//------------------------------// // Chapter Eight: What Have You Done? // Story: Loyalty in Brass: The First Encounter // by Mr BHunt //------------------------------// Captain William made the first move, he quickly pulled an ethereal kukri from the air and threw it at the woman. She slammed her fists together, a ghostly red wall erupted from the street. The woman suddenly jumped through the wall with her arms above her head, she smashed into the Captain and sent William flying back. He skidded to a stop, after smashing through a house. The woman jumped into the house, but was thrown back out and skidded along the ground. The Captain walked out of the ruined house, spinning his shortened glaive around. The Captain neared the woman, who remained still, he quickly flipped his glaive through the air and slammed his hand onto it's handle. The glaive was smashed away by the woman's kick, William had to leap back as the woman rolled and tried to shoulder barge him. "Careful, sister." William stated as he stood with his hands by his sides, not fazed by the fury that the woman gave off. "Would a Big Sister act like around children, yes they would!" William roared in the face of the Big Sister, who had dashed forward. She stumbled back from the force of the yell, then William kicked her legs out from under her. The Big Sister blinked in shock as she found herself flying through the air, she smashed into another house and fell to the street, but the Captain intercepted the falling woman and tackled her through the wall. The expedition squad was silent and in awe as the two combatants disappeared. But they weren't out of the game yet, a pair of blue eyes appeared from an alley and caught Luna's attention. Then another pair appeared, then another and another. A horde of changelings, screeching and snarling, came rushing from the small opening. The squad quickly pulled out weapons, the crossbow batpony shot a changeling in the eye and it fell, brain pierced. Suddenly the pair of humans emerged from nowhere, the Captain sweeping along the ground while the Big Sister was leaping over him. The Captain used his momentum to skid under a pair of changelings, the Big Sister landed in the horde and pushed her hands out, a ring of red spikes pierced the changelings around her. William spun around and kicked a changeling in the face, sending it flying over it's brethren and into the fists of the Big Sister. The woman was turned backwards and forwards and around, all while sending out a fury of punches and kicks. The first two changelings pushed themselves up, but found the squad of guards with swords aimed at their throats. The pair looked at each other, clearly contemplating on what to do. "Should we?" One asked with a buzz, the other shook his head. "Screw it." "No!" The other yelled as the first changeling's horn glowed a sickly green, immediately Swift plunged his sword deep into the changeling's head. The other changeling looked up at them, but before he could talk, an ethereal kukri was sticking through his face. William ducked under a changeling's tackle, then grabbed it's torso and crushed it, then he spun around and drop kicked the corpse into another changeling. The Captain saw a glint of brass and knelt down to pick up his glaive, a trio of changelings screeched as they tried to rush him. Keyword there, tried. William slashed through them, their green blood splattering onto his face. His golden eye flashed and five golden orbs appeared over his head, then they multiplied and soon over twenty golden ghostly orbs were hovering over him. "Catch." He stated coldly and the changelings screeched, not in anger but in pain. The orbs morphed into spears of lightning and pierced the black shell of the insects. The Big Sister turned and slapped a spear aside as it went for her heart, then her red eye flashed and three spinning stars appeared around her. The woman flicked her hand out and the three stars spun around through the air and through the changelings, then they converged upon William. The Captain ducked under the spinning stars and spun around, he stopped them with a golden aura and dropped them. The Big Sister ducked as a changeling tried to tackle her, then she slammed a fist into the bug's gut. William's eye pulsed and three rings appeared in front of him, then he grabbed his kukri's apparition and threw it at the Big Sister. She screamed out in pain and looked under her arm, the golden knife was imbedded in her ribs. The woman reached for it and tore it out, she glanced at the squad and leapt high into the air before landing on a building. The Big Sister threw up an arm and shards of red spikes exploded, when the red mist faded, the woman was gone. "She is going to be a problem." William remarked as Luna approached him. "You called her 'Big Sister', but she doesn't resemble you. Who is that, William?" Luna asked, the Captain turned his head and looked at her. "Big Sisters, guardians till the end. They protected our children, any children for that matter, if she finds a lost child... don't interfere, that child would be owned by the Sister." William stated and turned back, then he spun around and thrust his glaive at Luna. She closed her eyes and waited for a unexpected death, but all she heard was a gurgle. She turned and gasped as a changeling twitched on William's glaive, it was holding a shard of metal in his hoof. The Captain flicked his glaive to the side and the changeling flew off, William looked at Luna. "T-thanks." Luna said in a quiet voice, William chuckled. "Let's move, we're sitting ducks here." William stated and walked down the street, the pony squad following after. "So the first clue is that it is something eat." A changeling said to his patrol partner, who then held a cookie up. "No it's not a cookie, the second clue is that it is round." The changeling looked to his partner, who was again holding the cookie up. "No it's not a cookie!" The other changeling frowned as the changeling shook his head. "The third clue is that the thing, is orange." The changeling held up the cookie and the first changeling exploded in rage. William casually walked up to the raging changeling and slammed his foot into his face, the other changeling slowly looked up at the Captain, then held out his cookie. William just pointed to an alley nearby and the changeling bolted, leaving his cookie behind. The Royal Guard walked up behind the Captain, who looked over his shoulder at him. "We found something, Captain. Near one of the old orphanages of Lower Canterlot." Swift reported and the Captain walked past him and towards the gathering of the squad, Swift followed as a glint of golden flashed in his eyes. As the pair approached, the sound of gentle humming was clear in their ears, the Lunar Guards parted and let William through. He stop besides Luna, there in the middle of the ruined orphanage, was