Daybreak awoke the next morning feeling much more at ease than he believed he should, given his current situation. However despite everything that had happened in just one day, he had managed a goodnights sleep. He looked over at Celestia's sun rising slowly above the clouds

"Day Two"

He muttered aloud to himself. That meant he only had six days left to kill Sombra and save Twilight...

Unable to sleep any longer, Daybreak subtly rolled and squirmed his way out of Rainbow Dash and Daring Do's embrace. He made his way towards the window and stepped outside onto the miniature balcony. Peering into the already busy streets of Canterlot was nothing like the view of Ponyville at home, nor did it grant him the same feeling of peace and calm. However he could still see the rising sun, that would have to do for now. He gave a quick glance back inside, both mares were still sound asleep in bed. He thought back to the previous night as his eyes fell on Daring Do

"I wanna ask Rainbow Dash, to be my special somepony..."

Her words echoed across his mind... he remembered his response to her. He had certainly been shocked at the revelation, but he had told her he was fine with it. However Daring had, thankfully, not mentioned it to Rainbow that night, and hopefully wouldn't before they departed either. He needed Rainbow focused, and asking her something like that now would only conflict her feelings towards him and Twilight, and she would be a wreck, he couldn't have that now. He let out a sigh, things just never seemed to stay simple for him...

Eventually he gave up on trying to find peace in sitting on the balcony and went to go wake the others, Rainbow first. He levitated Rainbow Dash out of bed, still asleep and carried her out of Daring Do's room before deciding to wake her. He floated her to his arms and held her bridal style, giving her a light pat on her belly hoping to wake her easily. This proved unsuccessful, Daybreak had figured she'd be difficult since she could sleep through hurricanes, but there was no time for this. He knew he'd regret it, but he also knew she'd wake up instantaneously for sure.

He shifted her in his arms and slowly let one of his fingers rub around the outside of her back hoof. Rainbow gave a slight squeak in her sleep, telling Daybreak that his efforts were working. He began to gently tickle her back hooves with as much of his free hand as he could manage. Rainbow went from lightly squirming to a flail of laughter immediately. She swung her hooves about wildly and nearly knocked Daybreak in the face twice. Eventually she wiggled out of his grasp and landed on her haunches with a plop on the floorboards. As she rubbed her behind, She looked up at Daybreak with a very annoyed expression

"What the buck was that for?!"

Daybreak extended his hand and helped her to her hooves

"Sorry Dashie, no time to waste today, we gotta leave, lets go"

Rainbow looked back at Daring Do's room and made to say something but Daybreak grabbed her by the hoof and pulled her down the hall before she could.

Once he had pulled her all the way to Trixie's room, Daybreak released her hoof and knocked as loud as he could without waking up anypony else in the hall. However a different pony than he was expecting answered the door. Daybreak's eyes went wide as Aecious stepped out and smiled

"Umm...Aecious, this is Trixie's room"

The pegasus nodded, clearly wondering why Daybreak would state the obvious

"Yes I know that, I came to get her up some time ago, since then we've been waiting for you to come calling, I've already told the owner we are leaving, let's go"

Daybreak nodded his head slowly, slightly surprised that Aecious was not only up before him, but had already gotten everything ready for them to leave. Daybreak stepped aside as Aecious exited his room, followed by Trixie, who greeted them with an unusually happy "good morning" and headed down the hall. Daybreak raised his eyebrows as he started after them

"Do they seem a little...different today Rainbow?"

"I don't really care, let's just go"

Daybreak whipped around and saw Rainbow's face as she trotted past him, she looked absolutely livid. Daybreak rubbed the back of his head

"What the hay is wrong with her?"

He put the thought out of his mind as he continued after his allies. After thanking the owner for the rooms, he continued outside the bar and saw the others sitting around waiting for him. As he approached, Aecious walked up and handed him a rolled up scroll

"Tuck that away and don't open it until you are inside the library"

"Why? What is it?

"Let's just say that it will help you find your book in case I'm not there to lead you to it"

Daybreak made the scroll vanish in his palm, gaining a raised eyebrow from Aecious

"Trust me, it's safe where I sent it...but more to the point, why would I even need this, you planning on ditching us?"

