Author's Notes:

Yes yes I know this took way too long. I'm sorry ok.

These things take time and I cant always provide them when I promise, but rest assured I don't forget about you guys.

Can't say when the next one will be. But I hope you like cliffhangers.
See you on the far side.

If you have ever had the pleasure of working with a disabled or crippled limb, then surely you can guess that jumping from branch to branch in a thick brush of mangroves is no easy task. Add to the fact that Daybreak seemed unable to resist screeching out Rainbows name every other jump like a mad banshee, made this task all the more annoying. It was becoming an aggravating and unbearable routine to constantly witness. He would jump, land, plant his feet on the branch, yell, then jump again and repeat. Granted the jumps from branch to branch were magically charged so he did manage to hover in open air for a good few seconds between each landing, giving him more time to look around...but that didn't make it any less annoying to deal with. The good news about it taking so long to track down Rainbow Dash, was that Daybreak managed to finally pull the red haired girls name from her. In between his screeching for Rainbow, and jumping from out grove to out grove like a monkey, he managed to find a quick moment to ask her. Her name was Jackie. Jackie Blaze, but apparently she preferred to just be called Jackie. He didn't ask why, it was a pretty common thing to find with people with longer names preferring only a certain part to be spoken. To be honest, he really didn't care. All he cared about was finding Rainbow Dash, and the only reason he'd even bothered to ask the girls name was in case he needed to call her for some reason. Not knowing her name would certainly be a problem if he suddenly needed to her assistance.

It was actually Jackie who ended up finally hearing a response to his consistent yells. She grabbed him by the scruff of his torn shirt mid leap to stop him from jumping right past the small clearing where the response originated. Rather than thanking her like he should've, he shot her an annoyed glare for nearly tearing what remained of his shirt, and proceeded to perch himself on the nearest branch.

Daybreak wasted no time in feeling out the clearing ahead with his magic. He wanted to know exactly what he was going to be walking into. Slowly, he shut his eyes and extended out his perceptions, feeling the area ahead of them. He could sense the overwhelming life force of the vines and moss around the area, and the many creatures living in the shallow waters beneath. It made the scene ahead appear fuzzy in his brain and forced him to focus down on only the powerful sources of magic ahead. From his position he could sense two powerful energies in the clearing directly ahead of them. One was vibrantly radiating aura in all directions, like a train venting excess smoke or steam. Meanwhile the other was doing the polar opposite, it was drastically decreasing in power, shrinking in size and strength with massive leaps. Whatever creature that energy belonged to was either dying or being drained, but with all the life surrounding him, obscuring his senses, he couldn't be sure who or what each energy belonged to. That left only one option.

Without a word to Jack, Daybreak dropped down from the branch, crunching into moss below with a sickening squish. He'd barely touched ground, before he took off in a full sprint directly ahead. Jack released a sigh, seeing her moment of rest was now over, then quickly followed suite.

With each step he took closer to the clearing he began to feel more and more apprehension creeping into his thoughts.

"What if the fading aura is Dash? What if the strong aura is one of those creatures about to finish her off? What if I'm too late? If I'd just stayed with her instead of allowing us to be separated in the first place...."

He found his strides becoming longer as the last bit of brush blocking his path was in sight. He'd been there soon, but he wanted to be there now!

"If she's hurt it's my fault. I shouldn't have left her alone with any of those things for even a second. What'll I do...What'll I say to her friends? To Scoots?...How will I go on if she's...?...Dashie...!"

He practically jumped the last five feet through the brush ahead! Bursting through the final layer of mossy vines with such magical force he actually set the surrounding plants momentarily ablaze! He was so frantic as he skidded to a halt in the slush, he wasn't quite able to register what he was looking at until after coming to a full stop, and then he still stared on for a good few moments. Long enough for the enflamed brush to extinguish itself.

"You're...ok?"

His jaw might have hit the ground. She wasn't just ok, she was sitting atop the heaving body of one of the wolf creatures. The creature was pulsating a black tar-like substance that extended from its chest and ran down its back leg, almost the length of its tail. Rainbow was just there, sitting atop the creatures motionless shoulder blades, one leg crossed, the other swinging casually side to side in front of the wolfs jawline. She wore the biggest grin, which transformed into a toothy smile at the sight of him and his expression.

Truly he didn't know what to say, she barely seemed to have a scratch on her except for a single deep gash on her right arm. It was bleeding quite a bit, but didn't seem that serious in the grand scheme of things. She was splattered with splotches of the black tar substance which the creature was leaking, across various parts of her skin. However, like the gash, considering what he expected to find, this was like Hearths Warming to him.

The shock wore off after about a moment of them simply staring at each other. Rainbow with her signature smirk of victory and Daybreak with a look of shock equivalent to if someone had just crowned him king of Equestria! After a moment in time that seemed to last an eternity as they stared at each others expressions, he finally moved. Rainbows eyes widened briefly as Daybreak leapt at her! She squealed when his body connected with hers, one arm tackling her off the top of the creature and into the mossy, mucky ground beneath.

He didn't say a word to her, he just began planting quick, excited kisses all over her face and neck! She squealed and squeaked as he kissed her mercilessly, but never tried to squirm away from him. Despite being caught completely unawares by his sudden onslaught of affection, it was something she welcomed happily, especially after the ordeal she'd just been through. His lips grazed a particularly sensitive spot on her neck that seemed to trip a switch in her head. The pain in her wound briefly forgotten, she was ready to wrap her legs around him and resume their fun from earlier. She might have, if she hadn't then spotted Jackie staring over at them from the brush. Both girls eyes briefly widened as they met each other.

The shriek that followed wasn't girly by any means, it was more of surprise than anything else. It also might have had a slight bit of annoyance behind it, since her fun had been halted before beginning yet again. Rainbows arms sprung to life as she roughly pushed Daybreak off her body, causing him to give a firm grunt of pain when he landed on his disabled arm. She scrambled to her feet, half ready for a fight before she felt Daybreaks good hand on her shoulder.

"It's ok Dashie, she's with me. She helped me fight off the Shadow Wolves, and find you."

Only lowering her clenched hands by a slight bit, Rainbow glared at the crimson haired girl.

"Oh really?"

Rainbows eyes snaked their way up and down this new girl with surprisingly malice thoughts. She found herself criticizing this girls looks in her mind, something she'd only ever attributed to Rarity and would certainly never admit to aloud.

"Hmph...And how did you manage that?"

It took no prompting for him to realize he was to stay silent and let Jackie answer. He couldn't place it, but something in Dash's voice had suddenly changed, there was a bit of aggression in it. Jackie grinned at Rainbow, showing her perfectly aligned white teeth.

"With zis!"

Rainbow shrieked, and even Daybreak nearly jumped to his feet. Faster than either of them could track, Jackie's hand flung behind her bottoms and withdrew the blade she'd placed there earlier. It's tip was now less than an inch from Rainbows nose, the glint from the moss light cast an eerie glow across its surface. Rainbows eyes narrowed down on the blade, giving her a slightly derped look in the light. From his angle on the ground, Daybreak was suddenly able to notice something interesting about the blade, but it seemed Rainbow beat him to it.

"A Cursed Light Dagger?"

Jackie merely nodding, mimicking Rainbows previous smirk in an almost too perfect way.

For Daybreak, the marking he had just noticed etched into the side of blade were what had made him realize the blades properties. But he doubted Rainbow could seen them with it's tip inches from her nose, there must be some other way of identifying it he didn't know...or she was just more observant than him. These days he didn't discount anything with her.

Noting Jackie's mocking smirk after she'd taken her eyes off the blade, which was so close she could smell it, Rainbows own lips curved back into a grin.

"And where would you have come by something like this? According to Twilight these things are illegal. I'd hate to have to report you."

Now that was a surprise. For Rainbow to recognize the dagger and know of it's illicitness. Not to mention her threatening to report someone for anything, the idea was laughable. Truly he needed to pick Rainbows brain more often than he did, she knew more about deep magic than she let on...or perhaps Twilight had taught her more than he thought. Regardless, she was right, a blade of that nature was extremely illegal, due to the magic hidden within.

"That blades magic is drawn from some of the purest forms of magic in the world, usually from moonlight. This often causes serious negative affects on our weather control during the absorption. This pure magical energy it contains allows it to banish even the most heinous forms of dark magic with little effort, so long as it has the energy reserves to due so. Even I don't know how many uses that thing has...but I'm more concerned with how she got it. I'd assumed Celestia, or at least Twilight, would have collected and stored all remaining blades of that nature after the last war. That's two cursed blades I've located around Ponyville...and the fact that this girl clearly knows how to wield this one, is worth concern. But still..."

Moving to get fully to his feet, Daybreaks arm slid down from Rainbows shoulder, gently lowering her clenched fists with him as he did.

"Dash, for now let's give her the benefit of the doubt. That blade's nothing I can't handle if things went awry. Once we're back safe with everyone we can interrogate her to your hearts content. But right now, I just want to get my arm looked at by Sunset."

"Hm? Your arm...what's wrong with...?"

As if just noticing his left arms blackened color for the first time, Dash shrieked even louder than before! This time her scream made him jump as well!

"AHHH! WHAT THE HELL?!"

"W-WHAT! WHAT'S WRONG RAINBOW?!"

"WHAT'S WRONG? WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT'S WRONG? LOOK AT YOUR ARM...IT'S FUCKING BLACK! IT LOOKS LIKE AN OVER COOKED HAMBURGER!"

"...Oh..." Daybreak exhaled with relief. "I already knew that, I thought it had gotten worse for a sec there. Don't do that Rainbow!"

"Don't do...? YOUR ARM IS FUCKING CHARRED! Y-YOU ASSHOLE! How can I not freak out at that! And what do you mean worse? It can get worse?"

"If ve do not get it treated soon, zen it could be yes. So ve should move on to Princess Twilight and get it properly mended straight avay." Jackie returned the blade to its previous spot in her bottoms. She then motioned ahead with her hand "Shall ve progress?"

Daybreak nodded "Right, Dash stick close to me. I might need a little assistance. I used a good amount of magic forcing myself to get here fast. I wanna use the rest of it to start healing my arm as best I can for now. So I'm done tree hopping for awhile."

Rainbow was beside him before he'd finished speaking. Already lifting his good arm around her neck to give him support, she started walking them forward through the brush at a decently quick pace, but nothing too strenuous for him to hold. As they walked past Jackie, Rainbow kept her eyes glued to her until she was completely behind them and out of her peripheral vision. She found herself counting under her breath, how many steps behind them Jackie remained as she started to follow.

"Six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve...twelve paces exactly. Enough room to push Daybreak away and dodge if she tries anything...But not enough room to counterattack before she closes the distance...hmm..."

Daybreak would have found this humorous, if he hadn't been able to feel Rainbows tensed up muscles and her rigid aura without even trying. She was clearly on edge. Which put him on edge. Which made his left arm begin to tingle with aching as he tensed up.

"Hey Dashie?" He lowered his voice so as not to let Jackie hear, but still managed to pass along a small tenderness in just his words. Something Rainbow did not fail to notice. He almost instantly felt her muscles relax, if ever so slightly at his voice.

