Devoid. Empty. Nothingness. His mind seemed blank, no feelings escaped him as the limp body of Twilight Sparkle crumpled into the sand before him. It didn't feel real. None of it did. Even as he activated his magical sight, and witnessed Twilights aura extinguish like a candle in the rain, he still didn't quite believe it. Somehow, he suddenly found himself standing, though only moments ago his legs would not respond. He found himself kneeling next to her, faster than he could have blinked, though only moments ago he swore he had no magic left. It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense.

His hands drifted under the limp princess, his fingertips gently pressing against her back and the underside of her head. With no effort at all, he raised her back and head, giving the impression she were sitting up to look at him. His eyes found hers, and could not be drawn away. The flow of blood would not cease, but still he could see the damage plain as day. Her eyes, her lively amethyst eyes always eager to read, to learn, were now blood red clumps and oozing liquid from within. A clean slash, obviously from Jackie's cursed blade, was visible from one side of her face to the other. A perfectly straight line, cutting directly across her eyes. She was blind now. Blind. Somehow, this struck something within him that her apparent demise could not.

"Look...look what you did..."

His words floated to Jackie, who had taken several steps back when he had appeared in front of her to cradle Twilight. She still wore her sadistic smirk, leaning back on her heels while twirling the blood soaked knife within her palm. She had allowed him to cradle the dying princess without interference for a single purpose. She chuckled a truly sickening laugh down at him.

"What I did? This is all your fault you know." Any trace of her accent seemed to have vanished, her words were now clear as day.

Her taunt did not seem to reach him. Instead he repeated himself again.

"Look...Look what you did...Look what you did to Twilight..."

Her smile unfaltering, she too repeated herself, looking down at him with deplorable contempt. She leaned over at the waist and whispered like a serpent.

"I didn't do this, you did. You have no one to blame but yourself. You should have joined us the last time."

Daybreak still did not look up from the princess. Instead he held her closer to his chest. Words scratched and clawed at his throat, deepening then heightening again. It was as though multiple voices were attempting to escape him at once.

"Look at what you did...to her eyes...She needs those more than...anything...How is she going to read now...All her books...She loved to read more than anything...she needs her eyes.............AND YOU TOOK THAT AWAY FROM HER!"

Something inside of Daybreak broke. Shattered to pieces. Be it his restraint, his tolerance, his care, or his morality. Something within him felt shattered, forever.

Jackie's eyes couldn't even widen in surprise before he grabbed her. Strength she had not felt within him before surged forth, his fingers closed around and gripped her face like a baseball. With no time for her to realize what was happening, Daybreak yanked her forward and slammed her head first into the ground. He crushed her face into the sand with ridiculous strength. Before she knew it, he was behind her, gripping both her arms and pulling back. He placed his foot against the back of her skull as he saw her attempting to rise, and shoved it back into the dirt. His foot crushed her down and held her in place. He tightened his grip, then began to pull back against her arms. A swift surge of pain in her shoulders told her his intentions, and forcing her to react.

Bending her knees upwards, Jackie reached her legs back and swiftly wrapped them around Daybreaks right leg. She pulled with all her might, yanking him off balance enough to raise her head and free an arm. She twisted her left hand free and swung it around, quickly upper cutting him in the chin. Daybreak stumbled back but did not fall. Once she was free, Jackie quickly distanced herself from him. She jumped several yards before looking back. Daybreak's face was a mess of emotion. Half teary, half crazed, half rage. Too many feelings filled his features for her to determine what was driving him, or what he might do.

Then he did something truly odd. His hands raised up and gripped the sides of his head. Then quite suddenly, he dropped to his knees and screamed, screamed like he was in intense agony! His voice rose and dropped octaves as his body began to twitch uncontrollably. Multiple hues of energy waves began rippling off his body at an alarming rate giving the impression that he was venting multicolored smoke. His voice came out cracked and pained when he finally managed to utter something understandable.

"I can't...control it! Uraaaaaaaggggh!" His voice struggled between pitches as he fought to stay on his knees.

He looked up, quite suddenly dawning a mad look that would have made anyone near him sick. He locked his tear filled gaze on Jackie and loosed a unstable laugh. He slowly began to lower his right palm towards the sand, muttering a strange incantation in a sing-song like voice, while an unsettling smile slowly stretched it's way across him.

While he spoke his voice was surprisingly stable, but it did not quite sound like him. It was as though multiple voices were coming from him at once. As he spoke, a strange, shadowy aura began to flow about his person. The wounds across his body closed and healed themselves at a rapid pace, disappearing almost instantly. His hand, now placed upon the sand beneath him, seemed to reach down through the ground and grip something within. A black circle of energy, laced with amethyst markings of an unknown language spawned from the sand and encircled Daybreak within. His eyes seemed almost glazed over, and even his wicked smile felt more saddening than creepy. Daybreaks hand seemed to move on its own, slowly beginning to withdraw from the dirt, but it did not come up empty. As his fingertips cleared the earth, they gripped the edges of a faded golden surface .

