Phlegmatic
Pip grabbed the cart right after Discord had left; he began rifling through the documents, picking up books and scrolls seemingly at random, examining them before replacing them and grabbing new ones. Shining had very quickly moved to watch the other stallion, gaining a distrustful frown when his question of “What are you doing?” was answered with “Ensuring that the records are accurate.” Twilight had moved to view the cart as well, noting that many of the books were in extremely bad condition and old enough to use real leather as a cover. She shuddered, remembering Rarity’s diatribe from two days before.
“So can we go home now?” Rainbow asked. Twilight looked at her for a moment before nodding.
“I doubt Pip and Discord would lie to us about the Castle, and we should probably get these back to Canterlot for safekeeping. Everything alright, Pip?”
The stallion nodded, coming down and stepping around to the front of the cart. “Yes, Milady. Every major document appears to be present.”
“How would you know, if I might ask?” Shining gave a slight glare at Pip. The earth pony met his gaze blankly.
“Her Ladyship brought me to the Castle for training. She made certain that all Revolutionaries were well versed in Equestrian history and battlefield tactics, though actual pitched battle only took place once.”
“When was that?” Twilight asked. She glanced down at one of the larger tomes, what was left of the title reading Re s OF ftria: Cel a’s So Rule 50-100 A . She glanced up at Pip again, hoping that the rest of the books were in better shape.
“The Battle of Canterlot was the only time in which actual military action was demonstrated to have occurred; every other violent conflict between Revolutionaries and Loyalists was performed with guerilla tactics. Canterlot was a siege that ended with severe casualties on both sides.”
Twilight nodded. A thought struck her. “What happened to my parents?”
Pip took in a breath. “Your father was a member of the Inner Canterlot Militia, and was killed in battle towards the end of the siege. It is my understanding that your mother either committed suicide or simply died soon after Celestia was overthrown.” Pip twitched his ear at her struck look. “My deepest condolences, Milady.”
“No, no, it’s… I must have been pretty bad if Dad was actively fighting me…” She gave a half-hearted laugh. Shining matched it with an absent grin, maintaining a watch on Pip while examining some of the books and scrolls for himself.
“I can assure you that you were in no way ‘bad’, Milady. Your Ladyship’s father was a noted critic of the Revolution, and vehemently refused your offers to give him and your mother protection. After your Ladyship was informed of their deaths, you went into a period of mourning before recognizing the need of the citizens for a guiding hoof into the era of the PDRE. To use a colloquialism, you ‘swallowed your sadness’ and acted for the good of the country, sacrificing your own comfort for the sake of everypony else.”
Twilight blinked at the stallion. “That sounded rather practiced…”
“I can assure you that it is truthful, Milady.”
“Hey!” Rainbow interrupted. The three turned to look at her. “Can. We. Get. Going?”
“Oh, right. Pip, can you drive the cart back?”
“Easily, Milady.” He moved a metre to the left, the cart hitch appearing suddenly on his back. He shifted it to his neck, leaning down to clip it together across his barrel before beginning to walk forwards. Twilight and Shining followed him, Fluttershy and Rainbow falling in with them. There were a dozen seconds of silent walking before Rainbow stopped.
“Where’s Pinkie?”
Everypony else stopped, giving her odd looks before checking and realizing the pink pony’s absence. Shining cursed, and Twilight glanced at Pip. He met her look.
“Lady Thalia left soon after Discord. I am unsure as to her reason, but she appeared to be travelling along the path back to Ponyville.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Shining asked, angered. “If she got attacked, we-“
The cart exploded.
Shining threw a barrier up as the front half of the transport burst into fragments, sharp chunks of wood striking the magical wall not a second after its erection. A large piece went flying up the road, tumbling several times end over end before an edge hitched into the dirt, leaving a long gash of tumbled earth and gravel. Before it toppled over, Twilight recognized it as half of the cart hitch. Shining let the barrier down as the cart rolled forwards, one wheel catching on a piece of wood. The cart tottered, books and scrolls sliding out and falling to the ground before the cart overbalanced. It fell onto its back, the documents not lost to the front now falling. Everypony stood stock still, trying to process what had happened.