"Yeah dude, what's up?" She answered him equally as quiet.

"What's wrong huh? I can feel the ripples in your arm muscles, and your aura is all over the place. You sure those things didn't do more than clip you?" Rainbow shrugged as his eyes briefly swam over to the small stream of blood still escaping her opposite arm. He wasn't perfect in his medical knowledge but he knew enough to know that the rate she was bleeding wasn't serious or life threatening. She'd heal naturally from a wound like that.

"Probably stings like a bitch, but I doubt it's anything she can't handle...Still, best show my concern, it may just relax her a bit more."

When she failed to follow up her shrug with an answer, he pressed her again. "Dashie, if you want, I can give that wound a kiss to make you feeeeeel better. I know it's gotta sting like my mother, right?"

He saw her lips twitch. She was with holding her chuckle so obviously he practically saw her swallow her giggle. She kept her eyes focused straight ahead and he could feel her quicken her pace, but this time at least she gave him more than just a shrug in response this time.

"I don't really care about my scratched arm right now dude. I just wanna get you back to Sunset and Twilight before anything else happens."

He scoffed "That's oddly serious of you Dash. Where's the Rainbow that craves new adventure and excitement? Come on, out with it. I know there's something else bothering you. It can't be that I went and got myself fucked up again. I mean, that happens like every other day with me."

He heard her release a sigh as his last words escaped him, almost too quickly. "Yeah, I know. You seem to injure yourself more by just existing, than I ever do practicing for anything athletic. And trust me when I tell you, that is saying something. I once crashed through Twilights house (before it was the castle) and managed to destroy and deshelf nearly everyone of her books, in just one act."

Ignoring her horrid grammar, Daybreak chuckled then blew air from his lips showing he was not impressed. "Pssssh, that it? Please. I once drank Cherry Fireball shots with the Griffon King that were so spicy, I literally sneezed a flaming hole straight through his palace walls to the outside. Eight consecutive walls I might add. Made of platinum."

Rainbow looked over, nearly tripping them both over a well hidden root in the mud as she did so. "Really dude? Come on, that's not even impressive. Spike sneezes fireballs through our houses almost daily now. Though, I will give you props for drinking with the Gryphon King. What's he like by the way? Not much is really known about him over here in Ponyville, or anywhere in Equestria I imagine."

Narrowly avoiding a tree branch hanging just low enough to mock his tallness with its leaves, Daybreak smirked. "Other than being a very heavy drinker? Well...he's kind of an asshole."

A small giggle made him refocus his eyes on Rainbow, she was giving him that shit-eating grin again. "You two must gotten along swell then huh? Hehehe."

He could see her holding back a brewing storm of chuckles, but he could also feel the remnants of her tensed muscles fading away. It was working.

"Oh yeah, yuck it up you blueberry skinned vixen. I'll have you know we actually did get along quite well."

After sticking her tongue out at him and getting a face full of tree leaves for not paying attention to the path, Rainbow raised a curious eyebrow.

"Well, if you had such a good time, why didn't you stay? I mean being the guest of the King must have been pretty sweet I imagine. Not that I'm complaining you left or anything."

She gave his neck a half nuzzle while attempting to keep walking straight forward. It didn't really work out. She more or less head butted him, but he still felt the affection through the pain nonetheless.

"Ehehehe...Umm...Oh ya know...Differences in opinion I guess. I mean, I never stayed in one place for too long back then...And well...I was doing my own thing."

"It also might have something to do with the fact I tried to assassinate him later, but I don't think I need to be mentioning that particular detail to her right now..."

Rainbow nodded slowly "Well...ok then. I guess I get it. The whole, 'no friends thing' back then."

He nodded, as if remembering something unpleasant. "Yeah..."

Rainbow watched his brow furrow as his eyes trailed up towards the sky. She aimed to quickly change the subject. She just needed something to talk about that could last them the rest of the way...Something that would interest him...

"Oh! I know!"

"Hey Daybreak?" She gave his ribs a firm jab to guide him quickly back from his thoughts. He blinked once and focused on her gaze.

"Yeah Dashie?"

She still wasn't quite sure how to explain what had happened. What had her eyes experienced during their fight with the wolves? The random ability she'd used, it had been what basically allowed her to defeat the one she'd fought on her own, and survive the first encounter with them. It wasn't anything she'd ever felt before, magic that changed her senses so drastically, especially her sight. She'd originally resolved to ask him about it later, with more obvious matters being pressing. But since he clearly didn't seem keen to talk about anything else right then, and she needed something to distract them both, what better time than the present?

"I wanted to ask you about something. Something really weird...that happened to me during our fight with the wolves."

Even without looking, she somehow knew she had his full attention. His voice didn't change any, but somehow, she just knew. Almost like she felt his gaze upon her.

"OK Dash, shoot. I was curious about how you dealt with the wolf anyways. I just wasn't sure you wanted to talk about it right now. So please, enlighten me on how you kicked that wolves ass back to hell."

He felt her stiffness return, like her guard had suddenly been raised. It was her "tell". The thing that always told him she was stressed. Just the slightest flicker in her aura and the ever so subtle tightening of her muscles. He could tell she was uncomfortable again. The knowledge was disappointing, since he'd just spent all that time trying to make her relax.

"Well...umm...it's a little weird. I'm not exactly sure how to describe it..."

"Just take your time. What exactly happened that was so weird?"

"Well my body...changed...I guess you could say."

It took her a moment, but she suddenly felt a set of warm fingers running down her backside, just above her bottoms. She whipped her head back and saw him quickly retreat his free arm with a slightly guilty look upon his face.

"Seriously dude?" Her tone actually sounded scolding.

"Whaaaaat? I was merely checking to be sure that your very fit behind has not changed. You said your body changed and I was worried. I mean to lose that perfectly toned rump, that would be catastrophic!"

Her eyes narrowed "Really?"

He couldn't withhold the chuckle "Yep. Your tush passes the test by the way. Still as fit and perfect as before. Oof...!"

A small grunt of pain escaped him as he felt her fingers jab into his ribs. "Come ooooon dude! I'm being serious here!"

"And I'm not? I was legitimately concerned for the safety of your butt for a second there."

Rainbow groaned "Dude! I mean it. Something seriously fucked up happened with my eyes while we were fighting! What's with you all the sudden?!"

He winced at the sharpness in her voice. Being so close to her, it actually hurt his ears to have her raise her voice at him.

"Alright, alright I'm sorry. I was just trying to keep the mood light that's all...After that whole ordeal. I mean...Look, I'm fine with what I had to do back there to survive. But...Dash...You know you killed that wolf right? I didn't think you'd wanna discuss that for awhile...But if this is something seriously bothering you. Then we can talk now."

She hadn't even thought about it like that. It never once occurred to her that the wolf creature she'd destroyed was a living thing. It hardly even looked like one. She had been so consumed with the moment...only now did she realize she'd never actually taken another creatures life before. And...it had been so easy...

"It was...so easy...Oh Celestia, I think I might be sick....No, no...I need to focus on the moment right now. I'll worry about this later. For now, just stay focused!"

She swallowed the lump forming in her throat, forcing herself to swallow the knot in her gut. A quick cough stabilized her speech.

"Well...During the fight, I think sometime before you and I split up, something really odd happened to my eyes. I'm not, quite sure how to describe it. It was like...I guess like all the color drained from the world, except I could still see things in black, white and grey. But the wolf, the wolf had color. When it absorbed my spells, it suddenly got colorful...like...like..."

"Like it had absorbed your energy?"

If his attention had been wavering before, it wasn't any longer. The last time she saw his eyes this glued to her was the first time he'd seen her naked. It almost made her stutter having that particular thought run through her mind.

"Yes exactly! A-And once we got separated my eyes went back to normal for a little bit! I was fighting with three of the wolves, but at some point two of them ran away! I guess they must have gone after you or something cause only one stayed behind to fight me..."

She could see his eyes darting about in his head. She could only imagine what he was thinking about.

"After there was only one left, things actually seemed to get easier for awhile. I used the little bit you told me to fight it off pretty well. I don't know how, but at some point I was able to predict its movements and it could barely touch me, it was like I was dancing circles around it."

His gaze had widened at some point. She hadn't seen him so obviously impressed with her in awhile, but his gaze, and the tone in his voice made it undeniable.

"Wow Dashie...That's...hard to believe. Those beasts, if you were able keep up with it like that and outmaneuver it so easily...that's real talent. Hmm...Have you ever thought of joining the Night Watch?"

A small chuckle escaped her lips. He looked at her confused, she'd just been so serious a moment ago, but she merely waved him off.

"It's nothing it's nothing."

He wasn't buying that for a second.

"Bull, Dashie. You've got that look. Tell me. What are you thinking?"

Another chuckle escaped her, now there was no denying it.

"Fine...I was just thinking you'd better hope I don't join the Watch, cause then I'll be sitting on a large icy wall the rest of my life. That would totally suck for you."

Daybreak was dumbfounded, head tilted he narrowed his eyes at her. "What are you talking about...Do you even know what the Nights Watch is?"

Rainbows head shook in clear disappointment. "You need to watch more t.v."

His eyes rolled like dice "Hardly...why waste my time staring at a screen all day when I can do something productive?"

"Oh yeah, like what smartass?"

His lips snaked into a coy grin "Have sex with my hot girlfriend, annoy Twilight, ya know, the important things in life."

A small blush crept onto her face, but it was masked by her own growing grin. "Hmmm you're right, that is more productive. A little more talk like that and maybe you'll get lucky in the hospital room later."

He would have celebrated to himself, if she hadn't dropped a certain forbidden word to him. "Did you say...hospital?.........There is no way in Tartarus I'm going to any hospital anywhere!"

She held up the hand that wasn't helping support his body to silence him. Then showed him three fingers.

"One. You're arm is literally a slice a bacon right now and I'm sure once Twilight and Sunset look at it they will agree it needs professional care. Two. We just got fucking mobbed by dark monster things from Tartarus, or something. If anything deserves a trip to hospital, it's that. AND THREE!..."

She raised her voice in emphasis, cutting him off as he tried to open his mouth to speak.

"...if you wanna get laid tonight you'll go without a fight! Got it buster?"

He turned, to find her eyes waiting. They locked glares. Each one stared into the depths of the others eyes, practically gazing into each others souls. Flames licked at their intertwining gazes, each one daring the other to argue back. Daybreak was the first to speak.

"You wouldn't make it." His voice deepened as his overly serious tone brought forth a smirk from Rainbow

"Bullshit. I've gone twenty two years, I can last the rest of today." She mimicked his deepened voice, sounding even more humorous than he did.

"So have I Dash."

"Yeah? And who do you think is more addicted, hm?"

"....."

Silence hung in the air. The only noticeable sounds were the squishing of moss between their toes as the pair trudged through the mangroves, and the faint breathing of Jackie lagging slightly farther back. After a moment, Daybreak released a sigh of defeat.

"Fine...You win. But you're getting looked at too."

