//------------------------------// // Three Battles, Final judgement. // Story: Loyalty in Brass // by Mr BHunt //------------------------------// 1st Ending Swift End No POV The Brass Legate stomped and swung it's glaive in a large crescent arc, catching a number of pesasi and throwing them to the hard floor, killing them instantly. The four of the earth pony guards charge and stab spears into the gap between the Brass Legate's shin guards and boots, this made the Legate dash back and swing it's glaive down upon the four stunned guards. The exploded in blood and gore, but his didn't stop the advancing ponies. Cpt. Swift Quiz galloped around the Brass Legate, knowing that it was looking at him, he pulls out his sword and holds it in his mouth. Suddenly the Brass Legate thrusts it's glaive at Swift, but he was ready for it. Swift stops and lets the glaive slam into the ground in front of him, then he rushes towards the Legate with his sword clenched tightly in his mouth. But as the Legate was moving to lift it's glaive to eliminate the Captain, the Elements of Harmony shoot a beam of rainbow energy at the Legate, the beam covers it's right arm with stone. The Legate roars and slams it's arm down upon Swift, only to hit a shield of golden and dark blue energy. The Legate jumps up and pulls back his left arm, which was holding the glaive, and throws the glaive at the shield. The shield shatters and the two princesses gasp and collapse, the Elements shoot another beam and it his the Brass Legate's chest. But as the Legate lands it causes the stone to break with a loud crack. It reaches out and grabs it's glaive, but it doesn't pull it out of the floor. It starts pulling the glaive through the ground and towards the Elements, fortunately Swift was still on the advance. He jumps and grabs onto the Legates boot, he spins his sword around and stabs it into the gab between it's armour. The Legate stops moving and looks down at Swift, then it spins around and slams it's boot into a wall. It pulls it's foot away and looks back at the Elements, but it snapped it's gaze back to see Swift was climbing up it's leg, he was past it's knee. The Legate growls and swipes Swift off it's leg, he falls to the hard floor and groans. The Legate raises it's boot and stomps on the Captain, if he was there. Celestia grabs Swift and pulls him away from the titanic boot, Luna flies up and her eyes glow white. Suddenly the Legate roars as a number of large white spears thrust through it's chestplate, it sudders and swings it's glaive at Luna. She dodges and shoots a beam of dark blue energy at the Brass Legate's faceplate which causes the titan to snarl, then it suddenly throws a huge bolt of lightning from it's right hand at the lunar princess. She goes flying back with the bolt and convulses as sparks fly off her, she hits the far wall with a thud and slides to the floor. Celestia screams and flies to her sister, only to be backhanded by the Brass Legate into the floor. Then to add insult to injury, the Legate slams it's glaive into the downed princess three times, then it opened it's faceplate to shoot a huge beam of lightning. Only to hear a moan and see a beam of colour full it's vision. It roars and drops it's glaive trying to claw at the stone covering it's core, the Legate shudders and lets it's arm fall to it's sides, then orange steam began to flow from it's armour. The gates open... Lighting crawled over it's stone covered core and it shattered with a loud crack, the Legate moved a hand over it's glaive and pulled it from the floor. The faceplate closed and the Brass Legate turned around, it's faceplate's eyes glowing orange with black mist flowing to the sides. It locked onto the Elements and thrust it's glaive into the floor, then it swung it upwards and a vertical wave of lightning flies at the floating ponies. They scatter and split up to avoid the lightning, but now they couldn't form another beam. So the Brass Legate can end them without an annoying beam disturbance, the Legate chuckles and walks towards the three ponies on it's left. Rainbow Dash yells and flies at the Legate, who let it's misty eyes lock onto the flying pony. Then it slams it's free hand down in front of the cyan pegasus, but the pony quickly zips towards the face of the Legate, but unfortunately for Rainbow the Legate moved it's head forward and Dash slammed into thick brass. She groans and flops off the faceplate of the Legate. Rarity grabs the falling pegasus with her magic and pulls her from the Legate, but the Legate wasn't done. It turns and spots the little unicorn, then it grabs it's glaive with both hands and holds it over it's right shoulder. Suddenly it started spinning and moving towards the two ponies, all while it was swinging it's glaive in a diagonal arc. It mowed through the floor and sent shards of it at the two ponies, but fortunately Rarity teleported herself and Rainbow away, leaving only Pinkie... The Legate stops spinning and swings it's glaive in huge overhead smash onto the pink, grinning pony. She disappears in a blur