Bramble Seas Backstory

by MrEShy

A Mare, a Son, and a Fall

One night, as I lay asleep, because I was exhausted since we had just celebrated Luna’s birthday. I awoke to my horn glowing a pink color and I tilt my head confused as the mare appeared to me again, “The months have come and you have been gifted this day.” With that she touched my belly and I awoke feeling smaller and lighter than usual. I look at hooves and then I quickly get up. I go over to the mirror and I scream at what I see. Luna and Tia rush in and stop right at the door as I am hiding under the covers shaking.

Luna comes over to me, “B-Bramble? Are you ok?”

I point toward the mirror and I speak in my new mare voice, "Please tell me if that mirror is broken…” Tia looks at it then back at me, slowly pulling at my blankets to pull them away. She is preparing for the worst, but as she lifts the blankets away I try to hold onto them. My struggle to keep the blankets ends to no avail at my weaker state, she takes them away, and there I sit as a mare.

Tia, “You g-gender bended? Why would you change your own gender?!”

I whimper speaking very quietly, but loud enough for them to hear, “I-I didn’t… the mare told be to d-drink a purple liquid in my sleep and s-she said I was... g-gifted…”

Luna looked at Tia with a look of concern and Tia spoke up, “Did the mare say anything about us?” I nod and told them what she said about how they didn’t want to be the bearer of children.

Tia and Luna put their ears down and looked away, Luna sighing, “The mare said she could do that, but I didn’t think she would actually go through with choosing you to take upon our unwilling… We need to speak wi…”

I cut her off, “No, it’s fine sister. I will take on your unwilling. For you two I would do anything, even if it means risking my life to save you.”

Luna, “Y-you really mean it brother? You would do that even after we keep you hidden here in the castle grounds...”

I nod, “I do, I will do this for you two.”

They hug me genteelly as Tia says, “You don’t know how much this means to us… I thank you dear broth- well… dear sister. I need to get use to calling you that now don’t I?”

I smile, nod at her question, and I look myself in the mirror, “You know I do look petty cute if you think about it.” They laugh and after talking for a bit about what we need to do about this and if I am feeling ok. They eventually tell me that they must take a short trip to a meeting with the Griffon Empires and that they will make sure a guard is placed at my bedroom door so no pony can be let in.

I smile, “Thank you, I wish you luck with the griffon race. They can be quite difficult. I will make sure to stay safe when walking about.”
Luna looks back as they head out the door, “We will be back tomorrow dear um… sister. I will keep you company in your dreams.” She smiles and bounds off as Tia calls for her to hurry up. I smile and I go get in the shower and I sit there complaining about the difficulty of washing my new, longer mane. The next couple of days were normal, but one day my stomach had gotten a little bigger. I looked at it in the mirror and I feel it. Suddenly, there was a kick. I run into my sisters’ room and as soon as they see my bigger belly they look at me with concern as they deduced what could possibly have happened.

Luna stutters out what is on their minds, “B-Brother… d-did you…”

Before she could finish I cry out, “No! I haven’t! I haven’t been near any stallion since I changed! Much less in bed with one! That mare... she said I was gifted with something and touched my belly. You don’t think she bestowed this upon me…”

Tia stands up, “We must get you to the hospital!” They both teleport me fast to the Canterlot hospital to see if what we think has happened is true. Sure enough, I am to be the bearer of a child and it is to be a foal. I lay on the hospital bed and I look up at the ceiling absolutely scared out of my mind. Scared about actually giving birth to a little foal and being a single mother through it all. Luna stayed with me for a while to help comfort me through all of what happened. After a couple months, the day comes to give birth to my son. It takes a bit through the pain of childbirth, but I finally did it. I had given birth to a cute baby foal. The doctors clean him up and they give him to me as I hold him gently in my hooves. Luna and Celestia take turns holding him, all the time fanmareing over the fact that the baby is cuter than all get out. They are happy for me that I am now a mother for a beautiful baby foal. Luna and Tia eventual say that they are willing to help care for it in anyway they are able to.
I took the baby back into my hooves and I looked at him, smiling at his gray-black coat as I pet his bald little head saying, “I will call him Blaze.” I saw a little smile on his face as reacting to the name and I kissed his forehead.

