Claws of Equestria

The second guard had no time to react as Zaggy jumped onto his back and viciously zapped him until he was knocked out. Ziggy had already dealt with the first guard and was scurrying his way up to the startled princess.

Zaggy was quick to follow.

Princess Celestia stared in disbelief at the two small spiders advancing her way. However, her instincts were quick as she quickly used her magic to transport herself into the air right as Ziggy had tried to lunge at her. Her wings kept her in the air and balanced. She tried to get a better look at her attackers but the adrenaline that shot through her caused her to become less focused on specific details of her attackers and more on herself. But what she could make out from the small identification of her attackers, while preparing her superior magic in order to combat the intruders, was that they looked a lot like spiders and the red aura that cloaked around them made them more noticeable to her. The sudden strange presence that she had been feeling all through the day suddenly came back to her right as the spider bots had revealed themselves.

"Who and what are you creatures!?" Celestia demanded with her authority.

Ziggy and Zaggy ignored her question. Ziggy was staring up at the princess from where he had lunged and landed on the back rest of the throne. With the primary objective still in focus, Ziggy quickly dismounted from the throne and began climbing up the left side of the inner castle wall. Zaggy, whom had finished zapping the injured guard, spotted the floating princess glaring angrily at Ziggy and he noticed her charging up her horn. Following Ziggy's example, Zaggy began clawing his way up the inner right side of the castle wall until he had reached the roof.

While Zaggy was making his way to the roof, Princess Celestia had started firing her powerful magic at Ziggy. He was forced to scurry sideways along the wall which prevented him from climbing directly upwards, but his scapegoat was what Zaggy needed in order to pry closer to the unsuspecting princess. Scurrying closer towards the princess, Zaggy's Taser released a small burst of energy in preparation for the full sting.

However, before Zaggy could make his pounce on Celestia, the sound of two giant doors suddenly opened and revealed Shining Armor, Princess Cadance and the six best Pegasi guards. They gasped as they firstly looked at their princess battling with the small robotic spider on the left side of the wall. Then they noticed their comrades beaten on the floor with shocked looks in their eyes. Zaggy knew that they were going to jeopardise their whole mission if they were allowed to intervene.

Picking Shining Armor as his target, he pounced downwards.

OXO

"Protect the princess!" Shining Armor ordered his guards. Cadance stood slightly behind her husband as she looked at the scene unfolding in front of her.

The six Pegasi guards had quickly flown towards the princess and created a diamond formation around her: two in the front, two in the middle and two at the back with Princess Celestia in the middle. Once they spotted the perpetrator who Celestia had been defending herself from, they set about to quickly capture Ziggy. One of the guards from the front and one from the back had been the ones to try and capture the small spider, but trying to capture Ziggy proved to be more complicated for the guards. When ever they tried to capture Ziggy, their hooves would get zapped with Ziggy's Taser which caused them to retreat back. Ziggy's quick movement also made it hard for the Pegasi guards to focus on where he would be so that they could catch him.

The other four guards had escorted Princess Celestia to the other end of the throne room.

Shining Armor stepped forward in attempt to help the two guards capture Ziggy with his magic, but something landed on his back! A sharp stinging sensation suddenly flowed into Shining Armor's left foreleg. Zaggy, after picking Shining Armor as his target, clumsily fell onto his back. But the drop caused his to slip slightly over Shining Armor's back and left him clinging onto his red jacket. His jacket ripped from the right shoulder down to his chest as Zaggy unleashed a high voltage of electricity into Shining Armor's right foreleg. Luckily, due to the distance and poor accuracy, Shining Armor's right foreleg wasn't paralysed.

"What the-"Shining Armor cried aloud as he felt a sharp sting rage in his right shoulder. Without thinking, he bucked rapidly into the air in attempt to throw Zaggy off. With luck, Zaggy lost his grip on Shining Armor and tore the rest of the shirt on his right.

Cadance quickly rushed over to her husband and calmed him before he hurt himself. However, right as she calmed her husband, she noticed that Zaggy had already made another attempt to attack her husband. Using her magic, she caught the small spider mid-air before he could clutch onto Shining Armor's back. Unfortunately, she had brought Zaggy just slightly in range for him to use his Taser on her nose. Cadance gasped and released Zaggy as she touched the tip of her nose with her hoof.

The assault of his wife caused Shining Armor to grow incredibly furious. Turning to face the fleeing attacker, he focused his magic and clutched Zaggy before he could scale the walls. In an instant, Shining Armor forced his magic to drag the helpless spider underneath his hoof before Shining Armor crushed him.

Zaggy was left in pieces and the red aura escaped out of the closest window. The red eyes shut down and changed into an empty black colour of nothingness.

Ziggy halted his tracks as he spotted his fallen counterpart and realised that he had been trashed into pieces. With Zaggy compromised and destroyed, Ziggy had failed his mission in eliminating the princesses and had to return back to his master. Consequently, Ziggy being distracted by the termination of his comrade had given one of the guards enough time to quickly snatch Ziggy by surprise. The guard held Ziggy upside down and away from his face so that he could not Taser him.

He brought the prisoner over to Celestia who used her magic to safely hold him at a distance. Ziggy's legs waved frantically all over the place as he tried his best to escape the grasp of the princess. Ziggy even tried to use his Taser in attempts to escape, but his efforts were futile against the supreme clutch of Celestia's magical grasp.

But the struggling of Ziggy stopped when he heard a voice boom inside him.

"You have failed me! The mission was so simple, but you were too weak and futile to do my bidding! You are a worthless fool! I have no need for you any longer, pathetic spider…but your failure is only a small price to pay for the invasion of Equestria. No matter what happens, I will take Equestria, and your failure and ignorance will not stop me!" The voice of King Sombra echoed all over. The mystical red aura suddenly vaporised from Ziggy's body, leaving him as an empty mechanical shell without a controller.

Celestia gasped as she saw the red aura flee and escape outside one of the windows. The simple black spider's legs held in place which resembled his idleness. Princess Cadance slowly walked over to Celestia along with her husband. She quietly whispered into his ear…

"What is it?"

"I-I don't know, Cadance," Shining Armor responded quietly and curiously.

Princess Celestia, after watching the aura escape outside, looked deeply at the empty spider machine. The feeling of danger that Princess Celestia felt when the red aura was around the machine was gone and she felt more relaxed around it. Slowly, she brought Ziggy closer to her eyes.

"What are you?" She asked.