Brass lifted the steaming mug of coffee to his lips, sipping from it. Sighing, he lowered it again as he continued to read his newspaper, sitting at his dining room table with an empty plate in front of him, having been cleared of its contents only minutes before.
He lived for peaceful mornings like this. He had ever since he’d “retired” from the guard at the ripe ol’ age of 35. In truth it hadn’t been his choice. After he was severely injured fighting Nightmare Moon just over a year before, both his parents and older sister insisted that he should find a different source of income. He argued with them for months on end before coming to a compromise. If they could find him a well-paying job close to home in Canterlot, he’d retire for good.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for them to find him a good job at a nearby hardware store that paid almost as much as being a guard did. So, just like he promised, he retired from the guard after only 11 years of service.
That wasn’t to say he didn’t like his new job. It was much more peaceful then being a guard, obviously, and as a bonus, he didn’t have to start work until eight. For a stallion who always woke up at 5:30 in the morning (Old habits die hard), that gave him plenty of time to get ready and really enjoy his morning.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Brass was brought out of his thoughts by the loud beeping of his alarm. Glancing up, he saw the time read 7:30. Time for him to head to work.
Quickly finishing up his coffee, he put the dishes in the sink and grabbed a small bag off the counter, which contained his lunch. Hitting the button on top of the alarm, he shut if off. Grabbing his keys and a small bag of bits, he swiftly left his apartment, locking the door behind him.
Stuffing his keys in his back pocket, he let his arms hand lazily by his side as he made his way to the set of stairs that lead to the first floor. However, his ears twitched as he heard the sound of a lock jingling and a door creaking open.
Glancing back, his gaze landed on the familiar form of his landmare, Dusty Trails. She was a pegasus, with dark green fur and a chocolate brown mane. Her hazel eyes were filled with delight as she waved at him.
“Morning Brass! Heading out to work?”
He grinned and nodded. “Yeah, just leaving right now. How are you doing Miss Trails?”
She gave him a deadpan look, though her lips were still pulled up in a smirk. “Brass, come on. How many times have I told you to call me by my first name?”
“Well, let's just say that if I had a bit for every time you’ve told me, I’d be the richest pony alive.”
She laughed. “Yeah, I guess so. And I’ll keep telling you until you finally do.”
“Well, I wait for the day. Anyways, it’s good to see ya, but I gotta get going. Bye!” He waved and continued walking.
“Wait!” She called, causing Brass to stop and look at her with a questioning expression.
“Yeah? What is it?”
“I, uh.” She seemed hesitant to reply. “I just wanted to ask if you’re, well, you’re doing anything later tonight?”
Brass put a finger to his chin in thought, mulling it over for a few moments before shaking his head. “No, I don’t think so. Why?”
“W-well, there’s a new restaurant that just opened up downtown and I wanted to check it out. I was wondering if you wanted to come with me?”
“You’re talking about Da Picco’s, right? That Prench restaurant?” He asked. She nodded. “Then heck yeah! I’ve been wanting to go there, but I could never find the time. I’ll be off work by four, so how does 5:30 work?”
She smiled. "Yep! Works good for me! See ya then!”
“See ya!” Brass responded, waving as he walked away from the mare and over to the stairs. Upon reaching the bottom, he walked over to the front door. Taking a deep breath, he stepped out into the early morning sun. Looking around, he started walking down the sidewalk, thinking nothing out of the ordinary would happen today.
* * * * *
It happened while he was at work.
He’d been re-stocking some shelves with supplies when it happened. It’d been a slow day, so the only ponies in the store at the time was Brass and his co-worker Echo. All of the sudden the ground began to rumble and the step-ladder Brass had been standing shook, nearly making him fall off. Quickly grabbing the shelf to stabilize himself, he jumped down and rushed to the front of the store to look out the front window.
What he saw made his jaw drop.
The barrier that had stood over Canterlot for the last few days was being attacked.
Hundreds, maybe over a thousand black creatures hovered over the shield as they attacked. Some shot bolts of magic, others slammed into it themselves.
“Changelings?” Brass muttered to himself, somewhat recognizing the black creatures.
For a moment, it looked like it was a fruitless endeavor. Like the shield would hold firm.
And then that moment ended.
All at once, the barrier collapsed. Brass watched in horror as the changelings descended upon Canterlot, magic blasts coming down like rain on a stormy night. The ground shook beneath him as the sound of many explosions, both far and near, filled his ears.
“What’s going on?!” He heard a nervous voice cry from his left. Turning, he saw a rather short unicorn, with light blue fur and a blonde mane. It was his co-worker, Echo.
“Echo, I need you to run to the break room. Go inside and barricade the door with anything you can. Don’t come out unless you’re absolutely sure the coast is clear, okay?”
