The Equestrian Prime

Chapter 1: Automize!

"C'mon, y'all, the meteor fell over yonder!" A small filly with a yellow coat, amber eyes, and a red mane with a bow in it said to her two friends as they walked through the dense forest known as the Everfree Forest.

"Are ya sure we should be doing this, Apple Bloom?" A tomboy-ish orange pegasus filly with a purple mane and tail said, looking around, obviously scared. "You remembered what happened to our sisters, right? Even though Twilight was nice enough to take us in, she said not to go anywhere without telling her. We're so gonna get in trouble for this."

"I hate to say it, but I agree with Scootaloo, Apple Bloom." The third filly, a unicorn, said, her mane and tail a matching two-tone light purple and grayish-white with a white coat and they walked through the burned out trail of destruction that the meteor left in it's wake. "What if whoever killed our sisters is still out there and watching? I may not be like Rarity, but I know she, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack wouldn't want us to do this. They'd want us to be safe -OW!" She stopped short as she slammed right into Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. "What's going on girls?"

"See fer yerself, Sweetie Belle..." Apple Bloom said, looking in awe down into the crater, where a pod that looked like somepony could fit inside resided at the bottom of it.

"What is it?" Scootaloo asked, just as awestruck as Apple Bloom.

"I have no idea." Sweetie Belle said, shaking her head as she kept her eyes on the pod.

All of a sudden, all three were grabbed from behind and had rags laced with chloroform placed over their mouths. A few seconds later, their muffled screaming silenced and they fell to the ground, after which they were tied and gagged. The leader of the kidnappers looked at the three and smiled.

"The boss will be pleased that we finally captured the sisters of three of the dead Elements of Harmony." The kidnapper leader said. "He's been after them for a while, but couldn't get to them after Princess Twilight took them in to protect them. Sergeant!" The leader turned to the stallion on his left. "Prep these three for transport back to the boss's mansion. Leave no evidence we were even here."

All of a sudden, a weird light started to scan one of the stallions, like the copy machines used in the offices of the companies of the big cities, like Manehatten. After a few seconds, the light disappeared. They realized that the light came from the pod that the fillies had been looking at in the bottom of the crater. The Sergeant looked back at the leader.

"What was that, boss?" The Sergeant asked, the fear was obvious in his voice.

"I don't know, but it ain't good for us." The leader said, shaking his head in fear while still looking at the pod. "Get those fillies back to base, then prepare to move out, pronto!"

—

All he knew was that he was sleeping, but he was aware of his surroundings, thanks to the computer systems of the stasis pod he was currently in. He remembered how he was in the ruins with his friend Alex. They found the artifact that they had been after, but it turned out to be something that the world at large thought was fictional: the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. Then the Matrix apparently shot a beam of its light at him and he disappeared with it. When he woke up, he was on the FREAKING Planet Cybertron. But the weirdest part was how he could breath, and was greeted by one of his childhood heroes, who apparently was the last of the Cybertronian race: Optimus Prime.

Optimus said that an old foe of his was going to bring a world that he, Aaron, thought was also fictional to darkness if someone didn't stop him. And so Optimus said he sent the Matrix out to choose someone with a pure heart to wield its power and save this new world, Equis, which Aaron was shocked that he was being sent to Equestria. He bowed and said he wasn't worthy, that he's made so many mistakes, ones he regretted, ones he couldn't take back. But Optimus sounded like he smiled under his iconic mask when he said to him that the Matrix didn't look at his heart for his mistakes, but for the goodness that was in it.

And so Aaron underwent a bodily transformation while on Cybertron, with only Optimus to conduct the surgery. He was transformed into a protoform, a blank slate Cybertronian, but his consciousness, his memories, everything that made him who he was, was transferred to a fresh spark. Afterwards, he was put into a stasis pod, and sent through a transwarp field, with the last message from Optimus saying 'Until All Are One'.

