Deception upon deception

by Dawnbringer

First battle

Canterlot, Royal guards’ main base
Before sunrise, 06:14, 21 September

Canterlot was mainly protected by the same royal guards that guarded the royal sisters. These guards would work in shifts to patrol Canterlot day and night whilst guarding the royal sisters as well. Located near the foot of mountain which Canterlot castle was built on, the royal guards had easy excess to the castle in case of emergencies as well as a direct route to Canterlot should anything happen unexpectedly. It was here where the royal guards would stay when they were off duty.

The main base contained an armory, numerous tents that housed the royal guards, watchtowers to get a Birdseye view of their surroundings as well as other fortifications and facilities. The royal guards’ main base was largely unknown to the citizens of Canterlot even though it housed thousands of soldiers. The main base also coordinated all of Equestria’s army bases which were situated in different parts of Equestria such as Manehatten or Trottingham.

“Another day, another bit,” said Light Blade to White Shield as they put on their golden armor and prepared to start the morning guarding shift. White Shield and Light Blade were brothers and had been Celestia’s personal guard for 3 years. Both of them had snow white coat, jet black manes and they were very muscular. They were very large and the golden armor only made them look bulkier. As their name suggests, White Shield had a golden shield cutie mark while Light Blade had a golden sword as his cutie mark.

“I can feel that something weird is gonna happen today,” muttered White Shield as he glanced around nervously.

“You say that every time but nothing ever happens. Better get moving, we’ll be late soon,”

“This time’s different. Something’s wrong, I can sense it…”

Sighing, Light Blade started trotting off to his patrol where they would be departing in 5 minutes time to Canterlot castle in order to replace the royal night guards. White Shield followed closely behind him whilst bidding the rest of his comrade’s farewell. As they were reaching the patrol, out of the blue, there was a huge explosion near the front gate of the main base.

“What the…” yelled White Shield as he swung his head in the direction of the explosion. Billows of acrid smoke started rising into the sky but strangely, there was no fire anywhere near the explosion. Being one of the few ponies closest to the incident, both White Shield and Light Blade rushed frantically towards the source of the explosion. Several other ponies had already reached the area when the two brothers arrived at the scene. They could not see anything other than a huge crater filled with smoke. It was clear that something had crashed into the main base but the question was what it was. As the smoke started clearing, around 5 figures were silhouetted behind the thick smoke.

“What in Celestia’s name are those?” muttered Light Blade in awe as he saw the 5 figures approaching him. Most onlookers at the site of the crash watched in stunned silence as the smoke had cleared, revealing five metallic-like creatures. These robots were larger than all the onlookers gathered, in fact, they were nearly as tall as Celestia but were much bulkier. They moved towards the crowd in an orderly and mechanical fashion whilst maintaining a V-shaped formation.

These strange robotic creatures looked identical to each other and were clad in a seemingly heavy metal that had been painted black. The only part of these robots that were not black was their eyes as they glowed crimson red. However, the strangest thing about these robots to Light Blade and White Shield was the fact that they had both wings and horns as only alicorns had such features. Clearly, these androids wielded immense magical abilities as they seemed to radiate with an aura of power and magic.

“Are those… robot alicorns?” White Shield asked no pony in particular as he clenched his sword and shield even tighter.

“I… I don’t know. But whatever these things are, they look very creepy to me,” replied Light Blade. “The real question is why and what are they doing down here.”

“Whoever made these things or whatever these…robot alicorns are must have knowledge of technology and magic that is decades or even centuries ahead of us. These androids are clearly too advanced to have been made by any of our mages or scientists. This could be very dangerous…”

“Keep your guard up. You never know what may happen,”

As the five androids got out of the crater, they continued maintaining their V-shaped formation. Without warning, they simply stopped moving and proceeded to scan the area. There was an awkward silence between the onlookers as more and more royal guards started galloping towards the crash site at full speed. All of a sudden, the android in the middle of their formation said something that froze all the royal guards to their spot.

