The Brass Conspiracy

by MadHighlander

Return to Canterlot: Part 1

Outside Equulaneum

Present Day

Poison coughed. “That wasn’t as bad as I expected it would be.”

“So, what’s the plan, then?” asked Rainbow. “How are we getting in there?” She indicated the castle, visible in the center of the city.

“I could render us all invisible until we reached our destination,” suggested Luna.

Poison shook her head. “Perhaps until we reached the castle, but once we pass those doors nopony will be able to keep up an invisibility spell. That was one of the first things Cogspin had me do, plant runes all over the castle to remove illusions.”

“At least it will take us as far as the castle,” said Celestia. “We will hide in a more mundane fashion once we gain entrance. But how exactly do you plan to defeat Cogspin?”

“That should be the easy part. Once you two are in the same room, I can just tear the contract in half and it’ll no longer be binding. I have it on me, by the way. I took it when I left, but I can’t void it unless both signatories are present.” Poison patted her saddlebag.

Rarity stepped forward and was about to say something when Poison continued, “I think I know what you’re about to ask, and I think we should split up – half of us goes to get the fillies, the other half goes for Cogspin. The latter group should by necessity include myself and Princess Celestia. As for the other group, am I correct in thinking that you three would like to go?” She indicated Rainbow, Rarity, and Applejack. Each one nodded in confirmation.

“I will go, as well,” added Princess Luna. “Should they encounter anypony before you are successful on your end, they will be unable to fight back. I may be able to provide enough of a distraction to allow them to continue on. Also, I am fairly confident that none of you save Celestia, myself, and perhaps Poison have ever been to the dungeons.”

Poison nodded. “And I suppose the rest of you want to help your friends? Really only Celestia and I are needed to stop Cogspin.”

“Of course we will.” Pinkie nodded. “Anything they need.” Twilight and Fluttershy agreed.

Spike stepped forward, but Twilight held him back. “Not this time, Spike. It’s too dangerous. I want you to stay here, out of sight.”

“But I want to help!”

“I know you do, Spike. But I couldn’t bear it if you got hurt today. Just keep hidden, and we’ll come get you when it’s safe.”

Spike looked as if he was about to protest further, but then he sighed. “Okay, Twilight. I’ll wait here. Good luck.”

Twilight smiled. “Thank you, Spike.”

She turned back to the rest of the group. “If everything’s decided, we should go as soon as possible.”

Luna looked to Celestia. “Before we do, I would like to discuss something with my sister. In private.”

Poison frowned slightly. “Forgive me, Princess, but couldn’t it wait until after we’re finished here?”

“I hope so, but I fear it might not.”

Poison’s frown deepened. “All right. But please, the longer we spend here the more likely everything falls apart.”

Luna inclined her head. “Thank you.”

---

The sisters stepped away from the group. “What is it, Lulu?” asked Celestia.

“Why did Twilight believe you incapable of performing that feat of teleportation?”

Celestia looked at her sister strangely. “Perhaps she merely made an assumption.”

“I don’t think so. Admittedly, I don’t know Twilight Sparkle as well as yourself, but she does not seem to me to be one to make such an assumption when the available evidence is contradictory.”

Celestia sighed. “You are correct. I told her that I could not teleport further than a few miles.”

“Why? You have in the past performed teleports all the way from Canterlot to Zebrica and back.”

“That was long ago.”

“Are you implying your magical capacity has been weakening in the intervening years? How? Why did you not tell me of this?”

“I didn’t want you to worry for me, Lulu. I was diagnosed with hornrot thirty years ago. It was seven years ago that Twilight and I had our discussion on teleportation. Now, I have difficulty opening the throne room doors on my own.”

Luna was silent for a moment.

“Celly, I wish you had told me of this. We could have sought a solution.”

“There is no cure for hornrot, sister. It is a genetic disorder which modern medical science has not seen in two centuries. In any event, I was far past the point of no return by the time of your return.”