She looked offended "What! Why? I've just got a small gash. I'm fine....Tis but a flesh wound!" She wiggled her eyebrows coyly

He shook his head, held up three fingers with his good hand, whilst sticking out his tongue at her.

"One. Cause from what you just told me, you somehow used an ability that I literally invented myself, as in, never been done before and you just used it out of the blue. So yeah, that's cause for concern I'd say! Two. Cause it's my job to make sure my Dashie is kept safe and sound! And three, cause I fucking said so babe! Argue with me."

Their gazes still locked, Dash leaned forward and stole a quick nip on his lips, then snickered.

"I like that demanding tone you got for a sec there, almost as alpha as me. You should try that in bed sometime. And since when did I become some princess who needs constant protecting? Last time I checked, you're the one the wolves fucked up and I barely got scratched...BUUUUUUUT!...."

She once again raised her voice to keep him from cutting across her.

"...Since you seem so totally threatened by not having your own special eye thingy anymore, I'll go quietly. For you. Cause I'm nice like that."

A warm feeling swam through his chest. He couldn't help the fuzziness flooding through him at even the slightest bit of affection from her. She was like a drug to him, and he couldn't help but crave all the new things he was constantly getting to experience feeling with her.

He found himself smiling without even knowing it. "Thanks Dashie."

He felt a small twinge of pain in his good arm as Rainbow gently slugged him. Not enough to really hurt, but enough to annoy him considering it had just recently been popped back into place.

"What are ya thanking me for dude? You sound like I just agreed to marry you, it's just a hospital trip. No need to get so emotional."

Crimson flushed his face, he could briefly hear the sounds of Jackie giggling behind them. This only fueled the rapid deepening of color in his face.

"I am NOT getting emotional Dash! I'm just happy is all! I don't get...emotional!"

Sensing his aggravation, Rainbow pushed forward.

"You toooootally were! I think I saw mini tears in your eyes man!"

If there was a color of deeper red his face could achieve, he soon would. His flush almost looked unhealthy, anyone else might have mistook him for suffocating. Jackie's distant, but ever vocal giggles didn't help him either.

"Rainbow Dash! I'm warning you!"

Rainbow didn't even bother holding back her laughs now, she just cut loose and jarred at him between breaths. She had to release his arms and step a few feet away to keep from falling all over both of them. Daybreak was less than amused, and barely able to support himself on his own.

"Ooooooh! He totally just full named me! He must be getting serious now! Hey new-girl- whose-name-I-don't-remember, did you hear that? He said my fuuuuuull name. He's clearly mad now!"

Jackie, having quickly closed the small distance between them, once Rainbow had stopped them moving, was also having a hard time suppressing a small fit of her own.

"Oui , oui, il ressemble à un chaton en colère....Umm...Ehh. I mean, he is like angry kitty cat, yes?"

Rainbow keeled over into the moss. She started slapping at the ground and rolling about, rather overdramatically.

"Oui oui! You don't gotta translate for me new girl, I know French!"

Jackie looked rather surprised for a moment. There was a small spark in her blue eyes that caught Daybreaks gaze just out the corner of his vision. But by the time he focused on her face, it was either gone, or he'd just imagined it entirely. He himself however, was definitely surprised. Enough so, that his previous annoyance with Rainbow had almost disappeared entirely.

"French! I knew it! That's what your language is! I knew I'd heard it somewhere before! I thought it was Germane, but I guess I got my dialects mixed. Huh...the last time I heard anyone speaking French was in the Gryphon kingdom, this chef...Wait!...Dash...You understand French? Where in Equestria could you have picked that up?"

Rainbow wore a very proud smirk as she exclaimed "Derpy taught me!"

Daybreak felt like he'd been hit on the head with a brick. Slowly, he started lowering himself to the ground, dropping onto his knees next to Rainbow "Those were three words I never thought I'd hear anyone say. So what? She's French?"

Rainbow wafted her hand "Her mother is or something. All I know is she's been teaching me since we were eight. I can almost speak it fluently now!"

"Really?" Both Daybreak and Jackie exclaimed together!

Rainbow raised them a brow "Yeah...why is that so weird?"

Both Daybreak and Jackie quickly traded glances, before he slowly said. "I know you've not traveled outside of Equestria much Dash, but trust me when I tell you, there aren't many unique languages like that one left in the world..."

"Oui! Outside of zis little bubble of false peace ve haf in Equestria. Ze vorld is very...hmm...chaotic should I say."

Daybreak couldn't help let a smirk slip. Even though Jackie had cut him off, he couldn't have worded it much better himself. Though he felt slightly ashamed of his smile the moment Rainbow spoke next.

"Daybreak...what's with that look? Does that make you happy or something? You said didn't like that kind of stuff?" Her accusatory tone made him hang his head.

He felt like a dunce, or a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar. "Way to go jackass...the only way I could have made that worse is if Twilight had been here to see it...ugggh"

He held up his good hand in defense "Hey hey, now Dash! I never once said I didn't like chaos! I'm just not like my father when it comes to going about it. He prefers it to be in a literal sense. Everything haywire and random. I just like things a bit more controlled. Like organized chaos. The world needs a little dose of anarchy and free rein now and again to remind itself why it needs to maintain balance and order. You can't have one without the other. Order and chaos go hand in hand Dashie."

Rainbow was eyeing him in a very odd way. It was a look he couldn't quite place and therefore wasn't sure how that made him feel.

"You just did a whole lot of philosophical talk at me trying to confuse me didn't you? You really are just like Twilight sometimes."

The steam puffing from his ears should have been visible at how riled he got.

"Now wait just one damn minute...!"

He would have flared up more, but Jackie stopped him before he could get started.

"Perhaps I should explain?"

Dropping to her knees and placing a firm hand on Daybreaks aching shoulder to silence him, she held out her two palms, both open wide facing Rainbow.

"It's a bit like zis Rainbow Dash..."

Channeling crimson colored energy into her hands, Jackie summoned a miniature holographic version of the earth, just spinning in her open left palm.

"To keep vorld in order, ve need Harmony, right?"

"Riiiiiight." Rainbow nodded her head vigorously. The way she was staring at the floating Earth in Jackie's palm, she was either very interested to hear what she had to say...or she just thought this was a neat spell. Either way, she was clearly paying attention.

"Vell, in order to haf harmony, ve must also haf somesing zat reminds us vat harmony is not? Yes?"

Rainbow nodded slightly slower this time. "I guess...I mean...I don't really get what you mean by that."

"Ugggh..." Jackies groan said what her expression hid. Frustration. Rainbow wasn't the philosophical kind of girl, Daybreak knew this. So trying to teach her about an issue like this through words alone, probably wouldn't help.

The miniature hologram vanished, and whatever plan Jackie had in mind for it left with it. She tapped at her chin, attempting to think of a better way to explain this to someone like Rainbow Dash. Daybreak, who was also attempting to think, seemed to be rubbing his hand down his face as if he were stroking at a beard. It looked odd to Rainbows eye, and even odder was the thought of Daybreak with a green beard. Though the thought did bring her a small grin.

After a moment of pause Daybreak finally exclaimed "I've got it!" Slightly startling both Rainbow and Jackie.

With a giddy expression that Rainbow usually would have associated with him planning something mischievous, Daybreak switched from his knees to his haunches and began.

"Well Rainbow think of it like this. What was the first bad thing you can remember? It doesn't have to be anything big, just something. Anything mean or cruel, or just obviously not very good."

"The best way to deal with Rainbow is to either make her work through it physically, or make it relate to something she understands. Since I don't have anyway to make this an exercise, making this relatable is the next best thing."

Rainbows eye clearly twitched at the first thought that popped into her head. A painful memory tried squirming its way into her forward consciousness, but she shoved it back into her brain and picked something a little more vanilla, and more her style.

"Well...Back when I was a little kid in weather school...there was these three bullies who were always picking on Fluttershy for being...well...you know...Fluttershy. Not exactly perfect athlete or weather mage material. They had her nearly in tears. The day I'm thinking of was one of the worst ones for her."

Daybreak smiled "That's perfect. Not the bullying, the situation...anyways, so what did you do about it." As if he didn't already know.

Rainbows grin grew "I challenged them to a race to defend Fluttershy's honor of course!" She proudly pounded her fist against her chest at her statement, but before Daybreak could comment, Jackie intervened.

"I am sorry Rainbow Dash but...I do not understand...How does beating zem in a race prove she is any less meek and lacking as you haf described?"

Rainbows jaw actually dropped "Are you kidding me!? It's not...it doesn't...she isn't...Uggghhh! That's not the point of it! I was just trying to shut them up ok? They picked on Fluttershy for being weak, so I made them look weak, not to mention slower than my tortoise without his propeller hat."

"You haf a tortoise?"

"Your tortoise has a propeller hat?"

Both Jackie and Daybreak were firing strange looks at her. Rainbow actually flushed red, though she had no idea why.

"Look, my pet is not the point here! We were talking about Fluttershy!"

Daybreak nodded his head slowly, he was almost more interested in talking about the flying tortoise than this though. "Right, right. Well...getting back on track. So, why did you step in to help Fluttershy?"

"Whatdya mean? She's my friend."

"I mean, why did you intervene at all? Why stop it in the first place?"

Rainbow still looked confused "Well...because it was wrong of course, duh."

Daybreak smiled. He truly enjoyed how simplistic Rainbow made it all sound. It was wrong, so she stopped it. Such a simple response, and she sounded so sure of herself, it was nice.

"Okaaaaay, but how do you know it was wrong? What about it made it wrong?"

Rainbows face was starting to scrunch up now, Daybreak could tell she didn't like that they were questioning the actions that, if he wasn't mistaken, had earned her Cutie Mark. He remembered her telling this story to him once already. Hardly surprising she should look a bit stressed, the very core of what had made her who she is, was being questioned.

"Kinda her fault for choosing that specific event to tell. She's proud of it of course...Though it could just be she looks that way cause we're forcing her to think hard about something. That's a humorous thought too I suppose."

Rainbow scratched at the top of her hair, ruffling her already messy locks beyond salvation. "What do you mean what made it wrong? Fluttershy was upset. She was nearly crying!"

Now it was Jackies' turn to chime in. "Ah, but people cry all ze time yes? And not alvays are zey for bad things. So vhy does her crying make it bad?"

Daybreak chuckled, he could see Rainbow getting visibly annoyed now. Her brow was furrowing and her face was scrunching up. Her normally all consuming grin had shrunk into a stern frown. It wasn't that bothering her pleased him...well it did, but not like this. It was more like, he couldn't help enjoy picking her brain. In his mind, it made him understand Rainbow all the more. And despite this being mostly to prove a point, all the more he could understand about this girl who made him question his very being, the better.

Rainbow, now thoroughly annoyed with them both, starting getting noticeably more aggressive. "What the hecks that mean! Yeah ok, I guess people cry for other reasons, but come on! You could just tell by...by...I don't know, by looking at her! She was obviously upset! They were saying mean things to her, and she started crying. So she was upset. So that makes it bad. Is that better?"

"But Rainbow..."

