Celestia pov.

Dear Princess Celestia

Roughly two hours ago Cadence felt A large magical serge coming from the Northern Mountains around the Crystal Empire, witch unfortunately contained traces of dark magic. As I'm sure you'll understand, this greatly concerns me and Cadence so we sent out 15 scouts to find the source of the serge. They were successful in locating the Golem we believe to be the cause and regret to say that it most likely has ties to Sombra, the scout that first found it described it as Tirek with black, heavy, armour wielding A sword that "looks like the flames of Tartarus".

Because of this, I would like to request yours, your sisters and the Elements of Harmony's presence. When you arrive you'll receive more info form Cadence as I'm currently on my way to confront the Golem before it reaches the Empire.

Yours faithfully, Shining Armour, Price of the Crystal Empire,

Putting the letter down onto my desk, I levitated my cup of Zebrican Tea towards me to try and calm down my nerves about what was stated. A Golem, that is most likely connected to King Sombra, has just appeared after causing A magic serge that even me and my sister felt, not that we'll tell anypony that as that would cause A panic. But why now? Why not when the Crystal Empire first came back with King Sombra himself? Maybe this is the start of King Sombra's invasion to reclaim the Empire?

"Hang on... Golem? It can't be!" I just barely whispered to myself as one, possibly dreadful, option as to what this Golem could be appeared in my head.

With A soft *pop* I teleported into my sister's room "Sister we need to talk, do you have time?"

"What is it Tia?" asked Luna, looking up from the mountains of paper work she had to do. Sometimes, mountains of paper work are colder than any mountain in the north.

"I received this letter from the Crystal Empire, take A look and tell me what you think." I told her as I teleported the letter from my room to her desk, should of brought it with me originally.

After a little time, Luna looked at me, without moving her head, with her eyes with one brow raised "If your here to ask me to come with you, then you know that I will gladly come. It has been far to long since I last partaken in any combat." came her questioning reply.

Shaking my head I said "No it's not that, trust me when I say EVERYPONY knows about your like for battle, but doesn't this remind you of A certain project we destroyed before our confrontation with King Sombra?" This sent Luna into deep concentration, if her scrunched up face is anything to go by.

After finally allowing her face to relax, Luna shot out of her chair in one quick motion, causing the chair to fall with A *thud* "Tia, you can not mean what I think you mean"

"I am sister, and I fear that one maybe the Golem that's heading towards the Crystal Empire, and confronting Shining Armour, as we speak."

"But Tia, it is as you said, We destroyed that project before any of them could be completed. We where both their in the many labs, that housed the future Golems, and destroyed them all." replied Luna in A tone that, to most, sounded like anger but, as her sister, I know that it's laced with worry and concern.

"You are correct Luna, but we didn't find any in the Northern Mountains and thus assumed there wasn't any, but what if there was? What if after all this time there was one in the mountains we didn't find, completed, and is now activated trying to fulfil its' original commands?"

"Tia, I don't like what that implies... I just hope that this is one of your sugar induced theorys that doesn't lead anywhere. I will go get the Elements." and with that my sister left with the same soft *pop* as when I arrived.

"So do I Luna, so do I... HEY!"

Unit AA-00 pov

This unit, and the surrounding soldiers, have been at the same standstill that they started five minuets ago. This unit doesn't want to risk killing the potential prince or any of his soldiers but at the same time this could just be members from the same, or A slimier, group from before. This unit needs more information to do anything...

"THIS UNIT WOULD LIKE TO, FIRST, ASK A SEQUENCE OF QUESTIONS OF ITS OWN. ANSWERING THESE QUESTIONS WILL MAKE ANSWERING YOUR QUESTION EASIER. WILL YOU COMPLY?"

The prince seemed to think on it for A bit before saying "Go ahead" all the while the soldiers, including himself, where still standing there ready for A fight, except the pegasus of cause.

"FIRSTLY, JUST AS THIS UNIT GIVEN YOU ITS' PROXY NAME FOR THE SAKE OF 'EASE', COULD YOU AND YOUR STALLIONS STAND DOWN? THIS UNIT WOULD LIKE TO KEEP AS MANY CITIZENS, OF THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE, ALIVE AS POSSIBLE."

Don't know what this unit said that sounded so confusing, but apparently this unit must of spoken in some alien tong, because the 'prince' looked at this unit like it grown A second head.

Just as this unit was about to repeat the question, the 'prince' laughed, before visibly relaxing, and said "Sure, I'll stand down but my men won't because you know-" he gestures to this unit "- you are still an unknown and possibly A threat."

