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Loyalty in Brass: Captain's Ashes
The Captain: William Doesn't fear the Dark...
The sound of scraping echoed through the ruined and collapsed market, the dense fog that covering it slowly revealing a shadowy figure. The strange figure was like a minotaur, but without horns and crawling with a single golden eye peering from its face. The figure's large cloak and trench coat bellowed behind it, the cloth torn and shredded but still holding a dark purple colour with silver running down its front in a series of runes. The figure's right eye was covered by a bit of fabric that had the symbol of the moon, while his left shone a faint golden colour. The figure raised its head to the sky and sniffed, then it snarled and charged in an unstable run at a nearby market stall. Suddenly a small dagger lashed from the shadows and tore at the Captain's face, but it did little to deter the beast as it roared and tore a chunk of flesh from the assailant. The griffin groaned and put a talon to the gaping hole in his throat, then he fell to the cold cobblestone. The Captain spat out the flesh and leaned closer to the dead griffin, but soon it smelt more prey and leapt onto the top of the stall. A pair of tall figures quickly crouched, but not fast enough as the Captain suddenly appeared and slammed a fist through the figure on the right. The figure on the left let out a garbled scream before the Captain grabbed its face and crushed it.
The Fog devoured the three bodies and let the blood soak into the Captain, the Fog was alive, it saw the Captain and saw a good deal. The Captain kills, the Fog feasts, although many disagree with the Captain and try to fight back. The Fog doesn't know why, everyone's gotta eat, right? The Captain moved its head and snarled at the Fog, what does he want? What about the Fumigators? Those are just silly people who use the Fog to spread the Fog, the Fog doesn't mind them. But the Captain wants to kill them, The Fog dislikes but still, the Fog still gets to eat.
Suddenly the Captain ducked down, a large arrow flies over its head. The Captain snarls and crawls along the ground, suddenly appearing in front of another tall figure. The Captain tore the figure's throat out and threw the corpse to the side, where it was eaten by the Fog. The Captain sniffed the air yet again, finding nothing it took a more relaxed stance as it prowled the streets. The Captain quietly snarls and coughs as it crawls, its mind now a wasteland. But a faint memory of a dark, winged horse was still hovering within the Captain's hollow and torn mind.
The Captain suddenly snapped his head to the sound of a clatter, the Captain quickly rose to his feet and glanced around. A shadow moved and the Captain spun around, throwing a dim but still golden kukri at the hidden griffin. The griffin fell with a scream and two others dashed from the rooftops to attack, but the Captain lunged at the pair and tackled them from the sky and smashed them into the ground. Quickly the Captain tore out their throats and sprinted with a low stance down an alleyway, exploding into another large marketplace. But the ground was covered in a thick and deep sludge, the Captain leapt into the middle of the market and turned around. Another four griffins appeared from the alley and sunk into the muck, yelps of surprise coming from them. They turned at spotted the Captain, cloak bellowing in a terrific display of intimidation. Then slowly, the Captain sunk into the muck, his golden eye flashing before disappearing.
"Where did It go?" One of the rookie griffins asked, then he sceamed as a large sword was plunged through his back with its grip held by the shadowy Captain. When the Captain was thrown, he lost his glaive, thus he needed a new weapon. With the small amount of sanity he had left, he forged a large greatsword. It was long and quite bare, the most noticeable feature were the two grooves in the back of the large blade with two small grips, one near the handle and one about halfway up the blade. The Captain learned his old fighting style was useless when the sword was crafted, but with the notches he can slam it down like his glaive or swing it like a sword.
The Captain grabbed the lower groove and let the sword drop into the muck, but to the surprise of the remaining griffins he quickly swung upwards and caused a large wave of sludge to devour one of the griffins. The others took to the skies, but one wasn't fast enough as the Captain swung his sword and caught the talons of the female griffin in the glaive notch and pulled her down into the muck. The last griffin watched in horror as the Captain rose above the female griffin and tackled her into the sludge pool, but he was even more terrified when a large arrow pierced his chest.
The griffin fell from the air and landed on the Captain's blade, the beast glanced at the griffin before throwing him to the side; knocking his brass helmet off in the process. The Captain saw his new prey, another tall figure with a large bow firmly dug into the roof of a tilting house.
The Fog likes it when the Captain fights, it gives the Fog an amazing show and makes more blood! Wait, the Captain eats the blood, not the Fog. The Fog hates the blood, but the flesh, the flesh is the best. Flesh is nice, but only those griffins have the best flesh and those feathers get in the way. Those silly people don't taste nice at all, but they have a kick to them, it's nice to mix it up. But... sometimes the Fog tastes the Captain's blood, only on rare occasions does the Captain get hit but everytime the Fog drinks. The Captain's blood is so tasty, so delicious and fine, like wine. Except it's like a drug, but the Fog knows if th Fog drinks too much then the Captain dies, if the Captain dies then no more bodies, no more bodies no more food... no more food, no more Fog, the Captain must live for the Fog to live.
Author's Note
So the start of the Captain's Ashes, few things first.
Loyalty in Brass: Captain's Ashes
The Captain: He fears the Past
The Captain suddenly leapt into the air and to the side, throwing three golden kukri knives from his cloak. The archer leaned to the side and they flew past, but just as quick the archer shot another large arrow at the Captain. The arrow slammed into his chest and sent the beast flying into the sludge pool, suddenly a wave of dense fog blocked the second arrow and left the archer confused and angry.
The Fog will not let the Captain die, the Fog needs to feast, the Captain brings feast, the Captain will live!
Suddenly the figure jerked forward, the archer looked around when he was yanked off the roof. But the archer grabbed the bottom of his mounted greatbow and started to climb back up, but then he found a kukri sticking out of his chest. The archer fell from the roof and landed with a splash, then as the archer rose he was dragged under the filth by the Captain. The archer suddenly erupted through the muck on a large golden pike, his body twitching from the blinding attack. The Captain dragged himself through the bog after his brand of crucifixion and tried to think about why that horse is so important, for it's the only thing he can think of. The Captain looked to his left and spotted himself in a yet to be shattered window, except he was standing tall and had a white coat. The Mirror Captain stared at the Captain with pity and shook his head, the Captain growled and threw a kukri. But the window just cracked and split the Mirror Captain, who grinned and opened his arms for a hug, but the Captain just threw another kukri at the window and shattered it.
The Fog worries, that image always pops up in any reflective surface, thus why most of the windows are shattered and broken. The Fog always worries if the Captain will return to normal, for if it does, then who'll feed the Fog?
The Captain crawled further through the sludge, suddenly something touched his hand and caused the Captain to rear back. A talon was grasping wildly from the muck, then the face of a griffin appeared. But the griffin had an aura of red mist hovering around it, the Captain sniffed the air and snarled. The Captain lifted his sword and slammed it down on the griffin, who let out a squawk of pain. The Captan looked down the rest of the sludgy road and saw a few more griffins with that red aura rising from the muck, so the Captain took an alleyway to the side.
Suddenly the Captain came across a large wooden barrier, the Captain growled and leapt into the air and landed on the top of the barrier. On the other side was a large group of griffins, wearing leather cuirasses and bandanas around their beaks but some wore metal masks instead. The group yelled when they spotted the Captain and scattered to get out of the muck, but then a large figure appeared from the shadows wielding a large weapon. The figure caused more panic among the terrified griffins and many ran back at the Captain, who quickly cut them down. The large figure glared at the remaining griffins and swung his weapon around, then a massive jet of fire erupted from the weapon and covered the griffins in flames.
The Fog hated fire, it burned to the touch and since the Fog was everywhere the flames always hurt the Fog. The Fog quickly yanked the weapon from the figure and smashed it against a house, then the Captain lunged over the burning griffins and pierced the figure's chest.
The Fog quickly ate away at the bodies as the Captain let their blood climb his sword, suddenly a dark shape fluttered in the corner of the Captain's gaze. It snapped its gaze around and caught sight of a dark coloured horse, its blue eyes stirring something within the Captain. The Captain suddenly threw out its right hand and a hail of kukri spun towards the horse, but it suddenly flew into the air and made the Captain snarl.
"William?" A voice pierced the air and the Captain froze, then turned to look over his shoulder at the newcomer. A purple unicorn, wide eyes staring at the Captain.
"Is it him, he doesn't look right." Another voice said to its left, the Captain turned to look at a blue pegasus hovering in the air near the unicorn, its rainbow hair giving the Captain the urge to tear it out.
"It's him alright, he's still wearing that hat." A orange horse appeared next to the pegasus, a freckled face and a strange hat on its head. The Captain crouched lower into the muck and almost got ready to charge there and then.