Rainbows eyes met Daybreak like targeting lasers. He almost yipped in fear. She was giving him the death glare. A glare that said "I swear to your mother, if you make me feel dumb one more time, I'll kill you!" . Of course none of those words left her mouth, and despite knowing that was what she was probably thinking, Daybreak pushed on anyways. Though now he was putting more effort into hiding his smirk than before.

"But Rainbow, you make your friends upset all the time. Sometimes you taunt and tease them, and sometimes you pull pranks on them too. Some people even see what you do as cruel. So what's the difference?"

He saw her left eye twitch.

"Those people are...are dumb!...So what? Are you trying to say I'm bad or something! Cause if that's what it is, WHY DON'T YOU JUST COME OUT AND SAY IT!!!"

Her fiery words slapped him in the face! At some point this had gone from playful to personal real quick. He hadn't even noticed Rainbow get to her feet, or clench her fists. Yet somehow, both of those had happened right in front of him. He'd seen Rainbow show him many feelings and emotions, but this one, she looked hurt. Like a kicked puppy her eyes shivered. No water works were brewing, but her pupils shook erratically for sure. His eyes briefly darted over to Jackie, but she didn't seem the least bit phased by Rainbow. Which, meant either she didn't care...or she knew Rainbows words were directed solely at him. That didn't make him feel any better.

"Did I do something wrong? It sorta feels like it...What do I say? I don't even know what I did...What would Twilight do here?...Wait...Why am I even wondering that? What would I do in this situation.........Oh....right...I wouldn't usually care......ok...what would Twilight do? She'd analyze the situation and figure out what she'd done wrong...Right...ok just gonna wing it then...and go!"

"Rainbow..." His voices came out soft, almost like he was trying to gently touch her with words, but at normal volume. It lacked the emphasis and weight he normally held in his speech, and instead, floated freely through the air like a tiny feather to her ears. Somehow, the abnormal tenderness must have struck a nerve to her, because she suddenly blinked, and looked around abruptly.

"Oh my gosh...I'm sorry...I..." She slowly sunk back down to her bottom, bringing her knees up to her face as she did. She wrapped her arms around her legs and sat in silence. Like a switch flipped in his head, Daybreak knew what to do...at least, he hoped he did.

He was up and next to her before he could wonder if he'd be able to stand on his own. He came down on her left, and wrapped his good arm around her shoulder, gently pulling her against his chest while running his fingers through her messy hair. "Hey, hey it's fine Dashie. Look, I'm the one who should be sorry here. I didn't think this would bother you so much. I was insensitive like always. I'm sorry I'm a jerk."

"Oh gods when did I become such a pile of mush...thank Luna no one is around to see this."

He tried to flash her a warm smile and hoped it would perk her up. Luckily, it sort of seemed to have the desired effect.

She softly chuckled as she enjoyed the feeling of his fingers massaging through her hair, sending warm, comfortable goosebumps along her skin. "Yeah you are. You're a big fat jerk aren't ya?"

"Ehhh...umm." He wasn't sure how to answer to that. He could only stand to insult himself so much. When he didn't answer, he realized that was actually the right thing to do, because he suddenly felt cool fingers along his cheek, pulling his face down to hers. He chuckled as she nuzzled and spoke into his chest.

"You're the biggest jerk in all of Equestria. You actually win against me in one thing, congrats dude. You win jerk of the year."

"Shut up Rainbow Dash..." The words barely escaped his lips as she guided them down onto hers.

Their lips became connecting puzzle pieces, both pairs gently parting without prompt to allow the others tongue freedom. Their tongues met in between their kiss and gently glided along one another in calm bliss. Each one affectionately pushed against the other, not in a battle for dominance, but in a gentle dance. Daybreak could taste the sea salt and smell the sweat from her body. The rough, dirty feeling that invaded his nostrils excited him, he had to force himself to remain calm to keep from acting on the first impulse that rocketed through his mind.

Dash on the other hand, had completely given in. If their tongue wrap had been a battle, she'd already waved the white flag, which was unlike her. But right now, she didn't care about competing, this was a calm and affectionate moment. That was all she wanted to feel. Calm. If that meant just letting his tongue roam through her with only minimal effort on her part, then by all means. Having him in control of what happened next excited her as well, though she knew there was no chance of things escalating to a more fun level right now, sadly.

They might have stayed that way for a much longer period, if a sharp cough and an even sharper voice, filled with irritation, didn't interrupt.

"You two are...vridiculous."

The bland, basic irritation easily bled through Jackies' accent, forcing them apart to look at her. Daybreaks eyes immediately settled upon her scowling expression. It was nothing like what he had witnessed from her until this point. He wasn't sure what to call the look she was shooting them. With her eyes narrowed and her lips parted in, not a sneer, more like an unfinished grunt, and her head turned up at them. It reminded him of Canterlot, and the looks everyone had always given him at Celestia's school whenever he would show up covered in mud. It was disgust. A look he should have be all too familiar with by now. Without notice, his aura flared along with his temper.

"If you've got a problem you just move right along to Twilight on your own. The path is quite simple from here so you can't have too much trouble, just try not to trip on your uptight attitude. We ..." He wrapped his good arm slightly farther around Rainbow "...Will follow when we are good and ready. Kthanksbye!" He enunciated the last word to make it clear he was dismissing her.

Her expression didn't vanish, but she did look somewhat offended, which was enough for him right then. She grunted and began to walk past them. As she pasted them by, he felt Rainbows body tense up again. He looked down to find her pupils shrunk and her eyes sparking purple. It was brief, almost a flash, then gone. It had been quick, but there had been no mistaking it, the purple light back in her eyes again. His fingers barely twitched in her hair, and suddenly she was upright like she'd been electrocuted.

"NO!...I mean...We'll come too."

"Wait what? We will?"

He was surprised to say the least. He thought Rainbow would jump at the chance to have some alone time with him. How bad could it really be for Jackie to meet Twilight on her own? Or was it something else?

"Dash?" Rainbow was already pushing her way up from the ground. She extended a hand to him, helping him without a word. Daybreak could see it as he came up, her eyes, still locked on Jackie. Narrowed to the point they almost resembled a bird of prey.

"Something's not right here."

The words repeated across his mind as Rainbow pulled his good arm over her shoulder once more and began a slightly faster paced walk than before. He watched her intently, her eyes refused to leave Jackie. Step by step target locked all the way until they reached her, and stepped past her. The moment she was out of their peripheral though, Rainbow suddenly seemed fine.

"Creepy...huh...I should probably say something..."

Once they were back to their standard amount of paces ahead, and Jackie fell back to where she had been walking previously, Daybreak leaned his head to Rainbows ear. He whispered unusually quiet for some reason.

"Yo Dash...What was all that about back there?"

"Hm?" Rainbows eyes turned with her head, briefly meeting his. As if to make a point, Daybreak gave her a quick peck on the nose, and smiled.

A small bit of his worry seemed to have passed through the nibble, causing Rainbows eyes to droop slightly.

"Oh...Umm...it's nothing. I just overreacted is all."

He nuzzled against her ear, as he looked up towards their destination, a glare in his eye made him realize they were finally nearing the exit of the mangroves. Coming ever closer to the final stretch, he made a mental note to never let Rainbow take him on a side path, ever again. Not even for sex.

"Overreacted? Come on Dashie. What's bothering you? You'd never have turned down a chance for us to be alone like that without something eating at you. You forget, I've experienced your sex drive first hand, something is definitely bothering you."

"Yeah..." Rainbow briefly stole a glance back. Jackie wasn't even looking in their direction. She seemed more interested in the glowing moss covering many of the branches combing through her hair, rather than what they had to discuss.

"It's her."

He followed her gaze behind them.

"Jackie? What about her?"

"I don't like her. I don't like the way she talks about...things..."

Her voice deadpanned, he could tell she meant it. But he couldn't understand why. Well not entirely at least.

"I think I'm misunderstanding you Dash. You don't like her? Or you don't trust her? I'm not one for trust either Dash, so that I can agree with. But she did save my ass back there, so I'm just currently taking that into account whilst I judge."

Rainbows eyes returned forward, then jumped around in her head. A standard sign of someone unsure, or searching for an answer.

"I can't really place it. Trust, I definitely don't trust her. But I also just don't like her. Something about her seems off to me. I mean come on, a mysterious girl shows up in the middle of the mangrove, with a powerful magical relic, and uses it to save you from a bunch of monsters at the last minute, who also came out of nowhere. Doesn't it all seem...I don't know, suspicious? And the way she talked about chaos and harmony, like they're the same thing. Come on man. You're like the lord of paranoia, how can she not set off some alarms in your head?"

Daybreak thought about it for a moment "Now that she points it all out. Her appearance like that does seem rather odd. A little too well timed. Wonder why I didn't think about this until now? Maybe I just didn't account for it since she saved me. Still...I've been aided in the past and never reacted so passively......Am I getting soft?....no, now's not the time for self reflection. Rainbows right. This girl is worthy of at least some suspicion. Maybe once we get to Twilight I can probe her mind while she's distracted. It would be too risky to try it right now. With no one else around it would be obvious it was me. Still....She doesn't seem like an immediate threat, and she did save me. If she wanted me dead, she could have already done something, or hell, simply not aided me. Plus she said she knew Twilight, so there's that. Twilight doesn't exactly make friends with the wrong sort...save myself. I guess we'll find out once we get there. But there's still something that's bugging me"

"Dash...You may have a point...Still, this seems very sudden. You two were getting along just fine awhile ago. Why the sudden change, and what was with that outburst back there? You just flipped on me like that. What did I say that set you off?"

With them walking this close together, and their faces only a few inches apart, it was easy for Daybreak to see Rainbows eyes dart around, then droop slightly again. She seemed to shrink back a little, but her pacing never changed and she remained right beside him as they walked.

"I...I don't wanna talk about it."

"Well that's a new one. I didn't think Rainbow had anything about herself she didn't wanna talk about...hmmm...I wonder..."

"Well, that hardly seems fair Rainbow, since you basically forced my deepest darkest secrets outta me a few weeks back."

He kept his voice calm, not wanting to appear aggressive or hurt her feelings. He just wanted to see how she'd react. Unfortunately, his words still seemed to hit harder than he wanted and Rainbows eyes dropped all the way to the ground.

"I know...I'm sorry..."

"Eeek yikes! No no no no! That isn't what I wanted...quick dumbass think of a way out of this!"

Practically crushing his face against hers, he turned and planted a huge, wet kiss, on the side of her cheek. To his own embarrassment he drew out the loud smooching sound and kept his lips planted until he heard her start to chuckle. He pulled his lips off her with a pop and exclaimed.

"It's fine Dashie. I'm just teasing at you. I'd never wanna force you to tell me something about yourself you weren't comfortable with. At least, not yet."

He winked and planted another, wet one on her cheek. She chuckled, allowing him to silently sigh with relief.

"Your kisses force me to believe you Mr. Mushy. But still, you're right, I did kinda force your secrets outta you, but I don't wanna talk about it here. Wait until later and ask me about it again ok? Like once we're alone?"

He nodded, then, just for added reassurance, planted yet another smooch on her cheek, this one with extra saliva. She quickly yanked her head away, wiping away at her face in mock disgust.