"CONFIRMED, THANK YOU FOR COMPLYING. SECONDLY, WHAT IS THE TODAY'S DATE?"

"Friday, 21st of August, 2020. Why?" ... ... ... ... That would mean that this unit has been offline for 1284 years as the final entry in Dr Hot Metals' diary was dated at Tuesday, 13th of may, 736...

"CONFIRMED, THANK YOU FOR COMPLYING." he scoffed at that "THIRDLY, ARE YOU AWARE OF WHERE ONE DR HOT METAL AND HIS TEAM ARE?"

The 'prince' was in thought, seemingly judging this unit for A bit, before answering. "No, I am unaware of this Dr Hot Metal and his teams whereabouts" was his reply while sounding as if he DOES know where they are, but doesn't wish to tell. Fine then, keep your secrets.

"CONFIRMED, THANK YOU FOR COMPLYING. FINALLY, WILL YOU ALLOW THIS UNIT TO USE A SPELL THAT WILL CONFIRM ALL INFORMATION PREVIOUSLY GIVEN?" along with answering some unasked questions "THE SPELL WILL GIVE THIS UNIT FULL ACCESS TO YOUR MIND SO THAT THE INFORMATION GATHERING PROCESS IS UNDETERRED, THIS MEANS THAT YOU WILL HAVE NO ABILITY TO STOP ONCE IT HAS STARTED. WILL YOU COMPLY?"

He looked, understandably, unsure of this but it needed to be done. If he allows this then it'll confirm that he is indeed the prince of the Crystal Empire, witch would give him full control of the situation and if he doesn't, then it confirms that he's lying and that all the ponys around are just bandits using the Crystal Empires name. This will not be allowed.

"Would it be alright if I had one of my stallions near by for safety purposes?" The 'prince' asked. after I responded with A short nod, he called over one of the guards using his hoof to signal him over "Hey Quick Strike, get over here!"

Marching over from the circle of guards came A small stallion with A purple coat and eyes with silver armour. Again, this armour didn't cover any vital points but it did look fancy. This unit hopes they didn't send their parade soldiers after it. The guard has A spear that looks more like it would be used to fish than fight as the long wooden shaft lacked any form of grip or hoof protection and the head was just stuck on there with some weak magic. Wouldn't even pose A threat to the Timberwolves in the Everfree forest. "Yes Sir?" came his stone like reply. This stallion sounds colder than this unit does.

"The Golem here is about to use A spell that will... search my mind?" says the 'prince', in an inquisitive tone, looking at this unit. Golem? is that what they think this unit is? Answering him with A, second, short nod he returns to his stallion saying "And I want you here in case it try's to do something that you deem A threat once the spell has started, is that clear?"

The guard looks shocked at first before returning to his stoic stance "Sir, I don-"

"I don't really care about your opinion at this moment Strike! This will happen weather anypony likes it or not! If this is what it takes to prove my legitimacy to this Golem and nip A potential threat to the Empire in the bud, then by Fraust I'll do it, is that clear!?" retaliated the 'prince'. This unit is impressed that this stallion would put himself in danger for his ponys.

"YES SIR" was followed by the guard saluting and standing with his spear facing the gap between both this unit and the 'prince'.

"Alright, ready when you are Aaron"

"CONFIRMED." With the 'princes' permission, this unit raised its left hand towards him to cast the spell that would provide all the answers. Purple tendrils, similar to those that repaired the right optic, slithered through the air towards the 'prince' and coiled around his head, neck and barrel. He and his guard tensed at this but didn't interfere as the spell took hold of his mind and fed this unit all the knowledge he had, to be sorted into some of the many different memory folders. From the spell, this unit conformed that the crystal empire had indeed been gone for 1284 years, King Sombra was killed twice, due to dark magic that corrupted him, since the Empire came back three years ago and that the stallion in front of this unit is the ex-captain of the Royal Guard from Equestria. By far the biggest news is that Shining Armour, the pony this unit has been conversing with and denied citizenship too, is in fact the leader of the new Crystal Empire along with his wife Cadence. Should be difficult convincing them that this unit means no harm when this chassis is literally designed to kill their 'Gods'.

Stopping the spell, Shining Armour, MY KING, fell to the floor as he had no energy left to stand. Turns out, forcing your way inside someones head does A number on their body. Weakly, my king got back onto his hoofs, with help from Quick Strike, and looked up at this unit saying between breaths "Get everything you need there Golem?"

Casting A small healing spell, to give my king his energy back, this unit replied "CONFIRMED MY KING, THIS UNIT IS IN YOUR COMMAND." my king, and his guard, flinched at the word "king".

