He was in chains again. That was to be expected.
Celestia had been quite angry at him. That was to be expected.
He hadn’t seen anypony in well over twenty-four hours. That, too, was to be expected.
Everything was, so far, going to plan. Now he just had to wait.
“I am a Free Pony
And I am here to say
I’m going to free Equestria, and bring down the tyranny-y-y
It doesn’t matter now
If you’re under abuse
‘Cause sparking an uprising is what I am here to do
‘Cause I want to make you free, free, free
Yes I do-“
Broken continued to hum the tune to the odd song even as the door dragged open to admit Shining Armor and two other guards. He flashed them a toothy grin, winking at the Captain, who glared back in response.
“So how’s Pippy doing? Did I manage to carve up any part of his brain? Though I’m damned proud I got his eye, that’s a hard shot to make with no depth perception.”
Stone-faced silence met his mockingly-cheery words. Broken’s grin slipped to a smirk. He narrowed his eye, clicking his tongue as he switched tactics.
“So how’s Candy doing, Pol--“
“Silence!” Shining barked. Broken snorted. “Aegis, Anvil, undo the prisoner’s bonds.”
“Oh, is that what you came down for?” Broken laughed again. “No need for that, colts, I got these off hours ago.” True to his word, a shake of his barrel slunk off the chains that should have fastened him to the floor, with the leg irons following suit as he stood uneasily. “You should really invest in better equipment, Polly, ‘cause these things were easier to get off than Candy’s fuzzy sto--“
The buck sent his head into the wall, though when he stopped seeing spots none of the guards had moved. He spat out some blood and laughed.
“Right, right, I get it. No talky about the plot--“
This buck made a dent in the wall, small chunks of rock falling around Broken as blood dripped onto his muzzle. The guards remained stock still. He gave each of them a grimaced glare.
“Now that was uncalled for, you Changeling-mounted—“
This buck made him see sunshine and several cross-eyed little pegasi.
“And why is the prisoner injured?”
“He was uncooperative, your highness. We were forced to subdue him.”
Celestia levelled a raised-brow appraisal of the three guardsponies in front of her. The two regulars shifted a bit, but Shining met her gaze evenly. She sighed as her eyes flicked to the blood-caked mess of a pony in front of them.
“I accept your justification. But if it happens again, and you three are once more spotless from injury, I shall assign all of you to the inside of Luna’s private chambers for the week before the next Summer Sun Celebration. Is that understood?”
Now all three looked rather mortified, though Shining at least attempted to maintain a straight face. Celestia smirked and waved them off with a hoof.
The second the door closed, Broken let out a groan, quickly followed by two coughs. An eye appeared out from under his matted mane, and he gritted his teeth as he drew himself up to bow to his princess. Then he fell over again.
“Strip my hide if that bucker can’t hit. I don’t remember being that strong.”
Celestia stared at Broken for a time, simply watching him shift around in an effort to reduce the pain to as small an amount as he could. When he stopped, she began.
“She wishes to help you.”
“What?”
“Twilight Sparkle. She wishes to help you recover from the trauma you’ve been forced through.”
What.
Broken laughed again, this time with genuine entertainment at what was obviously a rather odd joke at his expense. He tapered off slowly as he noticed her silence. The stallion watched her, looking for any sign of a fib. Celestia had always had a tell, but if she was lying now, she was hiding it extremely well.
“You’re serious, then. Why the buck would she want to help me? Is she suicidal? Did I do more damage to her head than it looked?”
“My student is fine, Broken Shield. Apart from some strained muscles in her neck.”
Broken was minorly surprised to feel a small relief at the news. “Then why in Faust’s name would-“
“‘Love and Tolerance’, Broken. Many ponies, including your sister, live lives almost completely free of resentment and hatred.”
Broken was silent for several minutes. He mulled the news over in his head. Giggled occasionally as he thought of something that he found entertaining, but mostly he remained rather stoic.
“…Does she truly think I can be rehabilitated?”
“I’m not sure what you mean, my little pony.” Celestia watched the disturbed stallion; for the first time in her observance, he looked… confused. Unsure. Scared.
