Bronze Tiara

Chapter twenty-one

A heavy tide of coughs interrupted the slumber of the two as they rested in the chair. Considering the day each experienced previously, it wasn’t a wonder they managed to say out the entire night. Then again, neither of them could compare to the one that lied in the bed, who was now left to hack up half his lung.

“Ugh…” Marble groaned from his bed, as the burning in his chest built up and his back flopped against the cushions once more, “Am… I dead?” he asked, looking around the medical bay.

Though the launching of a filly in to the air quickly dismissed that idea, “Dad!” Topaz leapt from her place on the mares’ lap and on to her fathers, all four of her hooves finding their way around him.

“I missed you too,” the colt returned the gesture, before pulling her off a tad so he could breathe a bit. There on his chest, he saw the stitches and where the burning sensation was coming from, “…What else did I miss?”

Bronze slowly got up from her chair and waited for him to catch his breath after the assault from his kin, “Ahh… a fair amount actually…” she looked off to one side, hating to see what those scars would look like in the coming future, a painful reminder of what she got him in to, “how are you feeling though?”

“Besides feeling like my heart just got ripped out…” he groaned once more, bringing up another fit of coughing, “I’m still breathing at least.”

Silently both of the ladies in the room looked at one another, Topaz quickly turned her head away from her father. Leaving Bronze to cringe at him with only half her gaze meeting his own as it quickly found other interests in the room. Marbles’ eyes darted between them, waiting to see who would say something first, before he started tapping the stitches on his breast.

“I have the sneaking suspicion, that’s what happened…”

“She fixed you up though!” Topaz snapped her head back to him with the sincerest smile she could manage, “She did! Bronze fixed your heart… kinda.”

Marble turned his eye to the mare as she now tried to avoid him, with his eyes ogling however, the blood continued to fill her cheeks ever more, “I mean… I did what I could.”

“What exactly did you do?” he asked, looking between her and the scar on her chest.

With a shallow breath, and a much weaker train of thought, the mare saw little way else to put it to him. “Topaz summarized it well actually… you were shot, it damaged your heart, so I sort of… replaced it…”

Several seconds passed as the two looked at one another. Bronze wasn’t sure if he believed her or if he thought she was blowing smoke up his hind. Though, the longer they stared without either flinching, the more he started to glance down at the wound still in the process of healing.

“Oh… is that all?”

“You don’t believe me, do you?” she raised a brow to him, as the colts’ head started to shake getting his own brain in order.

“Honestly, considering some of our previous conversations, and seeing your talon work, I wouldn’t doubt what you could do…” once again a fresh supply of blood found its way to the mare, and once again she found herself taking the utmost of interest in the floor tiles, “although, could you elaborate a bit more?”

Bronze gave the same version of events she recounted to Topaz the night before for him, before showing him the empty spots on her talon, “You should be able to sense the gems inside you, and with some practice control them to monitor your heart rate,” the mare was just thankful she decided to upgrade all her gems in the first place, there’s no way he’d survived the night if the pump was being fueled by an amethyst, “considering your natural talents with magic, it should come easier for you anyway.”

The colt laid there for a moment before closing his eyes. Unicorns had a way of picking up magic and sensing it in the world around them, they were just the best at controlling their own energies in their body than other ponies. That said, if an earth pony could manage to command metal to move to her will, why couldn’t he do the same?

As he searched, Marble started to feel the gems in his chest. The energy in them was prevalent, more than he was expecting to pick up. Yet, with a twist from his own flow of arcane vigor, each of those implanted he could feel as it interacted with the machine now placed inside him. Keeping his blood pumping and the colt alive.

“Yeah, that’ll take some getting used to,” he snapped out of his trance and came back to them both.

The doors to the bay opened up as the princess strolled in. Her own face looking to the three with the utmost of relief to see everyone in good spirits… and of course all three of them breathing. “I trust everything went well then?” she asked to them, receiving only a nod from the fellow mare. Having gotten closer to the colt, her eyes danced across the stitch work on his chest, and could only imagine what was done inside, “It’s a wonderous gift you have Bronze… truly.”

“Ahh thank you,” the mare in question rubbed the back of her head with a talon, unsure what else to say.