Years went by as I had cared for him. He eventually grew out a darkish gray mane and tail. Though what was surprising was that he was only a unicorn and the doctors couldn’t deduce why it was. I didn’t care much about what race he was, only that I was able to see him and care for him. Chrysalis heard the news and was the most excited to have a baby step-brother that she could visit, which made her come more often than she usually did. After a couple of years when he became a suitable age, Chrysalis asked me if she could care for him for a year or so. She said I could always have him back when I wanted to see him and that she promised to take good care of him. I had to think about it for a couple days until I decide that since Chrysie was family that it would be okay for her to care for him when he became the age of ten. When he was finally ten years old I gave him over to Chrysalis to care for and I came to visited him every 2 weeks or so. I also went when my sisters had to go to the Crystal Empire for a business trip. He seemed to like the Empire more than Canterlot so after long thinking of how well Chrysalis was caring for him, I told her what my plans were and she agreed very happily to take the care of him like I had to her. With that I let her mother the child at the age of twenty-one and after the three months of each year when I had turned back to my stallion-self I would go and visit him. He would tell me how much he loved to live at the Empire and would be king like me one day. I loved him so much, but a when day came he turned from a happy child of mine to the evil that would change the Crystal Empire forever.

I had just gotten up when a messenger flew in with a letter from the Crystal Empire and it stated: “Bramble… please come help me… Blaze has been messing with dark magic and it has corrupted his mind. Get your sisters and come here as soon as possible. Please, before it's too late."
Signed,
Queen Chrysalis

I shot up out of bed after reading the letter and I ran toward Tia’s room and when I got there I looked at them both, "Sisters, its blaze!" I lay the letter out for them to read and Luna went to the library for the shelf of dark, magical books. The one book that was missing from the shelf was the one-called Sombra's Nightmares.

She ran back in and said, “Did you know he had Sombra’s book of dark magic?”

I shake my head, “I never gave him those kind of books… He must have found it in the archives when he last came here… we must get those books and hide them all so that no pony can find them again!”

Luna nods, “Yes, but for now, we need to prepare for the worst and get ready to head out to the Crystal Empire.

A day goes by and a pony that had escaped before the new Sombra took over the Crystal Empire came crashing into the main doors.
He was weak and finally got out the words before the guards caught him, "The Crystal Empire has fallen to Sombra and his army!" I look to my sisters and they both nodded. They knew what had to be done this moment.

Tia looked at me and said something I have been waiting to hear, “Brother we need your help with fighting the new and reborn Sombraic army. Will you come with us and command our army against the evil he has brought upon the land?” I gave her an excited shake of the head up and down. She smiled and with that we gathered up the Canterlot army and headed off toward the Crystal Empire.

We got there finding Chrysalis lying on the ground with a shattered sword next to her. I ran over to her and she started to change form as the darkness Sombra had casted over her started taking its toll. She began to form a hard bug shell around her coat and holes appeared in her body as she got up.

I backed away as she spoke to me through my thoughts with all her will, “Father… I am sorry, but I have to do this if it means helping you and your sisters defeat the new Dark King… I love you and will go back home after this darkness is gone… Me and my subjects will do many bad things in the future, but when you come back we will find you…” She yelled with anger at the sky as bug-type ponies’ form all around her, coming from the sky and the ground. They hiss at Sombra’s dark army in front of them as they sense their mother, their queen is in danger. They all run forward as Chrysalis summons a huge monster changeling under her and it crawls off toward the battlefield where Sombra’s dark army is clashing with the other changelings. As for the Canterlot Army they are readying their catapults and they have their weapons drawn with their magic. The air support is flying with smoke bombs at the ready as they all move forward at my command. My sisters have their armor on and ready and I stand their unarmed and unprotected due to me only staying back to bark orders. I wait eagerly to go with my sisters to fight with them.

Tia looks at me, “Brother… You need to stay here… You will get hurt if yo…”

I put a hoof of up before she can finish and I sit disappointed, “Go on… I will watch and wait like always…”

Tia, “I didn’t mean it li…”

Me, “Just go!” She and Luna look at each other and then they fly off without another word, leaving me behind to deal with my anger and the job of commanding the army.

