The Brass Knight slowly marched through the forest, it's glaive resting on it's shoulder. A few weary eyes of creatures stared at the knight, then a Timberwolf leapt out of a bush with at snarl at the knight. Suddenly the Brass Knight slammed a fist into the face of the Timberwolf, the beast shattered and the knight growled. Then it continued through the forest, but then the knight heard a yell and a flare flew into the sky. The Brass Knight spun around as a large group of ponies charged at it, they were armed with tools and wore no armor. It was a mistake to charge the Brass Knight.
A mistake that they will not be able to correct.
The knight dashed forward and roundhouse kicked a pair of unicorns into a tree, it glanced over it's shoulder at a charging blue pegasus. It spun around again and slammed it's foot into the pegasus, she gurgled as her face was caved in. Yet the mare didn't die, she swooped down and grabbed an axe. The knight raised it's fist and tried to crush the mare, but she flew around it and dashed towards the knight's faceplate. She slammed the axe into the brass faceplate and caused it to crack, the Brass Knight suddenly headbutted the mare into a tree. Her body fell to the forest floor as the knight shook it's head, then it felt a chip of it's faceplate fall off. A soft glow of orange peered from the gap as a faint mist drifted out, the knight merely looked at the mare and stomped her head in.
The Brass Knight turned back around and sprinted through the forest, it's footsteps causing small tremors. Suddenly the knight skidded to a stop in a clearing, it hunched over as steam bellowed from the gaps of it's armor. A large shadow covered the knight as it leaned back, it looked up at the colossus that shadowed it.
The Brass Tower, one of the most largest soldiers of the Brass Inquisitors. It's brass armour was many times bigger that the Brass Knight's, it was as tall as three and could create a crater with a stomp. It's helmet had three distinct spikes, two that curved around the helm with the other curving over the top. Grasped in it's titanic hands, was a huge brass spear. It sparked with a blue energy as the Tower looked down at the knight, the Brass Knight merely glared back.
"Designation?" The Tower rumbled in a deep monotone.
"B-2113" The knight answered quickly. "Objective: Hunting." The knight adds.
The Brass Tower pauses, then nods. It points it's spear at the ground, then slams it into a hole. The Tower twists it's spear and a large arch slowly rose from the ground, then it fills with a white fog. The knight walks into the fog gate, then appears in a large courtyard. A few Brass Knights marched past, their footsteps in perfect sync. The knight turns and jogs towards the large pillar of smoke, it turns the corner and stops.
Standing in the middle of a smaller courtyard was a trio of large soldiers, they were holding Inferno Rifles which they were shooting into the air. The rifles were boxy in shape, but had narrow barrels and a hose that ran from the weapon into large packs on the soldiers backs. These were Cleaners, the most merciless of the Brass Inquisitiors. They are usually accompanied by more Cleaners and burnt any pests and filth they came upon, but they hadn't gone on a purge for a while. They wore large and bulky armor, charred black by the use of Blazing Rifles. Their helmets had two rounded plates that glowed a faint red on their faceplates, mimicking eyes. Another two hoses ran from the sides of the Cleaners' faceplates, across their shoulders and into a box on their nape. The tank on their backs was connected to their Inferno Rifles, shooting a mix of lethal chemicals through the hose and gun while a flame on the end of the rifle that lit the cocoction and made a wave of flames.
One of the Cleaners noticed the knight and slowly walked over to it, holding it's rifle on it's shoulder, The Brass Knight waited until the Cleaner stopped.
"You need a purge?" The Cleaner asked in a garbled voice, the knight nods and the two other Cleaners walk over. "Where?"
"Through the gate, at the edge of the forest." The Brass Knight says, the Cleaners look at each other.
"We'll wipe the filth off this land, let's exterminate." The lead Cleaner states and the trio march through the fog gate, the knight following.
The Cleaners emerged from the gate and moved past the Brass Tower, leveling their Inferno Rifles at the trees...
