Rainbow dove to her stomach as another large ball of black flames soared over her head, missing her by inches! She rolled several feet trying to gather some distance between her and her psychopathic friend! One minute he had been choking to death on nothing, and spitting blood...the next he looked like he'd just stepped out of a Goth magazine and started attacking her! His whole personality seemed to have changed along with his appearance. His eyes were no longer a warm emerald green, but a cold icy blue and slit-like in appearance. In fact, everything about him was cold now. Before, being near him filled her with warmth all over, now, even the fire he threw at her felt like ice rather than flame. It burned in a completely different way...like it splintered and shattered her skin upon contact.

She hadn't been fast enough to react when he first attacked her, and now a small portion of her arm felt like it had been frozen solid at the edge of her shoulder. She could barely move it, and couldn't channel any magic to fight with it. It was like swinging a noodle at her opponent. She wasn't sure what happened to him, she couldn't tell if was just a magical fit like Twilight sometimes had...or something else. But if he was just having a fit, that meant all she had to do was not die until he ran out of power.

"Easier said than done...this feel like a very sincere attempt on my life!"

She knew she was fighting a lost battle. No stamina left, and only one arm to channel her weather magic? She knew she had...maybe... another minute before he just picked her apart. She was barely dodging as it was now and he wasn't showing any sign of relenting. She pushed herself to her feet as he came at her again, black flames whipping out at her like rope. She pushed herself back, skidding and rolling on her jean shorts as she tried to balance herself with only useable arm. She had barely finished rolling when she felt something wrap around her left leg, and start pulling.

"Fuck! No!"

She flailed and kicked against her bind, but her leg simply passed through the tendril grasping her. She looked over her back and saw a rope of black flames grasping her leg. She swiped out with her other foot again, but merely passed through just as before. Before she could fight back anymore, the flames tightened, and dragged her back to Daybreak, hoisting her upside down in front of him. She smirked as she was brought to eye level with him.

"Who knew you were into bondage Daybreak? If you wanted to tie me up, all you had to do was ask."

He reached out and grasped her cheeks with his clawed fingers, pulling her face up to his. He brought his lips to her ear and hissed so that only she might hear him, and not those that could be watching outside.

"I am not Daybreak." As her eyes widened, she saw his hand motion away, and suddenly felt herself spinning through the air. She twisted and crashed into the ground, bouncing and rolling until she landed sitting upright. She turned over to force herself up, but found something harp plant itself in her gut and kick her back several more feet, rolling again. Now on her stomach, she saw him move at her like shadow, seeming to become a shadowy phantom as he ran. Leaning on her useless arm for what little support it could give, she thrust out her right arm heating it bright with her cyan aura.

He didn't stop moving, even when the lightning came down to block his path. Instead he trucked on straight into it, and as it connected with his flames, an explosion rippled outwards across the abyss knocking Rainbows bad arm out from under her and causing her to smash her face into the ground! She didn't care though, her only thoughts were what that explosion might have done to Daybreak.

"Daybreak! No!"

She forced her head up, resting on her chin as a trail of blood streak down from her forehead. Her eyes searched the remaining black flames for her friend, darting about desperately hoping he was alright.

"You dumbass...I swear if your not alright I'm gonna kick your ass..."

Even as she thought it, she saw the black flames beginning to thin...and spiral inwards. Her eyes widened with glee as he appeared in the center, seemingly unharmed, and with his hands pressed together in front of his chest. The flames were being drawn in between his hands, along with, what looked like...the lightning Rainbow had summoned. She felt a shiver travel down her aching frame.

"Awwwww fuck!....This is gonna hurt!"

Realizing what was about to happen, she attempted to brace herself for the inevitable, but just as it looked like Daybreak was about to release the stored power against her...he vanished. A small puff of white mist remained behind where he had previously stood.

"What the fuck...?"

Not wasting the moment, Rainbow pushed against the ground with her good arm and managed to work her way to her knees before once again looking around for where Daybreak had gone. When he was nowhere to be found, she felt an odd surge of anger bubble in her chest.

"Seriously! That's it?! All that build up and you're just gonna leave?! What the actual fuck man!!! I was actually looking forward to seeing what happened next! Don't you know you never leave a girl unsatisfied you asshole! GET THE FUCK BACK HERE AND FINISH ME!"

"If you insist."

"Oh fuck my big mouth..."

She turned her head in terror, and saw...he was directly behind her, palm extended forward. The massive ball of black fire and yellow lightning was swirling in the center of his hand. His hand and the energy, were inches from her back, there was no way she could avoid him...and at this range...

"He's...gonna kill me...why...? What did I do wrong?"

A brief moment of grief found her eyes, she crushed her eye lids together to hold back any water from forming. He sneered, kneeling down next to her.