Daybreak was forced to come to full height before the object was recognizable by any means. It's massive frame alone was not enough to portray the object it held. A faded golden hue glistened from its edges. The top of the frame portrayed the image of the three headed Cerberus, but instead of faded gold, this part of the casing was a rusted black with each of the heads bearing blood red rubies for eyes. The eyes themselves seemed to glow with ominous light as they met daylight. The object in the center of the massive frame was obscured by a black fog until it fully broke from the circular portal in the sand. When the object was finally free completely, the circle and the aura flowing about it vanished, allowing everyone to witness what Daybreak had summoned. A mirror.

It looked to be ordinary enough, but Jackie seemed to recognize something about it, and actually took a step back. Perhaps in fear.

"You wouldn't..."

Daybreak regarded her with a raised eyebrow. His cold eyes did not match the sickening smile he now bore. "Really? Are you certain?"

With only those words for her, Daybreak reached out his right arm, and stuck it towards the mirror. Naturally his hand should have met a solid surface that resisted his advance, but in fact the opposite happened. The mirror shimmered at his touch, its surface became liquid-like and allowed his hand easy passage. Just like when it had passed through the sand, he seemed to grip onto something. Then he said something, horrifying.

"Now I'll show you what a real monster looks like."

After seemingly talking to himself, or his reflection, Daybreak slowly withdrew his arm. It was clear before it was even halfway out, something was different now. His arm was covered in black scales from his shoulder to his fingertips, and an aura, eerily similar to King Sombra's swam about his limb. Seconds after being free from the liquid-like glass. A snake-like voice echoed from nowhere.

"You're so unstable right now, I doubt I've got more than ten minutes to plaaaaay."

Even from a distance, Rainbow recognized the cold voice. It caused the hair on her neck to stand up. She felt a wave of fear hit her as she remembered back to her duel with Daybreak at school. The feeling now washing over her, and the ominous presence she felt, there was no doubt it was the same as back then, but somehow this time, it was even more overwhelming. Bound and unable to move, she was forced to watch as the tar colored aura swam up Daybreaks body encasing him in a terrifyingly familiar look. A look that reminded her of the only time she had ever been truly afraid of Daybreak.

The black scales encompassed his body as his eyes began to glow icy blue, slitting like a serpent. A fiery cloak of black and golden flames swirled itself about him, forming what could pass for tight robes, though it looked more like armor made from dragon hide. This new being stretched out his limbs and cracked at his neck, as though he were just waking up from a long sleep. Once the aura fully covered Daybreaks body, the starch white streak in his hair began to spread out, encompassing him until only a single streak of his emerald green was left.

As the flames and aura came to settle calmly around him, the newcomer made to quickly step away from the mirror by several feet, regarding it as if repulsed by its very presence. He took in a deep breath and smiled, throwing hands out above his head.

"Ooooh, it is good to be back. Hello Equestria, Solar Eclipse is back in town!"

"So that's his name?" Rainbow was glad to finally have a name for the only mystery about Daybreak that had frightened her enough to not even ask him about it.

As if sensing she was thinking about him, he turned his head back to face her. Rainbow felt her blood run cold as he smiled, then winked at her.

"What's up babe, remember me? We were deathly close last time we met, remember? I do. I remember the fear in your eyes. Then you disregarded me like I wasn't intimidating. Glad to see that's not the case now. Your fear back then was fleeting, not like now. It's quite a sexy look for you." She would have shivered with disgust, if she could have moved. He snickered and turned away from her, to face Jackie once more.

"Now then...What could you have possibly done to make our dear sweet prince so unstable that I was able to get free again?"

Rainbow noticed even Jackie seemed to be regarding Solar Eclipse with some manner of caution. At the very least she had withdrawn her blade again and looked more ready to fight than before. She didn't know whether that made her feel better because they might have a chance, or more terrified that Daybreak actually harbored something like this within.

Despite appearing more cautious than before, Jackie still managed to retain her taunting demeanor. Casually, she pointed to Twilight's limp body lying mere feet from Solar Eclipse's toes.

As Solar looked down upon Twilight, Rainbow expected to see him react in some way, but instead, all he did was sigh. "What a shame, she was such a sexy nerd too." Rainbows eye twitched. She reserved to smack Daybreak upside the head later if they both lived through this.

Solar Eclipse shook his head as he continued to look down at Twilights body "Tsk tsk tsk. Now you see...that's just a waste of talent right there. A perfectly willing host and you had to go all Friday The 13th on her with that knife. I'm afraid-"

He was in front of Jackie in an instant, without any hint of movement "-that I'm going to have to ask you to die-"

Jackie sliced upwards with her blade, going for Solar's right eye. He casually side stepped her attack, planted his right foot down on hers, firmly grasped her wrist and placed his free hand against her belly.

