Loyalty in Brass: The First Encounter

Chapters

Chapter One: The Brass Knight
Chapter Two: Thundering Brass
The Border: Unknown Contact...
The Border: The Experiment Part One
The Border: The Experiment Part Two
The Border: The Reveal of Griffinstone
Chapter Four: Assault of Canterlot Part One
Chapter Five: Assault of Canterlot Part Two
The Border: Talons of Terror
Chapter Six: The Captain, the Ying and the Yang
Chapter Seven: One Small Step...
Chapter Eight: What Have You Done?
The Border: Hell is Singing, the Ground is Falling
Chapter Ten: The Party is About to Begin
The Glorious March of the Legate
Chapter Eleven: Epilogue
Chapter 3: Where There is Infection...

Chapter One: The Brass Knight

Twilight was trotting through Ponyville, waving to it's residents and smiling all the while. She turned as she heard somepony call her name, it was Spike. Her ever so faithful assistant, her son in a way.

"Twilight!" He yells and runs up to Twilight, his face dripping with sweet.

"Hello Spike, what's wrong?" Twilight asks and the little dragon stops to breathe, his poor lungs taking in air.

"The princess sent a letter, it's here." Spike says and pulls the scroll from his back, Twilight rips it from his grasp and scans over it.

"Dear Twilight, there has been a sighting of a Brass Knight near Ponyville. It was reported, by a very frantic pegasus, destroying Timberwolves. Please go and find this Brass Knight, report where it is and what it is doing. Princess Celestia." Twilight read from the letter, her eyes widening as she read. Then she looked up at Spike, who was still breathing a little heavy. "Spike, tell the girls to meet me by the road into Ponyville. We gotta find this Brass Knight, before it can hurt anypony!" She told Spike and galloped to the meeting point, Spike sighed and ran off to find the five mares.

Twilight waited for about five minutes when she saw the first two of her friends, Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Both were galloping towards Twilight, she yelled in surprise and jumped to the side as Rainbow Dash suddenly launched forward with her wings.

"HA! I win!" She cheered and flew in a loop, Applejack trotted to a stop and glared at her.

"Sugarcube, yah cheated to win." She said and Rainbow huffed, still hovering in the air.

"Still won." She muttered and looked at Twilight. "So what's up, Egghead?" She asked.

"I'm not an Egghead!" Twilight yells and then huffs. "I'll explain when the rest of the girls are here." She says and turns around, she spots the three friends trotting towards them, Rarity and Fluttershy were talking while Pinkie was just hopping along.

"Hi Twilight! Hi Dashy! Hi Applejack!" Pinkie quickly listed off and waved.

"They're here Twi, so what's up? Monsters? Bad ponies?" Rainbow asks and then takes a boxers pose. "Cause I'll kick their flanks, with a hoof behind my back!" She gloats and Applejack sighs, just another moment of Rainbow Dash.

"It's a Brass Knight, one of the few creations of Humanity." Twilight answered and Rainbow looked confused.

"Hoomanity? What's that?" She asked and Twi groaned, she opened her mouth to explain but Pinkie popped up in front of her.

"They were the smartyest and most creative ponies around, well not ponies but humans! I read they made the bestest cupcakes! But they vanished, like the wind!" She explained in her own way, Twilight gently pushed her away.

"They used to be the most advanced race, but they vanished. They left everything buildings, tools and their automation army, the Brass Inquisitors. The Brass Knight is one of the many dangerous soldiers in the Inquisitors, they aren't easy to beat." Twilight then explained and Rainbow scoffed.

"I could still take them." She said and Twilight facehooved.

"Anyway, we gotta find this knight." Twilight states, Fluttershy shakes.

"y-you mean w-w-we have to g-go find the b-big scary k-knight?" Fluttershy asks quietly, Dash lands next to her and puts a wing on her back.

"Don't worry Fluttershy, that Brass Knight is no much for us!" She says and Fluttershy smiles, then the group turn and walk down the path.

Meanwhile, near the edge of the Everfree

The Brass Knight stomps the head of a Timberwolf into the ground, growls and kicks the remains of the wolf away. The knight turns and twirls it's glaive, a mighty and powerful cross of a curved axe head and a pike. The knight stares with unseen eyes at two other Timberwolves, which wimpered and slowly edged away. Unfortunately they didn't make it far when the Brass Knight slammed it's glaive down onto one, the other yelped and tore off deeper into the Everfree. The Brass Knight just pulls a large kukri from it's sheath on it's right shoulder, flips it in it's hand and throws it at alarming speed at the running Timberwolf. A yelp and long, pained whine gives the knight a direction to go.

The knight jogs through the bush, it's boots causing craters in the dirt. It stomps into a clearing and spots the Timberwolf, laying still with the Brass Knight's kukri embedded in it's throat. The knight kneels down and pats the handle of the knife, then the knight tears it out of the Timberwolf's face. Green blood drips from the knife and the Brass Knight wipes it on the tree then pushes it back into it's sheath, then the knight looks at tree in the middle of the meadow. It lumbered over and brushed it's hand over the bark, then it sat down and leaned against the tree. The Brass Knight pulled a small round disk from one of it's pouches, the knight held it for a moment and then moved it in front of it's blank faceplate. It just stared at it for a while, then the knight placed it on it's right leg and pushed a small button on the front.

A soft sounding melody filled the air and the Brass Knight made a soft hum, then it feel silent and it's head slowly tilted forward.

...

Another low hum come from the knight, it had fallen asleep. It's music box kept playing as the sound of rustling, unnoticed by the knight, came from the edge of the meadow.

5 Minutes before current events

The Mane 6

The group of friends trotted slowly through the Everfree, looking all around them. Fluttershy hesitantly kept going, being surrounded by her friends filled her with determination. She spots something and it causes her to gasp, the others turn and gape as they find the first of the Brass Knight's handy work. A large number of Timberwolves, two Manticores and even a Cockatrice were spread through the bush and trees. Many had no limbs and most had their insides spread across the forest floor, a manticore had it's tail torn off and stuck in it's own head while another was wingless. A few Timber wolves had their jaws broken and their legs smashed, the rest were just cut to pieces. The Cockatrice's head was gone and the body was stuck on a branch, slammed into it.

Fluttershy threw up and broke down into tears, Rarity fainted and Pinkie's mane deflated. Rainbow flew down and turned Fluttershy away from the scene, Applejack turned and covered her face with her hat while Twilight gaped.

"W-who would do t-this?!" Fluttershy cried while Rainbow held her.

"A-a bucking moster!" Rainbow yelled and huddled closer to Fluttershy, then sighed. "I'm going to get Fluttershy home, she can't handle this." She says and then begins to walk her shaking friend out of the Everfree, the rest of her friends nodding.

"I'm going too, this isn't a fun as I thought it was." Pinkie says in a monotone voice and follows the two pegasi, her friends looking increasingly worried.

"Come on girls, w-we still gotta find that Brass Knight. Let's g-go." Twilight stuttered and began to lead her friends through the forest again, away from the slaughtered creatures.

After Rarity woke up, the girls split up in search of the Brass Knight. Rarity went with Applejack and Twilight went alone, she trotted for a few minutes and noticed the absence of Everfree creatures. Then she heard a very faint tune, a soft and calm one. It got louder as she trotted, suddenly she stumbled and tripped into a cluster of bushes. She groaned and crawled out of the otherside and shook her head, then Twilight looked up, then gasped. She found the Brass Knight, she scrambled to her hooves with wide eyes.

"I-I found it, the Brass Knight!" She yelled and then slammed her hooves into her mouth, the Brass Knight shifted. But the tune started again and the knight seemed to freeze, Twilight slowly trotted forward and summoned a quill and a scroll. She writes as she approaches the knight, saying the words she writes.

"It's armor is bulky, smooth and made of brass. It's armour is shiny, I could see my reflection from here!" She says a bit loudly, the knight shifts again but Twilight continues. "The knight's helmet was like an old Roaman's, except it had a blank face. Oh, it could be a visor! That's probably it, the knight also had a crest on it's helmet, it was faded white. The Brass Knight appears to have a bandolier, that's a lot of pouches." Twilight said to herself as she stood just in front of the knight, who still sat with the music playing. "It's very tall, as I only stand up to the knight's knee, well that I'm estimating." She says and picks up the round music box, looked at it and then pressed the button. The music stops. The Brass Knight twitches.

The Brass Knight snaps awake and swings it's arms down into Twilight, the unicorn jumps to the side. The knight roars and picks up it's glaive, then it leaps up and launches itself down at Twilight. She teleports behind the knight and gallops back through the bushes, screaming as she heard the heavy footsteps of the Brass Knight. She passed a pair of Timberwolves, who yelped at the sight of the frantic purple pony. They then heard the knight, and felt it as the knight swung it's glaive and smashed both wolves apart. Twilight risked to look over her shoulder and screamed louder as the Brass Knight's boot slammed down right on the end of her tail, then it thrusted it's glaive down at Twilight.

Twilight gasped as the glaive cut her side, she tripped and skidded to a stop. The knight stopped and raised it's glaive into the air, but Twilight lit her horn and teleported into some bushes. The Brass Knight slammed it's glaive into the ground and then realised that the pony wasn't there, it growled and pulled it's glaive from the ground. The knight turned around and roared, it dashed forward and slashed down at some bushes, Twilight teleported and started to gallop away. The knight heard the hooves and spun around with a snarl, it chased after.

"Hold on, Twi!" A tomboyish voice yelled and Rainbow swooped down and grabbed Twilight, then heard the stomping. "Let's get you out of here." She said and started to zoom away, suddenly she heard a roar and felt something hit her. The two screamed as they fell from the air, they landed with a thud. Dash screamed as she broke her wing and rolled over, Twilight crawled over to her as the knight walked over to them. The Brass Knight planted the glaive into the ground and picked up both of the ponies, they yell in pain. The knight looks at Twilight and squeezes, it looks at Rainbow and drops her. Suddenly the knight feels a strong force hitting it's leg, then it hears a huge crack and then a scream. The Brass Knight looks down and gazes at Applejack, who's hind legs were bent at unnatural angles. The knight growls and drops Twilight to reach for it's glaive, but then realises it's mistake. It tries to grab Twilight but she disappears in a flash, the knight spins around to find the other ponies gone.

The Brass Knight roars and slams it's glaive into a tree, which snaps and falls to the forest floor. It snarls and starts to wildly attck everything, then it notices a small cottage. The knight calms and starts to stomp over to the cottage, which is home to an unsuspecting pegasus.

Meanwhile in Ponyville

Twilight and her friends appeared in a bright purple flash right in the middle of Ponyville, the residents gasped and rushed to help the injured ponies. The unicorns within the crowd picked them up with their magic and carried them towards Ponyville Hospital, the crowd still following.

"What happned?"

"No clue, but something must've attacked them."

"Yeah, but ain't these three Elements of Harmony?"

"Sweet Celestia, you're right!"

"Quick, get them to the hospital!"

They entered the hospital and the nurses and doctors quickly got them onto beds, suddenly Rarity burst into the hospital. Tears were streaming down her face and blood was dripping from the side of her head, she collapsed but a doctor caught her and put her on a bed. The doctors and nurses then wheeled the injured mares deeper into the hospital, completely unaware how close the Brass Knight is to their small town.

Chapter Two: Thundering Brass

The Brass Knight stopped as it spotted Fluttershy, who was gathering flowers near the edge of the Everfree. She was still slightly shaken but she still picked flowers and put them in her saddlebag on her barrel. Fluttershy still hadn't noticed the knight and continued picking flowers, until she bumped into the knight's leg. Fluttershy let out a little 'meep' and fell on her flank, she rubbed her nose and looked up. Her face paled till it was as white as a ghost, then she bolted towards her cottage.

The Brass Knight growled and slammed it's glaive into the ground in front of the fleeing pegasus, Fluttershy smacked into the weapon and stumbled back then collapsed. The knight looked at the Pegasus, then looked at the cottage. A large amount of animals had amassed and were growling, tweeting and making angry sounds at the Brass Knight. The knight paused as it stared at the animals, suddenly a tiny white rabbit hopped to the front of the crowd. It had a frown and was bearing it's teeth, it pointed at the Brass Knight with it's tiny paw and the animals charged, the knight put his arm out with an open palm. Suddenly a large bolt of lightning appeared in it's palm, the knight pulled back and threw the bolt at the animals. A horrendous crack filled the air and the animals were send flying as the bolt hit the rabbit dead on and spread to the rest, they collapsed and the Brass Knight growled. The knight looked down at Fluttershy and nudged her with it's boot, fortunately it didn't hear the small grunt, then it turned around.

The knight stared at the village, but mostly at it's inhabitants. It roared and it's armor started to release steam from the gaps between the plates, it stomped a few times and plunged it's glaive into the ground. The Brass Knight's armor slowly cooled and it looked up at the village, it pulled it's glaive from the ground and growled.

"Pests..." The knight said in a cold, soulless voice and changed towards the village. It's glaive held at it's waist and barely moving in the knight's iron grip, but that didn't matter to the Brass Knight as it charged. It's armour slowly began to heat up, turning the edges of it's armour a bright red. The knight thundered into the village, many ponies not expecting a titan to charge into their little town. The knight spun it's glaive around and slashed down at a trio of ponies, their mouths drop and then they slide off their legs. The trio's bodies were cut in half so cleanly that their legs still stood, but the Brass Knight didn't stop. It kept sprinting and slammed through a house that stood in it's way.

Random resident's POV

I turn around as a strange thundering noise grew louder, suddenly my house explodes as a huge armoured creature runs through it. I feel my eye twitch as a familiar sense of Deja Vu washes over me, I scream at the sky as my second house goes up in dust. My second house I built with my *own HOOVES!***

"Damn you! This is the last time I build in this bucking town, ever again!" I yell and stomp off, strangely I feel like this isn't the last time I see that knight...

The Brass Knight stabs it's glaive into a house and then kicks the wall in, a few screams wail from the ruined house. The knight spun around and backhanded a pony that was running in a panic, it flew through the air and slammed into another panicking pony. The knight turned and spotted a very pink pony, the knight despised that colour. The Brass Knight lifted it's boot up and immediately stomped on the pony, strangely it was grinning. The knight felt a weight on it's shoulder and turned to spot Pinkie on it's left shoulder, the Brass Knight snarled and slammed a hand on it's shoulder to crush the pony. Suddenly the knight heard a small explosion and turned to look at it's right shoulder, Pinkie had her party cannon aimed at the knight's head, some confetti slowly drifted to land on the knight's shoulder. Pinkie still had a grin on her face, but it didn't faze the knight who grabbed the pony and held her in front of it's blank faceplate.

Then the knight began to squeeze, the pink pony screamed as her bones cracked. Suddenly the knight threw the pink party pony down and walked towards a small group of ponies, they were pulling another resident from some rubble. The knight leapt up into the air and slammed into rubble, crushing the trapped pony and sending the group to the ground. The knight slashed down and turned all but one of the group into a bloody mess, the last survivor just gaped at the knight as it pulled it's glaive from his friends. The Brass Knight slowly looked down at the survivor and reached towards him, but something caught the knight's attention as it turned away and grasped it's glaive with both hands.

Speedy Quiz's POV

I look up at the huge and towering creature as it turns away, just seconds from death by that monster. I risk a gaze at the three ponies that I was hanging with, the face of one of the mares was staring at me with a horrid expression on, blood dripping from her hollow eyes. I slowly looked back at the creature and got back onto my hooves, it was looking away but when I stepped back it's blank face snapped to me. I held my breath and stood rigged as the creature lifted it's weapon up and stepped closer, I immediately shot a blast of magic at the beast. The creature snarled and time seemed to slow as it's weapon neared my eyes, then a bright flash of golden light caught my eye. Then I felt a very strong gust of wind whip my head back and I gasp, Princess Celestia was shooting magic bolts at the creature as it stumbled back.

"I-I'm sorry friends, but I gotta go... I will see you in a better place." I say to the three bodies and gallop away from the creature, away from Ponyville and towards Canterlot.

The Brass Knight snarled as another barrage of golden bolts hits it's chest and head, the knight covers it's face and kicks out. Celestia grunts as the boot slams into her, the princess flies up and continues shooting at the knight. But then the knight jumps up and grabs the alicorn, her eyes widen just as she realises what just happened, then the knight throws her into a house. Celestia moans and feels blood running down her face, she opens an eye to look at the knight.

The Brass Knight slowly walks towards the alicorn, their free hand glowing a deep red. The knight stops in front of the injured Celestia and pulls it's glowing hand back and it suddenly burst with white energy, then the knight grabbed the alicorn's face. She screamed as the knight pulled her into the air, the alicorn writhed as she felt herself grow weak. The Brass Knight soon dropped Celestia and lifted it's glaive up, aiming to plunge it into the alicorn. But a noise catches it's attention, the knight barely turns as a trio of silver blades send the knight stumbling back. It looks up as another pair of swords slash up it's faceplate and causes the knight to snarl, it backhands the swords and spots a dark blue alicorn floating down from the sky.

The Brass Knight sprints at Luna as she summons more silver swords, suddenly a hail of golden bolts hits the knight. It skids to a stop and pivots on it's foot, it roars at Celestia then snarls as the swords pierce the knight's back. It suddenly raises it's free hand, a bolt of lightning appears in the knight's palm. Then the knight slams the bolt into the ground, a rumble is heard and the ground cracks. The Brass Knight stayed crouched on the ground as Celestia conjured a pair of golden swords and Luna summoned a large silver greatsword, they fly up into the air and then quickly dash at the kneeling knight.

"PESTS!" The knight roared and pulled a huge bolt of flaming energy from the ground, the two sisters stop and stare in shock as the Knight pulled back and locked onto Luna. Celestia and Luna both start to teleport out of the knight's gaze, but as Luna appeared atop a building the Brass Knight spun around and threw the bolt at the stunned alicorn. But the knight didn't stop as the Princess of the Night howled in pain, it leapt up and slammed a boot onto the alicorn and crushed the building. Celestia suddenly screamed like a banshee and flew at the knight and tackled it through two buildings, tears streaming and her voice full of rage. The knight's armour cracked as Celestia began to slam large bolts of magic into the knight, but soon it growled and slapped the princess off it's chest. Slowly the Brass Knight stood up, it held it's free hand over one of the larger cracks and then looked at it's hand.

The knight's mirror like gauntlet was glistening a black colour, a few bits of brass were floating in the blood. The Brass Knight stood still as it stared at it's hand and the blood dripping to the ground, it slowly clenched it's hand into a fist.

"You made me bleed... PREPARE PEST!" The Brass Knight roars and suddenly two orange orbs appeared on his faceplate, in the place of it's eyes. The knight pounded the ground with the blunt end of it's glaive three time and then pointed it straight up into the air, it's glaive morphed into a greataxe with a groan. The knight swung the axe down and locked onto Celestia, who wiped her tears with a hoof.

"THIS IS WHERE YOU FALL, PEST!" The knight bellowed and charged at Celestia, she flew up and shot a few golden bolts at the rampaging knight. Suddenly the knight spins and grabs the princess's hoof with it's hand, then it throws the alicorn at another building. As the knight lands, Celestia bursts out of the rubble and summons two large golden spears. The alicorn yells and thrusts both spear's into the knight's faceplate, it snarls and leaps forward at the alicorn. It slams it's axe down at Celestia, but she flies back. Yet the knight leaps again and slams it's axe into the alicorn's right wing, she screams as blood flows from the wound. The Brass Knight kicks Celestia down and stomps on her, then it turns and picks her up. The knight looks at Celestia and notices her horn glowing, more brightly than before and it causes the knight to recoil.

The Brass Knight drops the alicorn just as a huge pillar of golden magic shot up into the air, it exploded like a flare in the air. The knight heard pops behind it, the knight turned and spotted a large amount of ponies in golden armor. The Brass Knight simply looked side to side, then leaped high above the army of soldiers, it landed at the edge of Ponyville and sprinted into the Everfree.

Hours later...

The residents of Ponyville slowly gathered around the ruined statue in the middle of their town, most were crying while others where searching the destroyed homes nearby. Mayer Mare was no where to be found, the Elements of Harmony were in critical condition and their two rulers were battered. The Royal Guard were trying to calm down the ponies, but a few ponies charged into the Everfree looking for blood.

Soon an estimated death count and ponies missing was found, the Royal Guard gave out the estimates.

"The number of... of dead is 23..." The guard mare coughed and wiped a tear from her eye. "The number of missing is 13, we will find them." She stated with a stoic face, then she collapsed and broke into tears. Her fellow guards walking her away, yet she still let out a last cry. "Where's my daughter?!"

