Shining Armor was many things. Brother of the Bearer of the Element of Magic. Captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard. Husband of Princess/Empress Mi Amore Cadenza, and through that Emperor-Consort of the Crystal Empire and (by undesired technicality) Prince of Equestria. Somewhat giddy expectant father.
At the moment, however, Shining Armor was mostly scared out of his mind.
“So none of you know where she is right now?”
Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike all shook their heads. Applejack and Rainbow Dash made vague noises in negative tones from the couch; Shining’s medic had cleared them of any severe spinal injury, but insisted they keep their heads still even after a diagnostic and healing spell. Shining brought his hoof up and rubbed between his eyes, crushing down the rising pangs of panic and protective instinct that urged him to go outside and start tearing the town apart in search of his wayward sister.
He’d known that Twilight wouldn’t react well to Celestia’s admissions. His sister held a great deal of trust and respect for the alicorn, to such a degree that he knew she’d never realized the impossibility of ruling a nation, and dealing with rebellions, without getting one’s hooves bloodied. While the extent of Celestia’s reaction to those rebels had certainly unnerved him, he’d been more or less prepared to hear that she had killed before. He’d warned the Princess that Twilight was going to be rather more disturbed by that information, and as such wasn’t particularly surprised when he was finally called to the throne room to find his sister absent and the Princess nursing a swollen cheek. His concern had slowly grown as Celestia spoke of how Twilight had discovered the true histories, and how she’d reacted to the alicorn’s explanations.
And then Celestia said that she’d shown Twilight the sun, and he very nearly punched her in the face himself.
He’d turned and left as fast as he could after the first letter had arrived, only staying long enough to read what was written himself. Spike’s wording had been clear enough that a blind mare could read between the lines, and any concern he had that Celestia would deny his ‘request’ to go down there died when his trip to the barracks found two carriages and squads ready to leave on his order. He only learned of the second letter – of what Twilight had said – when Spike and the Bearers had told him themselves.
“Alright, okay…” He let out a heavy sigh, glancing at the books along the walls of the library’s central room. “Did Pip say where he was going before he left? Anything about what he might be doing?”
Several glances were exchanged before Spike coughed. “Er, after I sent the second letter up to you guys, he said that he ha-“ The rest of the dragon’s sentence was cut off as he burped up a letter from Celestia. Shining grabbed it before it could start falling to the floor, casting his eyes over it and feeling a headache form as he read the words.
“‘Captain Armor: Broken Shield escaped custody approximately half an hour ago. Guards were rendered unconscious nonmagically, keeping the escape unknown until now. Wards on door were left intact; wall of safehouse was destroyed from outside.’” He read aloud for the benefit of the other ponies. His eyes went back to Spike, who shrugged nervously.
“He said that he had to ‘get him back down here’. Wasn’t sure what he meant, but I guess it’s kinda obvious now, huh.”
“Wait. Pip broke Broken out? Why the buck would he do that?” Rainbow called from the couch, giving a glare at the medic as he stopped her from leaping to her hooves. Shining gave her a glance before shaking his head.
“The only reason I can think of is Twilight; Pip wants to stop her from killing Celestia or becoming Dawn. And if he went through the effort of breaking Broken out then he more than likely would have carried him down from Canterlot, it wouldn’t make sense for him to do otherwise. Which means that Twilight probably has Broken hunting her down, right now, with or without Pip’s help, when the last thing that either of them know she said was that she was planning to kill Celestia.” Shining ground his teeth at those last words. Dammit, Twily, what in Faust’s name is going on?
“And with that comes the possibility that they’ve been working together this whole time…” Rarity said, her brow furrowed. Applejack moved to shake her head, but caught herself before the medic could and raised her hoof instead.
“They ain’t been, hon. Leastways, they ain’t doin’ so willingly. Neither of ‘em were lyin’ when they talked about hatin’ each other, even if they’ve gotten friendlier lately.” The farmmare took in a breath. “More likely, Pip started really hatin’ on Dawn when Twi broke the magic Dawn had on ‘im, an’ he freaked out when he heard her talk about killin’ Celestia ‘cause, well, that’s what Dawn did. He thinks she is Dawn, goes t’get the pony who he knows wants t’kill Dawn more’n almost anythin’ else-“
“Sir!” The door to the library swung open, admitting the head of one of the Royal guardsponies. “Captain Armor, the earth pony suspect just appeared outside. We have him contained, but he’s demanding to speak with you.”
