Perpetration
There was silence as everypony stared at the jagged hole in the window that had provided Broken’s escape. For several seconds, everypony mirrored everypony else; loose jaws, wide eyes and small pupils, frozen as their brains attempted to understand precisely what had just happened in the second immediately after Broken grabbed the guard.
Then Celestia spoke.
“Well, that was unexpected.”
Immediately, the four guardsponies bolted out of the room, metal clanging and loudly-muttered cusses indicating their positions as they ran down the stairs and out of the library. Twilight and the other mares ran towards the window, looking down to see where Broken might have gone… and finding him lying on top of the defenestrated guardspony.
“Broken!” Twilight found herself calling out. “Are you alright?” The stallion grumbled an unintelligible response, standing up and taking several swaying steps away from the guard. The other guardsponies rushed around the corner, tackling the scarred unicorn to the ground.
“Don’t harm him, Captain.” Celestia called down. Shining nodded, bringing a glowing horn to his double’s head. The unicorn stiffened, then went limp, held up by two guards and dragged back around the tree, out of sight. “Is the guardspony injured?”
As the question was asked, the guard stirred. Shining crossed the distance between them, giving the pony time to stand up before examining him. The guard captain shook his head, pointing the guard down the road and speaking to him in a voice too low for the window ponies to hear. The guard nodded and began slowly walking up the road, shuffling his hooves a small amount. Celestia sighed, leaning back into the room and taking a few steps towards the centre. Twilight turned to face her.
“Princess, I-“
“I’m sorry, Twilight.”
Twilight blinked at the Princess, and the rest of her friends turned around to look at the alicorn. “You’re… sorry, Princess?”
“Yes. I was foolish in presuming that Broken Shield would have been so easily convinced of your innocence. In his own world, he spent a decade fighting you; the mindset he must have put himself into will not be easy to remove him from.” Celestia shook her head. “To think that a simple talk would break him of it… I should have known better. I should have come down here and retrieved him the moment I read Spike’s first letter describing his behaviour.”
“Where is Spike, anyways?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Asleep. I’ll record this one myself.” Twilight answered, before turning back to Celestia. “But Princess, I was the one who asked to take him; if anything this is my fault.”
“No, no, Twilight, I am supposed to protect my subjects, and no matter your wishes, he is a clear and present danger to you and everypony else.”
“Actually, he isn’t.”
Celestia glanced at the purple unicorn. “What do you mean, Twilight? From what I’ve heard by Spike and the rest of your friends, he’s attempted to kill you several times, he’s nearly killed Pip twice, he’s made numerous non-physical threats on your life, he’s been verbally and emotionally abusive towards you-“
“Yes, towards me!” Twilight spoke up. “Princess, the only ponies that he’s harmed or attempted to harm are me and Pip. Otherwise, he’s just… rude, and even that seems to be a response to what he sees as annoyances. The second he met Mr. and Mrs. Cake, it was like a switch flipped; he didn’t curse or growl or do anything bad while he was talking to them.”
“Sociopaths are often good in social situations, Twilight. That does not make them any less dangerous.”
“But he’s not dangerous! Not to other ponies, at least…” Twilight trailed off at Celestia’s stare before regaining her words. “Princess, he still views himself as a guard, that much is clear, and he’s never shown any sign of being willing to harm anypony unless he thinks that doing so will keep others safe.” She and Celestia both glanced at the broken window, then back to each other. “Honestly, Princess, I don’t think that anypony is in danger from him except for me.”
“Didn’t he blow up Discord’s head?” Rainbow piped up. Twilight facehoofed.
“His Discord didn’t get a chance to reform, Dash. He thought that Discord being free meant that something was wrong, that the Princess was hurt-“
“Which provided a convenient excuse for him to throw away his oath and try to kill you.” Celestia finished. “Which is precisely why-“
“-Which is precisely why what needs to be done is to have him provide a more… comprehensive and precisely worded oath that stops him from trying to kill me. Or Pip.” Twilight responded. “I’m not saying that he doesn’t need help, Princess, from someone who actually knows how to handle traumatized ponies like him, but I think that the more he’s near me, the more he can see that I’m not a threat, the more likely he is to at least tone down his viciousness, and maybe give up on the whole ‘killing me’ thing. I mean, he’s shown me that he can be reasonable, even when it’s just us, and he’s admitted that just his being here has lessened the chances of my turning into Dawn by extreme degrees.”
“Nonetheless, Twilight, I cannot view him as anything but a bomb waiting to be set off. He needs to be controlled and contained, not allowed to roam free to the degree that he can right now.”
