Shine Of The Silver Sun

by Nameless Narrator

Insanity: Abuse V

Two in the morning, the hour reserved for alcoholics and desperate ponies, met Contradiction still awake, sweating in the mansion cellar gym, punching and kicking a hanging sandbag, and muttering to herself:

"Kill them, kill them, kill them!"

She spun around on one foreleg so her hind legs faced the bag, and bucked upwards. The sandbag swung violently, then returned, batting Connie away. The unicorn's bloodshot eyes looked at the training implement with murderous intent.

She shook her head. No, the damn thing only hurt her, and because of her own carelessness. They hurt him. She'd been so terrified of losing Cromach after Walter, baron Hoof, even that crazy alicorn Blaze. Fortune, Leo, and Straw were gone, living lives of their own. Rolling Thunder, Two, Rock Candy, the absolutely first Order team which Connie had failed to get into - dead. Anvil, Astray, and Bubbles weren't her friends, they almost made her lose the only real one she still had left.

She just couldn't appease the voice in the back of her head calling for blood.

Leaving the gym, she visited her room only to grab a single thing - her real greatsword. It was an oversized one on top, bearing over twice as wide edge. With its ivory handle and ashen grey blade, it looked more like a decoration than a weapon. After all, unicorns preferred sharp and small weapons which were easy to manipulate with their normal telekinesis. Connie had no problem with it, and she knew the weapon was a real deal - one of the pair of ancient artefacts crafted by Starswirl the Bearded. Cromach had the other one, although he never actually used it these days, settling for his completely mundane battleaxe.

A short time later, she kicked the door to the trio's room open.

Anvil and Bubbles were awake instantly, jumping from their beds. Astray took a little longer, but the light as Connie flicked the switch didn't allow him to sleep through things, especially when coupled with Anvil's annoyed cry of:

"The hay do you think you're doing?"

"Rise and shine, failures!" Connie beamed, "Special training."

"Oooh, are we playing nighttime hide and seek?" Bubbles' ears perked up.

"Do we have to?" Astray groaned.

"You either come with me, or I'm dragging you out. I don't care which."

The firm tone of voice wasn't what made Astray extremely suspicious, the sword hovering next to Connie was. Normally, Astray would agree with the idea that 'enemies don't wait until you are prepared', but this had been a long day and, well - yesterday now, and he felt nothing good would come of whatever Contradiction had prepared.

He nodded towards her weapon, putting his clothes on.

"Should I take my armor or something?"

"Oh yeah, and you better be ready to use it."

Astray frowned, putting his gauntlets on. He felt he'd do much better just with those than the entire platemail. After Bubbles and Astray followed Connie out of the room, Anvil looked at the bedside table where she'd been examining Astray's new pistol before going to sleep. Narrowing her eyes, she hung the holster on the back of her belt... just in case.

Contradiction led them on the front lawn where they had previously been training. Scattered lighting of nighttime Manehattan barely thinned the darkness. However, when the four of them arrived on the yet again miraculously repaired lawn, dim glow spread from the tree underneath the group had been resting, illuminating the area.

Connie took few steps away from the other three, took a deep breath, and flourished her sword.

"I thought that seeing you broken and humiliated by Shadowstep's group would appease the little voice inside my head calling for your painful end, but no," her eye twitched, "You hurt him so bad... hah... HAHAHAHAHA!"

Earth rumbled. A tall, circular wall of dark stone burst out from the ground, cutting everyone off from the rest of the world. Bubbles was confused beyond belief. Astray's head was finally putting all the terrible clues together, and asked:

"Is this about-"

BOOM!

Anvil, though, didn't hesitate, firing a bullet at Connie's head with surprising precision for someone who had supposedly never held a pistol before.

The bullet stopped an arm's length in front of Connie, hovering in the air.

"Smarter than you look, you two-legged hamburger," with a sadistic grin, the bullet was tossed back at the same speed, lodging itself deep into Anvil's shoulder.

"Bubbles, take her down! She's crazy. THIS ISN'T A TRAINING!" the minotaur roared.

Bubbles wasn't hesitant whatsoever. All she needed was to get close to miss Contradiction and push her on the ground. At worst, she would bite her a little, which the nice ponies here in the mansion could heal easily. It didn't make sense to the demonette, though. Miss Contradiction used to be so nice before despite being tough during training, but there was something wrong with her now. It had a lot to do with sir Cromach not being around, which meant Bubbles and the others had to not break before he came back.

The rusty blur stopped as if hitting a wall.