“Well, speak of Discord…” Shining muttered, drawing a small look from Fluttershy. They, Pinkie, and Rarity quickly moved outside, finding Pip standing in the centre of several layers of magical ropes and barriers. The stoic stallion’s eye locked on Shining as soon as the unicorn stepped into his range of vision. “Hello, Pip.”
“Hello, Captain Armor. There will be a doctor from Ponyville General arriving soon in order to check up on Miss Rainbow Dash and Miss Applejack.” Everypony blinked at the unanticipated statement, and there was a short pause before Pip continued. “I can assure you that I do not intend to harm you or anypony else. Your guardsponies are wasting their magic and attention on my restraints.”
“…er, they’re just being cautious. We know what you can do, Pip.” Shining shrugged. “Plus you’re the primary suspect in Broken’s most recent escape from custody.”
“A wise suspicion, considering that I did, in fact, break him out. He was necessary for distracting Miss Twilight from her planning and/or attempting to kill Princess Celestia, and for detaining her until you and your guardsponies arrived to formally arrest her. Now that you’re here, I am intended to lead you to the outskirts of the Everfree Forest so that you may take Miss Twilight into custody from Broken Shield.” The stallion took a breath. “Once I am released, of course.”
“You’re ‘intended’ to do so? Whose intent are you working under?”
Pip gave Shining an odd look. “Broken Shield’s, Captain Armor.”
“And why would Broken want Twilight captured alive? If he’s got her, then why doesn’t he just kill her now that she’s said she’s planning to killing Celestia?”
“His Oath prevents him from doing so.”
“He could use a death spell, kill her before the Oath has a chance to stop him. And don’t tell me that he won’t do it because ‘he wants to live’, because the Oath can’t kill him, and if he couldn’t tell that Celestia was blu-“
“I was not talking about his Oath to Celestia, Captain Armor.”
Shining stared at Pip for a few seconds as the earth pony’s words registered. Before he could ask what other Oath Pip was referring to, a memory popped up behind his eyes. A memory of a letter that detailed the magic lines coursing over Broken’s mind.
“Oh fuck. ” Shining’s eyes widened as realization came crashing down on him, drawing several glances from the ponies around him.
“I’m sorry, what exactly-“ Rarity began, before Pip overtalked her.
“I am not sure how long Broken can restrain Miss Twilight, Captain Armor. For both of their safeties, I would advise-“
“Let him go.” Shining ordered. The unicorn guards all glanced at him, but complied, dispelling their restraints on Pip. He stepped towards the Risen stallion, his voice low. “You can lead us to them?”
The stallion gave Shining a very slight nod. “Follow me.”
Shining left half of his guards at the library, alongside the Element Bearers and Spike, answering the latter group’s vociferous objections to being left behind with the simple statement of “You’re too valuable to risk.” Pip paced himself sparingly, stepping from point to point, waiting only long enough for Shining to see the street or alleyway he was pointing towards before moving. Shining kept himself and his squad moving as fast as possible, and soon enough the roads started getting rougher and the houses further apart, the small gardens replaced by tall grasses and wildflowers. Pip stopped on the very edge of town, leaning almost casually against the corner of the final building on the road as Shining and his guards skidded, panting, to a stop beside him.
“Broken Shield and Miss Twilight will be towards the edge of the Everfree, assuming that Miss Twilight hasn’t escaped.” Shining glanced at the ‘ridge’ in question, a length of slightly raised land that seemed to serve as the town limits. “Broken Shield should have her held within a barrier, and will surrender her custody to you once you arrive. I trust that you know the proper procedure for after that point.”
“What, you aren’t coming?” Shining asked. Pip gave a quick shake of his head.
“While I recognize that she needs to be placed into custody, I do still like Miss Twilight significantly more than anyone else here, and I fear that she may be capable of emotionally compromising me if I am present during her apprehension.” The stallion gave a very small sigh. “As well, I have absolutely no doubt that Dawn placed a failsafe upon me that would regress me to the state I was in when I first arrived in this timeline, and I don’t want to risk the possibility that Miss Twilight may be able to activate it.”
“That’s… an understandable concern. Both of them.” Shining let his mouth drop open slightly, then shut it with an audible clack. He felt his eyes narrow slightly. “You know, you’ll still probably have to answer for breaking him out of custody. I seriously doubt that the Princess’ll actually punish you, considering what’s going on, but it’s not like I can let you just run off.”
