Chapters [Arc I] Prologue: Twenty-One Guns
The desert was hot as the platoon trekked across the burning sands. They were sent to a small village, Boarador, in order to investigate sightings of a 'giant, metal creature not of this world.' They hadn't been traveling for long, but the heat had been slowly sapping at their energy since they ran out of water.
"You really believe there's something there, Quick Scope?" piped up one of the soldiers, Platoon Sergeant Red Dot, from the middle of the group. "Are you sure this isn't going to be for nothing?" This received a quick snap from the man at the front, Platoon Leader Quick Scope.
"Whether it's there or not, we're going," he said. "If it's not there, then we can all go home. If it is, then we blow it to kingdom come and go home. Either way, our job's going to be finished. I have a nephew waiting for me."
"You have a nephew?" asked another soldier, Double Barrel.
"Sure do," Quick Scope said. He then took one of his hands off his gun, leaving it pointed at the ground, and pulled out a picture of a teen from his left breast pocket. The kid pictured had tan skin – much like the man holding it – with purple hair covered by a grey beanie. He had an orange jacket over a green an white striped shirt and a pair of grey jeans to finish it all off.
"That him?" Red Dot asked.
"Mhmm."
"He kinda looks like one of the friends of my cousin, Flash," Red Dot commented as he checked the sights on his grenade launcher.
"Flash? Like, Flash Sentry, leader of the school band?"
Red Dot perked up. "How the hell did you know that?"
Quick Scope put the picture back in his breast pocket as they started up a mound of sand. "Minuteman's good friends with him."
"Wow," said Double Barrel, "small world, innit?"
As the group reached the top of the hill, Quick Scope said, "It just got a bit smaller..."
On the other side of the hill was their destination: the rundown village of Boarador. What looked like half of the village was hustling and bustling around in market, their maroon skins looking almost like one. Some buildings were cracked from the heat drying the moisture in the brick, and there were more than a few buildings that were already partly destroyed. Nearby stood a rusted radio tower, its job having been relieved ages ago.
"C'mon, men," Quick Scope said as he started down the dune. "We have a job to do."
However, the group was stopped as the radio tower toppled over in front of them, kicking up a huge cloud of sand. The men coughed as the dust started to settle, with Quick Scope ending up facing away from the village.
"Alright," he said with a weak voice, "everyone okay?" There was a jumble of yeses, then Quick Scope said, "Alright, now let's just move on with... what's up with you guys?"
He had looked up to find his whole platoon aiming their weapons in his general direction. "Sir!" Double Barrel shouted out. "It's right behind you!"
Quick Scope jumped away from where he was previously standing in time to see a giant mechanical tail of sorts stab the air where his head previously was before it disappeared beneath the ground. "What in the holy hell was that?" he screamed before a giant scorpion-like being jumped out of the desert right in the middle of the platoon.
"Get down to the village!" Red Dot yelled at the remaining troops, who ran haphazardly down to Boarador. At the same time, Boaradorian men were coming out of their own homes, carrying weapons of their own.
"C'mon, men, use everything you've got!" Quick Scope yelled. "Red Dot, Double Barrel, with me!" The grey and charcoal men, respectively, ran behind the tan one to a destroyed wall. After taking cover behind it, Quick Scope peek out to see what he was facing.
The creature looked like a massive, mechanical scorpion with high-tech weapons, shown after a silo of missiles fired from the right claw and a hail of bullets from the left. Both claws looked like miniature turbine engines, while the body looked like a bigger one.
"What're we dealing with here?" Red Dot shouted, looking around the other corner with his grenade launcher.
"It's a machine of sorts, I think!" Quick Scope replied. "Honestly, I have no idea what the eff this is!" he shouted as he fired his assault rifle at the machine.
"The bullets aren't doing a damn thing!" Red Dot shouted.
"It's metal, innit?" yelled Double Barrel. "Your sabot rounds should melt through the sucker!"
"Good idea!" Red Dot yelled back, as he ducked out of cover and fired at the scorpion. As the rounds hit, the machine flailed around in pain. One of the rounds hit its tail, severing it from the rest of the body. The scorpion then dug underneath the sand, running from battle.
"This is Platoon Leader Quick Scope," said the leader into a radio. "We're requesting immediate evac."
"Did you complete your mission, Quick Scope?" the radio spoke back.
"Well, sir, I really don't know what we found. All I can say is that it's hurt by our sabot rounds. Send some down here for the village, we're pulling out."
"How many casualties sustained?"
"I'm not sure." Quick Scope turned around to Red Dot. "What's out casualties?"
"Uh…" Red Dot said as he counted the survivors. "Twenty-one, sir."
Quick Scope relayed that into his radio before hearing from the other side of the wall, "Take that, you sonuvabitch!" The two looked out to see Double Barrel holding the piece of the tail in his hands, far away from him. "You think we should take this thing back?" he asked.
"Make that twenty," Red Dot muttered.
"Let's just get home first," Quick Scope said as a helicopter flew overhead and lowered itself to the ground to pick up the three survivors.