"Don't worry...the pain will last only an instant...SOLAR FLARE!"

"Solar what?!"

Blinding light filled her vision as he released the energy against her back. She felt her body go numb, but not before the electricity sent her nerve endings into overdrive! She opened her mouth to cry out in pain as her body was sent flying forward...but the pain was over before she could even make a sound. She didn't feel it when she hit the ground and slid forward on her chest. She was only aware that she couldn't move. Lifting her head to look back, she saw she was bound head to toe in yellow rings of energy. Sparks showered to the ground from the golden circles of light as she attempted to struggle against her bindings. They shocked her to cease her movements, but she could not feel it through her numb nerves and so continued to pointlessly flop around until she saw him walk up behind her. Finding her voice again, she snarled at him

"I thought you were gonna kill me you jackass! You scared the shit outta me...what did you do?!"

He sneered at her, kneeling next to her and placing a clawed hand on her back

"Stop struggling, you're gonna fry your arms if you don't."

"NO! I won't lose...I can't lose!"

He gently patted her head, extinguishing the few specks of black flame scattered about her clothes that were attempting to burn their way through to her skin. The whole fight had left her clothes in tatters, but she still had enough to cover what was important, so he cared little.

"You've already lost. I can admire you're spirit, that's probably another reason he likes you...but this is pure lightning energy. You can't break it because it doesn't hold a physical form. It's only binding you to hold you in place, the more you resist, the more it will shock, and burn, and tighten around you. You should know how powerful it is...after all, you're the one who threw it at me."

She stopped flopping her legs like a fish out of water and laid limp, surrendering hatefully to the truth. She knew she didn't have the magic or stamina left to break these bonds. She looked back over her shoulder at him, her hair had fallen down messily over her face and dried blood clung to multiple strands...but he could still see the fire of fighting spirit in her eyes. She growled at him

"How did you throw my lightning back at me...that shouldn't be possible, I saw it hit you."

Letting loose another chiding snicker, he patted her on the head again, earning him a glare from her that he was forced to chuckle at.

"Nothing is impossible for me. I'm not like my counterpart."

He traced the sharpened nail of his index finger along her neck and up to her chin, sending a cold shiver down her spine at his touch.

"Who are you?" The question felt almost foolish to ask. Obviously this was Daybreak...but at the same time she knew it couldn't be. She had seen him change, and could almost feel the difference his presence created...but who else could he be? Another chuckle made her want to punch him, if she could have moved from her bondage.

"I? I am a monument...to all your-"

"Yeah yeah! Cryptic words and all that...can you just give me a straight answer? Who are you, I know you can't be Daybreak...are you?"

A devilish smile formed across his lips, showing of his serrated, perfectly pointed teeth. "No...I am not him."

"Oh thank goodness...seriously that's awesome...cause now I don't have to feel bad."

He raised a suspicious eyebrow to her "Feel bad about what?"

Her whole body ignited in fizzling cyan aura, she smiled up at him "This!"

The five rings binding her ignited a brighter yellow, sending streaks of lightning from their frames into his chest, and lifting him off the ground to toss him back several feet! He rolled backwards, his black cloak of fire dissipating into nothing as he hit the ground and went limp. Rainbow did a small victory flop as she rejoiced loudly and tauntingly.

"Aww yeah! Suck on that asshole! Nobody fucks with Rainbow Dash! Yeah, yeah! Whose awesome? I'm awesome! Whose awesome? I'm Awesome!"

"And whose really gods damned annoying?!"

"Oh fuck me! Are you serious?!"

Her joy came to an abrupt end as she saw her enemy rise, and dust himself off as though nothing had happened. He looked over at her, clearly pissed, but still managing to wink at her goadingly.

"Hacks! I am calling hacks here! That's...just not fair!"

He took his time walking over, as though taking a casual stroll in the park, and even doing a small skip along the way. As he reached her, he smiled, bent down, gripped her by the neck, and lifted her up to his face.

"Hiya" he breathed at her. His breath invaded and burned her nostrils. It didn't have a smell, it was just colder than the worst blizzard and burned to breathe in.

"So...other than giving me a mild headache and briefly pissing me off, was that supposed to do anything?"

She half considered spitting in his face out of defiance, but instead she decided she'd do something else...

"Yeah dickhead, it was supposed to fry your cocky ass like my breakfast omelet this morning! Instead you've got me gripped by the neck and wondering if I get to see the nonasshole version of Daybreak again sometime soon?"

He blinked...then blinked again. He was slightly taken aback by her words, expecting a little more fear and less bravado while he had her by the windpipe. It was unnerving in a way.

"I could kill you right now...you know what happens to those who die in the True S-"

"Oh would you just go fucking fuck yourself already! Goddess if your gonna kill me then kill me, at least spare me the ranting's, I get enough of that from my egghead friend!"