“I’ve… your highness, I’ve lived the last decade of my life fighting the being that she became. I’ve lost everything to her, friends, allies, family. I’ve been tortured, starved, mentally raped, all at her order or by her hoof. I have tortured, starved, and destroyed the minds of her allies and helpers. I don’t remember the last day that I’ve not killed somepony out of necessity, or excessive assault, or simply because they were the enemy. I have ten years of memories of things that many ponies here could never comprehend. I’m not sure I can recover from that trauma.” His eyes were dry; Broken was speaking not as a madpony, but as a truly broken individual.
Celestia sighed. She walked forwards, standing within hooflengths of the old soldier. She laid a wingtip on his shoulder, drawing a confused stare.
“I, too, do not believe that you will recover from what has occurred. To ask you to would be foalish and a futile effort.”
“Then why did you-“
“Because you can be helped, Broken Shield. You may never recover, but you do not need to remain broken. I want to see you come back from the brink that you stand upon. I want to see your scars faded, your injuries mended, your traumas healed. What I want, my little pony, is for you to live the life that all ponies should be allowed to live.”
“And Twilight?”
“She, too, sees little difference between herself and Rising Dawn. She feels a horrible guilt over what little she knows of Dawn’s actions; it is my hope that she may help you to heal from your past, and that you may help her to realize that she is innocent of any evils Rising Dawn may have committed.”
“And how, precisely, do you expect this to happen?”
“Simple. You shall be set free, with Twilight acting as your legal guardian. At regular points in time, you shall give a narrative, to Twilight, and her friends should they wish it, of what occurred in your Equestria. Everything that you can remember that is relevant to how you came to be here, I want you to tell her. That way, you can relieve yourself of the burden of carrying those memories silently, she can see just how different she is from Dawn, and with Spike recording, we can get a clearer timeline of the events, so that we may learn from them.” Celestia gave a small smile as Broken’s brow furrowed.
“Say I agree to this. Where would I stay?”
“Twilight has offered room and board.”
“And I’m supposed to assume nopony has a problem with that? Her friends, her dragon, Pol-er, Shining Armor? You?”
Celestia merely shook her head. “If anypony has a problem, they can voice it to Twilight. It’s her decision.”
“What about me?”
“Do you have a problem living with her?”
Broken snorted. “Would you want to bunk in with a pre-insane Discord?” When Celestia gave him a slightly sheepish look, he specified. “Yes, I do. I’d much rather live in the Everfree, your highness. Less dangerous.”
“You can speak to Twilight about it.”
The stallion just sighed. “What would I do, when not regaling her and her ‘friends’ with tales of torture and misery?”
“I would presume Twilight or one of her friends could use the aid of a former Royal Guard in some fashion. And before you ask,” she added, as Broken opened his mouth once more. “No, I’m not letting you anywhere any weapons or instruments of violence. Twilight is under strict orders to prevent you from harming anypony, as well.”
“Princess, I highly doubt that she or you could keep me away from anything that could be used as a weapon. I’ve had to learn to use any possible item to my advantage.”
“Like the floor?” Broken’s eye flicked up at Celestia, who met his stare with a mild chill.
“I swore not to hurt Twilight. Technically, I’m still at war with Pip.”
“He was not attacking you nor acting aggressive. You had no reason to attack him.”
“No reason?! He’s responsible for the deaths of more Royal Guards and Loyalists than I can count, as well as Princess Luna, in case you forgot-”
Celestia’s eyes popped open fully. Her mane seemed to inflate, and it was suddenly very, very hot in the chamber. The Solar Princess’ voice took on a timbre; not the Royal Canterlot Voice, but the voice of any channelling extreme power. “I would not forget such a thing, Broken Shield. I remember any and all threats to my people, especially my family. You would do well to remember that.”
“I meant no offence, Princess. But he is my enemy, has been for almost ten years. I will not simply brush off a decade of death, pain, and loss at his hooves in a day because you’ve asked me to.”
“You’ve done so with Twilight-“
“I HAVE NOT!” He roared. Celestia’s mouth closed in astonishment at his vehemence. “I have not, I will NEVER forget what that thing has done to me or to Equestria.” He took in a few breaths, ragged growls coming from his throat as stood up in an attempt to meet her eye. His voice grew icy as he spoke. “Your trick worked earlier because I saw Twilght and Rising Dawn as one in the same already. But as she is right now, she’s nowhere near the level of evil that Rising Dawn ruled over. I swear to you, Princess, and to Luna, and to Cadance, the second I see anything of Dawn in Twilight, I will kill her. Because she won’t be my sister anymore.” Then he began laughing again; it was a low, breathless laugh, one that failed to distract from the small tears running down his cheeks.
