Author's Notes:

Let me just say that it brings me great honor to be the first to ship Daybreaker.

No, not with Derrick. I will not tell you though, you just have to read the chapter.

Hope you enjoy it.

Luna hurried through the meal given by the fearful chefs to resume their conversation. Spike was sent as well after it became a failed attempt on everyone's part to show that he had nothing and nopony to fear, but the sins of the past haunted the royals with terror and hate in the drake's eyes during the entire time. Evil had come and gone with these former villains, but their crimes were like cancer, a sickness that would not leave and nothing could cure them of it. As they sat at the table with Raven and Luna, they remained silent. Spike was more than pleased they did so entirely on their own, not wanting to push the matter any further. More and more, food was brought to the dining table and bellies were filled as the empress watched the princess exchanged glances with Black Hole Sun.

Raven signaled her to go slow. The Dark Sun Queen nodded to this and went gentle, making a long connection with Luna's gaze into a single exchange of words that had a powerful hint of care and love. Black Hole Sun's took on the conflict of everything that was missed throughout the years so that she was ready to help the night mother reveal the many secrets that were to come. She just wasn't sure if now was a good time or if it was best to tell Luna the truth. Honestly, she was afraid to find out how Luna would react if she found out who she really was underneath the sinister name that was given to her by Faust.

She was afraid to be hated.

Feeling her stomach churn, which did not surprise her, she pushed her plate away and leaned onto Discord so that her turmoil would ease with his touch. Feeling a soft kiss on her cheek, she smiled whilst looking up to her chaotic king for a more direct approach of her emotions going still in the dead of silence.

Unsure as to how she should feel about the sightly love between those two, Luna took her gaze off the mare and stared down at her plate as Raven finished first with a slight burp into her napkin.

"Roast Beef has always been my favorite." She commented, wiping a bit of gravy from the corner of her lips. She turned to watch Black Hole Sun and Discord continue embracing one another, and sighed contently to see that their love was still as strong as it was all those years ago.

"Love can be such a fragile thing, but the right pair of lovers can make it last." Raven added after turning back to Luna with a motherly grin. "Tell me, is that the kind of love Derrick shared with you and that horse you call a sister?"

"Of course we do!" Luna slammed her hooves on the table, cracking her part of it and scowling at the alicorn. "But we do not express our love for all to see. We keep our desires to ourselves!"

Black Hole Sun retreated to Discord, the pinch on her heart making her less enthusiastic to tell Luna the truth. Her voice broke in when the lunar princess glared at her, her tone wavering with distress, but she kept to the matter at hoof and she couldn't help but feel some need for Discord to protect her from the insults, which he did with a proud smile and both arms around her securely.

"And that is why Derrick is much better off with Nightmare Moon." He said nonchalantly, infuriating the alicorn to the point of grinding her teeth into dust. Black Hole Sun cursed under her breath. Shots were fired. The last thing they needed was to mix in the truth needed to be said with the man that Luna was desperately trying to retrieve.

"She does not deserve him!" That was all Luna could say. If she was not going to listen, it was up to the truth coming out of the most honest pony that lives and breathes on ruining lives with facts, not Raven, although she knew things would go much smoother if Discord had kept his mouth shut.

Everypony mentally braced themselves for the event that Discord would want to actually save Luna from the lies and deception and he would have to tell her everything, even if it meant breaking her heart.

Discord stood up and moved around the table, sweeping the area of any guards with a few snaps of his talon to send them out of the room for their conversation to remain private. Bickering and revealing secrets definitely needed to remain in royal ears if they wanted to keep Derrick safe, and to prevent any form of a bloodbath that may come when Luna finds out what had been kept secret from her for a very long time, or that he puts the facts there, bluntly.

He stopped behind his worrisome queen and glared at the lunar pony, hate turning his eyes red as the blood wine he sipped. "She deserves that man more than you ever did. Derrick was nothing more than a secret for you and an output for your stress. At least Nightmare Moon doesn't hide her love for him, she lets us all see it without a shred of regret. And that is what love should be."

