//------------------------------// // Proactivity // Story: Prevention // by Mind Matter //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle awoke with a snort as the library’s door rumbled. The sun was close to being set, just starting to touch the horizon. A candle on the desk she sat at had burned down heavily, a small flickering flame quickly blown out by the pony’s movement. She glanced down at the book that had served as her pillow – Pony Politics Throughout The Ages – before shaking her head to remove any lingering sleepiness. That’s odd. I was really interested in this book; how could I have fallen asleep? Was Spike right about mixing coffee with one of Pinkie Pie’s Rainbow Cakes? Before she could ponder this question further, the door rumbled again, unmistakably the sound of someone urgently requesting entry. “Coming!” Twilight called, rushing to the door. Nopony had come by in the last few days, so she was eager to help this one, whatever they needed. Quickly composing herself, she opened the door, letting in the waning sunlight. A pony she didn’t recognize stood in front of her, a stallion in a tattered cloak with a hood over his head. “Welcome to Ponyvi-“ She was cut off as a hoof slammed into her face; not gently, to prevent talking, but instead a violent action that knocked her down and sent her sliding across the floor. She sat dazed for seconds that felt eternal, trying to piece together what had just happened from the fragments of senses that she could recover. These unconscious but important efforts were put on hold as she realized two, more important things. She was being lifted through the air, floating back towards the library door. And she couldn’t breathe. The stallion was a unicorn, and she could now feel the magic that he was wrapping around her neck as he dragged her back towards him. Her hooves came up, vainly tapping at the solid magic. She tried to say something, but the grip was tight enough that she couldn’t even exhale. Her vision started going dark, and she looked in terror as her murderer’s scarred face came into view. His mane partially hid a patch over one eye, but the other was clear and coldly focussed. She felt an odd familiarity with the pony, like she had seen him numerous times before. Then he was on fire. Twilight dropped to the ground as the stallion’s cloak went up in flame. She sucked in a breath painfully. Looking up, she saw the stallion rearing, shaking his head to try to fling a small green and purple mass from on top of it. Spike clung on, fangs dug into the pony’s scalp and claws tearing into his cheeks. The stallion roared, and Spike was lifted in a light-rose-coloured blob of magic from the pony’s head, then flung into a bookshelf. The baby dragon fell to the floor like a rag doll. He groaned. “SPIKE!” She screamed, rushing to her fallen assistant. He looked up at her, obviously in pain. An arm was bent oddly, and he gasped as he tried to push himself up with it. Twilight glanced at the stallion, currently busy stomping out his flaming covering, and turned back to Spike. Her horn glowed as she performed the only spell she could think of, and Spike disappeared in a pop as he was teleported far away from the madpony, to Fluttershy’s cottage. Twilight took two more deep breaths as she turned to face her now-unoccupied assailant. As she looked over him without his cloak, she felt her throat close up again. This time however, there was no magic. The stallion had a blue mane and a white coat, crisscrossed with scars that could only have come from nonmagical healing. One blue eye stared at her with more malice than she had ever thought could be contained in a single pony. On his flank, a shield with a star much like her own made up his cutie mark, cut cruelly in half by a jagged scar. “Shining Armor?” She heard herself ask. His eye narrowed. “Hello, Rising Dawn.” “No. No. You aren’t my brother.” Twilight shook her head, trying to see past whatever illusion the pony had active. “My brother isn’t all scarred up like that. He still has both eyes. He wouldn’t try to kill me.” Her brows furrowed, terror being replaced by anger. “You aren’t my brother. If you’re going to kill me, do it without hiding.” In response, a magic ring popped into existence around Twilight’s throat. She once again found herself unable to breathe. The crazy stallion that looked like Shining Armor spoke. “I’m