Author's Notes:

Holy Crap! This took foreeeeeeever to write. Sorry for such a wait guys.
Hope a chapter of insight into characters, sappy words and interesting relations makes up for it. I'll try and be slightly quicker with he next one, but it always seems like I never follow through with that.

Truly, there are some things in life that humans must always take for granted. Things so small and insignificant that they should hardly be noticed in the rustle and bustle of day to day life. Such things as a warm summer breeze, the sweet scent of flowers in full bloom, or a morning walk through a dew covered town. It is only in times of great reflection, or when stripped of these everyday things, that they're presence is truly noticeable or missed. Right now, Daybreak was noticing one of these many small comforts. The comfort of complete silence.

That was the only true way to describe the atmosphere in the waiting room of Ponyvilles hospital. Silence. No one said a word, even Pinkie Pie was sitting quietly in the plain white chairs of the everyday room. Everyone was simply staring at the twin doors down the hall, with the red sign ignited above it reading "Operation In Progress".

To Daybreak, this silence was something he needed right now. It was his time to reflect. Reflect on the events of the past hours and try to make some sense of how he would go forward. He felt the knuckles of his non-bandaged arm tighten around the blade that he still clutched, while the choices of hours past flowed through his mind. He briefly flashed back to that moment the blade had come down. He had, with all his intention, tried to kill Jackie Blaze right then and there. He descended the blade down to her heart, but instead of the boned blade meeting flesh, his world had been thrown upside down. Literally.

Like a herd of Yak had barreled into him, Daybreak had only been aware that his body suddenly resided next to Jackie rather than atop her. He'd only barely been able to discern what had happened to him when his eyes stopped spinning, and he looked up to find Applejack standing over him. Even here in the waiting room, he could still perfectly envision the look of anger and disappointment plastered across her face as she stood over him. He'd of course, scrambled to finish what he'd started, but by that time it was too late. Once he'd hit the ground everyone had come running. Although he managed to hold onto the blade through AJ's strike, Jackie had suddenly become surrounded by Twilights friends.

Even so, he'd still felt like fighting. It was only when he'd laid eyes on Rainbows face that he had felt his hate diminish to a manageable level. She hadn't been angry, and she offered him a hand up, but after that, they'd barely spoken from the beach to the hospital. In fact, no one had said more than three words to him since then, except Sunset Shimmer. It was she who was sitting by him now, as he looked out of the bleach white rooms window and out onto the lively streets of Ponyville in the distance. She'd made it an issue to sit by him when Rainbow did not, and every so often attempt to engage in some form of conversation with him.

He appreciated the gesture, but he wanted to be alone right now, and he was sure Rainbow could sense that. She wasn't giving him the cold shoulder, there was no unspoken drama between them. She just understood he needed time to think. There would be time for her feelings on the matter, later. Perhaps she was more intelligent that others gave her credit for, or perhaps she really was that loyal. For to put aside her own feelings just to worry about his, is that not loyalty at it's basest form?

Still, it was perhaps Sunset Shimmer who understood even better than Rainbow Dash, to never let a friend be truly alone, even if they wanted to be. Daybreaks mind now teased him with dark thoughts of what he'd nearly done and what he still wanted to do. Even as his eyes drifted to the blue and nearly cloudless skies in the distance, his inner thoughts tempted him with the idea of finishing Jackie off now, while she was helpless and restrained.

It had been decided, without his input of course, that she should be taken to the hospital with them. Sunset Shimmer and Rarity had applied every binding spell they could think of to her body, while Fluttershy had crafted stretchers for both Jackie and Twilight to be carried back on out of vines and leaves. Daybreak had walked ahead of the group, carrying Twilights stretcher with the aid of Rainbow, Sunset and Spike. Jackie's stretcher had been carried by Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie. AJ was more than capable of carrying the front of the stretcher on her own. This also allowed Fluttershy to be placed in between the two stretcher teams as they walked. Although no one said it, Daybreak was sure this was to discourage him from making a move on Jackie.

Once they'd actually made it to the hospital, Daybreak had been anything but polite to the young nurse at the front desk. He dropped his name, and to everyone's surprise, even Celestia's when he'd straight up demanded that Twilight be given top priority and the best care that the place had to offer. Although the nurse had agreed the moment she'd laid eyes on the Princess, she had point blank refused to allow him any further than the main entry way without getting properly examined himself. He'd argued with her for a solid five minutes before Sunset had stepped forth and agreed for him. He'd been about to round on her, being in no mood to have words spoken for him, when she'd silenced him with a single phrase "Twilight would want you to". He'd agreed grumpily after that, and allowed the nurse to sit him down and look him over. Needless to say she had found several problems that would likely need long term care (his burnt chest and arm for example) along with several deep gashes and bruises that wouldn't be healing painlessly. After refusing a room and demanding he be allowed check on Twilight, Daybreak finally convinced the nurse to settle on some magical bandage wrappings to numb his chest and arm. Afterwards, Daybreak had followed her every step of the way, watching everything they did until Twi had been taken into the emergency room for surgery.

Meanwhile, Daybreak had taken care to also ensure Jackie be placed on the very bottom floor while Twilights room would be on the top. He'd then pressured the nurse and every doctor present to apply every binding and numbing spell they had in their arsenal to the unconscious Jackie. Then they hooked up three different I.V's to her body, each one with a different drug designed to render her unconscious within minutes of application. These could be activated from the room and the front desk just for safety. And just for a final measure, they'd physically bound her to her bed with leather straps from her arms down to her legs. In Daybreaks mind, she wasn't going anywhere, and if she did, it wouldn't be quietly.

Daybreak had lightly briefed the head Doctor and surgeon on what had happened and the situation with Jackie to ensure they knew exactly what they were dealing with. He'd managed to avoid the fact that Jackie was a servant of the Horsemen and instead painted her as an extremely dangerous and powerful sorceress. He'd also skated over the fact that he'd performed forbidden magic to revitalize Twilight, and instead had told them to check for any poison the blade might have injected, as well as fix her eyes. That was a priority if possible. He wasn't optimistic of the situation, having seen her eyes himself, but he hoped for the best anyways. After that they'd taken Twilight in and taken Jackie to her room, both had not awakened up to this point, and since the doors had closed Daybreak had not laid eyes on either one.

Now all he, and everyone else could do was sit in this bland white room, in their swimsuits, and wait for news. They all waited for the light above the doors to go out. It seemed like they'd been waiting an eternity, but in reality it had barely been an hour. But it was an hour Daybreak needed. Time to reflect, and think. He still had so many questions.

"How did Applejack survive that explosion and get back in time to stop me? Why was Jackie's goal to make me and Solar Eclipse use Reanimation? Why did she say Twilight was responsible for the Shadow Wolves appearing? Why had she been so interested in the Mirror and Solar Eclipse in the first place?...Urrrghh...I just wish Solar had pushed for more questions rather than answering hers so detailed....What am I even saying...I shouldn't have allowed him to take control in the first place! I'm lucky he didn't do anything other than fight her while he was free...How could I let myself lose control like that again? How could I let everyone see me like that, over Twilight? This could ruin everything...

Rainbow saw me do all that...She's gotta be wondering things about me now...She saw Solar Eclipse for the second time, and this time we nearly killed someone. She's sure to say something...I don't know what I'm supposed to say back. Everyone there heard about the Mirror too....This is bad! I can't believe I was so stupid...I gotta tell Father...It's risky, but I need to go see him. At least one, if not all, of Twilights friends will surely tell Celestia everything that happened and once she knows Discord has the Mirror she'll be after him again...I can't let her get ahold of it now or my chances of ever using it again are history....Urgggh...All this it giving me a headache!"

Lowering his face into his hands, he loosed and aggravated sigh! The sudden noise startled everyone else and he quickly found all eyes on him again, briefly. Once they realized nothing of importance was occurring they all went back to their various activities in silence. Hoping for a distraction from his own thoughts, Daybreak allowed his gaze to travel around the room and observe how the others were passing the time. Pinkie and Spike seemed to have become engaged in a silent, but vigorous, game of Tic-Tac-Toe. It seemed to spread across various sheets of paper that were clearly meant for children to use, considering that it was accompanied by several boxes of crayons. Applejack had simply leaned back as much as she could in her chair and lowered her hat over her eyes for a nap. She looked so content it was unnerving. Even more so considering she shouldn't be alive. He remembered the power behind the blast that had sent her flying, the distance it would have had to throw her for him to not sense her...there was no way she should have survived. Yet here she was, sitting just a few yards away from him and looking just as healthy as she had before. Thinking about that failed to help him relax in the slightest. It only made him stress more.

Rarity however, was doing something quite peculiar and grabbed his attention easily. Daybreak couldn't remember seeing any clothing supplies with her while they were at the beach. Yet somehow she was now pulling many sets of clothing out of her tiny pearl laced hand bag and draping them across the chairs around her. The bag itself was barely bigger than her beach hat, so it was clear it had been charmed in some way or another for it to be able to hold all that clothing. Judging by the clothes, it was spares for them to change into sometime soon.

"Guess that makes sense. Now that I think about it, all these girls sitting half naked in this cold room must not be ideal for them...I wonder if she'd got spares for me in there?"

Skeptical, he moved his eyes to Fluttershy, who was across the room crouched by the fish tank with a handful of feed in her palm. For some reason seeing this brought the smallest of smiles to his face. He watched her for a moment, gently scooping small piles of feed into her hand, taking smaller flakes from that pile, and flittering them over the tank. The fish all eagerly swam to the surface, nibbling at the plentiful amounts of food awaiting them.

When his eyes did finally drift over to Rainbow Dash he almost jumped up in surprise. He'd expected to see her napping like AJ, but instead, his eyes had hovered over and found her staring right at him. Not like she was daydreaming either, she was clearly meaning to look right at him. It was unsettling. He slowly raised his hand and gave a half hearted wave to her, still holding onto his small smile from watching Fluttershy. Instead of responding in kind, she quickly turned in her seat, swiped up a sheet of blank paper next to her and a red crayon. Swiftly she scribbled away, then held up the sheet for him to see. She was all the way across the room from him, but even at this distance he could easily make out the gargantuan red letters.

"Well, that's not discontenting at all...I should've seen this coming."

It seemed that somehow no one but him and Sunset managed to notice Rainbows sign; once she was certain he'd read it over, she withdrew and shredded it into pieces. No one paid this any mind, but Daybreak still thought she should have tried to be a little more subtle about it. Rainbow looked away from them both once content the pieces were beyond salvage, and seemed to suddenly find the view outside the window unbelievably fascinating.

Sunset turned to meet his gaze once he looked away from Rainbow. His face was to close to hers for him to hide his worried expression. She offered him a look of sympathy, while slowly placing her hand upon his unwrapped shoulder.

"It'll be fine. I think we'd both already know if it was anything bad."

Despite the high probability of her being right, he still couldn't help the worry sprouting up within him like a weed.

"Yeah...but even still, I know the questions are coming. It's inevitable."

Sunsets hand gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. He turned to see her raising a brow at him.

"Can you blame her? Or anyone really? We all saw what happened out there today. Even if they look past the fact that you tried to kill someone, with everything that was said between you and Jackie there's not much reason for them to trust you now."

"Do you trust me Sunset?" The question escaped him before he could stop it. His hands quivered on his knees, seemingly wanting to jump up and clamp his mouth shut.

Sunsets eyes enlarged a bit, despite her efforts he could see a small twitch biting at the edge of her lip. She hid it well. Looking away from him for a moment; she took her time to answer.

"Daybreak...You've gotta knowsomething about me. You may not realize it, but I understand you, maybe not as well as I'd like to but certainly better than you think I do. I've been were you are, once before."

She watched him roll his eyes "I doubt that, and that's not really an answer to my question."

"Just listen ok?" Her voice shook with concern, causing his gaze to quickly jump to hers. "Look, what I mean is...you're not the only one who harbors a hidden darkness within you. You don't understand because you weren't here...but there was a time I was a pretty evil girl. I did things, hurt people, manipulated and twisted peoples friendships for my own gain. I turned Twilights friends against each other. I did it all out of a search for power, and because-" her eyes darted about, she leaned close to his ear, dropping her voice to just above a whisper. "-I was jealous of Twilight..."

A bit of interest tugged at his mind, Daybreak waited for her to sit back so she could continue. "What do you mean you were jealous of Twilight? What happened between you two?"

Sunset took a breath, turning to face out the window. He understood and scooted his chair up next to hers, facing them away from her friends. Clearly this wasn't something she wanted them to hear her talking about, or possibly admitting.

"A long time ago, before Twilight, I was Celestia's 'prized pupil'. She taught me alot, tons of magic in fact. But I was impatient and greedy back then. I wanted to be strong, the strongest sorceress there was. I was good, and I mean really good, but not good enough to satisfy my desires. One day, during our studies I accidentally found out about the power of the Princesses, the Elements of Harmony and the Mirror of Truth. I learned everything about the True Space and I became obsessed. I wanted her to teach me. Not in a few years, I wanted it now!"

She paused to check his reaction. He was indeed surprised to here some of this. He wouldn't have imagined Sunset was the failed pupil Celestia had once mentioned to him and Twilight during their studies. Even more surprising was her knowing about the mirror all along and never once telling her friends. Now he was truly curious. "What happened? Did Celestia teach you?"

Sunset gave a light laugh, he watched her eyes drift back out the window. Slowly, her head shook . "No, every time I would bring it up she would say something like 'one day' or 'when you're ready Sunset'. That went on for a good while."