Soon a few guards where sent out to patrol the Everfree, under heavy resistance from those who were ordered to do so. They found the first slaughter of the Brass Knight, then the second. They scattered and turned up in Ponyville at random times, then returned to Canterlot.

Now the wait begins, for where will the Brass Knight attack next?..

You should now, if you've read the original!

The Border: Unknown Contact...

One day after first contact in Ponyville

Equestrian Border

Celestia's Glare One of the oldest airships of the Royal Guard, now repurposed to defend it's borders. The airship was armed with two large anti-air ballistae on two elevated platforms on the sides of the ship, another small mounted magic cannon sat at the front/bow of the ship. Celestia's Glare had lightweight, flame resistant, armor plates along it's sides, used to defend against rebellious dragons and griffin pirates. The captain of this vessel was simply known as the Skipper, an old blue pegasus. His cutie mark was a ship in a bottle, due to him having a passion of making model ships. Currently the Skipper was looking over his crew, a few griffins and pegasi. They respected him and would not hesitate to follow his orders, the Skipper looked to his left at the other airship patrolling the border with him.

The Last Flight, one of the more... disliked airships, due to it's captain's choices. The airship had three ballistae, two on platforms on it's sides and one on the bow. It's sides were armored with heavy steel plates, a very useful perk to defend but a hindering for speed. The captain of this vessel was a pegasus named Silent Stare, he had a scared face and a dull white coat. His cutie mark was a strange skull, nopony dares ask how he got it. His crew was large and consisted of pegasi and unicorns, a strange choice to have a non flyer in the skies as most have pointed out. The Last Flight was more disliked due to the captain executing any pirates, young or old this stallion ordered his men to cut them down. The crew strangely follow without question, a fact that many have pondered on.

The two airships propel forwards on two large fan engines at a slow speed, heading towards a large wall of cloud. Suddenly the two airships hear a very ominous horn fill the air, all activities onboard the ships stop as the crews look around for the source of the horn. Then a flash of light is seen by one of the crew of the Last Flight, suddenly the entire ship is slammed off course by an explosion on it's side. Another horn is heard and the Celestia's Glare shudders as an explosion suddenly appears near the ship. The two crews scramble to their stations as another horn sounds, the Last Flight recoils as another explosion slams into it's side.

The Skipper grabs a hold of the railing as he frantically searches for the enemy, but another horns sounds and the Last Flight's left engine is hit and the airship starts to veer downwards. Screams of unicorns that couldn't hold on were heard by the crew of Celestia's Glare, a few pegasi from the failing ship flew up and landed on the Skipper's ship. They barely made it on-board as another horn sounds and the Last Flight explodes in a huge magical inferno, the shockwave slammed into Celestia's Glare and made the airship tilt to the right. The crew scrambled to hold onto anything, the group of pegasi from the Last Flight huddled together around the middle of the airship.

"What in Tartarus is that?!" One of the griffins yell as a dark shape starts to form in the clouds.

"It's huge!" Another griffin shouted as the shape grew larger.

"Sweet Celestia..." Skipper whispers as a colossal airship torn through the clouds, the bow had a pair of large brass battering rams that looked menacing. The bow was covered in plates of brass that shone as the sun hit them, some of the crew of Celestia's Glare covered their eyes as the light reflected of the bow of the colossal airship. Two platforms were mounted on the sides of the airship, then another pair appeared as the ship exited the clouds, then another. All six of the platforms had large ballistae mounted on them, the Skipper noticed large bipeds in shinning armor standing around the ballistae, the airship also had a huge balloon-like shape that was held above the airship by large chains. The crew of Celestia's Glare moved to arm the ballistae and magic cannon, but then the horn sounded and the crew stopped moving. The colossal ship slowly drifted towards them and the three large ballistae on the colossal ship's left side started to lock onto Celestia's Glare, her crew shuffled in place as they grew worried.

Skipper looked at his crew then at the strange airship, wondering how that behemoth of an airship can fly. Then a large shape walked to the edge of the airship and stared at the smaller ship, then it crouched and leapt into the air. Celestia's Glare Suddenly groaned as a Brass Knight landed on the ship, the crew yelled in surprise as the huge knight stood up and stared down at them. Only Skipper saw the rest of the knights onboard the airship had pulled out large bows, a few had placed arrows on the strings. The Brass Knight onboard Celestia's Glare suddenly grabbed a pair of pegasi and leapt back onto the colossal ship, those with bows started to fire large arrows at the crew. The ponies and griffins scrambled to aim the ballistae at the ship but they were torn in half by the bowmen on the airship, another knight leapt onto Celestia's Glare and pulled a griffin towards them. But another screeched and tackled the large knight, unfortunately the Brass Knight just slapped him aside and grabbed the two griffins. The knight jumped back onto it's airship and the huge ballistae onboard opened fire, tearing large holes in the smaller airship. Suddenly Skipper lurched forwards as one of the engines was hit, soon Clestia's Glare started to aim down at the ground and fall.

"Get off the ship! Abandon ship!" Skipper bellowed as he grabbed ahold of the ship's wheel. "We're falling too fast! Get off the ship, now!" He ordered, his crew staring in disbelief.

"We ain't leaving you, damnit!" One of the pegasi yelled as he grabbed a hold of the railing.

"You ain't going down alone!" A griffin shouted.

But a few of the remaining pegasi from the Last Flight did obey his orders and flew up into the air, then they were cut down by the hail of arrows that were shot from the larger airship.

Skipper strained to pull the wheel, but suddenly it snapped back and he fell back as the ship tilted to a full downwards fall. The old pegasi struggled to hold onto the railing of the stern of the airship, he watched the ground grow closer. His crew were going down with him and it brought a tear to his eye, the ground grew ever more closer as a shadow began to form.

Skipper closed his eyes and heard just before silence, the sound of cracking and an explosion.

The Brass Knight looked over the edge of the Behemoth at the explosion, then it turned around to look at the four prisoners. They struggled against the two knights holding them, but they would just tire themselves out. The Brass Knight pointed to a large grate on the floor of the airship and the two other Brass Knights walked over to it, another knight pulled the grate open as the two threw the prisoners in. Immediately one of the pegasi bolted towards the opening, but the grate slammed down into place and the stallion slammed into it and fell back to the bottom of the room.

Suddenly a shape moved into view, it's face was covered in shadow as a hissing sound fill the prisoners ears. Then a strange smell entered the noses of them, they coughed and collapsed. Another knight pushed a cart into the cage through a hiden door, the first shape walked over to the cart and pulled out a needle, then it turned back around and walked towards the unconscious prisoners.

Now the tests could begin...

The Border: The Experiment Part One

The griffin groans and puts a talon to his head, he sits up and looks around. He was in a room, wooden walls all around him, there was a bed on the wall and a desk and chair in the corner. The griffin got up and walked over to the desk, noticing that there was a book on top. He picked it up and looked it over, it was blank so he opened to the first page. He began to read aloud, subconsciously wondering why.

"Test subject, you will be collected shortly. When you are collected you will moved to the top deck, any attempt to escape will lead to immediate and effective elimination. Furthermore, you will be referred to as G-01 and are expected to follow any and all orders given. Failure to do so will result in immediate elimination, good luck." G-01 blinked and scoffed. "Seems like a very elaborate prank, also 'G-01'? My name is..." The griffin slowly frowned. "My name..?"

Suddenly a pair of loud footsteps grew near, G-01 put down the book and backed up against the far wall. The footsteps grew louder and suddenly stopped, the griffin jumped as the door slammed open. A Brass Knight walked in and pointed at G-01, then it moved to the side and pointed to the hall outside. G-01 didn't move and the knight pointed again, abet more aggressively but still the griffin didn't move.

"Move G-01, or you will be eliminated." The Brass Knight said in a deep voice and put a hand on it's sword, in a ringed scabbard.

"My name isn't G-01! Its... its not that!" G-01 yelled at the knight, but it didn't faze the soldier.

"Last chance, move G-01." The knight said and slowly pulled it's sword out of the scabbard, the griffin slowly stepped forward. Then he walked past the knight, soon the soldier followed the smaller creature and slid it's sword into it's scabbard

G-01 climbed a flight of stairs and walked into the sun, he blinked and shaded his eyes with a wing. The Brass Knight nudged him with it's foot, the griffin got the idea and continued walking. Soon he spotted the other griffin and a pegasus, he moved towards them but the Brass Knight stepped in front of him.

"Not yet, G-01. You must see the captain, this way." The knight motioned with it's hand to another flight of stairs, near the stern of the large airship. G-01 snuck a glance to the other two, but nodded and followed the knight's directions. The griffin noticed the lack of sailors and other soldiers, it confused him but he remained silent as he stood at the top of the stairs. He immediately noticed a larger soldier, still a brilliant brass colour like the knight.

It stood a head taller then the knight and had a large, spiked crest that ran down it's helmet. It's faceplate had a frowning brow, but besides that it was exactly the same as a knight's face. It's shoulder plates had studs of steel the ran across them, a emblem was carved in the left shoulder but G-01 couldn't make it out. Then the griffin noticed the axe that the captain had resting on it's shoulder, it was massive and had strange engravings along it's blade.

The large captain turned it's head, giving a motion to G-01 to come closer. The griffin hesitated, but the Brass Knight nudged him towards the captain. His talons shood as the large captain turned and looked down at the griffin, who was shadowed by the colossal being.

"I am C-3737, a Brass Centurion." The centurion introduced itself in a deeper monotone then the Brass Knight, it startled G-01. "You were chosen for an experiment, if you follow instructions and complete all tests then you will be stronger then ever. Fail to complete them, however, will lead to pain and likely death." The Brass Centurion stated and G-01 let out a yelp, he recoiled and bumped into the Brass Knight's foot. "Do not be afraid, you are more lucky and special then those other pests." The centurion hissed, then the knight pushed the griffin with it's foot.

"Come, G-01, you will meet the other test subjects." The Brass Knight said and G-01 slowly walked towards the other griffin and pegasus, but then it noticed that there was two pegasi when he was captured.

He looked up at the knight. "Where's the other pegasus? There were two, now there's only one." G-01 said and the knight let out a sigh, but didn't say anything. G-01 looked back at the two other 'subjects', trying to remember their names. The pegasus noticed G-01 and tilted her head, then slowly trotted towards him. Suddenly the knight snarled and the pegasus yelped and fell back, the other griffin jumped as well. G-01 spun around and stared at the Brass Knight, not expecting it to be so aggressive at such a small act.

"Pests, you will remain a metre away from G-01 at ALL times." The knight states and puts a hand on it's sword. "Failure to do so will result in immediate and effective elimination, you have been warned." The Brass Knight says and looks down at G-01, a strange feeling overcomes the young griffin.

Its normal...

G-01 looked around and wondered if he heard someone say something, suddenly another strange feeling fills G-01.

I will help you, follow my instructions carefully...

"Who said that?!" The griffin said, the other griffin glanced sideways at G-01 while the pegasus seemed to try and ignore him. Only the Brass Knight answered.

"Ah, your implants are working. Follow their instructions, you'll be fine." The knight said, a reassuring tone in it's monotone voice. G-01 rubbed his head, but then he felt a cold and metal surface. He tapped it and heard a ding, then a wave of pain overcame him.

Leave that be...

"Ow! I got it, I got it." G-01 said hastily, then he saw the grate in front of the other two subjects slide open. A clanking was heard and a platform rose to the deck, another Brass Knight stood on the platform with a pair of wooden batons. One was as big as the knight's sword, while that other was like a twig in it's gasp. The knight stepped forward, the platform lowered and the grate slid back into place. The new soldier looked at the pegasus and tossed the smaller baton at her hooves.

"Pick up the weapon, Pest." The knight sneered at the mare, she huffed and bit into the baton and looked at the Brass Knight. Suddenly it slammed it's baton into the pegasus's back, snapping her wings. The mare screamed and dropped the baton, causing G-01 to step forward but more pain bombarded him.

Leave that pest, it needs to be cleansed...

"She did-ah! Nothing wro-ow!" G-01 said and stepped forward again, more pain slammed into him. The first knight puts and hand in front of the griffin, but he flies up and over it. Suddenly the pain disappeared and G-01 charged at the other knight, who had the large baton raised over it's head. G-01 briefly saw his talons before he tore into the Brass Knight, there had a mirror-like shine to them and looked like gold or brass.

The knight roared in pain as the griffin teared a hunk of it's chestplate off, it stumbled backwards as G-01 slammed a fist into it's face, causing a large dent in it. The Brass Knight tried to smack the griffin off it's chest but G-01 caught it's hand and bent it sideways, then he pushed off the knight and flew into the air. The first Brass Knight stepped back as the young griffin suddenly flew headfirst into the other knight's chest, he hovered behind it, covered in black blood. The knight put a hand on it's chest and then looked at it's blood that wasn't there before, it fell to it's knees and it's head tilted forward. G-01 slowly dropped to the deck just as the knight dissolved into ash, then promptly collapsed.

The Brass Knight knelt down and watched the ash blow into the wind, then it heard heavy footsteps from behind.

"Move the two pests into their rooms, take G-01 his room and call for me when he awakes." The Brass Centurion ordered and the knight nods as it stands, the two other subjects heard the order and quickly disappeared down into the hold. Two knights seemed to appear from nowhere and followed them, knowing that they'd try and escape.

The Brass Knight slowly made it's way towards the unconscious form of G-01 but hesitated as it moved to pick him up, it shook it's head and picked up the griffin gently and carried him into the hold.

The Border: The Experiment Part Two

A Brass Knight stood outside a room, bars ran across the door. The knight let out a slight sigh as it turned on it's heel and marched in front of the door, suddenly it heard a groan from within. The knight froze, it looked at the door. Then it slowly walked to it, it hesitantly leans on the door to listen for any more sounds.

"Boo"

Suddenly the door exploded outwards and the Brass Knight slumped against the wall, it slowly shook it's head and looked up.

"No no no, back awa-" It started but the prisoner picked up the knight's fallen axe and quickly slammed it into the forehead of the knight, oil squirted up from the deep wound as the flapping of wings faded into the distance. Another knight walked around the opposite corner and stared at the carnage, it slowly raised a hand and rested it's head on it.

"No doubt I'm going to have to clean this hallway." The Brass Knight stated, then it snapped it's attention up and it rushed to the open doorway. "Damnit, P-02 has escaped... P-02 HAS ESCAPED!" The knight yelled as the situation sunk in, it turned around and was about to run to warn the rest of the crew, but a large pipe smashed into it's chest and it was sent stumbling into the room. The knight looked up just as a large hunk of door rushed towards it's face, it managed to mumble out.

"Ah shi-" BANG!

G-01 awoke with a yell, the Brass Knight stomps into the room.

"What is it, G-01?" The knight asked, the griffin just waved it away.

G-01 looked at his talons then at the knight, a question forming. But before he could ask, the Brass Knight put a hand up and looked around. The Brass Knight looked G-01 in the eyes, staying silent as it stared.

"Somethi-" The knight suddenly groans and falls to it's knees, then a large pipe appears over it's shoulders and smashes into it's head. The Brass Knight falls forward and a strange coin rolls towards G-01. He looks up to see a red feather floating down to the metal floor, he grabs the coin and walks around the knight. G-01 looks out into the hallway, nothing there.

"What's going on..?" He mumbled to himself as he walked into the hallway, suddenly more alert. After a minute he hears faint footsteps, heavy footsteps. Then a pair of voices accompanied the thudding of heavy feet.

"P-02 wasn't in her room, find and secure G-01, check if he's still in his room." A voice of a knight said as G-01 looked around frantically, he noticed a panel in the floor that looked crooked.

"P-02 wasn't worth the trouble, she didn't adapt to the changes like G-01." A garbled voice said as G-02 tugged at the panel, the footsteps grew louder. "K-1754 should of grabbed another pest, one that would exept the changes."

"G-01 has definitely excepted the changes, did a number on K-1753. Heard that K-1754 lost it, started to attack the other units. Had to put them down, if only all of us could be perfect." The knight's voice said, G-01 tugged at the panel again as the floor shook slightly.

"Well after being mass produced, you must expect faulty units."

"Even so, I've only seen reports of a dozen or so faulty units, must be rare."

"At least it's only a few, who knows what will happen if a legion is Corrupted." The garbled voice said, it's owner's footsteps deafening as they passed over G-01. He let out a shallow breath, then one of the pairs of footsteps stopped.

"Something's up, I'm not picking up K-0799's signature." The Brass Knight said as G-01's heart bet faster. "Raise the alarm, we need to- " A loud smack made G-01 jump, then a loud thud rattled the panel above him.

"Code Red! Code Red! Back up reque- " The garbled voice started but then another two thuds filled G-01's ears, he listened then pushed the panel out and popped his head out of the little hole. A knight was leaning against the hallway wall, hunched over with a large dent in it's helmet. The other soldier was different, had tubes running from it's checks, but it too had dents and was slumped on the floor. He saw another feather float towards the direction that the two soldiers came, he climbed up and started down the hall when the strange coin started to glow.

The entire ship shuddered and G-01 stumbled into a wall, he pulled himself up just as another knight marched into view. It spotted him and pulled out it's sword, then it charged the griffin.

"You've made enough trouble. GET BACK TO YOUR CELL!" It roared as it swung down at G-01, he threw himself behind the Brass Knight. It spun around and thrusted it's sword at the griffin, but then the ship shook and the knight stumbled. Suddenly G-01's vision grew a faint gold tint, the knight locked eyes with the griffin as it regained balance. "The implants should have stopped you, what have you done to them?!" The soldier yelled as a part of the wall suddenly exploded, G-01 pushed the knight out of the hole and watched as it faded towards the ground. Another explosion filled the griffin's ears as he turned around, a tint in his eyes gone.

Suddenly a soldier with hoses running from it's cheeks fell into the hallway, it pushed itself up and stared at G-01.

"You're G-01! Get back to your cell!" The Cleaner shouted as it clambered towards G-01, suddenly a large hunk of the roof fell onto the Cleaner, a pipe then started to spray steam at the soldier. The griffin took his chance and flew out of the hole and into the clear sky. What he saw shocked him.

The Behemoth was trailing smoke and fire from further near it's stern, a few Brass Knights were scattered on the top deck as a group of Cleaners rushed towards the stern. But the ship suddenly leaned towards the ground, causing a pair of Cleaners to trip and slide towards the bow. One fell into the open grate into the hold while the other fell from the tilted bow, it's garbled screams barely making their way into G-01's ears. He recoiled as saw another explosion tear through the deck, but then that was drowned out as he locked onto something, something big and brass.

The Brass Centurion watched the griffin as he hovered nearby, then he turned and placed a hand on a nearby knight. Then he pointed at G-01, the archer spun around in surprise.

"Project Transference has failed, wipe that pest out of the sky!" The centurion roared and the knight almost immediately relayed the message, soon three knights were manning one of the large ballista and a group of archers were lining up shots.

The griffin barely had time to swoop to the left as a massive bolt tore through the air near him, then a hail of smaller arrows filled the air. He fell closer to the airship, dodging arrows and the huge bolts. His vision slowly filled with a golden tint as he flew directly at one of the archers, he threw his talons forward and grabbed the Brass Knight, then threw it behind him as he landed. The archers all morphed their bows into swords and axes, G-01 just smirked as a duo of knights charged at him.

G-01 dashed forward and smashed the two Brass Knight's together, their helmets dented from the force. They stumbled back and fell backwards as another knight took their place, it roared and leapt at the griffin with it's axe held high. G-01 spun around and pulled a sword from one of the fallen knights and clashed it against the axe, then he flicked the sword and the axe flew into the air. The Brass Knight stepped back as G-01 flew into the air and grabbed the axe in his other talon, then he spun around and threw the axe with frightening speed at the knight. It let out a drawn out groan as it fell back, it's own axe imbedded in it's faceplate. The last two knights looked at each other then at G-01, one charged him as the other aimed it's bow at the griffin. But it's the archer only saw it's friend being thrown at it, the two knights toppled over and landed in a pile.

Two of the Cleaners noticed G-01 advancing and spun around, they both pulled large kukri from behind their backs and waited for G-01. Unfortunately the griffin didn't expect a large clanking sound, he turned around to find himself looking directly down the barrel of the ballista. Suddenly a large bolt was launched at high speed at him, G-01 just moved to the side and grabbed the bolt. The crew of three on the ballista seemed to hesitate to fire another shot, but they didn't as they threw themselves off the large weapon as the first bolt slammed into the ballista. The large weapon lurched upwards, then it's limbs snapped and flew forward. One of the knights stood up just as a limb slammed into it's back, the heavy string wrapped around it's head and pulled tight.