"I love him as much—if not more—than that fake!" Luna snapped. That bought her a faint smile and a quiet chuckle from Chrysalis, who surprisingly decided to step in and have a crack at the mare.

"I did not know attacking the one you love was another way to express yourself." She broke out in a fit of laughter with Sombra, invoking more of Luna's rage.

"You know nothing about love!"

"More than you ever could," Chrysalis corrected furiously. "I know love is something you do not hide. It is not a toy or a dirty secret. I express my love for my husband and cherish it as much as him. I do not hide from anypony."

"I love it when the family comes together," Raven muttered under her breath.

Luna stood up from the table and made her way over to Chrysalis, who did the same with ill intent. They butt heads and pushed at one another with equal force as the others watched with amusement, both growling like mad ponies and putting all of their magic into their horns.

"I do not need advice from a bug that feeds on love!" Sorrow welled up in Luna's rage. Though a strong mare, the pain was building, and she had nothing to help or defend her against it as Chrysalis snapped and pulled all the stops on her.

"I helped my husband when he was reborn and hated by our subjects. What did you do to help Derrick!?" The words shot out and rang across the room. Luna's mind and body jerked to the question, fear and guilt skittering down her spine, everything straining in to remain strong, but even with a thousand years to harden her heart there was still a soft spot that Chrysalis struck. It brought tears to the blue pony as she stepped back from the angry changeling.

No matter how far she retreated though, the changeling queen kept approaching and jabbing a hoof into her chest with each question.

"What did you do to express your love for Derrick?" She snarled, losing her composure entirely.

"Um. . . honey—" Sombra went to intervene, only to have Raven's hoof on his shoulder. He looked up to the goddess to the pony shake her head, telling him not to stop his wife.

"What about in the beginning?" Chrysalis barked, jabbing the breaking mare again. "What about when he first arrived in your part of the Canterlot? What did you do?"

"Shut up!" Luna expected to feel some mercy, just as all ponies give to one another when there is conflict, but this was not Equestria and Chrysalis was not like them. She was ruthless.

"I remember now," the upcoming truth made Luna cringe, falling to the floor and covering her ears just Chrysalis spat the truth. "You were the one who put him in a hospital, you were the one who deemed him a monster, and the only saving grace for him was that Nightmare Moon's magic also triggered the dark powers inside him."

Clearly the truth was hurting Luna more than what everypony anticipated, but they just wanted to make her see that the way things were now would make it impossible for Derrick to find forgiveness in his heart. Even as Luna shut her eyes and blocked the world, Chrysalis continued to berate her, the truth shaking her mind to the core.

"And what about the night he wanted to spend time with you—the first night he actually met you and not your magic. I remember, he gave thanks to you for giving such a beautiful night sky that cannot be seen back on that dying planet Faust banished him too, and all you did was treat him like garbage, because you could not find it in your heart to understand that someone so kind and forgiving could really exist, and it frightened you."

"Shut up. Shut up. SHUT UP!"

"Admit it, oh great Princess of the Night," Chrysalis mocked, snarling at the sobbing alicorn. "When you should have protected him, you went along with Twilight's accusations to ease your fear. To see if he was evil, but due to your ignorance, you lost him and are so desperate to get him back because you cannot bear the guilt. You do not love him. You just cannot handle the guilt."

Luna's churning gut exploded and she looked up to the changeling, burning away the fear of losing Derrick to replace the intense emotion with sheer love and rage. "I DO LOVE HIM!"

It was nearly impossible to see the spectacle burst of magic as Luna leaped off the floor and shot Chrysalis with dark magic. Raven continued to watch in her seat as things became extreme, maybe even too extreme for her, as it was not in Luna's heart to attack somepony for the love of another. Not even she had the fortitude to do that.

Luna's mind turned as if it were a coin, although she lurched forward and tackled Chrysalis, towering over her with a every intention to silence her for good. Tears ran down her face past the graze she had on her cheek when the changeling tried to fight back. Her chest was stained from said tears gushing into her fur. Each breath she took was laborious, her body shaking with spasms and twitches. She could have easily silenced the bug-pony, but her eyes went wide and round, like her mind.

