The Darkest Hour

Chapters

The Prologue: Seeking Trouble
Chapter 1: Rumble’s True Worth
Chapter 2: “The Prisoners Have Escaped!”
Chapter 3: Another Nightmare
Chapter 4: A Traumatic Experience
Chapter 5: Following the Star
Chapter 6: Ego Fight
Chapter 7: Attack of the Seekers
Chapter 8: Decepticons Mobilize
Chapter 9: New Friendships
Chapter 10: Taken Hostage
Chapter 11: The Decepticon Invasion
Chapter 12: The Call of Primus
Chapter 13: Crossing Paths
Chapter 14: The Team-Up
Chapter 15: Preparing for War
Chapter 17: The Darkest Hour: part 2
Chapter 18: The Darkest Hour part 3
The Epilogue: Friendship to the End
Chapter 16: The Darkest Hour part 1

The Prologue: Seeking Trouble

ONE YEAR EARLIER

“Oh no! I can feel the goo seeping into my circuitry!” whined the cowardly Starscream clone. Both he, the other clone, and a light blue Autobot were stuck together in a solidified gooy substance on one of Saturn’s moons.

“Will you be quiet?! I will not allow your meaningless complaints disrupt my current train of thought!” the blue Starscream clone snapped.

“I suppose your only train of thought is yourself and everything else about you,” the blue Autobot said.

“Precisely, Autobot! I am the most resilient Decepticon warrior in the galaxy! Megatron will cower before my superior might and tremble before me!” he bragged.

“Megatron?! He’s not coming for us, is he?!” the coward clone panicked.

“Of course not, fool! I will simply challenge him for the throne. I will find him and destroy him myself,” said the ego-maniac.

“Perhaps you’re forgetting one simple detail that I’m sure all of us are fully aware of by now... WE ARE STILL STUCK ON THIS GOO!!” the Autobot yelled. “How are we going to get out?!”

Both Starscream clones stared at the solidified goo. “Ahhhh!! Get me out of this sticky mess! It makes my wings feel so uncomfortable!” the coward clone screamed.

“This inferior goo is no match for my great power. I just need to simply break it apart so I can fulfill my destiny,” the bragging clone smirked. He tried to move his arms, but the rock solid goo restricted his movements. He even attempted to ignite his thrusters, but they were likewise disabled by the goo.

“Impossible! This filthy substance cannot defeat me that easily!” he growled.

“Perhaps try firing your null ray blasters directly in the goo rather than bragging about it! Of course, this idea is only a theory,” suggested Blurr.

Taking his advice, the blue clone successfully ignited his blasters which slowly burned through the goo. “Hmmm, perhaps you’re not as useless as I thought you were, Autobot.” He preceded to fire repeatedly at the goo which resulted in its burning inflation. It finally exploded in a loud pop.

The freed robots landed hard on the ground before they looked back at each other. The narcissistic clone stood up and aimed his blasters at Blurr while the cowardly one remained on the ground. “Ha! Finally! I shall now dominate you!” He fired multiple null rays at him, forcing the latter to speed around the area to flee from the shots.

“Come in, Cybertron Command! Come in, Cybertron Command! This is Blurr under attack by a Decepticon—can anybody hear me? Is this blasted com link even working?!” he desperately called.

“Hahahahaha, puny Autobot, you truly think you can summon your forces against the likes of me? I am too powerful to defeat!” the clone boasted.

As he continued firing on him, his null blasters stopped working. This caught him completely off-guard. “What?”

Suddenly, massive strikes of blue lightning erupted out of his blasters. The bolts struck Blurr before he could leave Saturn’s moon. He fell on the ground severely wounded. The clone lifted up his hands and saw his fingers glowing with electricity. Beholding this made him grin.

“Yes... this hidden power... is so... good. The power of thunder and lightning belong to me. This is my destiny, my strength, my ultimate source of victory. I am truly... wonderful!” he proudly declared.

“Can you please use that to free me of these dreadful stasis cuffs?” the cowardly clone asked.

The egotistical clone glared daggers at him. “It will be a waste of such power if I do that. I now have something even Megatron will never have. Henceforth, you shall address me as... THUNDERCRACKER!!”

He raised his hands into the air and generated several lightning bolts into space, destroying multiple asteroids in the process. He walked over to Blurr and picked him up by the arm. “Any last words, Autobot scum?”

The Elite Guard officer opened his optics to see Thundercracker evilly smiling at him. He immediately kicked his face away with his running tires and sped off.

“You will regret that, Autobot fool! Nobody puts tire marks on me and gets away with it!” he angrily threatened. He transformed into jet mode and fired laser blasts at him.

He chased him all across the moon until Blurr ran all the way up on the tall rocky pillar, launching himself into space. “This won’t end well, this won’t end well, this won’t end well, this won’t end well!!” he yelled, hurriedly pacing.

Thundercracker was just about to catch up to him as he transformed back to robot mode. He reached out his hand while he angrily clenched his teeth. “You’re mine, Autobot! Prepare for your termination!”

However, Blurr placed his foot on his face while he slowed his immense speed. Without warning, he pushed him off with enough speed power to send them both flying.

Blurr uncontrollably flew all the way to Saturn, to Jupiter, and then to other planets until he was no longer in view. Thundercracker crashed against one of the asteroids which was not far from where the other clone was.

“That Autobot will not run away forever. I will destroy him and all the other Autobots with him! Then I will annihilate Megatron once and for all! I am the most feared Decepticon of all time! All will—AHHHHH!!!!”

Suddenly, two large metal tentacles electrocuted Thundercracker behind him. As he screamed in pain and agony, all of his energon, power, and life force drained from him. Once the tentacles released him, he fell down on Saturn’s moon with no energy left in his body.

He tried to get up and transform, but he could not do so. “What... what is... going... on...?” At that moment, large laser beams rained down on him which resulted in a huge explosion. All that remained of Thundercracker were his broken wings and torn leg.

The surviving clone beheld his death with astonishment and dread. “I... I wish I did not see that. Is someone here?! Please don’t hurt me! I’m innocent!”

Then he noticed a dark turquoise Starscream clone with mixed colors of yellow, brown, and red on his wings and legs. The newcomer flew down to his level and landed on the surface. “Greetings, fellow Seeker! Do you have any delicious power for me to consume?”

“Were you the one who just...?”

“Oh, I was just thirsty for that wonderful display of thunder. So I did what I had to! IT IS ALL MINE!!” he reveled. He retracted his metal tentacles back inside his chest.

“Too bad that thunder boy is no longer online to keep that power. If he made a name for himself, then I shall make one for myself too!” the greedy clone said.

“Why do you want to create a name for yourself? Don’t you want to maintain Master Starscream’s name so you won’t suffer his wrath?” the cowardly clone asked.

“Haha, don’t be ridiculous! All I care about is my hunger... my hunger for power! Meanwhile, you can create a dirge for Thundercracker. Wait...”

“What?”

“It’s that word dirge. It sounds very catchy—very delicious. Yes, I shall obtain the power of that word. That name is mine! I am... Dirge!”

“Okay... so... does that mean I can have a name too?” the coward clone asked.

“Oh, I don’t know, but maybe you can ask him about that,” Dirge replied.

Another clone appeared above the asteroids. He was completely dark red with some black stripes around his chassis. He landed right next to Dirge with a look of utter contempt. “Well, it looks like Starscream has proven yet again that he’s a failure of a leader.”

“What are you talking about?” the coward clone asked.

“You may call me Thrust. I despise being overshadowed by someone else. If you want to survive, you will follow me and only me. I will not allow anyone to stand on top!”

“Okay, okay, whatever you say! Just free me from these stasis cuffs please!” the coward begged. Grinning to himself, Thrust blasted the cuffs off him.

“Good. With the three of us together, we will overthrow both Starscream, Megatron, and the Autobots. All the glory will be mine!” Thrust declared, clenching his fist.

“But... but what about me?”

“You? You can just warp around the skies as a spy for us. That will be your job,” Thrust replied.

“Oh... okay. Better than fighting Megatron himself I guess,” the coward muttered.

“Welcome to my side... Skywarp,” Thrust grinned.

Author's Note

Cue the opening credits and title sequence...

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this prologue. Plenty of things will be happening in this story, so this will be quite a long journey. It’s time to be reunited with Rumble and company once again. Stay tuned for the first chapter, folks!

Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Chapter 1: Rumble’s True Worth

AT THE PRESENT TIME

All the ponies of Equestria could not have been even more happy as one of their own finally reunited with them after the death of Soundwave. Most of them feared that they would never see the young colt again, but thankfully, they were proven wrong. They celebrated his return and rejoiced over the Autobots’ victory.

Ever since the Decepticons have been defeated, the ponies increased their defenses in case they ever again suffer attack from anyone—Decepticon or not. They were determined more than ever to be prepared for any attack they might encounter in the future.

Above the clouds, Rumble flew high in the sky with fierce velocity. As soon as he reached to the top of the sky, he swiftly descended within the same speed. He widely grinned the more he zoomed toward the ground; however, he suddenly lost control and crashed on the dirt.

“Ah, come on! I almost made it this time!” he complained, spitting the dirt out of his mouth.

“Don’t worry, little brother, you just gotta keep practicing,” encouraged Thunderlane.

“This is the fifth time I tried this, and I still couldn’t make it. I thought for sure my new cutie mark would enable me to get it right,” said Rumble.

“I guess not everypony can do a sonic rainboom, bro. Rainbow Dash naturally has it in her to do that, but perhaps it’s not easy for any other pegasus. Besides, even if you can’t do a rainboom, you can still do other things!”

“Yeah, but a sonic rainboom is so much cooler! I just have to keep trying!” Rumble said.

“Then why don’t you ask Rainbow if she can help you? I’m sure she’ll show you the ropes,” suggested Thunderlane.

“Hmmm, good idea. I’ll see you around!” Rumble waved, flying off to the sky.

“Why do I have a feeling this won’t work out for him?” Thunderlane asked himself.

************

Once Rumble was in the air, he spotted the rainbow-haired pegasus lazily laying on top of a cloud. Smirking, he flew over to her. “Hey, Rainbow Dash!”

“Huh? Oh, Rumble! Didn’t expect to see you today. What’s up?” she asked.

“Well... I’ve been trying to create a sonic rainboom on my own, but it didn’t work out,” he replied. “So I was wondering if you can help me with that.”

“Wait... you actually have been trying to do that?” Rainbow asked, surprised.

“I mean, I’ve seen you do it plenty of times before with no problem. I always thought of it as the coolest thing a Wonderbolt can do, so I wanted to give it a shot. But so far, it’s not working for me. Can you show me?”

Rainbow took a moment to think about it until she responded back. “Look, Rumble, I would love to help you with anything else, but... not with this one.”

“What?! Why not?”

“Because... only I can do that. It’s just not something you would see in any other pegasus. But hey, I know you can do a lot of other awesome stuff! Like, protecting everypony, saving the world, beating up Decepticons, helping the Autobots, training to be a future Wonderbolt, and more!” Rainbow explained.

Rumble lowered his head as he sorrowfully listened in silence.

“Come on, don’t feel bad, little buddy. Just because you can’t do what I do doesn’t mean you’re not awesome. Just do what you do. See what I mean?”

“Yeah... I guess,” Rumble replied. He flew away disappointed. Rainbow however briefly stared at his cutie mark.

“I wish I got that Autobot symbol on my cutie mark...”

LATER

Rumble sat on the grassy hillside just above Ponyville. He beheld the sunset while still feeling a bit sorrowful. “Maybe I should try again tomorrow morning. I can’t give up that easily! Or... maybe I should give it rest and forget about it. How am I supposed to know what to do if my cutie mark won’t show me anything?” he agonized in thought.

Just as he was thinking about this, he got instant flashbacks of his negative attitude toward cutie marks in front of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. He remembered how he used to hate them for fear of being ‘put in a box’ and being kept from his true potential. “What if... my cutie mark isn’t who I—?”

“Hey, pal!” someone shouted. Rumble turned back to see Spike flying down to him.

“Hey, Spike.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah... yeah, everything’s fine.”

“Are you sure? You don’t look like you’re fine,” Spike said, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m just... tired. That’s all,” he lied.

“Rumble, you can tell me anything. I’m your friend. Something is clearly wrong.”

“(Sigh) Okay... it’s just... I’m having doubts about my cutie mark,” Rumble confessed.

“Really? I thought you enjoyed having it?”

“I did, and I still do. It’s just that I am unsure if I can do anything unique or special. I know I will be a great Wonderbolt one day, but I want to do more than just flying around, training, or even cooking. It’s been a year since we defeated the Decepticons, and I already feel like... I’m missing something.”

“I see where you’re coming from. In a way, I can relate to that. I just sprouted these wings only recently, but I’ve been taking plenty of practice to know how to fly properly. It wasn’t easy, but I got the hang of it. I’m sure it will be the same for you, pal,” Spike said.

“That’s easy for you to say. I always wanted to do great things, but it feels like my cutie mark is not doing anything for me or giving me any special abilities. It’s just... there!” Rumble vented.

“Rumble, you helped save the entire city, remember? You destroyed Soundwave, you saved your friends, and you are a member of the Autobots! Isn’t that itself rewarding? Don’t be discouraged because you don’t feel special or unique. Your cutie mark shows who you are in the inside and what you can do. Besides, if you ask me, you are a role model,” Spike advised.

Rumble carefully thought on his words. After a moment of contemplation, he softly smiled at the dragon. “Thanks, Spike. I needed to hear that. I guess I have a lot to learn about my cutie mark.” Both he and Spike gave a fist/hoof bump.

“Anytime, pal,” Spike winked.

“Heh, it still feels like yesterday since I got my cutie mark and defeated Soundwave. I won’t ever forget that experience I had,” recalled Rumble, facing the evening sky.

“Me neither! And... honestly, I do miss being with the Autobots. They’re actually pretty cool,” said Spike.

“Yeah, they are. They protect the universe, fight for what is right, and uphold freedom for every creature. I only hope to be just as awesome as they are,” sighed Rumble.

“You already are, Rumble! Never forget that,” Spike smiled.

With that said, Spike flew back to the Castle of Friendship. Rumble remained on the hill as he watched the sun setting and the sky getting darker.

“I guess there is more to my cutie mark than meets the eye, huh?” Rumble chuckled.

Chapter 2: “The Prisoners Have Escaped!”

ON CYBERTRON

The Elite Guard gathered together within the Metroplex Headquarters for a mandatory meeting. In the midst of the court was Ultra Magnus sitting on his chair whereas Sentinel Prime sat on his right hand and Alpha Trion sat next to him on the left. Jazz stood below Perceptor’s chair. Before them stood a familiar team of Autobots who saluted Ultra Magnus as soon as they entered the room.

“Ultra Magnus, sir, you called for us?”

“Indeed, Rodimus Prime. It has come to our attention that you have faithfully guarded and protected the humans of Earth alongside Optimus Prime and his crew. We must acknowledge that you have done well in assisting them ever since the destruction of the Decepticon Soundwave. For that matter, we have come to an agreement in regards to your post,” began Ultra Magnus.

Sentinel rolled his optics in annoyance.

“We have considered giving you a position within the Elite Guard,” Magnus finished.

Rodimus and his team widened their optics in surprise. “Really? Me? But, sir, I—I was expelled from the Academy, rendering me incapable of being reinstated in the Elite Guard. How can I be brought back?”

“For once, I can agree,” Sentinel grumbled.

“You have proven yourself as an effective leader, Rodimus. You have demonstrated what a true leader is supposed to be—faithful, loyal, respectful, brave, strong, and most importantly, humble. As Optimus is proud of you, so am I,” Magnus commended. “Moreover, although you were expelled from Autobot Academy, I have the right to reinstate you to your rightful position.”

“But, sir, I—!” Sentinel interjected. Magnus glared at him. The prime held his peace in fear.

“I am... truly honored, Commander. I really am. I will do everything in my power to serve our cause,” Rodimus replied.

“As you have always done, Rodimus Prime. However, there is one more thing that we must bring to your attention,” said Magnus.

“I wonder what that would be,” Ironhide muttered.

“Our home planet needs to be at full alert as we have been receiving multiple threats from the Decepticons lately. Ever since Megatron’s defeat, they have been increasing their efforts more than ever to attack our headquarters and our energon reserves.”

“Thankfully, they have no organized plan due to the absence of their leader,” Perceptor added. “If they keep this up, Cybertron’s most valuable areas will never be assaulted.”

“With your input and assistance within the Elite Guard, we may find more creative ways to push them back for good. Otherwise, the Decepticons will eventually discover those areas themselves,” said Alpha Trion.

“In light of these dire circumstances and the potentially dangerous situation that we may face...” Ultra Magnus stood up from his chair and walked down the stairs while maintaining his optic-contact on Rodimus. “... you are strictly ordered to permanently remain on Cybertron.”

The Autobots were once again surprised. They looked at each other’s faces as they wondered why they had to stay away from the humans’ home world. Hot Shot immediately walked up to Ultra Magnus with a question.

“You’re kidding, right? I don’t see how staying away from the humans would make any sense!”

“Cybertron will be under grave danger if we do not have more servos on deck. Your leadership is greatly needed, Rodimus Prime,” Ultra Magnus insisted.

“But, Ultra Magnus, Optimus needs me. He and his crew need us! Who knows if the Decepticons will seek to attack Earth again? They also will need us then,” Rodimus argued.

As Sentinel was listening to the conversation, his smirk grew wider and wider. “This is gonna be quite an opportunity for me,” he whispered.

“I understand the possibilities, young warrior. You have done well serving the organics and granting them peace and prosperity. But now Cybertron needs you now more than ever. That is not a request,” Magnus sternly replied.

Rodimus bowed his head in defeat. “(Sigh) Yes, sir. I understand.”

“Good. For now, I will allow the rest of you to resume your proper posts. Later on, you will be promoted as... my Elite Guard lieutenant. Congratulations, Rodimus Prime,” Ultra Magnus said, shaking the young prime’s hand.

All the Autobot guards that were assembled applauded Rodimus Prime for his promotion to the Elite Guard. However, after Team Athenia saluted Ultra Magnus, they exited the headquarters with troubled expressions on their faces.

“Hmmm, let’s see how the rookie will handle this...” Sentinel muttered, mischievously grinning.

************

“Well, at least you have something to look forward to, Prime,” said Ironhide.

“How are we going to explain this to our friends back in Detroit?” Red Alert asked.

“I... don’t know,” replied Rodimus. “This new position is great and all, but... but I never even asked for any of this!”

“Wait a nano-click... if we cannot even return to Earth... that means we cannot even visit Equestria! Right?” Hot Shot gasped.

“Equestria? You mean those organic horses who helped us beat those Decepti-chops?” Ironhide recalled.

“Indeed. I’ve been thinking about them... a lot. If we cannot visit the humans, then we can surely visit the ponies,” suggested Red Alert.

“But Ultra Magnus’s orders...” Rodimus reminded.

“He didn’t mention anything about Equestria, did he?” Brawn asked.

“Huh... I suppose you’re right, Brawn. But I... I don’t know how I’m going to handle this. I know I can't be in two or three places at once, but it is my utmost duty to be there for all my friends including the organics of both worlds. Although if I do leave, Ultra Magnus will be looking for me,” worried Rodimus.

“It’s okay, Prime. I’m glad you’re thinking about your friends. Here’s an idea: you can remain here with Hot Shot and Brawn. I’m thinking that Ironhide can go to Earth while I can go to Equestria,” said Red Alert.

This caught Rodimus by surprise. “What?! And disobey a direct order?”

“Rodimus, this isn’t the first time I left my post and gone against the wishes of my superiors. Ask Sentinel about that,” she said, slightly smirking.

“I’m curious. Why do you want to visit Equestria anyway? It’s been one solar cycle since we have last seen them. So why now?” Hot Shot asked.

“Because... sigh... I miss them. Not a day goes by in which I don’t think about them. Plus, I really would love to check on them to see how they’re doing... especially Rumble,” Red Alert confessed.

The Autobots paused as his name was just mentioned. “Rumble...”

“Please... everything will be fine. Just cover for me,” she assured them.

Rodimus then thought about Rumble. He remembered the moments he spent with them ever since Soundwave’s defeat and how he became a new Autobot among them. Relishing the hope to see him again, he slowly nodded his head in approval.

“Very well, Red Alert. Just come back in one piece.”

“I will, sir,” she saluted. Thus, she transformed to her ambulance mode and drove off.

“Well, to Earth it is. At least I will have more time to see Bulkhead and Bumblebee once again,” Ironhide smiled. He also transformed into his earth-based vehicle mode and left the premises.

“If you see any Decepticons on the way, smash them to atoms for me, will ya?” Brawn shouted.

“It would be my pleasure!” Ironhide replied.

AT TRYPTICON PRISON

Four Autobot troopers arrived at the prison with a new prisoner. He was a twenty-foot tall black and green Decepticon with razor-sharp blades mounted on his arms. The guards kept him bound with stasis cuffs.

“Are these cuffs really necessary, Autobots? Come on, can’t we just be friends? I won’t hurt any of you, I promise,” he softly spoke.

“Be quiet, Decepticon scum!” a guard snapped, pushing him roughly.

“Wow, rude much? I thought you were supposed to be the good guys! I am asking to be your friend, and this is how you treat a stranger?”

“I said be quiet, prisoner!” the guard shouted.

“Okay, first of all, I have a name. It’s not ‘prisoner’, not ‘scum’, and no, it’s not even ‘Decepticon’ either... although I am one. My name is Lout, okay? Secondly, you seem to be in a bad mood. Can I give you a cup of energon wine? Maybe some motor oil? Oh! Oh! Maybe have a cookie?”

Suddenly, the guards stopped dead on their tracks. Lout turned to their direction and saw the front gates of the prison opened and the minicons fallen dead on the ground. The guards even noticed how the Decepticon stone statues have disappeared.

“What are we looking at here?” Lout casually asked.

“The statues! They’re gone!” the first guard shouted.

“I have to check on the other prisoners! Stay put!” the second guard ordered the other two holding Lout.

Just as the first two guards entered the facility and scanned the entire area, they saw hundreds of cells open, the security cameras destroyed, and dozens of other minicons lying in pieces.

“THE PRISONERS HAVE ESCAPED!” they shouted.

“What a twist!” Lout grinned.

Chapter 3: Another Nightmare

IN EQUESTRIA

Rumble was fast asleep on his bed during the beautiful night with the moon and stars shining bright in the sky. But as he was sleeping, he repeatedly fidgeted around and tried to get into a more comfortable sleeping position. Drops of sweat fell from his forehead, and mutters of distress escaped his mouth.

“No... no... please... no! Stop...” the colt cried.

He twisted and turned with his eyes closed tight. Suddenly, he put his hooves over his head and shook as if something horrifying was actually coming near him. Within that moment, he yelped in fear.

“NO!”

Rumble found himself in a dark void. He looked around to see if anybody was nearby but found nothing. He shivered at the very silent presence of the darkness and hoped to see at least one glimmer of light to ease his spirit. “Hello? Is anypony there? Hello?!” He received no answer.

Suddenly, a dark shadow loomed over him. Once he saw the shadow, he instinctively backed away. “Get back! Who is there?! Get away from me!” he yelled.

However, he noticed something familiar about the scary shadow. The more it advanced on him, the more it became obvious whose shadow it belonged to. The shadowy figure stood above him with a familiar glowing red visor.

Rumble shook in absolute terror at the sight of the being. “No... no!! It can’t be! I destroyed you! Leave me alone, Soundwave!”

The Decepticon’s shadow raised its hands and began to reach out to grab him. As the hands slowly drew near to him, they grew just big enough to swallow him up.

“SOMEPONY HELP ME!!”

Just when they were about to devour him, a bright light vanquished the darkness. The terrified colt looked up to see the princess of the night descend upon him with a look of motherly concern. He sighed in relief before he ran up to her.

“Princess Luna! I am so happy to see you!” Rumble cried.

“So am I, little Rumble. I sensed a great disturbance within you,” Luna noted.

“I just had a nightmare involving that... monster! I... don’t know why this happened, but... it was so terrifying...” Rumble said, shaking.

“I understand, young colt. It would appear that you are now... experiencing some trauma from your experience with him,” she observed.

“What?! Trauma?! This can’t be! I don’t want to have nightmares of him!”

“Rumble, I fear that you are getting a post-traumatic experience after everything that might have happened to you last year.”

“But why now?! Why am I getting this now?!” Rumble demanded.

“I... don’t know. You might continue getting these nightmares from here on out. But do not fear, for I will assist you in giving you the treatment you desperately deserve,” Luna encouraged, softly embracing the colt.

Rumble hugged her back with tears on his eyes. “Thank you, Luna. Thank you so much!”

After they finished hugging, Luna departed from him within a flash. Afterwards, Rumble awoke from his dream. He wiped off the sweat from his forehead and got out of bed.

He opened his window and breathed in the fresh air. He exhaled the air before looking up towards the moon in its glory. As he was beholding it, he thought about the Autobots and their adventures. He thought back on how they had valiantly fought against the evil Decepticons in Detroit and protected the innocent lifeforms around them. He took a quick look at his cutie mark with a hopeful smile.

“I hope to see you again, Autobots.”

ON EARTH’S MOON

“I long to see you destroyed, Autobots.”

Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, stood on top of what remained of their warship; hundreds of Decepticons were gathered together as they all looked up to their powerful leader. Shockwave, Lugnut, Blitzwing, and Starscream were at the forefront of the whole army whereas Slipstream, Sunstorm, and Ramjet were standing on the far left of the assembly.