"But... he looks sick." A soft voice makes the Captain unnerved as it spots its owner, a peachy pegasus hiding behind the two grounded threats. "Um... he looks mad, I mean... grumpy at us?" The pegasus said quietly as it disappeared behind the horse and unicorn.
"Well we've searched for a week now and we've finally found him, why would he be mad?" That rainbow filth asks.
"Ah have no clue, Rainbow, but Ah don't think we can change his attitude." The horse states, the Captain pushes his left foot back a tiny bit and glared at the group.
"Well I for one what to get out of this horrid place, it's so disgusting!" Another unicorn, white and snobbish and ready for the Captain's blade. Suddenly a pink horse appeared in front of the Captain, eyes filled with joy.
"Willy! It's been so long! You know, after you where thrown by that big nasty-" The pink horse stops talking and takes a step back, its eyes now filled with fear. "Y-you're not Willy!" Suddenly the Captain lashes out with his hand and wraps his fingers around the horse's throat, then as the Captain gets ready to crush the annoyance a powerful bolt of magic hits its hand and causes the Captain to drop the pest. Then the Captain looks up, into the blue eyes of a winged horse, they lock eyes for a few seconds before the Captain roars at the sky and leaps at the group, blade raised and ready for blood.
Author's Note
The Mane 6?! B-but how did they get there?! H-how did they know he was there?! H-how- ENOUGH!
Now this chapter is going to be a few days after Chapter One and a few chapters, so after they're out then it'll make sense... probably, I dunno.
Now be patient, for the Fog demands it. Everything listens to the Fog, so you must too...
Loyalty in Brass: Captain's Ashes
Chapter One: Three Musketeers
2 Weeks before the Captain's encounter...
Swift grunted to himself as he looked at his old armor on its stand, a scratched and dented suit of Royal Guard armor, the helmet lost its crest and one of the cheek guards were broken off. But then Swift turned to the suit of armor next to the old suit. The bodypiece was more sturdier and had a primarily purple colour scheme with plates of gold in vital places, but surprisingly there was no helmet.
"Ah, you the new Captain?" The castle backsmith asked the quiet Swift, who nodded. "Right, so your new armor is in that room there, I'm sure it'll fit right."
Swift walked into the side room and saw his armor, he quickly moved to put on his bodypiece but he hesitated on the helmet. The helmet was intricate and so much more different than Captain Shining Armor's, it didn't have the crest on the top like all the other helmets. But instead it had a curved faceplate, with an almost exact replica of the Legate of Glory's face. Swift paled and turned to the sound of hoofsteps, the blacksmith walked in with a proud grin.
"Ah! Knew that armor would fit! But that helmet, oh ho! That was hard! Had to get permission from the Princesses themselves to make something like this, fortunately they gave me a design to work off!" The blacksmith pulled a sheet of paper with the Legate's faceplate drawn with extensive detail, Swift grabbed it with the helmet and looked between the two. Then threw them into a nearby molten forge, the blacksmith yelled in surprise.
"You will never make something like this, got it?" Swift asked, voice full of malice.
"G-got it s-sir!" The blacksmith stuttered.
The fact that the Princesses let that pony make something like that made Swift's blood boil, so he instead went to somepony he could trust to make something.
"I'll be there in a minute!" A posh voice called out when Swift entered the store and a bell rang overhead, a white unicorn walked through a door and smiled as she entered. "Hello and welcome to Rarity's Boutique, how may I- Wait, I know you!" Rarity said with surprise, the Captain chuckled quietly.
"Indeed, the name's Swift. I presume you recognise me from the battle?" Swift asks and Rarity nods with a frown. "I too rather not talk about it, but I need to ask you a favour."
"A favour, darling?" Rarity looked confused, but thought of a scenario in her head with a slight blush.
"Yes, I've heard you've made some of the best dresses and scarfs and things like that. Would it be too much to ask if you could make a hat?" Swift asks, Rarity blinks.
"A hat, darling?" Swift nods. "I haven't made that many hats, but I can do it."
"Wonderful, now... the hard part." Swift says, Rarity gets slight worried. "Do you... remember the Captain?" Swift asks, strain in his voice.
"Um, I do not know you you mean, there are a lot of-"
"William."
"..." Rarity stares at Swift, ears slightly twitching. "I... yes, I remember him."
"His hat, I- please, I was offered a helmet that looked far too similar to that beast's face. I want to be seen respecting our fallen, not some animal." Swift says, his voice slightly panicked. Rarity looked worried and slightly scared, Swift was looking at her with wild eyes, his left glowing with a slight golden tint.
"A-alright, darling, I presume you want me to make his hat?" Rarity asks and Swift nods, his stress fading quickly with his golden tinted eye. After a moment of measuring his head and asking for a minute, Rarity returned with a black hat that looked extremely similar to Captain William's, except it had a hole for his horn. Swift took it from her magical grasp and looked at it before looking at the Element of Generosity.
"How much?" Swift asked bluntly and Rarity immediately shook her head.
"No need to pay, for a friend in need." Rarity said with a smile, Swift's mouth opened then shut and opened again.
"Are- alright, thank you, Rarity." Swift says finally and throws the hat into the air, it lands on his head and Rarity giggles. Swift turns and walks out of the boutique, leaving Rarity to wonder what caused such panic in Swift.
Swift was wearing the hat, he'd been doing so ever since it was made. But the first time somepony thought it'd be funny to hide his hat... well, it wasn't pretty for anypony, lots of tears and repairs within the Royal Guard barracks. Swift remembers waking up to a recruit in his room, hat in hoof, then it all went blank until he awoke in the middle of the barracks with beds and ponies scattered everywhere and a terrified recruit in the back. Swift slightly chuckled at the memory, then knocking on his door tore him from his memories.
"Come in." The Royal Guard Captain barked and two familar Captains trotted in, Captain Shining Armor and Captain Violet Scar. "Ah, it must be time then?" Swift asked and the pair shook their heads.
"No not yet, the Princesses wanted us to get you and go collect the rest of the Elements." Shining states.
"Why are you so eager to leave, Swift? You hiding something from your fellow Captains?" Violet purrs as she walks closer, Shining facehoofs and Swift started to noticeably sweat.
"I... have no clue what you are talking about!" Swift says quickly in a raised voice, the Lunar Guard Captain laughs and Shining sighs. "Gah! Could you quit doing that, you know I have n-nothing to hide!" Swift mumbles and Violet takes a step closer.
"Are you sure?" She whispers in Swift's ear, the unicorn turns slowly to look at her and his horn glows. Suddenly Violet found herself outside the room, a perfect Violet shaped hole in her wake.
"Now now, play nice." Shining laughs but falls deathly quiet at Swift's glare. "Come on, we're wasting time." Shining says with authority and trots out of Swift's room with the unicorn following behind, then a voice pipes up.
"This is a good view down here." The batpony says and the two unicorns turn to look at her, their eyes blazing with fury. "Oh shit..." The batpony found herself outside, a row of batpony shaped holes going through the many walls of the barracks. Then a Royal Guard pegasus pokes his head around one of the holes.
"That's the third time this month, you're paying this time!" The pegasus says in a cheeky tone before disappearing around the corner, Violet huffs.
"Welp, I guess I should think about a new hobby, something less destructive."
Author's Note
I swear to god, the amount of times I've written Swoft instead of Swift is going to pop a lot of veins.
That's about it, I think... The Fog rewards patience, The Fog orders you to wait for the next chapter and read it when out!
Loyalty in Brass: Captain's Ashes
Chapter Two: The Mane Gang!
Rarity was annoyed. The nobles of Canterlot, some of the wealthiest ponies and ready to smear it in your face. So when one noble, known to many as Blueblood but to Rarity he was the worst pony to haunt Equestria. That's why she was more then welcome to let Blueblood hear her mind.
"Get out you dishonest buffoon! You barbarian oaf! The nerve you must have to-" Rarity's rant was interrupted when the shocked and surprised Prince suddenly bolted from the boutique, Rarity put on a smile as she silently cried in victory. Even though she was in New Ponyville, it didn't stop many nobles coming and requesting clothes and thanks to the closer proximity to Canterlot, many could easily walk to down the mountain and back up to Canterlot. Then as she turned back to her work, the bell rang and in trotted a familiar face.
"Applejack?!" Rarity said surprised, the orange earth pony chuckled slightly.
"Been ah while, eh Rarity?" Applejack said in a quiet voice, Rarity blinked.
"It has, Applejack. But something is wrong, what is it darling?" Rarity asked and the orange mare looked around the boutique.