The Pegasi looked offended

"I don't abandon my allies, however annoying I may find them...but I cannot allow the princesses to see me, and I scoped out the palace early this morning. They have definitely upgraded security around it, and I'm sure it's worse inside. Whether or not they are expecting us, or just prepared in case of Sombra or Chrysalis, I cannot say. However I think that by the time we know, it'll be too late to turn back. So I'm giving you this in case I must hide myself should the princesses appear. Do not fear, I will not abandon you without ensuring your escape, I can promise you that much"

Daybreak knew better than to give this pegasus his full trust, after all, the mere fact that he meant to avoid detection by Celestia or Luna, meant he was hiding something. However he didn't care at that moment, and up till this point Aecious had given him no reason to make Daybreak distrust him. Daybreak still felt uncomfortable knowing that security had been recently upgraded, it wasn't exactly hard to believe Celestia would expect him to try and take the book by force, nevertheless they had to try.

"Alright fine, let's get going..."

"I know you're not thinking about leaving without me are you?"

Daybreak looked up and saw an outline of a pegasus descending from the open window in the bar. He shielded his eyes from the sun and saw that it was Daring Do hovering down to them. She landed in front of Rainbow Dash, causing an instant change in the cyan mares expression. The sour look she wore moments ago was gone completely, replaced with a beaming smile. Daybreak knew the answer before he asked the question

"What are you doing here Daring?

The adventurous mare flashed him a smile

"What kind of a dumb question is that? I'm coming with you of course! If you're planning on breaking into the Palace you're gonna need one hay of a distraction, even with those passages I told you about you'd still have to sneak past several guard patrols, unless you're planning on just fighting your way through?"

Daybreak had actually thought about that several times. All he had to do was remind himself that Celestia was standing in the way of saving Twilight and he was filled with enough rage to make him want to take on the entire castle by himself.

"I was considering it"

Aecious looked severely annoyed by Daybreak's answer

"You do realize we are making this plan for a reason right? Not so you can blow it by charging in there full of anger and hot air and get somepony killed! You may be a demigod but the rest of us aren't, you do something stupid and you might get one of them hurt or worse"

Daybreak fumed despite the pegasus having a valid point, so he held his tongue and simply nodded. Daring smiled and continued

"Anyways, I don't know what you have for a plan so far, but I'm pretty sure I can give you a good distraction"

Daybreak nearly chuckled

"Somehow I don't doubt that, but indulge me anyways...What are you planning to do?

Daring reached into her saddle bag and pulled out an ink quill and several sheets of paper scrolls

"Sign autographs of course!"

Daybreak face palmed himself

"Oh dear Celestia we're doomed"

.....

About That Same Time Inside The Palace

The magical windows of Celestia's castle shimmered with rainbow colored light as the sun princess stood in front of their most recent addition. She stared into the glass that depicted Twilight and Daybreaks' ascension into their current prince and princess status. She couldn't help but wonder where Daybreak was now, ever since he had yelled her out of Twilights sick room, he had vanished along with Rainbow Dash. His friends had not spotted him since and rumors where beginning to spread throughout the city of some kind of impending attack. The Princess had no choice but to increase the guard, with Sombra and Chrysalis out there, she couldn't risk ignoring these kinds of rumors.

Despite her and her sisters failed attempts to locate Daybreak, or Rainbow Dash, Celestia thought she had a pretty good idea of what he was up to, and despite her personal feelings towards her student...she could not allow it to happen. She wanted to believe that Daybreak would respect her wishes and seek another way to defeat Sombra before time was up, but the fact that he had seemingly vanished did not lead her to believe such. Combining that with the fact that Discord was his father...she figured that listening to an order was not going to go over well with him. She let out an exhausted sigh and returned to her throne, seating herself upon it she turned to her closest guard

"Summon the former bearers of the Elements here at once along with Discord, and dispatch additional guards to the library entrance, then wake my sister and tell her to meet me in the meeting room with the bearers shortly."

