My Little Pony & Robot Friends: Infiltration

Meanwhile, Vortex, Blast Off, and the rest of the Combaticons were at the other end of Ponyville, being prepared by specially hired tailors for the wedding that had been subjected extensively to Magnum's privacy-invading inspection to make sure they were up to the task of, designing a tuxedo for a Decepticon. And Shockwave's chest window was an absolute nightmare to contour a tuxedo shirt around, darling! They used some disused construction towers to

Magnum crossed his arms and observed with an professional, icy detachment that matched all of the suit makers' enthusiasm, Magnum making a detached neutral expression for every melodramatic wailing outburst over a loose thread in the cloth that was easily fixed... once the fashion-conscious colts quit having a fit over every tiny setback.

"Is it ready?" Shockwave questioned impatiently, keeping his optic shut in case so he wouldn't see if something catastrophic happened. "Is my tuxedo ready? May I face my bride with dignity now?"

"One moment... and..." The hired colt drew out his response, using his unicorn magic to pull his sewing needle through the fabric. "Done! Yes, you may face your bride at last!"

"Excellent!" Shockwave declared, bursting from the construction site and taking off. "I cannot shake this dreadful feeling that something awful will happen if I cannot lay my optic to rest on her own..."

"Uugh..." Vortex groaned and raised his arms out to the sides and looked at himself. Dressed to impress, with a black tuxedo with a large amount roses tangled to look like one just one large rose pinned to his chest. "I don't like being in a tuxedo."

"Cram it, Vortex." Onslaught, the Combaticon commander ordered. "This is what Shockwave wants, and like it or not, he's made it quite clear the wedding will be perfect no matter your complaints."

"I don't like it! I don't like it at ALL!"

"I said cram it!"

Vortex proceeded to cram himself. The Combaticons were an unruly mob, and but they listened when Onslaught barked orders.

Shockwave went on his way, meaning to march his way to where the ceremony was being held, but he stopped when he heard voices coming from a nearby bush.

"Pinkie, are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Of course it's a good idea! You have a better idea?"

"Oh, gee, I don't know... maybe jumping off a cliff without any protective gear. Or walking into the Littlest Pet Shop with a sign saying 'Eat Me!' at feeding time. Or perhaps stabbing tasers into our eye sockets. Any idea would be better than this idea!"

"Just dance, all right?"

Pinkie and Raf surprised Shockwave by suddenly jumping out of the bush, Raf in a top hat and tuxedo of his own, Pinkie in a sequined leotard like so many stage magicians' 'lovely' nudge-wink assistants. Both of them had walking canes in their respective appendages, both of them wearing hats from a barbershop quartet.

"Hi-ya, Shockwave!" Pinkie greeted cheerily. "In celebration of your wedding, Raf and me decided to do a little dance for you, if you've got time!"

"I'm flattered, Miss Pie, but I really need to see Twilight Sparkle soon or..." Shockwave's voice cut off. He put his claw on his head like he was suffering a headache, and the pink rings that tipped Bumblebee off earlier spun around in the reflection of his optic. "I'm not sure what..."

"Too bad! Start dancing, Raffie!" Pinkie was determined Shockwave would be distracted until Bumblebee could think of a better plan, and she began tap-dancing, Raf bashfully joining in at a belated pace. In what was sure to be the most embarrassing moment of Raf's life, Pinkie started adding lyrics from an old Earth song.

Hello, ma baby! Hello, ma honey! Hello ma rag time gal! Send me a kiss by wire. Baby, ma heart's on fire!

"No!" Onslaught and the other Combaticons began marching into view, Onslaught decrying Pinkie's dance as he led his team into position. "No, no, no!"

Pinkie and Raf stopped dancing, Raf with a breath of relief. Each of them worried about what steps Onslaught intended to take to curtail their leaned down and lowered his hand towards Pinkie.

"Gimme."

"Eh?"

"Gimme the hat."

Pinkie lifted her hat off her head and gave to Onslaught's fingers. Onslaught, without a trace of irony, hint of skepticism, and an aura of deathly seriousness, placed the tiny pony-sized hat on his head. After adjusting it to make sure it fit, Onslaught lunged his hand out to the side and pried a street lamp from the lamp acting as his cane, Onslaught began dancing himself. "This is how you do the hello-ma-baby dance!"

"Uhh..." Raf was confused by Onslaught's seeming knowledge in human culture, but Pinkie saw it for the blessing it was.

"Come on, come on. Go. Just go." Pinkie began ushering Raf away from Shockwave. If they could just get away without the Combaticons or Shockwave getting suspicious, they could reconnect with Bumblebee and plan their next move before the dance lost its bilge appeal.

Shockwave blinked at Onslaught's dance and raised his claw to point, hoping Vortex would explain. Vortex shook his head and shrugged. Brawl, after a moment's hesitance, leaped sideways and joined in, crossing and uncrossing his arms while Onslaught tapped dance.

Bumblebee was standing watch over a bridge with an intersection, where the ex-maids group had whisked Twilight into a parlor and began making (very unwelcome) suggestions to improve her dress and her appearance.

"Maybe you should put another flower in your mane..."

"Some lip gloss would be ideal!" The blue mare suggesting said lip gloss began to liberally apply it to Twilight's mouth, deliberately putting on too much. "Oop! That's too much. We'll need to wash it off!"

The white mare pulled out a cotton pad and began patting it along Twilight's mouth to remove the excess lip gloss.

"Not that I don't – phhb- appreciate this, girls, but is this -plef- really necessary ? Phhlbt!"

"Of course it's necessary! Why would- why would you even- ahhaha!" The green mare laughed airily. "Why would you even ask that?"

"We were bridesmaids, once." The blue mare reminded her.

Excellent, Bumblebee noted to himself, rolling his hands together. Twilight's stuck in the parlor, Pinkie and Raf should be distracting Shockwave by now... everything is good.

Bumblebee turned away from the parlor and leisurely walked to an empty space between a pink house and a blue house. He cupped his chin and began to ponder what the next step was. Twilight and Shockwave were being held up, so that gave him some time, but some time was only some, and there wasn't an idea coming to him that would solve the crisis.

That was about when something ran up behind him and walloped him on the back of his head. He remained conscious, but unsteady, and eventually he was able to turn around and identity his attacker.

Barricade. Bumblebee snarled.

"Bumblebee!" Barricade exclaimed. "So good to see you again, my old pal!"

(I understood how Barricade got the drop of me. He, like me, was a spy. A scout. And I'm at all ashamed to admit, a better saboteur than me. I'm prettier, though, and less of a cheater. We had a rivalry going since before the war started. We were couriers in rivaling businesses and sometimes we came into blows, him trying to steal my package, me trying to take it back and get him busted for stealing mine in the first place. Him not cooperating when an independent contractor hired us both as multiple couriers for one big job.

Our rivalry continued into the war, where we would often encounter each other on espionage and counterespionage missions. Each time we fought, it would end with both of us alive, somehow, limping away with our wounds and either graceful victory or shameful defeat for our side, and our rivalry would only be more intense the next time we met.

More than once after the war broke out, Barricade would lead me and some of my pals into dangerous, obstacle-laden courses that he would escape without a scratch, whereas the unfortunate Autobots around would crash and burn.

I was able to navigate them as well as he did, and I kept every squad I was assigned to from being torn to scrap by the smoke and mirrors in that death trap.

Naturally, being the separating line between life and death inside that sadistic torture room of his disguised as a race track didn't earn my approval with him.)

What do you want, Barricade?

"I've been doing some sneaking, as you do." Barricade answered, walking towards Bumblebee with a finger raised. "I've made some observations about you and that pink pony, and the walking pile of leaves."

