Loyalty in Brass: The First Encounter

by Mr BHunt


Chapter Six: The Captain, the Ying and the Yang

Violet wasn't happy, she was far from it. She was glaring at the creature that was sitting at the foot of a tree, he was fiddling with something and was ignoring everything around him. But what really boiled her blood was the fact that nopony gave him a second glance, it was the fact the everything around him was flowing normally riled Violet. She huffed and heard hoofsteps behind her, she truned and came face to face with the Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor. His face was brightened by a smile as Violet scowled at him.

"Come on, Captain. Aren't you happy to see me?" He asked and Violet scoffed, she noticed the creature stiffen at her rank. Maybe he knew rank matters around here, she turned back to Shining.

"Captain Armor, I wish to try an... experiment." Violet says, Shining's eyes widen.

"Is this the one that you got me to help you with before?" He asks cautiously and Violet nods. "Then buck no! What happened the day will not be repeated!"

"Why not, Captain?" Violet asks innocently.

"Because you slammed my head into a wall and it took three hours for them to get me out and another two to get feeling back into my horn, not to mention the week of embarrassment!" Shining stated angrily, but Violet shook her head.

"You're not the victim this time, he is." She points to the creature, who wasn't sitting at the foot of the tree. "Oh for the love of-" Shining burst out laughing and Violet spun around, to find the creature standing behind her. She yelped and jumped back and Shining Armor laughed harder, drawing looks from nearby guards.

"What is it?" The creature asks, Violet glares at him.

"I want to duel, with you and my fellow Captain here." Violet says and pats Shingings back, the creature looks down at Violet.

"As you wish." He states and walks towards the training fields, Shining glares at Violet.

"Why did you drag me into this?" He asked and Violet shrugged.

"I didn't want the creature to feel like he can't win, so you can be the one he beats before I plant him into the ground." She says simply and follows the creature, Shining exhaled loudly.

"I have a bad feeling about this."


The creature stood in front of the quartermaster, who was sweating slightly from either work or fear.

"I need two training bats and a training staff." He states and the pony nods quickly and pulls two bats from a bin, he pushed aside a bit of cloth and grabbed the staff. He turned and dropped them in the creature's hand, but the quartermaster's curiosity was sparked.

"Why do you need training weapons?" He asked and the creature lets out a snort of laughter.

"A three way duel, between Captain Violet, Captain Armor and the Captain." The creature answered and turned to walk away.

"Who's the Captain? The last one?" The quartermaster queried and the creature looked over his shoulder.

"Me." He stated and walked away.


News spread of the duel and soon one of the larger fields were cleared and guards were lined up along the sides, among them were civilians, the Princesses and the Main Six. Swift stared at the three Captains, he was really curious about why this fight was on but at least it was a change from mourning his friends. Speedy leaned over.

"Who do you think is gonna win? My money's on Captain Armor." He said excitedly.

"Mine is on the creature, I have a feeling that he's got a trick up his sleeve." Swift said to his brother, the Captain had the staff on his back and was holding one of the batons, while the other bat was nowhere to be seen. Shinging Armor had a staff while Violet had a baton, the crowd of ponies fell silent as a pegasus guard trotted into the middle of the field.

"Today we have a three way duel! Standard rules, you are out if you are unable to get up, that is the only rule." A few guards snickered. "Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard, are you ready?"

"Yeah!" He yelled and twirled his staff in the air with his magic, another group of ponies laughed at his war cry.

"Captain Violet Scar of the Lunar Guard, are you ready?"

"I'm ready, to kick their flanks!" She yelled and the Lunar Guard cheered, some of the Royal Guard booed.

"The Captain of the Unknown, are you ready?"

"Affirmative." He stated and glared at his opponents, the pegasus guard flapped his wings.