G-01 turned just as a Cleaner slashed at the griffin, it left a small cut on G-01's cheek. The griffin flew back and kicked the knife from the soldier's grasp, then he caught it. The other Cleaner ran to the trapped knight and began to cut the string, but another explosion from beneath the ballista sent the Cleaner over the side of the Behemoth. The weaponless Cleaner tore it's gaze from the explosion back to G-01, but it only saw a blur of feathers as it was sent sprawling to the deck. G-01 turned around and spotted the Brass Centurion, he stepped towards it.

"End of the line, filth" A voice said as a Brass Knight slammed into the deck, just in front of the griffin. It stood up and swung it's glaive to it's side, then it's free hand sparked a few times. G-01 threw himself to the side as a spear of lightning tore through the space was just standing, the knight pulled back it's outstretched arm and thrusted it's large glaive at G-01. But the griffin didn't move, it pierced through his chest and blood dripped from the wound. The Brass Knight chuckled darkly as he placed a boot on the griffin's face and pushed him off it's glaive, it turned around and marched towards the Centurion. Then it heard a thud and a slight weight on it's back, the knight slowly reached towards the Brass Centurion as it fell to it's knees. G-01 spun over the knight's head, tearing it clean off the body. He looked at the helmet and thrusted it at the Centurion, then he crushed it and tossed it to the side.

"You changed me, I'm no longer an experiment. I'm not your slave." He said as he approached, a number of Brass Knights charged him but the griffin just pointed at them with a talon and they dissolved into ash. "I'm not your slave." He repeated as another Cleaner leapt at him, he repeated the action and the soldier crumbled. "I have no strings to hold me down, for I am no puppet." G-01 said as the Centurion pulled a large hammer from it's back, it stood in a stance as G-01 approached.

"I am free."

Then a soft chuckling caught both the Centurion and G-01's attention, slowly a red pegasus walked from the blaze that had spread from the stern of the Behemoth. He had a metal plate over his right eye and black blood covered his hooves, his right eye was ablaze with yellow while his left was purple.

"You aren't free, not yet..." He said as a strange darkness filled G-01's vision, he frantically looked around as his vision faded. Soon he saw nothing, but he heard the pegasus approach. "Imagine yourself... in a frozen forest." Then his legs crumbled from beneath him.

The Border: The Reveal of Griffinstone

G-01 opened his eyes, he slowly sat up and looked around. He slipped out of the bed and moved towards the desk, he sat on the chair and put his talons to his head.

Hmm, You were so sure that was real...

Silence.

What? Packing a sad? Grow up, G-01, you're better then this...

Nothing.

If you won't talk, fine. We just need you to cooperate, you will do that...

G-01 slowly looked up and noticed a coin on the desk, it wasn't there before. He pulled it closer to him and glanced over it, it seemed to glow a faint orange. G-01 flicked it into the air and grabbed it, then he put it back on the desk. Then he stood and moved to the door, he slammed a fist into it. The door opened and the Brass Knight walked in, it slightly recoiled at the sight on G-01 standing directly in front of it.

"Let's go, G-01." The knight said and stepped to the side, G-01 followed it to the top deck. The pegasus and griffin were there, the pegasus' wings were wrapped in a bandage. G-01's eyebrows rose as he turned to the knight, but it grunted and pointed to the Brass Centurion. G-01 walked over to the large captain, who was staring from the bow of the Behemoth at the ground.

"G-01, do you miss your home?" The centurion asked, the griffin blinked.

"Y-yes?" He answered, confused.

The Centurion turned around. "Good, we are returning to Stronghold 7, or as it was formerly known: Griffinstone." It said, G-01 immediately perked up.

"Griffionstone?!" He said, not comprehending what was happening.

The Centurion chuckled and spun around, towards the stern. Standing there was a knight that had a strange chester-cat smile carved into it's faceplate, it's arms were outstretched and it's hands were glowing white. "HELMSMAN! HARD TO PORT! TOWARDS STRONGHOLD 7!" The Brass Centurion roared, the smile knight nodded and quickly lowered it's left hand. The airship quickly turned left and the Centurion turned to look at G-01. "We will arrive at Stronghold 7 within the hour, we'll bring up the subjects soon." The captain finished and G-01 walked onto the deck, he looked around and spotted a pair of knights talking to each other, other group were at the base of one of the starboard ballista. He turned more and spotted a knight, it was looked directly at him. In it's hands was a small red feather, G-01 recoiled as the knight seemed to fade into dust.

That was strange, even I saw that...

The griffin just shook his head and looked towards the bow, he swore he saw a smirking red pegasus.

A loud horn blasted into G-01's ear, he stumbled as his ears rang. He looked to his left, slowly emerging from the clouds was another airship, similar size to the Behemoth but without ballistae. As it slowly moved to the starboard side, a pair of Brass Knights slammed onto deck, they stood quickly and marched towards the Centurion. One spotted G-01 and stopped, it stared at him for a minute but turned back and continued towards the Brass Centurion.

G-01 glanced to the other airship, noticing another ship that was hovering slightly behind it. It was similar size to Celestia's Glare, if it was still in one piece. Her crew was moving on board, but G-01 could only see dark shapes. Then his eyes focused onto a red feather, floating down in front of his face. His eyes snapped skyward as a blur of red caught his attention, yet another red feather floated down.

P-02...

"What?" G-01 asked the voice, it seemed scared.

The voice seemed to grunt, the griffin narrowed his eyes but he let it drop. Then he realised that the grate was being pulled open, he saw the platform with the griffin and pegasus along with a number of Brass Knights. They motioned towards G-01, the two quickly moved towards him. The pegasus looked in confusion at him, he raised an eyebrow as he noticed this.

"What is it?" He asked, the pegasus jumped and looked away. But the griffin walked right up to G-01, her eyes narrowing.

"What happened to you, Grerro?" She whispered, G-01's eyes widened.

"G-Grerro? That... thats my name, right?" He asked and she nodded slowly.

Damn, looks like that phase failed...

The pegasus looked up and tilted her head. "Grerro, don't you remember us?" She asked. "I'm Cliff Racer, that's Gristo, remember?" The male griffin shook his head.

"Grerro, we have all been working and sailing on Celestia's Gaze, we all got captured by that knight. Now we are here, with you not remembering us and having a piece of metal stuck on your head." Gristo said, angrily as she pointed at Grerro's head.

"I know about that piece, I can't touch it though." Grerro said as he pointed a talon at his head and, almost to prove a point, a small spike of pain pounded into his head.

"G-01, you are needed by C-3737, immediately." A Brass Knight said, seemingly appearing right behind Grerro, he nodded and walked towards the large captain.

"Centurion?" He asked with hesitation, but the Brass Centurion just pointed towards at the smaller ship that hovered behind the other larger airship.

"You and other two will be taken aboard that ship, the Snare. It will take you to Griffinstone." The Centurion stated, Grerro nodded and finally got a good look at the Snare's crew.

"Griffins?" He said, extremely surprised.

"Affirmative, the griffins of Stronghold 7 have been introduced to our cause, they welcomed us with open talons. As a result, we used our resources to rebuild the shantytown of Griffinstone into Stronghold 7, it houses over twice the amount of griffins that originally lived their. Thus, they assist us in anyway that they can, they are very... resourceful." The Brass Centurion explained, this caused Grerro great excitement.

"T-thank you, Centurion." Grerro said, the Centurion just nodded.

"You should go get those other two, unless you want to go alone?" The Centurion asked, but the Griffin didn't hear the question, he ran to the griffin and mare.

"I've been told that we can travel to Griffinstone, well more like ordered." Grerro said to the mare and griffin, only the mare looked excited. The griffin looked disappointed, but just as Grerro was about to ask why, the Snare moved to the Behemoth's port side. A trio of griffins flew onto the deck, one was white while the other two were a mix of brown and green.

"You three must be the ones that C-1177 wanted us to pick up, I'm Captain Crow these two are Ulf and Wulf." The male griffin introduced, the two twins nodded at their names. "We got a time limit here, if you're coming you better haul flank." Crow said as he turned and walked quickly to his airship, the two twins shoved each other towards the Snare. Grerro and Cliff Racer both immediately followed, after a second Gristo followed.

The Snare soon came into view of Griffinstone, Grerro's eyes widened with surprise as the town he once knew, was larger and looked far better. The once collapsed homes now stood tall and proud, the dusty roads were lined with cobblestone and the griffins that once scowled and snapped, now walked with heads held high and conversed easily. Then Grerro saw the knights, tall brass soldiers marching through the streets and instead of being malicious and merciless, they stepped around griffins and one was even holding a three-wheeled carriage while a griffin was placing a wheel onto the empty axle. For once in a very long time, Griffinstone was restored to it's original status, the capital of Griffin Kingdoms.

But unknown to the trio of passengers, Stronghold 7 was doing much more then looking pretty...

Within an unknown location

A knight slowed to a stop as it neared two large stone doors, two strange Brass Knights stood on either side of the doors. They had pure white, fur cloaks that hung around the knights' necks, with hoods of fur that covered their faceplates. Their faceplates seemed to be sucking light from beneath their hoods, two white eyes stared from under the hood. The knights' chests had a large white rune, a pulsing rune of a strange symbol, that was carved over their hearts. Their glaives were also unique, they were bound in white fur and the heads seemed to burn with white light.

These were Brass Praetorians, the elite honour guard. One of the Praetorians glaced at the knight, then it motioned to the doors with a nod of it's head. The two massive stone doors opened, the Brass Knight hurried into the room. It was large, had even larger pillars that ran down the room and in the middle of the room was a huge throne, upon it was a large shape. It was sitting in the darkness, only a pair of orange eyes could be seen. The knight stood at attention and saluted, slamming it's left fist over it's heart.

"Report: Subject P-02 and G-01 have been successfully changed. Query: P-02 has disappeared, what shall be done? " The knight said, in a soulless voice.

"Nothing, but continue overwatch of G-01. Also send a message to C-3737, they are to advance towards the pest capital of Canterlot and assault it, leave nothing alive." The massive shape said, a deep and echoing voice erupted from the shape. The knight immediately nodded and jogged out of the throne room.

"Celestia, you fool, you never should of banished her. Now you have caught the attention of the Brass Inquisition, you will regreat ever banishing her. My little Luna, oh my little Luna... you will pay for your sins." The dark figure stated as the doors slammed shut.

Chapter Four: Assault of Canterlot Part One

Swift Quiz, a brown unicorn with a orange mane and purple eyes, stared from over the top of his cards in his hooves. His pal Fury and another guard also stared from their cards, Fury was a pegasus with an orange coat and a grey mane. Suddenly Quiz threw down his cards, the other guards groaned and pushed their piles of bits across the table.

"Quiz, you are a sly one." Fury said as Swift pulled the bits into his saddlebag, he chuckled but went quiet as a bell rang in the distance.

"Ah buck, I gotta haul it to the gate!" The guard said as he threw on his helmet and dashed out of the door, both Fury and Swift followed suite as they put on their helmets and rushed out of the pub. They slowed down as they marched towards their patrol section, lower Canterlot, where their sergeant was probably waiting impatiently. A pair of high class citizens passed by, their noses held high with snobbishness dripping from their hooves, but the mare winked at Swift. Fury's eyebrow rose as Swift winked back, the mare giggled and hurried along.

"Swift, Swift, Swift. You are one really sly unicorn, you know that?" He said.

"Eh, must be the horn." Swift said, they both burst out laughing as they turned a corner. But promptly shut up as they came face to face with their sergeant, he glared at the pair.

"You two are late, but that doesn't matter. Go to the gate, a request from the watch captain was received, said it was urgent." He said gruffly and moved to the side, the two guards quickly jogged towards the gate.

Soon they came within sight of the archway that served as the gate, another one was positioned on the train tracks. The pair of guards immediately were greeted by another pegasus guard, a mare. Her green eyes were wide and she had beads of sweat dripping from under her helmet.

"Only two? Okay, come on! Something strange is happening!" She said and galloped to the gate, then another pair of guards appeared, one was Swift's friend. He nodded at him as he and the other guard ran through the gate. Fury quickly followed the mare, but Swift hesitated. Was that his brother?

"Speedy? Is that you?" He asked the stallion walking towards an alley, he stopped and looked up. He had a red mane and golden eyes, but the same brown coat as Swift.

"Swift? Yes it's me." Speedy said and trotted towards his brother, but a faint horn caught their attention. Suddenly a scream erupted from the gate, the two brothers looked in fear as another scream was heard. Suddenly half of the mare was flung from the gate, her vacant eyes still wide from whatever cut her down, Speedy gagged and hurled on the stone path while Swift stepped back. Then Fury sprinted around the corner, his helmet gone and his face bloodied. The pegasus locked eyes with Swift.

"BUCKING RUN!" He screamed as the Brass Knight skidded around the corner, it reached forward and grabbed Fury. It held him in the air, then crushed him and dropped the corpse. Then it turned to the two brothers, immediately Swift shoved Speedy down the alley and followed him. The knight slammed into alley and poked it's glaive through the entrance, but the two unicorns were too far.

"FILTH! PESTS!" It cried as it tried again to attack the brothers, but they didn't stop. They rounded a corner and slid to a stop, Swift was barely breathless but Speedy was huffing and puffing.

"T-that was the beast! I g-got away just as it a-attacked Ponyville, I watched it bring it's friends and burn the town!" Speedy said and collapsed to the stone ground, covering his face in his hooves. Swift sat down next to him and patted him, trying to calm his brother.

But while they hid in the alley, the Behemoth struck.

"Sweet Celestia! Run!" A guard yelled as the huge airship descended upon Canterlot, then he was cut in half by a huge bolt. Another two guards screamed but they too were cut down by the large ballistae bolts. Citizens panicked and chaos ran loud as everypony started to scatter, one resident noticed a shadow growing on the ground and he looked up. He couldn't scream as the heavy form of a Brass Knight slammed down onto him, suddenly the crowd fell silent as the knight stood upright. The knight slowly pulled it's sword from it's sheath.

The slaughter had begun with a mare, the knight slashed her and whacked her with the side of it's sword. Another stallion was stabbed as the crowd returned into it's chaotic state, just as the knight cut down another pony, a squad of Brass Knights landed in the marketplace. They kick, slash and stab the residents until the marketplace was clear. Soon two squads of Cleaners dropped down and split up down the streets, the next Squad was accompanied by the Brass Centurion.

"FOB is under our control Centurion!" One of the knights reported as it saluted, the Centurion nods.

"Good, more squads are on the way, we are going to burn this filth out!" The Centurion roared and the knights raised their weapons in a cheer, screaming caught Swift's attention. He and Speedy snuck down another alley and came face to face with a horrific scene.

One of the Cleaners was burning the entrance to a house, a unicorn stallion was yelling from one of the windows. Another Cleaner was dragging another resident towards a large pyre, a pyre of pony corpses. As Swift's eyes widened, a group of foals were kicked into the open area and huddled together. A trio of Cleaners primed their Inferno Rifles and aimed at the group, their screams echoed in Swift's ears. A knight walked towards the burning pile and threw a bundle of guard armor into it, Swift silently moved away from the scene with his brother.

"Swift?" Speedy asked.

Swift continued down the alley.

"S-Swift?" Swift spun around to glare at Speedy, who recoiled at the stare.

"We need to rally the guard, we need to get to the palace." Swift said slowly, a more flat tone entering his voice. "I'm going to need your help, can you do what I ask? Without hesitation?" Swift asks.

Speedy looks into his brothers eyes, he nods. "I'm ready to help, Swift."

"Good, we need to get to the closest guard house, inside is a communication gem. I need you to gather any weapons, armor or even guards to help push back these invaders!" Swift stated and gallops out of the alley, Speedy easily staying close.

"Got it, wait... isn't that a griffin?"

Swift narrows his eyes as he peers around the corner of another alley entrance, a griffin was dragging a unicorn from his home, the griffin was in a full face helm and had a axe strapped across his back. The helmet was made of brass, Swift's eyes widened as a Brass Knight marched past without a second glance.

"Something's not right, don't trust anything that shines like a mirror, got it?" Swift said to his brother, who nodded. "Good now we gotta move-" Swift stopped abruptly as he listened to the strange sound, it was almost like thudding.

Then a massive Cleaner came around the corner, it's footsteps like thunder. It had two hoses running from the right side of it's face and over it's back, into a pair of large tanks that were strapped on. It's eyes were like grates, revealing a strange orange light within. But it's weapon was the strangest of all. The Inferno Rifle had another tube that ran alongside the one from the gun into the tanks, but the barrel seemed to glow a faint blue. The large Incinerator looked around and spotted the griffin, who pointed over his shoulder as the house. The Incinerator lumbered over and took aim with it's Inferno Rifle at the home, then shot an extremely hot wave of napalm at it. The house exploded in blue flames, the brothers could feel the heat from the alley while the Incinerator seemed to not notice. But it did notice the two brothers peering from the alley, it tilted it's head and advanced towards them.

Speedy took off down the alleyway just as Swift turned his head to where his brother was, then he promptly followed after his brother as he heard the crackle of a fire growing near. The Incinerator watched the two unicorns run, then it turned and wandered back to the FOB. But on the way it heard a faint whimper, it looked around, then it's gaze landed on a cart. The Incinerator lumbered over and listened closely, a faint sound of a caught breath. The soldier put a hand under the cart and lifted it up, underneath was a little white filly. She slowly looked up at the massive Incinerator, then she screamed. The Incinerator immediately threw the cart aside and grabbed the filly, it held her close to it's face and glared at her.

"P-p-please don't hurt me..." She whispers and the Incinerator just glares, then it drops the filly and stomps on her.

Upper Canterlot

A squad of guards tense as the makeshift barricade that they had placed shuddered, a faint snarl was heard from the other side. Then another thud and the barricade shuddered again, one of the unicorns was straining as he pushed back against the barricade with his magic.

"Come one, hold it! Hold it!" A Sergeant ordered as another thud caused a mare to yelp and step back, she looked around at him.

"When that thing breaks through, we're dead! You hear me? Dead!" She yelled at him, but still moved forward. Then disaster struck. The unicorn screamed as his magic suddenly flew back at him, slamming the stallion into the ground. A moment later, the barricade exploded and the mare was hit by a hunk of stone. She crumbled to the pavement, her helmet clattering beside her as a line of blood emerged from beneath her mane. The breach was engulfed in dust, faint sounds of footsteps from the other side unnerving the guards. Then a glint of light appeared from the dust.

"Shit!" One of the last guards yelled as an axe was hurled from the cloud and struck the head of the guard, he grunted and fell to the side. Then the Sergeant and the last guard heard garbled breathing, they spotted the large shape of the Incinerator emerging and recoiled. Soon a pair of griffins appeared alongside the large soldier, the Sergeant charged them, but they quickly cut him down. The last guard just stood in the middle of the road, the Incinerator walks past and the two griffins follow. One pulls his axe from the face of a guard and moves towards the pony, who finally looks up. Suddenly she charged him, her sword in her mouth. Then the other griffin spun around and slashed her legs, the mare screamed as her skidded to a stop in front of the griffin. He lifted the axe above his head and slammed it down through the mare's head, he pulled the axe out of the mare and put it on his back.

"Bloody filth." The griffin muttered and followed the Incinerator, the other one hesitantly followed, but not before she whispered an apology.

Canterlot Castle

Celestia and Luna moved quickly through the halls of the castle, passing many guards. One turned and followed the two sisters.

"Princesses! Both the Lower and Upper levels of Canterlot have been breached, most of the Royal Guard are either dead or missing, and now I've lost contact with the Lower guard house." The captain said to the two sisters, they stopped and turned to look at him. "What... what are we going to do?" He asked, a number of guards watching the conversation.

Then Celestia sighed. "I don't know, we've lost most of Canterlot and now these invaders are approaching the castle-" In the distance a horn sounded, then a faint explosion was heard. "-bombarding the castle, evacuation is the best option at the moment." Celstia stated sadly, the captain just stared at her.

"Evacuation? Princess, that airship is destroying anything that lifts off, already five airships have been destroyed by it. We can't evacuate, it's not possible!" The captain said, some of the guards murmured in agreement. "And to move the last of the citizens through Canterlot to the main gate and train station is just suicide, we're stuck." The captain stated, but Luna shook her head.

"No, there are tunnels that lead into the caves below Canterlot, old crystal mines that have been abandoned. We shall move the citizens through there." She said, but still the captain shook his head.

"We would they go? The only closest place is Ponyville, and that's out of the picture." He says, then sighs. "We're done, it'd be better to just give up-" Suddenly Celestia's hoof slammed onto the marble floor.

