Pinkie Pie's eyes rolled up into her head as she collapsed forward into Daybreaks outstretched arms, he leaned over, setting her up against the wall. He turned around to move forward, only for his eyes to meet a very angry Rainbow Dash

"You said you wouldn't hurt her!"

She pointed her hoof at him accusingly. Daybreak instantly tried to calm the fuming pegasus

"I didn't hurt her Dash, she's fine...she may just have a minor neck cramp when she wakes up..."

This did not seem to satisfy Rainbow, Daybreak could practically see the fire in her eyes as she glared at him

"We can't go around hurting our friends Daybreak...What would Twilight say if she saw you do that?!"

His eye twitched slightly, that was a low blow using Twilight against him like that, and Rainbow knew it. Daybreak turned his back to the cyan pegasus

"I told you from the beginning, I'll do whatever it takes to save Twilight...if that means I gotta knock somepony out, I'm not gonna hesitate. I don't have the luxury or the time to be second guessing myself or my choices right now...I've made my choice to get this done my way Rainbow Dash, I said I wouldn't force you to go along with this...so if this is bothering you, than you can walk away!"

Rainbows ears drooped to the side of her face as she lowered her head in sadness. Unfortunately she really couldn't see another way to solve this...the Princesses had no idea what to do, which meant Daybreak's plan was the only way to save Twilight...even if she didn't approve of his willingness to knock out their friends...she respected his determination to see this through. Plus Pinkie had made it clear there would be no convincing the others to remove themselves from the situation.

Rainbow sighed in defeat

"I'm not leaving you Daybreak...I hate to admit it but you're right...but try to be a little more reserved with restraining our friends if we meet anymore ok?"

Daybreak's eyes darted to the sleeping Pinkie Pie, he wanted to comment that he hadn't caused her any real pain, just a brief shock...but instead he held his tongue and nodded, he knew what Dash really meant.

"Fine Dashie...I'll tone it down a bit"

Rainbow nuzzled against his fur for a moment

"Thank you Daybreak...let's get going."

Rainbow darted ahead with Daybreak following right behind. They made their way down and past several more flights of stairs before finally coming to, what seemed like, an exit door. They exited through the door and found themselves staring into a large room filled with stained glass windows. They were all gleaming with light, sparkling in the rays of Celestia's sun, but that was not what caught Daybreaks attention. What drew his gaze was the fact that this room was previously unknown to him, as in he did not recognize it. This was much to large to be the hall leading to Celestia's throne in which all the magical glass depicting him and his friends were in. This room, was filled with nothing but these magical glass windows and the room itself seemed endless, Daybreak could barely spot a door at the far end. Other than a few wall crevices here and there and some window curtains the room was nothing more than one long, large hallway filled with glass windows.

Rainbow noticed Daybreaks concerned expression and laughed, starting forward

"What's the big deal dude, it's just a hallway full of windows"

Daybreak held out his arm, blocking her way and narrowed his eyes

"That's what's bothering me...I've never seen this room before, and I spent alot of time here as a colt growing up...I'm finding it hard to believe that we just happened to pick a passage way, out of all the passages in this palace, that I haven't seen before..."

Rainbow rolled her eyes

"Geez and I thought Aecious was paranoid...well fine...assuming you're right, what do we do now?"

Daybreak ignited his hands in a fiery blue mist

"This!"

He waved his hands forward and Rainbow watched as the mist moved forward, beginning to spread throughout the room. As it spread to the ceiling and corners, it began to dissipate until it completely vanished from view. Daybreak frowned and Rainbow raised her eyebrows in confusion

"And that diiiiiid....what exactly?"

Still slightly frowning Daybreak gave the Rainbow mare and quick glance, then returned it to the room

"Well...that was a spell Twilight taught me once...but...I guess it didn't work"

"Why? What's it do?"

"It's supposed to detect any magical presence in the immediate area...but I'm not getting any feedback...except from the magical windows..."

Rainbow did not seem to share in his worry and only seemed to gather this as good news

"That's great, so let's go then"

She flew into the hallway without another word...Daybreak meant to yell after her, but merely sighed and followed behind. Quickly zooming ahead of him, Rainbow hit the breaks as she flew past one particular window. She hovered in front of the picture in depicted, unable to believe her eyes.

