//------------------------------// // The Border: The Reveal of Griffinstone // Story: Loyalty in Brass: The First Encounter // by Mr BHunt //------------------------------// G-01 opened his eyes, he slowly sat up and looked around. He slipped out of the bed and moved towards the desk, he sat on the chair and put his talons to his head. Hmm, You were so sure that was real... Silence. What? Packing a sad? Grow up, G-01, you're better then this... Nothing. If you won't talk, fine. We just need you to cooperate, you will do that... G-01 slowly looked up and noticed a coin on the desk, it wasn't there before. He pulled it closer to him and glanced over it, it seemed to glow a faint orange. G-01 flicked it into the air and grabbed it, then he put it back on the desk. Then he stood and moved to the door, he slammed a fist into it. The door opened and the Brass Knight walked in, it slightly recoiled at the sight on G-01 standing directly in front of it. "Let's go, G-01." The knight said and stepped to the side, G-01 followed it to the top deck. The pegasus and griffin were there, the pegasus' wings were wrapped in a bandage. G-01's eyebrows rose as he turned to the knight, but it grunted and pointed to the Brass Centurion. G-01 walked over to the large captain, who was staring from the bow of the Behemoth at the ground. "G-01, do you miss your home?" The centurion asked, the griffin blinked. "Y-yes?" He answered, confused. The Centurion turned around. "Good, we are returning to Stronghold 7, or as it was formerly known: Griffinstone." It said, G-01 immediately perked up. "Griffionstone?!" He said, not comprehending what was happening. The Centurion chuckled and spun around, towards the stern. Standing there was a knight that had a strange chester-cat smile carved into it's faceplate, it's arms were outstretched and it's hands were glowing white. "HELMSMAN! HARD TO PORT! TOWARDS STRONGHOLD 7!" The Brass Centurion roared, the smile knight nodded and quickly lowered it's left hand. The airship quickly turned left and the Centurion turned to look at G-01. "We will arrive at Stronghold 7 within the hour, we'll bring up the subjects soon." The captain finished and G-01 walked onto the deck, he looked around and spotted a pair of knights talking to each other, other group were at the base of one of the starboard ballista. He turned more and spotted a knight, it was looked directly at him. In it's hands was a small red feather, G-01 recoiled as the knight seemed to fade into dust. That was strange, even I saw that... The griffin just shook his head and looked towards the bow, he swore he saw a smirking red pegasus. A loud horn blasted into G-01's ear, he stumbled as his ears rang. He looked to his left, slowly emerging from the clouds was another airship, similar size to the Behemoth but without ballistae. As it slowly moved to the starboard side, a pair of Brass Knights slammed onto deck, they stood quickly and marched towards the Centurion. One spotted G-01 and stopped, it stared at him for a minute but turned back and continued towards the Brass Centurion. G-01 glanced to the other airship, noticing another ship that was hovering slightly behind it. It was similar size to Celestia's Glare, if it was still in one piece. Her crew was moving on board, but G-01 could only see dark shapes. Then his eyes focused onto a red feather, floating down in front of his face. His eyes snapped skyward as a blur of red caught his attention, yet another red feather floated down. P-02... "What?" G-01 asked the voice, it seemed scared. The voice seemed to grunt, the griffin narrowed his eyes but he let it drop. Then he realised that the grate was being pulled open, he saw the platform with the griffin and pegasus along with a number of Brass Knights. They motioned towards G-01, the two quickly moved towards him. The pegasus looked in confusion at him, he raised an eyebrow as he noticed this. "What is it?" He asked, the pegasus jumped and looked away. But the griffin walked right up to G-01, her eyes narrowing. "What happened to you, Grerro?" She whispered, G-01's eyes widened. "G-Grerro? That... thats my name, right?" He asked and she nodded slowly. Damn, looks like that phase failed... The pegasus looked up and tilted her head. "Grerro, don't you remember us?" She asked. "I'm Cliff Racer, that's Gristo, remember?" The male griffin shook his head. "Grerro, we have all been working and sailing on Celestia's Gaze, we all got captured by that knight. Now we are here, with you not remembering us and having a piece of metal stuck on your head." Gristo said, angrily as she pointed at Grerro's head. "I know about that piece, I can't touch it though." Grerro said as he pointed a talon