Pacification
Broken awoke to a spinning room. Streaks of white and purple lay in the middle of the otherwise rather brown wash of colour, warped sounds penetrating through the drone in his ears. He tried to blink, but when he opened his eye again everything decided to be bright and painful. He groaned, shifting his shoulders but finding his forelegs immobile. His eye closed again, and he figured if he lay there long enough he might be left alone so that he could escape-
Then somepony threw a bucket of ice water on him.
Broken gasped, thrashing as the sudden wash of freezing cold hit him square in the face. He felt his horn make contact with another for a brief moment before both moved away. His eye jumped open again, and he realized that he could see properly again just as the droning sound melted from his ears. Blinking several times on instinct, he realized that he was being held in the library, with Twilight Sparkle and a stone-faced Princess Celestia immediately in front of him. Several other ponies were behind him, small sounds of metal indicating guardsponies.
“Princess…” he muttered, still slightly shocked from the blast of cold. Shaking his head, he tried to articulate a better statement. “Princess, please, you must be careful! Dawn has freed Discord-“
“I am well aware of Discord’s release, Broken Shield.” Celestia replied. Broken relaxed immediately; not totally, but he wasn’t straining against his bonds with the entirety of his might anymore.
“Then, Princess, might I suggest that I be released to aid in his capture? Dawn has him holed up just outside of the Everfree, but if we hurried we might be able to detain him!” Broken’s eye flicked over to Twilight, gaining a minor confusion at the lack of physical bonds keeping her restrained.
Celestia sighed. “Broken, Discord does not need to be detained. He is no longer a threat to the safety of Equestria.”
At that, Broken became even more confused. “Princess, what are you talking about?”
“I was the one who ordered him released, my little pony.”
Broken stared, frozen once more, at his Princess. His eye flicked once more over to Twilight, and confusion gave way to rage.
“What have you done to her, Dawn?!”
Celestia frowned slightly, one wing opening to separate the two ponies. “Twilight Sparkle has done nothing to me, Broken Shield.”
“I apologise, Princess, but you must be under some kind of external influence to have allowed Discord’s release, and Rising Dawn is the only pony I know of capable of such an act!”
“I gave over Discord as a statue to Twilight and her friends in order for them to release him. I hoped that Fluttershy would be able to reha-er, rather, habilitate him into normal Equestrian life.” Celestia’s mouth drew down on one side. “It was successful, and he has not shown any signs of going back to his harmful ways.”
“Princess, if you were in your right mind you would recognize-“
“Enough, Broken Shield!” Celestia’s frown was openly worn now. “I can assure you that I am not under the influence of any foreign power, nor that Twilight Sparkle has in any way manipulated me into releasing Discord. My choice to release him was based on the ideals of Equestria: that any pony, any body, can come to aid his or her fellow beings in tolerance and harmony. It was on these same principles that I trusted you, out of hoof, to come down here and attempt to fit in with society again.” The Princess drew in a breath, restoring her calm visage. “You, however, have proven a greater problem than the god of chaos.”
“Princess, as Captain of the Guard I swore to defend Equestria and your Highnesses the Princesses against any and all threats, foreign or domestic, commoner or royalty. It is only out of concern for the well being of Equestria that I have taken any action against the threats put forward by Dawn and her monster, and such threats certainly include doing whatever she did to you to make you willing to allow Discord’s release.” He shook in his bonds again. “Please, Princess, if you allow me to help you-“
“Examine me.”
Broken’s brow furrowed. “Your Highness?”
Celestia began stepping forward, her pace controlled and steady. “You seem confident that my willingness to allow Discord’s freedom is caused by manipulation from an external source, namely my student Twilight Sparkle. I am confident that it is not. I ask you to examine my memories in order to demonstrate your evidence that I am being manipulated.”
“Princess, are you sure-“ Twilight began. Celestia raised a wing to silence her.
“I will not be harmed, my dearest student. That goes for you as well, Shining Armor.” A clink of armour behind Broken indicated the relaxing of a guard’s position. Celestia turned back to the one-eyed pony. “Well, Broken?”
“As you wish, Princess.” He replied. The Princess leaned down towards him, bringing her horn within easy range of his. His horn glowed for half a second, then he moved his head, and the horns touched a half-second more.
Both ponies stiffened, eyes closing as information transferred across the magical bridge. Broken jolted back from the contact; Celestia maintained herself and stepped back normally, heightened breathing the only indicator of the ordeal she had gone through. Broken’s eye rapidly darted around behind his lid as two months of deliberation, debate with her sister, self-investigation, and decision moderation played out within several seconds. Nights spent sleepless weighing the positive possibilities against the negative certainties, how Equestria would react, what everypony would think of her should things again turn wrong, why she was even doing this in the first place. All of it was clear and sharp, bearing only the signs of being copied memories rather than the originals. None of it was marred by alteration or suggestion.
Their eyes opened at the same time, merely seconds after their horns touched. His eye was pinpricked in horror; her eyes filled with a righteous satisfaction tempered in pity.
“No…”
“Yes.”
“No, no, that can’t- you must have, you can’t- just, you can’t just have…” The stallion trailed off, staring not at Celestia but somewhere past her.
“Broken Shield, I know that you have gone through-“
“You aren’t my Princess.”
Celestia’s ear flicked forward. “I’m sorry?”
Broken shook his head. “You… you aren’t the Celestia I knew. She… if she went through those same thoughts as you did… she figured them out differently.”
“Yes, I suspect that there are differences in everypony between here and where you came from, Broken Shield.”
“No, no, it’s not…” Broken blinked, clearing afterimages from behind his eyelid. He glanced up at Celestia. “How would you have handled a, a town, let’s say, that just up and said ‘Hey, we aren’t going to obey your laws anymore’, and kicked out all of your guards and officials? Caused some injuries and deaths?”
