Author's Note

Hi guys, as you know I'm looking for some input on if unit AA-00 becomes friends or enemies to the Crystal Empire, and by extension the main cast. This chapter is what will lead to the decision that has to be made.

Again, if there isn't any opinions on the matter then I'll make the decision as to which direction the story goes.

Enjoy the story and have A great day!

The OR Diode

Shining Armour's pov.

Things where getting so calm before any of this happened. Cadence and I were going to spend some family time with Flurry while Crystal Pen overseen everything in the empire for A day. But no, something just had to up and ruin all my plans. By something, I'm of course talking about the magical serge that occurred in the far northern mountains which haven't been used since sometime before Sombra's rule.

This leads me to the meeting that is currently being held inside the palace. After we received word from one of the scouts that he'd found the cause of the serge, claiming it to some form of advanced magical Golem, we immediately sent out more scouts to trail the thing. This lead to A rather easy game of hide and seek for the Golem wasn't hiding, in fact it stayed to the main and side roads, and our scouts are using some large detection spells. This does leave the question of who its' creator is and what its' instructions are. Considering that the Golem is sticking to mostly public roads, it does suggest no ill intent, however were does that leave the dark magic Cadence felt?

"There has to be something going on here, but what?" I muttered to myself in hopes that talking out load would provide some answers.

"SIR! I come baring news from the scouts following the Golem." Stated one of the messengers, between said scouts and this palace, as he saluted.

"Report, and I hope there's good news" I really didn't want this to become too big of A thing

"Unfortunately sir, there is only bad news. Firstly, the Golem has killed eight pony's, all of whom were highway robbers looking for some easy bits" came the scouts reply.

"Killed? Was it provoked or did it just attack?" I asked, curious at to how 'blood thirsty' this Golem is.

"Definitely provoked, Sir, but the battle did show off some of its combat potential, witch, if I may speak freely, is downright terrifying." Again, replied the scout.

"What happened?"

"the first blow was too quick for most to remember as the pure speed, and skill, in witch it was struck was too great. We needed to go over the footage in the recording crystal again at 0.5X speed to see what was going on. The result was the gang leaders head being cut off before he could finish giving the order to retreat. This act was followed up by the Golem casting an unknown spell that grounded the rest of the gang, even the Pegasus's. the Golem then proceeded to... execute them."

"What do you mean by 'execute' and why where they about to retreat?"

"I mean exactly as stated, Sir. The Golem, while the gang members were on the floor, decapitated them one by one while they pleaded for their lives not stopping until they were all dead. I regret to inform you Sir, but the near by scouts where also effected and thus couldn't try to prevent there deaths. This could mean that the Golem is aware of the scouts following it or the spell effects an certain area and isn't targeted like most other spells, but this we are unsure of. To answer the second question, the gang had tried to rob the Golem, mistaking it for A living creature, but as soon as it started to try and arrest them they all attacked on command of the leader, however, their attacks done literally nothing."

"And by who's authority was the Golem trying to arrest them on?"

"That is the worst peace of news Sir, for you see, while the Golem didn't state by who's authority exactly it was acting on, it did state the specific court that the case was to be taken to."

"And?"

"The court of king Sombra, Sir."

"... pardon, could you say that again?" I asked, not liking what I think I heard.

"certainly, the court of king Sombra, Sir."

This... does make this A big thing. If this Golem works for Sombra, then why is it here now and not during the Crystal Empires first resurgence? Is it here to take back the Empire for Sombra? No... this is too simple for one of Sombra's schemes but then what? It did try and bring them in first witch doesn't fit what Sombra himself told his guards to do, he prefers to rule with fear and would just kill anyone outright that broke any of his laws. So maybe its' loyalties lie with the Empire itself and not its' ruling body?

"Sir? What are your orders sir?" asked the scout, who was probably trying to get my attention this entire time.

"For now, just continue to follow it and don't be seen while also diverting any civilians away that might cross paths with the Golem." I hope these orders will minimise any possible casualties while telling us where exactly it is.

"We are unable to do that, Sir, as the scout teams lost track of the Golem while it was heading into the thickest part of the woods to the north. This failure was due to the scouts following the Golem, at the time, needing to take A break after the... confrontation."

"What!? You're telling me that A Golem with possible connections to King Sombra, wielding unknown magic, is currently walking around unsupervised because the scouts at the time couldn't deal with A bit of action!?" I will admit, the venom in every word I just said was unnecessary, especially considering the last proper conflict anybody seen was my wedding... That hurt more to say than I would like to admit.

"You are correct, Sir. We will ensure that this doesn't happen again, Sir." responded the scout.

"It's fine, what's done is done. All we can do now is try our best to find out where it is and continue to observe it." In truth, I would of hoped that we could confront the Golem before it reaches the walls of this city.

"Sir, while the scouts did lose the Golem, we were able to predict its path and estimate the time of arrival at the nearest clearing using A variety of spells."

"where is this clearing and how long do we have until it gets there?"