"-now."

Like a miniature sun condensed into beam form, a blast of immeasurable magnitude came forth from within his palm. Point blank range, it seemed to split Jackie in half as it traveled through and far beyond her. The very sound waves it emitted caused the air around it to pop and crackle. Solar kept a firm grip on Jackie's wrist to keep her from being blown away by the force of his attack. Several explosions followed along the beams trajectory, for it was so hot it quite literally ignited the air around it as it traveled out of eyesight! The impact was easily discernable from everyone's current position, seeing as it blazed high into the sky for a singular moment, before evaporating into nothingness and leaving a large cloud of ash and smoke hanging in the air. Whatever had been where it struck, was likely nothing more than dust now.

After a solid ten seconds of continuous energy pulsing, Solar ceased the beam to inspect the damage. Jackie's body should have been ripped in half and liquefied by the sun-like heat of the attack, yet just as before, she bore injuries barely equivalent to a sunburn. Although this time, she was clearly feeling it. Solar released her arm, and allowed her to drop to her knees. She quivered on the ground, her whole form shaking, likely in pain. He looked down at her with contempt.

"As I thought. Daybreaks theory was correct. The amount of power doesn't matter. You can withstand any magical attack can't you? That attack had power hot enough to give the sun a sunburn. Not even Celestia could have taken that without anything to show for it. I think I have you figured out now. There are only a few beings in existence who could possibly supply someone with enough power to shield an attack like that, and considering our most recent encounters, I think I know who's supplying that power. So then...you're her servant, or something close I presume, right?"

Jackie looked up at him, her palms shaking. "What makes you think I'm not one huh? I could be a horsemen.

Solar chuckled "You? You're too weak to be even comparable. You're just a servant aren't you?"

"Weak?!" Her uppercut was fast, unthinkably so. But Solar merely inclined his head back the slightest amount, and her fist whizzed by him harmlessly. As her midsection was once again exposed, Solar gently planted his palm against her belly once more and released another blast of energy into her. But this time, he focused it only on her and did not allow it to move past her into the background. Just like before the blast caught her fully, and without Solar to hold onto her, sent her flying back into the sand. She crashed and sunk a foot deep into the ground from the sheer force of impact. It took her a minute to sit up, by which time Solar was chuckling aloud, revealing his own razor sharp teeth at her.

"Yes, weak. If you were a Horsemen I could never do that to you. I couldn't dodge your attacks like I'm auditioning for a ballet. You're just a servant of some kind. Probably drawing your power from the Horsemen you serve, or something like that. There's no point in trying to deny it. Daybreak and me share a mind. He's been suspicious since you first withstood Twilights attack."

Being in the position she was, did not allow her to glare with much intimidation behind it. So instead, she slowly stood and dusted herself off. Reaching behind her back, she gripped her bikini bottoms, and untucked them from the wedgie she'd received being blasted into the sand. After freeing herself from discomfort, she snickered at him.

"You're different from before. Is the power of the Mirror of Truth I've heard so much about?"

Matching her mocking snicker with his own, he nodded. "In a sense, yes. Though it behooves me to tell you this is not my full power, nor was Daybreak at his. My other half is afraid of me so he's kept me sealed since our first encounter. In other words, what I'm showing you now and what you've seen up to this point, isn't even a fraction of what we're really capable of."

Jackie flicked her head back, scooping her dirty and mattered hair from her eyes. "Don't bother with the bragging, I'm more interested in you dear Solar Eclipse. Tell me more about this Mirror."

Solar raised his right brow. "Why would I do that? You hoping to stall for time to heal? Or maybe trying to wait until my ten or so minutes are up and Daybreak reappears? No dice, now that I understand your power, I can kill you in less than a minute if it pleases me. And it would please me. Greatly so."

Jackie loosed a girlish laugh that did not fit her or her current demeanor, her accent momentarily returning "If zat is true, zen I guess zer is no reason ve can't have ourselves a little chat before ze climax, yes?"

Solar Eclipse tilted his head to the side, almost assuming a look of curiosity. The cloak of black and golden flames flowing about his person evaporated, leaving only his black scaled body and swim shorts in their place.

"I suppose you're right. How about we make a little trade of information then Miss Jackie? We'll talk for five minutes-" He raised his right palm to her, holding up five fingers to show "and for those five minutes, I'll tell you whatever you want to know about the Mirror, and you will answer any questions I have about, well anything I want really. And after we're done, I'll use my remaining four minutes and thirty seconds to dismember you limb by limb and juggle you around for a little while. Got it? Sound fair to you?"