"Yes your Highness, at once"

The guard sped out of the room to seek out Twilight's friends, and Celestia was suddenly thankful she had decided to keep them close by. Bringing them back with her from The Crystal Empire had taken some convincing, after all it could very well become Twilight's death bed soon. However, after she had stated that she needed their help to locate Daybreak and Rainbow Dash, they had come without much of a fuss.

That said, she knew that they had become restless since returning, she had encouraged them to stay in the suite that was provided for them. Although she could tell that they knew her kind words of encouragement to remain, were really an order, she was pleased that they cooperated and respected her decision. Although she suspected that it was only because she convinced them they could help find Rainbow and Daybreak more by remaining put rather than running off.

Celestia rubbed her temples with her hooves, there were too many unknowns in this whole mess of theirs. She had no idea where Daybreak and Rainbow were or if they were together, although she suspected they were. She didn't know why they had vanished so suddenly, but again she had suspicions. Chrysalis had said there was now peace between her race and ponies on account of Twilight's supposed death, but with Sombra around, she could not be certain about their situation either. Everything pointed towards Sombra attacking the Crystal Empire again...but then why did she feel like she needed to fortify Canterlot the most...

.....

A.K Yearling made her stroll seem as casual as possible as she approached Celestia's castle. She could feel the stares of the guards baring down on her from the posts above as she made her way towards the front entrance. She approached the two guards at the foot of the stairs that ascended to the inner palace. She stopped and noticed both guards seemed to look rather antsy the closer she got. She smiled at them as she spoke, trying to make her voice sound as sultry as possible

"Hello sirs, I was just wondering if I might be able to set up a booth in the inner garden, you know, to sign autographs for any fans that may want some?"

The two unicorns looked from each other back to Yearling, then the younger of the two stepped forward shyly, and pulled out a small piece or writing paper and blushed

"Umm...do you think perhaps you could sign one for me first?...then I'd be happy to let you in Ms.Yearling. In fact, I'm sure the Princesses would love to know your visiting again. I believe Princess Luna is still seeking an autograph from you, having missed you last time you were here"

A.K Yearling winked at the young stallion, causing him to blush a bright shade of red before she snatched a quill out of her saddle bag and approached the guard. He levitated his paper up for her, his legs shaky at meeting his favorite author, and concentrated on keeping the paper firm for her. As she scribbled away on the paper, Yearling shot a glance upwards to the upper post and saw the subtle flash of light, then the guards collapsed in their posts. She looked to the far left and saw the same flash of light appear, then a quick flash of a black robe, and those two also fell.

"Four down" she thought to herself as she finished signing parchment.

As she finished and returned his paper to him, the stallion looked at her with eyes so huge, he seemed more like a little colt than a full grown stallion guarding the princesses. Yearling smiled at him and motioned inside

"Could you fine sirs possibly show me to the garden now, I'll gladly sign more for anypony once I'm in there"

The two guards nodded, the younger ones face now beaming with joy, and began to escort "Yearling" inside the castle.

.....

Daybreak watched the scene unfold from the rooftop post, he smiled to himself, Daring Do was a cleaver little mare indeed. With all the ponies that would rush to have her sign for them, several guards would also have to be called from their current posts to deal with the crowd and keep back extreme fans.

He did an about-face and found Rainbow waiting patiently for him by the exit door, he quickly turned and saw Trixie and Aecious staring over at them from the other post across the tower. They nodded knowingly to each other, and proceeded inside their own door. Daybreak watched as they vanished down their path and turned to Rainbow Dash

"No turning back now Dashie"

He saw the fierce, determined smile she wore, grow bigger

"Wouldn't dream of it, let's go!"

He nodded and opened the door, allowing her to go first and then proceeded inside himself, shutting it quietly behind him. They proceeded down a flight of spiral stairs at a decent speed, but as they neared the bottom they heard voices behind the exit door. They halted at the bottom and pressed their ears to the door, hoping to hear what was happening inside. They did not hear what they were expecting though, instead of the rough or brisk voice that many of the royal guards seemed to have, they instead heard the unmistakable, high pitched shrill laughter of a certain pink haired friend of theirs. Pinkie's voice ripped through their ears even through the wooden and steel clad door.