Daybreak had to struggle not to chuckle "I see she was as forthcoming with you as she was with me."

Sunset giggled "Yeah, really. Though I have to admit, I didn't deserve the training. At the time I thought she was just finding reasons to delay my advancements. Always telling me to learn to humble myself, or try to make friends. It all felt pointless to me back then. I suppose that's what made me leave..."

Daybreaks eyebrows jumped up "You...just left? I always assumed you were kicked out."

She nodded, her eyes glued on the clouds in the distance. "I got tired of her holding me back, so I left, none to pleasantly ether."

Daybreak felt his heart skip a beat "Just like me...wow..."

He struggled to control his growing thirst for more details and not let his need bleed into his words. He tried to sound casual "So...what happened next?"

He watched her sigh "As I left, I tried to break into her hidden library and steal the secret books on the Mirror for myself. Celestia's guards caught me, and I was too young to take on all of them. So I ran. As I made my escape I left a note on her throne vowing to return and claim what was mine, out of spite for being caught I guess. I assume she got it, because after spending a year or so practicing on my own, I returned and found security around the library was triple what it used to be."

"Wait..." Daybreak held up his unwrapped hand to silence her. "When did you come back to the library?"

She nodded, possibly sensing what he was really asking "Yeah, it was while you and Twilight were there. I broke into the library and stole the book. That's when I laid eyes on you and Twilight for the first time; way back then I hated her the moment I laid eyes on her. I hid for days watching Twilight practice to see if she was as good as me. To be honest I didn't pay much attention to you, I thought you were her test dummy servant or something. That's probably why I didn't recognize you the first day we met at school. It only dawned on me when I found out your identity the day you made your loudspeaker announcement."

Daybreak's eye twitched, but he could understand why she'd forget him easily. If her only observation of him was a few days watching Twilight practice, it wasn't a surprise. In Celestia's school he'd always felt more like Twilights practice toy than a student. He remembered the events following the libraries break in. Celestia had both he and Twilight placed under guard and never let them go anywhere unsupervised for weeks. He'd thought it was because Celestia had suspected them...well, him at least. But now he knew the truth behind it.

He couldn't hold back his snicker "Guess you got the book that time didn't you? Cause I never saw the Restricted section open again after that day."

She nodded. "Yeah I got it. It taught me everything I could need to know about the True Space, the Mirror and the Elements. But it didn't tell me where I could find the Mirror, so I settled on searching for the Elements instead and how to open True Space instead. Several years later, I came to Ponyville after hearing about Twilight and the Elements here. She didn't know who I was, guess Celestia hadn't bothered with a description. That made it easy for me to insert myself into her life and turn her friends against each other."

"That must have taken awhile. Throughout that Twilight never mentioned you to Celestia?" He found it hard to believe the studious Twilight Sparkle wouldn't ask her beloved teacher for advice if some new girl suddenly showed up and was terrorizing her and friends.

Without facing him, Sunset again shook her head. "Actually, it only took me about a week to have them all fighting amongst themselves, and I was good at covering my tracks. She never even suspected me. It was Spike who ended up finding me out, but by then I'd used the turmoil I'd created to slip into Twilights house and steal her Element. Of courses, this was back when they existed as physical relics, rather than inside of us."

"Wow!" He didn't even bother attempting to mask his amazement. "You did all that in only a week? That's awesome!"

He could see her frown form, even though she wasn't looking at him. "Yeah...don't sound so enthusiastic, it doesn't help your case."

He wafted his hand. "A trivial thing. I'm merely impressed at your skills of manipulation...So what ended up happening?"

She let slip another sigh before she continued. "Well, once I had the Element, I confronted Twilight with it. After she'd brought all her friends back together and undid my lies, I challenged her in front of the whole town. I didn't waste any time trying to use her Element against her. It sort of worked in a way, but it changed me. It changed me into something horrible...like a demon almost. I still don't know why it reacted the way it did then, but I didn't care at the time. I had power, all the power I could want. I tried to destroy Twilight in front of her friends, but they shielded her. I didn't understand how they did it; without their Elements none of them had abilities strong enough to withstand the power I commanded. Twilight had never even tried to defend herself. She just stood and stared at me as I fired blast after blast with no effect whatsoever. No barrier came up around them or anything. It was like my magic just disappeared when it touched them.

Then she called to me, and I'll never forget what she said. She said that all the magic in the world could not compare to the magic her friends shared together. Then somehow, even without her Element, a power like I had never seen blazed to life around them. It was a rainbow of aura I never imagined existed. It was blinding to behold, and it came right for me. I remember bringing up a barrier, but I was struck so quickly it seemed like I hadn't. Their power burned into my core and tore the Element from me. I was barely able to move afterwards. All I could do was lay in the dirt and cry. Then Twilight did something I never expected, and didn't deserve....She held out her hand and pulled me to my feet. She could have imprisoned me, but instead she hugged me. She told me that I could start over if I chose to, that I could learn to appreciate friendship and that she, along with her friends would help me learn. All I had to do was accept it."

"Bleeeeck." He pretended to gag himself with his finger. "That's so sentimental it makes me wanna throw up. She defeated you with the power of friendship? Come on Sunset Shimmer, I took you for the down to earth one in this gang of goons. You can't honestly tell me you think the Elements of Harmony are really powered by frieeeeeendship? I know they're all powerful, but powered by a feeling? An emotion? Come on."

He looked at her expectantly, as if wanting her to react. He thought she'd get upset with him for degrading the Elements like that, but instead she simply giggled. She even smiled at him!

"You say that, but yet you're the one with Rainbows Element beating inside your chest right now, aren't you?" He stood up, nearly sending his chair crashing to the floor!

"How do you-!"

She held her finger to her lips and made the shhhh sound at him. His eyes darted about, Rainbow and the others were indeed looking at them, staring in fact. He slowly resumed his seat and returned to the window side with her, acting as if nothing was wrong. She continued, her voice lower than before.

"I've been struck by their power, scorched to my very core by it. I was affected in a way Twilight and her friends have never experienced, being on the receiving end. I'd recognize its energy flowing anywhere, even within another person. I know you must have realized it like I have. How you were able to stand, to fight Jackie and defeat her after the beating you'd taken? You were burnt bruised and broken. You were out of magic when Solar Eclipses transformation with you ended, and you know it. I could sense it. Yet somehow you managed to still summon all that power, numb your wounds and defeat her? Before you transformed you could barely land a blow that hurt her. Yet somehow, after losing magic you could suddenly fight her and actually inflict damage? Come on. We both know what was feeding you power Daybreak."

Eyes twitching in frustration, he scoffed at her. "Oh please, so the Element fed me some power when I was running low on stamina, it's a mystical artifact, how is that unusual?"

Her eyebrow raised "Don't play dumb. The Elements can't be wielded by dark beings. They can't even be touched by people like King Sombra without it burning them. That's likely why it affected me the way it did when I tried to use it, caused I was filled with malefic intent. Yet it would just feed you power? You? You're pretty dark Daybreak, there's no denying that. That Element should have burned you inside out the moment she touched it to your chest. But it's your deep friendship with Rainbow that allows it to sit there passively beating within you, and..."

She paused for a moment. Her eyes darted about, as if contemplating her next words.

"...And I think it's your deep feelings for Twilight that drew it's energy out while you struggled against Jackie."

His eyes narrowed "You're crossing into dangerous territory Sunset Shimmer. Don't assume to know my 'feelings' in regards to Twilight. There's nothing deep about them."

Her fist slowly began to clench upon the windowsill. He could hear the frustration leaking into her voice "You can't deny it after what I saw...what we all saw out there. You straight lost it Daybreak! You went berserk when she struck down Twilight. I'd say there's some kind of feelings in there. Maybe I don't understand them, but I know in some way you do feel something for her. I think, once she's able, you should talk to her. You should tell her how you really feel."

Now it was his turn to look away from her. His eyes went straight ahead and stared out the window, refusing to budge. "We've gotten severely off topic from my original inquiry. I asked you if you trusted me. I'd like a straight answer now."

He didn't look, but he heard her give an exasperated and obviously frustrated, sigh. "Fine. Be that way. Yes I trust you. Happy?"

"No." His voice suddenly dropped, he sounded the same as the day she first met him. Uninterested, all over again. She had to withhold from smacking him upside his head herself.

"I trust you. But I think it's time you started trusting yourself."

Her voice dropped so low he almost missed her speak.

"Sunset Shimmer...."

He had to fully turn his face away from her.

"....You're a good friend."

He kept that last part in his head. He refused to allow her to see she'd gotten to him.

It was late into the evening before the red light above the twin doors finally went dark. For a few minutes, no one even seemed to notice, having been waiting for so long the group had forgotten to periodically check on it. It was Spike who first realized that a red glow no longer hovered its way down the dimly lit hallway ahead of them. He stood from his chair with a cry of excitement, riddled with anticipation.

"Guys! The door!"

Those who had been dozing off in the light of Celestia's setting sun were suddenly upright within their chairs! Daybreak was first on his feet and headed for the doors, followed very swiftly by Spike. Everyone else trailed behind, surprisingly even Rainbow Dash, who seemed so lost in her own thoughts she was actually the last one to move.

Daybreak and Spike sped so speedily toward the door they failed to comprehend the true power of this hospitals floor wax. As they tried to stop far too close, they skidded right into the outward opening doors. Daybreak slammed into the doors, and Spike slammed into him. His sharp scaly body dug into Daybreaks wounds, bringing fresh tears to his eyes. As they collapsed and quickly clambered over each to get upright, the doors themselves opened, swiftly smacking them both across the face.

The doctor and head surgeon strode out, stopping to gaze upon the odd scene. The young drake struggled to untangle his body from Daybreak while the later struggled not to cry out in pain. Both from the spines digging into his raw and sensitive skin, and from the throbbing pain now filling his cheek from the door.

Twilights friends caught up to them as the rest of the doctors and nurses came quickly scuttling out, talking amongst themselves and paying all of them no never mind. With tear filled eyes, Daybreak frustratingly snapped his fingers, teleporting both himself and Spike upright in an instant. Spike stumbled back as Daybreak dusted himself off and checked his bandages to see if his wounds might have reopened.

At almost that exact moment, the nurse from the front desk strode forth from the operating room, red hair tied back in a bun with many follicles falling over her face, likely from sweating during the procedure. She took one look at Daybreak and scowled.

"Mister Daybreak! What did I tell you when I agreed to those bandages?"

He opened his mouth but she cut him off without waiting for a response.

"I said no magic didn't I?! Do I need to fetch a magic nullifier? We can still tie that unpleasant band across your neck if need be?"

Clearly something in her words struck a cord within Daybreak, for he quickly retreated back a few steps.

"No ma'am. That isn't necessary. I'll behave...Do you think you could tell us how Princess Twilight is doing."

That was the first time Sunset could recall Daybreak using the term 'princess' without it sounding like an insult. The softness in Daybreaks voice was almost foreign to her ears. Regardless it had the desired effect. The young nurse gave a quick glance to the doctors, then motioned for them to follow. She walked and talked, leading them down the hall...and away from the operating room. Daybreak was able to catch sight of a doctor making his way back inside as they rounded the corner and headed for the stairwell.

"Well, for all intensive purposes Princess Twilight will likely make a tremendous recovery from most of her injuries..."

"Buuuuuuut?" Daybreak could sense the apprehension in her voice. He already knew what was coming, but he thought the others might have to hear it spoken aloud, by the nurse herself.

She sighed. "But...the damage done to her eyes was something we simply could not fix. Whatever weapon she was cut with had powerful magic sealed within it. It isn't dark magic or we might have been able to deal with it. It was something we haven't seen before, and we simply don't have the tools or magic to repair eyes damaged like hers are."

Daybreak looked down, but it seemed the truth had not truly set in yet, as he heard Pinkies high pitched voice squeak "What does that mean?"

Sighing yet again, the nurse took in a breath and released it in one quick burst.

"Its means we can't expect her to see anything ever again. She's blind Miss Pie, probably for the rest of her life."

They had all been directed to seats placed outside Twilights room once they made it to the twelfth floor. When the reality of the situation finally set in, many of them didn't feel like standing anyway. Rarity had to run to the restroom several times, where gagging sounds could be heard, and Fluttershy was constantly crying into Applejacks lap. Spike and Rainbow were sitting next to each other in somber silence, both seemingly lost for words. Sunset had seated herself next to Pinkie this time, and had taken to distracting her from her own water works by playing a game of Connect Four with her. Daybreak just wanted to get up and leave.

He sat alone. He was only a few feet from everyone else, but somehow it felt like miles separated them. He couldn't help but feel the pit of guilt that was slowly growing within his gut grow larger each time his eyes rested upon Twilights door. It hadn't helped when they'd all been sitting there as the doctors and nurses had come up the elevator with Twilight. She'd been almost completely covered with a white sheet as they wheeled her by on the gurney. The sight had been too much for any of them to bare, and they all looked away teary eyed. Everyone except Sunset Shimmer, who had refused to look away for even a second. She stared so hard at the passing group, Daybreak thought she might be looking through the white sheet with x-ray vision or something. To him, this meant she might be taking this harder than anyone else.