disappointed, Dawn. You really can’t tell that I’m your Big Brother Best Friend Forever? Like two peas in a pod, we did everything together?” He shook his head. “Not that it matters. You just have to die. Then she won’t.” Twilight’s heart stopped as her vision darkened once more. She looked down with fading sight to see the tip of a magical barrier sticking out from her chest, just about where her heart would be. Looking back up, she saw a tear flowing down the stallion’s face. When he spoke, his voice was hitched. “I am sorry, little sis.” Then he was sent flying by a pair of cream-coloured hooves. Twilight’s lungs once again began doing their duty. Her heart, thrown awry by the shield around it, did not. Her vision still darkened, bloodflow being nonexistent to her brain. Her last memory before everything went black was of a brown-and-cream stallion running up to her. A spot darkened the area around one of his eyes. “Twilight? Come on, Twi. Wake up.” Beep. Beep. Beep. Hearing came back first, quickly followed by touch. Twilight lay on something soft, in a very quiet room. A familiar claw held on to one hoof. Spike’s voice overtook the beeping of a machine close by. “Please, Twi. You need to wake up. Please.” Beep. Beep. Beep. A door opened and closed. “Spike…” a drawling mare’s voice softly spoke. The young dragon sniffed. “Spike, it’s only bin three days. Doc’ said she’d undergone a whole hay’a trauma. She’s just gonna take time ta’heal, ‘s all.” Beep. Beep. Beep. “…I know.” The dragon responded. His voice turned from sad to tense. “Has he talked yet?” “No more’n th’other one. Keeps sayin’ he’ll only talk t’the Princesses, an’ that what he did was nec’sary.” Applejack made a small shuddering noise. “That’s what scares me.” “What do you mean?” “Spike… he’s bein’ honest. He completely an’ truly thinks that killin’ Twilight is somethin’ that needs ta be done. Mix that with how much he looks like her brother, an-“ BEEBEEBEEBEEBEEBEEBEEBEEBEE The machine blared as Twilight’s eyes shot open. She stared at the ceiling for several seconds before her head fell to the side, allowing her sight to fall upon the shocked faces of Applejack and Spike. She flicked her eyes around, recognizing the room layout of Ponyville General Hospital Intensive Care Ward. “TWILIGHT!” Spike leapt at the hospital bed from his chair, only being stopped with a lurch when Applejack grabbed hold of his tail. He looked back at her with confusion. “Applejack, what the-“ A stampede of ponies in varying medical uniforms cut him off as they rushed into the room. “Heartrate spike! Check her levels-“ “Eyes open, need to-“ “Breathing normal, get those tubes out-“ “-129/80-” “Healing rate normal-“ “Never gonna give you up-“ “Squee levels acceptable-“ “Magic pool still functional-“ “Palette colours still within-“ “-over 9000! She’s good, ponies! MOVE OUT!” The horde of scrub-and-white-coat-wearing ponies exited the room as quickly as they came, leaving a confused Twilight laying in the bed with many less tubes surrounding her. Applejack let go of Spike, who promptly completed his jump and hugged Twilight. (Well, hugged her as best he could with one arm and her neck in a brace.) “Honestly, when did ‘Ensure good care’ change meanin’ inta ‘Pit stop speed’?” She shook her head before sticking out the door. “Hey gals, Twi’s awake!” Almost instantaneously, four ponies appeared in the room, worry, relief, and joy warring for supremacy on their faces. “TWILIGHT!” “Oh, I hope you’re okay, Twilight.” “Yay! You’re awake! We can finally have your Yay-You’re-Awake party!” “Darling, I do hope you’re feeling alright. This bed seems awfully thin for a recovering pony…” “What happened to him?” Twilight asked, her voice raspy, but still audible over the din. “Where’s-“ “The prisoner has been taken into custody by the Royal Guardsponies, at the request of Princesses Celestia and Luna. Milady’s brother, Shining Armor, has headed the interrogation, as Princess Celestia wanted to ensure Milady’s health before speaking with the prisoner.” Twilight turned her head to look for the source of the voice, settling on the one pony in the room she didn’t know; the stallion that had saved her life. Everypony else also faced the strange stallion, who looked over them passively. “Well dang, that’s more’n he’s said the last three day’s put t’gether!” Applejack noted. Twilight coughed in an attempt