“Attention, Decepticons! Megatron, your leader, speaks! The time has come for us to reclaim that which is rightfully ours and destroy everyone who stands in our way. For many stellar cycles, we have been driven away by the self-righteous Autobots and exiled from our beloved home world. For too long, they have relished their vain victories and reveled in their riches. But no longer will they have peace,” the tyrant began.

“Yawn... same old speech,” Starscream mocked. Lugnut smacked him on the back.

“Do not dare interrupt our glorious leader!” he spat.

“The Autobot fools have laughed at us, but soon enough, we will all laugh back at them. Soon, we will ravage their cities, steal their sources of power, overthrow their leaders, and seize Cybertron as our whole new empire. I will reign supreme as the new lord of the entire planet!” Megatron finished.

The Decepticons shouted cries of joy and cheer for their master. “OUR GLORIOUS LEADER HAS SPOKEN!! The Autobot scum will never stand a chance!” Lugnut yelled.

“All hail Megatron!” Shockwave said. The rest except Starscream followed suit and bowed before their leader.

“However, we will not attack Cybertron just yet,” continued Megatron. “There is one world we must conquer first—the one called Equestria.”

The ‘Cons looked at him confused while his top lieutenants smirked at each other. “It is the very place where those insufferable puny ponies defeated me and humiliated me. Well, it is time we exact our vengeance upon them while I will absorb their source of power!” Megatron wickedly grinned.

“Those poniez will learn a lesson they’ll never forget,” said Blitzwing. His blue face switched to Hothead. “I will teach them how painful being crushed under foot will feel like!!” His face switched again to Random. “But then they’ll quickly forget about it because... they’ll be dead! Hahahahaha!”

“How exactly are we going to travel to Equestria without a space bridge?” Starscream asked.

Megatron evilly smirked as he thought of an idea. “It is very simple, Starscream.” He jumped from the broken ship and roughly landed in front of him, scaring the traitor. “I have a task for you to prove your usefulness to me. You will locate a space bridge for us; if you succeed in this mission, I might reinstate you as my second-in-command.”

Then he glared at the Seeker as he got closer to his face. “Fail me, and you will lose more than just your body.”

“Okay, okay, fine! I’ll do it for you!” Starscream accepted, cowering.

“I am not finished yet,” Megatron continued. “Furthermore, the moment you locate the perfect space bridge is the time you enter there and find Equestria.”

“But how can I find Equestria without knowing their coordinates or at least having the destination codes?!” Starscream asked.

“I’m sure you will figure it out,” said Megatron, smirking. Once he nodded to Lugnut and Blitzwing, they seized the Seeker and tossed him high above. Thus, he transformed into jet mode and flew off to begin his mission.

“Are you sure that imbecile will actually find that Equestria world?” Slipstream doubted.

“Even if he doesn’t, I can always find other ways to locate those ponies. Besides, I always found Starscream’s vain attempts to succeed at anything to be amusing. It would be surprising to see him complete this mission however,” Megatron replied.

“We have already plazed a tracker on him,” added Blitzwing. “We will know for zure where Equestria iz once he gets there.”

“Excellent. I will gain those elements of harmony. Once I do, I will destroy the ponies, humans, and Autobots once and for all,” Megatron replied, his optics glowing bright.

IN EQUESTRIA

The next morning, Rumble flew across his home town Cloudsdale. He then flew down from the town toward Ponyville to visit some friends of his. As he looked back and forth, he saw Spike and Discord talking with each other. “Hey, Spike. Hey, Discord.”

“Hey, Rumble!” Spike waved.

“Well, well, looks like somepony had an interesting night’s rest,” Discord smirked. “How was it? You had any dreams about the Transformers? Dreaming about the explosions or the action scenes perhaps?” He appeared as a movie director with an IMAX camera.

“Well, not exactly. I was—,”

“Oh, wait! Don’t tell me! You were dreaming about being part of a spectacular show with positive reviews... until it got cancelled with only three seasons,” Discord guessed, holding all the toy merchandise.

“Discord!” Rumble and Spike shouted.

“What? Too personal?” He snapped his fingers, making the merchandise disappear.

“No, it’s not that! It’s just... I was having a bad dream last night. But I don’t want to talk about it,” said Rumble.

“Are you sure? You know you can always talk to us for anything, buddy,” Spike smiled.

“Thanks, Spike, but I’m fine. I’ll be alright.”

“Okay then. But if there’s anything troubling you, just let us know and we can talk about it,” said Spike, laying his hand around Rumble’s shoulder.

Suddenly, Discord’s banana phone rang inside his hidden pocket. He picked up the phone and answered it. “Hello? Oooohhhhh, nice to hear your lovely voice again! Oh? Ahhhh, I see how it is. Well, no worries! I’ll bring you here right this instant!”

“Who was that?” Rumble asked.

“Your special visitor from Cybertron,” Discord replied, winking. He snapped his fingers which made the female Autobot medic appear in a white flash.

“Red Alert? You’re here!” Spike shouted.

“Hello, Spike. Discord, it’s a pleasure to meet you again,” she greeted.

“Likewise, Nurse. Who isn’t happy to you in this lovely day?” Discord grinned, wearing a Doctor’s attire and holding a medical kit. “Oh, and your patient is right behind you.”

She looked behind her to see a surprised Rumble staring at her. “Oh, there you are, Rumble! I’m glad you’re doing alright. I was wondering if we could... talk for a while.”

“Y-Yes. I... would love to,” he stammered. He quickly embraced her leg and welcomed her.

Chapter 4: A Traumatic Experience

Red Alert drove through the open landscape of Equestria with Rumble sitting in the front seat of her ambulance mode. As she was driving, the colt looked through the open window. He beheld the shining rays of the sun, blooming flowers, flying birds, and the green grass. Then he briefly looked at his cutie mark with a frown.

“What’s the matter, Rumble?” Red Alert tenderly asked.

“It’s... well, I’m starting to think about my cutie mark again,” he replied sadly. “All these wonders of nature already know what they’re supposed to do. They are really happy and stuff, but for me... I’m not. I’m not sure what I can do besides flying, cooking, and other colt things.”

“You are just as unique and special as they are. Only time will tell what special talents you will achieve,” said Red Alert.

“How come I don’t feel happy?” Rumble asked. Tears started to form on his eyes. “Why am I feeling so incomplete?”

“There, there, little one, no need to feel useless. You have family and friends who love you for who you are and what you are. They are always here for you,” Red Alert comforted.

Eventually, they arrived in a plain field just about ten miles from the city of Canterlot. Rumble got out of the vehicle before Red Alert transformed back to robot mode. The duo sat down on the grass while facing the blue sky. They were silent for a few moments while they contemplated where they want to start.

The Autobot medic broke the silence. “So... is there anything you want to share? This is a good time to speak your mind.”

“Well... I was having a bad dream last night... but it wasn’t too scary though,” Rumble nervously replied.

Red Alert arched her brow. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah! I mean, it wasn’t that bad, but it was still... uh, weird.” Rumble began to sweat as he forced a smile.

Red Alert reached out her hand and touched Rumble’s forehead. She activated her health scanner on the colt which took him by surprise. “Hey, what are you...?”

“Your nervousness is going haywire. Your body temperature suggests that you are hiding something from me. Rumble, please remember that I am here for you and you can always tell me anything. Be honest with me, alright? What exactly is troubling you?” Red Alert strongly insisted.

Rumble took a deep sigh as he tried to recollect himself. After taking very deep breaths, he looked back up to her. “Okay, I had a horrible nightmare last night; in my dream, I saw a scary-looking shadow looming over me and was going to take me alive. He... looked so much like... Soundwave! I tried to get away from him, but he was so close to grabbing me. I hoped that I would never have nightmares of him, but look at me now!”

Rumble began to sob on the grass as he continued, “Why is this happening to me?! I thought this would be all over!”

Red Alert gently stroked his mane and wiped off his tears. “It’s okay, little one. Let it all out.”

“(Sniff) Thanks... I just don’t wanna go through that again,” said the colt.

“Remember when I told you back in Detroit that I can somewhat relate to your experience? That I know what it’s like to have such trauma and fear?” Red Alert asked.

“Yes? (Sniff)”

“Well, I believe this is the time I tell you my story,” she somberly replied.

Rumble sat on the palm of her hand with an intrigued look on his face. “I’m listening.”

“Many stellar cycles ago on Cybertron after the war against the Decepticons, I was a student under Ratchet’s tutelage. He gave me a very important assignment for finals to complete my training as a medical officer. It was the assignment that led me to a tragedy... that changed my life forever,” she began.

FLASHBACK

The young student drove from street to street until she arrived at the fences of Kaon City. She transformed to robot mode and hid behind a wall. “This is so exciting!! I can hardly await my upcoming graduation! This assignment is going to be so easy!”

“Slow down there, Red, we ain’t there yet. We just need to get past those fences to retrieve the synthetic energon,” a male Autobot reminded.

“I know, Siren. I’m just so excited!” Red Alert squealed.

“I understand that, and so am I. But remember what Professor Ratchet taught us.”

“Always keep your central processor focused on the task before talking about anything irrelevant,” they both recited.

“Very good,” Siren chuckled. “Now, let’s stick according to plan. You know what to do.”

“Oh, yeah! Time to earn that degree!” Red Alert shouted. She snuck behind the boulders that were scattered across the ground.

As she got behind the last one, she noticed several Decepticon troopers guarding the front gates of the city. She mischievously grinned as she picked up a grenade. She threw it right towards the guards.

It landed right in between them and released a toxic gas. They groaned in agony before they slowly fell on the ground offline. Then she transformed to vehicle form and entered into the city.

The entire sky was dark red, some of the roads were littered with empty energon canisters, and Megatron’s face was seen in monitors everywhere in the city.

She continued to sneak around the tall buildings, keeping a low profile. “Siren, I entered the city. Kaon looks even uglier than I thought it was. Do you know how far the synthetic energon is from here? Siren?” Her com link went static for a few seconds. “Hey, Siren, do you read me? Siren!” She still received no answer.

She looked around the city to see if any ‘Con was nearby. Fortunately, she was in the clear and proceeded to a few alleyways.

Suddenly, there were two random Decepticons walking together on the street. She immediately hid in an alleyway before they could see her. The ‘Cons got past the alleyway and walked away until they were out of sight. Seeing the coast was clear, she exited the alleyway and ran off.

Several minutes later, she noticed a bright green light shining in the midst of another alleyway. Smiling with radiant hope, she ran into the alleyway and spotted the synthetic energon stored inside a canister. She quietly snuck up to it until she was mere inches away from it. “Yes! I finally found it! I knew this was going to be easy!” She picked up the canister as she idly gazed at it.

“You really shouldn’t be here,” a gravelly, depressed voice spoke out.

Startled by the voice, Red Alert turned around to see a Decepticon with the exact same body model and size of Jazz with red-purple colors, a couple of yellow and black stripes, and a purple visor. He stood in front of her with a frown. “You have no business here, Autobot. Leave now.”

“Sorry, uh... sir, I’m here on a mission to retrieve this so I can graduate from my training with Professor Ratchet. So... I’m taking this with me!” she casually replied, smiling at the ‘Con.

“Whatever. Just get outta here while you still can,” he warned. “If my companions find you here, it won’t be pretty for you.”

“Riiiiiight... I’m Red Alert by the way. What’s your name?”

“Dead End.”

“Nice to meet you, Dead End! I’m sorry I have to cut our conversation short, but I’m gonna go now with this thing. Bye!”

But before she could get away, she bumped into a bigger Decepticon who had the same body model as Optimus with a black and purple color scheme and whose head was square-shaped and had a beard. He fiercely glared at the young fembot. “WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?!”

“I... I was just—!”

He swiftly grabbed her and tossed her hard to the ground. “Once again, you failed to apprehend the Autobot scum when you had the chance, Dead End! Such a worthless weakling you are!”

“Hey, cut him some slack, Motormaster! He was just talking to her...” said another Decepticon. The leader glared at him which made the latter nervous. “...which, of course, he was wrong for doing that.”

“What’s going on around here, boss?” a fourth ‘Con asked, entering the alleyway. Once he spotted Red Alert slowly getting up, he grinned lasciviously. “Well, well, well, who is this pretty bot?”

“A trespasser!! She will be severely dealt with!” Motormaster angrily shouted. He kicked Red Alert in the chest and punched her in the face.

“Yo, that would be a complete waste of a stunningly attractive fembot like how Drag Strip is!”

“Shhh!! Quiet, Wildrider. She might hear you,” the third ‘Con warned.

“Oh, let her be angry, Breakdown. I love fembots who get angry!” Wildrider exclaimed.

“Please, just let me go. I didn’t mean to cause trouble!” Red Alert begged.

“SHUT UP!! You asked for this to happen, and you are going to stay here until you learned your lesson, Autobot scum!!” Motormaster snapped.

As soon as he said that, a yellow female Decepticon approached the gang and Red Alert with a wounded Siren and dropped him on the ground. Drag Strip stepped on him with an evil smile on her face. “I presume this pile of scrap metal belongs to you?”

“Siren!” Red Alert screamed. She ran to him and slowly lifted his bruised head.

“I’m sorry, Red Alert. She... broke me,” he muttered.

“Awww, isn’t this so adorable? Too bad this moment won’t last long,” Wildrider mocked.

“What? What do you mean?” Red Alert asked.

Motormaster grabbed her head and slammed her head into a wall and punched her repeatedly. Then he body-slammed her into the pavement.

“Sit down and watch... while we have our fun,” he told her. He nodded to his other Stunticons to commence their thing.

“NOO!!”

Wildrider grabbed Siren by the neck and threw him against the same wall Motormaster smashed Red Alert in. Breakdown activated his blades and stabbed Siren’s legs and slowly pushed them upward, making him scream in agony.

Motormaster unsheathed his sword and sliced Siren’s right arm off, forcing the latter to scream in deep pain. He crushed his arm underneath his foot and then kicked his face. He lifted up his head to see the looks of agony, pain, and suffering. “Time to pay the price of your stupidity, Autobot clod.”

He dragged his injured body over to Drag Strip who cast a sadistic look at the horrified Red Alert. Dead End however only casually stood by with his arms crossed without even looking at the violent scene.

“This is only a sign of what our ultimate victory will look like,” said Drag Strip. As she grabbed the victim’s neck, she activated her chainsaw. She slowly cut open his entire optic before she proceeded to deliver the final blow. She sliced him entirely in half with his energon splattered against the walls and on Red Alert.

“SIREN!!!”

“Hope you learned your lesson, Autobot scum. Stunticons, let’s get outta here!” Motormaster ordered, transforming into a Cybertronian truck.

After he and three others left, Dead End looked back to see Red Alert emotionally broken and staring at her partner’s corpse in shock. “I’m sorry, Autobot.” He transformed to vehicle mode and drove off.

Red Alert could only behold what remained of her beloved friend. He was gone... in the very day they were supposed to graduate and be happy for their accomplishments. Yet, this happened instead. She gently touched the cut optic and bowed her head in great sorrow.

FLASHBACK ENDED

Rumble was genuinely shocked and appalled as he listened attentively to everything she shared with him. Understanding clearly her own horrifying experience, he laid his hooves on her fingers in comfort. “I’m so sorry, Red Alert. That must have been... terrible to watch.”

“It was. I was never the same after that day; the same Red Alert who was so enthusiastic and excited to see new things and learn new things was no more. My graduation was so empty and meaningless without him. Not a day goes by in which I don’t think of him or get nightmares of his death. So I know how trauma and pain can afflict one’s spark... or, in your case, one’s soul.”

“Thank you for telling me, Red. I’m glad we have each other,” said Rumble, tears forming in his eyes.

“So am I,” Red Alert replied. She picked him up with her palm and walked toward Canterlot.

Chapter 5: Following the Star

IN OUTER SPACE

On one of Jupiter’s moons, Callisto, Skywarp was stacking what little energon cubes he had left. Feeling sad and lonely, he set aside the cubes and idly wandered across the surface of Castillo. He looked up toward the atmosphere while his wings dejectedly lowered themselves. “Is there nothing else a poor little Seeker like me can do? Why must I suffer from the wrath of others?” he asked himself.

“How is it that I am not as brave and strong as my other brothers? I... I don’t understand why I was even created in the first place! It feels like... I was destined for misery and sorrow. I guess it’s fitting for me since I’m such a coward,” Skywarp lamented.

“Megatron and Starscream could be plotting to have my spark, and I have no one to protect me except Thrust and Dirge. I don’t even know if I should trust them,” he continued, sorrowfully lowering his face. “Well, I can only hope that things will get better for me. I... really need a frie—,”

“We’re back!” a new voice shouted.

“AHH!!” Skywarp fearfully screamed. He quickly stood upright to face the arriving Seekers. As they transformed to robot mode, they were holding large stacks of energon cubes and walked over to place them next to the pile Skywarp was handling.

“Ah, I see you have gathered enough energon for yourself as well. I truly envy you for such an effort,” Thrust said, glaring at the coward.

“That’s a good thing because they will all be mine!! ALL THE ENERGON IS MINE!!” Dirge exclaimed. He unsheathed his tentacles from his chest and greedily licked his chops as he stared at the energon.

However, Thurst tackled him to the ground and tried to pin him down. “Oh no, you don’t! All the energon is for me! You fools can only have the scraps of it!”

“My desire for such delicious power compels me to refuse!” Dirge yelled, pushing his rival off him.

As the Seekers continued to bicker and fight, Skywarp could only watch them while he hid behind the energon pile. But the more he witnessed their greed, hatred, envy, and pride clashing against each other in their bitter strife, the more he felt something spark within him—a rage being pent up he needed to release. Having had enough of their bickering, he swatted the energon cubes away. The forceful impact caused them to explode.

“ENOUGH!!!” Skywarp angrily bellowed.

Both the fiery explosion and his outburst caught their attention. However, he instantly shrunk back to his cowardly self as they stared at him in shock and confusion. “I-I mean... please... stop,” he nervously whispered.

As Thrust saw all the energon they had gathered completely obliterated, he flew over to him and grabbed him by the neck in a fit of rage. “You fool! We needed that energon for our fuel! Don’t you realize how painstaking it was to scavenge all that?!”

“That could have been my energon fuel, you downgrades!” Dirge chided. “All that power could have been mine for the taking but no! You had to ruin all the fun!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!” Skywarp apologized.

“The next time you forget your place, I will take you offline. No one talks to me like that,” Thrust threatened. “I am in charge around here! Is that understood?!”

Skywarp fearfully nodded. Thrust dropped him on the ground.

“Now we will have to scramble for more energon across the galaxy thanks to your stupidity,” Thurst said.

“But this time, I will gain all the energon for myself! Then I will become even more powerful than ever!” Dirge said, proudly clenching his fists.

“In your dreams, you dolt. In your dreams,” Thrust spat.

Suddenly, the three Seekers heard a distant noise of aircraft above the atmosphere. They looked up to see Starscream flying across space in his jet mode. “Is... that who I think it is?” Skywarp asked, surprised.

“Ah-ha! The incompetent master himself is all alone and vulnerable,” smirked Thrust. “It is now time to get back at him for banishing us!”

“Yes, and I will drain him of his energy to fuel my own! It will be glorious!” Dirge boasted.

“Banishing you? For what?” Skywarp asked.

“Because our powerful abilities were a threat to his authority,” Thrust replied. “He knew I would prove to be a better leader than he ever was. The time has come for our revenge to be fulfilled.”

“Oh... um, I see,” Skywarp muttered. Thrust pointed his blaster at his face while glaring dangerously at him. Flames started to slowly sprout from the barrel.

“You will accompany us to destroy him. If I ever see you leave us or crawl back to that fool, you will perish with him. Do I make myself clear?” Thrust threatened again.

Skyward silently nodded in understanding. Thrust lowered his weapon and flew up into the air.

“Decepticons, transform and rise up!” he commanded. He transformed to jet mode before Dirge and Skywarp did likewise.

Thus, the three Seekers followed their former master into outer space. However, they activated a cloaking device to avoid being detected by Starscream.

ON CYBERTRON

Rodimus Prime stood before the Elite Guard Council and Ultra Magnus with the Autobot Elite Guard insignia finally stamped on his chest. As he turned to face his remaining allies, Ultra Magnus laid his hand on Rodimus’s left shoulder and stomped the floor with his hammer. “Salute your new commanding officer, Autobots. Rodimus Prime is now my lieutenant for the Elite Guard.”

The Autobots saluted Rodimus. Then they all applauded once again for him whereas Sentinel scowled in disapproval with his arms crossed.

“It is a high honor to serve as lieutenant, Commander,” said Rodimus, saluting him.

“You have truly earned it, young warrior. With your assistance, our planet will continue to survive. We must double our efforts to finish the war and destroy the remaining Decepticons for good. You are ready,” said Magnus, slightly smiling.

“Ah, man. I wish I had that kind of honor,” muttered Hot Shot.

“Don’t worry, comrade. Soon enough, we will receive our reward for our efforts. Although I do wish I was back on Earth to see nature once more,” sighed Brawn.

Suddenly, dozens of Autobot troopers broke into the room. “Ultra Magnus, Sir! Something terrible has happened!” one of them shouted.

“We have some alarming bad news!” another said.

“Calm yourselves. What exactly is the problem?” Ultra Magnus demanded.

“The Decepticon prisoners—they have all escaped!” the third guard informed.

The entire council gasped in shock. “That’s impossible. We had them under tight security! There’s no way they could have escaped!” Sentinel doubted.

“Unless... they received help from someone else or more,” Jazz added.

“But who? Who could have possibly sent them free?!” Sentinel wondered.

Ultra Magnus then remembered something else at that moment. Hoping that was not the case, he asked the top trooper, “What about the stone statues of Megatron and his lieutenants? What happened to them?”

“They... they were also gone,” he nervously replied.

“How long ago did they escape?” Magnus further asked.

“We don’t know. Probably two or three mega cycles ago.”

“Why were we not informed of this event earlier? A simple transmitted message would have sufficed,” Magnus scolded.

“We apologize, Sir, but our transmissions were somehow taken offline by the time we discovered they escaped Trypticon Prison. That’s one of the reasons why we came here.”

“What’s the other reason you have come?” Rodimus asked, arching his brow.

“There is only one prisoner left who was recently taken into custody. We have brought him over for interrogation,” the trooper finished.

After Rodimus and Magnus looked at each other for a brief moment, they nodded in approval. Then the guards brought over their smug prisoner before the Elite Guard. They forcibly pushed him to the floor before they stepped aside.

“Heeeeyyy, buddies! It’s quite a serene day we’re having on Cybertron, eh?!” Lout obnoxiously greeted.

“Spare me the meaningless pleasantries, Decepticon scum. Where are your Decepticon friends? What are they planning to do?” Rodimus demanded.

“Friends? Pfff, I barely know any of them except for a few including big old Meggy. He’s always busy with leadership business, but he never takes time to socialize with a common Decepticon like me. Although he does have a thing going on with Shockwave apparently,” Lout smirked, winking at the reader.

“Enough games! Where is Megatron? What does he intend to do?” Rodimus angrily demanded.

“How should I know? I wasn’t even there when they all escaped. Anyway, have you guys ever heard the tragedy of Vector Prime the Wise? I thought not. It’s not a story an Autobot would tell you. It’s a—,” Lout casually monologued before a guard smacked him.

“Last chance to confess. Where. Are. They?” Rodimus growled.

“Oh my goodness, chill out, dude! And I thought Megatron was impatient...” Lout said, still smirking.

Those words struck the young prime, causing him to stop glaring at the ‘Con. He instantly regretted acting so aggressive towards him as he did not want to stoop down to Megatron’s level. After that brief moment of reflection, he remained silent. Sentinel took notice of that.

“If you tell us where they are, we will let you remain online. Do not make this hard for yourself,” Ultra Magnus said.

“Ahhhh, so now we’re gonna resort to threats, eh? Nice, nice, I like that. But guess what? I don’t know where they are. What? Am I some sort of deity that knows everything or something? Soooooo... yeah. Can’t tell ya anything, buddy. But hey! I do know one thing,” Lout smiled.

“And that would be?”

“Fireworks, baby!” Lout shouted. A tiny bomb on his stasis cuffs exploded, setting him free. Then he spat more little bombs from his mouth towards the ceiling, destroying it entirely. He raised his arm-mounted blades and threw them up in the air with the chains. Getting hold of the other building, he swung away from the Autobots.

“Autobots, follow the prisoner and take him down by any means necessary!” Ultra Magnus ordered.

“Yes, Sir!” the troopers complied. They ran off to chase and engage the enemy.

“Commander, Megatron could be out there! He might seek to take over Earth! We have to stop him there!” Rodimus suggested.

“I understand your concern, lieutenant, but that duty of protecting Earth only belongs to Optimus and his team. You will remain here as previously instructed. You are needed here,” Ultra Magnus reminded.

“But Sir—,”

“That’s an order,” he sternly added.

“What about Equestria?!” Rodimus snapped.

Magnus stood in surprise at his tone and at the very mention of Equestria. He remembered the ponies and creatures who arrived here as they told him of their dire situation and the schemes of Soundwave when he was alive. Although he remembered them and knew their great deeds well, he scowled at the young prime in response. “My order still applies... even for that place.”

Sentinel smirked at Rodimus’s bewildered reaction. “Hmmm, that gives me an idea.”

*************

After he successfully escaped the guards, Lout took one of the escape pods and took off from Cybertron. “Oooooohhhh yeeeaaaaahh!! Boom, baby!! Hello, freedom!” he celebrated.

As he flew across the reaches of space, his scanner picked up an energy signal. “Oh? What do we have here? A surprise? A present? It’s not even my birthday yet!”