They didn't have long to wait this time, luckily. It was only a few minutes after the door closed that the doctors came pouring back out into the hall, once again not paying them any mind and simply moving on. The red haired nurse stopped though, Daybreak quickly noted she'd taken the time to move her hair out of her eyes and wash her face since he'd seen her a few minutes prior. This time she looked slightly more pleased as well, which likely meant Twilight was finally awake. He was first to the door yet again, with his chair being the closest. This meant he was also the first one to hear that Twilight could not have any visitors today, since visiting hours were over they would have to return tomorrow.

The young nurse found her body slammed up against Twilights door before she could even finish her sentence. With only his forearm Daybreak pinned her by the neck and slowly raised her off the ground. Applejack and Spike jumped forward in alarm, but Sunset held them back with a force field. Rainbow stood up as well, but simply stayed put and shook her head, though Sunset was certain she saw her smirk, slightly.

Even with his most of his body covered in bandage wrappings and his left arm immobilized, Daybreak still found his right arms muscles more than willing to lift the petite nurse with ease. She struggled for breath as her shoes slipped from her feet. Daybreak leaned close and whispered into her ear.

"I've had a long, loooooong day today, so listen close cause I hate repeating myself. In case you haven't noticed, we've all been waiting here, in this depressing place, for hours. Hours. Just so we can see for ourselves that Princess Twilight is ok. So you can shut out every visitor that isn't currently in front of you, but honey, we are going in that room or so help me Luna, I will show you how your other new patient got into the state she's currently in. Capeche?"

Her face quickly turning as red as her hair, she vigorously nodded her head yes. Daybreak smirked and slowly let her down. After taking many quick breaths and coughing out many more, she eventually stood herself upright.

"It seems...that visiting hours have been extended for today...do go inside...But please be brief, she really shouldn't be seeing anyone right now."

Daybreak gave a respectful nod, or rather as respectful as one can be after having just slammed said person against a door.

"We understand."

The nurse bowed and quickly scurried off down the hall. Sunset approached him as he reached for the door handle.

"You really should treat Nurse Redheart better. She's under alot of stress with this one. Every doctor here is."

He merely shrugged "She'll get over it. I needed to get my point across."

"Still, ya'll didn't have to go roughing her up the way ya did. Yer lucky she doesn't call security on ye." He could hear the disapproval bleeding into Applejacks voice with ease.

He faked a laugh "Let her call them. I'll turn them into grape jelly. I've got no patience for anyone's shit right now..."

With a sigh he turned to face them "Look, save it for later, let's just go see how Twilight is ok?"

He could almost physically see Applejacks inner stubbornness struggling to push the subject. She clearly wanted to settle this now, but she also wanted to check on her friend. Eventually she conceded and nodded.

"Fine, let's get a move on then."

"Agreed" He almost smiled to himself

"You people are still so easy to manipulate. How could I view anyone so simple as friends. Only Rainbow and Sunset make my time with any of you worth it."

With that thought Daybreak gripped the nob firmly in his hand...and pulled open the door with child-like care. The frame didn't make so much as a creak as he slowly opened it full and let everyone pass him before shutting it with the same care. Twilights friends all bustled to her bedside, which was separated from the rest of the world by a single large white curtain that fully encircled her bed. Daybreak made quick to follow them, but suddenly found his legs unwilling to take him more than a step inside. Something within his gut lurched at the thought of speaking to Twilight now, after everything he'd done.

For the first time since they got here, he found he did not want to see Twilight. In fact, he was suddenly questioning why he was even still here. Twilight was obviously fine, he'd known that since he'd healed her. He'd done his job. His obligation to them was finished, he could just leave now and no one would likely question it.

"No...That doesn't feel right either. I can't just leave, I need to speak to her...but I can't bare the thought of her saying anything to me. What if she's angry, or blames me? She'd be right of course...What if she's depressed? I think that would be worse....I'd rather hear her yell at me than cry...What should I do? Maybe I should ask Sunset..."

He looked up, Sunset Shimmer was already within the white sheet surrounding Twilights bed, and the outline of her body indicated she was currently engaged in conversation, so extracting her was unlikely.

"Guess that's not an option....Maybe I'll just wait here and ask her how Twilights doing once they're done."

Deciding that was probably the best option right now, he slowly opened the door and levitated in his chair from outside. A sharp sting traveled up his left arm and down his spine as the feet of the chair came through the door, reminding him that he shouldn't be wielding any magic in his condition. Rubbing his aching limb, he took his seat in the corner of the room and waited quietly for everyone to finish.

He could hear the overlapping voices of Sunset Shimmer and the rest of Twilights friends all practically competing for her attention as they talked. He easily noted Spikes voice repeatedly telling her that he'd do anything to make her more comfortable and asking if she needed anything. He couldn't help but notice Twilights outline through the curtain as he chanced a glance over to the group. She was sitting upright, he could tell, and seemed to be looking around as if searching for something. This struck him as odd considering her current...predicament.

She also seemed to be ignoring her friends. Not so much ignoring them as not giving them her full attention. From here he could see her hands cupping her ears as the silhouette of her head turned in every which direction, as if she was hoping to hear something specific. It took him a moment to realize what she must be listening for.

"She's listening for me!"

Narcissistic as it may seem, it made the most sense. The urge to leave resurfaced and he found himself on his feet yet again. He was just about to turn and place his hand upon the door when he heard Twilight speak.

"Girls?...Where's Daybreak...He's with you isn't he?"

Her words were quieter than Fluttershy's, yet it somehow seemed to silence her friends like she'd used his aunt's Royal Canterlot Voice. Daybreak felt his blood freeze and his limbs betray him, stunning him in place. He didn't have to turn, he could feel all of their stares on his back, burning into him. Every fiber of his being wanted to simply walk out the door and not say a word. But something within him, would not allow it.

"I'm here." He barely croaked out his response, his voice had gone horse at the thought of speaking to her now, yet he had no other choice. Twilights response almost choked him up even more.

"Are you close? You sound farther away than the girls? Is my room really that big? I asked them not to go overboard for me."

Forcing himself to remain composed, he turned back around and strode over. He noted each of her friends expressions as he came to her bedside. But any thoughts of their malicious glares vanished as he laid eyes on Twilight.

She was sitting up just like he'd thought, a pillow helped prop her back against the headboard of her bed. His eyes unintentionally jumped to her face. With her forehead to her nose wrapped in grey bandages, he or anyone else was prevented from seeing what kind of condition her eyes were really in. Her hair was messy and falling over her face, covering most of her bandages from view anyways, but he could easily still spot them. Hell, he could have identified what kind of fabric they were and what comforting enchantments had been placed on them. But maybe that was only because he was staring so hard.

The rest of her face seemed fine. Her cuts and bruises were fully healed to the point you couldn't tell they'd ever existed in the first place. Looking down, the rest of her body was covered in the two thick white blankets, which her hands were holding in place just below her neck. This seemed a little odd, unless she wasn't exactly decent underneath it. Moving back to her face, he noticed her lips were spread into a smile he'd not seen her wear around him since they were kids. The smile felt out place, all things considered, and he felt he had to say something.

He placed his hand on her bedside "I'm right here Twilight...How are you feeling?"

He felt something cold patter across the top of his hand. He nearly pulled away in surprise until he looked down and saw it was Twilights palm. Her fingers were ice cold, like she'd been inside a freezer for hours, but upon touching his hand he could literally feel the warmth flowing off him onto her.

"I'm much better now, thanks. The nurses said you saved me...that you demanded I be given the best treatment and that you threatened to call Celestia here if they didn't make me their top priority.......Did you really do all that?"

Daybreak felt his face growing warm. It wasn't so much hearing how irrational he'd been spoken aloud, it was hearing Twilight say it. He found himself suddenly rubbing the back of his head with his bandaged hand.

"Aw geez...I really screwed this one up didn't I? Why did I have to go an get so protective like that?"

"Y-yeah...I did. B-but I was just doing what any friend would have done for you Twilight. It was nothing special."

Twilight seemed at a loss for words. He felt her fingers quiver against his.

"We're...friends?"

"Aw shit..."

He wanted to smack himself, but all that came out was "Uh...ummm..."

He heard Applejack give rough "hmph" behind him.

"Uh might wanna check yer facts there partner. None of us threw an innocent nurse against a wall just cause she said visiting hours were over today. Ya'll went way beyond what you can say a 'friend' would do. Are ya'll sure there ain't nothin secret goin on between you two?"

Twilights face flushed deep red and she quickly pulled her hand back beneath her covers. Daybreak rounded on AJ, intent on giving her a piece of his mind. But the words died in his throat when he saw Rainbow Dash. Even if he'd wanted to warn AJ, he didn't have time before Rainbow shoved her way through her friends and got straight into Applejacks face.

"Excuse me!? Are you actually suggesting Daybreak would cheat on me? Him and Twilight have been at each others throats since he got here! Exactly when would they have had time to go at it huh? In between their yelling matches?!

Although taken by surprise by Rainbows sudden advance, Applejack quickly recovered and took a step closer to her. They were almost touching noses.

"Listen here Rainbow. I ain't saying nothin outright. But ya'll can't deny what we all saw. Daybreak's been keeping lots of secrets from us this whole time. About himself, and Twilight."

Rainbow had to grip the side of Twilights bed to keep herself under control. It was taking all her energy not to start screaming at her friend.

"Secrets? of course he has secrets AJ! He's the freaking son of Discord, and Princess Celestia! No one ever said he had to tell us every little thing about himself. Princess Celestia barely tells us anything about her business, yet you trust her just fine. What's the difference here!"

"Uh...Girls?" Twilights voice was barely audible, and unlike before, did not silence the heated argument now brewing between her two friends.

"The difference-" AJ's voice rose as she too had to grip Twilights bed to keep herself steady "Is that Princess Celestia's secrets don't suddenly appear out of nowhere shooting sun beams all over the place and blowing up beaches!"

"Girls?"

"Oh they don't huh?" Rainbow almost seemed to be laughing "Stop me if I'm wrong here: Nightmare Moon, appears out of literally nowhere and throws Equestria into darkness. Discord, appears out of nowhere and spreads chaos everywhere. Queen Chrysalis, appeared out of nowhere and nearly took over Canterlot. King Sombra, appears out of nowhere, with a whole freaking Empire to boot. And Tirek, appears out of nowhere and sends three of the Princesses to Tartarus. He literally sent them to hell AJ. And did we have any prior warning for any of this? NO! We did not. With the exception of Chrysalis, Celestia knew about every one of those problems and never bothered to give us a heads up until we were already in the thick of it! So I don't wanna hear any more crap about how Daybreak needs to spill his life's story to you to gain your trust. He saved our asses out there and that's enough for me. It should be more than enough for you! As for some hidden...thing...between him and Twilight. Why don't we just ask them?"

"Dash ya'll don't gotta-"

But Rainbow ignored her "Nope! You're the one who brought it up, so let's get it out of the way now!"

Like a switch had been flipped, all eyes were suddenly back on him and Twilight. Rainbow looked him dead in the eyes, he blinked and she was less than a foot from his face, just like with AJ.

"Daybreak?" The aggression in her voice had died down and been suppressed, but he could still feel it beneath the surface. He could barely detect it but it was there. He knew her friends wouldn't notice though. "Is there some hidden romance thing between you and Twilight?"

She kept her eyes dead set on his, refusing to break eye contact. He did her the same courtesy. Steadying his voice, he said with all seriousness. "There is nothing like that between us Rainbow."

Without a word she turned to Twilight. Somehow, Twilight seemed to sense Rainbow was looking at her and shrunk slightly into her bed.

"Twilight is there a hidden romance between you and Daybreak?"

For a moment she was silent, only shaking her head no. She barely squeaked out a response "I'd never do that to you Rainbow."

Rainbow spun on her heels to face her friends. Her gaze did not match her words "Good enough for me. Does anyone else wanna start something?"

Chancing a glance at Applejack, Daybreak caught her giving him a firm glare. He knew this wouldn't be the end of it, but for now she backed off.

"I'm set. What about ya'll?"

The others mostly just mumbled to themselves, but that seemed to be enough for Rainbow Dash. "Good, now maybe we can get back to comforting our injured friend?"

"Uh...actually Rainbow...Can I ask a favor?"

Rainbow turned back around to Twilight, who was now fully laying back down in her bed. Rainbow smiled, genuinely.

"Sure Twi, whatever you need."

Despite this feeling like a complete 180 from her attitude a few seconds prior, she actually sounded like she meant it. Perhaps AJ's suggestion of disloyalty had simply been a trigger for her.

"Well...Can I have a few minutes alone with Daybreak. Please? There are some things I wanna ask him and I don't think he'll be truthful in front of you all."

Daybreak sensed an unusual aura of need in her voice. Perhaps the others sensed it too because Rarity almost instantly stepped forward and began to lead Rainbow away by the arm.

"Oh of course darling. Anything you want. We'll just be right outside now. Just yell if you need anything."

Daybreak felt an extreme discontent with suddenly being asked to be alone with Twilight. For a moment, it seemed like he wouldn't have to be, as Spike seemed to be lagging behind the others. He attempted to close the door once they were all through, but Rarity's arm materialized from nowhere and pulled him out as well.

"You too Spikey. She said aloooooone. That's means without anyone."

Without giving him time to argue, the door slammed shut behind her. Daybreak watched as the outline of someone, presumably Rarity, stepped in front of the window and blocked the door from view.

"She's taking this oddly seriously isn't she?"

Twilight merely giggled "She's always overdramatic. You learn to love it."

Chuckling along with her, he pulled up his chair and sat down beside her bed. "I'll just take your word for it. The only friends of yours that I've any real interest in are Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer."

