Daybreak was led through a series of hallways that seemed to turn around a new corner every ten feet. He was truly curious as to where they were taking him, it obviously wasn't the dungeons. The dungeons were farther below the school, as he had learned from Rainbows map. He'd heard the Doctor say the Headmistress office, but that hardly made any sense. It was unlikely he was being escorted by three guards just to be given detention or a scolding by the head tool of the school. Nevertheless, he knew that if he wanted any hope to remain of him getting back to Rainbow Dash, he had to play nice.

A year ago, heck, even a few months ago, if he'd been in this same situation anywhere else, it would be going very differently. He'd have already incapacitated the guards, and would be on his way to delete his existence from the schools memory banks, then from the people themselves. The one major benefit of having a memory spell that had to be spoken aloud to take effect was, when one had access to a school loudspeaker, which often was voiced all over the school. He'd never had any trouble removing his existence if he'd needed to.

But now, things were different from before. He didn't wanna leave, and as much as he hated to admit it...it was what he feared more than anything right then. That he would be expelled for using dark magic. Even if this wasn't about his identity being discovered, which was most likely the case considering Twilight had practically sang to him that she'd been involved, the entire class had probably seen his and Rainbows battle, if the crowd afterwards had been any indication. Which meant everyone, including the Doctor, Twilight, and Sunset Shimmer had seen his mirror form take control and beat Rainbow senseless with dark magic. He was almost surely expelled. Though, he had to admit, the way she handled the situation was quite impressive, if she'd planned it out. Although, knowing her, it could have just as easily been that she was pissed and felt like running her mouth. Either way, if he ever got the chance, he'd have to congratulate her for it.

The problem was...whether or not he'd ever get the chance. Although he used Dark magic every single day of his life, he disguised it well enough to keep hidden. He changed it's color to match his natural green aura, he worked constantly on keeping in control so he would never lose himself to it's power, and took extra care to never reveal his nature to others. He was living proof that the art wasn't as corruptive as many were led to believe. If one took the proper time to train and control it, rather than letting it control the user, then it could be harnessed just as easily as normal magic. The problem was, most of society didn't see it that way, and he couldn't fault them for it. Over the history of Equestria itself, anytime someone wielding powerful dark magic ever became known, they always, alwaaaaays, turned evil or corrupt not long after.

King Sombra and the Crystal Empire were a prime example. The man had been a completely different person before he'd discovered the Dark Arts. After which he become obsessed with it's power and let it consume him in shadow. The scar he'd left on the crystal people would never fade, and they, out of all the people in the world, were the ones he was sure would never except dark magic as a possible ally.

The citizens of Equestria were hardly any less bias. But again, Daybreak could not blame them for it. His father Discord had waged a war on his mother, Princess Celestia, that had lasted one thousand years from start to finish. There were small technicalities concerning his birth and the true ending of the war, but all together, it was pretty much one thousand years. A millennium of warfare can hardly be forgotten so quickly, especially when the main antagonizer of it was wielding, (three guesses what) Dark Magic as his mane force. Now his father had insisted on multiple occasions that the "Chaos Magic" he wielded was different from standard Dark Magic. But Daybreak did not buy into that notion and didn't care even if it was true. It all mattered how the worlds people perceived it, and they perceived it as Dark Magic, which meant that's what it would be named for all of history.

Then there was Nightmare Moon. Princess Celestia's beloved sister turn usurper, had attempted to take over Equestria and seal it forever in an endless night time. Although her "rebellion" had only lasted a matter of hours due to her having no army, and her taking on her sister alone in single combat, her betrayal had still left it's mark, not only on Celestia, but on the citizens of Equestria as well. She had been banished by the famed Elements of Harmony and sealed within the moon for ten years, five years after Daybreaks birth. She was only restored to her old self thanks (once again) to the power of the Elements, and Twilight Sparkle, who battled against her after she freed herself from her prison and attempted another coup. He still wasn't entirely sure what had prompted Luna to rebel against her sister and attempt to overthrow her using dark magic, but he had his theories.

From what little he could remember about his aunt in the brief meetings they'd had in his dreams as a child, she had been the only one to speak against his exile at birth. Cadence had not been present for his conception and so he could never know her true opinion of him, as he had still never met her to this day. However, Luna had spoken publicly about how he should have been raised as a prized son and prince, rather than thrown to the streets to suffer and die alone. It was Luna who had formed the law protecting him from being killed by the citizens of Canterlot, and hired her own personal guard to severally punish any who nearly killed him. After seeing the written law himself, (by breaking into the legislative section of his mothers castle once he was older), he'd learned that they weren't even supposed to be able to touch him in any harmful way. But, clearly the citizens hadn't cared enough about consequences to not beat him on a daily basis. A more logical theory was that Luna had charmed him with some kind of protection spell, alerting her or her guards when he was in imminent danger of being beaten to the point of death by any citizen. This made more sense, as he remembered once being mauled so badly by a dog in the streets, he would have surely died if his own magical force hadn't taken shape and healed him. Since the dog wasn't considered a citizen, no guards ever showed up to check on him. The few times he'd ever seen the night guards, they'd never stepped in to help, but once, and it was obvious the beating was going too far on that occasion, as knives had been drawn by some citizens and were nearly used on him.