Daybreak had stopped running to catch his breathe, knowing Rainbow she wasn't going to wait unless he teleported after her, so he figured he might as well conserve his energy. That is...until an sound piercing shriek met his ears! He looked up and saw Rainbow backing away from a window a bit ways down the hall as though she was terrified of it. Daybreak cursed under his breath, the whole damn city probably heard that yell...He quickly teleported to her aid.

Rainbow was still cowering from the window when Daybreak appeared next to her

"Rainbow Dash what's wrong?"

He put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her, she was shaking like a leaf. He wondered what could cause his friend such distress and turned towards the window. Rainbow noticed his gaze moving and jumped up to stop him

"NO! Don't look!"

She tried to turn him around but his gaze met the glass before she could. For a moment nothing happened...then Daybreak watched as the glass pieces began to swirl inside the window, creating a hypnotizing array of colors. The pieces swirled around in several circular motions before coming to rest in a shape. Daybreak stared and began to see the figures the glass had created, in the window he saw a picture of Rainbow Dash, holding, what appeared to be, a small batch of white cloth in her hooves, as the picture moved, Rainbow removed the top of the cloth to reveal a foal underneath. In that same moment another pony appeared beside Rainbow Dash putting his/her hooves around Rainbow's neck and kissed it gently, the picture then froze in place. Daybreak stared hard, but no matter how he tried he could not make out any features of the foal, or the pony behind her, he could not even tell their gender, they remained a blur in the picture, although he could swear he could make out the outline of an unmistakable hat on the pony behind Rainbow. What confused him more though, was how this had terrified Rainbow.

He turned and saw her shake her head and point back at the window

"Just wait" was all she said before going silent again

Daybreak was still confused, but turned back to the window anyways. He stared and again the window began to change, with it's same hypnotic swirl of colors and shapes the window began to shape a completely different scene. He once again saw Rainbow Dash, but this time she was alone, standing in some kind of grassy field. In front of her were several gravestones spread out over a hilltop. Rainbow approached each one and began to set flowers (which had mysteriously appeared in her mouth) on them as she passed them by. Daybreak counted four gravestones in total but could not make out the names on them as she passed, until she reached the final one. She paused in front of the marker and set a whole bundle down instead of just one. Daybreak stared hard at the writing engraved on the marker

DAYBREAK
PRINCE OF EQUESTRIA
SON OF DISCORD
HE FOUGHT TO THE END FOR WHAT HE BELEIVED IN, HE WAS A TRUE FRIEND TO THOSE WHO UNDERSTOOD HIM

Daybreak wanted to look away from the sight, but his eyes seemed glued to the picture as it changed again, but this time only one feature changed, and that was the name on the gravestone...this time it read

TWILIGHT SPARKLE
PRINCESS OF EQUESTRIA
SISTER TO PRINCE SHINING ARMOR
THE MAGIC OF FREINDSHIP NEVER BURNED BRIGHTER IN ANYPONY

The picture froze in place and did not change anymore. When Daybreak finally tore his sight from the window, his eyes turned and met Rainbows. He could see her eyes had tears brimming the corners, just barely held back by her will, he knew his next words would probably only make it worse, but he knew he had to say it

"I think this window is showing your possible futures Rainbow..."

Against his expectations, Rainbows tears still did not fall, instead she put on a determined look and stared him in the eyes

"Let's get out of here Daybreak...I don't think we should let this place distract us"

Once again she hovered in the air and took off ahead of him, he immediately made after her, but as he passed each window he began to understand why this place was so big and had nothing but windows (and the occasional curtain covering a window) covering the walls. They probably all showed the possible futures of ponies and creatures Celestia deemed important enough to watch. Now that he thought about it, this was probably how Celestia knew Twilight was destined to become an Alicorn princess. He was tempted to stop and find his own, if it was here, but he let that thought instantly fade as he reminded himself why he was here in the first place.

When they finally reached the end of the seemingly endless hallway, both Daybreak and Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief. Both had been expecting some kind of trap, despite their previous talk, by the time they were done with the room. As they exited through the door with haste, they were relieved to see a pathway they both recognized that would lead them straight to the library. Both had their own memories of sneaking along this route before hand and were just happy no guards were in sight. They began a slow trot, making sure to check their corners along the way. Although he knew that this was a rarely patrolled route, Daybreak found the lack of guards in this area to be very suspicious. They rounded several more turns and even passed a guard post which he knew should have been patrolled before he finally stopped them and took another route. Rainbow nearly flew by him as he turned, once she caught up she immediately began her questions

"Dude what gives? The library is just a few rooms away."