Barricade, if you even think about hurting Pinkie or Raf, I will end you.

"Whoa!" Barricade pretended to raise his hands in surrender. "Big words for a little bot... especially a bot without a functioning voice box."

Grrr...

"Seems like you're trying to muck up Shockwave's wedding... but I don't really care. Don't worry about your pets," Barricade spat. "I'm not interested in hurting them. That? That would just make you bleed emotionally. I want to bleed you physically. We have some unfinished business, after all."

The war is over, Barricade.

"Oh..." Barricade grabbed a nearby street lamp and swung himself around it. "This isn't about the war, Bumblebee. It's not about Autobot versus Decepticon. Or Decepticon versus pony. No, no. This is about me..." Barricade banged his fist against his chest, before pointing his clawed finger at Bumblebee. "And you."

Barricade twisted the innocent street lamp upwards, causing the light bulb in it to point upwards and be utterly useless to managing road traffic at night. Not content with brutally twisting upwards, Barricade made a fist and punched the light bulb, shattering it into thousands of little shards that dropped to the ground.

Barricade cricked his head. "Ready to play, mosquito?"

I don't have time for you, Barricade.

"THEN MAKE TIME!"

Barricade lunged at Bumblebee with claws raised up to slash. Bumblebee nimbly dodged Barricade's initial assault, but Barricade was able to reach around and sucker-punch Bumblebee in the side of his jaw (-equivalent area.) Bumblebee backed away, putting space between him and Barricade so he had a moment to regain his bearings. Barricade reached around for another sucker-punch, but Bumblebee blocked it with his arms and responded with a more direct application of fist to Barricade's face, knocking the police cruiser backwards. Bumblebee pressed his advantage and lunged towards Barricade, putting his unique boxing approach on fighting to very good use, as he got hit after hit in on Barricade's silver cheeks.

Barricade stumbled backwards, recovering enough stamina to raise his arms up and grab the gauntlets of Bumblebee's armor. Bumblebee attempted to jerk his wrists away, and was able to slide through and turn Barricade's control of his limbs into a less biased grapples.

"Where's that murderous intent from before when I threatened your pets, huh?" Barricade irritatedly informed Bumblebee as the pistons in their arms began pumping with extra force, traveling through hydraulic systems and amplifying their natural pushing power to slightly higher levels. Far from superhuman, but enough to make a slight difference in pushing power. "Come on! Prove you're better than me already!"

I don't need to kill you to prove I'm better.

That's what makes Autobots better than Decepticons; unlike Decepticons, Autobots can prove their superiority without a murderous drive. Oh, no, no, wait, that's not what makes Autobots better than Decepticons; it just makes me better than you.

(I knew he wasn't going to take that well. He screamed, his mouth showing all his golden fangs. He separated his arms from me and tried to kick my in the waist, but I tucked in my gut and was able to avoid, turning it against him. I grabbed his shoulders, did a reverse fireman's lift, and threw him face-first into the dirt. I jumped on top of it, digging my knee spikes into his back, and raised my fist to strike him in the head, but I stopped.

I couldn't do it. I couldn't beat him with his face was down. So I lifted up slightly, picked him up, and rolled over.

Oh yeah. Much better. I can see his face now. Now, I had no trouble beating the ever-living daylights out of the turbo-revving punk. Bang, bang, bang! Sparks flew every time my fist collided into his face. I cannot put into the words that satisfaction that comes with beating your long-time rival mercilessly.

Then he did something I wasn't expecting; he bucked his hips and jammed his knees into my back, making me jerk forward on him. I didn't realize what he was doing until he slashed his claws at my face, then at my chest. Deducing that was his intent all along, I got up and backed away from him. He raised his legs up, then launched himself upwards onto his feet, whereupon he promptly gave me another sucker punch.

I stumbled from the blow and partly collapsed, resting my hands on my knees. Observing the increased rate of my ventilation, I decided it was time for drastic measures. I converted my hand into into an two-sided brass chromed axe, a configuration I don't use often. Turning around, I swung it at his head and gave him a nice cut across the forehead. Not enough to give him a concussion, but it would get him to understand that I would get serious about putting him under if he pushed me hard enough.)

"Oh, an axe!" Barricade taunted him. "I'm so scared now! HA! Give me a break. As if you could actually use that thing. That's the problem with you Autobots, you're never willing to kill even when it would in your best interests to."

I think you and I have a funny definition of 'best interests'.

(My next one-liner was cut short by the sound of a distressed mare screaming.)

"AAH!"

(I looked around, and Barricade was curious enough about what I was looking at that he didn't take the chance to sucker-punch me again.

Twilight Sparkle had wrested free of the ex-maids' unwarranted makeover, and was now currently spread eagle on the door to the parlor, restrained by the bridesmaids and trying to wriggle free.)

"Enough!" Twilight growled at them. "I don't care what you think, this was unnecessary, and now I'm going to be late for my own wedding!"

"But Twiliiiight!" The white mare whined, holding onto Twilight's hind leg. "Don't you want to look perfect on your special day?"

"Yes! But you know what? It doesn't matter whether you think I look perfect, it only matters my beloved Shockwave thinks I look perfect!"

"D-did she really just say 'my beloved Shockwave'?"

"D'AAH!" Twilight was able to wrest her limbs from the bridesmaids' grasp, and began trotting down the street towards where the ceremony was.

(Scrap, I swore. I knew she needed to be stopped before she got to Shockwave somehow, and that meant that one way or another, it was time mine and Barricade's fight to come to an end.

Raising both my arms, I converted both into their rarely-used axe configuration, turned them sideways, and then slammed the flats of the blades into each side of Barricade's head, rather like cymbals. The resulting clang was immensely gratifying, and Barricade groaned before he fell and hit the floor.

My opponent down for the count, I narrowed my optics at the direction Twilight was running. Putting my spy training to good use, I jumped from the ground onto one of the rooftops, startling a passing colt on the ground. I jumped from one roof to the next, before jumping off and back on to the ground, where I converted to my vehicular mode and drove after my quarry. I honked my horn at her. She shot me a glare over her shoulder.)

Twilight! Stop! I need to talk to you!

"I don't know what you're saying, Bumblebee, but it doesn't matter!" Twilight shouted.

(I don't think she realizes how much it hurt me to hear that...I knew she wasn't in right mind, but I do like to think what I have to say does matter.)

The pinks rings of the love potion's magic swirled furiously in her eyes, and she slowed down, disoriented from the magic acting out. She recovered and resumed galloping even faster. "I need to go see Shockwave!"

(I tried to think of my options. She had a head start on me, but she ran on legs. I ran on wheels. I could catch up to her easy enough with a little boost from my gas pedal, but then what? Would I run over her? So, I decided to convert to autonomous mode and grab her in my hand. As I pursued her on foot, lunging towards her and reaching out to grab her, we eventually came to a running river that the town had been built around.

I tackled towards her and fell, getting a face full of dirt for my troubles. Lifting myself up, I saw she was getting away. I righted my footing and prepared to jog after her, but she turned around and blasted me with her magic. I wasn't being electrocuted so she didn't cast a lightning bolt at me, and my cooling systems were fine, she hadn't tried to melt or freeze me. Then my UI went on the fritz, turning into a fuzzy blur of glitched pixels vaguely resembling Ponyville's dirt roads.

I screamed in surprise and in frustration, covering my optics. That love potion had really got to her. I was thankful the real Twilight was still in there somewhere, as she probably would have done worse than just disable my vision if she wasn't. Now, though, I couldn't follow her, and she'd be long gone by the time her spell wore off.

