Beast Wars: Friendship is Magic

“Warning: Internal pod scanners compromised.  Opening hatch and awakening occupant.”

A loud hiss rang out in the warrior’s ears as the pod popped open.  Light flooded through the crack, stinging the warrior’s optics as they struggled to adjust to the sudden shift in brightness.  He raised an arm, shielding his optics to buy them some more time to adjust.  In time, he was able to see clearly again and he sat up, clutching his head.  The crash had a greater impact than he had initially thought.

The warrior turned his head and got a good look of his surroundings.  Green trees surrounded the perimeter, lush, green grass coated the ground.  Brightly colored flowers of all shapes and sizes littered the ground with lovely odors coating the air.

It made him sick.

“Computer,” he heaved himself out of the pod and onto the soft grass, crushing one of the flowers beneath his feet. “Give me a status report.”

“Planet unknown.  Require further data analysis.”

“But that can’t be right…” the warrior looked up at the heavenly blue sky above, his processor plagued with an ever growing sense of doubt.  “Is this not earth?  It shares some resemblance, but something about it seems… off.  Megatron has possession of the Golden Disk… the only way to know for sure if this truly is earth is to locate Megatron and the Disk.”

“Warning,” chimed in the computer. “Scanners indicate overabundance of Energon radiation within the area have rendered communications offline.  Alternate Beast mode is recommended to prevent permanent damage to robot mode.”

The warrior snarled.

“Megatron, that fool!” he growled with venom dripping from his voice.  “Had he destroyed the Maximals instead of stroking his own ego, we wouldn’t have crashed on this Primus forsaken, backwater planet along with them!”

The warrior skulked his way deeper into the forest, searching for any suitable life forms that he may be able to take the form of, but there were none in sight.  It was as if they had all disappeared or migrated.

*Splunk!*

The warrior’s train of thought was interrupted once again, this time by the sound of his foot stepping into some kind of liquid.  He looked down to see his feet submerged several inches of water that climbed up to his ankles.  The warrior muttered to himself, but thought little of it as he decided to the Pit with it and continue onward… which he very well would have done, had his legs suddenly not been frozen in place when the water became ice solid within the blink of an eye, trapping his ankles.

“What in the Pit?!” he yelled out.  The warrior struggled, yanking his legs upward, but the ice wouldn’t give so easily.  With his patience running thin, the warrior’s optics lit up as green beams of energy shot out from them and struck the ice, blowing it to shards around him, thus freeing his legs.  “How is it that this water could suddenly solidify itself in such a short amount of time?”

His question was answered in the form of laughter and metal skidding across the ice a short distance away.  The warrior turned towards the source and found that a large bush blocked his view.  Parting it with his hands, the warrior gazed through the brambles and saw what he swore was something out of fiction.

It looked to be some sort of thin creature that was an amalgamation of other animals skating on ice, spinning about and laughing.  A goat head?  A lion paw?  An eagle’s talon?  A dragon tail?  What in the name of the Primes was this thing?  To add to this, the creature wasn’t alone.  Several four-legged lifeforms stood nearby, most of their faces painted with looks of annoyance and impatience.  Their bright colors and nonthreatening appearance alone already warranted the warrior’s dislike of them.  They appeared to be yelling at the skating creature on the ice, but a yellow one with a bright pink mane, in particular, seemed to be the most annoyed of them all.

Given his status as a soldier, these creatures really should have been beneath his attention… but even warriors have curiosity and it got the better of this one.  Tuning in his audio receptors to the argument, the warrior listened closely and observed.

“I do prefer ice skating to water skiing, don’t you?” Discord laughed.  Fluttershy normally isn’t one to lose her patience, but this was one of those few occasions and, boy, was it well warranted.

“Discord!” without a second thought, she leapt onto the ice in a frustrated fury. “That’s not fixing it!  Why I oughta,” her sentence was cut when she realized that running wasn’t exactly the wisest of moves and she wound up sliding more than running.

Wait…

The warrior’s processor almost burned out. Is she implying that that… thing did this? he looked back down at the ice and then at the draconequus.  This world is… intriguing.

“Where are you going?" Discord chuckled at her clumsiness.  Though, Fluttershy was of a different opinion as she struggled to keep her balance all whilst grinding her teeth, her temper reaching the boiling point.  “What’s wrong, pal?” Discord feigned concern.

“Don’t call me your pal!" she snapped.  Discord, of course, hardly took her growing anger into consideration.

“Oh, pfft, come skating with me and we’ll let bygones be bygones.” Discord popped up a pair of ice skates, dangling them in front of her.

Did he just conjure up solid materials out of nowhere…?  What kind of planet is this?!

The warrior gawked at the sight.

Spike slid onto the ice, offering Fluttershy her element.

“Here you go, Fluttershy!  Game on!”

“He fixes this or he goes back to being stone!  Princess Celestia will understand!” Twilight prompted.

The warrior tilted his head.

Princess?

