The War ended five years ago, on Earth.
The Autobots won. They were now in control of Cybertron and were busy rebuilding their civilization. The return of the Allspark to their planet meant Cybertron's natural resources were slowly, but surely, regenerating. Alliances had been made with other planets such as Earth, Nebulos, Velocitron, and Caminus.
The Decepticons lost. Their forces were either dead, imprisoned, or on the run. They were scattered across the galaxy, disorganized, leaderless. But they were still a threat, and they needed to be dealt with.
It was decided that while the majority of the Autobots would focus on rebuilding civilization, several ships and crews were sent to the stars to find these still at large Decepticons, and bring them to justice. These ships were captained by some of the War's greatest heroes such as Fortress Maximus, Ginrai, Star Saber, Dai Atlas... and even Optimus Prime.
Optimus himself was the captain of the Arclight, a ship that could best be described as an advanced remake of the original Ark. It was a medium-sized ship with a crew of thirty, and had a brig big enough to house a hundred Decepticons. The cells were currently empty, however. Just a week ago the Arclight had stopped by Cybertron to dump off Thundertron and his crew of pirates at Kaon Prison.
Although it was good to know that more criminals were behind bars, Optimus couldn't but help feel like they could have done better. There were bigger fish in the sea. Scorponok, Thunderwing, Bludgeon, Overlord, Deathsaurus, they were all still out there. And of course, there was Megatron.
Optimus had developed something of an unhealthy obsession with hunting down Megatron for the past few years. He would gladly take down any Decepticon, no doubt about that, but Megatron was his personal priority target. The obsession actually got to the point that his friends pushed him towards getting therapy with a professional named Rung, for fear that he would suddenly start ripping off faces and spouting gibberish. Said therapy seemed to work, or at least downplay Prime's obsession.
Every lead, no matter how small, was followed. But none of them ever bore any fruit. Every Decepticon was interrogated, but they either lied or gave a cold trail. The crew, Optimus included, was beginning to think that it would be a long time, decades at least, until they found Megatron again.
And then, one day, by pure dumb chance, they freaking found Megatron.
It had been a slow day so far. Nothing exciting, no drama. Most of the crew was either just bumming around or doing their usual chores maintaining the ship. The command bridge was currently occupied by Optimus Prime, Prowl, Elita One, Ultra Magnus, Blaster, and Sideswipe.
"Prime, I'm getting a signal." Blaster said.
Optimus walked over to where the communication officer was sitting and observed the screen. "Can you identify it?"
"Scans indicate that it's a Decepticon Capitol Warship. And the only Decepticon we know who is in possession of one of those bad boys right now..."
"Is Megatron," Optimus finished. He turned to Sideswipe, the ship's pilot. "Sideswipe, engage the enemy at full speed. Don't let them get away!"
Sideswipe gave a cocky smile. "You got it Prime!" He pushed the steering controls forward, causing the ship to briefly lurch as its thrusters flared.
Optimus turned to the other officers at the command deck. "Ultra Magnus, Elita One, make sure the crew is prepped and ready for combat. We will either board or be boarded."
Both nodded and said at the same time, "Yes sir." The difference was that Ultra Magnus said it with a stoic frown, while Elita One said it with a prideful smirk.
Ignoring that, Optimus focused on Prowl, who was being his usual grumpy self and had his arms crossed. "Prowl, I need you to stay here on the bridge to strategize."
Prowl simply nodded. "Understood, Prime."
Optimus left to join the front lines.
Megatron glared at the screen from the command bridge of the Nemesis. An Autobot ship had found them and was engaging them in battle. It was only a matter of time, Megatron supposed.
Five years ago on Earth, after that disastrous battle in that human city, Decepticon forces had been scattered. They were hunted down and either killed or captured. Megatron, however, escaped thanks to an ace up his sleeve: The Nemesis. Unlike the Ark, which was destroyed over a decade ago, the Nemesis survived its tenure on Earth thanks to being hidden in the depths of the ocean. Megatron and a lucky small crew had fled to the sunken ship, reactivated it and escaped from Earth to the stars. They had briefly stopped by Cybertron to restock their energon supplies from secret reserves. Since then they've been on the run, going from place to place.