He watched her sigh "Well...at least you made two friends."

For a moment he was silent. He contemplated his response before deciding if it was wise to say. After a few small seconds of thought, he decided it best to simply give in. He'd already crossed the line, might as well keep going.

"Three."

"What?" She sounded confused.

"I made three friends Sparky, not two."

"What...but you said..."

He sighed loudly, purposefully cutting her off. "Geez you're dense Sparks. I guess I gotta spell it out for you just like when we were little."

"Hey...that's not...I'm not... that's mean." Her voice sounded so feeble. He couldn't decide if it was how tired she must be, or that was simply how weak her body was right now.

He chuckled again. "Oh Sparks, you're a dork ya know that?"

He watched her lips scrunched up in annoyance "I am not!"

"Yes you are and I can prove it."

"Fine then! Prove it."

"Fine I will."

"Fine! I'm wait-WHAAAAAA! What are you doing-!"

She yelped and shrieked as his arms suddenly wrapped themselves around her waist, pulling her over the side of her bed, into his arms.

"What are you yelling for? I'm just hugging you."

She went limp in his grip. It was so sudden he almost dropped her.

"Oh...is that what you're doing?"

He pulled her tighter against him. "Yeah, duh."

"Well....why...are you hugging me?"

He ran his fingers gently through her violet hair, untangling the mess within that it had become. "Because bookworm, that's what friends do. They hug. Or at least. That's what Rainbow told me anyway."

Like a million bells all went off in her head at the same time, he felt one of Twilights arms shoot up with lightning speed and wrap around his back, narrowly avoiding his scars by sheer luck.

"You mean we're...you and me...you really meant it? We're really friends Daybreak?"

He nodded against her cheek "Yeah Sparky, we are. And..."

Something welled up in his gut. It was filling him up from within and he had no idea where it was coming from. Emotions he shouldn't have, shoved their way to the surface before he could stop them.

"...I'm so so sorry Twilight...I'm sorry for causing all of this! This is all my fault! If I'd never come back none of this would have happened to you. I never meant for any of this to happen!" He felt hot liquid come running down his cheeks. He tried to pull away from the hug for fear of burning Twilights skin with his magic laced tears, but she held him in place.

"Daybreak..."

The sheet separating their bodies suddenly dropped as Twilights other hand came up and wrapped around him, completing the hug. With the little strength she had she tugged at his back and pulled his chest against hers. Warmth that had nothing to do with his tears filled his face as he felt her bare chest press against his. Instinctively he cast a charm on the door, locking it from the inside and making it impossible to see within the room. He couldn't have Rainbow potentially seeing this, not after she'd just vouched for his loyalty.

"Twilight...your blanket. I can feel...ummm...your chest is...this looks wrong..."

"I don't care!" Her voice came out much rougher than he expected "This is the first time I've ever gotten to hug you and actually feel like you mean it! I'm..." She paused for breath, her voice stuttering "...I'm just as embarrassed as you right now, but I'd sooner run through this hospital in my birthday suit than give this up."

He forced himself to chuckle, if only to relieve some of this unyielding tension.

"Ehehe...You act like there won't be hugs in the future too."

Her grip tighten, her palm began pressing into his scars forcing out a pained grunt that he struggled to mask.

"I don't know if there will be...we might not live long enough."

Now he actually wanted to laugh "To hug? Come on Sparky, I don't..."

He heard her hiccup and went silent. Then, he heard small whimpers. He was at a loss "T-Twilight...what's wrong?"

"We're all gonna die aren't we Daybreak? We can't win...Not against enemies like this..."

"Shut up!" He pulled himself from her embrace and yanked her back far enough to look her full in the face. Even though she could not see it, he knew she could feel it.

"That's not gonna happen Twilight! We are not gonna die! I may not believe in your silly power of friendship like you and your friends. But I do know that we haven't lost yet, we beat Jackie and that has to count for something. And I also know that the Twilight Sparkle I know never gives up. It's your best and most annoying quality (that and your book worminess). With your brain, mine and Sunset's together, I know we can think of a way to win. We just have to work together! OK? So don't you dare let me hear you talking like that again! Got it?"

"Uh *hic* huh"

"Good now come here."

She was silent for a moment "Do I get another hug?"

"Only if you keep that sheet tight around you. I don't need your boobs falling all over me. Seriously, why can't you put on a shirt or something, I don't remember it being policy to strip patients around here? Don't they at least have those weird robe things for you?"

He head shook "The blanket that's covering me has special leaves inside of it. As long as I stay mostly underneath it, my aura won't fluctuate out of control. They said my magic was going nuts when they first tried to operate on my eyes. This helps keep it calm for now. It should only be for a day or so."

It wasn't really the answer he wanted, but it made enough sense. "Hmph, fine. Keep that thing tight then."

He watched her face redden, but she nodded regardless. Griping it tight in one hand while opening her other arm for an embrace, she let him pull her to him again, though not quite so tight this time around. He wondered how long she'd want this before she was satisfied.

A wetness against his shoulder captured his attention. Turning his head to inquire what was wrong this time, he saw fresh tears beginning to leak out from under Twilights bandages. Even more worrisome was the bandages were beginning to redden from underneath. It took his brain only seconds to realize what was happening.

"Twilight! Your eyes! Nurs-mmmmph!"

Shock and dread filled his mind as he realized what was now pressed against his lips, silencing him from shouting for the nurse or her friends. Twilight used both her hands to press him tightly against her body, locking her lips with his and crushing her upper body even tighter than before against his skin. Millions of feelings fired off within him all at once. Anger, fear, shock and surprise were foremost among them. He felt her tongue briefly swipe against his, but just as he was about to force her off of him (none to softly either), she withdrew.

"I-I'm sorry! I had to! Just once...!"

Retreating several steps back from her bed, Daybreak stood stunned. The idea to walk out now pecked at the edge of his brain. He heavily considered it as he watched her head spin about, wondering where he'd gone.

"Y-you said you wouldn't do that to Rainbow. Why?...Twilight I just said we were friends...do you have any idea how hard that was for me..."

Upon hearing his voice he watched her turn to face him.

"I'm sorry...it just happened...I won't do it again I promise. Please...don't go."

The hurt in her voice drew him back to her bedside. He couldn't bare to leave her like this, even if she did go way too far.

"Fine I won't go. But don't ever do that again....Now we need to call the nurse. I think your eyes are bleeding."

She whimpered, shaking her head. "I'd rather you look at it. Will you please?"

That remark sounded odd. "Why me? The doctors are more qualified-"

She swiped up her pillow and squeezed it against her chest, she lowered her head down and loosed a loud sob of pain. Her tears dripped onto it, quickly soaking it through as she did nothing to stop the flow of water from her bandages. Leaning over at the waist she crushed her face into her hands. It looked like she was trying to pull her bandages out as she squealed and squirmed around her sheets. Unsure of what to do, Daybreak simply stood there as she cried and struggled.

"Daybreak...it hurts...it hurts so much...it hurts to cry...it hurts to try and blink...everything hurts and I can't make it stop. Their medicine isn't helping. They've been at it for hours, trying to find someway to numb my eyes...but nothing works. I finally just told them it was working so they'd stop......but it still hurts so much."

Feeling two hands upon her cheeks, Twilight emitted a surprised squeak of fright.

"W-what are you-?"

"Shhhhh. I'll do it. I'll numb your pain." A cold finger pressed softly against her lips. Any sound from her body ceased immediately upon contact. The bandages around her eyes began to loosen, and she became faintly aware of his fingers brushing the sides of her ears while the gauze started to drop from her face.

A bright light broke through the darkness of her eyelids as the wrappings fell to her bed sheets. For a moment she was ready to squeal with glee, at hopes that the light might form into shapes. But nothing changed. The light remained nothing more than that, a bright white light. The fuzziness did not form shapes and the pain only increased the longer she tried to stare. Feeling more water forming in her eyes, she conceded her fate and allowed herself to blink. The water began to form warm, thick tears...she let them run without a fight. The weight and heat within them implied they were not just water, then she remembered Daybreak mentioned her eyes looked like they were bleeding within her bandages.

Each individual tear was noticeable upon her skin as it ran down her cheeks. Hearing herself whimper she instantly became aware of two cold fingers, once again rubbing along her face. They rubbed across either cheek and swept away the tears. The feeling stopped the flow of water instantaneously. Twilight was aware of her head rubbing into Daybreaks hands like a kitten. She heard him give a light sob, barely detectable, but with no sight, she was able to pick up the sound clear as day, and the restrained anger beneath it.

"Sparky...I'm sorry. I promise I'll find a way to fix this. No matter what I have to do, I swear I will find a way to give you back your eyes!"

She took up his hands into hers and held them both close to her. Now it was her turn to comfort him.

"Daybreak this isn't your fault. No matter what anyone else says, it's not....I can't say I can just forget and forgive everything that happened all those years ago, but, it makes me happy to call you my friend now."

A warm feeling suddenly spread throughout her face and eyes that had nothing to do with the fuzziness in her heart. The white light in her eyes grew larger, larger, and larger until it seemed to burn within her skull. She squeaked in pain, clasping her hands to her head as she tried to cover her face. But something held her in place, something kept her still as stone in the bed and did not allow her to move. The light was literally burning against her eyes and seemed to be coming from nowhere. She whimpered for Daybreak, but heard only a light response as the burning sensation seemed to fill her entire body.

"Don't move Sparky. I promise this will help."

Something about this feeling felt familiar, it was just out of her grasp, she could tell, but her mind was too overcome with pain to allow her to focus. She wanted to keep crying, but forced herself to stop. She endured the agony and tried to remain calm as it very literally seemed to burn the liquid from her eyes. The blazing heat was starting to spread through her body now, like she was getting a full body sun burn. It was too much for her, she felt more tears swell up, but they faded and seemed to fizzle away before ever forming.

Hotter and hotter the heat grew, pulsing along her skin and into her very core. It hurt, everything hurt. Simply trying to move her finger caused the pain to intensify a hundred fold. She tried to sit still to avoid this, but found that was also impossible. Every prick along her skin made her twitch, and every twitch sent waves of agony throughout her being.

She tried to whimper for Daybreaks aid, but found her lips felt to chapped to open. It was so intense, she swore she was on fire. The fiery pain was too much for her. She felt her mind go blank, and world go black. Aware that her head made contact with her pillow, she waited to slip into unconsciousness. But it did not come, instead the pain ended, abruptly. The light no longer filled her eyes...she felt a hundred times better. She blinked just to make sure she was still awake. The feeling of her eyelashes brushing each other confirmed that she was indeed awake. Which left her wondering...

"What did you do?" The relief in her voice was unintentional but she didn't even bother trying to mask it. She hadn't felt this at peace since awaking within the hospital.

"Well I took away your pain Sparky, duh." His voice sounded strange.

"Yes but, how? The doctors tried every spell they could think of, every herb and every pain killer they had. Yet you just did that, like it was nothing."

She heard him emit a scratchy laugh. Something sounded off with him all of the sudden. "Oh it was something alright. And it was by no means easy. You probably just didn't notice me over how much that must have hurt you."

Her hands found her shoulders, hugging herself she shivered as she thought of the pain. "It felt like my eyes were burning up from within...and like my entire body was on fire. Where...Where have I felt that before?"

Again he laughed, and again his voice sound scratchy. Like he'd swallowed a hunk of gravel very recently.

"Hehe...You really want me to tell you? You'd probably figure it out on your own eventually anyway. I thought Twilight Sparkle loved to solve problems."

Scrunching her nose and lips together, she attempted to swat at him blindly, missing by miles. "Don't be mean, tell me."

Another chuckle. "Well, alright I-"

Cliiiiiiick!

He paused as a sound from across the room seemed to draw away his attention. Twilight was keenly aware that the room had suddenly become much warmer than it had been a minute ago. When Daybreak spoke again, his voice no longer sounded coarse and rocky, but instead like he was restraining it.

"It would seem, we have company."

Before she could inquire whom, the door to her room burst open in a stream of overwhelming light! Twilight herself was not able to perceive the sheer brightness of it, but Daybreak was nearly blinded by its weight! Shielding his eyes, he grimaced in contempt as a familiar figure made itself visible in the quickly fading glow.

Princess Celestia strode forth from the aftermath of her shiny entrance. She looked the same as Daybreak remembered her. She even seemed to be dressing the same. Long, white, silk layered robes adorned her snow white skin, covering her body from the breast down. Golden crown adorning her hair which flowed like a glistening sunrise of color. The multiple hues of pink, light green, yellow, and blue swirled in harmony from her scalp down her form. Her robes flowed around her too as she strode forth, her ever judging eyes falling instantly upon Daybreak. He met her gaze with a glare. He was faintly aware that he'd unconsciously moved between Celestia and Twilights bed the moment the door had opened, a instinct he did not plan to correct.

Their gazes locked, without words he attempted to communicate the bubbling brew of hate quickly boiling within his belly. Whether she received this message or not was unclear, for she regarded him with no emotion.

"Sol."

He grimaced. "That's not my name."

In the background he heard Twilight whisper "I know that voice"

Her right eyebrow raised to him "Sol Daybreak, is that not the name we gave you at your birth?"

The urge to spit at her rose to tempting heights in his mind "You mean right before you cast me out? Yeah. I shed that half of my name long ago, the half you gave me, I should say. We've had this conversation before the last time we met. Did you think ten years would change my mind?"