“To bring one back from what I’ve heard… remarkable,” Grace looked to her counterpart once more, admiring the proof of her efforts being the breathing colt. “Whenever this mess with those creations of yours is done with, you and me will have to share a word regarding your… talents.”

“Is… she in trouble?”

The colt piped up, leaving the two mares to look to one another once more. Grace turned her attention to the colt, seeing the worry growing over Marbles’ face with every passing breath. “Hmm… it seems you two have somethings to catch up on,” she eased her subject down a tad with a beam, “Why don’t I take this little miss to bring you all something to eat while you two talk?” Grace turned her eyes to Topaz, “Would you like that?”

A gurgling from the fillies’ stomach met her question, as Topaz stifled a giggle, “Very much, Princess Grace.”

With the filly trotting up her side, the regal figure passed a wink on to her counterpart as they headed out the door. For a few more moments, the pair looked upon the door where they parted ways, unsure really how to even approach the next words to come.

“Does she have kids?” Marble asked as the question started to come to the forefront of his mind, “Because she seems awfully good with them.”

“Not that I know of… then again…” Bronze, much to her dismay, started to imagine the offspring that would result from her majesty and the colt, “given who her lover is I wouldn’t put it past those kids being the most egregious beings this country has ever seen.”

“Wait… how do you know her lover?”

“Long story… more important things now,” she groaned for a moment before taking another breath to clear the air, “I’m sorry… for everything.” Marble held up a hoof at first, though that didn’t stop the mare, “For lying to you when we first met, for putting not only you but also Topaz in danger while my creations were trying to get to me… hell for using your hospitality, fixing myself up, then darting away at the drop of a hat.”

With every word that was spoken, the mare found herself pacing back and forth by the side of the bed. All the while, the colt rested their propped up on his back from a few pillows he’d arranged behind him to listen to her.

“I should have told you the water that I was still deep in, I shouldn’t have kept most of my history off the table, at the very least I shouldn’t have left like I did…”

“Bronze,” he tried to get her attention.

“… but I didn’t, I didn’t do any of those things,” she paused by his side and looked at him, taking in the damage she had done as her talons rested on the bed, “all I did was get you hurt, nearly killed…”

“Bronze,” Marble strained at her.

“…If they didn’t have the pump, if I hadn’t upgraded my stones, if we ran into one another any place else… that’d been the end of it,” Bronze caught her breath as it clenched in her chest, shaking her head the eyes of the mare stayed off the colt, and on the sheets, “and I don’t know what I’d say to her, especially having gotten that sort news myself.”

With a gentle press, a hoof found its way over top her talons. Bronzes’ eyes looked to the simple gesture as her glare traced up to the pony before her. Marbles’ look of serenity beckoned her to take a moment, “…Good, now that that’s out of the way,” the colt continued to hold his hoof there atop her talon, “You can stop apologizing… I know what you’d done, and I know what it caused…”

“All the more reason for me to continue.”

“Stop it, it’s my turn,” he silenced her, “all that said, clearly the princess doesn’t have you here in chains, and if she’s willing to more or less forgive you… I think I can do the same.”

Cocking her head to one side, the mare stared at him. Trying to look past that smile he wore for anything in the background he might not be telling her, “… just like that?”

“I mean granted it would have been nice to know I was letting a war-maiden into my home,” he watched her nearly take a step back before him, “then again, I can understand why you would have left that little tidbit out… amongst everything else,” Marble saw the ears on her head splay back against her coat for a moment. “No one was there for you in the end, after your dad, after your mom… I certainly didn’t help in the years that lead to that.”

“It wasn’t your job to care,” she pointed out to him, “it wasn’t anyone’s job to.”

“But you could have still had someone to turn to, even if you didn’t accept it at the time,” while the mares’ eyes might have been rolling at him, it didn’t hide the point he was making, “all it would have taken was a friend, and you might have gone down a different path. Just like the one you’re walking now.”

“I wouldn’t call it a different path,” she raised a brow to him, “after all, there’s still so much more I have to do.”

“And that’s my point, you’re at least doing better,” Marbles’ own eyes met hers, leaving her lost for a time.

