//------------------------------// // Arrival, Part Two // Story: The Brass Conspiracy // by MadHighlander //------------------------------// Canterlot Present Day Cogspin looked down at the stationary form of Twilight Sparkle. If he still had a functional mouth, he would have grinned smugly. ‘Thaumatically triggered self-contained temporal lock, bound to a discharged horn limiter. Glad I pulled that one out of my particular bag of tricks.’ He reached into the damaged display case and withdrew the Platinum Crown. It had probably helped the mare to trust him that the unique properties of the Crown were hardly bandied about; the Crown had been continually riddled about with enchantments over four millennia or more, and in the right hooves was quite possibly the most dangerous object in the entire Secure Wing. He set the crown on his head, and a corona of light arced from one gem to the next, reflecting off of his brass skin in intricate patterns for a moment before dimming to a faint glow within each jewel. He trotted leisurely to the far end of the hallway and rung the bell next to the door with his magic. The door slowly groaned open, the two guards on the other side looking at him in shock. The unicorn – Lancer, his name had been – tried to close the door, but Cogspin looked at him and said loudly, “Hold the door. I’ll just be a moment.” The diamond at the front of the crown flashed brightly, and Lancer went still, holding the door as Cogspin passed through. The other, Caligo took a swing at Cogspin with his spear, but the emerald in the rear of the crown flashed and it glanced off the brass plating without leaving so much as a scratch. He was poised to make another attempt when Lancer released the door and drew his own spear, knocking the bat-pony’s aside. Lancer stuck the point of his spear under Caligo’s chin. “How dare you assault our king!” he shouted. “What in Luna’s name are you going on about, Lancer? That’s not-” He was cut off as the spear-point pressed further into his throat. “Stop!” said Cogspin, holding up a hoof. “Let him live. Keep him here, perhaps. We can imprison him at a later date.” “Yes, my king.” Lancer lowered his spear and, using magic, confiscated Caligo’s. He withdrew a pair of hoof-cuffs from his saddlebags and bound Caligo to the railing of the spiral staircase. He then proceeded to systematically confiscate Caligo’s armor and other assorted trinkets, including the scanning crystal. He piled the things by the door and then returned to resolutely standing guard. A peal of laughter erupted from a wooden bench next to the stairs. Cogspin looked over to see Poison Point doubled over laughing. “I take it you won’t need any assistance getting back upstairs, sir?” she said in between laughs. “No. I should be fine.” Despite the lack of facial expressions, the sarcasm was not lost on Poison. “But seriously though, that was magnificent. I’ve been waiting for this moment as long as I can remember, and I never expected that. Oh, it was hilarious!” She laughed some more. “What about Twilight?” “Permanently engaged.” “Great. I can’t wait to see everypony’s faces when they see the real you.” Laughing again, she trotted up the staircase, followed by Cogspin. The bound Caligo lunged for Cogspin’s back hooves, only to be knocked away when one of them lunged out and struck him in the nose with an audible crack. The rest of the Guildmasters were waiting for them in the square immediately outside the Archives. Not a single one reacted with surprise to see Cogspin. The Flim Flam brothers reacted with awe, but the others reacted much the same way as Poison had. Iron grinned nastily, while Shimmerthread shouted, ‘Hail to Cogspin, true king of Equestria!’ With a word, all eight ponies followed him down the streets towards the castle, drawing stares from various passersby. Sometimes, they met a guard, who inevitably tried to stop them, but a word from Cogspin and a flash from the Crown and they for the most part followed him. The sole exception was the bat-pony night guard that Cogspin, Poison, and Twilight had passed going the other way, who was quickly subdued by other guards just as Caligo had been. Even the numerous guards patrolling the halls of the castle were ‘convinced’ by the crown’s power. No further night guards accosted them; one advantage of the decline of the bat ponies was that you were about as likely to encounter one nowadays as you would be to meet a griffon on the street. One final flash from the crown and the guards at the doors of the throne room pulled the doors open for him and his entourage. Poison Point gestured to Macaroon, who withdrew a roll of paper from her mane and handed it