Luna had visited him a few times in his dreams when he was much younger. Those rare nights had been the only solace he had, and always occurred when the abuse became too intense for him to take consciously. Luna would appear in his dreams, always sad, always full of tears like he had been back then. She talked sometimes, but mostly just held him in a magical cloud inside his mind until the kicking, punching or beating stopped. The she would reawaken him, and disappear. The few times they'd actually spoken in real conversation were later on, just before and just after he'd arrived and departed the orphanage. He'd asked her to explain to him in detail, who he was and why he'd been put through this. The first time she refused and only briefly touched on it...but the net time, when he was preparing to leave the orphanage and set out on his own travels, she'd told him everything.

Luna was possibly the only person in Equestria that Daybreak felt he could trust, other than Rainbow Dash. Though they'd almost never spoken, she'd gone out of her way to try and comfort him, as little as it had been, it had helped. Although he still hated the world and everyone in it, her small acts had been enough to keep him from becoming evil. She'd proven, before he even understood the concept, that there was good, along with evil, in the world. It just so happened that evil seemed to dominate it, despite the belief Equestrian citizens held to that "friendship conquered all". Daybreak had traveled far beyond Equestria in his years of solitude. He'd been with Drakes, Dragons, the Zebra peoples, Centaurs, heck, he'd even met Cerberus once. He remembered he'd wandered so far outside of any known map, he'd found an actual pathway leading down to Tartarus. He'd stopped at the door after seeing Cerberus of course, and being told very politely by the beast to go "fuck himself". But he still remembered where it was, just in case Twilight ever pissed him off too much (kidding). Back to the point, he'd seen what the world outside of Equestria's little bubble of tolerance was. It was cruel, and in some places, the cruelty he'd seen done to others made his life look normal. Yeah, dragon mating season, he was not in a hurry to ever see that in person again.

Regardless, Luna wasn't here to protect him now, nor was Rainbow Dash likely to ever break those magic rings. He was alone, as usual, and with every fact and stereotype laid against him, he'd likely be expelled and never see Rainbow Dash again.

As the guards opened the final door, and escorted him into an office blocked by a large golden Phoenix, Daybreaks thoughts became scattered. desperately searching for some clever or sly way to get out of this doomed situation. But as the Phoenix moved to allow them passage, and he was seated on a turquoise chair, inside what he assumed to be, the Headmistress office, he could only think of one way out...and he hated himself to deciding to do it.

The room which he'd been seated in was probably the most normal looking out of all the rooms he'd seen inside the school so far. It looked like an ordinary office that one would find inside a college, which only made him all the more wary of it. He was shoved, rather roughly, into the chair and half expected the guards to chain him down or in some way restrain him...but they did none of that. After seating him, they turned and left without a word. Daybreak noticed that the Headmistress's chair was facing away from him, presumably facing out the window behind that was head height behind the desk. As she had yet to turn and look at him, Daybreak used this chance to feel out the room with his magical sense. Opening up his eyes to magic, he looked about the room, expecting to see...well...something of interest....but he found nothing. Nothing about this room was threatening or worth distressing over. There was no gravity spell to bind him in place, no seal restraining his magic use, fuck, not even a hidden camera that could be magically activated to possibly record him doing anything that might incriminate him. The room was as bland and devoid of threat as his home toilet...heck even that thing was more threatening (when he brought it to life and set it upon unsuspecting would-be burglars of course).

He wasn't sure if he was disappointed or insulted that this woman felt so unthreatened by him that she hadn't put up a single defense in her office to protect herself. Still having not turned around, the Headmistress's chair showed no signs of moving anytime soon. So, after deactivating his magical sight, he examined the room with his normal vision. He was partially please to see that at least the room itself looked more interesting than its aura. The room was only ten foot by ten foot in total, rather small in comparison to the rest of the college and the general feeling of the school. The offices color was a dull rusty red and the carpet had the feeling of sheep's wool when he rubbed his shoes across the floor. Scattered about the room, in no conceivable order, were an assortment of oddly shaped tiki carvings made from both wood shavings and coconut skins. They seemed to litter every shelf, window sill, and small crevice they could be fit into. It left Daybreak feeling cluttered and oddly claustrophobic.

Oddly enough, the most interesting part of the room itself was the walls. Lining the perimeter of the wall were dozens of animal heads, each one exactly seven feet off the ground and in perfect alignment with the next. The animals ranged from common, to legendary...and even unheard of. He spotted some common ones such as bear, tiger, and boar...but then there was also, Timberwolf, Parasprite, (that one had the whole body...for obvious reasons) and a Vampire Fruit Bat. There was a Hydra head, then a young Dragon head that took up three spaces, and next (he was sure this one had to be fake) a Sphinx, and a Manticore. Near the end of the wall closest to him, the creatures became harder to identify, or downright impossible to name. He spotted a green skinned head in the shape of a square, with a frowny face adorning it's pixelated features, he could not identify what creature that was supposed to be, if it even was a creature. He also spotted a black skinned head, with a slimy looking coating, and no viewable eyes. It's mouth was open and, as he briefly glanced inside, he saw...what looked like a second mouth where it's tongue should be, also unidentifiable. There were several more unknowable creatures, leading up to the final slot on the wall, which ended right behind the headmistresses desk above the window. The final head...wasn't a head at all, but a crown, a crown that looked like it belonged to one of the deceased pharaohs of Ewegypt. It was golden in color and had longs braids of sapphire and ruby gem stones gliding down the backside of the headpiece. Just by the head shape and overall design, it was obvious that this was fitted for a woman...or a very oddly shaped man. Either way, he'd have loved to know to whom that once belonged.