“Princess, I do not in any way mean to be rude, but I doubt your deepest, most secure cell could hold him in place more than I could. You yourself saw that he could work around a magical cap, even one held by an extremely powerful unicorn… or alicorn, as the case may be. Without that, and with the magic power I’ve seen from him… he’d probably just teleport out and back down here the second he went into the cell, if he didn’t decide to tear a hole in the mountain to teach you a lesson.”
Celestia thought about this. “I must admit, I could easily see him doing such a thing…” She shook her head. “But I cannot simply allow him to continue to roam free, Twilight! Spike has mentioned several times where he’s disappeared from your supervision without any noted difficulty. If you lose track of him while he’s not… stable, what happens if somepony else – Rarity, Pinkie Pie, some random pony on the street – reminds him of a violent event of his past?”
Twilight winced. “That… that is something that needs to be worked on. But I honestly don’t think that you should bring him back to Canterlot, Princess. Down here, he’s able to ‘keep an eye on me’ and not deal with large crowds of ponies that might not interact with him very well.”
“Plus, he’s not near any actual weapons or giant Equestria-destroying spells.” Rainbow Dash mentioned. Applejack scoffed.
“Yeah, or spells that could raise the dead or anythin’… oh wait.” Celestia and Twilight both glanced at the farmpony’s visage of dull anger.
“Oh, yes. I believe I owe you an apology as well, Applejack. I should never have given Twilight the necromantic scroll without informing you-“
“It’d be warnin’ me, Princess, an’ everypony else here. There’s a reason that stuff’s been banned, and it ain’t cause it makes the clouds rain chocolate.”
Celestia put on a wry grin. “Believe me, Applejack, I am well aware of necromancy’s negative aspects. Twilight was actually working on a way to reanimate plants without causing catastrophic damage to the organism.”
“I never got anywhere near actual experimentation, though. That’s for the Canterlot scientists.” She gave Applejack’s glare a small, sorry grin. The farmer sighed.
“Listen, Twi, Ah ain’t… Ah ain’t mad at you. Just the whole not knowin’ that that magic was goin’ on somewhere near me an’ my family, an’ you bein’ a party to it, ‘s all.” She shrugged. “Not that it matters anymore, what with the scroll destroyed.”
Celestia glanced at Twilight, who shrunk back a small amount. “Yes, I suppose that would end your worries, wouldn’t it.” She took in a breath. “Nonetheless. Twilight, I cannot in good conscience allow Broken Shield to continue as he has been. While I can recognize that attempts to contain him are likely to fail should he decide not to co-operate, I see no other way to ensure the safety of Ponyville, and the rest of Equestria at that.”
“But-“
A knock at the door, followed by its creaking open, interrupted Twilight. Shining Armor leaned around the door’s edge. “Princess, the prisoner is coming to.”
“Thank you, Shining. We will be down shortly.” Shining nodded, backing out from the door, though the lack of hooves tromping down the stairs indicated that he was staying close. Celestia turned back and stared Twilight in the eye. “Twilight, stay here a moment. The rest of you may go; I wish for a private discussion with my student.”
The other five mares gave a collective concerned glance at the purple unicorn, but obeyed their Princess’ wishes. The moment the door closed, Celestia let out a breath she had held since first coming to Ponyville.
“Twilight Sparkle, what am I going to do with you?”
“Princess?”
“First, I want the scroll. The new one, wherever you transferred the spell to.”
Twilight stepped back in surprise, but a raised eyebrow sent her teleporting down to the basement and back into the second-floor room within a second. She dropped the black case at the Princess’ hooves, wincing as Celestia tapped it with her horn and sent it away in a bath of magic.
“Princess, I-“
“You were going to keep it so that you might continue your studies on it. It is an admirable dedication, Twilight, and I do not mean to dismiss your contributions to our understanding of necromancy, but we have dozens of researchers working on properly fixing it. We only have one working in friendshipology, and I value her and her research too highly to risk losing them to an avoidable situation.”
“Princess, friendshipology isn’t a word.”
“Really? Maybe that is why the Canterlot University has been resisting my move to make it an official field of study.” The two mares stared blankly at each other for a moment before giving in to a small, mutual set of laughs.
Twilight was the first to recover her composure. “Princess, are you sure that I can’t get you to reconsider about Broken? I can’t help but feel responsible for him, the way he is right now.”
Celestia gave Twilight a look that would likely be best described as pity. “Twilight, do you hold my sister guilty for the crimes of Nightmare Moon?”
