Palabra
Twilight and the others returned to Canterlot six days after they had left.
Twilight’s illness and recovery took the entirety of the second day and a large part of the third; Pinkie and Rainbow followed the unicorn, and Fluttershy fell ill just as they entered the midpoint of their sickness. Despite an offered Canterlot escort, Applejack and Rarity refused to leave Ponyville without their friends (Applejack pointing out “Twilight’s the main thing in this, sendin’ us up without her doesn’t make a lotta sense.”).
With her entire group behind her (Spike and Pip included) Twilight found herself in one of the many odd rooms that served only as a place to sit and talk, four guards posted around the entrance. Celestia, Luna, and Shining stood facing Twilight’s band, and between the two groups lay the entirety of the Everfree Castle’s recovered library.
In what could best be described as “perfect disorder”.
“So, Discord recovered the books, which probably means that everything was out of order in the first place, correct?” Celestia asked. Twilight nodded. “And the entire collection was dropped in two different piles, mixing it up even further?” Another nod. “I’d guess that the cart was rigged to collapse even before Pip unintentionally destroyed it?” A third nod, this time from Shining. Celestia sighed. “Well, he’s still the god of chaos…”
Twilight spoke up, stepping forward and lifting two of the books. “It’s not so bad, Princess. You said that we seem to have everything, I’m sure it’ll be fairly easy to organize-“
“Twilight, I do not intend to be rude, but I hasten to remind you that many of these were written when the haypenny was a measurement of distance.” Twilight gave a nervous swallow, gently placing the books back down. Celestia sighed. “I’m afraid that they will take some time to get into the proper order, especially considering their degradation.” She stared at the documents on the table for a few seconds before waving a hoof.
“A matter for later times. Dr. Shelter has requested my and Twilight’s presence in the hospital. Presumably, that means that all of us are going.”
“Not I, sister.” Luna said. “It is the ‘Citizen’s Court’ tonight, and given its newness and the protests of several noble houses, I need to ensure preparations have been properly made.” A small edge entered her voice at the last few words, and Twilight winced.
“Again, Princess, I’m very sorry-“
“Do not be. I was, myself, stepping out of the bounds of my station in my reaction. Pip’s… statement, shall we say, allowed me to recognize it. I may need to appoint somepony to follow me around and ensure my maintenance of modern decorum. In a less drastic way, of course.” She and Pip glanced at each other, neither blinking for several moments before Luna shook her head and exited the room.
“Well, then, shall we be off?” Celestia asked. Twilight was about to nod before a voice interrupted her.
“Hold on a moment, Princess.” Applejack stepped forward, taking a place between Twilight and Pip. The stallion stepped back, eyeing the earth pony. She continued unperturbed. “Ah have a couple’a questions.”
“I would answer them as best I could, Applejack.” Celestia replied. Applejack smirked.
“That’d be very nice’a’ya, Princess. Rainbow an’ Ah were talkin’ about this stuff before she got sick, so the first one’s second-hoof knowledge an’ all, an’ Ah’m mostly askin’ it because if she went an’ tried she’d say somethin’ stupid-“
“Hey!”
“-but it’s still a concern of mine. Ah’m wonderin’ exactly what that spell was that Shinin’ went an’ shot at Pinkie, the one that ‘made everythin’ all bright and stuff’, as Rainbow put it?”
“As I said, it’s classified-“ Shining spoke up. Applejack interrupted him.
“An’ last Ah checked, we, as the Elements of Harmony, probably rank somewhere between you an’ the Princesses in terms of national importance an’ power, what with our savin’ yer guardsponies’ plots more often’an not using our little magical necklaces. So Ah’m slightly curious as to how y’can justify us not knowin’ somethin’ related to our jobs as protectors of Equestria by sayin’ y’outrank us in any way other than formally, Captain Shinin’ Armor.”
Shining and Twilight both stared in shock at the orange mare; Celestia watched her with an entertained smirk. Shining opened his mouth in an attempt at rebuttal, managing several small sounds before finally speaking.
“Technically I’m a Prince…”
“Aw, don’ give me that, yer the one y’turned down the official promotion, not me.” Applejack turned to the Princess again. “As Ah was sayin’, yer Highness, I think that even if it is classified, we here in this little group kinda deserve t’know exactly what Shinin’ was tryin’ t’do t’Pinkie, in case it messes with the Elements’ functions or some such drastic side-effect.”
Shining tried to speak again, but he was interrupted by the Princess’ hoof. She gave Applejack a smile. “As you have said, my little pony, you are indeed important to Equestria’s safety, and do, indeed, deserve to know about the spell. Captain Armor?” Shining straightened at the last two words. “You are now cleared to discuss with the ponies in this room the protocols used to prevent further Changeling infestation.”
“Changelings?!” Four voices spoke up at once from behind Twilight. She herself was staring at Shining and Celestia in a mix of surprise and satisfaction.
“I figured as much, but I thought that we removed the Changelings from Equestria. Er, Shining and Cadance did, I mean.”
“We did. Mostly.” Shining took in a breath. “The way the spell worked, the large majority of Changelings were flung far away from Canterlot and Equestria, unfortunately, a significant, though not very large, part of Chrysalis’ hive managed to dip below the spell’s full effect; either they were flung downwards more than outwards, or they got trapped on some debris… in any case, a group of them managed to stay within Equestria’s boundaries. The few we found were incredibly disoriented, but when we started getting them gathered up, they got smarter. When there were about twelve of them they tried to break out again.”
“Hive mentality!” Twilight spoke up. Fluttershy blinked and nodded.
“With some creatures, mostly insects, groups behave more intelligently than individuals. There’s actually a kind of ant that won’t do anything except walk in circles unless it has a group of other ants of its kind with it. And some birds and fish can fly in great big groups and still have everyone in them avoid larger predators, most of the time even better than smaller groups can. It would make sense, I think, that the Changelings would behave similarly without the guidance of a Queen.” She glanced back at her friends, gaining a slight blush at the several raised eyebrows. Shining cleared his throat.
“Which is my second point. The changelings we found had been… disconnected, I guess, from Chrysalis. They were feral, animalistic, when they weren’t put together.”
Spike spoke up. “But you think that there’s a group that did get together, and now, without the Queen to control them-“
“-they’ve gone back to instinct patterns. Found a hive, feed, reproduce, expand, repeat.” Shining finished the thought. “We’ve managed to weed out some small, just-formed ‘hives’ of two or three, but when we’ve interrogated the members, all of them – and I mean every single individual Changeling – have, er, shown that there’s a large group situated in the Everfree, and that the ‘pull’ they felt to gather together for protection was strongest there. We’ve found evidence of Changeling activity, but haven’t found the hive even with guide-bugs.” One side of his mouth pulled up. “Hence the security with the Princess and the spell and everything.”
“But how did you know that Pip wasn’t a Changeling?” Twilight asked. The stallion in question stepped forward, bringing himself between Applejack and Twilight. His eye glanced down at her.
“If I may, Milady, it is incredibly unlikely that a Changeling could step without tearing off their legs and/or wings. Is that your view, Captain Armor?” Shining nodded, and Pip continued. “In point of fact, their exoskeletal structure would be likely to collapse should any attempt be made to move as quickly as was required, leaving them essentially a crumpled bulk of mashed flesh and-“
“That’s enough, Pip.” Twilight interrupted, watching as several of her friends were growing worried looks. The stallion nodded, stepping back a small amount. Twilight sighed and turned back to her brother and the Princess, both of which were watching Pip with unreadable expressions. Celestia noticed Twilight’s look, quickly affecting a smile.
“Ahem. Now that that’s out of the way, might I hear your second question, Applejack?”
“Yeah, of course. This one’s actually mine.” The mare stepped to the side of the room, casting an eye over the entire group. Her gaze focussed on Twilight, and she took a breath.
