Transformers Multi-Versal: Pony for your Thoughts

Chapters

Chapter 1: Arrival
Chapter 2: Unwanted Guests
Chapter 3: Fight to the Finish
Chapter 4: Purging the Evil

Chapter 1: Arrival

Prologue: A rising evil- the ultra-powerful Transformer known as Unicron- has learned of an ancient prophecy, in which a group of seven Transformers known as the Keepers Of The AllSpark (KOTA) will rise up to foil his ultimate plan for the multiverse (which is unknown to everyone except him). Fortunately for Unicron, the heroes are scattered throughout the Multiverse, with very little hope of finding eachother. Despite this, four of the beings have located the others – Technosis, a former member of the Kids Next Door, who turned out to be a robot; Imperion Maximus, a combiner who was once human; Legatron, a five-and-a-half foot mech with adaptive powers that surpass even the most advanced Cybertronians; and Over-Drive, a Cyber-Ninja.
Their continuing quest to locate the remaining three members of their group requires them to track powerful energy surges across the multiverse, in hopes that they will lead them to their brethren. However, Unicron’s elite troops, the Dark Energon Heralds, are also attracted to these energy surges, hoping to find the new KOTA members first and eliminate them so that their master’s plans will succeed. Now, while Imperion and Over-Drive are investigating a disturbance elsewhere, Legatron and Technosis embark on a mission to an especially strange universe…

Location: AllSpark fleet ship T.R.E.E.H.O.U.S.E.T.R.O.N., currently located in a rift between universes

“Are you sure that I have to be the one to go on this mission?” Legatron complained.

“Soak it up, dude,” Technosis replied. “You’re the only one with the adaptive abilities this mission requires.”

“Well, the target place doesn’t exactly have a lot of vehicles to adapt,” Legatron countered.

The was no hiding the mischievous look that appeared on Technosis’ face as he walked over to a computer consol. “Oh, you won’t have to worry about that.” He tapped a few key commands before several pictures came on the screen. They seemed to be horses, but there was something different about them. Their faces conveyed a certain… sentience that other animals lacked. “Just scan these, mix and match pieces, and you’re good.”

Legatron didn’t respond at first. Suddenly, he burst into laughter. Abruptly he stopped. “You’re serious, aren’t you.”

“Yup,” Technosis replied, the amused look still plastered on his face.

“Slag.” Reluctantly, Legatron walked up to the screen. His eyes glowed intensely as transparent beams swept over the monitor. In his mind, Legatron constructed a 3D image of what his new alternate form would look like. When he was satisfied with the results, he began to fold in on himself. Fuzzy hologram projections surrounded him turning him even greener tha usual. The holograms righted, revealing a green horse with a black and silver-streaked mane and tail, as well as wings. On each of his back hips was the dark green KOTA insignia.

“Well, how do I look?” Legatron asked, dreading the answer.

“Uh… convincing?” Technosis stammered, suppressing more laughter.

Legatron rolled his eyes, then unfurled his feathery wings. “Well, let’s get this over with.”

Technosis tapped a few more key commands into the computer. A blue sphere of energy appeared between two pillars behind Legatron.

“Transwarp field is ready,” Technosis reported.

The green pegasus nodded. He started walking toward the glowing field of energy that would transport him to the desired universe, but ended up tripping over his hooves.

“Bein’ a quadruped looks pretty rough,” Technosis noted.
Legatron glared at the white robot. “I swear, when I see you next, I’m going to punch you in the fact so hard your optic sensors will end up in the back of your cranium.”

“Good luck with that,” Technosis muttered sarcastically.

Legatron tried once more to walk, this time with more success. “So exactly WHERE are you going, again, that you can’t join me on this mission?” Legatron questioned.

“Oh… I’m, uh, investigating another energy surge in another universe,” Technosis stammered.
“Yeah, right,” Legatron muttered doubtfully. With that, he leapt through the Transwarp field and disappeared.

A few seconds later, the computer beeped, indicating that he had made it. Technosis shut down the energy field.

The white robot smiled to himself. “Or maybe watch a little television.” He plopped down on an over-stuffed couch and began channel surfing. As he did, he thought about what Legatron would probably have to endure in a universe inhabited by pink ponies. It was almost enough to make Technosis feel a pang of guilt for not even trying to find a way to go along with him.

Said guilt quickly vanished as a new episode of the show Psych started on his TV screen.

*********
Location: Equestria

A glowing sphere of blue energy appeared suddenly at the top of a hill. A green horse materialized before the sphere faded.

“Alright, all I gotta do is get in, find what’s going on, and leave,” Legatron muttered. “Simple enough.” He thought for a moment. “It’d probably be simpler if I had any sort of idea what the scrap I’m looking for.” He recalled the energy burst they had detected- it was unlike any energy reading they had ever seen before, and, if weaponized, would be powerful enough to take down an entire army.

The green pegasus began walking. “Well, at least this is a stealth and infiltration mission, so I don’t have to-” As if right on cue, he tripped on a rock and was sent tumbling down the side of the hill. He landed on his stomach, legs sprawled out to the side.

“Well, so much for stealth,” he muttered.

“Oh my gosh, are you alright?” a soft, female voice said.

Startled, he looked up to see four ponies standing over him.

Aaaaaand there goes any hope I had of not having to interfere with the locals, he thought.

The one that had spoken was lavender-purple colored with dark purple hair. On her forehead was what appeared to be a unicorn horn. To her right were two other ponies; a white one with curly purple hair and a unicorn-horn, the other a light pink one with puffy, darker-pink hair. To her left was a light yellow one with wings and long, strait, pink hair.

“Uh, yeah,” the green horse stammered as he picked himself up. “I’m fine.”

“Who are you?” The pink pony asked.

Legatron froze. He’d forgotten to create a false identity for himself.

“Uh… Leon Tronnix,” he answered, using the false name he had used in the past when he had to disguise himself as a human.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle.” The lavender unicorn said. She motioned to the white unicorn and yellow winged ones. “This is Rarity, and Fluttershy. You’ve already met Pinkie Pie.”

“Pleasure meeting you all,” Leon said, almost cringing at his own words.

“I’ve never seen you before,” Twilight continued. “Are you new here?”

“Y-yeah, kinda,” he stammered. “I’m a… traveler. Yeah, that’s it, a traveler.”

The lavender unicorn gave him an odd look. “They why don’t you have any supplies?”

Thinking fast, Leon unfurled his wings. “Uh, I just fly everywhere and take rest stops. I wasn’t traveling too far this time, so I didn’t need to bring anything.”

“Do you need a place to stay?” Rarity asked.

Leon thought for a moment. “For a little while, yes.”

“There’s an old house on the outskirts of town. I know the pony who owns it,” she offered.

“Thanks…” Leon said slowly. He didn’t like the idea of staying in this universe for very long, but it seemed as though he would have little other choice.

“Our town, Ponyville, is just over that hill.” Twilight pointed in the direction of the small city.
‘Ponyville’? Leon thought as he followed the four ponies toward the town. Talk about unoriginal.

*********

“Man, I’m supposed to be keeping a low profile,” Leon muttered, “But I feel like I stick out little a sore thu- uh, like a rose in a daisy patch.”

“What are you talking about?” Twilight questioned.

“Uh, roses are usually red,” Leon started, “So they’d be noticeable in-”

“No, about you sticking out,” the purple unicorn interrupted.

“Oh, right. Well, in case you haven’t noticed,” he motion to the town around them, “Ninety-five percent of the population here is female.”

“It isn’t where you come from?” Pinkie Pie asked.

Leon rolled his eyes. “No, it isn’t.”

“Where did you say you were from again?” Twilight asked.

“Um- er…” Leon stammered.

A multicolored blur suddenly zipped past overhead. A voice then cried out, “Hey, guys! Check this out!” The blur reappeared, performing several complicated mid-air maneuvers. It then came to a stop on the ground in front of them, revealing itself to be a blue Pegasi with a multi-colored mane and tail. “So, what’cha think?”