and appears on the Legate's shoulder, her party cannon aimed at the Brass Legate's neck, she winks and fires her cannon. The Legate feels an object fly through it's neck and stumbles to the side, it tries to smash it's free hand onto Pinkie. But she was already with her friends, forming another beam of Harmony. The Legate roars as the beam runs from it's waist, up it's chestplate and to it's neck. It gives out a loud moan as it drops it's glaive and falls to the floor, sending a shockwave around it's fallen body. The ponies shoot another beam and the Royal Sisters fly over and summon spikes of magic, piercing the Brass Legate's chestplate and traping it more. But the Legate still didn't give up as it pulled a hand out to try and crawl through the spikes, then it soon went limb, it's eyes glowing dimmer and soon disappeared. The ponies watch it for a moment and ready themselves for another attack, Twilight then grabbed a rock and gently tossed it at the prone Legate. Suddenly the Legate roared to life, swinging it's free arm around wildly and soon planting a fist onto the floor, it started hissing and more steam soon started coming out of it's armour. It shook as it rose through the spikes, the Legate no longer standing tall and pround, it was no more than animal. It's legs were in a crouched position and it's right arm was supporting itself, it's eyes resumed their orange and smoky colour. The Legate roared to the ceiling and looked back down, it locked onto the other ponies that it didn't target. It snarled and charged the cluster of ponies, slamming it's limbs into and out of the floor. But suddenly it smashed into a gold and dark blue barrier, it spin around and rose slightly. Then it pulls out the lance that was in it's neck and threw it at the two princesses, falling to it's elbows and growling. The Royal Sisters fly around the projectile and shoot a fury of energy bolts at the animalistic Legate, it screams and pushes itself up. Suddenly it spins and kicks out, catching Swift as he was galloping at the Legate. Then it spun around and let a huge line of lightning shoot from it's faceplate, the ponies throw themselves to the sides as the beam runs through the floor. The Brass Legate hissed again and raised it's left hand, a orb of white light appeared on it's palm, then it slammed the orb of light into the ground. A huge groan is heard and the entire floor cracks and from the cracks, orange mist appeared. It floated up and then started flowing into the Brass Legate, who's smoky eyes had faded. The husk of armour groaned as it was filled with the mist, soon the armour cracked and it stood up, proud and intimidating. The eyes of it's faceplate reignited into a pure golden colour, the Brass Legate raised it's gaze to the far doors of the throne room, they both slammed shut. The ponies wearily readied themselves as the Legate slowly marchs forward, it's hands glowing with a golden colour. It threw it's right hand up and a pillar of lightning slammed into Celestia, it then swung it's hand down and another pillar of lightning was sent through Twilight. The Legate then clapped it's hands together and a huge wave of lightning was sent outwards, scattering the ponies, then the Legate slumped over. It's backplates opened up and a humongous eruption of red steam bursts out, Swift runs up and slides to a stop, his sword in his mouth. He spins around and then back around, as he does he throws the sword into the gapping back of the Legate. The steam stops and the Legate looks up, a deathly silence filling the room. It stumbles back and collapses to a knee, it looks at Swift and holds itself up on it's right hand. "Finally... I see a... a light... I'm coming my friends... I... thank you... for I am... free." The Legate says and falls to the floor, exploding in a cloud of dust as it hits the floor. Swift raises a hoof to cover his face and steps back, as the dust settles he lowers his hoof and sees his sword implanted in the floor. It was now brass and a few sparks of lightning run along it's edge, but wrapped around the hilt of the sword was a brass bracelet. Swift pulls the bracelet on and looks at it, then he goes to reach for his new sword... To find it floating in an orange glow in front of his face, he steps back and as he does he notices the bracelet glowing orange as well. He narrows his eyes and thinks of moving the blade in a circle, it follows his thoughts and spins. Swift then slides his sword into it's scabbard and turned around, saluting Celestia and Luna as they trotted in front of him, smiles on their faces. "Good work my little pony!" Celestia says warmly and Swift shrugs, putting his hoof down. "Just a duty, Princess. Nothing more." Swift says as Luna and Celestia chuckle. "Even if it is thou- your duty, we are still thankful for you destroying that menace." Luna says. "I think it is time to return to Canterlot." She finishes and Celestia nods, the Elements of Harmony limp over and nod as well. "You go Princesses, I need some time to think." Swift says and sits down, looking at the dust of the