Author's Note
Well, I'm sure this is gonna be a fun ride. I'm going to use the movie as a guide, but I'm not going to rely on it. A lot of things are gonna be changed.
[Arc I] Chapter One: New Car
"Minuteman, wake up!" half-shouted an orange teen with slick blue hair.
"Huh? What? I wasn't sleeping!" replied Minuteman, a tan teenager whose purple hair was covered by a grey beanie. "I was just… uh…"
"Whatever," Flash Sentry sighed. "We've got to get to History class, anyways. We're watching that movie, remember?" He went to get up, but Minuteman promptly pulled him back down.
"Woah, hold up," he said. "Look who's coming."
Flash looked up to see a yellow girl with green hair and a sun hat walking towards them. "C'mon, man, it's just that eco-girl Green Leaf."
"Yeah, I know!" half-whispered Minuteman. It took a little bit, but Flash eventually figured it out. When he did, a giant smile grew on his face. "Oh no," said the beanie-clad teen. "Don't you do anything stupid."
However, it was too late. "Hey Leafie!" Flash shouted. "Come here!"
"What's up, Flash?" Green Leaf asked.
"You see, my friend here" – Flash patted said friend's back – "has something of an interest in you. I think he wants to talk about it with you." He then grabbed his bag and left the lunchroom, but not before he whispered in Minuteman's ear, "Good luck, buddy."
The two were all alone in the lunch room, standing in silence. After a while, Minuteman uttered, "Well… I need to get to class now… bye, I guess."
As he left, however, Green Leaf said, "Hey, wait up!" Minuteman froze in place as the girl ran up to him. "Maybe we can get together sometime. How about at the lake tomorrow afternoon?"
It took a while, but Minuteman managed to say, "Uh… sure, why not?"
"Great!" Green Leaf said as she walked out of the room. "See you in class!"
"Yeah…"
"…and that's my awesome family," said Rainbow Dash, who sat down as the class clapped.
"Alright, class," said the teacher, Cheerilee, "next we have… Minuteman!"
As Minuteman got up to go to the front of the classroom, he felt a pain on the back of his head. Moving his hand back there, he brought it back to find the culprit: a gummy bear launched by a rubber band. "Oh, cherry. My favorite," he said as he proceeded to eat the bear on his way to the front.
"Alright, so… this is my project on my parents, Ice Pick and Belay," he started. "They were Arctic explorers. I never really got a chance to meet them, though, as they kinda went insane on their last trip. They used to be in the asylum, talking about some 'Ice Man' or whatever before they died a few years later."
The whole class chuckled at this, causing Cheerilee to need to say, "Hush, children! This is a serious matter!"
"Anyways, they died when I was about three, so I was adopted by my uncle, Quick Scope, who is currently in service. He's actually supposed to be getting back today, buying me a new car. I mean, if you guys want to help, I have a PayPal up…"
Another round of laughter from the class erupted as Cheerilee said, "Class, settle. Minuteman, this is not a place for you to ask mon-" The bell rang before she could finish, however, and all the students got up from their seats to leave. "There may be a quiz tomorrow, kids!" the teacher shouted as everyone piled out of the room.
After everyone had left, Minuteman walked up to Cheerilee's desk. "What did I get?"
"Well," the teacher said, "I'd say I would give you… an A minus."
Minuteman's heart sunk. "An A minus?"
"Yes. You were attempting to run a business in my class."
"But- I- Hear me out, alright? My uncle told me to get two thousand dollars and three A's, and then he'd buy half a car for me. I've got the two thousand, and I've got two A's. Can you please bump it up for me?"
Minuteman ran out to the green car that a tan man wearing camo was in. "Oh, it's finally good to see you again!" he said as he quickly hugged his uncle.
"It's great to see you too," Quick Scope replied. "You would not believe the crap I've seen. So, you get the A?"
"Well, I dunno," Minuteman wistfully said, holding up a paper. "What does it say?"
"Lemme see that…" Quick Scope said with a stern tone, taking the paper from his nephew. However, he was too into the paper to see Minuteman crack a smile. "Let's see… a bit too short… asking for money from classmates?"
"Turn it over…"
Quick Scope did what he was suggested and flipped the page over. "Well, I see you got the A!" he said triumphantly.
"Great!" Minuteman shouted. "Can we go now?"
"I'd love to, but I need to wait for the kid in front to move his car…"
The teen brought his attention to the black Camaro in front of him, recognizing the decals on the sides. "Oh, hey, that's Flash Sentry's! Lemme go find him, see if he can move it for us." Minuteman jumped out of the car before his uncle could get a word in.
As Minuteman was jogging towards the school, he didn't see the girl coming up to his right until it was too late. He ran into her, knocking both teens onto the ground. "Oof! Hey, watch where you're goi-"
On the ground in front of him was Green Leaf, sun hat over her face. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm such a klutz…" she said, fixing her hat.
"N-no, it was my fault," replied Minuteman, "I should've watched where I was going."
"Hey, you're that guy that Flash told me about… what was your name again?" Green Leaf asked.