Again, he just stood there, gripping her neck just lightly enough to allow her to breathe...and blinking like she'd slapped him.

"Ummm...ok...So...I'm bored now, this isn't any fun when you're not scared...so umm...fuck you...and...bye."

He dropped her, allowing her to hit the floor, smacking her face into the ground yet again, and still bound by the yellow rings. He turned on the spot, exploding into a cloud of dark aura that covered her vision. She heard a loud thud a foot or two away from her as his eerie hissing voice echoed around her ears.

"The next time we see each other won't be so fun Daaaaaashie!" His shrill banshee-like laugh echoed around her, making her cringe in pain as the final remnants of his aura faded away.

Rainbow sighed with relief "Damn...really thought he was gonna snap my neck that time...wait!."

She looked up and yelled to the fading flames "Who are you anyway!?"

As the last bits of fire and smoke died away, a shadow figure appeared around her, igniting her right arm in black flames. She went to cry out...but felt no pain. Instead she felt something drop into her palm. She strained her neck to look back at what was there. A piece of black paper, burned around the edges, and in the center, white writing in a language she did not recognize.

"έκλειψη Ηλίου!"

She gripped the paper tight, she'd have to wait until she was freed before she could worry about what it said. The cloud of dark aura was gone and now she could clearly see what had hit the ground inside it. Daybreak was lying a few feet away from her, looking just as he had before the other...thing...had shown up. He was clearly out cold, and shivering madly as though he were in a pile of snow. She started to stand up, hoping help him...but realized she was still bound by the lightning rings and unable to move much at all.

"Oh come on! Seriously?! Why are these even still here?!"

She flopped about, annoyed and angry. Her legs and arms were growing stiff from being bound straight for so long. She lifted her head again and started lightly beating it into the ground.

"Why!"

*smack*

"Won't!"

*smack*

"These!"

*smack*

"Stupid!"

*smack*

"Things!"

*smack*

"Go"

*smack*

"Away!"

*smack*

Exhausting her strength and tired of head-butting the floor, she conceded to simply lay there and wait for rescue.

"Surely the class has to be close to over by now? There's no way we haven't been in here more than an hour..."

She looked up the white sky and yelled as loud as she could

"Hey Doc! In case you haven't noticed, no one is moving, and some of us need a hand here! Get us the fuck out already!"

A full minute passed without response, and she was about to start shouting curses, when a small white rip/portal opened up in front of her. The Doctor strode in, a grave look that she was not used to seeing, etched across his features. He strode over to Daybreak and threw him over his shoulder. Then proceeded over to Rainbow Dash and picked her up by the ring that was around her belly, carrying her like a suitcase. She quickly shoved the small piece of paper into her pocket, deciding it was best to keep it to herself for now. The Doctor walked over to the portal without a word to her, and tossed her through. Then after glancing back, as though looking for something still inside, he lowered his eyebrows and stepped though with Daybreak still draped over his shoulder.

Her eyes were blinded with cascading images she could not piece together or comprehend as she flew threw the portal. Rainbow shut her eyes until it was over, and she felt herself being propelled out of the cold like a potato in a sling shot. She bounced onto the floor with a painful "oof!" and conceded (again) to lay there until someone helped her up. Once the spots cleared from her vision and she was able to look around a bit, she saw that nearly the entire class was standing around her. That set her in a irritated state

"Gee, don't everybody help me at once!"

Her voice dripped with disdain, was a hand too much to ask?

"No one is helping you, until we can determine if you're gonna be a problem with what comes next..."

Rainbow strained her head around to look behind her as the Doctor stepped out of the portal, still carrying Daybreak over his shoulder, who now seemed to be waking up. The Doctor dropped him, none to softly, onto the ground next to Rainbow and motioned to someone off to the side, whom Rainbow could not see from her lovely spot on the floor. Daybreak gave a small groan and started to twitch lightly as he woke.

"What do you mean? Let me out of these stupid rings already! At least help him! He's freezing, I can feel it from here!"

"Quiet Rainbow Dash!"

The Doctors voice came out much sharper than she could ever remember him speaking in the two years she had known him. He was glaring down at Daybreak, then looked over to her...and slightly softened his gaze.

"We can't let you out just yet...and don't worry, he's not gonna freeze in here. The vacuum of True Space won't affect him anymore, he'll be up in moments. But we can't have you moving around until after..."

"Until after what?" Her voice rang with suspicion "What's going on"

"Just relax Rainbow Dash, trust me, everything's gonna be fine."

She whipped her head around to find Twilight Sparkle kneeling beside her, a rather proud smirk adorning her face, and a small burn along the left side of her clothing. Rainbow was now very, very confused.

