Metal and Magic

There were three more days until they arrived in Ancholtage, and the dancing made them sleep for so long it was already afternoon by the time Brass started to wake up. He moved his hoof through Twilight’s mane, last night coming back to him. He smiled and slowly opened his eyes. He thought of all the fun they were going to have, airship or otherwise.

And then he remembered. He remembered everything he’d forgotten last night. His smile turned into a mixture of horror and sadness, remembering Celestia’s words.

“I take no joy in telling you this, Brass Cloud, but your body will shut down at a far younger age than a normal pony’s.”

“About two years.”

As her words made their way to his eyes, he got up from bed, still frowning, and ordered breakfast. Scrambled eggs and toast, as always. He started making coffee when he heard shuffling near the window. He looked over to the bed to see Twilight sleepily untangling herself from the covers.

“Good morning,” he said flatly.

“Good morning to you, too,” Twilight greeted.

Neither said anything until Brass’ breakfast arrived. He put it down on the nightstand and stood there, looking at it, pondering what he was going to say to her.

“So...I had fun last night,” she said calmly, hugging him over his back.

“That’s good,” he simply responded, grabbing the cup of coffee he had prepared earlier.

“Does this mean we’re, uh...you know?” Twilight asked awkwardly, twiddling her hooves together.

“Yup, I guess it does.”

“You seem down. Is there something wrong?” Her eyes widened as she tried to figure out what was troubling him. “Oh no! Was it me? Did I say something? Was it because I didn’t dance well enough last night?” she asked hurriedly.

“No, not at all, Twilight. It’s just...” He sighed, dreading the news. “Twilight, I...I...” He couldn’t finish the sentence without a lump forming in his throat, not allowing it to end. He didn’t want to say it. He didn’t even want to believe it. But it was true, and she had to know.

“What is it?” she asked as her mind still wandered over the possibilities of what might have gone wrong, none making any real sense.

He inhaled deeply. The more he thought about it, the more his eyes watered. He didn’t want to leave, not yet.

“...I...I’m going to die.”

She looked at him with a confused expression on her face. “What? What do you mean?”

He sighed again. “Twilight, I mean the gem in my body is killing me slowly.”

Twilight’s eyes flew wide open, her pupils as big as dinner plates. “I don’t understand.”

“You remember when the Princess asked to speak with me privately?”

“Um...yeah. Why?”

“Well, she told me things. Some good things, like the gem will automatically heal minor wounds in less than a minute. Then there came the...less good things.”

“What did she say?”

Brass explained what Princess Celestia told him. He told her how gems can give ponies magic abilities, and he told her how those abilities work. He also told her that ever since his gem fused with his midsection, it’s been slowly killing him. He left the “two years” part out, wanting to see if she wanted to know or not. He was on the verge of crying now, biting his lip and holding back the inevitable. Twilight’s eyes showed a solemn expression, her eyes watering as well.

“How long do you have?” Twilight managed to choke out, before falling silent again, awaiting his answer.

“About...” There it was, that lump in his throat again. “...Two years,” he managed to finish before his eyes finally gave in. Twilight’s brain took a second to process the information, before she fell onto her hooves, tears slowly streaming down her purple muzzle before tapping gently on the wooden floor. They lay there for a while, crying, and making small pools on the floor. Twilight finally stood onto her legs, and began walking to Brass, who was still on the floor, looking down. He glanced at her as she walked over to him, before she pulled him up and into a warm embrace. Twilight and Brass stood, hugging and crying at the same time, before getting back on all fours and wiping her eyes.

She placed a hoof on his shoulder, lifting her head up with a tiny smile forming on her face. “Well...” Twilight began to say, “Two years is a long time, right?”

He moved his head up, a smile on his face as well. “Yeah...yeah, it is,” Brass said. He placed his hoof on Twilight’s shoulder as she dropped hers. “Thanks, Twilight.” He pulled her into a hug, a few lingering tears dripping down onto her coat. He sniffled, before saying, “You know...half the day is gone, and we have a whole airship’s worth of things to do.” His smile grew slightly larger as he backed out of the hug, looking at Twilight.

