Loyalty in Brass: Captain's Ashes

by Mr BHunt

Chapter Four: Return to Griffinstone

Celestia frowned as the Flying Dutchman continued to fire at the Long Night, something that put Celestia on edge. She looked back at the other airship, it had patches of blue flame along its hull with large holes marking their entry. But then a loud horn blast snapped her attention back, the Royalty was passing along the bow as a large number of soldiers apeared along the top of the deck. Celestia's horn glowed as she grabbed a spear from a nearby weapons rack, then as two Cleaners leapt from the other ship she quickly swung the spear and smashed the pair into the gap between both ships.

But it wasn't the end of the boarding as three more Cleaners dropped onto the Royalty, but before Celestia could swing again, two of the three Cleaners were wrapped in purple magic and thrown against the third. Their garbled screamed were drowned out as another pair of Cleaners dropped to the deck, but they too were smashed back when Celestia threw the spear with the force of a bull and sent both back with the throw

"Princess!" A scream from her left, while she and Twilight were fighting along the middle of the hull a squad of Cleaners landed along the stern. Celestia watched as Shining Armor, the last Royal Guard and both Applejack and Rainbow Dash charge to meet them. Then she heard a massive thud to her right, she turned to see a massive Incinerator rising to his full height, in his hands was a whip.

"You pests have been a thorn in our sides for too long!" The Incinerator barked and pointed at Celestia. "I'll make sure to take that horn of yours, for the Legate!" He roared and cracked his whip, Twilight shot a hail of purple bolts as Celestia flew back to avoid a vicious slash of the whip. The Incinerator laughed with crazed glee as he quickly swung the whip and lashed Twilight's cheek. The mare screamed and fell back, erecting a shield to block another strike. But it didn't stop the Incinerator for long as he lifted his foot and kicked the shield to bits, but as he raised the whip again, it was grabbed by Celestia's magic and torn from his hand.

"You have a problem with me, not her!" Celestia said and threw the whip overboard, the Incinerator cracked his armoured knuckles and turned to face her.

"Got that right, pest." The Incinerator snarled and threw a fast jab at Celestia's cheek, then backhanded the alicorn. Celestia stumbled back and the Incinerator threw his arms wide, taunting the Princess. "Come on! I wanted a challenge, pest!" Suddenly he found the tip of a spear under his jaw, the Incinerator turned to get smashed to the side by a large blast of purple magic. The soldier scrambled to the side as another blast of magic flew at him, but then the Incinerator seemed to freeze. Twilight blinked as the large soldier jumped up and back onto the Dutchman, both Celestia and Twilight looked up at the deck. The Incinerator turned and snapped the spear, the Legate beside him slowly unsheathed his weapons.

"Do you fear death?" The Legate asked cryptically and raised his curved sword into a stance with his metal rod underneath. "Becuase you should!" The Legate roared and, like you would with a flint and steel, slashed the rod with his sword, shooting a massive wave of fire down at the deck of the Royalty. The flames roared as they spread across the deck of the smaller airship, but as the Legate sheathed his weapons he noticed Celestia's horn glow. Then a loud cracking noise caused the Legate to casually turn to the bow, then jump back as the Flak Cannon collapsed in on itself again, crushing the enchanted bolts and their volatile heads. The Legate quickly turned and, as his cloak covered his hand movements, threw a tightly wrapped ball at Celestia. Both the Flak Cannon and the explosive ball erupted into flames at the same time, causing both ships to be rocked by the force.

"Enough! We shall drag these pests with us! TO THE FOG!" The Legate barked and the remaining crew cheared as the Flying Dutchman flew past the ship with unnatural speed, behind the vessel was a strange green aura. It covered the crackling Royalty and slowly dragged it along behind the Dutchman, startling the pony crew.

"Princess, what's going on?" Twilight yelled as they were dragged through the air, the fire slowly growing and spreading to the ropes that held the large balloon.

"We're caught in some sort of magical field!" Shining Armor barked, Celestia stared in shock as she saw a number of Cleaners get pulled into view, they were laughing and cheering with almost insane giddiness. One caught Celestia staring.

"You'll feel the embrace of the Fog! YOU'LL LOVE IT!" The Cleaner laughed and the group were thrown forwards and landed on the Flying Dutchman, Celestia noticed they were going faster and held onto the rail along the deck.

On the Long Night, Luna saw what was happening and saw the Dutchman turning towards them.

"All hooves! Brace!" Luna yelled and her Lunar Guard quickly landed and gripped anything nearby with iron hooves, Swift wrapped his hooves around one of the ropes connecting to the balloon. He watched the Dutchman fly around the port side of the Long Night, then it disappeared from his view. Swift was suddenly thrown back, but thanks to his grip he held strong, as the Flying Dutchman suddenly flew past and wrapped its green aura around the airship. The speed that the Dutchman had already gained sent some of the batponies flying from their holds, but three soon found out that escape wasn't an option as they were dragged behind the airship. Then the voice of the Incinerator reached the ponies ears.

"Better hold on, pests! For we are being welcomed by the Fog! You better hope that it accepts you, or you'll join its embrace!" The Incinerator roared with laughter as a large whirlpool of clouds suddenly appeared in front of the Flying Dutchman, the beastly airship entered the swirling mass and the force holding the twin airships yanked them through the portal with startling speed, throwing many batponies from the Long Night. They flew through the portal but the walls reached out and swallowed the struggling Lunar Guards, their screaming echoing through the funnel.

"What's that!?" A Lunar Guard asked.

"Where?!" Another asked.

"Oh, OH SWEET LUNA!" Screamed the first as he was torn from the rail, Luna watched as the cloudy walls grew arms and snatched her soldiers from her ship. Swift saw a hand reach for him, but it stopped in front of his face and snatched another Lunar Guard instead. Onboard the Royalty, Shining saw a cloudy hand reach for his last subordinate, he shot a bolt at it and the arm exploded into a puff. But that small act didn't stop the inevitable, more arms reached out and snatched the mare from the deck and dragged her into the cloudy walls.

Suddenly the Flying Dutchman, Royalty and Long Night were thrown out of the portal, throwing the twin airships to a stop over a foggy city. Then, they began to fall towards the Fog, its hungry surface meeting them fast and knocking their crews unconscious. The Legate watched the pony's ships disappear into the Fog and let out a low chuckle, then he turned and marched to his cabin, only saying a few words to his former prey.

"Welcome back, Princesses, to Griffinstone."

Author's Note:

The Fog has new prey, now those pony soldiers will come into play when the Fog greets them. The Flying Dutchman won't be forever gone, it'll return with the Legate of Strife and the Fumigators (Cleaners and Incinerators). The Elements, Guards and Princesses will awaken in a familiar place and will walk its haunted streets, they'll see familiar faces, but is that just an illusion or reality?

Now, we shall feast with the Fog. You won't disobey the Fog, will you?

Comments

[Mark Pecan29]

8303250
I'de say it's more of a squidward "I've seen something I shouldn't have seen" face

[Mr BHunt]

8303530
Ah, true that

[Mark Pecan29]

Somewhere you put the word three instead of there

[Mr BHunt]

8305705
Unfortunately I couldn't find it, probably due to running on little sleep.