Ponyville
Twilight hobbles out of the hospital with her friends, then promptly gasps in horror at the damage to their home. Rarity bursts into tears while Applejack and Rainbow Dash just gape, a green unicorn mare walked past them.
"I-it happened so fast." Lyra stated as she looked blankly in front of her, Twilight looked worried.
"What happened, Lyra?" She asked and Lyra stopped and slowly turned around, her eyes finally locking onto Twilight.
"That... that metal hu- monster attacked us, it slaughtered so many... so many..." She said and turned away, the four friends slowly walked through Ponyville. They came across Pinkie and Mr. Cake, they stood over the ruined Sugarcube Corner. Rainbow made her way over to the pair, but stopped. Then she turned back around and walked back, Twilight looked at her with a question in her eyes.
"It's... better to let them handle the loss, in their own time." Dash says as Mr. Cake collapses and breaks into tears, Twilight nods and helps Applejack walk. The group come across a few foals, huddled around in a small group. Rarity trots over and places a hoof on one of the fillies the group scatter with a scream. Suddenly a pegasus swoops down, it was Spitfire.
"You shouldn't be here! A fire was spotted growing in the Everfree, everypony is evacuating now!" She yells and flies away to warn others.
The girls look at each other in shock and confusion, then they turn as a strange sound fills the air...
The Cleaners were slowly making their way towards Ponyville, using their Inferno Rifles to burn away the shrubbery. The Brass Knight slowly followed, using it's glaive to finish off any unfortunate survivors. One of the Cleaners stumbled, then a low growl filled the air. Suddenly a manticore spun around and slammed a paw into the Cleaner, sending it to the forest floor. The knight dashed forward and thrusted it's glaive into the manticore's chest, then it hauled the beast into the air. The manticore snarled and the Brass Knight launched the beast into a tree, it crumbled onto the manticore. The two Cleaners sweeped their flames onto the trapped manticore, it screamed and howled into the sky. Soon it fell silent, the Cleaner got to it's feet and shook it's head, then followed the two others.
"Strong pest, heard something crack." The Cleaner said and the others turn to look at it, their Inferno Rifles sizzling.
"Keep cautious, watch for anything acting up." One of the Cleaner says and turns back around, the other continues to stare at the other Cleaner. The knight notices a slight hissing fulling the air and looks around for it's source, then it spots something spraying from the Cleaner's tank.
"Leak!" The knight yelled and kicked the Cleaner away from the three soldiers, it stumbled back and heard the hissing. It started to scratch at it's tank as an ember floated near it, lighting the fuel within.
The explosion sent the two Cleaners and the knight to the ground, luckily the two other Cleaner's tanks were intact. The three haul themselves up onto their feet and look at where the other Cleaner once stood, only two charred and mangled boots remained. The Cleaners turned and continued to purge the forest, the Brass Knight walked over to the bulky boots and stomped on them.
The knight followed the path of scorched trees and found the two Cleaners glaring at the town of Ponyville, the knight stood next to them and growled. The lead Cleaner pointed it's Inferno Rifle into the air and shot of a wave of fire, it arched and filled the air with smoke.
The Brass Knight pointed at the village. "There! Purge that filth from this land, leave nothing unburned!" The Knight roared and the two Cleaners nodded, they marched towards the small town with their Inferno Rifles aimed into the sky.
Spitfire looks around from her cloud at the evacuating residents, then out of the corner of her eye she spots a flash. She turns and her eyes widen, a large dark grey creature was shooting a strange crossbow weapon into the air, but it wasn't bolts it was shooting. Instead it was fire, a large wave of fire was spraying into the air. Another grey creature was standing next to the first and a more shiny, less bulky creature stood close by and was pointing at Ponyville. Spitfire stepped back as the Cleaners started to walk towards the ruined town, the captain shot off the cloud and towards the front of the convoy. She landed in front of a Royal Guard captain, who didn't expect a Pegasus to land in front of him.