Celestia stared back at him for a moment before speaking. “Firstly, I would ensure that all my ponies were safe. Then, I would attempt to engage in civil discussion with those in charge of the insurrection. Should they prove violent, I would incapacitate them, separating those ponies who wished to harm others from those simply expressing their opinions or caught up in the excitement. I would do my best to ensure that order was restored and that those responsible for any harmful actions were brought to justice.” Broken began to laugh, and one of Celestia’s eyebrows raised. “Is there something amusing in my statement, Broken Shield?”
Broken stopped laughing, but maintained his grin. “No, no, Princess; that was exactly what my Celestia said she would do. ‘Civil discussion, incapacitate the violent, restore order and ensure justice’ and all of that. But I don’t think you and her would agree on what that entails, Princess.”
“And by that you mean…?”
Broken brought a hoof up, rubbing a scar that stretched from his ear to his eye. “If I’m going to be telling a story, Princess, I think the others would like to hear it as well.”
Celestia stared at him for a few more moments, then nodded. The door opened with a knot of magic around the handle, and five ponies quickly filed in. Broken noted with a smirk that Applejack sat as far as she could from Twilight without actually leaving the semicircle around him, though her glower was aimed directly at him.
“If you would, Broken?” Celestia said. The stallion swallowed.
“Immediately after Applejack’s information was obtained, Celestia began preparations…”
---
When the carriages touched down, Shining did not emerge first because he feared for his sister. He did not emerge first because he hoped that his presence would calm any rioting ponies near the library. He did not emerge first because it was his duty to do so.
He was the first out of the carriage because he wanted it over with.
“Right, squads of six, as trained, two front one back, scan for ponies on the streets. Detain and bring back to HQ if found. Once the roads are secure, start breaching buildings. Move it!”
His sergeants took the orders, grabbing their ponies as the exited the carriages. Soon, only twenty-one ponies remained in the gig ring around the library.
“Sir, scans don’t indicate any major life inside the building.” A unicorn guard trotted up to the captain. “Should we enter?”
“Fast as you can, keep it clean. We want any questionable documents secured, not destroyed.” Shining took in a breath. “And sergeant?”
“Sir?”
“Twilight Sparkle has murdered two guardsponies, encouraged violent rebellion, and committed necromancy. She is to be regarded as hostile and extremely dangerous. If she is in there…” Shining swallowed, and his eyes began to sting. “If she attacks you, don’t bother trying to capture her.”
The stallion blinked, but nodded. “Yes, sir.” Then he saluted, quickly stepping away after Shining gave a weak return. The guard captain turned away from the library as the guards got into position, walking towards the medics and remaining guardsponies. Nodding at the sergeant, he addressed the nine red-crossed ponies.
“You’re going to set up shop in the library’s main room. The guards currently securing the building will act as your security and escorts. Pegasi teams will bring the injured to you; you don’t leave the library unless absolutely necessary.”
“Aye, captain.” One of the medics responded. “Might I ask why we’re bein’ put in the middle of the prison?”
“The library is the HQ; other guard squads are coming in after us with more supplies. The detained ponies are being put in a specific section of the gig ring, with special carriages and a squad assigned just to keep an eye on them, and after they’re processed they’re being moved to the former Town Hall site. You should be perfectly safe.”
“Ah. Thanks fer the explanation.” The mare turned to the other medics. “Right, lads, ge’ the lead shoes off yer hooves, we gotta ge’ ready fer casualties!”
“One more thing.” The apparently-head-medic turned back to Shining. “You give the detainees minimal medical treatment, enough to keep them alive. Save the actual healing for the guards.”
“Sir, that’s no’ exactly up to medical code-“
“Orders of Princess Celestia herself.”
That caught the mare up short. “Right then. If she says so…” She frowned. “I ain’t gonna let a pony suffer, though.”
“I wouldn’t want you to.” Shining turned at a call, seeing the library squad signal an all-clear. “Right, go get set up. Sergeant, shall we move?”
“On your orders, sir.” The unicorn replied. Shining nodded.
“Let’s go, then.”
Soon the squad-plus-one was trotting up the central street, eyes narrowed and carefully scanning their surroundings. Every window was shuttered, doors closed and on occasion barred on the outside (And all barred on the inside, Shining figured). About one in twenty buildings had a solar banner hanging from a window or on the door, tattered and torn. The sergeant spat on the ground when the squad passed by one of the flags covered in an odourous brown substance.
“Makes me sick, what they’re doing here…”
“How’s that, sergeant?” Shining replied. The olive stallion flicked an eye at him.
“Going rebel, burning the Town Hall, desecrating the flag, that doesn’t set you off, sir?”
“Of course it does, sergeant. These ponies need to be brought to justice.” Shining scuffed his hoof, scraping off a rotted piece of fruit. “But I’m not angry at them. That’d just be distracting.”
“Point taken, sir.” The sergeant blinked, watching as several pegasi flew overhead. “You think the flagged houses might be loyalists?”
“Maybe. Could just be trying to trick us into letting our guard down around the ponies that come out.” A magic flare went up, and the pegasi turned towards it. “We’ll get some information soon enough.”
“Aye, sir.” The stallion’s ear flicked, and he turned his head towards an alley. “Movement!”
Immediately the squad halted, crouching down, several barriers popping up courtesy of Shining and the other unicorns. They moved to the alley, pulling out several dumpsters to expose nothing but a scraggled cat. A few small snickers set the sergeant’s face dull red under his coat.
“Sorry, sir…”
Shining flicked an ear back, setting magic bonds on the refuse bins. “What for? We’re supposed to investigate any possible pony positions. You’re just following orders, sergeant.” Shining began to slowly walk up the alley, motioning for the sergeant and another guard to follow. A barrier brushed the debris from the alley ahead of them, leaving the alley floor exposed.