As the scanner zoomed into the signal, he recognized the lifeform in jet mode. “Starscream? I haven’t seen that drama queen in ages! Huh, let’s see what he’s up to this time.” With that said, Lout flew after him.

Chapter 6: Ego Fight

IN CANTERLOT

Rumble and Red Alert walked through the streets of the city while its citizens friendly waved at them. As the duo passed by, Rumble randomly looked up to the blue sky and noticed a cumulus cloud slowly passing over the city. The cloud had a small hole in the center thereof where a ray of light shined through. The bright ray shone for a few moments until the colt heard some faint sounds near him.

Rumble stopped trotting to listen what was being said. Soft, tender whispers echoed through his ears. “Huh? Who... is there?” he asked.

“Is something wrong, little one?” Red Alert asked, concerned.

“I’m starting to hear strange... noises around me. It’s as if somepony is... whispering to me,” he replied.

The soft whispers got slowly louder and louder and louder which provoked him to cover his ears in fear and fall down. As the Autobot medic witnessed this, she immediately kneeled to the ground. “Rumble! Are you okay? Talk to me!”

“Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!!!” he fearfully cried.

At that moment, the violently loud whispers suddenly stopped. Right after that, the ray of light ceased shining through the puffy cloud before the latter instantly disappeared.

“What happened?”

“I... I don’t know! For some reason, I’ve been hearing these strange whispers until they got so loud it hurt my ears! I don’t know what’s going on with me!” Rumble shouted, getting up from the ground.

“So you’re hearing voices in your head,” she concluded. “Then this is more serious than I previously thought. I have to take you to Princesses Celestia and Luna this instant. I’m sure they can help you.” She gently picked him up and quickly went to the castle.

“I see you have returned.” Red Alert looked up to see the two alicorn sisters hovering together in the air. They landed before her with worried expressions on their faces as Red Alert laid the troubled colt on the ground.

“It is an honor to see you both again,” the medic respectfully nodded.

“We express the same sentiment, Red Alert. My sister informed me of Rumble’s nightmare and the essential treatment he needs to recover from his trauma,” said Celestia.

“The moment he shared with me his stress and fears, I knew that it will lead up to this. I promised him I will provide him with the help he desperately needs,” Luna added. Both princesses saw the distressed look on Rumble’s face and his tears falling.

“Did something else happen to him this time?” Celestia asked, laying her hoof on his forehead with compassion.

“I’m afraid so, your highness. He said he’s been hearing some voices in his head—strange whispers to be precise. They apparently caused some form of pain to his ears,” Red Alert informed.

Celestia and Luna looked towards each other until the latter lifted him up with her magic. “Let us go to somewhere more private so we can administer some therapy. With your medical expertise, we may succeed.”

“Gladly, Luna. Lead the way,” Red Alert smiled.

But before they left, Discord and Spike appeared in a white flash right in front of them. “Mind if we tag along?” the dragonequus smirked.

Celestia and Luna rolled their eyes in annoyance while Rumble giggled a little.

ON EARTH’S MOON

“Are you certain Starscream will serve his purpose? If anything, he will seek to betray you once again no matter how many times you threaten him,” Slipstream doubted.

“I know that traitor well enough to perfectly predict what he intends to do next,” replied Megatron. “Therefore, I will keep him online until the opportunity comes for me to tie up loose ends.”

“Brilliant strategy, brilliant!! Oh mighty Megatron, you are ever so ingenious and wise! None of us would ever be so strong without you,” Sunstorm praised.

“Ingenious? Ha, I am the one who came up with the idea myself! I just needed Megatron to say it for me,” Ramjet bragged.

Suddenly, loud beeps echoed from the monitor set up just inside the crashed warship. Shockwave scanned the information shown on the screen just as Megatron entered the room. “My lord, it appears our treacherous friend is not far from our main target.”

“I knew Starscream would be very useful... for now,” Megatron grinned.

“Furthermore, he is approaching one of Cybertron’s minor outposts where a space bridge is located. If he successfully enters there, he will doubtlessly reach the very land of Equestria itself. We can only wait and see how it goes,” Shockwave explained.

“Excellent. Once we receive the coordinates of the ponies’ home world, we will march against it and launch our ultimate attack. The entire universe will soon bow to my glorious power and undisputed leadership,” said Megatron, evilly smirking.

****************

Starscream flew across the reaches of the galaxy without noticing his tracking device right on him. He flew right by multiple asteroids and flew under bigger ones without getting struck by any of them. Once he passed by all of them unscathed, he flew ahead in full speed.

“I am getting so tired of this aimless wandering. I’ll never find a single space bridge!” he whined. “I should have never accepted this pointless errand in the first place. If I ever see that delusional, two-faced Megatron again, I will take him offline myself!”

At that moment, he spotted a familiar piece of space structure down below. He zoomed on the object with his scanner; as he saw very closely, it was a space bridge just stationed on an outpost about thirty miles from Cybertron.

“Yes! Finally, I found something that will get me out of here!” he proudly shouted.

He flew down to the outpost planet and transformed to robot mode. He stood before the space bridge with a nervous expression. “I really hope this can take me to Equestria. Here goes nothing...” Having said that, he pressed the control buttons to activate the portal. Then he jumped right into the portal. However, he never noticed the four flying objects following right behind him.

The traitorous Decepticon appeared in a bright and colorful world. As he opened his optics, his unsettled hope became a full reality—he was in the land of Equestria. A large smile grew on his face as he stood up from the grass. “YES! The mighty Starscream is back... with a vengeance!! In fact, I think I have a perfect plan to destroy Megatron once and for all.”

He walked across the plain field for a few miles until he saw the town of Ponyville up ahead. Grinning to himself, he flew up into the sky with his thrusters. “I will keep these coordinates for myself and also take the Elements of Harmony for myself! With that power, I will destroy Megatron and rule over all Decepticons! No one will ever defeat the—!”

“Great and Powerful Trixie!” a female voice interrupted. Confused, he looked down below to see a blue unicorn with a purple hat and a purple cape on with little stars all over the magician’s clothing. The pony smugly looked at the surprised Seeker. “What’s the matter, Decepticon? Amazed by the great and powerful appearance of Trixie?”

“Who in the name of the Decepticons are you?!”

“Hello? Didn’t you hear what I just said? I am the Great and Powerful Trixie! And here Trixie thought evil Decepticons like you were decent enough to hear well.”

“Who do you think you are to address the mighty Starscream that way?! No one insults me and walks away to tell the tale!!” he angrily sneered.

“Whatever. What are you doing back here in Equestria anyway? I heard how Twilight and her friends defeated you and your comrades last year. You couldn’t bear the thought of losing to a pony, could you?” Trixie mockingly smirked.

Starscream then seethed in rage at the remark. “HOW DARE YOU—grahhh!! I never lose to any inferior organic like you!”

“Inferior organic? Who are you calling an inferior organic?!” Trixie snapped. “...and what’s an ‘organic’?”

“Why, someone who thinks that wearing some meaningless apparel suddenly makes her ‘great’ and ‘powerful’. A garbage truck is more intimidating and strong than a weak pony like you,” Starscream smirked, thinking he could silence her.

“Fool, I know plenty of spells that will blow your mind! Clearly, you know nothing about the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

“I don’t need to know you to see how pathetically ridiculous you are. And what is up with the ‘great and powerful Trixie’ phrase? Can’t you expand your unintelligent vocabulary?” Starscream mocked.

“That is my personal title, you insignificant imbecile! I have earned that title for a reason!” she defended, glaring at him.

Meanwhile, Megatron sat back and watched both of them bickering from the monitor. “This is quite an intriguing interaction,” he chuckled.

“I am more powerful and great than you will ever be, foolish organic! I, Starscream, have conquered many Autobots throughout my lifetime, and I have never failed a single mission or conquest! Soon, you will bow before me as your new master!”

“Except the time when you lost your head apparently,” Trixie giggled.

“What? But that was just—,”

“And the time you got defeated by Twilight and her friends. Plus, I’m sure those Autobots constantly beat you to a pulp, didn’t they? I guess you’re not as mighty as you claim to be!” Trixie smugly taunted.

“If you insult me one more time, pony, I will tear you apart right now!” Starscream threatened.

“Awww, what’s the matter, Screamer? Did I hurt your feelings? Don’t worry, I’m sure your boss will cuddle you into bed to give you a bedtime story,” she smirked.

“SILENCE!!! I WILL NOT TOLERATE YOUR INSOLENCE!”

“I missed the part where that’s my problem,” Trixie said, walking away.

Completely enraged, Starscream raised his blasters and aimed at her back. “You will regret that!”

“Hello there... master.”

Recognizing the aggressive voice, Starscream turned back to see one of his former subordinates aiming his blaster right towards him while glaring ferociously at him. Skywarp stood behind him as he waved at his former boss with a nervous smile. Starscream could only take a step backward as shock and fear clouded his thoughts.

“Prepare to be destroyed,” said Thrust.

***************

Luna tapped the tip of her horn on Rumble’s forehead and transmitted some magical healing to his brain. On the other hand, Spike was holding his hoof in comfort while Discord gave him a massage on his back. Celestia did the same as Luna did and transmitted her healing magic to his mind.

“This should put him at ease during the night. It may not be long-term, but it should put your nightmares at bay for a while,” said Luna.

“Man, this was longer than I thought... not that I’m ungrateful though. I really appreciate all this; this is really helping me at lot,” Rumble smiled.

“I’m happy to hear that. My magic will serve to give you some peace of thought during the day, but you have to make sure you never panic in a dire situation. If you relax at all times, my magic will continue to repair more areas in your mind,” Celestia advised.

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Great! In fact, you won’t have to worry about anything. You will be fully healed in no time,” Spike assured.

“Uh, don’t you think you should all worry about that thing at 12 o’clock?” Discord pointed, literally turning into a pointing sign.

They all looked at his direction and saw an escape pod spiraling out of control in the sky. It crashed landed in the Everfree Forest, forcing flocks of birds to fly away.

“What was that thing?!” Spike shouted.

“I have no idea. My sister and I will have to investigate this. Discord, I need you to—,” Celestia said before sounds of aircraft interrupted her.

Dirge flew into the city before he transformed into robot mode and landed on the ground. He sinisterly grinned at the sight of the Autobot medic and the others.

“Hello there, Autobot! This is quite a surprise to see these cute and adorable little creatures. This is really convenient because... I WILL ABSORB THEIR CUTENESS!!” he wildly cackled. His two clawed tentacles came out of his chest, and lightning bolts erupted from his palms.

“This... is not good,” Spike muttered, gulping.

Author's Note

This chapter is dedicated to my good friend CROSSOVER KING as a birthday gift. Wish him a happy belated birthday! 🎂

Again, happy birthday, King. I hope you really enjoyed this chapter especially with the Starscream and Trixie bit. 😉

Chapter 7: Attack of the Seekers

“Discord, get Twilight and her friends! We will greatly need their help!” Celestia ordered.

“This will be very interesting. I would love to face against a Decepticon Tirek-wannabe,” said Discord, putting his sunglasses on. He snapped his fingers, making him and Spike disappear.

Dirge fired his lightning bolts at the Autobot medic and the three ponies. Red Alert immediately grabbed Rumble before she jumped away from the deadly bolts. The Royal Sisters shielded themselves from his electric assaults with their magic. As the alicorns were using magic, Dirge idly gazed at their displayed power.

“This appears to be more powerful than their cuteness. I shall take it all! More power for me, fleshlings!” Dirge exclaimed. Then he proceeded to fire his laser blasts at their magical barriers.

“Rumble, we have to hide for cover while they buy us some time. Stay with me!” Red Alert advised. She transformed to ambulance mode and drove off to somewhere safe while strapping Rumble with a seatbelt.

“Wait! Celestia and Luna can’t handle that guy on their own! We have to help!” Rumble cried.

“They will be fine, little one. They can handle this,” assured Red Alert.

“But I want to do something! I want to see more of what I can really do!”

“You have no way of defending yourself, especially not while you’re in a mental crisis. You need more time to recover before you should even think about engaging in battle.”

“But—!”

“That is final!” Red Alert sternly said.

“(Sigh) Okay...” he sadly muttered. They arrived at a big cave underneath the city of Canterlot and entered inside.

Celestia fired a spell towards Dirge’s face which only served to slightly dull his vision. Thus, he kept blinking at the alicorns before returning fire at them. Celestia teleported herself from the blasts and fired another spell towards his right leg.

However, one of Dirge’s clawed tentacles grabbed the magical blast and shaped it into a ball. He picked it up with his hand, smelled it, and ate it up. “Hmmm, yes! Yes! That small dose of the sweet essence tastes so... good. I can feel its power flowing through my circuitry.”

Luna teleported behind him and blasted him on the back. It sent him flying across the city, forcing many citizens to flee from the presence of the Decepticon. The Royal Sisters flew over to the city as he crashed against the city’s walls really hard.

For a few seconds, Dirge was motionless on the wall with his optics closed. As the princesses moved closer and closer, he raised his hands and unleashed more lightning strikes on them. The bolts electrocuted them which sent them flying all the way back to the castle.

“You jealous organics cannot bear to face my wonderful, beautiful glory! Ha! If that’s your attitude right now, I will obtain that powerful emotion myself!” Dirge sneered.

He got out of the wall and flew back to the castle. There, Celestia and Luna combined their magic, creating a larger beam. They fired that beam right at him as he got close to their home. However, Dirge generated a magical barrier with his hands all around him. The combined blast deflected off his shield and struck right towards the alicorns instead. Dirge wickedly laughed as he triumphed in their weakness and lowered his shield.

“Isn’t this magnificent?! I’ve only been on this primitive planet for a few cycles, and I already am beating you with all this power! Can this glorious day get any better?” Dirge taunted.

Suddenly, a magical purple blast knocked him on the head. He turned back to see Twilight Sparkle and her friends standing together with the elements of harmony on them. Discord and Spike landed beside them while they were smirking. “Actually, it is getting better... for us!” Spike said.

“Whoever you are, you are not welcome here! Leave them alone this instant!” Rarity demanded.

“Yeah, beat it, Decepti-creep!” Rainbow insulted.

“Well, what is this? A group of organics with appealing relics? This is just perfect,” said Dirge.

“This is your last warning, Decepticon. Leave this planet now, or we will take you down!” Twilight threatened, igniting her horn.

“Hahahahaha!! And leave all this delicious power behind?! I don’t think so!” Dirge refused.

“Very well. Everypony, ATTACK!!” Twilight commanded.

“You dare betray me?! After everything I have done—even creating you with my very own spark, you rebel against me?!” Starscream chided.

“Silence, fool! I will take charge over all Decepticons, and there is nothing you can do about it! By the time you’re gone, no one will even remember you,” said Thrust.

“LIES!! I am the most renowned Decepticon there is—well, besides Megatron,” Starscream begrudgingly acknowledged. “Nevertheless, no one can replace me in that regard. It is my destiny to overthrow Megatron and take his place as the one true ruler of the Decepticons.”

“I have had enough of your meaningless ramblings! I shall destroy you!!” Thrust bellowed, aiming his blasters at him.

“Wait, stop! There has to be another way we can end this conflict!” Skywarp pleaded, taking hold of Thrust’s arm. The latter pushed him away and aimed his blaster toward him.

“It’s either you’re with me or against me! Now shut your motor mouth and concentrate your attack on Starscream!” Thrust angrily ordered.

Skywarp frantically looked at both Seekers as he struggled to decide. Fear and uncertainty clouded his thinking as he continuously stood there undecided. He could not bear to see both of them fighting and being so aggressive towards one another. Unwilling to lay hands on his creator, he transformed to jet mode and flew off screaming.

Thrust stood there seething in rage while Starscream was unamused. “Fine! I don’t need him anyway, so I’ll destroy you myself!”

He fired a beam right towards his former master; Starscream ducked beneath the laser blast and ran toward him. He tackled him on the ground as he sought to subdue his rebellious subordinate. However, Thrust kicked him off and punched him twice in the face. Then he grabbed his leg and body-slammed him on multiple trees.

He threw him in the air before he blasted him with his null rays. “You’re even weaker than I thought,” Thrust taunted.

Skywarp flew across the blue sky around the city of Canterlot. As he was flying, he saw Dirge fighting the Mane Six, Spike, Discord, and the alicorns. Troubling thoughts began to overwhelm his central processor once again as he thought back on the Decepticons and their primary scheme.

“I don’t understand any of this. Why must Decepticons have so much greed and hatred against everyone? It’s so terrifying to imagine! Why can’t they all get along with them especially... the Autobots?” Skywarp wondered.

Suddenly, he spotted two energy life signals beneath the Canterlot Castle on his scanner. Curious, he flew down beneath the castle and saw a large cave ahead of him. He transformed to robot mode and walked toward it. “Hello? Is anyone there? Please don’t hurt me if you’re there!”

As he walked inside the cave, he noticed hundreds of crystals and gems everywhere around him. He gazed at their sparkling beauty and reached out to grab one. As he did so, he decided to grind one of them into powder. “I truly wonder if they can give any sort of fuel for Cybertronians. Are they as good as energon?” Once he tasted the powdery form, he spat it out immediately.

“Yuck! I don’t think they’re fuel at all; I hope they’re not contagious,” Skywarp said.

“Hold it right there!” Red Alert shouted, pointing her blaster at him.

“AHHHH! Wait! Wait! I mean you no harm!” Skywarp screamed.

“Don’t play games with me, ‘Con! I know you’re up to no good!”

“Red Alert, wait! I don’t think he wants to hurt us,” said Rumble.

“How do you know for sure?”

“He just looks so... scared.”

Those words instantly caught Skywarp’s attention and made him very surprised. A creature of this strange world actually took notice of his fear and is actually concerned for him? He kneeled before Rumble and looked at him in the eyes saying, “I... I am scared—always scared. I feel as if everyone is against me and wants to terminate me. I really... don’t know what to do. Do you think you can... help me?”

Rumble and Red Alert looked at each other before the latter lowered her weapon. The colt got closer to him and touched his hand with his right hoof. “What is your name?”

“Skywarp,” he answered.

“I’m Rumble, a friend of the Autobots. You look like someone who needs a friend. In that case, I would love to help you, Skywarp. You can trust me.”

Hope began to slowly build in his optics as he smiled from hearing his words of comfort and welcome. “You don’t look like a bad guy or an evil alien. You probably feel... lonely, don’t you?”

Skywarp sadly nodded his head. “Yes... I do feel alone. I fear everything and everyone. I am too scared to fight or to retaliate. I have no friends to guide me or to help me. I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!”

Red Alert scrutinized him while he was monologuing. As she looked at his facial expressions and listened to his tone of voice, she finally softened up and looked compassionately at him. “In that case, Skywarp... I sympathize with you.”

Skywarp stared at her amazed. “Wait... you do?”

“Yes. I too was a victim of fear and intimidation during the time I lost my closest companion. It’s a traumatic experience I will never forget, but it’s something I cannot allow to drag me down.”

“You gotta conquer your fears in order to move forward. From what I can see in you, you are... me,” observed Rumble.

Skywarp and Rumble beheld each other for a few moments until they reached out with their hand/hoof and grasped their hand/hoof. “You don’t have to follow the Decepticons and their agenda, Skywarp. Please... join the Autobots and help us save the city.”

Skywarp looked at the colt and the Autobot medic for a moment as he contemplated on his choice. “If I join the Autobots, I may get the love and appreciation I truly deserve. I will... be accepted for who I am. I hope the other Autobots won’t hurt me when they see me!” He looked back at them with a soft smile and look of gratitude. Then he faced the cave’s exit with the look of brave determination.

“I now know what to do.”

Dirge grabbed Applejack and Rarity and threw them towards the castle. Then a bunch of Royal Guards ran up to him with spears and ignited horns. Evilly smirking, he released his clawed tentacles and seized all the guards at once. He drained them of their magic before he tossed them aside like trash.

“Keep feeding me with your essence, organics! Feed me all day!” Dirge shouted.

Discord snapped his fingers to summon a giant basketball. The ball bounced up and down around the greedy Seeker, but he kept swiftly moving left and right without being smashed. As the ball was about to land on him, he kicked it with all his acquired might. The basketball landed on Discord instead, smashing him to a paste.

“Okay, I didn’t see that one coming,” the dragonequus muttered. The basketball disappeared.

Spike tried to fry him with his dragon fire, but it had no affect on his body armor.

“Stand down, Decepticon intruder!” Luna commanded.

“How about YOU stand down?” Dirge wrapped the alicorns, Spike, and the Mane Six with his tentacles and began to electrocute them all.

“Hahahahaha, all of your power is forever mine for the taking!” Dirge proudly exulted.

The ponies and dragon screamed in agony as they felt their magic and life slowly drain from them. They closed their eyes as they began to accept their death and defeat. Equestria’s biggest and last line of defense was about to be extinguished until... a miracle happened.

A laser beam struck Dirge on the back, forcing him to release his victims. As he turned back, he saw Skywarp glaring down at him with Rumble flying next to him. “Leave them alone, Dirge!” the ex-Seeker ordered.

“What kind of surprise is this?! Eh, no matter. I guess I’ll take you out first!” Dirge growled. He shot forth his tentacles at them, but Skywarp grabbed hold of the tentacles and stabbed one of them into the other.

Thus, Dirge suffered a massive electrocution from his tentacles while he screamed in agony. As he slowly descended on the ground, all the power he stole ejected from him.

His entire chest exploded, extinguishing his spark. He fell down as his optics and color scheme went black.

The Mane Six, Spike, the princesses, and the guards got their magic and strength back. They rose up before they beheld their hero standing beside Rumble. “Umm... hi?” Skywarp nervously waved.

The Canterlot citizens hailed him as their hero and surrounded him with confetti. “You did it, Skywarp! You’re a hero now!” Rumble smiled.

“I’m... I’m a hero? That’s... amazing! I feel so good about this, and... I don’t know why,” said Skywarp.

“It’s okay, friend. On behalf of the Autobots, I welcome you to the winning team,” Red Alert said, shaking his hand.

“Thank you, Autobot—I mean, Red Alert. But there is one more thing I need to do,” said Skywarp, glaring at the sky.

Thrust stood over a weakened Starscream while his blaster was aimed at him point-blank. “I knew you couldn’t beat me in a fight. Your cowardice has cost you your strength, and your stupidity has defeated you. Now, you will fall before your true maker!”

“NO!!” Starscream yelled.

At that moment, razor-sharp fingers impaled Thrust through the chest. He looked down to see the hand holding his spark and crushing it completely. Then he turned to see Skywarp glaring fiercely with the same rage he displayed earlier.

“Right back at you,” he growled. He pulled back his arm from his chest. Thrust fell down dead before Skywarp.

Starscream was astonished at seeing a cowardly version of himself killing one of his treacherous subordinates. Although he was horrified at the grisly sight, he shrugged it off and proudly rose up on his feet. “Well done, my loyal servant! I see you are the only one who remains steadfast to my authority. You shall be handsomely rewarded.”

“I’m sorry, Starscream, but I... don’t answer to you or to any other Decepticon... any more,” confessed Skywarp, looking down on the ground.

“What?! Have you lost your senses?! I am your master! You will answer to—!”

“SHUT UP!! JUST SHUT UP!! I am sick and tired of beings like you who boss me around and treat me like dirt!! I am sticking with the Autobots from now on, and you can go kiss Megatron’s afterburner like you’ve always done. LEAVE. ME. ALONE!!” Skywarp screamed in full rage.

Starscream stood utterly speechless at his outburst while his wings lowered themselves. Without saying a word, he fearfully transformed to jet mode and flew off.

Skywarp looked at himself embarrassed and looked back down on the ground. “I... hope I wasn’t... too mean.”

Chapter 8: Decepticons Mobilize

EARTH’S MOON

“Lord Megatron, we have finally received the coordinates of Equestria. Starscream’s mission has proven to be a success,” reported Shockwave. “Also, he wishes to speak to you.”

“Hmm, it appears he has succeeded in not being a disappointment after all,” said Megatron, impressed. “Put him on the line.”

As Shockwave did so, the monitor screen revealed the Seeker hiding behind the trees in the Everfree Forest. “Megatron, you will be pleased to know that I have discovered Equestria with little effort! I’m sure you got the coordinates I sent you.”

“Yes. Do you know anything about the ponies’ current condition?” Megatron asked.

“Well... they have some new defenses of... some sort,” Starscream replied, embarrassingly looking away. “Still, they won’t stand a chance against our powerful forces. Now, I have kept my end of the bargain. Grant me back my position!”

“Patience, my old backstabbing friend. My loyal servant Shockwave is currently my first lieutenant, so your reinstatement to your former rank will take quite a while. In fact, I might have you as my secondary lieutenant as a reward for your success.”

“You actually... will?”

“Of course... in due time,” Megatron assured, smirking.

“That’s a relief. What should I do now?” Starscream asked.

“Remain in Equestria until we arrive. Do not engage the organics until then,” Megatron commanded. The monitor shut off.

“Shockwave, assemble the army. It is time.”

“With pleasure, my liege,” Shockwave complied, bowing. He left the room after he rose up.

Megatron then turned the monitor back on and viewed the whole Equestrian landscape. He zoomed into various places around the country while glaring at the happy ponies displayed on screen. He hated every being he saw on there and deeply snarled as he remembered well his defeat at the hooves of the Mane Six a year ago. He wanted nothing more than their complete annihilation and their magical power within the elements of harmony.

As he thought of the colorful relics, he scanned the Everfree Forest on screen and spotted the Tree of Harmony. Evilly smirking, he gazed at the shining elements. “I eagerly await to seize such an opportunity.” He turned the monitor back off and left the room afterwards.

