//------------------------------// // Politeness // Story: Prevention // by Mind Matter //------------------------------// When Twilight entered the kitchen, light from the morning sun providing a slight natural illumination, Broken was asleep in the sink. Water rushed from the faucet, flowing over the stallion’s horn before draining away. Twilight shook her head, gingerly leaning over to turn the tap off. Then she had a horn in her throat. “I don’t give a damn about the ration, Jackie, my horn’ll burn off if I don’t cool it down…“ The stallion groaned. He opened his bleary eye, dully focussing it on the purple mare frozen above him. “Wh-oh, right.” He brought his head back down, replacing his horn under the water. “Whadd’y’a want, Twilight?” The mare jumped back, placing some distance between his horn and her neck. “Um, Pip mentioned that you were unconscious in the sink, and I wanted to make sure that you were okay.” She gave a small grin as the stallion lifted his head in surprise. “That flathead bastard snuck around me? Damn, I’m off my game.” Twilight’s smile slid off. Broken shook his head before turning the tap off. “Your healing magic wouldn’t happen to do anything for hangovers, would it?” “Um, no, not really.” “Ah, for Celestia’s…” he trailed off, walking to the table and laying his head down on it, eye closed. “Y’know, we pinheads have it the worst? Even those bucking airheads have a better alcohol resistance than us.” Twilight frowned. “Could you please stop that?” “What?” “With the, the ‘flathead’ and the ‘airhead’ and the ‘pinhead’. They’re really offensive.” “So? Ponies react. It’s funny.” Broken turned his head, laying his eyepatch upwards. “But it’s-“ “Wrong? Disgusting? Hyracotheric? An outdated method of tribal identification?” “-not okay.” Broken lifted his head, opening his eye into a slit. Even through the small space, Twilight could see the eye rolling. He affected an old mare’s accent. “Oh dearie me, I’m doing something that’s ‘not okay!’ The world’s gone crazy to allow such an atrocity! My oh my, is that chocolate rain I smell?” “Listen, Celestia sent you down here so that I could help you readjust to regular pony life, and-“ “And that’s peachy, but you’re doing something that’s putting a major block on my progress.” Twilight furrowed her brow. “What?” “Your lungs are expanding and your heart’s beating, does that clear it up?” The stallion grinned as Twilight blanched; then he winced, laying his head down on the table again. Twilight put her hooves on the table, leaning forwards opposite Broken. “I would really appreciate it if you would stop saying things like that, as well.” “Good for you.” The stallion answered. Twilight blinked. “Broken, I know that you’ve dealt with a lot, but when somepony asks you to do something, unless it harms somepony or puts you in an uncomfortable situation, the proper thing to do is to-“ “Do as they ask? That happened quite a bit a few years after the Revolution. ‘Ma’am, could you come here, please…’ then they’d crack you in the back of the head and cart you off to the dungeon. Or a prison camp.” Broken raised his head to stare at Twilight again. She brought a hoof up to rub between her eyes. “But that won’t happen here.” “It might.” The stallion mumbled, laying his head back down. “When Dawn comes in, if she isn’t stopped, it will.” Twilight’s brow furrowed again. “I actually wanted to ask you something about that.” “Huh.” “Well, I was wondering if you had considered your effect on this timeline.” “Huh.” “I mean, with you coming in and telling us about what happened with Dawn in your Equestria, don’t you think that it would be less likely for Dawn to show up here at all now? She’d need to deal with the Princesses, the Elements of Harmony, and you, all already knowing what her plans are. Now that I know the warning signs, I might be able to stop her from taking me over in the first place!” The unicorn mare gave a slightly triumphant grin at her statement. Broken huffed. “You aren’t that stupid.” “What do you mean?” Broken sighed. “Okay, I’m not saying you’re wrong. I have drastically altered this timeline simply by existing in it, let alone interacting with you. Things aren’t going to play out the way they did with me, and I recognize that. But the thing is…” He exhaled, taking in a new breath. “Dawn is you, just older and probably omnicidally insane. You, and thus her, are not stupid enough to allow your plans to come unravelled by some pony coming in and planting a couple of caltrops on your running path. When Dawn comes out, she’ll have modified her plans to adjust for my interference. Maybe she’ll be more subversive, get a large base going around Equestria in secret before doing anything officially. Maybe she’ll be more direct, get all of the Elements of Harmony together and blast the Princesses to the sun before anypony