“I know, sir, I’m just… on edge, a little.”
“We all are, sergeant. Comes with the territory.”
“Yes, sir, but… I’ve been to Ponyville before. It shouldn’t be like this, everypony hiding from the bucking Guard. They used to like us, and six weeks later we’re practically needing to invade them.” The sergeant took a step forward, slipping slightly. “It ain’t-“ He stopped speaking. “Sir?”
“Sergeant? What did you find?” The guard captain turned, heading back towards the sergeant. The olive stallion poked his hoof at the puddle he had slipped in.
“This water, sir… it’s sewage. How’d sewage get on the street?”
“Fell out of a dumpster? Maybe somepony didn’t tie a diaper right.”
“No, sir, there was a bin near this spot, but this didn’t come from it.” A green ball appeared in the air, tapping at the stones around the puddle. One of them shifted slightly at the contact. “Aha!” The ball grew in size, crashing down into the stone. It and several others around it fell, clanging against a wooden ladder descending into the sewer below.
“Hidden tunnel? They work fast.” Shining peered down into the hole, noting dark stains on the ladder’s rungs. He stepped back again as the smell met his nose. “And if that puddle’s fresh…”
“…then somepony just got out! I knew I saw something, sir!” The sergeant gave Shining a quick grin before masking it again. “Think they might be in the bin, sir?”
“Might as well check. Good work.” Shining nodded at the sergeant before turning to the regular guardspony. “Put a barrier on this, stay and guard it until we get a relief squad.” The guard nodded, and Shining followed the sergeant out into the street. “What’s your name, sergeant?”
“Jade, sir.”
Shining gave a small laugh. “Right. I’ll remember that. Sergeant Jade, if you would?”
Jade nodded, turning to his squad. “Shore, Stal, we need these bins scanned. Easy, give a couple of kicks on whichever one has a pony in it. Everypony get ready to jump on whoever comes out.”
The slightly relaxed atmosphere given by the guards left as soon as Jade had addressed them, and the dumpsters were with great efficiency scanned for life. The one that tested positive was brought towards the centre of the street. Jade nodded, and a large, burly earth pony guard gave several quick bucks to the side of the bin. Shining let the bonds go, flicking the lid open; after several more kicks, a small mass leapt out from the rubbish inside, quickly caught by the waiting guards.
“It’s a colt, sir.” One of the guards said, horn glowing. The other two backed off a moment later, revealing a small blue pegasus covered in grime, his hooves tied together and pointing straight into the air. Shining walked up to the colt, meeting the young pony’s glare with a simple look.
“Kid, what were you doing in there?” The colt tried to twist his head and spit at Shining, but ended up simply trailing saliva from his mouth.
“I was helping the Revolution stop evil ponies like you from trodding on the downtroddened common ponies like me! So let me go, you big meanie!”
“Hey now, didn’t anypony teach you to respect your elders?” Shining tsked at the colt. “Do your parents know you’re out here?”
“Duh! They’re in the Revolution too! Everypony is!”
“Really? Everypony? Even the ponies in the houses with the flags outside?” Shining flicked an eye at Jade, who sent up a flare.
“No, those dummies are the ones who want you bullies to come back! No real Revolutionary would ever be in those dumb places!” Shining had to bite back a grin at the youth’s mouth.
“Well, I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Do you know where your parents are?”
“No! Regus Eunt Domus!” The colt strained to rise at this statement of defiance, succeeding in lifting his head a few centimetres off of the ground. Shining snickered, as did several of the guards, and Jade brought his head into his hoof. A pegasus touched down and quickly checked in with the sergeant.
“No? Well, don’t worry, we’ll find them soon enough.” Turning, he walked over to the pegasus and Sergeant Jade. “How’s the rest of the operation going?”
“Fairly well, we haven’t found many ponies, but none of them have put up much of a fight. Think our worst injury was stepping on broken glass, sir.”
“Good, good. Well, be careful with this one, he’s a real tough fighter. Smells bad, too.” The pegasus glanced behind Shining, catching his grin when he saw the ‘prisoner’.
“Oh, don’t worry, sir. I’ll have my guard up for this one.” The pegasus trotted over to the colt, grabbing the rope between his teeth and lifting off. The weight seemed to unbalance him slightly, but he quickly stabilized and rose to roof height.
Then something launched from a nearby roof, slamming into the pegasus and sending the tangle of three ponies into a building wall before tumbling to the ground.
“AMBUSH!” Shining roared, throwing up a barrier just as several windows shot open. Bottles and buckets of rotting food pelted into the barrier, and before Shining could retaliate the windows shut and locked again. Cursing, the guard captain turned towards the fight.
The pegasus guard was on the ground, wings splayed and hooves pushing upwards against his attacker. Jade was holding the colt in magic, pulling him away from the madpony. The four regular guards were all trying to restrain the attacker, who slashed at the pegasus on the ground with something in his mouth. The pegasus screamed, and there was a sickening tearing sound. Blood spurted onto the wall, the attacker shouting something unintelligible as he was pulled away and slammed into the road. Shining quickly sent up emergency flares before wrapping the madpony up in numerous magic bonds.
“I have him, you three help the guard! Easy, check on your friend in the alley!” The large stallion nodded, rushing with surprising speed to the alley as the other three tended to their injured comrade. Shining grimaced as he walked towards the struggling pony, giving the restrained stallion a strong buck to the head.
“What the buck is wrong with you?! You bucking idiot!” He lifted the rebel, slamming him into the wall. “Why’d you attack him?! He was carrying a foal, you could have killed them both!”
“Better the child die than be forced to live under tyranny!” The stallion yelled back. Shining’s eye twitched, and he slammed the pony into the wall several times more.
“You manure-bucking bastard! You think he’s better off dead than living with the Princesses?” Jade came up behind Shining, watching as the stallion struggled to speak.