Brass Legate. The group of ponies huddle together and disappear in a flash of purple, gold and dark blue. Swift notices something in the dust near his hoof, he looks closer and sees its a piece of the Legate's faceplate. He frowns and picks it up with his mind, pulling it close to his face. "Why aren't you gone?" He mutters to himself and tosses the piece of brass aside, he stands up and starts to walk to the doors of the throne room, his mind elsewhere. Twilight of a New Dawn The Brass Legate's beam destroys a line of pegasi guards, then it's faceplate slams shut as it stomps and thrusts it's glaive at the Elements of Harmony. It slams into the floor and sends shrapnel at the ponies, then suddenly the Royal Sisters both fire a large beam at the Brass Legate, but it merely spun around and held out it's free hand and caught the beam. It started walking towards the two princesses with it's faceplate open, then it stomped and shot out another large beam of lightning at the pair. The two princesses fly up and over the Legate, causing it to turn around and snarl, but it stopped as a beam of rainbow energy slammed into the Legate's chest. It stumbles and falls to a knee, letting Swift run up and stab his sword through the Legate's neck. He then throws himself at the Legate and makes the brass warrior rear up, then it suddenly roared and slammed it's sparking glaive into the floor. Swift is send flying back into the Elements of Harmony and causes them to all fall into a pile, while this happened the Legate raised his free hand and a orb of fire appeared within it's grasp. Suddenly it crushed it and a wave of steam blew out from the Legate, the ponies step back as cracks appear in the floor. Then the steam clears and reveals the Legate, lava now flowing from the cracks in it's armour. It snarls and throws a bolt of lightning at the group of ponies, but it was blocked by Luna's shield. The Legate then immediately slams it's glaive into the floor and raises both arms above it's head, then it slams it's glowing arms down onto the floor. The cracks in the floor suddenly roared as walls of lava appeared, the ponies scramble to get off the cracks. They look around and watch as the lava loses it's glow and forms a solid mave of hardened fire. The Legate snarls and pulls it's glaive from the floor and jumps up onto the top of the maze, it spots the Elements and throws a bolt of lightning at the ponies. They scream and leap away from the orange bolt as it slams into the wall behind them, the Legate turns around and gets a huge golden spear send through it's chest. It roars and falls from the top of the maze, smashing through the walls as it fell to the floor. The ponies rush over and around the Legate to escape futher into the maze, the princesses blast the Legate with a fury of energy and soon follow the Elements of Harmony into the maze. The Brass Legate growls and rolls over, it then slams itself through the maze's walls, trying to crush the ponies within. It soon crushes a wall and comes face to face with the group, they scream and stumble as the Legate's faceplate opens and glows. But Swift came to the rescue, he leapt from behind the Legate and on top of it and run along it's back towards it's head. He slams his sword through the neck of the Legate and kicks it, causing the blade to thrust through the neck of the Legate. It rears back and reaches to it's throat and soon falls backwards. The Elements fire a beam of rainbow energy along the chesttoa the Legate's head, it roars and sends a wild kick at the ponies. The boot slams into the two princesses and sends them through the maze's walls. Twilight yells and runs to Celestia's side, causing her friends to follow. But the Legate roared and slammed it's arm down in front of them and smacked them away, it turned and looked at Twilight. Who's eyes where glowing white with power and rage, she screams and blasts the Legate with a huge beam of purple energy, sending it flying out of the maze and into the far wall of the throne room. Twilight's face turns to a frown and she flies out of the maze, locking her gaze onto the Legate. It had another orb in it's hand, this time a large yellow and gold aura was surrounding a red orb. It crushes it and slams a fist into the floor as it writhes in unknown pain, the glow in it's armour fades and it slowly fades to a pile of dust. Twilight narrows her eyes and scans the room, she locks onto the doors as they slowly shut with a loud thud. Suddenly a whirlpool of dark, black energy appears in place of the lavafall. Twilight gasps and watches as the storm crackled and hissed, then she heard hoofsteps. The storm dissipated almost immediately and revealed a brass soldier, it was holding a large axe in one hand and a strange dagger in it's other, it's armour was also different. A pointed brass helmet sat upon it's head, it had a brass pauldron on it's left shoulder and a pair of brass shin guards on it's legs. Underneath it's armour a black tunic with grey leggings, it's tunic's neck was pulled up to cover the soldier's face. Twilight