A corner of Twilight’s mouth drew down. “Let me guess. ‘She’s not the same pony, she knows better now, what the bad one did isn’t the good one’s fault’?”
“Just answer the question, Twilight.”
The unicorn mare sighed. “No. No, Princess Luna isn’t responsible for Nightmare Moon’s actions. And by the same principle, I’m not responsible for Dawn’s.”
“Thank you. Now could you please tell her that?”
Twilight blinked at the unexpected question, glancing at Celestia. The Princess still held a pitying look, but it was held in front of saddened eyes. “What?” The mare finally managed.
“Twilight, when Luna was returned to us, she refused to sleep anywhere but the dungeon for three months. She insisted that she be ‘treated as any criminal would be’ for her actions; she ended up directly ordering the guards to chain her up and not follow any orders that made life easier on her. I had to continue raising the moon for several weeks before I could convince her that she wouldn’t go powermad from embracing enough magic to do it herself. I had to spend fifteen straight hours talking with her before she was willing to move up to the chambers I had maintained for her. Everything she did that I didn’t tell her to do was prefaced by several dozen apologies and requests that she be constantly monitored, then apologies for the requests and apologies for the apologies. It was night after night and day after day of constant arguing and pleading with her before she was even willing to look me in the eye.” Celestia drew in a breath, a small hitching undercurrent to it that was barely noticeable even to Twilight. “She felt so guilty about Nightmare’s attempt to overtake me, what could have happened to Equestria had she succeeded, every emotional scrap of hatred against me that that conniving bitch had forced my dear sister to feel-“ Celestia let out the rest of her breath in an angered snort, giving Twilight enough time to comprehend that she had just heard the Princess curse for the first time in recorded history before continuing.
“It was only with my constant praises that she emerged from her shell of self-loathing, and even then the smallest gesture could send her spiralling back into it. The Nightmare Night event was largely due to me locking her in her room with your letters and yelling encouragement through the door for six hours. Though what happened there has helped shore her up considerably, Pipsqueak’s friendship not being the least of the aid, she still has pieces of time where I need to suspend my duties and assure her that she is not Nightmare Moon.
“I am asking you, Twilight, to not allow yourself to fall as far as my sister did in her anger against herself. Luna has memories, tainted but still strong, of the actions Nightmare Moon committed and wished to commit; you have nothing to base your feelings on but the claims of a maddened pony who has freely demonstrated his bias against you. The Nightmare is a fact, something that happened in Equestria’s past; Dawn is something that has not come, a claim of a possibility of Equestria’s future. Neither you nor Luna should be bearing the weight of neither Dawn’s nor Nightmare Moon’s actions, and yet you hoist their troubles onto yourselves as though you had purposefully cultivated them for the task of causing you guilt. And while Nightmare Moon may be seen as accountable for Luna’s guilt, I cannot help but see Broken as the main cause for yours.” Celestia drew in a breath. “So no, Twilight Sparkle, you cannot make me reconsider removing his taint from your presence any more than you can convince me that cancerous tumours should be left to their own ways. Neither is a sensible decision, and I fear the consequences should I allow them.”
For a short length of time, there was silence. Twilight sat reeling from the mass of information Celestia had given her; Celestia sat waiting for Twilight’s response. The unicorn’s mouth opened.
“I can understand that…”
Despite the weakness of Twilight’s tone, the Princess nodded, giving Twilight a smile that the mare could not help but return. Both teacher and student stood at the same time, and Celestia let Twilight leave the room before her. The Solar Princess gave one last look at the shattered window before steeling herself and moving out the door.
“That isn’t Broken Shield.”
The entire room stared in bewilderment at Twilight when she said those four words. The mare stood still, inches from the door she entered through, staring into the eye of the one pony in the room that sat under guard. The stallion bore scars and burns across his entire body, his blue hair lay lank, his cutie mark of a star-within-shield cut cruelly in half by a jagged scar. One (former) eye was covered by a dark patch, the other stared at her, half lidded. In that eye, however, was not malice or aggression, nor fear or anger or confusion.
It was nothing.
“Twilight, what are you talking about?” Shining asked. He nodded his head towards the bound stallion. “He looks exactly like him, he smells exactly like him, he wouldn’t say much but he sounds exactly like normal too. By Tartarus, we checked his magic and it’s as close to me as we could measure.”
Twilight ignored her brother, stepping up to the restrained pony. His eye blinked slowly, and he swung his head away from her lethargically. Twilight’s brow furrowed, her horn glowing. A few thin whisps of magic rode up the stallion’s body, checking against every scar and imperfection, mapping their way to his horn. Nothing was out of place, nothing was different from Broken’s form.