“You sound just like the princess…” Bronze chuckled, taking his words in. Everything she’d done, all the things that had been caused by her, and all the trouble that had been set in motion because of a vendetta. Yet, here it was, being forgiven by those that had the best reasons not to let her forget it, and all the reasons to throw her from the gallows.

‘Better not waste it,’ she told herself, as her and Marble stayed like that for some time. Before the mare leaned in, and planted her lips to the side of his cheek.

Under the touch, she felt the colt tighten up from the gesture. As she pulled away feeling her own limbs start to seize, Bronze wasn’t sure if the heart in his chest was making the bed pulse, or if it was her own. Never the less, the colt found himself putting a single hoof to his cheek as the breath escaped him.

“Thank you… Marble,” the mare fought to keep her voice from cracking, “there might be a lot that I have to make up for, but at least I can do it with a clearer mind now… that you’re still here.”

“Awe!” the squeal of a filly sounded throughout the room, forcing both the adults to turn and look towards the door, there trotting in were both the princess and the filly. Each balancing a tray laden with goods, “That’s so sweet!”

Between the pair, Marble and Bronze could have melted ice from what felt like the whole room warming up, “just how much did you see?” the colt asked his kin.

“Oh… Enough,” Grace whispered to the mare, as her and Topaz set the trays down.

Sliced fruits, pancakes, crapes, strawberry tarts, and all other manners of breakfast goods dotted along the platters. The adrenaline from the last few days may have been sustaining the mare at first, but having now seen and smelled the food available. Bronze quickly found her hunger catching up with her.

“Whenever you’re done here, please come see me,” the princess said to the mare.

After a nod from Bronze, the princess once again left them to themselves. Topaz already started digging in to the stacks of flapjacks, as she brought a few over to her dad. “Sounds like you’re going to have your work cut out for you,” Marble said, gladly accepting the gift from his daughter.

“Oh, all in a days work,” Bronze snickered, plucking a few treats off the dish, and pulled the chair up closer to the bed, “First things first, eat, then work on setting things right with Seren,” her eyes looked sheepishly to the colt, as she couldn’t help but hide the grin about her face, “after that… perhaps a fresh start.”

***

With a steady knock on the door, Bronze found herself waiting patiently by the chambers to the princess, trying her best to avoid any and all eye contact from those guards that stood either side to her. Eventually, the door creaked open, and there stood Grace with her mane up in a bun and a quill sticking from her mouth.

“Ah… you’re here,” she said after having spit the quill to her wing, with a hoof she beckoned the mare inside as the door closed, “you kind of caught me off guard, didn’t expect you so soon.”

“Well Marble and Topaz were both still eating anyway, and if I kept watching them, I’d only want more,” the mare could taste the last few scones that passed her lips.

The eyes rolling to the back of the princesses’ eyes spoke volumes to her own experiences regarding the treats. “Tell me about it… the cooks have been rather spot on the last month or so,” a quick shake of her head though pushed any hungry thoughts out, “However, as I said, we have things to discuss.”

Scampering off to her bedroom left Bronze there in the den area as she heard all manners of drawers and cabinets open from the rummaging. Until after a few moments Grace appeared with a small sack in her wing, and tossed it to the mare. Catching it with her better talon, the metallic mare peered inside, and caught the glimmer of several stones to replace what she’d used. The envious glow to those emeralds telling her they already were ready for service.

“Had them charged this morning after I parted ways,” Grace responded, picking up the map she had shown the previous night and brought it over to the coffee table, “I imagine you can shape them however you might need, can’t have you trying to fight with only three limbs.”

“Thank you, once again… your majesty,” Bronze tried to give the best bow she could manage, having never done the act before, if only to give some sort of modesty.

“Oh, stop it,” Grace brushed the gesture off, “While I appreciate the turnaround, I wave my subjects off usually before their knee even starts to bend, and you’re no different,” after placing a few coasters to hold the edges down, Bronze joined her on the couch, “Speaking of subjects, how is Marble doing?”

