Author's Notes:

Thank you, Regreme, for proofreading

Princess Celestia had the uncontrollable urge to yawn and stretch her cramped limbs. As much as she enjoyed helping her little ponies, holding day court could be more than a little tiring... especially when she had more than the average amount of patrons. Luckily,it was also the end of the day and only one last patron left to see.

Though on this particular session, a prominent, if a bit boisterous, home appliance manufacture executive was trying to garner her support in settling a disagreement in his and his rival company’s merger policy. If she had to draw an apt comparison to this, it was like one child going to his mother behind his brother’s back to ask for a bigger slice of pie after dinner. Celestia tried her best to teach her little ponies the honorable values of harmony, but there was always the temptation for things such as greed and violence that were and will be a part of the balance. The earth pony stallion, Lined Pockets was his name, finished his presentation and awaited with bated breath as to his ruler’s response.

“Your position in this merger sounds like it will be quite lucrative in itself, Mr. Pockets,” Celestia finally opened.

Lined Pockets hid his disappointment in not receiving the response he was looking for and went on, “Well, yes, but you see, your majesty... if the agreement is settled here, my company will be unable to expand into the eastern coast. I would dare say that the citizens of Fillydelphia and Baltimare would lose the opportunity to have another avenue of market from their western brothers.”

“Of course,” Celestia played to the stallion’s game, “but then, wouldn’t the export to the eastern coast come at a greater cost than to reside in the western market?”

“Not at all your highness. You see, with your approval, my company would have a greater reach through my partner’s networks to reach the eastern market with mitigated costs to export,” the stallion stated proudly.

Celestia hummed to herself in her musing, “How would you establish these exports? As I see it, neither of your companies have a localization outpost for the eastern market.”

“Well...” Lined cleared his throat, “...again, with your approval, some of my partner’s older warehouses would be dedicated to that purpose, along with new programs that could effectively look into other expansions into other kingdoms.”

“I see, but what of your partner’s workforce? Wouldn’t they need to be trained in this venture to be successful?”

Lined Pockets chuckled a bit, “Oh no, not at all. I already have the employees that can replace those to expedite the process.”

This is what the princess was looking for, “Alright then, but one last question. Would those in the warehouses be compensated for their relocations?”

At this, the stallion started to falter a bit, “Ehh... well, you see, your majesty, due to the proposition, it would be too much of an investment to keep those ponies and find new work for them at the same time, so they would have to be let go.”

There was a moment of silence as the stallion readjusted the tie on his business coat with one hoof. At the same time, Celestia pretended to ponder on the stallion’s words. In her mind, she already had a decision. She would first decline the offer and send the pony off. Then, she would send a representative from her trade and commerce department to handle any fallout from what was surely to come from the denial between the two companies. Finally, she would close court and make her way to the palace kitchen for some afternoon tea and a big ol’ slice of triple decker chocolate and strawberry swirl… cake?

Her last thought was interrupted by what she and her various guards and subject felt like a surge of foreign energy shifting throughout the room. Trying to pinpoint it proved difficult, as everyone in the majestic throne room felt the energy swirl all around the massive chamber. That is, until it started to condense into a singular point, almost directly in the center of the room. The one pony that was closest to it, which coincidentally was Lined Pockets, asked the most logical question in this situation with the most reasonable amount of composure he could muster.

“What the hay is going on?!”

To which his question was answered with unsure stares and nervous glances. It was at this point that the condensing field of energy began to take form. Tinkling shards of what looked like glass materialized from the ether. All of which slowly came together to form a larger piece. As the object grew larger, the ponies watched as jets of lights spouted from the mass’ center. An unseen wind picked up and drew more energy to the mass. The entire chamber was filled with a low rumble as the object took on its final form that no one expected to see. A mirror, or what they could only guess was a mirror, as anyone who looked into it could only see their reflection. Although it was a bit disorienting, as the reflection would warp into amorphous shapes. The guards soon became uneasy and tensed at the possible danger. Celestia was both curious and worried for what secrets this mirror held. All the while, Lined Pockets was easing his way toward the exit.

The mirror suddenly shook in its suspended state. A low rumbling sound could be heard emitting from its frame. Another sound was also present in the undertone, almost like a voice. A voice that was yelling, no, screaming if just faintly, though the noise did not stop and continued to get louder. The mirror began to spasm, and cracks began to appear all along its surface. The rumbling soon escalated into a roar and drowned out whatever the voice the ponies heard from the mirror was screaming. Now, even Celestia was becoming uneasy. Never in her life, which was an astonishing feat, had she seen something like this. More cracks lined the mirror as a strange light started to emit from its surface. The guards took more aggressive stances to retaliate against whatever would happen next.

