Random Crystal Guard Scout pov

"I hate the bucking cold" I muttered to myself through rattling teeth.

Currently, I was manoeuvring through the tall winter trees, by command of Shining Armour himself, with only the standard Crystal Guard Scout cloak to defend me from the elements. The cloak itself was pure white, to blend in with the surrounding area of the Crystal Empire, that made it easy for potential threats to loose track of anyone wearing them. the inside of the cloak was multiple shades of brown and green, something to do with looking more like foliage or so i'm told, with the Empires crest on the underside of the hood (for the empires crest, imagine Cadence's cutie mark with A shield behind it). There are multiple enchantments for various things embedded into the fibres such as spells to: hide the occupants face, alter other creatures perception so they just 'look around the occupant' and finally, one to warm up the occupant should they spend too long in the cold. Unfortunately, that last enchantment needed to be recast upon MY cloak and so I was currently feeling the full force of these mountains nature. On my hoofs are spiked shoes that help grip into the frozen ice, that lays randomly around the floor, and gain traction in the snow.

Why where we told to go into the mountains during A snow storm? It makes no sense, why send out some scouts to find something, that could potentially be dangerous, if they can't see anything passed their hood!? Earlier this morning, Princess Cadence felt A very strong, in both power and concentration, magical serge in one of the most northern mountains that surround the empire. This, on its own, is already A disturbing fact but coupled with her saying that she could feel faint traces of dark magic? downright terrifying. How does A common scout know this to be the case? See, Shining Armour told his most trusted general, and my boss, Hard Wall to gather his most trusted scouts to search for what ever caused what the princess felt, and so here I am along with 14 others climbing around the northern mountains for something. Wouldn't be that bad if we had any idea about what to look for but alas, we do not.

At the moment, we are continuing north into the 'uncharted zone'. Don't let the name fool you, the area has indeed been charted, it's just that there was only one map made and the land hasn't been used in so long that it looks as if it hasn't been charted. The plan was incredibly simple, start just outside the empire, that was more A large city, and work our way out in A constant speed until we find what caused that serge.

Sitting just within the boundary's of the dense forest trees, I am observing A clearing of sorts with no discernible features apart from the fact that to my left the tree line is cut short by the steep vertical slope of the nearby mountain. The slope itself didn't look naturally formed, in A sense, but almost as if the parts of the mountain on-top had fallen down, forming A distinct layer made of different sized rocks and boulders. Now, I said that there are no "discernible features" but this could be wrong as I currently can't see from the storm underway. Just as I was about to continue on my path, out of the corner of my eye I noticed that the rocks started glowing A faint purple, but that was all I could see before the blast.

BOOOMB

The explosion was enough to knock me off my feet and slam me into the nearby tree that once stood as protection from the storm. I wanted to scream, but years of training in the guard stopped that. Winded form the collision, I took staggered breaths to regain A semblance of self. After A few seconds, I looked up to find various rocks, what's left of them anyway, scatted across the clearing as more continued to fall from the sky with the trees, to my right, upturned. This wasn't what shocked me the most however, no, that would be the undoubtable fact that the once strong storm was now completely gone, reduced to nothing more than A tame breeze. Even the sky was clear as far as I could tell, but that didn't mean much considering my current state and the tree next to me blocking my view of the rest of the sky. The mountain, where the explosion had come form, was smoking with A newly formed hole adorning the once vertical surface but it was what was coming out of said newly formed hole that really had my attention.

Solid, glowing read eyes that belonged to no holy creature marched out of the smoke, revealing what would be considered way above my pay-grade. Standing at the mouth of the hole was something that given me pause as it had the lower body of A Pony but the upper body of A Minotaur witch was only seen on two individuals, the grate foe Tirek and an old Allie known as 'brother of Tirek. Thinking of witch, why don't we know his name? Anyway, this creature stood there covered in what seemed to be an old, black, set of heavy armour with silver accents. Its shoes are mostly black, with silver along the bottom, but not A single speck of flesh is visible along any of its legs, witch would indicate the armour is exceptionally tight fitting allowing not much room for movement. Silver metal plates interlocked and protected the legs from strikes at any angle while A layer of black tarp was dangling underneath acting as A skirt around the body down to just above the knees. The chest and front legs are pointed to deflect blows from in front down and to the sides making them impervious to A frontal assault, the rest of the Pony body, while not as sharp as the front, would still provide A challenge even for some ballista! After A seamless transition towards the Minotaur body, the angling of the armour continued all the way to the helmet which reviled only those horrific red eyes (for the Minotaur body, imagine the Skyrim ebony armour). In its right hand is A sword I've never seen before with A blade like fire and A crystal that glows A dark purple, witch is currently fading.