Except…
“Perhaps he was simply dazed in the fall, Twilight?” Celestia suggested. The unicorn’s ear twitched, and she gave a look at a confused-as-everypony-else Rarity. Twilight prodded the stallion’s side, and a small light shot on behind the fashionista’s eyes.
“Twilight, you think-“
“He’s an illusion. A very well crafted, well rooted illusion.” Twilight stated. She turned to Celestia. “Princess, check him.”
The alicorn gave a wary eye at Twilight, but still stepped forward. Her horn glowed brilliantly, performing the same action as Twilight’s had earlier.
“I sense nothing different than when I first examined him, Twilight.”
“Did you feel at his horn?”
Several of the non-unicorns in the room snickered. Celestia stayed serious. “Yes, and his magic felt exactly the same-“
“Check inside the magic.”
Another odd stare, but the Princess again acquiesced to Twilight’s command. Her horn glowed again, and this time her eyes opened in shock rather than confusion. Her horn began to glow brighter, her wings unfolding slightly of their own accord as she brought it into contact with the unresponsive stallion.
There was a sudden flash of light, and when sight returned to everypony, Broken was gone. In his place, occupying the same position the scarred stallion had, was an unconscious unicorn.
“That’s Long Haul. That’s the guard he threw out the window!” Shining breathed. The stallion twitched at his name, raising his head and giving a distant look at the ponies arranged around him. He mumbled something unintelligible before lowering his head down again. “How did we-“
“It appears that Broken tied the spell around the root of Long Haul’s horn. The magic that emerged for the illusion itself would have appeared to be Broken’s.” Celestia cut him off. Twilight noticed that she actually looked angry for the first time that day. “To the best of my knowledge, such an action should be impossible.”
“But if it did happen…” Twilight started, waiting for Celestia’s attention to focus on her. “If it did happen, it would be similar to all cases where a unicorn’s magic is disconnected from their mind – severe lethargy, confusion, unresponsiveness, general unawareness of their surroundings. I only saw it because he stared me in the eye and didn’t seem to care.”
Celestia sat for a moment, her closed eyes only seeming to emphasize the rage that had slightly broken through her mask of stately calm. She took in several breaths, then opened her eyes and looked at two of the lucid guardsponies.
“Take him to the hospital.” She said, motioning to the again-unconsious unicorn. They nodded, quickly lifting him and rushing out of the library. The Princess’ eyes turned to Shining Armor. “Where did you send the injured ‘guard’?”
“To the local barracks, your Highness. I thought it best-“
Once more, Shining was cut off. Celestia’s horn glowed, and in an instant the room of ponies vacated the library and appeared in front of the Ponyville guard’s outpost. Several of the ponies stumbled as the ground beneath their hooves shifted in orientation, and Applejack was forced to take several rapid steps backwards as the doors to the barracks shot open. An armoured stallion emerged, bowing when he saw the Princess.
“Princess Celestia! It is an honour, your Highness.” The stallion turned to Shining. “And Captain Armor. Did you forget some supplies?”
“Supplies? What are you talking about?”
The stallion tipped an ear back, flicking his eyes confusedly around the group. “You came by earlier, sir, and gathered up a kit for traversing the Everfree Forest.” His sight landed on Celestia. “Is there something amiss, your Highness?”
“Guardspony, were you not aware of the fact that there is a pony that is in almost every way identical to Captain Shining Armor being held in Ponyville on probation? Likely extremely dangerous, with extensive military experience?”
“Yes, your Highness, but Captain Armor – the one that came here, at least – provided the necessary identification, including a magic test, dental check... he even presented this.” The guardspony’s horn glowed, and a small slip of parchment slid out from under his armour. It floated over to Celestia, where it was caught and opened by her magic. Several seconds later, the parchment burst into flames.
“Princess, what was-“
“The Royal Seal. ‘Ponies who hold this document are hereby representative of Princesses Celestia and Luna, and all orders issued by them are to be obeyed unless directly counteracted by the Princesses themselves.’ They’re supposed to be issued exclusively to Royal Guards, and have an enchantment on them that causes them to violently explode if held by anypony else.” Celestia took in several rough breaths, and the sunset darkened slightly. It lightened again as her breathing calmed. “It appears that Broken Shield was able to remove Long Haul’s while unobserved, and his relation to Shining was enough to fool the Seal.”