And as if on cue, the tension, along with the mirror, reached their breaking points. A audible shockwave that could be felt in one's bones echoed across the chamber. The mirror shattered and sprayed pieces of itself out in the direction it was facing, along with something else that was eclipsed in the light. While pieces of the mirror shattered, the other mass shot out across the room. Skipping once across the ground before smacking into one of the throne room’s marble columns. What the ponies did not also expect was to hear an audible cry of pain from the mass that hit the column. After the initial shock and mandatory check of everyone present for injuries, the guards delegated tasks amongst themselves to assess the area, starting with the vaguely body shaped mass against the marble column.

“What is it?” one of the guards finally asked as a crude semi-circle surrounded the body.

Two of the guards charged with defending the princess fought earnestly with advising her majesty to stay behind them, though Celestia was more than curious to see what had appeared in her throne room herself.

The semi-circle of guards pondered on what the body really was, because even though it looked much like a diamond dog or minotaur at first glance, there were some stark contrasts. It had no horns on its head, nor full body of fur, aside from the tuft at the top of its head. It’s hind legs looked misshapen or even broken. Though more striking and more concerning was the state that the body was in. From the spot that the being skipped along the ground, there was a trail of streaking blood leading to the body and the impact point on the column. There appeared to be multiple cuts, gashes and burn marks all along the being and its strange apparel from what they saw. One would even think that with that many injuries that it would be a safe bet to assume the being dead. Though as one guard was about to check for any signs of life, the body moved.

The entire semi-circle fell back into defensive positions as the being made to upright itself sluggishly. The pained expressions it was making showing that every move it made was with considerable effort. The guards could only watch, stupefied as the being rose on shaky limbs and using the bloodied column for support. The thing blearily looked around, as if to find out where it was. Seeing as it wasn’t doing much else besides standing there and breathing raggedly, the senior most guard stepped forward to attempt communication with the foreign creature.

With a commanding tone the pegasus, Captain Aegis Flare, demanded, “You, um, creature. If you can hear me, identity yourself.”

At hearing the guard’s voice, the creature turned to face him and the rest of the encircling guards. Seeing that the creature was just staring at them with an unfocused gaze, the guard tried another approach.

“Excuse me, but do you need help?”

His question was punctuated with a step forward. At this, the creature finally reacted and tensed up at the guard’s approach. The creature also took another look at his surroundings and although looking confused, focused on the weapon wielding guardsponies. Its face contorted into a bit of a scowl and tensed up further. Bringing its arm not used to steady itself against the column up into a defensive posture.

“F-fuck off, dupes.”

Of all the responses the guards anticipated, a swear directed at them was not one of them. Both parties stared at each other for the longest time before Aegis Flare regained his composure.

“Right, Corporal Steadfast, Private Mortar. Detain this creature.” Aegis Flare commanded as the aforementioned guards nodded in understanding.

Not exactly the best route he wished to take with this unknown being, seeing how injured it was, but it would be easier to detain it and bring it to the infirmary than to slowly coax it out to them. Although he would soon see the error in this order as the next set of events not only startled him, but the entire throne room as well. Before the two subordinates could lay a hoof on the creature, the being pushed off from the column and charged the two guards. Not only that, but it also appeared to shunt what looked like wires from the wrists of its arms. With swifter movements than what the guards thought possible by the injured creature, it used the wire like appendages to both grapple and throw the two advancing guards back and over the encroaching semi-circle with significant force.

No one moved forward as they watched the two hapless guards crash behind them harshly to the ground. Years of training and experience let the rest of the guards recover swiftly and draw their weapons in the direction of the heaving creature on the ground. Although the creature before them seemed weakened, Aegis Flare was not about to underestimate it again.

“Emerald, Signal, keep the princess away,” Aegis Flare directed the two guards closest to the princess before returning his focus to the rest of the guards encircling the creature, “Everypony else, hold position! Battlemages, to me and prepare sedation spells!”

Each guard moved to their roles, all while a quartet of silver armor clad, gray coated unicorns moved forward with their horns already alight with arcane energy. The creature on the other hoof was struggling to its hind legs again, furrowing its brow in determination. Aegis Flare waited until he saw all the other guards signal their ready.

“Creature, you have one chance to surrender, or we will use force!”

He had hoped that the intimidation of the encroaching encirclement would at least give the creature a moment of pause. That was not the case as it took a shaky step forward. The determination unwavering in its gaze. Aegis Flare silently signalled the four battlemages to let loose their volley of spells. Unsurprisingly, the slow target made the spells unmissable. What did surprise him and the rest of the guards for no less than third time that day was that the creature merely staggered a half step back in what they could only witness as it shrugging off four battlemage level spells. The little reprieve of stunned gawking was all the creature needed to regain its footing and roaring at the top of its lungs.