“Amazing as ever, Rainbow,” Twilight said.

“Thank you, thank you.” She bowed, then pointed to Leon. “Who’s this?”

“Name’s Leon. Leon Tronnix,” he replied.

“I’m Rainbow Dash,” the newcomer replied.

“Fitting enough,” Leon muttered.

Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight. “So, where ya’ headin’?”

As if right on cue, Rarity trotted up. “I talked to my friend. She said you could keep the place, if you want. Don’t know why she would just want to get rid of it like that…”

“Oh, thanks,” Leon said.

“Uh, what’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I’m gonna be hangin’ around for awhile,” Leon explained, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“You’re not from here? Then where are you from?” Rainbow questioned suspiciously. “And what are you doing here?”

Leon sighed. “C’mon, Rarity, let’s check out that place.”

They started to walk off, with Rainbow Dash tailing them. “Hey! I’m talkin’ to you, Tronnix! Hey!”

**********

“Y’know, it’s funny,” Rarity said, “I remembered it in a lot better shape.”

The house in front of them wasn’t far from being in the best condition- or even a livable condition, for that matter. Shutters were hanging by single nails, the door creaked on its hinges, and the roof seemed about ready to cave in.

“Well, it’ll do,” Leon conceded. “Know where I can get any building supplies?”

Rarity thought a moment. “Well, I think my friend Applejack had a few apple trees she was going to cut down. You could probably use those. I’ll have Twilight take you there soon.”

A few shingles slid off the roof and shattered against the ground. “Better sooner than later,” Leon commented.

*********

“So, your friend Applejack is part of the Apple family, with her sister Applebloom, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith, and they make a living selling apples from their farm called Sweet Apple acres,” Leon said, reciting what the purple unicorn had told him during their walk to the farm.

“Yup,” Twilight replied.

“Seems a little redundant to me,” Leon murmured.

They walked under a large sign that proudly declared the name of the business. Continuing along a dirt trail, Leon noted that the apple trees on either side of them stretched as far as he could see.

Up ahead was an orange pony with white freckles, yellow hair bunched into a ponytail by a single hairband, and a brown cowboy hat.

“Applejack!” Twilight cried.

Apple jack looked over from her work, then approached them. “Well, howdy-do!”

Twilight motion to Leon. “Applejack, this is Leon Tronnix. He-”

Before Leon could say hi, he found Applejack vigorously shaking his hoof. “Pleasure to meet ya’. Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres. What can I do ya’ for? Apple Pies? Apple Strudel? Apple Turnover?” she said in a thick country accent.

“Actually, I’m in need of some building supplies,” Leon explained, “And I heard you had some trees cut down?”

“Shoot, yeah!” She pointed to a pile of logs. “Take all ya’ need.”

“Thanks!” Leon said before glancing at the large pile of wood. “Now if only I had a transport…

“Got yah covered,” Applejack said as she turned to the barn “Hey, Big Macintosh!”

A bulky red male pony appeared.

“Our new friend Leon here needs ta’ take these logs ta’ his place, “Applejack explained. “Think y’all can help?”

“Eeeeyup!” Big Mac replied as he strode over to the pile and hoisted it onto a cart, which he then latched himself onto.

“Thank you, kind sir,” Leon said as he started back to his new, and hopefully temporary, home.

“Nice kid,” Applejack spoke up after Leon was out of earshot. “Where’s he from?”

“He didn’t say,” Twilight replied. “All he said was that he’s a traveler,”

Applejack studied the retreating form of the green pegasus. There was something off about him, but she just couldn’t put her hoof on it…

*********

It took Leon barely an hour to fix up the house. He left some of the worn-out, abandoned look, but adjusted it to be structurally sound.

After which, Twilight Sparkle gave him a tour of Ponyville. He found himself genuinely surprised by her intellect and decided that she was easily the most tolerable of all the ponies he met that day.

By the time the tour was over, it was dark. After entering his temporary home and double-checking that the doors and windows were locked, Leon leapt up on addresser and changed. His pony form split apart in several places as pieces of him changed color, revealing much more black and silver than what was just on his mane and tail. When the shape-shifting process was complete, he had taken the form of a large mechanical device that was very roughly box shaped. It had the overall appearance as a boombox, having two speakers on each side of its face.

In his mind, Legatron began making a log of his progress. He then attempted to contact Technosis to no avail.

Legatron sighed to himself as he dreadfully wondered how long he would have to remain in this freaky universe.

*********

Location: Deep within the Everfree Forest

A blue mist of energy hovered a few inches above the ground. Though the cloud-like form, as a whole, wasn’t moving, the energy that it was comprised of swirled around in a seemingly random pattern.

A rapidly repeating WHUMP WHUMP WHUMP suddenly broke the silence. A massive metal shape with spinning blades appeared in the sky. Suddenly, a strange mechanical cry rang out, consisting of five pulses, each one higher pitched than the last. With this sound the metal monstrosity changed into an even bigger bipedal being and carefully touched down on the ground. Its deep black armor blended in with the dark trees behind it with bits of deep maroon visible in the moonlight. A relatively small head sat between is broad, blocky shoulders.

The cloud of energy then began to change, taking on the form of a tall, dark pony with a light blue helmet, chestplate and shoes. Some of the energy remained, forming the sinister-looking mare’s mane and tail.

“I take it you’re this “Shiftech” being who left me that message at that old castle?” Nightmare Moon asked.

“Indeed I am,” the massive metal being replied. Nightmare noticed that as he spoke, two metal plates over his mouth slid apart sideways.

“So what is this ‘favor’ you need to ask of me?” Nightmare continued.

Shiftech reached into a compartment in his back and withdrew what appeared to be a purple shard of crystal. He knelt down so Nightmare could get a better look at it. “This shard is all that remains of a powerful warrior that was unfortunately destroyed before he could show off his true potential. I need you to perform a regeneration spell so that he may have a second chance at life.”

Nightmare studied he shard carefully before looking up at Shiftech. “If he’s as big as you, there’s no way I have enough energy to do that.”

“You misunderstand,” Shiftech replied. “This is merely a part of his life force. All I need you to do is regenerate it- I have other ways of recreating his body.”

Nightmare nodded. “And in return?”

Shiftech’s eyes narrowed. “In return I will use MY energy to give you an upgrade. You will become mechanical, like me, with the capability of changing between your current form and a bipedal form at will. You’d no longer be forced to live in your state.”

Nightmare studied one of her hoofs. It was hard to tell in the dark, but her entire body was slightly transparent- a direct result of the Elements of Harmony reducing her to a mist of energy that wasn’t capable of becoming fully solid. This upgrade that Shiftech was promising would fix that.

Nightmare smiled sinisterly. “You have a deal. But I have to ask- what is the name of this warrior?”

Shiftech placed the shard on the ground and stood up. “His name?” he paused a moment before answering. “Galvatron.”

To Be Continued…

Chapter 2: Unwanted Guests

Ka-thump.

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes popped open at the sound. It was the dead of night and she had been sleeping peacefully. She figured Spike had gone for a midnight snack and accidentally dropped something, waking her up.

This idea was quickly shot down by the sound of the baby dragon’s soft snoring coming from his basket-bed on the floor.

Quietly, the purple unicorn slipped out from under her blankets and tip-toed to the door. She opened it slowly, cringing at the steady creek the hinges made. She made a mental note to oil them later.

Using her glowing horn as a flashlight, Twilight carefully crept down the stairs to the main section of the library. Ordinarily such a task would be painless, but the thought of another pony breaking into her home at night made her jump at every shadow she saw.
Nervously, she angled her head so that the light from her horn travelled around the room. At last she found the source of the disturbance- a fairly large history book lying on the ground.
Twilight rolled her eyes, remembering the countless times she had instructed Spike to not let books hang over the edge of the shelf or- guess what? They fall!
The unicorn refocused her magic on picking up the book and placing it in its proper place on the shelf. She then started back up the stairs, chuckling to herself for being so afraid of nothing. The door to her room closed behind her with a click.