over to the former Guildmaster’s assistant. Meanwhile, Celestia stood up from her throne at the interruption. A foppish noble who had been rambling on about some inconsequential issue or another looked back indignantly – and then quailed before Cogspin. Not so the Princess of the Sun. “What is the meaning of this?” She trotted forward, a frown on her face. The noble stepped aside, hurrying behind the throne and peeking out the other side. Cogspin stepped forward, leaving the Guildmasters behind. “It’s been a long time, Celestia,” he said by way of answer. Celestia hesitated. “Cogspin?” “Yes. It’s been even longer since I stood in this room. I’d almost forgotten how big this place really was.” “How is this possible?” asked Celestia, confusion written all over her face. “Imperial crystal. I bound my soul to a chunk of the stuff before I died, and then I built this for myself.” Cogspin gestured to his brass body. “Why would you do that?” “Because I wasn’t quite ready to fade away just yet. I still have business in this world, and I'm not quite prepared to pass to the next until it's complete. So! To that business, then; you’ll notice I have already gone to the trouble of retrieving the Platinum Crown. I have come here to barter for the throne that goes with it.” “Barter? That is not necessary. In truth, I have been but a steward of the throne, holding it until a worthy king steps forward to claim it. Though, I wonder, how exactly did you come to acquire the Crown?” “Your secure wing was not so much so as its name suggested. In any event I think you will be much more interested in a trade when you hear what it is I have to offer.” “Whatever it is, you’re certainly eager to be rid of it.” “It is not so much a matter of my eagerness to be rid of it, as simply recognising that you will find it more useful than I ever could; it is after all something you have been seeking for some time. I can say with confidence that even after all these years you still recognise the name ‘Aurora’?” Celestia’s expression became one of pure shock. “How do you know that name?” she asked. “I found out where she is. I also discovered who she is, with a little searching, but in truth that is rather obvious to any pony who sees her. And she is still alive, I assure you. I’ll tell you where, if you’ll but sign the throne over to me.” Cogspin gestured to Poison Point, who brought over the scroll she had been carrying and unrolled it, holding it up in a magical aura. It was covered in miniscule, curving script in a pale blue ink, and a phoenix-feather quill sat within, its tip soaked in the same ink. “It’s a simple agreement. I had Poison draw it up beforehand, and I’ve already signed. Just there.” Cogspin levitated the quill to point at the base of the document, where, sure enough, was written Cogspin the Younger. Above that, Poison Point had signed her own name, denoting her as ‘witness’. Below those two names was an empty space, which Cogspin indicated as he passed the quill to Celestia. She took it hesitantly. “I have searched for Aurora so long,” she said. “It had been so long that I had given up the search, having arrived at the conclusion that she must have been killed. And yet, there are few lengths to which I will not go to see my only daughter returned home safely.” She lowered the quill to the scroll. “You will have the throne, Cogspin. May you rule as your ancestors did.” With that, she signed her name. Cogspin rolled up the scroll, sealing it with a ribbon and drop of wax provided by Poison. He stamped the wax seal with the symbol of his cutie mark engraved on the bottom of his right forehoof and handed the scroll back to Poison Point. “Go put that away somewhere safe.” Poison trotted off into the castle. “Now, as promised, Aurora. She is here in Canterlot, in fact. Leaving the Hall of Ages, the third street on the right branches to the left halfway down, into a covered alleyway. This alleyway is rigged with a cloaking charm and temporal lock built by me. Not for this purpose, mind you; I made it to take down Discord. But, of course, you made that a moot point. Anyway, the device has been acting as a general catch-all for the last two millennia and even I don’t know how many are in there. One of them, though, is your long-lost daughter.” Cogspin trotted past Celestia and sat in the throne. “Thank you ever so much for this, Cogspin. When I have retrieved Aurora, we have many things to discuss.” Celestia turned to leave. “Not so fast. I want you and your sister out of Equulaneum within the hour.” Celestia paused, confusion writ on her expression. “What?” “I think you heard me perfectly well. You have an hour to leave my city before I