"Minuteman," the teen quickly replied. "It's Minuteman." He turned around to see that Flash had already moved his car. "Look," he said, "I've gotta get going. M-my uncle's taking me to go get my car."
"Alright," replied the girl. "You still coming to the lake tomorrow afternoon?"
"Yeah, I'll be there!" Minuteman yelled back as he jumped into his uncle's car.
"Who's that?" Quick Scope asked. "Girlfriend?"
"I- uh- well- let's just go," the nephew mumbled as the car pulled out.
"Asking money during a class presentation?" Quick Scope asked his nephew as they drove down the street.
"In my defense, it was a perfect business opportunity to raise money for a good cause."
"Yeah, you sure are your father's son, alright…" Quick Scope muttered. The two sat in silence for a few seconds before bursting out in laugher.
After the laughter died down, Minuteman said, "I really miss him."
"They were both great people," the uncle put in.
"Hey, weren't you going to tell me what you saw on your day out?"
"Too late, we're already here."
Minuteman turned around expectantly, but was lat down when he saw where he was. "Here? Really?" he said as they pulled into Magnum's Used Car Lot. "No offense, but you said half of a car , not half of a rust bucket!"
"I started out on one of these, and you will too," replied Quick Scope as he parked the car in the parking lot. A large-mustached white man walked out, loud Hawaiian shirt proclaiming his name.
"The name's Mustang," he said, "and I'm here to get you a great deal on used cars! What're you looking for?"
"Well," Quick Scope said, "I'm here to buy my nephew his first car."
"Well, well, well!" exclaimed the car dealer. "You've come to the right place!" Putting his arm around Minuteman, he walked him along and said, "Now, let me tell you something, son. The first rule of buying a car: The driver doesn't pick the car. The car will pick the driver."
"This Impala doesn't look too bad…" the teen commented as they passed by an old Chevy Impala with white racing stripes.
"Yeah, it doesn- wait, when the hell did this get here…" muttered Magnum as he ran off to find his mechanic.
As Magnum was trying to figure out exactly where this car came from, Minuteman opened the door and sat in the car to get a feel for it. The leather seats felt comforting, and the steering wheel was just right. On the steering wheel, where the horn would be, was a buildup of dirt. Minuteman used his thumb to wipe the dirt off of it, revealing what looked like an abstract face underneath it.
"Well," Magnum said, returning to the car, "since I don't know where this came from, and considering the condition it's in, I'll sell for five grand."
"Sorry, buddy," Quick Scope said, leaning into the car. "Just a grand too high for us. I mean, there's a Camaro with racing stripes…"
"Yeah, but I don't want a Camaro with racing stripes," the teen said. "Hey, Magnum," he continued, getting out of the car, "I thought you said the car picks the driver."
"Sometimes, it chooses wrong, kid. Now, if you'll look over here-"
Out of nowhere, the Impala's alarm went off, causing the windows in all the other cars to violently explode. The three took cover behind it, waiting for the alarm to shut off. When it finally did, they slowly rose from cover.
"Oh no, my cars!" Magnum cried out, hands in his hair. "A-alright, you can take it for four thousand!"
Minuteman looked expectantly at his uncle. He sighed, defeated, and said, "Alright, but you are gonna work on it."
"Yes!" the teen shouted, reveling in his victory. He got into his new car and drove off behind his uncle, unaware of the events that were to come.
Author's Note
Here's the first actual chapter! I decided to cut the story in half and meld together planned chapters so I can make them longer. People like longer chapters. Right?
[Arc I] Chapter Three: Giant Robots
When Minuteman woke up, he pretended like nothing happened at all the previous night. Picking up his orange jacket, he made his way downstairs to eat breakfast. He was pouring his glass of milk to go along with his toast when he saw his Impala, parked on the front lawn. Dropping the carton of milk, he flipped out his cellphone and dialed Flash Sentry's number.
"Hello?" came the voice from the other side of the call.
"Flash, you gotta listen to me," the worried teen said, "I'm being stalked by Discord's car!"
"The hell is that supposed to mean?"
"My car stole itself last night, and now it's in my front lawn!" hissed Minuteman.
"Alright, calm down. Just come over to my house and we can talk this over."
"No chance, I just need to get away from this thing. It's probably heard you." Minuteman hung up the phone before Flash could respond. He ran over to the stairs and yelled to his uncle, "I'm gonna be taking your bike out, I left mine at the train yard last night!"
"Alright," came the call from upstairs. Minuteman gave a silent shout of victory and went for the back door. Before he went out, though, he decided to sneak into his uncle's desk downstairs and take his gun for safety. With the gun in his pants, the teen then ran outside, grabbed the bike, and pedaled fast down the street as he was being chased by his car.
After a while, Minuteman finally left the suburbs and got into downtown Canterlot, where the streets were the busiest. As he turned a corner, he checked behind him to see if the Impala from Tartarus was still there.
It was.