slowly floated down to the floor and tilted her head as the soldier stood still. "I have not been in this form for so long, but you are... more powerful than thought." The brass soldier says in a gravelly voice, soon Twilight realises that this is the Brass Legate. "You must realise that I will not fall to you, I cannot. I must follow orders and end you pests!" The Legate says and Twilight looks shocked. "Pests? We are ponies! You have no right to call us pests and kill us!" She yells at the Legate. "Who gave you the right to be called ponies? Who gave us the right to be cursed to stay in this world? WHO GIVES THE RIGHTS?!" The Legate roars and Twilight steps back. "I... I don't know, but we've always been ponies. But you weren't always like this... were you?" Twilight asks cautiously and the Legate shakes it's head. "It matters not, I've got an objective. You will die or I will die, it will be the only way to leave this throne room. Your friends will wake in a moment, when they do... no mercy will be given." The Legate states and points it's axe at Twilight, then it folds it's off hand over it's axe hand and lowers it's head. The sound of battle nears... Twilight snaps her head around as she hears a groan, it was Swift Quiz. He looks up and spots the Legate rushing towards the unsuspecting Twilight, he yells and throws his sword at the Legate. It snarls and stumbles to the side as the sword slams into it's chest. Twilight spins around and pulls a large hunk of the floor up, then she throws it at the Legate. It just ducks under the debris and slashes the sword in half with it's dagger, then it leaps up and holds it's axe above it's head. It lands and twists the axe to the side, spinning and swinging it's axe at the stunned purple unicorn. But it stops in a dark blue aura, it looks over it's shoulder and spots Luna. The Legate growls and slashes the air with it's dagger, falling to the floor as the magic is dissipated. Then it runs at Luna with it's dagger in front of itself, the Legate slashes at Luna and she flies back. But then the Legate spins vertically and slams it's axe down at Luna, catching the princess off guard. But then a pair of golden swords and an angry sun princess appeared to block the Legate's downstroke, she yells and parries the axe. The Legate spins around and drop kicks Celestia away, then it swipes it's axe along the floor and slides with it's strike. Luna jumps and slams a dark blue wall in the path of the Legate, it slams into the barrier and growls, then it jumps up and spins through the air. Then a beam of rainbow energy slams into the midair Legate, sending it flying into the floor. The Elements of Harmony hover closer and then float to the floor, the Legate groans and gets up to it's feat. Then Celestia and Luna both slam a pair of swords into the Legate, but suddenly the Legate catches the blades with it's dagger and throws them upwards. The two princesses look in shock as the Legate swings it's axe at Celestia, cutting her wing and chipping her horn a bit. She screams and throws herself backwards, Luna looks back at her sister and then screams as the Legate plunges it's dagger into her throat, blood squirts out and the Legate thrusts the blunt end of the axe into Luna. She falls back and uses her magic to hold her wound, then she gives a death stare at the Legate. It just raises it's axe over it's head, then it looks away from Luna. Another rainbow beam flies towards the Legate, but it slides under it and runs at the Elements of Harmony, letting it's axe drag along the floor and creating sparks. Then the Legate dashes forward and spins with it's sparking axe, then it swings at the closest pony, a familiar grinning one. But it's axe slams into a purple barrier, the Legate quickly spins and kicks the blue blur coming at it. Rainbow Dash yelps as she slams into the boot and is thrown back, the other ponies gasp. Rarity screams and grabs a large number of shrapnel from the floor and flings it at the Legate, it snarls and throws it's arms to block some of the shrapnel. Then a very strong force slams into the Legate side and it slides from the impact, it turns and sees an orange pony with a strange hat lowering it's hind legs. The Legate roars and pulls a strange black orb from a pouch, then quickly crushes it and rushes at the ponies. Celestia gently heals Luna as a strange black, stormy whirlpool appeared a couple of metres away. She stands up and watches as copy of the Legate walks through the portal, except it had a sword instead of an axe. It quickly rushes at the Celestia with it's sword on it's shoulder, but then it is thrown across the room by a huge dark blue hammer. Luna walks to Celestia's side and changes the hammer into a sword, Celestia does the same. The Summon jumps to it's feet and slams it's sword down, but it is caught by the twin blades of the two princesses. "Almost familiar..." The Summon whispers and kicks Luna to the side, then slices Celestia with it's dagger. Then it swings it's sword over it's head and slams it down onto Celestia, but she summoned a