I feel my right side start to darken and the Nightmare Angel speaks to me before disappearing, “The day will come when you will fall to me little one. Soon you will cause your beloved moon sister a tragic 1000 years to come. For now I will share my power so you can win this battle.” I hear his laugh echo through my head as he recedes back into his cage in my heart. I shake my head and I look out at the battle with a sudden urging to run into it, an urging to not be a waste just commanding the army, but to help it. I get up suddenly, without warning, starting up my magic and I pull out a light purple sword and my tail forms around me like a coat of armor, making it so it looks just like my normal grey coat and I dash into battle. As I fly past the changelings I slice through a Dark Entity and it crumbles to dust. As the others see that they all come for me with the intent to kill. Before they reach me though, an officer commands them all away from me. They look up as a black and red dragon with sharp crystal scales, obsidian claws and teeth, wings made out of pure dark crystal, and its eyes are blood red diamonds. It shots towards me and it hits me hard as I push my sword out into it. Eventually, it shatters after a couple swings with my sword and I stand there in the middle of the remains of the broken up dragon. The entities pay no attention though fear wells up in them as I am slicing through them left and right, my anger growing more and more. I fly up as soon as I hear a scream from my Luna and I dart toward the castle. I crash through one of the dark crystal windows and I land hard, making the ground crack under the impact. I stare up to see Blaze, transformed into the new Sombra, standing with Tia on the ground shaking from the nightmarish scenes that go through her mind and Luna is in a deep sleep and pined to the ground with dark crystals.

Sombra laughs and trots toward me, “Oh hello father. I have been waiting for- Wait you are not the Nightmare Angel… yet you are simply using a little of his power? Interesting… I know are the father for the body that I now posses, but he is no more.”

I growl, “I will free him from your dark magic Sombraic! You died years ago due to your own dark magic and you will fall again by it failing to protect you!”

I dart at him but he mists away and appears behind me, “Foolish king… I know all your powers just by you coming here… You are the one who will fall!” I notice Tia’s bag glimmer with gems and I realize they are the Elements of Harmony.

I think: “If I could get to the bag I could use the Elements on him. I need to catch him off guard though…” I grin at the plan that forms in my head and I dart upward as he makes a crystal grow under me. I slice down at him, but his scythe parries with my sword and my sword disappears. I make three other swords reappear and I send them flying at him from all directions, distracting him as I grab the Elements out of Tia’s bag. I cast my magic and they start to swirl around me at a high speed, making my power stronger and the warm light wakes Luna from her sleep as Celestia is freed from the images of darkness. Sombra growls as my sword lands in front of him. Sombra looks at me with anger in his eyes and shots a dark crystal toward my direction. The crystal is sharp enough to cut through even the thickest of armor, but it only shatters as soon as it gets hit by the warm light that the Elements emit all me.

I growl at Sombra with tears in my eyes, “I told you… They would fail to save and protect you…” Luna and Tia gasp as my eyes glow dark in one and white in the other. I glare and I shoot Sombra, turning him to pure darkness and I encase him in the ground outside the empire. The land itself opens up wide and swallows him as he screams, falling into the earthen prison. The tower begins to shake as I hear crying coming from the bedroom two rooms away from the throne room. I look in the direction of the room as I remembered that two years ago Chrysalis had given birth to a baby that she named after her great grandmother, Mia Mora Cadenza. I ran toward the room where Chrysalis’s husband was lying on the bed, dead with a crystal through him. In the bed next to him was a baby filly that was being concealed in a protective crystal to keep it safe. I pick up the crystal with Cadenza in it and I teleport it to the nearest wooded area. The woods I teleported her to was near a town called Falling Springs. A small community that thrived off of the rich farmlands that it resides on. Though, as soon as I teleport Cadenza way, the Empire starts to shake and I see all the armies’ retreat from each other. The Sombraic Army is stuck to rot in the disappearing empire. Luna, Celestia, and I fly out and meet with our army. I land next to them as the empire completely disappears. I look toward the east, watching Chrysalis and her army scatter away on fear to the snowy mountains. I watch as Chrysalis looks back at me with a tiny hint of pain in her eyes, and then she disappears into the distance. That would be the last I saw of her for a long time.

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[RaritySimper44]

He may never see her again