The guard spoke up, considerable nervousness audible under his voice. “Your Highness, are you saying that the sealbearer was not Captain Armor?”
“Not exactly, my little pony. There was almost no way for you to tell, so I would ask that you calm yourself.” She paused for a moment. “What, exactly, did the sealbearer take as supplies? And did he mention where he was going?”
“He said that he was the ‘surveyor’ for a reclamation of the Castle of the Pony- er, that is, the Everfree Castle, your Highness. Besides the regular rations and equipment, he mentioned that he was supposed to be ‘solidifying the path’ in several areas; clearing rubble, destroying loose cliffsides and the like. Magic is… spotty in the Everfree, as I’m sure you’re aware, your Highness, so he packed a large number of conventional explosives. Dynamite, black powder, several vials of diamondmaker…” the guard trailed off as he noticed Celestia’s increasingly tense posture. “Princess?”
“You’re saying… that he brought explosives… to the Everfree Castle…” She took in several more breaths, each harsher than the last, and the sky darkened enough for several stars to be seen. Twilight and Shining both stepped towards her, but before they could manage more than a few inches, the Princess’ eyes shot open. Her horn glowed brightly again, and once more the ponies around her found themselves suddenly standing on different ground. Twilight and several of the others looked around; the gnarled trees and confused sky clearly indicated that they were in the Everfree Forest. The remains of the castle, however, were absent.
“Princess?” Shining’s voice brought Twilight’s attention to her mentor. The alicorn swayed, her wings opening slightly, but she stayed upright. She shook off Shining’s hoof, stepping out of the group and beginning to walk along the path. The others hastened to follow her.
“Princess, are you alright?” Twilight asked, coming up beside Celestia. The Princess gave her a small smile.
“As much as can be in these circumstances, Twilight. I hope you realise that once I hold Broken Shield again, I will not be taking my grip off of him for the conceivable future.” Her grin widened slightly at this statement.
“Right now, that makes perfect sense, Princess.” Twilight muttered sheepishly. “But, if I may, why did we not simply teleport to the Castle?”
“Two reasons. One, there is a shield, set up in elder times, that prevents direct teleportation to the Castle, unless the pony is extremely strong, such as myself or Luna. It was put in place to prevent easy attacks, while still allowing my sister and me to maintain a presence in several areas when needed. It was deactivated when the Castle fell, but Broken appears to have drawn it up again.” She took in a breath. “Two, Broken has timed his escapade perfectly to match with when I can draw the least amount of energy from the sun, and I have already expended much of my magic reserves in teleporting everyone from the library to the barracks to here.” The alicorn snorted. “One might think this situation was purposefully designed to make me unable to simply overpower Broken and be done with it.”
“Why would he need explosives, though? What at the Everfree Castle is worth blowing up?”
“In all likelihood, the Castle itself.” Twilight gave the Princess a look, and she continued. “I would imagine that Dawn set her hideout at the Everfree Castle, due to its isolation and the difficulty there would be in assaulting it. The symbolism is probably important as well, being ‘ever free’ and other such words that appeal to those who believe themselves righteously rebelling against corrupt authority. If Broken were to destroy it, then this timeline’s Dawn would need to scrape up a likely-less-secure base of operations.”
Twilight simply nodded at this, and the group walked largely in silence for the majority of the journey. Shining and one other guard fielded ahead of the others, occasionally conferring with Celestia (and Twilight) when they returned. At one point, they halted the group for several minutes, claiming that they needed to ‘clear an obstruction’ from the path; when Twilight asked for clarification, an ‘inside-out manticore’ was mentioned. She decided not to prod them further, instead returning to her friends. Rarity and Applejack were huddled together; Rainbow Dash was sitting with Fluttershy, watching Pinkie Pie bounce around the entire group.
“So how’re we handlin’ him, anyways? When we catch up t’him?” Applejack asked. Twilight shook her head.
“I don’t know. He’s delaying us on purpose, that much is obvious. I’d suggest that we simply stand back and let Shining, the guards, and the Princess handle it.”
“Yeah, right.” Rainbow scoffed. “Why can’t we help?”
“Because Broken is extremely unstable right now, and we don’t know if he’s set up booby traps that might blow a careless pegasus’ wings off.” Twilight replied. Rainbow’s fifth and sixth limbs twitched involuntarily, and she lost some of her bravado. “That’s not likely, but it’s possible, and it’s why we need to trust the Princess and the guards. They know what they’re doing. We… don’t, exactly.”