“What Ah want t’know is, does anypony here think that Broken should be allowed near Twilight again?”
“Appleja-“
“Twi, Ah know your opinion. Ah want everypony else’s.” Applejack turned her head to stare directly at the Princess. “Broken’s made his intentions clear. He wants t’kill Twilight, he’s tried at least three times now, an’ he’s gonna keep tryin’ no matter what we do t’stop him. Ah’ve talked t’him a few times, Princess, an’ Ah can tell you that he’s a pony possessed. In his head, he’s gonna be some big hero, protectin’ everypony from what she’s supposedly gonna turn into.” Her eyes flicked to Shining. “He’s got what he sees as his family’s safety, Cadance an’ that little one now, as a motivator, an’ Ah can assure you that he’s not gonna let go of that easy. Keepin’ you an’ everypony else alive is probably just a bonus to him.
"Fact is, Princess, Ah don’t feel like Twilight, or anypony else, is gonna be able to stay safe if he’s anywhere near us. My thinkin’ might not count for much, but my thought is that we treat him like the dangerous criminal he is. We do whatever it is to him that we do to those ponies tryin’ t’kill other ponies.” She looked at her friends, raising a hoof. “Anyone else-“
“Yeah!” Rainbow spoke, shooting her hoof up. “Banish him, or throw him in the dungeon, or put him in a dungeon in the place you banish him to! Don’t just let him sit around and wait for a moment to try to kill Twilight again!”
Celestia glanced at both ponies before looking over the rest of the group. “Does anypony else share Applejack’s and Rainbow Dash’s convictions?”
Immediately, Pip’s hoof rose to join the two mares’. “I would agree with them in this instance, Princess. Broken Shield presents a constant danger to her Ladyship. The sooner he is eliminated, the better.”
“Pip…” Twilight muttered. She blinked in surprise as a small purple claw raised from her other side. “Spike!”
“He’s not your brother, Twilight.” The dragon quickly said. “He’s… I don’t even know what he is. He can’t just get away with trying to hurt you like he did.”
“I agree.” Rarity said quietly, raising her hoof. Pinkie also raised hers, leaning against Rainbow with a troubled face. Fluttershy looked at everypony else, then Twilight.
“I can’t. Broken’s sick, not evil. He needs to be healed. If we managed Discord, why not a pony?”
Celestia glanced at the five hooves and one claw. She turned her head to face Shining.
“Your opinion, Captain?”
“Broken Shield represents a significant threat to Equestrian safety, but given my relation to his target, I cannot provide an unbiased answer, Princess.”
“Everypony else here has a bias as skewed as yours would be, Captain. I’m willing to listen.”
“In that case, I would recommend that we fully attempt to remove Broken Shield from his psychological distress before charging him with any crime. If he’s sick, as Fluttershy said, then his decisions are not his own.”
Celestia nodded. “That is my opinion as well. So six yeas and four nays on immediate punishment. Taking out Pip, who isn’t at a station to provide a valid vote, Twilight, who’s not allowed to vote given her status as the victim, myself, as I’m providing judgement, and Spike, as he’s a minor… four and two.” The alicorn closed her eyes for several seconds. “Very well. Please keep your hooves, and claw, up, everypony. I’m willing to see where this takes us.”
“Princess-“
“Hush, Twilight. Captain Armor, if you’d make the necessary arrangements?”
Shining drew himself straight. “As you command, Princess. Sergeant Hold!” The second sentence was barked at one of the doorguards, who saluted. “Send word to the armourer that we need a guillotine fashioned. We should still have the schematics on file. Corporal Line, bring the royal carpenters to my office, I’m probably going to need to find their part and explain it to them.”
At the word ‘guillotine’, Rarity gasped and Twilight’s stomach gained a ball of ice. She turned in shock to watch the two guards leave the room before whipping her head back to her brother. “You can’t be serious!” She flicked her gaze to Applejack’s hardened face. “Applejack, you-“
“Waitaminute. What the hay is a ‘guillotine’? Is it a special cage or something?” Rainbow’s brows furrowed as she looked between Shining, Twilight, and the Princess. “What’s going on?”
Celestia gave Rainbow a small smile, one that Twilight could see had no mirth behind it. “Didn’t you know, Rainbow Dash, what Broken’s punishment would be before you so hastily assigned him to it?”
“What, what’s gonna-“
“If Broken Shield had tried to kill a regular citizen, and he was mentally competent, he’d be thrown in prison for the rest of his life.” Shining interrupted. “But he’s tried to kill my sister, who as Applejack said is probably more important to Equestria’s safety than I am. He’s tried to kill her several times, which actually probably negates the ‘insanity’ defense. He’s admitted his guilt and intent, and you, Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack have provided judgement as was afforded to you as the Elements of Harmony. Per Equestrian Criminal Code Section X Article 2, Broken Shield is sentenced to death by decapitation.”
This time Pinkie gasped, and Rainbow was left speechless. Spike took a step backwards, wide eyed. Fluttershy began to cry.
“That is, of course…” Celestia spoke, capturing everyone’s eyes. “Unless you wish to change your vote, given that the tally has not been officially recorded.”
A pink hoof and a white hoof immediately slammed to the floor, and a dragon’s claw fell with them. Rainbow’s hoof fell slightly, catching somewhere in the middle of down and up. Pinkie turned to her, placing a forehoof on the pegasus’ shoulder.
“Rainbow, please, we can’t… we can’t…” Small wet streaks began to course down her face. Rainbow swallowed harshly, her hoof falling. Applejack stayed staring at the Princess, her eyes still hardened, her hoof not wavering. Celestia made the motions of counting again.
“Five and one. Sorry, Applejack, but Broken Shield has been spared.” Her smile shifted with her eyes, and Twilight saw some sympathy behind it. “Though I can assure you that your grievances have been noted.”
The orange mare sighed, her hoof falling. “Might I ask how, Princess? Are we puttin’ pillows on his hooves from now on?”
Celestia laughed. “No, not quite.” She turned her head slightly, facing Pip. “Given that Broken is going to remain alive, how would you feel acting as a guard for him, Pip?”
“I would not be able to serve as his guard, Princess. Such a station would require me to protect him from harm, something that my orders from Lady Dawn are in direct contradiction of.”
“I’m sorry, I should rephrase. How about, you watch his every move anytime he’s not currently under guardspony custody, and even when he is if you want, with full permission to use nonlethal force to prevent any attempt he makes to harm anypony, including and especially Twilight Sparkle?”
Pip blinked. He flicked his eye towards Twilight. “With your permission, Milady?”
“It’s up to you, Pip…”
The stallion nodded. “I accept the request, Princess.”
Celestia nodded back. “As I hoped, Pip. Thank you.” She turned back to Applejack. “I have also arranged for Broken Shield to be under guardspony surveillance whenever he’s with Twilight, and for him to return to the guard barracks, or preferably Canterlot, every night. With the lock on the root of his horn, his magical ability has been docked to about one percent of his former capability. He can lift a pen, but not a pony, and I’ve gone into very specific details on exactly what his oath allows him to do and not do in relation to harming ponies and other beings; should he raise a hoof in any violent way but self defense, he’ll… be stopped, let’s say, in a manner that he won’t easily recover from.” She smirked at the slightly unhinged jaw that Applejack sported. “Are those enough ‘pillows on his hooves’, Applejack?”
“Y-Ah, er, um… Ah guess so, Princess. Sorry if Ah sounded insolent or anythin’…”
“Nonsense, Applejack. You’re trying to protect your friend; if one of you hadn’t tried something like this, I would have been concerned.” Celestia walked around one side of the table, Shining going around the other side. “Now, if you’ll please excuse us, I would like to speak to Twilight alone.”