Their energon was low, practically running on fumes. So of course an Autobot had to find them at an inconvenient time like this. The Autobot ship was close enough that it attached two tractor beams to the Nemesis, holding both ships in place. Megatron would have activated the defense turrets, but there simply wasn't enough fuel to spare for ammo. The Decepticons would have to do the fighting themselves, which is honestly what they would have preferred.
A hull door on the side of the Autobot ship opened, allowing a sizable team of Autobots to exit. The fliers simply flew while the non-fliers used miniature thrusters to boost their way through the void of space. And at the head of the attack Megatron saw none other than...
"Prime," Megatron said with a deathly quiet whisper. He pressed and held a button on a nearby console, broadcasting his voice throughout the whole ship. "All Decepticons to your battle stations! Do not let the Autobots take this ship!" Megatron watched as a swarm of Decepticons descended on the Autobots, Starscream and Onslaught leading the charge. A few of the Vehicon drones were gunned down, but they were expendable cannon fodder.
I would give you a detailed account of the battle, but that is ultimately not important. The battle lasted ten minutes and the only casualties were some Vehicons. The important part is what happened at the tail end of the battle.
Megatron gritted his denta as his troops were slowly overwhelmed. He would have joined the fight from the start, but he did not want to waste what little power he had left unless he absolutely had to. He decided to make a hasty call. "All Decepticons return to the Nemesis! We are leaving."
The Decepticons slowly retreated back into the Nemesis, taking their time so as to properly hold off the Autobots while carrying their wounded back to safety. It took a few minutes, but eventually they were all back in the ship. The Autobots continued firing upon the hull.
As soon as Soundwave came running onto the command bridge, Megatron turned to him. "Activate a space bridge."
"To where?" Soundwave asked.
"... Set a course for Hedonia."
"Yes Lord Megatron." Seconds later a gigantic green portal appeared before the ship. But the ship was barely moving. The tractor beams were still attached.
Megatron snarled. "Set engines to full thrust!"
"But the Autobots are still attached to us," Soundwave pointed out, "They would simply be brought along with us."
"I care not! Better we fight somewhere we can at least refuel, and not here in the cold dead of space!"
Soundwave obeyed and relayed the orders to the rest of the crew.
Meanwhile, the outside Autobots finished retreating back to the Arclight. They thought it best to be inside their ship as soon as they saw the portal open, which was a much better alternative to being left stranded in empty space.
Optimus rushed onto the command bridge. "Status report!"
"The Decepticons are obviously making an escape attempt," Prowl explained. "Our tractor beams are slowing them down for now, but if they go full speed we'll either lose them or be dragged along."
"Do you know where they are heading?" Optimus asked.
"I'm hacking their coordinates," Blaster said. "Looks like they're heading to Hedonia."
"Can you change the destination?"
"Remember who you're talking to. Name it and we're there, boss. Where to?"
"Cybertron. One Decepticon ship against a planet of Autobots is not a fair fight."
"Okay, I'm trying to change our destination as we speak."
"Better hurry," Prowl said, looking out the bridge window. "Because the Decepticons are not waiting for us."
The Nemesis' engines flared and the warship went forward towards the portal, slowly pulling the Arclight alongside it. The tractor beams strained.
"Sideswipe, keep pace with them," Optimus ordered. "Blaster, are you finished yet?"
"Almost done Prime," Blaster responded. "We're just about to- oh, damn!"
"What? What is it?"
"It's Soundwave! He's counter hacking me! The whole system's scrambled!"
This was happening just as both ships entered the space bridge. The portal distorted with confusion and sent both ships to a random location. That is all the justification this story needs.
Both ships exited the space bridge and the portal closed behind them. The tractor beams broke, allowing the Nemesis to escape the Arclight. The sudden whiplash from the broken beams caused the Arclight to falter, however, and be left behind. The Decepticons made a clean getaway.
A whole minute later the ship was back in working order. "Systems are back online," Wheeljack said over a comm.
"Excellent work," Optimus said. "Now then, where are we?"
"We're in uncharted territory," Blaster said. "I can't match up our location with any of our maps."
"And the Decepticons?"
"Left us behind in the dust."
