Bronze Tiara

Chapter one

“How did I survive that…” Bronze asked herself for probably the dozenth time that day.

Still having a clear view of her crashed airship off in the distance, the metal coat for which she was aptly named found itself stained with all the dirt and grime from her journey. Not that her jet-black mane or tail faired any better, but all things considered, she could have wound up a lot worse considering what she managed to pull.

In her final act before impact, what little magic remained in her horn was just enough to get her off the ship and on to the ground. Although, softly didn’t happen to be a word in that scenario. With her wings clipped, and working as a tripod on a taloned limb that had been beaten and put through the ringer. Bronze still found a way to get out of the initial impact and inside the capital of Seren, all to deliver a simple memento to the one that bested her in the end.

The trip in and out had taken longer than she’d expected, even with everything working against her. Pure determination was the mares’ gift, one that few could measure up to. If she had a goal, Bronze would beat herself to a pulp to meet it. Just like she had in the years leading up to these last few months.

A simple ambition was all that kept her going for years as she put her plans into motion. With the felling of a king, and a chief as well, it seemed at first, she might succeed. Had it not been for one other, and yet even as she was cast from her pedestal. The mare still had to respect the feat that he accomplished.

In one move, her dream had literally crashed and burned, but the seeds of which she’d sewn were already in place. With her eyes now starting to get sore from the lack of rest, the mare shook her head and turned towards the forest as she started her trek in to the unknown.

Something far easier said, than done.

Tripping over a tree root only a dozen yards into the line of foliage, and without another limb to catch her. Bronze quickly got up close and personal with the ground as she rolled down a hill, leading her just to stare aimlessly up at the night sky overhead. If she was going to go anywhere now in life, one thing was certain.

“I’m gonna need to patch myself up,” she said to herself while pushing back up to her limbs, and noted the change in the temperature as she walked. Whatever it was, Bronze knew she was going to be in for a long night.

***

Thunder cracked overhead as the various flashed lit up the sky for a few seconds at a time. Bronze managed to huddle herself against the base of a tree for the night with only a few branches that had broken off as cover while she had stacked them tightly, hoping they’d at least provide something close to a shelter for the night while she stored some of her energy.

For all her calculating, all her knowledge and creations, somehow wilderness survival never found itself higher on her list of skills to learn over the years. A fact Bronze resented, while some of the rain that started to pour seeped between the wood above.

She had always had someplace to sleep at, even in her later years the resourceful mare made something out of nothing. An abandoned shack, a cave free of wildlife, or an old mine long spent of its ore. Bronze had always taken the punches in stride. However, now with quite literally nothing, she stared at her only functioning fore limb and tried to put her mind to something she was familiar with.

Scolding herself.

“How could I have been so stupid,” Bronze mentally slapped herself at her overlooking of such a simple factor, “it was just a few gems, and it cost me everything.” Now the hardest part would be trying to find not only a place to rebuild herself, but also the resources to do it.

A snap of a branch brought the mares attention quickly to the entrance of her simple lean-to, and she waited for whatever it was to peer out of the dimming light. There scurrying inside stood a small a squirrel, just trying to get out of the rain as she did. Reaching out a talon to the critter, Bronze watched at it reeled back at first, unsure of the unusual appendage that approached it.

“Easy there…” she smiled at the creature softly, as it took her mind off everything else in her head, “I don’t bite.”

With a curious snout stuck out, the nostrils on the squirrel flared open slightly as it tried to take in her sent and smell the talons. With nothing there to fear, it headbutted the claw, rubbing its brow underneath it as it used the surface to scratch itself. Bronze just simpered and chuckled to herself, such a simple little encounter, and yet it can lift the spirts in a way-

The fangs of another animal latched on to the squirrel from the shadows, and without so much as a peep, the rodent found itself as ones’ late-night snack.

Bronze shot back against the tree, keeping her eyes peeled at the opening. Soon enough she heard the snarl from the creature, as a wolf poked its head through and stared at her, fresh blood and fur dripping from its mouth.

By reflex the mare whipped her forehoof, trying to bring out her hidden weapon to dispatch it. As realization dawned on her that limb was long gone, and the stump would be about as useful as a club to a mountain.

“Oh, damn it,” she muttered as the wolf jumped at her.