throw you out. Twenty-four hours from now I will extend the ban to include your Element bearers, and to cover all of Equestria. I suggest you get moving.” “But-” “I said I would tell you where Aurora was, never once did I imply I would allow you to save her.” He looked to the clock hanging from the far wall. “Fifty-nine minutes. Feel free to try to come back with the Elements and unseat me. I had Poison include an antihostility clause in our accord. You are physically incapable of harming me or my allies, as are any beings who consider themselves to be working for or with you.” “Why, Cogspin? Why do this?” Cogspin sighed. “I hadn’t thought that explanations would be necessary. I suppose, though, I can elucidate a few things.” He sat up from the throne and indicated the west window, which looked out over the Canterlot gardens. The sun was low in the sky – clearly Celestia had planned to lower it as soon as she was finished with the petty noble (who had crept out from behind the throne and was now slowly making his way towards the doors). Celestia looked out the window in the direction Cogspin pointed. Far below, on the ground, stood the master of Chaos, Discord, encased in his granite shell. “That was the beginning. I watched him kill my mother, Celestia. For twenty years I waited eagerly for the day you would give the order for the Everfree Rangers to march out and use the ‘weapon’ you referred to – however obliquely – that first day to tear that thing to shreds, and when that day finally comes I find out that that weapon was friendship the whole time? I’ll admit I was pleasantly surprised when you succeeded in encasing it in stone. I’ll give you that much. But I knew it was only a temporary solution; it needed to be smashed, melted to slag, put in a box and thrown into the ocean attached to some heavy lead weights.” He ground his hoof against the ground, scoring a line across the polished marble. “And still I ended up waiting. Two thousand years I waited, and the year before last when I woke up with a clown nose and candy coating, I knew I had been proven right. Now granted, your element bearers managed to seal it away again, but I assure you, I am not going to wait for history to repeat a third time. Tomorrow morning I’m going to have that cursed thing ground to dust, erased from history, consum naturam non est.” “But disregarding Discord for a moment, there is also the matter of this.” Cogspin reached up and tapped a hoof to the side of the platinum crown. “It should have fallen to me the moment Mother was killed. The only reason it didn’t was that.” He gestured out towards the sculpture garden. After that creature was destroyed, I expected to receive the crown, as was my right. But no, when the monster fell the crown went to you.” He looked at Celestia. “All this I could perhaps have stood with. What made me hate you as I do now is that, when presented with the crown, despite the fact it was refused me, you yourself refused to bear it. And you ascribed the name of your city to my home.” He trotted back to the throne and sat in it again. “You destroyed Equulaneum as surely as Discord was, and that is not something I am willing or capable of forgiving. So I say again: Get. Out. Of. Equulaneum!” “No.” “No? What do you expect to accomplish? You cannot unseat me now, nopony can.” “I can try. You are not the pony I believed you to be, Cogspin. Not the young stallion I once knew. One so full of hate cannot become a good king - that is a mistake I will not make a second time. I am so very sorry.” Turning back to the brass pony, Celestia braced herself against the ground and threw a bolt of magic. It glanced off Cogspin’s shoulder and tore a chunk from the chamber’s wall. “I had almost hoped you would try that.” The air filled with a whirring hum, and a magical aura built around Cogspin’s horn. “I said ‘physically incapable’, not ‘not permitted’. That was a blood oath you signed. Now I know blood oaths normally require a blood donation from both signatories, but Poison Point’s special talent is writing-based magics. She found a very clever workaround: Changeling blood. As long as we both signed – which we did – it is binding.” He released his spell and a bolt of electricity arced across the room, wrapping around Celestia and throwing her several meters back, crashing into the heavy wooden doors. “You’ll also note that my own magical ability has somewhat improved since last we met. Fifty-six minutes - go get your sister and leave, Celestia. There’s nothing more you can do here.” Celestia stood up and, with a look of defeat on her face, pushed open the door and trotted slowly out of the room. A tear rolled down her cheek.