As soon as they re-entered the castle proper, Pet and Broken were set upon by anxious guardsponies.
“Ah, Lady Gaia?” There were three of them, and the question came from the one in front. Broken quickly glanced over the three of them, noting the wide eyes, flicking tails, tight legs, loose armor, death grips on their weapons. The one in front seemed the most sure of herself; one of the ones in the back was wild-eyed, the other wore a more general look of fear.
So unprofessional. Broken thought, grinning. Rebel idiots. Can’t even report to one of their own superiors. Bet they’ve never been anywhere without a Risen backing them up.
“M-mistress Gaia?” Pet turned her head slightly to give Broken a worried glance. He shook his head, barely suppressing his mirth at the guards’ foalishness.
“Oh, my apologies. What do you need, dear guard?”
“Er, her Ladyship, Lady Dawn, she’s demanding your presence in the Great Hall, Milady.”
Broken flicked an ear back. “She is? Whatever for? I was just meeting with Rarity, as she requested.”
The guard shook her head. “It’s not about Lady Cytherea, Milady. Sir Lash, he-“
“He’s gone mad, Milady!” The wild-eyed one blurted out. He took a shaking step forwards, his gaze locked on Broken. “He, he kicked the doors in, threw Lady Thalia in the middle of the room, he’d beat her halfway to Tartarus, Milady, an’ he was hurtin’ her more, a-an’ Plan tried to stop him-“
“Shut up, Cobalt!” The mare in front snapped. ‘Cobalt’ did stop speaking, but he was only shaking harder as the mare turned back to Broken. “Er, despite himself, Milady, he was speaking true. Sir Lash’s had his hoof on Lady Thalia’s neck for the last ten minutes, after breaking just about every other part of her. And he killed the guards by the door almost as soon as he stepped inside. Lady Dawn ordered us to get away from there and find you.”
That’s Cotton Candy. Probably Cinnamon too, if she was in there, saw what he’d done… Broken felt himself grinning despite his best efforts, so he compromised and tried to mould it into looking like disbelieving humour. “Lash? Killing guardsponies? This must be some kind of joke, or misunderstanding; my Lash has never harmed anypony.”
“Snapped his fucki-“
“COBALT!” The guard in front barked, silencing the traumatized stallion once more. She took a breath, then glanced at the so-far silent third guard. “Thaw, get him out of here. Take the long way back to the barracks, keep him away from the main halls until they get the blood cleaned up.” The third nodded, still silent, and reached over to his quavering compatriot; to Broken’s disappointment, the shaky stallion didn’t go completely mad over the contact, instead letting himself be supported and led away. The remaining guard waited until the other two were around the corner before she addressed Broken again.
“Milady, I’m not sure exactly what’s going on, but I can assure you that Sir Lash did kill two guards in the Great Hall, and from what we’ve heard he tore through anypony who was in the way between there and the dungeons as well. Da- Lady Dawn wanted you brought there as soon as possible, to see if you can calm him down. From what I heard him yelling, he thinks somepony’s hurting you.”
“Hurting me?” Broken blinked, slowly losing the battle to keep his face from displaying cruel mirth. “That is odd- oh! Oh, oh, oh…” He lowered his head as he slowly shook it, letting his smile stretch his face while the other two couldn’t see it properly. “I think I know what’s going on.”
“Milady?”
“I was involved in an… incident, with one of the ponies chained to the wall this morning. The guards took care of the situation, but I left before Lash arrived; if he heard about what happened and rushed down there, he might think that I’m still being harmed, and that he’s being kept away from me so that it can continue.”
The guard nodded, but still looked confused. “But why would we be keeping you away from him, Milady?”
Broken shrugged. “I don’t think that matters to him. He’s a dear heart, so focused on keeping his Mistress Gaia safe…” …that if he saw her corpse chained to the wall, with the blood on Cotton Candy’s hooves, he’d tear her and anypony who tried to stop him to pieces. Broken couldn’t stop a small giggle from escaping him, but he managed to push the corners of his mouth down and affect a grim visage for the guard. “I need to see him, quickly. Lead the way, dear guard.”