“I had no intention of ‘running off’, Captain Armor. I was planning to return to the library to verify the arrival of the doctor for Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and then go to Canterlot to explain the situation to the Princesses. Would that be acceptable to you?”
Shining stared at Pip for a few moments before giving a sigh and a shrug. Pip appeared to take that as acquiescence, vanishing before Shining could actually speak. The guard captain blinked, then shook his head as he turned to his squad.
“Alright, everyone got their breath back?” He glanced around the group, taking in their nods before continuing. “Wind, pop up on the roof of this building, see if everything’s as Pip said it was. It’s open field between here and the Everfree, you shouldn’t have trouble spotting them.” The designated pegasus nodded, moving as Shining addressed the others. “We’re dealing with two dangerous ponies here. Broken Shield might be on our side for this, but he’s still nowhere near trustworthy. Bark, Point, I want your eyes on him, don’t be afraid t-“
“Captain!”
Shining craned his head up at the voice. “Wind? What’s wrong?”
“Twilight Sparkle isn’t in a barrier, sir! Broken Shield’s on the ground and doesn’t seem to be moving!”
Shining bit off a curse. “Is she doing anything that you can see?”
“No sir! Near as I can tell she’s just sitting there!”
Shining moved to the ridge, getting up just far enough to see over it. His eyes roamed a bit before he found his sister; she was close enough to the Everfree that she’d be able to disappear into it long before they got to her position. A barely-visible lump of blue and white that Shining took to be Broken lay in front of her. He ducked his head back down, turning to the other guards.
“Right, new plan. I’m going to teleport most of the way there, then approach Twilight and try to get another barrier around her. As soon as I’m gone I want the rest of you to spread out and move up towards us, cautiously; I don’t know what she might do if she sees you, and I want to try to get her focused on me before you arrive.”
“What if she attacks, sir?” Point asked.
“Standard procedure for dangerous unicorns. The Princess wants her alive, so nothing lethal unless she’s clearly trying to kill us.”
The guards nodded. Shining nodded back, then pooled his magic and teleported.
He landed a short distance from Twilight, close enough that he wouldn’t have to go far to reach her but far enough that she wouldn’t be spooked by his arrival. He moved at as close to a casual pace as he could, making sure that the grass and his armour made plenty of noise. His eyes stayed locked on her as he approached, watching for any signs that she was about to move or attack.
Her horn lit up when he got within a few metres from her, several blades of magic appearing near her and pointing at him. He stopped immediately, keeping himself still as she slowly turned her head to face him.
That’s when he saw the blood.
A thin trail of it coursed down one side of her face from her ear, joined by one from her nose and the corner of her mouth. The ‘white’ of that side’s eye was entirely crimson, her iris nearly invisible between the red around it and the wide pupil inside of it. She didn’t appear to notice her injury, staring towards Shining with a dull, unfocused gaze.
“Twilight?” He said, after several seconds of silence. Her eyes sharpened, very slightly, and the blades around her horn twitched.
“…Shining?” She asked back, her voice far too close to a small foal’s for his liking.
“Yeah, Twilight, it’s me.”
“Oh.” The mare stayed still for several seconds before turning fully to him, a smile appearing on her face. It was clearly forced, but didn’t look entirely fake – like she would have been smiling naturally, if something wasn’t preventing her from doing so. “I’m glad you’re here, Shining. Is Cadance with you?”
In spite of himself, Shining felt an uneasy smile form on his face. “Ah, sorry, Twily. I’m not here for a visit.”
“Oh, you aren’t? Then why- oh. She sent you, didn’t she?” The smile twitched, as did the blades again, and Shining could see something sparking off behind Twilight’s eyes. The guard captain readied a barrier.
“Afraid so, sis. She wanted to check on what was going on down here, make sure everything was alright.”
“And she sent you?”
Shining shrugged. “I might have been… forceful, in my insistence on coming down.” Twilight gave a quiet breath of a laugh, but didn’t actually speak. Shining pressed on. “Your friends were at the library when I landed. Told me about what happened.”
The mention of her friends seemed to breathe some life back into the mare; her entire form straightened from its tired slump, her eyes sharpening considerably, and she actually took several steps towards her brother as she spoke. “Really? Were Applejack and Rainbow okay? I checked to make sure that I hadn’t hurt them too badly, but they were still unconscious when I left, so I wasn’t sure if I’d missed something- oh! Spike! Was Spike there, was he okay? He left before we used the Elements and I haven’t seen him since!”