"Something is wrong Rainbow, we passed spots that should have been patrolled even on a normal day, we're gonna take this little side trip just in case"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes "You are more paranoid than Aecious, well I hope you know you're heading towards the kitchen..."

Daybreak rounded the next bend and stopped outside the kitchen door

"Don't worry Rainbow, I know. The kitchen is two hallways away from the library. I should know, I used to run and grab Twilight food from the here all the time when we were young"

Rainbow flew up next to him as they neared the kitchen doors

"You brought her stuff to eat? What were you...like her servant or something?"

Daybreak chuckled

"More or less, but it wasn't to eat usually...she practiced her magic on anything she could, and to avoid being a live subject I brought her oranges and stuff to test on instead...although that didn't always stop her"

He smiled in spite of himself, Rainbow took note of his happy look and was filled with more determination than before. Putting her own worries of her future aside she pointed towards the kitchen

"You know there's bound to be somepony in there, right?"

"Probably, I'm sure we can deal with it though"

He pushed open the door to the kitchen, he had not even stepped fully inside before letting out a barely concealed gasp of terror. Rainbow followed suite as she too walked in and followed his gaze. All over the floor were the bodies of royal guards, at least half of the patrol that should have been in this area were here, and if that wasn't enough, Daybreak also saw Rarity and Fluttershy among them. Although Fluttershy seemed to be better off than the others, she was standing perfectly still, with a pinkish aura surrounding her face. Her eyes glistened, she was clearly unconscious, Daybreak walked up to her first and touched her neck, she felt fine, her heart rate was normal. Daybreak turned to Rainbow, who was clearly worried for her friends

"She's ok Rainbow, this just looks like a simple stunning spell, she's probably in some kind of peaceful dream. It's best if we leave her like this for now, it should wear off on its own later"

Rainbow looked visibly relieved to hear that Fluttershy was alright. Daybreak wasted no time and quickly examined Rarity. He placed his fingers on her neck, feeling for a pulse. For a moment he was quiet, the he felt the reassuring "thump thump" of her pulse in his fingers. He mimicked this motion for a few of the guards before turning back to Rainbow with a relieved smile

"They're all alive Rainbow, they've just been knocked out...and although some care was taken not to cause harm to Fluttershy and Rarity, it looks like our friend didn't bother with much restraint on the guards. It looks like they'll all be fine, but some of them may have a concussion or minor dislocation of joints...I'd bet my bits that Aecious and Trixie already came through here...."

Although Rainbow was annoyed by the apparent lack of restraint on the guards, she was relieved her friends were unharmed and felt better about simply moving on after hearing that. Daybreak got up and moved through the piles of unconscious guards towards the door with Rainbow right behind him. Once they exited the room Daybreak counted off his friends on his fingers

"Let's see...that's Pinkie Pie...Rarity and Fluttershy...the only one we haven't seen yet is Applejack...I'm assuming she'll be with a guard patrol just like the others."

Rainbow snickered aloud

"I'd like to see Aecious try and take on AJ"

The hint of satisfaction in her voice was too obvious for Daybreak to let be

"You really don't like him do you Dashie?"

They continued forward with Rainbow slightly ahead of Daybreak, not looking at him

"No...I don't trust him either, I'd trust Trixie more than him, he's dodgy, and all these skills he mysteriously has...you aren't curious where a random street pegasus learns to fight well enough to take down all those guards back there?"

She motioned towards the direction they had come, Daybreak shrugged as they slowed to a trot

"Sure I'm curious Dash, but it's not really my business where he learned his skills..."

The glare he received just prior to finishing told him she didn't buy it in the slightest, he sighed

"OK fine, yeah I don't really find him all that trustworthy, but he's the only pony with the skills we need for now...it wouldn't exactly behoove me to question him while we need his help. If it really matters to you that much, I'll learn what I can about him before I grant him my end of this deal...that is what's bothering you isn't it?"

"That obvious?"

"No, just a lucky guess combined with common sense...after all, treason or not, it's still my job to protect Equestria from all threats, if I really ever thought he was a threat I'd do what was needed, don't worry Rainbow."