"Daybreak...Is that Princess Celestia?"

Twilights voice broke both from their gazes and returned them to reality. Looking around, Daybreak was now aware many more people had entered the room. Twilights friends had re-gathered at the door just a bit behind Celestia. A group of five guards, and what sounded like several more, were visible by their shadows waiting just beyond the room. Sounds of panting were also noticeable in the distance, possibly down the hall and growing louder.

"IN HERE SISTER!" Celestia's voice boomed, shaking the room around them.

"Luna is here too?" He couldn't keep the wonderment from his voice. Luna might actually make having to see Celestia again worth it.

Princess Celestia regarded him without looking at him "Indeed. We came as soon as we heard. Unfortunately-" She looked to Twilight, but of course Twilight had no way of knowing. "-Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor will not be joining us. Though they send you their love my young pupil."

Twilight seemed to realize Celestia was referring to her and smiled brightly "Thank you Princess."

Celestia strode forward to Twilights side. As she made to pass Daybreak, he felt an overwhelming urge to block her path and not allow her anywhere near Twilight. But Celestia passed him by before he could act on it. She took the seat where he'd been next to Twilight and took up her young pupils hand in her own. Not to be outdone, Daybreak quickly scurried around to the opposite side of the bed and materialized a chair of his own. A little pain in his arm was worth it, he couldn't let Celestia muscle him out of here.

He didn't take Twilights hand, but he did scoot to her side. He noticed Celestia's eyes on him, watching him. He'd always hated when she did that, he could feel her judgement from across the bed.

"So Celestia, how exactly did you hear Twilight was injured. I don't remember anyone sending any letters recently." His eyes narrowed on Spike standing at the door. The young drake threw up his arms in surrender and shook his head wildly.

Celestia sighed "I must admit I did not know of Twilights injuries until I arrived here and was briefed by a very surprised nurse."

This struck him as odd. "Then why were you coming here? Hmm? Do just casually drop by the hospitals now and again to make sure Twilight hasn't gotten herself killed on one of your ridiculous missions?"

"Daybreak..." Twilights voice wasn't even a whisper

He didn't mean for it to come out the way it did, but he found himself unable to stop his anger from seeping through.

"She has the nerve to just sit there so calm and collected, not even acting like she cares that Twilight nearly died some hours ago, and is now blind!"

Celestia merely sighed again, showing no hint of any stronger reaction. "No, actually I was coming here to investigate the magical disturbances my sister and I recently felt. Since The Horseman made her presence known we've been paying closer attention to these things. You see, before this, we were at a beach where two magical anomalies were felt some hours ago, and when we arrived we saw that some kind of powerful battle had clearly taken place."

"Oh no."

Her voice never even rose a bit, yet somehow here words made his blood run cold. But her next words struck his blood to ice. "And just after we arrived we sensed another magical anomaly. We traced it to this hospital, where I should encounter...you of all people Sol. How odd, wouldn't you say?"

"Shit!"

He heard them before he looked. The guards from the hall had all begun piling themselves into the room. They flooded in and lined themselves along its walls, standing at perfect attention with their electrically charged spears at their sides. Celestia stood from her chair, but before she could speak a loud crash outside the room drew the attention of her and her guards. Daybreak knew this was his chance to run, but the sight of his aunt entering the room, and a small mop bucket stuck to her foot, froze him in place.

"Apologies Sister. Got lost. Tried to make a dramatic entrance like you did, but went into the completely wrong room and scared the janitor half to death."

Celestia smacked her palm to her face, resuming her seat as her sister entered the room. Upon laying eyes on him, Luna's face broke into a massive grin.

"Daybreak!"

He couldn't help but smile at seeing her smile "Hiya Auntie Luna. Nice shoe."

She looked down, crown crooked on her head, midnight blue robes covered in water and the mop bucket still clacking on her foot. "Oh right."

With a snap of her fingers the bucket vanished and her robes returned to their original flowing nature, along with her hair and crown. The color of midnight with stars sparkling in the very flow of her hair, Luna was truly a sight to behold. She, unlike her sister, looked slightly different from the last time Daybreak laid eyes on her. Like she had matured a great deal. Her chest was certainly larger. The last time he'd seen her she looked like she was his age and her chest was barely noticeable through her robes. Now it was almost the size of Celestia's and her form seemed to radiate the same powerful energy as her sister. But that wasn't the only difference. He couldn't recall ever seeing her smile quite so brightly before, perhaps returning from Nightmare Moon had changed her for the better after all.

Making the effort to show some affection to the only family member never to fuck up his life, he strode from his chair and embraced his aunt in a hug. It felt odd to do so and she surely could tell.

"Wow, I don't remember hugs being in thy list of skills. Don't tell me young Twilight Sparkle has finally broken thee."

He shook his head "Not Twilight." His eyes rested on Rainbow and Luna followed his gaze to the door. Rainbow Dash noticed them both stare at her and for once, made an attempt to hide from the attention, perhaps out of a rare shyness. Luna gave a genuine laugh.

"Most excellent! Tis about time all our family reunited. I have missed thine wit. Thy dreams were hardly the proper place to make conversation. Sister, hast thou seen this? Young Daybreak has let someone in."

Celestia was truly a master of hiding her emotions. Daybreak was unable to tell a single thought that was running through her mind. The only hint he got was from her response.

"Perhaps, even Discord was once our friend sister."

Feeling the wrong message was being passed, he broke from the hug and took a step back.

"Auntie, don't get me wrong. Me and Twilight are friends now, and I am with Rainbow Dash. But a family? No, not with Celestia. Not ever. I've seen with my own eyes how she treats her family. If I'm lucky I'll get banished for nothing like before, or maybe she'll just end up sending me to the moon, or hell maybe she'll try to kill me like she did father!"

He turned in time to finally witness a reaction from Celestia. Though he regretted it instantly. Her chair crashed to the ground as she stood! Fire blazed around her body, igniting her hair as her aura engulfed the room making it difficult to breathe.

"YOU GO TOO FAR!"

"Sister no!" Luna made to step in between them, but Daybreak put his arm in front of her and stepped towards his mother. The sheer weight of her power and the heat of her fire frightened him once before, and even now it was intimidating to be in the same room with her. But he was much stronger than when he was a child, and he would not bend the knee to her ever again. Igniting his own body in a fire identical to hers, his hair too became engulfed as more golden flames erupted about the room and encircled them both. His bandages disintegrated as he powered up, but he didn't care, he got right into her face.

"I'VE GONE TOO FAR?! REALLY? BECAUSE I SPOKE THE TRUTH? THAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH YOU CELESTIA! YOU CAN'T EVEN FACE UP TO WHAT YOU DID! THAT'S WHY YOUR FAMILY IS A BITTER FAILURE! JUST LIKE YOU!"

He seemed to have finally crossed the line for real, because he quickly found himself suspended in the air, unable to move his limbs.

"HOW WOULD YOU KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A SUCCESSFUL RULER?! YOU KNOW NOTHING OF RULING A NATION! TO EVERYDAY BE FLOODED WITH THE NEEDS OF THE PEOPLE, THE OTHER NATIONS, THE DAILY THREATS TO OUR ALLIES! TO CONSTANTLY BE ASSAULTED BY HORDES OF ENEMIES THAT WOULD LIKE NOTHING BETTER THAN TO SEE OUR WAY OF LIFE GONE! TO ALWAYS HEAR OF PROPHECIES AND TALES AND PREDICTIONS OF THE FUTURE! YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT'S LIKE!"

Daybreak threw out his arms in a fitful yell, bursting the binding spells Celestia had on him! The fire within the room changed from golden to a sinister emerald green as Daybreak no longer mimicked Celestia's aura, but showed his own! His feet touched ground in front of her once again.

"HOW COULD I KNOW? HOW COULD I EVER KNOW? YOU BANISHED ME FOR SIMPLY EXISTING! HOW COULD I KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO RULE A PEOPLE WHEN I'D NEVER GET THE CHANCE! YOU LEFT ME OUT IN THE COLD TO DIE LIKE TRASH! YOU'RE NO MOTHER TO ME AND YOU'RE NO PRINCESS TO THIS NATION!"

"ENOUGH!" Luna's royal voice boomed over either of them!

The fires vanished like smoke as darkness engulfed the room. Midnight aura seemed to crawl along the wall as Princess Luna's magic returned the surroundings to what they previously were. Both Daybreak and Celestia turned to her. She too now looked truly angry, though much more controlled than either of them were to be sure.

"Is this how we are to behave in front of friends and subjects sister? Show some degree of royal dignity. And you Daybreak. I thought, for just one moment, I thought you had finally let go of the hate within you."

He spit at the ground. It ate like acid through the floor in seconds. "I'll let it go when I see justice done for what she did to me."

Luna's eyes lowered, her smile had gone, replaced with a painful frown. Celestia strode past Daybreak to her sister and embraced her. "You are right sister, that was unprofessional of me. I apologize my dear subjects." She looked to her guards and Twilights friends, many of whom were now cowering behind said guards for protection, save Sunset Shimmer of course, who had seen her share of this many times in the past when pushing Celestia's buttons herself. She was also the only who seemed to remember how to speak at the moment.

"It's alright Princess. Everyone has their moments now and again. Yours are just...scarier, than most."

Celestia lowered her head in a half bow to Sunset Shimmer. She turned back to Daybreak, who had retaken his chair next to Twilight and would not be giving it up this time.

"Do you know why I'm here Daybreak? The original reason I came for I should say. Because now I am here for three reasons: One, to check on the condition of Princess Twilight. Two; to examine this so-called Horseman's apprentice that young Spike informed me of before I entered. Do you know the third?"

He chuckled. Bitterness filled his lips as he spoke. "You're here to arrest me aren't you?"

"Indeed I am"

"WHAT!?" It came from many different directions and so both Daybreak and Celestia found their eyes jumping about, trying to pinpoint whom had spoken. Though the looks on certain faces gave it away quite quickly. Twilight had sat up so quickly in her bed, she'd nearly lost her covers in the process...nearly. Sunset had actually taken several steps towards Celestia in a very aggressive matter, before the Princesses gaze fell upon her and stalled her in place. Rainbow seemed to be lowering herself towards the ground in the doorway, as if intent on rushing anyone that moved. Even Luna looked shocked, which came as a surprise to Daybreak seeing as she should've known that was coming if they were traveling together.

"Then again, if they were traveling together, wouldn't they have arrived together as well. Somethings weird here.

Twilight was the first one to speak, her hands springing from beneath her covers to grip Daybreaks right arm.

"Princess I must protest! What could Daybreak have possibly done to deserve that? He saved my life!"

Sunset, although briefly stunned as well, now seemed to understand. Having already put it together herself, she quickly approached Daybreaks side, slowly putting herself between him and Celestia. She couldn't manage an aggressive tone with Celestia staring at her, but she damn well tried.

"It's because he saved her, isn't it?"

Celestia nodded slowly, then regarded him.

"Tell her."

He grimaced, it was only a matter of time before she found out anyways. With all of her friends having been there to witness the act, it was bound to come up. He just hadn't wanted it to be in a situation like this, he doubted any of them really understood what he had done. Slowly patting Twilights hand, he spoke, but his eyes never left Celestia's face.

"Fine. I used the Reanimation Spell to bring Twilight back and I used Transference twice to heal her. Once at the beach to put her wound into me, and once here to put the pain in her eyes into the scars on my back."

He felt Twilights hand slowly slip from his grip, but when he was finished speaking it was Rainbow Dash's gaze he sought. He found her eyes widened with disbelief and mingled pain. He could understand why, but now wasn't the time to deal with that. He heard Twilight speak from behind him, her voice quivering once again.

"B-but...if you transferred my wound into you...how come you didn't die instead?"

"Indeed. I am wondering that as well, do enlighten us Sol." Celestia's tone had gone back to neutral. Something that continued to infuriate him, but not as much as her refusing to acknowledge his name.

"That's not my name Celestia, it's Daybreak! And as for why I didn't die. It's simple, Twilight, Jackie's blade was filled with light magic. The stab wound itself isn't what nearly killed you, that was just to keep you losing blood. What truly did the damage was the sheer amount of light magic that traveled from the blade into you, and erupted from your back. It basically burned you from the inside out. The basic stab wound was bad, but it was nothing that I couldn't heal from."

Celestia opened her mouth, but Twilight unknowingly cut her off. "Reanimation...I didn't know you went that far...Daybreak...did I die?"

He felt his heart ripping in half. "Twilight, you don't need to worry about something like-"

"Did I die? Answer me!" The shake in her voice went so perfectly with her anger it hurt him to hear it. He lowered his head in shame.

"For a few minutes. Yeah. You died and I brought you back. I can't do it again though. Magic that powerful and dark can only be used when certain conditions are met. And I can't meet them for another ten years again anyways."

"Magic that dark is precisely why I'm here Sol. You defiled the laws of nature to save her. Transference is just as bad as Reanimation." Celestia's voice hinted at disgust, which only made him angrier, considering why he'd done it. But Twilights curiosity managed to distract him before he could explode at Celestia again.

"I don't remember Transference in our studies Princess. You told me about the Reanimation once, why not Transference? What is it?"

"Exactly what the name implies my young Princess. You can take the ailments, or qualities, or just about anything from one person, and trade them to another, permanently if you wish. Tirek used a form of it when he returned from Tartarus. Stealing the magic from the citizens of Equestria and adding it his body."