to clear her throat. “Thank you. For saving my life, I mean.” The stallion looked at her with the same passiveness. It sent something of a chill down her spine. He looked like he was sleepwalking. “I was only doing my duty as First Guard, Milady.” “Who the heck are you, anyways?” Spike piped up. Twilight and the other ponies watched the stallion’s reaction, which was to reach up and scratch part of the brown circle around one of his eyes. “Remember Nightmare Night? The one where Luna came down and scared the hay out of everypony in Ponyville?” He looked Twilight in the eyes, and for a moment she could see something behind the dull brown spheres. Some kind of memory of an emotion. “It was my first. I found it to be… scary, but fun.” Nopony moved. Spike, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy were all struck into confusion at the stallion’s non-sequitur. Twilight was frozen with a terrified recognition. “Pipsqueak?” She finally choked out. He blinked. “At your service, Milady.” “…okay, let me get this straight.” Rainbow Dash glanced between the two ponies occupying opposite sides of the hospital room. She faced Twilight before continuing. “That stallion standing there is that little colt Pipsqueak that Luna’s been foalsitting occasionally, except this Pipsqueak is from an alternate timeline that’s ahead of us?” “As is the stallion that assaulted her Ladyship. The mage that cast the spell on me was killed while casting, and as such I arrived several minutes later than the other.” The stallion replied. Rainbow turned to face him. “That’s another thing! What the buck happened to make that guy wanna kill Twilight? And why do you keep calling her ‘Milady’ and ‘her Ladyship’ and all of that?” “I call her Ladyship her Ladyship because her Ladyship is her Ladyship’s proper title.” Pipsqueak stated. Rainbow blunk several times in confusion. “As for his assault of her Ladyship, he is the leader of the ponies who have remained loyal to the Princesses in opposition to her Ladyship’s popular revolution.” “Who is he in this timeline?” Twilight asked. Her voice had become better after several cups of water, and she sat up in the bed, trying to keep as much focus on the stallion as possible. She had been thinking on her question during the entirety of Rainbow’s repetitive interrogation, and was sure enough of the answer to already be showing a heartrate anomaly. Pipsqueak exhaled – not a sigh, that would require emotion – before responding. “Shining Armor. Though he prefers to go by Broken Shield, now.” Had Twilight still been hooked up to the heart monitor, it would have noted that her heartrate had tripled. Everypony (and the dragon) in the room talked at once. “Shining Armor tried to kill Twilight?” “What the hay? That makes no sense! Even to me!” “Why would he do that?” “Oh my…” “Did he go loco or something?” “What in Tartarus could Twi ha’done t’make her brother wan’ta kill her?” Once more, Pipsqueak exhaled. “Simply? She killed the Princesses. Celestia in battle and Cadance in execution. I killed Luna at order of her Ladyship.” Silence. Had Twilight still been hooked up to the heart monitor, it would have shown a flat line. Two small whumps sounded as Fluttershy and Rarity fainted. Broken Shield sat as well as he could in the dank dungeon under the Royal Palace. Being chained to the ceiling by his forehooves, and having an ever-increasing weight hooked on to his back legs, had resulted in a situation where none of his four walking appendages could really hold him up. He would be lucky if he could walk again within the week. It was truly the worst form of torture in the Guardsponies’ Big Book of Interrogation and Information Extraction Methods. Broken Shield had requested that they add balehooks and branding irons to the routine. “Give me a challenge.” Now, however, he was on the floor, released from his bindings, awaiting the entrance of the Princesses. The very ponies he had once sworn to protect, had seen murdered, had done this timeline-destroying jump to ensure the survival of, were coming down to interrogate him personally. How fun. A voice sounded from outside his little cell. “The Princesses are really coming down to interrogate him? Personally?” Another voice, very similar to Broken’s, but with less years of wear and tear. Shining Armor. “That’s right. All they were waiting for was my sister’s recovery. Now that