But then something I really wasn't prepared for happened.

Someone shot me. Now, having fought Decepticons for most of my life, someone shooting me is not exactly a rare occurrence, but I wasn't prepared for it. It came without warning, without branches cracking under the Decepticon's footsteps, without the hum of energy that came from our lasers. And I couldn't see. It wasn't a small shot, either. This was a big gun. I'm talking the kind of things engineers make with the express intent of making so a poor sap on the other side would suddenly find themselves in pieces.

Whoever was shooting at me wasn't content with the gaping hole I could feel in the side of my chest, and fired their weapon again, splitting my armor apart even further. I clutched at my wounds and stumbled backwards, a wave of nausea coming over me as my chest bled out oil.

Determined to make sure I was dead, whoever was shooting at me fired at my chest again, exposing my Spark casing. Sadly for them, the blast threw me flying off my feet into the nearby river, where my damaged circuits fizzled, and the malfunctioning electric spark electrocuted the water around me, causing me to be electrocuted and making my systems experience a shut-down. Thankfully, as they shut down, the circuit releasing the discharge quit carrying the current, so the electricity faded away... as did my vision, going complete black as I sunk to the river bottom...)

At the other end, Shockwave finally grew tired of the Combaticons' random dancing.

"Enough." Shockwave raised his hand to give his orders. "Not this dance hasn't been...interesting, Onslaught, but I must see my bride!" Shockwave transformed, converting into a type of Cybertronian vehicle called an H-tank, with an elevated turret and treads that were splayed out to the sides. He began rolling.

"Scrap!" Pinkie swore. "Raf, call Bumblebee!... Raf?"

Pinkie turned around and gasped.

Somepony the size of a foal in a cloak had knocked Raf unconscious, and was dragging him away by the scruff of his collar.

"Hey!" Pinkie shouted, galloping after the kidnapper. "Stop, you!"

The abductor stopped and turned towards Pinkie. She whipped out a device that looked an old recorder from the 50s, and clicked it. A white flash came from the device that blinded Pinkie.

"Hey! No fair! Cheater!" Pinkie stumbled and tried in vain to swipe her hooves at the kidnapper, but missed and fell flat on her face. "Oof!" Pinkie got up and clicked her earpiece. "Bumblebee! Raf's been kidnapped!"

Bumblebe didn't answer...

"Bumblebee? Bumblebee! Scrap!"

Raf groaned as he came to. He blinked and tried to get up, but he was met with resistance from his arms. Becoming distressed, he became more alert and opened his eyes wider, and gasped in horror when he looked down and saw his arms and legs had been tied to a wooden chair.

"What happened?" Raf groaned to himself before recalling. "Oh, that's right... someone knocked me out after the Combaticons started dancing. Huh?"

Raf looked around. His kidnapper had taken him to a wooden shed, the kind where people would keep their tools and toolboxes when they weren't in use. There was a tool rack to go along with his observation, covered with power tools and hammers and wrenches.

Raf took another scan around the room, and he couldn't comprehend quite what he saw.

Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom was his kidnapper. Apple Bloom was sitting at a table just away from Raf. A buzzsaw rested on the table, and judging from the cord leading from it to the wall socket, Raf surmised Apple Bloom was waiting for it to charge.

"Ah!" Apple Bloom exclaimed upon noticing Raf's awakening. "Yer up. Good."

"A-Apple Bloom?" Raf stuttered. "What's going on? Why am I tied up to a chair?"

Apple Bloom responded with hostility. "Wut? It's not obvious?"

"N-no! It's not!"

"Come on, Raf..." Apple Bloom laid back against her own chair, her hind legs hanging off. "Yer a smart boy... don't tell me y'all can't figure it out..."

Raf stared with his mouth agape in his horror, barely able to comprehend what was going on, until he had an idea. "Wait... you're not Apple Bloom, are you? You're a Changeling!"

Apple Bloom chuckled. "Sorry, son, try again."

Raf raised an eyebrow. Her being a Changeling was the obvious and most acceptable explanation for what was going on, so Raf was able to quickly work on than he needed come up with something not obvious and obscure. Raf thought back, and remembered something he had heard Ratchet talk about, only briefly, and with much fear in his voice. Raf could tell it was something Ratchet didn't want to think about at all, but he caught the name before Ratchet noticed him and told him to go away.

"You're a Decepticon, and you're controlling Apple Bloom through a Cerebro-shell."

Apple Bloom made a disappointed frown. "Aww...Ah was hopin' tah mess wit' yer head jus' a little bit longer. But since y'all have figured it out, controlling Apple Bloom? Yes. Cerebro-shell? Yes. Decepticon? Well..." Apple Bloom – or rather, whoever was controlling Apple Bloom – chuckled darkly.

"Not necessarily."

"What do you want?" Raf demanded. If he was captured, he could at least do his part for the Autobots and find out what their enemy was after.

"Ah have plans, Rafael." Apple Bloom answered, rubbing the buzzsaw like a pet dog. "Very big plans. Very big plans that start with small, trivial details. Small trivial details, like, say, a weddin' between two certain mad scientists?"

"That was you? You gave Shockwave and Twilight the love potion!?"

Apple Bloom laughed. "Ahahah! Well, it was more like Ah made the Cutie Mark Crusaders give Shockwave and Twilight the love potion. It's truly ironic, really. They all learned their lesson when they tried to love poison Big Macintosh and Cheerliee, but when the wedding is over, and everypony realizes it was them, everypony's trust will be so shattered they'll never believe the C.M.C again!"

"While you get off, clean as a whistle." Raf concluded.

"Exactly right!" Apple Bloom answered.

"There's something I still don't understand, though..." Raf added.

"Shewt."

"How did you control the Crusaders, and why Twilight? Why Shockwave?"

"Oh, well..." Apple Bloom put her hoof to her chin and chuckled. "Remember when they visited the Littlest Pet Shop a few months back? It was 'bout then Ah had my minions implant the shells into them. And as for our lovely couple? Well, imagine it, Rafael..."

Apple Bloom scooted from her chair and draped her leg around Raf's neck, making a gesture to the horizon.

"Two of some of the most high-ranking members of their species, incredibly important to keeping the worlds around them safe and stable... rendered useless 'cause they want to snog each other more than anything!" Apple Bloom laughed and slapped her knee. "It'll be great! The alliance will destabilize! Government meetings between Ponies and Cybetronians will fall apart!"

"All right," Raf muttered, thinking about it. "Good plan, use the love potion, incapacitate the leaders... but why not Celestia and Optimus if you were going to do that?"

"Well, don't y'all worry yer pretty little head 'bout that." Apple Bloom 'assured' him, patting him on the shoulder. "Ah got them covered. 'Sides, the Decepticons around Shockwave are easier to bribe and coerce than the Autobots around Orion."

Raf noticed her usage of the name Optimus had before he was named a Prime. Orion Pax, Optimus pre-war civilian persona. But Orion Pax was not Optimus Prime, and vise versa.

"Optimus." Raf sneered. "His name is Optimus Prime."

Apple Bloom snarled and smacked Raf upside the head. Raf groaned.

"Oh, Ah'm sorry, Rafael. Y'all didn't deserve that. Jus' a little button of mine, ya understand..."

"Yeah." Raf quipped dryly. "I can tell you're really sorry."

"Well, Ah didn't meant to hurt ya... that time." Apple Bloom answered.

"Say, if you're controlling Apple Bloom through an electronic interface, how are you controlling her facial expressions and making it match yours?"

"Ah...that's a good question." Apple Bloom tapped her chin. "Ah mean, Ah don't have a 'change expression' button..."