Now he was starting to wake up, as the activation sequence of the pod had been activated due to three innocent children being taken hostage. The scanner for acquiring his new form had scanned one of the offenders, after which they ran off with the three fillies, which he thought were familiar, even though they were anthro.

He felt the liquid metal of his protoform body change and morph, with the Matrix adjusting itself to match the new shape of his body. When his body finished changing, he opened his eyes which, in the darkness, glowed blue in the pupils. Then a hiss sounded as the stasis pod cracked open.

—

A male Earth Pony stallion with ocean-blue eyes, six-foot-eleven-inches tall, with auburn-red fur and a dark blue tail and mane falling to just below his shoulders, stepped out of the stasis pod. The shorts that fell to just below his knees hid his Destiny Mark, or as they were commonly known, 'Cutie Marks'. His hand dipped back into the pod, pulling out what looked like a rifle from a world and time long passed, but was far more advanced. It was a gift from his mentor, changed to match his height: his new Ion Blaster Mark VII. He looked around as he held the Ion Blaster at the ready, walking out of the crater towards where he saw the group of mercenaries kidnap the three fillies. He squatted down to the spot where he saw in his subconscious state that the mercs had kidnapped the fillies. After scanning the ground where the three were kidnapped from, as well as the hoofprints of the mercs, he stood back up and started to follow the trail toward their base, set on rescuing the fillies.

A stallion with dark gray fur and a messy mane of dark golden scarlet hair squatted in the trees, watching this unknown Earth Pony stallion coming out of the stasis pod. His head tilted fractionally, his mother-of-pearl golden irises within darkened sclera were prominent. His Destiny Mark between his shoulder blades…

"I'm guessing you can track them through technological means," the stallion commented despite not revealing himself. "I tagged them with a tracer spell, fortunately. Though it has a rough range of around two and half miles at best. Best to stay in range, though I have a sneaking suspicion that the 'random accidents' regarding the former Elements of Harmony… this only cements what I've suspected about that they weren't accidents but homicides intended to appear as accidents," he deadpanned.

"Even though you're helping me, you know I can see you right?" The auburn-red stallion said to who just spoke to him, looking into the trees where the voice came from. "I have thermal vision due to what I am. I know you're friendly, just come on out already. If you wanna help me, let's do it together then."

The dark gray furred stallion cocked an eyebrow as he dropped onto the rocky ridge within a shaft of moonlight above the lighter furred stallion before he tilted his head, his gaze scanning around ahead of their path before his eyes narrowed, the slight reddish orange glow at the edges of his sclera and irises giving away the augmentation. His arcane augmented thermal sight picked up numerous heat sources. "Can't tell if those are torches roughly a fifth of a mile ahead or ponies. I'm picking up around twenty eight heat sources," he relayed. "That implies that either this is a well connected large group or they're trying to keep the predators from a smaller group," he said dryly. He knew that the moonlight highlighted the dark vest with dark lacquered armor plates he wore as well as the slightly longer than knee length pants with matching dark lacquered armor plates that hinted he was part of the Lunar Guard due to his ease of stealth and espionage. The truth, however, was that he was not.

"Well, judging from the tracks of those mercs, they were heading to that area that you described." The auburn-red stallion said, looking at the dark gray stallion. "I will take on the mercs and get the fillies out of there. But if any mercs try to escape, you can take them in for questioning. You remind me of somepony I know of who sounds and acts similar to you. Except he was a comic book character. But as far as my plan I outlined, do we have a deal?" The auburn-red stallion held out his hand, despite not knowing if the mysterious pegasus was willing to do so, he was wanting to be cordial at the least.

"Aye," was all the other stallion commented. His head tilted, looking at the tracks of the mercs. "What is your identity?" he commented offhandedly, as if he weren't paying attention. "Hmmm. It appears one of the mercs walks with a severe limp, as he favors one hoof over the other, something far too easy to exploit to the unwary. Most likely a muscular injury from how his weight is distributed, potentially gives a hint of his roots. Appaloosa, more than likely," he commented. His gaze shifted to the surrounding trees, the augmentation glow in his eyes shifting to a pale green. It lit the tracks in obvious detail to his gaze. His eyes narrowed fractionally. "There's somepony, more than likely in the camp, with a fondness for blades and forelimb bracers. Not many use that particular specialization unless this isn't just a local group of mercs," he deadpanned.

