Perceptions
“Right. Remind me why we’re doing this again?”
Broken stared at the building in front of him, mouth pulled back in distaste. Twilight flicked an eye at him worriedly. He hadn’t been willing to leave the closet until the morning after, and even then he hadn’t mentioned his outburst at all; she had avoided it out of fear of causing another, letting him stay in the library under Spike’s watch while she arranged things outside. She eyed his body language – not tense or angry, just uncomfortable in a calm, less-likely-to-kill-ponies way – before answering.
“Because Rarity asked first. After this we go to Applejack’s, and then Sugarcube Corner. Then Rainbow Dash wants us to watch her test out some new tricks.”
“Right. So remind me why we’re doing this again?”
“Because part of the reason Celestia was willing to let you come down here instead of keeping you locked up was that you accepted my offer of guardianship, and part of that offer included your being a constructive member of society. Which includes finding something for you to do while here.”
He turned to her, his mouth a thin flat line. “The convincing reason is supposed to come in the third set, not the second.” At her confusion, he sighed. “Just… forget it, alright? Let’s get this over with.” His horn glowed, and the door to the Boutique flew open, followed closely by the stallion.
Rarity’s voice trailed in from the back of the store. “Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique and magnifieeek!” The small scream at the end came when she came into view and realized just who had entered her store. She was slightly placated when Twilight entered behind him, but still watched the stallion warily as he snorted and walked past her. Turning to Twilight, she gave a low hiss. “I thought we agreed to arrange a time?”
“Sorry, Rarity, but he wasn’t willing to leave the library until now, and this morning he was ‘eager to get whatever idiotic ritual you have planned for me done’, as he put it.” Twilight led the white unicorn back to the innards of the building, where Broken was staring at a roll of silk. Then his horn glowed, and the fabric rolled out. He washed a look over it.
“Burnished gold, type three, Sun’s Glory, correct?” He asked, eye flicking to Rarity. She nodded, brows raised. Broken’s eye moved to Twilight. “Dawn – still you, at the time – was wearing this when she started the damned Revolution.” His eye went back to the fabric. “You wore it during the Declaration, the Campaigns, the First Battle of Ponyville, the Fall of Canterlot… you wore it when you killed the Princesses…” His horn glowed again, and the fabric rolled up with a sharp snap. Twilight and Rarity both jumped. He sighed. “So, where do you want me and doing what?”
“Hmm? Oh! Well, as I presume that you cannot sew-“
“Do sutures count?” He interrupted. Rarity gave him an odd look. “Guess not. Carry on.”
“…as I presume that you cannot sew,” she repeated, “I was hoping that I could use you for a model. Princess Celestia mentioned that she wanted new dress uniforms for the guardsponies, and seeing as how you fit the general description, I was hoping that you’d oblige?”
Broken for his part, gave a snort and a half-grin. “Ah, what the hay. I aim to please.” He said the second sentence in such a voice that he seemed to be mocking Rarity, servants, and general politeness all at once. The white unicorn simply tsked, motioning him up to the central display platform. Twilight found a chair and sat down, flicking through one of the magazines Rarity had placed on the table beside it. None of her attention was on the gossipy articles or ‘scandalous’ pictures, however; it was split between Rarity and Broken’s interactions and her own little thoughts.
“Right, so, if you would just stand square – no, straight legged, I mean–“
“That’s about as straight as I can keep them.”
“Oh, well, I suppose I could measure like that…”
Something happened with that outburst. Broken realized something, something big, to him at least.
“Alright, then, if you could put a foreleg forward?”
“Straight out, or…?”
“Straight will be fine. If it’s more comfortable, you could keep it at a lower angle.”
What could he have noticed? It had to do with that map, I’ll have to ask him later.
“O-kay, that’s good, now for the back leg. Extend as though you are bucking.”
“What type of bucking? Tree, or pony?”
“Er, tree, please.”
At least I got something out of it. Now we know he can control himself. We just need to help him stay in control.
“Good! Now for the midsection. If you would just…”
“Want it sucked in or let out?”
“Let out, please. I need both, but I prefer to get the larger first.”
I wonder what happened to Rainbow? I shouldn’t have just left her there, I know, but Broken was going and I needed to watch him…
“Broken Shield, I said to let your stomach out first.”
“I am letting it out.”
“You… you are… Twilight!?”