On the side of the buzzsaw, a green light turned on.

"Oh!" Apple Bloom squealed, dashed over to the buzzsaw and picked it up in her hooves. Raf grimaced as he realized the green light meant the buzzsaw was ready to be used.

"You, uh, you wouldn't hurt a child with glasses, would you?" Raf half-joked, hoping against hope he might be able to talk Apple Bloom into not killing him horribly.

"Y'all should be happy Ah'm goin' to kill ya, Rafael." Apple Bloom answered coolly as she pulled a cord on the buzzsaw, and it roared to life, the silver blade spinning so fast as to be a blur. "It means Ah don't see y'all as a child, but as an individual."

Apple Bloom began advancing towards Raf with the buzzsaw raised, and Raf knew whoever was controlling her was not going to have any issues with turning him into a meat smoothie.

"An individual who is nevertheless, standin' in mah way!" Apple Bloom, wearing an enraged expression fitting the craziest of Decepticons raised the buzzsaw up and prepared to swing, which would instantly separate Raf's head from the rest of his body. "So sorry y'all have tah die painfully, and very far away from anypony that cares about you!"

Raf could only stare at his reflection in the silver blade that was to be his death and resign himself to his fate. He was a brave lad. He was a good boy. He wouldn't scream for this sociopath who didn't mind using children to kill other children. No, he would not give him the satisfaction of letting him know Raf was in pain.

"Come on, Rafael, why don't y'all scream? Ah won't tell..."

The door to the shed flung open, slamming it against the wall and causing a thud that made Apple Bloom instinctively freeze up.

Standing in the doorway like a grizzled old-time detective, was Pinkie Pie, holding a handgun in her hoof (somehow).

"He doesn't have to."

Raf couldn't believe it. He was saved. Yeah, Pinkie still needed to get Apple Bloom restrained and untie him, but now there was leverage. Before, he was utterly helpless, but now help was just an arm's reach away, and Pinkie could probably take Apple Bloom in a fight. Raf felt like Celestia had been watching over him today.

"Drop the buzzsaw, Apple Bloom." Pinkie ordered, stepping into the building with the handgun trained squarely on Apple Bloom. "It's over. Finished!"

"No, it's not." Apple Bloom responded, raising the buzzsaw back up and pointing it at Pinkie menacingly.

Pinkie kept advancing.

Apple Bloom backed away. "Think 'bout this, Miss Pie. Y'all know how upset Applejack would be y'all shot her little sister, don't ya?"

"I do!" Pinkie answered happily with a smile. Raf and Apple Bloom exchanged confused glares over her upbeat attitude.

Pinkie pulled the trigger. Raf screwed his eyes, but he didn't hear a gun go off. He did not the whizzing bang of a bullet, followed by the sound of a corpse emptied of its head content falling to the ground. Opening his eyes, he saw Pinkie had fired a gag gun. Rather than a bullet, what came out of the barrel was a short metal stick, with a white flag on it saying "BANG!" in red lettering drooping to the ground.

Apple Bloom laughed disbelievingly. "That's it? That's yer weapon? A stick comin' out of a gun? Of all the scrapped-brained, smeg-headed, ponyfeathered-and-tarred ideas, that's got to be-"

The stick suddenly launched towards her, extending itself further and stopping just short of her head. Then it shot out a bolt and electrocuted her like a taser. Her body froze up, and she dropped the buzzsaw to the ground. After the taser died down, Apple Bloom sighed and fainted.

Pinkie ran up to Raf's seat and began untying the knots binding him. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Raf rubbed his wrists sorely. "I think so."

"And as for you, young filly!" Pinkie snarled at Apple Bloom, either not understanding or ignoring that the Crusader was unconscious after being zotted.

Raf held out his hand to Pinkie's chest. "Pinkie, wait! It's not her fault. Someone planted a Cerebro-shell on her."

"A what shell?"

"It's a... some kind of Cybertronian horror story, but it's also actually true! We'll ask Ratchet about it later. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo have one too, and we need to get Apple Bloom's off her."

"Well, how do we do that?"

Raf paused to think. "Hmm... when those Transmetal Predacons captured me and Fluttershy, they tried to control her with a shell program that they put on the back of her neck... Pinkie, that's it!" Raf had a eureka moment and snapped his fingers. He rushed over to Apple Bloom. "On the back of her neck!" Pinkie joined him and they brushed Apple Bloom's mane away, revealing the Cerebro-shell.

The Cerebro-shell had a strange appearance. It seemed like an upside down black Autobot symbol, but rather than the Autobot's stoic, neutral face, it had a better resemblance to a visor and faceplate. It seemed more removed from its emotion rather simply in control of them. It blinked, constantly broadcasting its signals despite that its host was unconscious.

"Okay..." Raf grabbed the blinking device and pried it off, leaving tiny holes the size of insect bites in the back of Apple Bloom's neck. Raf was off-put when he looked at the shell and saw the tiny teeth on the underside of the shell, no doubt meant so it could latch on to its target.

A voice came from the shell. "You're too clever by half, Rafael, but this is as far as you get."

The Cerebro-shell transformed, leaping out of Raf's hand as it turned into an insectoid form made up of seemingly nothing more than silver blades. Rather than lets it technology fall into the hands of its enemies and use it to track the man giving it orders, the Cerebro-shell promptly self-destructed, exploding into a fireball and sending its parts flying everywhere. A scorch was left on the floor where it stood that hissed mockingly, as if rubbing it in their faces.

"Call Bumblebee." Raf instructed. "He needs to know about this."

"I tried earlier, but he wouldn't respond!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Oh, that's not good..." Raf reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone and opened it. He started dialing Bumblebee's number. "Maybe if he sees it's me, he'll answer..."

(Slowly, darkness fell away from my optics. I was met from on high by a large yellow light that hurt my optics, forcing me to squint. Hearing the shriek of metal that was being worked on, I looked down, to see Fluttershy wearing a safety helmet and applying a blowtorch to my already smoked and seared chest, attempting to fuse the remnants of my armor back together into as many solid pieces as they could before the need to introduce replacement parts appeared. I tried to think of how I could have survived that, and I came up with three reasons.

My would-be killer's aim was thrown off by either Celestia's sun, or a sudden change in wind after he fired ruined his shot. Or I was just plain lucky.

Honestly, given the wallop that weapon had, I had to lean towards the last one.)

Fluttershy noticed her patient was awake. She turned the blowtorch off and lifted the mask up. "How do you get yourselves into this situations, Bumblebee?"

Bumblebee scoffed and bleeped at her. Bleep beep eeep.

"What?"

"He said you're starting to sound like Ratchet." Sweetie Belle answered as Ratchet brought her into the room.

Fluttershy gasped, visibly offended. "I am not starting to sound like Ratchet!"

(Having just come back from the dead, I wasn't alert enough to realize Sweetie Belle shouldn't have been able to translate me.)

Ratchet cleared his throat and tried to ignore the conversation. "Yes, well... Sweetie Belle was concerned about Bumblebee, so she Bridged in and asked to see him."

"Okay... Sweetie Belle, what are you doing?"

Sweetie Belle had picked a stray tool off the ground. "Um, picking up your things?"

"Uh-huh." Fluttershy nodded. She swooped down and took the device from Sweetie's hooves. "Do you know what this does?"

"Uh, no?"

"Then don't touch it!" Fluttershy and Ratchet snarled in unison. Realizing they just spoke in sync, thereby justifying Bumblebee's accusation, they both coughed and politely left the room.