“Of course, Milady.” The guard nodded, turning on her hooves and entering a brisk trot. Broken and Pet quickly followed her; the stallion could feel as the magic around his legs flared with each impact, but the spell seemed smart enough to not show through his disguise.
He heard the first scream a good deal before he saw or smelled blood, the low keening wail of a pony who was going to die but a long way from doing so. They crossed paths with two hurried nurses, a magical stretcher carrying a still pony between them; in the few seconds where Broken got a clear look at the victim, his eye locked on a gaping hole in her chest, about the size and shape of a large stallion’s hoof.
His head flared worse than it already was as one, ten, dozens of memories flooded his vision, each one showing a similar injury to ponies’ barrels, backs, heads. He felt a very sudden sense of satisfaction, so deep set that he didn’t even feel like laughing about it.
Then he had to bite his tongue as he saw the ill look on the guard’s face.
Not so fun when they’re killing you, is it?
“T-this isn’t supposed to happen…” Pet whimpered. Broken glanced at her, and she shook herself. “Risen Guards are s-supposed to help ponies, p-p-protect them. Why would S-Sir Lash do this?”
“It’s like I said before, Pet. He’s supposed to protect his Gaia, that’s his entire reason for being, and when he became unable to do that…” Broken let the words hang. He noted with a small laugh that the guard quickened her pace.
“B-but Gaia isn’t- Y-y-you aren’t-“
“No, Pet, I’m not. He doesn’t know that, though.”
The next leg of the trip passed in relative silence, save for another scream that cut off rather abruptly into a wet gurgle. The point that their path crossed onto Lash’s was marked by a large smear of blood on one of the walls that led to a crumpled suit of decorative armour. Up the hall was a similar sight; it wasn’t quite the bloodbath the guard had implied, but there was certainly enough damage and viscera to imply that a Risen earth pony had passed through. Broken wasn’t able to stop himself from giggling in glee.
“And to think that the rebels have managed to fight them off…”
“Always with casualties, Milady.” The guard’s voice was tight enough that the disguised stallion stopped his laughs. He noticed out of the side of his vision that her visible eye was glaring hard at the air ahead of her. “Always with casualties.”
Broken sidestepped a drying puddle on the floor, guiding Pet around it with a casual hoof. She, too, was staring at the air, but her gaze was soft, unfocused.
“Eyes on me, Pet.” He mumbled under his breath. “It’s going to be okay.”
The mare didn’t respond.
As they approached the former throne room, they saw more damage, more guards, more bodies. The guard stopped abruptly just past a small congregation of her still-living coworkers; Broken noted that there wasn’t anypony, living or dead or pieces of, within a dozen metres of the empty doorway.
“Lady Dawn ordered us out, as I said; we set up a perimeter, made sure nopony came up and spooked Lash.” She gave Broken a glance and nodded. “I think it’s up to you now, Milady.”
“Thank you, miss…?”
“Ah, Grown, Milady. Free Grown.”
Broken nodded as his head flared, offering the mare a hoof. Grown took it, and gave a small yelp in surprise as Broken pulled her into him.
“If you’ve been using your real name as a cover, then I’m damned disappointed that these morons haven’t caught you yet, my little FourHooves lieutenant.” He whispered lightly into her ear, giggling as one of the gaggle of guards behind them noticed the strange activity. Grown stiffened, her head turning slightly before Broken squeezed her hoof again. “I’m not going to kill you, so just leave that knife behind your chestplate where it belongs. I’m not going to ask why you were in the throne room without trying to kill Dawn. And I’m not going to ask you how the buck you infiltrated the Revolutionary Guard at such a level without Cotton Candy stuffing a heartbomb in you, unless she did, in which case I really need to ask Task what the fuck is wrong with that flat little head of his to let you go that deep. I mean, the Shadowbolts have the suicide bombings covered, thank you, no need to waste any of our few earth ponies on it…” Broken took a laughing breath as the mare stayed entirely frozen. “I am going to tell you that you need to get that pretty little plot of yours the buck out of Canterlot and back to Vanhoover before I go in there and bring the castle down around us.” Broken leaned back, letting go of Grown’s hoof to pat the mare on the shoulder. She maintained her bewildered stare, her mouth open a small degree for several seconds before she managed to unstick her jaw and speak.