He stood back on top of the broken warship and noticed all the Decepticon armada assembled. Smirking still, he proudly raised his right fist as he spoke another speech, “My loyal followers, the time is now. Equestria will be our first target of conquest; together, we will destroy every organic inhabitant and seize what we can find for our greater use. Show no mercy, and let nothing stand in your way. DECEPTICONS, TRANSFORM AND—!”

“Hold on a nano-click!!” a gravelly voice interrupted.

The other Decepticons looked back to see Motormaster pushing his way through the crowd while glaring at Megatron. “Why should we attack that unknown planet without going to Cybertron first?! Your plan makes no darn sense!!”

“How dare you question the wisdom of our glorious leader!” Lugnut chided. “He knows what he is doing, and he always makes sense due to his cunning!”

“Shut your moronic face, Lug-head! I have the right to question any stupid decision!” Motormaster angrily shouted.

“Says the one whose face is shaped like a box! Hehehehe...” Random Blitzwing giggled.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME?!” Motormaster roared.

“Awww, what’s the matter, Motory? Can’t think straight with that rectangle head?” Oil Slick mocked. The Decepticons laughed out loud while some others were rolling on the ground laughing.

Dead End, however, leaned against a wall while crossing his arms in silence. He shook his head in annoyance as he was listening to his fellow ‘Cons bickering with each other.

Enraged, Motormaster grabbed Oil Slick by the neck and pushed him against a wall. “Say that again to my face!”

“Okay. Your head is a rectangle. There, you’re happy now? Is it going to sooth your hurt feelings?” Oil Slick mocked again. “Oh wait, I’m sorry, I was talking to your face. I didn’t know you existed.”

“Why, you smug little—,”

“ENOUGH!”

The two Decepticons looked up to see Megatron glare down at them. They immediately stopped fighting and bickering. “As your lord and master, I decide which planet we will invade and which one we will spare. Any one who dares disobey me will suffer grave consequences. Do I make myself... perfectly clear?”

“Yes... yes, of course... boss,” Motormaster yielded, cringing at the last word.

“Good. Now, where was I? Oh yes... DECEPTICONS, TRANSFORM AND RISE UP!” Megatron commanded.

All the Decepticons transformed into their air-bound alt modes and slowly rose up. Megatron himself transformed into his helicopter mode and rose up as well. Then he and all the flying Decepticons flew off from the moon, leaving the damaged warship behind.

“Ummm... he does realize the rest of us can’t fly, right?” Breakdown wondered, arching an optic-brow.

“Eh, we’ll just go to Lockdown’s ship. He can help us get there,” Wildrider replied.

“Hey, where’s Shockwave?” Breakdown asked. He looked up and saw him flying above with his own thrusters.

“Hey, no fair! He’s not even a flyer, and he has those?!” Motormaster whined.

“Lucky. Anyway, we’ll just have to... transform and... roll out?” Breakdown nervously chuckled.

The other ‘Cons stared at him with unamused looks. “Heh... heh... get it? Because we can drive?”

“You suck at jokes, Breakdown,” Oil Slick said.

Back on Cybertron, Rodimus dejectedly sat on the rail entrance of Metroplex Headquarters all by himself. He briefly looked up to the sky before he turned to the ground again. “I’m starting to think this new position just isn’t the one for me. That Decepticon escapee could hurt someone out there, and I have to stop him! If only Ultra Magnus would allow me to leave Cybertron, I could do something to catch that creep.”

“But what if I... end up like Megatron? I can’t let my anger get the best of me during battle. I just have to prove that I’m better than that,” Rodimus monologued.

“Feeling a bit useless there, Rodimus?” a voice spoke. The new lieutenant turned to see Sentinel Prime approach him with a sly, cocky smirk on his face.

“Not now, Sentinel. I’m really not in a mood for your scrap right now.”

“Easy there, lieutenant. I’ve actually come to help you with something,” said Sentinel.

This sparked Rodimus’ curiosity as he rose up. “You have? With what exactly?”

“Well, this is more like your first assessment as the Elite Guard’s new lieutenant. I was thinking that you should go to this... Equestria planet you talk so much about and see if that escaped prisoner may be reaching there.”

“Are you certain he could be arriving there?” Rodimus asked.

“Anything can be possible, Rodimus. Besides, he could be anywhere in the galaxy such as that horse planet. So what do you say? You think you can do this simple task?” Sentinel proposed.

Rodimus then thought about it for a few moments. “Does Ultra Magnus approve of this? He ordered me to stay here.”

“Ultra Magnus knows how much you care about those organics; he told me to tell you that he’s... adjusting your schedule, if you will. Don’t worry, kiddo, you’ll be fine,” Sentinel assured.

“Hmmm, then I’ll be honored to perform this assessment. I’ve been worried about my Equestrian friends for a while now, and it’s about time I visit them! I won’t let that Decepti-creep hurt these ponies!” Rodimus saluted, transforming to Plymouth Barracuda car mode. He left the premises of the headquarters.

Then Sentinel mischievously smirked as he watched Rodimus drive away until he was no longer in sight. “Enjoy your job while it lasts because you just signed a death warrant to your new career.”

Unbeknownst to him, Shockwave overheard the conversation from above the building. He transformed into his Autobot alter ego and carefully landed outside the perimeter.

“It appears I have some work to do,” said Longarm Prime.

Chapter 9: New Friendships

IN EQUESTRIA

Everypony and every creature celebrated the victory of their new ally and friend. Even Pinkie Pie herself managed to raise victory flags with Skywarp’s face shown along with the Decepticon logo crossed out. Fireworks and confetti flew in the air, creating so much joyful noise throughout Canterlot.

The ex-Seeker looked around and saw all the love, gratitude, and happiness shown towards him for his heroic acts. He glanced toward the Mane Six, the Royal Sisters, and the others who were also hailing him as their new hero. A warm smile grew on his face, and his red optics watered a bit as if he was about to cry.

“How are you feeling, Skywarp?” Rumble asked.

“I... I feel so happy like I’ve never been happy before. It appears I made the right call after all,” Skywarp replied, his mouth quivering. He gently picked up the colt with his palm and nuzzled him affectionately.

“I’m more than happy to call you my new friend,” said Rumble, returning the affection.

“We express the same sentiment,” said Celestia, walking up to them. “Words cannot express how much we are so thankful to you for saving us all. We are eternally in your debt; as a sign of utmost gratitude, my sister and I welcome you to our home.” Both she and Luna bowed their heads in respect.

As Twilight and her friends approached the duo, Rainbow Dash flew up to the ex-Decepticon with a look of interest on her face. “Well, you look like an awesome flyer especially with those tall wings! And those rocket booster things—twenty percent cooler!”

“You surely have an appealing color scheme if I may add,” observed Rarity. “It simply looks divine!”

“What is your name?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’m... Skywarp. I previously had a different name, but I... don’t want to talk about it,” he said, nervously rubbing his arm.

“It’s okay. That’s a really nice name,” the pegasus smiled. “I’m Fluttershy.”

“Fluttershy? Hmmm... that name speaks of humbleness and kindness being mingled together. It’s so... fascinating,” said Skywarp. Fluttershy blushed as she heard his statement.

“I’m Rainbow Dash!”

“Pinkie Pie!”

“Rarity!”

“Applejack!”

“And Twilight Sparkle!” the rest of them introduced.

“I’m Spike, a close friend of Rumble. Nice to meet you, Skywarp!”

“Is that... a flying lizard? I’ve never seen one before!” Skywarp noticed, widening his optics in surprise.

“I’m actually a dragon, but you’ll be more surprised once you explore Equestria. Anyway, the way you took out those Decepticons was so cool!” Spike exclaimed.

“Yeah! I mean, I’ve never seen a Decepticon take out another one like that,” Rainbow added.

“Then there is hope for any Decepticon out there who wishes to change his ways,” said Red Alert. “I’ve always held the belief that there has to be some good in the Decepticons, but after fighting them for so long, I’ve only realized that not all of them want to change. However, Skywarp is full proof that not every one of them is evil to the core.”

“That’s just amazing! So that means we could show them the Magic of Friendship! If only they could at least listen to us and see how wrong their destructive ways are, they could all change!” Twilight reasoned, hope beaming in her eyes.

Red Alert however reached out her hand and laid it on Twilight’s back. “Twilight, not all of them will listen. I strongly doubt even Megatron himself will repent of his evil acts of terror. From what I can tell so far, a reformed Decepticon is very rare.”

“But shouldn’t at least everypony get a chance at redemption?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, but not everyone will accept that chance. You have to realize that, young one.” Red Alert lectured.

Twilight took a moment to let those words sink in before she sadly nodded. “I understand that. I’m just hoping that the Magic of Friendship could work with evil robots like it does with everypony else.”

“So do I, Twilight. So do I,” concurred Red Alert.

“So... where do you wanna go from here?” Rumble asked.

“Well, I was thinking we should perhaps take a tour around this world since I’ve just got here. Can you show me, Rumble?” Skywarp replied.

“Definitely!”

“I would like to come with you too—um, if that is okay with you,” Fluttershy offered.

“Me too. I want to get to know you especially since you’re a good guy now,” said Spike.

Suddenly, Discord appeared on top of Skywarp’s head while wearing a tourist guide attire. “Oh, don’t mind me, I’m just preparing to show you all the wonders of Equestria! I would be getting us a tourist bus, but it’s too small for someone your size.”

Skywarp stared at him with a confused look. “Uhhh, I can... fly us there? And who are you supposed to be?”

“Oh, where are my manners? The name’s Discord, the Lord of Chaos! The pleasure is mine, Skywarper!” he happily introduced, wearing kingly attire. Then he suddenly dressed up as a magician. “Would somepony warp the skies with us? It won’t be long!”

“But—but how did he...?”

“Me! Me! Me! I wanna join!” Pinkie shouted. She instantly appeared as a magician as well and fired a large lemon cake filled with fireworks from her party cannon. It exploded with yellow and green fireworks flying everywhere.

Skywarp stood there flabbergasted and dumbfounded at the pink pony’s weird antics. “How did you dress up so fast?! And where did you get that strange cannon from?!”

“It’s best not to question Pinkie. She just... does things,” advised Spike.

“I see. I’m starting to wonder if logic is her best friend or not,” Skywarp muttered.

An escape pod crash-landed in the middle of the Everfree Forest. Many birds and creatures fled from its presence as its very appearance and sudden arrival startled them. Once the smoke cleared out, the front door opened.

The escaped prisoner slowly walked out of the pod and lifted his head to see the new surroundings he was in. “Man, I could’ve sworn something blasted my ship. Whatever that was fragged it up so badly!”

Lout scanned the area for any visible signs of life in the forest. “Geez, should I at least receive a welcoming committee? Hello? Is anybody home? Come on, someone’s gotta show up eventually!”

Unfortunately, no sound was heard. Sighing, he resumed his walk in the forest. “I wonder where Megatron’s precious princess flew off to. Here, Screamy, Screamy, Screamy! Come out, come out, wherever you are!”

At that moment, a Timberwolf appeared from the shadows. It ferociously growled at the alien visitor. However, Lout stared at it with an unamused look. “What the frag are you supposed to be? A walking piece of merchandise from a toy company?”

The Timberwolf jumped on his leg and attempted to chew on it. However, the wolf’s teeth broke to pieces as it made contact with alien metal. “Gosh, maybe you should take better care of your hygiene.”

Lout smacked it off him. The Timberwolf fearfully fled from its presence.

“Always brush your teeth, kids!” Lout shouted. He transformed into his pickup truck mode and drove off to search for Starscream.

Skywarp was in his jet mode as he flew across the clouds with Fluttershy in the cockpit and Rumble and Spike flying next to him. Discord, however, was flying his own plane while he wore sunglasses. “How did you manage to acquire a plane of your own?”

“My own chaos magic! Duh! Besides, I didn’t want to rob Fluttershy of having this unique opportunity to fly inside y—ummm, to witness your intriguing jet design,” Discord corrected himself. “Phew, good save, Discord.”

“Isn’t this awesome?! We’re gonna show you everything Equestria has to offer! You will love it here!” Rumble shouted, twirling in the air.

“Plus, you will meet new friends, new creatures!” Spike added.

“That’s wonderful to hear. I look forward to meeting them,” said Skywarp.

As they were flying, Fluttershy beheld all the control buttons and panels of the cockpit. Her interest started to pique the more she continued to behold his interior design. She then became curious as she asked him, “Um, Mr. Skywarp, how were you created?”

The ex-Seeker took a silent moment to reflect on the question before he answered, “My former creator—Starscream—designed me after his image and used a piece of the Allspark fragment to bring me to life. That’s how I was fashioned into existence.”

“Wait? Starscream? He was the one who came to Equestria with Megatron last year. It’s no wonder your face looks like him,” Fluttershy realized.

“They... were here before?”

“Mm-hm. They tried to takeover Equestria by seeking the elements of harmony,” Fluttershy replied.

“Thankfully, Fluttershy and our friends defeated them with the Magic of Friendship! It always helped us to defeat our enemies,” added Spike.

“Ugh, no need to remind me. I still get chills from hearing that,” Discord uttered, literally shivering in ice.

“What are those elements you speak of?” Skywarp asked.

“Magic, honesty, loyalty, generosity, kindness, and laughter. With all six elements together, you have both harmony and friendship.”

“Hmm, that’s very intriguing, Fluttershy. I think Cybertron needs more of kindness especially those who are in higher powers. If you ask me, both Autobots and Decepticons need that trait. It’s one of the ways to end the intergalactic war,” Skywarp commented.

Fluttershy thought on his words until she realized what he was implying. “Your Decepticon friends were mean to you?”

“Yes... my cowardly personality prevented me from retaliating. I really didn’t know what to do at that time. It wasn’t until Rumble here showed me the true way to happiness. For that, I am eternally grateful.”

Rumble blushed from hearing his words.
“I’m just happy you finally have real friends.”

“Me too,” agreed Fluttershy.

Thus, they flew down towards the landscape as they began their tour for their new friend.

A space bridge portal appeared at the bottom of Mount Everhoof. As it brightly shined, Rodimus jumped out of it and landed on the snow. The portal disappeared from sight afterwards.

“Whoa... where am I?” He saw a large mountain behind him being covered with snow and a massive landscape filled with pine trees in front of him.

“I hope I didn’t end up in the wrong place. Hmm, I’ll just have to check to see if this is actually Equestria or not.”

After he looked left and right, he ran towards the woods with his bow and energon arrows ready. “Still, if that Decepti-creep is actually here, I will take him down before my pony friends get hurt!” Rodimus planned.

Chapter 10: Taken Hostage

BACK IN EQUESTRIA

The ex-Decepticon and his new friends traveled to every landscape of Equestria and visited many different ponies there. Skywarp saw for himself how friendly and kind those ponies were and deeply enjoyed every moment in which he had spent time with them. The more he hanged out with his companions, the more he became happy and less nervous.

“That was truly an invigorating experience,” said Skywarp. “It seems that your species are more kind and thoughtful than any Cybertronian I’ve met.”

“Come on, we’re not that sweet. I mean, what are friends for?” Spike grinned.

“Yeah! I knew you would love it here, buddy! Soon enough, you’ll end up befriending everypony!” Rumble smiled.

“This is by far the best time I have ever had in my life. I much prefer this planet over Cybertron!” Skywarp exclaimed.

“Ha, I wouldn’t even go that far,” Discord muttered, rolling his eyes.

“So where are we heading to now?”

“The last place I have in mind is my own home: Cloudsdale!” Rumble replied.

“Cloudsdale? That’s where you came from?” Skywarp asked, arching his brow.

“Yeah! That’s where my brother lives too! Come, Spike and I will introduce you to him. I’m sure he will be happy to know you.”

Skywarp gave a warm smile as he nodded approvingly. He transformed back to jet mode and flew off with Rumble and Spike beside him.

“I’m very happy for Skywarp. Do you think he’ll get along well with Angel and the animals?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh, I’m sure he will. Besides, Angel would love to see a 30-foot-tall sentient alien robot, capable of laying waste to a city, standing and waving at a poor little bunny.”

“Discord...”

“What? I’m just saying what his reaction could be like...” he said, smirking.

“So what is he like? Is he scary-looking?”

“No, no, he’s very friendly. He was also a part of our team-up against the Decepticons last year, but I’m sure he will accept you as part of the family,” Rumble assured.

Suddenly, the colt heard soft whispers in his ears again. He looked around if anyone was behind him although it was just him on Skywarp’s right side and Spike on the left side. “Did you say something, Spike?”

“Huh? I didn’t say anything.”

“Really? I just heard some strange whispers in my ears. I’m not sure if those were the same ones I heard early this morning since they sound kinda different.”

“(Gasp) Are you getting voices in your head?! That’s terrible!” Skywarp panicked.

“No, no, it’s nothing, Warpy. I’m fine... I think,” Rumble said.

“Are you sure?” Spike asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine! I could be hearing some things. It’s almost been a long day, you know.”

The trio finally arrived at Cloudsdale. Skywarp transformed to robot form and allowed Rumble and Spike to lead him to the exact house. The ex-Con looked around and gazed at all the residents, houses, structures, and overall appearance of the town. He silently admired their cloudy home as he followed his little friends.

“Hey, little brother! What’s going on?”

“Hey, Thunderlane! You won’t believe everything that happened today! First, we were ambushed by a Decepticon and were almost taken out until—,”

“A DECEPTICON?! HERE AGAIN?! How?! Did he hurt you in any way?!”

“No, no, I’m perfectly fine! Another Decepticon actually saved our lives and destroyed that jerk!” Rumble explained.

“Wait... what? A Decepticon saved you? But... but how is that possible?” Thunderlane asked, scratching his head.

“That’s what happened, bro! He’s our new friend now! In fact, he is with us right now.”

Right on cue, the said Cybertronian peaked his head just above the cloudy bushes. He nervously waved at the astonished Thunderlane. “Hello... brother of Rumble.”

“Whoa... who is that guy?”

“His name is Skywarp. You can say he is our new ally now!” Spike replied.

Then Thunderlane looked suspiciously at the ex-Seeker as he got closer to him. “Are you sure you’re not playing any tricks with my little brother? Because I’m warning you, if I ever find out you’ve been planning any sort of attack on my family...”

“Thunderlane, relax! He’s not a Decepticon anymore! He just saved Canterlot from one of his own former friends. No need to be afraid,” Rumble assured.

“Yeah, he even saved me from getting killed out there! I and my friends would have been dead if it weren’t for him!” Spike added.

Thunderlane then eased his scrutinizing gaze on Skywarp and understandingly nodded. “If you two say that he’s good and saved ya, then I believe you both. I’m just trying my best to look out for you, little brother. I don’t want to lose you again.”

That caught Skywarp’s attention once he heard that last sentence. “Something happened to him before? I wonder what that was exactly.”

“Any friend of Rumble and Spike is a friend of mine. Sorry for misjudging you, Skywarp. I guess you’re the reason why I heard so much celebration and noise down there, huh? Well, I am more than happy to welcome you here in Equestria. I owe you my gratitude,” Thunderlane thanked, offering for a hoof shake.

Skywarp hesitated for a moment as he was again slightly nervous. But once Rumble gave him a reassuring smile, he raised his arm and shook Thunderlane’s hoof.

It was finally evening; as the sun was setting, Rumble, Spike, and Skywarp landed on a random hill side while viewing the beautiful landscape before them. “Man, I can’t believe it’s the end of the day already. I feel like it just got started.”

“Same here, Spike. We had a lot of fun today,” Rumble agreed. He then gazed on the sunset with a sad look. Skywarp and Spike took notice of it.

“Is something wrong, Rumble?” Skywarp asked.

“Not really. It’s just that... eh never mind,” he said, shaking his head.

“Pal, come on, you can tell us what’s wrong. We’re here for you, remember?” Spike reminded.

Sighing, the colt lifted his head and gazed toward the sunset. “I’m a little sad over the fact that I still have some doubts of my own abilities. Even though I appreciate your encouragement and Red Alert’s advice, Spike, those negative thoughts keep coming back to bring my mood down.”

Skywarp instantly widened his optics and lowered himself to Rumble’s level. “Speaking of which, I want to ask you something about that. When your brother mentioned about ‘not losing you again’, what did he mean by that? Does it also have something to do with those negative thoughts you speak of?”

Rumble sighed deeply. After a brief moment of silence, he faced him saying, “Well... it’s a long story. After Twilight and her friends defeated Megatron last year, Soundwa—(sigh)... a Decepticon captured me and used me as his minion for his own plans. All that time... (sniff)... I thought he was actually good unlike Megatron—until he revealed he was just like him—manipulative, selfish, cruel, sadistic, and evil.”

He started to cry as he continued. Spike wrapped his arm around him as he sadly listened. “He even tortured me to change my biological form into... his image. All that pain and torment I suffered in that machine was too much to bear. I... I can never forget it!” He bitterly wept.

Skywarp had never felt so disgusted, shocked, and angered in all his life until that moment. He picked up the weeping colt and softly stroked him.

“There, there, friend. I know exactly how you feel. My former allies treated me the same way... well, minus the deception part. As your new friend, I swear to you that I will always be by your side. I’m sorry you went through that,” Skywarp comforted.

Rumble wiped off his tears and smiled at his kind words. “Thank you, buddy. I appreciate that so much. I’m glad to have you and Spike as my friends.”

Thus, the trio spent the rest of the evening watching the sunset together.

“Are we just gonna sit here and do nothing?!” Hot Shot shouted.

“There is no way to catch Lout without causing a mass panic to the Autobot citizens,” Ultra Magnus replied. “Furthermore, we have a far more urgent matter that requires all servos on deck.”

“And that is?” Brawn asked.

“A Decepticon uprising is more likely to commence sooner than expected. With all the Decepticon inmates escaped, they could be planning an invasion of our world. With that said, we require all Elite Guard members to participate in our plans to stop them... including Rodimus and his team,” Magnus explained.

Hot Shot and Brawn looked at each other for a moment. “Where is Rodimus anyway?”

“No clue. You think he left for that Equestria place?” Brawn whispered.

“Maybe. We know Red Alert and Ironhide have been gone; how are we gonna explain this to the Commander?” Hot Shot asked, worried.

“Explain what?” The duo looked to see Ultra Magnus frowning on them.

“Uhhh... to... to explain why the sky is... red?” Hot Shot lied, nervously smiling.

Suddenly, Sentinel Prime ran through the front entrance with a look of apparent concern on his face. “Ultra Magnus, Sir! Lieutenant Rodimus is gone! I can’t find him!”

“What? What do you mean he’s gone?” Magnus demanded.

“You may not believe this, but I believe I overheard him saying he was going to a place called Equestria despite your strict orders. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t listen! Now we don’t have a lieutenant who could help us protect Cybertron!”

Ultra Magnus took a moment to absorb the information until he closed his fist disapprovingly. “This is completely unacceptable. Sentinel Prime, order the troops to retrieve him immediately; this insubordination shall not go unpunished.”

Sentinel smugly smiled in satisfaction. “As you wish, Sir.”

Hot Shot and Brawn nervously looked at each other as they were worried for their team leader.

“I’m afraid that won’t be necessary,” a familiar voice said. Longarm Prime entered the room as everyone looked at him surprised.

“Longarm! It’s been deca cycles since we heard from you! I was starting to worry you were offline,” said Sentinel.

“Where have you been, Longarm Prime?” Ultra demanded.

“I have been spending much significant time on determining the exact moment the Decepticon forces will be arriving. According to my calculations, they will be attacking Cybertron in any cycle now,” Longarm reported.

The Elite Guard gasped in shock. “So it’s true? The ‘Cons are coming? Here? And we were just informed of this... now?!” Hot Shot exclaimed.

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner? We could have been preparing for this moment!” Sentinel scolded.

“It’s that simple, my friend. You Autobots will never be able to win the war,” Longarm sneered.

“What? Are you kidding me right now?” Brawn spoke, bewildered by his reply.

“I am not. For the sake of our planet’s ensured conquest, a scheme had to be made... by Megatron,” Longarm said, pulling out his cannon. He blasted Sentinel through his back, forcing him to scream painfully.

Sentinel weakly laid on the ground and looked toward his backstabber. To his extreme horror, Longarm transformed to his true form and pointed his cannon toward him again. All the assembled Autobots gasped in shocking terror.

“What... have you... done?! Who... are you?!” Sentinel groaned, his arm turning to rust.

“I am Shockwave, a loyal servant to Lord Megatron. I have been playing you fools for the longest time just for this very moment to happen. After we have conquered Equestria, Cybertron will be ours for the taking.”

“You have been a Decepticon this whole time?! Why?! HOW?!?” Hot Shot angrily screamed.

“None of that matters, Hot Shot. As for you, Sentinel Scum, I hereby discharge you from duty,” Shockwave said.

“NOO!!” Sentinel muttered before getting two shots to the chest.

The Decepticon spy likewise destroyed dozens of Autobot guards nearby. Three more guards tried to seize him, but he quickly shot their heads off. Then he extended his left long arm, knocked away the Magnus Hammer, and wrapped up Ultra Magnus with his arm.

“At long last, you are all at my mercy... witnessing my true colors!” Shockwave exulted, changing his color scheme from gray to purple.

“Let him go, Shockwave!” Brawn shouted.

“If you wish to see your dear old leader alive, I would suggest lowering your weapons and standing down. Refuse to comply...” he spoke, aiming his cannon at Magnus’s head. “...he will be scrapped. So, what is your choice?”