A number of seconds later, Pip reappeared, a comparatively-small pink pony laying across his back. A large gash curved around one side of his neck, small trickles of blood flowing at several spots. He regarded everypony with a dull eye as he shifted, his burden slipping off and falling, barely catching herself. Pinkie gave each of them slightly concerned looks, a worried giggle escaping her.
“Sorry for running off like that…”
Rainbow began to move forward, but was knocked back as another barrier rose. The rose-pink magic separated Pip, Pinkie, and Shining from the other three, and Twilight saw a grim look on Shining’s face. Rainbow stood, her face contorted in anger.
“Hey! What’s the big-“
“Pip.” Shining spoke over her. “Where did you find her?” Pip stared at him. Shining gritted his teeth. “Pip!”
“Her Ladyship has ordered me not to say.” Pip responded. Pinkie looked between him and Shining uneasily. “She claims that her reasons may cause Rainbow Dash discomfort.” Rainbow gave an odd glance at the party pony before speaking.
“What? That doesn’t make sense. Pinkie, what were-“
“Rose garden?” Pinkie said, loud enough to be heard but quiet enough that Twilight could tell it was meant privately. Rainbow looked at Pinkie in confusion before a light went on behind her eyes and she gained a nearly luminescent blush. Shining scowled.
“Come here, Pinkie.” Shining called. Pinkie blinked at him before cautiously walking over. Shining held up a hoof when she was about four metres away. “Stand still.” Another glow built around Shining’s horn, this one far brighter than his barrier builders. He maintained his glare at Pinkie, and she shuffled her hooves.
“Are you okay, Shining?” She asked, a small lilt to her voice.
“Pefectly fine. Just checking something.” He lowered his head, and there was a vibrating sound as his horn erupted in a bright light. A length of magic shot forwards, striking Pinkie in the chest and quickly enveloping her.
“PINKIE!” Rainbow shrieked. Twilight stared in shock at her brother, the grimace on his face deepening as the magic cut from his horn. There was a large ball of magic around the spot Pinkie occupied, too bright to be directly looked at. Shining stared at it, watching for movement with narrowed eyes.
Then Pip was standing directly in front of him.
“Wha-“ was all Shining could say before Pip twisted, bucking the stallion into his own barrier. He hit the solid magic with a dull thud, an odd mixture of a cough and a small scream issuing forth. He slid down the barrier moments before it fell, landing harshly on his tail and falling onto his side. Rainbow leapt out before the barrier was fully down, rushing towards the still-flashing magical ball.
“Stop!” Shining croaked. Rainbow ignored him. “Touch it and she dies!” At that, she twisted, darting towards the unicorn. She landed heavily in front of him, charging the last distance by hoof before roughly kicking him. He rolled over in pain, and Rainbow reared, her angry eyes fixed on his neck.
“Rainbow!” Twilight shouted. Three purple ropes of magic erupted from her horn, grabbing the irate mare and pulling her prone to the ground. Fluttershy quickly flew towards Shining as the other pegasus screamed and kicked at her bonds. “Shining, what-“
The ball of light burst. Twilight flinched at the sudden brightness before Pip stepped in front of her; the light faded after a few more seconds, leaving behind a pink mare. Pinkie gave odd looks at everypony’s expressions before giggling.
“That tickled! You have to teach me that trick, Shining!”
“Sorry, Pinkie. Guardspony secret.” Shining Armor responded, standing and brushing himself off. Fluttershy turned around, and as Twilight looked at her she realized that the pegasus had meant to Stare the stallion down. Pinkie gave a mocking pout before bouncing over to a now-unrestrained Rainbow. Shining glanced at the prismatic pegasus before speaking again.
“I lied when I said touching it would kill her. If you’d interfered, I’d’ve had to do it all over again and arrest you for interference in guardspony business. That’s all.”
“Then what the buck was it?!” Rainbow growled. Pinkie rolled her onto her stomach and laid on top of her back, apparently attempting to distract her marefriend.