Applejack looked between the Princess and student, her eyes watching both of their faces, before nodding and turning to the door. The others quickly filed out after her, Spike sparing a backwards glance. Pip stood fast.
“By alone, she means just Twilight and her, Pip.” Shining said. Pip blinked.
“Then why are you still present?”
“I’m doing my job by making sure all possible threats are away from the Princess before leaving.”
“I am doing the same for her Ladyship.”
“Then leave.”
"I-"
“Pip!” Twilight interrupted. “I’ll be fine. If Shining isn’t right behind you, you can come back in.”
The stoic stallion nodded. “As you say, Milady.” He quickly spun and walked to the door, Shining following right on his tail. The door closed, leaving Celestia and Twilight alone. The two mares stared at the door before simultaneously shaking their heads.
“Before you say anything Twilight, no, a verbal vote like that would not have been enough to get Broken executed. I’ve put far too much into the system for him to get off that easily.” Celestia said. Twilight flicked an ear back.
“Then why even go through all of that?”
The Princess gave Twilight a sad look; a sorry look, in apology instead of pity.
“Because I’m of the feeling that ponies should not act without knowing the consequences of their actions.” She took in a breath. “It was something of a test; the fact that they, for the most part, opposed the severity of the punishment demonstrates that they are not blind in their support of you.”
“You were testing them? Whether they’d see my safety or Broken’s life as more important? That doesn’t make sense, of course they’d-” Twilight’s eyes widened for a moment before narrowing. “You were checking to see who would support me in a rebellion.”
“I do not think that you will rebel, Twilight-“
“But you need to be prepared. In case Broken is right.” Celestia opened her mouth. “No! Princess, it’s a good idea. I don’t think, given what Broken and Pip have said, that I’d turn into Dawn without realizing it and at least trying to warn you. But I don’t want to risk you being harmed just to spare my feelings. I can recognize that I’m a threat, Princess.”
“Oh, Twilight…” Celestia quickly crossed the distance between them, wrapping a wing around the unicorn. “I would never, never, see you as a threat.”
“But Dawn-“
“Broken’s Celestia is a boorish harridelle if she thinks her people should not influence her decisions.” The Princess bit off. Twilight’s eyes widened. “No, Twilight, upon retrospection Broken Shield has revealed that his Celestia was quite different than the pony that I strive to be.”
“But still-“
“After her defeat by Chrysalis, she committed genocide upon the Changelings. Complete and utter destruction of the species. Your brother has a plan for the detainment and control of Changelings within Equestrian borders, but we would never kill them, all or any of them, for their Queen’s transgressions. After Shining revealed Broken’s claim, Broken spoke of burning their hives, their eggs and young, as if he was sweeping the floor.” Celestia swallowed. “While I cannot approve of the lengths Dawn apparently reached, I do recognize that change was necessary.”
“But you aren’t like that, Princess! We know you, I know you, and I know that you’d never be that… that…”
“I know, Twilight. I am not humble, not enough to refuse to recognize my positive traits. I would not stoop as far as Broken has casually said his Celestia had gone.”
“But this still doesn’t say anything about if I turn into Dawn in this timeline; no matter how bad his Celestia was, you aren’t bad! Objectively!”
“And I fear the same about Dawn.” Celestia quietly said.
“Princess?”
“If I am good where Broken’s Celestia was bad, if Broken was bad where Shining is good… then how can we say that our Dawn would be bad where his was? Or that she’d rise even without his influence?” Celestia smiled. “I should let Broken explain it to you, Twilight. Let me just say that on the extremely small chance that Dawn rises here as she did there, I hope to resolve our differences peacefully rather than allow our ponies to suffer.”
“’It’? What’s ‘it’?” Twilght flicked an ear back. Celestia shook her head.
“Something that may invalidate a large amount of what we’ve discussed about him.” Twilight flicked an ear back as Celestia stood. “I did not mean to upset you, or to appear as if I do not trust you. I have absolutely no doubt that you will not become Dawn, not in the way that Broken claims.”
“And I have no doubt that you’d never do anything to cause Dawn to rise, Princess.” Twilight smiled, and Celestia smiled back.
The walk to the hospital wing was mostly silent; hooffalls and ponies acknowledging Celestia’s presence represented the majority of the noise. The moment they passed through the doors of the wing, however, the group was immediately accosted by the doctor.
“Two hours, nineteen minutes, Princess. I’m serious-“
“I am well aware of my continued need for rest, Dr. Shelter.” Celestia gave an obviously-strained smile. “You said that you wished to see us?”
Shelter glanced over the group, holding a look on Pip for a moment longer than the rest of them. “Yes. Follow me.” The stallion twisted around and began walking down a hallway, the other ponies following him. He spoke as he walked, not turning or looking up from his floating clipboard. “Mind what you poke, most of this stuff is needed to keep ponies alive.”
“Can’t you just heal them if they’re close to dying?” Pinkie asked.
“Sometimes. Depends on the ailment; a rib sticking into a lung can be fixed, cancer’s trickier. It’s even worse if we mess with too much, because then the body’s immune system starts thinking ‘Oh, I can sod off now that I’m not needed to help keep this body healthy’, and suddenly the common cold becomes extremely dangerous, not to mention stuff like-“ Shelter blinked. “Nevermind. Healing good, too much healing bad. Most of the time.”
“Is everything alright, doctor?” Rarity walked slightly faster, putting herself beside the stallion. “You seem rather preoccupied.”
“What? Oh. Right. Yeah.” The doctor took in a breath. “You make clothes, right?”
“I’m a fashion designer, yes-“
“Have you ever had to deal with a client that just really irks you?”
“On occasion.” Rarity blinked. “Has Broken really been that bad with you?”
“What? No, not purposefully. Somewhat resistant to medical authority, but he’s not tried to reverse anything I’ve done to him, and yet he’s still maddeningly fascinating enough to keep my cursing-focus occupied.”
“What about him is so wrong?” Twilight asked. Shelter sighed.
“We’ve cleared up, or at least stalled, his most dangerous ailments; he’s not at risk of sudden kidney, heart, liver, lung, or digestive system failure anymore. The parasites have been cleared up, surprisingly quickly actually, and we’ve used Captain Armor’s dental records to synthesize a set of dentures for him. His breathing is already far less laboured, and his heartbeat is at least regular, if still fairly weak. Point is, he’s not immediately dying anymore.”
“’Immediately’ is emphasized.” Twilight stated. The doctor nodded.
“We managed to do a more intensive examination of him during treatment. His muscles are severely atrophied, as you should know, but they’ve also been damaged by extreme amounts of magical radiation. His legs especially have been essentially baked – the muscle fibres are almost nonexistent. I’m frankly surprised they didn’t tear off under his weight. What that pony’s done to himself…” Shelter shook his head. “He’s never going to be able to fully recover. Right now, a foal with leukemia could probably beat him in a hoof-wrestling match. If he reaches his physical peak, he might be able to get a draw.” Shelter’s mouth drew back. “That’s hyperbole, of course, the leukemia thing, but given his physical condition, everything he’s done – walking, fighting, etcetera – has been based around his magical strength. We did a probe, and found that the root of his horn is twice the size of Shining Armor’s.”
The guard captain blinked in surprise. “But that would mean-“
“Yeah. His magic has been so active that his horn has actually had to grow in order to compensate for the strain he’s putting on it. Everywhere else, his muscles died, but up here-“ the stallion tapped his head “-he’s been working out almost 24/7. I’m not even sure what effects that would have on one’s brain…” The doctor shook his head. “In any case, that’s the main thing I wanted to talk to you about, coupled with his organ damage. He’s smart, in a lot of bad ways, and his magic is quite powerful for a non-alicorn, but his body isn’t going to last, and it probably should already have failed. From what I’ve seen, he’s been essentially acting as a necromancer for his own body.”