“Yes! Death before diarchic tyranny!” The stallion shouted, slightly strangled under the pressure of Shining’s hold. Shining raised an eyebrow, turning to the sergeant.
“’Death’, huh? Sergeant Jade, what do you think?”
The olive stallion gave Shining a grim grin in reply. “Well, sir, the code does state our duty as ‘To serve all Equestrian citizens’. What kind of guards would we be to deny him his wishes?”
“My thoughts exactly.” Shining turned back towards the stallion on the wall. His horn glowed for a second.
“Wait, what are-“ the stallion began. Then his head exploded.
---
“Stop. You killed a pony-“
“I was merely giving him what he wished, Princess. All ponies under arrest are entitled to one request. His was to be killed.” A laugh. “Actually, it was a surprisingly common request that day, now that I think back on it…” More laughs.
“That is a gross misinterpretation of the guard’s code-“
“And completely irrelevant, given that assault with intent to kill on a guardspony is punished by death anyways.”
“I-“
“Before you start, I want to elaborate on the injuries that guard received. The attacker sliced his primary flight tendon in half, along with several major arteries. He nearly bled out, and by the time our doctors brought him back from the brink of death, he was out of the time limit for fixing his wing. We had to scramble to find a rather-uneducated pegasus guard a job that didn’t involve flying and didn’t lower his pay to a degree that he couldn’t support his wife and four foals, and that was after his physical rehabilitation, psychological monitoring, moving the entire family down into Canterlot from Cloudsdale…” A breath. “It was rough, Princess, losing a guard like that, knowing that his entire career was gone in an instant because some bucking idiot that we’d gone down there to help tried to kill him. Sure, it was better than dying, but Steel Wing wasn’t really the same afterwards.”
A crash. Heads turned towards a shocked stallion.
“I… we only have three foals…”
“Well, you’re getting a fourth. A filly, if I remember right.”
“…Petal always wanted a filly…”
“Yeah, you said that after she was born. Congratulations, sergeant.”
“I’m… I’m a private, sir…”
“Then congratulations twice over.” A head turned back. “If you would allow me to continue, Princess?”
A sigh. “First, I want an answer.”
“I’ll do my best, your Highness.”
“How often did you… utilize that particular piece of Equestrian law? To kill ponies that tried to harm you?”
“Guards only killed when the attacker tried to kill them, Princess. That happened, on average, once every two months in Canterlot, typically in the poorer areas. Total self-defense executions usually hit around fifty or sixty per year in Equestria. Why do you ask?”
“Because in this Equestria, nopony has been killed by a guard in over one hundred years.”
“…Well, that’s interesting.”
---
The stallion’s body slumped onto the ground, blood beginning to pool rather quickly under it. Shining spat on the cutie mark before turning away from the corpse, eyes meeting Jade and resting on the colt he held. The small blue pegasus wasn’t moving, and Shining’s breath caught.
“Is he-“
“Unconscious. I’ll make sure the medic pegasus takes a look at him.” Jade carefully set the colt down near the wall, motioning for a guard to keep an eye on him. The captain and sergeant moved towards the centre of the street. “Nopony else got hurt.”
“Good.” A loud trot brought his attention to Easy. “Is the alley secure?”
“Bolt is fine, sir. He heard the commotion, but didn’t encounter anypony.”
Shining let out a breath. “Tell him to keep an eye on the tunnel the hole leads into. They’re probably going to try to move ponies out of these buildings.”
“Sir.” The large stallion nodded, moving back to the alleyway. A multitude of shadows came overhead, and Shining raised his eyes to the sky as four pegasi landed a carriage on the street, followed by several more freeflyers clad in medic gear.
“Ah, Faust…” the first medic muttered, moving with his comrades over to the injured pegasus. He looked at Shining as the other two cleaned the injury. “Any idea what did this?”
“It looks like a knife.” Jade answered, floating the instrument over. A rather long, curved blade on one side, the other covered in small spikes. Shining whistled, the medic cursed.
“That’s a Gryphonian hunting knife. Looks old, probably a family heirloom.” Shining said. The medic angrily snorted.
“That is a serrated edge, which means more flesh damage, more bleeding, and a higher chance of complications.” He quickly turned to his fellow medics, spouting off a series of rather complicated-sounding commands. The two nodded, wrapping the injury in a large set of bandages, then even more bandages, before grabbing a unicorn guard to shift the pegasus into the carriage. The medic grimaced as the pegasus moaned in pain. “Any other injuries?”
“Guard was carrying a colt, he’s unconscious now.”
“Concussion?”
“They hit the ground rather hard, so probably.”
“Where is he?”
“Over there. Guardspony Stalwart Hoof is watching him.”
“And the attacker?”
At this, Jade hesitated. “Well, most of him is on the ground, but there’s some on the wall too…”
The medic shook his head, muttering under his breath as he moved to the colt’s location. Shining felt a tap on his shoulder, turning to see one of the carriage’s carriers.
“Sir, the main forces have arrived, as have the Princesses. They wish you to come back to Headquarters to receive updated information. Would you like to ride with us?”
“I’ll teleport. Thanks for informing me.” The guard saluted; Shining returned it and looked at Sergeant Jade. “Think you can handle the rest alone?”
“Pah. Don’t worry about us, sir.” Jade waved a hoof dismissively. “You might want to get moving, though. I’ve heard the Princesses want this done fast.”
“No horseapples.” A quick shine of Shining’s horn, and Jade was standing alone.
“We’re still clearing out some of the buildings in the southern quarter, but we’ve accounted for 95% of Ponyville’s population, 8% of which have apparently remained loyal to you, your Highnesses.” Shining brought out another scroll, laying it out over the map on the table around which he and the Princesses stood. The sun shone in orange from the west, a contrast to the straight above noonday sun that he had first met with the Princesses under. “By the last censuses, that leaves about nine-hundred rebels, give or take the ones we had to execute.”