Jackie loosed another girlish giggle. "Oui oui, I understand. But honestly, I don't see why you're fighting me. Do you not wish for the end as well? Destruction, mayhem and chaos supreme? You hate humans, I know you do. Just look at what they've put you and you're counterpart through. The scars on your back that will never heal and the scars upon your mind from child life. You should be joining me Solar Eclipse, joining us!"

Solar's right hand ignited in golden flames. A black mass of energy formed within his palm, and began twirling about. HIs eyes followed the small orb path as it fluttered about his hand "It's true I hate them. These tiny humans with their pitifully destructive ways. Hating each other for nothing. Killing each other for nothing. They all deserve to be wiped out, with...minor exceptions here and there...But I'll not be coerced into releasing the Apocalypse upon the life of Earth...When the time comes, I'll do it on my own terms. And without you or your Horsemen. So in other words...you have to die."

Jackie shrugged her shoulders, more like she'd been denied a new toy rather than just told she would be murdered shortly.

"Shame, willing cooperation would have saved us soooo much time. But alas, on to more important matters. I shall start with the questions so as not to waste more of our time. I want to know about the Mirror. Tell me, you say this is not your full power, which of course implies that your full power could be reached in some way. How and why are you restrained from such?"

Solar Eclipse leaned back, resting seemingly against nothingness, as though there was an invisible wall behind him. He crossed his arms.

"Straight to the point after being shot down, I can respect that, for another four minutes at least. Well, to be quite honest, it's my counterparts fault that we are in such an imperfect state. We are supposed to be one entity. As a child, Daybreak once approached the Mirror of Truth with our fathers consent, and tried to challenge his reflection (me) for total control over our insurmountable power and one free wish. You can see the appeal I'm sure. Being able to wish for anything you could think of, with little limitation, it's enough to entice anyone.

Anyhow, we, meaning us both, were just children at the time, and as such I doubt he fully understood what the challenge entailed. Why Father allowed him to try and face me when we were still at such a young age I'll never know, nor would he tell us if we asked I imagine...Anyways, as to be expected, he could not defeat me, and according to the rules that bind the Mirrors plain of existence, only one may exist once the challenge has been initiated. For reasons I can't quite explain, Daybreak managed to break that rule. The only being in existence to do so.

Rather than being overcome by me when he was defeated like he should have been, he managed to pull his body back out of the mirror and apply a sealing spell of some sort that both bound me within the mirror and his mind alike. It was a thing never before done and as such I have no idea how to deal with it. Now, instead of existing in separate plains as is the natural order, we inhabit one mind but not one body. We cannot physically exist in the same place at the same time, as we are the same being just reflected. So he maintains control of his body, while I am forced to sit on the sidelines and watch through his eyes. Though as we've noted here today and in the past, there are times I can force my way out. And I'd wager given any more than an hour of freedom, he wouldn't be able to reseal me either. The eventuality of it though is, one day he'll have to return and face me again, because this seal of his won't bind me forever, and he knows that. So it's just a matter of time before one of us takes over fully. Does that satisfy your question?"

Jackie was practically licking her lips at his words, she looked to be entranced by Solar Eclipse.

"Indeed it does, now it is you turn to ask. Be quick, our time is ticking away."

Solar Eclipse scoffed aloud "You seem almost impatient, that ready to die are you? Well regardless, I'll ask. Tell me now, I can deduce with some easy logic that your master is obviously Famine. I'm also relatively sure that she is feeding you her power with some spell that is protecting you from any magical harm. Which then of course means she'd have to be close by, if the natural rules of magic apply to her that is. My question then is this. Why send you? If she's close enough that she could do the job herself, why not do it? I didn't take Horsemen for lazy, or is there something else going on here? Did you come here just to kill Twilight?"

In the time it had taken him to phrase his question, Jackie's smirk had grown into a full faced grin of spine tingling glee. It would have made any normal persons hair curl.

"You really are an observant one aren't you?"

Solar slowly shook his head "Actually, this is all my counterpart. I'm just relaying what he already figured out. My input wasn't needed for this. Which again demonstrates your inferiority to us. You aren't worth my insight."

Jackie made a small bow "Well then perhaps I misjudged the young prince. My regards to your counterpart then. However, you have asked more than one question, does our deal of one question per person not for you as well as me?"

Solar ceased leaning on whatever invisible field was supporting his back and uncrossed his arms. "Answer me, swiftly now before I become impatient. We both want to know, and I'll have my answer before I dismember you or during, I don't care which."

Holding her hands up in a mock surrender, Jackie nodded with a smile "Fine fine. I'll answer. To start with your first question, she sent me because she is currently preoccupied preparing to end your world, which you and your counterpart will be assisting her with very soon. She could have come herself, but need not be bothered with such a trivial task. As for the task itself, my goal here was mostly to destroy Princess Twilight, which as you can see, I have succeeded in." She motioned her palm towards Twilights limp form mere feet from Solar's toes. Solar shrugged haphazardly.