"Combat start!" He yelled and flew into the air, almost immediately Shining Armor dashed towards the Captain while Violet watched. The Captain's eye pulsed and his other baton flew from his feet and towards Shining. He skidded to a stop and parried the flying baton, but it quickly flew under his guard and slammed into his leg. He collapsed and the Captain dashed forward and swung his bat up under Shining's head, the Royal Guard Captain was sent flying back and groaned as he lay in the dirt. The entire spectacle took a few seconds, everypony held their breath as Shining pushed himself up and held his staff up, the Captain cracked his neck and lowered himself into a stance with his other baton hovering above his head. Suddenly it lashed out and caught Violet's attack, the Captain turned slightly and looked eyes with the startled Violet. The baton pushed Violet back and the Captain stood straight as the two Captains readied themselves on his sides.

The Captain suddenly grabbed the edge of his coat and swooped down low, sending dust flying into the air. The two other Captains dashed forwards to catch their prey off guard, but when they slashed into the dust they locked weapons. They looked shocked but Violet quickly shoved Shining back, suddenly the crowd gasped and the two Captains looked to their left. Standing in the middle of the field, the Captain's jacket fluttered down in front of him. His bandoliers were gone as well as his hat, he had well muscled arms, his face and chest was scarred and he had scruffy and spiky Blonde hair. The Captain was holding his arms up and his weapons were floating behind him, his golden eye pulsed and his weapons flew forwards.

Violet frantically parried the two batons while Shining smacked the staff aside and charged at the Captain, the staff hovered in the air and then swung at Violet. The Captain lowered his head as Shining charged, then he kicked out and caught Shining's cheek. The crowd of Royal Guards let out a loud 'ow' as Shining recoiled and stumbled back, then let out another as the Captain stepped forward and smashed a haymaker into Shining's other check. The Royal Guard Captain suddenly thrusted his staff into the Captain's face, he smirked then watched in horror as the Captain grabbed and snapped the staff's end. But to his surprise he found another staff in front of his face, it hovered in the air then dropped, he quickly grabbed it and nodded at the Captain. The Captain glaced upwards and saw Violet still occupied with his bats, then jumped back as Shining swung the staff around and at his head.

Violet was not in a good mood, suddenly one of the bats lashed out and thwacked her on her head. Her eye twitched and she caught the other baton with her other hoof, she tore it out of the Captain's unseen grasp and used it to smash the other bat in half. She turned to watch as the Captain grabbed Shining's head and slammed it onto his knee, she winced as her fellow Captain was send flying from the roundhouse kick that come from nowhere. Shining fell to his side and groaned, the magical grasp on his staff faded and it was once again grabbed by the Captain. The pegasus quickly swooped down and pulled Shining to the side, where a number of medics rushed to his side. The Captain slowly turned his gaze to Violet, he quickly pulled his staff into his hand and twirled it around.

Finally Violet snapped.

She screamed with rage and flew forwards at the Captain, who's eyes widened as his staff flew to intercept the raging batpony. But she spun through the air and passed around the staff, she tackled into the Captain. She slammed one of her batons across the Captain's face, he was silent. She did it again with her other bat, still the Captain remained silent. Violet screamed as she attacked the Captain, but still he was silent. Finally Violet stopped and noticed his eye pulse, she looked up just as the staff smacked her off the Captain's chest. She spat out some blood as the Captain rose to his feet, his eye pulsed and the staff flew into his hands, he gripped it like a sword and spread his feet a bit. Violet dashed forward to strike his head again, but found herself disarmed. The Captain had swung extremely quickly to knock both batons from her hooves, then he spun around and kicked her back. Violet grunted and flew into the air, the Captain cracked his neck and readied himself.


Twilight rushed to her brother, who was being treated by a unicorn medic. Shining smiled at Twilight.

"Hey, sis." He say and winced as the unicorn healed another broken bone.

"Are you alright? Why did you agree to that duel? What were you thinking?" Twilight asked angrily and Shining chuckled.

"I'm fine Twilly, I was dragged into the duel and I was thinking how much of a bad idea the duel was." He answered and the unicorn muttered something and Shining smirked. "Oh really? You don't say."