"Nice place yah got here, ah like the... colour?" Applejack blushed and shook her head.
"Applejack?"
"Umm, alright, ah can't get outta this now. Ah swung by to tell yah, Granny Smith... she passed away, just a few hours ago-" Applejack found herself in a tight hug from Rarity, tears spilled from both their eyes. "A-after ah g-got back, we had to all work harder a-a-and-"
"Shh, it's okay it's alright." Rarity soothed her friend, they stayed in their embrace for another minute or so. Then the sound of loud knocking drew them from their quiet mourning. "Y-yes?" Rarity called out.
"Miss Rarity? It's Swift, I come with a message from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." A familiar voice called back, Rarity opened the door to find two sweaty unicorn Captains. "Howd- are you alright, Miss Rarity? You look like you've been crying." Suddenly a loud shout from behind the unicorns caused their faces to pale and sweat more.
"Ah, do you mind if we come in? We... may, or may not, have teleported our compatriot into a lake..." Shining Armor said quickly with a smug yet scared tone. Another scream, closer made Swift look at Shining.
"It'd be better to leave this immediate area, quickly... like NOW!" The unicorn shouted before he disappeared in a flash, the other Captain blinked then looked at Rarity.
"Celestia wants you and the rest of the Elements back at Canterlot! That'sallsorrybutIdon'twanttodiehereseeyoulater!" The river of words stunned Rarity, but not as much as Shining Armor disappearing and a fuming, dripping wet, batpony in his wake.
"Urgh! I'm too late! Sorry, but this... this takes priority!" The enraged Violet snarled before flying into the air and dashing through the sky. Rarity blinked and looked back at Applejack.
"Looks like we got another adventure, better get packing!" Rarity said in a singsong voice, Applejack groaned.
Rainbow Dash was asleep. Being a weather pony was boring but paid well, but after the destruction of Old Ponyville that weather crew are down a lot of hooves so Rainbow stepped in. The work was exhausting, leaving the prismatic pegasus sleeping in short shifts for the next work load, luckly the boss gave her a few weeks of rest.
"SHIT SHIT SHIT!" A voice screamed and shook Rainbow Dash from her sleep, she peered over her cloud and saw a familiar brown unicorn. "FUCK SHIT!" He yelled out and disappeared in a flash, a batpony slammed into the ground right as he disappeared.
"Damnit! So close again!" Violet yelled and saw Dash. "Wait a minute, you one of the Elements of Harmony right?"
"Yeah..?" Dash answered hesitantly and the batpony smiled.
"Alright, message from the Princesses. They want you lot to get to Canterlot, I- we are going around and giving the message... but I got another mission, kick a pair of stallion's arses!" Violet called up and took to the air again with a speed that surprised Dash. Just as Rainbow Dash was about to go back to sleep, the message registered in her head.
"Wait... you lot? The girls are getting back together! Booyah!" Rainbow cheered and flew through the air towards a patch of flowers and a peachy pegasus. "Hey, Fluttershy! We got to go to Canterlot, Princesses want us for an adventure!" Rainbow cheered, Fluttershy merely smiled at her friend.
"I guess we should go to Canterlot then... if-"
"Yes, Fluttershy, it's alright with me." Dash said with a laugh.
"Yay!" Fluttershy quietly cheered, Dash looked at her.
"You still gotta work on your volume, Shy."
Canterlot, an hour later...
Twilight smiled when she saw her friends, Pinkie immediately yelled with joy and bounced towards them.
"Oh, it's been too long!" Rarity said when Pinkie managed to get everypony in a group hug. Then a scream filled the air, suddenly a brown unicorn dropped from the sky and hit the ground, somehow still in one piece. Swift looked up with spinning eyes and groaned before faceplanting, Violet swooped down and landed next to the dazed unicorn.
"Oh, you all made it in one piece, good. Let's go, we can't keep the Princesses waiting." Violet looked at Swift. "Try not to fall behind, Captain Swift." The unicorn sighed and dragged himself to his hooves and followed after the group, but not before whispering something into Violet's ear. The batpony mare grinned and took to the skies, leaving a smirking Swift.
"If I go down, then I'll drag him down too!" He laughed to himself.
Celestia smiled when the Mane 6 walked in, their presence most uplifting in her boring day. Then she as she was about to talk, the faint sound of screaming and hoofsteps caused her to look at a side door, the two guards on either side looked at each other then one opened the door. Captain Shining Armor was galloping his heart out, a certain Lunar Guard Captain close behind with a maniac grin.
"Princess, HELP!" Shining was suddenly tripped by Violet, who then grabbed the Captain and dragged him off down another corridor with a wave to the crowd. The two guards closed the door slowly and turned back to Princess Celestia, one with a smile threatening to burst.
"Um, the Captain, uh, might have... thrown Captain Violet into a, um, pond." The other supplied, the first guard looked away to hide the shaky grin.
"Oh." Celestia simply said and the guard burst into laughter, for about three seconds then resumed his stoic position. The group looked back at Celestia and she looked at them, that door opened and Violet walked in.
"Ah, your majesty, I just had to... take care of some business, I'll update our missing Captain after this." Violet said with a smirk.
"Right, well it's time to tell you why we wanted you here." Celestia said and Luna walked past the Mane Six, surprising them.
"We have found Captain William, in the ruins of Griffinstone, we are going to get him and bring him home." Luna added as she ascended the stairs to her throne, Celestia nodded.
"We want to bring you to help on the journey, we are also bringing a few squads of Captains Loyal from the Lunar Guard with us for added protection."
"Aye, I've picked out some ponies that'll be very useful, a few of the original vanguard to Canterlot and two squads of Captain's Loyal." Violet supplied with pride.
"Princess... I think I speak for my friends here, we will help you bring back William." Twilight stepped forward with her friends.
"Good, then we depart immediately, come then." Celestia and Luna stood and moved past the group, leading them through the castle halls. Shining Armor came into view after rounding a few corners, he was rubbing his cheek and grumbling. He looked up and saw the group, he nodded to his Princesses and Swift, smiled at Twilight and the other Elements and then paled and gulped when he spotted Violet. The group moved past him and he followed, taking quick glances towards Violet, then Swift yelled in his ear and sent the poor unicorn jumping high into the air. Everypony laughed as the Royal Guard Captain grumbled and continued walking.
Soon the Mane Six, the Princesses and the Captains found themselves in front of a pair of airships, one that had a theme of the sun and the other the moon. The Mane Six followed Celestia and Shining Armor onto the Royal Guard ship while Luna and Violet moved to the Lunar Ship, suddenly Swift appeared next to Luna.
"May I request to go with your crew?" Swift asked and the Lunar Princess looked down at him, noting a flash of gold in his left eye.
"I can't see why you can't, besides, more the merrier, right?" Luna said happily and Swift nodded as both parties boarded their ships, one for comfort and the other for defence. Both airships rise into the air and quickly moved higher into the air, objective set and determination high.
Author's Note
The journey begins! Also sorry, this chapter was slightly rushed.
Now wait, for the holy Fog demands it! You wouldn't fight the Fog, would you?
Loyalty in Brass: Captain's Ashes
Chapter Three: The Flying Dutchman
High in the sky, above the Fog, above the mad souls of Griffinstone, was a large airship. Similar in design to the Behemoth , but more deformed. The Flying Dutchman looked like a mangled beast, with its bow having three rams in the shape of a jagged smile, it's hull riddled with tears, holes and dents and the massive balloon that once held up the massive airship was too torn to be used, now only the power of its two special crewmen was keeping it afloat and together. The Dutchman slowly started to descend through the clouds and towards the Fog that strangled Griffinstone, one could see a strange similarity to another assault on a capital.
The Behemoth was strangely vacant when the first of the ponies returned to Canterlot, not one pony noticed the faded shadow of the massive ruined ship that lazily flew through the sky and through the clouds. The old Centurion couldn't waste such a useful ship, so he did what he could to repair the ship. The Centurion was no longer in charge of the now terrifying Dutchman , now a large soldier was Captain. One could say he was related in someway to the Legate of Glory.
The Legate of Strife, armed with an intricate curved sword and a strange metal rod, both currently in their sheaths on his hips. The Legate stood at the bow of the airship, his armored arms crossed. A few Cleaners were on deck, modifications to their weapons made them spew an almost constant flow of mist and their once orange eyes were a deep red. The Legate was also different, he was much thinner than most soldiers and wore a long but thin cloak and hood that covered his face, one that looks like it was worn by a Brass Praetorian. The Legate looked to his side at and saw a shambling Centurion, his faceplate shattered revealing its inside, a dim and cloudy red crystal hovering within.