A second after said noise, a pair of eyes opened behind the bookshelf. But these were not pony eyes- they were primarily a glowing blue, with square, white pupils in the middle. The eyes glanced around, making sure the coast was clear before a metal hand reached out and pulled a book off the shelf- the very book Twilight Sparkle had placed there a moment ago.

The bipedal being slipped the book into a compartment on its back before sneaking quietly out the front door.

**********

“I’m telling you, Twilight, I never even TOUCHED any history books yesterday!” the baby dragon argued.

The unicorn yawned- a result of her inability to get back to sleep after the disturbance last night.

“Really?” Twilight finally replied. “Then why did I find THIS book-” Twilight attempted to use her magic to pull the book off the shelf, but to her surprise, nothing happened. Glancing back at the bookshelf, she saw an empty slot where the history book once was. “Alright, Spike, what did you do with it?”

“Do with WHAT?” the dragon asked curiously.

“The BOOK, Spike,” Twilight said, annoyed. “Hiding it won’t make things right.”

“I didn’t hide it! Honest!” Spike’s eyes grew wide in a pleading manner. “I… I know I’ve messed up and lied in the past, but... this time I’m really innocent.”

Twilight studied his face carefully before drawing the dragon closer in a hug. “Oh, I’m sorry, Spike. I’m just a bit irritable since I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”

Spike noted her half-shut eyelids and tangled mess of a mane. “Yeah, I… noticed.” His cheeks suddenly puffed up ah he let you a large BELCH. A scroll materialized from his fiery breath and smacked Twilight in the face. “Whoop, heh, sorry…”

Twilight laughed. “No trouble. I needed that to help me wake up anyway.”

Spike picked up the scroll, unrolled it, and began reading. “’Dearest Twilight Sparkle- It has recently come to my attention that it has been far too long since I have had the chance to meet with you face-to-face. With this in mind, I would like to personally invite you and your friends to a little get-together this afternoon here in Canterlot. I await your response, Princess Celestia.”

When Spike lowered the scroll, he saw a big grin on Twilight’s face.

“Ohmigosh, this is so awesome!” the unicorn gushed. “It HAS been forever since I’ve gotten the chance to speak with the Princess. And she wants ALL of us to come!”

“Yeah-ah!” Spike’s smile dropped. “Wait, I get to go along, too, right?”

Twilight laughed. “Well, yeah!”

“Yeah!” Spike repeated. “I’ll get everything ready!”

“I’ll go tell everyone the news,” Twilight said as she headed out the door. As she did, something popped into her mind- the fact that she now had a total of SIX friends to take to Canterlot.

**********

Legatron stared at the history book in front of him, carefully reading every scrap of information displayed on the fragile paper pages. He recalled his nearly being caught while “borrowing” the books.” Now he was carefully searching them for any sort of information that might tell him what that energy blast was.

He slammed the book shut. “Well, this has been no help. I doubt that energy signal came from this far back in time anyway,” he said, referring one of the laws of the Multiverse: By the time an energy signal from universe A can be detected in universe B, several years may have passed in universe A.

Suddenly, Legatron heard a knock at the front door. “Coming!” he answered, cringing at the metallic reverb in his robot voice that would be impossible for a pony to make.

As he hid the history books, he caught a glimpse of his robot mode in a cracked mirror. His pony-mode head rested on his back, while his mane was on his robot head. His pegasus wings had morphed into jet-like robot wings, and his tail ended up… well, where a tail is always located.

He sneered at the cracked reflection, hating what his new pony mode had done to his robot form. Remembering the knock on the door, he quickly morphed into Leon Tronnix and answered it.

He found himself face-to-face with a familiar purple unicorn. “Oh, hi, Twilight.”

“Hi, Leon!” twilight replied. “Listen, the Princess invited me and my friends to a get-together later today, and I wanted to know if you were interested in attending.”

“You want me to go to a formal gathering?” Leon asked, confused.

“No, I want you to come to an informal gathering, with only my six friends and the Princess.”

Leon considered. “Exactly where is this gathering?”

Twilight extended a hoof. “Canterlot.” Leon looked where she was pointing. In the distance was a tall, steep mountain. Jutting out of one side was a large white castle-like structure.

Leon considered her offer. Canterlot was supposedly the capitol of “Equestria”, meaning that it would be the most likely place for the energy signal that Leon was trying to trace.

“Alright, I’ll give it a shot,” Leon said.

“Great!” Twilight replied enthusiaticly. “I’ll tell the others. Trust me; this is going to be a blast.”

As she trotted away, Leon got a strange feeling that this trip to Canterlot would be far from and ordinary journey to a capitol city. “A blast, indeed.”

**********

The train ride to Canterlot was uneventful. However, Leon had to give the ponies credit- steam-powered trains were far from the most technologically advanced machines, but it was still MUCH more advanced that he figured ponies were capable of achieving.

At last, they reached the castle.

The guard at the door smiled at her. "Ah, Twilight Sparkle. Nice to see you again. Go ahead, the Princess is expecting you.”

As they walked through many hallways, the ponies noted the superior architecture and decorations. The castle was a masterpiece among pony-built structures. Especially considering their primitive building methods, Leon thought.

Finally, they entered a large open room. In front of them was a large staircase. At the top was Princess Celestia.

The ponies bowed, Leon’s being somewhat half-hearted.

“Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student,” Celestia said as she descended the staircase, “It’s so nice to see you and your friends again.”

“Likewise, your highness,” Twilight replied.

“And I see you’ve made a new friend.”

“Oh, yes! This is Leon Tronnix,” Twilight said.

“Oh, uh, hi…” Leon stammered.

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Celestia said.

“Uh, same here,” Leon responded.

Celestia turned and walked to a large table filled with what seemed like every type of food known to pony kind. “Please, won’t you all join me to eat?”

Pinkie Pie licked her lips with an impossible large tongue. “So many treats…”

Beside her, Spike was drooling. “I know, right?”

Leon was about to take a lace at the table when a warning went off in his head. “Oh, slag…”

Celestia frowned. “Is something wrong?”

“You ponies like friends,” Leon started, “Well, we’re about to have unwanted company!”

Without warning, the entire roof exploded, sending chunks of ceiling rained down from the sky. Celestia focused her powerful magic and used it to prevent the debris from crushing the ponies.

However, she wasn’t the only one to react. Leon suddenly morphed into a bipedal being and started blasting energy at the falling pieces of building.

The ponies stood gaping at Leon’s new form- but what they saw next was even more shocking.

When the smoke cleared, they could see three massive, bipedal beings that appeared to be made of metal hovering over the gap in the ceiling. The first one was the shortest. He had fairly wide shoulders and a medium blue and white color scheme with various bits of navy blue and light gray. His emotionless face sported a goatee.

The second behind was slightly taller and skinnier. His dark purple and gray colors portrayed gloom, as did his face. He seemed to have tall, gray ears.

The third being was much larger than the other two. He was incredibly bulky, with tall shoulder pads. His color scheme was a neutral shade of purple and light gray. Massive orange tube-like objects were mounted on each of his forearms. Unlike his comrades, his mouth was twisted into a sneer.

“Well, well,” The third being said in a low, growly voice. “Whatever is going on here? A party? I’m quite the party crasher myself, as you’ll soon find out.”

The three beings descended though the gaping hole in the roof. The Celestia stepped between them and the other ponies. “Who are you?” she demanded.

“Galvatron?!” Leon said in disbelief.

“Yes,” the tallest of the three mechanical monsters replied. “Indeed. Do I know you?”

The small robot clenched his teeth. “I’m Legatron. You almost killed me in Detroit.”

“Ah, yes, now I remember,” Galvatron said. “You were taller then.”