Or, rather, make noises come out of her mouth.
“Hawa- what, whab, howho-“
Broken put his hoof on her lips, noting that he’d stepped in blood somewhere given the amount of it that was on his hoof and smearing onto her face.
“Just tell your boss that the forever loyal aren’t as powerless as he thinks we are.”
The mare stared at him for a few moments before her eyes widened enormously; she took one step back, then another, before spinning and galloping down the hall; the nearby guards watched her leave, looked at Broken, and apparently decided that following her was the better option. Broken turned to give Pet another glance, finding her unchanged from her earlier far-off gaze. He thought for a moment before giving a small chuckle.
“Hey, Pet?” He walked in front of her, looking up at her absent eyes with a grin. “Pet, Pet, you there, sweetie?” He saw her eyes twitch, and his smile deepened. “Listen, Pet, I know you’re scared, but you remember how I said I was going to need you to do something for me? That’s right now, okay?” The mare blinked, her eyes regaining a bit of light. Her gaze managed to focus on him after several seconds. “I need your help now, Pet.”
“…what do you need?” Her voice was small, but clear. Broken felt some odd satisfaction at her words before he felt his mouth run away from him.
“I’m going to bring you in there with me, and Dawn’s going to be in there. She might try to talk to you, to get you to do something for her.” Broken took a breath, as ordained by the script. He would have laughed, but his throat refused. “I need you to ignore her. As soon as we set hoof in there, I want you to get behind one of the big columns near the door and cover your ears. No matter what she says, I need you to not listen to her. Can you promise me that you’ll do that?”
Pet’s eyes had turned troubled, and it took a few seconds for her to find her voice again. “W-why?”
Broken felt his smile somehow widen. “Well, because it’s part of the plan. Dawn’s going to try to trick you. She’s going to test you, to try to convince you to not help me, and you need to pass by not letting her. Okay?”
Pet stared at him for long enough that he debated simply knocking her unconscious and dragging her in, but she eventually gave him a slow nod. Broken gave her another smile and a pat on the shoulder, then turned and calmly strode to the doorway.
Crimson Lash was standing about halfway between the doorway and the former throne, facing away from the door, one of his hooves planted on a pink-and-red blob that Broken figured was (or used to be) Pinkie. The bodies of two guards lay strewn around him, in pieces; by the exposed ribcages sitting at the base of a bloody column to Broken’s left, Lash had likely disposed of their heartbombs before they could explode. Immediately behind the council table stood Rainbow Dash, her wings flared and face set in a furious visage. Pip (PAIN KILL DIE RUN) stood slightly behind her, apparently keeping her from attempting a futile assault on the stallion that had so grievously injured her wife.
Behind them, the dusty corpse of a dragon lay with its head casually raised, eyes without pupils staring at nothing, its three remaining legs and one remaining wing still curled beneath and beside it. The black scar that had taken two of its limbs remained unhealed, blending with jagged edges into the darkly faded scales that held the corpse together.
And sitting above him, on the golden stool that was once a marvelous throne, was Rising Dawn. The one thing that Broken Shield had a perfect memory of. He could feel her gaze lock onto him, and for a split second every single little voice and memory in his fractured mind spoke as one.
KILL HER
He tried to. A dozen death spells leapt to his mind, his legs tensed as their support spells swelled, he planted his hooves and prepared to charge.
And then he froze as whatever force was in his mind cut through his rage and once more stuck the script behind his eyes.
He heard, rather than saw, Pet slink to the column on his right; Dawn’s head didn’t move, remaining pointed towards him. She stood, moving down the steps at a deliberate pace, stopping as Lash flexed his leg and the pink body on the ground squealed in fear and pain. The Risen earth pony still hadn’t made a sound, still hadn’t turned to see him, still, presumably, held a stoically-wrathful glare at Dawn.