He smiled at her and received the same look back, they managed to remain in calm sort of happy until they entered the final hallway before the library entrance ahead. As they entered through the double doors, they came upon the hall that lead to Celestia's throne room ahead, and in the center of the room, off to the right, was the door that led to the library. Daybreak wasn't surprised to see a small guard force and Applejack in the way of the door. At this point it was fairly obvious that Celestia knew they were here.

"She must be running out of guards if this was all she could commit here" Daybreak thought to himself. He turned to Rainbow, they nodded to each other and began to cross the room. Applejack, along with the guards flanking her (Daybreak counted five in total) began to move away from the door to meet them halfway. Unlike the guards they had seen until this point, these guards appeared to actually be armed with spears, and the unicorns with swords. Daybreak knew this could actually get bloody if one of them managed to draw their weapon. He doubted Celestia would have ordered them to kill, especially Rainbow Dash, but the mere presence of the blades and spears made him weary.

He leaned over and whispered in Rainbows ear

"I can take them all out with one spell Dash, this will only take a moment"

Surprisingly Dash shook her head and answered loudly

"NO! We don't need to do that this time, let's see what they wanna talk about first..."

She quickly lowered her voice to a low whisper only Daybreak could hear

"AJ is mine when this goes south, got it?"

Daybreak could see this was defiantly a fight that mattered to Rainbow, although he didn't understand why, he agreed anyways. As they reached the midway point to the door, AJ and her guards reached them as well, stopping twenty feet from where they were, more than enough room to prepare in case they charged. To Daybreak's great surprise, AJ was smiling at him

"Can't be lettin ya pass along through here partner~"

Daybreak had figured she'd try and talk him down first

"Sorry AJ, but you won't be stopping me today, just make this easier on everypony and get out of our way.."

"Wasn't talkin to you partner, I was referin to Rainbow Dash~"

Daybreaks eyebrows shot up in surprise, he glanced to Rainbow, she seemed generally confused as well. They both waited for AJ to continue

"Ah ain't foalish enough ta think ah can stop ya maself Daybreak. Even with these guards here, Ah know we can't take on no son of Discord. No Ah'm here to keep Rainbow Dash from going beyond this point, after this point she really would be committing treason against Princess Celestia, and my orders from the Princess are ta keep that from happening~"

Daybreak was unsure why the Princess would only want to stop Rainbow Dash

"What's so special about this specific spot Applejack"

"After this room, the Wonderbolts are right outside the library along with Celestia's best guards, and the Princess herself is inside the library waiting for ya in case ya get through that too~"

That was going to be annoying, with the Princess nearby, Aecious had likely vanished already, so counting on his help wasn't an option, that meant he'd have to fight the Wonderbolts and the guards...and then Celestia herself. He thought about it for a moment...it wasn't an unwinnable situation, in fact he still saw himself being able to achieve his goal...But he would certainly be exhausted afterwards and would be in no shape to fight Sombra...

"Daybreak"

He looked up from his thoughts and saw Applejack still smiling at him

"The Princess put a protection spell on the castle, nopony can teleport in or out according to her...Even if ya can get through the Princess and get the book, ya have to come back out this way, and by then Princess Luna will have all the guards back here and ready...Ya can't win this one, ya can't fight the entire guard and the Princesses, ya gotta know that...just stop now and let us work together to find another way ta save Twilight. The longer we spend fighting each other, the less time we have to try and save her.~"

Despite her having a valid point about fighting the entire guard and the princesses...he had already made up his mind in case of this before hand. He looked at Rainbow Dash again, she flashed him a grin

"Go for it" that's what that meant.

"Thank you for all your help Rainbow Dash"

Rainbow turned away from AJ for a moment

"Hey, I'd do it again anytime for you dude and you'd do the same for me, it's what friends do"

The cyan mare always found a way to make him smile even in times like this, he shared her smile and motioned back the way they came, dropping his voice to a whisper

"When you're done, I think Daring Do has something to talk to you about"

Despite the surprise on her face, Rainbow nodded and flared out her wings, taking a charge stance at AJ. Daybreak yelled over to his friend

"Get ready AJ, here we come!"