“What of your battle with Chrysalis, or Discord? Even myself while under the control of the Nightmare?”

“All battles that I lost, and now you know the real reason.”

“But why-”

Celestia raised a hoof, silencing her. “We will speak of this at length at a later time. For now, we have things which need to be done.”

Luna looked at her sister worriedly, but followed her back to the group. Celestia was about to announce something, but Luna interrupted her. “There has been a change of plans. Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie, you must travel with my sister and Poison Point.”

“Why is that?” asked Twilight.

Luna looked pointedly at her sister. “It strikes me that it would be best if the groups were close to equal in numbers. A larger group would attract more attention, and this is exactly what we wish to avoid.”

Twilight nodded. “That’s true.”

Luna turned to address the entire group. “I am going to cast the invisibility spell now. It is structured such that it will mask the sound of your hoofsteps as well, but also that we will be able to see each other.” She looked to the small dragon watching the proceedings. “I will cast it on Spike as well. It will help him to go unnoticed.”

Luna’s horn flashed dark blue, and when the light subsided, everypony appeared as a brightly shimmering silhouette of their former selves.

“This appearance is how we are seen by each other. To anypony else we may as well have vanished off the face of Equestria.” Luna’s voice sounded faintly echoey, as if she was speaking from the bottom of a well. “I have cast a similar spell to muffle our voices. Its effectivity is limited, however, so try to remain quiet once we enter the city.” Everypony nodded and they set off.

As they walked, keeping close together and to the side of the road, Luna maneuvered herself next to Celestia. “What do you intend to do once Poison voids the contract?” she whispered. “If your affliction has proceeded as far as you say, you cannot simply force Cogspin to leave.”

“I do not know what I will do, but I must do something,” said Celestia, her expression hard. “It is my fault that he has become what he is, and I intend to correct it at any cost.”

Luna shifted uncomfortably. “I find myself recalling the image in the Hall of Ages.”

“Of the burning Tower?”

“Of course. I am beginning to fear it was far more literal than we had originally assumed.”

“Only time will tell, sister.”

Both royal sisters paused in their conversation; they had reached the doors of the Castle.

“All right,” said Poison quietly to Luna’s group. “In an astounding feat of irony, despite all his paranoia, Cogspin leaves the dungeons virtually unguarded. I can only assume that he believes any aggressors will make straight for him; as such, Celestia, Twilight, Pinkie and I will face most of the castle guards. You will most likely be free to grab those three fillies and leave. If I may offer my recommendation, I believe the moment you have freed them you should rejoin Spike outside the city. Should we be unsuccessful you should flee as far away as you can.”

“Unsuccessful?” asked Rainbow Dash, narrowing her eyes. “I thought you said this plan was a cinch.”

“In theory it is, but there is no such thing as a foolproof plan. Anything can be upset by an unpredictable variable.”

Twilight nodded in agreement. “But it should work, right?”

Poison nodded in return. “Of course.”

After quickly running down all relevant information, the two groups split apart and walked through the castle doors. As they did so, Luna’s invisibility spell melted away, leaving them once again exposed for the world.

Luna trotted quickly but silently down the hallway, looking back to ensure that the other ponies were following. The five ducked silently down a spiralling stone staircase and descended.

The staircase was very tall. It did, after all, have to descend all the way to the dungeons, which hung from the underside of the city like a giant barnacle. After several minutes, they reached the bottom and found themselves at a row of cells lit by glowstones. Along the wall across from the cells was a row of wooden benches, and at the far side was a window, open to the air.

Several cells, it seemed, were occupied, judging from the snores, scratching, and clinking of metal on stone. The group of ponies trotted slowly down the cell block, and on the third cell they passed, found their quarry.

“Apple Bloom!” called Applejack.

The small yellow filly looked up, disbelief on her face, which quickly broke into a broad grin. The other fillies followed suit, as Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow rushed to the bars and attempted to embrace their little sisters.