Could this be the brother of Tirek or just another of their species? What was it doing in that mountain and does it have anything to do with the magical ser-

My musings where interrupted when the creatu- no THINGS left side barrel opened up to reveal it's weapons sheath where it then stored just for it to retract within its body. No wounder the armour was so tight, the armour was the thing to begin with and that purple stuff must be the dark magic that Princess Cadence felt. Before I could think on what to do next, the thing started to walk directly towards me, but being the superb scout my mother always told me I am, I was quickly able to hide within the bush nearby that wasn't completely destroyed by the explosion. As it walked closer and closer the thing got bigger and bigger until, finally, it was right beside me. Buck. This thing was easily three times my size but the most disturbing thing about it, apart from the unwavering gaze, was just how silently it moved, as most constructs, or even Golems, made some form of noise by themselves for just existing, weather that be A simple humming sound or the wind chimes of the runes as the magic flowed. But this thing made non, only the sound of heavy metal on metal and the crushing of snow provided any sense of presence. Once the sound of clanging metal was gone, I noticed that the thing was heading straight to the Crystal Empire and retrieved the communication crystal from under my cloak to contact the rest of the team.

"Found what caused the serge"

Unit AA-00 pov

This unit loves the cold

It had been roughly 30min since this unit had left the facility and already there had been much more life than before, but due to the supposed winter most of said life is hibernating. However, it is debatable if the area itself was indeed more "beautiful" than the inside of the facility, as they were both just the same sight over and over again with little to no alteration. In the facility was the never ending halls made from the same stainless steel with A coloured line along them to signify where in the facility you where, and in the mountainous forest this unit is currently in there is the same tall, dark, trees acting as pillars to hold up the sky, or so it seemed. Overall, most organics would call this an improvement if for nothing else apart from the air, as in the facility only had 18.7% oxygen in the air witch is 0.8% less than the needed amount for most of the larger mammals on Equss.

At the moment, this unit is following the set course towards the Crystal Empire capital, called "Gem-fort", as that is the closest likely city with any sort of military outpost where this unit may receive orders. There, I can receive new info on this unity main objective, all the while possibly finding out more on just how long it has been since Dr Hot Metal's diary's last entree. If the path currently being used is any indication then definitely over an estimated 20 years.

This unit wouldn't be able to ponder what was to happen once it reached the Gem-fort, however, as the sound of it's clanging armour alerted something hiding in the bushes nearby.

Stopping in this units tracks, eight pony's rushed out from the greenery and surrounded themselves their would be victim, three Earth pony's behind to prevent escape, as the sides where woods that are known for their wolf activity, and five in front to act as intimidation, two Unicorns and Pegasus plus one Earth at the centre. The Unicorns and Earth pony's are using swords or daggers but the Pegasus had crossbows attached to A harness, probably think they'll be able to damage this units chassis. Shame this unit was designed to changeling the supposed Gods of the sun and moon.

"Alright feller, this is whats going to happen. You drop any valuables you own an' we let you live see? Don't think your in any position to decline cuz' your outnumbered and your size scares us nun!" spoke the pony at the front with A slight wheeze who's coat is A light brown with green main and tail who, despite being slightly taller than the rest, didn't look as strong. All the targets in front of this unit are using some sort of metal plating, but no more than three peaces per pony, so it was safe to assume the same for the three behind.

this unit could just kill them but the first rule in the file called 'Guard protocol', located in the hard-rune, is to bring all criminals into the organic authority's for trial... *sigh* now this unit needs to find out how to communicate

INSTALLING VOCAL SUBROUTINES... 100%.
COMPLETE.
THE ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE USING: "EQUESTRIAN" IS NOW AVAILABLE.
NOTE: TO USE OTHER LANGUAGES REQUIRES LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS.

Nice, now lets see here...