Optimus rubbed his chin in thought. "Do you know where they might have gone?"
"My scans are detecting a small planet nearby that's giving off a lot of energy. The Cons went in that direction, so they'll probably stop by there to refuel."
"Then that is where we will go."
As the Arclight flew to its destination, the other officers of the ship entered the bridge. Ultra Magnus and Elita One returned, and with them were Ironhide, Jazz, Jetfire, and Kup. "What's the situation Prime?" Jetfire asked.
"We appear to be in an unknown location in deep space," Optimus said.
"So basically we're in the middle of nowhere," Kup bluntly said as he chomped on his medical cy-gar.
"What about the Decepticons?" Jazz asked. "Did they get away?"
Optimus nodded. "I'm afraid so. However, we have reason to believe that they may stop at a nearby planet filled with energy."
"As good a lead as any," Ironhide gruffly said, arms crossed. "They were obviously weakened, if we can find now, we can snuff them out. Strike hard and fast."
"Don't get so excited," Ultra Magnus flatly said. "That world could be inhabited by sapient lifeforms. We can't go in guns blazing until we know for sure."
"Which is why we will employ standard infiltration procedure until further notice," Optimus calmly explained. "Sideswipe, set course to the planet."
An hour passed. As the Arclight neared the planet, a little bright light became more and more noticeable. It appeared to be between the planet and the ship, and was growing bigger as it approached. Sideswipe was the first to notice. "Uh guys, we got something coming up."
The light was rapidly approaching. Closer now, they could see that it was a ball of fire. A sun. It was only the size of an Earth city block. The Autobots on the command bridge watched as the little sun passed by the window. It was behind them now.
"Suns aren't supposed to be that small," Elita One commented.
"Did anyone get a good scan on that?" Prowl asked.
"Yeah as we passed by," Blaster said. "Why? Curious?"
"Not only is that star incredibly small, but its close proximity to that planet should have turned it into a desert world. It is illogical. Send me the files later."
They were closing in on the planet. It had one moon, which was abnormally large. A quick scan over the satellite showed that the Decepticons had briefly landed on it, then went to the planet proper. The Arclight passed the moon. The planet itself was a blue and green organic world, lush with life. It was rather small, only half the size of Earth.
Scans highlighted where the most powerful of the mysterious energy was, as well as population centers. Given the track record of the Decepticons, it made sense that they would land their ship in this area.
The Arclight went in low, and quiet. The ship landed at the base of a mountain, surrounded by a thick forest. It cloaked itself.
It was the dead of night, and none in Equestria or the whole world were aware of the arrival of their visitors from beyond the stars.
Author's Note
Alright, this is my shot at a Transformers crossover. It's gonna start out pretty much just like every other tf/mlp crossover out there, but about halfway through I plan to throw everything off the rails.
The Transformer universe in this story is an original creation of mine. It's mostly a mix of G1, Movie, and Aligned. A little bit of other universes is sprinkled in there. Expect lots of references. I thought it best to explain enough so that the reader understands how things are for the bots and cons, but leave enough vague to leave it to the imagination. This is a crossover, not a history lesson about my original tf universe.
Crew manifest of the Arclight: Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Ratchet, Jazz, Wheeljack, Prowl, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Jetfire, Perceptor, Elita One, Chromia, Moonracer, Firestar, First Aid, Blades, Fireflight, Blaster, Rewind, Eject, Steeljaw, Sunder, Hot Rod, Ultra Magnus, Arcee, Springer, Kup, Blurr, Sky Lynx, and Chromedome.
Crew manifest of the Nemesis: Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Laserbeak, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Shockwave, Bombshell, Shrapnel, Kickback, Nightbird, Bruticus*, Onslaught, Swindle, Brawl, Vortex, Blast Off, Flamewar, Sky Byte, Demolishor, Snow Cat, Barricade, Blackout, Flatline, Slipstream, Makeshift, Knock Out, and 50 Vehicons.
These are the only Transformers characters who will physically appear in this story. Many more will be name dropped and talked about, but nobody else is coming to Equestria. I specifically selected characters to fill in the roles that I needed to tell the story. I wanted more characters, but I had to "trim the fat" so I only had what I needed. The original robot cast was twice as long.