(I rolled my optics towards Sweetie Belle and waved my fingers at her. I wasn't even going to bother bleeping.)

"Hi, Bumblebee." Sweetie Belle said sweetly, trotting towards his operating slab.

(Then my head started ringing. My UI said it was Raf, so I answered it.)

"Bumblebee? Are you all right? Pinkie called earlier and she says you didn't answer!"

(Well, yeah, I was kinda busy cheating death. You know, the little things like that always take up so much time.)

"Well, we found who slipped Shockwave and Twilight the love potion. Someone's managed to put Cerebro-shells on Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, and they know we're trying to stop the wedding!"

(What!? I had a little trouble swallowing that. Cerebro-shells were a horror story made by elder bots to scare the new cadets.

Wait a minute... it took a me a minute to realize, I was wounded, recovering from a murder attempt, laid virtually defenseless on a medical slab...

AND SWEETIE BELLE WAS IN THE ROOM WITH ME.

I adjusted my optics towards her, playing the waiting game. Now I realized she was under someone's control and was probably here to kill me while I was already down, but had she realized I realized? Did she know that I knew?

Taking a chance, I patted the side of the slab, gesturing for her to climb up and snuggle next to me.)

"Uh...okay."

(I felt so relieved when she bought it. She went around the bottom of the slab, and began climbing up to the spot I had invited her into. She sat down and made herself comfy, tucking in her hooves. That was when I pounced, slamming my hand down on her.)

"What-hey! Bumblebee, what is this about!?"

You think you're clever, don't you, mystery man?

(With my entire hand enough to pin her whole body down, I began feeling around for any unusual or abnormal protrusions that could have been a shell. I eventually located the thing on the back of her neck, and plucked it.)

"Ow!" Sweetie Belle reached her hoof to the sore spot where the shell had just been removed from. "Ooh... I'm tired...and hungry."

(Hearing that, I couldn't help but frown to the best of my ability, given that I didn't have a mouth. Whoever was controlling them must have been working them to the bone, not letting them sleep or eat. I'll be whoever they are, they even made the Crusaders get up in the middle of the night to do their dirty work for them from a safe distance.

Before I could do anything with, the Cerebro-shell exploded in my hand. It singed my fingers a little bit, but nothing too major... except, instead of a shell that Ratchet could reverse-engineer, I was stuck with a pile of junk parts.

Ignoring Fluttershy's words about avoiding strenuous activity, I pushed myself up and limped off the medi-slab. Raf called me again on his cell.)

"Bumblebee, the wedding is about to start soon! What do we do?"

(It took a me a moment to think and figure out the answer to his question. What do we do, indeed...I know.)

We crash.

The wedding ceremony was in a quickly built replica of Canterlot in a corner in the far side of south Ponyville. Thanks to the quick work of the Constructicons, who were in fact quoted as saying the replica looked nice for what was essentially a patch job. The idea to build a replica of Canterlot in Ponyville stemmed from Twilight's overly emotional state, saying she wanted to be wed in her hometown, but she also wanted to pay her respect to her new home. The replica was a compromise.

Said replica was all dressed out for the wedding ceremony. A red carpet with golden trimmed greeted guests, and lead to two large stepladders. Luna and Twilight would climb up the stepladders so they could see the groom eye-to-optic. Tables were set up everywhere where ponies could eat and mingle, while they were large, vacant spaces for the Cybertronians to stand.

Shining Armor and Big Macintosh soon trotted in, the former looking suitably depressed they had been booted off the V.I.P list, but Shining Armor re-energized after they entered. Mostly because he noticed Magnum and remembered the Elite Guard commander's comment subtle dig at him earlier today.

"Magnum." Shining said bitterly, breaking away from Twilight's friends and trotting up to Magnum's boot.

"Captain." Magnum responded curtly. Magnum put his hands on his hips and glared. "Now, listen here," Magnum pointed his finger. "This wedding will go perfectly. There will be no Changelings. No undeserved public shaming of your sister. Nothing. Understand?"

"Oh, yeah?" Shining responded defiantly. "Well, where are all your Guards, huh? So much for security, I mean, I can't see one for miles!"

As Shining flailed his hooves at Magnum, pulsations of purple energy appeared in the air behind him and traveled to the ground. As if they been brought from a different reality, an Autobot appeared behind Shining. The Autobot, seeing its stealth device had timed out, looked to his wrist and slammed down on a button. The purple lines traveled up from his boots to his head, and he was rendered invisible again.

Magnum did not explain the cloaking device to Shining Armor, nor did he respond to Shining's outcries of woe. Shining sighed and trotted over to a stall that Big Macintosh quickly set up, serving cider and apple juice. Shining rested his knee on the counter across from Big Macintosh.

"You got something I could get myself hammered with?" Shining asked.

"Sunshine, Ah got the whole armory and forge in here." Big Macintosh assured him, sitting out a full mug.

Shining started chugging cider like there was no tomorrow. After he started on the fast track to drunkenville, all the guests began appearing. The Combaticons, all the other ponies and generic Autobots that had been brought along as plus ones, as well as Princess Luna herself, who took her place on her stepladder, casting an imperious, impassive eye on all below her as though nothing they cared about mattered. Shockwave then joined them as well and took his place adjacent to the stepladders, awaiting his lovely bride.

"Where is the piano?" Shockwave complained, noticing the piano in the music section was missing. "There is supposed to be a piano!"

"Please, wait, Lord Shockwave." Magnum politely answered, trying to clam Shockwave down. "It will arrive momentarily."

"Here I am!" A Cybertronian came in through the entrance, huffing and out of breath. "Sorry I'm late!" He ran over to the music section and transformed into a stationary piano. Applejack wondered how obsessed with music a planet's populace had to be for it to be worth scanning a piano as his alternative mode.

"I do so hope my bride arrives soon." Shockwave wished quietly. "I cannot bear to think what it would be like if I cannot lay my optics upon her beautiful form..."

"Mmm-hmm." Luna nodded unsympathetically, sounding very apathetic to the special day she was supposed to be presiding over. The pink rings swirled in Shockwave's optic, but Luna either didn't notice or noticed, knew what it mean, and didn't care.

Bumblebee nervously placed his hands on the edge of the wall, Pinkie and Raf hiding in his shadow. They didn't notice Scootaloo was amongst the guests in the crowd, but Scootaloo – or rather, her controller- noticed them.

"What's our game plan, Bee?" Pinkie inquired, raising an eyebrow at the stepladders.

"We could wait until Luna asks for objections..." Raf suggested shyly.

I don't know how this wedding thing really works, so that will have to do. Let's do that. Explain it to me, please.

"Well, on Earth, when people get married, the person presiding over the marry asks if there's a reason for the people getting married to not be wed. All we have to do is wait for that and speak up."

Yeah... be ready for any surprises. I don't think somepony under the effects of a love potion will take kindly to someone objecting at the wedding.

Twilight Sparkle then appeared, much to Shockwave's relief, and Shining's disgust.

"Ah can't believe it." Big Macintosh blinked as the music section, piano robot included, began playing Wagner's Here Comes The Bride composition. "She's actually goin' through wit' this."

"Come on!" Shining complained. "Is NO ONE STILL not going to say anything about this!?"

"Well, you have to consider." One of the plus ones answered. "Your sister is an immensely powerful unicorn who can kill you with a laser. Shockwave is an immensely powerful Decepticon who will kill you with a laser."

"Yeah..." A Vehicon muttered. "I heard an awful rumor that Shockwave's Hyperflux Canon runs on power drawn from black holes."

The Autobot trooper shuddered.

"Hey, I heard a rumor that Megatron never fired his Fusion Cannon at full power." A second Vehicon threw out.

