Author's Note

First of all, do not go pointing at me and saying 'Hey, that's Steeljaw on the cover', I KNOW THIS. Every character has a different variant of one another like how Transformers Prime's variant of Sky Lynx is a Predacon, or how Soundwave is completely silent with only one word of dialogue in one episode.

And again, this is an alternate universe. And as another note, I'm going to try two plots in this fic. Like one being our main one, and the other being a subplot. Lets see how well it'll work, shall we?

Stars In The Sky

The night sky was completely cloudless, glittering and gleaming in the sky above the city of Canterlot. It was the end of another beautiful day, on a Friday. And things couldn't be better for Sunset and her friends. They were getting stronger and tougher with every threat that came their way, and they were gaining new friends and allies almost every time.

The students of Crystal Prep Academy became their friends after Starscream and his cohorts made another attack, and a few weeks ago, the Autobots made a new friend that escaped Cybertron to flee being captured for a crime he never committed.

But tonight, the Autobots were scattered across the city going out on their daily patrols for either any Decepticons, Renegades, fugitives, or any suspicious activity that would require sending out groups of warriors to handle. Well, not all of them...

"Good evening Autobots," the friendly sports car Knockout said.

Standing over on a hill, underneath a tree were Sunset, the girls, and their Autobot guardians. On the grass was a picnic blanket scattered with some food and plates and utensils. The girls were having some late night snacks while stargazing along with joining for a meteor shower with their new friends. It was a perfect night to do so.

"Evening Knockout, evening Rarity," the bespectacled Twilight smiled.

"How was your trip over?" Sunset asked.

"Not too bad," Rarity replied, "Although with the amount of Autobots going back and forth in our town is starting to pile up traffic. We were so stuck I wasn't even sure we would make it on time!"

"Well you're here now! Just have a seat and enjoy some tasty treats!" Pinkie grinned as she stuffed her face with a cupcake.

Rarity was about to complain some more but she felt a touch of a metal hand on her shoulder, with Knockout offering a friendly smile and expression with the baby blue eyes.

Rarity smiled in return and looked for a spot to take a seat, and Knockout sat right next to her. And as Knockout took a seat, his eyes widened when he saw Optimus Prime was with the group as well. Optimus Prime of all bots. Sure that one picnic by the Wondercolt statue could have been an exception, but he was here with them too?

"Optimus? I thought you would be busy tonight," Knockout puzzled.

"Ratchet insisted he take over my shifts and that I take a break," Optimus replied.

"I see."

"Plus I thought I asked him if he wanted to take a night off to hang out with us again," Sunset interrupted.

Optimus nodded, "Indeed."

The others looked at each other with smiles as they stared off into the night sky.

"So when should the meteor shower begin?" Punch asked.

"I'm not sure, I think it should be roughly 20-10 minutes," Twilight said to the orange and blue Autobot next to her.

"Perfect timing for all of us," Punch said.

The group just continued to lay back, relax, and enjoy each other's company as they sat on the hill in the starry night. So calm, and so at peace with each other, they could sit here forever.

"So tell me, where's Cybertron?" Sunset asked as she looked up at the stars.

"Right there," Optimus said pointing his finger in a direction up.

Sunset moved over to try and see from his view and smiled as she saw the spot where it was.

"So that's Cybertron?" Sunset asked.

"Yes Sunset. There's our home," Optimus smiled.

"So close... and yet so far," Jazz sighed.

Pinkie just patted the shoulder of her Autobot friend.

"Aw, don't feel bad. Maybe we'll get to Cybertron someday," Pinkie said.

Jazz wanted to say no, but how could he be negative around Pinkie Pie? She always knew how to make people smile even when they're down.

Jazz only grinned and ruffled Pinkie's hair a bit, making her giggle.

"As nice as it would be to go back to Cybertron, I don't think we'll be able to. We have no ship since Blurr lost the only shuttle and we crashed the Ark into a canyon 30 years ago. Plus we have no telecommunications so we're basically stranded on this planet," Punch replied.