Brass could see the confusion and worry in the unicorn’s gaze. But like a good employee, he didn’t question Brass. He just nodded and ran off.
Sighing, Brass took another look outside, into the chaos that was happening out there.
“What do I do? What do I do?” He muttered to himself as his mind raced. “For fucks sakes, what can I even do?” Another explosion, this one much closer than the rest, made him stumble slightly. Upon righting himself, he looked out again, just in time to see a platoon of Royal Guards fighting desperately in the street. A dozen or so of the changelings lay unmoving around them, but even more were still up, steadily overwhelming the small group of guards.
It was there, from inside the store, that Brass witnessed the guards, ponies he may have served and fought with at one time, die, one by one. The changelings, after finishing off the last guard, ran/flew off, presumably to kill more ponies.
For a small while, Brass could only stare at their unmoving bodies in disbelief. Then that disbelief transformed into anger. A righteous fury brewed in his gut against the creatures that had attacked his home without provocation and had killed ponies he may have once served with. It was then that he found the answer to his question.
“I’ll do the only thing I can do.”
He rushed towards the tool section of the store. After looking for only a few moments, he found what he was looking for. Lifting up the fire-axe, he inspected it for a second before nodding in satisfaction.
“I’ll fight.”
* * * * *
“Gah!!” Brass cried out in pain as he was slammed into the floor. Coughing, he looked up to see the changeling he was fighting about to stab a sword into his chest. Quickly rolling to the side, he managed to get back to his feet just in time for his opponent to swing his blade in a wide arc. Ducking underneath the attack, Brass quickly performed a sweeping kick, making them tumble to the floor and sending their sword skittering along the ground.
Looking around, Brass quickly found his axe, which had been knocked from his grasp when the changeling he was currently fighting had caught him off-guard. Picking it up, he rushed towards his opponent, who had just barely gotten back on their feet and was reaching for their sword.
Brass quickly put a stop to it by burying his axe-blade into the changelings head.
There was a wet ‘Crack!’ and a strange, green, slime-like blood shot out. The channeling, now with a good chunk of its brain cut in half, dropped to the ground with a dull thud. Brass swiftly pulled his axe free and wiped its blade clean from the green blood that now stained it. Sighing, he grimaced as pain flared up in his chest. Leaning against a nearby wall, he took a few deep breaths while he waited for the pain to calm down.
Eventually, the pain died down from ‘Excruciating’ to ‘Burns like Tarturus but still manageable.’ Standing up straight, he reaffirmed his grip on the fire-axe before poking his head out of the alleyway to check his surroundings.
It was chaos. Dozens of magic bolts flew through the air, some hitting buildings, some hitting changelings, and some hitting other ponies that may have been changelings anyway, but Brass wasn’t sure. The very ground he stood on shook beneath him as some rubble crashed into the cobblestone road in front of him.
Looking down the street, his gaze eventually landed on his target, Canterlot Castle. Now, he wasn’t exactly sure how or why this whole invasion had come to happen. What he did know was that the changelings were steadily succeeding. Canterlot needed the Princess’, but so far, he’d seen no sign of them. Brass had to get to the castle and find out what had happened.
And if he wanted to get there, he had to be sneaky. He was already hurt as it was, and he didn’t know what lay in wait for him at the castle, so he had to be prepared. So, after taking one last look at his surroundings, he ran off down the alley.
* * * * *
He’d only made it a few blocks before he was found. He’d been running/limping along when he’d heard the buzz of wings and a shout from above.
“Hey guys, we got a runner!”
Looking up, Brass quickly spied a trio of changelings quickly descending upon him. All three were lightly armored, two wielding swords while the last held a lance. They landed just in front of him while Brass quickly took a fighting stance, axe raised.
One of the changelings with a sword chuckled. “Oh, what do you think you’re gonna do with that old thing?”
“Kill you.” Brass responded, tone even.
“Oh really? Well, what makes you think you can do that?”
“I’ve already killed a small number of you with it, so what’s a few more?”
The changeling with the lance snarled before rushing forward and thrusting forward, trying to stab at Brass. Quickly side-stepping, he whirled around and swung his axe into his opponent’s unprotected thigh, causing them to scream out in pain. Pulling his weapon free, he swiftly kicked the bug over before turning to face the remaining changelings, only for his eyes to widen as he saw them both already jumping at him, swords raised overhead to strike.
Using the shaft of his axe, he managed to simultaneously deflect both attacks, pushing both of their swords to the side. Slamming the head of his axe into one of their faces, he pushed them aside before whirling around and ramming his axe-blade into the last changeling’s side, managing to bypass its armor. Using his foot, he pushed them off and back-pedaled to assess his situation.
The changeling with the lance was shakily getting to their feet, leg bleeding heavily. The changeling he’d smacked in the face was back on their feet, sword in hand. The last was still writhing in pain on the ground.