"I wonder about that actually. Yes, her light is about to go out, that's true. And it's also true that no normal means could probably save her now, no normal magic could heal the wounds dealt by a cursed blade. However..."

Solar Eclipse lazily wafted his hand in a sweeping motion towards his chest. In response Twilights body was instantly consumed in golden aura and began to gently levitate towards him.

"We are not a normal being."

Another waft of his hand and Twilights body began to levitate itself upright, as though she were standing in front of him. He reached out and placed his hand against her belly, where the wound from Jackie's blade still seeped blood and dripped with white magic.

"Hmm...Fatal. True. But not undoable. Let's have ourselves a trade Princess."

Golden light glistened across his palm, gently swimming across his fingertips down onto Twilights belly. Little slivers of golden aura crawled their way inside Twilights wound, filling it with light while expelling the bits of white magic remaining inside her. Solar grunted, focusing on Twilights deep tissue repair cells and felt his magic move on a microscopic level. Each small tendril of golden and black light coiling to create rapid new growth of cells instantaneously. He switched to just his index finger and placed it at the tip of her wound. Slowly, he began to drag his fingernail down her belly at a snails pace. Each micro movement of his nail rapidly produced new skin cells, then sowed them together even quicker. This process caused her wound to effectively vanish as his finger traced down her form.

He reached the bottom and the wound ceased to exist, he then withdrew his hand from her, forcing the golden tendrils clinging to his fingers to break off and attach themselves onto Twilight instead. This left a small shimmer of golden light upon her belly, which he knew would become a simple scar one day, but for now left her slightly glowy there.

"Now for the fun part. Time to break a couple hundred laws."

He chanced a glance up from his work, just to observe how Jackie might be reacting. To his surprise, she was still smiling her sickening smirk. Though her head was tilted to the side, giving the impression she was more curious about what he was doing than anything.

"Stupid girl probably thinks this can't be done, or she knows this is wasting my time away. No skin of our back, better she not interfere anyways. I'll kill her with my remaining time easily."

With the golden energy retreating within him and black aura now dominating his hand, he was ready to proceed. Reaching out, he once again placed his palm upon Twilight, but this time he placed it over her heart. Golden aura erupted around him, while the black energy from his palm burst forth and squirmed it's way around Twilights body, giving her a flaming black outline.

His golden aura shimmered and the flaming darkness now around her swirled together to meet at a perfect medium between their bodies. Swiftly, but with precise aim, Solar quickly swiped his right index finger through the medium between the auras, and held up his hand. The auras formed a point atop his nail, this point slowly shaped itself to look like a small blade sitting on the very tip of his finger.

Wasting no time, Solar swiftly touched the bladed tip of his finger onto his gut, at precisely the same spot as Twilights wound. With a grimace he pushed inward and pierced his skin, then swiftly pulled his finger downwards. His skin split like butter and opened up, revealing a black aura swirling within. A small tendril of clear energy slowly extended outwards from the golden light within Twilights belly, snaking its way towards Solar's. Upon impact there was a great white flash...and then nothing.

As quick as it had started, it seemed to be over. The auras swirling about them both vanished like smoke. Twilights form collapsed back into the sand, none to gracefully, while Solar Eclipse dropped down to a knee. The scale-like hide around his torso vanished, now revealing a wound the same size as the one Twilight had previously. Although he did not begin pooling blood like she had, there was a very obvious sense of pain shooting through him. He was clearly struggling to even move from his knees back to a standing position.

"You done?" Jackie's voice sailed over to him. Solar Eclipse practically hissed at her in response.

"Not quite."

Once he was standing at full height again, he tilted his head back and subtly flexed his aura out like a muscle. The resulting energy wave sent a burst of air across the beach, blowing sand back into everyone's face that was still bound by Jackie's paralysis spell.

"Now I'm done."

The wound that had just been on Solar's chest was gone, leaving his chest bare once more. Now, with no black scales to cover his form, his pale white skin seemed to stand out more than ever. Jackie's face still held her same cold grin, in fact, she looked downright pleased with herself.

"Am I to understand that you just performed forbidden magic to save her? You used that spell?"

Solar's lips parted to reveal a toothy grin, which gave off an ominous vibe with him having such serrated teeth. "Indeed. Reanimation and Transference. I take it you're familiar with it?"

Jackie licked her lips "A spell deemed unnatural. It was unanimously voted illegal by every race in Equestria, and even most races outside of it too. I believe you'd be imprisoned in seconds if anyone found out about this. I mean the requirements to even use it are drastic enough, and it can't be done but more than once every decade. I was skeptical you'd really go that far."

Solar's grin wavered slightly "You expected me to do that?"