“I’m not legally allowed to say. I’d have to do it to anypony who ran off without me. Including Twilight, Fluttershy, you…”
“Pip?” Twilight asked. The cycloptic stallion’s ear twitched, though he appeared to recognize that he wasn’t being addressed. Shining shrugged.
“I should, but I somehow doubt that it’s necessary. Pip is… unique. The test isn’t really needed if you watch what he does for a few minutes.” Twilight thought for a moment.
“So is it-“
“Twilight. Please.” Twilight looked at her brother’s frayed expression before nodding. Shining rubbed a hoof between his eyes. “I can’t say why I did it, either. Celestia’s orders.”
“Why not? If it’s so important that you can use it without warning us…” Rainbow said, a terse anger still underpinning her voice. Pinkie puckered her lips before reaching onto Rainbow’s head and pulling her ears back, quickly planting several kisses on the pegasus’ snout. Shining stood silent for a moment.
“Rainbow, you love Pinkie, right?”
“Duh. Ask your wife.” Rainbow snorted.
“And you’d do whatever it took to protect her, keep her safe?”
“Yeah…?” Rainbow’s response was more cautious this time. She eyed Shining, examining him as if his plans would appear physically. He pressed on.
“Then can you understand me when I say that that spell is meant to protect not only Cadance, not only you or Twilight or Pinkie, but everypony in Equestria?”
Rainbow sighed. “Okay, yeah, I see where this is going…”
“Good. I admit, I’d be angry too if I was in your position. You’re just going to need to trust me, okay?”
“Sure. Alright.” Rainbow shook Pinkie off, walking up to Shining and staring at him snout-to-snout. “But if you ever-“
“You’ll destroy me, regardless of consequences, no mercy or pity, the Princesses and Faust herself combining their power wouldn’t be enough to save me?” Shining deadpanned. Rainbow’s eye twitched, but she stepped back, nodding at the stallion. He sighed. “Now, what we need to do is grab the cart and get moving again.”
There was a small silence as everypony stared at Shining. He looked around the group in confusion before Twilight slowly raised a hoof and pointed it at the wreckage. Shining looked at the destroyed cart and scattered books for several moments before rapidly bringing his hoof into contact with his face.
It took several hours for the group to reach the outskirts of Ponyville, and the sun had already begun to dip towards the horizon. Shining gave a glance at the levitating books and scrolls before turning to Twilight.
“I’m the only pony here expected back. The Princess is going to want a bit of time to get things sorted out with Broken.”
“Sorted out?” Twilight asked.
“You know, make sure he’s going to keep to his oath, get him away from being mostly dead, figure out what kind of mental damage he has. I need to give him at least a partial interrogation, as well. If he’s always able to improvise as fast as he did when the Princess came down here, we need to figure out how to counter it.”
“’Interrogate’ doesn’t involve hurting him, right?”
“Not unless he tries to assault us, and even then we can’t do anything that causes real damage.” Shining blinked. “Might I ask why you’re so defensive of the pony who’s tried to kill you at least twice?”
Twilight opened her mouth, then closed it again as she tried to think of an answer. “I… I kind of feel responsible for him. I mean, I know that Dawn made him like that, not me, but I feel like I started this whole circus for him, and I want to help him finish it so that he might actually start getting better. Work through his trauma and stress, see if there’s any little bit left that’s still Shining.” The siblings stared at each other.
“That ‘Shining’ line was terrible.” Shining muttered. Twilight laughed.
“It’s what I’m hoping for, though.”
“Yeah, yeah. Just don’t try to act like a real psychologist, alright? We’re already arranging sessions for him, don’t try to push him into anything. No big revelations without one of the Princesses present.”
“I won’t. Though I think he’ll be easier to deal with without magic.”
“Yeah, I hope so…” Shining trailed off, glancing at Pinkie and Rainbow. The pegasus glared back at him, but Pinkie simply waved. “If you want to know what the spell was…”
“No. I mean, I do, but if Princess Celestia ordered against it, then I won’t pressure you. I trust you, Shining.” The last line initiated a flick of the ear from the stallion.