Rushing forward, Brass quickly blocked a sword strike before ramming the hilt of his axe into the changeling’s knee. Ignoring it’s cry of pain, the stallion pushed them aside just in time for the changeling with the lance to swing at him.
Ducking underneath the attack, he leapt forward, tackling his opponent. Knocking the lance from its hand, he yelled as he slammed his axe-hilt into the changelings head, repeatedly.
After the fourth, they stopped moving.
Breathing heavily, he continued to stare down at his unconscious opponent for a few moments before he heard movement behind him.
Whirling around, Brass saw the changeling he had pushed aside trying to get up. Moving over, he stomped his foot down on top of them, eliciting a sharp yell of pain. Leaning down, he pressed the blade of his axe against their neck. He wanted answers, and by Tarturus he was gonna get them.
“Why are you invading us?” He demanded. No response. Growling, he grabbed the back of their head and slammed it into the ground. “I won’t ask again! Why are you invading us!?”
“Because we must.” The changeling responded.
Brass’ eyes furrowed in confusion. “What the fuck does that mean?!”
They didn’t respond. Sighing, Brass rammed the axe-hilt into the back of their head. After ensuring the changeling really was unconscious, he quickly relieve the changeling of its sword and scabbard. Quickly tying it to his belt, he sheathed his new sword. He briefly considered taking some of their armor, but none of it looked like it would fit him all that well.
After throwing all three of the changelings into a nearby dumpster, he used some spare rope he’d found in said dumpster to tie it shut. Taking a deep breath, Brass readjusted the sword scabbard tied to his belt and ran off.
* * * * *
Brass rolled forward, dodging under a magic bolt that turned a nearby wall into a puddle of melting ooze. Getting back to his feet, he was forced to dodge again as another bolt nearly hit him. Rushing forward, he swung his axe hard, hoping to land a hit. Unfortunately, the changeling he was facing deflected the attack with their sword before swiping at him. Though he tried to dodge, the blade still managed to slash his left arm, making him cry out in pain. Stumbling backwards, he held his now injured arm against his body as he glared at his opponent, who now looked rather smug. Warm blood soaked his gray fur, dripping onto the floor.
“I gotta say,” It spoke, slowly approaching Brass. “After you took down those four guarding the front gates, I expected more of a challenge.”
You see, after fighting several more changelings and arriving at the front gates to Canterlot Castle, Brass found himself facing four more changelings. However, unlike the ones he’d taken down before, these ones were much more heavily armed. It’d been a tough fight, one where Brass had received his fair share of wounds and had nearly died more than a couple times, but he’d eventually managed to defeat them.
But now, he was getting his ass handed to him. And there was only one of them!
“*Huff* Suck my *cough*, dick.” He spoke in a pained tone.
“Well aren’t you a rude one.” The changeling spoke as their horn lit up and a magical wave of fire blasted at him. Brass didn’t even have a chance to dodge, barely managing to put his arms in front of his face as the blast hit him head on.
Do you know what it’s like to get burned? Have you ever accidentally touched a still-hot iron, or stuck your hand just a little too close to the fire? Now, take the pain you felt at initial contact, multiply it by 100 and spread it all over your upper body. That was the kind of pain Brass felt only moments after the spell hit him. He could feel the fur on his arms, chest and face smoke and burn. He felt could feel the skin underneath blister. It was, well, safe to say you never want to know how it feels.
Luckily, like most fire spells, the flames quickly dispersed, but by then, the damage was done.
“AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” He shouted in agony as he was blown backwards, hitting the ground back-first and flipping over onto his stomach. There, he lay twitching in agony, trying to keep from crying out again.
Though it was faint, he heard the sound of footsteps as the changeling slowly approached his prone form. “Ouch. That looked like it hurt. Well, no matter. As long as your breathing, you should still provide a good meal or two.”
Brass, despite the pain, willed himself to look up slightly. The changeling had stopped directly in front of him, no more than a foot away. Perfect. The stallion grit his teeth in both agony and anger.
Before the changeling could react, Brass’ arms shot forward, gripping both of its legs. Pulling, he sent them tumbling onto their back with a surprised yell. Not waiting for a moment, Brass kicked off the ground as he lunged forward haphazardly, hurriedly grabbing the changeling's horn. He slammed their head against the floor. This dazed the changeling, whose pale eyes now had a slightly glazed look. But Brass wasn’t done. He repeated the action again. Then again. And again and again until he heard a dull cracking sound and he saw the same lime-green ooze pouring from the back of its head, coating the floor beneath him. Once he saw that, he finally released the now dead changelings horn before stumbling backwards and falling onto his back, biting his lip hard in order to keep from crying out.
The sudden movement had seriously irritated his fresh burn wounds, and with the adrenaline wearing off, the pain was coming back full force.