The purple unicorn jumped, her head shooting up to look at a bored Broken and a rapt Rarity, whose voice had cracked slightly with her call. The unicorn was staring at a long yellow strip, which revealed itself to be a measuring tape as she walked closer. Twilight stared quizzically at the tape before Rarity hissed an instruction into her ear.
“Look at the length around him!” Rarity tapped a number on the tape. Twilight looked at it, still confused.
“Rarity, I don’t-“
“Think about it! How thick is the average stallion around the waist?”
Twilight thought, her mind backing a bit to her biology books. The average stallion was about thirty hooves, give or take based on his diet and natural variation, though anything less that twenty-five or more than forty was considered unhealthy. Her eyes flicked over the measurement again, the number thirty still fresh in her mind, and rested on the one in the tens column of the number she was looking at, and the other, very low number in the ones column.
Then it clicked.
The tape was pulled from Rarity’s grip, wrapping around Broken’s barrel once more. The measurement was the same. Twilight took it off, used the other end, counted backwards. Still the same. Broken shuffled around a bit.
“Hey, what’s with all the checking? Shouldn’t one be enough?”
Twilight’s brain was sprinting. He can’t be that small. Can’t be. Just look at him, he’s built like Big Macintosh! He wouldn’t be able to stand if he was this thin! He’d be…
“Broken, dear,” Rarity spoke. “We need you to let the illusion go.”
Both he and Twilight stiffened. He turned his head, began to speak, but Rarity simply put a hoof on his side. It sunk in like it was a cloud wrapped in pony skin.
“I knew it wasn’t working right…” he muttered. Then his horn flashed, and everything on him shrunk.
Twilight gasped as he stood there, legs shaking slightly. He was nearly a skeleton, with a thin layer of muscle under a faded coat holding his tired bones together. His ribs and hips showed themselves plainly, and they held between them a sunken-in mass of organs. Twilight noted in uncomprehending horror that his ribcage ended about five rows too early. His legs were knobbed and bony, with joint and tendon movement quite clear as he swayed slightly. His tail and mane were missing clumps of hair, and his coat was thinned anywhere bone decided to bend flesh. The thin scars that crisscrossed his form became much more prominent against their pitiful background. Up on his skull, his cheeks held little flesh save the small amount keeping his jaw and lips from falling off. His eye was sunken in, yellow and bloodshot as he looked into hers. He opened his mouth, and his teeth were tarnished, gaps clear between them.
“The word you’re looking for is ‘emaciated’. You won the Fifty-Ninth Annual Canterlot Foal’s Spelling Bee with it.”
Twilight gaped at his broken form. “But… you...” any argument died in her throat as her brain comprehended his corpse – odd, that that was the word she thought fit it best.
Broken seemed to catch her meaning from the two words. “Magic can go a long way, Twilight.” he said softly. Then his horn glowed again, and he gained back his more healthy appearance. He tapped a line of magic onto his side in curiosity.
“Right. It should hold up now. Get your measurements, Marshmellow.”
Nopony moved. Broken turned back to the other unicorns, who were still staring at him in shock. He sighed and nudged Rarity with a back hoof.
“Oi. Marshmellow. Measurements.” Her brows furrowed in confusion, so he took the tape from Twilight’s grasp and wrapped it around himself. Rarity glanced at the number and wrote it down before turning back to stare at the stallion.
“Why did you call me that?” she finally asked. Both Broken and Twilight turned to her.
“What?”
“Marshmellow. You called me Marshmellow.”
“Oh. Codename. Had one for everypony but Applejack.” He shrugged.
“Might I ask why my particular ‘codename’ was Marshmellow?”
“Applejack suggested it. Pinkie Pie was Cotton Candy, Rainbow Dash was Cinnamon, Fluttershy was Taffy, Twilight was Lollipop, and you were Marshmellow.”
“I see…” the white unicorn trailed off. She motioned for Broken to step off of the stage, which he did with a clear relaxation. “Well, I have all of the necessary measurements, so you two may leave. I apologize, but I have several orders to fill besides the Princesses’ and must get to work.”
“Actually, I was wondering if I might be able to place an order.” Broken said. “An overcoat, thick and durable materials preferably, that can cover me mane to tail.”
“Might I ask why?” Rarity replied. Twilight stared at the stallion quizzically, though her mind was still mostly occupied with his non-illusion form.