“I trust you, too. So do the Princesses.” He grimaced, looking away from her. “I need to get back to Canterlot. I’ll send an escort down if the Princess wants you back up tomorrow.”
Twilight nodded. “Give my best wishes to Cadance, okay, big brother?”
“Of course, little sister.” He raised a hoof and scruffed her mane before setting off at a trot, the magical platform carrying the Everfree documents following him. Pip stepped up behind her, and Twilight turned to face him.
“Pip, we really need-“
“I must apologize again for my emotional outburst in the Everfree, Milady. I usually have a greater control over such matters.”
“You don’t need to apologize for that, Pip. I should have… I should have seen what was happening with you.” Twilight sighed. Pip’s ear flicked back.
“As you say, Milady. May I offer an observation?”
“Go ahead.”
“From my understanding of your conversations with your brother, the Princesses, and your friends the Elements of Harmony, you appear to view the Revolution in a negative light.” These last words brought Twilight’s full focus onto the stallion. Trying to pick up on any clues as to how he felt about such a revelation, Twilight could only discern what might be surprise buried in his eyes. She stared in unsure awe at his ability to be so completely, innocently, obtuse.
“Yes, Pip. In my mind, killing the Princesses is a bad thing. I could have sworn that we talked about this already.”
“Might I ask why you hold a negative view on the elimination of the Princesses, Milady?”
“Why the hay would killing them be a good thing?” Twilight asked back. “They’re kind and generous rulers, they hold extreme amounts of power, and they keep Equestria safe and secure as best they can. Their deaths would only lead to a massive power vacuum, and while Dawn’s taking their place would solve that, I, and thus she, would have had only a few months of experience kinda-sorta leading parts of Equestria as a Princess. This, compared to Celestia’s multi-millennia of knowledge and understanding on the rule of the entirety of Equestria, puts Dawn at a stupidly large disadvantage, especially when dealing with foreign powers.” Twilight scoffed. “And that’s presuming that Dawn’s version of ‘democracy’ even left her with major power, and that she didn’t actually apply real democratic process at the national level and have somepony elected into power who probably knew less than she did.
“And even that’s only dealing with the bureaucratic consequences; the entirety of the Equestrian social structure would likely be changed as well, if… what was it… there weren’t any nobles after the Revolution, right?”
“That is correct, Milady.”
“Exactly! The entire upper class was destroyed, probably meaning the academics as well-“
“Excuse the interruption, Milady, but your Ladyship specifically ordered that ponies such as teachers, doctors, and professors were to be kept safe and uninjured during the Revolution, and that all learning institutions were to be protected from harm.”
Twilight blinked. “At least she got that right…” she muttered.
“If I may address the rest of your points as well, Milady?” Twilight nodded. “Thank you, Milady. Firstly, I must hasten to remind you that the Princesses orchestrated a brutal crackdown on a peaceful attempt at initiating societal change-“
“Stop. The first time they sent guards down to stop a riot that had already killed several ponies and caused severe damage to several buildings. The second time was to reassert control after both two guardsponies were killed and open rebellion had been announced, meaning that Dawn had effectively declared war, meaning that the guardsponies had every right to use violence against ponies who attacked them. In both cases, the guards were responding to tangible threats that endangered the lives of Equestrian citizens.” The lavender unicorn’s eyes hardened, and Pip blinked. Rainbow, Pinkie, and Fluttershy had all stopped talking, staring wide-eyed at Twilight. She continued.
“I’m comparing this to your own account of the attack on the CMFM, where you violently assaulted a group of pacifist foals on the SUSPICION that they were working with other, more aggressive, resistance groups. Even if your version was completely true, that means that Dawn did the exact same thing that Celestia did during the first steps of the Revolution, except instead of attacking the violent rebel Ponyville she attacked some other, peaceful, town that had done trade with them. If it isn’t, then Dawn was objectively worse than Celestia, because she actually did perform a violent crackdown on a peaceful attempt at societal change.” Twilight huffed. Pip blinked. He opened his mouth, and Twilight heard the same breathless tone as from a few days before.