"Twilight? What's-"

"Ohhh...mmmmph my head....where am I...Dash? That you?"

Twilight stood from her side so quick Rainbow felt wind rush past her

"He's awake Doctor."

"Yes I see that Ms. Sparkle, thank you...guards!"

"What?!" Rainbow yelled loudly, turning her head back to Daybreak as three guards appeared off to the side and began pushing through the crowd of students. The men were dressed as Royal guards from Celestia's palace, which was odd to see so far away from Canterlot. Their armor gleamed gold against the bright sunlit room, the tips of their spears seemed to fizzle with some kind of yellow aura as they worked through the mass of students, stopping only once they came to stand at Daybreaks side. Twilight pointed down at him, her grin growing ever wider on her face

"That's him sirs...that's-" Before she could finish the Doctor stepped in front of her, blocking her from view of the guards and gently pushing her back into the crowd.

"I'll take it from here Princess, I am the teacher after all, I can handle it."

He cleared his throat, then motioned down at Daybreak with an open palm.

"Sirs, if you could please escort him to the Headmistress, that would be greatly appreciated. Oh and do feel free to stun him if he tries to run."

"What? NO! Back the fuck off! He didn't do anything wrong!"

The guards reeled back for a moment at Rainbows sharp outburst, then quickly moved back in upon realizing she was restrained, and on the floor. Daybreak chose that particular moment to sit up, rubbing his head in pain. Three spears instantly dropped to head height, surrounding him on three sides. He blinked away his foggy vision and realized where he was.

"Oh...great...Why is it this happens everywhere I go?"

The Doctor motioned at the guards "Take him"

The three spears instantly lowered to his center and closed in as he stood up, looking groggy, but still managing to keep his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Magic tipped? If I didn't know better I'd say you were planning on stunning me? I'm shocked! Don't you trust me?"

Twilight had managed to work her way around the mob students, back in front of the Doctor.

"Well I can hardly expect you to come quietly can I?"

Daybreak lowered his eyes in a small sigh

"I suppose you're to blame for this lovely welcoming committee Twilight?"

"I might have had a hand in it, yes...What? You knew this was coming didn't you?"

Another sigh escaped his lips, he turned to leave, motioning to the three guards surrounding him.

"Shall we go then?"

"Daybreak...?"

He froze in place. The voice had barely been audible, just above a whisper. He looked back, and saw Rainbow, still bound his other half's lightning rings. She was looking up at him, fear and confusion etched all over her face.

"What's going on? Why are they taking you?"

He felt a stab of guilt hit him in the chest as she looked up at him, he couldn't meet her eyes.

"Rainbow I-"

"Get moving kid, we don't have all day!" One of the guards gave him a small shove forward with the butt end of his spear, and started walking, forcing him to move unless he wanted to be jabbed in the back by the pointed end. His first instinct was to turn and floor all three of them, but that would definitely kill his chances of getting out of this...so he played nice and kept walking. He turned and yelled back to her as they exited the room.

"I'll be back Rainbow, I promise!"

Rainbow was not satisfied with that answer, she hated being lied to and knew he was lying right then, she could see it on his face. She began to flail about on the floor, desperately trying to break the bonds around her body.

"Let me go! Let me go! Why are you taking him! He hasn't done anything wrong! Daybreak! Daybreak!"

She was straining the lightning around her wrists and feet so much they were beginning to stretch while she pulled against them, sparking dangerously as she flailed! Twilight dropped to her side, desperately trying to calm her down, Sunset Shimmer managed to push through the crowd as well and reach her friends side.

"Rainbow! Rainbow please, you need to calm down, they'll never let you free if you keep up like this."

She lashed out with her bound legs, trying to kick everything within kicking distance of her and not giving a damn who it was

"I don't care! I'll break out if I have to! He hasn't done anything wrong! Go stop them Twi! Sunset? Come on! Stop them!"

Twilight made to speak but Sunset Shimmer put her hand out in front of her, shaking her head.

"I'll handle it"

Twilight nodded and backed off, dismissing herself to follow Daybreak and the guards down the hall. Sunset put her palm on Rainbows back, calming her thrashing for a moment.

"Rainbow please...just calm down for a second and I'll explain ok?"

Steam was rising from Rainbows back, whether it was from magic or the heat she was generating contrasting with the cold autumn air in the room, Sunset did not know. But she was nevertheless relieved when Rainbow conceded, nodding her head slowly on the blue rug beneath her. Giving her friend a small smile, Sunset gently rolled Rainbow onto her side, and materialized a pillow for her to rest her head. Rainbow nodded in appreciation, then lowered her eye lids in a sinister stare

"So why did they take him?"

Sunset shifted uncomfortably, and decided she'd better sit down. Crossing her legs, she let out a sigh and began to speak

"Well..."