Eventually, he managed to get up. After all, nothing would change if he just gave up. Stumbling over the fallen changeling, he sat against the stone wall and tore some cloth off of his shirt to use as make-shift bandages for his arms and chest, which had taken the worst of the spell’s effects.
After applying them as best as he could without cringing and biting his lip in pain, he picked up his fire axe, which had been thrown from his grip mid-battle and continued on. He left the sword he’d stolen from that one changeling behind. It hadn’t been of any use to him so far, and he didn’t want to have to carry the extra weight.
“Hurry, this way!!” He heard a shout from somewhere in front of him. Brass froze, fearing that more changelings were coming for him. Looking around, his stomach sunk when he realized that he had nowhere to hide. Groaning, he raised his axe and painfully got into a battle stance.
A few moments later, he saw, much to his surprise, three Royal Guards, clad in their traditional gold-painted iron armor. But Brass’ eyes narrowed as a thought came to his head.
‘Changelings could have easily stolen that armor. Better make sure they’re actual Royal Guards.’
The trio, consisting of two earth ponies and a unicorn, seemed to be discussing something as they ran, not even noticing Brass until they had gotten rather close to him. Their eyes widened in surprise when they saw the lifted axe and the charred stallion holding it.
“Whoa, whoa, what the buck are you..?” One of them began to ask.
“P-princess Celestia’s nickname among the Royal Guard, w-what is it?” Brass demanded.
Though they looked confused for a moment, understanding soon filled their expressions as they finally understood why he had asked.
“It’s Princess Sunbutt. And Luna is Princess Moonbutt.” The lead earth pony spoke in a deep voice.
His simple answer filled Brass with relief. He knew that only those who’d been in the Royal Guard for a number of years would know that name. It was a closely guarded secret among the guard, one that many were not privy to. There was simply no way any changeling could know it, unless they’d been disguised as a Royal Guard for years, but Brass doubted that could happen. Surely any changeling that tried it would be found out eventually.
Brass let out a sigh of relief, letting his arms fall to his sides. “Oh thank Celestia. I thought you were all ch-changelings. Good th-thing you’re not, because I'm not in any shape to put up much of a f-fight.” He chuckled, only to wince in pain as the movement irritated his injuries slightly.
“What the buck happened to you?” The unicorn guard asked. While it was hard to tell with all the armor, the feminine tone of voice revealed it was a mare. Brass gestured to the changeling corpse behind him.
“That b-bucker shot me with a fire spell. I couldn’t dodge it in t-time.”
“Yeesh, that looks bad.” The lead earth pony commented before turning to the unicorn. “Hey, Blue, can you fix him up?”
She hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I can do it.” Walking over, she kneeled down next to Brass. “Now hold still please. You may feel a slight tingle, but that’s it.”
He chuckled, then winced again. “W-well, better than the burning agony I’m feeling right now.”
She didn’t respond, instead closing her eyes in concentration as her horn lit up with a pinkish glow. Moments later, Brass felt a warm tingle spread throughout his body. The pain disappeared. The singed and blackened fur on his arms and chest healed. The burning sensation slowly died away.
Eventually the sensation faded, just as the unicorn’s magic did. Blue’s horn died down and her eyes opened. For a brief moment, she smiled at him, and Brass did at her. Then her eyes fluttered and she collapsed. Brass barely managed to catch her in time before she fell. Her fellow guards each gave shouts of concern as they looked her over.
“Damn.” One of them spoke. “She overused her magic.”
“But she’ll be okay, right?” The other guard asked with a nervous tone.
Brass nodded. “Yeah, she’ll be alright. She just needs time to rest. Unfortunately, time is something we don’t have a lot of.”
“No kidding.”
Brass looked over at the two guards with a determined expression. “Look, you two need to take her and get the buck out of here.” Both of their gazes snapped to look at him in shock.
“What!?” They both exclaimed simultaneously.
Brass continued. “Look, I know this may be going against everything you know as a guard, believe me, I took the same oath as you. But you need to run. Just run and don’t look back. Warn every part of Equestria that isn’t taken over that Canterlot has fallen. Tell them to prepare for battle.”
“But we can still fight!!” The slightly shorter earth pony stated fiercely. “We can still beat them!”
Brass gave the guard a deadpan expression. “How in Equestria could we possibly defeat an entire army?”
“The Queen.”
Brass and the guard turned to look at the other guard. “What? What are you talking about?”
The guard explained. “Look, I’ve been reading up a lot on the different races that live in and around Equestria for my little brother. He’s been trying to write a fantasy novel and asked me if I could help him. Of course, I said yes. Anyways, from what I’ve read, all changeling hives have a queen, who rules and cares for the hive.”
“Okay, but how does that help us?” Brass questioned.