“Think about it. Average pony sees a large stallion walk by with an eyepatch and numerous scars, holding himself like a guardspony, but without the armour. What explanations for my appearance run through their head? If you didn’t know me and I walked in here alone, what would go through your head?” He snorted.
“Point taken…” Rarity admitted. “I’ll… see what I can do, Broken Shield, but-“
“I’m not expecting it done anytime soon. I’d just rather walk around covered than naked. Call it paranoia.” Broken shrugged, walking past Twilight. She quickly said goodbye to Rarity and followed him.
“Why didn’t Applejack have a codename?”
The two ponies were walking along one of the paths around Ponyville, Twilght slightly ahead of Broken. The stallion flicked his eye at Twilight.
“Because she was the only one of you that wasn’t a psychopathic murderous nag with delusions of grandeur.”
“I’m sorry?”
Broken facehoofed, growling slightly. “Applejack was the only Element of Harmony that didn’t betray the Princesses. She was one of our main assets against Dawn’s rise, and she served as Second Guard of the Loyalists after Canterlot’s fall.”
“Oh.” Twilight said blankly. Broken snorted. “Wait, AJ was the only one that didn’t join me? Why?”
The stallion flicked his eye back to the road ahead. “You did something that she really, really didn’t like.”
“Do you know what that was?”
“Yes. It’s one of the reasons I want to kill –Dawn.”
He hadn’t said it, or even started to, but the pause told Twilight that he’d needed to think about which name to use. She shuffled away from him a small amount, and their conversation ceased.
Before long, however, a small tune faded into existence. Twilight raised her brow at Broken, who had begun humming a tune as he walked. He noticed her attention, ceasing the song.
“What?” He asked.
“That was ‘Hush Now, Quiet Now’. A lullaby.”
“Your point?”
“I didn’t expect a grown stallion to know the tune to a lullaby, is all. Seems more a thing for younger generations.”
The stallion snorted. “How somepony acts bears nothing on their interests. Besides, you try singing it every night for two years and see if it doesn’t get burned into your memory.”
Twilight gave a light chuckle at this, remembering her own dealings with Spike as a hatchling. For a few seconds, the two ponies laughed together, a shared nostalgic comedy tying them together. Then, at once, both stopped, as if remembering their travelling partner. Another length of silence slid into place, leaving only the sound of the pair’s hooves hitting the ground. Twilight began to get anxious.
It wasn’t that she was worried about the lack of talking between them; while she would rather him explain his home universe more, silence was better than the stream of veiled threats and insults that he regularly doled out. But silence also gave her time to think about everything she already knew about him and where he came from. None of which was good.
While Twilight was busy with her thoughts, Broken was scanning the road ahead. He’d seen a small, irregular lump a distance away, and soon a rather pungent smell began to just barely register in his nostrils. He turned to Twilight.
“Just warning you, something up there died.”
“I’m sorry?” The unicorn shook her head.
“There’s roadkill up ahead. Don’t be freaked out by it.”
“’Roadki-‘… you mean Pinkie?”
Broken’s eye screwed at Twilight in confusion, then turned back to the road at her gesture. Sure enough, a pink party pony was huddled over the spot where Broken had seen the dead animal. Broken’s mind registered that she was doing something to it.
“HEY!” Twilight jumped back at the stallion’s roar. He began to gallop, rushing along the road towards Pinkie. The hyperactive pony appeared not to notice him, continuing her actions on the animal even as Broken got closer and closer. Twilight watched him stampede towards Pinkie, stunned, before her brain kicked into gear. She tensed, horn glowing for half a second before she warped to a spot in-between Broken and Pinkie.
A spot that was entered moments later by a pony that was around one-and-a-half times Twilight’s mass, and going a great deal faster than her immobile form.
Twilight was bowled over, airborne for a few seconds before crashing roughly into the ground. The wind was knocked out of her, and she spent the next half-minute coughing as she tried to get her lungs working properly. The pony had landed next to her was trying to stand, though he appeared to be having a small difficulty getting his hooves under him. The third pony present continued her strange acts before turning around and apparently noticing the other two for the first time.
“Oh! Hi Twilight!”