"What?" The Autotrooper was understandably incredulous. "I had a friend whose armor was three tanks' worth thick have a hole blown into in him by that thing, and you're telling me it was never fired at full power?"

"Yeah. For two reasons. One, it took a long time to charge, which isn't so great for an arm weapon as it is for a canon on your satellite of doom. Two, it would create a black hole."

"Now that's ridiculous." The first Vehicon said... as a talking unicorn marched down the wedding aisle to marry a killer robot from outer space.

Twilight climbed up her stepladder and stared longingly into Shockwave's optic.

Luna cleared her throat, though she still seemed disinterested in what was going on around here. "Ahem. We are gathered here today, to witness the, ah, unique wedding of Lord Shockwave and Student Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle, do you wish, with all your heart, to marry Shockwave?"

"I do." Twilight answered.

"And do you promise to love him, in sickness and in health? That you shall always be together, through any kind of weather?"

"I do."

Luna turned to Shockwave. "And do you, Shockwave-"

"HEEEY!" A loud boisterous voice boomed.

"Oh no." Magnum whispered, recognizing the voice.

Oh slag.

"What is it, Bumblebee?"

Did you hear that? That, was the Dinobots.

Everypony's attention was immediately turned to the entrance, where an armored beast was lumbering in, followed by another winged armored beast. The first one was quadrupedal, not unlike a pony, but its legs were short and stocky, it back was covered in ridges leading down its spine to its tail, and its head was mounted by an enormous golden beak. A triceratops. It had two large horns extending from its forehead, and one smaller one from its snout. Riding atop the beast was Grimlock. Behind them, an avian with long beak and protrusion on its head parallel to the beak was flying, its large, technology wings showing all the circuity in them with each flap. A pterodactyl.

Grimlock got up, and jumped down from the triceratops. He walked down the carpet causally and snapped his fingers.

"I heard there was a party goin' on here?" Grimlock questioned causally, as the triceratops behind him converted into its robot mode, which was every bit as bulky and broad-shouldered as Grimlock himself, only he had a squarer, chubby head with no visor of faceplate. The triceratops folded and formed his robot mode chest.

"What's wrong, Magnum?" Shining smugly asked, satisfied Magnum couldn't deal with the situation.

"Grimlock and his Dinobots – those are Slug and Swoop – used to members of the Lightning Strike Coalation before Shockwave got his servos on them during the war."

Shining snorted in his next gulp of cider. "Okay, I'mma let you finish, Magnum, but 'Lightning Strike Coalition' is, like, one of the worst names of all time. "

"Perhaps. They've-"

"OF ALL TIME!"

Magnum glanced at Shining oddly, but ignored it and pressed on. "They've had grudges on Shockwave ever since. There is no doubt in my mind that Grimlock's is here to crash the wedding to spite Shockwave."

"Can't your guards take care of it?" Shining Armor taunted, milking the moment for all it was worth.

"No." Magnum answered. "There is a reason the Decepticons converted Grimlock's name into the 'Godless Ripping Incinerating Mauling Lacerating Optic-Crushing Killer'."

"Oh." Shining grimaced. That nickname did not fill him with sunshine and roses, to say the least. There were so many nasty was of hurting a dude in there, Shining Armor shuddered as he considered those were only the ways Grimlock was known for doing. If he had another way or two of doing that no had lived long enough to share...

Shining had only laid eyes on Grimlock for a few seconds, and already he was terrified. Suddenly he understood why Magnum was reluctant to send his troops to Grimlock; it would be like ordering them to jump into an incinerator. An incinerator with big pointy teeth and an unstable alternate mode.

The Dinobots quickly began making a mess of things, but by their standards, it was actually quite tame. Slug converted back to his triceratops form and began munching on the snacks table voraciously, scooping up piles of food into his beak and chomping it down. Swoop flew up and took a perch on a nearby terrace. Grimlock put his hands on some Vehicons shoulders' and began making several bad jokes, consisting of several bad puns and distasteful punchlines, not realizing the Vehicons were muttering their last wishes under their breath.

Okay... okay. Bumblebee calmed himself. The Dinobots are being rude and obnoxious, but nothing too serious, so our plan can still go off without a hitch.

"Grr..." Twilight snarled at the Dinbots, infuriated that were trying to ruin her special day with their lack of manners.

"Just ignore them, dear." Shockwave said soothingly, just like any good husband would. "Please, Princess Luna, continue."

Luna nodded and started over. "Ahem. We are gathered here today..."

She was interrupted by a loud SQAAWK. Being a royal Princess that demanded the ability to stay calm no matter the situation, Luna handily ignored it.

"To witness the unique union..."

SQAAWK!

"Of Lord Shockwave and-"

SQAAWK!

"Do you mind, good sir!?" The cellist in the group of a musicians – a grey mare with a purple necktie and purple eyes- shouted at Swoop. "Do you mind? We are trying to have a wedding here!"

"Oh!" Swoop scoffed indignantly and crossed his arms. "Oh! So you think just because I'm a robotic dinosaur, and there's annoying squawking sounds being heard, you assume I'm the one making them!?"

"Speciest!" Slug accused between mouthfuls.

"All right, all right, geesh!" The cellist turned away ashamedly. "I'm sorry... forget I said anything..."

Swoop laughed. "You're right, though, it's totally me."

Luna had carried on the vows the whole time during that exchange, and was now on the part that Bumblebee had been waiting for.

"If there any here who have a reason why this couple should not be joined in holy matrimony, speak now, of forever hold thy peace. We mean it. Really. Forever, so speak up right slagging now or SUFFER with it through the end of thou's days."

Bumblebee raised his hand and bleeped.

Luna was surprised, while Shockwave and Twilight were shocked Bumblebee, of the more sociable and polite Autobots, would dare try to get in the way.

"Thou hath an objection, Bumblebee?"

Bumblebee nodded.

"What is it?"

Bumblebee backed away and jerked his shoulders. Keeping silent, he charged towards Shockwave. Pinkie and Raf, seeing this as their cue, followed after Bumblebee with determination and bravado, knowing exactly the kind of danger they were heading into, tackling Shockwave on his wedding day, and going for it anyway on behalf of their friends.

Scootaloo, under the mystery controller's control, charged forward from the crowd and tackled Raf, pinning him to the ground. Pinkie noticed and turned around, then tackled Scootaloo and knocked her out with a well-placed buck to her head, then galloped down the aisle.

"Oh no you don't! I will see to it this wedding continues on track!" Magnum shouted, but was waylaid by Grimlock grabbing him from behind. "Grimlock! I demand you release me this instant!"

"No." Grimlock answered starkly. "I know Bumblebee." Grimlock gazed up wistfully from Magnum at Bumblebee's mad charge that to any other onlooker, was the gambit of an insane mech." "He wouldn't do something like this if he didn't have a good reason."

Bumblebee tackled Shockwave and pushed over of the terraces, to the crowd's shock and Shining's admiration.

"What the!?" Twilight exclaimed in appall. "Bumblebee, what's gotten into-"

Before Twilight could absorb the situation and then use her love-potion-influenced magic to tear Bumblebee a new ventilation shaft, Pinkie came up behind Twilight and put her hooves over Twilight's eyes, while Raf tried to help by tackling Twilight's hind leg and holing on to.

"What the!? Let me go! My groom needs my help!" Even in her mind altered state, Twilight wasn't so foolish as to fire her magic while blind. At least, not while civilians were present and could be caught in the crossfire.

Luna rolled her eyes and rested her chin on her hoof. "Once, just once, we would like for either us or our sister to preside over a wedding and not have something go horribly wrong. Is that too much to ask, really? It is, isn't it..." Luna sighed.