Twilight gasped. “But that’s impossible! The way that necromancy works-“
“I know, but I didn’t say he was, I said he was practically. He’s able to survive without significant magical activity, but like… whatever his name is, Pop-“
“Pip.”
“Right, him. Like Pip, he has some spells tied to him, namely one tied to his central and keeping him from dropping dead from the stuff he’s been put through. Unlike Pip, his own magic’s been feeding the spells, making them stronger as he’s gotten weaker. Hypothetically, those spells may keep him animate, post natural death, for anywhere from hours to weeks to months, depending on how his magic’s fed them. Which is my last little point, actually.
“Even with his magic, and if we get him to the absolutely highest health we can… he has less than three years before his body completely fails.” Shelter looked up from his clipboard, catching each pony in the eye save Celestia. “Realistically, he’s going to die sometime between six months and two years from now. Probably closer to the former.” Shelter blinked, flicking his gaze back down. “And that’s what’s pissing me off.”
“That he’s dying?” Celestia leaned down, putting herself at eye-level with the stallion. His magic ripped a sheet off of the clipboard, crumpling it before shredding it and throwing the bits into a locked trashcan.
“That I can’t fix him.” Shelter glared at the trashcan for a moment before starting to walk again. “That he’s dying, when I got rid of as many of his injuries as I could, I put him under the optimal conditions for proper recovery, and now I’m seeing that he’s dying anyways because of something that I can’t heal. And if I tried to take the spells off that are doing this to him, he’d as likely as die from the shock of their absence as die from their continued use.
“So, I can either watch my patient die slowly and probably incredibly painfully towards the end, or I can do something that’ll have a ninety-nine-point-nine percent chance of killing him fast and painfully, a point-zero-five percent chance of doing nothing, a point zero-four percent chance of slightly slowing his death but still really doing nothing, and a point-zero-one percent chance of doing what I want it to and stopping him from dying of old age in his late thirties.” Shelter took in a breath, glancing at everypony (and Spike) again. “It’s just a little frustrating, as a doctor…”
Twilight blinked at the doctor’s explanation. “I’m sure you’re doing the best you can…”
“If I was, he’d be cured already.” The stallion growled. “In any case, I can only request that you keep him out of harm’s way when he’s returned to your custody. The safer and less stressed his body is, the more recovery it can naturally make. Hopefully, I can find some way to work around the spells on him in the meantime.”
“Do you have them recorded?” Twilight asked. “I’m not a medical pony, but I do know spells pretty well.”
“If you’d be willing, and promise not to actually try to work on him without me, I can get you a copy. Faust knows my hooves are full as-is.” The stallion stopped, eyes locking on a hallway with two stationed guards. “Ah, here we are.”
“And here we stay.” A new voice intoned. Another stallion walked out from the hall, nearly matching Shelter in appearance. “Mr. Shield requested some time alone. Greetings, Princess, mademoiselles.” The stallion bowed at the Princess, sweeping a hoof out to encompass the others in the group. Spike snorted. “And young dragon and sirs, of course.”
“Everypony, this is Dr. Long Path, of Canterlot University.” Celestia said. “He requested to be allowed to examine Broken Shield, and has discovered some interesting information.”
“He’s also incredibly annoying and prone to using big words whenever he’s flustered.” Shelter deadpanned. Path grinned.
“I can assure you, my constant positivity is as much a job requirement as it is just a good outlook to have on life, and my sesquipedalian loquaciousness is an equivocal stress reaction to your use of profanity, so let’s not have the pot call the kettle black, nor have either condition referred to in a negative light beyond our mutual inability to overcome them, hmm?”
Shelter gave a look at Path, drawing his mouth back as his eyes narrowed. Path maintained his grin. After a few seconds, Celestia leaned her head down in-between the two.
“Would you mind enlightening everypony on what you found, Dr. Path?”
“Oh, yes, of course. My apologies, Princess.” Path took a step back, encompassing everypony in his gaze. “Firstly, the obvious, though please note given my small amount of time with him that most of this is conjecture. Broken Shield has severe post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as several other conditions, namely paranoia, directly linking into said disorder, and has given several indicators of suffering from depression. He views Princesses Luna and Celestia as semi-willfully ignorant of the threat posed by Ms. Sparkle, but is nonetheless quite loyal to them, and is devoted to Princess Cadance to the point of unhealthy obsession. Congratulations on the foal, by the way!” Path nodded at Shining, who blinked in surprise.
“Er, thanks…”
“You’re very welcome. Anyway, Mr. Shield displays behavioural problems typical of post-traumatic stress. He’s generally irritable and easily agitated, quite cynical when talking about most subjects and actively antagonistic about others. Whenever Ms. Sparkle is mentioned, for instance, he displays hostility and general unease and nervousness. He has the same reaction with Pip, whom I presume is the stallion here I don’t know?” Path looked at Pip, who glanced back.
“That is correct.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you, actually, and I was wondering if I could sit down and talk with you as well? Later on, of course.”
“If her Ladyship allows it.”
“Oh, yes, Mr. Shield told me about this…” Path turned to Twilight. “If you’d be willing, I think it would be best for you to come with Mr. Pip during any talks we have, at least for the first little while while we get to know each other.”
“O-kay…?” Twilight said. “I have a question, though.”
“Of course!”
“A few questions.”
“Even better!”
Twilight blinked. “First, are you even allowed to be discussing these things? Isn’t there a patient-doctor confidentiality agreement?”
“Mr. Shield waived it. His words were along the lines of ‘If it makes the, ahem, term-for-a-female-dog look bad,’ then he was absolutely fine with mention of his condition. He also appeared to think that the Princess would be more willing to ‘get rid of’ the aforementioned pony if she learned of his conditions, which displays a certain amount of egotism mixed with loyalty and trust in the Princess’ judgement.”
Twilight felt Celestia’s wing stretch out to cover its owner’s face. “Um, secondly, how did you know about Broken? To be able to request treating him?”
“Oh, Mr. Shield is known to most of the more-influential ponies of Canterlot, the ones with actual authority, anyways. The University’s upper chairs, the higher ranks of the Equestrian and Canterlotian Guard, and a few noble houses that don’t have a reputation for overreaction have all been informed at least partially about him, so that when somepony inevitably blows the cover on him the Princess can run efficient damage control with their aid. I was just told that he was a very important pony that needed therapy, everything else came later. By now I might actually know more about him than you do!” Path gave an innocent grin at Twilight, who looked at Celestia in surprise.
“I have transcripts of their interviews recorded, like you did with Spike, ready for your perusal. I didn’t mean to leave you out of anything, but I needed to get more information from him, certain things that I couldn’t ask you to pursue.”
“Don’t worry, Princess. Dr. Path just caught me a little off-guard.” Twilight gave a small, nervous laugh. Shelter echoed it with a bark.
“He does that too. A lot.”
“Was there another question?” Path asked, overtalking Shelter. Twilight nodded.
“Yeah, Broken was actually quite nice to everypony he met that wasn’t one of us here. When he escaped on the first day, he apparently met with three fillies, two of whom are Rarity’s and Applejack’s siblings, and they seemed to find him rather agreeable.”
“He also told them that blowin’ things up was a good idea for a cutie mark.” Applejack muttered.
“Sweetie Belle mentioned that he told them to be careful.”
“While blowin’ things up.”
“I would presume that Mr. Shield’s non-aggressiveness towards the foals was likely due to lingering feelings of protectiveness and a sense of failure regarding his own daughter’s death.” Path interjected. “I’m completely lost on why he would instruct them to violently destroy things, though.”
“Because he’s dangerously insane?”
“Now now, ‘insane’ has a negative connotation that we try to avoid due to its causing ponies suffering from mental health issues to feel ostracized from society.”