"Captain, you are part of the Royal Guard, it is your objective to protect your fellow ponies! Right now you're talking about giving up? Captain there are ponies that are depending on the guard, if we need to, we will fight through this hoard. We will get these ponies out of here!" Celestia stated and slowly the guards in the halls stood straighter. "Captain I want every pegasus guard available to form up in the throne room, every single unicorn and earth pony are going to push through to the main gate. I will personally lead the charge, Luna I need you to lead the pegasi to that airship, tear it apart." Luna nodded, then her horn glowed a faint blue.

"All pegasi, move to the throne room, we are going to take down the airship." She stated, her magic moving the words into the ears of the Royal Guards. Soon the pegasus guards cheered and charged to the throne room. But just as they started rushing, one of the large windows along the side the hall suddenly exploded. The group stopped as a single Brass Knight slowly shook itself, then it grabbed two long spears that had something wrapped on the ends.

"WITNESS ME!" It shouted and charged at the ponies, the two spears over it's head. The knight leapt forward at the startled and thrusted both spears into a trio of guards, the spears exploded and rocked the hall and sent the guards stumbling. Celestia and Luna stood tall as the dust cleared, only a bloodly mess remained of the guards. Two guards looked at each other in awe and anger.

"This hallway is several hundred hooves off the ground, how did..." The first guard groaned and put his hoof to his head.

"No clue, but we are gonna make them pay for what they've done." The second said loudly, almost immediately the crowd of guards roared in agreement and charged down the halls, with the pegasi flying overhead and the Princesses leading. Luna pushed over and flew into the air and turned around.

"Come Our subjects! We will lead thou to glory!" She yelled and flew around a corner, the pegasus guards cheering and following. Soon Celestia slammed open the doors into the entrance way, now a makeshift camp for the survivors. They all looked up at Celestia with curiosity in their eyes, then a unfortunately familiar face popped up above the crowd.

"Auntie! Why are these peasents here! I demand an answer!" He shrieked from below, a large group of ponies groaned, surprisingly most were rich folk. Then immediately fell silent as Clestia put a hoof up, except Blueblood. "I can't stand another moment in this stressful environment! I demand better treatment-" Bluebloods rant was cut short as the two doors opened, immediately guards rushed down and readied themselves for battle. But only a pair of unicorns walked in, one was wearing guard armor. Slowly the guard made his way towards the pair of stairs, but not before Blueblood ranted yet again. "Where were you?! Canterlot is under attack and you're just slacking off?!" He shrieked and the guard stopped, something in the stare that he gave Blueblood scared those around him.

"I've come up from Lower Canterlot, I've seen far more then you in your entire bucking lifetime." Swift said coldly, the crowd gasped and Blueblood looked extremely insulted.

"For your information, I am far above you, peasant. So you should watch what you say!" He said smugly, Swift spun around and made his way towards Blueblood with a cold glare.

"I'll tell you exactly what I saw, you stuck up little shit." Swift growled as he approached the shocked Blueblood, surprisingly no guards intercepted and Celestia watched from the top of the stairs. Swift marched up to Blueblood and looked him dead in the eyes. "I saw my best friend die, I've watched as ponies burned and were slaughtered, I watched fillies be burnt alive... bucking fillies. I'm here now, not from slacking off, oh no. I'm here to assist these ponies, so you should know that you are included, or does your single brain cell not get that?" Swift finished and spun around away from Blueblood, then he marched to the Princess.

"You have a lot of nerve, guard. What is your name?" Celestia asked calmly, secretly enjoying the face of Blueblood.

"Swift Quiz, your majesty. I have come with my brother Speedy, we have brought weapons and reinforcements." Swift says as a large group of guards walked through the doors, most with packs of weapons. "From what I've seen your majesty, both Upper and Lower Canterlot have fallen, invaders with flame weapons are everywhere and... and there's a hoard of griffins on their side." Gasps ran through the crowd, even Celestia looked surprised.

"Griffins? This puts us in a dangerous position, but I thank you my little pony. Now come, we are going to move through Canterlot, we need all the help we can get. Celestia said and Swift nodded, then Celestia walked forwards. "My little ponies, the Royal Guard and I will push through these invaders, we will clear a path to the main gate. You will be scared, I understand but I need you to be strong. You need to realise that this is our last chance, or we all will fall here. Now then..." Celestia coughed and turned to the Royal Guard. "GUARDS, CHARGE!" She yelled with her mighty Royal Canterlot Voice, everypony cheered and the Royal Guard charged through the doors, soon followed by the citizens. But in the throne room, Luna was just about to begin the attack on the Behemoth

Throne Room

Luna gazed at her troops, suddenly realising something. Her horn glowed and her voice was yet again amplified, but only to her guard. The Lunar Guard.

"My loyal Lunar Guard, follow me to glory, follow me to that airship and tear it apart! We shall defend our friends, our family! For Equestria!" She yelled, almost immediately the doors of the throne room were slammed open. A large amount of purple armored batponies marched or flew in, among them was a guard with a determined expression.

"Princess Luna, the rest of the Lunar Guard is on the way. Currently we are the only ones here, due to some being scattered in the fighting." The guard reported with a salute, Luna nibbled her bottom lip.

"How many guards does thou have?" She asked, the guard looked disappointed.

"70, not many are at the castle anymore, they went down to stop those invaders." The batpony answers, a clear tone of failure in his voice. "Captain Violet Scar is currently in the sky with most of our forces, if she sees you, then no doubt they will help." The guard states, Luna nods.

"Violet is quite loyal, very well." Luna muttered to herself then turned to her mixed battalion. "Come my soldiers! Through the shattered windows! Go forth to the airship! My Lunar Guard will accompany me to assist the captain. GO FORTH!" She shouted and the pegasi bolted through the windows, then she followed with her guards.

Suddenly a guard at her side was tackled by a griffin, one from the hoard in the sky. A collection of gold and purple against brass, Luna quickly summoned a sword and cut down a griffin charging her. He choked and fell with his talons at his wound, Luna threw the sword forward at the griffin, she screamed as the blade pierced her back. Luna dashed forward and pulled it out, suddenly a yell from her left caught her attention. It was a pair of Lunar Guards back to back, one without a helm and showing a distinct scar. Luna shouted a warcry and slammed into a griffin that was above the pair, then she slashed and hacked until most of the griffins fell to the city below.

"Ah, Princess! Glad you could join us, how's your day going?" Violet asked casually as she parried a blow from a griffin's axe and slashed a wicked sword across his throat, then she spun in the air over a spear thrust.

"Now is not the time, captain. We need to destroy that airship!" Luna shouted as she tore an axe from a griffin and lopped it at another.

"Got it, Princess. COME ON, TO THE AIRSHIP!" The captain barked, the other Lunar Guard blew a warhorn and flew towards the airship. Luna flapped her wings furiously alongside the growing Lunar Guard forces. They hovered over the airship and Luna looked around, her loyal guards were ready. She yelled and pointed her sword at the ship, the Lunar Guard surged forwards and slammed onto the deck of the airship, Luna landed on the stern.

A pair of knights spun around and one immediately thrusted forward with it's sword, Luna parried the attack and slashed twice at the knight's face. The other knight lifted an axe over it's head, but Luna just grabbed the knight with her magic and crushed it. The two knights dissolved into ash, Luna looked up and noticed only one knight remaining. It was standing with it's hands outstretched and glowing, quickly Luna dashed forward and cut deep into it's shoulder. The Smile Knight shuddered as she pulled the blade out, suddenly a purple mist flowed from the wound and what seemed like a hand started to climb out, a knight that was fighting with a guard nearby noticed this.

"The Helmsman is Corrupt! Get off the ship!" It roared and pushed the mare back, then it with others leapt off the sides of the ship. Luna flew backwards and landed on the deck as the Smile Knight collapsed to the deck, convulsing as the hand pushed out. Then it went still, a Lunar Guard slowly stepped up the stairs and neared the body. Suddenly the Smile Knight slammed it's hands onto the deck and pushed itself up, it tilted it's head at the guard. Then it's third hand grabbed his face and squeezed, the guard screamed but fell silent. Luna quickly took a glace to her sides, her guard looked determined. Luna smirked to herself and reached her blade, the Smile Knight pulled three axes from the ashes on the deck and charged the Lunar Guard and their Princess.

Upper Canterlot

Swift Quiz shot a beam of purple magic at a knight, it crumbled quickly. Swift slashed at another as a earth pony guard leapt up and stabbed a spear into the neck of the knight. The pair nodded to each other and separated to clear the way, Swift was one of the Vanguard and had a lot of ponies counting on him. He turned a corner and spotted a Cleaner pulling a colt from a pile of rubble, then it pointed it's rifle at him. Swift roared and sent a huge blast of magic at the Cleaner, it slammed into it's shoulder and sent the soldier spinning. The colt bolted and fortunately ran towards the convoy of residents, Swift looked up at the airship and saw seven knights dropping from it. Suddenly, running tore his attention back as a knight charged at him, but it was stopped by a wagon getting slammed into it's head, a unicorn came from an alleyway and locked eyes with Swift.

"My turf..." He simply said and went back into his alley, Swift ducked as a large axe sliced through the air. He grabbed the head of the knight and threw it over his head, the Brass Knight slammed into the pavement and Swift slammed his sword through it's throat. Then her heard running, a pair of heavy footsteps. He looked up as the Brass Centurion and a knight with a cracked faceplate marched around the corner, the Brass Knight slammed the butt of it's glaive onto the ground and stood straight. The Centurion looked at the knight.

"This one is dangerous, take him down. We can't have pests like him." The Centurion stated and went back the way it came, the Knight spun it's glaive around and pointed it at Swift Quiz. Swift breathed heavily as the knight lowered it's glaive.

"I will slaughter you like I slaughtered your children!" It roared and charged, Swift stood his ground but moved his sword over his head. Then he dashed forwards, eyes ablaze with rage.

Chapter Five: Assault of Canterlot Part Two

Swift leapt back as the glaive swung inches from his face, then as he landed he slashed at the Brass Knight. The knight took the hit and charged forwards, closing distance fast. Swift dashed forwards with his head down, a shield forming on his horn. The unicorn slammed into the knight and sent it stumbling back, Swift spun around and bucked the chest of the knight and it fell back. Swift spun his sword in his magical grasp and thrusted it into the knight's throat, it squirted black blood from the wound and the Brass Knight roared fiercely. It swatted the sword away and kicked Swift into a building and got onto it's feet, then it raised a hand and a bolt of lightning appeared. The knight pulled back and threw the bolt at Swift, but he threw up a shield and took the blast. The knight snarled and dashed forwards and raised it's glaive above it's head, Swift quickly pulled his sword from the ground and locked blades with the knight.

Suddenly a blue explosion rocked the Behemoth, Luna parried two slashes from the Smile knight, but the third slashed a cut across her cheek. The knight leapt up and cut a pair of Lunar Guards in half, both trying to flank the knight. The Smile Knight was slammed back onto deck by Luna and she summoned a hail of spears above the knight, they pierced it's armor but didn't stop the Corrupt knight. The knight headbutted the Princess and kicked her off the ship, a trio of guards tackled the knight and it struggled to free itself. Luna quickly flew back onto deck and threw a griffin at the knight, he screamed as the Smile Knight slashed the guards and griffin down. Luna, shocked, yelled at the knight.

"Your own soldiers?! You're insane!" She screamed as she threw a pair of blue spears at the knight and summoned a sword, the Smile Knight suddenly exploded in laughter, a haunting horrid sound. It's face caught the spears and was thrown back, Luna took the chance to fly forward to attack but the knight grabbed her. It slowly tilted it's head back at stared at the Princess, a massive hole exposed a orange light within the knight's head. Luna quickly slammed her sword into the hole, sending the Smile Knight reeling back and dropping Luna. It grasped it's faceplate, light escaping it's hands. Luna noticed the open grate, she summoned a hammer and slammed a vicious vertical hit on the knight, sending it flying up and down into the hold.

Luna huffed, but heard something grinding metal, she recoiled as the Smile Knight crawled onto the deck, it's faceplate bursting with a strange black puss. Suddenly the top-half of the knight exploded, a dense purple fog covering the deck. Luna heard the sound of her guards screaming as something got them, then she saw a pair of claws hovering in the air.

Swift bellowed a warcry and shoved the Brass Knight back, it quickly slammed it's glaive down at Swift, but he easily stepped to the side. Then a colossal roar shook the ground, even the Brass Knight hesitated and glanced up at the airship. Swift threw his sword at one of the larger cracks in the knight's faceplate, it shattered the front of it's face. The knight quickly pulled it's arms up to protect it's face, Swift shot a hail of purple bolts at the knight, but suddenly felt it's toll. The unicorn stumbled to balance himself, he looked up to see the Brass Knight lowering it's arms. It's torn faceplate exposed a pulsating light, coming from an orange crystal that hovered in the hollow helmet.

"Lucky shot... filth." The knight said as it picked up it's fallen glaive, Swift shook his head and glared at the knight.

"Not luck, just a skill of mine." Swift responded and picked up his sword.

The pair resumed their fight with the Brass Knight slide tackling Swift, then it send a powerful fist into Swift's belly. Swift roared with pain and rolled to the side of another punch, then he slashed at the knight's exposed neck. It gushed out blood black and the knight shuddered, but still threw Swift into a building and jumped after him.

Luna flew up and around the large ballon, then she landed on the top of the ballon. It suddenly rocked as the Smile Knight, it's upper body now a stange black, swirling mess that held a pair of axes. The Princess took a battle stance and her guard formed a wall in front of her, blocking the knight from a clear path. The Smile Knight immediately charged, a erratic and stiff run. One of the first line, a jarhead, was quickly thrown off the ballon. But a griffin caught him, one in a leather cap and cuirass. She smirked at him and flew up to the ballon and dropped him. Luna turned and saw a fleet of griffins and their airships approaching, she smiled as not a single of the new griffins had a bit of brass equipment. But the Smile Knight wasn't as happy to see the renegade griffins. The knight screamed a horrible warcryvand slammed it's sword into the metal shell of the ballon, then it sprinted at the Lunar Guard creating a long cut in the ballon. The knight left it's sword in the ballon and grabbed a pair of guards, slamming them together and tossing them off the side of the ballon. Suddenly a trio of griffins, holding a large chain, clotheslined the Smile Knight. They spun around it and dragged it back onto the deck of the Behemoth, Luna blocked out it's screams and watched as the new griffins approached.

A grey griffin landed next to Luna, watching with her as the renegade griffins cut down and slashed at the griffins supporters, Luna exhaled turned her head to look at the griffin. His feathers were grey with whites at the tips, he wore a leather cuirass that had a blue sash running across it. His eyes were old but held a spark of happiness, he smiled at Luna.

"So, Princess, did we come at the right time?" He asked.

"Definitely, King Greyclaw. But we couldn't get a SoS out, how did you know to assist us?" The griffin king sighed.

"We... we refused to join these metal beasts, they slaughtered most of the refusing griffins and sent us running. I watched as they constructed a fortress around Griffinstone, I watched as the rest of my people join them and I watched as they armed and flew towards Canterlot..." Greyclaw exhaled. "We followed after my surviving advisors and generals convinced me, so we flew here and now here we are."

Luna was about to thank the King, a loud roar caught their attention. Luna felt a hand grip her throat and throw her off the ballon, she slammed onto the deck and grunted. The Smile Knight dropped to the deck as Luna got to her hooves, she gasped as a dozen of her guards and the griffins who pulled the knight down stared at her, in pools of their own blood. The knight crackled and picked up a sword from an ash pile, but fate had something to say first.

Suddenly the Behemoth's left engine exploded and rocked the ship, Luna stumbled and the knight fell through the open grate behind it. Luna flew into the hold and slammed into the Smile Knight, she quickly summoned two swords and slashed at the knight. But unknown to the fighters, the airship was slowly descending towards Canterlot as it's ballon caught fire.

Swift rolled to the side as the Brass Knight landed near his head, he shot up and bucked the knight's leg. It fell to it's other and grunted, Swift grabbed a loose hunk of stone and smashed it across the knight's head, but as he pulled back his hoof, the Brass Knight head butted the unicorn. Swift's head snapped back and his helmet flew off, but he quickly jumped back as the knight raised a lightning bolt above it's head. Luckily, Swift got out of the building as the bolt slammed into the ground and collapsed the house. The Brass Knight pushed off the roof and roared at Swift, black blood covering most of it's body. But it's attention was torn from Swift as a loud, tomboyish warcry filled the air. Suddenly a rainbow coloured blur smashed into the knight's side and sent it back into the rubble, Rainbow Dash swooped down to Swift.

"Citizens should be leaving the city! GET OUT OF HERE!" He bellowed at the pegasus, who looked shocked.

"Uh what? I saved you! You should be thanking me! And I'm not a citizen, I'm a soon to-be Wonderbolt-" Rainbow was pulled from the air and thrown into a building, the Brass Knight clicked it's bloody neck and gripped it's glaive tightly.

Enough games! Let's finish this, pest!" The knight snarled and lifted the glaive above it's head, but Swift saw something behind it and did something he'd never thought he'd do.

"Look! A distraction!" He yelled and pointed behind the knight, it seemed to hesitate as it stopped but it still turned with a quick spin. Swift dove to the side as the Elements of Harmony rose into the air and blasted the Brass Knight's exposed face with a beam of rainbow, the orange crystal that hovered inside the shattered helm seemed to devour the rainbow energy as it began quivering. The six ponies slowly descended to the stone path and watched the knight, Swift slowly walked around it and backed towards the Elements. The Brass Knight's arms dropped to it's sides and the glaive dropped from their grasp, it clattered on the ground as silence seemed to rule the street. Suddenly the orange crystal started to spun, it got faster and faster and the seven ponies backed up. The crystal released a shockwave and the hollow armor it once wore tipped over backwards and dissolved, it glowed a light purple, blue then purple again. The crystal exploded and three things happened.

Three red orbs quickly dashed from the crystal and towards Swift, Rarity and Twilight and attached themselves to their horns. Rarity convulsed and collapsed into the hooves of Applejack, Swift and Twilight's eyes glowed white and they suddenly went statue-like.

The crystal send a pulse of lightning outwards that grounded Rainbow and gave poor Fluttershy a small, but controlled shock and made her jump. It caused Applejack to twitch and reach out for Rarity, with a stiff movement of her front hooves and made Pinkie's mane go really, like really puffy. I mean seriously, I can't express it enough, it puffed a lot. She gasped and suddenly smiled widely, mouthing something along the lines of 'new friend!'

And a large body dropped from where the crystal hovered, it fell to it's knees and hunched over. It wore a large, but noticeably well made, grey coat that had a large collar that covered the creature's lower face. It's legs were covered with black pants and black boots were worn on it's feet. Lastly, a unique looking, black hat and scarf that bellowed in an unseen wind covered it's head. Slowly the seven ponies shook themselves and looked at each other, in shock. But in Swift's case, absolute rage.

"WHY THE BUCK ARE YOU HERE?! Celestia help me, all civilians and residents are to follow the convoy! Why did you risk your lives helping me?" He demanded, but his serious expression softened as he noticed how Fluttershy cowered away from him. He exhaled. "As much as I thank you for the assistance, you really shouldn't be here and now I gotta explain why there's six ponies and that... thing..." He trailed off as he noticed how large the new creature was, since it was standing a few feet with a single golden eye glaring at them from underneath it's hat. Then Swift noticed a large shadow that was growing larger, he looked straight up.

"Well buck, that's an airship."

Luna grunted as she took a fist into her gut, but she still thrusted her sword through the head of the Smile Knight. The knight screamed in pain and reared back, Luna shoved the knight back and summoned a spear, she quickly thrust it into the knight's gut. The Smile Knight kicked the Princess back and she smashed through the wall and hit the next one, landing in a room with two knights sitting around a strange box.

"The scanner broke! How?" One asked the other.

"It's old tech, no doubt the forces of all sides overheated the machine." The second knight said, then it turned and spotted Luna. "Pest spotted! Move to eliminate!" It said and stood from the machine, but Luna dashed forwards and smashed the knight's head through the machine, then she shoved her sword through it's neck. As the knight dissolved, the other threw itself back and pulled out it's sword. But the Smile Knight burst through the wall and tore it's arm off, as the knight snarled, the Corrupt knight slammed an axe into the other knight's head.

Luna grunted and grabbed the knight in her magic, she threw it upwards and through the roof. Then she teleported to the top deck, as she appeared, she was tackled by the Smile Knight. It wrapped it's hands around her throat and squeezed, Luna gasped and used her magic to strangle the knight. The Smile Knight seemed unfazed and continued to choke the Princess, she coughed and stabbed four spears into the knight's back. It reared up and lifted Luna off the deck, she unfurled her wings and pushed herself from the grip of the knight. The Smile Knight grabbed her hoof and slammed her onto the deck, she cried as her wing made a loud snap. The knight flipped her over and placed a hand around her throat and lifted her up, it smashed a fist into her stomach as her horn glowed.