“You are not taking me back to CURDAN CAY!”

“It’s magic resistant! I can’t get ahold of it!” one of the battlemage cried out.

“Watch out!”

The warning came too late as chaos erupted as the creature once more charged.

Across the throne room, Princess Celestia tried her own spells in stopping or slowing the creature down. To her dismay, they all had little or no effect. She watched helplessly as the guards set before her prevented her from joining the fray, and she watched as the creature wildly swung to and fro on wire appendages, violently taking down any guard that got too close. It’s own magic or whatever it used to conjure the whirling strands of metal seeming unhindered, even as it was struck with battle arms and spells. The worst of it was as she watched,it and her guards’ brawl inflicted grievous wounds upon each other. A pegasus looked to have one of its wings bent in an unnatural position. Both a battlemage and an earth pony specialist had pieces of metal wiring embedded in them, though luck would have it that they were still breathing. To be honest, she would have been intrigued by the creature’s unique ability were it not being used to shoot, evade, and strike at her subjects.

The creature roared as one of the guards managed to slip under its defenses and plant her spear into its leg. The creature finally staggered after knocking the guard away with its flailing forelimbs and wire protrusions. It seemed that whatever previous injuries along with the guards assault were finally wearing it down. The remaining guards standing along with Aegis Flare slowly worked their way either closer to the downed creature or to evacuate their fallen comrades to a safer distance away.

“Captain,” one of the guards in the new encirclement spoke, “I think we can take it out.”

Aegis Flare frowned as he watched the creature struggle on the ground, “Negative. If it gets up, move to flank out of its reach.”

A tall order to be had as the creature had proven to have a much further reach with its conjured metal appendages, along with the bits of metal projectiles it used to take out a few guards from afar. In any case, the creature’s breathing had become ragged as it vainly attempted to stand up from its prone state. The floor around it and the guards were littered with pieces of wire and spatters of blood from both it and the guards. The remaining guards tensed as the creature attempted to stand once more.

Celestia, who had been watching and to her dismay of being unable to help her guards, nearly flinched for the first time in a century. The creature’s attention had left the guards and focused solely on her. Beyond the determination was pain and rage fiercely glaring back at her. The standoff only lasted a moment before the creature’s gaze became unfocused, and it fell to its side unconcious.

The surrounding guards tentatively enclosed the space around the creature.

“Is-is it dead?” one of the guards finally asked the question on everypony’s mind.

Aegis Flare moved in closer, spear at the ready. The faint rise and fall of the creature’s midsection could be seen under his inspection.

“No, but not for long,” Aegis Flare raised the spear in his possession, hoping to end this before the creature could cause more damage and injury.

Though before he could deliver the finishing blow, the princess of the sun rose up, “Wait, Captain!”

The spearhead stopped just above the creature’s exposed back.

“I want it detained,” Celestia continued as the Captain paused to look at her, “As of right now, this creature is the first of its kind that we’ve seen. If more were to appear and in much less debilitated states, we need to learn everything we can from it.”

The captain looked torn in ensuring the safety of the citizen charges and subordinates under him by ending the creature’s life, but the princess was right. He saw the wisdom of gaining more knowledge from interrogating it for more information.

“Of course, your majesty,” he begrudgingly accepted the order, even as he glanced around the chamber and at the destruction and injuries the creature inflicted, “You three, attend to the wounded and get them to the infirmary. Silver Wind, we will take the creature to the prisoner medical dispensary.”

The guards moved about their tasks. Aegis Flare and the pegasus guard he called upon worked to move the creature onto a makeshift gurney they made from a torn banner. Celestia watched as the injured were either carried or supported out of the throne room, cursing herself for lacking in her remembrance of any magi tier healing spells. Her heart went out to them to wish them a speedy recovery as she saw that none of their wounds, to her relief, were fatal. She only allowed a brief wave of anger to sweep her visage as she thought about why the creature had attacked her subjects. In any case, so long as it recovered as well, she would find her answers.

Her thoughts were disturbed once more when she noticed the stallion, Lined Pockets, who had been cowering on the opposite side of the throne room. He lay next to a column, his business coat and mane completely disheveled and a witless stare lined up with the spot where the creature first appeared.

“Mr. Pockets,” Princess Celestia called for his attention, “I’m sorry that your petition was cut short. If you wish, you may bring your grievance back to my attention at a later date. Though I must insist that everything you’ve witnessed here today must remain expressly confidential. So, I trust you understand that you must not discuss this in public?”

All the poor stallion could do to respond was give a shaky nod.

“Thank you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must attend to other matters.”

With that, the sun princess rose from her throne to take her own leave. Lined Pockets slumped further back against the column where he sat. The only thing on his mind was to find himself a bar and with it, the stiffest drink they had.