“So many…” Celestia sighed.
“Will they all fit within the town square?” Luna asked.
“They have so far. Doesn’t your magic work better when it’s less spread out?”
“Yes, but we don’t want any of our subjects to be harmed too greatly. How many casualties are there?”
“None of the Guard was killed, your Highness, but we’ve had about twenty serious injuries, four critical. We’ve had to execute twenty-five ponies, along with seventy injuries on the civilian/rebel side. No loyalist was harmed past the injuries they already had when we entered their residences.”
“Five and twe- excuse me, twenty-five dead? That seems high for a security operation…”
“I’m sure the Guard is doing the best job they can, Luna.” Celestia’s eye flicked to Shining. “Is the square secure?”
“We have twenty unicorns on barrier duty, thirty pegasi in the sky, and ten squads patrolling the sewers and other tunnels in the area under it, with double each number in reserve.”
“Would they be able to stand up to a dragon attack?”
Shining and Celestia both blinked in surprise, eyes flicking to the Princess of the Night.
“Do you think she’d attack her own supporters, sister?”
“I don’t know what she’d do. We should be prepared for anything.”
“She has a point, Princess. Few of the Guard have had any significant anti-dragon battle training. Most of them know to just keep moving in different directions and hope he doesn’t breathe on you.” Shining sighed. “And that’s presuming that she doesn’t just stay hidden. It’d be smarter than trying to take on the Canterlot Royal Guard and two Princesses.”
“Undoubtedly, but I fear that her… condition may be clouding her judgment. She likely feels that she needs to show her supporters that she isn’t just empty words when she promises to ‘free’ them from oppression under our rule. We’re arresting them, for my sake; if she breaks their containment then she’s freed them in the most literal sense.”
“In that case, would you like to move out to the square and perform the spell, your Highness? To lessen the chances of her causing an interruption?”
“It would be better to wait until the entire town was secured, so that the most ponies can be exposed. Still, I find this library to be…” Celestia struggled for a word.
“Ominous?”
“I’d prefer ‘nostalgic’, but it does have a rather foreboding air, doesn’t it?”
“It is sending spiders up my spine as well. Shall we step outside?”
Shining and Celestia both nodded, and the three walked out into Ponyville with a simple salute from the guards.
“Down with the royalty!”
And straight into a band of prisoners.
The group of ponies each wore a headband of tan and black, their legs chained together and to each other at the elbows. Some of them appeared almost shocked at Shining and the Princesses’ appearance; others glared, and one pulled himself towards the three as far as he could, dragging two other ponies along with him.
“You think you can just come down here and arrest all of us? It doesn’t matter how many ponies you murder and maim, we’ll still fight against your tyranny!”
Shining stepped forward, horn ready to knock the prisoner back into the line. Then he felt a wing brush his side, and he stepped back as Celestia stepped forward. She regarded the vociferous rebel with a narrowed eye and stolid face.
“And what do you call my tyranny, my little pony?”
The stallion blinked, taking a step back. “Y… your tyranny?”
“Yes. What have I done in the past that was tyrannical?”
“Well, you, you… what do you call this?” The stallion swung his head, apparently indicating the group of ponies he was in. “You’re taking us prisoner, attacking us, just because we’re not putting up with you anymore! Your guards have killed a bunch of us, innocent ponies, without reas-“
“I do hope that you were not about to say that my guardsponies have killed without just cause, my little pony, because I have seen guards be brought in here whose lives have been nearly stolen from them by your ‘innocent’ confederates. Many of them shall never fully recover from their injuries.”
As if on a cue, an anguished scream erupted from the library. It broke off into a hitched sob before the door quietly closed. The stallion’s eyes widened as he stared around the Princess at the building. Celestia didn’t move, maintaining her stare at the pony.
“If it helps any, the stallion I killed – nearly tore a guard’s wing off, by the way – said that he’d rather die than go back to living under the Princesses.” Shining said towards the rebel. “So have most of the dead, last I checked.”
“In any case, our actions today are irrelevant to your charge of tyranny. To have made that claim with any accuracy, you would have needed evidence of cruelty and oppression from before today’s restoration of peace.” Celestia drew in a breath. “So I ask again, my little pony, what tyranny?”
“Ah, uh, the… the Charter! You didn’t even look at it, and when we protested against its refusal you sent guardsponies down to attack us! Two fillies died!”
“As did three adult ponies. All of whom died from trampling, did they not?”
“I… I don’t-“
“They did.” Another rebel spoke up. “I was one of the ones that brought them to the hospital. They were all crushed.”
“Thank you. Now, Captain Shining Armor, when was the last time the Guard has used trampling as a means of crowd control or execution?”
“Never, Princess.” Shining answered. “Crowd control is barriers and wedges to force the crowd into small groups. Execution is destruction of the head or a broken neck.” Shining stared the rebel in the eyes. “Trampling is too messy. Only happens in riots.”
Celestia turned her eye to the mare who had spoken up about the protest deaths. “Where did you recover the bodies from, if I might ask?”
“Er… the, the road, in between the library and the Town Hall, and some from around the Hall itself.”
“And was the Hall not already aflame by the time the guardsponies appeared? With the majority of the protestors gathered at a ‘safe’ distance around it?”
“Yeah…”
Celestia raised her hoof to her chin, tapping at it as if in thought. “So, from the information I have, it sounds like those killed in the protest over the Charter’s refusal would likely have died by the protesters’ hooves, wouldn’t they? Crushed under angered and overenthusiastic hooves eager to vent their frustration on the representation of my presence in Ponyville.” She stared back at the stallion, whose eyes had pinpricked. “And I can assure you, my little pony, my sister and I did not turn down the Charter without careful consideration of every small niggling detail present within. There were several parts that we would have supported, had they been resubmitted separately, but the document as a whole was rife with holes that could easily have been exploited by ponies with less-than-admirable goals in mind.”