Breathing, would have been the simplest answer the mare could have given. After all she didn’t have x-ray vision to see the inner workings of the pump and confirm its complete function. “I’d say it’s passable, as of now… he’ll have to get used to controlling the rate himself,” amongst other issues that might be encountered. Gems running out too fast and having to be replaced, him having to learn to charge them himself, the machine itself needing to be worked on… a million and one things that could go wrong. Yet, she was just happy he’d have a second chance at it all, “But with some practice, and a little learning, he should do just fine.”

“Wonderful to hear, I’ll have one of the docs check up on him before he leaves here,” with that out of the way both the mares turned their attention to the map in front of them. “Considering its controlling those under it now, does it even have a plan?”

The scattered encounters around the map would answer any other that the answer was a clear no. There wasn’t a patter in its actions, even surrounding the mine that it called home there for a time. Who knows how long it’d really been down there before any of the workers encountered it. Even from that vantage it didn’t branch out to closer targets before jumping out further, it just seemed to go where ever it pleased.

“I gave it the order to kill, so all it really knows is to attack, and now apparently build up its numbers.”

“How did you managed to get it together in the first place?” her majesty raised the ever-growing query she had begun to wonder, “I mean getting that many raw materials couldn’t have been easy.”

“Oh…” the mare in question plodded around the thought for a moment, “You might be surprised how easy it is to get supplies,” she watched Graces’ mind start to throw that thought around, “a sheet of steel here, a gem there, maybe a suit or two, it does all add up over the years… the trickier bit was finding a place to work…”

***

Some time ago…

The heavily laden sack drug itself along the back of the mare, as she scraped hoof against dirt down the shaft. With just the small light of from the tip of her horn for guidance, and the memory of the path being walked so many times in the past, she trudged onwards.

A tug of her talon pulled the bandana ever tighter around her brow, letting just enough of the horn through for use, and soon enough her efforts were found in the lights up forward getting ever brighter. Breaking in to the clearing, the lanterns and coals that still burned shimmered their embers in the darkness. Letting the mare find her place of work, as she shrugged the bag off with a thump to the ground.

“And now… for you,” Bronze used her talon to pick through the bag, pushing past the other parts she’d picked up.

Various sections of armor filed past her digits, amongst them scrap from Serens armories, and even other forges in the nations. A little scrap missing never went noticed, and that played all too well for the mare in her game. This prize though, she had to work for, and from the pit of the sack she could see its own flickering illumination.

Plucking the stone out, its clear exterior shined even against the flickering lights around her from the flames, and with a puff of breath and the sweat of her brow. Bronze wiped the diamond clean and to its former luster, bringing it over to her work bench. The stone she’d managed would have been large enough to cut in to several smaller and make any other pony a decent fortune.

Though for the mare, it was enough to make this work.

Pulling a hefty section of hardened steel over, she pushed some of her smaller weapons away in the process. There before here were several other stones of similar size, all clustered around the open center in a hex. At the bottom of that cavity, just the rune to put her plans in to action. Dropping the stone in, her talons quickly crimped the sides along to hold it in place, as she brought out some softer tin to make the hold a bit stronger. Soldering it in place with a few other pieces of metal, just for good measure. Before the metal was even set, the charge in the gem already started to set in with the rune, letting the glow from the energy inside bristle as it filled itself with the radiance of its companions.

‘That’s right darling… work with me,’ Bronze picked up the section of steel, bringing the entire piece over to another dark area, only the light of an oil lamp giving her any room to work.

Though even in that glow, she could still see the true fruits of her labor, as its dull plates echoed silently to her. Waiting, and wanting her to carry forth. Using her talons, Bronze pulled the front section off, exposing the other stones on the inside. The emeralds that lined across a majority of the interior might not have been strong on their own, but with numbers anything was possible. Now that they had something to truly drive them, it was the nearly final puzzle piece she needed.

Lifting the steel piece up, Bronze for a moment stopped and looked at what she’d accomplished. The stones set in had been charged, the ones inside the body had the energy needed to run, thanks to the kind donation of many ponies over the years. All of the diamonds in the plate had her own energies running through them that she shared. Though the heart and soul stone lacked one thing…

A purpose.

It might not have been a mirror finish, but she swore she could see herself in its reflection.

Steadily, Bronze put her horn near the stone. Magic as she knew wasn’t just all about studying and spells, it was also about feeling. Will is what made her able to move on four limbs again, it’s what made her special and able to do what she does. This was just a suit of metal with flashy stones, what was its will? What would be the will she passed on to it?