"They're all real you know."

A powerful, but softly spoken, yet, mature sounding voice, floated over to him from the front of the chair that still faced away from him. The chair did not turn to meet his gaze, but the voice continued anyways, giving Daybreak the impression he was talking to the air. He was momentarily confused

"W-wha-?"

"The heads along the walls, they are all real. You've been staring for quite awhile, so I can only discern that you were curious." The pitch and speaking tone of her voice didn't seem to flow with any emotion, but still, Daybreak felt a distinct impression of déjà vu, as though he'd heard it somewhere before. When he did not respond, the voice spoke again.

"You do not believe me?"

Glancing quickly at the latter end of the heads, the ones that he could not identify, he found it hard to buy into that these were real. He opened his mouth, but the voice seemed to anticipate him

"Yes even those at the end, all are real"

Either she could see through the back of her head, and the chair to view his skeptical look, or she could literally sense his disbelief. Either way she continued on

"Those are heads of every creature I have ever slain, with my own hands. Before I became headmistress of this institution, my hobby was hunting the rare and legendary creatures you see before you."

Even though he could not see her face, it was obvious her voice was filled with her own pride at her achievements. Daybreak could easily relate, if these really were actual heads...then this woman deserved that pride. After all, the dragon and the hydra alone would have earned her his respect...but something bothered him.

"What did you do with the rest of the animal...once you had the head, what became of the bodies?"

He heard a faint snicker escape her lips.

"Every animal's resources were used to their fullest, nothing went to waste. The bears hide was used to make some amazing clothing, and the rest was eaten, the dragons scales were shaped into armor and weapons. The meat was used for soups in the Great Hall on Nightmare Night, the Manticores mane was made into scarfs and its tail used to create antivenom for scorpion stings. Anything meaty that was left over from the animals was used in, or is being used for food. We wasted nothing....except the Hydra. I killed that for a different reason entirely...and burned the body afterwards."

Daybreak felt like he should have been sitting farther away from this woman, he couldn't even see her and she already left a heavy impression on him.

"She even knew why I asked where the bodies went..."

He looked up as he heard the squeak of her chair, turning around to face him. She looked onto him, and he felt something heavy weigh upon his chest, along with the return of his déjà vu. The woman he was staring at was...hard to describe. He started with her clothing, which was giving off an impression of its own. She wore a jet black robe that covered her entire body all the way down to her feet. The robe left no skin exposed, but did not do much to hide the size of her overly large breasts, which jutted out obviously from within the robe. No skin shown through, but it was nevertheless distracting.

"If those aren't magically enhanced, I'm a fucking centaur"

Moving past her boobs (which might have been bigger than Fluttershy's) he looked at her hair next. Her hair was a faded green, graying with age in certain areas along the tips of her hairs, and in some spots even leaving a long gray streak. Her eyes were a bright emerald green just like his, it was weird to look at, as he had never met another person with his eye color. Green eyes yes, but never a bright emerald like this, sparkling in the light it was exactly like his own, and unnerving to look at. She had strong cheek bones and a slightly grayer complexion than his own, but healthy looking. Moving upwards he saw a black witches hat perched atop her head, the tip was purple in color and leaned over lazily on the rest of the hat.

Other than those basic features, he could see nothing else about this woman, other than a possible guess at her age. Her dulling hair implied she was an older woman, but her body structure, powerful eyes and soft looking skin said that she was still very young...or was very good at age magic. It must have been obvious that he was looking her over as her next words almost made him red in the face.

"Boys are the same everywhere it seems"

He reeled back in his chair, sending it back a few feet. He shook his head rapidly.

"No no no! No! That's not what I was doing! I was trying to figure how old you were."

She smiled, her smile was warm, but still left him with an uneasy feeling inside.

"I know, I just wanted to see how you'd react." She touched the tips of her hair that showed under the hat.

"I'd go off this if I were you, rather than my figure."

He nodded slowly, and she stared over at him. He got the faintest feeling he was being x-rayed, that seemed to be a common occurrence with the teachers around here.

"I am headmistress Shicvala (Shik-va-la), but most people call me Headmistress Shiva (She-va) for short."

"Why do they call you that"

She chuckled, more to herself than him, then made a couple wavy motions with her fingers "Oh a little bit of this and that...it's not important right now...What is important, is you."

She gave him another warm, but uneasy smile. "Do you know why you're in here?"

He gave a hesitant nod. Despite what he may have thought about himself, he didn't fancy pissing off this powerful looking woman. Anyone who could slay a Dragon, Hydra and a Manticore on their own deserved some manner of respect. Which meant he'd have to play it safe and simply do whatever she asked in the most normal way possible...and eventually probably beg on his knees to stay in the school.

"Ugh...such a disgusting thought..." he felt physically sick at the thought of him begging anyone for anything...but he knew that's what it'd probably take.

The headmistress suddenly let out a booming laugh, one that actually shook him in his chair! He almost keeled over and lost his seat as she bellowed

"Ok, so you know why you're in here?! Tell me then, why are you?"