(Shockwave and I smashed through the replica wall, dust crumbling around us and getting all over our shoulders. The plaster and styrene forming the wall fell all around us, like mud being sucked into the inescapable pull of a tornado's suction and strewn about carelessly inside some poor victim's house.

After a minute of bloodcurdling intensity, we collapsed, and my vision totally blackened. In an odd inversion of the norm, Shockwave recovered and slammed his fist into my gut, sending me flying ON to my feet. I stumbled backwards, and I watched as Shockwave rose from the rubble like an undead revenant. He stared at me. I could see the pink rings flashing in his optic, but that did nothing to reduce the terrible gaze he fixated upon me.)

"I do not know your reasoning for violating our truce, but you will pay dearly for interrupting our special day." Shockwave snarled, stalking towards Bumblebee. Bumblebee raised his arms to block an upcoming blow, but Shockwave belted him and made him stumble again.

(OW! I will tell you this. Fighting Shockwave was by no means anything like fighting Barricade. Barricade was speedy and went in for the low blows. He dived low, he sidestepped, he sucker-punched. Shockwave just came at you with fists flying, and in a moment, instead of his fist flying, it was your knocked-over chassis which soared through the air.

Seeking escape, I went around and used my spy skills to climb up a portion of the replica wall that hadn't been destroyed. Shockwave wasn't having any of it. He raised his ginormous cannon-arm and smashed it through the wall, causing to crumble away underneath my fingers. Before he had the chance to shoot me, I leapt off and landed gracefully away from him. I took a moment to congratulate myself on not dying just yet, and turned around to see Shockwave's next move.

He converted into his tank mode and aimed the barrel of his Hyperflux Cannon at me.

I had been over this with Pinkie Pie; she found a book in Twilight's library and explain what the effects of a love potion were. Similar to the love poison that simply keeping the victims' from looking into each others' eyes for an hour would undo the spell.

Ducking to avoid Shockwave's devastating laser blast, which I'm sure would have torn my chest into two, forgive me for doubting I was going to be able to last an hour.)

Shockwave revved up his treads and propelled himself forward, whereupon he rammed Bumblebee, catching the Scout on the barrel of his cannon. Shockwave transformed, causing Bumblebee to hang precariously from said cannon. Shockwave flex his arm, flinging Bumblebee off.

Meanawhile at Omega One...

Optimus pushed a button on the keyboard, and several walls of green text that on the screen suddenly disappeared. Optimus felt temporary relief his job for the day had been done, but he had train himself not to relax and always remember that when one job was finished, another was waiting in the wings, looming over and waiting to pop out at the most possible inconvenient time.

It was then Optimus turned around to his crew, and noticed something off. Ratchet was doing his thing. Arcee was idling her engine in a corner, while Bulkhead traced his finger along the table, probably imaging a great battle with the Wreckers, and Smokescreen was checking out his nails. The ponies were loafing about, too depressed by Twilight's attitude to attend the wedding.

"Where is Bumblebee?" Optimus inquired.

Everyone perked up at the sound of Optimus' voice asking a question, and they turned to each other for answers. Sadly, none of them had one. Smokescreen, Bulkhead and Arcee all shrugged.

"Mm." Optimus waved his fingers across the keyboard and type in a command. A beeping like an answering machine came from the computer. "Omega One contacting Bumblebee. Repeat, Omega One contacting Bumblebee. Do you read?"

Read you loud and clear, Boss Bot. Bumblebee answered. I'm kind of in the middle of something.

"What is your status?"

You remember earlier when I was concerned about Shockwave and Twilight getting married? Well, guess what. I had a good reason to be concerned. They were under the influence of a love potion! I'm engaging Shockwave right now to break the spell before it causes disaster.

"By yourself?" Optimus asked incredulously.

Yeah... I tried to tell Smokescreen and the ponies, but they ignored me. Too interested in their own conversation.

"I see." Optimus turned around towards Smokescreen and the ponies. "Smokescreen, Ponies... is true you ignored Bumblebee earlier?"

"What?" Smokescreen asked. "Oh. Yeah. We kinda got sidetracked and didn't really realize he was there, and by the time we had, he was so ticked he stormed off."

Optimus contained the sudden burst of frustration that tore through his polyon-fibers like a whirlpool. "You...ignored him. After I very specifically told with no ambiguity in my words whatsoever, that if he raised a concern, he would be listened to." Optimus surmised.

Fluttershy scraped a hoof. "Are you mad at us?"

"No," Optimus answered as he tracked Bumblebee's signal and pulled the GroundBridge lever. "Just disappointed."

Bumblebee huffed and puff, remaining defiant that Shockwave would be cured of his magical ailment, even if it meant Shockwave had to smash Bumblebee's head in a few times over.

Bleep... bleep...beep!

"How quaint." Shockwave snarled.

Bumblebee readied his arm blasters, setting to them to their lowest energy output, and began to pummel Shockwave's chest with laser fire, but it did nothing to the cyclops.

Shockwave raised his arm cannon and began to charging power within it. Bumblebee stared the barrel glowing red with a blast that would inevitably be his demise. Bumblebee knew he had needed to get out of range, and with haste, but he collapsed, tired and beaten from Shockwave's unrelenting assault.

"How sad." Shockwave said without a hint of emotion in his voice.

Then a Bridge opened right behind Bumblebee, distracting both of them. Optimus Prime stepped out, looking very professional and ready to do some business.

"Optimus Prime." Shockwave noted. "Your Scout has been violating the terms of our agreement, and I would make an educated guess you are here to do the same?"

"On the contrary, Shockwave, I am here to enact the terms." Optimus retorted. "The terms clearly state if one leader should be found ill, then the other shall, to their best ability, ensure their recovery."

"Oh?" Shockwave growled, the pink rings still flashing in his optic.

Optimus charged at Shockwave, who wasn't prepared for it, as he didn't Optimus would actually attack him. Optimus raised his fist and slammed hard into Shockwave's weak point – his single optic. Shockwave was thrown backwards into a pile of rubble.

Optimus turned to Bumblebee, then approached him and offered him a hand. "You have performed bravely, my young Scout."

Beep beep. Bumblebee took the hand, and Optimus helped his scout up.

Bumblebee looked to Shockwave's resting place and pointed, shortly before groaning. Optimus patted him on the back and gestured them to check on Shockwave.

The two Autobots walked towards Shockwave, who weakly lifted his arm up and pushed the shrapnel covering his optic off. He seemed quite surprised to see them.

"Optimus Prime. Bumblebee." Shockwave noted each of them. "What am I doing in a pile of rubble with you two looming over me?"

"Bumblebee was attempting to stop your wedding to Twilight Sparkle."

"Wedding?" Shockwave questioned as he sat upright. "I recall no such happening."

Hearing the goal of all his hard work had finally been accomplished and that the spell had been broken, Bumblebee raised his fists in the air and let out a triumphant deet. He began the Robot Dance while Optimus helped Shockwave up.

Up above at the site of the would-be ceremony, Twilight signed and slumping away, falling into Pinkie's and Raf's grips, turning them from restricting holding of her limbs to support for her to keep standing.

"Ooh..." Twilight groaned and rubbed her forehead. "Pinkie? Raf?" Twilight asked when she saw the two holding her. "What's going on? Why are you holding me?" Twilight looked down at herself and became distressed. "And why do I look I'm in a wedding dress!?" Twilight picked up the train and start pulling it towards, and was disbelieving that it was so long. "And not a very good one, at that!"