"2 miles North-West and in about 1 day, just after sunrise. This prediction is highly accurate, as the Golem has travelled the same, general, straight line path for the past three hours and all paths taken would lead it to this clearing."

"Good, tell your men to head to this clearing before us, in the meantime I'll get three squads together then we'll join you there before the sun rises."

"Yes sir! Right away, Sir!" were his final words before he galloped out of the throne room to fulfil his new commands.

"Sargent Long Blade, get together three squads of the finest solders the Crystal Empire has to offer and have them ready to leave for sunset." Are the orders I given to Long Blade, A good friend of mine since coming to the empire.

"By your command, Sir!" replied my good friend.

"Now lets see if this Golem is 'Friend or Foe' as the saying goes" I couldn't help but chuckle to myself at the end A little there. What are we getting our self's into here.

I should probably wright A letter to Equestria for this one.

Unit AA-00's pov, 'the clearing' at sunrise.

For just how close this unit is to the Crystal Empire, there is A distinct lack of ponys anywhere. Just about one hour ago, this unit came across A small camp that showed signs of life recently being there, due to the still embering flame that could be seen, but not A single pony could be found in the camp. Before this was the wooden shack, too small for me to enter, and even if I was the size of the standard pony it would still be A tight fit, as the shack was designed with maximum efficiency in mind, not that they had much choice with building it within A tree. Maybe the Crystal Empire no longer exists and those criminals form earlier just happened to be in the area. It would be interesting to see how the strongest Empire on Equss fell.

Hello there, what does this unit have here then?

Ahead of this unit, in the same clearing up about 100m in front, stands A unicorn stallion adorn in purple armour with golden outlines that doesn't protect his neck, legs, horn or barrel, in fact the only parts of him that are protected are his back and nape. Poor armour design if you ask this unit but each to their own. The unicorn himself has A pure white coat with dark blue main and tail with A light blue strip going through it and his azure eyes furrowed on my approach. This stallion is defiantly the broadest pony this unit has seen profound muscles all along his body, but he still needs to look up considerably to meet this units optics. He must be high ranking if the plume on his head is anything to go off.

stopping 10m away from the stallion and looking down upon him, this unit is the first to breach the communication barrier. "IDENTIFY"

It would seem that this units voice had an effect on the broad stallion as there was an ever so slight flinch in his posture, but he still replied as if nothing happened. "I'm Shining Armour, Prince of the Crystal Empire and defender of its people and you? What's your name?"

This confused this unit for A few micro-seconds but was able to reply within the standard time frame "THIS UNIT DOES NOT POSSES A NAME. YOU MAY IDENTIFY THIS UNIT AS AA-00." After this unit finished this statement, the magical sensors detected multiple life forms corresponding to that of ponys, A trick this unit picked up after the last incident with the criminals.

"I have A few questions for you AA-00. Firstly, can I give you A name for my sake? saying AA-00 every time is going to get old real quick"

This pony is trying to create A calm atmosphere through small talk, probably to try and prevent any combat. Explains his lack of armour "AS A SELF-PROCLAIMED CITIZEN OF THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO NAME THIS UNIT WHAT YOU DESIRE. UNTIL YOUR CITIZENSHIP CAN BE CONFIRMED, YOU WILL BE GIVEN PERMISSION TO USE THIS UNITS PROXY IDENTIFICATION: Aaron."

"Aaron... thank you, that'll make things much easier. How would one go about confirming citizenship? Because i'm pretty sure I said that 'I'm the prince of the Crystal Empire'."

"CONFIRMED, YOU HAD INDEED STATED AS SUCH, HOWEVER, YOU ARE NOT PART OF KING SOMBRA'S BLOOD LINE, DUE TO YOU NOT POSSESSING THE GENETIC TRAIT OF A TWISTED HORN OR BLACK COAT, SO AS OF THIS MOMENT THE LEGITIMACY OF YOUR CLAIMS CAN'T BE CONFIRMED. TO PROVE CITIZENSHIP, THIS UNIT WILL DIRECT YOU TO BORDER CONTROL WHERE THEY'LL DETERMINE IF YOU ARE INDEED A CITIZEN OF THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE. UNTIL THEN, YOU ARE SELF-PROCLAIMED AND IF IT TURNS OUT THAT YOU ARE BEING DECEITFUL IN CLAIMING TO BE PRINCE, THEN YOU'LL BE TAKEN BEFORE THE COURT OF KING SOMBRA TO STAND TRIAL."

Unfortunately, the stallion known as Shining Armour's heart rate started to increase at that. Not A good sign. "I suppose that brings me to the most important question then, doesn't it? Tell me..." midway through his sentence the ponys previously hiding within the trees and bushes came out from hiding to form A circle around this unit and, the supposed prince of the Crystal Empire, Shining Armour all with their weapons drawn and spells ready. Even the sky was covered in pegasus using crossbows.

Looking back down towards Shining Armour, this unit witnessed his smug expression as he continued his question "To the ponys of the Crystal Empire, and its equestian allies, are you friend or foe?"

That is indeed the one-million bit question...