"Ewww dude! Not cool! What are you, a mut?"

"Woof, woof Dashie!" He tried to kiss at her again, but found her hand blocking in between his lips and her face.

"I'm the guard dog remember, only I get to bark. Now quit slapping saliva at me or I won't be showing you any special tricks later."

He loosed a puppy-like whimper, then slowly nodded.

"Good, now then, I think I see the beach ahead, let's get you to Twilight so she can have a look at that bacon strip of an arm you have." He could hear the relief in Rainbows voice as she spoke, even she must have been thankful to finally be back in the sunlight.

Looking ahead he too could see the light breaking through the brush before them. After an hour or so in the darkened moss mangroves, the light beams were almost blinding to him, even from several yards back. For once he couldn't wait to be back in the shining rays of his mothers sun. At least then he wouldn't have to worry about anymore shadow creatures attacking him.

"Look, I'm not saying we get a whole search team together Twilight, what I'm saying is they've been gone for a long time. Maybe we, as in you and me, should go look for them."

Sunset Shimmer stood, hands on her hips and scowl on her face, while she attempted to reason with a certain stubborn purple princess. Twilight, who was in no mood to see Daybreak after their last discussion, was being completely uncooperative on the matter. Arms crossed over her chest, she refused to budge from her spot in the sand. "Hmphing" in a very Rarityish manner, Twilight turned her nose towards the sky and refused to yield.

"They're probably off terrorizing some sea life in one of Rainbows secret getaways somewhere. Or perhaps they felt like ditching us and going off on their own adventures. Or hey! Here's an idea! Maybe they snuck off to go fuck each others brains out! SINCE APPARENTLY THEY'RE DATING NOW AND NO ONE FELT THE NEED TO SHARE THAT WITH US!!!"

Her raised voice drew in the attention of her friends, all of whom were more or less busy with they're own activities. Applejack, whom was napping in a beach chair under one of Rarity's many large umbrellas a few feet away, lifted her hat from her eyes. Fluttershy and Spike, were in the process of building a large sand castle fort for a small group of crabs nearby, but both paused mid shovel to look over. Spike seemed to shrink ever so slightly when he heard Twilight yell, perhaps due to his most recent revelation and her lack of speaking to him since. Rarity, who was on her chest sunbathing, and was the closest to Twilight, lowered her crimson shades and raised an eyebrow to the arguing pair. Even Pinkie Pie, who looked more than content to keep playing with her giant beach ball, stopped flopping about in the water to look over at them. Despite everyone stopping to see what was going on, only Rarity actually decided to comment on the situation.

"Darling, such language is hardly befitting of a Princess. Control yourself please."

Twilight spun herself like a top in the sand, rounding on Rarity and half considering yelling at her too. However, upon meeting her gaze and glancing at the worried looks of all her friends, she found her self control.

"Your right Rarity...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout like that. I'm just so frustrated with those two right now. Taking off like that without saying anything to anyone. It's just like them both."

Slightly raising more of her head from the towel, Rarity removed her sunglasses entirely to allow Twilight to witness her bemused expression.

"Twilight dear, we are all adults here. I don't think anyone of us feels we need to checkout with each other before going anywhere....Are you sure that's what's really bothering you...and not, something else?"

Twilights expression showed she clearly understood Rarity's meaning, but for some reason, perhaps out of sheer stubbornness, she played dumb.

"I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about! What else could possibly be bothering me?"

"Twilight come on..." Sunsets voice sounded tired. After chasing Twilight down earlier, dragging her back and now arguing with her...she didn't have much energy left for this right now. Still Twilight remained ever determined not to give in.

"There's nothing else going on! I just think that considering we've got a crazy Horsemen out there somewhere who would like nothing better than to get Daybreak or one of us alone, we shouldn't be going off on our own!"

Now it was Applejacks turn to speak up. Lifting her hat just a tad bit more from her eyes so she could look at Twilight, her voice came out almost as tired as Sunsets.

"Ya'll went and stomped off on yer own a while back didn't ya? Don't see none of us scolding ya for it? Come on Sugarcube...Can't ya'll just admit it? He ain't around to hear it and neither is Rainbow...."

Twilights fists clenched at her sides. Being as close as she was, Sunset was able to feel the sand around her body start to swirl just a tad bit faster than the rest of the beach air. For a moment, she wasn't sure what Twilight was going to do. Then, quite unexpectedly, the dignified princess stomped her foot into the ground like a child and loosed an over exasperated groan!

"UGGGGGGGH! FINE!"

The sand around her jumped into the air, fueled by her flowing energy and created a small swirling cloud around her momentarily, as she exclaimed, quite loudly.

"FINE FINE FINE! ALRIGHT! FINE...FINE FINE FINE! FIIIIIIIINE!"

She continued stomping her feet, sending more sand into the air. Other than Spike, who had retreated behind Fluttershy for safety, none of the others seemed to really phased by her small tantrum. As though magical temper tantrums were a regular thing for her. Applejack was actually smirking at her while she continued to stamp her feet and fling her arms about.

"Ya'll know it doesn't count unless ya actually say what yer admitting to right?"

Twilights eyes became knives when her stare turned to Applejack. On the bright side, she stopped stomping her feet and all the sand settled back to the ground. Sunset sighed, having been right in the middle of it all she just lowered her head and walked towards the ocean, knowing there was no chance of getting out the excessive amount of sand in her hair and bikini any other way. Twilights lip quivered as she attempted to stare down Applejack, but AJ just smirked.

"Come on now Sugarcube. Just say it."

Twilights face scrunched together, she looked more like she was constipated rather than just trying to say something.

"I...Don't still like him...I don't!" AJ's eyes raised slightly, but Twilight continued on "But...It does make me mad that he's suddenly dating Rainbow Dash..."

"And...?" AJ narrowed her eyes at Twilight. The princess suddenly felt like Applejacks element was the one staring at her rather than AJ herself. Like somehow her friend knew she wasn't being wholly truthful.

"And...It makes me even madder knowing that I spent all those years chasing him and got nowhere! Now he's being all kissy with Rainbow Dash after only a FEW MONTHS!" Despite Twilight raising her voice and the sand around her creating the smallest of dust clouds yet again, AJ was still convinced Twilight was hiding something. However now didn't seem like the time to press the issue.

From her spot under Rarity's giant red and golden umbrella, Applejack smiled warmly. "There now, doesn't that feel better hun?"

"No...It doesn't..." Applejacks smile faded the moment she actually laid eyes on Twilights face through the sand. Even from a distance AJ could see Twilights quivering lip mere seconds before she collapsed to her knees and brought her face down into her hands. Applejack took off from her chair, gathering everyone's attention as she went to consul Twilight.

Applejack could hear Twilights muttering even before she got to her, but it wasn't until she was right next to her that she actually noticed the young princess repeatedly slamming her fists into the sand, while roughly muttering under her breath "It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair..."

"Aw sugarcube..." Applejack dropped to her knees as well and pulled her friend against her chest. "Ya'll are hurtin alot more than yer lettin on...why not talk to him?"

"NO!" Twilight's voice rose an octave and the sand around her jumped for a third time. Applejack got the message not to press.

"Ok then...what about me? Ya'll can talk to us hun. We're yer friends. Rainbow Dash too. Ya gotta know she ain't doin this to hurt ya?"

Twilight just shook her head against AJ's chest. The other girls were starting to take more notice now and were about to start heading over, but AJ just looked around at each one of them and shook her head. Receiving the message, each one reluctantly went back to what they were doing. Except for Sunset Shimmer, who, now with all the sand removed from her soaked person, made her way back over to Twilight. She looked down at her friend in AJ's arms, her friend who was now holding herself back from surely screaming in frustration and hurt. It was hard to see Twilight like this.

After a few minutes of just silent comforting and hugging Twilight against her, Applejack looked up to spot a pair of figures appear around a bend in the distance, the same bend which Daybreak and Rainbow had gone around earlier.

"Well, I'll be...I think Dash and Daybreak are back." She gave Twilight a small nudge as Sunset was already beginning to look over at them. Twilight didn't bother raising her head to look, until she heard Sunset gasp and AJ's voice go ragged "Oh no..."

Her vocal pitch said it all, something was wrong. Twilight forced herself to look up. They were still far away, but it was obvious that the pair approaching was definitely Daybreak and Rainbow. However the shape of their outlines was off. Twilight didn't quite understand why they both looked so fused together, until their forms were much closer. No doubt Applejack and Sunset Shimmer, both whom had much better eyesight than her spotted it right away. Rainbow Dash was practically carrying Daybreak. His arm was slung over her shoulder, and it looked to be that most of his weight was on her, she may as well have been walking for the both of them.

Before Twilight could inquire what could have happened, Sunset Shimmer said something that truly befuddled her.

"Hey...is it just me, or is there someone else with them?"

"What?"

Now they had her full attention! She was on her feet so quick she actually knocked Applejack over. AJ recovered quick and was already yelling to everyone else, whilst taking off down the beach towards Rainbow. The others quickly dropped their various activities and were moving up next to Twilight. Even Pinkie Pie retreated in from the ocean, although she decided it was best (for some reason) to bring her giant beach ball back with her.

Applejack made it over to Daybreak and Rainbow within moments. She arrived and was under Daybreaks other arm before even greeting them. Rainbow nodded in thanks, but Applejacks eyes were zeroed in on the girl behind them. Before even saying hello, she attacked them with questions.

"What in sam hell happened to ya'll!? Where have ya been? Ya'll have been gone for over an hour and ya look like ya got into a fight with a grill Daybreak! And who the hay is that following ya?"

She motioned her head back at Jackie. Daybreak and Dash traded quick glances before answering. Daybreak decided to speak first.

"We don't know who she is, except for her name, we got attacked by some...creatures in the mangroves. We might not have gotten out alive if she hadn't shown up and helped fight them off."

"Creatures?" AJ said the word like it had a bad taste to it "As in ya don't know what they were?"

Daybreak loosed a grunt of pain as AJ accidentally brushed across his burnt looking arm "Mmph...no...As in I didn't think they existed until now, but I should discuss this with everyone before saying more."

Applejacks eye twitched, but only Rainbow Dash was able to tell. Although her voice did not change, the tensing of her figure spoke plenty. She'd known AJ a long time, and she knew when she was irritated.

"Well now that ain't exactly fair is it? Ya'll didn't exactly depart here on the best of ways, and ya made a good couple of us worried sick why ya were gone so long. Plus ya come back looking like ya got yer arm fried extra crispy and yer clothes shredded. I think it's fair I wanna know why, now!"

Daybreak detected the slightest bit of demand in Applejacks last words. However he was in no mood to be bossed around, and certainly not by one of Princess Twilights friends.

"Tough turnips, life ain't fair. Take it from someone who knows that better than you ever could. I said I'll tell you when we get to everyone, and that's when I'll tell you. Deal with it or drop me in the sand, I don't care which."