“…and then I was like ‘But if that happens then the plot doesn’t work!’ so I went back and rewrote a whole bunch of lines to fix it! But then that rewrite didn’t make sense, so I had to write more! And that just made it more confusing! So I went back and rewrote more to try to make the part that was trying to make the first part make sense make sense, but I realized that the entire situation was just too muddled up! And then I thought and I thought and I thought and I ended up burning all of the new pages and starting the chapter up again!”
Pinkie bounced along, rapidly explaining a convoluted series of events that had something to do with writing a play for invisible ponies, with Twilight in tow and Broken limping along behind them. He had twisted a hoof in the collision, and had vehemently refused her offer to see if she could heal it. The two unicorns held a low-voiced conversation as the pink pony continued her speech.
“Why in Celestia’s cutie mark did you do that? If I’d had my horn down you’d have a hole in your neck!” Broken hissed at Twilight.
“I didn’t know what you were going to do to Pinkie! I couldn’t let you hurt her!”
Broken growled. “So trip me! Blast a hole in the road, make a speedbump, shoot a bolt at my plot, cut my leg off! You don’t need to jump in front of somepony to get them to stop moving!”
“It was the only thing I could think of!”
“Then learn to think faster!”
“I still don’t see why you were charging at her in the first place!”
“Because-“ He cut off, wincing as his injured hoof hit the ground a little hard. He took a breath, and was a small bit calmer as he addressed Twilight again. “Because where I’m from corpses have a tendency to explode.”
Twilight turned her head to stare at him, almost certain she had misheard. In doing so, she didn’t realize that Pinkie had stopped moving, and ended up with the side of her head in contact with Pinkie’s backside. She jumped away as Pinkie squeaked and Broken barked a laugh.
“Sorry, Pinkie!” Twilight quickly apologized. The party pony shrugged.
“Don’t worry about it Twilight! I only stopped because you said that you were headed to Sweet Apple Acres and now we’re at Sweet Apple Acres and that means that you’ve gotten where you set out to go and-“
“Shut up, Cotton Candy.” Broken groaned. Pinkie closed her mouth, but gave a glare at the stallion. He responded with a grimace.
“Anyways, I have to go! Bye Twilight! Bye Grumpy McMeaniepants!” Then she disappeared behind a fencepost. Both Twilight and Broken brought a hoof up to their heads and rubbed the space between their eyes (eye and eye socket, in Broken’s case). They glanced at each other, realizing their mirrored actions, before Broken coughed and began walking into the farm proper. An orange farmfilly came out to greet them, and Twilight noticed that Broken’s entire body relaxed a small amount at her appearance.
“Y’all okay there, Twilight? Ah saw y’walk in with Pinkie, there. Everythin’ go alright at Rarity’s?”
“Everything’s fine, AJ.” Twilight responded. Applejack levelled a stare at her, flicking her eyes to the side, seeming to point at Broken. “He didn’t do anything. Rarity’s okay.”
At this, Applejack let out a breath. “Thanks, Twi.” She turned to Broken. “South orchard needs some cursory buckin’ done t’get the bad apples down. Y’think y’can do that?”
“Sure. You mind if I eat what falls down?”
Applejack’s brow raised, but she nodded. Broken grinned and teleported away. The farmpony setting a leisurely pace towards the south orchard, jerking her head for Twilight to follow. “Ah want t’hear what happened, if y’don’t mind.”
“I’m sorry?”
“When we were gettin’ this whole rodeo arranged, y’said that he… escaped, or somethin’? An’ that’s when he talked t’Apple Bloom?”
Twilight winced. Applejack had been rather frustrated when Twilight had come over, bucking dead apple trees straight out of the ground while both muttering and yelling about the Cutie Mark Crusader’s attempted destruction of the old plow by way of old explosives. When Twilight confirmed their story that they had gotten the idea from Twilight’s “uncle”, she had kicked a tree so hard the next three snapped in half. Twilight had tried to be very clear that she had gotten him under control quickly, but the claims failed to mollify the farm pony. She vented on the trees for a few hours before she was even able to plan Broken’s visit, leaving Twilight with the assurance that she wasn’t mad at her. Just Broken.
“He’s not that bad, really…”
“Twi, he tried t’kill you. That’s somethin’ he ain’t made up for yet, and probably never will in mah opinion. Whether or not he thinks he has a good reason for wantin’ you dead.”
“Applejack, you need to understand that to him, I’m the pony that killed the Princesses! He’s not a danger to anypony that isn’t a threat to him!”