“But why?” The rebel mare asked. The stallion shrunk back into the group of rebels, though the others appeared to be trying to avoid him. “Why would us common ponies having a say in what happens to us, having more freedom, be a bad thing?”
“It wouldn’t, my little pony. I endeavour to allow you to choose what occurs in your lives already. But what Twilight Sparkle had proposed would not allow the ‘common pony’ to have a choice, not one that matters.” Celestia sighed. “I have seen the ‘democracy’ she proposed be put into action in Gryphonia. It was less than two years before there was a king again. Do you know why?” The rebel mare shook her head. “When the gryphons first voted, the leader they elected promised change from the dictatorial rule of his predecessor. His government enacted sweeping changes, all of which were supposedly to expand freedom in all of its forms. Within a year, unemployment was at forty percent, riots over access to food were commonplace, and crime rates had skyrocketed, with the police force essentially becoming just another gang. The leader they had elected was found to be taking bribes from the ‘former’ nobility to encourage him to favour them in his legislative decisions. So they caught him, executed him, and had a new election. This second leader pledged that she would not repeat the old mistakes of the one that came before her.” The Princess took in a breath. “She was out within three months. The third, two. The fourth lasted three days. For a while, it was chaos, gryphons committing horrible acts over the most trivial of matters. The military took over eventually, killing everyone who ran against them and installing their highest ranking general as king.” Celestia shook her head, giving a controlled look to the rebel mare. “Thousands dead, their country socially and economically ruined, and in the end, nothing changed for the better. All in the name of freedom.”
“…but we’re… we…”
“I sit with my sister as ruler because I have seen the alternatives to my rule, and in my millennia of observation, none of them have satisfied me as better for my ponies than my own leadership. I can acknowledge that I may sound despotic in that statement, but please, trust me when I say that I only remain in power because I do know best for how to ensure that my- no, that you as ponies live the greatest, fullest lives that you can.”
None of the rebels responded, each staring at the Princess with shocked eyes. She smiled at them, and then at Shining’s signal they were started moving again. Luna flicked an ear back.
“Was that really necessary, sister?”
Celestia shook her head. “No. But I figured that a natural progression towards recognition of what they have done wrong might aid with the spell, and-“
“DRAGON!”
The three turned just as a jet of fire burned the sky above. A giant shadow shot past, shaking the library and nearly knocking several guardsponies off their hooves. The shadow slowed to turn, and its purple and green colouring became clear.
“Princess, should I-“
“No. I shall handle this.”
The Princess launched into the air, great wings spreading and lifting her higher and higher, until she was level with the dragon’s path. The dragon roared, a ball of fire larger than most Ponyville buildings erupting from his mouth. It shot towards Celestia, quickly followed by its sender. The Princess held firm. Her horn began to glow, and the sun turned from orange to red.
Then she was awash in light, just as the fireball hit her.
The flames smashed into the light, curling violently in a ball around the Princess’ form. Shining could feel the heat from hundreds of feet below, but Celestia didn’t appear to acknowledge it. The dragon growled, pulling upwards. A beam suddenly pierced through the back of the flame, hitting the dragon square in the chest and pushing him back. The dragon roared again, his wings fully spread as he tried to stop himself, but the beam simply grew in size and intensity. The dragon fell, down and backwards, into a group of buildings across from the library. Shining raised a hoof to protect his face from the shockwave, and when he could see again he quickly joined the Princesses (Celestia having come down immediately after subduing the dragon) in approaching the rubble. As the dragon attempted to right itself, a relatively small purple form, clothed in a tan uniform, leapt down from its head and approached the three.
“Twilight!” Celestia yelled. “Twilight, please, give up!” Cords of purple magic erupted from the road, tearing up the stone as they shot towards the Princesses. Celestia’s horn glowed, and the cords vanished into mist. The two sides continued approaching each other.
“Twilight Sparkle! Surrender yourself to our custody or face the consequences!” Luna shouted. Spears of purple shot forth towards them, cut in half by dark blue blades. Shining could see his sister’s face, contorted in rage.
“Twilight! Please! Don’t do this!” Shining called. A gigantic ball of magic formed in the sky and plummeted towards him and the Princesses. Three horns glowed, and the ball dissipated into nothing. Shining stopped, Celestia and Luna halting with him. Twilight continued to approach, and Shining could hear her laboured breathing, could see into her maddened eyes. “Twily… sis, please…”
Twilight screamed, and then she and the dragon disappeared.
“Citizens of Ponyville…” The Princess began. Luna stood beside her on the platform overlooking the town square, a small window being opened through the opaque barrier to allow the ponies inside to see and hear her. On the ground, Shining waited for his signal. “You have been gathered here today because you believed that violent defiance of my and my sister’s rule would be tolerated. You believed that you were encouraging us to see that our choices in governance were incorrect. You believed that you were beginning a better life for yourselves and your foals away from our rule. You believed that your leader would be able to overcome us, and bring you to a time in which we were not the rulers of Equestria.” Celestia paused for several seconds. “You were wrong.
“We do not tolerate violence. Our choices were not incorrect. Your lives would not have been bettered. The pony whom you have chosen to support has abandoned you, and we continue our undefied rule of Equestria. I had hoped that, as citizens of Equestria, as ponies, as intelligent beings, you would see the futility in your actions.” Celestia sighed, tapping her hoof on the platform once. Shining began barking orders, his unicorns forming doubled lines, horns pointing towards the barrier. He could faintly hear the order being echoed by the sergeants on the other sides of the barrier. “However, it is clear by the anger and hatred I see in so many of your faces that I was wrong to expect this. As such, it is my duty as your ruler to ensure that you understand precisely how why you were wrong in attempting to rebel against us.” Celestia’s hoof tapped twice, and the barrier fell. The ponies inside, still chained to one another, stared in confusion at the unicorn ranks surrounding them. Celestia took in a breath, then uttered a single word, one echoed far louder by Shining Armor.