she’s okay, they’re gonna make this pony wish he’d never been born.” She’s alive? No. No no no no no “Hey!” He called to the younger, stupider version of himself. “Shiny, you white-livered blue-brained rose-sniffing gelding! I have some information I’m willing to share!” A laugh greeted him from the other side of the two-inch steel. He raised his voice. “Come on, Polished Closet!” There was silence for several seconds. Then an ear-bleeding screech signalled the opening of the heavy door, with a blue-maned whitecoated stallion quickly slipping through the opening and shutting the door behind him. He glared at his doppelganger with barely contained hostility. “Where did you learn that name?” Broken Shield laughed. “And he’s not deaf anymore!” He giggled insanely for several seconds before resting his eye on the younger stallion. “Well, Polished Closet, I know that as a colt, you heard about how Prance was known as the Land of Love. So, in the infinite wisdom that comes with being a colt, you decided to make your name more like the Prench, and called yourself ‘Shining Armoire’. It took you two weeks and several adults laughing their flanks off at you to realise that an armoire is a storage unit for clothing, not the Prench word for armour.” He giggled again at Shining’s befuddled expression. “I also know that you’re married to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, also known as Princess Cadance. She likes to be called Candy in private, especially when you’re nibbling-“ a swift buck to the face cut off Broken’s description in a mess of blood and pain. He coughed up globules of bloody mucus and glared at his enraged captor. “How. Do. You. Know. This?!” Shining Armor reared up to send a forehoof into the pony’s damaged snout, and Broken spoke quickly. “I know that your first kiss with Cadance was the last night she foalsat your sister. I know that you keep a picture of her hidden somewhere on every piece of armour you own. I know that you and her have been trying for a foal since your wedding night, and that she wants to name the baby something so complicatedly Neightalian that you just end up referring to her as Dazzle, after the great-grandmother of Cadance’s that died a week after she was born. I know that you mixed as much hate as you could into the Love Beam that defenestrated Chrysalis and sent the Changelings out of Equestria in an effort to poison them, and I know that you followed this up with a vigorous secret investigation to make sure that there wasn’t a single living Changeling within a five-hundred kilometre radius of Equestria. I know this because I. AM. YOU!” Broken roared this last line, muscles in his neck straining as he thrust his head towards his stunned interrogator. The younger stallion stumbled over several words before finally settling on one. “…how?” “Someone mark this occasion down! ‘The day Shining Armor got a bucking clue!’ What you should care about is not how the buck I got here – it’s a modified time-copy alteration spell, by the way – but that should you not get your flank in gear and that little lavender harridelle into a six-foot-deep hole in the ground with her head separated from the rest of her, CADANCE IS GOING TO DIE!” Broken threw his head into the ground, sending a splitting bolt of pain through to the top of his spine. He glared once more at Shining Armor, this time with tears streaking down his face. “And you will be forever graced with the memory of watching said lavender harridelle kill her.” Shining Armor stared, eyes wide, at the weeping figure of Broken Shield. The madpony curled up into a small lump on the floor, shaking with a mix of sobs and maniacal laughter. Shining opened his mouth to say something, caught, tried again, and succeeded in releasing a small peep before turning and walking to the armoured door. Only when he was partially out of the room did he find the words he sought. “And if I believe you?” Broken Shield looked up at his double. The stallion’s face was torn between stoicism and fear. Broken laughed, a hard, dry laugh. “If you believe me, with all that entails… then Twilight falls, and Dawn never rises. You die disgraced as a kinkiller. Cadance is safe, as is everypony that was killed during the Revolution. Your life for theirs. One for many, yes? The Guard’s Final Duty?” In answer, the steel door slammed shut. Though this time, it was a gentle slam.