“Ah know that’s what he thinks, but that don’t excuse what he’s done. Ah’d rather not risk him hurtin’ somepony that ain’t done nothin’ here but who, say, destroyed Canterlot where he’s from. Just b’cause they did it there don’t mean they’ll do it here.”
“And that logic doesn’t apply to Broken?”
“He’s from there, Twi. Nopony but him an’ us is even aware that another version of them exists somewhere else. He is that pony from somewhere else.”
Twilight sighed. “You wanted to hear what happened, right?” Applejack nodded. “Okay, then, first off…”
And so, Twilight related as much as she could about what had occurred between the night Broken told them of his Equestria and the present. Applejack had actually supported his attacking Pip, though likely for different reasons than his own (“Ah’ll be damned if Ah let some stranger sleep in mah younger sister’s bed with her.”), but her mood soured as Twilight related his actions afterward, and this attitude only worsened as she heard about his freak-out with the healing spell revelation. She stopped Twilight only once, for clarification on a certain point.
“Wait. Rarity’s codename was Marshmellow?”
“Yeah. She was surprised by it too. Is it, like, a thing between you two, or…?”
Applejack left the question unanswered. “Why the feather did Ah get t’pick the codenames, anyhow? Was Ah runnin’ with him against you?”
“Acutally, yes.” Applejack’s brow raised, but she motioned for Twilight to continue.
As Twilight’s retelling wound down, Applejack got more and more perturbed looking. When the unicorn finally stopped, the earth pony clicked her tounge.
“So, basically yer sayin’ that he tried to kill somepony other than you, left the library without yer knowin’, killed animals for the purpose of eatin’ them, went all crazy when you told him that we can stop ponies from bein’ hurt, an’ tried to attack a friend of ours for no real reason? An’ you say he’s less dangerous than Ah think he is?”
“He wasn’t attacking Pinkie, Applejack! He said that dead things blow up in his Equestria, and Pinkie was… doing something with a dead thing, I guess, and... he was trying to protect her?” she weakly offered. Applejack barked a laugh, in a manner that Twilight noticed was very similar to Broken’s.
“Twi, if he said that Ah’m the only one of us that he likes, and that Ah’m the only one of us that didn’t go against the Princesses, then don’t y’think he might have a grudge against Pinkie just because she supported Dawn? An’ knowin’ that, why the feather would he stop her gettin’ blown up?”
“I really don’t know…”
“An’ what was Pinkie doin’ with a dead thing anyhow?”
Twilight let the question hang. The two mares entered into the section of land invisibly marked as the south orchard. Following the sound of grunts, cuss words and thumps, they eventually found Broken attempting to balance on one forehoof while bucking a tree.
“Why y’tryin t’do a balancin’ act, there? Ah though Ah asked y’to buck trees.” Applejack said, leaning against the tree beside Broken’s target. He grunted.
“I have been. Can’t you see all the clean trees with your earth pony magic plant vision?” He lifted his back legs again, wobbling and kicking the air beside the tree. “Bucking Celestia’s tangled mane!”
“What Ah see is a pony that could do a lot better if he’d let somepony heal his hoof.”
Broken stiffened, and he turned his head to glare at Applejack. “No.”
“Aw, come now. It ain’t weak or anythin’ t’acknowledge an injury. Mac had t’take Applebuckin’ Season off a while ago b’cause he injured himself.”
“I acknowledge the injury. I’m not letting anypony heal it.”
“Yer a guardspony, right? You know not givin’ a hurt a rest only makes it worse.”
“I am resting it. It’s not touching the ground right now.”
“Applejack, I think you should just let it go.” Twilight cautioned. Applejack stood up, walking around to face Broken.
“Broken Shield, this is mah land and yer workin’ it as a favour t’me. Ah must insist, as your host, that y’sit yer plot down and let me take a look at yer hoof. Please.” She put a forehoof on his shoulder and began to drag it down his leg. He slammed his back hooves into the ground and shoved her, sending her rolling over onto her back.
“NO MEANS NO! I don’t want anypony, anypony, healing me, or touching me, or anything like that! Get that through your thick skull you bucking FLATHEAD!”
Silence. Twilight and Applejack stared at Broken, jaws loose. He huffed and snorted a bit, then seemed to calm down enough to realize what he had just said.
“Oh, buck this.”
Then his horn glowed, and he vanished in a flash of magic.