"Heh, Good work for alerting me, but it was unfortunate you alerted me." The Legate said to himself and looked down at Griffonstone, then a large Incinerator walked up to him.
"Legate, our scouts have reported back. The pests are on the move and moving towards Griffinstone, are we moving onto the next phase?" The large soldier asked in his garbled voice and the Legate thought for a moment, then turned to him.
"Yes, where are the scouts?" The Legate barked and the Incinerator pointed a finger to the stern of the ship, where three large shadowy were perched. The Legate moved past the Incinerator and shoved the stumbling Centurion out of his way, stomping towards his scouts . Three large, intimidating and mindless dragons, one red the other blue and the last purple. But all had eyes not of intelligence, but blank and hazy orbs of orange. The red dragon leaned down in a bow to the Legate as he approached, the other two followed quickly.
"Sir, we found the ponies as requested, they were beginning to leave Canterlot on an airship when we flew back." The red dragon stated in a low monotone, the Legate grunted and was about to speak.
"Sir, another airship was with them, full of soldiers." The purple dragon interrupted and the Legate was about to snarl, but then stopped.
"Oh? So the pests are bringing more of their filthy kind? Interesting." The Legate hummed then walked to the helm of the Dutchman , the many Cleaners looked up at their Legate. "Where are the Dragon Riders? Come forward!" The Legate barked and three Cleaners stepped forward, they had no tanks on their back and had shredded cloaks around their shoulders. "Go with the scouts and tear apart the pests' ships! Send them to the ground!" The Legate roared and the crew cheered as the Dragon Riders charged up the flight of stairs and charged towards the dragons. They gripped the chains that acted like a bridle and spun onto the backs of their dragons, they forced the drakes to drop off the stern and then swooped around the Flying Dutchman towards the shores of Equestria.
The Legate quickly descended the stairs and walked into the cabin below the helm, inside was a small room with another door on the other side. But inside were two unique soldiers on the opposite sides of the room, they looked like Praetorians but had no runes and their cloaks were more grey and very torn, both had their hands out and were glowing a sickly green colour and were steadily moving their fingers.
"Follow those scouts and get those guns ready for the assault!" The Legate snarled as he quickly past the Praetorians, who watched him open and slam the door. The pair then quickly moved their arms to the west, following the scouts without direction. The Legate walked into the new room, filled with a massive pipe organ on the wall. The Legate felt the ship move and sat upon the bench and raised his hands above the many keys, waiting for the sound of dragon fire to begin the thundering song...
The two airships were quickly making headway towards Griffinstone above the clouds, the Royalty and the Long Night flew through the air. On board the Long Night were the squads of Captain's Loyal, most were watching the skies for any sign of attack. Also on board was Luna, Violet and Swift, who requested to transfer ships. The Solar Captain was standing near the bow, along with a batpony with a few scars across his face.
"So, why does a Solar Guard want to be on board a Lunar Guard ship?" The batpony asked and Swift looked at him from under his hat.
"I... dunno, just a feeling that told me to." Swift sighed, the batpony was opening his mouth when a shout rang out.
"DRAGON! Off the starboard!" A Lunar Guard yelled out and Swift turned and spotted a slow moving red dragon, lazily floating towards them. "Another one! Straight ahead!" Swift turned again and saw a purple dragon, but what really scared him was the next shout.
"Dragon, blue, dropping from above..." A voice whispered to Swift who spun around and looked up to see a blue dragon swooping down, a dark shape on its back. Suddenly the dragon opened its maw and let out a mighty roar that ringed in the ponies ears, by now most of the Lunar Guard were holding weapons and a few were flying around the Long Night . Then the red dragon flew over the heads of the batponies and swung around, distracting them from the purple dragon that landed on the deck.
"SWEET LUNA!" A guard yelled when they noticed the ship dip from the weight, all the guards turned to glare at the dragon. Luna stormed onto deck with a furious expression.
"What is going on?!" The Princess demanded when a large shape slowly rose from the dragon's back, a hooded brass armored soldier. The other two dragons swooped around and hung beside the first as the Dragon Riders glared at Luna, suddenly a large hail of yellow bolts smashed into the riders and dragons. The red and blue dragons quickly dashed from the Lunar Ship and headed towards the Royal Guard Ship, but the purple dragon stayed and its rider dismounted.
Four batponies quickly charged the Dragon Rider but the soldier just slowly pulled a large sword from his back, the first batpony leapt up with a spear and a warcry. But the Dragon Rider leapt back then spun back down onto the surprised Lunar Guard, smashing the guard into red paste with his massive sword. The other guards hesitated and the Dragon Rider to advantage, he pulled the sword back and swung it with such force it both knocked the torn bodies of the guards off the Long Night and caused the Rider to stumble forwards. Luna growled and summoned two swords, quickly flinging them at the Rider, who suddenly dropped his sword and stumbled backwards.
The Dragon Rider slowly reached out a hand before collapsing to the deck, the purple dragon immediately roared in anger and opened his maw wide, a fire ready to burst forth. But a loud sound caused the dragon's glazed eyes to shrink, the drake quickly flew from the airship and joined his brothers. Everypony looked around for the sound of music , filled with such hate and malice it made a few ponies flinch.
Suddenly a massive creature emerged in front the twin airships, a deformed and terrifying beast. The Flying Dutchman tore through the clouds and levelled out, directly on course to pass in between the ships. The ponies on board both airships heard the pipe organ being played aggressively and heard thumps and clashes, a few eagle eyed ponies could see a large number of soldiers on board, stomping and slamming their fists onto their chests. The Princesses looked across the sky at each other, their eyes wide with fear.
Onboard the Flying Dutchman , a few Cleaners were rushing across the deck while the main force were thumping in beat with their Legate's song. Three Cleaners quickly rushed to a large open hole on the bow of the ship, a large weapon started to rise from the shadowy depths of the Flying Dutchman 's hull, two of the Cleaners dropped onto the mounted weapon and its platform. The Flak Cannon was an amalgamation of a ballista and a magical cannon, shooting fast moving, enchanted bolts. The last Cleaner leapt to the trigger as the two others grapped the levers on both sides of the cannon and started to move the weapon's gaze towards the Long Night .
The Incinerator noticed the two Dragon Riders hovering nearby and snarled, he grabbed a long, wound up whip and cracked the air next to the nearest Rider with it. The Dragon Rider looked at the Incinerator with his dragon.
"What are you doing back here?! GET UP THE FRONT AND ATTACK!" The Incinerator roared and the pair of Dragon Riders flinched and quickly flew towards the airships. Then the Flak Cannon started to unleash a rapid hail of piercing bolts.
"GET DOW- Ergh!" A batpony screamed when a massive bolt stuck him to the mast of the Long Night , Luna narrowed her eyes and quickly summoned a shield over the ship, but not fast enough as another Lunar Guard was torn in half, squirting blood upon her fellow soldiers. Swift noticed colour in the corner of his eye and turned, the Dragon Riders were approaching fast. His horn glowed and he closed his eyes, then he opened them and shot a large spear of blue magic at the red dragon and caused it to roar in pain, going slightly of course. The other Rider shot to the side as another two spears flew through the air. Swift's horn sparked and the unicorn grunted, falled to the deck.
On the Royalty , they became the target of the Dutchman's wraith, fortunately Celestia put up a shield quicker than Luna. But she soon realised it was for nothing, as the third bolt slammed through her shield and pierced the deck beside her hoof, then another flew and skimmed her cheek. Celestia dropped the shield and grabbed the bolt that was speeding towards her face, she growled and spun it around and sent it speeding back. But then she grunted as a bolt skimmed her leg, she looked to her left and saw the Elements scattered across the deck with sailors, her small guard force even smaller, with only Captain Shinning Armor and a pair of mare Royal Guards left.
"Look out, Captain!" One of the mares screamed and Shining Armor looked up to see a bolt closing in, time seemed to slow as it approached. Then one of the last guards leapt into the bolt's path and was slammed into the deck, she coughed up blood and saluted to Shining before falling limp. Suddenly the hail moved back to the Long Night , giving the Royalty time to plan. The helmsman ducked under a stray bolt and looked to his Princess.
"Princess Celestia! What are your orders?!" The stallion yelled and she turned to look around at the Elements, looks of horror in their eyes, but with determination shining bright.
"Get us to that ship! I'll disable that weapon!" Celestia barked and the helmsman nodded and looked to the remains of the crew, barking orders to them to get wind into the sails.