“I can fix that.”Leon retorted as he smiled mischievously and tapped the side of his head, sending a wireless signal to the T.R.E.E.H.O.U.S.E.T.R.O.N.

Galvatron laughed. “I hardly see how that’s possible.” He turned to the ponies. “As for you-”

The door to the room suddenly burst open. Several guard rushed through, spears and staffs ready. Their leader was a white male unicorn.

“Intruders,” Shining Armor said, seemingly unfazed by the fact that he was talking to 4-story robots, “You have five seconds to leave the premises immediately, or we will FORCE you to leave!”

At first, the massive metal beings didn’t respond. Then Galvatron and the smarter blue one burst out laughing. The other robot just rolled his eyes.

Galvatron suddenly aimed one of the orange barrels on his arm at the guards. A massive laser blast erupted from the weapon. Time seemed to slow down as the place where the guards once were erupted into a spray of broken floor tiles and fire.

“SHINING ARMOR!!!” Twilight Sparkle yelled in desperation as she burst into tears, staring at the flaming hole in the floor where her brother one stood. “Shining Armor…” she muttered as her friends gathered around her.
Celestia glared at the monstrous machines. “Oh, NOW you’ve done it!” she snarled in the most aggressive tone she’d ever spoken. To Galvatron’s surprise, the long, cone-shaped protrusion on Celestia’s head began to glow. A massive burst of magic erupted from the glowing horn, heading straight for Galvatron.

Galvatron felt his chest armor heating up- but it wasn’t from the magic. No, the magic wasn’t even touching him- peering closer, he saw that the magic energy was being deflected from him inches away from his armor plating. The heat he felt was the Dark Energon inside him reacting- and repelling- the magic, keeping him out of harm’s way.

The mechanical tyrant sneered. Surprised, Celestia ceased her onslaught of energy. Instead, she attempted to teleport the ponies out of the building, to no avail.

“It appears that Dark Energon interferes with your abilities.” Galvatron then aimed his cannon at her- but before it could fire another deadly laser blast, he heard the whoosh of rockets above him. Looking up, he saw a green fighter jet circling above the castle.

Leon suddenly took to the air. “That’s my cue!”

Galvatron roared in anger. “Cyclonus! TERMINATE HIM!”

Legatron laughed as he rocketed toward the hole in the ceiling. “Yah gotta catch me first!” With that, he folded into a compact, flying… THING, and took off through the roof.

Cyclonus, the lanky purple robot, followed suit, changing into… the ponies didn’t know what. It had a pointy front, and a wide back with forward-swept wings. The strange flyer roared after Legatron.

Legatron was leading Cyclonus straight up. The Decepticon was gaining on him, but that was all part of his plan. When Cyclonus was close enough, Legatron converted to robot form and hurled one of his laser swords at the Decepticon.

The sword stuck deep in Cyclonus’ left rocket, causing it to fail. With a cry of surprise, the Decepticon began to spin out of control.
Quickly, Legatron reached the green jet. The jet’s cockpit opened and the small robot climbed in. However, rather than get in the seat, he morphed into an “interface module” and combined with the jet’s controls. The jet then morphed into a massive robot as tall as Cyclonus. “Now we’re talking!” Legatron said.

Galvatron saw that Legatron had achieved a larger form. “Scourge, you and Cyclonus take care of the ponies!” he ordered the blue robot. “Green-boy is mine!” With that, a cage-like faceplate slid into place in front of the Herald on Unicron’s mouth as he rocketed into the sky to face his challenger.

Meanwhile, Scourge began taking shots at the ponies. However, he underestimated their speed and the strength of their magic-generated force-fields. The laser blasts ended up creating a large hole in the wall to the outside- a perfect escape.

“RUN!” Celestia shouted to her subjects.
They took off as fast as they could, Rainbow Dash naturally leading the pack, and Spike riding on Twilight.

Out of nowhere, one of Cyclonus’ swords stuck down between the ponies and their escape. Rainbow Dash, however, had gotten far enough ahead that the blade landed behind her.

In a panic, Twilight’s unicorn horn began to glow. She suddenly vanished in a burst of energy. A moment later she appeared outside the hole in the wall. She hesitated; her friends were still in there.

Cyclonus’ massive foot slammed down in front of the hole.

There was nothing she could do now but run. Panting hard, she tried to distance herself from the battle that was taking place. Or had taken place; she was pretty sure her side had lost by now.

Finally, she couldn’t run anymore. Gasping for breath, she came to a stop, tears running down her cheeks. She collapsed on the ground, sobbing. Spiked rolled of her back, tears streaming down his cheeks as well. They had been forced to leave four of their best friends and their Princess to the mercy of those mechanical monsters.

“Twilight!” Looking up, she saw Rainbow Dash landing on front of her. “We... we gotta…” Twilight could tell she was trying hard to restrain her tears.

She broke. To Twilight, seeing Rainbow Dash cry was like a dagger of hate being shoved into your heart. Only an event as tragic as the one they had just been a part of could break such a strong pony.

For all they knew, their friends could be dead.

For awhile, they just cried. Small puddles formed in the rocky ground below them.

Finally, Rainbow found her voice. “W-what do we do?”

They suddenly heard the sounds of lasers and clanging metal coming from above them. Looking up, they saw Legatron and Galvatron locked in combat.

Twilight wiped a tear from her eye. “We wait… and hope for the best.”

**********

Legatron blocked another blow from one of Galvatron’s swords. The green had thought this would be easy- he’d had much more training since the last time he faced Galvatron. But he wasn’t expecting Galvatron to have SWORDS- that was new.

Behind his faceplate, Galvatron sneered. He could tell his opponent was a skilled warrior- but that was still nothing against the centuries of experience Galvatron had.

Legatron brought his right sword down toward Galvatron’s head, but the purple mech quickly blocked it with one of his own swords.

The purple robot suddenly crashed his foot into Legatron’s midsection, taking him by surprise. Seizing the opportunity, Galvatron pointed both of his arm-cannons at the green robot and blasted him.

Legatron cried out in pain and surprise as he hurdled through the air, traveling far away from Canterlot.

Satisfied, Galvatron descended through the hole in the castle roof. He saw four of the ponies huddled in a corner of the room and Princess Celestia standing be herself several yards to their right. Scourge and Cyclonus had their weapons trained on the tall, white alicorn.

Galvatron laughed. “Excellent work you two. Now, let’s see what for information we can… COAX from out little white friend here…”

**********

With a painful smash, Legatron crashed down at the base of Canterlot Mountain. For a few minutes he could do nothing but lay there as his systems slowly repaired themselves.

The sound of helicopter blades drew his attention to the skies.

“Scrap, not now,” he muttered as the helicopter morphed into a familiar blocky figure.

“Well, what do we have here?” Shiftech said in an amused tone. “I see Galvatron has been well worth the effort of his revival.”

Legatron sat up. “I still don’t see how that’s possible. Galvatron was completely obliterated by a blast of AllSpark energy-”

Shiftech’s chuckling cut him off. “But that’s the thing- he WASN’T completely obliterated. Yes, his body was, but his Spark survived. Or a piece of it, at least. And thanks to one of the locals, that piece is now whole again.”

Now it was Legatron’s turn to laugh. “There’s no possibly way that these goodie-goodie ponies would help a being as corrupted as YOU.”

If Shiftech had a mouth, he would’ve sneered about now. “This universe is MUCH darker than you realize…”

A mouthplate slid over Legatron’s face as he picked up his laser swords. “And it’s about to become dirtied with you decapitated-”

Out of nowhere, a blur of black and orange slammed into Legatron. When he opened his eyes, he saw a bot looming over him that he’d never seen before. He was about as tall as Shiftech- maybe taller- but much skinnier. He was primarily black with light gray and orange detailing. A good part of his face was covered by an orange mouthplate that sat below twp triangular red optics.