Suddenly a huge force hit the knight, it dropped Luna and raised it's arms up. Luna's eyes were filled with tears, but she could make out a creature kick the Smile Knight. The creature pushed the knight's arms apart and uppercut it's head, then as the Smile Knight recoiled, the creature slammed a fist into the knight's chest. The creature repeated the punch a few times, then grabbed the knight's throat. The creature lifted the Smile Knight up and slammed it down onto the deck. A fury of kicks slammed the knight deeper into the deck, the black puss that encompassed it's body slid off and it's chest cracked loudly. The creature raised both arms into the air and smashed them on the knight's head, the Smile Knight twitched once then went still. I

Luna pushed herself up and coughed, then she noticed a white hand. She looked up and into the single golden eye that stared at her from under the creature's black hat, she looked at the gloved hand it was offering and took it. Suddenly the creature pulled Luna up and held her under it's arm and sprinted towards the edge of the Behemoth, she screamed as the creature threw itself off the ship. The creature took no notice as it neared Lower Canterlot, it slammed into the ground and made a crater. The creature sprung up and dashed through the bloody and burning streets, Luna heard a massive explosion behind her and felt a growing warmth. The creature leapt over a overturned cart and slammed into the back of a Brass Knight, but it just flipped over it as the knight reached up. The creature's coat bellowed with it's scarf in the wind as it charged a Cleaner, it noticed the creature too late as it slid under it's legs, holding Luna off the ground.

Then they turned a corner, a skirmish of Royal Guards, griffins and knights was blocking their path. The creature crouched and jumped into the air, making Luna yelp. She took the chance to look down, a guard cut down a griffin, a knight slashed at a pair of night guards, a knight took a large blast of magic to the chest. Then they disappeared into tiles of a roof, she looked up as the creature dropped off the building. It sprinted through the exit arch and skidded to a stop, a squad of the near guard spun around and began to pull their weapons out, then they saw Luna.

"Princess, are you alright?" The Sergeant asked as he sheathed his sword, the squad followed a bit more hesitantly. Luna heard a strange growling sound as the Sergeant approached, the creature held Luna tighter and moved back, clearly agitated. The Sergeant stopped, tilting his head. "Uh Princess, looks like your saviour is quite protective." He said as the creature growled again, Luna tapped on it's hand and the golden eye stared down from it's shadowy home.

"We thank thou for saving us, but you must release me." She said softly, the creature stared back at the Princess. Finally it slowly lowered Luna to the ground, being quite careful with her wing. Luna tried extending her wing, she gasped with pain and the Sergeant stepped forward.

"Princess, are you alright?!" He asked as he stepped closer, the creature knelt down and looked at Luna's wing. It pulled open it's coat and Luna saw that it had nothing underneath the large coat except for a pair of bandoliers, she slightly paled as she noticed how many scars covered it's chest. The creature pulled a strange, engraved bell from one of it's many pouches, it held it to it's face then pointed it at Luna's wing. The small bell sounded and a golden glow encompassed her wing and a slight warmth came to Luna, the glow faded and Luna extended her wing with no pain. The creature stood and slipped the bell back into it's coat, it's hands fell to it's sides as it watched Luna clear her throat.

"We- I thank you, for saving me and getting me out of that airship. But I want to know the name and face of my saviour." She said, the creature stared at her and slowly shook it's head, Luna frowned. "Not much of a talker are you?" The creature stared at her. "May I at least see your face?" Luna asked, almost immediately the creature shook it's head. Then Luna gasped. "My Lunar Guard! They were on the airship! We need to go-" The sound of giggling made Luna look up.

"Your majesty, you forget that we are far too loyal to ever die on you." Violet said as she and King Greyclaw landed on the dirt path, the creature turned to the new arrivals and glared at them. Violet Scar took notice of the aggressive stare. "Oh my, aren't you a big boy, or girl. What are you anyway?" She asked, a clear accusation in her voice. The creature growled and it's right arm twitched, Violet stepped forward. "Oh I get it, you're a brainless dimwit monster." She said each word as she stepped closer, Luna grew slightly angry.

"Captain Violet Scar, you are out of line." Luna stated and Violet stopped, about two feet from the creature. She glared at the single eye and it stared back, finally she broke the silence.

"Stupid cyclops." She sneered, the creature just stared at her. Then the female batpony turned around, to come face to face with a fuming Luna.

"Violet, that stupid cyclops saved me, you should know better to insult an ally." She said angrily, the tone had Violet's ears fold down. "I should demote you for disregard of others and insubordination, but you've been too loyal to me. So now your punishment..." Luna put a hoof to her chin, Violet nervously pawed the ground, the squad of guards just stood off to the side and the creature just stared at Luna. Finally Luna put her hoof down, she smiled at Violet. "Apologise to Saviour, I want to hear them accept it." She said, a devilish smile on her face.

"I... what? An apology, sure ok." Violet said and turned to look up at the creature, who was nowhere to be found. She looked around for the large coated creature, her eyes going wide. "Bu... WHERE DID IT GO?" She yelled at the sky, Luna burst out laughing and some of the Royal Guards snickered. Violet frowned at Luna and spun around, suddenly she spotted the creature. It was standing right in front of her, the Captain reared back and fell over. "You sneaky little..." She stopped herself as she felt the eyes of Luna going through her head, she huffed and got up. "So then, I guess I'm sorry? Wow that was bad. Listen, I'm really sorry, after all of this... it got my adrenaline running, made my mouth run, so I'm sorry for insulting you." Violet said, head tilted to the ground.

Luna trotted up behind her Captain and placed a hoof under her chin and lifted her face up. Violet looked at Luna, who smiled at her. Then a voice cut through the air, not a pony's voice though...

"Acknowledged."

...

"W-was that?" Violet asked as she looked up at the creature, the voice was hard but had a calm tone.

"Must've been him." Luna said, Violet turned to her.

"'Him'?" The Sergeant asked, both Violet and Luna turned to stare at him, then the creature raised it gaze to him as well.

"Yes, Sergeant, Him. Didn't you hear the clear stallion tone in his voice?" Luna asked, the Sergeant mumbled something and tuned away. "Well now that's out of the way, let's go find my sister."

The group came to the edge of the camp, they entered and passed many a pony. Many just stared at the creature as it stomped past, Luna realised that it's footsteps were accompanied by the sound a chains rattling. She was about to ask about it but a familiar voice caught her attention.

"Luna!"

"Sister!" Luna said happily and galloped to her sister, who was surrounded by the Main Six. They saw the creature and surprised looks came over them. Soon Celestia's eyes narrowed as she got a look at it. "Sister, before you ask. This creature saved me, I would of died if not for him." She explained and the hard glare faded from Celestia's eyes. "Though he doesn't seem to talk much." Luna added under her breath.

"So then, friend, I wish I could welcome you under better circumstances. But those invaders took our home, at the moment only a single objective comes to my mind. Free those griffins, now you don't need to help, but please listen. As a ruler, I've seen how my subjects act and how those griffins acted, they were desperate. So please, can you help us?" Celestia asked, in a pleading tone. The creature slowly turned to face Luna, it looked at her with it's eye. Then it broke the silence again.

"Affirmative."

Then Pinkie Pie piped up.

"So does that mean a party?" She asked, in the background Twilight facehoofed.

Canterlot Castle

A Brass Knight slowly walked into the throneroom, it spotted the Centurion and marched quickly towards it. The Brass Centurion was standing over the two thrones, it's hands behind it's back.

"We have captured the city, what are our orders?" The knight asked, the Centurion turned around and stared down at the knight.

"They freed one, a man from his armor... find that man and kill him." The Centurion barked and the knight slapped a salute across it's chest and sprinted down the halls. The Centurion turn back around to the thrones, not noticing a pair of blue eyes staring at it.

The Border: Talons of Terror

The sounds of heavy footsteps echoed through the empty streets, a squad of Brass Knights were patrolling the streets of Griffinstone. At the head of the patrol was a knight with a large yellow stripe down the right side of it's faceplate, the Sergeant felt something in the air. He turned and held a fist in the air, the squad stopped immediately and waited for their Sergeant.

"Something isn't right, you two scout ahead, the rest of you get your weapons." The Sergeant barked and two knight jogged ahead of the group, the Sergeant and the rest of the squad pulled swords from their sheaths and watched the two Brass Knights. They turned around and shrugged, suddenly one screamed and put a hand to his throat while the other was tackled by a dark shape. The squad rushed forwards, the Sergeant at the head again.

"For Talon!" A voice yelled out and another black shape tackled the rear knight of the squad and slashed his throat with a long dagger, the next knight raised his sword but another figure leapt onto his back and slammed an axe into his head. The Brass Knight fell to his knees and reached up to the axe, but soon fell to the stone path. The remaining four knights and the Sergeant hundled into a ring and faced outwards, the sounds of footsteps approached. Suddenly a large group of dark figures charged at the squad, from the rooftops and the streets.

After a brief skirmish the Sergeant finally fell, as it dissolved into ash the group of figures took to the skies. But not before stabbing a note on a wall.

Grerro walked out of his house and took one look to the side, he growled and tore the dagger from the wall and grabbed the note. He angrily read through it and ripped it into pieces, the griffin flew into the air and dashed into town, but then his little head voice decided to pipe up.

"Filthy abomination, leave our land." Seems a bit intense...

Grerro growled.

"That's the seventh one this month!" He said quietly, then a sudden explosion caught his attention. A cloud of red was drifting from a marketplace, he swooped down and landed a few metres from the explosion. He saw a dozen griffins, most were writhing in pain while a few were ominously still. All had a strange red mist surrounding them, one saw Grerro and roared. He dragged himself from under a large pillar and rose to his feet, his eyes were glowing a bright red. The griffin leapt at Grerro, but just before he slammed into him, a large brass fist uppercutted the griffin. Then the Brass Knight grabbed Grerro and sprinted down a side alley, all the while Grerro's mind raced.

Suddenly another griffin tackled the knight, they wore a black leather cuirass and a full face metal helmet. The knight dropped Grerro and he rolled under a cart, he watched the feet of the Brass Knight move as the griffin attacked with a war cry. The knight tried pulling out his sword but another griffin smashed into his back and sent the large soldier stumbling, then the first griffin slammed a sword through the knight's head. The knight crumbled to ash and the two griffins stood in front of the cart, slowly Grerro moved his hand to the knight's sword which had slid halfway under.

"So the serum works well?" One of the griffins asked the other, Grerro's talons near the sword.

"Yeah, almost all of the traitors succumbed to the serum's effects." The other replied, Grerro's talons touch the grip of the sword.

"But now that we know it works, I guess we have to kill this abomination now!" The cart was thrown to the side and Grerro slashed upwards with the sword, the griffin in the black cuirass grabbed his axe while the other griffin tried to stop the bleeding from the wound on his throat, it didn't work. The other griffin yelled and slammed his axe down at Grerro, he rolled out of the way and stabbed the griffin's talon. He dropped the axe and leapt onto Grerro, who wrestled with the griffin for his sword. The griffin punched Grerro and tore the sword from his grasp.

"Say goodbye, traitor! Talon sends their regards!" Suddenly a large knife imbedded itself into the side of the griffin's head, he stumbled away from Grerro and turned slowly to see who threw the knife. A Brass Knight walked towards the griffin and smashed his head into the wall of the alley, the knife dropped to the path as it was pushed through his head. The griffin's head and helmet were crushed and blood gushed down from under the helmet, the knight turned and looked down at Grerro.

"Thanks, I didn't think I would've made it without your assistance." Grerro says, slightly out of breath.

"We are under strick orders to protect you G-01, we will follow them." The Brass Knight saids and turns around to walk away.

"Who were these guys?" Grerro asks and the knight stops and looks over his shoulder.

"Talon, a group of rebels. They're hunting you, that's all you need to know G-01." The knight walks away and Grerro looks at the bodies, then he remembers the crazed griffins in the market.

They are already dead...

"What?" Grerro asked as he runs back to the marketplace, to find a squad of Cleaners burning the griffins and stalls. "Oh... well I'm gonna go back home, no need to be here any longer." Grerro flies into the air and swoops down to his house, he reaches for the doorknob. Suddenly a large club was swung into the back of Grerro's head, he stumbled into the door and fell over. A griffin in a lightweight tunic dropped the club and whistled loudly, a pair of buff griffins appeared from the shadows and picked up Grerro, soon the three griffins and an unconscious Grerro were running down an alley and passed through a wall. They didn't notice the knight though, who was standing at the entrace to the alley, he turned and marched towards a squad of Brass Knights and reported the situation to the Sergeant, who had a red zigzag across his helmet.

"Acknowledged, go to the barracks and alert the Captain. We'll handle these rebel scum." The Sergeant says and marches through the alley and through the illusionary wall, the squad followed. But they too were followed, a single griffin with a fringe and a brass axe followed the squad in.

Under Griffinstone

A number of griffins in patchwork black armor were practising with weapons as the three other griffins dropped Grerro in a corner of the large room, one of the griffins with better armor walked up to the small griffin.

"This is him?" The small griffin nods. "Good, go alert the Alpha, we'll watch over him." He says and the three griffins walk down another corridor, as he turns around he hears something. The sound of footsteps. "Damnit! They found us! Get your gear together and scatter, you two grab the target! Come on!" The entire room erupted into chaos as the griffins grabbed their weapons and personal belongings and rushed down random tunnels, a squad of four griffins grabbed Grerro and pulled him down the first tunnel. Just as the Captain grabbed his sword, the Brass Knights skidded into the room. All the remaining griffins locked eyes with the knights until.

"GET THEM BOYS!"

"ELIMINATE THE REBELS!"

Chapter Six: The Captain, the Ying and the Yang

Violet wasn't happy, she was far from it. She was glaring at the creature that was sitting at the foot of a tree, he was fiddling with something and was ignoring everything around him. But what really boiled her blood was the fact that nopony gave him a second glance, it was the fact the everything around him was flowing normally riled Violet. She huffed and heard hoofsteps behind her, she truned and came face to face with the Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor. His face was brightened by a smile as Violet scowled at him.

"Come on, Captain. Aren't you happy to see me?" He asked and Violet scoffed, she noticed the creature stiffen at her rank. Maybe he knew rank matters around here, she turned back to Shining.

"Captain Armor, I wish to try an... experiment." Violet says, Shining's eyes widen.

"Is this the one that you got me to help you with before?" He asks cautiously and Violet nods. "Then buck no! What happened the day will not be repeated!"

"Why not, Captain?" Violet asks innocently.

"Because you slammed my head into a wall and it took three hours for them to get me out and another two to get feeling back into my horn, not to mention the week of embarrassment!" Shining stated angrily, but Violet shook her head.

"You're not the victim this time, he is." She points to the creature, who wasn't sitting at the foot of the tree. "Oh for the love of-" Shining burst out laughing and Violet spun around, to find the creature standing behind her. She yelped and jumped back and Shining Armor laughed harder, drawing looks from nearby guards.

"What is it?" The creature asks, Violet glares at him.

"I want to duel, with you and my fellow Captain here." Violet says and pats Shingings back, the creature looks down at Violet.

"As you wish." He states and walks towards the training fields, Shining glares at Violet.

"Why did you drag me into this?" He asked and Violet shrugged.

"I didn't want the creature to feel like he can't win, so you can be the one he beats before I plant him into the ground." She says simply and follows the creature, Shining exhaled loudly.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

The creature stood in front of the quartermaster, who was sweating slightly from either work or fear.

"I need two training bats and a training staff." He states and the pony nods quickly and pulls two bats from a bin, he pushed aside a bit of cloth and grabbed the staff. He turned and dropped them in the creature's hand, but the quartermaster's curiosity was sparked.

"Why do you need training weapons?" He asked and the creature lets out a snort of laughter.

"A three way duel, between Captain Violet, Captain Armor and the Captain." The creature answered and turned to walk away.

"Who's the Captain? The last one?" The quartermaster queried and the creature looked over his shoulder.

"Me." He stated and walked away.

News spread of the duel and soon one of the larger fields were cleared and guards were lined up along the sides, among them were civilians, the Princesses and the Main Six. Swift stared at the three Captains, he was really curious about why this fight was on but at least it was a change from mourning his friends. Speedy leaned over.

"Who do you think is gonna win? My money's on Captain Armor." He said excitedly.

"Mine is on the creature, I have a feeling that he's got a trick up his sleeve." Swift said to his brother, the Captain had the staff on his back and was holding one of the batons, while the other bat was nowhere to be seen. Shinging Armor had a staff while Violet had a baton, the crowd of ponies fell silent as a pegasus guard trotted into the middle of the field.

"Today we have a three way duel! Standard rules, you are out if you are unable to get up, that is the only rule." A few guards snickered. "Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard, are you ready?"

"Yeah!" He yelled and twirled his staff in the air with his magic, another group of ponies laughed at his war cry.

"Captain Violet Scar of the Lunar Guard, are you ready?"

"I'm ready, to kick their flanks!" She yelled and the Lunar Guard cheered, some of the Royal Guard booed.

"The Captain of the Unknown, are you ready?"

"Affirmative." He stated and glared at his opponents, the pegasus guard flapped his wings.

"Combat start!" He yelled and flew into the air, almost immediately Shining Armor dashed towards the Captain while Violet watched. The Captain's eye pulsed and his other baton flew from his feet and towards Shining. He skidded to a stop and parried the flying baton, but it quickly flew under his guard and slammed into his leg. He collapsed and the Captain dashed forward and swung his bat up under Shining's head, the Royal Guard Captain was sent flying back and groaned as he lay in the dirt. The entire spectacle took a few seconds, everypony held their breath as Shining pushed himself up and held his staff up, the Captain cracked his neck and lowered himself into a stance with his other baton hovering above his head. Suddenly it lashed out and caught Violet's attack, the Captain turned slightly and looked eyes with the startled Violet. The baton pushed Violet back and the Captain stood straight as the two Captains readied themselves on his sides.

The Captain suddenly grabbed the edge of his coat and swooped down low, sending dust flying into the air. The two other Captains dashed forwards to catch their prey off guard, but when they slashed into the dust they locked weapons. They looked shocked but Violet quickly shoved Shining back, suddenly the crowd gasped and the two Captains looked to their left. Standing in the middle of the field, the Captain's jacket fluttered down in front of him. His bandoliers were gone as well as his hat, he had well muscled arms, his face and chest was scarred and he had scruffy and spiky Blonde hair. The Captain was holding his arms up and his weapons were floating behind him, his golden eye pulsed and his weapons flew forwards.

Violet frantically parried the two batons while Shining smacked the staff aside and charged at the Captain, the staff hovered in the air and then swung at Violet. The Captain lowered his head as Shining charged, then he kicked out and caught Shining's cheek. The crowd of Royal Guards let out a loud 'ow' as Shining recoiled and stumbled back, then let out another as the Captain stepped forward and smashed a haymaker into Shining's other check. The Royal Guard Captain suddenly thrusted his staff into the Captain's face, he smirked then watched in horror as the Captain grabbed and snapped the staff's end. But to his surprise he found another staff in front of his face, it hovered in the air then dropped, he quickly grabbed it and nodded at the Captain. The Captain glaced upwards and saw Violet still occupied with his bats, then jumped back as Shining swung the staff around and at his head.

Violet was not in a good mood, suddenly one of the bats lashed out and thwacked her on her head. Her eye twitched and she caught the other baton with her other hoof, she tore it out of the Captain's unseen grasp and used it to smash the other bat in half. She turned to watch as the Captain grabbed Shining's head and slammed it onto his knee, she winced as her fellow Captain was send flying from the roundhouse kick that come from nowhere. Shining fell to his side and groaned, the magical grasp on his staff faded and it was once again grabbed by the Captain. The pegasus quickly swooped down and pulled Shining to the side, where a number of medics rushed to his side. The Captain slowly turned his gaze to Violet, he quickly pulled his staff into his hand and twirled it around.

Finally Violet snapped.

She screamed with rage and flew forwards at the Captain, who's eyes widened as his staff flew to intercept the raging batpony. But she spun through the air and passed around the staff, she tackled into the Captain. She slammed one of her batons across the Captain's face, he was silent. She did it again with her other bat, still the Captain remained silent. Violet screamed as she attacked the Captain, but still he was silent. Finally Violet stopped and noticed his eye pulse, she looked up just as the staff smacked her off the Captain's chest. She spat out some blood as the Captain rose to his feet, his eye pulsed and the staff flew into his hands, he gripped it like a sword and spread his feet a bit. Violet dashed forward to strike his head again, but found herself disarmed. The Captain had swung extremely quickly to knock both batons from her hooves, then he spun around and kicked her back. Violet grunted and flew into the air, the Captain cracked his neck and readied himself.