Sunset visibly shivered, finally understanding. "So that's why it's forbidden. You can take anything you want from someone, and make it your own....but Princess he-"

"It does not matter why!" Celestia cut her off. "I know what you are going to say Sunset Shimmer, but this is not negotiable. Magic like that cannot be allowed in Equestria! Dark magic is one thing, but this is on a totally different level. What if I turn a blind eye to him and someone else does something similar or worse? A boy sacrifices his health to aid his ailing grandmother? A father to lend strength to his weak son? A mother to give her daughter beauty? Or perhaps, to give a blind friend healthy eyes?"

Celestia's gaze hardened on Daybreak. It was like she'd read his mind. Sunset gasped at his guilty expression. Twilight seemed to understand from her reaction.

"Daybreak you wouldn't..."

"Yes he would, wouldn't you?"

He hated being found out by Celestia, but he hated even more her forcing him to admit it.

"Yes, that was my next step to heal Twilight."

He heard gasps from her friends, but he didn't care. Sunset lightly spoke. "Whose...I have to know, if Celestia hadn't come, whose eyes were you going to take for her?"

The apprehension in her voice almost made him sick. Did they really think so little of him? Before he could voice his intentions, he found a blue fist planting itself firmly in his gut. Doubling over at the waist, he gasped for breathe. Rainbow stood over him with reddened eyes.

"Don't you dare give her your eyes you dumbass!"

Her words struck him like a whip.

"How did she know...?"

He looked up at her angry expression in time for her to smack him across the face. He stumbled back and crashed into the wall. The guards that had been there moved aside as he fell. He didn't bother getting up. He just looked up as Rainbow advanced on him, probably to hit him some more. Now he didn't care though. Her slap had hurt him more than any punch would. Rainbow didn't slap people. And that was why it hurt. Because he knew it meant she was hurting. He felt sick in his stomach at the thought of what she might be feeling.

Sunset teleported behind Rainbow and put her in a surprisingly good full nelson before she could do him any more harm.

"Rainbow don't!"

Rainbow kicked and flailed desperately trying to be free from her friends grip "Let me go Sunset! Let me go! I have to kick some sense into this asshole!"

She flailed like a madwoman, he was almost afraid of her. "R-Rainbow..."

"No! Don't you say anything! You just sit there and let me kick the shit outta you! How dare you even think about doing something so stupid! Do you really think Twilight would want you to give up your eyes for her!? You're supposed to be the smart one around here, like her, how can you even think of doing something so stupid!"

His eyes briefly darted away from his screeching girlfriend and over to Celestia, who had materialized two chairs and taken a seat with Luna. Her face finally showing some emotion, she showed a mixture of grief and shock. Luna had her arm on her sisters back, gently patting her as she reveled in her misunderstanding of his intentions. Everyone else was so focused on Rainbow and Sunset, no one but him probably even noticed. Unfortunately he didn't have much time to ponder Celestia's expression, because seconds later Rainbows fist connected with the side of his jaw, stunting his thoughts. Having broken free of Sunset momentarily, she tried to get in a few more shots before Sunset tackled her to the ground and squealed for the aid of her friends.

"For the Love of Equestria guys! Help me!"

Realizing they were needed, everyone hurried over and proceeded to help restrain Rainbow. It took everyone's strength to keep her on the ground long enough for Applejack to tie her arms and legs together beneath her belly, and even after that she still tried to squirm her ways towards Daybreak, screeching she would bite his ankles off if she had to.

Once Sunset helped Daybreak to his feet and checked his jaw to make sure Dash hadn't shattered it, they both came back to Twilights bedside. Celestia and Luna seemed to have regained their composure and stood from their chairs as he approached.

He stared Celestia dead in the eyes. "In case you didn't catch it from all that, I wasn't going to steal anyone's eyes for Twilight. I was going to give her mine. I'm not like my father, or you, I'm my own person. Maybe if you'd actually been there when I was attempting to have a childhood you'd know that. I suggest you remember that well the next time you think you know me. Now is there anything else, Princess/

He hissed the word with his usual venom. He could tell it got to her, but her emotionless gaze was already front and center again, so he couldn't be one hundred percent sure.

"Yes, there is one more thing. I still have to arrest you."

"Seriously?!" Sunsets voice dripped with disdain.

"Yes seriously! I may have been wrong about his intentions, but that doesn't change what he did. He performed forbidden magic not once, but three times. Just once is enough to be thrown in prison, but three times! You can't expect me to just let this go because it was all for the aid of Princess Twilight? I am the ruler of this nation, I cannot show bias in matters of law! Despite my personal stake in this I must abide by my laws, the laws that govern our society!"

"Actually Princess-" Twilight, who had been silent since Daybreak had been Falcon Punched across the room, finally spoke up, her voice full of luster. "-I read the Laws of Equestria once. And it says that in matters of judicial punishment the Princesses take a vote on the appropriate action and whom should carry it out. We just happen agree so very often that we never really do this....So I hereby vote that Daybreak be given community service, and he serve it by helping me organize my castle library. I'm gonna need some more help now since I can't see."

"I second thy motion!" Luna's hand burst forward with a bright smile. Celestia's jaw dropped, her eye visibly twitched. With a sigh she groaned, looking between her fellow princesses with utter bemusement.

"Huuuuuuuh...Passed... Sol Daybreak is hereby sentenced to community service aiding Princess Twilight Sparkle......Come sister, we have one more room to visit."

She stood from her chair and made for the door, Luna followed close behind, skipping and chanting loudly. "Let's go boys, we'll not be arresting young master Daybreak this day." As she passed him by, she leaned down and whispered in his ear "Thoust better be treating my gaming t.v with good merit, else I'll be back for thine ass. Toodles."

He smiled to himself as the guards groaned and exited the doorway one by one. As the door shut he heard Celestia speaking to Luna "I hope we do not come to regret this later".

Once they'd all gone and left him alone with Twilights friends, he couldn't help but blush and shrug.

"Ummmmm...All's well that ends well?"

To say that the remaining hour they spent in the hospital was awkward would be an understatement. After Rainbow Dash was untied and everyone finally put on some decent clothing, they all gathered back around Twilight's bed to talk. Everyone shared conversation within the room, and Twilight did her best to behave like nothing was different. Daybreak could still visualize the look of pure misery she'd showed him when they were alone though, and it bothered him that he was the only one who knew how much her situation really hurt her. It was too much for him to stomach. Twilight Sparkle, the girl who loved reading books more than breathing, was now cut off from that very thing she loved. It wasn't even his eyes and yet he felt her sorrow. Yet in this reflection, an idea spawned in his head. The only way he currently knew how to attempt to remedy this.

"I've got it!" He burst out, cutting through whatever pointless conversation they had been sharing. All heads turned to him.

He cleared his throat. "Twilight. If I can't fix your eyes. Then I'll be your eyes. I'll come here, everyday if I have to, and I'll read to you. Any book you want."

Momentary silence followed as Twilights hand jumped to her lips. "You'd...do that?"

Applejack took up Twilights hands in her own and emitted a jolly Yeehaw ! "That sounds like a great idea there Daybreak. Why don't we all join in. We can take turns each day comin to read for ye Twilight. That way Daybreak don't gotta tire himself out all the time. Whadya think?"

Daybreak sensed Applejack was actually asking him more than Twilight, seeing as she had just butted in on his idea without asking. However Twilight was unaware of this, and he had no plans to inform her as she answered.

"I'd love that, thanks girls. And thank you Daybreak, that's...so incredibly thoughtful of you."

"Yeah well, you know me. Mister thoughtful." The sarcasm dripped so heavily in his voice he could have quenched his thirst with it.

Rainbows arm suddenly materialized around his neck, pulling him up from his chair in an uncomfortably rough manner.

"Alright guys, I think it's time we let our princess get some sleep. Spike you stay here with her tonight 'k?"

"Yes ma'am." The young drake popped a salute.

As Rainbow attempted to pull him away he heard Twilight mutter. "Spike, you don't really have to stay you know. I'm perfectly capable of spending the night alone."

He didn't sense any subtle hints in her voice, so he just let it be as Rainbow pulled him to the door. The whole group followed and said their goodbyes as Rainbow tried to quickly shove him through the door without opening it first. Once they finally made it into the hallway, Sunset and the others said a proper farewell before they headed off their separate ways. Instead of heading down though, Rainbow pulled him towards the next floor, which led only to the roof. This was odd, but he knew better than to question her actions when she was like this.

Practically kicking open the door to the roof, Rainbow yanked him out by the scruff of his shirt. Only when the door shut behind her did she finally release him. As he stumbled free he noticed her looking towards the clouds, cupping her eyes with her hands.

"Umm...what are you doing Dash? And why are we on the roof?"

"Promise me something." She said it so plainly it hardly felt serious.

"Um ok sure. Yeah, what is it?"

"Promise me again, that there is nothing between you and Twilight. That you don't have any feelings of attraction for her that is more than friendship." She didn't even look at him when she spoke. Suspicious wasn't even cutting it, it was downright weird.

"I don't Dash."

"Pinkie Promise."

"Aw come on Dash, that looks so ridic-"

"Do it!" Her voice was so commanding it worried him. Which is the only reason he gave in.

"Fine.......Cross my heart, hope to fly...stick a cupcake in my eye." He did the little dance motion that came with it then quickly looked around to make sure no one saw him.

"Happy now?"

"You do know how serious a Pinkie Promise is to us right? And what Pinkie would do to you if you're lying, or break it?"

Now he was getting irritated. "What's with the sudden suspicion Dash? I said it before and I'll say again. I don't think of her that way. Never have and I never will."

She turned back around and looked at him. Well, looked at his chest is more accurate. In fact, she downright stared at it. For a good solid minute that's all she did. After that she glanced once more at the clouds then came over and took his right hand in hers.

"Ok, I believe you....then tell me why you kissed her."

His mind went blank.

"How-?"

Her eyes changed, she blinked and they were ignited in a glowing white aura. It was his magical sight, the ability of his she had somehow acquired earlier that day.

"That barrier you put around the room when you locked it, these eyes saw right through it."

She blinked them away and looked into his gaze. She didn't look angry, or even upset. Which was actually weirder than her getting mad would have been.

"I can explain that." He tried to sound calm.

"I believe you."

"You do?" She did seem unusually calm for such a question.

She shrugged "Yeah, I do. So explain it."

He shook his head, perplexed. "You just...believe me? Aren't you suspicious at all?"

Her gaze jumped to his chest again, then back to his eyes. "Not anymore."

This was unreal. Despite having no real experience in a relationship, he knew girls were never this...calm, about stuff like this. Not even Rainbow Dash.

"Ok ok, this doesn't make any sense. Why do you just believe me. I gotta know."

Her eyes narrowed "You owe me an explanation first."

"True I do, but right now to me, you're making no sense. Shouldn't you be accusing me of betraying your trust or something?"

She rolled her eyes and poked him hard in the chest with her finger, right above his heart.

"You're so dense. What's beating through chest right now genius?"

"Blood?"

She shook her head "My element Einstein."

"So?"

"Soooooo. It's the element of Loyalty. If you were lying to me about being faithful it would have burned right through your chest. Painfully."

His eyes shot down to his heart "What?! H-how do you know that?! And wait?...What the hell Dash! Why would you put something like that in my chest! You're saying if I'd been unfaithful this thing would kill me? Are you crazy!?"

She rolled her eyes "No stupid, it wouldn't kill you. Remember how it felt warm when I gave it to you, well it would come out the same way. Except it would burn, alot. And it would leave a nice mark on you so I'd know."

He felt offended now. "Is that why you gave it to me...to make sure Id be faithful...I thought..."

Realizing what he meant she quickly grabbed ahold of his hands "No no, that's not why! I've never done that for anyone before. I really meant what I said back then!" He looked hurt and she could tell.

"Look I just know because that's the power it has over people. Each of us can use our Elements like detectors too, to help spread harmony around Equestria. Mine can detect loyalty or disloyalty in others. When its in me anyway. I can touch someone on the chest and tell if they've been faithful by using it. If they have, nothing happens, if they haven't it burns in my chest like I've got heart burn. I can't do it now cause you have it, but I can still feel it in you. That's why I asked you the question more specifically this time around. You can't carry my element if your a disloyal person. So I wanted to see what would happen."

She saw his eyes brighten a little bit "Oh, that makes more sense. So you were suspicious then?"

"Well duh. I watched you two lip lock. I may know your faithful, but I still want an explanation."

Feeling much more at ease he nodded. "Ok ok last thing, so does that mean Applejack is a living lie detector? Can she tell when someone is lying?"

Rainbow nodded "Yep. She has to touch you, but it's still a giant pain in the ass."

"That's gonna be a problem...but that does explain why she's always looking at me sideways. I lie so much she can probably feel it."

Logging that for later analysis he leaned himself against wall next to the exit. "Well, on the matter of the kiss. First. She kissed me, I didn't kiss her. She caught me off guard and she was crying right before that, so I didn't really see it coming."

"Shows how much you know about girls."

He glared "Bite me. Anyways I don't really think she meant it that way. I mean, she said she didn't mean it and she promised she wouldn't do it again. I believe her."

He saw Rainbows eyebrow go up "I'll accept that. But I don't really like that she told me just minutes before she wouldn't come between us, then pulls a stunt like that."

"That's probably exactly why she did it. Cause we'd just brought it up and she wanted to get it out of her system. Twilights an impulsive girl." He chuckled, realizing this.