Another thought hit her. Her head jerked away and she fell to the floor in a still position for a few seconds while her words stumbled rapidly in an effort to make everypony understand her.

"I didn't mean to hurt him," she sputtered, ignoring that Black Hole Sun had approached her. "I just. . . didn't know what to do. I was afraid And. . . and now I know my sister was having an affair with Derrick when she should be worried about him . . . ."

The nuzzle to Luna's cheek parted, and she looked up to Raven, her face slack, mouth crooked yet gentle wings coming around her. She had the same warmth and comfort as her sister did. Part of her fell into the alicorn's chest, sobbing uncontrollably.

Luna didn't know it, but Black Hole Sun loved her with all her heart. She adored Luna more than Celestia ever did, and she had memories that only she could possess. She shared stories with her, stories that were fiction but were still fun to tell, as it was her duty to make sure a sister was happy.

Black Hole Sun shook her head. She had no idea what she was going to. Luna was right here in wait for someone to tell her it was going to be alright, and that went against everything she was as a pony. As a mother however, and a broken one at best, she was obligated to try and fix things between them, even if it meant showing the horror behind the Celestia that is now.

Swearing savagely under her breath, Black Hole Sun parted from Luna and took a few steps back to prepare herself. She moved slowly, keeping a deliberate focus of the alicorn as she ignited her horn with a powerful spell only she could use.

"They are happy together, but I can see that you do love him." She told Luna in a soothing tone. "However, you cannot be with him unless you are able to accept the truth."

Luna hesitated, clearly warring with herself.

Suddenly Black Hole Sun was engulfed in magic. She blended in with the light of her horn and as she moved out into the eyes of the mare to reveal herself, she realized there was no going back that the sister she loved and adored may very well hate her. The light that shed her body was gone as a gentle flash, the revelation penetrating Luna's mind as she saw the Dark Sun Queen for who she really was. Silence settled again in the room, mostly by the alicorn that finally showed herself for the broken pony she truly was as her scorched wings settled in a droop. She peered down at the younger alicorn below with a faint smile, her horn revealing to be broken and burnt like the burns all over her body.

Luna was at a loss of words and turned to Raven for an explanation, but the empress had nothing to say.

"I was the one who manipulated Twilight's mind." Black Hole Sun—or Daybreaker—whispered into her ear. She was flooded with guilt and self-hate. She might not be ready to commit to making amends, but she was hoping that their past would.

"Daybreaker. . .you're not real," Luna said shockingly. "You're just a figment of a dream."

"Black Hole Sun is my name now, and I am very real," the broken alicorn said. "I have been since the day I was created. You just don't realize how long I have been with you."

She took a shaky breath and readied herself:

"You wonder about your parents as well, and you should know." She exhaled, fearing the last part to leave her lips. "I may be Celestia's broken darkness, but it was I who gave birth to you."

Luna went to snap at the alicorn with disbelief, but she was stopped before a single word could escape her lips.

"It is true, Luna," Raven added, drawing their attention as she stood up. "Without my magic to give her new life, her spiritual presence would have died and you would never have existed."

"But that makes no sense, I would then be related to Derrick, wouldn't I?" Luna pointed out for clarification, to ensure that she was indeed related to him or not.

"No, as you said, I was a figment of a dream. My blood relates to nopony, the same for Nightmare Moon being a former evil from your heart. However, I was not as fortunate as she was. . ." Black Hole Sun began explaining, gesturing with her hoof for Luna to return to the table.

"Please, sit with us. We have much to discuss. I had hoped it would not come to this, lest the situation was brought up or Faust made it dire for you to understand who you really are. . ." She looked down to the food in front of her, but then locked eyes with the hesitant mare once more. She could clearly see that Luna was regretful of listening, but at least they were getting somewhere rather than fighting. "I'm sorry for taking Derrick away from you, but I knew that he would be in danger if he remained in Equestria with Celestia. It was only a matter of time before she discovered who he really was. I had hoped that manipulating Twilight to attack Derrick would make you come to us, but I suppose I was too arrogant in my power and hurt you more."