Twilight rushed to her brother, who was being treated by a unicorn medic. Shining smiled at Twilight.

"Hey, sis." He say and winced as the unicorn healed another broken bone.

"Are you alright? Why did you agree to that duel? What were you thinking?" Twilight asked angrily and Shining chuckled.

"I'm fine Twilly, I was dragged into the duel and I was thinking how much of a bad idea the duel was." He answered and the unicorn muttered something and Shining smirked. "Oh really? You don't say."

Twilight was about to continue talking when a hoof on her shoulder caught her attention, Luna was standing behind her. Her eyes were locked on the Captain.

"Twilight, I need you to scan the Captain, for magic." She told Twilight, who quickly did so. Then she gasped.

"T-that power level! It's on par with you and Celestia!" She said shocked, Luna nodded.

"Yes, it shocked me as well. I need you to keep an eye on those levels, tell me if they go any higher." Luna orders and walks back to sit next to her sister, Twilight frowns as she watches the Captain.

"Who exactly are you?" She muttered to herself.

The Captain slid under Violet's tackle and spun around, sending dust up. Violet quickly stops and turns to tackle the Captain again, she flew into the dust cloud to find the Captain gone. She turns and looks up to see the Captain's staff fly down and thwack her on the head, she yelped and dashed back as the staff swatted at her. Violet quickly scanned the arena and spotted the Captain, he was pulling on his coat and was watching Violet closely. She ducked under the staff's thrust and bolted towards the Captain, she slammed into the ground in front of him and spun around to buck him. But he jumped back and called his staff back, suddenly Violet grabbed it from the air and snapped it with a yell.

"What now, 'Captain'?" She asked smugly and the Captain laughed, catching the batpony off guard.

"Fear not the dark my friend..." He states and lashes out with a punch, catching Violet's cheek and sending her reeling back. She rubbed her cheek when gasps and yells from the crowd catch her attention, she looks up to find the Captain holding a spear of lightning above his head. "...and let the feast begin!" He slammed the bolt into Violet and she was sent flying back, she landed with a loud groan. Violet tried to push herself up but fell back to the ground, the Captain stepped forward with his arms outstretched to his sides and tilted his head.

Suddenly a squad of Lunar Guards rushed onto the field and surrounded the Captain, who pulled his hands back and pulled his hat from a pocket. Another group of ponies pulled Violet to a group of medics, two guards stepped to the side and Luna walking into the circle with Twilight.

"I would congratulate you on your victory, but a issue has arisen. Twilight?" Luna asked and the unicorn stepped forward to talk, but the Captain beat her.

"You fear my power." He said simply, he looked around at the faces of the Lunar Guards. "You all fear what I am, what I represent." The Captain turned back to Luna and pointed at her. "You have it, don't you?" He asked, in a dark and level tone, Luna recoiled.

"What?" She asked and the Captain lowered his hand, a look of insanity entering his golden eye.

"Hand it over..." He said and took a step forward, the Lunar Guard raised their weapons. "That thing, in your head, your darkness." The Captain said as he took another step, in the background the Royal Guard were sending the civilians away, Luna got into a stance.

"Why do you want it?!" She demanded and the Captain reached inside his coat, he pulled an axe with a curved head out and dangled it near the ground. The head looked scarily familiar to one that Twilight had seen before, then she remembered why, this was the glaive that slaughtered innocents.

"For my lady's freedom..." He answered and raised a hand to Luna, expecting her to hand over something. Soon the Captain realised that she wasn't going to, he roared and dashed forward with his freehand glowing a bright gold. The Lunar Guard were too slow as the Captain grabbed Luna's face and released a shockwave that froze them, he didn't notice that Twilight was not frozen however. He leaned into Luna's face and grinned. "Let the feast begin!" He roared and suddenly Luna's vision went black, Twilight watched as the pair froze like the Lunar Guard and stepped back.

"What are you?" She asked again, unaware what was happening inside Luna's mind.

Luna gasped as she took in her surroundings, endless darkness except for a large figure kneeling over something and emitting chewing noises. She walked cautiously towards them, but instantly stopped as the figure turned slightly and looked at Luna, with a golden eye.

"What? Still here?" The Captain asked and stood up, his body far larger than it used to be and his coat far longer and larger. Luna stepped back as he stepped forward, holding his axe over his heart. "You won't stop me, I need this! To save her!" He yelled and charged at Luna, who quickly summoned a sword and locked blades with the hulking Captain.

"I'm sorry, Captain. But I cannot allow that, this darkness will corrupt you!" She yelled and pushed back the Captain, he snarled and swung his axe around and slashed at Luna's hooves. She flew into the darkness with a cry as blood dripped from the cut, the Captain looked up and raised his hand to her.

"I can't stop! I must not stop!" He cried and his hand glowed gold, suddenly Luna was slammed into the ground. She rolled to the side as the Captain tried to stomp her, he looked around and realised that the Princess was gone. He stood up and glanced around wildly, his axe shaking with his hand. "Come back! Don't leave me! She needs me!" He cried out, he heard a pop from behind him and turned to look at Luna. She was in dark blue armor, with a serious expression and a glowing scythe.

"I am sorry, Captain. But the only way that I see this battle ending, is with you being the loser." She said sadly and the Captain let out a strange war cry, it was full of pain and fear. Luna raised her scythe and flicked it around the Captain's throat, she flew over the Captain and flipped him onto his back. Then she spun around and slammed the scythe into the Captain's head, he growled and grabbed the scythe. He snapped the head off and flipped himself onto his feet, then he turned and hurled the head at Luna. She parried it with her headless scythe and grabbed it with her magic, then she stuck it back onto her staff.

The Captain flipped his axe into the air, where the handle extended and landed back into his hand. He swung his glaive around and grabbed it with his other hand, then he charged. Luna was pushed back by the glaive and was sent flying as the Captain leapt up and spun around, he roared as he raised his glaive above his head to attack Luna again.

Celestia frowned, all around her were frozen ponies except for the Elements of Harmony. Her sister and the Captain were also still frozen, except the Captain had a strange aura around him. Suddenly Rainbow Dash flew at the Captain, Celestia quickly grabbed her in her magic.

"What are you doing?!" She asked the shocked Rainbow.

"I'm gonna kick his flank! He hurt my friends!" She yelled at the Princess, then she promptly burst into tears. "I lost... so many friends!"

Slowly Celestia lowered Rainbow to the ground, immediately her friends rushed forwards and hugged Dash. She turned and trotted towards the two frozen figures, she extended her magic out and felt around in the Captain's mind. Nothing. She moved onto Luna, and promptly frozen as her vision darkened.

Celestia found herself in an endless darkness, she heard the sounds of battle nearby and turned around. The Captain roundhouse kicked Luna and she was sent flying, the Captain was about to leap after the Princess when another pop sounded behind him. He growled and looked over his shoulder, Celestia was floating in the air in golden armor with a golden sword and shield in her magical grasp.

"You... you are pure." The Captain said and fully turned around. "You have no darkness." He stated and raised his glaive, Celestia raised her shield.

"You are the only darkness here!" She yelled and flew forwards, the Captain swung his glaive around and slammed it into her shield. Celestia grunted and slashed at the Captain, who leaned to the side and punched her chest. Suddenly a scythe appeared around the Captain's arm, Luna yelled as she threw the Captain over her head and slammed him on the shadowed ground. Celestia stood beside Luna and lowered her sword, they watched as the Captain pushed himself to his knees. A line of purple liquid dripped from his mouth and he leaned closer to the puddle of blood that was growing.

"Is this the darkness? The darkness to free her?" He asks as he pushes himself up onto his feet with his glaive. "This darkness, it controls me. The freedom of my lady is not worth unending pain, I want freedom!" He roars in a desperate tone, then the Captain stands tall and holds his glaive to the side.

Both Luna and Celestia understood his words, they lower themselves and get into battle stances. The Captain charges forward silently and stabs the ground under Luna, suddenly he slashed upwards and sent the Princess flying into the darkness. Celestia pulled back her sword as the Captain pulled back his glaive, they both thrusted and their weapons bounced off each other. Luna quickly tackled the Captain and slashed a deep cut down his chest, then Celestia bashed her shield against his face. The Captain was pushed back as the two sisters attacked, slashed and bashed at him. The two Princesses stopped their attack and formed two magical beams, the Captain looked up and screamed as the two combined beams smashed into his chest.

As the Celestia and Luna halted their beam, flakes of darkness drifted from the Captain. Soon a whirlpool of darkness, laced with white and purple, appeared under him. The Captain began to let out a low roar and raised his glaive into the air, the pool of madness twirled around his body and swam into his glaive. The darkness that covered his body was showing patches of white, his hat was fully white and his legs were almost halfway to becoming a full white colour. The Captain smashed his glaive down and a wave of purple spiked out from the darkness and grew larger as it neared the two Princesses. They quickly flew into the air, the Captain swayed as more parts of his clothes turned white, he had to grasp his glaive with both hands and plant it on the darkness to steady himself.

The Captain's grey scarf suddenly billowed in an unseen wind, he looked up and Luna. They locked eyes, then the Captain waved a golden hand through the darkness. Both Celestia and Luna's visions grew bright and they awoke, only the Captain remained. He sighed and soon too, awoke.

The Captain's clothes were losing their black colour, Rarity was the first to notice. The Lunar Guards around them soon twitched and shook themselves, the other guards and ponies did so too. The Captain suddenly threw himself off Luna and moaned in pain, the two Princesses also appeared to unfreeze, just in time to watch the Lunar Guard tackle the Captain. The Captain grunted as he was forced onto the ground, one of the Lunar Guards bashed his face with his hoof. Suddenly Luna stomped her hoof.

"ENOUGH!" She roared in her Royal Canterlot Voice, instantly all movement stopped, except for the chuckle that Captain emitted.

"So this is the freedom that she wanted, it's already looking grim, the welcoming committee was far too excited." He said in a calm and smooth voice, Luna slightly blush at his new voice.

"Guards, please get off the Captain." Luna ordered and they complied hesitantly, then Rainbow flew into his face.

"Come on then tough guy! Right here, right now! I'll put you on your-" Rainbow's angry rant was interrupted when the Captain suddenly bolted to his feet and towered over the pegasus.

"Think very very carefully about the sentence that you will finish, I might be free from the dark, but I sure as hell will put you 6 feet under." The Captain said coldly, surprising everypony present. Then he surprised them more, three rings of gold grew out from his eye and he pulled a sword from a Lunar Guard's scabbard, then threw it through the hovering rings. It disappeared in a blur, but a loud roar make everyone turn. Standing in the treeline, with a large hole in his chest, was a Brass Knight. The Captain pulled back his arm and glanced at the ponies, the three rings of golden light slowly faded.

"We got company, if you make it through this, then you might be blessed with my name." The Captain said as he pulled his glaive from his jacket and charged.

Canterlot Castle

The Brass Centurion slammed a fist on the arm of Celestia's throne as he rose from it, the knight in front of him flinched.

"HE TURN WHAT?" The Centurion bellowed at the Brass Knight.

"His cloak turned white, he has lost the objective of his old cause." The knight said hesitantly, the Centurion growled and started pacing, then he stopped and turned to the knight.

"Alert the battalion, we are leaving! We must return to Stronghold 7!" The Centurion barked and marched passed the knight, who looked back at the Brass Centurion. The knight shook his head and walked to one of the many shattered windows, he pulled a horn from his hip. He soon realised as he pulled the horn to his faceplate, he had no lips. The knight looked at the horn and threw it to the side, then his faceplate split and he emitted a loud and echoing call.

The knights, Cleaners and Incinerators amongst the ruined city looked to the castle, then quickly rushed to the Lower Canterlot gate. Many passed the shipwreck of the Behemoth, which had the top deck blown to bits and revealed the hold within. A few Brass Knight bodies were spread through the broken decks, a single certain body was hanging over one of the snapped decks. Marked on it's faceplate was a smile. One of it's gauntlets slipped off, the pale hand underneath twitched.

Chapter Seven: One Small Step...

The Captain blurred as he ran, only when he reached the knight did he reappear. He appeared and slammed a fist through the Brass Knight's throat and spun around, he threw the knight at another who rushed out of the bushes. Yet a third knight appeared behind the Captain, axe raised high. Then a pair of Lunar Guards slashed at the knight as they swooped past, he yelled in pain then fell to his knees when the Captain slammed his glaive into his neck. The Captain quickly ducked under the sword of the second knight, who managed to throw the first Brass Knight's body off. The knight shuddered when the Captain slammed his hand into the knight's faceplate, when he pulled it out the knight immediately dissolved. All four knights of the kill squad were ash, the Captain stood staring at something in his palm.

"Well, Captain. I guess we made it." Celestia said in a cheerful tone, but the Captain was very interested in the object in his hand. "Captain?" Celestia asked and the man turned and held out his hand, an orange crystal was gently glowing in his palm.

"Kill squad, sent here to kill me. Ordered by C-3737, a Brass Centurion, from Canterlot, your old capital." The Captain said as the Princess looked at the crystal, then he crushed it. Celestia looked confused and looked up at the Captain. "You will not experiment on my brothers, even if I'm free, I am a soldier of the true Brass Inquisitors." The Captain stated proudly, Celestia nodded as the rest of the group walked up.

Twilight seemed to be bursting with excitement, but the Captain could see a slight fear in her eyes. Applejack had a stoic face, something the Captain could respect. Rarity was concentrating on his coat, the Captain smiled mentally. It disappeared quickly though, it gave him a sense of deja vu. Rainbow was sizing up the tall Captain, the Captain immediately disliked her, stunk of smugness. Pinkie simply smiled widely at him, the Captain knew something was wrong with her. He saw Fluttershy out of the corner of his eye, shaking behind her friends and poking her head around Applejack, fear dripped from her. The Captain locked eyes with Luna, something in those eye made his heart pump, within them was caution, anger, amazement and what he thought was... appreciation? Luna quickly looked away, a slight blush on her face. The Captain looked to Twilight, almost expecting her to-

"Can I ask a few questions?" She asked quickly, yup, she seemed to be the one who'd ask questions.

"Gosh egghead, just drown him in questions why don't you?" Rainbow said sarcastically, then went slack jawed when the Captain chuckled.

"What do you want to know?" The Captain asked, sure that he'd keep certain things secret.

"What's your name?"

"William Sharp, call me William or Captain, nothing else."

"Uh ok, erm. Oh! Are you a human?"

"Are you a pony?" Luna chuckled, then blushed when William looked at her. Something is up with her.

"I guess that's a yes, who's this 'lady' you keep talking about?"

"Classified." William answered immediately in a hard tone, one that suggested no questions.

"O-ok, what were you doing in the Everfree, when I woke you when I pressed that button on that box." William's golden eye widened.

"That... my object was to wander, nothing more until I found civilisation, or as I would of called you back then: Pests."

"Why do those soldiers call us pests?" William sighed, this will shatter their point of view of him.

"Because you are nothing more then bugs in their eyes, only humans and allies are pure. Even then, most allies are still seen as pests." William rubbed the back of his head. "Some of the knights would keep a 'filth quota', the highest in my old squad was 42." He said hesitantly.

"Who held that score?" Dash asked, William slowly turned to her and locked eyes.

"Captain William Sharp, me." William stated, no emotion escaping though his words. Fluttershy looked over Rarity's shoulder, her eyes ready to burst with tears.

"W-why would you do such a-a thing?" She asked, stuttering.

"Because the... orders, we either follow them or die. I guess you can tell what I did, I'm not proud of it but I can't go back." He hoped nobody noticed that slip up, but both Celestia and Luna looked at him with suspicious glances. But he returned them with a glance that begged not to ask that question, both understood.

"Did you and you friends have parties? Oh! Did you have friends? Was one named Bob, or Tomas, what about Steven? Was one named Ledo, he owes me a hammer!" Pinkie said in a happy tone, the Captain didn't show it, but he was quite startled.

"I knew a Ledo, yes. He was quite eccentric, had a bloody big hammer. Basically imagine a huge anvil stuck on a pole, then imagine it about twice the height of me. That is basically all I remember of Ledo, haven't seen him for ages. Last I remember, he was following another battalion to some city, something with 'ring' in it." William said, still pondering over it. "But yes I used to have parties, not big ones though, just a simple toast. I remember one night, it was the best time I had. Me, Sieg... was it Siegward or Siegweyer? Can't tell, and some soldier from another squad, he had a pointed helmet and a name that started with 'D'. We had Sieg brew up some of his wonderful Siegbrau, tasted like fire, strong stuff. We had a big pot of the stuff, we toasted and drunk all night, in the morning..." The Captain drifted off, looking far off. "I'd rather not talk about that part in the morning, anymore questions?"

"Yes, me and my sister have two." Celestia said, William looked at her. "We are thinking of sending a scouting party into Canterlot, could you take part?"

"Of course, you'll need help to take down that many knights." William answered along with a nod, he turned to look at Luna. "You have something to ask, Princess of the Night?" Luna frowned, looked away and blushed. Then she pointed to an open spot, the Captain nodded and followed her.

"Captain W-William, I have to ask you something personal." Luna said, although shakily.

"As you wish, nothing will get out. If you sister wasn't eavesdropping." William said as he glared at Celestia, her horn stopped glowing and she walked away.

"We... I want th-you to join t-the Lunar Guard, I think your skills could help u-us greatly." Luna stuttered, William leaned down and gazed into her eyes from under his hat.

"Princess, is something bothering you?" He asked in a hushed tone, immediately her face flushed. The Captain leaned in close, Luna went stiff. "Oh Luna, aren't you a dirty one." He whispered into her ear, she huffed and William burst into laughter, he shook his head. "I'll gladly join the Lunar Guard, but many will despise me." He said and stood up, then both spun around as a massive roar shook that ground.

"Looks like your friends aren't gone." Luna stated and the Captain nodded, they ran to where the roar came from. A number of Royal Guards suddenly skidded around the corner and sprinted past the two, but what were they running from? The answer came around the corner, a Brass Knight with chains wrapped up his arms and around his chest. In his hands was a glaive, more square then William's. The Brass Knight roared, the Captain spread his legs and bellowed back. Both soldiers locked eyes, standing in silence, then Luna yelled and smashed a large blue of blue energy across the knight's face. The Chained Knight reared back and seemed dumbfounded, William took initiative and smashed the blunt end of his glaive into the knight's face and caused him to stumble back.

"Here comes the ban hammer!" William shouted, his glaive had morphed into a huge hammer, the Chain Knight shrunk back. The knight tripped backwards as the Captain pulled his hammer over his head, the Chain Knight put up a hand in a wasted effort to stop the hammer. The knight roared then fell silent as the ban hammer slammed down, William's hammer morphed back into a glaive and it shrunk back into an axe. The Chain Knight's ashes were positioned in a way that outlined the body, to William it was another unfortunate death, but to Luna it was a victory.

"Will there be another soldier, Will?" Luna asked, a slightly smug tone entering her voice.

"My name is William, you will refer to me as such." The Captain stated coldly as he turned and walked towards the squad of Royal Guards, his eye glaring through them, it clearly unnerved them. "Where did the knight come from?" He asked in a calm voice.

"F-from the treeline! From Canterlot probably, it's in that direction." The lead guard answered, the Captain nodded and turned to walk towards the treeline, but found Luna in front of him. He stared at her, his golden eye piercing her teal ones, the Captain's coat slowly fluttered in the wind.

"You should get a large squad ready. From what I understand the battalion is moving." He stated, Luna blinked and looked confused.

"How do you know that?" She asked, William slowly pointed behind her. Luna turned and gaped as a massive cloud of dust was drifting from the lower part of Canterlot, although it was slightly masked by the still smoking Behemoth. Then a strange but booming crack made them turn, a pillar of orange light was beaming into the sky, stranger yet only William saw it. He turned and spotted a pair of unicorns walking past, one was in golden armor.

"You two, come here." He called and the two turned and looked at him, William waved them over and they approached. He gazed at the guard, his golden eye pulsed as they locked eyes. The unicorn blinked a few times and looked annoyed, but a flash of golden in his right eye was what the Captain was waiting for. "Is your armor in good condition?" William asked, the guard nodded. "Then follow Princess Luna, you are in the expedition squad." He stated and walked towards the beam, Luna and Swift looked at the soldier as he walked away.

Canterlot: Behemoth Crash Site

The Smile Knight stumbled through the streets, parts of his armor cracked and other parts gone completely. He turned at a noise, he lumbered over and looked down at a Brass Knight stuck under a large pile of rubble, the Smile Knight tilted his head as the other knight struggled under his gaze.

