//------------------------------// // Pain (I) // Story: Prevention // by Mind Matter //------------------------------// --- “Shining? Are you awake?” Shining’s eye cracked open at the voice, sending shards of pain bursting into his skull. His first sight was several blurs of grey and black, cut across by a line of white; he could hear somepony breathing to his left, shifting their weight as he came into consciousness. There was pain – everywhere, there was pain - but not enough to matter. Black. Screams. Red. Roar. Flame. Cry. Her. Shining drew in a ragged breath, straining his neck as he did so; the wound there opened slightly, enough that he could feel the cotton over it wet within seconds. He shifted himself, curled up to the small degree that he could, felt each bandage along his corpse twist and pull as they tried to keep him still, heavier lengths above them that did keep him still. He let the breath out in a strangled cry. The pony next to him moved, placing a wing on a shoulder that had been torn apart not two weeks before. “Big Brother? Shiny, are you okay?” The voice pulled him back. He uncurled, straightening as best he could whilst chained to a hospital bed. His eye opened again, fully, putting his gaze upon a purple mockery of a deceased tribe. “Hello, Shining Armor.” Twili- NOT HER ¬– Dawn said, giving him a soft smile that was terrifying in its sincerity. “How are you feeling today?” Shining opened his mouth. Coughed and gagged. Spat the bloody phlegm his throat spawned at her. “Shining, please, there’s no need for that.” Dawn shook her head as if she was admonishing a foal, cutting the barrier she’d blocked the spittle with. “I was hoping that we could remain civil today.” The stallion took in a painful breath, tried to lift himself to face her evenly; he fell back as a chain crushed against his broken ribs, breathing somewhat heavily from the effort. He kept his eye open throughout, holding her gaze with his as he recovered. “Fuck…” he managed to say through his clenching teeth “…you.” “Shiny-“ “Fuck. You… You murderous… sadistic… gaping… cu-” Shining coughed up another bloody clump and spat it at her hooves; several bloody spots stained her coat before she could step away. He put his head back on his wooden pillow, glaring at her through a drowning eye. Dawn simply closed her eyes and sighed. “I’ll have Dr. Shelter increase your medication; you’ve always been irritable when you’re sick.” “Drugs… won’t make me talk. Bitch.” Shining felt his mouth and throat get more comfortably wet, accompanied by the distinct taste of copper. Dawn stared at him, and Shining could almost see confusion in her face before she shook her head. “This isn’t… I don’t want to drug you, Shining, I want you to feel better. I’m trying to help you, to, to show you that I’m not the monster you seem to think that I am. I’m here as your sister, Sh-” Shining barked out a laugh, something that surprised both of them. He managed to keep it going, though, plastering on a flat smile and shaking his forelegs beneath the chains. “My sister is dead.” He said, his eye still locked on the mare’s. “Just like everypony else you killed.” Dawn seemed to freeze for several seconds. When she moved again, she took several breaths, increasing in depth and intensity; to Shining’s ears, there was a distinct raggedness behind them. Her voice, however, was still smooth. “I’ve never meant to harm anypony, Shining, not since the Revolution began…” “Of course you haven’t. I’m sure the Princesses… my wife… can testify to that.” Shining snarled. “No! No, the Princesses weren’t willing to peacefully resign their power. They incited the violence, they brought justice upon their own heads. Cadance… she was an unfortunate accident, and I-I know what you saw, Shining,” she said, speaking over his attempted interruption, “and I promise you that it was not as it appeared.” Shining spat another lob of blood. “And the camps? Are those ‘not what they appeared’ too? What, were you looking for a cure for cancer by starving and butchering those zebras? How to, to regrow a limb by ripping the wings off of the gryphons?” “Yes!” Dawn’s statement was sharp, as if the question was an argument in her favour. “The starvation was due to mismanagement of supplies – the first camp you ‘liberated’ was amongst the worst in that aspect, if not for you I’d’ve had to deal with them myself - but we are studying tumour growth and cellular recovery, and those who died, be they zebra, gryphon, donkey, or pony, did so with the knowledge that their sacrifice was to help the thousands, millions, who do and will suffer otherwise! “And there was so much else that they were used for! Such contributions they made where they would have previously wallowed in the refuse of pony society!” Dawn had the gall to go misty-eyed in her memories, gaining a smile that was equal parts inspired and insane. “Without the wing structure of the gryphons and pegasi, the bone and musculature from the donkeys and earth ponies, the horn and root samples from the unicorns, the physiological similarities of the zebras to us… there could never have been