Twilight was about to continue talking when a hoof on her shoulder caught her attention, Luna was standing behind her. Her eyes were locked on the Captain.

"Twilight, I need you to scan the Captain, for magic." She told Twilight, who quickly did so. Then she gasped.

"T-that power level! It's on par with you and Celestia!" She said shocked, Luna nodded.

"Yes, it shocked me as well. I need you to keep an eye on those levels, tell me if they go any higher." Luna orders and walks back to sit next to her sister, Twilight frowns as she watches the Captain.

"Who exactly are you?" She muttered to herself.


The Captain slid under Violet's tackle and spun around, sending dust up. Violet quickly stops and turns to tackle the Captain again, she flew into the dust cloud to find the Captain gone. She turns and looks up to see the Captain's staff fly down and thwack her on the head, she yelped and dashed back as the staff swatted at her. Violet quickly scanned the arena and spotted the Captain, he was pulling on his coat and was watching Violet closely. She ducked under the staff's thrust and bolted towards the Captain, she slammed into the ground in front of him and spun around to buck him. But he jumped back and called his staff back, suddenly Violet grabbed it from the air and snapped it with a yell.

"What now, 'Captain'?" She asked smugly and the Captain laughed, catching the batpony off guard.

"Fear not the dark my friend..." He states and lashes out with a punch, catching Violet's cheek and sending her reeling back. She rubbed her cheek when gasps and yells from the crowd catch her attention, she looks up to find the Captain holding a spear of lightning above his head. "...and let the feast begin!" He slammed the bolt into Violet and she was sent flying back, she landed with a loud groan. Violet tried to push herself up but fell back to the ground, the Captain stepped forward with his arms outstretched to his sides and tilted his head.

Suddenly a squad of Lunar Guards rushed onto the field and surrounded the Captain, who pulled his hands back and pulled his hat from a pocket. Another group of ponies pulled Violet to a group of medics, two guards stepped to the side and Luna walking into the circle with Twilight.

"I would congratulate you on your victory, but a issue has arisen. Twilight?" Luna asked and the unicorn stepped forward to talk, but the Captain beat her.

"You fear my power." He said simply, he looked around at the faces of the Lunar Guards. "You all fear what I am, what I represent." The Captain turned back to Luna and pointed at her. "You have it, don't you?" He asked, in a dark and level tone, Luna recoiled.

"What?" She asked and the Captain lowered his hand, a look of insanity entering his golden eye.

"Hand it over..." He said and took a step forward, the Lunar Guard raised their weapons. "That thing, in your head, your darkness." The Captain said as he took another step, in the background the Royal Guard were sending the civilians away, Luna got into a stance.

"Why do you want it?!" She demanded and the Captain reached inside his coat, he pulled an axe with a curved head out and dangled it near the ground. The head looked scarily familiar to one that Twilight had seen before, then she remembered why, this was the glaive that slaughtered innocents.

"For my lady's freedom..." He answered and raised a hand to Luna, expecting her to hand over something. Soon the Captain realised that she wasn't going to, he roared and dashed forward with his freehand glowing a bright gold. The Lunar Guard were too slow as the Captain grabbed Luna's face and released a shockwave that froze them, he didn't notice that Twilight was not frozen however. He leaned into Luna's face and grinned. "Let the feast begin!" He roared and suddenly Luna's vision went black, Twilight watched as the pair froze like the Lunar Guard and stepped back.

"What are you?" She asked again, unaware what was happening inside Luna's mind.


Luna gasped as she took in her surroundings, endless darkness except for a large figure kneeling over something and emitting chewing noises. She walked cautiously towards them, but instantly stopped as the figure turned slightly and looked at Luna, with a golden eye.

"What? Still here?" The Captain asked and stood up, his body far larger than it used to be and his coat far longer and larger. Luna stepped back as he stepped forward, holding his axe over his heart. "You won't stop me, I need this! To save her!" He yelled and charged at Luna, who quickly summoned a sword and locked blades with the hulking Captain.