shield and blocked the devastating strike. Then Luna flew and tackled the Summon, it let out a soft groan and stabbed it's dagger into Luna's back and pulls it's sword to her throat. "Another to the Watch..." It whispers and tries to slit Luna's throat, but then she dives down and slams the Summon into the floor. It writhes and then disappears in a black flash, the two princesses look at the Elements and saw the Legate collapse to a knee. The Legate coughs and drops it's axe, it shudders and looks up at the Elements of Harmony. "You... aren't pests anymore... now... please... send me to my brothers... my arrival is awaited..." The Legate says and lowers it's head as it offers it's dagger to Twilight, who takes it with her magic and holds it up. She looks down at the bowing Legate and plunges the dagger into it's neck, it shudders again and looks at Twilight, who gasps unexpectedly. Then the Brass Legate disappears into a cloud of dust, a brass dagger imbedded into a pointed brass helmet resting amongst it. Twilight grabs the helmet and looks at it, then breaks down crying. "Twi... what's wrong?" Rainbow asks while rubbing her friend's shoulders, Twilight sniffs and looks up. "I saw... I saw a pair of eyes, amongst the darkness." She coughs and goes back to crying. The two princesses stand away from the group of friends, their eyes drawn to a piece of a brass battle axe in the dust. They look at each other with worried eyes, then they cover the fragment and trot over to Twilight and her friends. The Revenge of the Fallen The Legate shoots a large beam of lightning at the running royal guards, then it moved it to cut down the pegasi. The Legate snarls and slams it's glaive across the floor at the ponies, who quickly leapt out of the way. The two princesses fire a hail of magic at the Legate, it just backhands them out of the air and tries to stomp on them. Yet another rainbow beam slams into it and staggers the Legate, then Swift dashes up and jumped onto the Legate's chest, holding on by stabbing into the chestplate. The Legate snarls and smacks Swift off it's chest, snapping his sword in half. Swift lands with a thud, but he notices something, a faint white hue was in the air. The Brass Legate looks around and watches as the dust from outside the throne room and the dust from inside flies around in a tornado, it steps back as a pair of orange eyes appear in the tornado. "Fate... is kind on this day!" A familiar voice yells and the Brass Centurion run through the dust-nado, but it was nothing but dust. Yet it's attacks still hit with the same force as if it was solid, the Centurion roars as it tackles the Legate and then dissolves as the Legate hits the floor. It looks up just as the Centurion slams it's foot into the Legate's faceplate, the Legate roars and seings it's free hand through the Centurion. The Centurion dissolves and the Legate jumps up, then the Centurion appears a few feet away. The Legate roars and thrusts it's glaive at the Centurion, dissipating it again and causing it to appear behind it. The Centurion slams it's axe into the Legate's lower side and grabs it's neck, then it turns and tosses the Legate away. The ponies watch in silent terror and awe as the Legate stands and swings it's glaive around at the Centurion, yet it just passes through and the Centurion grabs the Legate's faceplate, causing the Legate to drop it's glaive and claw at the dusty appendage. Then it roars as the Centurion crushes the Legate's head, slowly the Legate tries to crush a red orb, but it is stopped by the Centurion. It grabs the orb and throws it aside, then the Centurion grabs the fallen glaive and points it at the Legate's throat. "As you had said, it's just fated for you to die." The glaive plunges through the Legate's neck. "We are late, brother. We are awaited by our friends." The Centurion states and pulls the glaive out of the Legate, who stumbles back and falls to a knee. "Heh... I guess you... are right..." The Brass Legate says and dissolves to dust, a red orb appears amongst the dust. Teilight moves forward to look at it, but the Brass Centurion grabs it and throws it into the lavafall. "B-but I needed to study that!" She says, a little angry. "No, that wasn't safe in your hooves. Now, destroy this place." it says as it looks at Luna and Celestia, who both nod. Twilight looks shocked and opens her mouth to argue, but then she disappears in a golden flash with her friends. "We thank tho- you for what you have done." Luna says and the dusty soldier just shrugs. "Now that the Legate is dead, are we safe?" Celesta asks. "No, but you are safe from the Brass Inquisitiors. Word will travel fast and the other Legates will leave you be." The Centurion states as it's body fully fades from the world. The two princesses look at each other and teleport to Canterlot, ready to overcome the damage that has occurred. Yet it was Celesta who spotted a glaive, stabbed through the floor. It was three days later when the stronghold was destroyed, it was then wiped from everything's memories, so nothing remains...