But as the Royalty sailed forth, Luna and her guard struggled under both the hail of bolts and the swooping dragons. Her guards were lobbing spears as the pair of dragons flew overhead, snatching a pair of batponies on the way. Then Luna heard a low moan, she spared a gaze to her side and saw the limp Dragon Rider twitch and quickly get to his feet. The Rider picked up his sword and charged towards the ropes that held the large balloon in place, Luna's eyes widened as she realised too late what he was doing. The Dragon Rider braced then spun through the air, slashing at the ropes. The entire airship jerked slightly, snapping Swift back to his senses. The unicorn stood and flinched as he felt his horn sting, he looked around and spotted the Dragon Rider, who sliced another rope. Swift unsheathed his sword and charged, shooting a bolt to catch the Rider's attention.
The Dragon Rider somehow bent backwards and let the bolt fly over, then he twisted around and snarled at the unicorn. Swift slid under the sword as it was swung around, then jammed his sword up into the Rider's throat. But as Swift turned to watch the Dragon Rider fall, he was instead greeted by the pommel of a large sword. Swift grunted then leapt back, firing more bolts of blue magic at the Dragon Rider, who was too busy tearing the sword from his throat to notice. The Rider threw the sword at Swift then leapt into the air to crush the unicorn as he was forced to grab the sword, but then he was grabbed by a dark blue aura and thrown off the Long Night , Swift looked at Luna and nodded thanks. Then Swift's eyes widened as he pointed at something behind Luna, she turned and saw the Royalty 's bow explode with the weapon onboard the Dutchman .
Author's Note
The Flying Dutchman, an unnatural Captain sailing the vessel and a pipe organ onboard... what could that be referencing? A certain octo-captain and his fish crew?
Next Chapter will be the fight between the Royalty and the Flying Dutchman , then the crash into Griffinstone. How the hell does this fight, over land nowhere near Griffinstone, end with the Elements in the ruined town?
Well, the Fog with reveal the answers, for the Fog is merciful and just. You trust the Fog, right..?
Loyalty in Brass: Captain's Ashes
Chapter Four: Return to Griffinstone
Celestia frowned as the Flying Dutchman continued to fire at the Long Night , something that put Celestia on edge. She looked back at the other airship, it had patches of blue flame along its hull with large holes marking their entry. But then a loud horn blast snapped her attention back, the Royalty was passing along the bow as a large number of soldiers apeared along the top of the deck. Celestia's horn glowed as she grabbed a spear from a nearby weapons rack, then as two Cleaners leapt from the other ship she quickly swung the spear and smashed the pair into the gap between both ships.
But it wasn't the end of the boarding as three more Cleaners dropped onto the Royalty , but before Celestia could swing again, two of the three Cleaners were wrapped in purple magic and thrown against the third. Their garbled screamed were drowned out as another pair of Cleaners dropped to the deck, but they too were smashed back when Celestia threw the spear with the force of a bull and sent both back with the throw
"Princess!" A scream from her left, while she and Twilight were fighting along the middle of the hull a squad of Cleaners landed along the stern. Celestia watched as Shining Armor, the last Royal Guard and both Applejack and Rainbow Dash charge to meet them. Then she heard a massive thud to her right, she turned to see a massive Incinerator rising to his full height, in his hands was a whip.
"You pests have been a thorn in our sides for too long!" The Incinerator barked and pointed at Celestia. "I'll make sure to take that horn of yours, for the Legate!" He roared and cracked his whip, Twilight shot a hail of purple bolts as Celestia flew back to avoid a vicious slash of the whip. The Incinerator laughed with crazed glee as he quickly swung the whip and lashed Twilight's cheek. The mare screamed and fell back, erecting a shield to block another strike. But it didn't stop the Incinerator for long as he lifted his foot and kicked the shield to bits, but as he raised the whip again, it was grabbed by Celestia's magic and torn from his hand.
"You have a problem with me, not her!" Celestia said and threw the whip overboard, the Incinerator cracked his armoured knuckles and turned to face her.
"Got that right, pest." The Incinerator snarled and threw a fast jab at Celestia's cheek, then backhanded the alicorn. Celestia stumbled back and the Incinerator threw his arms wide, taunting the Princess. "Come on! I wanted a challenge, pest!" Suddenly he found the tip of a spear under his jaw, the Incinerator turned to get smashed to the side by a large blast of purple magic. The soldier scrambled to the side as another blast of magic flew at him, but then the Incinerator seemed to freeze. Twilight blinked as the large soldier jumped up and back onto the Dutchman , both Celestia and Twilight looked up at the deck. The Incinerator turned and snapped the spear, the Legate beside him slowly unsheathed his weapons.
"Do you fear death?" The Legate asked cryptically and raised his curved sword into a stance with his metal rod underneath. "Becuase you should!" The Legate roared and, like you would with a flint and steel, slashed the rod with his sword, shooting a massive wave of fire down at the deck of the Royalty . The flames roared as they spread across the deck of the smaller airship, but as the Legate sheathed his weapons he noticed Celestia's horn glow. Then a loud cracking noise caused the Legate to casually turn to the bow, then jump back as the Flak Cannon collapsed in on itself again, crushing the enchanted bolts and their volatile heads. The Legate quickly turned and, as his cloak covered his hand movements, threw a tightly wrapped ball at Celestia. Both the Flak Cannon and the explosive ball erupted into flames at the same time, causing both ships to be rocked by the force.
"Enough! We shall drag these pests with us! TO THE FOG!" The Legate barked and the remaining crew cheared as the Flying Dutchman flew past the ship with unnatural speed, behind the vessel was a strange green aura. It covered the crackling Royalty and slowly dragged it along behind the Dutchman , startling the pony crew.
"Princess, what's going on?" Twilight yelled as they were dragged through the air, the fire slowly growing and spreading to the ropes that held the large balloon.
"We're caught in some sort of magical field!" Shining Armor barked, Celestia stared in shock as she saw a number of Cleaners get pulled into view, they were laughing and cheering with almost insane giddiness. One caught Celestia staring.
"You'll feel the embrace of the Fog! YOU'LL LOVE IT!" The Cleaner laughed and the group were thrown forwards and landed on the Flying Dutchman , Celestia noticed they were going faster and held onto the rail along the deck.
On the Long Night , Luna saw what was happening and saw the Dutchman turning towards them.
"All hooves! Brace!" Luna yelled and her Lunar Guard quickly landed and gripped anything nearby with iron hooves, Swift wrapped his hooves around one of the ropes connecting to the balloon. He watched the Dutchman fly around the port side of the Long Night , then it disappeared from his view. Swift was suddenly thrown back, but thanks to his grip he held strong, as the Flying Dutchman suddenly flew past and wrapped its green aura around the airship. The speed that the Dutchman had already gained sent some of the batponies flying from their holds, but three soon found out that escape wasn't an option as they were dragged behind the airship. Then the voice of the Incinerator reached the ponies ears.
"Better hold on, pests! For we are being welcomed by the Fog! You better hope that it accepts you, or you'll join its embrace!" The Incinerator roared with laughter as a large whirlpool of clouds suddenly appeared in front of the Flying Dutchman , the beastly airship entered the swirling mass and the force holding the twin airships yanked them through the portal with startling speed, throwing many batponies from the Long Night . They flew through the portal but the walls reached out and swallowed the struggling Lunar Guards, their screaming echoing through the funnel.
"What's that!?" A Lunar Guard asked.
"Where?!" Another asked.
"Oh, OH SWEET LUNA!" Screamed the first as he was torn from the rail, Luna watched as the cloudy walls grew arms and snatched her soldiers from her ship. Swift saw a hand reach for him, but it stopped in front of his face and snatched another Lunar Guard instead. Onboard the Royalty , Shining saw a cloudy hand reach for his last subordinate, he shot a bolt at it and the arm exploded into a puff. But that small act didn't stop the inevitable, more arms reached out and snatched the mare from the deck and dragged her into the cloudy walls.
Suddenly the Flying Dutchman , Royalty and Long Night were thrown out of the portal, throwing the twin airships to a stop over a foggy city. Then, they began to fall towards the Fog, its hungry surface meeting them fast and knocking their crews unconscious. The Legate watched the pony's ships disappear into the Fog and let out a low chuckle, then he turned and marched to his cabin, only saying a few words to his former prey.
"Welcome back, Princesses, to Griffinstone."
Author's Note
The Fog has new prey, now those pony soldiers will come into play when the Fog greets them. The Flying Dutchman won't be forever gone, it'll return with the Legate of Strife and the Fumigators (Cleaners and Incinerators). The Elements, Guards and Princesses will awaken in a familiar place and will walk its haunted streets, they'll see familiar faces, but is that just an illusion or reality?