Hot Shot, Brawn, Perceptor, and Alpha Trion hesitated to stand down; just as Shockwave loaded his cannon, they surrendered themselves to him. “Okay, okay, we are standing down. Please, just don’t hurt him.”

“Wise decision, Alpha Trion. Now, activate the space bridges immediately,” Shockwave ordered.

Without hesitation, Alpha Trion activated every one of them. Satisfied, Shockwave untied Ultra Magnus, took his hammer, and put stasis cuffs on all of them. Then he activated his com link saying, “Lord Megatron, the Elite Guard has been neutralized. Equestria is finally yours.”

Sentinel briefly looked at his rusting body until he closed his optics with remorse. “What... have.. I done?” His body parts slowly rusted away along with his head and spark, killing him.

Chapter 11: The Decepticon Invasion

All the space bridges were activated throughout all the separate outposts of Cybertron. As they were all online, the entire Decepticon armada arrived and hovered above the bridges. Megatron himself descended toward one of them in his helicopter form.

“Time to send my dear old Equestrian ‘friends’ a friendly greeting,” Megatron sinisterly chuckled.

He entered the first space bridge before a quarter of his army followed him. Afterwards, multiple groups of the Decepticons entered through various space bridges as they shouted violent war cries.

Around midnight, Thunderlane came back home as he wiped off the sweat from his face. “Phew, that was one heck of a flying routine. I’m finally gonna get some sleep.”

Before he entered his bedroom, he took a peak inside Rumble’s bedroom. There, he saw his little brother peacefully sleeping on his bed. Smiling, he closed the door and went back to his bedroom. Yawning, he opened his blankets and rested himself on his bed.

Rumble was sleeping well on his bed as the cool, still air blew outside the window. But as he slept, he heard quite whispers near him yet again. He unconsciously grabbed his pillows and closed his ears with them.

“Rumble... Rumble...”

He incoherently mumbled as he kept readjusting his sleeping position. “Shut up... shut up!” he spat.

“Warning... danger is nigh...”

“What? What danger? Who are you?!” Rumble demanded.

Then he suddenly opened his eyes and found himself in deep darkness. After a few minutes of silence, a panoramic view opened up and displayed all of Equestria in an inferno with the Decepticon insignia forming together as a cloud.

Horrified and confused, he screamed towards the skies.

Then he awoke and saw everything back to reality. Sighing in relief, he laid his head on his pillow. “Why does this keep happening to me?”

A couple hours have passed; the moon shone brightly in the sky alongside the stars.

Skywarp was resting in jet form just right above Rumble’s house. Everyone in Cloudsdale were likewise resting peacefully during the still night. However, the wonderful serenity received an unexpected interruption.

A distant explosion was heard outside the town. It suddenly woke up Thunderlane from his sleep. “Huh? What the hay was that?” he mumbled, yawning loudly.

He cracked his window open and peaked his head through it. To his surprise, he saw a large inferno spreading in the Everfree Forest in a distance.

“What the heck? How did that happen?”

Then he suddenly heard noises of alien aircraft and firepower. He immediately exited the house and flew closer to the night sky. As he squinted his eyes, he clearly saw a large Decepticon armada incoming from a far distance. Horror and shock overwhelmed him as he beheld Equestria’s worse enemies returning.

“No... no... NO!! It can’t be!! This can’t be happening again!!” Thunderlane cried.

“What? What’s going on? What’s wrong, friend?” Skywarp asked, waking up in robot form.

“It’s... it’s... them!”

Looking toward his direction, the ex-Seeker beheld his former brethren violently descending upon all of Equestria. For a brief moment, his fear and courage battled for the supremacy in his processor. But the moment he spotted Megatron at the forefront, his instinctive personality trait emerged victorious.

“MEGATRON?! HERE?! OH, NOOO!!” Skywarp shrieked.

“We gotta warn Celestia and Luna about this!” Thunderlane urged.

“No time! We are doomed!!” Skywarp screamed. He transformed back to jet mode and flew off.

“Skywarp, wait! Wait for me!!” The pegasus tried to follow him.

Once he flew out of Cloudsdale, a purple ray caught him and imprisoned him in a transparent ball. He struggled to free himself until he was brought face to face with the Decepticons’ weapons specialist and arms dealer himself.

“Hello there, neighbor! Did you miss me?” Swindle grinned.

“Let me go! Let me go now!” Thunderlane begged.

“Nah, ah, ah, we must hear from my number one customer first! He’s gonna decide the real prices and costs. This will be a very interesting transaction,” Swindle smirked. Transforming to S.U.V mode, he took him away.

Rumble was sound asleep still in the house. Just as he was quietly snoring, a single whisper rang in his ear saying, “Terror is here...”

At that moment, a loud explosion shook his bedroom. The colt woke up and got up from his bed. “Huh? What is happening?” he wondered. He flew to the window, opened it, and saw the entire town of Cloudsdale in a fiery inferno.

He saw Decepticon jets flying around and blasting every home they encountered. Every single home was being burnt until each cloud vanished into oblivion.

Dozens of Pegasi flew for their lives, but the three Seekers stood in their way. Each pegasus was shot by the beams before they fell from the sky dead. Half of the other Pegasi managed to escape the onslaught, however, without the Seekers noticing.

Shaken with fear, he ran to his brother’s bedroom. “Thunderlane! We are under attack! Cloudsdale is under attack!” he cried. However, Thunderlane was not present in his bedroom. “Bro, where are you?! Where are... ah!”

The ceiling of the house started to crumble. Realizing he was in immediate danger, he flew out of the house moments before it crumbled down to pieces. “Nooo!!”

Seeing that he no longer had a home and his dear brother was missing, he escaped the onslaught of the Seekers and flew down to Ponyville. The attackers transformed into their robot modes and laughed maniacally.

“Brilliant destruction! Just absolutely brilliant!” Sunstorm praised.

“Of course it is! This was all my doing anyway!” Ramjet said.

“Those weak organics will now suffer our wrath! Let’s wipe out this town!” Slipstream ordered.

Rumble safety landed on the grass and cast his last look at his beloved home. Seconds later, the entire town was obliterated by the sheer firepower of the Seekers. Shedding a few tears, he trotted to Ponyville. However, to his horror, the whole town of Ponyville was also under attack by the Decepticons. He saw them blasting every target they encountered. Fire and destruction were everywhere.

“Tremble before the might of Megatron!” Lugnut proclaimed, launching many missiles at the houses.

“NOOO!! This cannot be happening!!” Rumble cried. Suddenly, he remembered something. He looked around and noticed the similar turn of events happening around him.

“Wait... this was something I... dreamt about, didn’t I? Why does this feel like Deja vu?” he wondered.

He ran to the City Hall for safety. He carefully made sure that none of the invaders would spot him and take him down. There, he took cover until they would hopefully leave the town.

Suddenly, Megatron descended from the dark red sky to join them. All the other Decepticons immediately kneeled and worshipped their tyrannical leader. “ALL HAIL MEGATRON! ALL HAIL MEGATRON! ALL HAIL MEGATRON!” they shouted.

Rumble sat there in complete shock and terror. The very being who deceived his friends, attacked the city of Canterlot, and nearly killed Twilight and her friends was once again online and in perfect shape. His jaw was wide open and almost hit the ground; his pupils shrank into tiny spots.

“My loyal Decepticons, our conquest of this pathetic, worthless planet is only the beginning. Our main target is Cybertron! Once we have taken all the necessary magic and this world’s Elements of Harmony, Cybertron will be ours for the taking, and the Autobots will be no more!” Megatron declared, raising his fist. The Decepticons cheered for their leader and hailed him again.

Rumble stood by to absorb what he just heard from the Decepticon overlord. After a few seconds of reflecting, he decided to remain hidden until they left.

Once again, he sat down to reflect what just happened so far. “How is this possible? First, Megatron is back, the Decepticons are taking over, and I feel like this was something I dreamed about long ago! Am I dreaming again?!”

Suddenly, the entire roof was ripped off by Blitzwing. The sinister triple changer grabbed him before he could even run away. “Hey! Let me go! Let me go! Thunderlane, HELP ME!!” Rumble cried.

“Silence, you little pest!!” Hothead Blitzwing yelled. “Your organic brotha’ won’t zave you thiz time!!” His face switched to Random. “But you will go out with a BANG like fireworks!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!”

Then he was instantly blasted from behind. He turned to see Twilight with her horn sizzling. She sent another spell towards his face, temporarily blinding him. “Oh, look, I cannot see! Am I supposed to hit a piñata?”

“Rumble, come with me! Quickly!” Twilight urged. He swiftly flew off with Twilight as they escaped the inferno surrounding them.

As the Decepticons commenced their carnage, Megatron looked toward the forest. Evilly smirking, he walked right into the forest; multiple animals fled from his presence and hid for cover. However, dozens of Timberwolves appeared and noticed the Cybertronian titan looming over them. They fearfully ran off as well.

“Yes, run. Run for your pathetic lives if you can.”

As he walked his way through the forest, he saw the Tree of Harmony down below. He bent down and reached for the elements. “Finally, the ultimate source of their magic is mine.”

Suddenly, Celestia, Luna, and Starlight teleported in front of him with death glares and ignited horns. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the Royal Majesties of Equestria and their unicorn assistant: Starlight Glimmer. I was just wondering when you might show up.”

“And I was just wondering how in Equestria you came back. Twilight and her friends literally turned you to stone!” Starlight exclaimed.

“The power of the Allspark is more powerful than you can ever imagine, organic. Equestria will be mine once you and your worthless companions are dead under my feet,” Megatron sneered.

“We will stop you no matter what you do to us, Megatron!” Luna growled.

“I agree. We will end this here and now,” Celestia added.

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” Megatron said, unsheathing his swords.

Celestia and Luna combined their magic and fired their power at him. He blocked their magic with his swords. Then he noticed Starlight teleporting behind him; he pushed back their magic, knocked out Celestia with a flick of his finger, and sliced through Starlight’s hair.

“Ah!” she yelped.

“That was a warning. Surrender now, and your death will be swift. I assure you,” said Megatron.

“You don’t scare me, Megatron!” Starlight defied. She blasted another spell, but Megatron deflected the blast with his sword and struck her instead.

“I am familiar with all your tricks now. Pity you will never learn your weaknesses.”

“Keep telling yourself that!” Luna shouted. She sent a huge spell right towards him, but Megatron lazily ducked beneath it. He grabbed her and threw her against a tree.

Then he turned to face the injured unicorn who glared back at him with a frustrated look. Getting up, she raised her horn and emitted a magical laser beam towards him.
He raised his fusion cannon and blasted the magic beam to pieces.

“Time to finish this...” Megatron spoke. He raised his sword over the wounded Celestia and Luna.

“NOO!!” Starlight screamed. She teleported right in front of them and was about to send another spell. However, Megatron swiftly impaled her with his sword.

She froze as the pain surged through her body. The deadly weapon kept piercing through her until Megatron pulled it out. Blood spilled on the grass as she fell limp thereon.

“Ponies—always so predictable,” Megatron said, triumphantly grinning.

“Starlight, NOO! NO!” Luna cried, tears falling.

Celestia carefully picked Starlight up as she scrutinized the stab wound. “I’m... s-sorry, Princess Celestia. I-I-I tried—,” the unicorn muttered, struggling to breathe.

“No, it’s okay, Starlight. Just stay with me. Stay with me, okay?” Celestia said. Sadly, Starlight was losing her oxygen rapidly.

“Save Equestria... without... me...” Starlight whispered. Then she uttered her final breath and died.

“Starlight. Starlight? STARLIGHT!” Celestia shouted.

Megatron gazed on the Tree of Harmony as he wickedly laughed out loud. He opened his spark chamber and reached for the elements. He carefully plucked out the elements one by one and held them in his palm. As soon as he brought the elements closer to his spark, they instantly attached themselves to it. He uttered cries of satisfaction as the magical power surged through his circuitry.

He rose up in the air and endured a sudden transformation of appearance. His color scheme changed from mixed colors of gray and red to fully black and purple. His face and fusion cannon both turned white, and his optics turned violet.

“Such raw power! I can feel it throughout my circuitry!” Megatron exulted. He aimed his fusion cannon towards the alicorns again.

However, a purple blast struck his head. Although it didn’t faze him at all, it was enough to arrest his attention. Twilight and Rumble appeared before him as Megatron turned around to face them.

“Megatron, stop it this instant! I won’t let you use the power of the elements to takeover Equestria! You know nothing of the power you now wield!” Twilight commanded.

“Silence, Princess Twilight! I will use this power as much as I want. You no longer stand a chance against me. Now, step aside.”

“Never,” Twilight defied, glaring at the tyrant.

Megatron then noticed the terrified colt hiding beneath Twilight’s wing. “Ahh, yes. Rumble, is it? You remember me, don’t you?”

Rumble only nodded in response.

“I remember how you exposed me and my plans a stellar cycle ago. Hmm, perhaps I should offer to you my remaining sign of our friendship,” Megatron sneered, optics glowing.

“Leave him out of this! This is between you and me!” Twilight said.

“No... not anymore,” he said. He raised his hands and emitted purple lightning.

“Watch out!” Rumble yelled, pushing Twilight out of the way. The bolts struck Rumble through the chest, sending him flying in the air.

“RUMBLE!!!” Twilight screamed. The colt flew all the way towards the sky until he was gone from view.

Pangs of guilt and sorrow filled her heart as Twilight fell on her knees. “No... I’m so sorry, Rumble.”

“You... you killed him! You murderer!” Luna angrily shouted.

“Don’t worry, fleshlings. You will meet the same fate as him soon enough. But for now... good night.” Megatron stomped his feet on the ground which created a massive shockwave. It shocked them until they fell unconscious.

“Equestria is now mine to control,” he said.

Thus, the Decepticons took over all of Equestria as the massive inferno from the forest spread throughout the entire town and landscape. The entire world fell under his rule; the massacre was only the beginning.

Author's Note

Megatron’s new color scheme is a reference to the voyager class Shadow Megatron from the Transformers: Animated toy line as shown here.

Just thought I would mention this trivia.

Chapter 12: The Call of Primus

Red Alert and Spike stood side by side as they were surrounded by Decepticon warriors outside the city of Canterlot. Blackout transformed from helicopter mode and thunderously landed before them, creating a shockwave which knocked out dozens of the Royal Guards. Afterwards, the Stunticons drove up and transformed into their robot forms.

The Autobot medic froze as she beheld her worse enemies standing before her, particularly Drag Strip. The latter evilly smiled as she activated her buzzsaw. "Well, well, look what this wasteland of a planet kept in..."

"I hoped I would never see your vile face again, Drag Strip," growled Red Alert.

"What's going on?! Why are the Decepticons coming back?!" Spike exclaimed.

"Why? Our leader Megatron has freed us and has led us to this place to destroy you all! Your Autobot friend won't be able to save you," Blackout replied.

"Now that we have you all vastly outnumbered, you will soon grovel at the feet of the Decepticons!" Strika added.

Then Red Alert noticed Dead End standing by with his arms crossed and head down. The moment he looked up and noticed her looking at him, he swiftly turned his face without saying a word.

Suddenly, Motormaster pushed his way through the Decepticon crowd and glared at the surrounded medic. "UGH, IT IS YOU AGAIN! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TEACH YOU A LESSON, AUTOBOT SCUM?!"

Before Red Alert could make a move, the Stunticon leader grabbed her head and body-slammed her on the ground repeatedly. Then he tossed her toward one of his own lackeys as she began to lose focus.

Drag Strip kicked her on the back and made a brief cut on her left leg. The medic looked down to see some energon droplets leaking out.

“Time to finish this,” Drag Strip grinned. However, Spike flew over and breathed fire on her face.

“Leave her alone!” he yelled.

“Ugh!! Insolent pest!” she screamed in agony.

Taking advantage of the situation, Red Alert punched her scorched face and then shocked her with her electric whip. The Stunticon fell on the dirt, sizzling in smoke.

“Good job, Spike!”

“Thanks!”

Enraged, Motormaster unsheathed his sword and raised it high. But before he could strike and kill her, Dead End grabbed his hand tightly. "Enough! Stop it!"

The other Decepticons gasped at what he was doing; even Motormaster himself was slightly amazed by his lackey's bold interference. He instinctively dropped his sword and took a moment to regain his composure. "How dare you!"

Dead End got in front of Red Alert and Spike as he spoke, "This has gone too far! Why do we Decepticons always keep fighting? This is not the way we ought to act toward those who may be less powerful than we are. I suggest we stop this madness right now before it's too late. If we truly want peace, brothers, we should perhaps try some alternative ways to achieve that goal."

"Are you questioning the ways of our faction? Our way of life?!" a random Decepticon asked.

"I am saying we don't have to be this way. We should be different."

"I always knew you were the weaker link of our group, Dead End, but I never thought you were this soft and weak," Motormaster sneered. "Have those filthy Autobots been getting into your underdeveloped circuits?"

Incensed by the remarks, Dead End stomped his feet on the ground. "I have had enough of your insults and taunts, Motormaster. You never treated me with any respect or dignity for whom I am and what I am. It's about time I stand up for myself and speak up!"

Motormaster and the others laughed out loud right after he finished speaking. Red Alert and Spike, however, were surprised by his speech especially as it came from a Decepticon. Red Alert was even more amazed by the way he talked to his boss as she remembered him as being always quiet and depressed. As she heard him speak passionately, she tenderly smiled at him. "It appears there is yet hope for him as well," she thought.

"You really are that sensitive, aren't ya? Ha ha, what are you gonna do? Cry about it?" Wildrider mocked.

"I will not back down that easily," said Dead End. Then the Stunticon leader approached him and smacked him to the ground.

"Get up, and fight me like a Decepticon... NOW!!" Motormaster shouted.

Dead End weakly rose up and looked left and right; he looked at the stunned Red Alert as well as the confused dragon. Looking up, his boss smirked at him while grabbing back his sword. His processor was struggling to concentrate as his emotions and courage likewise battled for supremacy.

"I'm waiting..." Motormaster impatiently muttered.

At that moment, Dead End transformed to car mode and drove away. His former brethren laughed at him as he left.

"I knew he wouldn't have the ball bearings to fight me. Such a coward! Now, where were we? Oh yes..." Motormaster said, glaring at Red Alert.

She activated her blaster and aimed at him, but Breakdown knocked her out from behind. Then he took out his stasis cuffs and apprehended her. "Ha! Got your afterburner, Autobot!"

"Finally, I am gonna have so much fun with this pretty fembot," Wildrider said, lustfully smirking.

"Not now, Wildrider. We must take care of this little pest first!" Motormaster said, glaring at Spike.

"Get away from me! Twilight and our friends will stop you just as they did to Megatron!" Spike defied.

"Uh, who is Twilight?" Breakdown asked, puzzled.

"That was the bothersome organic who defeated Megatron in the first place. I say we return the favor!" Strika angrily exclaimed.

Just when they were about to blast him to atoms, Spike again blew his fire at them. The green fire temporairly blinded them especially Motormaster as the flames scorched half of his face. He ragefully screamed in pain as he attempted to put out the flames on his face.

"YOU WILL REGRET THAT, FLESHLING!!"

Afterwards, Spike took off to the skies. The other Decepticons then fired their laser blasts at him as he escaped. However, something caught his eye.

He saw Rumble flying in a ball of smoke all the way to the Everfree Forest in a state of unconsciousness. Fear seized his heart as he saw his best friend apparently harmed. "No... no, no, no! Rumble!" He took off after him into the forest.

Rumble slowly woke up and saw himself once again surrounded by a blanket of pure darkness. Groaning, he stood on his hooves and gazed at the sight of nothingness around him. “Huh? This again? What’s going on this time?”

He began to walk through the darkness; as he walked, he recalled all the events that happened to him moments before he was blasted by Megatron. He especially remembered the exact events that transpired in chronological order during that same night.

“Why is all this happening to me? First, I’ve been hearing voices in my head, Megatron is back, the nightmare I had last year is somehow becoming a reality, and those Decepticons are destroying Equestria! WHAT IS GOING ON WITH ME?!” he screamed.

Tears started to fall as he stumbled to the floor and bitterly wept. “What am I gonna do? I feel like Equestria is doomed because of me. This... this is all my fault! Starlight is dead; the princesses are probably dead by now because of me. There’s nothing I can do to save Equestria now...”

He cried for what it seemed like a long time. His world started to crumble around him as he felt everything was against him. Hope seemed lost, and there was nothing he could do to save his home.

“My cutie mark meant nothing after all. I’m such a failure!”

“I think not...” a deep, powerful voice spoke.

The voice was so abrupt that it startled the weeping colt. “W-w-who is there?”

Suddenly, a bright blue light broke the darkness apart and pushed it to the background. The light formed into a circle in front of Rumble and descended to his level. The colt trembled and crept backwards from its bright presence.

“Fear not, Rumble. You are in no danger.”

“Who are you? What are you?”

“I am Primus, the Lord of Light and the Maker of all Cybertronians. I have been watching you for a long, long time.”

Rumble stood there amazed as he listened. “Primus? I never heard of you before; I never even imagined Cybertronians even having a creator! That’s... that’s so cool! But... how are you speaking to me though?”

“I possess many abilities you know not of, but I have revealed myself to you for this one purpose: you... are the chosen one.”

“Me? The chosen one? But I’m just a colt! How can—?”

“You may be a colt, but I have foreseen the mighty victories you have achieved and saw in you a greatness above those who have preceded you—organic and Cybertronian. That is why I revealed that vision to you a stellar cycle ago which has now come to pass.”

Rumble gasped in shock as he finally understood the mystery. “Wait... that was you?! You gave me that dream?! And those voices—they came from you?! It... it all makes sense now!”

“I have been trying to warn you of the danger that was to come, but it is now come to pass. However, all hope is not lost,” said Primus.

“Really?”

“You must gird yourself with courage and humility to stand up against evil, Rumble. Just as you have triumphed over Soundwave, so shall you do to Megatron.”

“But how am I gonna fight them? There’s too many of them, and Megatron is now more powerful than ever! *Sniff* I feel so useless by not having any special ability besides flying. I don’t think my cutie mark means anything. What am I gonna do?!”

“Do not despair. Think not on your inabilities, for when you are weak, you will become stronger. For fate rarely calls upon you at a moment of your choosing,” Primus advised.

Rumble stopped crying as he reflected on his words of wisdom. “You shall gain your special ability once you fully understand a true hero’s sacrifice. For now, you must rely on the guidance of your friends to help you. Only then will you prevail against Megatron.”

As he meditated on his words, Rumble sadly smiled and nodded. “T-Thank you, Primus. I will remember that...”

“Now, go... and fear not. I will be with you,” encouraged Primus. Then he emitted his bright rays of light at the colt. Having done that, the darkness dispelled.

“Rumble! Rumble, wake up! Please wake up!” Spike cried.

Rumble woke up and saw all his wounds healed. He also saw himself on the ground surrounded by trees. Then Spike suddenly hugged him. “You’re alive! I thought I lost you!”

“I’m glad you’re okay too. We have to find a way to stop Megatron and fast!”

“But how? There’s no way to stop him now that he has the elements!” Spike said.

As Rumble was thinking, he got an idea. “We’re gonna have to find Skywarp since he knows how the Decepticons think and act. Follow me!”

Both younglings flew off as they commenced their search for their comrade.

Chapter 13: Crossing Paths

Rodimus drove through the woods as he checked everywhere around Mount Everhoof for any sign of Lout. To his frustration, he had no luck. Even as he was driving, he still could not find any sign of the escaped prisoner.

As he reached to a random dead end, he noticed pillars of smoke rising to the sky. He transformed to robot mode and saw the arising smoke and the sky being crimson. "No... please no," he muttered. He ran up to a hillside and saw with his own optics the land being conquered. His worst fears became a reality: Equastria was under attack.

In addition to his horror, he spotted a vast army of Decepticons killing dozens of citizens and even taking hundreds of them prisoners. Megatron himself flew on top of the School of Friendship in his glorious, upgraded form and wickedly laughed.

"No! I'm too late! I hope he didn't get to Twilight and the others!" Rodimus lamented. "I have to do something to stop those Decepticon scum, but how?"

Suddenly, he heard loud cracks of wood behind him. He instantly readied his bow and arrows as he turned around. "Who is there? Show yourself!" he demanded.

After a couple of seconds, Skywarp jumped out from the trees while screaming in fear. "I felt something behind me! Get it away from me!" He accidentally fell down before Rodimus whereas a hawk confusedly stared at the robots; it flew away to another tree.

The Autobot lieutenant stared at the ex-Con in shock and confusion as his body type looked similar to Starscream's. Nevertheless, he regained his focus and aimed at his head. "You! Stay where you are, Decepticon!"

"Wait! Wait! Don't shoot me! I mean you no harm!" Skywarp shouted, putting his hands up.

"Pfff, all of you 'Cons mean harm! What is Megatron up to? I will not ask you again!" he roughly demanded.

Skywarp crawled backwards as the Autobot commander advanced toward him. "I don't know! I swear I know nothing of his plans; I mean, I was here the whole time before he showed up. Plus, I am not a Decepticon anymore. I am... one of you now."

"I don't believe you for a second," Rodimus scoffed. "I know how you creeps play tricks on us. Tell me what Megatron's endgame is or else I'll-" He interrupted himself as he recalled how ruthless he was while interrogating Lout back in Cybertron. Not wanting to repeat that mistake, he calmed himself down. "Things are at stake here; thus, I will only ask you one more time to tell me what you know."

"Autobot, I am telling you the truth when I say that I didn't know any of this would happen! My new pony friends would understand that, and I would never let them get hurt!" Skywarp explained.