“As… as you say, Milady…”
“NO!” Twilight shouted. Pip’s ears flicked back. “No, not ‘As I say’! You shouldn’t just accept something as true just because I said it! I want you to think for yourself, Pip! What do you think about what I just said?”
“I think it…” Pip cut off, exhaling and inhaling. “I… I think… I think that Dawn is ‘better’ than Celestia, Milady.” Twilight nodded.
“Good! Now tell me why!”
“Why, Milady?”
“Yes! I want to know why you think I’m wrong, evidence and examples of how bad Celestia is and how good Dawn is!”
Pip blinked again. Twilight saw his eye flush pink, not as darkly as several nights before but still clearly losing blood vessels. She immediately took in several breaths and softened her voice.
“Pip, am I making you uncomfortable?”
The stallion swallowed, his face remaining emotionless. He opened his mouth, said nothing, and nodded quickly once. Twilight bit her lip.
“Do you want me to stop asking you about this?”
Again, the stallion nodded. Twilight sighed, turning to the other three.
“I’m going to take him home, okay? I’ll be around tomorrow to check in with you.” Fluttershy nodded, giving a worried look at Pip before quickly slipping away. Rainbow gave a cautious look instead, carefully guiding Pinkie (who was busy rambling off a dozen farewell messages to Twilight and Pip) around the stallion. Twilight stood for a moment before beginning to walk home, Pip closely following her.
The sun had just gone under the horizon when Twilight and Pip arrived at the library. Twilight peeked her ear on the bedroom door, nodding in satisfaction when she heard a small dragon-snore. She turned back to Pip, who stared at her impassively.
“Pip, can I ask you to do something for me?”
“What would you require, Milady?”
Twilight took in a breath. “I want you to do something that you want to do.”
Pip blinked. “As you say, Milady.”
The two ponies stood there, staring at each other. Twilight slowly laid her ears back as she watched Pip’s absence of movement, her small smile shriking into a neutral frown. “You haven’t moved, Pip.” Twilight said.
“I am aware of my immobility, Milady.”
“I thought I told you to do something that you wanted to do.”
“I am doing what I want to do, Milady.”
“Standing there?”
“Guarding you, Milady.”
Should have seen that coming… “No, Pip, I meant something that you do for fun.”
“Again, Milady-“
“Come on, Pip!” Twilight threw up a hoof. “Don’t you have anything that you like to do other than guarding me?”
Pip blinked, apparently taking a moment to think. He glanced at a chess set set up on the table. “We could play together, Milady.”
“Yes! Good! Let’s do that, then!” Twilight grinned, happy to find another element to Pip that made him appear less like a living statue and more like an actual pony.
Several moments later, she was wondering why her lips felt so warm.
She blinked in surprise as Pip materialized in front of her, his mouth meeting hers seemingly instantly. She tried to talk, but found her open mouth occupied with a foreign tongue. Pip stepped forwards, forcing her onto her hind hooves as her back met the wall; unexpected as this was, she slowly slid down into a sitting position, Pip maintaining the contact between them. He lifted his legs, his forehooves pressing into the wall on both sides of her head as he leaned further into the kiss. One hoof lifted and brushed along her forehead, moving the hair from in front of her widened eyes.
It was as Twilight actually saw Pip's position that she realized, fully, what was going on.
Her horn glowed furiously, pulsing out a sudden burst of magic that pushed the stallion away from her. He began to step forwards again as she gulped in a breath, though his progress was halted by the metre-thick barrier she put between them.
“Is something amiss, Milady?” Twilight stared at the stallion in confused shock, still breathing heavily. She managed to calm herself after a half-minute, taking in several controlled breaths before speaking as calmly and collectedly as she could.
“What the BUCK was that?!” She yelled. Pip blinked.
“That was what typically occurs before you bring me into your bed and play with me, Milady.”
Twilight felt a sudden spike of revulsion grip her mind. The confusion she felt began giving way to anger.
“What… what do you mean by ‘play’, Pip?”