at his head and, almost to prove a point, a small spike of pain pounded into his head. "G-01, you are needed by C-3737, immediately." A Brass Knight said, seemingly appearing right behind Grerro, he nodded and walked towards the large captain. "Centurion?" He asked with hesitation, but the Brass Centurion just pointed towards at the smaller ship that hovered behind the other larger airship. "You and other two will be taken aboard that ship, the Snare. It will take you to Griffinstone." The Centurion stated, Grerro nodded and finally got a good look at the Snare's crew. "Griffins?" He said, extremely surprised. "Affirmative, the griffins of Stronghold 7 have been introduced to our cause, they welcomed us with open talons. As a result, we used our resources to rebuild the shantytown of Griffinstone into Stronghold 7, it houses over twice the amount of griffins that originally lived their. Thus, they assist us in anyway that they can, they are very... resourceful." The Brass Centurion explained, this caused Grerro great excitement. "T-thank you, Centurion." Grerro said, the Centurion just nodded. "You should go get those other two, unless you want to go alone?" The Centurion asked, but the Griffin didn't hear the question, he ran to the griffin and mare. "I've been told that we can travel to Griffinstone, well more like ordered." Grerro said to the mare and griffin, only the mare looked excited. The griffin looked disappointed, but just as Grerro was about to ask why, the Snare moved to the Behemoth's port side. A trio of griffins flew onto the deck, one was white while the other two were a mix of brown and green. "You three must be the ones that C-1177 wanted us to pick up, I'm Captain Crow these two are Ulf and Wulf." The male griffin introduced, the two twins nodded at their names. "We got a time limit here, if you're coming you better haul flank." Crow said as he turned and walked quickly to his airship, the two twins shoved each other towards the Snare. Grerro and Cliff Racer both immediately followed, after a second Gristo followed. The Snare soon came into view of Griffinstone, Grerro's eyes widened with surprise as the town he once knew, was larger and looked far better. The once collapsed homes now stood tall and proud, the dusty roads were lined with cobblestone and the griffins that once scowled and snapped, now walked with heads held high and conversed easily. Then Grerro saw the knights, tall brass soldiers marching through the streets and instead of being malicious and merciless, they stepped around griffins and one was even holding a three-wheeled carriage while a griffin was placing a wheel onto the empty axle. For once in a very long time, Griffinstone was restored to it's original status, the capital of Griffin Kingdoms. But unknown to the trio of passengers, Stronghold 7 was doing much more then looking pretty... Within an unknown location A knight slowed to a stop as it neared two large stone doors, two strange Brass Knights stood on either side of the doors. They had pure white, fur cloaks that hung around the knights' necks, with hoods of fur that covered their faceplates. Their faceplates seemed to be sucking light from beneath their hoods, two white eyes stared from under the hood. The knights' chests had a large white rune, a pulsing rune of a strange symbol, that was carved over their hearts. Their glaives were also unique, they were bound in white fur and the heads seemed to burn with white light. These were Brass Praetorians, the elite honour guard. One of the Praetorians glaced at the knight, then it motioned to the doors with a nod of it's head. The two massive stone doors opened, the Brass Knight hurried into the room. It was large, had even larger pillars that ran down the room and in the middle of the room was a huge throne, upon it was a large shape. It was sitting in the darkness, only a pair of orange eyes could be seen. The knight stood at attention and saluted, slamming it's left fist over it's heart. "Report: Subject P-02 and G-01 have been successfully changed. Query: P-02 has disappeared, what shall be done? " The knight said, in a soulless voice. "Nothing, but continue overwatch of G-01. Also send a message to C-3737, they are to advance towards the pest capital of Canterlot and assault it, leave nothing alive." The massive shape said, a deep and echoing voice erupted from the shape. The knight immediately nodded and jogged out of the throne room. "Celestia, you fool, you never should of banished her. Now you have caught the attention of the Brass Inquisition, you will regreat ever banishing her. My little Luna, oh my little Luna... you will pay for your sins." The dark figure stated as the doors slammed shut.