“That probably wouldn’t be a bad thing for him.”
“That’s a horrible-“
“Back on topic,” Twilight spoke before any more could be said. “He also behaved himself extremely well when talking to Mrs. Cake. He actually changed his voice to be more like Shining’s, he was quite polite, and he seemed rather comfortable and non-stressed.”
“Interesting.” Path rubbed his hoof on his chin. “Did you reveal his origins to this Mrs. Cake?”
“Oh, no.” Twilight shook her head. “He made up a story about being in Gryphonia for a long time, and how he just got back, to explain away his absence.”
“He did? Did he do a similar thing with the foals?”
“Actually, yeah. They said that he said he got his scars in Gryphonia.”
“Aha!” Path put his hoof back down. “Given his claims that he was the leader of a resistance organization that operated in secrecy, I would presume, all in hypothesis, of course, that he became well versed in developing false identities for his operatives. If he gave the same story to two different groups, the foals and Mrs. Cake, he may be trying to establish a false identity for himself in order to throw off possible suspicion as to his actual origins. Links with his paranoia.” Path blinked several times. “Actually, this is a good thing. Establishing a constant cover identity demonstrates that he anticipated being a presence in the community for a relatively long period of time, despite his mentioned goal of killing you, Ms. Sparkle. It is likely that he wasn’t planning to harm you in the immediate future.”
“Even though he tried t’kill her less than an hour later.” Applejack said. Path nodded, his smile fading.
“Ms. Applejack, the presence of Discord caused a panic reaction in Mr. Shield. He was completely unprepared for the appearance of Discord, and became increasingly threatened by Discord’s actions. As Mr. Shield’s mind struggled to regain control, it both sought out old mental refuges and activated his flight-or-fight response. As he was already in an aggressive state of mind following his pursuit of Mr. Pip, his instincts kicked in and he, for the most part, lost control of himself. Again, sadly, a common reaction to perceived danger among post-traumatic stress sufferers.”
“Yeah, y’keep sayin’ that, but he’s dangerous, doc. Y’can’t explain away everythin’ bad of him as the fault of some mental disease.”
“I don’t intend to. I simply wish it to be recognized that he’s not mentally stable, and can’t be fully expected to act as somepony without his conditions would, especially when he’s placed under duress.
“He may come across as abrasive and hostile, but in every session I’ve had with him, which are admittedly not many, he’s had a strong undercurrent of fear, a constant sense of unease and nervousness. He’s apparently learned to become aggressive when he’s scared, so he’s been constantly hostile towards almost everypony, only stopping when he does something he feels is familiar and recognizable as a safe action, such as being near the Princesses.”
“Ah don’t care if he’s scared, he’s tried t’kill Twilight!”
“Which was a horrible action, certainly. He’s apparently done numerous rather un-ponylike things since his arrival here. That doesn’t mean that he should be locked up and the key thrown away, it means that he needs to be helped to recognize his faults and his disabilities and to work with them in order to overcome them and regain a sound mental state.”
Applejack’s eye twitched. “You an’ Ah must see things very differently, doc.”
The psychologist’s smile returned. “I’m certain we do, Ms. Applejack.”
There was about a quarter-minute of silence before Celestia cleared her throat. “Was there something else you wished to show us, Dr. Path?”
“Oh, yes, they need to see it, don’t they?” Path reached into his coat, pulling out a sheet of paper and giving it to Twilight. “We ran Mr. Shield through a regular psychological evaluation for guardsponies, one time with his present answers and one time asking him to answer as close as he could remember to his last evaluation. These are his scores.”
The mare ran her eyes over the bars, points, and small notations. She looked at the doctor in confusion. “I don’t see-“
“Oh! My apologies. These are Captain Armor’s test scores.” Another sheet floated over to Twilight. She caught it, placing the two side-by-side. The other ponies read over her shoulder.
“So Broken’s big bars are bigger than Shining’s and his smaller bars are smaller. What’s the big deal?” Rainbow asked.
“The big deal is that in both his present responses and his recalled responses, Mr. Shield displayed markedly stronger opinions than Captain Armor. His scaled agreement responses, from one to nine, were at nine, eight, two, and one at a far higher frequency than Captain Armor. Where Captain Armor gave a four on an answer, for example, Mr. Shield gave a three, sevens were eights and nines, etcetera. Mr. Shield feels stronger on subjects Captain Armor feels strongly on, and weaker on Captain Armor’s weaker opinions. This ‘extremeness’ was more prevalent in his current evaluation than his recalled evaluation, as well, though several questions received opposite answers from his recalled test. It showed up when we discussed certain actions he’d taken.”
“There’s a correlation with his physical measures, too.” Shelter spoke up. “Broken consumes a larger amount of nutrients than a normal pony would in his condition. His magical and physical strength, normalized, are somewhere around 115% and 85% Captain Armor’s current capabilities, respectively. He’s naturally able to manipulate his magic to a greater degree than we are, but he’s generally less coordinated and physically weaker unless using magical aids. He has a stronger sensory and reactive response to pain and other stimuli than we do, and his hearing and vision aside from depth perception are more sensitive. Some of this is almost certainly training, of course, but there’s too many factors that have modified from our standard to be ignored or explained away like that.”
Celestia brought the third view into line. “From his and Pip’s testimony, the Equestria they come from is very similar to our own. However, the guardsponies are quicker to violently respond to threats that are in turn apparently more frequent. Broken has mentioned actions, movements, wars, that correlate to minor incidents and peacefully-solved tensions.” Celestia took in a breath. “Everything, it seems, is… taken further, would likely be the best description, in some way in his timeline over ours. His Nightmare Moon began a civil war instead of an attempted coup. His Discord regularly murdered ponies for his own amusement during his time in power. Chrysalis and the Changelings would routinely kill their captives. Sombra…” Celestia’s mouth tightened. “The problem, of course, becomes that his moderate may well be our extreme, in every aspect. This would apply to Pip as well.” Path coughed, his smile slipping again.
“That’s another thing with his mental state, actually. He’s jumping to the more extreme answers without even considering the moderate ones. When I talked to him about the Ponyville riot, he spoke of killing the pony in the alley without remorse or hesitation. I pursued him on that topic. Instead of killing him, I asked him about simply taking the pony into custody, and he said that he hadn’t even considered it. His mind, and I suspect Pip’s and everypony elses’ from that universe, is hard-wired into actions that are on a far broader spectrum of severity than ours.”
There was a period of silence. Twilight’s friends all looked at Celestia, the doctors, and each other while they digested the information.
“But then the nicer things are nicer too.” Fluttershy spoke. Everypony looked at her. “If all the bad things are worse, then that must mean that the good things are better. Broken just brings up the bad things more. Can we ask him about the good things?”
“But good things are boring.” Rainbow complained. “I mean, it’s not gonna do anything to hear him talk about the happy times when everything that made him, well, broken, are the bad things like Dawn killing his family. What good would hearing him talk about going on picnics with Cadance do?”
“It would give another dimension to his world?” Rarity asked. “I’m with Fluttershy here, if we can hear about something that isn’t the tragedy of Dawn’s rise, I would say that it could provide us with a better understanding of his origin.”
“But if we get more information on Dawn an’ her-“
“Dawn raped Pip.” Twilight blurted. Every eye turned to stare at her, in uniform shock, except Pip. “I was trying to figure out how I could drop that far, how I could become so evil to do that, and to kill Celestia and Cadance and Dazzle, and to just… do everything that’s turned Shining into Broken, without realizing how horrible I was. I couldn’t figure it out. But that Twilight could have been so, so messed up, so seriously affected by Spike’s death and the Charter’s rejection and however many other things influenced her, that she just snapped and went somewhere I can’t even comprehend. And that means, that means that I might not… I might not need to…”
Twilight was rambling, she knew it, and her vision began to blur as her breath began to hitch. She immediately felt a claw on her hoof and a wing around her back, and she slowly leaned into her teacher. She took a few breaths, looking up at a subdued Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
“I think I might need a nice story from Broken’s Equestria.”