“Crimson Lash, you came in here claiming that Lady Gaia had been murdered by Lady Thalia. If you simply look behind you, you shall see that that is not the case.” Broken heard her voice, her voice, and felt himself tense in fury once more. He managed to control himself this time; the script wouldn’t let him attack her, so he focused his anger towards determining the most painful ways he could leave her alive.
Wait, leave her ali-
“Gaia…?” A slow stallion’s voice pulled him out of his reverie. Lash had already turned fully around, his hoof detached from Pinkie’s neck, and he stood stock still as his eyes found Broken’s form. There was silence for several seconds before Lash’s hoof lifted, and very suddenly he was barely a pace away from Broken. He took the next few steps at a pony’s speed, only stopping when his collarbone was mere centimetres from Broken’s face. The unicorn looked up through a wave of pink hair, meeting eyes that managed to remind him of a lost puppy. “She… killed…”
Broken felt himself nod, as surprised as Lash was when he began to speak. “I know she did, my dear Lash. But as you can see, I’m standing right here. In the flesh.”
“Gaia?” Broken heard Dawn call. He glanced around the apparently-frozen stallion in front of him, finding Rainbow Dash curled over Pinkie’s broken form, Pip standing beside Dawn rather than holding the pegasus back. His gaze locked on the winged unicorn, and he could see her shift in apparent discomfort. “Gaia, I’m glad that you’re here. I need you to lead Lash away from here, get him to your rooms, keep him there until we can sort this whole mess out.” Dawn shook her head. “And where did Pet go? She came in with yo-“
“Smell… wrong…” Lash’s voice, despite its volume, managed to cut Dawn off entirely. He was still staring at Broken, his eyes now cut with concern and fear – the first emotions he’d seen in the stallion in their many weeks together. Broken felt himself smile.
“Of course I do, my dear. Pinkie did nearly kill me, after all.”
His eyes widened in the eighth of a second before he spun back around, directing what Broken was now sure was a hate-filled stare at the ponies in the centre of the room. Broken could see Dash tense as Dawn’s jaw dropped.
“Kill you? Gaia, what are you-“
“Oh, don’t be like that, Lady Dawn.” He managed to get some acid to leak through the script. Or the script left holes for it. It was difficult to tell. “Do you expect me to believe that she would do so – could do so – if you hadn’t ordered it? That Shining Armor could slip from his shackles and walk free, unmolested by the guards, without your command?”
“Shini- Gaia, please, listen-“
“Lash, dear heart, your sister told me once that you were almost as good at hearing lies as she was. So speak up if I do anything but tell the truth.”
“Yes…” The voice was a growl. Broken felt his smile widen.
“This morning, your Lady Gaia went down to ‘interrogate’ Shining Armor, alone. She did so on Lady Dawn’s order, because Dawn wanted to keep playing with you for longer than she usually did.” Silence. “Shining Armor fell upon your Lady Gaia, and when the guards came in they let him go free and chained your Lady Gaia in his place.” Silence. “Pinkie – Lady Thalia – then entered and conversed with Shining Armor, allowing him to walk out the door before she began torturing your Lady Gaia to death.” Silence. Broken turned to his gaze upon Dawn as he stepped up to whisper in Lash’s ear.
“You remember, don’t you, Lash? The Oath you swore? What you promised to do to anypony who tried to steal your Lady Gaia away from you?” The stallion nodded, his breath hard. “Then you know what to do.”
Broken had been close to a step before, had had Risen guards appear and disappear within his hoof’s reach. He was familiar with the sudden absence, how one’s mind scrambles to comprehend the instantaneous disappearance of an entire being without the tell-tale shock of magic that accompanied teleportation. He’d felt the rush of air into the where they’d been, felt the breath physically torn from his lungs in an attempt to fill a suddenly-empty space.