He gulped, swallowing a large lump in his throat. Intimidating him wasn't an easy task, even though Rainbow had managed to do it without much trouble, but this woman had already managed to make him physically fearful of getting to close to her, as though she might tear his head off, like she probably had the dragons. He had to focus on coursing his magic through his body, to calm himself enough to speak without sounding pathetically shaky. He cleared his throat

"I'm guessing...it's because I used Dark Magic in my duel against Rainbow Dash"

There was a moment of silence, in which the headmistress simply stared at him. Then, after a long pause, she burst out in booming laughter yet again, this time successfully knocking him from his chair with it's power and volume. As he picked up his dignity and resumed his seat, she calmed herself enough to speak.

"No no child, that's not why you're here. Though...you do know I could have you expelled for such a thin...-what are you doing?"

At the word expel, Daybreak had lost it inside. He practically dove around the headmistresses desk and threw himself at her feet. Every shred of his pride seemed to swan dive into his stomach, as the thought of never seeing his only friend again became very possible.

"Please..." he looked up at her eyes, hoping with every shred of his being that this worked, as his dignity would likely be beyond self repair afterwards. "...Please don't expel me...I'm begging you...I've never cared about staying in a school as much as I do now...please!"

She looked down at him, her heavy emerald eyes judging him, as though weighing his worth. She was stunned into silence for a moment, then she spoke, her voice much deeper and much more serious than it had been before.

"Get up."

He did as instructed.

"Sit back down in your chair."

He obeyed again. She leaned over and looked at him, hard, as though she were looking straight through him. He met her gaze and tried not to challenge it, as he normally would have for anyone else. Instead he focused on her hand, which was slowly fishing through her desk searching for something. They shared a stare for a full minute before her hard look softened back into a smile, but a more sinister one than before. She pulled her hand from within her desk, and in it she held a large bowl of what looked like...cookies?

"Have a biscuit"

"Wha-what?"

He looked back to her gaze, meeting it fully again, she repeated herself.

"Have, a, biscuit."

He glanced to the bowl and back to her.

"I'm...fine thanks.

"This is really weird...her glare is saying completely different things than her lips are"

"It wasn't a request, take one."

"Well...now they're both saying the same thing...guess I don't really have a choice in this situation. How bad could it be?"

He reached out and plucked up one of the lumpy cookies, then slowly bit down on it, taking half of it into his mouth and slowly chewing. He licked it around in his mouth, trying to discern the taste and ingredients. He hardly expected her to poison him in the middle of her office, but hey, anything was possible. It tasted quite good actually, but there was a lingering after taste that he couldn't quite place...something that hovered just on the edge of his brain, and he knew he'd tasted it somewhere previously. Before he could complete his analysis of the food, she spoke to him again, in a much softer voice, like the one she started with.

"Now then...tell me. Why don't you want me to expel you...Child of Chaos."

If it were possible to freeze his own blood, he might have down so right then out of shock! He leaned forward, briefly choking on the rest of the cookie. After a moment of willing it down, he looked up at the headmistress with tear stained eyes. He wanted to ask how she knew, but as he opened his mouth to ask, different words came out.

"I don't wanna leave Rainbow Dash."

"What the flying fuck?! Why did I say that?!"

His hands flew to his lips and a red blush found his cheeks. She did not laugh, she simply leaned back in her chair, a satisfied grin across her lips.

"Ok then. Tell me, why don't you wanna leave Rainbow Dash."

He opened his mouth again to speak, and just like before, words different from his thoughts came flying out

"I've grown really attached to her."

Just like before, his hands flew back up, and this time he kept them there.

"What's going on!? Why am I...no...the cookies!"

His eyes widened in terrible realization as he looked down at the bowl before him, and the headmistresses grin grew ever wider. But he was still confused, he'd tasted every single truth serum on the planet, and knew each one by the smallest taste or smell (imagine how long that took to do).

"How did she slip me a truth potion without me detecting it!?"

As if waiting for her queue, the headmistress leaned over the desk, her extra large breasts almost knocking her computer monitor (that he hadn't seen until now, hidden behind all her tiki's) off the desk.

"I can see your confused, allow me to explain. Twilight Sparkle was just as shocked as you are right now when I put her through the same treatment her first day, last year. Granted I let you go four days without bothering you so I could see how you were, and maybe pick up your intentions for myself. But either you're better than her at hiding what you want, or you really were originally just here for school...either way we'll get to that in a moment. You must be wondering, with all your power how you didn't detect a truth potion in those biscuits I gave you. Well, I'll tell you. It's cause that's not a truth potion. It's my own special brew, you can't tell while I'm hidden under all these robes, but I'm from the Zebra clan. My skin is black and white striped just like the animal we take after. We specialize in potions and rare types of magic. That potion in your belly doesn't make you tell the truth. It gives me control over your entire body, with just my mind. It's a spell mixed in with a body numbing potion. I'm simply using it to make you tell the truth. By not allowing your lips to say anything but what you really feel, even if it's not what you're thinking."

"Well...fuck me sideways...that's actually really clever...bitch...but I could swear I've tasted that somewhere befo-"

*Whack*

"Ow! The fuck was that for!?"

His hand had suddenly sprung from his side and thumped him atop his own head. He glared over at her with an almost, hateful gaze. She simply chuckled.