That caught Rodimus off-guard once he heard the last sentence. "Wait... what? Those ponies are your friends?"

Skywarp nervously nodded.

"Are you sure you are not trying to deceive me?" Rodimus asked, arching his brow.

"Rodimus! Wait! He is telling the truth!" two young voices shouted. Both Cybertronians looked toward the source of the voices and saw Spike and Rumble flying to them.

"Rumble?" Skywarp muttered.

"Spike?" Rodimus likewise muttered.

"Rodimus, it's okay! Skywarp is our friend; he really means it when he says he is innocent," defended Spike.

"Yeah, just lower your weapons. He is on our side," Rumble added.

Rodimus gave one last look of scrutiny at the Seeker before he lowered his weapons; he bent down and embraced his friends. "Thank the Allspark you two are okay. I was hoping you were unharmed, but where are the others? Are they safe where they should be?"

Rumble sadly looked down as he relayed the news. "I can't say for sure if Twilight, her friends, or my brother are okay, but... one of them didn't make it. Starlight is... dead." Spike, Rodimus, and Skywarp gasped in shock.

"WHAT?! NO!! Who killed her?!" Spike cried out.

"Megatron killed her, and he defeated Celestia and Luna too before he got the Elements of Harmony. He is now more powerful than ever," Rumble dejectedly replied.

"This is entirely hopeless; there is definitely no way we can stop him. We are doomed!" Skywarp cried in defeat.

The four lowered their heads in discouragement as Equastria was being conquered by their enemies. However, Rumble heard whispers of Primus in his ears saying, "Do not be faint-hearted, for my light shall guide you in darkness in spite of the circumstances. Go forward, my child. Fight till the end."

Nodding in understanding, Rumble smiled in determination. "We won't give up that easily, guys. As long as we work together and fight those bad guys with the power of friendship, none of them will stand. We will rescue our friends and family and bring Megatron down once and for all. Today, in the name of freedom, we take the battle to them!"

Encouraged by his words, they smiled in unison. Skywarp stood up and replied to the colt, "I think it was wrong of me to flee from the problem whereas I should have confronted it. You showed me the value of courage and friendship which has truly changed my life. It would be an honor fighting by your side as long as my spark burns."

"Me too," Spike agreed.

"You three surely made a connection, huh? Heh, looks like I missed out all the fun. Nonetheless, I believe you now... Skywarp, is it? Any friend of the Equestrians is a friend of mine," said Rodimus, offering a handshake. Grinning confidently, Skywarp and Rodimus shook hands.

"We must defeat Megatron... no matter the cost," Rumble said.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Spike said. They left the hillside and proceeded their way towards the forest once more.

However, as soon as they began travelling, Discord and Starlight appeared in a white flash before them. The foursome instantly halted their tracks. "Hello there! I hope we didn't interrupt your errands, did we?" Discord asked, smirking.

"Guys, thank Celestia you are okay! Have you heard any word from the princesses?" Starlight asked.

The foursome however gazed at her in bewildering shock. "Starlight... you are alive!" Spike shouted.

"But how?! I literally saw you die!" Rumble added.

Then Starlight realized what they were getting at and nervously giggled to herself. "Um... I think I can explain that. It's a little complicated."

Flashback

In the Castle of Friendship, Twilight, Spike, Starlight, and the Mane Five ran toward the window as they saw chaos and destruction everywhere in Ponyville. They watched in horror while many ponies ran for their lives and tried to escape the onslaught.

"The Decepticons are back?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"It's a disaster!" Rarity said, fainting.

"This can't be happening! Not now!" Applejack shouted.

"We got to do something, Twilight! We have to save everypony!" Spike urged.

"You're right, Spike! We will definitely need the Elements of Harmony to defeat the Decepticons, but first, we have to rescue
everypony from danger. Spike, write a letter to the Princesses and alert them of the invasion. Starlight will help them protect the Tree of Harmony until we get there. Let's move out, everypony!" Twilight commanded. She teleported herself and the Mane Five away.

After Spike wrote the letter and blew it away with his fire breath, he turned to the unicorn. "Will you be alright, Starlight?"

"I'll be fine, Spike. Although I am worried of one thing: I think Megatron is behind this."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah! I mean, who else is perfectly able to summon an entire army of giant mass-shifting monsters?" Starlight wondered.

"Hmmm, good point. Let's just hope he isn't back," Spike replied.

"Me too. You should get Red Alert and Skywarp to help; I'll go help the princesses defend the Tree," Starlight advised. Spike nodded before he left the castle.

Starlight ignited her horn, but some thoughts came to her head. She ran to the window again and saw the damage the Decepticons had done so far; in confirmation of her fears, Megatron landed on the ground and gave his menacing speech to his army. As her heart was beating rabidly, she backed away from the window.

"I never thought this day would come; I'm not even sure if I can survive this invasion," she panicked. Then she got an idea.

Grinning to herself, she stood still as she reignited her horn. She created three duplicates of herself before she finished the spell. Her clones looked at her with brightening confidence.

"This should work well. One of you go help the princesses, and the other two can evacuate the residents while I call Discord for assistance," Starlight ordered. The Starlight clones teleported away at the same time.

Flashback Ended

"So that's how the real me survived this so far. I didn't expect one of my clones to be killed so soon," Starlight finished.

"Indeed, it would have been a real shame if the real you was actually dead; many of your fans would have been really upset if that happened," Discord said, silently chuckling.

"Yeah... wait, I have fans?"

"I'm very happy you are alive and well, Starlight, but there is no time to lose. We must create a plan to defeat Megatron and fast," said Rodimus.

“But how are we gonna get past his troops? I am not much of a strategist honestly, and I know very little how we could infiltrate their new territory,” Skywarp confessed.

“There has to be somepony who knows how Megatron thinks and acts but who?” Starlight said.

“I may not be a pony... but I can help,” said a voice. The group turned their faces to Dead End who slowly approached them from behind.

“A Stunticon? Here?” Rodimus asked, surprised.

“Whoa... who are you supposed to be?” Skywarp asked.

“You may call me Dead End; I know this may seem surprising to you all, but I know exactly how Megatron functions. If you just hear me out and listen to me, you might have a chance against him.”

“Wait... you are actually going to help us? So you’re not gonna destroy us?” Rumble asked.

“If I were to harm you, I would have done so already. No... I don’t want anything to do with those lunatics anymore,” Dead End replied.

“Why? Why the change of spark?” Rodimus asked.

“Because they never treated me with any respect or dignity; they cherished a lot of ways I find to be repulsive and boring; and they are simply losers who cannot accept the hard reality that they are no better than everyone else. Plus, I... never enjoyed being a Decepticon to begin with,” Dead End confessed.

“If that was the case, then why did you join them in the first place?” Starlight asked.

“Megatron promised me peace, prosperity, and that I would gain respect from my enemies if I joined his cause. Instead, he paired me with the worst gang and worst boss of the entire universe and made my life a living pain. Instead of receiving the blessings, I ended up getting curses. In all honesty... I hate my life.”

The group was silent for a few moments. As they reflected on this information, Rumble, Starlight, and Skywarp went forward.

“I’m sorry, Dead End. As someone who knows what it’s like to live a miserable life, I know how you feel,” Starlight comforted.

“So do I; in fact, I can feel your pain. No one wants that kind of life and misery, but you don’t have to live that life anymore,” said Skywarp.

“Plus, you just need better friends. Together, we can make a change in the world through the magic of friendship,” added Rumble.

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t get all too sappy and softy on me. I wasn’t asking for that... but thank you for the kindness nonetheless,” Dead End said, slightly smiling.

“Wow, that’s two Decepticons with a dramatic change so far, huh? I wonder who’s up next?” Discord randomly asked.

At that moment, a cuffed Starscream was thrown to the ground not far from them. He struggled to be free from the stasis cuffs. “Release me at once, you crazy mech! I demand to be free!”

“Oh, pipe down, Princess, stop acting like a baby!” Lout spoke, approaching from the woods. “What? You want to vent your frustration over your obsessive love for Megatron? Or is it something—?”

He saw the group looking straight at him with mixed reactions of confusion, amazement, and curiosity. “Uh, hello there?” Lout awkwardly waved.

Chapter 14: The Team-Up

Rodimus jumped in front of the group with his bow and arrow aimed at Lout. "You! Stay where you are!"

"Hey, yo, take it easy there! I'm just trying to babysit this oversensitive clown. Don't worry, you'll thank me later," said Lout, winking.

"Wait... you were apprehending Starscream? Why exactly?" Rodimus asked.

"Because I like to mess around with idiots like him. Duh!" Lout replied, smirking.

"So you're not here to hurt us or anything?" Skywarp asked.

"Heh, only if you behave like immature motorheads like this thick-chinned crybaby right here," Lout chuckled, kicking the cuffed Seeker. "Anyway, what's going on here? Is this some sort of slumber party? I love parties!"

As the heroes looked at each other, they curiously drew near to the newcomer. Rodimus lowered his weapons before he likewise got close to the escaped prisoner. "Well, we are gathered together to form a plan to stop Megatron from taking over Equastria and Cybertron; so if you even think about alerting him of our intentions, you have another thing coming for you."

"Oh please, Rodimus, helping old buckethead has really never been my thing. Besides, if I were to stop you, I would have already done so. BORING!" Lout shouted.

Rumble then flew up to Lout as he curiously asked, "If that's the case, then why are you a Decepticon?"

At that moment, Lout stared at the colt before he sadly looked down on the ground. "Well, you probably wouldn't get it, but I went through many hard times in my life before the war on Cybertron began." Then he slowly lifted his face and started to scratch his head. "Hmmm, maybe that's not the case; perhaps I come from a city where I... uhhh... hmm. Oh! Oh! Oh! I remember-oh wait, never mind. How about... nah, wrong universe. Uhhhh..."

Losing all patience, Dead End grabbed Lout and shook him violently. "Stop wasting our time! What is your deal? Why are you a 'Con? Hurry up!"

Trying very hard not to laugh, Lout nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders. "Hmm... don't know, don't care. How's that?"

Dead End's visor beamed brighter as his jaw was hanging open. "Excuse me? That is all you have to say? You have no freaking clue?!"

Mischievously grinning, Lout fake-snored out loud before he obnoxiously yawned.

"I literally can't stand this guy," Dead End muttered, shaking his head.

"We're wasting our time-a lot of time," Starlight said, hoof-palming herself.

"Wait, what if you can help us? Would you be willing to assist us in defeating Megatron and saving both worlds?" Rumble offered. The others, however, looked surprised at his offer.

"Me? Helping you save the multiverse? Being a hero in the process? Hmm, now that's something really intriguing..." Lout smiled.

"Are you serious, youngling?! We're gonna have to work with this annoying imbecile?!" Dead End protested.

"Oh, come on, at least he has some amazing sense of humor and a fascinating personality unlike some ponies I know," argued Discord, looking towards Starlight.

"Hey!"

"I think what Discord is trying to say is that this guy has some goodness in him; if I learned one thing from Red Alert and Twilight, it's that everypony deserves a chance at redemption... including Decepticons. If we work together as one, we will be able to defeat Megatron and his army. Through the power of friendship, we will prevail," said Rumble before he turned back to Lout. "So what do you say? Will you join us and help us end this conflict for good?"

Lout took a moment to think over his words; afterwards, he casually nodded. "Sure, why not? I really got nothing to lose. After all, messing with Decepticons is a lot more fun than screwing Autobots over. So... tell Megatron, 'Let's Tango'!"

As he shook Rumble's hoof, the latter motioned the others to huddle. "What's your name?"

"The name's Lout, a name that never ceases to give me happiness and purpose in life."

"Pleased to know you, Lout! Welcome to our team!" Rumble smiled. While Discord and Skywarp accepted the newbie, the others were frowning in disapproval.

"What have I really gotten myself into?" Rodimus groaned.

"Tell me about it..." Dead End agreed, face-palming.

"Okay, everypony, listen up. Here is the plan I have in mind," said Rumble.

Megatron hovered over the ruins of Ponyville in helicopter form with fires blazing across the land. He noticed below him the cages containing the princesses, the Mane Five, and Thunderlane. He transformed to robot mode and landed before them. He wickedly grinned at their helpless condition as they glared at him.

"Once again, you are imprisoned before me just like before. Only this time, I have these alicorns along with all this power. Nothing will truly save you now," Megatron taunted.

"Do your worst, Megatron," defied Twilight. "If you think we'll cower before you, you're sadly mistaken."

"Yeah, you may have the elements of harmony, but we will still beat you just like last time!" Rainbow added.

"And how will you defeat me this time?"

"The Magic of Friendship. With it, we can overcome all the enemies we face," Celestia replied.

"Perhaps your frontal lobes are malfunctioning. I have the elements, the very artifacts you used to defeat me. Without them, how exactly can you generate this... 'friendship' power?" Megatron sneered. The ponies could not answer back to him.

"Exactly. Without these artifacts, you are powerless and worthless," Megatron grinned. "You know, out of all the species I've met, yours is amongst the most ambitious with great potential albeit primitive. It's still not too late to join me."

As he slowly walked around his captives, more caged ponies were brought before him by his subordinates.

"No! Never! I'm not your friend!" Pinkie Pie shouted.

"Not after what you did to Starlight and Rumble, we will never join you!" Luna added, fiercely glaring at the Decepticon tyrant.

Thunderlane gasped in shock. "What?! What did he do to my little brother?!" Luna and Twilight sadly looked down with no answer. Reading their facial language, his ears fell down and his pupils shrunk in shocking horror. "No... no, he didn't... YOU MONSTER!!!!" He stumbled as he cried his heart out with tears soaking his face.

Wickedly laughing, Megatron fired a laser beam at the Friendship Castle, blowing it up to smithereens.

"NO!!" Twilight screamed.

"You will all fall down and worship me through one way or another," he growled, optics glowing.

"What does all this destruction accomplish? How could you live like this after everything you've done? Just... just what would you really gain?" Fluttershy asked, tears falling.

Megatron stopped smirking as he approached the yellow Pegasus. "Remember when I told you how cruel and senseless the whimsical notions of love and friendship were? Allow me to expand on that: Countless solar cycles ago, I was but a gladiator in the pits of Kaon. A ruthless, daring legend I was; during that period, the Autobot Elite Guard were corrupt to the core and disguised their hypocritical agenda and debaucherously insidious dogmas as 'peaceful, just, and heroic' resolutions to every civil problem they encountered."

"The very Cybertronians, who are now my followers, were the primary victims of their corruption. They needed someone to look up to, and I was the only one who could help them. Additionally, I was destined to be the new ruler of Cybertron which almost everyone knew very well I would be. I could have easily purged the sins of those Autobot oppressors and so-called patriots if they had chosen me as their true successor, but when Ultra Magnus said otherwise..." Megatron angrily punched the ground. "...they rejected me and spurned my ideas for reformation. I realized what had to be done: declare war on them." The ponies gasped as they heard his backstory. "What would I gain, you ask? A future... a future where there are no more Autobots."

"But why would you want power? Is it so that being a mad tyrant would make you feel less emotionally hurt and show that you're capable of ruling Cybertron?" Fluttershy asked.

"SILENCE!!!" Megatron snapped. The Pegasus covered her face.

"I will make those Autobot fools pay for everything they have done especially exiling us from our rightful home. Once I am done with you, they are next. Besides, why rule only one world when I can rule two... or three?"

Suddenly, Red Alert was brought before him in stasis cuffs. Grinning evilly, Megatron lifted her head with the tip of his sword. "Well, well, if it isn't the lovely medic from Team Athenia. So nice of you to join us."

"Let these ponies go, Megatron! This war is between Autobots and Decepticons only! Leave them alone!" Red Alert pleaded.

"I don't think so, Autobot. The only way you're getting out of this alive is by surrendering yourself fully to me; otherwise, this will happen," Megatron offered, turning to Blitzwing. The triple changer brought out a staff and painfully shocked the ponies with it, gaining pained screams out of them.

"That's right! You will all perish screaming, just like your friends!" Hothead shouted. He turned to Random before he stopped shocking them. "That was quite... shocking, wasn't it? Hahahaha!!"

"So, Autobot, what is your decision?" Megatron grinned.

Chapter 15: Preparing for War

BACK IN CYBERTRON

Shockwave stood before his captives in the room as he held the Magnus Hammer. "Feeling comfortable? I do pity your utmost helplessness."

"Get scrapped, Shockwave!" Hot Shot barked, glaring at him.

“Quite feisty, aren’t we? How laughable,” Shockwave taunted.

“I don’t understand this. How could a dedicated Intelligence Officer turn out to be a vile Decepticon?” Alpha Trion dejectedly uttered. “How can you do this to us?”

“You truly don’t understand anything, old mech. You see, Megatron has power in both words and swords whereas you have weaknesses in both your faulty ideology and corrupt morality. See the contrast, old friend? It’s the main reason why your defeat is certain,” the ‘Con monologued.

“That’s a lie!! You Decepticons always lose! Cybertron will still prevail through this no matter what you do!” Brawn angrily shouted.

“You’re absolutely right, Brawn. Cybertron will prevail... under Megatron’s supervision. With you all out of the picture, a glorious new age will commence: the Age of Megatron,” Shockwave replied.

“You won’t get away with this, traitor,” Perceptor said.

“Tell it to the Hammer,” the Decepticon spy replied, gazing on the powerful mallet. Then he went over to Ultra Magnus as he lifted his head with the mallet.

"Thank you, Ultra Magnus, for your generosity in lending me your hammer. Your contribution to the Decepticons will be memorialized," Shockwave taunted.

Ultra Magnus struggled to move without replying to his captor. While he did so, Shockwave walked over to the windows and noticed that the space bridges were still functioning properly and saw all the Decepticons successfully entering the portals. Thus, he turned back to the Elite Guard as he raised the Hammer. "It appears that our triumph is nigh at hand. Therefore, your cooperation is no longer required." The Hammer ignited with sizzling power.

"Uh-oh, he's going to take us offline!" Hot Shot screamed.

"I refuse to go out like this!" Brawn added.

Before Shockwave could destroy them with the Magnus Hammer, a nunchuck flew in the air and knocked his optic. The Decepticon spy covered his face while grunting in pain, accidently dropping the Hammer. He looked toward his assaulter and noticed that it was Jazz.

"Hold it right there, 'Con. The party ain't over without turning the tables first," he remarked, holding another nunchuck while the other returned back to his free hand.

At that moment, a pillar of fire and wind smote Shockwave on the back which sent him flying in the air until he crashed against a wall. Up above stood a large Autobot with two different halves with the Elite Guard insignia on either side of his waist. He landed on the ground before he separated into two Autobots.

“I hope we didn’t miss anything!” Jetfire said.

“We surely missed the invasion, brother!” Jetstorm noticed.

“You folks alright?” Jazz asked as he uncuffed his fellow Autobots and superiors.

“Yeah... except Sentinel. Although he was a glitch head most of the time, he really didn’t deserve such a fate,” Brawn replied, sadly looking toward his rusted remains.

“Yeah, bro. I dunno how O.P. and his crew would react though,” said Jazz.

“We will discuss his funeral later, but we have a dangerous crisis at our servos now,” Ultra Magnus reminded, grabbing his Magnus Hammer back. “Thanks to Shockwave’s efforts, the Decepticons have undoubtedly invaded Equestria and have taken over its kingdoms. We need to act now before the situation escalates.”

“But how?! There’s way too many of them, and those Decepti-creeps are generally more powerful and mighty than we are!” Hot Shot exclaimed.

“That may be, Hot Shot, but with all our combined forces we can take down our adversaries once and for all. That is why we require all servos on deck now more than ever before,” Magnus advised.

Hot Shot and Brawn glanced toward each other with uncertainty. “Does this mean you’re willing to forgive Rodimus?”

Ultra Magnus sighed as he closed his optics for a brief moment. “Considering what is at stake here and how critically short time is, his transgression in disobeying a direct order is forgiven. No doubt, he is in Equestria at this very moment trying to protect the ponies. We will go down there and help him... in the same way I and Jazz helped Optimus Prime on Earth.”

“Sir?”

“Hot Shot, Brawn, do you know where Ironhide and Red Alert are?” Magnus asked.

“Ironhide is with Prime and his crew while Red Alert is in Equestria... it’s... where they’ve been the whole time...” Hot Shot admitted, nervously smiling.

While Magnus disapprovingly frowned, he briefly calmed himself down before he could reply. “Very well. Open the space bridge portal to Earth, for it is time we put an end to this age-long conflict.”

“Wait... do you really mean—?”

“I mean it, Brawn. For too long, the Decepticons antagonized, terrorized, and harmed us and our home world. They have demonstrated loud and clear they are out for nothing but revenge and destruction. If we do not stand up for ourselves, all of Cybertron is doomed. Therefore, we will bring everyone we can find to fight with us to battle. This time, we will be taking no prisoners. The Decepticons... must be destroyed,” Ultra Magnus spoke, glaring at the sky.

“AUTOBOTS, PREPARE FOR BATTLE!”

The ponies again screamed in pain from the shocking staff held by Blitzwing. Once the torture temporarily stopped, the victims heavily breathed while struggling to maintain their balance on their hooves. Red Alert kept looking away while tightly shutting her optics, getting instant flashbacks of Siren’s traumatic death in a similar predicament.

Megatron pointed his sword toward her head. “I do not have all day, Autobot. Will you surrender yourself fully to me or allow your pathetic pony pets to suffer slowly and painfully? Failure to choose will result in your permanent deactivation."

“Don’t do it, Red Alert!! Ya hear?! We can take the pain!! AHHHH!!” Applejack cried out, shocked by the staff.

“Is that all you creeps got?!” Rainbow defied before getting shocked again.

Red Alert couldn’t bear to see them getting tortured repeatedly as her face cringed and optics watered a bit. “STOP!!! STOP!! Leave them alone! They don’t deserve this!”

“The torment will cease once you openly declare your servitude to me right here and now,” Megatron sneered, bringing his sword closer to her neck. “This is your last chance.”

Red Alert kept silence; angrily growling, Megatron raised his sword above her. But before he could execute her, Starlight appeared before him in a flash which caught the tyrant off-guard.

“What in the name of the Allspark?! How are you still alive?!” Megatron exclaimed.

“Ha! I’m very hard to kill, buckethead! In fact, I’m not as easy as you think I am,” replied Starlight, smugly grinning.

“Then I will make sure you stay dead,” Megatron growled, igniting his fusion cannon. At that moment, another Starlight appeared before him next to the other clone.

Megatron looked at them completely bewildered as two Starlights blew raspberries at him. “Impossible...”

“Curious. These ponies zeem very identical,” Blitzwing noted. “If they vill mock our mighty power, then I vill...burn them to molten liquid!” Hothead shouted. His cannons spewed fire right at the Starlight clones, burning them alive.

As Megatron grinned at their blazing ashes, he turned back to the caged ponies and Red Alert... who were all gone.

“Huh?”

“Look over here, Mega-mouth!” a young voice called out. The villain then saw in a distance Rumble and his team standing over a hill with Red Alert beside them and the Mane Six, Thunderlane, and the princesses all free.

“Ooohhh yeah, baby. It’s party time,” Lout smirked.

Chapter 17: The Darkest Hour: part 2

Blackout fired missile after missile at Applejack who simply jumped and dodged the projectiles. Once the Decepticon fired four more missiles, the Earth Pony used her lasso to rope them together and threw them back at him. Blackout painfully grunted as he suffered injury from his own firepower.

"Yeehaw! Right back at ya, big fella!" Applejack smugly grinned.

However, Blackout got back up on his feet and swiftly grabbed her before she could react. He then slammed her body on the dirt and then kicked her unto a tree, knocking her out. "Puny pony down. Decepticons for the win!" he exulted.

Spittor latched unto Dead End's leg with his tentacle-like tongue and tried to swallow him whole; however, the ex-Stunticon pulled away from his mouth with all of his might while he attempted to walk backwards. "You... vile creatures... always... disgust me!" Dead End grunted, still pulling away.

Thinking fast, he grabbed one of his maces and struck one of the tentacles. This forced Spittor to release him as he groaned in pain. Without wasting time, Dead End brandished another mace and smote his optics and head repeatedly with absolute ferociousness. He angrily kept striking him while the latter was painfully whimpering and tried to escape, but Dead End finally delivered the deadly blow toward his forehead, slicing through his processor and all the way towards his spark. Spittor fell into pieces, going offline.

Dead End calmed himself as he looked upon his dead body before he looked at his hands and took a glimpse at his former Stunticon comrades. He bowed his head and contemplated on what his next course of action would be. He looked at his maces, turned to Spittor's remains, and then back at the Stunticons. He also noticed Red Alert fighting off a couple of Decepticons in her own style and then saw Rumble and Spike helping her out.

As he observed all these things, he glared back at the Stunticons and tightened his fists. "I can do this."

Three random Decepticons fired their laser beams at Starlight and Rarity who were shielding themselves from their wrath. "These ruffians have no bounds or mannerisms at all?!" Rarity shouted.

"They will stop at nothing. We just have to show them what we’re really made of!" Starlight replied, smirking.

"Very well, darling," Rarity agreed. Thus, they teleported from their sight and re-appeared right behind them. As they were wondering where the unicorns went, both ponies united their magical beams together and launched them towards the 'Cons' backs.

The powerful beams burned through their chests, effectively killing them. Rarity and Starlight hoof-bumped each other as they smiled in satisfaction.

Fluttershy tried to cover her face as there was so much violence all around her. She opened her wings and flew off to hide behind a tree. "This is bad. This is really, really bad! How are we gonna make it out alive? This is just... too much for me to handle!"

