celestia and Cadance in making their own characters. True to her style, she only taught them them the basics of filling out a character sheet, gave twenty-seven points to spend on ability scores, and gave them the player's hand- hoof- guidebook before letting them work out what sort of character they'd play themselves.

'Let's see what we've got here...'

First up was Celestia's. Apparently, the solar princess had chosen to play as pegasus bard. There was a small, simple doodle of a beige-coated pegasus with a braided golden mane playing a lute on the section dedicated for potential character art. Daybreaker felt she looked familiar.

The advisor narrowed her eyes as she read the character's name.

'Golden Feath- oh come on!'

She gave Celestia a discreet yet sharp glare, to which the princess only responded with a cheeky wink.

Daybreaker could only sigh as she moved on to Cadance's. On the art section was a insectoid pony with a dark green cloak with a gold trim. Around their neck was a bow, and a quiver with arrows could be seen peeking from the cloak as well.

Cadance awkwardly pawed on the table, "I chose a shiftling ranger, is... is that okay?"

Daybreaker paused to think. Based on the information from the guidebook, shiftlings were essentially just changelings, created without any knowledge of the changelings themselves.

She gave the young alicorn a kind smile, "I would have suggested a simpler race to start with. However, I do believe I can help you work with this, don't worry."

'Real subtle foreshadowing there, Denza. I think I can make up some nice lore for her.'

While shapeshifters weren't exactly exempt from her setting, she had never really considered having them as playable characters. Still, allowing Cadance to play as a shiftling gave her the possibility to play around with experimental lore, so it was kind of exciting to see what she could do.

Right after that was Raven's. Daybreaker didn't need to intervene much when it came to her since she already had experience in playing O&O.

Really, it was quite the surprise when the secretary told her of the existing O&O sessions ran by members of the castle's staff. Apparently it helped with overall morale so she and Kibitz decided to let them be.

'Maybe I should go check them out later.'

On Raven's sheet was an awe-inspiringly realistic sketch of a deer stag. He stood proudly whilst wearing a cloak adorned with intricate designs. The glasses on his snout and scroll-filled satchel around his neck implied he was a scholar of some sort.

Daybreaker glanced up to see what his name was and tried to stifle a reaction when she registered the character's name.

"Timber... Timber Spruce?!" she mumbled.

Noticing the odd look on the advisor's face, Raven raised an eyebrow and decided to ask.

"Any changes required?"

The fiery alicorn waved a hoof dismissively, "N-no, no, I was just thinking. That's all."

Raven watched her for another moment before replying with a silent nod. Daybreaker took it as her cue to move on the her last player.

She clipped the three sheets she's read on to her screen and levitated Sunset's character sheet closer. On the art section was an admittedly cool-looking drawing of a centaur wearing a waistcoat rearing up on his hindlegs with a ball of magic between his bovine horns.

'Magnar the Crimson... why does that sound familiar?'

Sunset gave her a proud grin, "I'd say I did pretty good job on his stat distribution."

Daybreaker glanced at Magnar's stats and nodded approvingly. Sunset had prioritized INT as her main statistic, with CON and DEX following suit. WIS also had some attention on it, while the rest were distributed between CHA and STR. Overall a nice wizard build for somepony with no experience in playing tabletop RPGs.

Not that the others were made poorly, of course. Raven's character sheet definitely showed her experience, while Celestia and Cadance's were decent as well, if a bit scattered for their chosen race and classes.

Daybreaker placed the sheet on her screen. She took another glance at each character and took in their designs, her mind coming up with various scenarios that would fit a party such as theirs.

With a confirming nod, she turned back to her players and lit her horn. During the extra day between her trip and the lesson, the fiery mare had opted to learn a few trick from her book of illusion spells, thinking that she could enhance her players' experience.

Initially, she had hoped to learn one or two simple area-of-effect spells that would encompass the entire room, but to her surprise, she had quite a bit of free time to spare. This gave her the opportunity to learn a lot more than she intended.

'If I was able to do this back then... hoo boy!'

The room suddenly darkened, leaving everypony in pitch blackness. Not a moment passed before small motes of flames burst into existence atop the table, becoming the only sources of light. The players looked at the floating lights above with confusion, they had never seen Daybreaker display a spell of this particular type before, especially one so... atmospheric.

'Learned this one from an old friend of mine!'

The sound of chuckling drew their attention back to the advisor. All of them showed various degrees of surprise when they saw her altered form.

Everything about Daybreaker, from her shining regalia to her flame-like mane, had been engulfed by the darkness of the room. The only parts of her that were visible to them were her faintly glowing, slitted eyes.

The adviso- Dungeon Master smiled deviously, revealing her sharp teeth. For each word spoken, her eyes flared and dimmed accordingly.

"Welcome, my dear players, to an adventure you shall never forget!"

To be continued...