“We came as soon as we found out what happened to you, girls,” said Rarity. “We were so worried! Are you okay? Did they do anything to you?”

“No, Rarity,” said Sweetie Belle. “We’re fine.”

“Thank heavens for that. We must get you out of that horrid cell. Princess?”

Luna nodded. “The metal has been thaumatically reinforced, so even I can’t just rip it off its hinges. I should, however, be able to open the lock.”

The cell door became engulfed in a dark blue aura. There was a moment of complete silence while Luna figured out the lock’s interior workings.

Then she jumped when a loud crashing noise reverberated throughout the dungeon. Turning toward the doorway in trepidation, she saw none other than Iron Shod standing at the base of the staircase. The crashing sound was him picking up one of the wooden benches in a silvery magical aura and slamming it into the floor.

As they watched, he picked it up again and began to slowly advance on them with the bench wielded as if it were a club.

The gathered ponies looked at each other nervously. “Do you think Poison has done whatever she was going to do yet?” asked Rainbow.

“I do not know,” said Luna, “but it does not matter. I shall hold off this aggressor. Rarity, the spell with which I was examining the lock is superficially similar to your gem-finding spell. You may be able to open the door while Iron Shod and I are occupied.”

Rarity nodded, and the lock was consumed by a light blue aura of magic as Luna trotted out to meet Iron Shod.

Iron scuffed a hoof against the floor. Luna lit a spell on her horn in response. The two stood at a standoff for a moment.

Then Luna fired her spell. It caught Iron Shod squarely in the center of his body, throwing him back several steps, but not actually harming him. Snorting, Iron retaliated by swinging his bench into Luna’s side with enough force to slam her body into the wall, making the room shake noticeably and knocking eddies of dust from the ceiling.

Were I not an Alicorn I would be dead from that blow alone, thought Luna. Of all Cogspin’s lackeys, why did this one have to be the one to discover us?

Iron Shod trotted slowly towards her, dragging his metal limb across the floor with an ominous scraping sound. Standing up slowly, Luna summoned a ring of magical spheres around her horn, throwing them one after another at the advancing brute. They impacted his body in sequence, stopping him in his tracks.

Just as she believed that this might be a semi-permanent solution, the bench came flying out of the flurry of magical spheres at the speed of a diving falcon, forcing her to dodge aside and knock the slab of wood out of her way with a hoof. The result of this was her losing concentration on her spell, and she heard Iron coming in her direction, and building speed surprisingly well for a pony with a metal griffon claw. In violation of her common sense, Luna countered Iron’s charge with one of her own.

Iron grinned, but failed to anticipate Luna dropping to the ground, limbs outstretched and knocking him off his hooves, and then following up with a magical blast to his underside that threw him all the way up to the ceiling with a crash. He slammed down onto the ground behind her with his full weight, and before he could recover she picked him up and slammed him into the wall.

“You will not harm our little ponies,” she said.

He simply chuckled. Too late, Luna noticed that his horn was alight, and barely dodged in time to avoid a second wooden bench flying at her. Before she could recover, Iron’s forehoof struck her across her muzzle and both his hindhooves collided with her barrel, throwing her across the hallway and into the bars of a cell.

Luna dropped down to the floor and circled around Iron , keeping herself between him and the other ponies.

---

Meanwhile, Rarity was making no progress with the lock.

Applejack snorted. “The hay with this,” she said. She trotted up to the door, grabbed it by the bars, and lifted. The pins came out and the door fell over with a clang. She looked at the others.

“What? Ah saw it in one a’ them movin’ pictures once. Come on, everypony,” she gestured to the three fillies, “We gotta get y’all to safety.”

As she turned around, she saw the fallen cell door covered with a silvery aura and speeding towards the Princess. “Princess! Look out!” she called.

---

Princess Luna turned around to see the heavy iron cell door speeding towards the back of her head. She ducked immediately, the large piece of metal sailing not an inch over the tip of her horn and smashing with an unpleasant crunch into Iron’s face.