Suddenly, the entire tree was uprooted and thrown away. The yellow Pegasus looked up and saw Lugnut and Blitzwing surrounding her with their weapons loaded. "How pitiful of you to sit thiz out, little von. I suggest you surrender, and I can assure you..." Icey Blitzwing said, turning into Hothead. "You vill perish a less painful death!" He grabbed her before she could run.

"You will all fall before the great and glorious Megatron, Equestrian scum! He will rule the entire galaxy, and the Decepticons will tear this world apart!" Lugnut pontificated, raising his arms in excitement.

Blitzwing lowered his cannons and prepared to exterminate her. "Have a happy Fourth of July! Boom! Boom! Boom!" he laughed.

Suddenly, two laser blasts struck Blitzwing on the back which caused him to drop Fluttershy and utter cries of pain. Skywarp descended on Lugnut by kicking his head and upper-punching him to the air. Lugnut grunted as he painfully landed on the dirt. "Leave my friend alone, Decepticon bullies!"

"Skywarp!" Fluttershy shouted, gratefully smiling.

The ex-Seeker carefully picked her up and transformed to jet mode with the Pegasus in the cockpit. He immediatedly took off to the skies just as the two Decepticons slowly got up from the ground.

"Decepticon traitors will not be tolerated in Megatron's presence! Our powerful master will swiftly deal with them!" Lugnut angrily spoke.

"Are you alright, friend?" Skywarp tenderly asked.

"I'm okay. I was so scared I wouldn't make it, but I'm much more relieved you are okay," Fluttershy replied.

"I am glad to hear it. Friends never leave each other behind," he said. At that moment, Slipstream fired laser shots at Skywarp behind him. Yelping, he twirled in the air and spun around the clouds as he tried to evade their pursuer.

"Face me, you coward!" Slipstream challenged.

Skywarp still persevered his evasion from her and her attacks. While he was panicking over the situation, Fluttershy thought of an idea as she thought back on how she managed to stand her ground against Lugnut over a year ago. "Skywarp, eject me out to the sky! I know how to stop her!"

"What?! But she will kill you instantly! How are you gonna—?"

"You have to trust me! I've done this before!"

"Okay... I hope you know what you're doing," he muttered. With that, he ejected her out to the open with Slipstream still hot in pursuit. Before the fembot could end her, the Pegasus used her famous Stare on her.

Slipstream started to fidget at first, but after a few seconds, she shook violently from her Stare. "No, no, no!! Please stop! I beg you! What are you doing to me, flesh bag?! AAAAHHHH!!" She lost her flight capability as her afterburners suddenly shut down. Then she crash-landed on the field.

Skywarp starred in amazement and confusion at what he saw her do to the Seeker. Fluttershy looked back at him with a wink. "That was so... impressive. What exactly was that though?"

"I'll explain later; right now, we have to help our friends." Nodding in agreement, Fluttershy and Skywarp flew together again as the battle continued.

Red Alert, Spike, and Rumble were confronted by dozens of Decepticons; ferociously growling, the ‘Cons opened fire on the surrounded trio. Thinking quickly, the medic snatched the dragon and colt and ducked beneath the blasts. She shot at their enemies in return.

While she was busy shooting at their opponents, Spike noticed Megatron igniting his fusion cannon while pointing it towards her. “Behind you!” Spike warned.

She looked behind her to see the laser beam going towards her and striking the ground beneath her, knocking her down. As both she, Rumble, and Spike struggled to get up, Megatron stood over them with a wicked grin.

“Farewell, Autobot. And this time, Rumble, you and your dragon friend won’t live to fight another day,” he taunted. He reignited his cannon as he aimed at their heads.

Glaring at Megatron, Red Alert embraced Rumble and Spike in anticipation of their demise before she closed her optics. Spike allowed a tear to fall as he bowed his head after giving one more sad look towards Rumble. The colt however looked left and right if he could find some way to save themselves and Equestria.

But before Megatron could kill them, a blue flash of lightning struck his back which forced a shout of pain out of him. As dozens of Decepticons looked on in shock, several more lightning bolts eviscerated them, killing them.

“What in the name of the AllSpark was that?!” Megatron yelled. He looked up to the sky, but no thunder cloud was seen.

“Rainbow, was that you?” Twilight asked.

“Not me! I didn’t even gather any clouds!” Rainbow denied, confused.

“It was I!” cried Ultra Magnus, standing on top of a hill.

All the heroes and the villains looked up to see the Elite Guard Commander with Hot Shot and Brawn on top of a hill; however they were not alone. Behind them stood a vast army of Autobots from Cybertron and even the famous Autobot heroes from Earth: Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Prowl, Ratchet, Bulkhead, and Sari Sumdac in her robotic form. Even Ironhide, Jazz, Jetfire, and Jetstorm were beside them.

At that moment, Optimus and Sari got up front with looks of determination and bravery on their faces. Brawn threw down Shockwave and Cyclonus who were apprehended in stasis cuffs. Then Magnus lifted his hammer and stomped it on the dirt, briefly shaking the ground.

“AUTOBOTS... assemble.”

Author's Note

The last part of the final battle is gonna be a big one, so please stay tuned for that as it may take longer than expected. Thanks again for your patience, folks.

Chapter 18: The Darkest Hour part 3

Rodimus Prime gazed his optics in amazement as he slowly arose from the crater whereas multiple Decepticons looked on in shocking terror. Red Alert was likewise surprised at first until she smiled, seeing all of Cybertron fully united to stand against the evil Decepticons.

"Wooooow! Everyone is here! They're actually here to help us! I can't believe they're all here!" Rumble joyfully shouted.

"At last, there is hope after all," said Red Alert, sighing in relief.

"ULTRA MAGNUS?! HERE?! WE'RE DOOMED!" Breakdown fearfully shrieked, running around Motormaster. Annoyed and enraged, the Stunticon leader grabbed him by the neck and held him up.

"We will NOT cower before a bunch of wimpy Auto-bums and their worthless leader! I'll show them who's the real deal around these places!" Motormaster yelled.

Suddenly, Megatron shocked him with his purple lightning bolts, causing him to shriek in pain. "Know your place, Motormaster. There can be only one leader." With that said, he thunderously landed on the field and fiercely glared at the Autobot armada. "Well, well, it appears that the Elite Guard Commander has decided to get his servos dirty instead of hiding behind his precious protégé as he always does," he sneered, glaring at Magnus and Optimus.

"It's over, Megatron. Your reign of terror must come to an end once and for all," declared Magnus.

"Don't you see, Ultra Magnus? I have all the power of this pathetic planet which I will use to decimate the likes of you weaklings. You will fall before my infinite might and bow to my will!" Megatron proudly exulted.

"Ugh! Spare us the chit-chat, will ya? Come on, let's do this!" Lout shouted, posing in a fight stance.

"I will rip out your sparks and destroy the lives of every organic in this—!"

"Ugh, chit-chat! Chit, chat!" Lout complained.

"In this—"

"Chitty, chitty, chat, chat! Chitty, chat, chitty, chatty, chat, chat, chat!" Pinkie and Discord joined in, dancing in circles.

"In this primitive—" Megatron growled in annoyance.

"Chit-chat, Meggy! Chitty, chatty!" Lout finished, mocking with his hand gestures.

Snarling furiously, he grinded his teeth in silence until they were finished. After a few seconds, he attempted to speak again. "In this—"

"Chit-chat!" Pinkie added.

"ENOUGH OF THIS! DESTROY THEM ALL!" Megatron indignantly commanded.

Then Ultra Magnus nodded to Optimus. On cue, the latter lifted his battle axe and shouted saying, "Autobots, CHARGE!" The entire Autobot army shouted their battle cries and ran forward while the opposing side likewise advanced forward to attack once again. Thus, the Autobots and the Decepticons calshed against each other for once last time for all ages; only one faction will emerge victorious.

Rumble grew a huge grin as he watched his fellow Autobots battle against the Decepticons for the fate of Equestria and Cybertron. As he was watching in awe, he looked back at his cutie mark; desiring to participate in the fight, he flew up high in the sky until he was merely above the clouds. Then he focused his sight on the unsuspecting Decepticon leader.

“You’re going down, Megatron,” he muttered, narrowing his eyes on him. Within an instant, he flew downward while spinning.

He steadily increased speed as he kept up the pace and concentration on his enemy. As he got closer to him, his smug smile grew larger. “Come on, cutie mark, don’t fail me now!”

Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck the colt which sent him crashing down the field. Once he weakly rose up, he noticed the tyrant extending his fingers toward him. “A valiant effort, little one, but ultimately futile,” he taunted. He lifted his sword from his back and prepared himself to strike him with it.

However, Optimus Prime tackled him to the ground and impaled his axe on his shoulder. “Not so fast, Megatron! You’re gonna have to deal with me first!”

“Ahh, if it isn’t the persistent little Autobot. It appears we are destined to battle each other in this pathetic excuse of a world.” Megatron kicked him off and threw his axe back to him.

“My name is Optimus Prime, and if persistence has taught me one thing, it’s that it always pays off especially when it comes to saving the universe.”

“How sentimental... and predictable. Let’s finish this once and for all,” Megatron said, generating laser blades from his arms.

“Don’t mind if I do,” Optimus grinned. Both robots swung their blades towards the other and fought.

Rumble recovered from his attack as he stood back up on all four. He took off to the skies again to check on the others.

Bulkhead slung his wrecking balls on a few Decepticons, knocking out their heads. He jumped on one of them and sliced his head in half with a buzzsaw; he then wrapped the rope of his wrecking ball around another Decepticon and swung him in the air until he smacked other Decepticons with him.

Ratchet activated his magnets while Bumblebee activated his battle-grade stingers; together, they combined their power to generate a bigger blast. Thus, they blasted multiple Decepticons in their path. As they did so, one of them snuck up behind them and attempted to grab them. However, an energon hammer struck his head which made him fall unconscious.

“Don’t mind me! Just taking out the trash!” Sari chuckled, lifting her own hammer.

“Nice one! How about we take them out together?” Twilight asked.

“Definitely!” Sari replied. They flew together towards another group of Decepticons.

Prowl jumped high above four random Decepticons before he unsheathed his discs and threw them at their optics, painfully blinding them. While they were staggering around and plucking out the discs, they were met by scorching flames. They ran off screaming.

"Impressive," Prowl remarked.

"I know, right? Gotta let 'em burn! Burn, baby, burn!" Hot Shot commented.

Motormaster, Wildrider, and Breakdown fought multiple Autobots who were at first surrounding them. Breakdown nervously pointed his blades at some of them until he wildly swung them. "Get back, you freaks! I have deadly blades, and I'm not afraid to use them!" Just when Warpath aggressively moved toward him, Breakdown yelped and ran off. Warpath chuckled in amusement before he decided to battle another opponent.

Wildrider grabbed a few grenades and threw each of them on the ground. Before the other Autobots could reach him, the grenades exploded in front of them. Not too long after that, he transformed to race car mode and drove through the fire, running over the Autobots in the process. "Taste my hot wheels, slow pokes! Bet ya can't beat that, huh?!"

Motormaster sliced through two Autobots before he tripped a third one over and stomped his feet into his head, crushing it to bits. Then he activated his sword into a laser-empowered type; he swung his sword around which created a massive energy wave. It swiftly extinguished several Autobots running towards him before it disappeared. Just then, another Autobot jumped on his back and tried to blind his optics with his bare hands. Unfortunately, the Stunticon leader stabbed his sword into his face, the energy burning through his chassis. He fell down offline.

"These Autobots are so feeble and stupid. It makes me wonder why they keep fighting," Motormaster grumbled.

At that moment, Dead End rammed against him in vehicle mode. The Stunticon stumbled as the ex-Stunticon transformed to robot mode. "Ha, took you long enough..."

"This ends now, Motormaster. I will ask you one last time to stand down and knock it off," Dead End demanded, clenching his fists.

Motormaster laughed out loud. "Oh, really?! And what will happen if I don't comply, eh?! What are ya gonna do? Fight me? Oh wait, I remember... you can't. You won't do scrap."

Dead End took out his mace as he got slightly closer to his former boss. "This is your last warning."

Maliciously smirking, Motormaster picked up his sword and pointed toward him. "I'll stand down... only if you fight me to the death. That is... if you have the gall to do so."

Dead End was silent for a few moments; tightly gripping his mace, he lifted his head and posed a fighting stance. "So be it." Thus, they ran forward and commenced their dual.

Megatron fired his cannon at Optimus before the latter ducked beneath the blasts and lunged toward him with his axe drawn. Instantly, the villain raised up his force shield, blocking every attack from the Autobot commander. Then he pushed him back with the same shield.

But that didn’t stop Optimus there; he fired a grappling hook around Megatron’s legs and pulled them with all his might. However, the ropes immediately snapped after three pull attempts. Grabbing one of them, Megatron swung Optimus around as it was still attached to his arm. Prime was slammed from one area of the field to another until the tyrant tossed him aside.

“Is this all you can do, Autobot? I expected a bigger challenge from you,” Megatron taunted.

Suddenly, he got blasted in the back which made him stumble to the dirt. Looking back, he saw Celestia and Luna glaring at him while their horns were sizzling with magic. “You shall indeed have a greater challenge, fiend!” Luna shouted.

“Pathetic insects... time to join your species in extinction!” Megatron declared, stomping his foot. A massive shockwave pushed back the alicorns and Optimus with sheer force.

Getting back up, Optimus transformed to fire truck mode and drove as fast as he could. He sprayed oil out of his hose which went straight at Megatron’s face, blinding him. Just as the Royal Sisters shot their magical beams at him, Optimus rammed against him with brute force. The Decepticon leader crashed to the ground.

“Give it up, Megatron! You can’t beat us all at once!” Optimus said.

“On the contrary, I can and I will,” Megatron retorted, evilly grinning. He shot purple bolts to the dark clouds, making large fireballs to fall out of them. The fireballs struck the ground where Optimus and the alicorns stood, forcing them to escape the onslaught.

Meanwhile, Rumble flew over several offline bodies of Cybertronians without casting his eyes on them. Instead, he focused on trying to reach to Red Alert and see how she fared against her opponents in battle. He increased his speed as he flew across the clouds, lightning striking and thunder cracking in the background.

Drag Strip deactivated her buzzsaw that was dripping with energon as she sadistically smirked over the shredded remains of several Autobot soldiers who dared to stand up to her. Then she heard a voice behind her, filled with deep anger. “This ends here, murderer.”

Knowing who it was, the wicked Stunticon chuckled before she turned to face her arch-nemesis. “You’re such an emotional piece of scrap metal, you know that? Are you still mad about me killing your dear old partner?”

Clenching her fists, she got into a battle pose. Seeing that made Drag Strip laugh even more even as she unsheathed her own swords. “You’re really serious about this, dear? Okay...” she mischievously mocked. Then she abruptly glared at Red Alert as she twirled her swords. “Let’s have some fun.”

Rumble watched from above as he witnessed Red Alert and Drag Strip beginning to fight. Then he turned back to Megatron as he was still occupied in engaging Optimus Prime and the Royal Sisters. He stood down and started to think of a plan.

“I have to do something to help my friends! If I don’t act now, Megatron will win! Primus, I need your help! Can you grant me new powers?” he called out. Surprisingly, he received no answer from above.

“Primus, please, I need to be certain my cutie mark can do something for me! Please answer me...” Rumble begged, tears falling from his eyes. Depressing thoughts crept into his head as his emotions started to cloud his judgement.

“What if we don’t make it? What if Megatron wins? What am I gonna do?!”

Then Primus appeared before his eyes with a look of compassion. He gently lifted Rumble’s head with words of hope and strength, “Fear not, my child. Remember, I am with you until the end. As long as you collaborate with your friends, you shall obtain the ultimate victory. Do not lose faith, Rumble. Never forget: friendship is magic. Only then, you will obtain your true strength that represents your cutie mark. With it, you shall defeat Megatron.”

Rumble reflected on those words and recalled the conversation they had within his dream. Encouraged, Rumble nodded his head and grew a brave smile. “I won’t let my friends and family down. Right now, they need my help.”

Primus gave him a smile of approval just before he disappeared. Rumble opened his wings and zoomed off to help.

Meanwhile, Motormaster and Dead End both struggled to catch the other off guard as they fought to the death. As time went on, Dead End finally got the upper hand. The ex-Stunticon leaped over with his leg drawn out, managing to kick his face. With him distracted, Dead End grabbed his mace and smote his back. It forced him to drop the sword.

Dead End swiftly picked up the sword before he tripped him and held him down, pointing his own weapon at him. Motormaster was taken by surprise at first until he smirked at his victorious traitor. “What are ya waiting for, hero? Finish me. You think that’s gonna make you a bigger bot now, don’t ya? Well, do it.”

Dead End pondered on his next move. This provoked Motormaster to tauntingly laugh at him, but the victor payed him no heed. However, while he was laughing, Dead End broke his sword in half and threw them on the grass. Motormaster’s laughter instantly transitioned to shouts of dismay.

Then Dead End transformed and drove off, leaving Motormaster shocked and alone. After a full minute, the Stunticon leader wrathfully screamed in defeat.

Red Alert and Drag Strip likewise battled to the death with neither one losing the advantage. However, as they kept on fighting, Drag Strip decided to get a little dirty with some little tricks up in her sleeve. She clashed her own blades together and spun them like a rotor. It blew out so much wind that it pushed the Autobot medic off the area and tossed her towards the other side of the torn field.

Transforming, Red Alert circled the place Drag Strip stood on and fired several blasts toward her. The latter deflected the blasts with her swords and threw her blade at one of Red Alert’s tires. It forced her to halt and transform back to robot form.

The medic tried to reach for her blaster, but Drag Strip impaled her blade into Red Alert’s leg. “How does it feel to lose, Red Alert? Does it... hurt? Just like how Siren was hurt?” she taunted, sinking her sword deeper into Red Alert’s leg, making her wince in pain.

“Pathetic. I might as well put you out of your misery,” Drag Strip grinned, raising her sword.

Suddenly, Rumble zoomed by and kicked her right optic so hard it broke to pieces. Drag Strip screamed in pain as she held onto her broken optic. Taking the opportunity, Spike flew over her and breathed fire on her chassis. Thus, the Stunticon rolled over on the grass. Meanwhile, Red Alert pulled out the sword from her wounded leg.

“Are you okay?” Rumble asked.

“No, but I’ll survive, little one. Thank you both for saving me,” she replied, smiling. Rumble, Spike, and Red Alert hugged each other for a brief moment before the colt took off again. Then she pointed the blade toward the injured Stunticon with a hard glare.

“Go ahead... take me offline. You would love that, wouldn’t you?” Drag Strip sneered, struggling to get up.

“I’m not like you,” Red Alert retorted.

“How sad,” Drag Strip frowned. She grabbed another sword and ran forward. But as soon as she got near her, a chained hook wrapped around her which took her by surprise.

“What the?! NO!!” she yelled. It forcefully pulled her back which allowed the hook to impale her torso. It then sliced her head in half upwards. Her body fell apart, energon spilling around it.

“You just couldn’t help yourself, could ya? Always gotta be the merciful one, huh?” Lout frowned, retrieving his chains and hooks.

“Was that really necessary?” Red Alert asked, taken aback by her violent death.

“Hey, she murdered your friend, didn’t she? It’s called karma. Karma is a... you-know-what. Learn from it, sweetie,” Lout advised, winking at her.

“Ah, come on! Really?! Drag Strip was one of the hottest fembots around! Why kill her?!” Wildrider complained from a distance.

Celestia and Luna combined their magic and sent a large beam toward Megatron; he crossed his swords and shielded himself from their power. While he was countering their attack, he looked around and saw his own army progressively being defeated by the Autobots one by one. He even noticed multiple corpses fallen on the ground, most of which were Decepticons. Enraged by the outcome, he pushed their magic back and shocked both alicorns with lightning. The duo fell on the grass.

Before he could slice them to pieces, Optimus tackled him and punched his face repeatedly. However, the tyrant grabbed Optimus’s face and slammed him hard on the mud and then stabbed him with an energon blade to the thigh. The Prime struggled to stand as bits of energon were dripping.

“Your time is up, Autobot. It was fun while it lasted, but it is now time to move on. Say goodbye, old friend,” Megatron wickedly smirked, loading his fusion cannon.

“No you don’t, Megatron!” Rodimus shouted. He jumped on his back and tried to cover his optics.

“Rodimus, NO!” Optimus shouted.

Megatron grabbed Rodimus’s left leg and ripped it off with his bare hands. The latter screamed in agony before he was smitten to the ground. He pointed his cannon to Rodimus’s chest as it ignited again.

At that moment, Ultra Magnus lifted his hammer and swatted Megatron away. He jumped in front of the wounded Autobots while glaring at the Decepticon leader. “It’s over, Megatron. Your forces are falling, and your lust for power are at an end. Surrender now, or we will show you no mercy.”

Megatron evilly laughed as he stood upright. “Ultra Magnus, you and I know very well that this battle isn’t over until one of us remains standing. As you can see, I am just getting warmed up. Taste and see what true power really is.” Lifting his hands to the skies, his spark chamber opened up and emitted a purple essence which surrounded him completely. Five seconds later, purple fire engulfed him and sparked hundreds of bolts as he groaned out loud.

“What’s happening?!” Luna shouted.

“He must be powering up! The Elements of Harmony are becoming even more corrupted than before!” Celestia replied.

“How are we gonna stop him now?! He’s getting too powerful!” Thunderlane panicked. As he looked at everyone around him, he noticed his brother was not with him. Sweat formed in his forehead the moment he instantly spotted him flying towards the enemy. “RUMBLE! NO!”

“TREMBLE BEFORE ME!” Megatron demanded, surges of energy pervading his chassis. Once he ascended to the skies, he saw Rumble standing before him. “Ah, my little friend. How kind of you to stand before me...”

However, the colt simply stood there without moving a muscle. He then closed his eyes, opened his wings, and held his fore-hooves together while he relaxed his face. “Spike, Thunderlane, Red Alert, Skywarp, Rodimus, I need you guys to join me. Only the magic of friendship can beat him.”

All five individuals were hesitant at first, but as they saw Megatron become stronger, they nodded and stepped forward. Optimus had to help his younger brother walk with one leg whereas Ironhide helped Red Alert walk with a functioning leg as well. Thus, all five were accounted for.

“I need you guys to hold each other’s hooves—or hands. Since Twilight and her friends cannot beat him without their elements, we’re gonna have to do this in a different way,” said Rumble.

“But how does that work? We don’t have elements of our own either,” Spike pointed out.

“That’s why I said ‘in a different way’. We have to think back on all the good times we had together as friends; remember all the lessons we learned in regards to friendship and how we met. With those memories in mind, we may emit the magic of friendship that can counter Megatron’s power,” Rumble laid out.

As the group thought on this, they nodded approvingly. With that, they joined hands/hooves and closed their eyes/optics. Megatron, however, remained floating in the air with his arms crossed. “This is amusing yet futile at the same time. Let’s see where friendship gets them.”

However, just when he was smug about the situation, the gathered six began to glow with pure white energy. They also ascended to the skies up to Megatron’s level and each had a unique color that all blended together. Skywarp was indigo, Red Alert was orange-red, Rodimus was golden yellow, Thunderlane was turquoise, Spike was light green, and Rumble was white.

The ponies and Cybertronians gasped in amazement at what they were seeing.

Megatron’s face went from smug to downright terrified. He angrily shot lightning bolts at them, but they had no effect on them whatsoever. Then he grabbed his swords and tried to slice them into pieces, but both swords were broken in half.

“HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?! WHAT ARE YOU?!” Megatron bellowed.

“You may not understand, Megatron, but we do. Rumble here showed me the true meaning of friendship when I was a lost Decepticon like you. Because of him, I have real friends who stand by my side. He helped me understand... bravery,” said Skywarp.

“Rumble is a gentle, tender pony who will do everything in his power to help others despite dangerous circumstances. That type of trait is more powerful than fiery adversaries like you,” Red Alert added.

“Friendship can do many great things that I’m sure Twilight would explain more. But if I learned one thing, it’s that it will save us from trouble every time,” Thunderlane spoke.

“Through the magic of friendship, we will triumph like always before!” Spike exulted.

Enraged, Megatron lunged at them. However, Rodimus punched him in the torso and then drop-kicked him.

Skywarp flew over to him and swung him around like a rag doll. He tossed him to the dark clouds, sparkling with lightning. A few seconds later, the clouds burst to atoms with Megatron seething in anger. However, a cloudy mustache was formed on his face along with a cloudy beard. He blew them away before facing his enemies.

“You won’t make a fool out of me! I will destroy you all even if it takes me forever!” Megatron shouted.

“This ends here, Megatron! None of your victories last! You think of nothing but destruction, and you care about nobody but yourself! Well, guess what? No one cares about you either! The time has come to end your struggle!” Rumble declared.

Snarling, Megatron lunged at them while firing his fashion cannon. At that moment, Rumble flapped his wings so rabidly that rumbling winds with bolts erupted from the air and smote Megatron. The colt looked at his wings in amazement.

“Did he just...?” Twilight muttered, jaw dropping.

“I... don’t believe it!” Rainbow added.

“Whoaa... nice one, kid,” Lout said, whistling.

“Wooowww!! That’s so cool! I can do that now?! AWESOME!” Rumble squealed.

Once all six occupants reunited, they fastened their eyes on Megatron who was recovering from his injuries. “Time to finish this...” Rodimus uttered. They began to form another beam the moment Megatron flew back to them in full fury.

“You want our power so bad? Then you can have it all,” Rumble said. With that, they all shot their massive beam of magic towards Megatron.