He’d braced himself as he’d spoken, managing to keep himself where he was as the air warped around him and the stallion beside him blinked out of apparent existence. He’d forgotten about his disguise, however, and his long pink mane was blown over his vision by the wind that followed Lash’s movement. As such, he wasn’t able to watch as Lash sent Rainbow Dash over the council table with a dismissive strike, nor as he tore Pinkie’s head from her shoulders in a casual, one-hoofed pull.
He was, however, able to see the stallion hold her head out to the side for a few moments, letting her blood trickle onto the floor with small drips that should not have been audible to Broken’s ears, before tossing it to land directly at Dawn’s hooves.
Broken heard Dash scream, the horribly familiar sound of the emotion shared between rage and agony. She shot over the table in a rainbow blur, reaching Lash in less than half a second; he sidestepped quicker than that, one hoof meeting her neck while the other met her flank, and he added his strength to her momentum as he twisted to send her into the floor.
Even as distant as he was, Broken could hear her skull pop as it met the solid stone. Lash held her body upright for a few moments, as if expecting her to struggle, to have survived the impact, before he let it crumple wetly to the ground. He exhaled, then inhaled, then turned back to face Rising Dawn.
Then was sent flying back when Pip’s hind hooves met his jaw.
Lash recovered quickly, twisting in the air to land on his hooves as Pip rushed after him, ducking under the cream stallion’s blurred strikes and returning his own. The two spent a small length of time rapidly trading blows; Broken only knew when one had been hit by the small jerks and adjustments they made to their stances. Eventually, Lash managed to get a hit in between Pip’s legs, knocking the other stallion back a few paces and giving the bereaved berserker a chance to press an assault.
Lash was visibly larger than Pip, the Raising having added to his already considerable strength, and the discrepancy between their strengths was evident now: Lash was delivering larger blows, still incredibly fast but slower than his previous strikes, and each one of them forced Pip to visibly strain in order to keep himself solid. Were he to simply stand there and wait for an opening, Broken was fairly sure he’d be in a worse position than Pinkie soon enough.
It was only after one particular hit – one that sent out a crack audible to Broken’s ears, though he couldn’t tell if it was bone or stone – that Pip seemed to realize this; one of his back legs seemed to give, and Lash lifted both hooves to bring down upon the younger pony’s skull, only to make a large dent in the floor as Pip stepped away. Lash immediately twisted towards the direction of the airflow, but Pip had already stepped again, reappearing almost underneath the larger stallion. The red Risen lurched upward from an apparent blow to his midsection, and Pip was already to his side, bucking him in the barrel before stepping away again. Lash spun around only to catch a glancing blow on one of his forelegs, and another more solid one to his hip less than a second later. He let out a pained growl, a cough of blood hitting Pip in front of him, and he barely managed to catch the blow with one hoof before swinging his other into the pinto stallion’s jaw. Pip managed to step away before Lash could get a grip on him, but unlike before he didn’t immediately return. Lash gave another growl through his teeth before he turned to face Rising Dawn again.
There was the briefest sound like something scratching a chalkboard before a large chunk of glass embedded itself in his neck.
Lash seemed to take a second to realize that he’d been wounded; when he did, blood dripping from both around the glass and between his lips, he simply raised his hoof to the offending shard and pulled it free. He did so sluggishly, in several jerking movements, and it was only as the glass fell to the ground that Pip reappeared. He stepped in front of his injured opponent, watching the red stallion for a few moments before once more bucking him in the jaw.
This time Pip was already there when Lash was nearly to the ground, delivering another vicious kick to launch the pony in the opposite direction. Lash tried to move, to adjust himself in the air as he had earlier, but the blood loss had slowed him severely, and Pip moved quickly enough to keep him constantly, uncontrollably, mobile. Eventually, Lash simply went limp as Pip struck him, and it was only at that point that the pinto stallion allowed him to contact the ground to any degree beyond a fleeting touch.
Broken was able to see the bones jutting out of Lash’s barrel and leg as he slammed to the ground and tumbled towards the nearest stained-glass window. The Risen pony curled his three currently-functioning limbs beneath him, managing to stand as he took a wet, wheezing breath. He glanced up as Pip stepped in front of him, the younger pony standing tall and stolid despite his oddly twisted leg, swelling cheek, and bleeding eye. He was posed not in defence but in authority, as if expecting the other Risen to surrender and submit simply by his presence.