“Are you kidding? We took out Nightmare Moon, Discord, the Changelings, King Sombra, and you think the guys who couldn’t beat them know better than us?”
“Nightmare Moon wanted us as subjects, Discord just wanted ‘fun’, the Changelings used overwhelming force and nonlethal methods in order to keep us alive as food, and Spike was the one who allowed us to defeat Sombra. Broken Shield is a pony who wishes to kill me so that I can’t become like them, which basically means that he’s an extreme, proactive version of us. So yes, I do believe that Princess Celestia, with her ages of experience and knowledge; my brother, who should have extremely similar if not identical thought processes to Broken; and the guards, who are literally trained to handle this kind of situation, know better than us on what to do.” With that, Twilight turned and walked back towards Celestia. Rainbow Dash seemed ready to argue more, but Pinkie picked that time to jump on her back and wrap herself around the prismatic mare, specifically covering Rainbow’s mouth with both forehooves. By the time the pegasus had detangled herself from the hyperactive earth pony, the group had begun moving again.
It was once more a silent trip, punctuated only by the guards’ scouting. An occasional muttered curse as a pony tripped on the uneven path did little to alleviate the Forest’s natural blanket of foreboding, a light-yet-heavy sensation that Twilight felt crawling up her back whenever her gaze slid into the trees alongside the path. She was almost relieved when small pieces of construction began to appear intermittently, and a low fog rose around the ponies’ hooves.
“Princess, we’re getting close…” Twilight’s horn glowed, cutting through some of the closer fog. A wing in front of her stopped her from stepping forwards.
“I am aware, Twilight. I did not remember the moat around the castle area being this wide before.” A ball of magic formed around the Princess’ horn, lifting off and providing a closer light source than the ever-setting sun. Twilight found herself standing at the edge of a sheer cliff, unable to even see the other side. The ground beneath her hooves gave the signs of being freshly turned.
“He blew up the bridge?” Rainbow asked.
“It’s more likely that he simply tore out the ground in the surrounding area and sent it falling into the crevasse.” Celestia gritted her teeth. “I may be able to teleport us-“
“Princess, if I could interject?” Celestia and Twilight both turned to Shining. “I was thinking that if I put a barrier down there, we might be able to use the top of it as a bridge across. Wouldn’t be surprised if Broken did the same thing.”
Celestia nodded. “Do it, Captain. We haven’t a moment to lose.” Shining nodded back at the Princess, his horn already glowing. The group crossed hastily, not wanting the unicorn to expend more energy than necessary.
Broken had left the majority of the area in front of the Castle intact, and the guards quickly got into position around the entrance. At a nod from Celestia, the doors exploded inwards, quickly followed by the guards and the Princess. Twilight and her friends followed more cautiously, giving wary looks around at the familiar structure. The group as a whole stayed by the door, Shining and the other unicorn guard sweeping the area with magic.
“We must be careful, my little ponies. We do not know where Broken-“
Celestia’s speech was cut off at the sound of several explosions. The entire ensemble of ponies turned their heads towards the sound of the blasts, watching in shock as one of the remaining intact buildings – the one that held the first use of the Elements of Harmony in a millennia, against Nightmare Moon – crashed in upon itself. The telltale sound of a teleportation almost went unnoticed, though the voice was what gained the ponies’ attentions.
“Quite a shame, isn’t it?”
Again unified, the group turned to face Broken Shield. He was scuffed and dirtied in several areas, a small trickle of blood flowing from a fresh gash above his eye. His gaze was no longer crazed, as it had been when they saw him last; it was cold and calm, and focused on Twilight. He opened his mouth and began speaking again, never taking his eye off of the purple unicorn.
“I’d love to leave it here, maybe gather a team later on to recover it all, but I’m too much worried that Dawn would get to it. So here I am, doing all of you a favour.” His horn glowed, and he disappeared from sight. Twilight suddenly felt a presence standing around her. She stiffened, her tail shooting between her legs as a head leaned down, whispering into her ear. “Too bad for you.”
Then Twilight felt herself drawn into a teleportation, and found herself facing everypony else from fifty feet away. They were quickly cut off by a thick rose-coloured barrier, Broken stepping from around Twilight and positioning himself slightly between her and the rest of the ponies. Celestia began yelling unintelligibly at Broken, her horn glowing and sending a beam into the barrier, aimed directly at him. The stallion called out to her.
“I apologise for the security, Princess, but it’s necessary for what I’m trying to do. I would recommend that you cease your attempts to set me aflame, as you’ll likely boil everypony in the barrier alive before breaking through it.”