Latching down on her other limb, the predator crunched down on her metal limb and tried to rip it off. Though to its own surprise the mare remained firmly attached to her leg, as it thrashed left and right. Bronze wrapped her hind legs around the barrel of the wolf, keeping it from getting too much leverage against her.

With her now gripping it, and its mouth busy. The front claws tore wildly in to the night, trying to strike at her, and that they did. Adding on to her growing list of injuries, Bronze felt the fresh blood of her own running down her chest as the claws found their mark. With a final whip of its neck, the mare was tossed through her crude shelter out against the forest floor. As she looked up from a newly bruised face to the wolf staring her down.

Crackling of twigs off to her side quickly grabbed her attention, as her ears perked up, and found two more coming out of the woods to assist a member of their pack. Weighing her chances now more than ever, Bronze made the call and started to back petal, keeping the three in her view. With slow steps they approached, taking their time with their kill.

Something Bronze was all too happy for as it gave her a chance, ‘This is bad…’ she mentally told herself, doing some quick math on how likely it would be for her to out run them. Failing that equation, she had no other option given the situation and decided to use a some equines’ great equalizer.

Magic.

With a quick flash from her horn, a bolt of ice leeched towards one wolf and struck it in the chest. Dropping it even quicker than the spell was cast. Using that distraction to her advantage, Bronze darted out in to the woods as she beckoned her legs to carry her further and further. Running she found easier in the forest than walking, as she almost glided across the ground in leaps and bounds. Yet as she made great strides the sound of paws grew close to her heels, and Bronze saw one branch hanging low enough for her to use.

Leaping in the air, she used her weight to snap the thicker branch off as she grasped it with her talon. In one fluid move, and a twist, the heavily soaked branch found itself careening in to the skull of the wolf as it tried to close in for a quick kill. While it may have not been enough to dispatch it like the spell was, that hit at least dazed it enough for Bronze to continue on her way trying to lose them.

Hearing the running of water off in the distance, she made her way towards it and found a river below her from the edge of a short cliff with the other side not too far away. Looking behind her, she could make out the silhouette of the wolf as it tore towards her. Bronze scanned along the bank as she ran, seeing a stroke of luck in front of her in the form of a natural bridge made from a fallen tree.

Grasping on to the trunk with her talons for support, Bronze felt it wobble and slowed to a crawl, just as she felt it tremble even more. Looking over her shoulder the wolf had gotten the same idea and tried to join her to get across and continue the chase, as it yearned for a much-deserved meal after the effort.

Bronze planted her limbs on the ground and immediately started bucking the dead weight with her hind legs, watching as the soaked and rotting log started to give way after each and every kick. With wider eyes the wolf scampered closer to her side, but just a hair too late.

A final buck dislodged the tree and it fell in to the river below, the wolfs’ front paws barely scratched the side of the cliff before it tumbled in with it. Bronze looked over the edge at the water below, sure that it hadn’t actually killed the creature in the end, but it wasn’t anywhere close to her now. Another snarl greeted her, and there a long leap away stood the one with the smashed muzzle.

It couldn’t make the leap on its own. The wolf knew it, and so did she. All the canine could do was stand and bare its teeth to the pony that bested it. As all Bronze could do was glower at the creature for a moment before turning her back to the river, and heading back into the forest.

Taking stock of her situation now again, Bronze looked around and noticed that the rain still hadn’t let up, as she kept her eyes peeled at some of the trees around her. While there may have been lightning in the area still off in the distance, the mare reasoned that being struck by lightning would be a better way to go than being torn to shreds by fangs.

Carefully pulling herself up amongst the branches of a pine. Bronze braced herself as she lounged across the evenly spaced limbs, trying her best to distribute her weight and make herself comfortable to for the night as best she can, if only to get an hour or two of sleep.

Counting her blessings for the night, Bronze gently touched the wounds along her chest as they still seeped small amounts of blood that washed away on her talons. “I’m a mess…” she held her talon to the wound, hoping that it would stop by morning and she wouldn’t bleed out in her sleep.

Yet, even with her plans crushed, blood dripping along her body, having not eaten in days, and only having water a few sips at a time from the rain as it would pool, the mare still found a way to smirk in all this. Reaching in to the inside pockets of her cloak, but one thing took up the space inside.