Of course, this left him open to the step-tackle from Lash that carried them both through the window in a hail of coloured glass.
For a few seconds, there was silence. Broken Shield stared at the now-empty windowpane for several moments before recalling that there was somepony else left alive in the room. Dawn was looking at the corpses of her two former friends; pain, shock, and confusion warred on her face, and they all grew only more intense as they saw Broken’s grin.
“Gaia… Fluttershy…” the mare started, the corpse of the dragon behind her finally shifting its head to ‘stare’ at him, “What in Equestria is going on?”
It was at these words that Broken finally found himself laughing.
It started as small, hitching breaths, chuckles of disbelief or amazement, but quickly swelled into roaring, almost maniacal, laughter. His entire body shook, Gaia’s voice echoing around the oddly silent hall in pealing shrieks. The only thing that stopped him was the limit of his lungs; had he not needed a gasping breath, he’d have kept laughing, laughing at her, laughing about her, laughing at the pain in his head, laughing at the corpses around them, laughing-
“Gaia!” He heard Dawn shout. His vision locked back onto her as he sucked in air, his wide-open mouth still curved in a grin; Dawn seemed to stumble for a moment at seeing her apparent friend with such a visage, but she recovered quickly enough, gaining a face not unlike those of the Risen. “Gaia, I need you to tell me what’s going on. What were you talking about, why did you tell Lash that Thalia tried to kill you?” Her eyes faltered. “When you said Shining escaped-“
“By Faust and her daughters, Dawn.” Broken said, allowing his actual voice to emit from Gaia’s body. His grin became almost painful as she paled nearly white beneath her coat. “For being a murderous, insane, deicidal tyrant, you’re fucking stupid sometimes.”
“…Shining?” Her voice was soft, unbelieving. He dropped his disguise, letting her eyes fall on what she’d done to him. “S-Shining-“
The magic erupted before he noticed, a whip of rose-coloured energy snapping forth to slap her across the face. He watched mirthfully as she took several tries to actually stand back up, feeling the script slot itself behind his eyes.
“You don’t get it, do you? You don’t even fucking understand.” He shook his head at her confusion and fear. “You spent seven years up here, thinking about how much good you were doing for Equestria, how nice everything would be, how perfect you and your plans were. Everything you did was for the good of everypony, no harm was done that couldn’t be reversed, you were making everything better, so why would anypony try to fight against you?” The pain in his head started pounding. He grinned through it. “I spent seven years down in the dirt, watching you tear the country apart and burn the world to ashes around you. Seven years fighting, dying, killing. Seven years trying to find the best way to end you.” He felt a laugh burst up his throat. It burned like acid. “And to think that you were the one that showed me how. How to beat you, how to make sure that you never win.”
“Shining, please-“
“You killed all of them, you know?” He could almost see her throat tighten. “Gaia, Thalia, Rarity, Rainbow Dash. Your friends died because of you. Because you just had to break me, to see what would happen if I lost everything, to see what’s really hiding in my head.” He briefly gained a smug grin. “And because you’re a fucking whorse. None of this would have happened if you hadn’t kept Lash late. None of this would have happened if you hadn’t broken me. None of this would have happened if you hadn’t caught me. None of this would have happened if you hadn’t hunted us. None of this would have happened if you hadn’t taken over. None of this would have happened if you hadn’t rebelled, hadn’t refused to listen, hadn’t fucking murdered her!” He laughed again as he roared, a mirthless hitching of breath to cover a sudden lance of pain. “And now? Now I’m going to take from you what you took from me.”
He didn’t bother calling for her; a bubble of magic formed around her, lifting her from her hiding spot and carrying her into view. She still held her hooves over her ears, staring at the floor moving beneath her, curled into as small a pony as she could make herself. The fear in Dawn’s eyes instantly took dominance in the war of emotions playing across her features.
