Twilight’s letter back to Princess Luna was essentially what she told Spike, minus the details that the Princess herself would have been able to observe. The two sent notes back and forth until Spike objected via falling unconscious; Twilight made sure to get him to bed before taking to her own pillow.
Two weeks passed with what Twilight redefined ‘normality’: Trawling with Broken through both world history books and texts on the various aspects of Gryphonia, especially historical events and modern culture, interspersed with discussions of differences between Broken’s prior knowledge and the information he was obtaining (usually involving the line ‘if these idiots had just killed those idiots like they did in my timeline then…’ verbatim). Pip would check in every so often and covertly update Twilight on his self-ordained hunt for the changelings; despite her assurances he seemed to have taken his own reaction to them as a personal affront, and he appeared to regard the creatures as a larger threat than Broken, at least for the time being. Unfortunately, the pony they’d seen wasn’t a local and was apparently no longer around, and any evidence of changelings he (or the guards he was ‘casually’ working with) found was days old, with no trail to pick up.
Twilight was just glad he’d found something to do that didn’t involve waiting on her every whim. Even if what he was doing led her to worry about him every time he was away. On one particular morning, as she, Spike, and Broken were making their way through Ponyville, she voiced her concerns.
“I’m sorry, do you expect me to sympathize or something?”
Twilight turned a light glare onto the other unicorn, who had already fixed her with a look of supreme indifference overtop his irritation. “This is the longest he’s been gone so far. Given where he is and what we’re doing today, I think some concern is justified.”
Broken rolled his eyes. “Right, because he’s been in so much danger every other time he’s gone into the Everfree. Twilight, as a pony with years more experience dealing with him than you, I ask that you trust me when I tell you that he could do a one-pony charge into a dragon’s cave and come out carrying its skull. A little bit of ‘foreign species documentation’ – or whatever it is he’s actually doing with those Canterlot Guards that you won’t tell me about – won’t hurt him.”
“Just like you haven’t ever hurt him?” Spike asked, sarcasm laced through his words.
“Hey, I know how to injure him. Manticores and timberwolves don’t. Unless you forgot what he did to that one manticore he ‘fought’?” Broken let his breath out as Spike blanched, his brow furrowed. “Maybe you’re right, though, Twilight.”
“Oh?”
The stallion gave the mare a rickety smile. “Well, I mean, he could be in danger, somehow. And one of the requirements for my talking to the foals was him being there, right? So if he’s not with us, that means we can’t go. We should just head on back to the library an-“
“Broken.” The addressed pony cut off at Twilight’s tone. “You aren’t going to weasel out of this. Cheerilee’s already told the students that you’re coming. The guards’ve already scheduled several ponies at the schoolhouse specifically for you. You told me that you felt ready enough for today. I closed the library for this.”
Broken blinked at that final pronouncement. “Hasn’t the library been closed more often than not since I showed up? What’s so bad about that?”
“We- I- Those other times were necessary! Usually because I needed to stop you from doing stupid and/or dangerous things! This time is totally diff… well, I’m still… shut up.” Twilight’s brow furrowed as Broken cackled. “Have you at least thought about what you’re going to say to the foals?”
“Aside from ‘gryphons are bucking dangerous and you should thank Faust every morning that she deigned to allow your birth in a country that actually gives a damn about you’?” He rolled his eye as both the mare and dragon sent him another glare. “Relax. I’m going to stick to the textbooks, mostly. Particularly the ones they don’t have, I don’t just want to retread the same information they already know. I’ll sprinkle bits of my actual experiences when things start sagging.”
Twilight nodded. “And what if they ask about your… condition? Your eye and scars?”
Broken smirked at that. “Cheerilee’s probably promised them a stay in Tartarus if they ask me about them. I’ll deal with it, don’t worry.”
“And by ‘deal with it’…” Spike trailed off. Broken gave him a look.
“Nothing inappropriate. Nothing that should give them nightmares. Certainly not how I actually got most of them.” Broken took in a slightly shaking breath. “Buck me, I’m scared enough that I might accidentally hurt one of them. I’m not going to go out of my way to traumatize them.”
“I don’t doubt that, Broken.” Twilight smiled at the stallion, who gave a small return of the gesture after a several-second delay, taking in and letting out another breath before he did so.
The walk to the school was otherwise silent save for Broken’s occasional mutterings. Twilight wasn’t able to actually hear any of the words he said, but she quickly figured that he was speaking more for his own benefit than to communicate with anypony; she’d already managed to tune him out by the time they began approaching the schoolhouse proper. Unlike most days, two guardsponies were stationed at the door, one of whom stepped inside as they drew near only to emerge seconds later with Cheerilee immediately behind him.
“Hello, Twilight, Spike. Mister Shield, so glad that you could come!” The schoolteacher held out a hoof to Broken, who stepped forward and met it with one of his own; Twilight noticed (probably belatedly) that he’d ceased his murmuring.
“Oh, please, call me Broken. And I was happy to help, once Sparky here told me about your offer.” the stallion replied, his voice identical to when he’d spoken to Mrs. Cake. “Given how we’re seeing more and more interactions between Gryphonia and our own nation, it would behoove us to ensure that our foals knew more about its native people than just what they look like.” He fixed Cheerilee with a grin that mirrored her own as she nodded.