A hammer, the simplest tool in any crafts bench, yet one that held so much weight for this mare.

“Not the worst I’ve been before…” she hugged the handle close to her chest and with that, Bronze let the sweet embrace of the night take her forever how long it decided to hold.

***

Whatever hours had passed during the night, to the mare it only felt as if minutes had been gifted to her to rest on. Within the pleasant grasp of her slumber Bronze found little comfort in her position, all she could do was try and enjoy the bliss of having gotten probably the first real nights’ sleep in a long time. While she moved about to make herself as comfortable as possible across her timber mattress.

Until gravity decided it’s time to wake up.

Tossing just a little too much in her sleep, those shimmering eyes snapped open and before her talon could gain purchase, Bronze found herself hitting what seemed like every branch on the way down. Quickly meeting soil with her muzzle, the taste of dirt coated her lips. She took only a few minutes there to sigh, and level with herself that this is what the foreseeable future will be like.

“I hate this feeling…” Bronze grumbled, still able to feel the phantom pains in her shoulder from where her wings once fused to her own form. However, a feeling of helplessness wasn’t foreign to the mare, it had just been a while sense she’d been this low in life.

Fighting to her hooves, the mare steadied herself as her joints cried out from the awkward position she slumber through the night in. With a quick stretch though, Bronze stabilized herself on all fours… or at least threes for now. Looking over those wounds from the previous day, she’s glad to see they had stopped bleeding, and didn’t seem to open up somehow from her fall this morning.

Unsure still where to go, Bronze looked around the area and listened to the water flowing. Rationalizing that there must be a sort of town or village along the water, she started to walk her way along it, hoping not to run in to her same visitors from the night prior. Looking up, the sky still carried that thick cloud overcast it’d had earlier. As she smelled the moisture within as it brushed around her in a breeze.

“More rain on its way,” she muttered to only herself, as she tried to think how long she was out and how much daylight there was left.

Between getting in and out of the capital, making her way through the woods, and having to expel more of her energy during the fight last night. Bronzes’ joints all felt about as lifeless as her horn. Touching the end of it with her remaining talon, Bronze could feel the dwindling reserves she had remaining, especially after the wolf encounter. There wouldn’t be too much fight left in her if she didn’t find something to top her off, and soon.

A steady clank off to her side drew her attention away from that predicament, and the hollowness within her gut. While normally that noise one would have probably mistaken for a piece of machinery, out in the woods that seemed far less likely.

Staying on her hooves, Bronze hugged the ground as she started to creep over the various tree trunks and roots that had fallen over time or protruded out the ground, providing her at least some cover. Getting closer to the sound as it marched on, the mare could only make but one certainty.

It was getting louder.

Poking an eye over the edge of a dirt mound covered in moss, Bronze watched as a squad of ponies in full armor marched stoically through the forest. Spears and short swords at the ready, she was more than familiar with the armaments they donned. After all, she armed them herself… hell, she’d created them.

Any other would have thought a group of ponies had lost their way during a morning drill, but the mare knew better. The way they walked, the armor they wore, and the soulless void in their visors would have stricken fear in the hearts of any at the end of their sword. All the clear signs to the mare that this wasn’t some of Graces’ lackies off on a stroll. No, it was a group of her own automatons.

Knowing their abilities, and their weaknesses. The scale in her mind swayed back and forth, before steadily falling in favor of stay low and- Snap.

“… Shit…” Bronze groaned, as she looked from the broken kindling under her hoof, to the mound behind her.

Already standing there, the group of her tin soldiers watched their creator. For a few moments, she observed as a little of her mane started to obstruct her vision, keeping a close eye on them. With her stump raised though, the mare knew they were only waiting for her to make the first move.

“Ahh… Morning!” Bronze said, quickly turning her body towards any direction that wasn’t them, and darted through the woods. Only a few moments later she was greeted with the sound of heavy hooves stomping their way towards her with only one intent, each with the last command the mare had passed on.

Kill.

With only one claw to work with, and little strength in her horn left. Bronze didn’t have all that many options as she looked around the forest to try and better her odds. Getting back to the river, she followed it in the hopes of running in to another creature, if only to slow down her own creations with a handy distraction. A spear landing to her side though gave her the little edge she might need.