AJ sighed but still kept her smile

"Ah figured it would come ta this~"

Rainbow Dash took off at a full speed flight at AJ, Daybreak wasn't surprised to see AJ had expected this, and saw her subtly motion to the guards flanking her, both of whom were unicorns. They ignited their horns, Daybreak suspected they were going to trap her with some kind of spell. However he had a plan for that...right as Rainbow was a few feet from AJ, Daybreak vanished into smoke. Appearing directly in front of Applejack, she yelped in surprise along with her guards, caught off guard, Daybreak ducked quickly and Rainbow flew over him, missing his head by a few inches and tackled AJ out of her ring of guards. The two mares toppled and rolled over each other as they wrestled for dominance over the other several feet away.

With his momentary advantage, Daybreak took the liberty to grab both unicorns by the throat, and sweep their feet out from under them. As they fell he pulled upwards on their throats, momentarily giving them the sensation of being hung. The two panicked and their horns went out, unable to channel magic due to their lack of focus. They struggled in his grasp, with his height advantage over the ponies, he was able to hold them there, while they struggled to breathe, with little to no effort. the other guards quickly drew their spears, but lasted about as long as the unicorns. Daybreak spun on the spot and threw the two unicorns into the other two guards, sending them all clattering across the floor. With only one guard remaining, Daybreak snapped his fingers, for a moment the guard seemed to think he had been spared. Then out of the ground, a black vine that was all too familiar to many of the ponies, sprouted out of the ground and tangled itself around the guard, effectively immobilizing him. Daybreak glanced over to where Rainbow and AJ were wrestling, he nodded to Rainbow as they thrashed about and saw her steal a nod to him as well, without a word he continued on ahead through the doors.

Ahead someways Daybreak passed a staircase that led to Princess Luna's observatory, as he passed by he noticed the small clatter of hooves coming down the stairs. He turned to the door expecting a fight, but was pleasantly surprised to find Aecious leaning in the open doorway.

"How did you get up there?"

Daybreak knew this was the only way in or out of Luna's observe, unless he had climbed up the wall...or flown up, considering he was a pegasus after all. Aecious merely smirked at Daybreak, allowing his robe to sweep to the side, revealing a bleeding leg. Daybreak gasped and immediately went to aid his injured companion, Aecious stumbled forward and collapsed against Daybreak

"I lured Luna's guard to the top of the tower and trapped them up there, they won't be getting out any time soon?"

Daybreak helped Aecious to his hooves

"Let me heal your leg for you, it'll only take a sec...and by the way...how did you get this kind of wound from just four guards? Me and Rainbow saw what you did to Rarity and the other guards.."

"It was four of Luna's guards...have you ever tried fighting bat ponies close range before? They bite...those teeth aren't jut for show ya know..."

Daybreak had never even considered Luna might have guards here too, he was about ask Aecious if there could be anymore, but he merely held up a hoof

"She only ever keeps four with her at a time, and they are currently locked in her observatory and immobilized...trust me...now if you're gonna heal my leg, please do it now...my leg is going numb from their poison...

"They have poison?!...what's it do?"

"....Makes your limbs go numb..."

"...Oh"

Daybreak knelt down to eye level with Aecious, he moved his robe aside to reveal Aecious' bleeding leg. He assumed the poison must have been quick acting because the amount of damage done to his leg was much greater than anypony should be able to stand without going into shock...much less be able to walk off. It looked as though Luna's guards had tried to bit and pull several times on his leg, Daybreak could only imagine what Aecious had done to piss off the, normally docile, bat pony guards. He began to course his magical energy through Aecious' leg, lifting the droplets of poison from the wound. Without to much strain Daybreak removed the poison quickly enough, and with a simple snap of his finger, the muscle fibers and fur on Aecious' leg quickly healed and repaired themselves.

Once Daybreak had finished, Aecious examined his leg with interest

"Nicely done" was all he said before motioning to the last set of double doors ahead of them.

"Let's go"

Although he thought Aecious should rest his leg, he seemed fit enough to continue and they didn't have time to waste as it was anyway. The pair moved ahead through the next set of double doors, coming through the other side the library door was in plain and within his grasp...Daybreak let out a moan of frustration. Standing between them and the door, was the Wonderbolts, including Spitfire and Shining Star, along with several elite guards of varying ponies species. Daybreak spotted several unicorns armed with twin swords, and he was sure amongst all the spear-heavy Pegasi and earth ponies, he spotted some spiked flails. Even Aecious looked slightly startled at the amount of guards in their way.