For the first time in several decades, the Solar Princess found herself at a loss as to what to do. She watched the madpony shake slightly as he curled into a ball, his forehooves covering his ears as he seemed to stare through the wall.
After several awkward minutes, the damaged unicorn seemed to calm enough for Celestia to approach, Before she had taken two steps, however, he launched to his hooves, stumbling slightly as he made for the door.
“Do you think the guards shall let you leave without me?”
This brought Broken Shield up short. He turned to face Celestia, his one eye matching her two in the intensity of his glare.
“Inform Twilight Sparkle that I accept.”
Then he vanished in a pop of rose-coloured magic.
The ride back to Ponyville was rather quiet.
Normally, they would have taken one or two pegasi chariots for urgent or official visits, or the train for regular, more relaxed trips, both to Canterlot and back. These modes of transportation would easily allow for conversations to form between the friends, lending to a more relaxed and fun atmosphere during the ride. Such talk would typically entail information on what each pony planned to do in Canterlot, or what each pony had done in Canterlot. Normally, the carriage they were in at the moment should have encouraged even more conversation than usual, as it lacked the noise of the train and the wind of the chariots. However, on this trip between the town and the city there was a problem. A large, scarred, one-eyed, possibly-extremely-dangerous problem.
Broken Shield sat on the rear bench of the carriage; the sides belonged to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie on one and Applejack and Rarity on the other (the former of each pair having volunteered to keep watch on him), with Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike seated in front, facing backwards. The majority of the time, all eyes were on the lone stallion. His eye flicked between his two ‘guards’ and Twilight with an erratic regularity. At one point, he noticed the seating arrangements, and precisely which looks were passing between which ponies and when. From his angle, he could also see certain telltale signs: reddened cheeks, small giggles, shifting tails, stiffening wings-
“I have a question, Rainbow Dash.”
Seven heads whipped fully to focus on him, some eyes widening while others narrowed. The prismatic pony, most surprised out of the entire group at having been addressed, gave a small grunt that Broken took to mean ‘Go ahead, you magnificent stallion, ask your question that I may answer to please you and make myself joyous at being useful to your flawlessly astounding mind.’
“If I wasn’t here, would you just be making out with Cotton Candy over there, or is your sense of public decency so hyracotheric that you would have your head past her cutie mark already?”
Had the air been as still outside the carriage as in, you could have heard a feather drop in Appleloosa.
A wet, muffled sound akin to a slap preceded a more definite thump as Broken’s muzzle met Rainbow’s hoof, a direct result of which was the back of his head introducing itself to the armoured panelling of the carriage wall. He blunk several times to clear the stars out of his vision, and when the last little lights winked out of his sight, he found the carriage one pony roomier. Out the barred window, a multi-coloured trail sped through the clouds.
“I’m surprised she can fly with her wings like that.” He chuckled to himself, purposefully refusing to notice the several glares that were directed at him. Glancing over at the pink confectioner, he grinned. She stuck her tongue out at him.
“That was rather uncouth.” Rarity finally said. The stallion levelled a glance at her.
“And? Public displays of ‘affection’ like that annoy me. Besides, you wanted to bite their heads off just as much as me for doing what they were doing.”
“And just how would you know that-“
“Because your idea of a romance is a privately passionate but publicly prude and prissy affair, like what you’re doing with Applejack.”
This time, the air was still enough for one to hear a feather drop all the way from Gryphonia. No glares were issued; instead, four sets of eyes turned to watch the two ponies on the left side of the carriage, whose faces had lost enough blood for there to be an observable difference under their coats. Their eyes were almost entirely white, taking up the majority of the front of their heads with pinprick pupils, and focussed on the scarred stallion seated to their right. Broken could have sworn there was a mirroring magic at work on them; both opened their mouths simultaneously, tried to talk and instead emitted strange squeaks, turned their heads to face each other, then faced forwards and gave an unfocussed, still-huge-eyed-and-small-pupilled stare at the floor. Broken stopped smiling.