The tyrant received a full dose of their magic within his spark chamber. Seeing this made him evilly smile in satisfaction. “Yes... the magic... is mine!” Suddenly, the Elements of Harmony separated themselves from his body and returned back to normal color.

Horror filled his face as the magic began to overwhelm him every second. “No... NO... NOO!! THIS CANNOT BE! ARRGGAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!” he agonizingly screamed as the magic engulfed his entire body. Then he exploded into pure light with particles of dust flying everywhere.

The explosion of magic soon grew larger and more global. It expanded so far and wide that it even reached for the by-standing armies below. “Take cover!” Optimus commanded. All the ponies and Autobots jumped out of the way from the explosion’s path.

It caught the Decepticons by surprise as it began to wipe out all the remaining troops on the field. “This is NOT how I wanted to go out!” Swindle cried. He uttered his last scream as the explosion took him out.

“Being nuked by friendship is the best death ever!” Sunstorm yelled right before he likewise was taken.

“I’m not afraid! This is my least favorite demise ever!” Ramjet bragged, dying in the explosion.

Lugnut sat in a praying position as the explosion got nearer. “My loyalty to Megatron will remain forever! DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR!”

“Going out in a blast! A sitting duck like you should be running! Thiz is infamy at itz finest,” said Blitzwing. Both Decepticons died together in the explosion.

All the Decepticons were destroyed in the explosion, vanquishing them forever. The entire planet was engulfed in a magical light for a moment until it finally faded.

Equestria was finally at peace. Megatron and his Decepticons... were no more.

Author's Note

PHEW! This was a long chapter to make! It took me at last two weeks to work on this. I haven’t even wrote a chapter like this since I wrote the climatic chapter for The Dark Knight Triumphs.

Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. Only one chapter left: the epilogue! Stay tuned!

The Epilogue: Friendship to the End

Starscream widened his optics at the sight of the magical explosion. As he gazed on the dazzling light show, the explosion finally faded and everything was back to normal. The sky was blue, the dark clouds vanished, and the sun was shining bright once again.

“By the AllSpark, that was... fascinating. Those organics are truly that powerful. Ha, at least Megatron is finally offline for good. That leaves me as the new leader of all Decepticons!” Starscream exulted. But as he glanced toward the torn field, he gasped at the sight of the burnt remains of the Decepticon army.

Twitching his right optic, he nervously smiled at the grisly sight. “I guess... I can gather any remaining Decepticons who are out there somewhere.”

“I think not, Screamer,” said Lout, carrying Shockwave and Cyclonus who were still in stasis cuffs.

“YOU! Release me at once! This is unlawful imprisonment! I am your commanding officer!” Starscream screamed, spitting oil.

“Geez, no wonder you’re called ‘Starscream’. Looks like you need to be taught a jolly good lesson,” added Discord, snapping his fingers. A giant rocket appeared in front of the Seeker.

“What? What is that for?” Starscream asked.

“Duh, it’s for the fireworks, silly! Want to jump in?” Pinkie asked, smiling.

Starscream looked on in horror as Lout threw Shockwave and Cyclonus inside the rocket ship. “No! NO!! You wouldn’t! I’m too young to go offline like this!”

“Oh, be quiet, Screamy. This forest is no place for babies. In you go,” Lout mocked. He forcibly grabbed his legs and tossed him inside the rocket ship.

“Would you care to do the honors, my little pink friend?”

“Don’t mind if I do, Lout,” Pinkie mischievously grinned, pressing the button.

After ten seconds, the rocket launched into the sky with the Seeker screaming out loud inside. Once it reached to the highest point in the sky, it exploded along with all the fireworks. Discord put his 3-D glasses on as he watched the fireworks whereas Lout and Pinkie feasted their eyes/optics on the light show.

“Oooooooohhh... aaaaahhhhhh,” they both muttered.

Meanwhile, Rumble, Spike, Thunderlane, Skywarp, Red Alert, and Rodimus Prime lowered themselves to the ground where their friends were waiting for them. As soon as they touched the earth, the Mane Six hugged Rumble while everybody else cheered for their heroes. “You did it, Rumble! You saved us! You saved Equestria!” Twilight said.

“It wasn’t just me, guys. It was them too,” replied Rumble, smiling at his five companions. “If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have defeated Megatron and his army.”

“This feels so strange yet so... fulfilling. I feel like my spark just grew much more positive than ever before,” Skywarp said.

Suddenly, a magical ring appeared and surrounded his arm. It suddenly grew larger until it engulfed him entirely. Once the brightness disappeared, his color scheme was altogether different.

“Whoa! Skywarp, your colors!” Fluttershy notified.

The ex-Seeker gasped as he saw his new colors. His wings, legs, and arms were indigo whereas his chest, torso, and helmet were tan with orange stripes. His face and neck turned to bright gray while his optics were blue. He was even more amazed to see his insignias as Autobot instead of Decepticon.

“I... I didn’t expect this! I am an Autobot now?” Skywarp wondered, gazing on his new flashy appearance.

“I guess the Magic of Friendship is the reason why you have a new paint job,” Rumble chuckled.

“Hmmm, perhaps you’re right.”

“I believe an expression of gratitude is in order,” spoke Ultra Magnus. “Rumble, young pony and citizen of Equestria, I want to thank you for the brave act of heroism and leadership you displayed. Not only did you and your friends manage to destroy our greatest enemies but also managed to restore balance and peace throughout the cosmos. For that, I want to personally thank you on behalf of Cybertron and the Elite Guard.”

“We also thank both of you for your courage and outstanding work on behalf of Equestria. We owe you one,” Celestia added, bowing her head along with Luna.

Rumble blushed as he received high praise from both leaders. “It was nothing much.”

“Nothing much? Yeah right, after helping us save both our worlds? Sure, nothing much,” Spike remarked, playfully rolling his eyes.

Once he and Rumble had their brief laugh, Red Alert and Rodimus stepped forward. “I am so proud of you, young Rumble. Seeing you conquer your doubts and uniting us to defend our homes encourages me to be as strong as you are.”

“Thanks, Red Alert. I did what I had to for our families and friends.”

“You’ve really grown up, little brother. Ever since you defeated Soundwave last year, you’ve been more eager to learn more about your new cutie mark and your inner strength. It seems like you’ve found out your true power,” Thunderlane smiled.

“Hehe, I guess I did. Rumbling wings with bolts? That really suits my name and cutie mark,” Rumble said, rubbing his mane. Both brothers hugged each other.

“Nice work, little buddy!” Bulkhead complemented.

“Knew we could count on ya!” Bumblebee added.

“Yeah, we won’t have to worry about Megatron and his shenanigans anymore!” Ironhide said.

“You got that right!” Applejack agreed.

“Only time will tell when other Decepticons might show up. Besides, they’re still more of them out there,” Ratchet noted.

“Don’t worry. If they’re looking for a fight, we’ll be waiting for ‘em!” Hot Shot grinned cockily.

“Waiting to crush them. That’s for darn sure,” added Brawn.

“Autobots, let’s head back home. The victory has been won,” Ultra Magnus ordered. With that, all the Autobots transformed in their alt modes and drove back to their respective ships they flew in.

However, Magnus and Optimus lingered for a bit as they both eyed Rodimus and Red Alert. Nodding to each other, they went down to both subordinates.

“Hey, bro. How are you... hanging in there?” Optimus asked.

“The pain of missing a leg is intense, but it’s not as intense as the fear of almost losing my friends... even you, Optimus. Other than that, I’ll still function. You?”

“Well, I’m a little exhausted but fine overall. I mean, leading my own crew is a big thing in and of itself. Still, I wish you were by my side to fight threats on Earth. It would feel a lot different if you were at home.”

Rodimus smiled briefly as he looked up to his brother. “I can see that in your optics. Always the protective sibling, eh?”

Optimus chuckled. “Right. You know me well on that.” He cleared his throat and was silent for a moment. After briefly seeing Magnus and Red Alert talk as well, he casually bumped his brother’s shoulder. “Sooo... ever thought about coming back to Earth?”

“I would love to but... Equestria seems more like home to me. I’ve always wanted to be a part of the magic that surrounds this place. All the friendship, the emotion, the serenity, everything. You see what I’m saying?” Rodimus explained, observing Twilight, her friends, and the rest of the surviving ponies being happy and saying goodbyes to the Autobots.

“I see. Whatever choice you follow, I’ll support you fully.”

“Thanks, Optimus. Bro hug?”

Grinning, Optimus hugged him while lifting him up. Then they gave each other a bro fist before Optimus left with the rest of his crew. Then Magnus approached him after he finished speaking with Red Alert.

“Ultra Magnus, Sir!” he saluted.

“You have done well, Rodimus Prime. Despite the fact you disobeyed a direct order earlier, I nonetheless owe you my life in helping our little friend save Cybertron and Equestria. If you like, I can still have you as my first lieutenant while you can come and go as you please.”

“I appreciate that, Sir. But I prefer to stay here; this is my new home now.”

“I thought you might say that. Red Alert expressed the same sentiment. It appears Rumble made a positive impact on your lives. On that, I can perfectly understand,” replied Magnus.

Rodimus glanced toward Red Alert who smiled to him in return. He then gave his final salute to Ultra Magnus who likewise saluted back. The latter transformed and drove off with the rest of the departing Autobot citizens. Rodimus, Red Alert, Rumble, Skywarp, and everyone else waved as they saw the Autobot ships depart from the planet.

Rumble then noticed Dead End sitting by himself in a distance. Curious, he flew over to him. “Hey, Dead End. Is everything alright?”

“(Sigh) Sort of. I’m satisfied that my dumb Stunticon ‘buddies’ are gone, but... for some reason, I just feel so lonely now. With no one to be with me, I just feel so... alone. And a part of me hates it.”

Rumble sadly smiled at him as he laid his hoof on his hand. “You have new friends now—REAL friends. You won’t ever have to feel alone again. If you ever need anything, I’ll be right here to help you.”

Dead End gave a very small smile in response. He stood back up and transformed to car mode. “I’m just gonna travel the world for a while. I need to expand my experience in this planet and learn more of its magic. This kind of friendship is just so... new to me. It will take time for me to adjust to it. So... I’ll see ya around, kid.” With that, he left the field and began his journey.

He waved as he saw him leave. Suddenly, Thunderlane flew down and picked up his little brother. “Hey, Rumble, what do you say we fly around for a bit? Have some fun now that we saved the universe?”

“Sounds like a plan! Lead the way!”

“Nah, nah, you lead the way! You’re our savior here! So you go first!”

“No, you’re the older brother, so you get to go first.”

“Rumble.”

“Thunderlane!”

“How about you both lead the way since you two worked together to defeat the bad guys?” Rainbow suggested, stepping in between them.

Thunderlane and Rumble looked at each other until they smiled. “Works for me!” they said in unison. Thus, both Pegasi flew up to the sky with fierce velocity. Smoke followed along as they flew around in a zigzag manner. They formed a large Autobot insignia in the sky until Rumble burst through with a large grin.

“WOO-HOO!” Rumble shouted. Primus himself smiled in the sky as he saw Rumble happy and with his family. Both worlds were saved; the universe was finally at peace.

Blurr landed hard on the black screen. As he groaned in pain, he looked around and saw nothing but a glass in front of him. He tapped it out of curiosity. “Hello? Is anyone here? Where am I? Where am I?!”

“You’re at the end of the story, pal! Now come help us clean up the field before you get bombarded with closing credits!” Lout shouted. He grabbed Blurr through the fourth wall and disappeared.

“Welp, that’s all, folks!” Pinkie waved.

THE END

Author's Note

Thus marks the end of another trilogy!

Thank you, guys, for sticking with me through this whole journey and for reading this story and commenting. I really appreciate your feedback and your enthusiasm in seeing this story progress. It means a lot to me.

I do want to briefly announce that I will be writing a very important blog in regards to my future stories and what I want you guys to expect from me in the future in regards to my fanfics. So please keep a look out for that tomorrow. But until then, I hope you all have a great evening!

Stay safe and take care, everyone! Roll out! ✊🏼

EDIT: Here is the blog.

Chapter 16: The Darkest Hour part 1

The Decepticon leader stared at the brave colt with widened optics while he stepped backwards. Even the other Decepticons were shocked to see the little hero alive. "This is not possible! Another insect alive?!"

"Anything can be possible, Megatron. Right now, you will answer for your crimes against both Cybertron and against Equastria!" Rumble declared.

"You're okay!! My baby brother is okay!!" Thunderlane cried, tears pouring out. He tightly hugged Rumble with Red Alert beside them while the Mane Six hugged Starlight who blushed from all the love shown to her.

"I thought we would never see you again! Thank goodness you and Starlight are alright!" Luna added.

"How did you survive? I saw Megatron kill you both!" Twilight asked.

"Well, a handful of clones helped me survive through this; I'm not really sure if they're still alive to help again though," Starlight replied, nervously giggling.

“For me... well... it’s a long story. I’ll explain once this is all over,” said Rumble.

As his friends were tightly hugging them, Lout walked over and embraced them all in his arms. "Group hug time, eh? I might as well join in!" Meanwhile, the Mane Six, the alicorns, and Thunderlane looked at him with confused yet amazed looks.

"Is he a friend of yours?" Celestia asked Rumble.

"I guess you can say that he's our... new recruit," Rumble smiled, blushing.

“It’s always pleasing to see another reformed Decepticon who’s willing to make a difference,” Red Alert tenderly smiled.

"I like him already! After this is all over, I'll give him the biggest 'Welcome to Equastria and thanks for helping us save the world!' party EVER!!!" Pinkie jovially shouted, throwing confetti out of thin air.

"Wow, that is one hyper pony," said Lout, amused by her personality.

"ENOUGH OF THIS NONSENSE!!" Megatron angrily bellowed. Once everyone gave their attention to their adversary, the latter pointed his sword toward them as the corrupted magical energy from within his spark chamber flowed toward his optics. "You insignificant beings will never succeed in your vain attempt to stop me, for I have the greatest source of power that is just as strong as the AllSpark. With it, I am unstoppable and... inevitable. THIS PLANET BELONGS TO ME!"

"You're wrong, Megatron! No matter what power you have, freedom and justice will always triumph!" Rodimus retorted.

"Such heroic nonsense, Autobot, which I've heard way too many times already. Time to put an end to this foolishness," Megatron dismissed. "Decepticons, DESTROY THEM!"

All the Decepticons gathered themselves together as they glared daggers at the small group of heroes. They even chanted battle cries as most of them activated their various weapons. Meanwhile, Megatron hovered in the air as he transformed to helicopter mode.

"What do we do now, Rumble?"

"The same thing we did last time, Pinkie: saving the universe!"

“This is now our final chance to save both our worlds. We will fight the Decepticons... as one,” Red Alert stated, charging her blasters.

“Yeah! Time to kick some Decepticon butt!” Rainbow added, eagerly flapping her wings.

"I just want to say that it has been an honor fighting beside you all if any of us don't make it... like me. You all have been the best of friends to me like no other, right Dead End?" Skywarp spoke.

"I don't even know who you are, man," Dead End remarked, looking away.

"Ponies, Autobots—or, um, new Autobots, ATTACK!" Rodimus commanded. Thus, the ultimate battle between good and evil commenced. Seeing their enemies rushing forward, the Decepticons shouted cries of war before running forward as well.

The heroes and villains clashed against each other with brute force. The ex-Decepticons fired their blasts toward the opposing faction whereas all three princesses fired their magical beams from above, adding more power to their ammunition. The empowered blasts struck some of the ‘Cons on their chests right before the paralyzing effect seized them. They fell on the ground immobile.

The Seekers flew forth to fire on their former brother Skywarp who was already in jet mode. He fired his missiles at them which only managed to strike two of them; Slipstream dodged the projectiles until she fired two last ones with firepower of her own.

This managed to distract Skywarp as he idly gazed at the explosions until another Seeker rammed him. Transforming to robot mode, he attempted to push Ramjet away while he activated his thrusters. “Sorry, pal, it was an accident! Totally not intentional!” Ramjet yelled.

“You... lie... too much!” Skywarp grunted, pushing him off. Suddenly, he got shot in his left wing.

“Oh, great and sly traitor, the pleasure of taking your attractive mechanism offline is mine!” Sunstorm smiled. He fired more laser beams toward his opponent.

As Skywarp quickly dodged the blasts, he fired two more shots that impacted Sunstorm’s thrusters. He flew out of control as he instantly crashed down on the dirt. “By the AllSpark, landing my face on the organic soil is... wonderful!”

“I hope that didn’t hurt him too much,” said Skywarp.

“You’re not finished with me yet, fool! I’ve only been warming up!” Slipstream shouted, approaching from behind. As he noticed her from behind, he anxiously yelped before he flew up toward the red sky. Laughing in amusement, she chased after him around the field.

Luna flew around multiple Decepticons with Twilight following her. Both alicorns blasted several ‘Cons’ faces with beaming magic, temporarily blinding them. Twilight grabbed two random Decepticons via magic and bashed their heads together, rendering them unconscious.

Suddenly, they were surrounded by Motormaster and his remaining Stunticons as they drove in circles. Then they transformed to robot mode before Motormaster stepped forward. “YOU IDIOTS THINK YOU CAN CHALLENGE THE KING OF THE ROADS?! RIDICULOUS!!”

“Yeah, you better give up now or else we’ll make it worse for you ponies,” added Breakdown.

“Wow, first we got pretty fembots from Cybertron, and there are now pretty ponies here too! Man, I gotta be lucky every time,” Wildrider smirked, winking at Luna and Twilight who recoiled in disgust.

“Let me finish them off, boss. Those fleshling heads would make a decent addition to my collection,” Drag Strip sneered, sharpening her buzzsaw.

At that moment, a bright magical beam struck Drag Strip’s face which forced her to grunt. Motormaster looked up and saw Celestia descending on them in full power; the alicorn generated a massive ball of magic and threw it towards the Stunticons. It exploded in their faces, sending them flying in the air.

“Are you alright?”

"We’re fine, sister. We can't hold them off for much longer," replied Luna. "Those fiends will eventually overwhelm us by sheer numbers and strength alone."

"We have to keep fighting, Lulu. We will defeat Megatron and the Decepticons together, one way or another," Celestia encouraged.

"Do you think Rumble and Rodimus will figure something out?" Twilight asked, nervously sweating.

"I know they will, Twilight. Come on!" Celestia ordered, taking off to the skies. Twilight and Luna followed her as they pursued after multiple grounded Decepticons.

Swindle fired his cannons toward Lout who was in pickup truck mode, carrying Pinkie Pie in the front seat and Discord at the back. After running over several Decepticons, Lout ejected his hooks and attached them to Swindle. The latter yelped as the hooks pierced his torso. "Watch it! My chassis isn’t that cheap, you know!" he yelled.

"Say, Pinkie, what do you think we should do to Mr. Expensive over there, eh?" asked Lout, chuckling.

"I have an idea! Let's put some cupcakes in his eyes!!" Pinkie shouted, loading her cannon full of cupcakes.

"Don't you mean 'Dirt' in his eyes?" Discord corrected.

"Dirt, shmirt, let's do it!" Pinkie unleashed her ammunition of cupcakes right at Swindle's optics until his entire head was covered with them. Then Discord snapped his fingers to summon a giant rolling pin, causing Swindle to panic. The pin swiftly rolled him over, effectively flattening him as a pancake. Seeing their work done, the rolling pin disappeared while Lout released his hooks from Swindle.

"Hm, that's weird. There should be multiple broken pieces," Lout wondered, arching his brow.

"Of course not, silly, it's all cartoon physics! It helps us escape the pain of reality every time," Pinkie grinned, hopping on Lout's shoulder.

"Couldn't agree more! Besides, what fun is there in making sense?" Discord added. They all laughed together.

Strika and her remaining teammates stood against Rodimus, Dead End, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. As the former opened fire on the latter, the heroes split up and chose their respective opponents to battle. Rodimus faced Strika, Rainbow fought Oil Slick, Applejack went face-to-face with Blackout, and Dead End stood his ground before Spittor.

"Your pathetic choice of a team will fall, Autobot! Then you will be next!" Strika declared.

"Not if I stop you first," he retorted. Raising his bow and arrows, he shot her arm with two arrows. Bellowing in pain, the large Decepticon used her free arm and swung at the Autobot. He ducked under the swing, ran under her legs, and then shot more arrows at her back. Frustrated, she activated her cannons on her back and shot multiple beams at him. He skillfully dodged every shot until he ran up and punched her face.

"You will regret that, Autobot scum," she snarled.

She immediately grabbed him and body-slammed him on the ground and punched him to the skies. She jumped high towards the clouds and kicked him back to the field, creating a large crater.

Rainbow flew around the toxic Decepticon who constantly threw barrels of oil at her. "You think you can slow me down, punk?!"

"Just hold still already, you little twerp!" Oil Slick snapped. He grabbed his chains and threw one around Rainbow's back legs, chaining her up. Smiling smugly, he swung her around while she screamed and then slammed her against trees and the mud. "Haha, how do you like that, organic?"

Suddenly, she flew high up in the sky while dragging Oil Slick along with her. The Decepticon thug kept getting dragged through many clouds before she broke free of the chains. After that, she spun around Oil Slick repeatedly until he fell down to the ground dizzy.

"Oh yeah! Top that, Decepti-creep!" she called out.

Meanwhile, the bounty hunter Lockdown drove through the woods beneath the hills not far from Equastria. Ever since the Decepticons invaded the land and attacked the inhabitants, he had been spending his hours looking for anything that might interest him.

After several hours of searching, something caught his sight as he drove past the mountains. Transforming to robot mode, he investigated the strange place. "Well, well, this weird house looks pretty ancient. Hopefully, something useful is inside," he said. Activating his chain saw, he sawed open the large doors and threw them aside.

As he entered the place, a giant three-headed dog along with many caged creatures became alerted to his presence. The very moment the creatures eyed the giant, bipedal metal being, they whimpered in fear and could only stare at the mechanical monstrosity. The dog guardian, however, angrily growled as it confronted him.

It ran up to him, blocking him from going any further. Unamused, Lockdown glared at the watchdog who barked aggressively at him.

"Aww, what a cute little puppy. Here, allow me to give you a good pat on the head," Lockdown mockingly spat. Raising his hook, he jumped toward the dog and slashed one of its heads, striking an eye. It wailed in pain as it covered the head's wounded eye. The watchdog ran away from the intruder.

"Too easy." The bounty hunter looked around to see multiple creatures sitting in their cages while there was no sight of any weapons or gadgets.

"Man, what is this supposed to be? A zoo? I'm not even sure if it's a prison or not," he muttered. Just as he said this, he noticed a much larger cage up in a distance where another creature was being held. Curious, he walked towards it.

The prisoner looked up and saw the menacing titan approach him as he already witnessed him put all the other creatures to fear. Amazement and curiosity seized him as he gazed at Lockdown. "My, my, I have never seen such a magnificent creature like you before. What are you? Where did you come from?"

"You may call me Lockdown, a bounty hunter. Do you know if any weapons are around here? I could use some mods."

"No, but I could learn more about your species if you care enough to share. Maybe set me free so we could know each other better?" the creature suggested, slyly smirking.

Lockdown suddenly chuckled before he glared at the creature. "I only make deals with those who have something useful to offer me in return. No bounty, no deal. Simple as that. And who are you anyway?"

"I am Lord Tirek. I was once the most feared being in all of Equastria. Soon, I will take back what is rightfully mine and absorb all of its magic once more."

"That's a beautiful story, bub. Anyway, I gotta bolt. See ya," the bounty hunter dismissed, walking away.

"What?! None of my story seems interesting to you?! This is my only chance of escaping this infernal prison and having my revenge against those insufferable ponies!" Tirek bellowed.

"Ha, you're too late for that, organic. Besides, I have better things to do," Lockdown smirked.

At that moment, a loud explosion was heard below the platform Tirek's cage was stationed. Before either of them could register what that noise was, a purple Cybertronian jet flew up to the ceiling until it transformed to robot mode and landed on the pavement.

"FREE AT LAST!!! THAT DISCORD FELLOW WILL FEEL MY WRATH!!" Cyclonus triumphantly shouted.

"Another one? He's been here the whole time? And... he shape-shifted... that kind of transformation I've never seen before," Tirek marveled.

"What are you doing here, bounty hunter?" Cyclonus demanded, glaring.

"Just looking for something useful. Nothing more, nothing less. After that, I'll be out of this planet and go off to another adventure. This whole war stuff is getting pretty boring, y'know?" Lockdown nonchalantly replied.

"Hmm, fair enough. Maybe you can do something with that pathetic organic and use it as a weapon of sorts?" Cyclonus suggested.

"Hey! I'm not pathetic!"

Thinking about it, Lockdown instantly got an idea. Mischievously grinning, he ripped open Tirek's cage and forcefully picked him up. "What the?! What are you doing?! You can't harm a helpless prisoner!" Tirek yelled.

"I see no prisoners, only trophies," Lockdown grinned.

Horror filled Tirek's face as Lockdown took him away to his own ship. "No! No! Please! Have mercy! I'll tell you everything about equestrian magic! I swear! NO, NO, NOOOOOO!!!!" After the bounty hunter entered his ship, sounds of chain sawing and Tirek’s screams of agony were heard from miles away. Afterwards, the ship flew off and left the planet.

Cyclonus escaped Tartarus and viewed for himself all the destruction, fire, and chaos unfolding before him. He wickedly laughed in celebration of the Decepticons' apparent victory. However, something caught his optic in a distance. Once he squinted his optics to get a better view, he saw a vast army approaching—an army which both surprised and terrified him.

"By the AllSpark..." he whispered.