The Son of Earth

The morning was cold. A thick fog had rolled in from the peaks above, encompassing the mountainside city in a gray mist, as the cold thin air bit at the soldiers' faces. The courtyard of Canterlot Castle was covered in many standing grey humanoid figures, their arms by their sides and their rifles slung over their backs. All that was visible of their faces was their noses and mouths; the orange helmet visors covered the eyes, making the army of humans look more like eyeless sentinels standing watch for eternity. A lone set of footsteps echoed out as a man, clad in a black suit and tie, slowly waltzed between the aisles of soldiers, standing solemnly, waiting for their orders. He held a small object in his hand; every few rows, he'd stop, tap it, and say something in some guttural alien language into it before continuing on. Brass flagpoles topped with navy blue pennants rose like spires from the grass lawn, completing the image of a proper military.

Behind the aisles of soldiers, standing motionless in the castle's lawn, were four hulking metal beasts of birds. Their pudgy, angular bodies belied the massive speed that the two small objects situated near the back, and their short curved wings only helped to imply the massive speed. Its body was painted a deep blackish-blue, like the night sky, while two white emblems depicting a winged sword were on either side of its massive body. A ramp, consisting of a wide plate of metal with two rows of embedded lights on either edge, led into the hulking beasts' stomachs, where more metal contraptions were waiting. These were different from the ones that housed them, however. They made no attempt at looking like they should fly, instead choosing to look somewhat like small fortresses. They had four wheels under each corner of their vehicle, and highly sloped sides. Atop the center of the vehicle was a small dome, with a small metal tube extending from it.

But these were not the only metal creatures to grace the scene. Humanoid beasts, made of gears and steel instead of blood and flesh, stood tall next to their human brethren, the pilots enjoying the warmth and protection of their iron skins. They, too, had the metal tubes, but instead of being a single one extending from a dome atop them, it was eight small ones arranged in a circle, protruding from the hand. The other arm had a pudgy, wide hole instead of the sleek curves and dominating angles of the rest of the vehicle. A single pole extended from a pack on the rear of the beast, with a navy blue pennant hanging limply from the top. At the bottom of its pack, two nozzles made themselves obvious by the burn marks on the armor behind them.

"Check complete, all of our soldiers are up to par. I'm fetching our guest now."

Princess Celestia sighed. She looked at the guard before her. He was trembling; his white coat shook furiously underneath his heavy golden armor. "P... Princess..." he stammered. "There's... there's something outside waiting for you."

The princess just nodded gravely. "Tell whatever it may be that I will be out in about half an hour."

"I... I don't think that would work," he said slowly. "There's an army, too."

This instantly garnered the Princess' attention. "Someone dares to invade our nation? Tell them I will see them at once, and give them their retribution."

"That's the problem, Princess. They're not invading. They're just... standing there."

The Princess nodded gravely. "I will meet whoever is at the head of this army, and see what they want."

Twilight slowly walked out of the rows of humans. She stopped next to David, who was at the door. His pistol was in its holster around his belt, and he held his suitcase in his left hand. A pair of sunglasses was on his face, and his suit was as neatly pressed as possible. He tapped his foot lightly as he waited, humming the tune to some little-known melody. When he heard footsteps approaching from the other side of the door, he quickly straightened out.

"What?" was Celestia's only reaction. In front of her was a creature that looked suspiciously similar to the "David" she'd met two weeks ago. Next to him was her student, Twilight Sparkle. She looked surprisingly clean and happy, and had some sort of strange pin on her coat. Behind the two, however, was a much grimmer scene. An entire army stood amassed, silent, as if waiting for some unknown signal to strike. They had what looked like Gryphon steam-rifles on their backs, save that they were much sleeker and seemed to be made entirely of metal. Behind them were amassed behemoths, enormous metal birds that sat on the lush green lawn.

"Good morning, Princess Celestia," David said as formally as he could. "I believe we have much to discuss. Please, come with me." He beckoned for both the Princess and Twilight to follow. When Celestia stood firm in the doorway, he lowered his glasses slightly. "Please, Your Highness, follow me."

"You're going to try to kill me, aren't you?" Celestia asked, suspicious of the massed soldiers and the black vessel he was leading her to.

"Not at all!" David replied. "Indeed, we're actually trying to give you the best experience possible!"

"I still do not trust you fully; let me bring my sister, so that should anything happen we have our combined power."

"Feel free to!" David replied enthusiastically. Once the princess had receded into the darkness he let out a heavy sigh. "This is going to be harder than I thought," he said to himself.