From Applejacks reaction, he doubted anyone had ever dared to speak to her that way. Her jaw clenched very visibly and he could see Rainbows eyes start darting between them, possibly in fear of what might happen. But AJ did not react , she simply passed the rest of the walk over to everyone in complete silence. Daybreak barely greeted the group with more than a silent nod and kept his word not to say anything more about what happened to anyone until he was ready. Once they were safely back at their site and she helped Dash get Daybreak sitting down on a towel, Applejack silently made her way back to her chair and recovered her eyes with her hat. Not exactly an abnormal gesture, but it certainly aroused a question from a curious Sunset Shimmer.

"Applejack, what are you doing? Aren't you curious about what happened?"

Without even moving her hat, AJ replied rather bluntly "I can hear just fine from here thanks."

The semi rude answer seemed to confuse Sunset, but Daybreak knew exactly what was up.

Daybreak rolled his eyes while he crossed his legs on the towel "I probably offended her. Whatever, I don't have the energy to care right now. After everything today, Applejacks pride is last on my list of fucks to give."

Once everyone began huddling around Daybreak, Rainbow decided now was the best time to introduce Jackie to everyone. She'd purposefully been hanging back from everyone until she was called so as to not draw much attention away from Daybreak and Rainbow until they were ready for her. However before Jackie could make it over to them, Twilight eyes swam across Daybreak's arm, and she shrieked aloud, causing everyone around her to jump!

Daybreak! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" She teleported and was in front of him instantly, making Rainbow trip and fall backwards into the sand as the purple princess appeared on top of one of her feet. Rainbow recovered quickly and obliged to stay sitting in the sand rather than bothering to get back up. She shot Twilight an angry glare, but the princess didn't even notice it. She was too absorbed in Daybreaks injury. She knelt down and yanked Daybreaks arm up to her eyes. He grunted in pain as she suddenly started running her eyes over his meat strip of a limb like she was scanning him. While she examined him, Daybreak caught an uncomfortably detailed view of her cleavage from the angle she was leaning over him. Her being in a bikini didn't make it any easier on him, but he still tried to look away anyways. Rainbow noticed this, plus his immediate attempts to look away, and felt her blood boil.

"Jackie would you hurry it up and get over here already!"

"Since when is Twilight concerned with Daybreak anyways, I though she hated him! Now she's all over him like he's the most interesting thing since Daring Do, I don't get this! And I don't like it!"

Jackie shot Dash an annoyed looked and sputtered something lengthy at her in French.

"va te faire foutre, impatient jock. "

Although almost no one understood most of what she had just said, it was clear Rainbow certainly did, and it was clear by her reaction that it was not polite.

"You little-! I'm not-!...Just get over here!"

As Jackie gradually inched her way closer to the small group, Daybreaks eyes fell on Twilights face for the first time since returning. He cursed his keen eye for detail the moment he noticed her reddened pupils, and was unfortunately able to guess what the cause might have been.

"I should probably apologize, to her at least, for being so rude earlier...ugggh...not like she didn't deserve it."

But Twilights bloodshot eyes weren't what initially grabbed his attention, no it was how Twilight was eyeing Jackie as she made her way over to them, while still trying to examine his wounds. It was like she had just noticed her for the first time. Something about the look Twi was giving her made him uneasy.

"Jackie did say she knew her...maybe they didn't exactly get along before...or maybe she also understood whatever Jackie just said to Dash? I wouldn't put it past Twilight to know French."

Rainbows scowl only seemed to grow larger by the second as she watched Twilight suddenly showing an unnatural amount of attention to her boyfriend. She wanted to introduce Jackie quickly so that Twilight would stop hanging all over Daybreak, but she was taking her sweet time getting over to them. She certainly knew how to make twenty feet feel alot longer than it was. When she finally made her way over and through the encirclement of people surrounding Daybreak, she came to stand right behind him and Rainbow. Rainbow felt a slight irritation with Jackie standing directly behind and over top of them like she was, but she let it pass for now and tried to be pleasant.

"Everyone, this is Jackie Blaze. She's the reason Daybreaks only got on cooked arm, instead of being slightly extra crispy himself."

Her bad attempt at humor received absolutely no welcome from anyone. No one so much as smirked. With all the events of the past hour or two, Daybreak had almost forgotten that he and Rainbow had not exactly left her friends in the best of moods. No one was saying it, but he was pretty sure they were all still peeved at him or Rainbow in some way.

After realizing her joke was dead with no hope of resuscitation, Rainbow alleged to sit in awkward silence until someone else spoke. Jackie simply stood behind Daybreak in silence, seemingly using him to separate her from the others while watching Twilight look over his arm. With Daybreak being the only one actually sitting down other than Rainbow, he suddenly felt this weird impression of everyone looking down at him, but he was sure it was more in a literal sense than figurative.

With seemingly no one willing to break the awkward silence, Daybreak decided he would, even if it would likely only make things worse. However as soon as he came to this decision, Rarity (unknowingly or not) cut across him.

"Soooo, Darling,...Uh Jackie is it? How exactly did you come across our dear friends here?"

Jackie's eyes target locked on Rarity like lightning, but rather than it feeling like a glare, the impression she gave off was more like she was focusing on whom she was speaking to, using all of her attention. With a gentle smirk she replied.

"Oh I rescued them from ze Shadow Volves. Zer situation vas quite dire I think. I vould bet many bits zey would not be here now wisout me."

Twilight looked up from Daybreaks arm, her voice caught in her throat as she went wide eyed. "W-What did you just say?"

Jackie's eyes looked down at Twilights, meeting them in a stare halfway. "Oui Princess, Shadow Volves. Don't tell me you are afraid?"

Twilight looked offended, her vision narrowed as her teeth started to grit. "I'm not scared of some silly mythical monsters." Her grip was starting to tighten on Daybreaks hurt limb. So much so that it was beginning to make his eyes water. For supposedly knowing each other, these two didn't seem to feel like greeting one another normally. Maybe they really didn't get along? He had to say something.

"Twilight, hold on a second. Don't you two know each other?"

Twilight looked back to him "Huh? Why would you think that?"

Her tone said it all, they had never met, but before he could put his realization to words, Jackie chuckled, bringing her palm up to her lips as she did.

"Mythical monsters? Princess, you know better zen zat, after all...you are ze reason they were called here."

The words had barely registered in Daybreaks mind before Jackie moved. He barely saw her react, he didn't even have time to be surprised as Jackie's hand came down on his shoulder and she vaulted over him, planting a foot directly into Twilights chest! The power behind Jackie's kick blasted Twilight backwards into her friends! She practically flew through them all, knocking them aside like bowling pins then rolling through the sand, she came to a stop several yards away! Spike, Sunset, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy were thrown off their feet like they'd been hit with a cannon blast!

Jackie's aura came alive as soon as the group hit the hit the sand, flaring blood red around her body, one by one she blasted all five of Twilights downed friends with a binding charm, paralyzing them in place. Jackie wasted no time in keeping the pace. She planted her feet and sprinted towards where she had kicked Twilight! Applejack, being the only one not knocked over by Twilight, was up from her chair and came barreling at Jackie with nothing held back! Daybreak watched her catch up to Jackie with ease and lower her shoulder to slam into her back. He had only sensed Applejacks power flare briefly once before, but he knew from what he'd felt, that if she made body contact, Jackie wouldn't likely get up. But sadly, it wasn't meant to be. As AJ was mere inches from connecting, Jackie made a dead stop, planted her feet into the ground and ducked. AJ, already using too much power and forward momentum, had no chance of stopping. All Jackie had to do, was catch underneath AJ's gut and shoulder, and push up. Her own momentum did the rest.

Applejack came up off the ground, and for a moment Daybreak thought Jackie was simply going to let AJ's own power vault her over her back. But instead, the moment both of Jackie's arms were free she jumped up, spun in the air and planted a firm side kick into Applejacks upside-down gut. Daybreak heard the air leave her as she too was propelled several yards away into the sand, even farther than Twilight! Applejack sunk into the sand and did not get up. At this, Jackie seemed satisfied and moved back towards Twilight.

Daybreak felt a small dust cloud flash by him as Jackie's back fully turned away from them. He realized it before she did, that she had forgotten the most dangerous one was still left standing, and paid dearly for it. She realized her mistake too late to react, Rainbow was already beside her and dropping a full power elbow strike down, straight into her left shoulder! Jackie screeched as her shoulder was completely dislocated from its socket! But Rainbow wasn't done yet, not giving Jackie a chance to recover, Rainbow spun in the sand and brought her right foot to the side of Jackie's head, round housing her and guiding her face straight into the ground. Even from a distance Daybreak could hear Jackie's head bounce against the ground.

It should have been over right then. All sensible reason pointed to Jackie not getting up from a blow like that, especially from someone like Rainbow Dash, whom Daybreak had seen accidentally destroy roofs with her exercise. But nevertheless Daybreak felt it, Jackie's aura was still very much active. He attempted to force himself up from the ground to at least assist Rainbow, but he made the mistake of putting weight on his dead limb, and everything crumpled from there. He went head first back into the sand as blinding pain shot through his body. He looked up in time to see Rainbow turn, reacting to his screech of agony, and Jackie's figure rising from the sand behind her.

"Dash behind you!" But his words reached her was too late. In her moment of concern for his well being, she'd lowered her guard, and Jackie had her. Rainbow only turned in time to watch Jackie grab her by the throat and lift her from the ground with only her one good arm. As Rainbow was lifted she pulled back her fist in an attempt to punch at her captor, but as she swung Jackie was already slamming Rainbows body into the ground. The force and power behind her impact blasted the air from her lungs and nearly knocked her out cold. She held onto consciousness, just enough to feel Jackie whisper in her ear.

" Vous n'êtes pas mon objectif, rester en bas. "

Rainbow had no chance of getting up even if she'd wanted to. The moment she tried to move she felt Jackie's aura binding her to the ground. Her head turned and her eyes met Daybreaks. He was the only one left.

Jackie advanced on Twilight, not in a sprint now, but in a slow, menacing walk. She took her time advancing, using the distance between them to snap her shoulder back into place with a near emotionless look across her features. As Jackie neared the stunned princess, whom was keeled over at her knees and clutching her gut in the sand, she slowly withdrew the blade from her bikini bottoms, casually flipping the blade around to grip it underhanded like a combat knife. Daybreak knew now he couldn't hesitate. If the blade was coming out, the time for any hope of reasoning was done. Regardless of what was happening or why, he had to intervene now. He forced his energy to flow throughout his body, even to his injured arm.

A strong resistance pushed back against the flow of magic causing him momentary pain, he could feel his muscle tissue broken and burnt from the inside. This was a result of defending against the Shadow Wolves. If he forced magic into his arm while it was in such a state, he knew the likelihood of him ever fully recovering was minimal at best. But he had no choice. Whatever consequences came of this later, he'd deal with. As Jackie neared within seven feet of Twilight, Daybreak felt his power explode inside him!

"Now!"

He painfully shoved the magic into his arm, filling it up like a balloon ready to burst, numbing himself to pain in the area, and vanishing in a puff of sand. He reappeared barely four yards from Jackie, separating her from Twilight with his good palm outstretched and facing dead ahead.

"No hesitation."