With a deep and monotonous tone, it simply said, “Scatter… and begin termination protocols.”

Canterlot Castle, Celestia’s bedroom
Sunrise, 6:31 a.m., 21 September

Celestia woke up at 6:25 am this morning as abruptly and completely as if some pony had just yelled in her ear. Rising up groggily from her soft and plushy bed, Celestia proceeded to brush her teeth and comb her mane. Over the centuries, Celestia had developed her own internal alarm clock which allowed her to automatically wake up before sunrise without the use of an alarm clock in order to raise the sun. As she tried to remember what her day activities were, she was startled when she saw the moon still high in the sky. Usually Luna would have lowered the moon by now so that Celestia could raise the sun. A thousand thoughts swarmed her mind as she considered all possibilities of what might have happened.

Could she be in danger? Was she captured by enemies? Or worse, could it have been Nightmare Moon’s resurgence? As Celestia panicked, the rational part of her mind assured her that her sister was simply tired from all the work she had been doing and forgot to lower the moon. Deciding to put her theory to the test, Princess Celestia conjured the spell to lower the moon. As she casted the spell, her magical aura engulfed the moon and it gently lowered the moon.

Breathing a sigh of relief that her theory that her sister was too tired to lower the moon was probably correct, Celestia immediately raised the sun so as to make sure sunrise began on time. After raising the sun, Celestia began heading to the royal dining hall to have her breakfast.

Celestia mentally reminded herself to take some time off to relax with her sister as she realized that the two of them had been far too busy with their work to take a break. While trotting down the stairs to the royal dining hall, Celestia noticed something strange; her royal guards were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the whole palace was still filled with Luna’s royal guards.

They should have changed shift by now…

“They must be running a little late,” Celestia muttered under her breath as she thought of all other reasons as to why her guards had yet to arrive. Even so, this was the first time her royal guards were actually late and it was unnerving to think about what caused their delay.

As Celestia tried to distract her mind from the unusual events that were unfolding today, she failed to notice two mysterious figures spying at her from the shadows…

Canterlot, Royal Guard’s main base
After sunrise, 06:51 a.m., 21st September

“What in the name of Celestia are those things!” hollered Light Blade to his partner, White Shield. It had been nearly half an hour since those…robot alicorns had arrived in their main base and those ruthless androids had been rampaging through their main base as if it was nothing.

As soon as the mechanical robots started their termination protocol, the five of them had been crushing all defenses and fortifications the main base had. These androids knocked over the defenders as if they were nothing more than a pile of leaves in the face of a hurricane. These robots were unlike anything Light Blade and White Shield had seen before. Not only did they possess great combat skills, these androids had immense strength and speed as a single one of them could ram into a highly fortified watchtower destroy it with merely a few hits.

The worst part was that these androids also possessed magical abilities as one of them was casting loads of destructive spells which had leveled their armory. Both Light Blade and White Shield were taking cover from the rampage of the androids behind wall which had once been their canteen.

Nothing they did was effective against these mechanical monstrosities. They tried charging towards them and hacking them but the androids simply blasted them off before any of them can reach the robots. Both of them, along with the rest of the on-lookers that were present during the crash, were the first to respond to the threat of the androids. While the robots were destroying everything in sight, the guards nearby had tried desperately to halt their advance.

By now the sun had risen and Light Blade and White Shield could get a better view of the androids as well as see the bodies of their comrades who had fallen by the hooves of the androids all around them…

The destruction caused by the invaders was gigantic. All around Light Blade and White Shield stood the charred remnants of massive buildings. Their tents were on fire, their training grounds had been burnt to a cinder and their defensive forts were damaged beyond repairs...

They are either unconscious or…dead, thought White Shield as he tried to maintain his composure. As a royal guard, White Shield had be trained to remain calm and analyze the situation no matter what the circumstances may be.

Fear. It gripped his heart like an iron claw as White Shield glanced at the nearest invader, which was tearing through their lines of defense.