“You’ve taken the words right out of my mouth, Broken.” The schoolteacher gave a quick glance at the door. “Shall we head inside? I’ve already informed the class about you, and they seem very excited to hear from you.”
Broken gave a light laugh. “If I know foals their age, they’re more excited by the day without schoolwork than by the chance to hear from me.” He and Cheerilee shared a few innocent laughs; how genuine Broken sounded, given how she knew he felt about the situation, sent spiders up Twilight’s back. Spike seemed to share her unease, giving the stallion a suspicious look as he thumbed the scroll on his wrist. Broken glanced at both of them before he continued. “In all seriousness, though, I’m afraid that we’ll need to delay a sho- oh, nevermind.”
Only Broken’s attention and the brush of air along Twilight’s back stopped her from jumping as a voice spoke up behind her. “My apologies Miss Twilight, Sir Spike, Miss Cheerilee, Broken Shield. The latest expedition lasted longer than we had intended.” Pip stepped up on the other side of Twilight from Spike, between her and Broken. He had a few smears of dirt or sap on his forelegs, and Twilight could see his muscles tensed around his shoulders.
“Is everything alright, Pip?” She asked, carefully catching his eye. “Did you manage to find something?”
The stallion took a breath before nodding, the movement sending Twilight’s mind on a sprint of activity. “We did, Miss Twilight, though I believe that such matters would be better discussed after Broken Shield’s presentation. Wouldn’t you agree, Broken?”
“Oh, of course, Pip. Wouldn’t want to keep the young ones waiting any longer than we have to.” He nodded to Cheerilee, who quickly slipped inside and began quieting the class; as soon as she was inside he turned to them, his voice back to normal. “Twilight, as soon as we’re all at the front I want that barrier between us and the class. Pip, if I start ‘going off’, you get me out of there and take off my horn as soon as we’re out of sight of the foals. Throw me through the wall, the floor, the roof, I don’t care, just make damn sure I don’t get a chance to test Twilight’s barrier. Spike, you send that note as soon as Pip grabs me. Everyone understand?”
“A good plan.” “Makes sense to me.” Pip and Spike said simultaneously. Twilight leaned over to put her hoof on Broken’s shoulder.
“I’m sure everything will be okay.” she said, making sure to catch his eye with hers. “You’re going to do fine, Broken.” The addressed stallion let out a breath and put his forehooves to his (closed) eye and eyepatch, pressing both in for several seconds before letting his breath out and blinking.
“Faust, I hope so…” He turned to the door at the same time as it opened, giving Cheerilee another calm smile as he returned to his ‘public’ voice. “Everypony ready to go in there?”
“Just waiting on you.” the teacher replied, leaving the door wide open as the four moved to enter the building.
Thirty pairs of eyes fell upon the group as they moved through the door, the guard that entered behind them going unnoticed. Broken’s smile never left his face as he quietly walked to the front, apparently ignorant of the mass of whispers and hushed conversations that sprang up around him. He gave a quick nod to the Crusaders as he passed them; Pip giving a similar acknowledgement to the small wave his younger counterpart gave him, stumbling slightly and taking in a small breath before continuing without comment. Twilight was the last to reach the front of the room, quietly putting an inch-thick and entirely-invisible shield between them and the students. She nodded at both Cheerilee and Broken, the latter pony clearing his throat and stepping up to a short distance from the barrier.
“Hello, everypony. My name is Broken Shield, as I’m sure your teacher Miss Cheerilee has already informed you. I am Twilight Sparkle’s uncle and a former ‘liason’ to Gryphonia for Princess Celestia. While I’ve already met some of you, I hope that you can all get to know me a little better in the short time we have today. In fact, on that note and before we begin, I’m sure that many of you have questions about my appearance, specifically about these lines criss-crossing just about every inch of me-“ he raised his hoof and swept it down beside himself in a wide gesture before bringing it to his eyepatch and tapping several times “-as well as why I happen to be wearing this little patch of black on my face.” He glanced around the room as several colts and fillies glanced at each other. “I’m also sure that Miss Cheerilee has informed you, in her own way, that your questions should be about the subject you’ve been studying rather than my physical condition. Now, while I certainly appreciate her concern and have absolutely no desire to undermine her authority, I do feel that it would be best to nip in the bud any ideas or theories that may be forming in your heads about how, exactly, I got this multitude of mutilations.” Twilight and Cheerilee both glanced at each other in surprise, but before they could move Broken’s horn was already glowing.
The stallion seemed to deflate, his cheeks thinning and stomach pulling in, though unlike the last time Twilight had seen him shed his normalized appearance he still resembled a living pony by the time his form stopped shifting. He took a moment to shake himself before he turned to the mares, giving them both a smirk and a wink before turning back to the shocked-silent students. He seemed to shift his jaw around for a few moments before his lips bulged forward, a set of dentures quickly pulled out in a tight ball of rose-coloured magic.
“Tho.” Broken said, with an open-mouthed smile nearly devoid of teeth. “Who wanth to know how I got theth thcarth?”