She thought, and thought… and thought some more.

Then finally, her horn touched the gems surface, and she let it feel what she did. The memories she’d created having gone from town to town gathering supplies, the pain she’d endured sneaking and stealing to build up her tech and test it out, all the way to even the many times she’d passed by the leaders of the nations and they never knew her existence.

The chief grinding his teeth away about slaughtering ponies, as Bronze herself hid in the rafters above. The king toiling over plans on how they could attack Seren, all as she crept outside the windows. Even the princess herself, waving to a crowed of creatures while out in town… never thinking of the one figure dressed in a cloak on a summer’s day. She was a footnote in their history, not even a blip in their minds, but she could change that all now.

‘Come on…wake up,’ her horn glowed as it pushed the steel plate in place, “we’ve got work to do.”

With that the steel clicked in place, and her own bolts tightened down from the aura of her horn. The diamonds now feeding the rest of the form, latched on to the stones along the interior of its spine and limbs. As they surged in to life, the clanking of metal along the empty space to her sides resonated in Bronzes’ ears.

A talon lifted, capable of crushing her if it so desired, and landed mere feet from her torso, as its form did the same. The mares’ ears splayed back against her skull, waiting for some of the dirt to settle. It had been so long since it was first constructed, and the dust had to be worked out, but as it was, she looked up to what she’d hoped.

Green envy glowed down upon her, as its muzzle craned inches from her own. It couldn’t huff its breath out like any of its flesh and blood brothers, but with all the intrigue of a pup, her creation let its eyes do all the talking it couldn’t. The radiance of those stones she’d placed just stared with what seemed to her like curiosity and admiration. From a creation to its creator.

Holding a careful talon, Bronze stretched it out and placed it along the bridge of its nose. She couldn’t feel the rumble of its throat, but the mare could sense it. As she did, it pressed into her touch like it’d know her from a past life, and its flank found the ground. With a thump that shook the soil under her own limbs, it took a seat before its creator, and an eerie smile started to grow on the mare.

“That’s it…” she rubbed the end of its muzzle. From its gaze alone the mare felt the purr, “Now… show me what you can do.”

With a waft of her horn, Bronze brought over a little test for her new partner. Unlike most tests you’d find in a school. One sheet of steel, and a stone to join it were presented. She couldn’t do it all, the mare knew that much. Yet, if it couldn’t preform like she needed then the whole contraption was just for decoration in her eyes.

Curiously the head tilted back and forth between the metal and its more refined cousin. Before finally looking to the mare herself for guidance. Bronze however, stood there, waiting to see if it did what she intended… and that she didn’t have to wait for long.

With the grace of a humming bird, the massive talon pinched onto the metal sheet and planted it to the ground under its bulk. Eying its form, it looked as if the creation had understanding in the craft to a curious onlooker, but the mare knew better. She hadn’t just given it life; Bronze had passed on her knowledge of all things to the unification of metal and magic.

A blade was the last thing one would desire to cut metal, but for the tin drake it was like cutting curtains for a cat. The honed end of its claws did the dirty work, scoring time and time again onto the sheet until the form was well laid out for her to see. Faster than any artisan could have hoped for, and with the ease one would expect from something of its kind.

With a snap, the spent scrap twisted off from the main body of what Bronze could see as a chest plate. Allowing the drake to cradle the form in its claws, and with a crunch the edges folded over as if struck by a blacksmiths hammer. It was a crude process for sure, one that wouldn’t help strengthen the metal any. Though it was a step in the right direction for Bronzes plans, a trial.

And in her mind, it passed… one of two.

“Excellent…” Bronze began to giggle internally, as the stone was brought forth, “now this… you’ll know what to do.”

The ruby had likely been on its way to any number of jewelers out in Seren before the mare swiped it for her own. A cheap stone that she could have very well charged herself, but even her magic was limited as it was. Bronze couldn’t be everywhere at once, and if all it could do was bend metal, then that was only half her needs met.

