//------------------------------// // Chapter One: The Brass Knight // Story: Loyalty in Brass: The First Encounter // by Mr BHunt //------------------------------// Twilight was trotting through Ponyville, waving to it's residents and smiling all the while. She turned as she heard somepony call her name, it was Spike. Her ever so faithful assistant, her son in a way. "Twilight!" He yells and runs up to Twilight, his face dripping with sweet. "Hello Spike, what's wrong?" Twilight asks and the little dragon stops to breathe, his poor lungs taking in air. "The princess sent a letter, it's here." Spike says and pulls the scroll from his back, Twilight rips it from his grasp and scans over it. "Dear Twilight, there has been a sighting of a Brass Knight near Ponyville. It was reported, by a very frantic pegasus, destroying Timberwolves. Please go and find this Brass Knight, report where it is and what it is doing. Princess Celestia." Twilight read from the letter, her eyes widening as she read. Then she looked up at Spike, who was still breathing a little heavy. "Spike, tell the girls to meet me by the road into Ponyville. We gotta find this Brass Knight, before it can hurt anypony!" She told Spike and galloped to the meeting point, Spike sighed and ran off to find the five mares. Twilight waited for about five minutes when she saw the first two of her friends, Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Both were galloping towards Twilight, she yelled in surprise and jumped to the side as Rainbow Dash suddenly launched forward with her wings. "HA! I win!" She cheered and flew in a loop, Applejack trotted to a stop and glared at her. "Sugarcube, yah cheated to win." She said and Rainbow huffed, still hovering in the air. "Still won." She muttered and looked at Twilight. "So what's up, Egghead?" She asked. "I'm not an Egghead!" Twilight yells and then huffs. "I'll explain when the rest of the girls are here." She says and turns around, she spots the three friends trotting towards them, Rarity and Fluttershy were talking while Pinkie was just hopping along. "Hi Twilight! Hi Dashy! Hi Applejack!" Pinkie quickly listed off and waved. "They're here Twi, so what's up? Monsters? Bad ponies?" Rainbow asks and then takes a boxers pose. "Cause I'll kick their flanks, with a hoof behind my back!" She gloats and Applejack sighs, just another moment of Rainbow Dash. "It's a Brass Knight, one of the few creations of Humanity." Twilight answered and Rainbow looked confused. "Hoomanity? What's that?" She asked and Twi groaned, she opened her mouth to explain but Pinkie popped up in front of her. "They were the smartyest and most creative ponies around, well not ponies but humans! I read they made the bestest cupcakes! But they vanished, like the wind!" She explained in her own way, Twilight gently pushed her away. "They used to be the most advanced race, but they vanished. They left everything buildings, tools and their automation army, the Brass Inquisitors. The Brass Knight is one of the many dangerous soldiers in the Inquisitors, they aren't easy to beat." Twilight then explained and Rainbow scoffed. "I could still take them." She said and Twilight facehooved. "Anyway, we gotta find this knight." Twilight states, Fluttershy shakes. "y-you mean w-w-we have to g-go find the b-big scary k-knight?" Fluttershy asks quietly, Dash lands next to her and puts a wing on her back. "Don't worry Fluttershy, that Brass Knight is no much for us!" She says and Fluttershy smiles, then the group turn and walk down the path. Meanwhile, near the edge of the Everfree The Brass Knight stomps the head of a Timberwolf into the ground, growls and kicks the remains of the wolf away. The knight turns and twirls it's glaive, a mighty and powerful cross of a curved axe head and a pike. The knight stares with unseen eyes at two other Timberwolves, which wimpered and slowly edged away. Unfortunately they didn't make it far when the Brass Knight slammed it's glaive down onto one, the other yelped and tore off deeper into the Everfree. The Brass Knight just pulls a large kukri from it's sheath on it's right shoulder, flips it in it's hand and throws it at alarming speed at the running Timberwolf. A yelp and long, pained whine gives the knight a direction to go. The knight jogs through the bush, it's boots causing craters in the dirt. It stomps into a clearing and spots the Timberwolf, laying still with the Brass Knight's kukri embedded in it's throat. The knight kneels down and pats the handle of the knife, then the knight tears it out of the Timberwolf's face. Green blood drips from the knife and the Brass Knight wipes it on the tree then pushes it back into it's sheath, then the knight looks at tree in the middle of the meadow. It lumbered over and brushed it's hand over the bark, then it sat down and leaned against the tree. The Brass Knight pulled a small round disk from one of it's pouches, the knight held it for a moment and then moved it in front of it's blank faceplate. It just stared at it for a while, then the knight placed it on it's right leg and pushed a small button on the front. A soft sounding melody filled the air and the Brass Knight made a soft hum, then it feel silent and it's head slowly tilted forward. ... ... Another low hum come from the knight, it had fallen asleep. It's music box kept playing as the sound of rustling, unnoticed by the knight, came from the edge of the meadow. 