She shrugged her shoulders lazily. "Well, to be honest, I wasn't sure you'd actually do it, but my Master was quite certain."

"Am I to understand then, that me saving her was part of your plan."

Jackie's grin only ever seemed to widen "Catching on are we? All that immeasurable power doesn't really amount to much if you're so easy to outwit. It's actually funny how easily you people walk into our plans."

Knuckles cracked, sparks weighed down the air around Solar's body. "It's about time you died, don't you think?"

Jackie felt him coming, but that didn't help her. Solar Eclipse phased like a shadow towards her in the blink of an eye. It was slower than Daybreak and Rainbow had moved before, and that made it easy to strike before he could reach her. Jackie pulled back and slammed her fist forward just as his form appeared within range.

She should have blasted him square in the gut, but instead of making contact with his body, she seemed to slip right through him as though he weren't even there. Her momentum nearly through out her arm as she hit nothingness. Realizing what he'd done, she turned her head back to defend her rear, but it was too late. Solar Eclipse had already solidified behind her, his underhanded punch came with rib shattering power, straight into her right kidney.

Biting down on her own lip to keep from crying out, Jackie tasted warm blood in her throat. Forcing herself to ignore the pain, she swung her back leg around in a counterattack. Solar brought up his arms to block, taking the full force of her back legged roundhouse. With her body reeling from his first strike, and her off balance attack, her blow did not hold much force behind it. This allowed him to grab her by the thigh and wrap his arms around her as soon as her attack came to connection. Giving her no time to recover, he turned, planted his feet and swung her like a discus.

He released and watched her soar through the air. Keeping in with not allowing her recovery time, he summoned an enormous orb of shimmering dark flames between his hands. He pitched it at her with the grace of a major league player, watching it strike and ignite her with unyielding satisfaction. She crashed into the sand several yards away and rolled several more. The flames sputtered and went out just after she came to a stop in the dirt. Then he just stood and waited for her to rise again.

She did indeed rise, though much slower than anytime previous, and clearly showing some real damage this time around. The mere sight of her scrapes and bruises, along with the blood dripping from her lips was enough to elicit a hiss of satisfaction from Solar.

"Good good, I've proven you're breakable, now time for the cous de gras"

He watched her bloodied lip force itself to smile back at him "Oui Oui. Come!"

He took two steps, then stopped, snickering as a feeling of warmth began to course it's way through his cold form. "Seems my time is up."

He could see her visibly exhale with relief "Yes, I thought as much. Like I said before. Your all easy to outwit."

Even as his teeth slowly retracted back to normal and his hair swapped it's shades, he managed a last twisted snicker "Oh, I doubt you'll a better ending this way dear. Trust me.."

His body shimmered with emerald light as the shape of the Mirror rose behind him in the sand. He felt a warm hand on his shoulder, then his body seemed to just melt away into mist. Daybreaks form stepped forth from the mist as though he'd appeared within Solar's body. The misty haze of Solar Eclipse melted back into the Mirrors liquid-like surface. Once any trace of his being was gone, the Mirror descended back into the ground, disappearing within an ominous haze and a small pop .

Once Daybreaks battered form was all that remained, Jackie sighed. "Now, I don't even get a proper fight. What a disappointment."

Daybreak spit at the ground, he wanted to reply with some venom, but he couldn't do much but wince through the agony now returning to spread through him. Slowly, one by one, all the injuries he'd recovered when transforming began to reform across his body, plus one new addition. The wound that they'd received from saving Twilight, now blazed across his belly, bright red and bloody. He could feel burning in his gut, but couldn't tell if that was from the fresh wound, or from when he'd burnt himself in the earlier fight. All the pain was blending together by this point. The pain was intense, but the thought of letting this girl escape after what she'd done...well that pain was nothing short of dominating. He willed himself words.

"You think...I can't take you now...these wounds...are nothing! In fact...Losing all this b-blood...has only helped clear my head..." With shortened breath and blazing hatred in his eyes, he summoned forth his aura. Soaking his body, drowning his form in his magic, he forced his wounds to numb, but not heal.

"If you gouge out my eyes...I'll listen for you're sickening breath...If you tear away my ears...I'll sniff you out and run you down...If you break my legs...I'll crawl to you and beat you to a bloody mass...If you break my arms...I'll tear through your calf with my teeth...no matter...what you do to me...I'll never stop until you are ash!"

"I doubt I've got much time before sheer blood loss takes me down. This has to be quick.

Jackie smiled, her features no longer mocking, but seemingly earnest "Good. Give me a show, Prince."

He moved. She moved. Their bodies connected in the center point between them. He made for her temple with a left hook, but she deflected it, pushing against his fist with her palm, and countering with an uppercut from her free hand. He leaned his head back in time to feel the air rip passed his chin, but his eyes widened as her uppercut quickly changed course and came down on his nose in a hammer strike. Blood splattered, he felt his nose break, but he didn't allow it to slow him.