"As long as this spell is active, my magic has full access to your body and mind...that includes your thoughts. So don't bother thinking hateful things, as I'll know. Just say what you feel, after all, it's not like you have a choice, we're bonded for now."

She let out a girly giggle that didn't fit her frame, but her last words did give Daybreak an idea.

Cutting across her giggle before she could question him further, he hastily asked her

"So we're bonded you say? As in linked through magic, both our minds that is?"

She stopped giggling and looked at him an odd amount of curiosity adorning her features.

"Yes that's right...why?"

His expression changed into an evil grin, his eyes glimmering with malice

"Perfect"

Hearing his thoughts, the headmistress raised an eyebrow "What do you mea- wahhhhh!"

Cutting herself off, a surge of energy appeared over her head, knocking the black hat from its perch and sending her backwards in her rolling chair! She fell backwards behind her desk, and when she arose, she was practically steaming from the ears.

"How did you-mmpph!"

"Ah ah ah." Daybreak wiggled his index finger at her, as though scolding a child. "You talk when I let you, I'm in control now."

He motioned to the chair, and, using her own powers against her, made her pick it back up, and sit down in it, after gathering her hat back up of course. Daybreak stood from his own chair and leaned over her desk on his elbows

"You should really learn who you're dealing with. If your gonna try and take over my mind, my mind, the mind of Discords son, as you were so kind to subtly point out earlier, you'd need alot more mental strength than that. Now, I could ask you how you found out who I am...but considering Twilight practically sang her confession to me in an overjoyed manner, I think it's rather obvious. So instead, I'll simply have you forget we ever shared this talk, you will forget that am Discords offspring, and you will forget what I have said about Rainbow Dash. Then I think I'll be on my way."

He turned to leave, more than satisfied with the way he'd handled being temporarily out witted. He was about to reach for the door, when his head suddenly exploded in agony! He dropped to his knees clutching at his skull. It felt like a thousand major league baseball players were having a go at his head...with lead bats! Painful hot tears tried to form in his eyes and escape...then...the pain was gone. He looked up slowly as his motor functions seemed to return, and found the headmistress standing behind her desk, pasty grey aura fizzling along her robed arms.

"Awww fuck..."

"Oh fuck is right! We aren't done here, now come here and sit back down!"

Oddly, his body responded with no delay. He was flabbergasted, instantly he tried to regain control with another surge of magic...but was met with no success. Bewildered, he continued his attempts until he was fully seated and staring back at the headmistress, whose smug grin seemed to have returned.

"That was a very good try kid, I'll give you that. Even Princess Twilight didn't think to try and reverse the connection on me, she simply sat there and took it. I suppose that's one of the many ways you differ from your old rival."

He grimaced "How much does this woman know?"

Leaning back in her chair once again, she resumed her old speech pattern, talking much softer now.

"How I know what I know is hardly important, what is important however, is what you've shown me in just our brief encounter. You are exactly like I expected you to be...with some small, minor differences. You are prideful to an almost arrogant point and you severally underestimate people who you don't perceive as a threat. I could expel you right now, without a second thought and no one would say a word against it...well...almost no one. Heck, I could even have you arrested for not only using dark magic, but then using it on the headmistress of this university and attempting to dominate my mind with it."

He began to sweat in his chair. He was screwed, so very, very screwed, and there was nothing he could do while being bound like he was.

"But that's not what I'm going to do."

"What?"

Even if she hadn't read his mind, his expression said it all. She chuckled at him once again.

"What? You were expecting me to get rid of you? Just like that? No, I can see your thoughts, hard as they may be to grasp due to your own mental strength, and I've seen based on your actions. You're not here for your fathers means, you could have tried to make me do any number of things when you thought you controlled me a moment ago. But instead all you wanted was for me to forget what happened here, and then tried to simply walk out. You could have had the Elements separated, or imprisoned. You could have done something so petty as to have me lower Twilight's grade for all I know. But you didn't. That shows character, regardless of what your favorite princess has to say about you, I'm willing to bet on you. Don't get me wrong, I think you're a cocky, arrogant, smart mouth little shit who needs to be severally humbled in a magic duel format. But your not evil, even if you are made of dark magic."

Daybreak simply sat in the chair, no longer trying to resist the power holding him down. He was too shocked by what he was hearing to even think of resisting anymore. The things she said, and the amount of knowledge she already had on him, was nothing short of scary. Despite his every attempt throughout life to remain anonymous, this random woman knew who he was before he'd ever set foot in her office, and knew things about him even Twilight didn't know. He was starting to doubt that Twilight was even her source.

"How...how do you know so much about me?"

Her emerald eyes locked with his, and she smiled her ever unnerving smile

"It doesn't matter how I know. Just know that this school will be a safe haven for you from the rest of the world. I can't guarantee your secret will be safe though...after today the news of your identity will likely meet everyone's ears, thanks to your old rival. She came to me you know, asking me to expel you right after your little yelling match the other day, but I set her straight and told her the same thing I'll tell you now. Until you give me a reason to believe that you intend this school or Equestria harm, you are welcome among my students, with protection."

He raised a curious brow "Protection?"

She nodded "From other students"

Now it was his turn to burst out laughing! He would have fallen from his chair if any of his limbs were under his own power! Though the headmistress did not seem to share in his amusement.

"Keep your protection ma'am. I can handle myself."