"Good thing I didn't talk about having sex with you then." He could hear the sarcasm but he knew it actually bothered her. He came and put his arm on her shoulder.

"Dash honestly, I don't think we should worry about it. Being the Princess of Friendship, I highly doubt she'd try to ruin one for one of her best friends."

Rainbows hand came up and gripped his, pulling it down from her shoulder. She began to walk forward, slowly pulling them to the edge of the building. The scene expanded before them, stretching out over the roof and onto Ponyville. The waning sunset was gorgeous. Despite all the problems it had caused, Sunset had been right about it being the perfect day for the beach. Except for one abnormally large cloud formation, the sky was spotless in the fading light.

"I don't understand you Daybreak."

He looked to his left, she was looking at the cloud again, but it was obvious she was paying attention.

"Why do you say that?"

She half laughed "Cause it's true. Every time I think I know you, ya do something to shatter what I thought before. You have all these secrets, about yourself, your life, your parents, even your feelings, and you don't really share them often."

He winced. Even if she didn't mean it, that made him sound so distant. Which he was, but he didn't wanna be towards her.

"I've never had someone to share them with before Dashie. I've never had anyone to do anything I do with you before."

She gripped his hand a little tighter. "And I'm not saying you need to share them with me Daybreak. I like your mysteriousness, and I know we haven't really been together all that long for me to ask you things like that. But...sometimes...It's hard ya know?"

"I know." He really did.

The wind picked up, blowing a comfortable breeze through both of their hair. He watched Rainbows multicolored strands blow in the breeze, the air picking it up and carrying behind her like it was meant to be that way all the time. He found his free hand gently gripping just above his heart, where he knew her Element resided within him. He couldn't think of anything to say that would fit right now. Pretending to be ready to tell her his whole life's worth of secrets would be lying, and he didn't want their relationship to be like that. But at the same time, he felt like he should do something right now to show her he did understand her struggle. In the end, he did the only thing he could think of.

"Hey Rainbow?"

"Yeah?"

"Hold still."

"Wha-? Ooh! Mmmmmm..."

She turned to face him, but went silent when he gently pushed his lips against hers. Their arms wrapped around each other, pulling their bodies together. He ran his fingers through her hair as the wind took it. His fingers danced and swam through her messy mane like salmon in a stream. Just the simple feeling of them pressed together kissing, lovingly holding one another, was enough to reassure them both that what they had was not a mistake. Daybreak didn't make it aggressive, or try to push, he just kept their lips connected and moved as she did.

After a few moments they broke apart, with smiles on their faces. Rainbow nuzzled her head into his neck and whispered words that still held enchantment over him. "I love you Daybreak."

Whenever she spoke those words to him he always sensed a special tenderness within her that she didn't use for anyone or anything else. Whatever he may believe of the word itself, he knew she meant it. He could feel it. It wouldn't matter if anyone else said it to him, only her voice made it sound just right in his ears. It was enough to choke him up every time. But yet he still couldn't bring himself to say it back.

"I know you do Dashie." He kissed her cheek, as if hoping to apologize for not delivering the response she wanted.

She looked up and smiled at him. Her understanding was something he didn't deserve, yet kept receiving. It was a quality that he'd never take for granted, and it was what made him realize she actually understood him better than she thought she did.

After a few moments of just standing there holding one another, Daybreak began to notice a shadow growing over them. He looked up to see the same large cloud mass from before, had moved to right over top of their heads. Noticing this, Rainbow broke from his grip.

"Well, it's time to go."

"Go? Go where?"

She pointed up. "To my house dumb dumb, remember? I told you we were going to my house after we left?"

He remained confused "You live in a giant cloud?"

She giggled "You aren't the only one with a few secrets big guy. Let's go."

"And how exactly-"

As if just to shut him up, a large ladder (also made out of cloud) seemed to drop from the fluffy mass and appear in front of them. Rainbow reached forward and gripped it like was plenty solid. She hoisted herself up, and started climbing as if it were a normal thing to do.

"Come on dude. 'Bout time I took you home don't you think."

"I just know I'm going to regret this." He groaned as he reached for the end step, and gripped it tight. The ladder began to rise at his touch, he quickly scrambled to get his feet on before he was left hanging in the air. Once all four limbs were touching solid...cloud...he looked up and saw Dash already many clouds steps ahead. Forcing himself not to look down as the giant mass seemed to start floating itself higher and higher into the sky, he began climbing.

The knowledge that he was easily doing one of the weirdest things ever became apparent only when he reached the top of the ladder. Rainbow gave him a helping hand up and held onto him as he apprehensively took a step. He expected to fall straight through the fluff, but remained put and found the ground to feel quite solid.

"Fucking magic is so weird sometimes"

Although, weird or not, the visual candy before him truly blew him away. Her house was a sight to behold. Hidden amongst the giant fluff was a truly remarkable feat of weather magic. Her actual house itself sat within this giant cloud, and it too seemed to be made of clouds, though of a completely different sort since these actually looked like solid, white bricks. A stream of rainbow colored liquid flowed down either side of the building and pooled at the bottom of the steps that lead up to it. It was breathtaking to behold.

"Holy shit." Was all he could muster to describe the beauty before him. Colors danced through his vision as the water in the air refracted with the house and the tiny river around it. He was bombarded by the dazzling gleam of lights that encircled her home just from mere light refraction.

"Fuck Dash...how rich are you?" The thought just occurred to him.

She actually blushed "No one else ever asked that werido. My dads side of the family helped build the weather factories around Equestria. So I've always been pretty well off. Wanna come inside?"

"Does my aunt play too many videogames? Uh fuck yes I do!"

"Let's go then."

She took his hand and led him up the fluffy steps heading inside. He had to struggle not to stop and marvel at every little detail. Especially the rainbow river. Imagining what that multihued river must be made of, magic or otherwise, would keep him awake for hours tonight.

He was just as taken with the inside as the outside. Upon entering her home, it became even more apparent how much money she actually had. The entrance room had a stairwell that led upwards to another door he could spot from here. He assumed it was her room because of the lock and her cutie mark blazing across it. He took a single step forward, to marvel at the flat screen t.v that was the size of at least three flat screen TV's if they'd all gained twenty pounds. He wanted to explore the house, but Rainbow had other plans.

She gripped him by the collar as he tried to examine the rest of the room "Later."

He was legitimately disappointed "Aww, why not now?"

"Because I said so, follow me."

She dragged him, with considerable effort, up the stairs leading to her room. She pulled him in, heels dragging on the fluff of the ground and shut the door behind her. As it shut, he heard it lock, and then heard about twenty more locks echoing from downstairs.

"You can lock your whole house from your room?"

"Yep, learned that spell on my own thank you very much. So whadya think?"

He looked around, and was instantly drowned in his own curiosity. Posters upon posters lined her wall. Posters of famous athletes and places of famous sporting events. But one particular recurring group of posters caught his eye, he'd noticed several downstairs too. A group of people, all lined up in yellow and blue uniforms saluting, caught his eye. These were a military group and a well known one too. There was quite of few of these plastered all over and downstairs too. It was enough to draw the question from him.

"Yo Dash, what's with all the Wonderbolts pictures? You a fan?"

She sat down on her bed and motioned him over to it, which he noticed was not a cloud, but rather in the shape of one with one giant Wonderbolts poster posted directly above it on the ceiling. It was a poster of the Wonderbolts current leader Spitfire, saluting the Equestrian flag.

"You could say that. I wanna join them one day. That's my dream, I just realized I never told you that did I?"

He shook his head "No, you didn't...You wanna join the military? I wouldn't have guessed that from you Dash. You hate being told what to do."

She laughed and laid back into her pillows, spreading her arms wide. "Yeah but the Wonderbolts are a special branch. With no wars going on they mostly just do epic stunts nowadays. And I'm all about that. I've been trying to get in for years, I only recently even got accepted into their reserves. Who knows, a year or two from now I could be a real Wonderbolt...I just gotta learn how to fly first."

"You can't fly?" The question escaped him almost instantly. It was a rare enough gift among weather casters, but he always figured she could. Luckily the question didn't seem to bother her.

"Not yet no. That's probably why I'm not "in" officially. Every Wonderbolt can create wings from their aura. But there's no instruction book on how to learn that...Even Twilight said she just woke up one day after she became a princess and could just...do it. Why do ask? Surprised that someone as awesome as me hasn't figured it out yet?"

He plopped himself opposite of her and laid back as well, looking up into her cloudy ceiling. "Well yeah there's that........and the fact that I can fly too."

He said it so plainly it almost didn't register to her. But once it did she sat straight up and grabbed him by the shirt.

"You can fly?!"

He was caught very much off guard by how tightly she was gripping him "Well, yeah Dash. I'm Discords son, and Celestia's, remember? They both can fly. Hell, Discord does it without forming wings. It's only natural I can....Do you want me to teach you how? I actually know the process."

She was beside herself. She pulled him right up to her face, looking crazed. "Dude if you teach me how to fly I will literally marry you!"

He slowly pushed her hands from his shirt and laid back down on her bed "Ok ok Skittles watch the promises now. I'd gladly teach you how. It won't be fun though. It's rigorous."

The glee in her voice was quickly approaching Pinkie levels of scary "Oh yes it will be! I can't wait, can we start tomorrow?!"

"Sure. Why not now? I'd figure you wanna get started right away."

"Becaaaaause-" A shirt smacking him in the face suddenly obscured his ability to see. When he pulled it off he found a topless Rainbow Dash sitting next to him. "-I'm about to seriously fuck up your world dude."

She pounced like a lion on top of him. She had his shirt off in seconds and fiercely locked their lips together.

"I've been wanting this all freaking day!" She growled.

"Clearly. We've been blocked twice already."

His hands found her breasts just as hers crawled down his pants. Not wasting any time he pinched her beautiful blue nipples between his fingers, savoring the hungry moan it drew from her. Dashes hands were ripping off the shorts Rarity had given him and flinging his boxers off the bed in much less than ten seconds. She broke their kiss and dove down onto him, dragging her tongue up his shaft like he was made of chocolate.

Not eager to leave her with any further clothing either, Daybreaks hands dug into her backside and yanked her shorts off, underwear and all, then added them to the pile on the floor. Rainbow drug her tongue up his shaft then came straight up into a rough kiss. Her breath was hot, she gasped into his lips as she felt his fingers tightly grip into her rear.

"Ahh! No foreplay this time. I wanna get right to the good stuff!"

Her hands pushed him down into the bed as she positioned herself over top of him. Two fingers slowly crawled down her belly in between her legs and gently spread her lips for his viewing pleasure. She let him watched as she visibly dripped with arousal, then slowly lowered her body down onto his girth. They both let out a long moan as she took him into her, his hands found her cheeks again and gripped them tight. He made to move her, but she pushed his hands off.

"No." Her breath was ragged, you'd think she hadn't had sex in months. "I wanna go for a ride this time. You can play with these."

She cupped her breasts in her hands and let them bounce in front of him. He was more than happy to oblige. Reaching forward he gripped her blue breasts tight in his hands and used them to pull himself up to her neck. The feeling of her breasts being yanked as he used them to pull himself up forced a high moan from her, which rose even higher when he sunk his teeth into her neck.

"Oohhhhh! Yes! Ahh, I'm so glad you found out I like that!"

He bit harder and tightened his grip on her breasts "Get a move on sexy, or can't you handle the feeling?"

"I can handle it!" She instantly began to move her hips, coursing pleasure through them both. Rainbow placed her hands on his chest and pushed him back down onto his back, he kept her breasts in his grip and squeezed them tight as he landed.

"I wanna ride you remember, stay down there. No coming up here to distract me with those teeth of yours."

He smirked and pinched her nipples "What about these?"

She squealed and took up his hands, she pushed them up so they were above his head in the pillows.

"Ya know what, just keep them up here. Just lay there and enjoy the ride big guy, I wanna see the looks on your face."

"If you insist." He placed his hands comfortably under his head as she began to move. She pushed her hands onto his chest and began to slap her hips into his. Her breasts jiggled and bounced as he watched her attempt to keep her eyes open. He could feel every thrust of her hips as her butt bounced on top of his hips. It was blissful and completely euphoric to feel. She looked directly at him as
she bounced and struggled not to moan while he looked at her.

Her face flushed as he felt her walls tighten around him, she squealed with each bounce and struggled not to cry out with glee. He was having trouble keeping quite himself, residing to let her see what she wanted on his features, but still tried to keep from moaning too much. Some how the realization that they were both looking directly at each other just made it that much harder to hold back. He felt her pace quicken each time he twitched, and saw her face redden each time he moaned. He wanted nothing more than to grab her and get rough with her, but the pleasure she was giving him was of a whole different kind, and it kept him rooted where he was. He felt every movement, every thrust, every inch she moved him within her. He felt it. He noticed her quickly starting to grip his sides for support as she rode him and forced herself to go faster and faster.

The sounds of their wet skin slapping together only added to their increasing pleasure. She may have wanted to see his face, but right now, she was the one making all the expressions. Each time she came down and took him all the way in he could see her eyes widen and her mouth hang a bit. And each time she would rise up to just before his tip would be free, she would bite at her lips. These little things just served to heighten the bliss that coursed through him every time her felt her lips embrace him.

He noticed her speed falter for a just moment, and she started to struggle to keep up her pace as she squealed

"Ah! Ahhh! Daybreak! I'm c-coming!"