Even as his vision briefly blurred from the sensation, he grasped upward, firmly gripping into a massive chuck of her hair. He yanked her down with all his might, dragging her with him as he fell into the sand. With the minor impact refocusing his vision, Daybreak yanked her head around to face him, and proceeded to repeatedly slam his fist into her face! His hate fueled his magic, and his magic fueled his fist. Blow after blow he drove his knuckles into her. He struck everything that felt or looked like flesh upon her, he felt her nose crunch, her lips split, her teeth crack. It was not enough.

Again and again, he assaulted her, but with no satisfaction. Surging another wave of magic and adrenaline through his body, he rolled over onto her chest and grasped her around the head. Instead of beating her, he now just settled for slamming her head into the sand as hard as he could manage. He pulsed his magic through the sand beneath them, hardening it into a rock-like form in an attempt to cause the most amount of damage possible. He dug his sharp nails into her cheeks, and slammed her down again. As he raised her up, he felt a fist connect with his cheek, briefly stunning him.

In his daze her felt her roughly lurch him off of her. He knew an assault from her was imminent, and so he quickly surged more power through himself, heightening his senses and clearing his blurred vision in an instant. He came to his feet just as her foot came up under his chin. He channeled magic to keep his vision clear, rather than defend from damage, and so took the brunt of her kick. He was knocked back and off balance, but he was not dazed. This kept him from being caught off guard as her next attack came.

Following through with her assault, Jackie brought around her other foot in a spinning side kick aimed for his ribs. Quickly taking the chance he had, Daybreak threw out both his hands. Jackie's foot stopped inches from his ribs, caught in his aura like a web. With her unable to retract her leg, he took his chance. Spinning in place, Daybreak planted a side kick of his own into her, releasing his spell the second he made impact and knocking the air from her chest. Although she did not drop, she did stumble and attempt to draw breath, giving him another opening whilst she recovered.

Not wanting to waste his chance, he planted a quick one-two jab into her face and chest before she could defend. Jackie kept stumbling back while he continued to advance, kicking and punching at her, never allowing her a second to catch her breath.

"One"

He planted an underhanded fist into her gut.

"One, two."

She doubled over, Daybreak drove his knee upwards, further crushing her nose and feeling even more warm liquid splatter onto him. Without pause, he swung his right elbow around the side of her head, smashing it into her temple as she raised it from his knee.

"One, two, three!"

She attempted to raise her arms up to defend herself, but it was barely a basic defensive posture in her condition. His right foot swung across her chest in a mock crescent kick, easily swiping her right hand out of the way. Before his foot had even fully touched the ground again he was stepping forward to her. He grasped her remaining hand in his left and twisted. Naturally her face leaned forward in an attempt to twist with the pain, which was exactly what he wanted. Her face flew into his awaiting strike. He drove the bottom of his palm upwards, straight into the underside of her jaw!

Daybreak watched as Jackie stumbled backwards several more feet, attempting to hold herself up. Slowly her fists came up to a fighting stance once more. In her right hand, she loosely gripped her blade, still red with Twilights blood and faced it towards him. She just stood there for a moment, completely still. Then.......she fell.

Face first, she fell forward into the sand. Her blade followed close behind, dropping from her grip and landing beside her.

"Oh no you don't!"

Rage found him once again, boiling its way to the surface of his features!

"No! Absolutely not! You wake up right now you bitch! You don't get to pass out now!"

He warped to her side and stood over her. With a violent growl of hate he planted his foot into her ribs, kicking her with enough force to roll her onto her back, but she did not stir. He felt his right eye twitch. A sudden plummet of magical energy in the area momentarily surprised him and drew his attention way. Looking around to find the source, it took him only seconds to realize what he'd actually felt.

"That was her aura. Her magic reserves must have run dry. Which means Famine must have also stopped feeding her energy."

Just to confirm his theory, he looked around at the others. His magical sight confirmed it, Jackie's aura had all but faded from everyone she'd bound. He had no doubt they would all discover this for themselves soon enough and converge on him. And so he returned his attention to the woman beneath him, to finish this before they could interfere. Rage was again pooling into him as he witnessed her dare to just lay there in unconsciousness, broken and bloodied before him. She didn't deserve to die in her sleep.

"Wake up. Wake up you little bitch, I want to see your eyes go dark as I end you." His voice barely raised above a whisper, yet it seemed to carry itself across the beach like he'd screamed.

His eyes drifted to her knife, simply lying in the sand where it had dropped. This gave him an idea. A shrill laugh loosed, low and menacing, as he reached down and wrapped his fingers around the cold blade.

"I told you I'd kill you. And you know what? It really doesn't matter if you're awake to see it. All that matters now is that I send you to hell. Where you belong."