In response, Celestia began yelling louder, and Twilight blushed at some of the things it sounded like her mentor was calling Broken. He simply shook his head and turned back to Twilight, regarding her with a cocked head. A small pebble bounced towards the two.
“Well now, what t-“
Within that moment, three things happened.
Twilight became aware of Pip’s presence.
Broken became aware both of Pip’s presence and the fact that Pip had Broken’s horn gripped between his teeth.
Pip twisted his head, ripping the majority of Broken’s horn from his skull, at the same time as the back half of Pip’s body slammed hooves first into Broken’s midsection.
The resulting force of impact sent Broken Shield flying into a column, causing the damaged pillar to collapse on top of him in a shower of heavy rubble. Pip landed solidly in front of Twilight, spitting the disembodied horn onto the floor beside him before addressing the shocked mare.
“My apologies, Milady, but I cannot fulfill my duty as First Guard while still allowing Broken Shield to remain unharmed. Please excuse my actions in the immediate past and future.”
Twilight stayed staring at him until he turned and trotted towards Broken. Her gaze shifted to the horn, and she felt a dull horror begin to rise with the bile in the back of her throat. A loud grunt of pain shifted her focus back to Pip.
The earth pony held Broken against what was left of the pillar, one leg pressing him up to the stone while the other roughly kicked his barrel. Pip seemed almost mechanical, his leg following the same movements repeatedly, giving Broken a small chance to breathe between strikes. Broken bit his lip to prevent another indication that he was suffering, but the repeated kicks quickly took their toll; his lip bled as his teeth tore into it, and eventually one kick landed that caused him to cry out and cough up a splatter of blood. At this, Pip released his hold on the stallion, only to buck him into the pillar with both legs. Broken collapsed onto the ground, curling up into a ball before Pip issued a one-hoofed buck to his spine. The unicorn straightened out on reflex, and Pip kicked him again, sending Broken roughly tumbling across the floor.
He landed within two metres of Twilight, giving her a chance to see that his illusion had fallen: he was the same pitiful, emaciated pony she had seen in the Carousel Boutique, with the addition of numerous cuts and bruises across his entire form. Pip suddenly appeared behind the broken stallion, pressing a hoof onto one of Broken’s hind legs. The unicorn opened his eye, allowing Twilight to watch as it rolled around, disoriented.
Broken’s vision focused on her a second before Pip snapped his leg.
The stallion screamed, blood dripping from his mouth as he attempted to bring the limb closer to him. Pip continued placing pressure on Broken’s leg, causing Broken’s attempts to draw the limb to safety to simply further rip the bone and flesh apart. He screamed louder, clearly in pain, and for the first time, Twilight saw genuine, unbridled fear in Broken’s eye. She looked up in horror at Pip’s face, and found it as impassive as it was whenever he spoke to her.
“STOP!”
Twilight hadn’t intended to say anything; her brain was trying too hard to comprehend the terrifying scene in front of her to devote any conscious thought to such trivial matters as speech. The word still rose from her lips, somehow, and it was loud enough to momentarily drown out Broken’s agony. Pip immediately complied, jumping over the damaged stallion and beginning to step towards her. Broken immediately began to try to drag himself away.
“No! Pip, hold him down! If he moves, he’s just going to hurt himself!”
The stoic stallion nodded, turning and placing his forehooves onto Broken’s shoulders. He sat on Broken’s hip, both avoiding the snapped leg and immobilizing the stallion. Broken began rapidly shaking his head, continuing to cry at every small movement he was allowed. Twilight stepped towards him, intending to grab hold of him as gently as possible so that he wouldn’t be further injured. Broken stopped shaking his head, his eye finding focus on Pip’s face. His cries ceased, and he was suddenly completely still, sending an icy pit into Twilight’s stomach.
Oh dear Faust, please don’t let him be-
Then there was a bright flash, and Pip was sent flying into the wall. Twilight blinked the afterimage out of her eyes as Broken’s head lifted, and she saw a trail of magic coming from the former site of his horn. The small remains of the horn left on his head were not jagged, but smoothed, as if they had healed before.
“Broken?” Twilight asked incredulously. The stallion’s head turned towards her. “Broken… your horn…”
“It’s… okay.” He slurred, a spittle of blood and saliva rolling onto the floor. He was breathing heavily, and didn’t appear to be fully conscious; Twilight felt a part of her brain notify her that he was likely in shock. “I don’t need it... Done good… work without it.”
“Carus Faust…” Twilight looked up to find Celestia (and everypony else) staring at Broken’s body in unrestrained horror. Broken turned his head towards her as well.