knows what’s happening. Maybe she’ll wait, keep herself under wraps until I’m dead and everypony’s forgotten about her, then spring out and start her assaults. She probably won’t call herself Dawn anymore, but it’ll be the same monster.” “But that’s still presuming that she’ll come out at all!” “It’s not a presumption if it’s going to happen.” “And how do you-“ “Just trust me on it. The only way Dawn won’t come out is if you’re dead.” “Bu-“ A loud burst of water silenced her, and when she looked at the sink she found Broken holding his horn under it again. She gave a growling sigh, exiting the room. The door to Sugarcube Corner jingled slightly as Twilight and Broken Shield entered the shop. Broken’s eye flicked to the bell above the door, tensing up as the sound faded. Twilight simply walked past him, giving a small amount of ignorance to his discomfort. “Hello, Twilight! Are you here for Pinkie?” Mrs. Cake asked, bringing her head up and placing a freshly-filled platter on the counter. Twilight nodded, and the confectioner turned her gaze to Broken, who had quickly trotted up behind Twilight. “And who’s this? I haven’t seen you around here before, mister…?” “Broken Shield, ma’am.” The stallion replied. Twilight’s eyebrows raised; his voice was rather smooth and a fair bit higher pitched than the usual guttural growling that he gave voice to. He actually sounded like Shining Armor, albeit slightly deeper and rougher. “Twilight’s uncle.” “Pleased to meet you, Broken. What brings you to Ponyville?” Broken gave an actor’s grin that would likely have made Sheepspeare proud. “Well, I’ve been in Gryphonia for the last decade or so, so I haven’t exactly been ‘up to date’ on Equestrian happenings. I’ve gotten a few letters for the major stuff, like Princess Luna’s return or the Crystal Empire’s reappearance, but apparently my sister failed to mention all the ‘little’ happenings, like Sparky here saving Equestria numerous times! And lest I forget Shining marrying into royalty, that slipped Velvet’s mind too…” he gave a small chuckle before turning to Twilight. “That reminds me. Sparky, could you get your dragon to tell Shining to send my badge back? Now I’m back in Equestria, I think I can hold on to it.” Sparky? “Er, sure, ‘Uncle Broken’.” Twilight replied awkwardly. Broken lifted a hoof and gave Twilight a small slap on the back. “Aw, come on Sparky, none of that ‘uncle’ stuff. We’re both adults, ain’t we?” Before Twilight could reply, Mrs. Cake spoke again. “Gryphonia? Really? I heard that no pony ever went there, what with all of the gryph… er, that is to say, the constant… what I mean is...” Broken waved a hoof. “Trust me, it’s a dangerous place. Gryphon culture is basically a meritocracy with institutionalized violence. If you aren’t willing to do some pretty mean things, you won’t last long over there.” “I see… so why did you go?” Mrs. Cake was leaning over the counter, clearly interested in Broken’s story. “I was ordered to. Princess Celestia sent me over, officially, to help the gryphons design land-oriented buildings. In actuality, I was investigating corruption in both their government and their labour unions.” His grin widened with her eyes. “You were a spy?” “In a sense. I was actually supposed to help with the buildings, but the Princess asked me to watch out for any signs that the gears were being oiled in a certain direction, if you catch my drift.” Mrs. Cake nodded. Twilight rolled her eyes, stepping between the two. “Mrs. Cake, sorry to interrupt, but if you could tell me where Pinkie is?” The confectioner blinked in surprise, and she gave a slight blush and an apologetic smile to Twilight. “Oh, yes, of course, dear. She’s still in her room, but I’ve never seen her sleep past six in the morning, so she’s probably just doing some party planning. I’m sure she won’t mind if you say hi.” Twilight gave a smile and nodded in thanks before walking to the staircase. She heard Broken begin to continue his tale, only losing track of it when she rounded the corner on the second floor. “So I get to the Emperor’s palace – they had a president at the time, but I’ll explain that later – and the first sight I’m greeted with is this giant gryphon…” Twilight walked up the hallway, eyes searching for Pinkie’s room. Let’s see… brown door, brown door, blue door, brown door, pink door with balloons attached to the knob and numerous stickers adorning every inch, blue door… Approaching the party-fied door (the only way Twilight could think about it), the purple mare gave a quiet knock. “Pinkie? It’s Twilight.” No answer. She knocked again, louder. “Pinkie? Are you awake?” Still no answer. Twilight’s ear twitched, hearing what sounded like pipes clanging together. A small worry began to root in Twilight’s mind. She gave another knock. “Pinkie, is something wrong?” She heard a muffled