“Damn it, Noizemaze, this is MY fight!” Shiftech shouted.

Legatron cocked an eyebrow. “Wait, Noizemaze?”

“He’s better known as ‘Sideways,’ but he changed his name with his most recent ‘upgrade,’” Shiftech explained.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Legatron replied. “If you have a name that everybody knows, why would you bother changing it?”

“His changes are more than physical,” Shiftech said.

“ENOUGH!” Noizemaze replied. “I am the superior officer here, and I say that this is MY fight now!”

Shiftech approached the second bot. “So you think you can just BARGE IN and take over?!”

Noizemaze drew his head closer to Shiftech’s. “That is EXACTLY what I think.”

Before the two could exchange blows a purple energy field formed around them. The Heralds of Unicron screamed in pain as the energy shocked their systems. Finally, the energy stopped, and the two robots collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

Legatron’s jaw dropped as he saw source of the mysterious purple energy. “B-but I thought your magic was repelled by Dark Energon!” he stammered.

Twilight Sparkle took a moment to catch her breath as her horn cooled down. “Alicorn magic is… much different from… unicorn magic….” She panted.

Legatron was about to ask how she had gotten down the mountain so fast when Rainbow Dash flew up next to him, Spike riding on her back.

“So what do we do now?” the cyan pegasus asked.

Legatron turned his gaze to the castle on top of the mountain. “Come on, girls- we have some ponies to save.”

*********

“I’m going to ask you one more time before I get physical,” Galvatron threatened. “There are several objects in this universe that give off massive amounts of energy. Where. Are. They.”

Celestia stared at Galvatron, not intimidated by the hulking robot’s gaze. “I will never tell an evil being like you were power is to be found.”

Galvatron drew back. “And what makes you think I won’t get physical?”

Celestia smiled triumphantly. “Because I’m your only source of information.”

Galvatron smiled in a way that could’ve given darkness itself shivers. “What makes you think I’m going to harm you?”

Celestia’s face fell.

Galvatron turned to his subordinates. At their feet cowered the four ponies that had failed to escape. “Scourge. Eliminate them.”

“Gladly,” he replied.

Celestia gasped. “No! Don’t! I’ll tell you anything you want! Just don’t harm them!”

“Too late,” Galvatron replied sadistically.

Celestia attempted to use her magic to stop Scourge, but a well-placed energy bolt from Galvatron ceased her attack. His Dark Energon power source was still working wonders on suppressing her magical abilities.

Scourge reached into his back compartment and withdrew his gun. Making sure it was at full power, he aimed it at the ponies. Fluttershy cowered on the ground, crying silently. Pinkie Pie looked on in disbelief, while Applejack’s expression suggested no hope.

Rarity, however, was bawling loudly. “BUT THERE’S SO MANY THINGS IN LIFE I HAVEN’T GOTTEN TO DO YET!!!

As Scourge’s gun charged, his face twisted into a rare moment of showing emotion.
Satisfaction.
He pulled the trigger.

To Be Continued…

Chapter 3: Fight to the Finish

Scourge pulled the trigger.

An explosion echoed through the room- but not the echo of his gun shooting.

Scourge cried out in pain and surprise as his weapon was struck by a blue laser bolt and exploded in his hand.

The three Heralds of Unicron looked up at the source of the offending blast.

“You again?” Galvatron snarled at the green jet robot hovering above the hole in the roof. “I thought I finished you already!” With that, he shot into the air and disappeared out the hole in the roof.
A blur of rainbow color bolted in through the ceiling, flying circles around Cyclonus.

“Catch me if you can!” Rainbow Dash taunted. Annoyed, Cyclonus averted his attention to the offending blue Pegasi.

Galvatron was busy with Legatron, and Scourge was still in shock from the pain of nearly having his hand blown off, meaning the ponies were currently unguarded…

A small green robot appeared of the hole in the floor that was created when Galvatron shot Shining Armor. It quickly dashed to the captured ponies.

“Legatron?” Pinkie said in confusion. “I thought you were just up there!” She pointed skyward to where the tall green jet-robot had been moments ago.

“That was just my remote-control Transtector!” Legatron said. “Now, hold still!”

Focusing his energy, he summoned a transwarp field that warped the ponies out of the building. He could’ve teleported himself as well, but he still had a bone to pick with the Heralds of Unicron.

Galvatron noticed the flash of light from the castle too late. “No! NO, NO, NO!” he suddenly whacked Legatron’s Transtector out of the air. “This is all your fault!”
Before the real Legatron could send a remote signal for his Transtector to pick him up, he found himself shoved inside one of Galvatron’s arm-cannons.
“Let’s see you get out of this one!” the purple robot taunted as the cannon charged.

“Challenge: Accepted!” Leon said from inside the barrel of the gun. The weapon suddenly started to spark. Galvatron attempted to cancel the energy buildup, but it was too late. The weapon exploded, taking much of Galvatron’s lower arm with it.

“GAAAAAAHHHHH!” Galvatron cringed. It seemed like a lacking reaction, but that was due to his Dark Energon dulling the pain. He heard a crash; behind him, Scourge and Cyclonus had knocked into eachother and were now laying in a heap on the ground.

Looking around, Galvatron saw that their opponents had fled. Grumbling, he glanced at his demolished forearm. “Scourge, Cyclonus- we’re done here.” The three then flew through the hole in the roof, Cyclonus and Scourge converting into their vehicle forms.

“This isn’t over,” Galvatron swore. “Not by a long shot.”

*********

A flurry of Transwarp energy harkened the appearance of a group of ponies. They slowly picked themselves up off the ground, groaning. Rainbow Dash soon joined them, bolting out of the castle.

Twilight suddenly ran up to the group. “Guys! You’re alive!” She wrapped her arms around her five friends in a group hug, tears streaming down her eyes. For the next few minutes they shared a tearful reunion.

Legatron touched down hard next to the group. His armor was even more scorched than before. A purplish fluid was splattered in various places on his frame. He was also coughing violently.

“What happened?!” Twilight exclaimed.

Legatron growled. “I had to blow up Galvatron’s *COUGH* Arm cannon *COUGH* while inside it *COUGHCHOUGH* to avoid being slagged, hence the *COUGH* Dark Energon splatters …”

“Well, thanks to you, all of my little ponies are safe,” Celestia said.

“Not ALL of them,” Twilight said, remembering her brother.

“I wouldn’t be so *COUGH* sure,” Legatron said. “I found him alive but *COUGH* unconscious in the *COUGH* tunnel.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped as her eyes lit up. “You did?!”

The green robot nodded.

“We need to go find him NOW!” Celestia said urgently.

Legatron scoffed. “Yeah, good luck with that. *COUGH* See yah never.” He started to walk away.

“Y-you’re not going to help us?” Twilight asked.

Legatron whirled around. “NO! I’ve saved your miserable *COUGH* butts enough the way it is.”

The ponies stared at him in shock.

He turned away from them. “The scrap with this stupid world; I’m outta here.” With that he leapt into the air, morphed into his flying vehicle mode, and shot away.
For a second there was silence as he retreated into the distance. Said silence was broken as Legatron’s Transtector appeared in the sky and roared after him.

*********

“C’mon, c’mon! Answer!” Legatron tapped his foot impatiently. Waiting for Technosis to answer an interdimensional transmission was like waiting for a school day to end. Long, torturous, and, worst of all, boring.

Finally his commlink clicked. “Hello, you have reached-”

“Transwarp field. Reinforcements. Now,” Legatron ordered.

“Sheesh, what crawled up your tailpipe?”

“Here’s a hint; *COUGH*”

Technosis recognized that cough. “Dark Energon poisoning? Is Shiftech there?”

“Yup. Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge, too.”

“Primax stream?”

“No. Malgus.”

“Malgus? I thought that Cyclonus and Galvatron there were dead?!”

“Well, they’re here, and they almost killed me. *cough* Not to mention those ponies…” he murmured.