“PET!” she shrieked, the corpse behind her rumbling and baring its rotted teeth. Her eyes went to Broken, and her wings flitted out as if she was preparing to launch herself at him. Instead she stood her ground, legs shaking just enough to warm the cockles of Broken’s heart. “Shining, please, don’t hurt her! She’s innocent in this, there’s no reason to involve her!”
Broken shook his head. “Don’t lie to me, you gaping cunt. You know what she can do. What potential she has. How precious she is. No, I’m not going to hurt her.” He felt another grin form on his face as he pulled the small mare towards him, not a hoofwidth off the ground, popping the bubble right as she reached him. “I’m going to steal her. I’m going to keep her hidden, under protection to keep her in as much as to keep you out. I’ll let you sit, and wait, and hope beyond hope that you’ll be able to reach her again. And if you do, when you do, after I’ve used her for what I need…” Broken’s grin turned predatory.
Dawn’s eyes were wide, white orbs with small black dots in their centres. He saw her mouth open, saw it move, heard nothing come out. He saw the corpse shift behind her, pulling air into its probably-rotted lungs.
“I-I’m sorry.” Dawn finally managed to speak. Broken cocked his ears.
“Sorry?”
“For her…” Her voice was creaking. “I… I’m sorry, for what I did to Dazzle.”
The pain in his head very suddenly encompassed the entirety of his being. A flood of memories, glowing white in painful heat, burst forth from some hidden reservoir, pulling his hooves to his head as he screamed in agony. Every voice united within his mind, and together they burned away the script that was binding him; when their collective order came through, he felt no corrective urge, nothing to stop him from fulfilling his basest desire.
KILL HER.
His horn glowed hot as he pooled every scrap of magic he could into it, focussing on the mare standing frozen in front of him, so far away yet so easily within his range. A dozen spells flitted through his mind, delaying her death by a single second as they warred over who would be allowed to rip her soul from her body and send her to Faust’s fury.
In that second, Broken saw her horn glowing.
In that second, Broken saw the corpse move, chest swelling and licks of flame flicking out from between its teeth.
In that second, a thirteenth spell shoved its way through Broken’s horn, forming the strongest barrier he’d ever made and forcing it around the corpse’s muzzle.
Flame erupted up the corpse’s throat, but it could not open its mouth to let the torrent free. There was a brief moment in which it seemed that nothing would happen, that the fire would simply die away within the corpse, but the surge of destructive energy had just needed to find a less resistant path. The corpse’s eyes seemed to glow for a brief moment, the pupils made visible once more by the orange light that burned behind them.
Then they were immolated as the torrent of flame erupted through them, moments before it blew out the fragmented back of the corpse’s skull.
The gush of heat and light lasted mere seconds, leaving behind the barest, charred remnants of a skull atop the corpse. The only place that flesh remained was within Broken’s barrier, and most of that flesh sloughed off as he let his magic go, its connections to the bone beneath baked away by the sheer heat. The corpse’s lower jaw joined it soon after, the joints and few unrotten attachments between it and the corpse having been destroyed by the flame. The corpse remained entirely still throughout this, positioned as if it were spewing fiery death upon the ponies in front of it, its missing eyes, jaw, and brain going unnoticed by the magic holding its strings.
But not unnoticed by the mare holding the magic.
“…Spike…?” Rising Dawn’s voice was soft, small, altogether too close to the filly that Broken had grown up with. He’d collapsed as he let the magic loose, the spells around his legs having weakened themselves in sacrifice to the intended death of Dawn; now he watched as the dragon’s corpse turned to its mistress, its eyeless gaze finding her without delay. He chuckled as he realized that she could probably see straight through her former assistant’s head.
By the scream that tore its way up her throat, he figured he was right.
Broken twisted around before she had finished, dragging himself to Pet with legs barely able to support themselves. He managed, barely, to get a hold of her, her body still curled tightly around itself, not moving a muscle even as he pulled himself up and wrapped his forelegs around her.
Then he used what little magic he had left to shift them as far away as he could.