“If I may, Milady?” Pip leaned down to meet Twilight’s eye level. “While I cannot give a memory from before the Revolution, I believe that I have a ‘story’ that you may find satisfactory in terms of ‘niceness’, as well as hopefully providing a clearly positive example of Lady Dawn’s rule.”
“It isn’t violent, is it?” Rainbow quickly asked. “I don’t think she’d want to hear about ponies getting hurt right now.” The pegasus glanced at Twilight, who nodded. “Yeah, no fights or anything, alright?”
“As you say, Rainbow Dash.” Pip took in a breath.
---
Pip watched as Lady Dawn awoke.
The sun shone in through the window and a cloudless sky, as had been arranged for that day. While much of the country was in limbo following the Revolution, the Canterlotian sky, and Canterlot itself, was decidedly Revolutionary. Several weeks previous, Celestia had been overthrown; only within the last few days could it be said that the city was returning to a semblance of normalcy.
“Gurgh…” Dawn groaned as the sun hit her eyes. “Stupid spell must be off-timed again… Pip, what time is it?”
“Approximately ten-oh-seven, Milady.”
“Gah…” The mare sat up, blinking a few times before flipping herself out of the bed. “Are you sure?”
“Given the large clock within my vision range, I would say yes, Milady.”
Dawn glared at the clockwork construction and its ornate hands. “Remind me to have that clock stripped of anything valuable.”
“I shall make a note of it in Lady Thalia’s schedule, Milady.”
“Thank you, Pip, I’m sure Pinkie can-” Dawn froze, looking at the clock again. “Did you say ten-oh-seven?”
“Ten-oh-eight currently, Milady.”
“Buck!” The mare ran to the dresser, quickly grabbing a brush and throwing it at Pip. “Get my mane cleaned up, I’m running late!”
“As you say, Milady.” Pip stepped to her side, strapping the brush to his hoof before quickly running it through her slightly-mussed hair. She had combed it straight the previous night, and he was luckily able to work out the few knots before she placed the Element of Magic on her head. Sighing, Dawn glanced in the long mirror at herself, straightening out a few bent edges in her overcoat. She drew in a breath and stood straight, walking towards the door with an air of authority and propriety. Pip absently remembered watching Rarity coach her through the movements in the Everfree Castle.
“I don’t want to look like I’m a royal, Rarity! The whole point of this is to make everypony-“
“I know, dear, but the Revolution is your movement; ponies will be looking to you for leadership, at least until you get everything else set up and going. So until everypony is equal, you need to show that you know what you’re doing and that you know how to lead. How you look and move is very important to that. Now again…”
For a moment, Pip wondered why Dawn hadn’t remembered, or used, Celestia’s training on the subject. Only for a moment.
The door opened, Pip slipping out quickly enough to slightly startle the guards. They saluted quickly, though, and bowed to Dawn when she exited. She glanced at the two of them before nodding back, giving a slight laugh when one of the guards’ helmets’ slipped to the side of his head. He cursed under his breath, quickly straightening the wayward armour.
‘My apologies, Milady.” the guard spoke. “The guy who had this before me had a, a larger head than I do, and the straps aren’t sized really well, and-“
“Do not fear offending me, sir.” Dawn said. The guard blinked. “I’m not so petty to expect perfection in the ponies around me. We are none of us Faust; If not for Rarity, I’d likely be walking around with my cape as a bib.”
The guard cracked a smile at the last comment, quickly nodding at Dawn and bowing again. She nodded again at both of them before continuing, her steps quick and controlled. Pip followed, maintaining a perimeter around Dawn. Ponies that they passed quickly bowed or saluted, Dawn always exchanging a few words with them before continuing on to the former throne room.
The doors opened with a push of magic, the sun shining through the large hole torn in the eastern corner. The room was bustling with ponies, cleaning up scorch marks and clearing debris, filling scores in the stone floor and replacing broken windows, as well as setting up seats and tables for the day’s major event. The large golden throne was still in place, though a significant section of the back had been sheared off. Dawn trotted towards the oversized chair and the ring of space around it, gaining a grin as the dragon occupying much of said space stirred.
“Hello, Spike, how are you feeling this morning?” Dawn asked, nuzzling the side of her head into the dragon’s snout. Spike grumbled in response, the sound shaking the room and sending a few small stone chunks falling from the ceiling. A pegasus quickly flew up to check the stones’ origin, while Dawn simply laughed.
“Your Ladyship?” A voice asked. Both Pip and Dawn turned to watch a gangly stallion step forward. “I am glad that you arrived, Milady. The cleaning and maintenance appears to be going on schedule, and bar a few bumps, everything should be proper in this afternoon’s ceremony.”
“That’s excellent news. Thank you, Writ Note.” Dawn tipped her head. “Are the ‘bumps’ going to terribly affect the ceremony?”
“Not in any major way, but you did state that you wanted it as accurate as could be, Milady.”
“That I did. What are the problems?”
“Mostly errors or delay in arrangements, Milady; one of the flower shops was broken into last night, and much of their stock was damaged. We’re investigating as to whether it was a simple robbery or a subversive attack, but the florist is unable to fill the order requested.”
“Tell them to send what they can, and be sure to compensate them for the damages to their shop. I cannot fault a pony for something outside of their control.”
“As you say, Milady.” Writ nodded. “The mason’s guild has been somewhat reluctant to put their full effort into fixing Sir Spike’s entry point given the state of many other areas of Canterlot, so we were able to stabilize the damage to the structure, but we can’t fill the hole in to be more aesthetically pleasing.”
“If they’re helping others, they are doing the right thing. I think I would like the hole to remain as-is, in fact; a nice reminder of the Revolution’s power, don’t you think?”
Pip glanced at the gaping space in the wall, blinking. He tilted his head, noting the several areas where stone hadn’t been knocked out but simply sheared in half. “Quite a testament, Milady.” He agreed. Writ glanced between both of them before nodding.
“Right, then. Third thing is ‘statue damage’.” Writ’s brow furrowed. “That’s all it says. Please excuse me, Milady, while I find the necessary ponies.”
“Of course. Hurry, now, I only have a small while before I need to attend to other duties.”
“Yes, Milady.” Writ nodded, scurrying off into the crowd. Dawn watched him until he was lost in the lake of bodies. She glanced at Pip before returning her attention to Spike. A few minutes later, several ponies broke out of the crowd and walked towards the mare.
“Milady, there are three ponies approaching you.” Pip stated blandly. The trio stopped as Dawn’s gaze fell on them, though she quickly bridged the distance.
“You’re Writ’s statue ponies?” She asked. The pony in the middle swallowed.
“Um, your Highn- I-I, I mean your Ladyship, um…”
“Do not fear me, miss. I don’t intend to cause you harm.” The mare nodded, taking in a few breaths.
“Well, um, there was a problem, with the, uh, the arrangements, your Ladyship, ma’am. We’ve been, um, there were several statues damaged in the, the battle, your Ladyship, and we haven’t been able to find anypony that can repair them. Part of the ceremony involves a dozen statues, six pairs, and, um, three aren’t in any shape to be used, ma’am.”
“Oh, dear, that’s not good, is it?” Dawn frowned, tapping her hoof on her chin in thought.
“But, um, Milady?” The middle mare spoke again.
“Yes?”
“We noticed that, um, the inventory of confiscated noblepony assets contains several sets of statues, and if we could examine them, we could replace the damaged pairs. We think. Milady.”