She lowered her eyes "Yes I know how powerful you are. But you don't know how strong some of these students are, tell me you haven't been the least bit surprised in the past few days? Your fight with Rainbow Dash is a prime example. You may have the most power out of anyone here, but your fight with her is valid evidence that the one with all the power doesn't always come out on top. You underestimated her, and lost the duel. Now you're underestimating these students, and could lose much more."

He chuckled "Like what?"

"Your life."

He stopped smiling "What?"

The headmistress sighed, leaning back in her chair again. He felt the numbness in his limbs receding, she motioned over to the window directly behind her.

"Take a look out there and tell me what you see."

Hesitantly he stood and approached her window, peering out its glass frame into the open courtyard of the campus. Her office gave her a perfect view of nearly every other building on the campus, almost all the way to the Everfree. He could see the advantage of its placement, but he couldn't understand what he was supposed to be looking at. All he saw was the large masses of students moving between buildings who chose to travel without the aid of portals. The crowds were large and nearly completely covered the majority of his sight. He almost couldn't see the multicolored leaves of autumn littering the sidewalks and grasses of the campus, with the stampede of feet going through them so quickly. Other than people, he saw nothing else.

"What am I supposed to be seeing here? Am I missing something?"

He turned back to the headmistress, confused

"I don't understand...all I see are other students transiting between-"

"Yes students, exactly! And, do you know how many students are at this school? Just a rough guess?"

Her smirk implied she knew he'd never guess right. But just to humor her, he took a guess that he knew couldn't be right for such a loved and popular school.

"Five thousand?"

Her eyes widened for a moment, then she began giggling wildly

"Close, very close. Not bad at all. The exact number escapes me, but we lean more towards six thousand students a year the last time I checked."

Somehow, Daybreak suddenly gained the ability to choke on air, as he instantly began gagging on nothing, pounding on his own chest trying to catch his breath!

"What?! How's that possible, Ponyville University is so big! How can you have so few students?"

She waved a hand dismissively "It doesn't matter...the point is, almost six thousand students inhabit these grounds, and more than...I'd say, eighty-five percent of them have, or had families who were effected negatively by Discords thousand year war. When, not if, when, they find out you are his son, who do you think they will turn their anger and lust for vengeance on? It won't even matter if Celestia is your mother, or if you're the most powerful being here. They will beat, maim, molest, or kill you if they get the chance. Please, don't give them that chance. You may not realize it, but there are those of us out there who actually have faith in you and know what you really went through, what you could become if you only tried. Most people do hate you, it's true. However some of us (mostly older adults who realize none of this is your fault) actually don't want to see you harmed and wish to help you move on from that life...The Doctor and I are some of those people. Please, help me help you, accept my protection. I won't use my spell to force you, it must be your decision."

Daybreak continued staring out the window for several moments, before chuckling lightly to himself.

"The friendliest place in Equestria hm? If this is where I'd be received the best and people still want to kill me...perhaps it was a mistake to come back after all. Twilight was right...It would be better for everyone if I just left wouldn't it?"

He turned back to face her, an oddly warm look on his face. "But...I think I'll stay regardless. I can't explain it, but I think the danger is worth it. I've never had a reason to enjoy myself before...but having a friend like Rainbow Dash, definitely makes it all worth it. Keep your protection, though I appreciate the offer, I mean that sincerely, oddly enough."

He watched her sigh again, but she too formed a warm smile anyways. "You are just as stubborn as I'd heard...Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."

He smiled to himself "This woman is pretty cool. Who knew there were some decent people still out there..."

"So...is that it...can I go?"

Another booming laugh caused him to retreat back to his chair for safety.

"Oohhhhohoho! Not quite! There are still two more matters to discuss."

"What could she possibly want to discuss still? If me being Discords child doesn't bother her, then what could?"

He raised an eyebrow, feeling a mixture of curiosity and apprehension "And those would be?"

She motioned to his chair with an open palm. When he did not take it, she tapped her forehead with her index finger. He instantly understood her message, which was basically "sit or I'll make you". So he retook his seat as she leaned over her desk to look at him, her large breasts overtaking the desk for the umpteenth time.

"So...here's the deal. You have to do two things for me if I'm gonna allow you to continue remaining here..."

"I already don't like where this is going..."

"What things, may I ask?"

She smirked "You may ask. First, you and miss Rainbow Dash are going to be repairing the track field you so conveniently destroyed your second day here, in that little speed show of yours. This did allow me to request a new field all together though, so count yourself lucky it worked out in my favor."

A small blush crept up the sides of his face. Truthfully, he had forgotten about that entirely, the events of this morning easily overtaking all other thoughts.

"We'll get on that right away."

"You'll do no such thing. Our pre season soccer matches start in a few days. When our opponents, the Canterlot City Minotaurs get here, I want them to see our track, and I want to be able to say to their coach that our team captain, and our newest student, did that. Then I want to take great pleasure in watching Coach Bull piss himself."

Daybreak muffled snicker within a cough, and nodded, indicating he would comply. Then he impatiently waited for her to state her next condition for him to remain within the schools walls.

Staring at him in an x-ray type manner seemed to be her hobby, for he once again felt like he was being scanned as she looked at him, and smiled...again.

"Your next, and most important task, one which I will ensure you fulfill, is this...you will tell Rainbow Dash how you really feel about her."

"What in all of Tartarus!?"