“Typically, play involves you kneeling on the bed while I step up from behind you a-“
“OKAY THAT’S ENOUGH!” Twilight quickly put a barrier around the stallion’s mouth, cutting off his next words. She put down the barrier between them, taking several rapid steps up to stare the stallion in the eye. “I don’t want you to do that ever again, Pip. Don’t kiss me, don’t ‘play’ with me, none of it.”
“My apologies, Milady. I was attempting to follow your previous orders.”
Twilight blinked. “I thought you were talking about chess.”
Pip blinked back. “We could do that as well, Milady.”
“We could?”
“Of course, Milady. You and I regularly play in bed and/or play chess in order to help you relieve stress. I greatly enjoy both events.”
Twilight stared at the blithe stallion, one eye twitching and the back of her brain feeling like it had been set aflame. Her mind delved into itself to dredge forth an extremely powerful and dangerous spell, one that Celestia had instructed her to never use unless absolutely necessary.
She cast it without a second thought.
A small hole tore open in the air, a flat circle leading to what could be generously described as nothingness. Twilight knew that it wasn’t nothing, given that there was no massive flow of air into the hole in an attempt to equalize the pressure between the library and wherever the hole opened up to, but there certainly wasn’t anything observable on the other side. The Princess had mentioned that the space through the hole wasn’t strictly existent; anything put into it would be effectively removed from reality, unable to affect anything for as long as it stayed there. She had also mentioned that anything put into the hole would likely disappear forever, as one of her former students had learned with the loss of his entire research library. As she stared at the hole, she felt the entirety of her frustrations break forth, from Pip’s ignorant confidence and plain idiocy to Broken’s constant aggression and vitriol.
Starting with that scarred psychopath trying to bucking kill me not two weeks ago—
Twilight quickly drew the deepest breath her lungs would carry, put her snout into the hole, and screamed as loudly as she could.
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Primal Scream therapy into a portal to nothingness... Very deep there Twilight.
LoL at Pip's 'play' though it doesn't seem to attract nearly as much revulsion as it should considering his true age and possible coercion involved on the part of Dawn.
2765661
Yeah, she's right now still just dealing with the fact that it happened. They'll be talking about it over their chess game. (Which was supposed to go in this one, actually, but time ran out.) Twilight gets more freaked out over those implications, to be sure.
I love it when Twilight uses epic-level spells for ridiculously mundane purposes (The Mare at the End of the World is a more extended and extreme example). :)
Speaking of mystery spells, very curious what Shining's up to and why it's such a secret. My first thought was Changeling detection but that doesn't seem likely.
Pip x Twilight... OTP?
Really though, Great chapter. Pip is definitely my favourite character in this story. The more development he gets, the better.
2765704
Hehehehe. We shall see...
2765767
Yeah, no.
I don't ship Twilight with anypony, and Pip's not romantically interested in her. The whole "relationship" they had is going to be explained in 23.
2765704
I think I know what Shining was doing.
This could be spoilers though, so don't read what I'm about to say!
I think it was a spell to detect if Pinkie was from another dimension like Broken Shield. That could be a real risk, as any of the corrupted mane 6 from that dimension could be just as dangerous as him, or even more dangerous than him because they supported the rebellion, but might not stand down as easily as Pip if Twilight asks.
I intentionally obfuscated it. Now you have to work to read my theory, and no one can complain about accidentally getting spoiled if I'm right!
2765856
Ooooooh... wait for 23. It's good, it really is, but... [spoilers] make it not really feasible. Many apologies.
Wait. It could be. No, wait...
Timelines are confusing, even for the guy making them up. This one really depends.
Given that he's still a child, this could also qualify as child abuse on Dawn's part. But of course, compared to what she told him to do to Scootaloo, I imagine sexual abuse wouldn't be quite as dramatic an addition to her list of crimes at this point...
2765965
Sexual abuse holds a special place on many people's shit-list (see this) especially when done to kids. There's a reason that the bottom rungs of prison society are (descending) animal abusers, spousal abusers, child abusers, and child molesters. I can see where you're coming from, though.