"...I thought me and Trixie knocked out most of the guards in this place...how are their so many here"

Daybreak hadn't even thought of Trixie until now, not taking his eyes off the threat in front of them he whispered to Aecious

"Where is Trixie anyways? We could really use some more magic right now...?"

"I sent her outside before I went ahead, she's probably with Daring heading back to the bar right now, it's safer that way and she wont be charged with any crimes because we performed memory spells on anypony that spotted us, they'll only remember me..."

Daybreak nodded

"Thanks...now...how are we gonna get out of this one?"

"We could try talking to them...maybe appealing to their...oh who am I kidding...let's just kick their asses..."

Daybreak couldn't help but smirk slyly

"And here I thought you were actually turning sane for a moment...well give me minute with the Wonderbolts...I can maybe...at least get them to lower their guard that should make things a little easier."

Aecious barely twitched his head to nod, and began to follow Daybreak forward, chancing their luck and hoping to get as far into the room as possible. It seemed Spitfire had said something to the guards and her team, because only her, Shining and Soarin were proceeding to the center of the room. Daybreak hoped this would go better than his meeting with AJ, but it seemed to be starting the same way...

Both teams reached the center of the room simultaneously and halted five feet from each other. It wasn't until now that Daybreak noticed none of them were in their uniforms. He found this to be very peculiar if they were supposed to be standing guard. Aecious on the other hand did not seem to care, his eyes were fixed on Shining Stars chest, where a red hexagonal amulet dangled around his neck. It was clearly something of importance to Shining because when he noticed Aecious' stare, he held a hoof to the amulet as though to shield it from his eyes. Aecious did not simply let it go, unfortunately and started their talk off the wrong way

"Where did you get that?"

His hoof pointed directly at Shining's chest. The white pegasus countered Aecious' stare with his own, keeping his eyes fixed into Aecious' he seemed to be speaking only to him

"Twas a gift...that's all you need to know"

Aecious held out a hoof, Shining looked at him like he was crazy

"May I see it...?"

Shining glanced to Spitfire and Spitfire to Daybreak, Daybreak shrugged

"This isn't really why we are here Aecious..."

The pegasus seemed to snap out of his trance, shaking his head he glanced at Daybreak

"Daybreak...I'd like to change the conditions of my continued service to you..."

Shocked, Daybreak merely looked at him, fumbling for words

"Umm...Is this really the time?"

"Yes...if you can still keep guards from me after this that is great...but instead, if you cannot, I'd like your word you will not pursue me yourself...just in case"

Suspicion was written all over Daybreak's face, Shining, Spitfire and Soaring seemed more interested in listening at the moment them trying to restrain the two. Aecious saw Daybreaks expression and shook his head

"Assuming we all succeed, there is a chance the Princess will want me captured...I mean I did break into her castle without any magic and I obviously didn't ditch you like I planned even though the princesses are near by, that makes me a threat...it's only natural to want to protect my flank..."

Considering this for a moment, Daybreak did agree and he could see why Aecious would only worry about being pursued by him, he could restrain Aecious with powerful magic even his skills couldn't save him from. Daybreak smirked

"Fine, I Pinkie Promise"

He went through the motions with his hand, gaining a smile from Aecious, it disappeared quick as lightning as he seemed to suddenly realize he did something wrong

"I don't know what you just did, but the promise part is enough or me...now then back to business"

They both turned to Spitfire and the others, the captain raised her eyebrows to the pair

"Finally remembered we're here did ya?"

"Why aren't any of you in uniform"

He motioned to Spitfire, gaining looks from all three

"Does that really matter right now Daybreak?"

"Not really, but it was just a curiosity, I mean I've rarely seen any of you out of uniform, let lone all of you at once"

Glancing between themselves quickly, Spitfire seemed to decide to answer

"Well, you'd be surprised how much a simple lack of uniform can help keep ponies off your tail, especially when we are trying to catch some down time...ponies usually flock to us by spotting our colors, without them we can usually walk at least some streets without getting mobbed by fans...Plus we didn't actually come here today to fight you Daybreak. We came to get autographs from A.K Yearling, but the Princess saw us in the courtyard and asked for our help..."