“I didn’t even know there was a Malgus Scourge- or that he’d play a part in our war, at least. We’ll have to add him to Teletraan-K later…”

Legatron grunted impatiently

Technosis sighed. “Alright, alright, hold your horsepower. I’m setting coordinates now. Be there in a flash!”

Tapping his foot impatiently, Legatron again waited.

A large blue sphere of energy appeared. Technosis materialized before landing softly on the ground.

Legatron suddenly punched Technosis in the face, sending him sprawling on the ground.

The white robot sat up. “What the smelt was that for?!”

Legatron scoffed, but a small smile crept onto his face. “Making me do this mission.”

Technosis got up and brushed the dirt off his armor plating. “Alright, that all the revenge you want?”

“On you, yes.”

“Good. Now-”

Waves of energy suddenly hammered them. They braced themselves, but it felt like little more than a strong wind.

The energy waves then stopped as suddenly as they had started..

“Any clue what that was?” Legatron asked his friend.

Technosis was checking a display on his arm. “I kinda figured you knew, ‘cause I sure as sludge don’t. Smelt- I can’t communicate with the ship. Someone’s jamming my interdimensional transmission.”

Legatron processed. “I don’t recall Galvatron having a power like that– any version of him. Scourge or Cyclonus either.”

“That’s because they don’t have that power! I do.”

The two small robots whirled around to the familiar voice. Hovering several yards above them was a massive Cybertronian with a primarily black and red color scheme. The rotor blades hanging off his back suggested a helicopter alternate mode.

Shiftech.

But it wasn’t so much Shiftech that caught Legatron and Technosis’ attention; it was who he had with them. Behind him, to his left, hovered Galvatron, Cyclonus, and Scourge. All fo them sported the damage they had taken in the earlier battle, but with basic repairs. To Shiftech’s right hovered Noizemaze.

Legatron and Technosis drew their laser swords.

Shiftech chuckled. “Do you honestly believe that the two of you can take on five of us?!”

The heroes glanced at eachother nervously. “Well, we can sure as smelt try!” Technosis exclaimed. “We’ve beat you all at one point or another- except tall, dark and creepy over there.”

“Ah, that’s right,” Shiftech replied, “You’ve yet to encounter Noizemaze.”

“You probably knew me as Sideways,” Noizemaze said.

“Yeah, but why change your name?” Technosis started. “I mean, if everyone already know who you are, then why-”

“We’ve actually already been over this, Legatron interrupted.

“Either way,” Shiftech cut in, “We are about to eliminate you. Any last words?”

Legatron processed a moment. “Yeah… how long ‘til I get to bust up Galvatron’s cannons again?” Galvatron roared with fury as Legatron converted into his flying vehicle mode and shot off toward where he had hid his Transtector. “Catch me if ya’ can!”

Galvatron changed to his own flying mode, a triangular jet with a long nose, and whooshed after his opponent.

Meanwhile, Technosis activated his special ability; mass shifting. His entire body glowed a brilliant blue as he began to grow larger. In a few seconds, he was about four stories tall. The glow faded, revealing he had taken on an aerial alternate form, as opposed to his immobile media device mode.

He brandished his swords. “Come an’ get me!”

Noizemaze and Cyclonus accepted the challenge. Cyclonus drew his purple laser-swords while Noizemaze pulled to thin wings off his back and wielded them like blades.

The villains’ blades clashed with Technosis’ in a flurry of sparks.

*******

Galvatron could barely make out the tiny green form of Legatron in the distance. But he was there. Oh, yes, he was there.

But not for long.

Enough of this chase, he thought. Galvatron charged his blasters-

Legatron made a nosedive. Galvatron cursed to himself before following.

The green jet made a break for a large, thick forest. As soon as he could, he converted into a four-wheeled vehicle and raced into the forest.

Galvatron stayed on his tail, shifting into his bulky tank mode that just barely fit through the trees. Soon, however, he didn’t have that luxury; tree trunks snapped and splintered as his treads rolled over them.

Legatron, in his Transtector this time, suddenly flew into view, swords drawn.

Time seemed to slow down for Galvatron’s his opponent rushed at him

Almost too fast to see, the purple robot’s secondary blasters rotated and shot a combined stream of laser fire. Legatron attempted to dodge it, with only marginal success. The green robot was sent spiraling out of control and out of sight, his large form disappearing into the trees.

That’s enough for now, Galvatron mused. Don’t want to have all the fun at once!

He turned around and began making his way back to the others.

*********

Technosis didn’t know how much longer he could fight these two experience opponents at once. He was already holding back; if he struck one enemy down, there was no doubt Shiftech would take his place. There was no way he’d be able to handle that.

Behind him, he heard the roar of engines. He stole a risky glance; Galvatron was barreling down on him in flight mode.

Technosis waited a split second before cutting power to his back-mounted rockets, sending him plummeting. Galvatron, still moving extremely fast, slammed into Cyclonus and Noizemaze. Hardly seeming to notice, he converted to his robot form and began firing madly at Technosis.

“DIE, AUTOBOT SCUM!” he roared, despite the fact that his opponent wasn’t technically an Autobot.

Shiftech rolled his optics.

**********

Legatron was at full speed in his ground vehicle mode, on account that the damage Galvatron had just inflicted on his prevented his Transtector from flying. Not to mention he still had some battle scars from his fight earlier in the day.

But for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out how Galvatron had been so lucky as to hit a previously undiscovered weak spot on his larger armor.

Without warning, his front right wheel broke off. The green vehicle flipped over several times before changing to his robot mode and doing a faceplant in mud.

“Here, you looked like you could use this.” The wheel rolled to him and clanked against his arm.

Looking up, he saw Twilight and her friends.

Annoyed, Legatron got up, wiped the mud from his face, and began reattaching his wheel to his arm. “What are you doing here?”

“I… never got to thank you for saving my friends,” Twilight said.

The wheel clicked into place. “Yeah, whatever. Now, I gotta-”

“I also wanted to offer our help to beat those oversized tin cans,” the purple unicorn finished.

Legatron burst out laughing. However, his laughter slowly died down as he realized he had little other choice.

“Alright, then,” he said reluctantly. “Whadda’ you got?”

To Be Continued…

Chapter 4: Purging the Evil

Blocking Galvatron’s laser blasts with a forcefield was easy.

Keeping power to the forcefield that was blocking himself from said insanely powerful blasts? Not so much.

Technosis could feel his shields failing. He desperately tried to redirect as much power as possible to them, but life support and consciousness systems were kind of essential.

His jets roared, suddenly sending his skyward, causing a round of blasts to annihilate the ground he was just standing on. He converted to his alternate mode, a sleek fighter jet. Behind him, he heard the sound of his five opponents transforming and taking chase.

It’s just one of those cycles, he mused. Directing as much power as possible to his thrusters, he slowly accelerated.

But to where? There was nowhere he could go that the Heralds of Unicron wouldn’t find him. He could pick up Legatron and leave this planet, but there was little chance that all five Heralds would follow, leaving the remaining few to do whatever they pleased on this innocent planet.

Reinforcements weren’t an option, either, due to those smeltin’ Cons blocking any signals he might send. Just how they suddenly could accomplish this, Technosis had no idea, but he hoped he’d find out and be able to disable it- fast.

Looking out his rear-view sensors, he saw that Galvatron and Noizemaze held the lead, with Cyclonus and Scourge trailing behind. Due to his rather slow helicopter form, Shiftech was far back in the distance.

Greeaaaat, that only leaves four ultra-powerful opponents that I’ll have to fight to the death, he thought. I can totally handle that.

His commlink beeped.

“Kinda BUSY,” he answered.

“Technosis!” Legatron said, “Where are you?!”

“Oh, about 30 yards from DEATH!” the white jet snapped back.

“Not the time for humor,” Legatron sighed. “Look, I got a plan. Get back to the battleground, STAT!”