voice, followed by something sliding and a door closing. A few seconds later, the door swung open, revealing a normal-looking Pinkie Pie. A pencil hung from a ringlet in the party pony’s hair. “Oh, hi Twilight! What brings you here?” The pink earth pony stepped aside, allowing Twilight entrance into her room. The unicorn took a few steps in before turning back to Pinkie. “I just wanted to apologize for yesterday. For Broken Shield. And the whole ‘resurrection magic’ business. I mean, I knew how touchy a field it is, and-” Pinkie waved a hoof. “Don’t worry about it, Twilight! It’s not like you have some magical control over what Broken says anyways. And I really don’t care too much about the magic stuff.” “You don’t?” “Nope! The Twilight I know isn’t mean enough to bring somepony back, even if you have a really really really really really really good reason.” “But Broken-“ “Pff! Don’t listen to that Meanie McSourpuss. He’s just trying to make you feel bad for things that you didn’t even do! Well, you did, kinda, but not you-you, the meanie-you from another dimension!” She stood on her hind legs and wiggled her forelegs in the air to emphasize the last two words. “Woo-ooo-ooh!” Twilight found herself chuckling at Pinkie’s theatrics. “Anyways, you don’t need to feel bad about the magic thing. Whatever you were doing with it, I’m sure it wasn’t something bad like trying to raise an army of zomponies. Or zomdragons. Or zomticores, or zomdrakes, or zomcatrices, or zomdigos, or-“ “I get it, Pinkie.” Twilight said. The party pony grinned and nodded before hugging on to the unicorn. She left her hooves on Twilight’s shoulders as she leaned back, giving her a more sombre look before speaking again. “I am worried about Dashie, though.” Twilight’s brow furrowed. “Rainbow? Why?” “I don’t know what’s wrong with her. After we left she said she was okay, but she was still all mopey all last night, even when I got the socks out.” Twilight’s rapid blush went apparently unnoticed by Pinkie. “She kept just staring off into space and blinking, and then when I gave her my what’s-wrong-tell-me-so-I-can-make-you-happy look, she hugged me and kissed me and kept saying she was sorry, that she didn’t know, but I don’t know what she was sorry for or what she didn’t know! So I got worried for her and then she saw that and she just started apologizing more and then she just got up and flew away and now I don’t know if I did something wrong and urf Mmm m nnmm?” Pinkie allowed herself to stop talking as Twilight’s hoof covered her mouth. A few breaths, and the hoof was removed. “Okay, so what you’re saying is that, after you went home last night, Rainbow seemed emotionally distant and was apologizing for an offence that you are unaware of?” Pinkie nodded. “And she started doing this right after Broken explained resurrection magic to her?” Pinkie nodded again, more vigorously. “Do you think that his explanation may have had something to do with it?” Pinkie started nodding, then caught her head. She turned it to one side, eyes flicking to the ceiling as she thought. “Oh… oh! Oh oh oh oh! I get it!” The party mare began bouncing, a wide smile breaking her face. “Dashie’s being silly! I just need to go talk to her! Thanks, Twilight!” “It was no problem, Pinkie. I’m always happy-“ The door slammed behind Twilight, cutting her off. “-to help.” The unicorn sighed, shaking her head. Her gaze landed on Pinkie’s closet, and in doing so noticed a small strip of something black and shiny leading out from the door. Curiosity overtaking her, she walked over to the closet, leaning down to examine the strip. It was some thick material, not rope but certainly not lace or silk. She’d seen it in Rarity’s shop, but couldn’t place a hoof on precisely what it was. The edge of the strip was darkened with some dried substance. She looked up at the door’s handle, hesitating for a second before pushing it down and opening the closet. The strip led from the door to a panel in the floor in the side of the closet, wide enough for a pony to fit into. A small rope loop was attached to the panel’s edge, with hinges on the opposite side, turning the plank of wood into a downwards-facing door. A hook descended from the ceiling above the panel. Twilight, quickly gleaning the operation of the panel, opened it, wrapping the rope around the hook. Then she lit a ball of magic, hovering it down into the hole the panel covered. She saw a black, ornate saddle, numerous ropes, several balls of various sizes, and one quartet of socks. Nope. This four letter word formed the entirety of Twilight’s thoughts as she slammed the panel back down, backed out of the closet, shut the door, and walked briskly out of Pinkie’s room and the horrible, horrible secrets contained within. “So, in any case, the Gryphonian Emperor – this is number three, before the one with no