Now, we shall feast with the Fog. You won't disobey the Fog, will you?
Loyalty in Brass: Captain's Ashes
Chapter Five: The Madness
The first to wake was Captain Swift, who blinked and coughed as he rose. The unicorn felt his lungs full of... or something, Swift coughed again as he took a look around. Fire, embers and stone surrounded him, Swift stumbled forward with blurry vision.
"Any... is anypony there?" Swift called as he bumped into a stone wall, finally registering in his mind. "W-where am I?" The unicorn mumbled and looked back, behind him was a large stone wall with no fire. "What in Tartarus?" Swift looked forwards and found a red pegasus staring at him, their gaze blank. Then the pegasus slowly faded as a thick Fog rolled in and made Swift's head throbbed, the unicorn took another step forward before falling flat on his face. Swift stood up and looked ahead, a familiar face was staring back with a long coiled sword in his hands.
"Did you miss me?" The Legate of Glory asked with a smug tone as he marched forward, Swift back-pedalled and quickly spun around, to find the far wall closer than before. "Thought you could run?" The Legate taunted as Swift turned around to face the familiar foe, who's faceplate suddenly cracked and exploded open, revealing a reflection of Swift's terrified face.
Captain Shining and Captain Violet wake up next to each other, startling both out of their groggy states. The area they woke up in was a round plaza, empty except for a large charred bonfire, long since burnt out.
"Alright, where are we?" Violet asked bluntly as she stood and trotted around.
"I... have no clue, but looks like we're stuck down here." Shining stated but Violet laughed.
"You're stuck, but I got wings!" Violet demonstrated by hovering in the air. "I'll go over the top and scout out the area." Violet said and flew directly over one of the walls of the plaza, disappearing into the Fog. Only to appear a moment later, coming back the way she came.
"Back already?" Shining asked and Violet looked scared.
"B-but I just left?" Violet said with uncertainty, Shining narrowed his eyes and looked around. "Wait, wasn't there a bonfire there before?" Violet pointed at the bonfire, now a strange statue of a knight. A familiar knight.
"That's one of those Brass Knights!" Shining stated as he took a step away from the kneeling stone knight, the statue's hands were held together in prayer above its head.
"Yeah, no duh, but what is it doing here? Wherever here is." Violet asked as she hovered down and looked under the statue's arms and at its face, the stone faceplate of the knight was blank like its brass brethren, except for a small cracked hole in the middle of its face. Violet peered closer, then the statue's face snapped towards her. "Holy..!" Violet yelled as she threw herself away from the very much alive knight. The batpony stood besides Shining Armor and watched as the stone knight slowed split his stiff arms and raised them to the sky in a wide embrace, then it froze, returning back to its death like stillness.
Silence reigned, but then a heavy, disgusting smell filled the air. Violet gasped as a thick sludge touched her hoof, she and Shining gaped at the sight of a black muck surrounding their hooves. Then a large shape emerged from the muk, a few feet away, its form was covered in black sludge but it slowly dripped from the shape. Revealing... The Captain, his cloak and lower legs were melted into the muck, his upper body, however, had patches of black muck stuck to it. But his eye, the once golden and proud eye was now a tiny red pinprick.
"W-William?" Both Violet and Shining asked at the same time, the Captain didn't answer as he pulled a long, notched sword from the sludge, then slowly marched through the muck towards the confused and startled pony Captains. His eye aglow with madness and insane joy.
Twilight and her friends awoke in a similar area, a wide plaza with a small patch of grass and a tree in the middle, and quickly noticed a griffin and a pegasus sitting against the tree. While Twilight looked at the pair with suspicion, Dash was more upfront in her suspicion.
"Who are you? Did you drag us here? Who do you work for?" Rainbow asked in quick succession to the pair, who looked quite crestfallen.
"W-w-what? I-I c-can't... rem-m-member." The pegasus stammered as the griffin held her head.
"We've been here for... for... how long have we been here?" The griffin muttered and the pegasus shook her head.
"F-f-five, no! S-six or maybe s-s-six-sev-seven! S-seven m-months, or years?" The pegasus mare murmured quickly and looked up at the hovering cyan pegasus. "W-we... we..." The mare trailed off.
"We were brought here, by... by a... I can't remember, but I think we served a Captain." The griffin supplied.
Twilight and the rest of the group trotted closer, Dash slowly dropped to the stone path.
"Where are we?" Applejack asks the strange pair, they look at her with blank eyes.
"Griffinstone." The griffin answers, causing the group to gasp. "You gotta get out of here, if you stay, you forget."
"B-but the F-Fog doesn't like letting its prey l-leave." The pegasus says meekly. "T-t-the p-pillars give t-the Fog strength, destroying them will p-probably make the Fog weaker and l-let you go."
"Pillars?" Twilight asked sceptically.
"Not stone pillars, powerful guardians. There are only two, unfortunately I can't remember their names. Though you sound find your friend first, the Captain." The griffin states then, before anypony could say anything more, loud hoofsteps caused the large group to turn. Striding towards them was Luna, whose eyes were wide with confusion.
"Princess!" The Elements yelled and the alicorn looked at them.
"I was just... with... you?" Luna trailed off, then shook her head. "We need to find the rest of our group, my sister and the Captains." Luna stated, then she noticed the two crestfallen souls. "Who are you?"
"A pair of lonely souls, ripe for the Fog." A voice answered from above, the large group looked up to see a beaked figure staring at them from the edge of a shadowy building, their body wrapped in the Fog. "And of course you little ponies, will be next. The Fog welcomes you, you just need to embrace it!" The figure barked with laughter and disappeared from view.
"Who-" Luna began.
"T-the Bloody Crow, that was o-one of the g-guardians. H-he never l-l-leaves the old r-residential district." The crestfallen pegasus answered quickly, then she looked up confused at the group. "W-who are..?" The pegasus groans and looks away.
"You better leave, the Fog is growing hungry, run while you still can!" The griffin said quickly and pointed a talon towards an open archway, which seemed to appear from the Fog. "We won't meet again, if we do, then make our end quick." The griffin stated then looked down. The Elements and Luna looked conflicted, but soon quickly made their way throught the arch. Not noticing the griffin and pegasus fade into the Fog, a pair of red feathers in their place
Swift scrambled back with a loud cry as the Legate smashed his sword into the ground, then the unicorn found himself falling. Swift grunted as he landed on his back, then he looked around in surprise. He was in a large pool of muck, but he wasn't alone.
"W-William?" A pair of voices asked at the same time, Swift saw it was Shining Armor and Violet. Both looked scared, but their gazes were locked on nothing.
"Hey!" Swift yelled out, startling the pair, who blinked in confusion.
"S-Swift?" Shining asked as he trotted closer. "Where did you come from?"
"An alley, I was about to get cut down by the Legate." Swift responded.
"The Legate? But he's dead!" Violet stated.
"Aye, but he wasn't normal, his face shattered and revealed a mirror." Swift shivered. "Wasn't right, even if it was him."
"T-then... we just saw William, he's rig- where is he?" Shining asked as he turned to gaze at nothing.
"We need to get out of here, find the others and make a plan." Violet says and she looks for an exit.
"There!" Swift says as he spots an open arch, a thick Fog swirling within. "Come on!" The three Captains rush through the muck and charge through the Fog, the large statue behind them slightly looked up before emitting a low laugh. Then a dark figure appeared next to the statue, its body covered in a cloak, it turned to the statue, its single eye narrowing as it pulled a large sword from his back and smashed the statue. Then the Captain quickly leapt over the wall, ignoring the archway, and his former friends.
Author's Note
Been a bit, eh? Probably will be for awhile, I'd lost interest for a bit, but now I'm back! Next up is the present with the beastly Captain! Also sorry if this seemed rushed, I got no excuse.
The Fog gets to feast, but on whom? Well that's for the Fog to decide, the Fog hungers for... blood, old blood...
Loyalty in Brass: Captain's Ashes
The Captain: Small Freedom
The Captain skidded through the muck and smashed his sword down upon the purple unicorn, but a pair of orange hooves knocked him off course. The Captain spun and smashed into a wall, he silently grunted and pushed from the wall and swung his sword in front of his body, spraying the muck up and at the charging orange pony.
The pony's face got covered by the muck and turned away from the Captain, who quickly stepes forward and pulled back his notched blade, ready to end a piece of the past.