“You want me to turn around and go TOWARDS the robots who are trying to kill me?!”

“If it means beating said robots, yes.”

Technosis growled. “If this plan doesn’t work, so help me-”

“If this doesn’t work, it’ll be payback for making me come here in the first place.” The signal went dead.

Technosis cursed under his breath, more violently than usual. He slowed down eeeeeever so slightly, allowing his pursuers to catch up a bit.

When they were close enough, Technosis converted into robot form. Swinging his feet so that his heels faced forward, he gunned his foot-mounted secondary thrusters, propelling him backwards, sailing underneath his pursuers. When he cleared them, he morphed back to vehicle mode and shot off.

Just as he was thinking about how well that had gone, he was hammered by laser fire. But not from the back, oddly enough, he was being shot from the front-

Technosis cursed again as he realized that he’d completely forgotten about Shiftech being so far behind the others. The black and maroon helicopter was visible in the distance.

There was no turning back now. Technosis gunned his thrusters harder than ever before. The ground and trees below his became a vague green and brown blur. The clouds seemed to mesh with the sky, making a swirling blue and white pattern.

Shiftech’s helicopter form grew large at a starling pace, but Technosis continued to bare down on him.

The evil helicopter realized how fast his opponent was going and quickly increased his altitude. Technosis’ jet form raced under him with only inches to spare.

Clear of his enemies, Technosis began to slow. However, as he did so, his thrusters coughed and sputtered, having been overloaded. Tired of swearing, he instead decided to focus on getting to the meeting point.

With a deafening boom his right thruster gave out, sending him spiraling out of control.

Thinking fast, he cut power to his reaming thruster and converted to robot form, where his backpack rockets slowed his out-of-control motions. He barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief before he was shot out of the sky.

In the distance, Shiftech hovered in midair. His arm cannons were still aimed at the spot Technosis was moments before. With a sinister chuckle, he moved in to finish the job.

**********

Technosis laid on the ground, wondering what happened. He attempted to fire up his jetpack, to no avail.

Instead of swearing, he just sighed to himself and mass-shifted back to his small robot form.

Time for plan B, he thought as he started running.

**********

Noizemaze lead the heralds of Unicron back to Shiftech. To their surprise, the helicopter-bot was in robot form, searching for something on the ground.

“Uh, what are you doing?” Noizemaze said as though Shiftech was doing something seemingly idiotic (which he was).

Shiftech grunted. “I shot down white-and-nerdy just now, but it looks like he bolted.”

Scourge knelt close to the ground. “He smacked down here, judging by the robot-sized crater. He then got up, slowly, probably thinking of flying. If he did, though, he would’ve been seen by Shiftech. No visible footprints suggests he didn’t run…” The blue robot thought a moment, “Or he did something else before he ran-” He pointed a sharp, red-tipped finger at a tiny set of footprints, “Like mass-shifting to a smaller size.”

Shiftech looked stunned. “Wow, they weren’t kidding when they said you had amazing tracking skills.”

Galvatron turned to Shiftech. “So what is the next plan of action?”

Shiftech processed. “Aw, smelt the heroes. We have the upper hand. We can beat up punks like them anytime. We don’t get many good chances to go power-object hunting.”

The other heralds nodded in agreement.

“Alright, it’s settled, them,” Shiftech announced. “We’ll split into groups and fan out. Scourge, Cyclonus- you seem to get along well.” The two robots nodded before converting onto their alternate forms and roaring away.

“Noizemaze,” Shiftech continued, “You will accompany Galvatron and-”

“Woahwaohwaoh,” Noizemaze interrupted. “Just WHAT makes you think I’m gonna accompany THAT lunatic?”

Shiftech leaned closer to his comrade. “Because I TOLD you to. I’M in control of this operation, remember? You WILL accompany Galvatron. Got that?”

Noizemaze grumbled before changing into his alternate mode and rocketing away. Galvatron followed suit.

Shiftech sighed to himself. This leadership thing was a lot tougher than he imagined-at least, leading these idiots was.

He growled. Well, then, I’ll just have to be tougher.

*********

Cyclonus and Scourge flew through the clouds, scanners on high alert. If the relics in this universe were as powerful as Shiftech had made them sound, then finding some should be no problem at-

“Got something,” Scourge announced.

“Same here,” Cyclonus said. “Looks like it’s coming from-”

A streak of color shot by, then looped back and circled around them several times.

“Hey, purple-punk, care for a rematch?!” Rainbow Dash shouted to Cyclonus.

Cyclonus was about to decline when he realized something. “Scourge! SHE’S the energy source!”
Rainbow Dash smirked. “Whoops, that’s my cue to GO!” She then shot off in a streak of cyan and rainbow.
“Galvatron will NOT be happy if she gets away!” Scourge said.
At the exact same moment, the two Transformers gunned their thrusters and zoomed off after the rainbow-haired Pegasus.

**********

“You’re being strangely quiet,” Noizemaze said calmly as his alien jet form streaked through the sky.

“Somehow I get the feeling that talking will only make you hate me even more,” Galvatron replied.

“And what makes you think I hate you already?” Noizemaze asked.

Had Galvatron been in robot mode, he would have rolled his eyes. “Oh, PLEASE, it’s obvious.”

“I guess you’re not as stupid as you look,” the orange and black vehicle replied.

“Hate you, too,” Galvatron snapped back.

With that, Galvatron shifted his focus to the planet below him. The grass was a perfect shade of green, occasionally dotted with splotches of colored flowers. Trees grew tall and proud, most of them colored a dark forest green (appropriately enough). Hills rolled gently across the landscape, giving it an interesting texture from an aerial viewpoint.

It was all so serene and well-maintained.

Galvatron hated every bit of it.

“So, we’re just looking around for anything that looks like it has a lot of potential power?” the purple jet asked.

“Well, I’M doing the smart thing and using my scanners to locate power objects,” Noizemaze said with sarcastic compassion, “But if you want to carefully comb every bit of a very large and expansive planet for tiny artifacts, then go right ahead!”

If he were capable of doing so in vehicle mode, Galvatron would’ve rolled his eyes.

It’s gonna be a looooong cycle, both of them thought to themselves.

**********

Shiftech studied the stature carefully, rubbing a finger along his metal chin as he did so. He didn’t understand what was so important about this hunk of chiseled rock. The ponies of this world clearly though it was something of value, seeing how they had locking it up deep in the catacombs under the castle and stationed heavy guards around it- all of which Shiftech had blasted through with ease.

Now he had made it to what they had insisted on guarding so heavily, and he had no idea what he was even looking at. It was a tall, lanky, bipedal figure who looked like little more than a snake with a deer head and limbs.

But it was the head and limbs that were the strange part. One arm seemed to belong to an eagle, and the other to a lion. His legs seemed to have been stolen from other creatures as well- specifically, a dragon and an ox.

And its head- what was up with the head? The entire figure was posed as though it was blocking itself from something, the face displaying a look of fear. Shiftech almost chuckled at the thought of it shielding itself from something very ugly rather than actually dangerous.

Of course, figure out what the heck was up with this sculpture might have been easier had the glyphs on the wall in the small cave not been so foreign. They didn’t even seem to follow a 26-character alphabet that many other languages across the multiverse had. However, the writing at the top of the text read one word, written mostly in letters that looked like another language that Shiftech did know. Eliminating the unrecognizable characters and filling in a blank or two gave him the word “Discord”.

In his head, the robot looked up the definition of the word. It basically meant ‘lack of agreement or harmony.’

“Well, THAT certainly explains a lot!” he said sarcastically to himself. He then turned to the statue and again noticed its random makeup of animal parts. “On second thought, it DOES kind of make sense if one thinks about it…”

His commlink suddenly beeped.

Clicking the receiver on, he stated simply, “Go.”

“Scourge here,” the reply came. “We’re in pursuit of a pony that seems to be emitting a MASSIVE energy reading.”