wings but after the one with a feather growing out of his eye – decides that he’s going to try to build a waterfall that flows upwards using the money allocated for number two’s gilded roadways. When I tried to explain to him that such a thing would be Discordian in nature, and idiotic besides, he-“ Broken’s speech cut off as his eye caught Twilight descending the stairs. His gaze narrowed, but his voice maintained the pitch used for the Cakes. “Hey, Sparky. Something wrong?” “NOPE! Everything’s a-okay! We just need to go. Right now.” Twilight’s eye twitched, an attempt at a reassuring smile plastered on her face. The Cakes – Carrot having joined Broken’s audience at some unknown point – stepped back a bit, giving her cautious stares. Broken coughed and extended a hoof over the counter to them. “Well, it appears that I shall need to finish my story at some other time. Somepony needs to keep an eye on the crazy ponies, after all.” He gave a wink and a smirk, allowing the Cakes some unsure laughter before turning and following Twilight out the door. When outside, his voice returned to normal. “Right, so what’s wrong?” “Nothing!” “Tell me, Twilight.” “Nope! Nothing wrong!” “Twilight…” “I said-“ Very suddenly, Twilight was in a dark alley. She blinked, about to turn her head when she felt a trickle of wetness slide down her face. Raising a hoof, she poked at the wetness, bringing the hoof back into her vision to examine it. Blood. Twilight heard something crack, echoing off of the alley’s walls. Turning her head slowly, she found Broken standing five feet away from her, his mouth spread in a wide grin, his pupil pinpricked even as his eye widened. Broken moved his hoof, grinding something into the ground. Twilight’s gaze fell on the object, a length of purple tapering to a point on one end and a strange grey mass on the other. Feeling a strange twinge of pain, she raised her hoof, intending to rub at her horn. Instead, her hoof pressed into a small wet pit in the middle of her forehead. Without movement, Broken was upon her. “I need to know, Twily…” His horn glowed, and Twilight’s legs gave way. She couldn’t move, forced to watch as Broken leaned his head down, his horn pointed at the place where her horn should be, and soon he pressed forward and there was nothing in her sight but his eye and the empty blackness of his eye socket and her head hurt so badly and she screamed- “TWILIGHT!” Twilight jerked her head back, gasping and bringing her forehooves up to protect herself. Broken leaned away from her, confusion and anger plain on his face. She stared at him for a few seconds before bringing her hooves up further, feeling along her (still there) horn for cracks or other damage. She slowly calmed down, taking heavy breaths as Broken growled in frustration. “Twilight.” The purple mare flinched at his voice. Broken sighed. “Twilight, I need you to tell me what the buck is going on.” Twilight whimpered, the image of him crushing her horn still fresh in her mind. They stared at each other for a length of time before Broken reared up and kicked the wall behind him. “Listen up! If you don’t tell me why you were looking like you forgot a friendship report to Celestia, I’m going to assume that it was Dawn coming out! And if Dawn’s come out, that means that I am under no oath that stops me from killing you! So if you don’t want to die, I recommend you start talking.” Silence. Twilight’s eyes greatly widened, her pupils shrunken to granules of sand. She opened her mouth, tried to say something, but the words caught on her tongue. A thousand thoughts ran through her head on what she should do, but all fell dead as she attempted them. Broken’s eye twitched, and his horn began to glow. “SOCKS!” Twilight finally managed. Broken’s face gained confusion and lost anger. “Socks?” “Pinkie! Socks! Closet!” Broken blinked. “You were freaked out because you saw Cotton Candy’s sex toys?” At a luminescent blush from Twilight, he laughed. “You pfft- you… ahahahahaha!” His horn ceased glowing as he began to slam a hoof on the ground, lying down to stop himself from falling over. Twilight watched him with worried eyes as he calmed down. “Next time, heh, next time bring me. You might be surprised.” The stallion got up and started to walk to the mouth of the alleyway. “Wait!” Twilight managed to croak out. Broken turned, giving her a look. “You… did you… how did we get here?” “Well, our parents-“ he cut off as he saw her face. “Oh. You kinda… stopped moving in the middle of the street, just staring off into space. Dragged you back here to stop ponies from staring at you.” “Did you make me…” she swallowed. “Did you make me see… that?” She brought a hoof up again, feeling at her horn. Broken’s eye narrowed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Then he stepped around the corner, and Twilight was alone.