“FIRE!”
Eighty horns cracked with magical discharge as bolts of energy were fired into the crowd. The ponies hit immediately fell, unmoving, and those behind them screamed in terror before they, too, fell to the magic bolts. Pegasi tried to fly away, but they were either immediately picked off or unable to detach themselves from the panicking crowd. Shining sent up a flare, and the ranks began moving inwards, stepping over motionless ponies while they continued to fire into the remaining crowd. Within thirty seconds of the first bolt being fired, the last pony fell. Shining looked up towards the Princesses. Celestia nodded at him.
“Okay, turn and search your quarter! We don’t want anypony with their heads upwards!” The guards nodded, forming much looser lines as they searched the ponies at their hooves. Shining moved towards the centre, meeting with his sergeants. He noticed Jade among them, not least because the pony addressed him almost immediately.
“Sir!”
“Sergeant Jade?”
“Sir, I was wondering… you don’t think they thought we were killing them, do you? Like, the shots were making them dead instead of unconscious?”
Shining snorted. “Don’t be stupid. What kind of sick bastard would do that? Killing unarmed civilians… rebel or not, they’re still ponies, sergeant!”
“Right, sir. Sorry, sir.”
Shining shook his head, turning a mare lying in the centre of the square onto her stomach. A dark mist suddenly appeared at his hooves, spreading slowly outwards to cover the entire group of rebels. The mare he moved began to whimper, hooves twitching slightly as though she was running from something. Shining looked up at the Princesses again, seeing Luna’s horn glowing darkly.
“Sir…” Jade spoke up again.
“Sergeant?”
“What’s Princess Luna showing them? With her dream mist, I mean.”
The mare began coughing, and Shining lifted her head with magic just as she gagged and vomited. He moved her over, away from her mess, before looking up at Jade.
“She’s showing them what would happen if they won.”
---
“…and somehow I doubt that you’d’ve done the same thing, Princess.”
Broken rotated his jaw, staring at the Princess, who still wore an emotionless mask. Broken could see past it, though, into the horror that gripped the part of her mind still accountable to emotion. Beside her, the six mares present each looked at each other uneasily, confusion mixed with shock mixed with a dozen different, terrible emotions. Broken yawned. “Anyways, Celestia somehow figured that Twilight had probably teleported into the Everfree, given that that place is generally very hard to traverse, and thus very, very good to hide out in. In addition, fifty or so ponies were still missing from Ponyville’s population, leading the Princess to believe that Twilight had found a hideout inside the Everfree. She dispatched several squads to search, and they confirmed her…” Broken trailed off, eye widening as his memory focused on a long-forgotten piece of information. “Oh, Faust…”
“Broken?” Celestia asked. The stallion looked up at her, blinking, then began to giggle excitedly.
“I forgot, how in Faust’s flaming subplot did I forget…” his horn glowed, and suddenly his bindings fell away from him. Stepping forwards, apparently ignorant of the guards approaching him from behind, he addressed Celestia. “Princess, I know that we aren’t on the best te-he he terms right now, but if you’d just leave me alone for the next little while, I’d be ever so grateful.”
“And why, my little pony, should I do that?”
“Because I’m going to do something that you won’t approve of now but you’ll love me for later, Princess.”
Celestia blinked once. “I think we both know the answer is no, Broken Shield.”
Broken giggled again. “Well, I asked nicely!” Then he spun, grabbing the nearest guardspony and roughly bringing their mouths together. The guard froze just long enough for Broken to pick him up in magic and throw him through the window, a muffled whump indicating the guard’s contact with the ground below. Broken cackled madly at the shocked faces of everypony else in the room, giving a special eye at Twilight before following the guard to freedom.
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Lol, Celestia and Luna truly are ruthless and arrogant nobles. Who would have thought that?
Seriously? Comparing their situations is one thing but to actually brainwash an entire village into loving them? You just know that won't work out. And well, it doesn't, given the rest of the story... rambling!
Also, why the hay wasn't Broken properly contained? You've got an armed and dangerous and possibly criminally insane Unicorn, so what's the first thing you do? Jam his magic or something. Oh well
I assume that kissing a guard and throwing him out the window was not the thing Celestia will love him for later...
For that matter, he's probably mistaken about her being happy for whatever he is planning on doing anyway.
From the sounds of things, his version of Celestia had very different... tastes.
Broken still doesn't get it, does he? still waiting on the comeuppance...
2279153
I thought I did, it's coming up separated on my end. Is there a specific part you're talking about?
2279363
Luna didn't brainwash the rebels. She just, well, showed what might happen (specifically, similar to the parts after day 428). In her mind, they don't have to like the Princesses, they just need to know that the alternatives would be worse. Not very many of them actually thought through what overthrowing the Princesses would mean.
And Broken was contained; remember his magic going even with Twilight holding a shield on him?
2279427
Nope, kissing the guard wasn't the bad part. That's coming in sixteen.
2279476
That, too, is coming in sixteen. Which might actually be up early, depending on how sick I get this week.
2279552 Stunning them, assaulting them with images in their dreams where they can't defend themselves in an attempt to persuade them to what they think could happen? I call that brainwashing.
And that's what I mean, you've got a liable Unicorn with military training and a lot of notches on his belt. Why was he allowed to have use of his greatest weapon, his horn?