But a blue blur smashes into his side and sent him stumbling, the Captain spun and lashed out with a fist, catching the rainbow haired pegasus as she hovered with a smug look. The pegasus was thrown to the disgusting ground with a yell, then it turned into a scream when the Captain punted her into the air and at a wall.
"That isn't William." The purple unicorn stated as she watched the Captain kick her friend. "That's not the real William."
The Captain let out a snarl from under his torn scarf and pulled his sword close, grabbing the top notch. Then he raised the greatsword and smashed it down, stepping closer with each guillotine slash towards the two unicorns and the pegasus and pink pony. But as the Captain rose his blade up, a massive purple bolt smashed into his face, knocking the Captain off his feat and into the muck. Quickly the Captain started to rise but a pair of powerful orange hooves knocked the air out of his chest with a buck, a thick mist drifted from the Captain's covered mouth and into the foggy air. Then the Captain slowly rose into the air, like a marionette getting dragged, and hug limply. Then the Captain's eye shone just a little brighter then the beastly Captain charged at the orange pony, his notched sword waving wildly in his hand.
The Fog loves this, when the Captain can't stop the Fog from assuming direct control of his body. The Fog gets to finally feel the adrenaline, the joy, the pain! The Fog forces a croaky laugh from the Captain, as the Captain leaps into the air and reverses its grip on its sword.
The Captain plunged through the muck and disappeared.
"What the..?" The cyan pegasus said, full of confusion.
"Now I know that isn't Willy." The pink pony mumbles as the group looked around cautiously for the deadly Captain. Suddenly the sludge erupted into the air and with a roar the Captain appeared, with his arm already pulled back. The Captain smashed its fist into the purple unicorn's cheek, sending her into unconsciousness. The orange pony started to turn to buck the Captain, but was interrupted when the Captain grabbed one of her hind legs and, as he turned, threw the pony at the frozen cyan pegasus.
"Stay back, fiend!" A voice screeched as a large brick was slammed into the back of the Captain's head, sending it head over heels in place. Then the puppet like Captain turned in the air and gazed at the white unicorn, who stood in front of the peach pegasus.
The Fog needed them dead, more food, more blood, no more pests!
The Captain dashed forwards and backhanded the unicorn into the wall next to her, causing a loud crack to echo down the long, sludge filled road. The Captain watched the unicorn slowly slide down the wall and slump down into the muck. Then the Captain turned his eyes upwards, at the peach pegasus, whose hooves covered her eyes as she whimpered.
The Fog thinks this one is a coward, the Fog doesn't care though... it needs to die.
The Captain advanced towards the shivering pegasus, no remorse in his blank eye. The Captain raised its notched sword with both hands and held it in the air for a moment.
Then slammed it down.
But then it stopped.
The Captain's arms shook slightly as his sword hovered just above the pegasi's head, the Captain's eye flashed a dim golden colour before the Captain tried to smash its sword down. But every time, it stopped short. Every time his eye flashed. Every time, a dark figure's horn glowed a dark blue.
The Fog was angry, why did the Captain stop? No matter, the Fog wants that one dea-
"William! Look at me!" The alicorn ordered, the Captain almost immediately straightened up to its feet and locked eyes with the alicorn.
The Fog is very angry, why is the Captain not obeying the Fog? The Fog made the Captain better! Now, the Fog wanted that pony dea-
"William, what happened to you?" The alicorn asked as she stepped closer, her midnight coat a shadow in the Fog. But it seemed to anger the Captain, as he started to hunch over and pull his sword close. "William, don't do-"
"Luna... you left me... abandoned me... you'll just do it again... " The quiet voice stated from the Captain, Luna looked shocked, then she frowned.
"We are here to bring you back home. Please, William, come home." Luna begged as the Captain's eye flashed a few times.
The Fog might've been mad before, but now the Fog is furious. That Captain shouldn't do what it wants to do! The Captain does what the Fog wants! And the Fog wants-
The Captain shakes his head and straightens up, swinging his sword onto his shoulder, his once dim eye glowing a bright golden colour. The Captain then slowly took a glance at the group of ponies, his eye widened at the sight of Rainbow's broken wing and Applejack's twisted hoof, Twilight's bloody mouth and Rarity's black eye. Fluttershy's fearful eyes.
"No... can't... not now... can't... " The Captain said and suddenly leapt high into the air and landed on the top of a building, quickly disappearing when he dropped from view.
"P-princess?" Twilight asked and Luna shook her head.
"That is William, he needs help. But so do you and your friends, come. Let us find some sort of shelter in one of these buildings." Luna said as she lead the group out of the muck and down the long alleyway.
The Captain was staring at the massive ruins of Stronghold 7, crumbled and destroyed. Yet a few towers remain standing, in one of these the Captain saw an old foe, but the Fog hadn't forgotten what happened in that alley. The Captain crumpled to his knees and silently screamed at the sky, his golden eye dimming quickly as a thick Fog covered his body.
The Fog will not let him go.
The Captain tore at his face as the Fog slowly faded into his body.
The Fog will not let her go.
The Captain's arms went limp and his head sagged forwards.
The Fog will not let them go.
The Captain rose to his feet, with a dimmed eye and slouched posture. The Captain looked towards the ruins then leapt down into one of the many streets of Griffinstone, with the Fog pulling his strings.
Author's Note
The Fog holds everyone in its glorious grasp, even if they refuse the Fog's embrace. But who'd do such a thing?
Loyalty in Brass: Captain's Ashes
The Captain: A Murder of Crows
The Captain silently wandered the streets of Griffinstone, going through muck and through patrols of griffins and Fumigators. But eventually the Captain happened upon a large, rusted brass gate. Behind it were massive buildings, though they disappeared from view quickly from the Fog's interference. The Captain noticed a plank of wood that hung from the closed gate, there was writing on it: Do not enter! Ravenous Crows within! The Captain merely snarled and pushed through the gate, ignoring both the sign and the cawing of crows.
The Fog remembers this place, it's where one of the Fog's other hosts are. The Fog dislikes this one, too mad and strange to control.
The Captain walked down the street, leaving the gate to be devoured by the Fog behind him. As the Captain walked, it watched as ghostly shapes dashed past, shadowy griffins and old knights. Then a loud caw made the Captain turn and stare at a lone crow, sitting down an alleyway. The crow's eyes were a brilliant red, but the Captain knew better. The crow cawed again and erupted into a writhing mass of Corruption, which quickly morphed into the general shape of a griffin. The crow took a few steps forward, then stopped.
"So, the Fog's favourite toy has come to my paradise? This is indeed a once in a lifetime event! " The oily crow laughed, sending bits of Corruption flying. "Why wander down here? You have the entirety of Griffinstone to hunt, just not here of course, or that crumbling ruin. " The crow sneered as the Captain took a step forward, although in an unnatural way.
This is why the Fog hates the Crow, it just makes everything worse.
The Captain quickly threw a kukri at the abomination, severing its head from its body. The crow let out a horrific shriek as it writhed on the ground, a pool of Corruption spreading over the cobblestone road. The Fog suddenly grew in density and blocked the Captain's view of the quickly melting blob, but it didn't stop the Captain slamming his notched sword through the Fog and the blob.
The Fog wasn't impressed and threw the Captain onto the ground, gaining a loud snarl in response. The Fog wasn't happy with the Captain, it needed to learn respect.
But the Captain didn't do anything except get back up and go back to walking down the street, his eye now searching for anymore crows. Suddenly a loud yell and rapid footsteps caught the Captain off guard, as a griffin slashed wildly at the Captain with her talons. The Captain raised an arm and backhanded the red-eyed griffin across the street, with her slamming into the wall with a loud crack. Yet the griffin still charged at the Captain, unfortunately he quickly slammed his sword through her chest, the griffin let out a slight whine, then the Captain grabbed the lower notch and tore his blade up though the griffin's body. The corpse fell, but didn't bleed, the Captain nudged the body. Suddenly a fountain of black blood erupted in the Captain's face, causing it to snarl and leap back. Suddenly a pair of talons wrapped around the Captain's arm, the Captain swung his arm forward and sent another griffin flying forwards the wall.
The griffin snarled, spun around and leapt at the Captain, who just swung its notched blade down and split the griffin down the middle. Yet another griffin charged at the Captain from another alleyway, but he was quickly cut down with a powerful swing.
The Fog is confused, there isn't meant to be this many griffins here. But the Fog doesn't care, for the Fog is feasting. Wait, the Fog heard something.