"I'm sorry, Captain. But I cannot allow that, this darkness will corrupt you!" She yelled and pushed back the Captain, he snarled and swung his axe around and slashed at Luna's hooves. She flew into the darkness with a cry as blood dripped from the cut, the Captain looked up and raised his hand to her.

"I can't stop! I must not stop!" He cried and his hand glowed gold, suddenly Luna was slammed into the ground. She rolled to the side as the Captain tried to stomp her, he looked around and realised that the Princess was gone. He stood up and glanced around wildly, his axe shaking with his hand. "Come back! Don't leave me! She needs me!" He cried out, he heard a pop from behind him and turned to look at Luna. She was in dark blue armor, with a serious expression and a glowing scythe.

"I am sorry, Captain. But the only way that I see this battle ending, is with you being the loser." She said sadly and the Captain let out a strange war cry, it was full of pain and fear. Luna raised her scythe and flicked it around the Captain's throat, she flew over the Captain and flipped him onto his back. Then she spun around and slammed the scythe into the Captain's head, he growled and grabbed the scythe. He snapped the head off and flipped himself onto his feet, then he turned and hurled the head at Luna. She parried it with her headless scythe and grabbed it with her magic, then she stuck it back onto her staff.

The Captain flipped his axe into the air, where the handle extended and landed back into his hand. He swung his glaive around and grabbed it with his other hand, then he charged. Luna was pushed back by the glaive and was sent flying as the Captain leapt up and spun around, he roared as he raised his glaive above his head to attack Luna again.


Celestia frowned, all around her were frozen ponies except for the Elements of Harmony. Her sister and the Captain were also still frozen, except the Captain had a strange aura around him. Suddenly Rainbow Dash flew at the Captain, Celestia quickly grabbed her in her magic.

"What are you doing?!" She asked the shocked Rainbow.

"I'm gonna kick his flank! He hurt my friends!" She yelled at the Princess, then she promptly burst into tears. "I lost... so many friends!"

Slowly Celestia lowered Rainbow to the ground, immediately her friends rushed forwards and hugged Dash. She turned and trotted towards the two frozen figures, she extended her magic out and felt around in the Captain's mind. Nothing. She moved onto Luna, and promptly frozen as her vision darkened.


Celestia found herself in an endless darkness, she heard the sounds of battle nearby and turned around. The Captain roundhouse kicked Luna and she was sent flying, the Captain was about to leap after the Princess when another pop sounded behind him. He growled and looked over his shoulder, Celestia was floating in the air in golden armor with a golden sword and shield in her magical grasp.

"You... you are pure." The Captain said and fully turned around. "You have no darkness." He stated and raised his glaive, Celestia raised her shield.

"You are the only darkness here!" She yelled and flew forwards, the Captain swung his glaive around and slammed it into her shield. Celestia grunted and slashed at the Captain, who leaned to the side and punched her chest. Suddenly a scythe appeared around the Captain's arm, Luna yelled as she threw the Captain over her head and slammed him on the shadowed ground. Celestia stood beside Luna and lowered her sword, they watched as the Captain pushed himself to his knees. A line of purple liquid dripped from his mouth and he leaned closer to the puddle of blood that was growing.

"Is this the darkness? The darkness to free her?" He asks as he pushes himself up onto his feet with his glaive. "This darkness, it controls me. The freedom of my lady is not worth unending pain, I want freedom!" He roars in a desperate tone, then the Captain stands tall and holds his glaive to the side.

Both Luna and Celestia understood his words, they lower themselves and get into battle stances. The Captain charges forward silently and stabs the ground under Luna, suddenly he slashed upwards and sent the Princess flying into the darkness. Celestia pulled back her sword as the Captain pulled back his glaive, they both thrusted and their weapons bounced off each other. Luna quickly tackled the Captain and slashed a deep cut down his chest, then Celestia bashed her shield against his face. The Captain was pushed back as the two sisters attacked, slashed and bashed at him. The two Princesses stopped their attack and formed two magical beams, the Captain looked up and screamed as the two combined beams smashed into his chest.