"Oh...I guess that explains it"

"You know, you never struck me as the kind to betray Princess Celestia, Daybreak"

He shifted his gaze to Shining Star who had made the comment

"Excuse me?"

"What you're doing...it's treason, we've been briefed on the basics before we agreed to stop you...you have to stand down"

"And you'll do what if we don't?"

Aecious took a step forward, glaring at Shining. The latter stared back, clearly the two already despised each other...Daybreak had no idea what was going on with them

"If you both don't stand down, we'll have to stop you, and those guards back there will too"

This was when Spitfire chose to step forward and place a hoof on Shining's shoulder

"Hold it Shining, I never said we'd fight them...don't get hasty because of the other one, no pony needs to get hurt here"

A small smirk crossed Aecious' lips as he glanced from Shining to Spitfire, to the other Wonderbolts

"You know..."

He caught the pairs attention

"...I can see Spitfire and those elite guards being a problem, but the rest of you...I count maybe ten seconds before you're all on the ground and Daybreak is in that library...starting...now!"

Daybreak glanced to Aecious, unsure of what he meant, however Aecious dashed past him, yelling as he dove towards Shining

"GO NOW!"

"OH SHIT!"

Daybreak yelled as he understood.

Aecious tackled Shining to the ground, causing the remainder of the Wonderbolts, and the guards to come rushing. Holding Shining down, Aecious whispered in his ear

"One...two...three...four..."

Daybreak flashed past the Wonderbolts, easily moving through the startled crowd and teleporting into the mass of elite guards, stopping them from reaching Aecious. He swiped ones sword from his sheath and chucked at the ceiling.

"Five...six...seven...eight"

As it connected with the ceiling above Daybreak blasted it with a high intensity spell, causing the blade to explode with the enough force to create a small sonic boom, destroying the ceiling and causing massive rubble to fall! The explosion propelled the Wonderbolts and guards all over the room along with Shining and Aecious. Daybreak however, timed the force of the shockwave and used it to propel him straight past the ponies and through the library doors. Daybreak smashed against a book shelf with a painful yelp, but still managed to magically seal the doors behind him.

Aecious, though dazed, still managed to cough out, loud enough for Shining to hear

"Nine...ten...Ha...*cough*...see I told you...You're all on the ground...and Daybreak's in the library..." *cough cough*

Although the dust had not fully settled from the falling ceiling, Shining could still make out where Aecious was lying on his back, coughing and laughing. He got to his hooves, noticing a sharp pain in his back right leg, he looked back and realized he had twisted his hoof. It was sprained and painful, but he felt he could walk it off and still capture the pegasus ahead of him.

.....

Inside the library, Daybreak rolled over, and using the book shelf as support, managed to work himself to his feet. He could feel he had, at the very least, bruised his ribs, although it felt worse. He ignited his hand in magic and placed it on his chest, then let out a sigh of relief.

"At least they aren't cracked or broken" he thought to himself.

"I don't know enough about my own body to risk trying to fix any of this here, but at least I know it's just a really damn, painful bruise"

Armed with the knowledge he wasn't gonna bleed internally, Daybreak felt much better about continuing ahead on his own. He walked through a few shelves of books, searching for the Star Swirl The Bearded section. He knew it was in the back somewhere, but even as a colt he had always found it difficult to find in this endless room of books. After searching for a few moments he found the large sign indicating the book section he sought. He blasted the lock off the gate-like doors and proceeded inside.

He figured this was the moment Aecious had been referring to and knew their would never be a better time. Holding out his palm, he caused a small flash of white light, then the map Aecious had given him appeared in his hand. Opening it, he found where he was, and began to follow the direction of where the book was hidden. After rounding a few shelves, Daybreak came to a blank wall. He rolled his eyes, having enough experience with magical puzzles to figure what he had to do. Igniting his hand in aura he placed in upon the wall and waited. After brief moment, his aura went out and was absorbed into the seemingly blank wall. With a smile, Daybreak waited, and watched as a door began to form on the wall.

Reaching out, he grasped the handle and flung open the door, proceeding inside quickly and shutting it behind him. Light instantly flooded the, before dark, room and greeted Daybreak with a sight that made him groan. Ahead of him in the room, there was a pedestal that held the book he sought, and flanking the book on either side, was Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

"Oh buck!"