"Huh? Owww... owowwowowww..." Bubbles looked at what had tugged at her so hard something crunched. Her left foreleg was missing, hanging in the air nearby, "Ah? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the pain caught up to her. She wasn't used to pain, being naturally resistant to damage as a helf-demon, but that only meant that whenever it happened, it hurt vastly more. Blood streaming from the torn away limb, she collapsed in shock on the grass.

Anvil, on the other hand, was more than used to being physically hurt, and by the time Contradiction was focused on holding Bubbles' leg she was already running, completely ignoring the bullet wound. She got close, close enough to almost swing her mace before the familiar feeling from day one enveloped her. This time, however, she was stronger and fought back as telekinesis held all her limbs, bending them backwards. She quickly realized her mistake. As stronger as she got in the few weeks here, the pressure on her compared to the last time was drastically more brutal.

"I'll end what I started the day you got here," Contradiction growled.

Crack! Shoulders.

Crack! Hips.

Anvil screamed, completely losing control of herself. The grinding in her dislocated joints echoed in her skull as Contradiction made sure to be slow and as agonizing as possible.

With Connie standing in front of Anvil being bundled up, her arms and legs very nearly literally tying themselves behind her back, Astray managed to get close. He didn't want to hurt anyone ever, but this was it. This was the choice - his principle of himself not being worth taking the life of another, or protecting those around him even though they didn't really like him anyway. Well, Bubbles did and she was slowly bleeding out, crumpled on the grass nearby.

He raised his sword, and-

CRUNCH!

-it fell from his suddenly limp hands. Well, suddenly limp everything. Astray couldn't turn his head, he lost the feeling in his entire body from the neck down. His world shook as he was levitated upwards and dangled like a sack of potatoes.

"Ooooh. Look at me, I'm ash tray, I pretend I can do something, but I'm no better than a rag doll. If I try real hard I'll get to cup some cow tits," Contradiction laughed sarcastically, "Well, if you meet in the afterlife you can try again."

Realizing Contradiction must have severed his spine, Astray once again felt something, and that something was vice-like pressure all around his head. He wanted to scream, but the lack of air from his paralyzed lunges was finally getting to him. He only hoped to pass out before-

His mouth opened in a silent scream as his world turned red.

Pain.

Nothing.

Bubbles forgot the pain of her missing leg instantly as Astray's head exploded into red mist. Now she felt as if her entire body and soul went numb. Standing up, she limped to the satyr's headless corpse.

"Why?" she mumbled while passing miss Connie, "Why are you so nasty when you were so nice?"

The unicorn stared at her silently as she cradled Astray's body still bleeding from the neck with her remaining foreleg.

"I was wrong," Bubbles sniffled, "You're just like mommy when she drank too much wine. I was wrong about you..."

She heard the whistling of Contradiction's greatsword. Turning her head with teeth bared, she grabbed the flying weapon with her mouth. It burned, it didn't cut her and yet the sword burned her more than any silver or magical alloy ever. Despite the molten heat in her maw, she bit down. Cracks ran down the edge and the entire thing shattered into several large shards.

Somewhere in the far future, Blazing Light sighed as he came to possession of one Blade of Balance which had somehow been broken to pieces. He had no idea how that had happened or how to reforge it, all he knew was that he had to.

"I AM IN THE RIGHT HERE!" Contradiction screamed half in rage and half in horror as the pieces of the destroyed sword fell on the grass.

Her horn flared, and Anvil could see shimmering, barely more visible than moving air, shapes of thick tentacles surounding the unicorn. She felt something being launched from Contradiction without seeing anything. Unfortunately, she didn't need to see, she knew, and turned her head to Bubbles...

...on whose neck a string-thin cut started bleeding.

The mare tried to turn her head, only managing to shake and reveal her neck had been sliced in two. As her head slid away from the rest of her body, she gurglingly mumbled:

"As... try..."

When Contradiction's pin-prick pupils focused again on Anvil, the minotaur knew it was over. She was barely conscious, swimming in the sea of torment, but still hanging on. She felt herself being dragged upwards by her horns. Following two more crunches shaking her to her core, the horns broke away with her still levitating above ground.

"Any last words?" asked Contradiction coldly.

Anvil scowled. If she had to go, then it would be without fear and staring truth straight in the face.

"Your boss is a straight and fair griffon who deserves way better than a mentally imbalanced foal like y-"

A shard of the broken blade ran through her skull.

"SHUT UP!" Contradiction yelled at the clearly dead minotaur. With the pieces of her broken sword held telekinetically in its original shape, she started hacking Anvil's head over and over into goo, "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!"