"We're doing everything we can Punch. You just need to have more faith," Optimus said.

"I know, but sometimes I keep thinking we're not--" Punch began.

"WHOA! Look at that!" Pinkie called out.

The girls and the Autobots gasped at the sight of the meteor shower that was up in the sky. They came soaring on through the atmosphere like little baseballs being hit at maximum speed across a stadium.

"Beautiful...", Twilight said.

"Most divine indeed," Rarity cooed.

"Pretty cool. Although I'm not sure about that one though," Sideswipe said pointing up.

The Autobots gave weird looks to Sideswipe. But when they gazed up, they all gasped in another shock. There was another meteor in sight. But it wasn't like any of the other ones, it appeared to glowing in a fiery glow, and it was coming down in the atmosphere. Tons of flame and smoke were emerging from it as it was coming down from the sky.

"That's no star... that's a spaceship," Optimus said.

The spaceship was getting lower and lower into Earth's atmosphere as it soared across the glittering sky. Only its target was for the city of Canterlot. It was far and far away from the big city. This spaceship was going far off into a desert environment, farther and farther away...

Far off into the desert, the mystery star began to crash further and further down, until finally it began to crash right into the scorching hot sand, blowing more and more of the soil and sand out of the way as it kept on pushing on through. The ship left a big trail of dug up sand into the terrain as it slowed down on the crash.

The crash left a big amount of damage. There was a big trail of dug up sand in the ground leading to where the ship crashed, several plants and cacti were shoved out of the way, and there was steam emanating from the big spacecraft as it stayed on the ground. But, without warning, the ship ruptured in an explosion.

Parts began flying everywhere, big wads of metallic plating and parts flew everywhere in a fiery inferno. A big cloud of black smoke covered the sky as the explosion continued to commence. But there was more to be seen. Small fires spread onto a few plants burning them up into ashes, and giant cells began to fly out of the ship, all crashing onto the ground, breaking into bits, and opening the hatches on them.

All around, the remains of the ship laid on the ground, with small little fires and smoke coming from every spot on the pieces that exploded. And there was more to be seen in the aftermath. There were giant containment pods all scattered about, all laying damaged on the ground. Some of them were opened, some of them were in pieces, while others looked like they were still on working condition.

The pilots and any crew members on board the ship weren't anywhere to be seen. No one was around to see the damage the crash had caused. But there was someone still around...

A figure was crouched down on the ground, bent over, slowly standing back up on his two feet. A pair of yellow eyes glowed in the darkness, as he looked around the damage. No damage to himself. But wait, he was free. He could leave now. Not contained in that pod, he could leave on his own.

A smirk appeared on his face as he found himself able to leave.

"Lets leave this little damage for the rest of the crew of clean up."

The figure began a transformation. His head tucked into his chest, and his arms folded together, followed by his legs finally folding in. He had converted into a muscle car, with a small Decepticon logo in the front, big wings sticking out the back, and giant wheels in the back of its car form. Once it was converted, it revved its engine and the tires kicked up the sand and a cloud of dust right behind as it drove off into the night without anyone watching it leave.

But there was someone else that was still in the crash site. A figure tall and skinny slithered up to stand and he looked over to the empty stasis cell that he was trapped in. His eyes glowed in the darkness as he stared down on it.

"I'm free, I'm free!" The figure laughed as he looked around him.

The Decepticon stood for a moment, and attempted to move his muscles to transform, but nothing happened. No clanking of metal, no bending his shape. He couldn't transform.

"Wait... no. No! NO! They took my cog! Well... if they did so, then we're gonna have to fix this, shall we? I may not be able to transform, but I can still burrow!"

The figure jumped into the air and it dove straight into the ground, digging into it, and going right through the sand, burrowing like a worm. It dug further and further into the ground, and finally it broke on through into the ground, leaving no trace of him behind. All that was left was a bunch of damaged, destroyed, and a few viable stasis cells in working condition. But he, was out of sight... and out of mind.