“Ballroom?” she asked.

“Ballroom.”

****

The airship descended slowly above the city, making its way slowly but surely to the airfield at the foot of the mountains behind it. As it hovered over the flat cement, ponies on the ground began to tether the behemoth to two large poles on either end, securing it in place to prevent it from floating away. The ramp slid out and down, and ponies of all races came pouring out in a wave of color, among it a pair of purple and red, bunched together tightly. The crowd dispersed off the ramp, allowing them more freedom. Brass looked at the buildings of Ancholtage, taking in the sight. It looked nothing like Ponyville. The buildings were much taller and mostly made of brick. The city was also much larger, home to almost two-hundred-thousand ponies, as opposed to Ponyville’s one thousand. The airfield was located some distance from the city, so they had to take a train to get there. As they walked to the platform, a train pulled up, steam billowing out from the smokestack on the very front of the engine. Twilight got in first, Brass following behind. They sat down, and the train lurched forward, before picking up speed and rolling its way towards the city.

The train screeched to a halt at a passenger platform inside the city. Twilight and Brass exited the car, looking around.

“Uh, where are we supposed to go?” Brass asked, never given any instructions on where they were staying.

“The Princess gave me this scroll before she left,” Twilight told him, pulling a piece of paper out from her violet saddlebags. “It has the address of a building we’re staying at. Do you have a map?”

“Ya, right here.” He pulled out a piece of paper tucked between his wings, unraveling it to reveal a map of the city.

“Hmmm...” Twilight said, looking back and forth between the piece of paper she held in one hoof and the map Brass held open. “It should be about right...here,” she said, pointing to a small building not too far from the station. They began walking.

“We really need to stop dancing,” Brass commented as they turned a corner.

“I know, my legs feel like Jell-O,” Twilight responded, looking down at her purple hooves. They rounded a corner, ending up at a small strip mall with five or six different stores lined up. “There,” Twilight said, pointing a hoof at the laundromat that sat next to a coffee shop.

“The...laundromat? We’re staying at a laundromat?” Brass asked, staring disbelievingly at the storefront that stood before him.

“Wait, maybe not. Maybe it’s like...uh, a secret house? Celestia did say she sent us her to protect us...and she did write this one word under the address.”

“What did she write?”

“Well, she wrote ‘quack’.”

“Quack.”

“Yes, quack, like a duck.”

“What are we supposed to do with the word ‘quack’?”

“Maybe...I don’t know, let’s just go inside,” she said. Twilight opened the door, walking inside. Brass followed her, still confused as to the whole ordeal.

“May I help you?” an old pony asked from behind the counter as she placed a couple bits into the register.

“Hi, we’re-” Brass started before being cut off by Twilight putting a hoof over his chest. “What are you doing?” he whispered over to her.

“Let me handle this,” she answered in a hushed tone. She took a nervous breath, her face blank despite the nervousness that she felt, hoping she wasn't about to make a fool of herself.

“Quack.”

“Sorry, everpony, store’s closing! Get your things and get out!” the old mare behind the counter shouted, waving her hooves towards the door. A myriad of groans erupted from the ponies washing their clothes, some still wet. After they had all left, some turning around and shooting a mean look at the owner, she pressed a button under the counter, a stack of washing machines next to the counter sliding away to reveal a passage down into the basement.

“Hi, my name is Agatha,” she said, raising a hoof with the confidence and vigor of much younger pony. Brass stared at it, eyes wide, before he shook his head. “I, uh, sorry. My name is um...Brass Cloud, Miss Agatha,” he said, still confused at what was happening. When she shook his hand, he tried not to scream in pain as she gripped his hoof with what felt like the strength of a manticore.

“Ah, yes, the Princess told me all about you two,” she said calmly, releasing Brass from her death grip. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Sparkle,” Agatha said, extending her hoof to Twilight, shaking it much more gently.