As the Celestia and Luna halted their beam, flakes of darkness drifted from the Captain. Soon a whirlpool of darkness, laced with white and purple, appeared under him. The Captain began to let out a low roar and raised his glaive into the air, the pool of madness twirled around his body and swam into his glaive. The darkness that covered his body was showing patches of white, his hat was fully white and his legs were almost halfway to becoming a full white colour. The Captain smashed his glaive down and a wave of purple spiked out from the darkness and grew larger as it neared the two Princesses. They quickly flew into the air, the Captain swayed as more parts of his clothes turned white, he had to grasp his glaive with both hands and plant it on the darkness to steady himself.

The Captain's grey scarf suddenly billowed in an unseen wind, he looked up and Luna. They locked eyes, then the Captain waved a golden hand through the darkness. Both Celestia and Luna's visions grew bright and they awoke, only the Captain remained. He sighed and soon too, awoke.


The Captain's clothes were losing their black colour, Rarity was the first to notice. The Lunar Guards around them soon twitched and shook themselves, the other guards and ponies did so too. The Captain suddenly threw himself off Luna and moaned in pain, the two Princesses also appeared to unfreeze, just in time to watch the Lunar Guard tackle the Captain. The Captain grunted as he was forced onto the ground, one of the Lunar Guards bashed his face with his hoof. Suddenly Luna stomped her hoof.

"ENOUGH!" She roared in her Royal Canterlot Voice, instantly all movement stopped, except for the chuckle that Captain emitted.

"So this is the freedom that she wanted, it's already looking grim, the welcoming committee was far too excited." He said in a calm and smooth voice, Luna slightly blush at his new voice.

"Guards, please get off the Captain." Luna ordered and they complied hesitantly, then Rainbow flew into his face.

"Come on then tough guy! Right here, right now! I'll put you on your-" Rainbow's angry rant was interrupted when the Captain suddenly bolted to his feet and towered over the pegasus.

"Think very very carefully about the sentence that you will finish, I might be free from the dark, but I sure as hell will put you 6 feet under." The Captain said coldly, surprising everypony present. Then he surprised them more, three rings of gold grew out from his eye and he pulled a sword from a Lunar Guard's scabbard, then threw it through the hovering rings. It disappeared in a blur, but a loud roar make everyone turn. Standing in the treeline, with a large hole in his chest, was a Brass Knight. The Captain pulled back his arm and glanced at the ponies, the three rings of golden light slowly faded.

"We got company, if you make it through this, then you might be blessed with my name." The Captain said as he pulled his glaive from his jacket and charged.


Canterlot Castle

The Brass Centurion slammed a fist on the arm of Celestia's throne as he rose from it, the knight in front of him flinched.

"HE TURN WHAT?" The Centurion bellowed at the Brass Knight.

"His cloak turned white, he has lost the objective of his old cause." The knight said hesitantly, the Centurion growled and started pacing, then he stopped and turned to the knight.

"Alert the battalion, we are leaving! We must return to Stronghold 7!" The Centurion barked and marched passed the knight, who looked back at the Brass Centurion. The knight shook his head and walked to one of the many shattered windows, he pulled a horn from his hip. He soon realised as he pulled the horn to his faceplate, he had no lips. The knight looked at the horn and threw it to the side, then his faceplate split and he emitted a loud and echoing call.

The knights, Cleaners and Incinerators amongst the ruined city looked to the castle, then quickly rushed to the Lower Canterlot gate. Many passed the shipwreck of the Behemoth, which had the top deck blown to bits and revealed the hold within. A few Brass Knight bodies were spread through the broken decks, a single certain body was hanging over one of the snapped decks. Marked on it's faceplate was a smile. One of it's gauntlets slipped off, the pale hand underneath twitched.