He looked up with a bloody grimace, several teeth knocked free of his gums and several others shattered in his mouth.

It’s because it was his attack. He was able to wound himself where I could not because the contract has loopholes. Luna grinned. Good to know.

Then Iron did something that surprised most ponies present: he spoke.

“You’re goin’ta pay for that, ya bloody fancy harlot.”

His thick accent was difficult to place, seemingly somewhere between Scoltsland and Britmane. What was most surprising, however, was its pitch: it was not the deep drone one would have expected from such a large pony, but rather a high-pitched tone.

“I’ll gut ya wit’ the shaads o’ yer own horn!” he shouted, closing in.

---

Meanwhile, in the upper half of the palace, Poison’s half of the mission was going much more according to plan, or so thought Twilight as they passed by the patrolling guard. The guard, whom Poison informed them was the last one before the throne room, had completely ignored them thanks to something Poison had found – a glyph that she had placed on the stone floor shortly after Cogspin had first taken over. According to her, it translated to ‘not see’ and made it impossible to notice anyone or anything standing within a certain radius of it.

It had been effective. The guard had passed them on and left, and they had continued on towards the throne room.

“What’s that?” asked Pinkie. Twilight turned to see what she was pointing at, as did the others. It was an irregularly shaped piece of red crystal, about the size of a hoof, resting on a stone pedestal at about head height. The crystal seemed to glow from within.

“I do not know,” said Celestia. “It must be something of Cogspin’s.”

“It’s his soulstone, he calls it,” said Poison. “That’s where he stored himself after his body died. He transmits his consciousness from the stone to the body that we’ve all seen.”

“And he just leaves it out like this?” asked Twilight.

“He knows that nopony can harm him unless they void the contract. And besides, it’s under just as heavy a guard as he is.” They turned away from the red crystal and stepped through the doors of the throne room.

The darkened chamber was empty except for Cogspin himself, his brass body draped over the throne. As they approached, he raised his head to peer at them.

“Clichéd as it sounds, I have been expecting you.” He shifted himself so that he was sitting upright.

“Cogspin,” announced Celestia. “We are here to correct an injustice.”

“Oh, you are, are you?” He dismounted the throne and approached them, levitating the Platinum Crown from its resting place next to the seat. Fixing the headpiece immediately behind his horn, he stopped when he was about three pony-lengths from the group.

“We are,” said Poison. Stopping as well, she withdrew the contract from her saddlebag. “And it’s as simple as this.” She unfurled the paper and gripped it in two separate levitation auras.

Before she could pull the paper apart, a bolt of electricity erupted from the tip of Cogspin’s horn, knocking Poison to the ground. A golden magical aura formed around the page and rolled it up again, drawing it over to Cogspin.

“You should never assume something will be easy.” With an elastic snap, the contract winked out of existence. “I think I’ll put this somewhere safe. Now where were we? Ah yes-”

He threw a flurry of electric bolts from his horn towards the assembled ponies, but they winked out against a hastily erected lavender bubble shield, which flickered and blinked with the impacts but held.

“You’re not the only one with magical tricks up your sleeve, Cogspin,” said Twilight. The shield solidified, forming a perfect hemisphere around Twilight, Pinkie, Celestia, and the seemingly unconscious form of Poison.

Cogspin snorted. “The difference between us, my dear, is the fact that sooner or later you are going to get tired, whereas I can do this until doomsday if need be.” He hurled another lightning bolt, sending streams of energy crackling around the hemisphere. “And no matter what you try, nothing you can do will ever harm me.”

Author's Note:

Suddenly, there's that bug from Arrival again. I have the other half of both fights already written out, but if I try to add them then the whole chapter just won't save. I'm going to split it into two parts again, but if anyone has a better fix, I'd love to hear it.

Additional note: I don't like writing Spike. For some reason whenever I try, I just have this nagging feeling that I've gotten it all wrong, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to fix it.

Next chapter: The final battle ends...