"E-excuse me?!"

"Did you hear me stutter? You will tell Miss Rainbow Dash your real feelings for her, and you will do it the very next time the opportunity presents itself. That's the instruction I'm giving you, and with my spell, I'm gonna make sure you follow it. You will tell her the honest truth. I won't physically watch what happens, you can rest assured of that...but my magic will alert me when it's task has been fulfilled...so the clock is ticking."

"Clock? What clock? The fuck does she mean?"

"What clock are you talking about? Do I have a time limit or something?"

He watched as an evil smile spread across her lips, he knew he'd regret his question instantly.

"In a manner of speaking, yes. You see, I've taken into account your own mental strength. I've also been told that the farther someone moves away from me, the easier it is for them to resist my spell. So I've added an extra layer to my magic this time around, speciaically for you. The longer you try and resist its effects, the more intense they will become. For example; let's say I tell you to eat that batch of biscuits on my desk. Should you try and resist, the impulses you feel towards those biscuits will increase exponentially, and continue to increase the longer you resist. This will proceed until you finally break and give in, which everyone does eventually as the spell won't leave your system until you do. But here's where the best part comes in, because you resisted the spell, by the time you break, you'll not only simply eat those biscuits...but you'll devour them with such a ravenous pleasure, it will drive you wild....Now, imagine that same effect, for your own situation."

Beads of sweat dripped down his chin "Oh no...that's bad"

Every smile this woman had made him uneasy, but when she put effort into making him squirm...it was downright uncomfortable. Amongst his mixed and panicked feelings, a small bit of anger managed to push its way to the surface

"Why huh? Why do you care so much if I tell her what I think of her? You don't even know what I really think of her!" He pointed his finger at her accusingly. His voice was steadily rising as he attempted to keep it from cracking with fear. "It's my business not yours! You have no right to interfere in my personal life...it's not right, its not...not..."

"Fair?" She offered

"No! It isn't fair at all!" He slumped back in the chair and resting his head in his palms.

She did not laugh, but he could hear a mild amount of enjoyment in her voice "You seem to care a great deal about reveling what you really think to her, why is that? Tell the truth."

As much as he tried to fight, it was in vain. His head came up from his palms and his lips moved against his will. "I don't want her to think less of me..." The moment he finished speaking, he returned his face to his palms, hiding his blush and embarrassment within them.

"Hoho! Well that is surprising! The son of Discord cares what another thinks of him? How did that happen...wait, forget I asked, you need not answer. I won't torment you in such a way. I am curious though, you said you've grown attached to her. In just four days you've grown attached to someone? After twenty-two years of swearing up and down Equestria, that friendship and love don't exist, you get attached to this girl in just four days? Why?"

"I don't know. I can't explain it myself."

"Do you still not believe in the power of friendship?"

"I'm...not sure"

"What about love? Do you believe in love now?"

For the first time since her questions started, he smiled. "No"

Her eyes widened for a moment, then resumed their stern stare "No? Well...do you love Rainbow Dash?"

Despite his own cheeks turning a bright red, his lips still gave him a surprising answer "I don't know"

The headmistress's left eye twitched "Come now. No need to resist, I won't tell anyone. Tell the truth!"

"I am." He said it so blankly she knew he wasn't trying to lie...she just didn't believe it.

"You don't know if you love her, but you are attached to her, possibly even attracted?"

"Yes."

"Do you care about her well being"

"Yes."

"Do care about her feelings?"

"Yes."

"Hmmm...ok. Have you shown her any sort of affection in these four days?"

"Yes."

"Like what? What do you consider affection?"

"I...umm"

She felt a sting in her mind, he was trying to resist. She felt his mind trying to push hers away. She pushed back and kept in control, then added more power to her spell. She could feel his resistance fade and crumple away immediately after.

"Aggghh...urrrmmm...we...snuggled...once...and I told her she was the first person I considered a friend...I also...saved her life the day we raced by giving her a necklace made of my dark magic. Her magic went out of balance and she went into cardiac arrest, so I made a necklace out of my energy to stabilize her...she still wears it."

Though her eyes did hint at something when he mentioned the necklace, she seemed uninterested in the rest, she even sighed afterwards. "I was hoping for something like a kiss, or heck, I'd have even been ok with you saying you'd slept with her, but snuggling? That's what you call affection? Well I guess for someone whose never so much as hugged another person, snuggling would be pretty out there for ya. You are in more serious need of affection than anyone I've ever met, kid. Though I do admit...the fact that you made another dark necklace, after your first one went over soooo well, surprises me. I also think you're pretty messed up in the head."

He grimaced under the strain of her spell and scowled at her "I don't need you to tell me what's wrong with me ...how do you even know so much? How do you know about the other necklace?"

Ignoring his latter question, she pointed her finger at him, as though she were sentencing him in court. "But you do need someone to tell you, kid. I've been inside alot of peoples minds over the years, and I've never seen one so jumbled and confused as yours. You told me, under my own truth spell, that you don't know if you love Rainbow Dash or not, and you said you don't believe in love! Yet you were willing to risk everyone's safety by making another dark necklace, and putting it around her neck to save her life?! How can you not call that love?"

She felt another surge of power hit her, this one more strenuous than the last, his anger flowed through their connected minds. She felt herself being briefly pushed out. He stood from his chair again, struggling not to yell.