If he had to guess, it would be that this being they spoke of was of a higher authority.  But what was also noteworthy, were those necklaces and that tiara above the purple one’s head.  The power to turn a living creature into stone?  That’s something Megatron would find very interesting.

There was a tense moment of silence as Fluttershy glanced at her element, then at Discord, but eventually she had made her decision.

“I made a promise not to use my element against him and I’m going to keep it.”

Fluttershy took hold of the skates as Pinkie gasped in shock, Rainbow and Applejack groaned in irritation, and Twilight’s and Rarity’s jaws dropped all while Discord scoffed triumphantly.

The warrior did have to admire this pegasus in keeping her word… but whether this was really worth it or not remained to be seen.

“You see?  She wants to have fun with me because we’re friends.  She can’t use her element against me because we’re friends.  I’m free forever!” Discord broke out in a fit of laughter, though Fluttershy boiled with every word that came out of his mouth.  After everything she had to put up with, all the patience she showed him, Discord did nothing but take advantage of her kindness just to further mess with her friends and roam free.  Even when she thought she had made progress, it was little more than a ruse.  She had finally reached her breaking point with his antics and all of her frustrations came out in three simple words.

“NOT!  YOUR!  FRIEND!” she hurled the skates across the ice, seething.

The warrior snorted.  That statement probably would have actually meant something to him had he really cared about this friendship nonsense in the first place; and he didn’t.

“Who cares?  I can do whatever I want, whenever I want.  I’m Discord, the master of chaos!  You think you can boss Discord around?”

The warrior almost laughed out loud.  A pony bossing this thing around?  A creature that can apparently bend reality to his will kowtowing to a pony with a soft-spoken voice?  What a joke!

“You think I’m just going to turn all this back because you say so?  Because if I don’t, I’ll lose the one friend I ever had?”

Wait, what?

The gears in the warrior’s processor slowly began to turn.  Something felt like he knew what was coming next.  He really hoped it wasn’t the case.

Then the realization struck Discord right to his heart and it sunk.  Fluttershy saw some good in him while her friends didn’t.  She was willing to give him a chance and had to sacrifice a lot for him.  Yet this was how he repaid her?  He shouldn’t have felt guilty, especially after what he’s done in the past, but… this time was different.  Just the sight of those skates Fluttershy discarded filled him with a sense of genuine guilt.

“Oh… well played, Fluttershy… well played.” was all he said.

You are NOT serious…

The warrior’s jaw dropped.  Was this really happening?  This was a joke, right?  A game, right?

Discord sat himself down and within moments the ice disappeared and everything returned to its natural state.  The ponies rejoiced as the frost had cleared.

Dear Primus, this was happening!  The warrior shook his head at the display.

"I liked it better my way, but… I guess when you’re friends, you can’t always have things your way, eh?” Discord sheepishly said as he tapped his fingers together.

Okay, that was it.  He’d seen enough of this feelsy scrap already.  He didn’t need to see more.  The warrior turned to take his leave, but then his body went stiff as he collapsed to a knee.

The Energon build up!  How could have forgotten so easily?  He’d spent too much time satisfying his curiosity that he’d neglected to search for an alternate form!  The warrior slowly looked back out onto the plain and saw that he had few options.  Either one of the ponies or the draconequus.

Either become a squishy, four-legged equine or a creature that can bend reality to its will, yet chooses to submit to the former for the sake of “friendship.”  Despite what he had seen, the warrior was low on time and had to choose now.  He turned his focus to Discord and the scanning process was over within moments.

The warrior strode through the forest of the Everfree, his processor having had enough of the sight he had just witnessed.  First ponies, then magical creatures of chaos, what’s next, an ancient, magic sucking centaur?  At this point, even in the short amount of time he’d been there, it would hardly surprise if there truly was such an entity.

The warrior then noticed what appeared to be a large swirl of smoke in the distance.  He tilted his head to the side and began to make his way towards it.

It didn’t take the warrior long to reach the source of the smoke, discovering a campsite placed in front of a large cave where two teenage dragons were busy puffing balls of flame onto a large stack of wood, creating the smoke screen that would ascend into the sky.

“You two!” the warrior called out, which quickly caught their attention.

"Who’s this guy?” Fume asked.

“Don’t know, but the boss said to keep a lookout for anyone who came by.” Fizzle said.

“You are the ones responsible for this bonfire?” the warrior raised an eyebrow.  “For what purpose?”

“Who wants to know?” Fume crossed his arms.

“The bot who’s going to flay you alive in the next few nano-kliks if you don’t answer my question.” the warrior snarled.

Fume and Fizzle growled back, smoke beginning to seep from their mouths.  Before a serious physical confrontation could take place, however, a voice from within the cave broke up the squabble.

"Stand down.  I believe this may be one of my associates.  Yesss.”

The warrior recognized that eloquent, malevolent voice anywhere.

“Megatron?”

The black dragon slowly emerged from the shadows of the cavern’s entrance.

"In the flesh.  Yesss.”

“I see that you’ve survived the crash.” the warrior looked his leader over. “And you’ve acquired a form as well.”