5 Minutes before current events The Mane 6 The group of friends trotted slowly through the Everfree, looking all around them. Fluttershy hesitantly kept going, being surrounded by her friends filled her with determination. She spots something and it causes her to gasp, the others turn and gape as they find the first of the Brass Knight's handy work. A large number of Timberwolves, two Manticores and even a Cockatrice were spread through the bush and trees. Many had no limbs and most had their insides spread across the forest floor, a manticore had it's tail torn off and stuck in it's own head while another was wingless. A few Timber wolves had their jaws broken and their legs smashed, the rest were just cut to pieces. The Cockatrice's head was gone and the body was stuck on a branch, slammed into it. Fluttershy threw up and broke down into tears, Rarity fainted and Pinkie's mane deflated. Rainbow flew down and turned Fluttershy away from the scene, Applejack turned and covered her face with her hat while Twilight gaped. "W-who would do t-this?!" Fluttershy cried while Rainbow held her. "A-a bucking moster!" Rainbow yelled and huddled closer to Fluttershy, then sighed. "I'm going to get Fluttershy home, she can't handle this." She says and then begins to walk her shaking friend out of the Everfree, the rest of her friends nodding. "I'm going too, this isn't a fun as I thought it was." Pinkie says in a monotone voice and follows the two pegasi, her friends looking increasingly worried. "Come on girls, w-we still gotta find that Brass Knight. Let's g-go." Twilight stuttered and began to lead her friends through the forest again, away from the slaughtered creatures. After Rarity woke up, the girls split up in search of the Brass Knight. Rarity went with Applejack and Twilight went alone, she trotted for a few minutes and noticed the absence of Everfree creatures. Then she heard a very faint tune, a soft and calm one. It got louder as she trotted, suddenly she stumbled and tripped into a cluster of bushes. She groaned and crawled out of the otherside and shook her head, then Twilight looked up, then gasped. She found the Brass Knight, she scrambled to her hooves with wide eyes. "I-I found it, the Brass Knight!" She yelled and then slammed her hooves into her mouth, the Brass Knight shifted. But the tune started again and the knight seemed to freeze, Twilight slowly trotted forward and summoned a quill and a scroll. She writes as she approaches the knight, saying the words she writes. "It's armor is bulky, smooth and made of brass. It's armour is shiny, I could see my reflection from here!" She says a bit loudly, the knight shifts again but Twilight continues. "The knight's helmet was like an old Roaman's, except it had a blank face. Oh, it could be a visor! That's probably it, the knight also had a crest on it's helmet, it was faded white. The Brass Knight appears to have a bandolier, that's a lot of pouches." Twilight said to herself as she stood just in front of the knight, who still sat with the music playing. "It's very tall, as I only stand up to the knight's knee, well that I'm estimating." She says and picks up the round music box, looked at it and then pressed the button. The music stops. The Brass Knight twitches. The Brass Knight snaps awake and swings it's arms down into Twilight, the unicorn jumps to the side. The knight roars and picks up it's glaive, then it leaps up and launches itself down at Twilight. She teleports behind the knight and gallops back through the bushes, screaming as she heard the heavy footsteps of the Brass Knight. She passed a pair of Timberwolves, who yelped at the sight of the frantic purple pony. They then heard the knight, and felt it as the knight swung it's glaive and smashed both wolves apart. Twilight risked to look over her shoulder and screamed louder as the Brass Knight's boot slammed down right on the end of her tail, then it thrusted it's glaive down at Twilight. Twilight gasped as the glaive cut her side, she tripped and skidded to a stop. The knight stopped and raised it's glaive into the air, but Twilight lit her horn and teleported into some bushes. The Brass Knight slammed it's glaive into the ground and then realised that the pony wasn't there, it growled and pulled it's glaive from the ground. The knight turned around and roared, it dashed forward and slashed down at some bushes, Twilight teleported and started to gallop away. The knight heard the hooves and spun around with a snarl, it chased after. "Hold on, Twi!" A tomboyish voice yelled and Rainbow swooped down and grabbed Twilight, then heard the stomping. "Let's get you out of here." She said and started to zoom away, suddenly she heard a roar and felt something hit her. The two screamed as they fell from the air, they landed with a thud. Dash screamed as she broke her wing and rolled over, Twilight crawled over to her as the knight walked over to them. The Brass Knight planted the glaive into the ground and picked up both of the ponies, they yell in pain. The knight looks at Twilight and squeezes, it looks at Rainbow and drops her. Suddenly the knight feels a strong force hitting it's leg, then it hears a huge crack and then a scream. The Brass Knight looks down and gazes at Applejack, who's hind legs were bent at unnatural angles. The knight growls and drops Twilight to reach for it's glaive, but then realises it's mistake. It tries to grab Twilight but she disappears in a flash, the knight spins around to find the other ponies gone. The Brass Knight roars and slams it's glaive into a tree, which snaps and falls to the forest floor. It snarls and starts to wildly attck everything, then it notices a small cottage. The knight calms and starts to stomp over to the cottage, which is home to an unsuspecting pegasus. Meanwhile in Ponyville Twilight and her friends appeared in a bright purple flash right in the middle of Ponyville, the residents gasped and rushed to help the injured ponies. The unicorns within the crowd picked them up with their magic and carried them towards Ponyville Hospital, the crowd still following. "What happned?" "No clue, but something must've attacked them." "Yeah, but ain't these three Elements of Harmony?" "Sweet Celestia, you're right!" "Quick, get them to the hospital!" They entered the hospital and the nurses and doctors quickly got them onto beds, suddenly Rarity burst into the hospital. Tears were streaming down her face and blood was dripping from the side of her head, she collapsed but a doctor caught her and put her on a bed. The doctors and nurses then wheeled the injured mares deeper into the hospital, completely unaware how close the Brass Knight is to their small town.