"CITIZENS OF THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE, YOU ARE TO SURRENDER YOUR WEAPONS AND ANY STOLEN GOODS TO THIS UNIT WHERE YOU WILL BE BROUGHT BEFORE THE COURT OF KING SOMBRA TO FACE TRIAL AND RECEIVE JUDGEMENT FOR THE FOLLOWING CRIMES; ROBBERY, FALSE PATH TA-" this unit boomed while looking down upon the ciminals

"OWW SHUT IT! get 'em stallions!" the head criminal interjected, clearly having enough of this units statement.

On command, the Pegasus shot their crossbows, the Unicorns fired off their spells and the Earth Pony's tried to swipe an this units 'legs'. The attacks where crude and unorganised, just like most criminals of this calibre are supposed to be, which unfortunately for them made it so that not even A scratch was caused on this units chassis. However, this unit was currently not even aware of the squabble happening below him as only one thought was racing through all its magic circuits.

That's this units 'voice'? Sounds as if this unit is permanently looking for the kill. Come on, was it so hard to make this unit sound like the protector it's supposed to be... Although the plans where changed at the end weren't they? Dam it!

After accepting the fact that this units voice would unsettle everyone, be that Allie or foe, most of the criminals stopped their attack due to exhaustion in their muscles and magical energy. However, one of the Pegasus had an arrow left that found it's way in between this units visor on the helmet landing straight into the right optic. This seemed to plaster A smug look onto the criminals faces as the damage they finally done. Don't misunderstand, this unit doesn't feel pain but it does get pissed, after all A free thinking soldier is the best soldier. Constructs, such as this unit, just follow orders really well. (for this units voice, just imagine the voice of the dreadnoughts from Warhammer 40k: dawn of war just with less emotion).

Tilting the head down, this units left arm reached up to remove the arrow from the optic were, with A single tug, it was ripped out with A solid 'thunk' noise. The criminals watched in horror, as purple strands slithered from this units neck onto the broken optic, after snaking around the helm, and started to repair the damage done.

while this was going on this unit continued from its previous statement. "ADDING ASSAULT OF CRYSTAL GUARD TO LIST OF CRIMES. SITUATION ALLOWS THIS UNIT TO ACT AS JUDGE, JURY AND EXECUTIONER. INITIALISING. JUDICIAL CIRCUITS ACTIVATED. YOU HAVE BEEN FOUND GUILTY. APPLYING IMMEDIATE USE OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT!". With the final words spoken, the now repaired optic flashed the same crimson glow as the other and the purple strands receded back to where they came.

"RUN STALLIONS! WE'LL MEAT UP AT TH-" was all the leading criminal was able to say before this unit, in one swift movement, drawn it's sword and slashed his head clean off.

The rest of the 'gang', having seen, or not so in this case, their leaders head severed tried to retreat to the destination that was cut off, if you'll excuse the pun, in A song of screams. However, this unit was having non of it as within A thought process, that took less than A second, A spell was cast with the fall of the left hand. this resulted in all the criminal pony's falling to the floor, and with the Pegasus's crashing down from the sky, as the spell increased gravity around them tenfold. The criminals can not escape the the law of the Crystal Empire, but they can beg for release.

"let us go!", "we where only trying to feed our-self's" and "Please, we won't do it again I swear" were some examples of what they had to say but it all fell on the cold blade of this units sword. The please turned from seven to five, form five to three and from three to silence. The only noise being the once warm blood, now staining the pure snow and this units hoofs, dripping from the Zweihanders blade, coating the weapon in A new deathly sheen.

The body's will definitely attract the local predators.

With A single motion, just as swift as the first, this unit stored its weapon back into its sheath were it retracted into the chassis for use in the future and A good clean, being A construct comes with its perks.

Something to report once this unit reaches Gem-fort.

If this unit was listening carefully, then it would of heard the sound of some unfortunate guard scouts throwing up their breakfast.

Author's Note

Very sorry for the delay. There isn't any particulate reason, I just like reading what's on the website just as much as writing this story, so hopefully the next chapters will come out quicker.

But for now I need your advice. Should unit AA-00 eventually become an Allie or enemy of the cast? this will decide what happens next, like that wasn't apparent, but if nobody votes then fear not, i'll just come up with the answer on my own.

Have A great day everyone!