"Oh shit… this day isn't gonna end well…" he panted as he turned back around just in time to have his bike slam into an uneven sidewalk section. He flipped over his bike onto his back on the cold, hard pavement. He groaned as he rolled over on his side, clutching his back. In front of him were Green Leaf and Sunset Shimmer, both stopping their own breakfast to look at him.
"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Green Leaf asked, rushing to his side. Minuteman groaned again and got up, getting on his bike as best as he could. "What's got you in such a rush?"
"Can't talk, being chased by my car!" was the only reply she got as he sped off down the street.
"I'm gonna see what's up, something isn't right…" Sunset said to her friend as she buckled her helmet up and sped off after Minuteman on her Vespa.
"Oh…" Green Leaf said quietly. "Well, alright, I guess…"
When Minuteman reached an abandoned parking lot under an under-construction freeway, he dropped his bike and ran amongst the cars, hoping to lose the possessed vehicle. As he was running among the cars, he found an officer in a police cruiser. "Oh, officer," he said, "I am so relieved to see you! I have had a hell of a day, alright? So, my car stole itself last night, and it's returned, it's hunting me dow-"
Minuteman was cut off as the policeman started advancing the car as if to run him over, revving the engine. "Woah, woah, woah!" he shouted, backing up on the ground. "Listen, officer, I need your help! My car-"
The police car tried to run Minuteman over again, pushing him back. "Alright, alright!" he shouted. "What do you want from me?" The policeman seemed to hold off on trying to run the teen over for a second before something terrifying happened.
When the cruiser revved the next time, the whole car started to come apart. The sides moved outwards, taking the back wheels with them. Out from the back wheels came finger-like projections as legs came out from underneath the chassis. The grill moved toward a chest, and a menacing head with red eyes popped out of the top, growling at Minuteman. "Ho-ly shit…" he said to himself as he got up and started sprinting down the aisle. The robot followed him down, taking much longer strides than the teen. When it caught up with him, the robot swung its arm at him, throwing the teen onto the windshield of a car. "Oh man, this isn't really happening, is it?" he asked himself as the robot got in his face.
"Are you the descendant of Arctic explorers Ice Pick and Belay?!" it yelled at him, slamming its fist on the ground.
"Y-yeah…" Minuteman stammered.
"Where is the map?" it asked, getting angrier. "WHERE IS THE JOURNAL!?"
"Wh-what journal?" the teen asked. The robot only yelled in frustration, coming close to smashing Minuteman into the car. The boy climbed up and over the car, running towards the exit as the monster behind him flung the now demolished car out of the way.
At the other side of the exit, Sunset Shimmer was riding her Vespa towards Minuteman. He was yelling and waving his arms, but she couldn't make out what he was saying. When the two met, though, Minuteman grabbed her leather jacket and pulled her off the scooter, causing both to land on their backs.
"Ow! What the hell was that for?" she yelled, her helmet rolling off her heat. "I was just trying to help!"
"Yeah, well, you can help by not getting killed, alright? I've got this… this thing " – Minuteman pointed at the beast coming ever closer – "trying to kill me, we've gotta go!"
"Oh my Celestia…" Sunset whispered, frozen in fear.
"C'mon, we've gotta go! He's right there!"
Out of nowhere, Minuteman's black Impala powerslid into the robot's legs – knocking it over – and stopped right beside the two teens, opening the door.
In a split-second decision, Minuteman turned to Sunset and said, "You gotta get in the car with me."
"What? Why?"
"Please, you gotta trust me. That thing wants to kill us, and I'm not going to be responsible for anyone's death." Sunset nervously nodded her head, and the two got into the car. As the Impala sped out of the abandoned parking lot, the robot got back on its feet and jumped in the same general direction as its target, transforming back into a police cruiser and turning its lights on.
As the Impala drove itself down the street with the police cruiser in pursuit, Minuteman grabbed his head in his hands and said, "Oh Celestia, this is how I'm gonna die. I'm going to die by being chased by an evil, transforming police car in my own evil, probably transforming car." As he pushed his back onto his seat, though, he felt something pushing against his lower back. Pulling the object out, he remembered that he still had the pistol that he 'borrowed' from his uncle earlier. "Aha!" he shouted in excitement. "This ought to do it!"
Sunset Shimmer looked over to see exactly what ought to do it when she saw the gun in his hand. "Oh my Celestia, is that a real gun?" she asked.
"Sure is," Minuteman replied as he pulled the top back, loading the next bullet into the chamber.
"Why do you have a gun with you!?" she screamed.
"Well, I'm not sure, maybe it had to do with my driverless car following me! " he yelled back, poking his head and arm out of the window. He fired a few rounds at the cruiser's tires, none of them doing anything.
"Minuteman, you might want to get back in the car!" Sunset said, a hint of warning in her voice.
"Huh?" The armed teen turned around to see that his Impala was headed straight for a colored window. "Oh Celestia!" he shouted as he pulled himself into the car just before it crashed right through the glass, shards spilling into the car as it spun and slammed its side into a large, wooden stand-up shelf. Pieces of wood flew everywhere as the Impala gunned its engine and bolted out of the empty warehouse, the destruction barely slowing the pursuing cruiser down.