"Oh this is sooooo awesome! The Princess letting me stand guard with all these big guys...I can't believe she trusts me sooo much! I'm gonna be the most vigilant guard out there, nothing gets past Pinkie Pie!"

Rainbow and Daybreak traded shocked expressions with each other. Rainbow quietly hissed to Daybreak

"What could possibly posses the Princess to let Pinkie stand guard with her guards?"

Daybreak shared the same confused look

"I have no idea Dash, but it doesn't change anything, we still have to get by..."

"You aren't suggesting we actually hurt Pinkie?!"

Rainbows face showed shock and worry, Daybreak immediately calmed her

"No no Rainbow, even I could never hurt Pinkie, she's our friend, and more importantly...she's Pinkie Pie. We'll just have to figure out a way to get by without hurting her"

Rainbow's face regained it's determined look, satisfied with his answer, and she approached the door

"No time for a plan, I got this!"

Before Daybreak could stop her and remind her they had no idea how many guards were with Pinkie, Rainbow bucked open the door and flew into the room. Daybreak came around the door in time to see Pinkie's smiling face still beaming even as Rainbow caught the guards with her unawares. Rainbow landed and quickly gave the first one a backwards buck to the chest, sending him into the wall and knocking him out instantly, she then tackled the remaining two by herself and began wrestling with them on the floor. She was outnumbered but she seemed to be able to hold them both down, although Daybreak wasn't sure for how long.

He came out into the room and saw Pinkie's face had now changed to shock, he momentarily ignored her except for the quick "Hi Pinkie" he gave her as he moved by to assist Rainbow. He neared the scrambling mess of flailing hooves and wings as Rainbow Dash wrestled with a pegasus and earth pony guard on the floor. Both guards seemed to be attempting to scramble for their weapons while also fighting off the wild pegasus. Daybreak grabbed up all three in his aura and motioned to the guards

"Hi guys"

He quickly swatted his hands together, slamming both of their heads into each other, the clang of their helmets echoed none to subtly, across the room. He dropped the guards and released Rainbow Dash. After helping up Rainbow they turned to Pinkie, who looked very upset at the current situation, her eyes even looked a little watery.

"Why would you do that Dashie...Daybreak...those guards weren't bad, they were just doing their job?"

Rainbow cringed slightly, but Daybreak stepped in front of her, almost meaning to shield her from Pinkie's watery eyes

"This isn't her fault Pinkie Pie, I asked her to help me, she only doing it out of loyalty to me...don't blame her"

"NO!"

Daybreak quickly turned as Rainbow yelled and pushed past him, confronting Pinkie

"I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do, this is the only way to save Twilight...Pinkie Pie you have to understand..."

"I do understand..."

Daybreaks look became a skeptical one and Rainbow looked surprised, but Pinkie continued anyways

"I do understand...perfectly...and I don't blame you for walking your own path...but we all decided to find another way...Princess Celestia told us in detail what happened in Princess Cadences room, we know what you want to do...but we can't let you do that."

Daybreak and Rainbow both opened their mouths to argue, but Pinkie raised her hoof to silence them

"We all care about Twilight as much as you do Daybreak, we've been her friends for a long time, before we even knew you. And I understand better than anypony else the need you feel for her, to want to do anything to see that smile on her lips again, I know you love her more than anything else in this world, I truly do. But this isn't the way, that book isn't safe to use, you can't lose yourself again just to save her...there is always another way, and we'll find it much quicker as friends...together"

Pinkie extended her hoof to Daybreak. Rainbow stared from Pinkie to Daybreak, unsure of what he would do. Pinkie's smile had returned to her face as she wiggled her hoof slightly, tempting Daybreak.

Daybreak's face was unreadable for several moments...until a small smile began to form on his lips. Pinkie's smile grew even wider as Daybreak reached out slowly and gasped her hoof. He looked his pink friend dead in the eyes and smiled at her

"Thank you Pinkie Pie..."

Without so much as a flinch he quickly pulled her forward by the hoof and swung his other hand, connecting it firmly with the side of her neck in a knife strike. The pink mares eyes seemed to roll in her head and she uttered a low squeak as he connected with her.

"For understanding me..."