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Chapter Seven cometh!
I actually just barely scraped this one by; was writing until one-thirty in the morning last night. Got hit with a major block over the week, so I had to pare it down to just Rarity and Applejack, with a dash of Pinkie. I'm still happy with how it turned out, though, so s'all good.
Next up, Broken explains some things!
Interesting... can't help but wonder why Applejack would name her friends/enemies after sweets though. Was that before Twilight became Dawn or afterwards?
I think I need to reread the old chapters, timetravel always gives me a headache
1638328
It was kinda-sorta before; Twilight only began calling herself Dawn after she took over, and AJ was helping fight against her before then, so the codenames technically came before Dawn but after Twilight went crazy.
As for the names themselves, some are references to other things, but I tried to associate all of them with their ponies in some way.
1638514 Well, Marshmellow and Cotton Candy are rather obvious. And I suppose Lollipop is a reference to Lollipop Chainsaw? Haven't figured out where Taffy and Cinnamon come from though.
1638540
Dingdingding! Nice to see that someone made the Lollipop connection. Plus she's a unicorn, so if she's decapitated then her head can kind of be held like a lollipop.
As for the other two, Taffy (that I've tried) tends to have a muted, softer taste than most candies, and Cinnamon is spicy.
Twilight needs to find something to use that she can prove to Broken that the future in this universe will be different. Like events or something of the like.
Amazing .i really like the development ans i though fluttershy was taffy for her mane xd.i guess the other mane six minus aj went craxy too ..her fandom crazy versions maybe....? Or .is there a thing that made them all that way o.o
Cannot wait to see how this turns out.
1639872
Broken knows that it's going to be different, but he wants to make sure that it's different enough that Dawn won't be able to do much damage.
1641357
(Most of) The others aren't insane even in Broken's timeline; they have varying reasons for supporting Rising Dawn, with only two of them being arguably insane at the start of it.
But nothing Broken does in this universe will change his any.
It's a different universe there.
It's like if you are in the Holiday Inn and the manager sets the place on fire. You want to stop it. So you go back in time and try to kill the manager of the Paris Hilton.
Won't do a damn bit of good. You are trying to change things in the wrong place.
So therefore Broken can't do anything to help his universe because he's in the wrong one.
1674225
The analogy would be perhaps more apt if the manager of the Paris Hilton was planning to set his hotel on fire as well. Broken is well aware that doing anything in this universe wouldn't change what happened in his, but he does know that stopping it in this universe means that this universe (as well as [spoilers]) will not go up in flames as his did. In his point of view, stopping the fire is important no matter where it is.
I do believe it's spelled "marshmallow", not "marshmellow".
And while I'm at it, "blunk" is wrong. "Blinked" is correct. That was done in several of the chapters prior to this one.
2692364
By several, you mean all. I think the author might have blunked out of grammar school.
1676616
I'm replying to you even though this message is unrelated because you'll be sent a notification if this comment, so I'm sure you can't possibly not see it.
2692364>>3220995
I'm not the only one.
But don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on this story, I absolutely love it, and have been binge-reading for days.
But yeah.
Blunk.
Such blunk
Personally hate 'buck' as a curse, or any other ponified words as a matter of fact, it's… ugly and clunky. The f is smoother than the b, no real reason for them not to use it imo.
Yeah, this whole thing is a horrible idea. He should be locked up in a maximum security asylum being treated by actual doctors instead of walking freely in an innocent village being treated by ponies he very clearly wants to kill.
6308859
Do you think Equestria, a land that hasn't known strife for 1000 years, has a psychologist that can help someone with brain damage and extreme PTSD? Twilight and her friends can see Broken Shield as a Pony that has been through a lot. A psychologist will see Broken Shield as a patient, something too distant for what he actually needs. I would think Celestia or Shining Armor would have ordered covert ops to watch Broken Shield in case he really loses it, but this is probably the best way anyone in Equestria can help Broken Shield.
I like the the differences with healing magic you've written for the two universes. This tells me that Rising Dawn didn't become a tyrant per say, but has become super draconian and merciless to criminals. That wouldn't be a problem, but Rising Dawn is First Pony and head of government, meaning that she can make laws independently and enforce them. Broken Shield, being a Loyalist leader, means that he is what passes for a terrorist in Dawn's Equestria, so Rising Dawn probably experimented on Broken Shield personally.