No amount of preparation could have prepared him for the realities of warfare. He had just witnessed more than two dozen of his fellow soldiers charging towards the robots simultaneously, only to be blasted away by an unbelievably powerful spell. Naturally he would panic during such situations but he knew he still had his brother and that they would not go down without a fight.

“Cover me while I try to flank it from the back!” yelled White Shield to Light Blade as he pointed to the nearest android he could see.

“Copy that,” said Light Blade with a nod as he brandished his bow and arrow; Light Blade then proceeded to shoot a few arrows at their target while White Shield crept stealthily towards it. “You want some of this, you overgrown tin can!”

The arrows did not even get close to the android before they were destroyed by its defensive spell. As the android closed in onto Light Blade, White Shield got into position and waited for his chance to strike.

“ I've got only one shot at this” he mumbled to himself as he glanced at the menacing robot that was proceeding to kill Light Blade. “Now’s my chance!”

As he said that, White Shield emerged from the back of the android and swung his blade viciously at the neck of the android, hoping to decapitate his foe.

“Now I've got you, you murderous psychopath!” exclaimed White Shield just as his sword slashed the robot alicorn.

The robot alicorn only had enough time to look at his assailant before the blade hit its neck…

“CRASH!” was the sound that came as the sword found its mark. However, it was not the android that broke but the sword itself. White Shield and his brother stared in disbelief as the sword that was used to kill the robot was broken into pieces as soon as it came in contact with the android.

“I…I…Impossible! What are these things made off?” exclaimed Light Blade in shock as he stood rooted to the spot. The android wasted no time and immediately slammed its fore hooves at White Shield who was nearest to it. White Shield flew several meters away and laid immobile on the ground.

Seeing his brother fall in front of him was the last straw. Throwing caution to the wind, Light Blade charged recklessly towards his foe and tackled it with all its might. Caught off guard, the android was pushed down due to the impact of Light Blade’s reckless charge. Seizing this golden opportunity, Light Blade rushed over to his brother’s side.

“Are you alright?” yelled Light Blade frantically.

“Don’t worry about me. It’ll take more than that to take me down” rasped White Shield.

“Come on, let’s go before it comes back. I’ll carry you…”

“No. You have to warn the…citizens and warn the princesses…Make sure they’re prepared for this new threat…”

“What about you?”

“ Just go. Remember.. our training. G-G-Giving others the data about these androids is more important…” after saying that, White Shield fell unconscious. A mixture of emotions hit Light Blade as he saw his own kin fell by the evil hooves of the merciless androids. Righteous anger, perpetual agony, sorrow etc. But among them, was hope...A new resolve to make sure Equestria knew about these vile monstrosities.

Though he was taught never to show any emotions during his training, he could not help but feel devastated by the loss of his comrades and brother. Light Blade shed a tear before resolving to pass on the crucial pieces of information about the androids to the princesses.

Without another word, Light Blade flew off to the castle. He knew that his brother was right; Equestria must be ready to face this new threat. He must warn them before it’s too late…

As he flew off into the distance, the android staggered back to its hooves and carefully took aim of Light Blade before unleashing its spell. Light Blade would never reach his destination…

Canterlot, high above the main base
After sunrise, 06:58 a.m., 21st September

“It would seem that they are still learning to control their new body,” mused Luna to herself. “They would never be so careless as to let their guard down and leave a blind spot for their opponents to attack.”

“All is prepared for the next stage on the assault of Canterlot, your highness. Everything is in place now. Shall we proceed?” asked an android beside Luna with a monotonous voice.

“You may proceed but remember your orders,” Luna said. Satisfied by the destruction caused by her 5 robots, Luna and the android that was beside her teleported away, leaving only a small wisp of smoke in its spot…

Author's Note:

Thanks for the reviews and yes there will be an explanation about Luna soon so don't worry. Next update should be in a week or two so thanks for reading and as always, I welcome comments and criticisms.