Dawn blinked at the trio. “Well then what are you waiting for? Go! Take Writ, he’ll be able to get you in.” The three ponies squeaked and ran, Dawn shaking her head as she watched them. “Honestly, Pip, even I didn’t expect the former servants to be so easily frightened.”
“Celestia’s tyranny fell upon all common ponies, Milady.” Pip said in agreement.
“Oh, yes, I nearly forgot.” Dawn’s horn glowed, and as she spoke her voice boomed around the room, ponies quickly stopping to listen. “CONTINUE THE FINE WORK, EVERYPONY! I ASSURE YOU THAT I AM BOTH SURPRISED AND HUMBLED AT HOW QUICKLY YOU’VE RESTORED THE CASTLE! WITH THIS ATTITUDE, WE SHALL SOON RESTORE ALL OF CANTERLOT, AND EQUESTRIA, TO ITS PROPER STATE!”
A low cheer rose from the gatherered ponies, a few “Hail Dawn” and other such celebratory phrases mixed in. Dawn bowed at them, nodding in gratefulness as they cleared a path to the door. Once outside the room, Dawn sighed. Pip heard two sets of hooves, regular and smaller, walking down the hall, quickly turning to face Rarity and Sweetie Belle.
“Rather hectic in there, is it?” Rarity asked. Dawn nodded. “Chin up, dear! This is a joyous occasion. Pinkie’s kept herself away from all of the party preparations, you know.”
“She didn’t have to do that!” Dawn said, surprised.
“She felt she did, otherwise it wouldn’t have been proper. By the way, your pocket’s on wrong.”
“Really?” Dawn tried to look at her coat, only causing part of her cape to come undone. Rarity sighed, quickly moving to fix the disarrayed clothing. Pip turned his gaze to Sweetie. The filly watched him dully, closing her eyes for several seconds before opening them again.
“There. Try not to muss anything up between now and the ceremony, shall we?” Rarity asked in a light tone. Dawn nodded, a slight blush creeping in with her grin. She glanced at Sweetie.
“Hello, Sweetie Belle. Out for a walk with Rarity?”
The filly nodded slowly. Rarity stepped back, nuzzling her head into her sister’s.
“The dear wanted to go see the topiary garden, didn’t you, Sweetie?” The filly nodded again. “Honestly, I was a little worried about her lethargy, but she seems to have somewhat picked back up again, from what I’ve seen. Still stays in her room most of the time, though.”
“She’s just getting used to being alive again, Rarity. Spike took a bit to recover fully, too. Just give her time.”
“If only she had a playmate…” Rarity trailed off, glancing down. Dawn leaned her head down, speaking gently.
“I’m sure she’ll come around, Rarity. Applejack’s stubborn, but she loves you. I’m sure of it.”
“Yes, yes, you’re right, of course.” Rarity sniffed before flicking her head back up. “Well! We shouldn’t delay you any more than we have. Come along, Sweetie.”
Dawn bid farewell to the two, turning to walk the way they came from, Pip closely following. This section of the castle was mostly deserted, until, several staircases and hallways away from the former throne room, they arrived at the former noble apartments. Four guards awaited them, as did a blue haired, white coated unicorn. He stepped back a bit as the pair arrived, clearly ill at ease.
“Hello, Fancy Pants.” Dawn said. “I understand that you’re here to discuss the capitulation of the remaining nobles.”
---
“At that point, there were several hours of negotiation between Fancy Pants and Lady Dawn. He appeared to wish to contend the seizure of 95% of every noble family’s property, though Lady Dawn assured him that it would only apply to those nobles who had exploited the common pony to gain their wealth. Otherwise it was mostly ensuring proper wording in the agreement. As such, with your Ladyship’s permission, I shall skip to the ceremony previously mentioned.”
“I’m fine with that, Pip.”
“Thank you, Milady.”
---
The former throne room was packed with ponies, every seat filled and numerous others either standing at the back or hovering in the air. Dawn and Pip swept their gazes over the crowd, Dawn holding a smile only slightly forced. The door cracked open to admit Rarity, who scurried up the single centre aisle with as much poise as she could to the former throne.
“Everything seems to be in order, Twi- I mean, Lady Dawn. We are ready for your announcement.” The fashionista stated with a flourish.
“Excellent!” Dawn stated. She held a hoof up as Rarity rushed down the aisle, waiting for silence before speaking. Her voice was only slightly magically amplified, to compensate for the echo lost to Spike’s entryway.
“Friends, family, and free ponies all. Today, gathered together in happiness and harmony, we shall make history. Never in Equestria’s past has a day like today occurred, and hopefully we shall never return to those dark times where such a day was denied. Today, we celebrate the freedom the Revolution has provided us, the equality previously denied to certain portions of Equestrian society. Though there is, in truth, only one ceremony being performed today, let not your celebration be held, nor your view tainted; each ‘small’ part is worth a day of celebration unto itself.
“Today, we welcome the unions of those who were previously denied their rights based on archaic law and bigotry. Today, we celebrate happiness. Today, we celebrate freedom. Today, we celebrate love.
“While I have put every effort in to remove reference to the previous enforcement of social stratification, I must, in this one select instance, return to former custom.” Dawn smiled. “I did, after all, promise these ponies a royal wedding.”
Several ponies began to cheer, quickly infecting the rest of the crowd until a roar of joy overcame the room. Dawn did not attempt to quiet them; she simply called over them.
“LADY IRIS RAINBOW DASH AND LADY THALIA PINKAMINA DIANE PIE, PLEASE ENTER AND APPROACH!”
The large doors swung open, admitting two mares in wedding dresses, their faces divided by smiles and eyes reddened with tears. Rainbow and Pinkie walked up the aisle perfectly synchronized, reaching the former throne at the same time. They turned to look at each other, fresh tears falling from both pairs of eyes. Dawn’s eyes shone as well, though no tears fell and her voice was unwavering.
“Rainbow Dash, your love and devotion to this mare brooks no argument as to your loyalty to her. It is clear for all to see that you shall never bring her to harm, nor shall you abandon her, on any threat or for any reason. As such, this is simple formality.” Dawn drew in a breath. “Do you, Rainbow Dash, take Pinkamina Diane Pie as your lawfully wedded wife?”
“I do!” Rainbow said, drawing another cheer from the crowd. She ducked and shook her head quickly after, apparently trying to clear her eyes of tears.
“Pinkamina Diane-“
“I do! I do I do I do!” Pinkie shouted, laughing and crying as she bounced in place. Dawn nodded, her horn glowing.
The former throne groaned, and a piece of gold broke off of the top of the back. It rolled into a ball as it fell, floating in-between the loving mares before gently dividing in two, and from there shaping into two rings. Rainbow and Pinkie both held one hoof up to grab their rings, Rainbow placing hers onto Pinkie’s hoof and Pinkie placing hers onto Rainbow’s hoof.
“Then with these rings, I pronounce you mare and mare!” Dawn declared. Pinkie leapt onto Rainbow almost instantly, smothering her new wife in an ecstatic embrace. The crowd roared again as Rainbow held her lover and launched into the air, quickly exiting the former throne room through Spike’s entryway. Dawn watched them fly away for a few moments, laughing to herself before she called again.
“MISS LYRA HEARTSTRINGS AND MISS BON BON, PLEASE ENTER AND APPROACH!”
---
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Heh. Wonder if there's gonna be enough gold throne left, or if they'll have this awkward half a giant chair or what.
Everypony gay married!
But seriously, zombie Sweetie Belle is why Apple Bloom was cremated.
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More on that later, but right now [spoilers], although Spike is involved somehow.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDIT: Spelling
Mass weddings for everypony! Also, Popsqueak is best pony.
That being said, I like that somebody finally realized that Broken should be kept from as far away from Twilight as possible. I'd put an Applejack icon here but the only ones are
and 
, which don't really fit 
Also, the guillotine? Seriously? Isn't that a bit much Celly? Come on. Yeah, yeah, I know it was just a test but to expect regular ponies to make such a judgment without knowing the consequences is just plain stupid. Then again, Celestia only did so on Applejack's insisting... Oh well.