The barrier surrounding the massacre dissipated, and the outside world could clearly hear one madly laughing unicorn mare.

Just like his predecessor Straw Basket, Astray woke up, phantom pains still wrecking his body. He looked around to see his trembling, catatonic, but physically unhurt friends, and then he pissed himself...

...exactly just like his predecessor Straw Basket.

"Hah hahahah! THAT HELPED! THAT FINALLY HELPED! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Contradiction was not stopping while walking towards the mansion.

Anvil and Astray exchanged glances. The minotaur wanted to say something regarding the state of Astray's pants, but realized she was sitting in a stinking puddle herself. Raising her hand in front of her face, she opened and closed a fist several times. She was trembling and she couldn't stop it. The satyr was staring at her, tears streaming from his eyes. She couldn't help but smile before...

...Bubbles tackled Astray back onto his back and started licking his face all over.

There were no missing heads or limbs, no blood remaining, nothing outside of heavy breathing, distant sounds of night bordering on morning Manehattan, and Contradiction's insane laughter fading in the distance.

***

"WHAT IN SEVEN HELLS OF THE EMPIRE WERE YOU THINKING?!"

By the end of the week, Contradiction had been called into Cromach's office. The griffon was there, bandaged and apparently furious. Standing with his talons scoring grooves into his desk, he yelled at Contradiction as soon as she opened the door. She'd had time to think about what she'd done. A weight had lifted from her after she ended the brutal scene in Starlight's arena, but another had settled on her soon after - her boss would eventually return, and he wouldn't be happy. Despite that, she couldn't help herself, the anger was still there, albeit not like a roaring flame anymore.

"Who blabbed this time?" she just muttered defiantly, "Anvil again?"

"CROSS DID!" Cromach's disbelieving voice didn't fade in the slightest, maybe even rose at Connie's unrepentant approach, "YOU MADE FREAKING CROSS WORRY ABOUT YOUR MENTAL HEALTH. AND NOT ONLY YOURS! STARLIGHT TOLD HIM ABOUT YOU WANTING THE ARENA SPELL READY AND YOU EMPEROR-DAMN EXECUTED THREE FRESH NEWBIES AT NIGHT BEFORE HE OR SHADOWSTEP COULD TALK YOU OUT OF IT. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW THE THREE LOOK RIGHT NOW? LOOK AT ME, CONNIE!" he barked at the unicorn staring firmly at the floor. He definitely wasn't expecting the defiant stare back, "DO YOU?"

"Blaze did the same thing to us and I didn't hear you objecting then..." she just muttered, ramming a metaphorical dagger into Cromach's heart.

The griffon sighed, shaking his head.

"The situation was different then. When Blaze performed the arena scenario on you, Fortune, Straw, and Leo, he consulted all of us beforehoof. He asked about our assessment of you, and whether there was no other way. We were against it, but we didn't have a better idea. There is no dark cult of semi-invulnerable mind-controlled ponies rising nowadays. There is no god spelling complete end of life as we know it and threatening to force eternal torture on everything living this time. There is no need to discover whether one of the targets is possessed by a different evil entity that would come out if faced with death of its host. We do have time now. You just tortured few guys who weren't used to seeing horrors that would send a normal pony into an asylum forever. I talked to them, I talked to Shadowstep's group, I even talked to some normal recruits, and all pointed me to the same thing - you relieving frustration and anger."

"Do I need to remind you they almost got you killed TWICE?"

"The sewers were my lapse of judgement and concentration," Cromach said firmly, "And I, although I might be wrong on this one, also believe that the conflict in the hospital escalated only because you were involved. Anvil, Astray, and Bubbles did very little wrong. They have never before been on a long-term patrol. They don't know the rules and practices. You just basically sent three civilians on a mission they would certainly fail when faced with anyone who knew what they were doing, and you maybe caused irreversible mental damage to them because of an expected result? If anything, it was your fault for sending them there."

"Oh please," Contradiction was too deep to back off now, no matter how right Cromach was. She didn't dare admit everything was her fault in the end, "Astray was suicidal even before coming here. Anvil always flaunts how hardcore she is and that nothing ever shakes her. Bubbles was whored out and treated like an animal by her own mother for her entire short life. There's nothing to break there anymore outside of what needs to be broken anyway."

Cromach couldn't believe his ears. This wasn't the Connie he knew. He didn't lose his patience yet, though, and explained in a carefully controlled tone:

"I've been watching their progress, Connie. Bubbles is a rare case of somepony barely adult who still possesses the foal-like wonder and is happy for the smallest nice things in life. Yeah, according to the reports her mother was a half-insane bitch and her death was a long-time coming blessing for everyone involved, but even she didn't go as far as you did. That is exactly why she needs somepony who CARES about her. If she is to grow in the right way she needs somepony who believes she can, and after what you've been through I was hoping YOU would be that pony."