As the Impala turned into the construction site, it turned itself into a dark alley-like construction and shut itself off, locking the two teens in the car. Both of them tried to lift the locks back up, but to no avail. They were locked in the car together.
Soon after, the cop car – lights and all – passed by the alley, obviously looking for the black Impala. Minuteman's breathing slowed down as his attention went from the pseudo-cop to the keys turning themselves in the ignition. "Get ready," he whispered to Sunset, who nodded with a worried look on her face.
The next time the cruiser passed, the Impala's engine roared to life, its back wheels spinning in the dirt. It flew past the cruiser – which was just realizing what was going on – and over a wooden bridge. On the other side, the Impala did a 180, opening the door and spilling Minuteman and Sunset out, before transforming into a giant robot similar to the cop car. "Go, Minuteman!" it yelled as the cruiser, racing towards them, transformed back into a robot and tackled the Impala robot. The two bots rolled backwards before they let go of each other.
The cop robot, standing back up quickly, took out what looked liked a mace and yelled, "This one is for my Decepticon brethren!" It then swung at the Impala robot, missing both times.
"Try and get me then, Raze!" the Impala yelled, slamming a fist into Raze's chest.
He flew back into some scaffolding before getting right back up and popping a smaller, thinner robot out of his chest. "Go, Frenzy!" Raze yelled. "Get the Arctic boy!"
Minuteman felt a sinking feeling in his chest. "I think he means me!" he said, starting to run away from the battle as Raze threw the Impala bot into a building. "Come on, Sunset, let's go!" he yelled, grabbing her wrist and dragging her along.
"What's going on, what are those things?" she asked, running alongside him.
"Look, I have no idea, but we need to get away from whatever that thing sent at us!" Minuteman replied, looking back to find Frenzy gaining on them. "Go find something to kill this thing, like a saw or something!" he said, pulling his uncle's pistol out of his pants and firing at the miniature robot. Sunset nodded as she ran off to a shed to look for power tools.
"Come here, Arctic boy!" Frenzy said as it ran at Minuteman, pushing him against the fence. The weak links in the fence gave way, thought, sending the two tumbling down a hill. More shots rang out as Minuteman tried to hit the wiry robot in its head. They landed on another fence, with the teen's back to it, stuck in a struggle to punch the other. Frenzy headbutted Minuteman, knocking his grip off of the robot's wrists. "You're coming with me, Arctic boy!" the robot said, wrapping its spindly hands around Minuteman's neck.
Just when all hope seemed lost, Sunset Shimmer came out of nowhere, reciprocating saw in hand. She cut off Frenzy's arms, freeing Minuteman of his grip, and then said his head off. As the head writhed on the ground, Minuteman said, "Not so tough, now, are you?" before punting it off into the distance.
As the two teens climbed up the hill, Sunset said, "So, let me get this straight. You bought a car that seemed broken, but just turned out to be a giant robot?"
"I guess," Minuteman responded.
"Why would you buy an obviously broken car?"
"Because," Minuteman explained, "it was the only one with the windows intact. My car set its alarms off."
Sunset was about to say something, but the two teens found Minuteman's robo-car waiting for them at the top. "Are you two okay?" it asked.
"Y-yeah, I guess you could say that," Minuteman said. "Was that you last night, what was that all about?
"It was a signal," the robot explained. "Something to tell the other of my kind to come."
"What, like the one you just fought?" Sunset said. "Not sure if you noticed this, but you two didn't exactly play nice."
"That was a Decepticon, Raze. He's not my kind, I'm an Autobot. Name's Black Lightning," the robot said as it transformed back into the Impala with the white racing stripes, the door swinging open.
"I think he wants us to get in…" Minuteman said.
Sunset gave a disbelieving laugh. "What for? Where would we go?"
The boy grabbed her by the shoulders. "Look," Minuteman said, "in twenty years, when you look back on everything that happened in your life so far, don't you want to tell yourself you had the guts to get in the alien car with the weird kid from school and go wherever?"
The girl sat there for a moment, debating on this thought that Minuteman gave her. After careful thought, Sunset Shimmer, the girl from another world, got into the alien car with Minuteman, the weird kid from school.
As they drove off, they stopped over at where Minuteman faced Frenzy atop the hill so Sunset could grab her purse. What they didn't see, though, was the head of Frenzy taking the form of her cell phone seconds earlier.
"Where do you think he's taking us?" Sunset Shimmer asked, sitting in between the two front seats of the alien Impala that just entered an underground tunnel.
"I dunno," Minuteman responded. Silence came between them before he asked, "Why don't you sit in the driver's seat?"
"I'm not sitting there, he's driving!" Sunset replied. "Who knows if it'll, like, shut off his automatic driving or whatever?"
There was another bout of silence before Minuteman boldly said, "Hey, uh, why don't you sit on my lap?"
Sunset scoffed at him. "And why would I do that?!"