He positioned himself over top of her, crouching just above her stomach. He slowly lowered the blades tip until it rested just above her heart. His eyes swam over her form. Blood dripped from several scrapes, mostly along her face. Her nose, for sure broken, bubbled and dripped blood down either cheek. Her lips, split open at several points, bubbled small bits of saliva and pus along her mouth. Both her eyes were also blackened and tearing blood down the sides of her face. He could also spy several points along her jaw and chin that could be identified as broken or dislocated bones.

"It's not even close to what you deserve, but don't worry, that's coming right now."

Gripping the blade within both his hands, he yanked it up from her skin and descended with a maddened shriek.

"When you see your master in hell, tell her she's next!"

"DON'T!"

The blade stopped. Hovering just about Jackie's heart, it stopped. Daybreak slowly turned towards the voice. The only voice that might have stopped him. Rainbow Dash. Having realized the spell was gone, her and the others were now beginning to get to their feet. Rainbow was already on hers, and looking at him with an expression nearly foreign to him. Her eyes visibly shivered, even from where he stood it was obvious. She looked...pleading...begging almost. No, no almost. She was begging. The way she was leaning towards him, like she might fall forward at any moment. The way her eyes shivered with helplessness. It was no wonder he did not recognize the look. She'd never looked at him like that before. Helpless, unable to do anything. It was clear she wanted to run to him, but either the knowledge she couldn't make it before he could strike, or knowing it would only provoke him, kept her from doing so. His gaze locked with hers, the blade quivering in his grip.

"Why not!? Look at what she's done! Look at what she did to Twilight!"

Rainbows eyes changed, flashing purple for only the slightest of moments. Reminding him of him yet another problem he'd have to deal with at some point "I know, she's done something horrible Daybreak. But you saved Twilight, I don't know how or what you did. But you saved her!"

His head shook slowly. Just thinking of his next words made his stomach lurch. "Yes I healed the fatal wound in her belly. But her eyes...I couldn't...I can't reshape something that complex. Everyone's eyes are different...She'll never...-" He took a deep breath and forced it out "...She'll probably never see anything again."

There, he said it. And by saying it aloud, so did he make it true. He wasn't adept enough in his knowledge of medical magic to save her eyes, and the doctors that were wouldn't have enough power to do so. Rainbow seemed to understand, as did everyone else. Spike, now also back on his feet, could do nothing but stare at the dirt, refusing to meet Daybreaks gaze as it flittered between all of Twilights friends.

Daybreak could feel his own eyes tearing up. The thought sent nothing but more rivers of hate flowing back through him once more. The thought that this girl might escape and get away with such an atrocity only fueled the inferno burning within him.

"Still..." Rainbows voice floated over again, drawing his gaze back to her and dampening the inferno. "Even if that's true, you can't...you can't just kill her Daybreak! You're better than that!"

"No. I'm not. I can't just let her get away with this. I won't-!"

The blade quivered ever more, barely pressing against the skin just above her heart once more.

"I've got to end her! She's too dangerous to let live! You all saw what she did! She took you all down like it was nothing!"

Rainbow could hear the shake in his voice. The confliction.

"You beat her though."

"HA!" He laughed. He actually laughed at her. His eyes were draining by now and his lips had stretched into a sadistic grin.

"Really? I beat her? I had to completely lose control to even scratch her! And what if I hadn't been here? You all might have been killed! I can't....I won't allow a threat like that to exist!"

He raised the blade once more "I can't falter here. She serves Famine, we need to do everything we can to stop Famine and the Horsemen. Not taking an opportunity to be rid of a key enemy would be foolish!"

"Daybreak...please."

"No!...I have to...I have..."

"Look around you Daybreak please...show everyone that you're better than this."

"I don't care what they think of me! This needs to be done, and right now I'm the only one who'll do it."

"Daybreak..."

"Dash please...just shut up...I...can't just..."

Midnight black aura, along with his own flowing emerald shimmered about his person in a nearly perfect equilibrium. His hands quivered. So many things, thoughts, emotions, desires, flowed through him at once. His knuckles started to whiten for clenching the blade with such malice. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. The only thing he could feel, all and truly in that moment was how much he hated the girl beneath him.

"No. She deserves this. She deserves so much more than this!"

He loosed a scream of wrath to the heavens above...and the blade came down!

Author's Notes:

I'm so super duper sorry this chapter took so long to come out. Even more so since it's not as long as the ones of late. I've been bust with Navy things and such and haven't really been able to devote much time recently. Rest assured though, I'll be working hard the next month to have another chapter ready when I pull in again. And hey! Next time I touch land I'll be back in Japan for six months so yay for quicker updates.
Anyways, on to more pressing matters. What you all think of my latest instalment? Any feels out there. Let me know your thoughts below. I love reading what you guys have to say. Until next time.