"G-get away!" The Brass Knight stammered as the Smile Knight rubbed one of his hands across the faceplate of the knight. The knight tried to free one of his arms but failed, the Smile Knight pulled his hand back. Then he raised his fist and smashed it throught the faceplate of the Brass Knight, who let out a low groan as he dissolved. The Smile Knight soon heard buzzing, he turned around and swayed as he tried to find the source. Suddenly a green bolt hit the knight's chest, the Smile Knight looked down and glared at the little scorch mark, then roared and leapt into the air. He spotted a black insect who's blue eyes widened, the knight roared as he descended upon it.

Expedition Squad

Luna didn't know why she was following Captain William's orders, or why he had chosen a Royal Guard to join them, but she was curious. What made William act like that, and why didn't he come with them? Luna mental questioning was interrupted by a question.

"Princess Luna, we are nearing the gate to Canterlot." One of her Lunar Guards stated, Luna immediately cleared her head.

"Alright, I want everypony on high aleart, I don't know what'll be in Canterlot or if anything has survived." Luna ordered and the squad nodded. One of the Lunar Guards, armed with a crossbow, and the Royal Guard rushed forwards to the archway. They both looked around, the batpony hovering in the air while Swift stayed on the ground. Finally they both motioned for the rest of the squad to move up, which they did swiftly. They moved through the gate and into Lower Canterlot, Luna noticed the Royal Guard standing by one of the bodies. She trotted over to see a mangled and bloody pegasus, the guard was staring closely at the stallion. Luna was about to ask what was wrong when Swift beat her.

"This was Fury, one of my friends and one of the first of the slaughter." Swift quietly said, Luna's eyes narrowed at slaughter. "Strange thing, death. We fear it for so long, but it's embrace is tranquility." Swift murmured and moved from the body, Luna stood thinking over his words. Suddenly the crossbow guard swooped down, he looked slightly scared.

"Y-your majesty, you n-need to see this." He said and pointed a hoof towards where the rest of the squad were standing, even from here Luna could feel the fear and shock. She and the Lunar Guard quickly walked to the front of the squad, Luna gasped.

Scattered along the street were bodies, changeling bodies, about a dozen of them. Some had sacks, others had armor, but all were smashed and crushed. Then a greater surprise, there was a Brass Knight, well half of one. He was slowly dragging himself from an alleyway, black blood covering his upper body. The Brass Knight turned his head to the squad, he made a slight motion with his hand. The knight pointed above them, at the archway, then curiosity turned to horror. The knight was suddenly jerked back, he gripped the edges of the alley, but was soon pulled into the alley.

Slowly another hand gripped the edge of the alley, a horrible grinding sound filled the air as what ever owned the hand came closer. Slowly a brass faceplate come around the corner, a smile carved into it's surface. The Smile Knight slowly emerged, more of his armor gone, only his helmet and upper half of his chestplate remained. Underneath the scraps of armor was a leather vest over a scarred torso, the knight's legs were covered by a pair of black trousers, black boots covered the Smile Knight's feet. The knight turned his head and locked onto Luna, the knight suddenly spun around and threw the Brass Knight at the squad. They dived to the side but one was too slow and was hit by the flying, half dead knight. Luna watched in horror as the Smile Knight let out a pained scream and tore of his chest piece, the knight let out another scream as he sprinted towards the pony squad.

Everfree

Captain William shoved his way into a familiar clearing, but the Brass Tower wasn't standing proudly. The Tower looked shattered, it's entire body was scratched and some parts were rusted. The once sharp and massive spear was nowhere to be found, but then William saw it, the point of the spear plunged into the key hole. The Captain looked behind the kneeling Tower and saw the collapsed arch, his mind was racing, but then the Brass Tower slowly rose. His left shoulder came loose and slipped off, the knees of the Tower creaked in protest as he stood tall.

"Come to finish the job? I'm afraid that you're gonna regret it." The Tower stated and took a step forward. Then his legs collapsed in on themselves and the Brass Tower came tumbling down, his landing let out a deafening clang. William walked forwards as the Tower tried to push himself up, but then his left arm snapped and the Tower fell down again. The Captain place a foot on the Brass Tower's shoulder and looked at the Tower's back, a pulsating black mass was writhing in a hole in the Tower's neck. Rust was covering all around the hole, as William watched more rust slowly spread. The Brass Tower was being corroded from the inside out by Corruption.

"Alas, the Corruption got yet another victim. Most unfortunate." William stated as he stepped off the Tower, who let out a groan. "I know that you wouldn't be so easily Corrupted, so now you lay suffering." William swung his glaive around in his hand and held it above the Tower's head, the Tower let out another groan. "You did your job well, I shall relieve you of your duty." William said and smashed his glaive through the Tower's head, the Brass Tower quickly dissolved. The black orb hovered in the air, before exploding into a bunch of sparkles. William waved his hand in front of himself and a ring of gold extended from his golden eye, his face paled as he saw through Swift's eyes. The ring dissipated and William broke into a mad dash to Canterlot.

Canterlot

The Smile Knight smashed his fist into another Lunar Guard as she charged at him, Swift slid under the knight's kick and skidded around to glare at him. The Smile Knight's helmet was cracked and a hole in the faceplate revealed a red eye, it left a red tracer as the Smile Knight swayed. The knight suddenly pulled back his fist, red magic swirled around it, and dashed forwards at Swift. He yelled as he charged, his sword in front of him in his magical grasp. Suddenly a force threw both of the chargers back, standing in the middle of the street was the Captain and he was glaring directly at the Smile Knight. The faceplate of the knight slowly split through the middle, the two halves fell away and revealed a thin face, one that looked quite feminine. Suddenly her red eye pulsed and her entire body glowed red, slowly ghostly red spikes grew from the woman's arms and back. Slowly she got into a stance, William's eye pulsed and a golden kukri appeared on his chest and his glaive sparked viciously, then he got into a similar stance.

Chapter Eight: What Have You Done?

Captain William made the first move, he quickly pulled an ethereal kukri from the air and threw it at the woman. She slammed her fists together, a ghostly red wall erupted from the street. The woman suddenly jumped through the wall with her arms above her head, she smashed into the Captain and sent William flying back. He skidded to a stop, after smashing through a house. The woman jumped into the house, but was thrown back out and skidded along the ground. The Captain walked out of the ruined house, spinning his shortened glaive around. The Captain neared the woman, who remained still, he quickly flipped his glaive through the air and slammed his hand onto it's handle. The glaive was smashed away by the woman's kick, William had to leap back as the woman rolled and tried to shoulder barge him.

"Careful, sister." William stated as he stood with his hands by his sides, not fazed by the fury that the woman gave off. "Would a Big Sister act like around children, yes they would!" William roared in the face of the Big Sister, who had dashed forward. She stumbled back from the force of the yell, then William kicked her legs out from under her. The Big Sister blinked in shock as she found herself flying through the air, she smashed into another house and fell to the street, but the Captain intercepted the falling woman and tackled her through the wall. The expedition squad was silent and in awe as the two combatants disappeared. But they weren't out of the game yet, a pair of blue eyes appeared from an alley and caught Luna's attention. Then another pair appeared, then another and another. A horde of changelings, screeching and snarling, came rushing from the small opening. The squad quickly pulled out weapons, the crossbow batpony shot a changeling in the eye and it fell, brain pierced.

Suddenly the pair of humans emerged from nowhere, the Captain sweeping along the ground while the Big Sister was leaping over him. The Captain used his momentum to skid under a pair of changelings, the Big Sister landed in the horde and pushed her hands out, a ring of red spikes pierced the changelings around her. William spun around and kicked a changeling in the face, sending it flying over it's brethren and into the fists of the Big Sister. The woman was turned backwards and forwards and around, all while sending out a fury of punches and kicks. The first two changelings pushed themselves up, but found the squad of guards with swords aimed at their throats. The pair looked at each other, clearly contemplating on what to do.

"Should we?" One asked with a buzz, the other shook his head. "Screw it."

"No!" The other yelled as the first changeling's horn glowed a sickly green, immediately Swift plunged his sword deep into the changeling's head. The other changeling looked up at them, but before he could talk, an ethereal kukri was sticking through his face. William ducked under a changeling's tackle, then grabbed it's torso and crushed it, then he spun around and drop kicked the corpse into another changeling. The Captain saw a glint of brass and knelt down to pick up his glaive, a trio of changelings screeched as they tried to rush him. Keyword there, tried. William slashed through them, their green blood splattering onto his face. His golden eye flashed and five golden orbs appeared over his head, then they multiplied and soon over twenty golden ghostly orbs were hovering over him.

"Catch." He stated coldly and the changelings screeched, not in anger but in pain. The orbs morphed into spears of lightning and pierced the black shell of the insects. The Big Sister turned and slapped a spear aside as it went for her heart, then her red eye flashed and three spinning stars appeared around her. The woman flicked her hand out and the three stars spun around through the air and through the changelings, then they converged upon William. The Captain ducked under the spinning stars and spun around, he stopped them with a golden aura and dropped them. The Big Sister ducked as a changeling tried to tackle her, then she slammed a fist into the bug's gut. William's eye pulsed and three rings appeared in front of him, then he grabbed his kukri's apparition and threw it at the Big Sister. She screamed out in pain and looked under her arm, the golden knife was imbedded in her ribs. The woman reached for it and tore it out, she glanced at the squad and leapt high into the air before landing on a building. The Big Sister threw up an arm and shards of red spikes exploded, when the red mist faded, the woman was gone.

"She is going to be a problem." William remarked as Luna approached him.

"You called her 'Big Sister', but she doesn't resemble you. Who is that, William?" Luna asked, the Captain turned his head and looked at her.

"Big Sisters, guardians till the end. They protected our children, any children for that matter, if she finds a lost child... don't interfere, that child would be owned by the Sister." William stated and turned back, then he spun around and thrust his glaive at Luna. She closed her eyes and waited for a unexpected death, but all she heard was a gurgle. She turned and gasped as a changeling twitched on William's glaive, it was holding a shard of metal in his hoof. The Captain flicked his glaive to the side and the changeling flew off, William looked at Luna.

"T-thanks." Luna said in a quiet voice, William chuckled.

"Let's move, we're sitting ducks here." William stated and walked down the street, the pony squad following after.

"So the first clue is that it is something eat." A changeling said to his patrol partner, who then held a cookie up. "No it's not a cookie, the second clue is that it is round." The changeling looked to his partner, who was again holding the cookie up. "No it's not a cookie!" The other changeling frowned as the changeling shook his head. "The third clue is that the thing, is orange." The changeling held up the cookie and the first changeling exploded in rage.

William casually walked up to the raging changeling and slammed his foot into his face, the other changeling slowly looked up at the Captain, then held out his cookie. William just pointed to an alley nearby and the changeling bolted, leaving his cookie behind. The Royal Guard walked up behind the Captain, who looked over his shoulder at him.

"We found something, Captain. Near one of the old orphanages of Lower Canterlot." Swift reported and the Captain walked past him and towards the gathering of the squad, Swift followed as a glint of golden flashed in his eyes. As the pair approached, the sound of gentle humming was clear in their ears, the Lunar Guards parted and let William through. He stop besides Luna, there in the middle of the ruined orphanage, was the Big Sister and a little filly. William leaned on the doorway while Luna watched in amazement as the filly played with a little ball in front of the woman, who was humming a calming tone.

"We should go, it would be idiotic to disturb them." William stated and Luna looked at him.

"But that filly-"

"Is now under her protection, which is far better then your guards." William said coldly, the Big Sister looked up and saw them, William held up a hand. "Unless you want her to follow us to the ends of time, we should go." The Captain repeated, Luna looked at the filly. Then she saw the Big Sister stand up, she sighed and walked out of the ruined building. The squad resumed their march through Canterlot, they reached Upper Canterlot after an hour. Luna decided it was time to rest, they found a large but empty marketplace and sat down. William however was standing tall and was walking around, suddenly stopping and going in a different direction. Then a bright green flash exploded around the Captain, as the ponies rubbed their eyes, a certain Queen laughed as she set her eye upon her prisoner.

William looked around slowly, he was in the throne room, in chains. He saw that they were made of some sort of green muck, William heard an evil laugh and looked up. Standing in front of the two thrones, was Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings.

"Well well well, so you are the one who has caused such a stir." She sneered at the Captain, whose golden eye pulsed. "You look like a deformed minotaur, how could you kill my soldiers?" She wondered aloud and William let out a bark of laughter.

"Because, my dearest captor, your soldiers are undertrained." William said in a cheerful tone to the Queen, who growled at him. "So what do you want?"

"I want you!" The Queen yelled as her horn glowed green and shot a beam at William's head, his hat flew off and slumped over. Chrysalis blinked, that was easy. "Huh, well that was easy." She muttered, the Queen walked towards the Captain with a smirk. She placed a hoof on his head and let out another laugh. "You bow before me now! The mightiest of the Changelings! Now, look at me!" She commanded, yet the Captain didn't move. Slowly Chrysalis noticed that a slight dripping sound was coming from the Captain, then she yelped as a spark tore over his body. Her five guards rushed forwards and screeched as they leapt at William, suddenly a large ring appeared in front of them and they disappeared.

Meanwhile...

A red dragon was sound asleep when a loud screeching awoke him, the massive dragon opened an eye and saw five black insects near a gold mound, his gold mound, the dragon towered over the scared changelings and smirked as his throat glowed orange, the screams of the changelings echoed with the crackle of fire.

Queen Chrysalis was scared, she backed away from William, who suddenly threw his arms up and shattered the chains. He pulled himself to his feet, a large puddle of red was growing on the floor as blood dripped from his face. The Queen saw that his golden eye was far brighter then normal and that his right was now covered by his hair, blood was staining most of the right side of his hair. The Captain lurched forwards and took a step towards Chrysalis, who became paralysed in the Captain's glare. The Captain raised his hands and threw a large bolt at the Queen, she screamed and flew to the side, but she found him in the air with his fist drawn back. William slammed his fist into her face, she was thrown back with a loud and echoing crack. Queen Chrysalis groaned as she got up, she saw a blur fly past and felt a massive force on her cheek, the Captain landed and spun around to kick the Queen.

But she quickly grabbed it with her magic, she smirked and threw the Captain back. He flipped and used his hand to stop his slid, William then stood up. He sprinted at the Queen, anger in his eye. The Captain leapt and twisted his body, the move confused Chrysalis but she found out way he did it. William sent a powerful kick to the side of her head, which sent her stumbling. William landed and as he turned, he threw a haymaker at her. The Queen stumbled back again and William advanced, he grabbed a loose hunk of marble and smashed it on the Queen's head. She yelled as the marble chunk slammed into her horn, then she hollered in pain as the Captain smashed his fist into her horn. A loud snap echoed in the throne room, then a thud.

William looked down at the changeling Queen and knelt down, her eyes were wild and he put a hand on her neck. The Queen let out a whimper, William frowned and soon felt and heard the dripping of blood. He stood and went to the thrones, both had a banner draped over the back. William looked at Luna's banner, he reached over and tore a large piece off, then he wrapped it around his injured eye. Then he turned and grabbed Chrysalis's hoof and started to drag her to the door, suddenly it explodes open as a small army of changelings rush in. Only to find their Queen pointing above them with a shaky hoof, they look up as William drops down, a haunting image of a golden orb and a moon the only thing they see.

Slowly two Lunar Guards poke their head through the doors of Canterlot Castle, they peered around and motioned for the rest of the squad to enter. Soon they were moving through the halls and towards the throne room, they came across a small pile of bloody changeling bodies piled up outside the doors. Swift and three other guards shoove the door open and yell in surprise, inside was a bloodbath, literally. Green blood was pooled everywhere, corpses of changelings like islands, Luna walked in and gasped as one of the first guards sprint out to hurl. Then Luna spots a group of figures fighting, three changelings were buzzing around a tall figure. The Captain leaned and smashed his fist into the charging changeling, then he ducks under a blast of green magic. His coat swoops around as William spins and grabs the changelings hind leg. The last changeling shrieked as his fellow ling was thrown at him, the two landed in a pool of blood and against a pile of corpses. William steps back and pulls his arm back, a large spear of lightning appears and he throws it at the stunned changelings.

Luna cringed as the smell of rotting, burning corpses and blood finally filled her nostrils. William straightened and noticed the squad, he grunted as he walked towards them, dragging something behind him. Luna choked back a gasp as Chrysalis came into view, dragged by her mane by William. Her horn was snapped off, which let her communicate with her hive, now only silence filled her mind. William stopped in front of Luna and tossed Chrysalis forwards, she landed at the hooves of Luna and curled up, then William walked past Luna and through the door, not sparing a glance to the ponies.

"What have you done, William?" Luna whispers as she watches Chrysalis shiver.

The Border: Hell is Singing, the Ground is Falling

Grerro shook his head, he felt something clamped around his arms. Grerro looked up and saw that he was being dragged through a tunnel. Then he turned to look at who was dragging him, two griffins in brown and green leather cuirasses with grim faces. The one holding his right arm noticed he was awake.

"Hey, he's up!" He said to the other griffin, who looked at Grerro.

"Well we'll see if he can walk, drop him." Suddenly the pair dropped him, Grerro stumbled but soon stood up, a bit shaky though. "Ha! Knew that he was a fighter when we picked him up, eh?" The other griffin said to the first.

"W-who are you two?" Grerro asked, the pair smirked at him.

"Ulf and Wulf, at your service." The pair of griffins said in sync, Grerro's eyes widened.

"You were there to pick me up and take me here!" Grerro yelled and Ulf, or maybe Wulf, laughed.

"Yeah, but now we're here to get you out of here!" Wulf said, just as the ground suddenly shook.

The three griffins turned and looked back the way they came, the ground behind them was rising up and falling down. Then a small bright light slowly grew from far down the tunnel, Grerro yelled in shock and shoved the twins.

"Move!" He roared and the trio sprinted down the tunnel, the fireball was making the tunnel brighter which meant it was getting closer. Suddenly Ulf throws his body to the side and disappears, Grerro soon finds himself getting thrown through the wall by Wulf. He groans and pushes himself up, Grerro looks around and his beak drops.

They were inside a massive room, there were four pillars in each corner and what appeared to be a massive pipe organ on the other side of the room. Grerro turned to Ulf, who was also looking around in awe.

"How'd you know that wall was fake?" He asked, Ulf turned to him.

"I-I didn't, I was just pulled into here!" Ulf said in surprise, suddenly the sound of heavy footsteps echoed loudly in the room. A pair of Brass Knights walk into view, both had glowing white glaives and large white cloaks, these were Brass Praetorians. They were walking behind a towering soldier, a Brass Tower to be precise. The colossal soldier stopped in the middle of the room, then walked towards the organ, his Praetorians following behind him. The Tower pulled a large chair from under the king of instruments and sat upon it, the two Praetorians suddenly turned and spotted the three griffins. The Tower let out a loud chuckle, it echoed in the room.

"Let this be the last thing you hear, before we erupt from the earth." The Tower said as the pair of Brass Praetorians marched away from each other and towards the griffins, then the Tower raised his hands to the pipe organ. The sound that played was so chaotic, but it still played loud and clear.

The Praetorian on the left suddenly ran forwards at Ulf, who quickly pulled a sword out and flew into the air. The other Brass Praetorian slowly walked towards Grerro and Wulf, then pulled an arm back and threw a white orb at the pair. It arched and landed between them, then it exploded and sent the two griffins flying. The first Praetorian thrust his glaive at Ulf, but he flew around it and slashed at the Praetorian as he swooped past, the royal soldier let out a small grunt.

Wuff rolled to the side as the Praetorian tried to crush him under his boot, then Grerro's vision tinted. His talons turned a brass colour and he looked at the Praetorian that was about to throw another explosive orb, Grerro suddenly dash to the soldier and smashed a fist into his chest. The Praetorian stumbled back and grabbed Grerro's throat, he raised the griffin into the air before pulling his glaive back and thrusting it through Grerro. The griffin yelled out as the Praetorian raised his glaive over his head and then launched Grerro into the floor, the other Praetorian felt Ulf fly past him and spun around with a haymaker ready. But Wulf flew forwards and slammed into the Praetorian's leg, the soldier stumbled and Ulf slashed at his head.