“Quite impressive, isn’t it?” Megatron chuckled before looking his subordinate over inquisitively.  “And… just what are you supposed to be?”

“Don’t even ask.  It’s a long and sappy story,” the warrior rolled his eyes.  “Where’s the Disk?”

“I have preserved it within my pod.  I have done a fair job in keeping it from prying hands.  It’s over there.” Megatron waved a hand towards his escape pod within the mouth of the cavern. “Though, I can’t imagine why you’d want it anymore now that we’re on a planet dripping with Energon to begin with.  Nooo.”

The Predacon warrior approached the pod and reached in, pulling out the Maximal relic, the light from the outside reflecting off its shiny surface.  The warrior walked outside of the cave, glancing at the environment around them as he observed the Disk and read the encrypted scriptures closely, comparing it with the planet’s scenery he had seen before he had arrived… needless to say, it wasn’t the result he was looking for.

“No,” he whispered to himself, the revelation hitting him hard.  "No, no, no, no, no, NO!!! It’s all WRONG!  This cannot be Earth!”

The now irate warrior whirled back to the cave, the disk clutched tightly within his claws.

“Megatron, you’ve failed.  Not only did you fail to destroy the Maximals when you had the chance, you failed to even bring us to the right planet!  We stole the Golden Disk for nothing, you IDIOT!”

With that declaration, the warrior hurled the Disk into the cave, a loud clang being heard as it connected with the walls.  Megatron slowly, deliberately turned to face the warrior.

“I beg your pardon, but… what did you call me?” Megatron’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he glared at the warrior, who didn’t falter under his icy gaze.

“You heard me.  You are an idiot and an incompetent leader!  And I am taking over.” with that challenge declared, the Predacon announced his new activation code. “Ragnarok, Terrorize!”

As the transformation took place, the wings took place on Ragnarok’s shoulder, becoming pauldrons, the long, lanky neck of the draconequus’ form became an arm with the head opening wide, allowing a clawed fist to emerge.  The chest split in half, revealing a large metal chest plate, resembling that of a medieval soldier’s armor.  Ragnarok’s head was protected by a gold helmet that encased most of his head, though his face was left in view.  The tail became a detachable makeshift blade with serrated edges that he unsheathed in the manner of a sword.  His red optics glared at Megatron with a flash.

“I challenge you, Megatron, to a one-on-one battle for leadership of the Predacons.  The winner shall lead and the loser shall be destroyed!"

“Ah, you’re so impulsive, Ragnarok.” Megatron’s anger seemed to have melted away, being replaced with a more calm tone, though a slight sense of humor poisoned his inflection. “Brave, but misguided.”

Ragnarok only gripped his weapon tighter.

“Do you accept my challenge?”

Megatron simply laughed.  He had found Ragnarok’s insubordination to be a complete joke, especially with what he had planned next.

“There’s more to being a leader than simple courage.  Well, there’s cleverness and cunning as well.  Isn’t that right… Steeljaws?”

Megatron then gestured his head to the side to reveal the scaled Predacon emerging from the brambles of the forest, weapon already drawn.  Ragnarok’s eyes widened in shock and he tried to raise his shield to defend himself, but Steeljaws had already let loose a missile that slammed into his chest and sent the belligerent Predacon flying a good several miles away.  Steeljaws let out a dark laugh as Ragnarok’s image faded over the treeline.

“Loser.” Megatron spat. “What does it matter what planet we’re on?  We came looking for Energon and this planet is rich with the element.  Enough to power the Predacons’ entire galactic conquest!  Only the Maximals could give us trouble now.”

"But Megatron, our numbers are few.  We’re scattered all over the place." Steeljaws pointed out. “If the Maximals survived, we’re outnumbered and I doubt those squishy dragons you’ve conscripted will be of much use in a fight.”

“They’re cannon fodder or scouts at best.” Megatron replied nonchalantly.  “But your point still stands.  We’ll need to recover our numbers before we can engage the Maximals.  That is if they survived the crash.  If they have, we’ll find them.  And when we find them… we’ll destroy them and anything else that gets in our way.  Yesss.”

Rainbow landed on the cloud where her house proudly stood.  She stretched out her wings and hooves, the day having taken a lot of out her.

“I didn’t think it could be done, but Fluttershy actually managed to do it.” She found herself saying to no one in particular.  “Though, I’m not counting on Discord and I getting along anytime soon, that’s for sure.  Oh well, might as well check up on how Blitz is doing.”

The pegasus was prepared to knock on the door when her eye caught a note stuck to the front.  She narrowed her eyes as she struggled to read the barely legible print.  He really needed to be taught on how to handwrite in Equestria.

I’m sorry, Rainbow, but I can’t just leave my friends out there all by themselves without knowing if they’re okay or not.  If you’re reading this, chances are that you got back before me and I’m a bit late.  I should be back soon.  I didn’t want to stress you out after having some important business to take care of, so I decided to take some weight off of your hands.  See you soon.- Blitz.

Rainbow’s eye slowly developed a twitch.

"He is SO DEAD!"