“As long as she’s alive, the changelings have hope, and will continue to fight. So, if what I read was actually correct, if you take out the queen, the army will give up. Hopefully.”
“So basically, cut the head off the snake, the body dies.” Brass summarized.
“Cut the head off of anything it dies.” The shorter guard beside him muttered.
“Except hydras.” He shot back. The guard glared at him. “Anyways, so we just have to kill their queen and we win, right?” A nod. “Great, now how do we find this Queen?”
“We don’t have to. We already know where she is.”
“Where?”
“She’s in the throne room, where she took down Princess Celestia and most of their guards. Me and Blitz were the only two to escape.”
Brass’ jaw hung open in shock at what he’d just heard. To think that somepony, no, something, had taken down a literal goddess, well, it made his stomach sink even more than it already had.
“Shit.”
“That’s putting it lightly.” The earth pony guard spoke, voice resigned.
Brass fell back against the wall, sliding down until he hit the floor. Sighing, he rubbed a hand against his face before looking at the two guards.
“We need a plan.”
* * * * *
Queen Chrysalis had won. And she made sure to let every creature in the room know it. She stood over the Sun Princess’s unconscious from, laughing maniacally in glee. It had taken many years of planning, but she had finally fulfilled her dream. She had overtaken Canterlot. With it, she and her subjects would never again starve for the love they so desperately needed to survive.
She could taste the terror in the room. It didn’t taste good, but it didn’t matter. If the ponies refused to give up their love, her subjects would simply take it from them.
She sauntered over to a purple unicorn by the name of Twilight Sparkle, her black dress trailing behind her. Twilight glared at her with such intensity that for a moment, Chrysalis actually felt scared for a moment. But then that moment passed. She smirked down at her, blue-green eyes glowing with amusement.
“Oh, what is it, Twilight Sparkle? Feeling angry at how easily I defeated your mentor?”
“You only won because you’ve been feeding on Shining’s love for Cadence!!” She yelled, hugging the injured form of Princess Cadence close. Cadence gently grabbed Twilight’s shoulder and shook her head.
“Please, Twilight, don’t. Don’t make it any worse.” The alicorn coughed, wincing in pain as she did so.
Chrysalis' grin only grew bigger. “Ah, that I did Twilight. And now, you and your kind will feed my subjects for a long, long time. We will never go hungry again!” She exclaimed victoriously, with every single changeling in the room following up with a similar shout of victory.
“Oh really?!!!” A voice shouted from the room entrance. Chrysalis' gaze snapped in the direction the voice had come from, eyebrow raising in confusion.
Much to her shock, a single gray stallion was slowly walking into the room, his deep green eyes slightly hidden behind a black mane. In his hands was a simple fire-axe.
“Because I think I speak for everypony when I say that you can suck it!!”
She glared at the stallion. “And just who are you?”
“My name is Brass, Queen Swiss Cheese!! And I’m here to kick your ass!!”
Every changeling in the room growled at the blatant insult towards their queen. Chrysalis, however, was intrigued. This random stallion, wielding nothing but an axe, had just walked in and insulted her in front of a few dozen of her best soldiers.
“And what makes you think you can ever even touch me?” She inquired, smirking.
“I don’t know. Luck, I guess?”
She gave him a deadpan expression. “Luck.” She repeated flatly. “Seriously? You’re depending on luck?”
Brass grinned. “Well, it's gotten me this far.”
Chrysalis gave him a critical look. “Hmm. It seems you are right. However, it seems your luck has run out. You will fall, just like the rest of your kind. My subjects!!!” They all stood at attention, awaiting her orders. She pointed a finger at Brass. “Kill him.”
They needed no further encouragement. All at once, three dozen heavily armed changelings began marching towards Brass, horns glowing and weapons at the ready. Thinking quickly, Brass said the first thing that came to his mind.
“I’d like to propose a challenge!"
Chrysalis looked at him with narrowed eyes. After thinking for a few moments, she held up her hand and the changelings stopped their advancing. Slowly, she approached him.
“Brass, was it?” He nodded. “I won’t lie, I’m intrigued. What exactly did you have in mind?”
Brass took a deep breath. “A one-on-one fight. Me vs. you. If I win, you and every single one of your subjects must leave this land, and never come back.”
“Hmm. And what do I get when I win?”
Brass decided to ignore that fact that she said ‘when’ "If you win, you get me.”
Chrysalis smirked. “Ah, but I already have you, right here and now. With but a single word I could have you captured.”
He nodded, expression strangely calm. “You’re right, you can. But I promise you this, I will kill as many changelings as I can before I get taken down. I’m sure you don’t want that. So how about it?”
She growled slightly at his declaration before nodding. “Fine then, I suppose.” She turned to look at the white-furred stallion that stood behind her, his blue mane brushed back and eyes glowing green. “Shining, if you would, please watch over our captives. Make sure they don’t try anything.”