Heat coursed over his dick like fire as her walls suddenly tightened like a trap around him, bringing his own pleasure to a higher peak. But unlike what was common for them, he was no where near finished yet. He felt her hips wobble as she slowly slid down onto his shaft, burying him inside her warm opening once more, but this time she did not move her hips more. She leaned forward and laid her head on his chest, panting.

"Awww yeeeeah. That was sooooo gooood."

Without her moving, his growing urge to start ramming her was becoming hard to control, but he held himself back.

"Well, you seem satisfied. Guess that means it's my turn to ride you. Right?"

She nodded and captured his tongue with hers. "I noticed you didn't cum first this time around. Guess there's a first time for everything. You should've tried betting me, you'd have finally won for once."

"Oh, I'm still gonna win a prize for sure."

Her fingers danced across his chest, playing innocent she squeaked "What ever do you mean."

Giving her rump a particularly had spank, he snickered "Bend over on your knees, and you'll find out."

"Fine, impress me big guy."

She climbed off him, and positioned herself with her ass up facing him and her hands down in pillows. Hungry for more, he got behind her and gripped her rump, digging his nails into her cheeks. Her drawn out moan of pleasure reminded him of something that made him spread an evil grin across his features.

"Ya know Dash, I can't help but notice how much you love when I play with this sexy blue ass of yours."

She gave her rump a shake in response "Yeah and?"

He snickered as he positioned himself behind her. "Oh nothing....just an...observation you could say."

He gripped her cheeks and spread them wide.

"What are you-EEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPP! AAHHAHAHHAAHAOWWWWWW!"

Giving her no warning, he shoved his girth balls deep into her ass while she screeched in pained surprise!

"GAAAAHHH! Dude w-what the hell! You can't just s-shove it in there without warning me! Oh gods it feels big in there!"

Digging his fingers deeper into her skin he pulled back and began plowing her. Her pleasure mingled scream was certainly a unique sound to him.

"Guess I just took your anal virginity too huh Skittles."

She shoved her face into her pillows and screamed louder "N-no Not my-y ass! P-please! OH GODDESS IT HURTS! IT HURTS! BUT IT FEELS SO GOOOOOOOOD!"

Her whimpers filled him an even more powerful lust than before, and he found himself showing her no mercy. He was gripping her ass with such force, there would certainly be marks left behind after they were done. Rainbows whole front half had collapsed forward into her many pillows as she struggled to contain her screams within them. The feeling of him plowing into her tight and toned rear was a pain like nothing she'd experienced before. But it was also an undeniable pleasure. Even as she whimpered for mercy she couldn't help wanting the opposite. He was plowing her like a wild animal and her noises reflected that. She could barely form words as each thrust sent her brain whirling. The pain kept itself fresh in her mind and the pleasure kept her wanting more. It was a terrible combo and she loved it.

She gave up trying to form words and reduced herself to just gargling noises as each thrust made her drool uncontrollably. She bit down into her cloud pillows to keep herself contained, and managed to lower her screams...for a moment. Then Daybreak leaned over her and bit down into her neck, and all hope of silence was lost. As his teeth nearly broke her skin, she lost every bit of self control she had.

"OH FUCKING CELESTIA YEEEEES! MORE MORE MORE MORE!"

Now she was really screaming! She was so loud Daybreak actually began to worry she was going to throw out her voice. He reveled in making it even worse, when his hands released her rear and crawled up underneath her. One hand slithered up to her breast and roughly gripped it within his palm, while the other slid down between her legs and rubbed across her soaked lips. He felt her whole body begin to shake as his fingers found her clit and began to mercilessly assault it. Her screams went higher and higher pitched as he pleasured her in every way he possibly could. His teeth sunk deeper, to the point of surely leaving marks, his paced picked up as he plowed himself into her ass with all his might. His left hand worked over her breasts and his right toyed and teased her clit mercilessly.

He felt her ass tighten unexpectedly around his dick as her lips suddenly flooded themselves with liquid. He was barely able to detect her squealing within her pillows.

"C-coming...o-oh Celestia I can feel another o-one coming!"

She tensed again as she soaked herself even more. The tightness proved to be too much for him and he finally released a raspy cry.

"Gahh! Dashie! I c-can't hold it in anymore! I'm gonna-!"

"Wait!"

Somehow regaining control of herself she managed to pick up her head just enough to squeal at him.

"C-cum inside my lips Daybreak! I w-want you to fill me up again!"

There was no way he could hold it in long enough to make it there even if he'd wanted to. He pulled himself out of her and exploded all over her ass, gasping for air as he did. She watched as he doused her rump in his juices and collapsed onto her back. She herself, had no strength to even lift up her front half, and was only keeping her rear raised because her legs had gone so completely numb it didn't take any effort. Still, even with him panting on her back, she gave her rump the smallest shake, and pouted at him.

"I w-wanted you to c-cum inside, meanie. Maybe you got another round in ya? Lemmie check..."

She attempted to move and reach her hand back to try and stroke him up, but instead her whole body gave out and they collapsed on top of each other. He leisurely rolled off her and chuckled.

"You really don't think straight when your horny do you? Cum inside? We've already taken that risk once, let's not push our luck Dashie."

Two blue arms wrapped around his chest and pulled him up against her body. Arms wobbling, she crawled her way back atop his chest and laid down on him, her breasts still on perfect display in his face.

"Maybe I really want you to fill me up. Maybe I want it every time we have sex and just don't ask."

He chuckled again. "Who you think you're lying to? You ask every time."

With noticeable effort, she wiggled her right hand down in between their bodies and gripped his softening member with surprising vigor.

"Well maybe I'm not taking no for an answer this time."

She stroked him slowly with one hand, while using the other grip at her breasts. She pinched at herself and let each one bounce in front of him. That combined with her tight grip got him hard again in seconds.

"C-come on Dash. Quit it. I know your too tired for this, your whole body is wobbling."

"Y-you s-shut up. I want my filling, and I'ma get it."

Once he was erect again, she lazily scooted her pelvis over his and let her hips plop down onto his dick. The torrent of pleasure hit his brain like a wake up call and he felt his sleepiness nearly vanish. However that didn't mean he had the stamina to get up and do anything about it. Rainbow was barely able to move her hips in her state, but still she moved them. Somehow, even though the movements were tiny and slight, that only served to make it worse for him. It was like being teased.

She softly crushed her lips onto his and licked around his tongue. Cupping both her breasts in her hands, she squished his face into them.

"C-come on big guy, don't resist. P-play with your doggy. Woof woof."

She licked his face and the tip of his nose. She knew just what buttons to push to make his dick twitch with lust. He felt the pleasure intensifying, yet she was still barely moving her hips. Those perfectly toned, muscled blue hips.

"Come on Prince, your lady wants your seed. It's not polite to keep a lady waiting."

The word Prince must have triggered something in him, because he suddenly found his lips around her nipples, sucking and biting on them like a newborn pup. She squealed with delight.

"Aah, that's so good. But your doggy wants to play more. Woof."

She leaned right up against his cheek and licked at his earlobe. "Woof woof"

He felt the pressure in his dick starting to build, even with such little movement, she was able to allure him using only words. He hated yet loved that she knew how to do that to him.

"D-Dash, seriously. I'm gonna c-cum, you need to get off."

"Ah yes, give it to me! That's what I want!"

Using, what was probably her last bit of stamina, she increased her hip movement and began smacking herself down hard onto his dick. He knew he couldn't hold on.

"R-Rainbow Dash! Y-you need to s-stop, I'm gonna-"

She crushed her lips against his and stole away his words with her tongue.

"I'm gonna cum again too. Fill me up, my loving Prince!"

There was that word again, and it sent him over the edge. He felt his dick expand with her.

"Rainbow!"

He couldn't stop himself, he exploded inside of her, releasing a fountain of cum into her awaiting body. She squealed as she felt him flood her insides, kissing him and tightly locking their lips together.

"Ahhh! I love you so much!"

He spurted out the last few drops within her, and watched as her eyes practically sparkled in happiness. She wrapped her arms around him and snuggled into his chest. Soft, puppy-like kisses planted their way up his abs, to his neck, and onto his face. He couldn't help but smile as she kissed everywhere but his lips.

"You stole that from me you sneak. Guess you must like when I do that."

He stole a quick peck on her nose as it passed him, only to be quickly smothered in kisses once again.

"I love you. So so much Daybreak. Ya know that right?"

Her eyes were wide like dinner plates as she spoke to him, her voice softer than any fur.

"I do Rainbow. I know it."

She kissed him again, this time actually on his lips. She made it long and drawn out before releasing him for air.

"Tell me how you feel about me Daybreak. Describe it."

Redness flooded his face "D-Describe it? Dash...that's embarrassing..."

She nodded "Please."

She was too cute to deny. This was when she was hardest to deal with. When she actually acted like a girl and became extremely, openly emotional. Sappy, as she would call it. It was flattering beyond words because it was her most vulnerable, and she showed him this side of her without shame. Trust like that can't be spoken through words. Yet still, he had to try.

"I...I feel..." He struggled to find the words to describe it to her. He found his eyes looking into hers. Her magenta pupils stared back to him, and the words suddenly flowed like the water now forming in his eyes.

"I feel like, when I look into your eyes, everything I've ever thought is wrong. I look at you and I think that life is worth living. You're my reason to get up in the morning and my motivation to come home everyday. Before I met you...I felt like I continued living just to spite my mother and anyone who wished I didn't exist. Now I wanna live forever if you can be there too. You're in my heart and soul Rainbow Dash. You're my everything. I...I...ermm...I..."

She'd closed her eyes while he spoke, listening with happy tears as he made her fall deeper and deeper for him. But now they fluttered open as he seemed to struggle. She saw fresh tears flowing down his cheeks without care, but his lips seemed to be struggling to say something to her.

"Rainbow...I...I..."

It struck her what he wanted to say, she placed a finger on his lips, then further silenced him with a kiss.

"You don't have to say it Daybreak. You look like you're having a seizure trying to."

"I'm sorry Dash."

She giggled with a girlish squeak behind it. "Sorry? For making my heart dance in my chest? For making me happier than I've ever been before? You don't need to say those words to let me know how you feel. You did it better with that little speech than with three little words. I'm not as good with smart talk and mushy description like you. But I know what I feel in here." She touched his hand to her chest "And that's why I say I love you. Because I truly do. It's also why I want that hot juice of yours inside me. Because it makes me feel even closer to you. Like a part of you is inside me forever."

Laughing, he nibbled at her nose "That's probably how you got my magical sight in the first place."

"You think?"

He snickered "Sure, fuck it. Why not? I don't have a better reason yet, so let's just go with that for now. Want any more powers of mine?"

She laughed back "Yeah, get ramming. Screw me 'til I can fly."

"Cheater" He stuck out his tongue. She winked.

"It's not cheating, it's being creative. How many people on the planet can say they got wings from being pounded silly? I'm a trailblazer baby!"

She sat up and punched her fist to the sky.

"You're a dork is what you are Rainbow."

She laid back down on his chest "But I'm your dork. So love me."

Her demanding tone sounded so cute. "Wish granted. You get two more."

"Huh?"

"Two more wishes, duh. That's how genies work isn't it?"

She rolled her eyes and lightly poked his cheek with her finger "Last time I checked you're not a genie, you're a incubus."

"Can you even spell incubus Rainbow?"

"Sure I can. It's I-N-C........F-U-C-K yourself"

Snorting, he draped his arms across her back, lightly running his nails down her silk smooth body.

"Real mature Skittles. Well if you're done molesting me, wanna call it a night? It is pretty late."

Rainbows eyes found the alarm clock perched gingerly beside her bed. It read eleven fifty nine, late was putting it mildly.

"Yeah, I'm good with that, but I'm not getting off so I hope you don't toss in your sleep tonight."

"No promises. So what's the plan for tomorrow? You wanna start training right away?"

She nodded against his chest. "Uh-huh. But first, morning sex. Then after that I'll call Sunset and tell her to let Headmistress Shickvala know I'm not coming."

She said that like it was something normal to do "Umm...can you do that Dash?"

She wafted her hand lazily through the air "It's fine. I used to skip class all the time before we met. As long as I don't fall behind, none of my teachers really care. Besides, if I'm training to become a Wonderbolt, that takes priority. And with my boyfriend being so super smaaaaart you'll help me with my schoolwork while we train right? So I can focus on training and not boring school stuff, right?"

"That basically translates to me doing all your schoolwork doesn't it?" He gave her butt a firm pinch for emphasis. She squeaked, then nodded with big puppy eyes.

"Pwetty pwease do Dashies homework?"

The girl could have melted an iceberg with her cuteness. His sigh indicated his resignation.

"Fine. But we need to make time to go and hang out with Scootaloo tomorrow. Remember I promised her before we left for the beach that I would?"

Rainbow whistled quietly "Yeah. Hard to believe that was only a few hours ago. Feels like so much longer."

"All the more reason we need to go to sleep Dash."

Nodding, she reached down and pulled her cloud covered blanket overtop of them. She nuzzled her head into his chest.

"I'm all snuggly and ready for bed now! Where's my goodnight kiss?"

Chuckling he leaned his head over and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. The warm smile that formed on her as he did filled him with happiness. Laying back, he draped his right arm across her back and set his left down on her rump, giving her a comfortable goodnight hug.

"Goodnight Dashie."

"Goodnight...Daybreak..."

The barely mumbled response told him she'd be out in minutes. Darkness slowly crept upon his eyes as he too, could feel the blissful allure of sleep calling to him.