Without words, he loosed a powerful beam of emerald energy into Jackie's shock ridden features! He expected her to try and dodge, or redirect or do something other than simply stand there and take it, but she didn't. She didn't even move her hands to try and defend herself. As blinding light from his energy wave sliced through the air, Daybreak wondered if he should have used less force, now that he was watching Jackie simply take it with no defenses.

Daybreak quickly ended the energy blast to examine the damage he'd inflicted, and was almost worried he might have completely obliterated the girl. Not that he cared much about that, it just hadn't been his intention to destroy her, yet. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to have to worry about that, seeing as once the light faded from the blast, Jackie was right where she had been before, looking completely unharmed.

"That's not possible." He couldn't believe it, no one could take a direct blast like that and have nothing to show for it. He scanned his eyes over Jackie's body, looking for some sign that she had taken damage, or shielded herself in some way, but there was nothing. He saw nothing, he sensed nothing. Not ever her bikini seemed torn or the least bit phased by his attack. His eyes found her sneering at him as he looked to her face.

"My my, for ze son of chaos, you are quite weak aren't you?"

He felt his right eye twitch. "What did you say!?" "More importantly how does she know who I am?"

His temper ignited flames within his hands, without thinking he directed both his palms at Jackie and blasted a heat wave at her hot enough to completely dehydrate the air around them! His rage fueled the flames as they connected with Jackie, once again showing no intention of protecting herself. The fire licked and coiled its way around her like a serpent, completely removing her from sight. A fiery inferno swirled around her and became a small tornado, pluming up into the skies above!

"There's no way she walks away from this one unscathed. That fire alone will surely scorch off her skin, say nothing for her clothing."

As if just to prove him wrong, Jackie's hand suddenly broke from the fiery tornado. Appearing unburnt, her arm seemed to simply hover in the fire for a moment. Then with a single sweep, her arm came down, and like someone had suddenly turned off the oxygen, Daybreaks flames went out.

It was like a suction vacuum had been activated just by her sweeping her arm through the air. Daybreak physically felt the fire being pulled from his hands as it went out. The suction was so powerful he actually staggered forward as the flames went out. Afterwards, Jackie just stood in the same spot as before, still holding her mocking sneer.

"Is zat all? No chocolate rain? No cotton candy clouds? You seem more like a pathetic sorcerer than ze son of Discord."

Daybreak hmphed while spitting at the ground. He dug his feet into the sand and tucked his arms to his sides, assuming a basic fighting stance.

"At this point, if she can take both of those, there's no point in continuing with magical attacks. Clearly she's got some kind of defense to protect her from me at a distance. I won't fall prey to her taunts. I have to keep a clear head. If she can defend against all ranged attacks, I'll just switch to close combat."

Taking to the offensive again, Daybreak teleported in front of Jackie with his magic. But she was clearly ready for him, which he also expected. The way she had easily incapacitated Applejack, and her own fluid way of movement, she clearly had CQC training as well. He was certain Rainbow had only gotten those few hits off because she'd caught her off guard. And sadly...he was much slower than Rainbow Dash. His teleportation was so fast it was like he blinked and he was there. But Rainbow moved even faster than that at full speed, and she didn't have to teleport.

He came at Jackie with an uppercut strike to the jaw, but she simply leaned back and twirled around him. Luckily, having already expected her to be fast enough to dodge him, he was ready to follow up. As he saw Jackie twirl past his hip, he dropped his free hand and blasted a powerful heat wave across his own chest and into her side, nearly point blank range. The energy blast alone, picked her up and threw her a good ways away. She landed and rolled several feet in the sand before coming to stop.

Daybreak felt a small twinge of satisfaction, despite having to severally burn himself to pull that off. He staggered as he felt his skin go raw, fizzle and cauterize, but he held his stance and waited for Jackie to get back up, as he knew she would.

"That blast was weaker than the last two, but I still knocked her around nevertheless. If I hadn't been so convinced it wouldn't do anything at all and wasn't so worried about burning myself, I could have done more damage...I should have done more damage. But I did just learn a crucial detail about her...now to test it."

He took a step and watched his vision go blurry. For a moment, the world around him spun, and he felt his body stagger. Realizing what was happening, he focused all his effort on keeping himself up. The world seemed to get bigger as it began to spin faster, but he forced himself upright. Through sheer force of will, he managed to keep himself conscious. He knew though with his arm, and now the burn on his chest, he'd be down for the count soon, not from lack of magic, but from his bodies needs. As long as he didn't look down and actually see the wound on his stomach, he could hold off shock a little while.

With his vision now restoring itself, he looked up from the ground to see Jackie already back on her feet, only a fist sized burn mark across her hip, just barely missing her bottoms. She snickered as she stared at him, pushing her now messy hair out of her face. She may have been snickering, but he could tell it was of a different kind this time. She was angry. Perhaps because he'd managed to wound her, even if ever so slightly. Either way it didn't matter, if he didn't end in his next attack or two, he'd be finished.

"If I'd had more time I could have thought this through better. I might not have had to resort to burning myself just to land one hit on her. Oh well, no use in worrying about it now."

Realizing she still hadn't attacked him, he glanced at her again. She was still standing where she had landed, showing no signs of movement. She wanted him to come to her, perhaps she was even waiting for it. Knowing that gave him a moment to reassess his situation. He looked around for the others. His eyes scanned past all of Twilights friends, stopping briefly on each one to confirm that they were in deed still paralyzed by Jackie's magic. Other than Applejack, they all still glowed with her red aura. Sadly, knowing Applejack was not bound didn't help him much. He could tell just from looking at her, the way she was lying in the sand, she was out cold.

A fleeting hope forced him to check behind him. Surely Twilight could have recovered from a single kick by this point? As his eyes sought and found the Princess, his fleeting hope for aid died. Twilight was barely on her hands and knees, clearly still unable to do more than hold herself up.

"She's not a physical girl, but I know Twilight isn't so weak as to be incapacitated by one kick for this long. Jackie must have done something else to her, something that I missed before."

The hair on his neck prickled, Daybreak knew it before she was there. Faster than any instinct could have alerted him to move, he stuck out his right foot. He fully extended just as Jackie appeared in front of him, catching her directly in the gut. Her eyes went wide in surprise, and he could understand why. Even he was shocked that he had sensed her before she even teleported.

He watched as air and spittle left Jackie's mouth while she hung on his foot in the air. He gazed for a moment at her, assuring himself she was stunned and trying to think of what to do next before she could recover and counterattack. Spinning in place, Daybreak swung Jackie around with his foot, bringing her a full 360 degrees back around and flinging her back towards where she had last landed. She skidded for only a second before pushing herself upwards, flipping backwards in the air and digging her feet into the sand. Without even coming to a full stop she pushed downwards and took off back at him.

"Tch...Persistent bitch, show me some fucking damage will you!"

He felt his hair prickle again, suddenly his arms knew where to go. He didn't even see Jackie's aura flash when she teleported, but his arms were already positioned when she appeared in front of him. She came in for blood, making a swipe for his clavicle with her blade. His right arm was already coming down on her, chopping her hand downwards and forcing her attack into the empty space directly under his armpit, missing him completely. He felt the blade wiz over his head, she'd tossed it over his back as he clamped her elbow against his ribs, pinning her arm. She reached up and caught the knife with her right hand and went for his ribs with a quick jab.

Daybreaks other hand came across his chest and smashed against her wrist, completely dislocating it and forcing her to drop the knife mid jab, which he caught in the air with his aura. Sensing her disadvantage, Jackie brought her knee into his chest, quickly jabbing him and forcing him to loosen his arm enough for her to free her own and retreat. She reached up and swiped back her blade from his aura, then vanished. She reappeared a mere five feet back glaring at him. With a pained look of hate, he watched her snap her wrist back into place just as she had with her shoulder.

There was a momentary lapse in the fighting, where both of them just stared at each other. Daybreak could feel both of their auras relax ever so slightly. This was his moment to recharge, possibly hers too.

"If she needs the time to recharge herself, perhaps it's best if I press the offensive now while I may still have an advantage. But at the same time, I know I'll fair better at full strength, perhaps it's better to stall for time while I regather some strength.

"Why are you doing this?" The question just spilled out of him, it was the only thing he could think of to say. Besides, he couldn't help but be curious. After all he was no stranger to betrayal, but something about this just seemed wrong. Just a few moments ago they had been allies, and less than an hour before that she had saved his life, now she was trying to kill him. Things just didn't add up.

"If she wanted to kill me why didn't she just let the wolves tear us apart back then?...Unless maybe...Maybe she's only attacking me cause I'm getting in her way. She did only react to each one of Twilights friends when they tried to defend Twilight. She's obviously going after Twilight then...but why?"

His eyes darted over his back for just a split second to check on Twilight, then back to Jackie. When she failed to answer his question, he tried a different phrasing.

"Why are you attacking Twilight?" At least that got a reaction from her. Her lips curled upwards into a mocking sneer that made his blood boil.

"Vat use would ze information be to you now?"

He couldn't hold back a snicker "Because, I normally make it a point to know who someone is before I send them into the sun."

Jackie's free hand came to her lips, covering them as she loosed a slight giggle "Is zat vat you intend to do to me? Seal me in ze sun?"

Daybreak shook his head "It was a metaphor. I'm not like my dear mother. When I say that, it means I'm gonna destroy you. I just want to know who you are first so I can reference your name whenever someone asks me why I have trust issues. Besides this is all too random to be a coincidence. You meeting us when we were alone like that, in need of aid. You just happen to have weapon that can save us. What is all this about? Who are you?"

Jackie responded by gently dragging her left foots toes through the sand, then casually looking up at him with a smile. "I'm what you'll one day become. That's all you need to know for now."

"What are-"

She was in front of him again, swiping for his belly with her knife! His legs weren't fast enough to save him this time. Even as he brought his right knee up and felt it connect with her gut, the sensation of her knife splitting his skin like butter filled his brain. His stomach opened up igniting his whole body in fiery pain. With Daybreak unable to follow through with his attack while such a sensation was blinding him, Jackie leapt on her chance. With her opposite arm, she brought her elbow around and smashed it into the side of his temple, making his world spin and eyes go hazy. Then, as he stumbled to the left, she looped her right leg around his head, and brought her ankle down on the back of his neck, axe kicking him straight down into the sand head first.

The blow sent his brain haywire as he felt his body struggle to stay awake. He was faintly aware of someone screaming his name as his face met sand, but his body refused to respond to his inquiry to see who. Pain the likes of which he rarely felt, crawled up his belly from the open wound on his stomach. Not even fire compared to the pure white hot agony that the slash across his burnt body was causing him. It was only comparable to one other sensation he could remember, and it wasn't that long ago that he'd felt it. He could feel the magic of Jackie's blade seeping into him, practically burning his wound from the inside.

"Light magic, effective on shadow creatures, and me apparently. Guess that makes sense in a way...another cursed blade...that's two now...this can't be chance that I've encountered two of these in such a short time."