"How can you be my mother?" Luna prodded as she adjusted herself, levitating the tall candles away so she could look at the mare. "I have only seen you as a dream, and Celestia destroyed you."

"She destroyed the dream figment," Black Hole Sun corrected. "But I have always been a piece of her that was banished when she discovered dark magic. The dream figment you saw was made of memory and fear, but that was all it could be. I, on the other hoof, came to life when that mare learned how to separate darkness from light, but she was careless and split the darkness from her heart during her teenage years. When Raven found me, she offered to give me life so long as I joined her."

"And I suppose that is when I came about, " Luna said, her eyes full with suspicion. She was not going to trust this mare.

"A few years after I made a stable rule of authority here, yes." Black Hole Sun nodded, then her eyes became dark and serious as dessert was brought to the table. She fanned the servants away with a wave of her hoof, exciting the fear in their hearts before they gave her portion to Chrysalis. "Unfortunately, as you can tell by my broken body, Faust sought to ending your father and I when she discovered that her own daughter had a dark side that was brought to life. You should feel grateful, if Raven had not come to my rescue that night, you would never exist."

"If this is all true," Luna said skeptically. "Then who was my father?"

Black Hole Sun chuckled into her hoof. "Would you believe me if I said that Starswirl was quite the handsome stallion during his youth?"

"Okay," Luna nodded. "And why were you never there?"

"Simple," Discord chirped. "Faust stole you."

It was a huge accomplishment for Nightmare Moon. She wanted to leap up and down with joy. The moment she forgot what she was doing, that goal was snaked out of her grasp and scooting behind Zelda's wing as they reached another level of the castle, hissing and glaring at her. Several times she watched the button fail to go back and grinned, as it was pleasing to see her actions bring the worst out of her mate.

She hissed an unladylike promise under her breath, one she'd make him bring to fulfillment, and crawled across the omni-drake's back to fill the gap between them while Lilith decided to have a good rest. She had forgotten how exhausting it was to travel across the castle and wore herself out in the process, which gave the alicorn her chance. She concentrated on breaking her lover while Zelda took her place around Lilith to protect and ignored the two pests on her back fighting one another. At once the flames of her love for Derrick burned brightly in her intentions, flickering defiantly with her hoof blocking both his hands before they could hide what she craves.

"Something so impressive should not be kept hidden," Nightmare Moon praised him, rubbing it tenderly.

Derrick, obviously desperate and monitoring the mare, wasn't quite so kind as to letting things go her way. "How many times are we going to do this? I keep telling you no sex and you keep pushing the matter without regard of what I say." He spat quietly, hoping that Lilith did not hear him. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"The better question is what is wrong with you?" Nightmare Moon whispered, pushing on his erection as she rested on her stomach, teasing the man with a kiss to the base. "You have a gorgeous alicorn who wants to make love with you, yet you resist and find every reason to avoid her."

"I'm not ready for us to go that far."

"Well I am," she snapped quietly, "Derrick, I am bucking aroused right now. I have been horny ever since you recovered and have waited for weeks for you to claim me as your mate."

"I can't do that, not yet."

"Well if you don't before we return home, everypony will know that I am like this and the stallions will make attempts at claiming me. Do you understand that your human culture is not the same as ours?" She grabbed him strongly, intentionally sending pain in his groin to get her point across. By his wandering eyes, which found the twitching flanks of this mare, he could tell that she was not joking when she said she was horny.

"Derrick, for the love of your mother, stallions will attempt to claim me if they see me like this." She told him again, releasing him a little to gently stroke the member. "Not that it will do them good, but I do not want stallions coming after me. I want you to claim me. I want them to know that I am your mate. I want them to know that I am your mare."