Shining nodded, the motions looking very stiff, before going to stand next to a small group of mares at the front of the room. One of the mares, a purple unicorn, was holding a mare that Brass recognized as Princess Cadence close, staring at him with shock in her eyes. He shot her a small grin and gave her a look that said, ‘Don’t worry, it’s gonna be okay.’
“Ahem.” Chrysalis cleared her throat loudly, causing Brass to look back at the changeling queen. His eyes widened as he saw a lime-green bolt of magic shooting at him. Reacting as quick as he could, he leapt to the side, managing to dodge the explosion that occurred only moments later. Shooting to his feet, he readied his axe as he glared at Chrysalis.
“Dick move, bitch.” Rushing forward, he swung his axe at her, only to be intercepted by a glowing shield. It pushed forward, sending Brass stumbling back. Regaining his footing, he tried to attack, but was forced to leap back when a sword was magicked into existence and swung at him, nearly cutting his arm off. Brass swung hard, managing to knock the sword away before rushing forward, swinging at Chrysalis with all his might.
She blocked the attack with ease, summoning a shield that his axe merely bounced off of. Before he could react, she smacked him hard with said shield, sending him flying through the air and landing hard on the ground.
Groaning, he coughed a few times as he got to his feet. Wiping some blood from his mouth, he lifted his axe and rushed towards his opponent, yelling a mighty battle cry and throwing his axe at her.
Eyes widening, she summoned a shield, which easily blocked the attack. However, that was Brass’ intention. Going into a slide, he kicked her hard in the back of the leg, making her fall to one knee. Shooting to his feet, he threw two hard punches, both of which caught her square in the face before finishing with solid knee to the torso, which made her stumble back.
Growling, she launched a barrage of magic blasts at him, making him take cover behind a flipped over table. After a good thirty seconds, the barrage ended, allowing Brass to peek over the table edge. He saw Chrysalis standing a short distance from him, slowly approaching his position. Behind her on the ground was his axe. Ducking back down again, he sighed before readying himself. Picking up the table, he launched it at her with all of his strength before rushing towards his fallen weapon.
Caught off-guard, Chrysalis couldn’t block the table from slamming into her, knocking her to the ground with a dull thud. Groaning, more in frustration than pain, she glared at Brass, who now held his fire-axe in a battle stance. She got back to her feet, taking a moment to brush herself off before speaking.
“I must say, you are far more troublesome than I first suspected.”
“Thanks.” He responded.
Her glare only grew in intensity. “That wasn’t a compliment.”
He smirked. “If I’m annoying you, than yeah, it is.”
Growling, she fired off a powerful wind spell, sending him flying backwards and landing painfully on his stomach. Rushing forward, she didn’t give him a chance to recover, pulling him up and sending a powerful punch straight to his face, followed up by a near bone-breaking kick to his back, sending him rolling. Coming to a stop, he groaned and got back to his feet, holding his side in pain with one arm and the axe in the other.
'Come on guys, I'm running out of time here.' He thought, teeth grit as he tried to come up with a plan.
Rushing forward, he ducked under a magic bolt. Hitting her head in the stomach with the head of the axe, he whirled around, hoping to land a heavy hit on her side. Unfortunately, she managed to summon a shield in time to block the second attack, making the axe bounce off. Brass stumbled back, then was hit with another wind spell that sent him flying. Upin hitting the ground, he tried to get back to his feet, only to be picked up by his shirt and punched hard in the stomach before being thrown across the room, slamming hard into the ground back-first.
He coughed, spitting up blood. Rolling onto his stomach, he tried to get back to his feet, only for his knees to buckle beneath him, sending him back to the floor. Pressing a hand against the ground, he struggled to get back up.
“You know, I am curious. What did you possibly hope to accomplish?” He heard Chrysalis ask from behind him. “You can never defeat me.”
He groaned. "Yeah. I know." Trying his best to ignore the agony coursing through his body, he pushed himself to his feet before turning to look at Queen Chrysalis, bruises and scrapes covering his face.
Suddenly there came a shout, one so deep and mighty that the very ground beneath him shook. "CHRYSALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Brass already knew who it was. That type of shout belonged to only one alicorn. Princess Luna. It looked like the two guards had been successful in rousing the Lunar Princess from her sleep, just like they'd planned.
He grinned at Chrysalis. "But she can."
The next thing he knew, something behind him blew up with an impressive force, sending him rolling and Queen Chrysalis stumbling back. Upon stopping, he saw Princess Luna, in all her nightly glory, at the entrance to the throne room, with no less than several dozen Night Guards beside her, all armed to the teeth.