“On my way,” the black and maroon robot replied while he locked on to his ally’s location.

As he left the cave, he wondered if this “Discord” character was real or not, and if he’d ever get a chance to meet him.

**********

“Is everyone ready?” Legatron asked.

His allies nodded. In addition to Technosis and the six original ponies, Princess Celestia and her sister, Luna had joined them, as well as another pink unicorn-pegasus hybrid named Cadence (who WOULD NOT SHUT UP about getting revenge for hurting Twilight’s brother for some reason).

The green robot glanced at the necklaces that five of the six ponies wore, as well as the big crown thing worn by Twilight Sparkle. ‘The Elements of harmony’, they’d called them. When in the right hands- or hooves, whatever- the seemingly harmless jewelry would supposedly fire a beam of energy that could turn an organic creature into stone- or expel an evil corruption from someone. He’d heard two very different stories about the Elements and wasn’t entirely sure what they did.

But one thing was for sure, and that was the fact that they could be tracked by Cybertronian scanners. Rainbow Dash had proven this to be true when she’d worn her necklace while flying around Scrounge and Cyclonus earlier.

And now six similar energy signals were grouped in one spot. There was no way the Heralds of Unicron could miss THAT.

Then why are they taking so dang long?! Legatron’s expression grew more annoyed by the minute. If he wasn’t on such a serious mission, he’d be tapping his foot while glancing at a nonexistent watch on his wrist every other nanosecond, just like a human.

Finally, five Dark Energon signals appeared on his scanners.

“Alright, here they come!” He announced as his allies took up their positions. The horns of the pegasus-unicorns (there HAD to be a better name for that) began to glow, as did the Elements.

Five flying vehicles came into view over the horizon and simultaneously converted into four-story robots without slowing down. Legatron had to admit the action had a cool effect, and made a mental note to tell his friends about it.

The Heralds hovered above the clearing that contained the ponies and two small robots.

“Oh, dear, it’s a trap!” Noizemaze said with mock fear.

“I dunno,” Shiftech said softly so only the other Heralds could hear. “There’s some massive energy readings coming from those things…”

“Will you relax?” Noizemaze retorted. “They’re just stupid horses!”

Each of the Equestrians tension anger at this. Legatron and Technosis couldn’t help but snicker at the sight of such cute ponies looking so furious.

Technosis then threw a glance back at the ponies, who nodded at him. In response, the white robot nodded to Legatron.

“If you’re so confident, why don’t you let US have the first shot?” Legatron shouted with a mischievous smirk.

Noizemaze laughed, then folded his arms across his chest. “Go ahead, GLITTER me to death.”

“I got a baaaad feeling about this,” Shiftech mumbled.

The pegasus-unicorns’ horn glowed brighter as the Elements of Harmony charged. Bolts of energy shot up from each of the power objects and merged with the power form the winged unicorns. Legatron and Technosis then activated as many long-range weapons as they had on their frames as the magical energy poured into them.

“THIS. IS. AWESOME!!!” Legatron said as his blasters charged with a rainbow-colored hue.

“Ooooh, pretty,” Noizemaze said sarcastically.

“Um, do you even REALIZE how utterly MASSIVE that energy signal just got?” Galvatron question.

Noizemaze’s chuckling was cut short as he activated his energy scanners and realized the intensity of the multicolored magic below him. “Oh slag…”

Down below, Technosis and Legatron carefully aimed their cannons at the massive robot above. They then felt the energy reach its climax, and fired.

A combined rainbow-colored laser blast tore through the sky toward the five metal monsters.

“Told yah so,” Shiftech said just loud enough for Noizemaze to hear as the energy blast came upon them.

**********

“Living machines, huh?” Celestia said. “Amazing.”

Legatron and Technosis simply nodded, both of them still tired from containing so much magic energy earlier.

The two robots were currently speaking to Twilight and the three pegasus-unicorns- which they had learned were called ‘alicorns’- about their robotic species.

“And you can shape-shift without the use of magic?” the purple unicorn asked, eyes wide with curiosity.

Legatron chuckled. She just looked so dang cute with that expression. “Yep! We’re capable of rearranging parts of our bodies to mimic other forms.”

Twilight was about to ask another question when she was cut off by a certain pink party-pony. “Alright, everything’s set up! Let’s get this party started!”

The two robots were about to question how Pinkie had appeared out fo nowhere before remembering that Twilight had told them that they’re better off not asking.

Instead, Legatron rose to his feet before morphing into his pony form.

“Wow,” Twilight said softly after witnessing the change.

‘Leon’ nodded to her as he began trotting to the place of the party. Pinkie apparently threw a city-wide party every week, but she’d dedicated this one to the defeat of ‘those big, meany-pants robots’, as she had put it.

“Hey, wait for me!” Technosis said to his friend’s retreating form.

Leon turned to him and smirked. “Oh, sorry, buddy, but you gotta be a pony to attend the party, or you’ll scare off the locals.”

Technosis’ face fell as the information sunk in. Legatron was entirely right, and Technosis wasn’t capable of changing his alternate form so much without the use of a Reformatting Chamber, unlike his green friend.

With no other choice, Technosis sat on a rock far away enough from the party so that he wouldn’t be seen, but close enough to hear the music. Annoyed, he considered the thought that this was bad karma from making Legatron go on this mission alone.

After awhile he heard foot- erm, hoofsteps. The white robot turned to see the pegasus known as Fluttershy approaching him.

“Um, why aren’t you at the party?” she asked softly. “Th-that is, if you don’t mind me asking…”

“I didn’t modify myself with a pony form, and I still can’t get back to my ship to give myself one,” the robot explained, recalling how the Heralds of Unicron had blocked his communications with his ship. The effect would wear off, but it would take several hours- maybe even days.

Fluttershy walked closer. “Oh, that’s too bad. I’d be at the party, but, I don’t really care for social gatherings too much…”

Technosis couldn’t help but smile at the pony. More than any other one he’d seen, she was so CUTE!

He gently began patting the pegasus’ head as the two continued to chat. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.

**********

Epilogue

Nightmare moon sat in her new bipedal robot form on the floor of the ruins of an ancient castle, deep within the dreaded Everfree Forest. She’d witnessed the Heralds of Unicron, including Shiftech, get blasted mercilessly by a group of ponies and small robots.

Now she was left with only herself, with her only way of fully understanding her new mechanical form having been utterly annihilated by the laser blast.

Her attention was drawn from her thoughts back to the real world as she heard footsteps approaching the castle. She stealthily slipped into the shadows and waiting for the newcomer to reveal themselves.

Her jaw dropped as a heavily damaged, but definantly alive Shiftech came to the ruins. She came out fo her hiding spot and went to greet him.

“So, you’re alive, then,” the female robot said as she approached the taller, bulkier robot.

Shiftech nodded. “It takes more than a multi-colored laser to take me down.

Nightmare nodded. “And what of your friends?”

The black and maroon robot’s expression didn’t change. “Unicron is going to have to revive their sorry afts. Not the first time that’s happened, I might add- at least, not for Noizemaze.”

The femme chuckled. “So, what brings you back here?”

“An offer,” Shiftech replied. “It has recently come to my attention that the other Dark Energon Heralds are less than reliable- or at least more so than I originally thought.” He extended a three fingered hand to Nightmare. “I have made the decision to gather new troops and form an inner circle comprised of some of the most sinister being in the multiverse- one of which is you.”

Nightmare Moon considered this. Thanks to this being in front of her, she was now free of her energy-like state she had been trapped in. Now he was offering to free her of her own WORLD- away from the repulsive kindness of the pony civilization, away from Celestia and Luna…

…and away from everyone else who knew of her weaknesses. It would cost her the revenge she sought so dearly… but then again, what if her attempts at revenge failed like her plan to plunge the world into eternal darkness?

She smiled as she shook Shiftech’s hand. “You have a deal.”

The End.