2765673 - The thing is... I remember mention of this many, many chapters ago... and they are just getting to it now? Must of completely slipped Twilight's mind with the entire, Broken attempting to kill her, repeatedly...
Why is he still alive again?
Great idea, Shiny. Threatening to kill Pinkie Pie will surely work out nicely. Yes, yes, I know he said that she'd only die if Dash touched the barrier thingy but even so, it's not a good idea to antagonize Rainbow Dash and Twilight, by casting an unknown spell on their marefriend and friend, respectively. It just feels like a dumb move, especially when you remember that Broken has already impersonated Shining before.
Anyway, I assume that the spell is meant to detect Changelings? Pinkie left for a bit and then came back, thus she could have been replaced by one.
And looks like Pip is multifunctional. I mean, he's both a guard and he plays chess? But seriously, that's messed up.
Also, am I the only one who thinks that telling Pip to do what he likes is a bad idea? The guy killed a princess, amongst others. What the hell would be 'fun' for him?
Lastly, I sure hope that hole Twilight summoned actually lead into nothingness. With how her luck has been lately, I wouldn't be surprised if she awoke the Elder Gods or something.
2766084
They never mentioned exactly what happened with Pip in Dawn's bed those many chapters ago. Plus, Broken broke in (heh) a very short while later, so it kinda fell by the wayside. Twilight's been too preoccupied (with Broken, as you mentioned) to really think about it too much.
And Broken's still alive because the death penalty doesn't exist in this Equestria and because Celestia knows that she can wring more solid information out of him while he's alive than by ripping his brain out of his skull and squeezing it dry, which would be the only other option to learn about the Revolution; the more she knows, the more she can work to avoid it. Keeping him alive and probably helping him regain control of his sanity is a nice bonus that works into her idealism.
2766107
Shining didn't want the spell interrupted, so he went with the most likely claim that would keep Rainbow away from it. The reason for Shining's severity will be revealed soon.
Twilight's still hoping that there's a pony left inside of Pip's psyche, one that likes doing things that aren't related to guarding her. This could be true or not true. He's mentioned that he doesn't like violence, though.
And I'm not involving Cthulhu in this, don't worry.
I liked it. Your spur of the moment idea for the end of this chapter fits well I think.
2766510
Thanks!
I've had a surprising amount of that sort of thing happen with this story.
Phew, that was a close one... Thank Fuast this didn't turn into a clop. Really enjoying this story, can't wait for 23
By the way, what triggered the cart explosion? Did I miss something there?
Loved the new chapter, can't wait for more!
2766914
Yeah, I'm not doing clop. I don't really have anything against it, but I'm not legally allowed to look at anything pornographic for another month. Besides,with the characters involved, it'd be really creepy.
The cart 'exploded' because Pip stepped while still wearing the hitch - he moved so fast that the cart couldn't handle the sudden change, wrenching itself apart violently.
2766981
Thanks!
2766339 - Yea, I feel that's a critical mistake on everypony's part. He has to want to be helped, Broken doesn't. He wants to insure Dawn is never born, nevermind that screwing with timelines is a bad idea and all that.
He's proven intractable... MANY times, and completely uncontrollable. Not just socially/culturally, but he's simply impossible to keep contained as his magic seems to simply bypass everything (another sticking point mind).
I think he's one psychotic break away from slaughtering Twilight anyways. Sure it may end up killing him, but damage done. Can't kill him? fine, can't send him back? fine... put him to sleep permanently, or stone.
2767101
He's not quite intractable so much as very manipulative and belligerent. Celestia's seen some indicators that he wants things to stay good and safe for Equestria and the ponies in it, and she's been trying to get him to realize that killing Twilight is not a necessary part of maintaining Equestria's stability. The first Oath was readily agreed to by Broken due to its restrictions keeping it on Twilight and not Dawn - Broken's swearing not to hurt anypony, including Dawn, with the second Oath, shows Celestia that he's beginning to put more thought into it.