Her eyebrows were furrowed in anger. "Thou hast made a grave error attacking our ponies, Chrysalis. We will make thou pay." Her horn glowed with an intense blue light. Chrysalis' horn glowed as well as she readied herself for a fight. Then the two launched themselves at each other, fists pulled back and faces determined.
Brass wasn't entirely sure what happened next. Maybe he succumbed to his injuries or maybe he got hit by some rubble or something. Either way, the next thing he knew, everything went black.
* * * * *
Brass opened his eyes. His haze was immediately met by the sight of a white ceiling.
Blinking in confusion, he tried to sit up, only to instantly regret it when pain shot through his torso, making him wince as he clutched his chest. Taking a few deep breaths, he waited for a few moments before trying again. This time, he managed to sit up and look around.
He was in a hospital room. He'd been injured enough times during his time as a Royal Guard to recognize the strange stench of bleach and bad food anywhere.
Coughing, he looked himself over. Bandages wrapped around his chest, giving him a slight mummy-esque look. An I.V. drip was connected to his left arm, which was also covered in bandages. Besides that, he seemed relatively fine.
"Which is surprising, considering who I fought. She wasn't a queen because she was weak, that's for sure." He muttered to himself.
The door to the room opened, breaking Brass free from his thoughts. Looking up, he saw a tan-ish Brown unicorn stallion walk in, wearing a lab coat and scrubs.
The stallions eyes were looking down at a clipboard when he'd entered, so he didn't even notice that Brass was awake until he spoke.
"Uh, who are you, exactly?"
The newcomers gaze snapped upwards in shock, clearly not expecting Brass to already be awake.
"Oh! You're awake!"
Brass nodded. "Yup. Now, who are you?"
"I'm Doctor Defib. I was the one who took care of you after you were brought in."
"Well thanks for taking care of me, Doc. So, I take it we won the battle?"
Define smiled, but his expression seemed a bit sad. "I'm assuming you mean the Changeling Invasion four days ago? Yeah, we won, but we lost a lot of ponies before we did."
"Yeah. Yeah, we did." Brass agreed in a somber tone, memories of the fallen guards bodies replaying in his head.
The two were silent for a short time before Defib finally cleared his throat. "But anyway, since you're awake, there's some things in your medical information I need to ask about. Can we do it now, or do you need time to rest before we start?"
"Nah, I'm good to do it now. What do ya got?"
"Uh, first off. Your name is Brazen Feather, correct?"
He nodded. "Yeah, but most ponies just call me Brass for short."
"Good. Now, you 35 years old, you live in an apartment complex on Clover street ran by one Ms. Dusty Trails and you are a retired guard, correct?"
"Yup."
"Okay, one last thing. It has you labeled as a pegasus, but since you don't have any wings on you, I'm assuming that was just a mis…"
"No, you're right. I am a pegasus." He answered honestly. Doc Defib gave him a confused glance.
"But then where are…?"
Brass shrugged. "Lost them a while back. You can still see the scars on my back from where they used to be."
The doctor gave him a horrified look. "W-what? What happened to you?"
Brass thought for a moment before responding. "I bit off more than I could chew. Let's leave it at that."
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t…”
Brass smiled and waved the doctor off. “Nah, it’s fine. I’ve had plenty of time to come to grips with it. Anyways, how soon can I get out of here. I never really like hospitals.”
“Well, since your more serious injuries are already healed, you can leave whenever you feel up to it. I suggest taking it easy for the next few days, though.”
Brass chuckled. “You got it, doc.”
* * * * *
Brass sighed as he walked, keeping his eyes to the sidewalk. While he did feel relatively fine, he found that despite being asleep for four days, he felt tired.
“But, once I get home, I can sleep for a long as I want. I think I’ve at least earned that.” He muttered to himself. Hands in pockets, he continued on, gaze not leaving the ground.
However, something soon popped into his vision. It was a newspaper, laying slightly crumpled on the ground. He was just going to ignore it, but something on the front page caught his eye. Picking it up, he straightened out the paper to look, only for his eyes to widen in surprise.
It was a picture of him. More specifically, it was a picture of him charging at Chrysalis, axe pulled back for a swing and face set with determination. The picture seemed to have been taken from a distance and from behind cover, since part of the image was obscured by some sort of pillar or column.
“How did somepony even get this?” Brass muttered to himself.
Gaze trailing downwards, he read the article below it.
“... but when all hope seemed lost, an unknown earth stallion appeared. Wielding nothing but an axe, he challenged the queen to a fight. If he won, her and her entire army would have to leave. After a few moments of deliberation, she accepted and their fight began.
The stallion was at a severe disadvantage. Being an Earth pony, he had no magic at his disposal, while his opponent had plenty to spare. During the fight he took many hits, but despite this he continued to fight with everything he had, refusing to give up.