Derrick couldn't help but feel some pride swell in his chest when it rushed through his veins. He had not expected Nightmare Moon to be so serious as to fall in love with him for himself. He smiled at the mare, realizing that she couldn't go through her life without him. She wanted to be the one mare he only needed and wanted. It complicated things for him though, but he couldn't find it in his heart to reject the mare or her love. How could he not say yes to her? How could he not look at her and be attracted to her. He might not want to be at times, but each time his gaze rested on her, his body burned wildly. She was a goddess of darkness and beauty, and he and their relationship were her world, but when the fire of her love pooled low and heavy in her every move, he was afraid to be engulfed, yet tempted to find out just how fiery her love could be.

Taking a deep breath, he quickly zipped up his pants and turned his attention to turning the mare over to satisfy her needs. Nightmare Moon's eyes shot up like a tower when he rolled over and pinned her against Zelda's wing, climbing fast, her anger churning and boiling until he kissed her passionately and reached back to pierce her moist folds with his finger, stealing her breath.

"Let's be home first," he whispered, confusing the silently moaning alicorn.

"W-what?" She asked.

Derrick rubbed the back of his head wit ha wry grin. "If you can wait until we get back home, I promise to go that far with you."

"But that is too long," she moaned, but Derrick was having none of that. He listened to her banter, letting the shared amusement warm him, easing the sting of this mare's pouting just a little bit as he fingered her into a sharp orgasm. He kissed her, indicating he did love her and that it would be telling moment. If Nightmare Moon could restrain herself, he would give in to his desires and reward her with his body, but he would not hesitate to retract the offer should she fail to oblige.

"Fine," she panted, looking down at the resting unicorn at Zelda's paws, sweat glistening her fur whilst Derrick teased with licking the fluids on his fingers.

He chuckled and rose slowly, pushing himself off the alicorn to go find some water to wash his hand and face off. He stopped though, and stared down at Nightmare Moon with a blank stare as she turned back to him and smiled. He had yet to take a breath or move. His stillness dissolved Nightmare Moon's joy as she pressed a hoof to his chest and then looked into his suddenly dilated eyes.

"Derrick?" Her touch met his heartbeat. There was a rapid rhythm. Strong. Over-bearing. Something was happening and she had no idea, this unexpected lack of movement from her mate.

Silence took hold in the cavern for a couple minutes before Derrick's eyes shut tightly. He rolled off Zelda and crashed onto the floor with Nightmare Moon screaming his name and leaping off to reach him, but the pain had already taken over and awoken Lilith. He could hear his own heart like thunder booming overhead. His first reaction was screaming. It was all he could do while clutching his stomach. He hadn't know what his body was doing or the jeopardy he was in when Lilith approached his side and checked him. Unfortunately, when she did try to help she was met with projectile vomit and blood, which frightened Nightmare Moon.

"What's happening to him!?" The Mare in the Moon demanded, glaring at Lilith with tears.

"His magic is purifying his body." Lilith said in a panic, searching around the cavern.

"IT HURTS!" Derrick could not stop vomiting. He was met with having his body dumped into a nearby pond but had his head turned over the edge so his vomit did not touch the water.

"What are you doing?" Nightmare Moon spat furiously, trying to drag him out of the water. Her efforts were stopped with the ancient unicorn slapping her hoof away.

"Leave him in the water!" She ordered, splashing his head repeatedly. "We have to keep him hydrated through the process or he will die!"

"Die!?"

"Yes, you fool. His body is removing any toxins or ailments he may have possessed as a mortal, but if we do not keep water in his system the entire time, then his body will drain itself."

Nightmare Moon needed nothing more to hear, and jumped in the pond with Lilith to aid her. She leaned over her puking mate, her mouth brushing the back of his head as she held him in place. Her hoof clutched his hand, every cell in her body rebelling to the probability of him dying. Every single fear she felt in those long years of loneliness welled up to choke her—to choke back what she had to say.

"You will pull through this," she said with confidence, watching his vomiting turn a sickly black sludge that steamed on the ground.

"As long as we keep him in the water, he should pull through." Lilith advised, but it did not help Nightmare Moon with her turmoil.

It was going to be a very long and painful purification for Derrick.