2279591
I'm not trying to say that what they did was right, but it wasn't intended to be malicious. Broken's Celestia and Luna still remember what happened with Nightmare Moon, and they don't want to have to deal with one of her that also has popular support. So they decided to blitz the problem as fast as possible.
'Brainwashing', to me at least, would involve portraying Celestia and Luna as holy angels given down by Faust herself, valiantly fighting against the forces (Twilight) attempting to subvert and destroy Equestria from the inside. Luna didn't go for that - she pointed out the problems that would occur should the ponies responsible for the day/night cycle be gotten rid of. She also showed that, more than likely, the Revolution wouldn't just be a 'everybody goes and kicks the Princesses out of power' type of thing, but instead involve bloody battles in which there would be deaths and damage. Again, very few of the rebels there had actually thought through the negative things that come with the elimination of a highly-entrenched and extremely strong power, or how much of a drastic change to society the lack of a diarchy and enacting of a democracy would bring. They were whipped up by Twilight into rebelling, with little idea of what rebelling would actually do.
Twilight/Dawn was trying to glorify the Revolution, make it sound all happy and wonderful compared to the Princesses' reign. Luna did the opposite, in what she believed was a realistic fashion. I'm fully willing to admit that she probably went overboard.
And since I'm presuming that you aren't insisting that they remove Broken's horn when you say 'allowed to have use of... his horn', I would point you to the fact that he is a unicorn with military training; namely, the training to work around shields when taken hostage by a possibly violent captor. Putting that type of training to use against a civilian (Twilight) or the ponies that he himself gave military training to (the guards) isn't really that hard.
Plus, Celestia's already asking about it in 16 and [spoilers] make this entire point moot, anyways. (Sorry.
)
2279752 Nah, don't be sorry. At least you clarified things for me
I still regard it as brainwashing though, as the methods Luna and Celestia are using are rather intrusive. Luna's entering their dreams and using shock images (That's what I assume at least) to tell them: 'this will happen when you rebel. Abandon your petty ideals'
I understand that they're trying to do good but no matter how you look at this, they're still inflicting a great evil on their subjects. These ponies just wanted equality and Celestia and Luna basically laughed that away by rejecting the charter and not even attempting to fix it. Yes, they mentioned that Twilight could have resubmitted them in a fixed matter but they should have handled the situation better. Celestia's bragging about her millenia of rule but she fails to find the error in her ways.
Of course, I do realize that Dawn's meddling/encouraging had a lot do with it. Which in turn was set off by Spike's murder, which we still don't have a proper suspect for (I think, I tend to forget some things
)
In the end they're both at fault, the rebels and the princesses.
And no, I didn't mean to cut off his horn
that seems a bit drastic, even for Broken. But there must surely be some way to bind his magic? There were several guards in the room, right? I think they would prepare accordingly if they were to face a Unicorn like Broken. I like the idea of iron rings to be honest. Iron and magic seem to clash in most magic-related stories/myths and they have to be able to keep Unicorns in jail, right? It would be rather awkward if they just teleported out or levitated the key away when the warden isn't looking.
Anyway, I hope I don't sound too negative in these comments, cause I love this story to bits. It's just Luna and Celestia that tend to tick me off
2279950
Oh, I fully understand. Wasn't trying to come across as condescending or anything, these kinds of discussions actually help me solidify the ideas in my mind.
But yeah, neither the Princesses or Twilight/Dawn handled the situation very well, which is what I was trying to get across. There's something not necessarily tangible with Broken's Equestria that makes it differ from this one (he alludes to 'small differences' as the root for timeline splits, and those 'small' differences aren't necessarily 'guy 1 did this' versus 'guy 1 did that'.)
As for the rings, unicorn prisoners do typically wear iron rings around the base of the horns, with caps for the more dangerous ones. The two problems with doing this with Broken are actually covered by something that's going to come up in 16, but for now I can say that the shields simply don't work as intended with him, be they magical or physical. Broken did have a magic shield on him (the horn being pulled away at the start had something to do with that), but given that the chapter was written from his perspective, it wasn't noted because he didn't notice it.
2280026 I love discussing stuff like this
Always a lot of fun. I managed to spark a debat some time ago with my own story, which was pretty awesome. Lots of people, lots of different opinions and stuff :
Guardspony: Regus Eunt Domus? 'People called Kings, they go the house?'
Rebel: It says 'Princesses Go Home.'
Guardspony: No it doesn't.
Rebel: Eh?
Guardspony: What's Old Equestrian for Princess?
Rebel: Um, Regina?
Guardspony: And what's plural for Princess?
Rebel: Reginae . . .
Guardspony: Reginae. Now, 'eunt?' What is 'eunt?'
Rebel: Go. Er . . .
Guardspony: Conjugate the verb 'to go.'
(And you know the rest.
)
Even if he is a veteran rebel commander/commando, you've also shown him to be friggin starving and "emaciated" and when he takes everyone in the room completely by surprise for the dozenth time it starts to wear thin. By now it feels about as thin as he is. At some point, "combat experience" is no longer enough explanation for him making everyone else including Twilight and Celestia look incompetent. Discord is the only one he's come into contact with and hasn't completely shown up, and it's only because Discord's invincible.
But keep in mind, I'm still reading.
Yep, rapidly losing any faith that Rising Dawn is as bad as Broken makes her out to be. Yes, she's probably not all there, considering the events of the Ponyville riot, but given that Rising!Tia and Luna resort to mass brainwashing and rule under the argument that 'our way is best, because we know better,' tells me that those versions of them weren't exactly benevolent rulers either.
Viva la revolution! Viva la revolution!
To the guillotine with these traitors!
Down with the queen!
Let them eat cake!
All I was thinking while reading this chapter...also
...And that my friend, is why democracy is soooo screwed up!....
2997630 I was thinking the same thing, and how much I hate politics...
...
Is he going after Zecora?
Best way to escape make to gaurds kiss gay