proper tests, no true examination of the effects of transplants nor the capability for growth! Through the sacrifice of those who could not meet Faust’s harmonious design, we have become closer to Her than ever before, we have a chance to truly unite the tribes in Her image! Don’t you see, Shining?!” Shining stared at the mare in honest confusion. “…no.” Dawn blinked several times over a frozen expression, as if she was trying to process what he’d just said. “No? But… oh. Oh! Of course! Bah, I completely forgot!” The mare turned away and took several sharp steps to the door. She turned back to him when she reached it, fixing him with an almost foalish look of excitement. “I have somepony very important that I want you to meet, Shining Armor.” Dawn took several steps back towards him, her horn glowing as the door opened with a loud shriek. Behind it stood a mare, who shrank back from his gaze as soon as it locked on her. She tiphoofed into the room, crossing the short distance to Dawn as quickly and quietly as she could; with her movement, Shining could see the bandages on her flanks and the wings behind her shoulders. Which wouldn’t have been a problem, had she not also had a horn on her head. “Shining, I’d like you to meet Pet.” Dawn nuzzled the neck of the mare, causing her to blush through her coat and hide behind Dawn even further than she had been. “A promise fulfilled to those who gave their lives, a living proof of the Revolution’s truth and a living argument against tribal disharmony… and an incredibly attractive mare, besides.” “Mistress, you speak too highly of your Pet…” the mare said, almost too soft for Shining to hear. “Oh, hush, my dear. I spoke no falsehoods.” Dawn gave the mare a smile before turning back to Shining. “While I wish to see to your treatment personally, Shining, there are far too many other areas where I am needed. As such, I shall have Pet visit you in my place over the next few weeks, alongside some other… checkups and interviews, from other ponies. It is my hope that, with our aid, you will come to see the greatness of the Revolution that you have so long been blinded to.” Shining heard the mare’s voice. The words entered his ears, and they may have actually been recognized on some subconscious level. At the moment, however, the entirety of the stallion’s conscious mind was locked on the young mare that Dawn had brought in. The blue-maned, pink-coated, alicorn mare. “Daddy?” “Shining?” Dawn asked, giving him an apparently-concerned glance. “Are you-“ “Dazzle?” Shining tried to speak, but his throat was closed. He stepped forward, his eye locked on the other pony. Dawn and the other mare both seemed to jump at his voice. The former seemed to hold a mix of confusion and fear, as if she hadn’t expected him to react; the latter looked at him with eyes of confusion and concern, taking a step out from behind her guardian. Shining lifted himself up as much as he could, trying to get as much of her into his vision as possible. There was a small click and hiss, and he felt himself flying, a concussion of flame and heat surrounding him. “D-Dazzle?” Shining blinked and began to laugh, only slightly aware of the several trails of wetness coursing down his face and completely unaware of the increasing concern of both mares. “Listen, sweetie, y-you need to stay safe, okay? Daddy’s just a little banged up, but I’m gonna get better real quick and then we’re gonna get out of here.” “Shining?” Dawn asked again, one of her wings reaching out to pull the other mare back. The stallion’s eye shifted to her. Ringing ears and blurred vision. Smell of smoke and burning hair. Tasting blood, feeling nothing. His eye locked on the form in front of him. “You? D-did you save her?” Shining tried to lean, to get his eye around her, but the chains held him down. His eye fell on Dawn’s wing before shooting up to the mare’s face. “I-I don’t… please, don’t hurt her, she’s not a part of any of this. Just… please, just let her go, I, I’ll stay, just-“ “Shining…” Dawn said, her voice wet. “Shining, this isn’t Dazzle. Y-you know that.” “No, no, no lies, Dawn!” Shining shook himself, straining to break loose from the chains that held him to the bed. “I can see her! Give her back!” She was laying there, not moving, her coat and mane stained in blood, too much blood. “Shining, Dazzle’s dea-“ “GIVE HER BACK!” Shining lurched forward, his chains tearing into his barrel as he swung the stump of his horn at the larger mare. He felt what was left of his horn light up, and he blindly threw several blades of magic before a shield slipped over him. His shoulders, ribs, skull all burned past the painkillers, nearly every bandaged wound had opened again, but he ignored the agony as his vision remained locked on the mares. The door opened to Dawn’s magic, a cream-coloured blur entering the room and reaching Shining nearly instantaneously. The stallion had several moments before a hoof struck his temple and forced him back into unconsiousness; several moments to watch as Dawn pulled the other alicorn through the door. Shining heard himself scream as Dawn stole his daughter away.