He took a breath, shook his head, and continued:

"I admit Anvil needs something to be beaten out of her, but you can't just push her over her breaking point and hope for the positive result. She even freaking started to care for somepony other than herself, which is pretty rare for minotaurs who have to fight for everything they have up north, and you've clearly shown her what mental pain opening oneself leads to. Fear of loss, does THAT ring a bell, Connie?"

The unicorn twitched, ears splayed back. Cromach hit his desk, making Connie look up at him again.

"And Astray, after finally looking as if he was finding somepony or something to live for, got to feel the grim darkness of how losing everything felt. For the first time in his life, Connie. SOUNDS FAMILIAR? YOU, of all ponies, YOU should fucking protect everyone around you from having to feel the way you did, not cause it."

That one cut deep. Connie opened her mouth...

...and closed it. There was nothing she could say. Of course Cromach was right. Of course the horrors she'd lived through were something she would never want anypony other than her worst enemy to witness.

"I- I just boil over whenever I see them. I recall your mangled body from when I first visited the hospital. You don't even know I was there, the doctors couldn't tell me if I'll ever be able to talk to you again, and I just stood there, not knowing anything other than that I wanted to flay the three idiots who caused this alive and bathe them in acid. I should have stayed here. Seeing you in Canterlot with tubes sticking out of your beak, legs, everywhere was..."

"Connie, I know you are more than this, there is no doubt in my heart. I think you need a long rest. I can call in some favors from the princesses and send you to some beach resort in the Griffon Empire or anywhere you want. I heard the late summer festivals in the Holy City are quite the events."

She raised her hoof, not looking at him.

"Don't send me away, please."

"I'm not. If you want to stay here it's fine. I just think it should be away from those three for a while. I doubt they would appreciate your presence either right now. This is mostly just a formality, but I'm stripping you of the team leadership temporarily."

Connie nodded.

"I am a shit leader. We all know that, Fortune knew that all the time. I am a good tactician, but I'm not fit to lead anypony."

"You will be, I know that," Cromach said comfortingly, "But everypony is sometimes in over their head. As I said, I believe in you, and I believe you can rationally tell me who your team's temporary leader should be."

"I thought you would take over."

"No, I'm recovering ridiculously fast, at least according to the doctors. It's probably something with the divine power inside me, but I have my own responsibilities and training regimen. You did a decent job with the paperwork, but there's a lot more to do after my absence."

"Alright then. Bubbles is simply too stupid. I don't mean any insult by it, but she is simple and knows too little to lead anyone anywhere other than to the kitchen. Astray... it's a close call and according to the others he is good in crisis, but I don't think he's the bigger picture kind of guy. As I said, close call, but I think Anvil is still the correct choice."

Cromach nodded.

"With that, you're getting two weeks of medical leave. You're free to use them as you please, and if you decide in the end to go somewhere the Order will be paying for it," he walked around his desk, and hugged the unicorn who twitched away at first, "You know you'll have to talk to them and apologize for everything... and that it wouldn't be enough. You'll have to lead them to Tartarus and get them back all alive before they forgive you."

"I know," she muttered, "but I can't do it now. I just... I know what would happen. I know what they would say, I know what I would say, and I know it would only end up even worse."

"All in due time?"

"Yes, sir. I'm sorry for disappointing you, causing damage to those I'm supposed to lead, and I'm sorry for not being good enough for you. I hope in time I'll be able to tell this to them as well."

"Your head makes it worse than it's going to be, but I won't pressure you, Connie. Anything else?"

"No, sir. Thank you for your patience and time. I'll do my best to avoid failing you in the future."

Comments

[Blackdust]

Damn... So that thing possessed her?

[Anonymous Critic]

"I thought that seeing you broken and humiliated by Shadowstep's group would appease the little voice inside my head calling for your painful end, but no," her eye twitched, "You hurt him so bad... hah... HAHAHAHAHA!"

...uh, Connie... calm down... don't be a bad guy...

Connie..? Connie!?

[Anonymous Critic]

"Connie, I know you are more than this, there is no doubt in my heart. I think you need a long rest. I can call in some favors from the princesses and send you to some beach resort in the Griffon Empire

Oh HELL no! The first time that happened was enough of a mess!

[Teraunce]

yeah Nightmare Connie is not a good thing to have.