Plucking it from the ground, Bronze balanced the shaft against her stump while those talons grasped the length. Quickly the automatons gathered around her, as one took the leap forward instead of waiting on the mare. Kicking the end of the spear up with her hind hoof. The weight of the automaton acted against it, as the tip broke through the thin plating protecting its one true weak point.

With a stab through its neck, and the shaft now sticking out the back. The automaton slumped to the ground with a dull thud once the length was pulled clean, as the others took their cue finally to finish her. However, they neglected but one thing their simple drive would always overlook.

She’s the one that taught them.

Bucking ones’ helmet off, the mare knew that wouldn’t stop it, but it’ll at least give her some breathing room. Drawing her attention to the other three, Bronze swiped left and right with the tip to keep them at bay as they grasped their swords in their fetlocks. Knowing full well they’d only need one good swing to cleave the mare in half.

With a wide swing from one, the spear was shortened down to a pike, but it still managed to find its mark in the one that delivered the blow. Going through the same weak spot in their design like a surgeon, Bronze pulled the sword as it fell from its grasp and held it to her chest. Watching while the last three danced around her, and the fourth hunted for its head.

All three charged at one, and forced her to dive from the collision, but not before one got lucky with a swipe. Digging in to the back of her hind leg, Bronze seethed as the fluids stared to trickle down the side of her leg, and her assailants re-readied themselves.

Tucking under the first, the sword found its mark and slashed the forehooves off in a clean swipe. Causing the rest of the body to continue across the ground and find a resting place amongst the fallen leaves of the forest. The last two brought their own blades down in unison, one managing to catch her sword, and the other being blocked by her metal stump.

Forcing their weight against her, Bronze felt the blades pushing back her own, and with a last-ditch effort sent what little she had from her horn out towards them. The kinetic shove may have not been much, but it was enough to get them where she needed. Leaping back to her feet, Bronze watched the fourth as its helmet was finally found.

Though a quick talon stopped that in its tracks.

Grasping along the glyph and gem held in the back of its neck, Bronze drew what little charge she could from it to keep herself charged, leaving the already soulless suit to fall to the ground without anything to drive it.

Beating feet now that she had a little refill, the mare once again heard the sound of the last two trying to catch up to her. However, with the extra pep in her step from the added juice, she could be thankful that as the trees passed the sounds of their hooves weren’t getting any louder, nor were they getting any more distant.

‘Why did I make them so persistent…’ Bronze grumbled while she ran, keeping the woods on her left and the river on her right, as she kicked herself for but a moment, ‘Oh right… I expected to be dead already.’

The clearing ahead of her brought the mare to a grinding halt as she watched the river split off ahead, with her now standing at the edge of the cliff to the water below. While her running may have stopped, the sound of hooves did not. Bursting through foliage, one automaton with all its mass failed to halt as she had and instead became a battering ram as it collided with the mare.

A wet cliff edge, and only having one working talon don’t make for a good combination as Bronze was all but body slammed off the side and fell straight towards the river. Looking up with just enough time to see the creations of her own skills standing ominously at the cliff as they watched down upon her.

With any luck they wouldn’t follow her in, their weight alone would certainly carry them to the bottom, and holding on to that fact Bronze rested her head back finally for a breather. It may not be a leisurely float down the river while she fought against the metal in her body, but at least with a few kicks of her hind legs she could keep herself on the surface.

Something however, was causing the water around to get faster. Bronze turned her head to see just how far she had gone down stream, and with the automatons quickly becoming but a speck off in horizon. Bronze knew she made far more distance than she should have for a river of this size. Growing in severity, the mare rocked against stone sides of the cliffs edge as she was thrashed about from the growing rapids.

Now wishing she had more armor plates put in her body, she tried to use her own talon as an anchor as she scrapped against the ground and rocky walls around her. The current however, proved too strong, and with every attempt, Bronze just found herself using the limb more as a shield to keep from smashing against the stones. All the while the mare was fed to one fundamental principal of nature.

Water flowed downwards.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Bronze shouted as high as her lungs would allow when she saw the waterfall before her. Its white water tumbling over edge to an unknown level of danger beneath, as her body took in every ounce of breath to try any hold itself over till she either came out the other side… dead or alive.