“Buck me, that was still a secret, wasn’t it.” Two faint nods. The stallion’s face went blank.
Then he started roaring with laughter.
“Ah buck me hahaha I’m really pfffft haha really sorry about that hehehehehe I th-hehe thought you two were already out! Hahahaha!” He brought his forehooves to his sides as he fell off of his seat. The three ponies that weren’t in a state of shock (as well as the dragon) watched as he rolled to the front, knocking up against the panelling under the seat. His eye opened, and he and Twilight locked gazes.
Several things happened in quick succession.
Broken’s horn glowed. The carriage jerked sharply upwards. Twilight found herself falling towards the back, on top of Broken Shield. Then they hit the back, Broken impacting the wall while Twilight impacted Broken. The carriage righted itself, and Twilight fell to the floor, Broken landing on top of her, his legs braced to catch himself and avoid crushing her. She began to spin onto her belly so that she could crawl out, and found that Broken’s horn was digging into her neck. She glanced down, and froze when she saw him glaring back.
“One.”
Then he slid backwards off of her, dragging himself up and settling in the back seat in much the same position he had held before his laughing fit. Twilight scurried back to the front, her eyes matching everypony else’s (as well as the dragon, excepting Rarity) as they gave a terrified stare at the stallion. He greeted Twilight’s with a blank stare.
“That’s one time, one really bucking good opportunity I had at killing you. But I didn’t. Because I swore not to.”
Then he moved his head, greeted each of the others with the same stare. He finished with Rarity and Applejack, the latter of which had recovered enough to meet his gaze.
“I am sorry, by the way. I was not aware that you two were still private about your relationship. Had I known, I’d not have revealed it.”
The door opened, and a pegasus guard stuck his head in. “Our apologies. There were some unexpected hazards that necessitated a rapid course change. Is everypony alright?”
“I’m fine, thanks. Though I believe the Elements here would appreciate if you brought the sixth back?” Broken looked at Twilight again, who gave a small nod. “See? Go get her for them, will you?”
The guard, for his part, gave a confused glance around the carriage before nodding and leaving. After a few stiff, quiet minutes, the door reopened, and Rainbow Dash slipped in. She and Broken glared at each other.
“For a guard, you’re rather easy to distract, you know that?”
Rainbow growled, deliberately turning away from Broken as she sat back down.
“I’m not trying to be rude. If my guards or I had left a prisoner simply because he insulted us, the dungeons would have been empty ten times more than they were. I nearly killed Twilight while you were gone, by the way.”
This got her attention. Her eyes shot open, her head whipping first to him then to Twilight, as if to ascertain that he didn’t have the unicorn’s beating heart impaled on his horn as he spoke. He waited until she turned back to him before continuing.
“I didn’t, obviously, because if I did I’d have broken my oath to the Princesses. Which brings me to my second point: Twilight doesn’t need guards. I’m about the biggest threat to her that’s going to be a constant occurrence, and my oath prevents me from harming her, so I’m basically hobbled on that front. Pip and her magic should be able to handle anything else, and you ponies just being around helps reduce the remaining threats immensely.” He glanced up at Twilight, who met his gaze uneasily. “That reminds me. How is Pip?”
“He’s… okay. I guess.” She replied. “I mean, he didn’t even seem to care that there was a rock in his eye, nor that the eye had to be removed.” She shivered, and Spike wrapped his arm around her neck. “It was scary, just how… indifferent he was about the whole thing.”
Broken nodded. “I can understand that. First time I saw a Risen guard charge at me with his lower jaw and most of a foreleg missing… heh. Didn’t sleep right for a week.”
“Were… were all of my guards like that, then?” This question came in a small voice.
“Yes. Rising Dawn believed that emotion stopped a pony from being effective in their duties, especially when such duties regularly involved dying or getting close to death.” He coughed, noticing that all eyes were on him again. “You wanna know the really scary part?” He looked each of them in the eyes (except Fluttershy, who had turned away every time his gaze came upon her) and spoke in a hushed voice. “He’s not even a stallion yet. Fifteen years old, and he’s personally killed a Princess, over a hundred Royal Guards, and I don’t know how many Loyalists. All because Dawn told him to.”