With intrigue, a light talon plucked the stone from the mares’ aura. This act wasn’t as flashy as working the sheet, but Bronze knew the concentration it took all too well. From her trained eyes she could see a small bit of the energy she packed into the drake flow through its limbs, and claws onto the stone.

Like its envy, the stone glowed brighter like fire from its tint. Filling it nearly to the brim, the drake halted the process right when it needed. Letting the stone absorb all it needed from it, as the energy stayed latched onto it.

Bronze reached out with her talon, and like a mother asking from her child, the creation dropped the stone right in her grasp. Through her own limbs, the mare could feel the intense swirl of power the once simple stone now held. Power that she knew as her own. It wasn’t a simple mimicry of her gift; it was an outright extension.

From her, to the drake, and onto those it would create.

Once more her talon held out, and like a dog the creation got back on its haunches. As if her size, the massive mandible rested itself into her talon, and upon reflex Bronze started scratching at its base. She was proud of what she’d created, and of what her creation had achieved. A humble display of affection was the simplest thing she could do to show it.

The sheeting on its snout still held onto some dirt from the work, but the mares’ lips didn’t care. Through a simple peck on its bridge, Bronze held on for a little longer, and allowed a tear to build up at her plans falling into place. This was just the first step; of many she’ll have to endure. However, if she could manage this, then nothing would get in her way.

Like butter melting in her talons, the drake fell onto its stomach, leveling down with the mare even further. “That’s it…” Bronze allowed this chuckle to escape, “Good boy.”

***

Bronze rose her head up after her little tale, and watched as the mare before her nearly dropped her jaw. “You give up a part of yourself following a dream,” she spoke, but thought to herself just how tainted her soul really was in that pursuit.

Slowly the princess shook her head, knowing very well that a majority of those supplies likely came out from under her own nose. “You’re determined, I’ll give you that much…” Grace groaned and brought her eyes back to the map, “did you have to kiss it?”

“Ah… well…” Bronze began to fumble, at a loss for words. ‘Not one of my proudest moments,’ she remembered less fondly than before, and turned her attention back to the task at hoof. There hadn’t been any sighting of her creation… at least… “you said no one had seen it around here?” she waited for Grace to reconfirm, “What about in another country?”

Grace held up a hoof, before she paused and it fell flat against her chin. Thinking back to it, the mare made a point, “Hmm… the gryphons I’d been working with, or at least my new assistant had been acting as a liaison between me and their new leadership, nothing major had come from them,” she looked at the mostly vacant space of those lands to the opposite nation, just how many hiding places could there been with in? “But if it’s looking to build up its following, my bet would be the DDR, they’d always had the best ore veins.”

“And with a majority of their country in shambles from the fighting, I doubt many had been paying attention,” Bronze eyed the lands she’d traveled often not too long ago, before turning back to the princess, “Your colt up for a hunt?”

The snicker of the mare however was quickly met by the pondering of Grace. “Actually, come to think of it I did tell him I had a peculiar guest here,” she grinned back at the mare, “… and he’s been mentioning a rematch.”

Almost immediately Bronzes’ eyes snapped back to the parchment and start taking the utmost of interest in the borders between the countries. ‘I just upgraded these and I’m not about to throw it away over some petty squabble!’ she reasoned to herself while trying to judge the distance from the Diamond Dogs and the mine she’d gone in, if only to advert her eyes from the regal figure, “If it has been in the DDR, I’d imagine they wouldn’t be opposed to a little assistance cleaning it up, considering the trail of destruction it can leave.”

“Is that a forfeiture?”

Bronze craned her neck to the mare, all the while the Pegisies’ sneer grew larger. As much as she’d like to keep her new limbs in at least a mostly working order for the foreseeable future, she also wanted to wipe clean that smirk the colt was likely wearing, “Call it a there are much more pressing matters to attend first,” she returned the expression.

Thru a gentle nod Grace responded and got back into the swing of things. “In regards to what you’d said, there’s no reason to deny us entry… especially with their backs at the wall,” pulling the quill from her wing, the mare pulled a parchment from underneath the map and started scribbling down on it, “I’ll see about getting a detachment ready for travel, and reach out to the DDR, whoever’s in charge there now…”

Bronze even gave a toothy grin, “I’ll get a bag ready.”