"You were about to get married to Shockwave!" Pinkie explained.

"What!?"

"You had a love potion on you!"

"Oh... all right... that makes more sense. I, uh,: Twilight took a look at the crowd that amassed for the sheer sake of seeing her and Shockwave wedded. "I guess we should tell all these ponies the wedding's off?" Twilight cleared her throat and prepared to raise her volume.

"Attention, everypony! Apparently there's been some sort of mix-up."

Optimus, Shockwave and Bumblebee came in through the hole Bumblebee had made when he tackled Shockwave.

"Regrettably, we've had a...sudden change of Spark." Shockwave explained. "There will be no wedding today."

Twilight was expecting the crowd to let out a shared groan of disappointment. They had come all this way to a wedding, only for it to not happen. What she got was cheers and whoops and wallops that something as strange as a pony marrying a Decepticon wasn't going to actually happen. An Autotrooper even hugged a Vehicon.

"I'm so sorry you came out all this way for nothing." Twilight apologized.

"Nonsense!" Pinkie objected. "Just because the wedding's over doesn't mean we can't keep THE PARTY GOING!"

"YEAH!" Grimlock agreed, pointing a finger approvingly in Pinkie's direction. "Listen to her! She makes sense!" The irony of that statement was lost on Grimlock, as he was not very familiar with Pinkie.

(And that, Sunli and Vinnie, is the story of how I ruined Twilight's wedding... with a little help from my friends.)

Pinkie and Raf, smiled bashfully. Pinkie let out an approving deet-deeeooo.

"Hey, uh, it's great you managed to save Twilight and all, but uh..." Vinne stammered and raised a finger. "Think we can hear Sunli's story now? I want to hear how it ends."

Pinkie, Raf, and Bumblebee all grunted in unified frustration. "Fine!"

Erstwhile in Canterlot...

Princess Celestia was trotting down her gardens, stopping to quite literally smell the roses. She bent her crane-like neck down and took in a deep, relaxing whiff of the roses' scent.

"Ah!" Celestia exclaimed to herself, putting a hoof on the rose sweetly. "Nothing like the smell of roses and other flowers to unwind after a stressful day!"

"We couldn't agree more, Your Majesty."

Celestia froze, before turning around and seeing an odd assortment of creatures. They were about six humans and seven Crystal Ponies gathered together. Not at all strange in of itself, but the humans were wearing black cloaks with lowered hoods. A Crystal Pony with a hooded cloak was not at all strange to Celestia, but to see a human in such attire made her question it.

"Hello." Celestia greeted them, pushing through her awkwardness. "Is there something I can do you for you?"

"Uh, yes, actually." One of the Crystal Ponies' said. "We're here to see Countdown?"

"Countdown?" Celestia questioned before she recalled who they were talking about. "Oh yes! The bizarre little Micromaster who came in recently and asked for a room? Right this way." Celestia gestured her hoof and led out of the garden, through the halls, and into the guest suites.

Recently, Countdown had appeared and petitioned Celestia for a room in the guest suite of the Canterlot castle. He was a bit eccentric, in Celestia's opinion, being an armored red Autobot with a large shoulder cannon, yet no bigger than a tall human, bar the extra mass his armor gave him. Celestia guided the group to his room.

"So, I take it you are friends of Countdown's?"

"You might say that." One of the humans answered.

"Wait right here, please. I'll get him. Mister Countdown?" Celestia knocked on the door to Countdown's room. Being a Princess, she could barge in and drag him out if she wanted with no ill repercussion, but being a polite pony, she would respect his privacy. She was concerned when Countdown didn't answer. She put her ear to the door and listened intently.

"So...Bumblebee lives." She heard Countdown say, which was an odd thing to say.

Of course Bumblebee lives. Why wouldn't Bumblebee be alive? She thought to herself.

"I apologize." A bottomless-deep voice answered. "I miscalculated my aim. That he lives is more to my own mistakes than his own skills."

Celestia knew that voice... she had only heard in passing, once or twice on the way to a political meeting with Shockwave, but she knew it.

"Oh, how tragic. Bumblebee's now the only Autobot who can honestly they survived being attacked by the magnificent Blackout and lived, and he doesn't know it! Do better next time, will you, Blackout? Our master will be most displeased his plan failed."

Hearing the words "Blackout", "Attacked", "Lived", "Our master", and "Plan", Celestia's alarm bells went off. Countdown was serving an unseen authority, and somehow had roped Blackout into doing the same. She raised her front hoof and was about to kick the door down when Countdown opened with a gleaming smile on his face.

"Hello, Princess. You wanted to see me?"

Celestia couldn't believe this Micromaster had the gall to smile after hearing him discuss attempted murder with a Decepticon. "How dare you speak to me like that after what I just heard?"

Countdown feigned ignorance and frowned. "Why, whatever do you mean, Princess?"

"I am fond of many games, Countdown, but playing dumb is not one of them." Celestia snarled in a warning tone that translated into "Tell me what I want to hear or I will drop you right now." Celestia looked over Countdown's shoulder and saw computer terminals active in his room. Normally, that would be fine, as what a guest brought into their suite was their business, not hers, and as long they took with them when they left, everything was okay. However, what she heard made her suspicious, and she looked closer, seeing that the terminals appeared to have schematics of Scootaloo's, Apple Bloom's, and Sweetie Belle's bodies, with electronic commands attached to each limb and appendage.

"Now what is this contraption you have in your room?" Celestia demanded.

Countdown sighed. "Princess, make this easier on both of us..."

An electric charge shot from Countdown's canon, hitting Celestia square in the chest and using the conductivity of her mantle to transfer all that electricity into her body.

"And stay down."

"Cheater..." Even though her body was wracked with pain, her every joint feeling like a needle laced with static electricity was being stabbed into it, Celestia still managed to growl. "Never...would've...got me...in a...fair fight."

Countdown turned off his canon, and Celestia collapsed onto the pristine floor of the hallway that she owned.

"I know." Countdown hissed. "That's why we didn't do a fair fight, duh!"

And while all that was happening in Canterlot, Shockwave, back in his right mind and any confusion about the wedding cleared up, locked himself in his lab and resumed the work he was doing.

Shockwave sat a table in his lab, a device like a mini-cassette sized for Cybetronians in his claw. The cassette's shape was not very specific to any one species, but its glowing lines gave away its nature as Cybetronian Audio Log.

"Shockwave's Log Number 756..." Shockwave recounted "I have suffered setbacks to my work today in the form of a love potion administered to me."

Shockwave pushed his chair away from the table and stood up, walking across the room where the chamber containing his mystery thing lay.

"Circumstantial evidence leads me to believe Blackout is responsible, but I do not have enough to prove any accusations I might make." Shockwave recounted to his electronic proxy of a journal. "However, in a way, I should thank him, as it were not for the love potion, Twilight Sparkle would not have aided me in my work..."

Shockwave placed his claw on the tube and stared intently into it.

"I know the Decepticons grow discontent with my illusion of a truce...but I assure you, my illusion is just that. An illusion, and the illusion will end soon, as I have another petro-rabbit to pull from my hat."

Shockwave turned from his Audio Log to the chamber, staring into the abyss of its regeneration fluid, restoring mesh and armor plating to an ancient creature long since deceased.

Of course, when one stares into the abyss, sooner or later, the abyss will stare back.

A pair of yellow bestial optics opened and stared back at Shockwave. A pair of optics full of power and rage. A pair of optics with no concept of beauty or compassion, with no understanding of kindness or loyalty.

"Though she did not do so while not in her right mind, Twilight Sparkle's assistance was invaluable...in furthering Project: Predacon."