“No.” Everypony in the carriage looked at Twilight, who was shaking her head as her pupils shrunk. “No, no, no, that can’t… I’d never… not… never that young...”
“No, you wouldn’t.” Broken replied. He caught her eyes and tried his best to hold them. “Rising Dawn would. And did.”
“Hold on. I thought Twilight was Rising Dawn? In your timeline-dimension thingy?”
“She was. Is. It’s complicated.” Broken waved a hoof. “Princess Celestia sent me down here because she couldn’t keep me in the dungeons for some reason, and Twilight volunteered to take care of me (something that I am still uncomfortable with, by the way) and Celestia saw that as a golden opportunity to get a record of what happened as well as ‘Showing Twilight that she’s different from Rising Dawn’ or some crap like that.”
“You don’t think she is?”
“If I did, I wouldn’t’ve tried to kill her, now would I?” Twilight shrunk back at this, and Rainbow growled. “Again, you don’t have to worry about that anymore. Twilight isn’t Rising Dawn. Yet.”
Pinkie Pie. “But she could turn into mean ol’ Dawny later?”
“Easily. If I thought that my intervention would have removed the chance of Dawn arising, I’d have killed myself already.”
That bit of information seemed to catch the other ponies in the carriage off guard. Yet again, Broken Shield found himself subject to shocked stares.
“Ki…kill yourself?” Fluttershy squeaked.
“Yes. What, you think I’d hang around after murdering one of the Elements of Harmony, the sister of the Royal Guard Captain, Celestia’s personal student? Buck no. If I could definitively destroy any and all chances of Twilight becoming Rising Dawn right now, the first thing I’d do afterwards is jump out of the carriage and give myself a brain aneurysm and heart arrhythmia. Then I’d probably pop my lungs, put bubbles in my spine, so on and so forth.”
“But that’s…” Twilight trailed off. Broken raised an eyebrow at her. She swallowed and continued. “That makes no sense. Why would you kill yourself rather than explaining your actions? Is death really preferable?”
“I’d rather be dead right now. But I still have some things to take care of.”
“Things?” the studious unicorn asked.
“You’re still alive, aren’t you?”
Before any replies could be made, the carriage hit the ground, bouncing everypony but the stallion up in their seats. Within seconds the door slid open, and Broken found himself being roughly wrapped up in the chains before being bodily dragged out into Ponyville.
There were only three ponies anywhere near the library, and the presence of the Royal Guards sent them scurrying off. Broken was rather unceremoniously thrown into the library, sliding into a bookshelf with enough force to send a few books – heavy ones – falling onto him.
By the time he had escaped the chains, his six travelling partners (and the dragon) were all occupying spots in the room. He eyed each one, noting that they were all, once more, watching his every move.
“Er…” Twilight began. “Would you like to… get started, then?”
Broken simply glanced at her before pasting on a grin. He began strutting around the room, draping himself lavishly across furniture as well as the occasional pony. “Well, since you’re so eager to begin, I need to set some ground rules. No biting or crushing the merchandise. I don’t do pain play, so buck off if you wanna get bloody. I can only handle four of you at a time and still do a good job, so I’d suggest two of you get busy doing something else until one of my occupants decides she still needs to use her legs the next morning. The dragon needs to go, I’m not a specist or anything but I don’t do minors. If anypony’s into workhorsing, I’ve got the chains already. Oh, and my rate is twenty bits an hour. Right, I’ve had my shots, so let’s get going!” At this, he flopped onto the couch, laying on his back and spreading himself as long as he could go.
After about eight seconds, Broken opened his eye, glancing at the confused looks of everypony. Sighing, he turned himself until he was sitting properly. “Nevermind. What’d’ya want to know about?”
“Oh! Er, um, well, I guess we could start at when the, um, rebellion began?” Glancing behind her to verify that Spike had a quill and stack of parchment, Twilight turned back to the stallion and nodded. He sighed again, bringing up a hoof and rubbing between his eye and eye socket. The other ponies had formed a loose semicircle around him, each a mix of eager and nervous to hear what he had to say.
“Right. That makes sense, doesn’t it? Sure. Okay.” Broken took in a few breaths. “Okay. Twilight had just presented her Charter – basically, a document that supposedly ‘greatly expanded the rights of the common pony to help alleviate the plight of the populace’ or something like that…”