Shining leaned back slightly from his sister’s spontaneous reanimation. “Er, Spike was fine, Twi. Applejack and Rainbow were awake, and there was a doctor coming from the hospital to make sure they’re okay.”
“Oh, thank goodness! I was just trying to get them off of me, I didn’t want to actually hurt them…” She trailed off, slumping down but not walking back to her former position. Her eyes went somewhat dull again, but stayed trained on him.
“…are you okay, Twilight?”
The mare blinked, the smile from before reappearing on her face. “Oh, I’m fine, Shining. Just… thinking about something Broken showed me.” The blades around her horn seemed to shift, inverting upon themselves, their points dissolving and reappearing on the opposite side. Towards her instead of him.
“Well, I’m glad to hear that you’re alright, sis.” Shining replied, his eyes not leaving the blades. “Your friends said you were-“
“Did you know, Shiny?” Twilight asked. Shining blinked.
“Did I know what, Twily?”
The blades inverted again, pointing back to him. “About the deaths. And the sun.”
“Not the deaths, not until a few days ago. But I’ve suspected something for quite a while.”
“And the sun?”
Shining took a breath, feeling his muscles tense in anticipation of her reaction. “It was the first thing I learned as Captain.”
Twilight remained still for several moments, then very slowly nodded. “I see.” She spoke, her voice hollow. “Cadance?”
“…she’s known for longer than I have.” Twilight took a sudden, sharp breath, and Shining felt ice grip his heart. “We wanted to tell you, Twily, I came damn close-“
“I was going to kill Broken for that.” Twilight’s smile fractured, becoming distinctly wrong, her blades morphing to point at her once more. “I-if he knew, and he didn’t say anything, then he was as bad as h-her. B-but you? And Cadance? You did the same thing as Broken, as her, so you should face the same punishment. She has to die. He had to die. You… you have to…” Shining tensed as the blades quivered. Twilight tilted her head, her brow furrowing; there were several seconds of silence between them, the only noise coming from the approaching guards, before she blinked and spread her wings wide. “…well, that’s a simple enough solution.”
“Twi-“
The blades launched. Shining raised a barrier on instinct, ducking out of the way in case one of the shards of magic managed to get past (or through) the wall. He was already working through a dozen battle plans in the half-second it took him to remember that the blades hadn’t been pointed at him.
Then he heard Twilight scream.
One of her wings was falling as he dropped the barrier, still stiff and fully spread in spite of the fact that it was no longer attached to her body. Tears from screwed-shut eyes cut rough lines down her face as her horn flared, more magic blades forming around her remaining wing; those blades almost instantly disappeared as Shining slammed a shield around Twlight’s horn. Her eyes shot open, sharp and shocked as they rose to meet his, and then they closed again as her legs buckled beneath her. He was moving before they did, catching Twilight in his forehooves and holding her up by the shoulders as the rest of her body went limp. Twilight gave a small cry of pain, followed by a low groan.
“…nno…” She mumbled. Shining heard the other guards arrive, two of them stopping near Broken while the others moved closer to the Everfree. The stump of Twilight’s wing twitched, and he quickly magicked a tourniquet around it to stop its bleeding. “Sh-Shining…”
“Hey, hey, Twilight, I’m right here, you’re gonna be fine…” His eyes rose, searching for the medic. He found her just as she was starting to resuscitate Broken. The stallion’s barrel jumped as her magic worked through it, straining against the guard holding him down before going limp again. The holding guard put his hoof on Broken’s neck, keeping it there for several seconds before shaking his head; the medic cussed, muttering to herself as she began charging her horn again.
“…kill me…” Twilight murmured. Shining put his eyes back on her, and found her staring back up at him.
“Twilight?”
“You have to kill me…” She said, her voice rough and pained. Shining felt his blood freeze.
“W-what in Faust’s name are-“
“I-I can’t, I tried, I tried to do it myself, but my magic wouldn’t-“ she stopped with a hiss of pain. “You can’t let me go. I don’t know if I could stop myself, I-I don’t want to kill you or Cadance but you still have to die a-and please, Shining. I can’t kill her again. Y-you can’t let me kill her again.” She twisted her head, leaning it back and away from her brother.
Giving him as clear a shot as she could at her neck, her heart-
“Please, Big Brother. Please.”