Grinning, my king said "Good, First things first, stop calling me 'king', it's prince or Shining, and thanks for the energy, I needed that. STAND DOWN STALLIONS THE GOLEM IS ON OUR SIDE!" Every guard that was in the air or around us relaxed and trotted on up. "OK Golem, tell us, who is your creator and what are your tasks?"

Time to clear up this misunderstanding "NEGATIVE, THIS UNIT IS NOT A GOLEM, IT'S A MACHINE."

"OK then, who is your creator and what are your tasks Machine?"

"YOU MISUNDERSTAND, THIS UNIT IS NOT A GOLEM AND AS SUCH DOES NOT HAVE A CREATOR OR TASKS TO MINDLESSLY COMPLETE. AS A MACHINE THIS UNIT CAN CALL MANY DIFFERENT BEINGS ITS CREATORS AS EVERY-UNIT THAT PARTICIPATED IN THIS UNITS CREATION CAN BE CALLED THIS UNITS CREATOR. THE GROUP THAT WOULD BE IDENTIFIED AS THIS UNITS CREATOR WOULD BE DR HOT METAL AND HIS STALLIONS. ADDITIONALLY, THIS UNIT HAS NO TASKS THAT MUST BE COMPLETED FOR THIS CHASSIS TO DISAPPEAR LIKE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO GOLEMS, THEY STOP FUNCTIONING AFTER THE JOB IS COMPLETE BUT THIS UNIT REMAINS. THE MAIN DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOLEMS AND MACHINES WOULD BE WHERE THEIR POWER COMES FROM AS IN GOLEMS THEIR ONLY POWER SORCE IF FROM THE ONE WHO CASTED THE SPELL TO FORM THEM, WHERE AS MACHINES HAVE AN INTERNAL POWER SUPPLY. HOWEVER, THIS UNIT DID HAVE TWO DIFFERENT DESIGNS IN MIND DURING ITS CREATION THAT COULD BE USED TO APPLY THIS UNITS ROLE IN THE NEW CRYSTAL EMPIRE."

"And what are they" asked Shining, while him and his guards looked slightly confused by the information that was just fed to them.

Well... here we go "THIS UNITS FIRST DESIGN WAS A UNIT THAT WOULD DEFEND THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE AND ITS' CITIZENS FROM ANY POTENTIAL THREATS WHILE PROVIDING SUPPORT TO THE GUARDS"

this pleased Shining and his guards as they are all standing around smiling, looking as if A large weight was lifted off their shoulders "And what is the second design?"

If this unit could gulp it would "THIS UNITS SECOND DESIGN IS THE OPPOSITE OF THE FIRST AS THE CHOICE WAS MADE AFTER THE DARK MAGIC TAKEN OVER KING SOMBRAS' MIND. THIS DESIGN WAS FOR THE ELIMINATION OF EQUESTRIA AND ITS TWO RULERS PRINCESS CELESTIA AND LUNA."

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Shock is plastered on every-units faces at what was just said, but hay, they haven't tried to kill this unit... yet.

"Is that... um.. i-is that why you're here? to destroy Equestia and its' princesses?" Asked one of the lower ranking guards.

Looking over at him, apart form his height, he looked the same as Quick Strike, but that's due to the enchanted armour, but with A sword not A spear. "NEGATIVE. THESE ARE JUST WHAT THIS UNITS CHASSIS WAS DESIGNED WITH IN MIND. THIS UNITS PURPOSE WITHIN THE EMPIRE IS SOLELY DECIDED BY PRINCE SHINING AND HIS WIFE CADENCE. IF THEY SO WISHED, THEN THIS UNIT WOULD SING SONGS ALL DAY EVERYDAY."

That worked as all the guards that had their weapons at the ready lowered them once again and Shining said "Well I don't think that'll be happening anytime soon with your voice-" this caused A chuckle between the guards. A leader that knows how to keep his stallions happy... that's good "- and you certainly won't be trying to take over Equestria or the princesses. For now, until me and some... friends can have A talk about you, you can follow me around for now, it'll be too dangerous for you to be roaming around by yourself *chuckles* for other ponys I mean. Come on, lets go, we have A two hour trip back to the Crystal Empire and I want to spend as much of the day as possible with my wife."

well, at least this unit hasn't been designated A threat and taken away to be dismantled. that's good!

Author's Note

Well after over A week of waiting, with not A single vote :(, I had to decide by my self. My decision was to have them become allies as this is the way that would cause more pain for me. Why? well now I need to keep everyone of the main six, the rulers of the countries and, god forbid if she ever enters this story, Zecora. *shudders*

anyway, have A great day and A lovely time on this website!