Suddenly the Captain was sent flying and smashed into a building. The Captain leapt forward and slammed his sword down upon its foe's weapon, whose owner was a large cloaked griffin. The griffin's eyes were covered by their hood, but the Captain could tell that this griffin was staring him straight in the eyes. The griffin shoved the Captain back with his spear and sent a fury of stabs at the Captain, who shoved the spear aside and thrusted his sword at the griffin. But the griffin quickly flew back, letting out a laugh.
"You should know, dear Captain. I deserve the Fog more than you, why our lord chose you to be his host matters not, I am more loyal!" The griffin crackled and arched his back to laugh at the foggy sky, the Captain lunged forward and attempted to skewer the griffin. But the crazed griffin spun to the side and laughed again. "Same thing every time, Captain! You attack and I dodge!" Then the griffin looked down at the Captain, his cheerful attitude gone. "Let's change that, shall we?"
The Captain lunged forward again, but this time the griffin met the Captain head on. The griffin smashed his head against the Captain's and sent it stumbling back, stunned. The griffin moved forward and shoved his spear through the Captain's throat with a grin on his beak.
"Too easy, Captain." The griffin stated, then his smile vanished as he realised what he'd just said. The Captain started to lean towards the griffin, sending the spear deeper through his neck, a blank look in his eye. The Captain swung his fist and smashed the griffin to the side, then snapped the spear in half with a quick slash of his sword. Slowly, the Captain looked at the griffin, who shook his uncovered head. The griffin had been hiding a strange plate of metal on his head, with looked like a rusted brass. A line of writing was still visable, reading G-01.
That name, the Fog knows it, after having a little fun inside a few surviving knights' heads, the Fog discovered that name. An experiment, a failure. But the Fog cares not, this Crow is insane, more so than the Fog.
The Bloody Crow grinned with a mad glint in his eyes as the Captain raised his sword, but a pair of crow abominations blocked his view of the Crow. The Captain swung his sword and destroyed the crows, only to find the Bloody Crow gone, but laughter gave away is location. The Captain glanced up and saw the Crow peering over the top of one of the wall buildings, his hood back on.
"Captain! You'll see my way of things, if only for a short while, after you find her !" The insane Crow crackled with giddiness. "I hear that our other friend is guarding her , better hurry though! Your old friends are wanting audience with her too!" With that the Bloody Crow disappeared over the edge of the building, but now the Captain had an objective.
And not even the Fog could stop him.
Author's Note
Another chapter for you, after a slight hiatus (I took a break from writing, I have things to do like throw controllers around) the story is back. Now after that little (massive) hint, you now know who the Bloody Crow is...
But what about her ?
Guess if the Fog doesn't know, you won't know either, until of course you read on.
Loyalty in Brass: Captain's Ashes
Chapter Six: Losing Focus
Luna grimaced as she stepped into a puddle of muck, but it didn't distract her for long as she marched forward through the streets, darkened by both the fog and massive buildings that ran along the streets. Her eyes were constantly searching, never on one place for more than a second. A few noises caught her attention, her head snapping to her side, only to find Twilight looking at her with worry.
"Princess? Are you alright?" The purple unicorn asked.
"Yes, yes. We- I am fine, just on edge." Luna answered, slowly turning back to look around the foggy street. "Just on edge." She repeated, though in a murmer. Twilight drifted back to her friends, who quickly huddled closer.
"The Princess is acting really weird." Rainbow whispered and Applejack nodded.
"Eeyup, she was lyin' when she said she was fine." The farmer stated quietly, staring at the Princess of the Night with narrow eyes.
"Um, girls? You're acting kind of mean." Fluttershy said with a slight frown, then she let out a little squeak when the pegasus and earth pony spun around to stare at her.
Twilight frowned at this, this wasn't like her friends. Of course Rainbow Dash was brash, but not Applejack, was she even being brash? Twilight shook her head and glanced at Pinkie and Rarity, both were in a quiet conversation, something that surprised Twilight. So, being the extremely curious unicorn she was, she slowed down slightly to get closer to the pair.
"-ut only a few things work in that sort of pan, like honey, sugar, glitter and those sorts of things." Twilight heard Pinkie say.
"What about bl- oh, hello Twilight." Rarity said and Twilight jumped slightly, not expecting her to notice her.
"Hello Rarity, hello Pinkie, are you two ok?" Twilight asked, managing to salvage her attempted eavesdropping. But as the girls chatted and Luna glaced around, a Brass Knight walked out of an alley and locked onto the group. The knight was different from the rest, having a torn red cloak that hung around his shoulders. He turned on his heel and walked towards them, ignoring Luna's glacing about. The Knight was finally noticed by Fluttershy, who screamed as the Brass Knight raised a sword to attack Luna.
"Watch out!" Twilight yelled as she shot a blast of magic at the sword, flinging it from the Knight's grasp and causing him to stumble back and almost fall over. Then Rainbow burst forward and slammed her hooves into the Brass Knight's chest, denting it and making a dark substance spray from the gaps it the Knight's armor. Yet the Knight didn't fall, instead he grabbed the pegasus and threw her away from himself. Then he grabbed his chest and hunched over.
Luna watched as the Brass Knight grunted and tried to straighten back up, only to fall to his knees and make more liquid drip from his body. Only for the liquid to turn into Fog and cover the Knight, then the Fog cleared and the Brass Knighy was no more, but instead a brass helmet was left on the cobblestone path.
Twilight walked up to it and picked it up with her magic, examining it. It looked nothing like the helmets that the normal Brass Knights wear, instead it was similar to something that knights of ancient times would wear, except it was more suited for a human. The visor was the most interesting part of the helmet, as it looked like it's wearer was meant to have his head down to actually see out of the large hole in the visor. Twilight turned it around a bit more, then flipped open the visor.
To see an orange eye staring back at her.
"Twilight!" Rainbow yelled when the purple unicorn screamed and dropped the helmet, which shattered when hit the ground. "Are you ok?!" Rainbow asked as she hovered over to Twilight, who shook her head.
"That was weird." Twilight mumbled then looked at Rainbow. "Wha- Oh, yes I'm fine." Twilight said with a slight smile, which turned into a snarl as she shot a bolt of magic at another Red Cloak Knight, who was reaching out to grab Rarity and Pinke, who were still in deep conversation. The Red Cloak was sent flying by the force of the spell, slamming into the cobblestone path a few metres away.
"Girls! This way!" Applejack yelled and quickly disappeared down an alleyway, only to be thrown back by a Cleaner. Then something strange happened.
The Red Cloak Knight got to his feet, charged past the ponies and slammed into the Cleaner and grappled with him, before knocking the Cleaners hands aside and grabbing his throat, lifting him up into the air. The Knight snarled when the Cleaner threw a punch at the Red Cloak, but it did nothing but anger the Knight to snapping the Cleaner's neck. Then a thick Fog overcame the Knight and, as soon as the Red Cloak appeared, made him disappear.
"What the buck was that?!" Rarity screamed, then quickly covered her mouth as her friends stared at her. "I-I didn't mean to say that!" Rarity exclaimed.
"Yeah, well. You didn't seem to hesitate to say it." Rainbow said smugly as she lazily hovered in the air.
"Get off her back, Dash." Twilight ordered with a frown, she looked around and saw Princess Luna. The Princess' eyes were wide and glued to the spot where the Red Cloak disappeared for the second time. "Lu- Princess Luna?" Twilight asked the frozen Princess.
"They're here, oh Faust, they're still here." Luna stuttered, then noticed Twilight's stare. "Yes, Twilight?" Luna asked, her voice normal.
"You looked scared, Princess. Like something terrifying was staring you in the eyes." Twilight said slowly, Luna slightly sighed.
"Yes, something very old and-" Suddenly Luna glanced into the air, then flew after it. Twilight blinked then shouted to her friends to follow her. The group followed as best they could after the swift Princess, but soon skidded to a stop at the edge of a muck filled street. Standing amongst the sludge was a tall human in a large trench coat and wearing a unique hat, one familiar to all of the girls. Except his hunched form confused them, it seemed like him but it wasn't... or was it?
"William?" Twilight cautiously asked, the Captain snapped his dim golden gaze onto her. At that moment, Twilight knew two things. This man was William Sharp, Captain of the Lunar Guard and one of the few 'pure' humans in Equestria... and that this thing was corrupted, for its stare was full of fear, anger and something that scared Twilight somewhat, it was sadness. But then, her friends made themselves known, the Captain hunched over and suddenly leapt at them. No grace or smooth form to be seen, only beastly rage. It was then, as the Captain attacked, Twilight realised that their chances of bringing William back just got cut to little bits.
Author's Note
So then, let's see how many people say that the Mane 6 are out of character, then let's see who can see why. Have a guess, you'll probably get it right.