"There's two creatures coming towards Ponyville! Both holding strange fire breathing weapons, you need to move these ponies!" Spitfire shouted at the captain, he nodded and yelled at the residents to hurry. Spitfire flew back into the air and scanned around for the two Cleaners, she swooped down and flew through the empty streets. Suddenly a wall of flames erupted from one of the alleys, Spitfire stopped and hovered in place as the sound of thudding filled the air. A dark shape slowly walked from the alley, fire scratching at it's armored form. The Cleaner turned to look at the shocked pegasus, it tilled it's head and aimed it's Inferno Rifle at her. Spitfire dashed to the sky just as a wave of flames flowered from the Cleaner's weapon, it looked up at the pegasus.
"Back off, hotshot!" A familiar voice yelled out and the Cleaner stumbled forward as a rainbow blur slammed into it's back, then it flew up to Spitfire. "How's it going?" Rainbow asked and Spitfire gaped at her, then she tackled the cyan pegasus just as more flames erupted into the sky.
"Get out of here, damnit!" Spitfire yelled as the Cleaner turned around and aimed at the pair of pegasi, but then a large purple projectile slammed into the Cleaner's back. It spun around as another two bolts exploded on the Cleaner's faceplate and chest, Twilight scowled as the Cleaner shot back a wave of flames. Then both pegasi saw an opening and took it, they swooped down and pulled a coil of rope between the two of them. They flew past the Cleaner's legs and up into the sky, the large soldier didn't expect the two to fly past and recoiled. Suddenly the Cleaner tripped backwards on the rope, causing the rope to snap out of the mouths of Dash and Spitfire.
The Cleaner heard a small crack, it quickly smashed it's tank into a building and it feel off the Cleaner's back. Then it dove into an alleyway, just as the ponies realised what happened the tank hissed. Twilight quickly grabbed the tank in her magic and threw it over her head, towards the Everfree...
Meanwhile...
The Brass Knight heard a whistling and looked around, then up just as a familiar tank flew towards it. The knight let out a sigh just as the tank hit it's chest...
Ponyville
A huge explosion suddenly erupted from the edge of the Everfree, Spitfire's eyes widen from behind her goggles. She heard a scream and looked back down, the Cleaner was trying to grab Twilight. Spitfire was about to fly in to help, but Dash bet her and kicked the Cleaner's head as she swooped down. The soldier felt the impact and reached up, narrowly missing the cyan pegasus. Suddenly it felt a force on it's arm and looked down, to get a fist slamming into it's faceplate. The Cleaner stumbled back and groaned, then it felt another force on it's head. The soldier clawed at it's head as it began to cave in, creaking and snapping filling the air. One of the hoses on the Cleaner's faceplate flew off and sprayed water around, then the top of the soldier's head snapped inwards. The Cleaner screamed in a garbled voice as more of it's head collapsed, then an orange light streamed through the cracked helmet.
Twilight released the Cleaner and it fell to it's knees, then it toppled sideways and hit the ground with a thud. Suddenly the Cleaner exploded in orange light, but just as quickly it disappeared. Twilight blinked a few times and looked at where the soldier was collapsed, but there was only a pile of glittering ash. Dash and Spitfire landed behind Twilight, slightly worried with how vicious he attacked the Cleaner.
But before anything could be said, a horde of screamed and the bellowing of fire caught their attention. Spitfire realised, too late, that their was two Cleaners. The three ponies rushed to where the convoy was moving, but as they turned the corner the first of the charred bodies came into view. Then more and more bodies filled the streets, a wagon was tilted on it's side and a number of corpses surrounded it. The three heard coughing and found a pony, trapped under the wagon. It was the Royal Guard captain, he saw the three mares and smiled slightly.
"At.. at least.. I die with... with company." He said as his eyes glazed over, Spitfire suppressed a tear. Then the second Cleaner came into view it was standing over a foal, the three mares watched as the soldier aimed at the small filly. But slowly it lowered it's Inferno Rifle, then it looked at the unicorn and pegasi.
"Too young, yet you are ripe for cleansing." The garbled voice droned as it aimed at the three ponies, the filly took her chance and galloped away. Then the Cleaner realised something as the three ponies charged, it realised that it...
Really screwed up.