For the most part, he works around the magics that ponies try to use against him - he's able to cast around horn shields because he doesn't need his horn to use magic. He's also extremely powerful magically - the constant use of magic to maintain his appearance and to enable his physical ability has resulted in its growing as muscles do from constant use, coupled with a natural strength that's going to be explained later.
In the hallway scene where he punches through Twilight's shield with a magical bolt, that's a mix of him knowing the weaknesses of general magical barriers (his special talent is casting them, so he'd know them better than a general practitioner) and, again, the power thing.
And besides, the rootshield should keep him in check for now. Should.
And Rainbow+Applejack+some others do mention banishing to the moon in 23, and I think they've talked about it before as well. Most ponies are resistant to those ideas, though; as mentioned, it's a sociocultural thing. Celestia's line of thought probably involves heavy comparisons to the reformation of Discord.
2767211 - Hey... I don't have to agree with the characters... I personally find the lot of them idiotic to the point of insanity... but that's fine. I consider the oaths to be worth little more than the paper their written on. He's proven that he can work around them if he wants and since when does logic or self restraint combine with fanatical hatred?
I still think you've definitely Mary Sue'ed Broken more than a bit. Sure he's supposed to be powerful, but stronger than his sister? Stronger than Celestia? I don't think so... but your story, reason it away as you wish.
2767413
He's certainly not stronger than Celestia - if you're referring to the scene in the Everfree Castle, she was drained at that point, and he acknowledges that she could still have broken through his barrier - it was just that the way she was planning to do it would cause severe injury to the ponies around her (essentially, she'd have turned the area inside the barrier into a furnace). He's also not necessarily stronger than Twilight, he just knows how to use magic as a weapon better than her (as befitting the soldier vs. the civilian).
He has fanatical hatred for Dawn, but he's not so completely out of it that he can't recognize that she and Twilight aren't yet the same pony here (as mentioned in Ch. 2). He's also extremely loyal to Celestia, with his entire reason for going back being to ensure that the entire line of Princesses (Celestia and Luna included alongside Cadance and Dazzle) remain alive. Celestia's been testing the waters with him somewhat, and she's trying to figure out a way to tie him into not being able to harm Twilight at all("...making sure he's going to keep to his oath..." essentially means hammering out any loophole she can find).
2767087 Thanks for clearing that up
2767688
No worries.
2768194
The time/dimension thing is tricky. I extrapolated from Twilight's jump back in the show that one cannot directly change the events of their own timeline in any significant way if they manage to travel backwards in it. Broken, knowing this, decided that the next best thing would be to go to a timeline near his and stop her from rising there, so that there could be at least one timeline-dimension thingy where the Revolution didn't occur and everypony (except Twilight/Dawn) survived.
Broken does have a reason for pushing the idea that Dawn would rise in this Equestria, which is actually hopefully coming in 23.
Broken is most certainly not the most unbiased of historians, as well. He's not actually a terrible tribalist/racist, he just got a little frustrated at the earth ponies' overwhelming support of Dawn. Not trying to justify it in any way, but he has a semi-defensible reason for his bigoted idiocy in this case.
I've been trying to make Broken's Equestria somewhat more ambivalent in 'which side is right'; Broken obviously supports the Princesses, Pip obviously supports the Revolution, and everypony else is left to patch together what happened and why.
2768253
The two guards that were wrestling with her (Tailspin and Night Shield) were the ponies assigned to "not let her out of [their] sight" by Shining. They were the guards that Shining and Cloud found dead near Sugarcube Corner.
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I'm going to leave any and all interpretations up to the reader. The Princesses and Dawn both think that they know how to lead Equestria best - I'm not going to say which of the two sides, if either of them, I find better.
Pipsqueak: Captain of the guard, loyal soldier, personal assistant to Dawn...aaaand Dawn's personal prostitute.....wow
Love the story, keep up the great work!
I fucking love this doctor.
2765661
Too be fair, most places have set their age of consent at 16, and Future Pipsqueak is pretty close to that. Remember when Twilight woke up with Pipsqueak in her bed? I think she knew/realized what that meant, and couldn't be disgusted at that fact as she was already made aware of it.