Have you ever read Twilight's Dollhouse? This situation with Broken is starting to remind me of that one. Only with less dolls and more time travel/dimension hopping
So gay marriage was illegal in Broken's Equestria?
Is it legal in the 'regular' Equestria?
2912233
?
No Applejack icons?
What about
Loved the new chapter man, keep up the good work!
Yea, AJ's the only one with any amount of sense. Once? Sure, he's crazy, and keep him under observation. But Broken's proven crafty and resourceful enough to evade capture, observation, and even oaths by his own power to get what he wants, which will ALWAYS be Dawn's death.
Ok, I had guessed that Broken was some type of undead but I never even thought it might have been from his own magic! And, yes, I know he's not really undead at the moment but the sentiment stands.
Still, that's scary, how he could even do that to himself. His horn gets broken and it regrows inward. That's some prime Body Horror right there.
Another great chapter, and the ceremony at the end made me smile. A promise is a promise after all.
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There'll be some left, enough to comfortably sit on. Dawn needs somewhere to sit while on the Council, after all.
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I actually haven't read Twilight's Dollhouse. I'll check it out.
With Applejack, she's always come across to me as the most grounded in what could be called human sensibility rather than pony sensibility; very practical and able to recognize what needs to be done (for the most part). Equestria (from canon) appears to be a rather idyllic country, with little violence and generally peaceful outcomes to most conflicts. While this is occasionally subverted (Chrysalis and Sombra spring to mind), these instances are all the more emphatic in their portrayal of darker subject matter when placed into the world of MLP.
As such, the majority of ponies would likely have a generally idealistic view of the world, opposing harsh punishments and violent actions in favour of trying to encourage harmony and repentance in those who buck the trend. As Fluttershy said, Discord was able to be 'harmonized', in a sense, so the large view is that a pony like Broken needs to be shown compassion rather than punishment.
I've thus been trying to write the story not from what we would do (either shoot him or stuff him in a maximum security looney bin, most likely) but what they would do (try to show him that he's wrong to harm ponies and encourage him to become nicer, eg. Trixie or Discord). Applejack's not the kind of pony who would gravitate towards such sentiments, and Celestia's making very sure that Broken's railroaded into behaving.
With that, Celestia is also very much against hurting ponies if it can be helped. She brought up the execution thing because, legally, it's still on the books from the less-idyllic times that Equestria was founded in. Attempting to harm an Element of Harmony would be tantamount to attempting to harm a Princess, which is not exactly a smart thing to do if you wish to keep your head. Celestia did a mix of manipulative wording and rules-lawyering to point out that, should Broken be treated as a regular criminal in his position, he would likely be killed, and they would have been the ponies to order it.
The point of the guillotine part was to show them that rushing into something without thinking about every part of it (as they did with following Applejack here and Twilight in Broken's Equestria) could have severe consequences. She knew that they didn't realize the consequences and wanted to hammer it in.
2912356
Yeah, I'm fixing all the 'blunks' when I finish the story and do the mass-edit, which'll fix typos and story elements that ended up falling flat (no huge changes, though.)
2912388
Celestia's pushing it through in this one. Both of them wanted to, but Broken's Celestia was up against a more vociferous and controlling nobility.
2912519
Thanks!
2912644
Partially why Celestia's put a lot more on him this time around. I explained some of it in EP's section above, and she's going to go even further with it next chapter.
2912770
It wasn't so much grew inwards from the horn being broken as it was just how much magic he was using over the rebellion. In the first part, the doctor was referring to how the muscles in his legs had been so damaged by the radiation from the magic he used to be able to keep running and fighting and such. The second part with the healing spell is explained below.
As Broken's Star Swirl put his whole effort into the timeline things instead of the other magics (including healing) that this Star Swirl did, magical effects on the body were less understood in Broken's Equestria. Along with not knowing that using magic to take part of the load from his legs actively damaged his legs, necessitating more magic which caused more damage and so on in a vicious cycle, the healing spell is messed up as well. Instead of synthesizing new material as these healing spells do, Broken's and Pip's force the body into overdrive to naturally heal faster. As each cell has a set number of replications it can perform before dying (one cell with fifty divisions splits into two with forty-nine each), Broken's been pushing his body into old age unintentionally, simply due to the number of injuries he's sustained. Pip's spell is somewhat better, but still not the caliber of an 'actual' healing spell.
Holy Faust this is going to be a long comment.
2912396 How weird is that? I looked them over like a dozen times and only found those two... stupid browser must've derped again. It sometimes doesn't load all of them, for some reason. Still, needs more Applejack icons though. She has the best expressions in the show.
2912945 Be warned though, Twilight's Dollhouse is a pretty dark story. Without spoiling anything, Twilight has gone crazy (actual crazy, the kind that needs serious help) and starts turning her friends into imortal dolls, to save them. Not entirely the same, obviously but both that Twilight and Broken Shield seem to believe that what they do is right.
Anyhow, I do realize that Celestia was trying to show them the consequences of what happens when they rush such matters. On the other hand, it seems like Applejack expected that they'd put Broken into jail for a long time, since she doesn't even consider capital punishment.
Given that Rainbow Dash doesn't even know what a guillotine is, probably means that most ponies have never even heard of it. So I'm guessing that it has all but dissapeared from the justice system...
Leave it to Celly to bring up such a horrible device
Still, I can't blame her for bringing up old laws/uses to make a point. I personally don't support the death penalty, nor do I oppose it. Though I can easily come up with some people who should receive it...
2913167
Actually, I've heard of TD, but I haven't read it yet. Your warning is appreciated, though I've read Pattycakes and just thought that it was kinda weird (obviously bad, but I didn't get freaked out or ill or anything), so I'm fairly well desensitized. Cupcakes, Rainbow Factory, and Sweet Apple Massacre were so 'badly written' (in their cliches and reliance on gore and blatant descriptions) as to be rather funny. Not to criticize the authors, but it was obvious that they were written to set people off.
For everything else: yeah, pretty much.
The execution laws are still on the books, they're just left in for no particular reason other than "Other things to worry about". When Celestia said that guardsponies hadn't killed anypony in a century, she meant including executions, which is part of the reason that they need to build a new guillotine; all of the existing ones are in museums or other countries. As was said, Celestia brought it up exclusively to make the 'consequences' point.
2915317
That scenario would only apply to timeline-contained time travel (time travel within one's own timeline-universe, such as what was shown in the show). This kind of time travel is a little different.
2921291
Yeah, Pip's gone through some things. Not very good things.
2921603
Broken explains the codenames later on. Pinkie is Cotton Candy, Rarity is Marshmellow, etc.
2926147
Because without it the story couldn't happen? The scene in question is probably the most important thing to happen to Broken's Twilight in terms of her personal justification for the Revolution.
i think its a little to soon to say this but i think i would probably side with dawn
also pipsqueak is best pony
and applejack is just too awesome in this fic
2927539
Thanks!
I'm trying to make Broken's Revolution rather ambiguous as to who is "in the right". Both sides have reasons for what they're doing, and neither is particularly overtly good or bad, though Broken's going to try to make Dawn sound bad and Celestia sound good, and vice versa for Pip.
I...I can't tell who's the bad guy anymore...
...
.
Why are you so good at stirring emotions?!
4449704 that's the point. There isn't a bad guy. Think fallout Equestria. What would Equestria make of Calamity, Lil' Pip or Velvet? Everypony is simply more extreme in that world. Everypony is, for lack of a better wording, perpetually slightly OOC.
5638150 This reminds me, why has nobody done a good story with LittlePip in cannon Equestria?