“Princess!” Broken groaned, one hoof twitching. “Shining Armor… reporting for… guard duty. Highness.” Twilight could hear an almost childlike worry enter his voice. “You safe?”
Celestia looked down on him, her previous anger forgotten, her voice gentle. “Yes, my little pony. I’m safe.”
“That’s good…” Broken blinked, his eye half-lidded. It slowly closed, and he fell unconscious.
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Celestia seems to finally have realized just what a danger she's put Twilight into, even if Twilight wanted it too. Also, Applejack's being a silly pony. Why blame Twilight for what hasn't happened? Other-Apple Bloom wasn't even a victim of that spell.
I was wondering when Broken would make use of his counterpart's look. And I can't help but wonder why Broken would blow up the castle. Sure, it's a likely base of operations for this world's Dawn (if that ever happens) but now she'll need to look for another, unknown place. At least with the castle, they'd know where she is.
I rant too much, methinks. great chapter, lovely fight scene and all that jazz
2350369
Thanks!
Applejack actually says that she isn't angry at Twilight, just that Twilight (and Celestia) didn't warn her about it. She probably views them not telling her as a kind-of-sort-of dishonesty.
Broken wasn't actually trying to blow up the castle itself, just some of the areas inside. Explanation's in 17.
2351178 I know she does say that, she just seems so... I dunno. Why does Princess Celestia have to tell Applejack that she's sending Twilight a necromantic spell? That just bothers me for some reason.
Oh and I really thought Broken was going to blow up the castle because of all that crap he took with him. Especially since the guard mentioned that diamondmaker stuff. Ever seen the kind of explosives they use to make commercial diamonds?
2351239
1. It has to do with tribal views - After the first test screwed up, most of the earth ponies figured it was a sign from Faust not to mess with that kind of stuff and/or an attempt by unicorns to step over to the earth pony magical domain and take it over. Most of the unicorns just filed it under 'needs improvement', and let it sit for a while because Celestia saw the earth ponies' reactions and told them not to do anything with it without her permission. The result was that it became a horribly taboo thing for the earth ponies, while the unicorns simply viewed it as a failed experiment. Applejack is more rational than "IT'S INHERENTLY EEEEEBUL BARGLEBARGLEBARGLE", but still has a wariness about it, and wants the warning because she would like to keep an eye out for the signs of necromancy (in case something screws up again).
2. Diamondmaker is a "high pressure high heat incendiary explosive", per Jade Defender. The name is a commercial/slang name; it's nowhere near as big as the video, but the heat is enough to melt marble. Broken simply wanted to be... thorough.
However, there were/are going to be several more explosions as more of the fuses burn down, so it's going to be more damage than has been shown yet.
condolences for your loss...
on topic, the comeuppance doesn't feel satisfying. Broken still got a last shot in. i was expecting him to be totaled by Pip or Celestia. especially now that he openly attacked Twilight...
i expected more given all the abuse he dished to those around him verbal/psychological or otherwise...
2356298
Thanks.
Broken's only still effectively alive for two reasons.
One, Twilight ordered Pip to stop from killing him. Pip likely would have kept going until Broken could barely breathe, then stop and let Broken just lie there and die - that way, he'd be keeping with part of Twilight's previous orders not to kill him.
Two, Celestia was planning on letting loose on him, until she saw what he actually looked like and how easily he was, well, broken by Pip. Imagine being shot at by a crazed gunman, have him injure or kill a few of your friends, and when you find him and confront him he's a scared seventy year old with a broken leg, a concussion, and his old gun from Korea, with no idea of what's actually going on. Even though you'd still stop him and (probably) hold him accountable for his actions, there's some pity to be had for him, especially if he thought that he was protecting people from danger.
Basically, Celestia's warring between beating the crap out of a dangerous criminal and trying to fix a broken old man. With ponies (and especially (this) Celestia), the non-violent side tends to win. If she didn't kill Discord or Nightmare Moon (both of which were more dangerous on a larger scale than Broken is), why the heck would she kill this one?
(Not meaning to be rude/condescending, just trying to get Celestia's perspective in.)
That isn't to say that Broken's just going to get off scot free from this, though; Celestia's going to have a very... stern talk with him, among other things.
2692562 Man, I feel so cheated. I was just thinking, "oh cool, right after I said BS was being too super-soldier he finally hit his limit", but then I found out he was just doing a super-duper boss-mode ninja fakeout.
BS, that is how I am thinking of him, now and forever.