“Likewise, Agatha. We’re, uh, staying...here?” she questioned, looking at the staircase.

“Yes, you’ll be staying in the basement. Follow me.” Agatha started towards the passage. Brass and Twilight followed suit, both with their own thoughts running through their heads.

Great, I bet it’s full of rats and cobwebs. It probably leaks, too.

Hmmm, I wonder what’s down there...maybe books!

The three ponies reached the bottom of the staircase, and both Brass and Twilight were surprised at what they saw. The basement was decorated with top-of-the-line furniture one would expect to see at the finest hotels in Canterlot, not the basement of a laundromat in the Frozen North.

“The Princess didn’t know how long you two would be staying, so she made sure to make it fit  for for a pony to stay at least a month or two. You don’t even need to use the laundromat upstairs, and there’s a pneumatic tube to the cafe next door for food. All free, of course, and paid for by the Princess,” Agatha told them, smiling sweetly.

“This is...” Brass was at a loss for words. He was expecting, well, what a pony would expect out of a strip mall basement, not what he saw in front of him. Back in Ponyville, he just slept on a normal bed, in a normal bedroom, in a normal house. Now, in the past weeks, he’s gone from borrowing a pile of hay to sleep in, to sleeping in some of the nicest rooms known in Equestria. He couldn’t believe his luck as he stared at the room before him.

“Thank you so much, Miss Agatha,” Twilight said, looking over and smiling at the old mare standing next to her.

“Anything for a friend of Celestia’s, dear.”

“Oh, you know her?”

“I guess you could say that,” Agatha responded with a sly grin on her face.

“Who is this mare?” Brass whispered over to Twilight, giving Agatha a quizzical look. Twilight chuckled, and Agatha turned around and began heading up the stairs.

“I’ll let you two get more...acquainted with the room, then,” she said, winking at Brass before her head disappeared above the ceiling, leaving them alone in the basement.

“What did she mean by ‘acquainted’?” Twilight asked while looking at Brass with a confused expression. Brass simply pressed his lips together tightly and began to blush, barely visible against his red coat. “Oh,” was the only answer Twilight could muster before she started blushing as well. There was an awkward silence until Brass spoke up.

“It’s getting kinda late, should I order food?” he asked, noticing it was about time for the sun to be setting.

“Um, yeah, sure, what do they have?” Twilight asked, walking over next to Brass, who had relocated himself over to a menu that was sitting on a desk.

“Well, they’ve got the usual stuff for a cafe, sandwiches, soup, that kind of stuff.” Brass moved his hoof over the menu, showing her the choices. They contemplated their choices before finally deciding on a simple daisy sandwich. To their surprise, a couple of minutes later it dropped down near the pneumatic tube like a vending machine. They sat down at a small, round table situated in the back of the basement and began to enjoy their first meal in Ancholtage, despite the strange circumstances.

“This sandwich is pretty good for something that just dropped out of a metal tube,” Brass commented as he studied the meal in front of him

“It tastes almost exactly like the ones they sell at this restaurant back in Ponyville,” Twilight said, reminiscing about her time in the small country town. Soon, they had both finished their dinner, and retreated to the bed.

“Oh Celestia this bed is comfortable,” Brass said after he lazily climbed onto the bed and sprawled all four legs outwards. Twilight’s response was to groan as her body sank slowly into the mattress, making her feel as if she was sleeping on a cloud, a pleasure only pegasi had. They both revelled in the comfortable bed, their aching legs soaking up most of the pleasure. It was not too much later that they had both drifted off into a deep sleep, beginning their stay in Ancholtage.

****

Hi there, everyone! I hope you enjoyed Chapter 6 of Metal & Magic! Anyways, I’d like to take this time to thank you guys for reading this story, and thank you even more if you follow the story. It means alot to me! Also, make to sure leave your thoughts in the comments, good or bad. Every bit helps!