the Big Sister and a little filly. William leaned on the doorway while Luna watched in amazement as the filly played with a little ball in front of the woman, who was humming a calming tone. "We should go, it would be idiotic to disturb them." William stated and Luna looked at him. "But that filly-" "Is now under her protection, which is far better then your guards." William said coldly, the Big Sister looked up and saw them, William held up a hand. "Unless you want her to follow us to the ends of time, we should go." The Captain repeated, Luna looked at the filly. Then she saw the Big Sister stand up, she sighed and walked out of the ruined building. The squad resumed their march through Canterlot, they reached Upper Canterlot after an hour. Luna decided it was time to rest, they found a large but empty marketplace and sat down. William however was standing tall and was walking around, suddenly stopping and going in a different direction. Then a bright green flash exploded around the Captain, as the ponies rubbed their eyes, a certain Queen laughed as she set her eye upon her prisoner. William looked around slowly, he was in the throne room, in chains. He saw that they were made of some sort of green muck, William heard an evil laugh and looked up. Standing in front of the two thrones, was Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings. "Well well well, so you are the one who has caused such a stir." She sneered at the Captain, whose golden eye pulsed. "You look like a deformed minotaur, how could you kill my soldiers?" She wondered aloud and William let out a bark of laughter. "Because, my dearest captor, your soldiers are undertrained." William said in a cheerful tone to the Queen, who growled at him. "So what do you want?" "I want you!" The Queen yelled as her horn glowed green and shot a beam at William's head, his hat flew off and slumped over. Chrysalis blinked, that was easy. "Huh, well that was easy." She muttered, the Queen walked towards the Captain with a smirk. She placed a hoof on his head and let out another laugh. "You bow before me now! The mightiest of the Changelings! Now, look at me!" She commanded, yet the Captain didn't move. Slowly Chrysalis noticed that a slight dripping sound was coming from the Captain, then she yelped as a spark tore over his body. Her five guards rushed forwards and screeched as they leapt at William, suddenly a large ring appeared in front of them and they disappeared. Meanwhile... A red dragon was sound asleep when a loud screeching awoke him, the massive dragon opened an eye and saw five black insects near a gold mound, his gold mound, the dragon towered over the scared changelings and smirked as his throat glowed orange, the screams of the changelings echoed with the crackle of fire. Queen Chrysalis was scared, she backed away from William, who suddenly threw his arms up and shattered the chains. He pulled himself to his feet, a large puddle of red was growing on the floor as blood dripped from his face. The Queen saw that his golden eye was far brighter then normal and that his right was now covered by his hair, blood was staining most of the right side of his hair. The Captain lurched forwards and took a step towards Chrysalis, who became paralysed in the Captain's glare. The Captain raised his hands and threw a large bolt at the Queen, she screamed and flew to the side, but she found him in the air with his fist drawn back. William slammed his fist into her face, she was thrown back with a loud and echoing crack. Queen Chrysalis groaned as she got up, she saw a blur fly past and felt a massive force on her cheek, the Captain landed and spun around to kick the Queen. But she quickly grabbed it with her magic, she smirked and threw the Captain back. He flipped and used his hand to stop his slid, William then stood up. He sprinted at the Queen, anger in his eye. The Captain leapt and twisted his body, the move confused Chrysalis but she found out way he did it. William sent a powerful kick to the side of her head, which sent her stumbling. William landed and as he turned, he threw a haymaker at her. The Queen stumbled back again and William advanced, he grabbed a loose hunk of marble and smashed it on the Queen's head. She yelled as the marble chunk slammed into her horn, then she hollered in pain as the Captain smashed his fist into her horn. A loud snap echoed in the throne room, then a thud. William looked down at the changeling Queen and knelt down, her eyes were wild and he put a hand on her neck. The Queen let out a whimper, William frowned and soon felt and heard the dripping of blood. He stood and went to the thrones, both had a banner draped over the back. William looked at Luna's banner, he reached over and tore a large piece off, then he wrapped it around his injured eye. Then he turned and grabbed Chrysalis's hoof and started to drag her to the door, suddenly it explodes open as a small army of changelings rush in. Only to find their Queen pointing above them with a shaky hoof, they look up as William drops down, a haunting image of a golden orb and a moon the only thing they see. Slowly two Lunar Guards poke their head through the doors of Canterlot Castle, they peered around and motioned for the rest of the squad to enter. Soon they were moving through the halls and towards the throne room, they came across a small pile of bloody changeling bodies piled up outside the doors. Swift and three other guards shoove the door open and yell in surprise, inside was a bloodbath, literally. Green blood was pooled everywhere, corpses of changelings like islands, Luna walked in and gasped as one of the first guards sprint out to hurl. Then Luna spots a group of figures fighting, three changelings were buzzing around a tall figure. The Captain leaned and smashed his fist into the charging changeling, then he ducks under a blast of green magic. His coat swoops around as William spins and grabs the changelings hind leg. The last changeling shrieked as his fellow ling was thrown at him, the two landed in a pool of blood and against a pile of corpses. William steps back and pulls his arm back, a large spear of lightning appears and he throws it at the stunned changelings. Luna cringed as the smell of rotting, burning corpses and blood finally filled her nostrils. William straightened and noticed the squad, he grunted as he walked towards them, dragging something behind him. Luna choked back a gasp as Chrysalis came into view, dragged by her mane by William. Her horn was snapped off, which let her communicate with her hive, now only silence filled her mind. William stopped in front of Luna and tossed Chrysalis forwards, she landed at the hooves of Luna and curled up, then William walked past Luna and through the door, not sparing a glance to the ponies. "What have you done, William?" Luna whispers as she watches Chrysalis shiver.