Paralyzed not by magic, but by pain, Daybreak could only lift his head from the sand and watch as Jackie turned from him. She resumed her slow advancement on Twilight, this time reaching her without interruption. Sensing disaster on the horizon, Daybreak struggled to force out more power from his body, but it was to no avail. He could feel his, supposedly limitless, supply of magical energy frantically coursing through his veins trying to repair the excessive amount of damage he'd done to his body.

He tried to force his hands up, and the pain came again, though this time not from his chest but from his arm. The numbing spell he'd shoved into his damaged limb had run it's coarse, and now the full extent of his bodies damage was weighing on his mind. His arm refused to acknowledge any command he gave it, pain was now all he could feel from his charred and dead looking limb. His stomach, burnt and crispy looking, continued to bleed out into the sand in front of him. He could not move. His body had reached it's tolerance for pain. He could only watch as Jackie finally stood before the kneeling Twilight and chuckled.

"Zis went even easier zen I thought it vould."

Twilights body began to shake. Daybreak could feel her aura building within her, like a clogged pipe waiting to burst. He knew Jackie could feel it to, but she seemed far less worried than he did.

"You are vaisting your time. Your powers can't help you now. Not against somesing like me."

She reached down and made to grab at Twilight's throat. Whatever she was planning, to do, Daybreak doubted she'd get to it. Even in his bloody and burnt state, he could feel Twilights energy reaching a peak. Her fear, and her anger, was beginning to boil over. The spell Jackie had bound the young princess with could not contain the raw magical energy within her.

Daybreak felt it coming and ducked his head down farther into the sand. All at once Jackie's spell failed, and the full force of Twilights pent up power came forward in a single, uncontrolled wave of pure raw magic!

Jackie seemed to sense it just as her fingers went to close around Twilights throat. Much, much too late for her to avoid the consequences. The energy wave burst forth from within Twilights core, releasing an energy outwards with such weight, all the sand within a three yard radius of Twilight was instantly burnt to glass! Jackie allowed the wave to throw her backwards with no resistance. For to attempt to resist such raw power, would surely exhaust and kill her long before she succeeded in withstanding it!

The energy blast sent Jackie flying, and the wave of sand that followed, blinded Daybreaks ability to see just how far. He did not raise his head until the energy wave, and the cloud of sand that followed just behind it, faded. When he next looked up, he almost didn't recognize the terrain anymore. The area had been almost completely cleared of everything, but sand. For Celestia knows how far, Daybreak could spot no trees, or mangroves still standing. Everything was just sanded over. Looking up, he could tell that the explosion had reached high into the sky as well, and the weather itself had been affected too. The sand still hung high above them in the air, creating a mushroom cloud that was likely visible for many miles. Even farther above that in the sky, storms clouds swimming with lightning were now beginning to form, which would surely bring rain soon after.

Still unable to do much more than look around, Daybreak scanned the area for Rainbow and the others. He spotted Twilight with ease, being at the epicenter she was completely untouched. Save for her entire bikini having somehow changed to a midnight black color now, she seemed fine. With Jackie's spell now broken, she'd be moving around soon enough. The others were not so easy to spot. He could still sense their energy nearby, and when he switched to his magical vision, their auras were still shown in the same places as before the blast. Which meant that Jackie's binding spell had likely held them in place through the explosion, allowing the sand to bury them underneath the dust and debris.

Glancing over where each of their auras were shown to be, Daybreak winked the smallest of energy blasts at each one of them. The sand covering them was instantly swept away by his miniscule spell, revealing all of Twilights friends to be laying right where they had been before. All except for Applejack. Daybreak pondered for a moment what may have happened to her, before coming to an uncomfortable realization that filled him with dread.

"She was the only one Jackie didn't bind with magic...that means she wasn't held down by anything during the blast! Oh no....Even if she somehow survived...she could be anywhere now...No...the likelihood of anyone surviving a blast wave like that, and the fall that surely came with it, without some kind of aid, and unconscious...it's impossible...it's beyond impossible...How am I gonna tell Rainbow and the others?"

He vigorously shook his head through the sand. "No time to think about that now...I gotta get everyone else first, starting with Rainbow..."

He glanced back, and noticed Twilight getting to her feet. He watched her eyes fall on him, then glance around the area. He watched water start to form in her pupils, and for some reason, suddenly he found himself angry with her.

"DON'T YOU DARE START CRYING NOW! THAT'S NOT HOW THE TWILIGHT SPARKLE I REMEMBER HANDLED THINGS! YOU HAVE PEOPLE THAT NEED YOU RIGHT NOW, SO SUCK IT UP AND DO YOUR JOB AS THEIR FRIEND, PRINCESS!"

He watched his words hit home, and instantly have the desired effect. Twilights teeth gritted and she wiped the forming tears from her eyes, then started in a slow jog towards him. Even as she came upon him, Daybreak could feel the aura of her entrapped friends starting to grow again. Jackie's binding spell was depleting rapidly.

"Which means she's either no longer within a five mile radius...or Twilights blast actually obliterated her...hmm better keep that second possibility to myself for Twilights sake."

He watched as Twilight approached him, and kneeled down at his side. He could see the conflicting feelings of what she had just done swimming across her face. Friend or not, now was the time for him to say something comforting. Forcing the pain away for a moment, he managed to strain out a smile at her while she flipped him onto his back in the sand.

"Wow Sparky, guess this means you are stronger than me now."

"Daybreak..." She was looking down, but not at his face. She was trying not to meet his gaze, and instead focus on his wounds. He watched as her hands crawled under the sand and felt her warm palms touch his burnt, still bleeding belly. For a moment, all he could feel was the ache of his wound being grazed and the sand grinding against it. Then, he felt a coolness wash over his chest, like a soft fountain of water had just been drizzled down on him. Lifting his head from the sand some, he ran his eyes over his skin to watch the slash from Jackie's blade close up completely, and some of the more damaged skin returning to a painful red instead of a dead and burnt black.

"Thanks Sparky." He forced another smile, this one more convincing.

She half smiled back at him "Sparky...You haven't called me that since we were very little."

He held his smile and his gaze, hoping to force her to meet his through sheer persistence.

"You used to hate it, but I can see it making you smile now."

"That's cause you used to-!" She paused herself as her eyes finally darted over his. The moment their gazes met, he might as well have hit her with a stun ray. His eyes seemed to stare into her very soul.

"Twilight, this wasn't your fault."

He knew she had no way of knowing if he meant his wounds or the destruction around them, but it didn't matter. The effect was the same either way. Twilights upper lips started to quiver, and once again the waterworks tried to fill her eyes, but this time she held them back on her own and sniffled. She forced herself to smile.

"Even when we were little, you always knew just what to say to motivate me didn't you? Whether it was to complete my latest spell obsession or finish a late night study session, you always said just the right thing. I must have been an open book to you wasn't I?"

He chuckled, causing some of the small sand pile on his legs and arms to tumble off him. "Yeah, you really were. Little purple nerd. I remember how feeble you used to be...How much Celestia used to praise and coddle at you for everything you did...And, how jealous I was of you..."

Twilights eyes widened, forcing her to wipe away more water from her cheeks "Y-You were jealous of m-me?"

"Yeah I-"

His words caught in his throat as his blood ran cold. He felt her there, behind Twilight before she even appeared. In the singular moment before she appeared, Daybreak ran through a million scenarios in his head, but with his current condition...he realized there was nothing he could do to protect her now. Twilight saw his eyes start to widen, and realized what was happening centuries too late.

With no warning, Jackie appeared behind Twilight, her blood aura flowing like clothing around her. She grabbed the Princess by the back of her hair and yanked her from Daybreaks side, throwing her down into the sand! Twilight hit the ground with a thud, but came back up surprisingly quick, her aura also flaring up around her, ready for a fight. Jackie's surprise was observed only through the slightest widening of her eyes when the Princess appeared in her face.

Her hesitation to fight now gone, Twilight extended her palm out and opened her fingers at Jackie's face. At near point blank range, a beam purple and flaming black energy erupted forth from Twilights palm, smacking Jackie full in the face! There was no time for her to dodge even if she had wanted to, he knew for certain the full force of Twilights attack had connected with her.

The beam didn't just strike her face, it engulfed it, and kept going in a straight beam far back beyond them. Somewhere in the distance, Daybreak heard the beam end, striking the ground and exploding with the force of a small hurricane. He watched with awe as Twilight began to lower her hands and cut the energy flowing to it. He was certain that Jackie was done for, that Jackie must fall, crumple to the floor from the weight of such a devastating attack.

But she didn't. Both Daybreak and Twilight were left flabbergasted as the beam faded and Jackie's face was once again all but unscathed from Twilights attack. She had nothing to show for it other than a small, paper clip sized cut on her cheek.

She smiled, as Twilight threw up both of her hands for another blast, but it seemed Jackie was done playing around. When Twilights hands came up, Jackie ducked down. Just as the energy began to leave Twilights open palms Jackie ducked under and around to Twilights left, then with zero hesitation, swung her magical blade clean across the Princess's face.

The sounds that Daybreak heard next, would be burned into his brain for eternity. Nothing, not a memory spell nor amnesia, or even death would ever let him escape from the pain of hearing Twilights bloody screams of agony. It was audible even over the sound of her energy blasts failing and exploding in her palms. Her hands were fine, but she stumbled back and tripped, falling into the sand. Jackie examined her knife, now soaked in blood, and smiled. Daybreak looked in horror as his eyes found Twilights face.

Soaked no, covered in blood was not even enough to describe what he was looking at. He had to struggle not to vomit at what he saw. Twilights hands were covering her eyes, but he had seen already. He had seen what Jackie had done to her.

To his horror, that wasn't the end. Easily dodging Twilights blind attempts at firing random beams at her, she quickly appeared back in front of the crippled princess. She reached down and gripped her by the throat. With seemingly no effort at all she lifted Twilight into the air. Jackie glanced back at Daybreak with a devils grin, and showed him her blade, balancing on the index finger of her opposite hand. Realizing her intent, he along with everyone else, began struggling against their binds. It was pointless.

Even with her spell beginning to fade, it still held more than enough strength to bind everyone down. Without looking, Daybreak could hear Spike and the others screeching at her, begging her not to do it. He heard everyone, from Rainbow to Sunset and on down the line, everyone's pleas burrowing in his ears. It was torture to him. He was the only one not bound by magic...but by his own weakness.

Jackie laughed, as he looked up...just in time to see it. Jackie leaned forward and whispered something into Twilights ear, too quiet for anyone else to hear, but she heard it just fine. "Princess Twilight...Hell waits for you. Sans vous, son âme est à moi"

As Twilights face contorted with terror, Jackie's broke out into a maddened grin. With a wild shriek of sickening glee, she drove her knife forward, straight into Twilights abdomen! Daybreak and her friends watched, helpless as Twilights eyes widened, and a small trail of red began to trickle down from her lips. Then, just when he thought it was over, a wave of blinding white energy erupted forth from Twilights back. It sliced across the ground behind her like a blade, glassing a perfect straight line behind her for an untold distance. After a moment, the beam faded and Twilight's eyes went hazy, then Jackie finally dropped her. Twilight crumpled into the sand. A puppet whose strings had been cut, and did not move...