"How can you say love exists? In a world where a child can be beaten day and night all because of who he was born to? How can love exist in a world where the supreme leader of friendship and tolerance can cast aside her own child?! At birth!? The world is a cruel, and dark, and lonely place! I may have found a friend who's closeness I cherish, but I will never utter the words Friendship is Magic , because it makes me sick. A society that can claim love. and friendship, and tolerance overcomes all, but can't give any of that to one child, will never have my respect! It's all a lie! A sickening one at that! At least other parts of the world are honest about how they are! Dragons will straight up admit they rape their own women during mating season, without hiding a single detail. The Zebra people, whom you hail from, are honest about what they fight for, the misjudged and morally questionable magic they practice. Even the bloody gryphons! Who rule their lands in an Empire, are more honest to their people than we are! Their king, who's a half breed by the way, half human half gryphon, will come out of his castle, stand over his millions of subjects, and tell them the real reasons for their taxes going up, or their children being drafted. They don't claim some greater purpose for their wars, they just downright say 'hey, we wanna take this land to expand our Empire! Let's go to war with them!' and then they do it! Only here in Equestria do we pretend to be better than everyone else, and then lie saying we don't! Only here!"

He gasped for breathe and collapsed back into his seat. He regretted losing his temper the moment he had, but once he started, her own truth powers had kept if flowing until he could resist her control no longer. Now, as he panted in his chair and peered back over at her stone faced look, he wondered if he'd just blown his chance to remain with Rainbow. The headmistress stared at him, her expression unreadable...though it was obvious she was thinking hard on something. He considered apologizing, but his pride demanded he stand firm on what he had said. There as no point in a hollow apology that he wouldn't really mean.

After a minute, or an hour, he wasn't sure, but it felt like an eternity that she sat quiet, she started to move...but what she showed him made his blood run cold. She held up her right hand, which had been below the desk during his long minute of yelling, and in it, she held a tape recorder. With a heavy sigh, she hit the play button, and he listened to himself yell. She paused it before it got very far, then looked at him with a stern expression.

"Clearly...I don't even need dirt or a shovel to dig my own grave, do I?"

She set the recorder down on the desk, then removed her hands from it and placed them in her lap. She motioned to it with her head, her hat tipping slightly towards the recorder.

"I could play this for the entire school to hear at tomorrows assembly, or right now over the loudspeaker. They'd all figure out who it is, with Twilights help, and within an hour everyone would be after your head, even more so knowing who you are." She lifted up both her hands, turning them over three times to show she had nothing hidden in them, then setting them back in her lap below the desk.

"You can try and take this from me right now and delete it, or, you can sit there and do nothing, leaving your fate in my hands."

His eyes dropped down to the recorder.

"What's she playing at? I'm light years faster than her...I could blast that thing before she even lifts her hands...why would she make it so easy?"

All his instincts told him to blast it into pieces like he had Rainbows alarm clock...but his common sense said something else entirely. If he wanted to stay, then he'd have to prove himself to her, right now. His hands twitched in his lap, swarming with energy and just dying to blast that recorder to bits. But he resisted, and simply stared back at her

"You can take it..." His voice sounded of defeat, even though he thought this was what he should do.

He watched with dread as she smirked and picked up the recorder, her thumb hovering over the play button. She held it over the loud speaker while she began to address the school through the mic.

"Good afternoon students, this is your headmistress speaking. I've just had the most wonderful discussion with our newest member of the student body this year, and I'm happy to say that he has something to share with all of you as well."

She moved the loud speaker across her desk towards him. But before he could say he didn't understand, he felt his body go numb and stand up on it's own. Dreadful realization filled him

"Oh nooooooo...this doesn't bode well for me"

Helpless under her magic, he was forced to watch as his body stood and walked over to the loudspeaker, swiping it up from the desk and bringing it to his lips. While at the same time, taking the tape recorder from her outstretched hand and holding it next to the speaker.

"This is beyond cruel...well...goodbye Rainbow Dash...It was nice while it lasted"

He felt himself take a deep breathe, and despite every fiber of his being willing his thumb not to press down, he...began to speak?

"Hello everyone. This is Daybreak. I am the newest addition to Ponyville University this year. I've been traveling the world for as long as I can remember trying to find my way. I've come to Ponyville this year because I've heard that it was a place where everyone is welcome with lo-"

"NO! I won't say it! I won't say that word!"

A huge surge of brief energy swam through his mind, gaining him a singular moment of freedom

"-friendship and tolerance..."

"Phew...ha...take that..." He felt his words once again become hers as he relinquished his resistance, and mentally gave in to her spell, but not before he saw the brief glare she shot him. He didn't care though, he knew he had no energy left to resist anyways, so he merely listened to what she was making his body say to the entire school.

"...This got me thinking that it would be a perfect place for me. You see...by now I'm sure you've heard a few rumors about me flying around. Whether it be about what happened out on the track field during my race with Rainbow Dash, or about who I really am, supposedly. Well...I've been all over the world, and one of the many things I learned out there is, hiding who you are from everyone around you, can only end badly. So I'm going to tell you the truth firsthand...It's true, what you've probably heard...I am the son of Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria, and Discord, Master of Chaos."

Author's Notes:

Ewe - A full grown female sheep
Ewegypt
Yes. I made that pun.
Come at me bros!