"Because I have the only seatbelt, if you aren't gonna sit in the driver's seat. I mean, safety first, right?" Minuteman replied.
Sunset sighed before moving over to sit on Minuteman's lap as he pulled the seatbelt over them. Once she got settled in, she said, "You know, that was pretty smooth of you."
"I wasn't trying to be smooth," Minuteman said.
"Oh yeah?" Sunset asked. "Well, you were." More silence passed before she asked, "You wanna know something I don't understand?"
"What's that?"
"Well, if Black Lightning's this super advanced alien or whatever, why does he transform back into this rustbucket of an Impala?"
Sunset must have had hit a nerve, because the next thing the two teens knew, their car was kicking them out. "Oh wow, that's real nice. My $4,000 just drove off!" Minuteman said as they moved off to the tunnel's sidewalk, the Impala driving back the way they came. "Sunset, remember, that's not just a car! It's a living being; it has feelings!"
"Well sor-ry for that!" she snapped at him.
"You better be, 'cause we have no ride!"
"Well, if you hadn't picked the alien car in the first place, we wouldn't be here, now would we?!"
"The car picks the driver, Sunset! Especially the alien car from another planet that's not really a car! "
Sunset laughed at him. "You know what? You're the weirdest kid I've known in my entire life. No wonder my ex-boyfriend hangs out with you…"
"Oh, so you broke up with him again? How surprising."
"It's nothing new to see how pathetic he's become."
"Oh yeah? Well maybe it's because you're such a-"
Before Minuteman said something he would have eternally regretted, a car behind them honked at them. They both turned around and, seeing what was in front of him, Minuteman said, "No way. " Gleaming in front of the two teens was a tenth generation 2014 Chevy Impala, with the same black paint with white racing stripes. The doors opened, and Minuteman climbed into the driver's seat. He had almost shut the passenger side door before realizing Sunset was still on the sidewalk, thoroughly pissed at him. He contemplated what he would do next before throwing the door back open. "Look," he said quietly, "I'd be a real lousy friend if I left you here alone. You wanna come in?"
Sunset sighed and said in an equally quiet tone, "Sure, thanks," as she climbed into the new Impala, shutting the door behind her.
The rest of the ride was silent until the Impala drove up onto the hill it 'stalled' at the other day. It parked itself on the edge and opened the doors for the teens to get out. The two climbed out of the vehicle and shut the doors before sitting on the hood of the car. They then sat in silence underneath the shining stars before Minuteman said, "About what happened in the tunnel…"
"Don't worry," Sunset said, cutting him off. "I never really meant any of it. I've gotten so used to lying that even I'm not sure what's true and what isn't."
"So I'm not the weirdest kid you know?" Minuteman asked.
"No, you still are…" Sunset replied, sighing. "You sure are something special."
"Like… what kind of special?"
"Gifted, I guess."
Their hands were moving closer to each other on the hood of the car as they talked. Just when they were about to touch, however, Black Lightning's radio (Is There Anybody Out There?) went off, startling the two. Not soon after, they saw a group of five meteors in the sky, racing towards them…
The little girl was fast asleep, holding on to her stuffed teddy bear. She was awakened by what sounded like thunder from outside, although it wasn't raining. She got out of her bed, teddy bear in hand, and walked out back. In her pool was a monstrous being made of metal, water spilling off of it as it climbed out over her. As it walked over and past her, she mustered up the courage to say in her Southern accent, "S'cuse me, but who are ya?"
An orange girl with blonde hair came walking outside just as the being hid in the trees, saying, "Apple Bloom, what're ya- Apple Bloom?"
"Yeah?"
"What'dja do to tha pool?"
As the girl brought her younger sister inside, who was babbling about 100-foot robots, they didn't notice a black truck identical to the one next to it settling in the driveway before pulling out. This was Ironhide.
The military base was quiet as could be. The only one that was awake was the director in the control tower, and even then, he was nodding off. However, he was suddenly awoken by a ground-shaking crash on the airstrip. He jumped out of his chair to see a ball of fire burning out on the strip, grabbing his radio and yelling, "All personnel to the airstrip, all personnel to the airstrip! We have an unidentified object on the runway!"
Soon, the whole of the base had their weapons trained at the fireball. Firefighters came over to put out the fire, only to find a large crater in the middle of it. "Search the perimeter," the colonel said, nobody noticing the green Oshkosh Sand Cat known as Hound driving away from the scene.
The third meteor landed in a baseball stadium, right next to a car dealership. The robot had quickly climbed out of the stadium and swung down the the ground below, spying a sky blue Mitsubishi Eclipse inside of the dealership. Lightspeed scanned the car and, with his new form, sped down the road to rendezvous with the other Autobots.
"Chug, chug, chug, chug!" yelled a group of teens as their friend was downing a pitcher of beer. A pale yellow freshman was holding a camera, recording the event. Unfortunately, their hazing was cut short as an earth-shaking crash came from outside. As the teens ran out to investigate leaving their drunk friend behind, one of them ran back in and said, "Come on, Featherweight, you gotta record this!"