Unfortunately, as you may have guessed, he was unable to defeat Queen Chrysalis. Lying broken and injured on the ground, he managed to get up, informing his opponent that he knew he could never beat her. This confused the queen, as well as the ponies nearby and myself.
It was then that a thunderous shout was heard, rumbling the very ground with its power. It shouted only one word. The Queens name.
Only moments later, Princess Luna appeared, with no less than four dozen of her guards with her. The Lunar Princess charged at Queen Chrysalis, horn glowing bright, and their fight began.
-Story continues on Page 8”
Brass continued to stare at the newspaper for a few seconds before shrugging.
“Well, that explains why I was getting all of those weird looks on my way out of the hospital.” He muttered to himself, folding up the paper and tucking it under his arm. He’d read the rest of it later, after he’d gotten home and slept, of course.
After about half-an-hour of walking, he finally made it back to his apartment complex. Opening the door, he walked inside. Looking around, he found the lobby strangely empty.
“Where’s Dusty?” He mumbled, looking around in confusion. Eventually, he just shrugged and continued on up the stairs and to his room. Fishing out his keys, which he’d been lucky enough not to lose, he unlocked his door and was about to step inside, when he suddenly heard the sound of a door opening down the hall. Glancing to the side, his eyes widened in joy when he saw Dusty exiting her room, a sad expression on her face as she looked down at the floor.
“Hey Ms. Trails. How are you doing?” He called, waving.
Her head snapped to look at him at almost unnatural speeds, eyes widening in surprise and shock. Her mouth dropped open.
“Brass?” She questioned, disbelief in her voice as she slowly approached him. He nodded.
“Yeah, I’m back. Sorry it took me so long, but as you know, hospitals are really…whoa!”
He was interrupted as Dusty threw her arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug as she began to bawl into his shoulder. Though he was caught off-guard by the sudden action, he knew the only thing he could do was return the hug and just let her cry. He did the same thing when he sister had visited him in the hospital after he’d lost his wings.
He wasn’t sure how long they were like that, but eventually, her cries died down to small sniffles. Her arms refused to let go, however, so Brass didn’t either.
“Are you okay?” He winced the moment that the words left his mouth because of course she wasn’t okay! What was he, stupid?!
She murmured for a moment, then nodded slightly. “Yeah. Yeah, I-I’m okay. It’s just.” She let out a small shuddering sigh before continuing. “I-I was worried when you didn’t come b-back after the invasion, and then I-I saw the newspaper, and knew something bad had happened to you. It, it took me a while, but I eventually found out where you were staying. But when I saw y-you, you just looked so hurt, bandaged up like you were. I-I just…”
Brass gently shushed her. “I got it. Sorry for worrying you, Dusty.”
She shook her head. “It’s fine, I just…” She stopped and looked up at him, eyes red and eyebrows furrowed. “Y-you called me by my first name.”
He shrugged, smirking down at her. “Eh, what can I say. I’m full of surprises.”
“Can’t agree more, Mr. Tried-to-fight-a-super-powerful-being-with-a-fire-axe.”
He chuckled and rubbed his arm in embarrassment. “Okay, so not my best idea by far, but hey, it worked out, didn’t?”
“Yeah, I guess it did.” A pause. Then she squeezed him a little tighter. “Don’t do something like that again. Please. I don’t want to lose you too.”
Brass’ smile faded slightly. “I won’t, trust me. And sorry for worrying you. How about I make it up to you?”
She looked up at him with a questioning expression. “What did you have in mind?”
“Well, if I remember correctly, you and I were supposed to go to that fancy restaurant before all that invasion craziness happened. How about we go tonight? My treat.”
She smiled softly and nodded. “Yeah. That sounds great.”
“Cool. How does around five sound?”
She nodded. “Works for me.” Nodding in response, Brass stepped back, gently breaking the hug. Waving once more to her, he turned to walk back to his apartment. Dusty’s voice, however, stopped him.
“Hey Brass?”
He turned around. “Yeah? What is…?”
She kissed him.
It only lasted a moment, more a peck on the lips than an actual kiss, but it hit Brass like a ton of bricks. Dusty stepped back and giggled slightly at his confused and flustered expression.
“See ya at five.” She winked at him, before walking back to her room, the door shutting behind her. Brass stood frozen in the hallway for a while, trying to figure out what the hay had just happened. Finally, he managed to say the only word he could think of.
“Wow.”
Grinning like an idiot, he walked back over to his door. Unlocking it fully, he withdrew his keys and stuffed them in his pocket. Taking one last look at the door to Dusty’s room, he sighed happily, then shut the door behind him.
Author's Note
This story is a little bit different from my usual stuff. I wanted to expand my horizons, see how it turns out.
To those who care, A Crafter's Dream will be updated pretty soon.
Anyways, thank you all for reading and be sure to let me know what you all think in the comments