Grerro roared and flew into the air, the Brass Praetorian stood his ground as the enraged griffin bellowed in anger. Then Grerro disappeared, the Praetorian turned his head slightly then felt something sharp. The soldier roared in pain as Grerro appears, talons covered in black blood. The Praetorian held a hand against his side and stumbled a little, then he morphed his glaive into a large sword. A large white rune ran down it's blade, the Praetorian turned and held the greatsword so that it was pointed at Grerro. But Grerro didn't charge him, but instead spun around and smashed a fist into the back of the occupied Praetorian's head. The soldier stumbled forwards, both Ulf and Wulf took initiative and slashed at the Praetorian's shins. The Brass Praetorian fell forwards and landed with a loud bang, as he pushed himself up, Wulf walked to his head and shoved his sword deep into the Praetorian's faceplate. The other Praetorian stepped back as the other royal soldier dissolved into ash, he stopped and took a stance. Then Grerro appeared in his vision and smashed a talon through the Praetorian's faceplate, the soldier collapsed and dissolved next to the other pile.

The music stopped and the three griffins turned to the pipe organ, the Brass Tower stood and turned around to glare down at the three griffins.

"Well this is a surprise, you managed to survive. Then before you kill me, I'll make your objective clear." The Tower walked to one of the empty walls and placed a hand on it, soon it opened outwards and revealed a long hallway. The Brass Tower then turned to the three griffins, pulling a large sword from a scabbard on his hip. The Tower raised it above his head, but Grerro quickly dashed forwards and slammed his talons into the Tower's throat. The large soldier shuddered and let his sword slip over his head, the massive blade made a thunderous clang. Grerro slowly descended and turned to look at the twins, who were in awe.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Wulf roared and Grerro cringed at the volume.

"It... it just happens when I fight, I change." Grerro said and Wulf blinked. "But enough of that, we need to find out where we are." Grerro said as he walked through the open door, soon the twins followed.

After wandering down the hall for what seemed like hours, Grerro came across a large door. He pushed it open and found himself on a balcony, the trio of griffins moved to the edge and gasped. They were hundreds of feet up in the air, they could make out the shapes of houses below them and fires that were sweeping across them. Suddenly the sound of a door opening caused the griffins to turn, there was other door and coming from it was a Brass Knight.

"How did you get up here!?" The knight yelled as he pulled a sword out, Grerro tackled the knight and tumbled through the doorway. He raised his talons up and slashed through the knight's throat, the Brass Knight dissolved and Grerro looked up. Down the new hallway was a number of doors, a lot of doors. Suddenly one of the farthest doors burst open, a knight was thrown back and slammed into the wall and dissolved. A dark shape emerged, with the silhouette of a pegasus. The pegasus turned their head towards the griffins, then simply faded away.

"The buck was that?" Ulf wondered aloud, Grerro just shook his head.

"It's nothing, come on." Grerro said and ran to the open door, he peered in and saw a large open area with lots of crates. Then Grerro saw an airship fly past, this was a dock. Hundreds of griffins in both brass armor and leather were clashing with knights, Grerro turned to Ulf and Wulf with a smirk.

"Let's free Griffinstone!" Grerro bellowed and charged with the twins into the fray.

Within the Brass Throne room

The towering shadowy shape apon the throne slowly clenched a fist, then let out a low growl. The Praetorians that were standing in the throne room by the doors flinched, suddenly the shape apon the throne let out a roar and smashed a fist down.

"Those pests have ruined everything! They have stopped the organ, they have assaulted our stronghold and now more are coming!" The shadow growled and stood up, the Brass Praetorians cowered slightly. "It's time, to make the heavens fall..." The shadow stated, immediately the pair of Praetorians gripped two levers the were nearby and heaved on them. The throne descended and the shadow raised his hands in front of him, towards the far wall. Suddenly they burst into a bright orange colour and a massive swirling pool appeared, shapes moved within and slowly grew larger...

Chapter Ten: The Party is About to Begin

One day, just one day of peace. Violet was happily trotting through Canterlot, when a bloody portal opened in front of her and sucked her in. Now she was in a huge, empty hallway. Violet lets out a long and drawn out groan as she looks about, nothing but a few pillars and a giant soldier.

"Wait, what?!" Violet yelped as the colossal soldier took a step forward, his orange eyes boring into her's.

"Mmm, wrong one. Doesn't matter, I'll bring the rest of them." The shadow said and the whirlpool spat out another pony, on top of Violet. Shinning Armor groaned as he rolled off Violet, muttering about an arrow in the knee. Then the whirlpool moved to the side and as it moved it spat out more ponies, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy landed in a tangled mess, Rarity and Applejack landed in a heap and Pinkie and Twilight landed on their hooves. Lastly the portal spat out Luna, Celestia and William.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Celestia shouted at the shadow, who let out a low chuckle.

"You are the pests who have been a thorn in my side for too long, especially you Princess Celestia." The shadow growled, then locked eyes with Luna. "But Luna... she is just under your spell, Princess."

"What spell?!" Luna yelled at the shadow, who recoiled.

"Luna, can you not remember? Wait a minute..." William stiffened as the shadow glared at him. "You purified her? You fool, do you know what you've done?!"

"I've saved her, Legate!" The Captain roared back, the shadow suddenly threw his hands outwards and the roof slowly creaked open. Light from outside flooded in, showing what the shadow looked like.

His armor was thick, covered in scratches and runes that pulsed in the light, it was far different from the Brass Knights and their smooth armor. His helmet looked like an old king's, a spiked crown ran around the Legate's head. The Legate stomped a massive foot and the ground cracked, shoving a large sword up, which the Legate grabbed. He swung it in front of him and held it at his side, it's coiled blade suddenly bursting into flames with sparks flashing around it's edge.

Suddenly, William let out a war cry and charged at the Legate with his glaive. But then the worst happened.

The Legate stepped forwards and slapped the blade to the side, William stumbled and the Legate grabbed his face, then the Legate raised the Captain up and his body sparked with lightning. Suddenly a massive explosion, formed in the Legate's hand, sent the Captain flying back and slamming into the wall above the ponies. Luna let out a gasp as William slid from the wall and landed on the floor, she rushed to him and rolled him over. His hat was melted, it covered his eyes and his lower face was heavily burnt. Only a glint of golden light stared back at Luna. William let out a low sigh and Luna looked back at the Legate, who glared back.

"You... hurt him..." Luna whispered, Celestia stepped back as her sister's eyes turned catlike.

"You should not care for them, Luna. They will hold you back." The Legate stated as he raised his sword towards the Mane 6, who were huddled together.

"You hurt... my Captain..." Luna's coat turned jet black in a blink of an eye and she summoned a pair of swords that hovered above her. "You will pay for this, Legate." Luna stated and dashed towards the Legate, who quickly slashed downwards. Luna flew around the blade and smashed her swords against the Legate's head, which sent the soldier stumbling.

"Always the same, hit the head and you crack!" Luna yelled as she flew away from the Legate's sword, the Legate growled and pushed Luna back. But William wasn't done, his hands shakily moved and he pushed himself up. Faint voices echoed in his ears, yet he saw nothing. Then suddenly a bright flash exploded, clearing the black fog around his eyes. His vision now clear, William lets out a angered roar and smashes a fist onto the floor to push himself up. Celestia stepped back in shock as the burnt face of the Captain came towards her's, William reached about wildly and grabbed his glaive. The Captain stood up and sprinted at the Legate, who looked over his shoulder just as William slammed his glaive through his back.

"That's for trapping me, you filthy traitor." William snarled and kicked the Legate off his glaive, the soldier spun around and raised his sword when Luna plunged her swords into the Legate's neck.

"That's for putting that thing in my head, bastard." Luna whispered, the Legate reached over his head and grabbed Luna and threw her at William. The Legate swung his sword in front of his body, it flashed and changed into an axe.

"I see now, Luna, that you are blind." The Legate said as the Captain and Luna stood in front of their friends. "I would be lying, if I said I will regret this. But you are nothing more than pests, filth that needs to be destroyed." The Legate slammed his axe into the floor and the cracks suddenly exploded with orange light, then a dense fog drifted towards the Legate. The soldier leaned back and the fog entered into his chest and head, then as the fog disappeared into his body, the Legate leaned forward and glared at Luna.

Suddenly the wall between the two factions exploded inwards, then a griffin walked in. Grerro slowly looked around and locked eyes with the Captain, then he glared at the Legate.

"You tricked us, now you will pay." Grerro said as a large horde of griffins walked through the hole, most in leather armor yet some were in brass. The Legate simply changed his stance and looked between his two foes.

"Let's get another... friend ...in here." William said and waved his hand through the air, suddenly a flash of gold stunned the group. When they could see, they saw a little white filly, the one that the Big Sister was protecting. William walked to the filly, who was confused, and picked her up gently. Then William threw the filly at the Legate, who recoiled when the filly latched onto his leg. Suddenly a large scream echoed through the throne room with the sound of whistling, then the Legate was sent flying back as the Big Sister smashed a red fist into his face. Then she grabbed the white filly and dashed back to the ponies, she looked at Fluttershy and placed the filly next to her.

"You bring an army, yet you will not win. I am the Legate of Glory, you will fall!" The Legate roared and then stomped a foot as a challenge, the alliance of griffin, pony and human charge as one at the Legate.

The Glorious March of the Legate

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Chapter Eleven: Epilogue

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Chapter 3: Where There is Infection...

The Brass Knight slowly marched through the forest, it's glaive resting on it's shoulder. A few weary eyes of creatures stared at the knight, then a Timberwolf leapt out of a bush with at snarl at the knight. Suddenly the Brass Knight slammed a fist into the face of the Timberwolf, the beast shattered and the knight growled. Then it continued through the forest, but then the knight heard a yell and a flare flew into the sky. The Brass Knight spun around as a large group of ponies charged at it, they were armed with tools and wore no armor. It was a mistake to charge the Brass Knight.

A mistake that they will not be able to correct.

The knight dashed forward and roundhouse kicked a pair of unicorns into a tree, it glanced over it's shoulder at a charging blue pegasus. It spun around again and slammed it's foot into the pegasus, she gurgled as her face was caved in. Yet the mare didn't die, she swooped down and grabbed an axe. The knight raised it's fist and tried to crush the mare, but she flew around it and dashed towards the knight's faceplate. She slammed the axe into the brass faceplate and caused it to crack, the Brass Knight suddenly headbutted the mare into a tree. Her body fell to the forest floor as the knight shook it's head, then it felt a chip of it's faceplate fall off. A soft glow of orange peered from the gap as a faint mist drifted out, the knight merely looked at the mare and stomped her head in.

The Brass Knight turned back around and sprinted through the forest, it's footsteps causing small tremors. Suddenly the knight skidded to a stop in a clearing, it hunched over as steam bellowed from the gaps of it's armor. A large shadow covered the knight as it leaned back, it looked up at the colossus that shadowed it.

The Brass Tower, one of the most largest soldiers of the Brass Inquisitors. It's brass armour was many times bigger that the Brass Knight's, it was as tall as three and could create a crater with a stomp. It's helmet had three distinct spikes, two that curved around the helm with the other curving over the top. Grasped in it's titanic hands, was a huge brass spear. It sparked with a blue energy as the Tower looked down at the knight, the Brass Knight merely glared back.

"Designation?" The Tower rumbled in a deep monotone.

"B-2113" The knight answered quickly. "Objective: Hunting." The knight adds.

The Brass Tower pauses, then nods. It points it's spear at the ground, then slams it into a hole. The Tower twists it's spear and a large arch slowly rose from the ground, then it fills with a white fog. The knight walks into the fog gate, then appears in a large courtyard. A few Brass Knights marched past, their footsteps in perfect sync. The knight turns and jogs towards the large pillar of smoke, it turns the corner and stops.

Standing in the middle of a smaller courtyard was a trio of large soldiers, they were holding Inferno Rifles which they were shooting into the air. The rifles were boxy in shape, but had narrow barrels and a hose that ran from the weapon into large packs on the soldiers backs. These were Cleaners, the most merciless of the Brass Inquisitiors. They are usually accompanied by more Cleaners and burnt any pests and filth they came upon, but they hadn't gone on a purge for a while. They wore large and bulky armor, charred black by the use of Blazing Rifles. Their helmets had two rounded plates that glowed a faint red on their faceplates, mimicking eyes. Another two hoses ran from the sides of the Cleaners' faceplates, across their shoulders and into a box on their nape. The tank on their backs was connected to their Inferno Rifles, shooting a mix of lethal chemicals through the hose and gun while a flame on the end of the rifle that lit the cocoction and made a wave of flames.

One of the Cleaners noticed the knight and slowly walked over to it, holding it's rifle on it's shoulder, The Brass Knight waited until the Cleaner stopped.

"You need a purge?" The Cleaner asked in a garbled voice, the knight nods and the two other Cleaners walk over. "Where?"

"Through the gate, at the edge of the forest." The Brass Knight says, the Cleaners look at each other.

"We'll wipe the filth off this land, let's exterminate." The lead Cleaner states and the trio march through the fog gate, the knight following.

The Cleaners emerged from the gate and moved past the Brass Tower, leveling their Inferno Rifles at the trees...

Ponyville

Twilight hobbles out of the hospital with her friends, then promptly gasps in horror at the damage to their home. Rarity bursts into tears while Applejack and Rainbow Dash just gape, a green unicorn mare walked past them.

"I-it happened so fast." Lyra stated as she looked blankly in front of her, Twilight looked worried.

"What happened, Lyra?" She asked and Lyra stopped and slowly turned around, her eyes finally locking onto Twilight.

"That... that metal hu- monster attacked us, it slaughtered so many... so many..." She said and turned away, the four friends slowly walked through Ponyville. They came across Pinkie and Mr. Cake, they stood over the ruined Sugarcube Corner. Rainbow made her way over to the pair, but stopped. Then she turned back around and walked back, Twilight looked at her with a question in her eyes.

"It's... better to let them handle the loss, in their own time." Dash says as Mr. Cake collapses and breaks into tears, Twilight nods and helps Applejack walk. The group come across a few foals, huddled around in a small group. Rarity trots over and places a hoof on one of the fillies the group scatter with a scream. Suddenly a pegasus swoops down, it was Spitfire.

"You shouldn't be here! A fire was spotted growing in the Everfree, everypony is evacuating now!" She yells and flies away to warn others.

The girls look at each other in shock and confusion, then they turn as a strange sound fills the air...

The Cleaners were slowly making their way towards Ponyville, using their Inferno Rifles to burn away the shrubbery. The Brass Knight slowly followed, using it's glaive to finish off any unfortunate survivors. One of the Cleaners stumbled, then a low growl filled the air. Suddenly a manticore spun around and slammed a paw into the Cleaner, sending it to the forest floor. The knight dashed forward and thrusted it's glaive into the manticore's chest, then it hauled the beast into the air. The manticore snarled and the Brass Knight launched the beast into a tree, it crumbled onto the manticore. The two Cleaners sweeped their flames onto the trapped manticore, it screamed and howled into the sky. Soon it fell silent, the Cleaner got to it's feet and shook it's head, then followed the two others.

"Strong pest, heard something crack." The Cleaner said and the others turn to look at it, their Inferno Rifles sizzling.

"Keep cautious, watch for anything acting up." One of the Cleaner says and turns back around, the other continues to stare at the other Cleaner. The knight notices a slight hissing fulling the air and looks around for it's source, then it spots something spraying from the Cleaner's tank.

"Leak!" The knight yelled and kicked the Cleaner away from the three soldiers, it stumbled back and heard the hissing. It started to scratch at it's tank as an ember floated near it, lighting the fuel within.

The explosion sent the two Cleaners and the knight to the ground, luckily the two other Cleaner's tanks were intact. The three haul themselves up onto their feet and look at where the other Cleaner once stood, only two charred and mangled boots remained. The Cleaners turned and continued to purge the forest, the Brass Knight walked over to the bulky boots and stomped on them.

The knight followed the path of scorched trees and found the two Cleaners glaring at the town of Ponyville, the knight stood next to them and growled. The lead Cleaner pointed it's Inferno Rifle into the air and shot of a wave of fire, it arched and filled the air with smoke.

The Brass Knight pointed at the village. "There! Purge that filth from this land, leave nothing unburned!" The Knight roared and the two Cleaners nodded, they marched towards the small town with their Inferno Rifles aimed into the sky.

Spitfire looks around from her cloud at the evacuating residents, then out of the corner of her eye she spots a flash. She turns and her eyes widen, a large dark grey creature was shooting a strange crossbow weapon into the air, but it wasn't bolts it was shooting. Instead it was fire, a large wave of fire was spraying into the air. Another grey creature was standing next to the first and a more shiny, less bulky creature stood close by and was pointing at Ponyville. Spitfire stepped back as the Cleaners started to walk towards the ruined town, the captain shot off the cloud and towards the front of the convoy. She landed in front of a Royal Guard captain, who didn't expect a Pegasus to land in front of him.

"There's two creatures coming towards Ponyville! Both holding strange fire breathing weapons, you need to move these ponies!" Spitfire shouted at the captain, he nodded and yelled at the residents to hurry. Spitfire flew back into the air and scanned around for the two Cleaners, she swooped down and flew through the empty streets. Suddenly a wall of flames erupted from one of the alleys, Spitfire stopped and hovered in place as the sound of thudding filled the air. A dark shape slowly walked from the alley, fire scratching at it's armored form. The Cleaner turned to look at the shocked pegasus, it tilled it's head and aimed it's Inferno Rifle at her. Spitfire dashed to the sky just as a wave of flames flowered from the Cleaner's weapon, it looked up at the pegasus.

"Back off, hotshot!" A familiar voice yelled out and the Cleaner stumbled forward as a rainbow blur slammed into it's back, then it flew up to Spitfire. "How's it going?" Rainbow asked and Spitfire gaped at her, then she tackled the cyan pegasus just as more flames erupted into the sky.

"Get out of here, damnit!" Spitfire yelled as the Cleaner turned around and aimed at the pair of pegasi, but then a large purple projectile slammed into the Cleaner's back. It spun around as another two bolts exploded on the Cleaner's faceplate and chest, Twilight scowled as the Cleaner shot back a wave of flames. Then both pegasi saw an opening and took it, they swooped down and pulled a coil of rope between the two of them. They flew past the Cleaner's legs and up into the sky, the large soldier didn't expect the two to fly past and recoiled. Suddenly the Cleaner tripped backwards on the rope, causing the rope to snap out of the mouths of Dash and Spitfire.

The Cleaner heard a small crack, it quickly smashed it's tank into a building and it feel off the Cleaner's back. Then it dove into an alleyway, just as the ponies realised what happened the tank hissed. Twilight quickly grabbed the tank in her magic and threw it over her head, towards the Everfree...

Meanwhile...

The Brass Knight heard a whistling and looked around, then up just as a familiar tank flew towards it. The knight let out a sigh just as the tank hit it's chest...

Ponyville

A huge explosion suddenly erupted from the edge of the Everfree, Spitfire's eyes widen from behind her goggles. She heard a scream and looked back down, the Cleaner was trying to grab Twilight. Spitfire was about to fly in to help, but Dash bet her and kicked the Cleaner's head as she swooped down. The soldier felt the impact and reached up, narrowly missing the cyan pegasus. Suddenly it felt a force on it's arm and looked down, to get a fist slamming into it's faceplate. The Cleaner stumbled back and groaned, then it felt another force on it's head. The soldier clawed at it's head as it began to cave in, creaking and snapping filling the air. One of the hoses on the Cleaner's faceplate flew off and sprayed water around, then the top of the soldier's head snapped inwards. The Cleaner screamed in a garbled voice as more of it's head collapsed, then an orange light streamed through the cracked helmet.

Twilight released the Cleaner and it fell to it's knees, then it toppled sideways and hit the ground with a thud. Suddenly the Cleaner exploded in orange light, but just as quickly it disappeared. Twilight blinked a few times and looked at where the soldier was collapsed, but there was only a pile of glittering ash. Dash and Spitfire landed behind Twilight, slightly worried with how vicious he attacked the Cleaner.

But before anything could be said, a horde of screamed and the bellowing of fire caught their attention. Spitfire realised, too late, that their was two Cleaners. The three ponies rushed to where the convoy was moving, but as they turned the corner the first of the charred bodies came into view. Then more and more bodies filled the streets, a wagon was tilted on it's side and a number of corpses surrounded it. The three heard coughing and found a pony, trapped under the wagon. It was the Royal Guard captain, he saw the three mares and smiled slightly.

"At.. at least.. I die with... with company." He said as his eyes glazed over, Spitfire suppressed a tear. Then the second Cleaner came into view it was standing over a foal, the three mares watched as the soldier aimed at the small filly. But slowly it lowered it's Inferno Rifle, then it looked at the unicorn and pegasi.

"Too young, yet you are ripe for cleansing." The garbled voice droned as it aimed at the three ponies, the filly took her chance and galloped away. Then the Cleaner realised something as the three ponies charged, it realised that it...

Really screwed up.