Outside, there was an automotive shop that was completely destroyed and lit up by whatever had crashed. "Oh man," the same kid said, "this guy's so boned! Who's gonna believe that his shop was destroyed by nothing ?"
A siren pierced the commotion as people moved aside to let a green ambulance pass by them, not knowing it was the Autobot Ratchet making his way to the rest of his team.
The final one flew right over Minuteman and Sunset Shimmer's heads into Cauldron Lake, slamming into a hill on the way. It quickly climbed out of the lake and ran to a different hilltop, where a red semi with blue flames at the front was passing by. Optimus Prime scanned the car and transformed into it as the two teens watched.
As Optimus drove away, Black Lightning came up behind them in robot mode. "You guys ready to go?" he asked.
"Go where?" Minuteman replied.
"To meet the Autobots," Black Lightning said as he transformed back into the Impala, doors opening. The two teens looked at each other in disbelief before getting into the car, which promptly peeled out of the dirt road.
Author's Note
Chapters will get bigger as the story goes on, due to how I've planned it. Also, double word count this week for not updating last week.
[Arc I] Chapter Two: Car Trouble
The black Impala pulled over to the side of the road by Cauldron Lake, behind an equally black Camaro. The door of the car opened up, and out stepped Minuteman, finally happy to have his own car. He slammed the door shut and jogged over to a tree where Flash Sentry was reading a book, sitting down next to him. "Is she here yet?" he asked Flash.
"No, and neither is Sunset," replied Minuteman.
"Sunset? I thought you broke up with her a while ago."
"Well, she's changed ever since the incident at the Fall Formal. She's gotten nicer." The two thought back to the year's Fall Formal, when their classmate, Sunset Shimmer, turned out to be a pony from another universe hellbent on taking it over. She then proceeded to turn into a demon and enslave all the students at the school before a group of six students used the 'magic of friendship' or whatever to save the students. "It's a real shame that Twilight didn't stay behind, she was really cute."
"Careful what you say," Minuteman said, "or Sunset might get jealous."
"She's not here," Flash said, turning a page in his book. "What she doesn't know won't hurt her."
"Whatever. What're you reading, anyway?"
"Nothing," Flash quickly said, closing the book and hiding it from Minuteman.
"Come on," Minuteman pushed. "You can tell me , at least."
Flash sighed. "I've just been trying to figure out how to fix all the stuff that came between me and Sunset. I don't want this to end up like the last one with her."
"And you're resorting to–" Minuteman grabbed the book from Flash "–'How To Fix Your Broken Relationship' by some writer who has no idea what you're going through?"
"I wish Twilight were here," Flash said. "Things wouldn't be so complicated . I really liked her, too."
"What was that?" came a stern female voice behind them. The two turned around to see the flame-haired Sunset Shimmer standing behind them, hands on her hips and staring threateningly at Flash Sentry. "Well? I'm waiting!"
"I- uh… I'll see you later, Minuteman," Flash muttered, trying to run after his girlfriend.
Almost immediately, Green Leaf slid in next to him. "What's up?" she asked, but Minuteman instead got up and tried to find out what was going on, disguising it as him going to his car, leaving Green Leaf all alone. "Oh… alright…" she said, let down by the sudden turn of events.
When he got to his car, Minuteman could clearly hear the argument between the two lovers. "It was just something I said," Flash explained, "no harm, no foul."
"'No harm, no foul'? As if!" replied Sunset. "You can't just say in front of your girlfriend that you like another girl!"
"Please, just listen! It's already been hard enough putting the past behind us, it was just an innocent comment. Twilight's not here, but you are."
There was a long silence between the two until Sunset sighed and said, "Look, I'm gonna head home. Please don't follow me."
As Sunset walked off, Minuteman thought to himself, Maybe I can help Flash out… As if his car somehow knew what he was thinking, the car radio turned on to a random radio station. As the melody played, Minuteman revved the motor of his vehicle and drove up alongside Sunsest. "Hey, I was wondering if you wanted a ride home! It, uh, looks like it might rain!"
The girl looked at the clear blue sky, chuckled, and said, "Look, I'm just not like that. I've got a boyfriend."
"I know!" Minuteman said. "I'm friends with him, Flash Sentry! Now please, get in! Let me give you a ride home!"
Sunset contemplated this for a minute before opening the door to the Impala and getting in, Minuteman driving off onto the dirt road.
The two sat in silence for most of the ride. It wasn't until they were nearing Sunset's home that one of them spoke up.
"So, uh, what classes do we have together?" Sunset asked.
"Well… we've got Equestrian History, Language Arts, Biology…"
"Hey, weren't you that kid who tried out for the football team?"
Minuteman internally shuddered. He was reminded about the time in tenth grade when he did try out for the football team. With so many people running at him, he ended up panicking and locking up, causing what felt like the brute force of the whole team to ram into him. "Uh, no, I don't believe so. Don't know who you're talking about," he replied, hoping Sunset wouldn't catch his lie.
It didn't work. "Yeah, you're that kid… uh, Minuteman, was it?"
Before Minuteman could respond, however, the car's radio started working on it's own again, playing a romantic song. "I… uh… I-I've got nothing to do with this," he stammered, but Sunset's face showed the thought otherwise. "I mean, we barely know each other, and you've got a boyfriend, and…"
The car took a sharp right turn onto the edge of a large hill, showing the whole of Canterlot in the beautiful sunset. It then seemed to shut itself off, and wouldn't turn on no matter how much Minuteman turned the key.
Sunset Shimmer sighed and said, "Just pop the hood, there's most likely some engine trouble." Minuteman did what she said, and the two got out of the car to look at the engine.
"Wow…" they both said in unison.
"How did you get an engine like this?" Sunset asked.
"It came with the car…" Minuteman replied.
"Why don't you try to start the car again?" Sunset suggested. Minuteman agreed and got back into the front seat, turning the ignition again and again. However, it was to no avail: the car would just not start. Sunset sighed and said, "It's alright, I think I'll walk home. It's not that far, anyways."
"Alright," Minuteman said. "Walking's good." He got back into his car, trying to start the motor up. On the third try, though, then engine revved to life, and the radio turned to yet another random station. The teen jumped out of his car and slammed the hood shut, then got back in and turned the car around, pulling up next to Sunset. "It's working again," he said, opening the door for her.
The black Impala pulled up to the single-family house that Sunset Shimmer lived in. "Thanks for the ride back," she said as she moved to get out of the car. However, she stopped for a moment and turned back to Minuteman. "Do you… do you think I'm shallow?" she asked. "I mean, I'm one of the most popular girls in school, dating the most popular boy, getting jealous over another popular girl he used to like… it just feels sort of cookie-cutter, my life."
"I think… that… there is more to you than meets the eye…" Minuteman said slowly, unsure of his own words.
Sunset smiled. "Thanks," she said before getting out and going into her home.
As Minuteman drove away, he said to himself, "'More to you than meets they eye', that was pretty stup- OH SHIT!" He had to swerve out the way to avoid a speeding police car coming from the other way. "Wow, that was close…" he told himself as he continued on home.
Minuteman awoke to the sound of an engine revving. "What the hell is that…?" he asked himself as he made his way to his window. He looked out to find his car pulling out of the driveway. "NononononononoNO!" he yelled as he ran out of his room, down the stairs, and out the back door. He grabbed his bike and started pedaling as fast as he could behind his car.
Eventually, the car led to an abandoned train yard. Minuteman followed it in part of the way before getting off of his bike, hiding behind some barrels. What he saw next blew his mind.
He peeked over the edge of the barrels to see a large robot of sorts standing tall, projecting a light into the sky. In it was the same symbol that Minuteman saw in the car's steering wheel. "Oh my Celestia," he whispered. However, it wasn't quietly enough, as two dogs started barking ferociously. They pulled against their chains until they broke free, forcing Minuteman to run. "This is it!" he yelled to himself, "this is how I'm going to die!"
Eventually, he reached a cylindrical building. He ran inside and jumped up on a few barrels that were stacked in the middle of the room. "Hush!" Minuteman yelled. "Nice doggies! Calm down!"
The black Impala suddenly burst through one of the walls, powersliding around Minuteman. Oh Celestia, this guy wants to kill me! he thought to himself. When he could, he jumped off of the barrels and out of the building. The car did not follow.
When Minuteman got home, his uncle was waiting on the outside porch. "What the hell was that all about?" he asked.
"Car… stolen… giant… robot… light… dogs… chasing…" the teen managed to say, having ran all the way home. This intrigued Quick Scope.
"A giant robot, you say? Minuteman, I think it's time I told you what happened on my 'day out'…" As Quick Scope led his nephew inside, he started to tell his story.
"It was in the middle of the hot desert day when me and my platoon reached our destination: a small desert village called Boarador. Some of the locals said they had found some sort of metal creature. Of course, no one in my platoon really believed in it, it sounded… too strange, I guess. Anyways, we were about to head down to the village when this radio tower fell, kicking up a lot of sand. The damn thing nearly got me, if it weren't for my second-in-command, Red Dot. The thing was real, and it wanted us dead. We ran down to the village, where the locals were already firing at… whatever it was. It looked like someone took a few helicopter turbines and expertly made them into some sort of killing machine. We managed to hurt it with some special rounds, sabot rounds. It's magnesium that burns at 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit. We lost twenty men that day. We took a piece of the tail that was severed back to base, where it's being studied right now."
"Wow…" Minuteman whispered. "You think what I saw was one of those?"
"First off," Quick Scope said, "why are you whispering? We're alone here."
"Oh… yeah…"
"As for your question, I'm not sure. But let's not worry about it, we need to get to sleep."
"But… what about my car? It was stolen!"
"Don't worry. We'll find it. Together. You know what we say, right?"
"No sacrifice, no victory…" Minuteman mumbled.
"That's right," Quick Scope replied. "Now, get to bed. It's been a long night."
Author's Note
Wow, I updated a story? Holy shit!