He noticed numerous trees with scratches and slashes as well as fainter scrapes, either from hooves or claws. He tilted his head, cautiously stepping towards a few of the scrapes on one tree, noticing a foul scent from the tree. He sniffed before he snorted. "Pyrus calleryana… not a local variety of tree," he muttered, "more common to the wilderness lands north of Appaloosa, but also common to the wilds of Gryphonia," he muttered before he plucked out a feather caught in the fibrous bark.

"To your earlier question about my name, name's Artemis Prime, last of the Planet Cybertron. And we're having to deal with Gryphon mercs in the mix?" The auburn-red stallion, now called Artemis, said, as he let out an exasperated sigh. "This is turning into one cluster-slagging mess after another."

"Makes it more challenging to extract the young fillies, perhaps, but the ones that kidnapped them were most certainly ponies," The grey stallion said. "It could be coincidence that they are leading us to a group of Gryphon Mercs… unless they're aware of being tracked," he finished grimly. That was always a possibility, he'd found, though it was very rare that he was noticed when he didn't want to be.

"All the more reason to get those fillies now than lose track of the mercs." Artemis said, getting into a stance. "I'll fly on ahead to the group of mercs. Remember, any of the mercs that try to escape are yours to interrogate. But I'm going to get those fillies now. The Elements may have been murdered, but nopony is losing their lives while I'm here. Jetpack: Automize! Maximum Burn!"

All of a sudden, Artemis' back started to shift as a jetpack with stabilizing wings formed on his back. The jet engine roared to life, making him hover in the air. He turned back to the dark grey stallion and smirked.

"I'll leave any stragglers for you to interrogate." Artemis said. "But leave the rest to me. You may not believe it, but nothing can really harm me. I may look like a normal Earth Pony on the outside, but inside is a different story of alien technology. I won't trust you with it, not unless I'm certain you can keep it out of the wrong hands and use it only for good. I'll see you up ahead." With that, Artemis leaned forward and flew over the trees, following the trail from above.

A slight smirk crossed the other stallion's face. "You aren't the only one with advanced technology," he commented wryly as he tugged two items from behind him… one showing itself as a dark red and bluish black belt buckle with a crank on one side and the other as a gold and black cylinder. He touched the buckle to his waistline as it activated, securing itself around his waist. He shook the cylinder, a low clanking sound repeating several times before he twisted both ends which lit blue. He shifted his weight, tugging it apart slightly before clicking it into position.

"Tank and Tank!" it declared as, out of the shadows behind him, the armor segments came as he twisted the crank. He rolled his shoulders as the armor segments attached to his armor. "Now, we can roll out," he muttered, unaware his voice sounded far too similar to a certain Decepticon leader through the helm.

Artemis flew over the trees of the Everfree Forest, following the smoke of the torches. While he was flying towards the smoke, he heard what distinctly sounded like tank treads following right behind him on the ground. When he looked back while his guidance systems kept the flight straight, what he saw made him quirk an eyebrow.

"Never expected to see a Kamen Rider in Equestria." Artemis said through his comlink to the Kamen Rider. He knew it was the pegasus who was helping him, but was nonetheless surprised.

"I don't rely heavily on it, but in this case, anonymity will help us most as the mercs, regardless of whether they are part of a greater whole or working in a small group. They will not know who precisely to seek out as they do not know what I look like. Sometimes it is not fear of the known that is most frightening… but fear of what is unseen and unknown." Came the Kamen Rider's reply. "Call me 'Zhū'," his comment was brief.

"Hmmm... a most sound judgment call about anonymity, Zhū." Artemis said, nodding in agreement while looking back ahead. "I guess I better change into something of my own as well, I just hope it works, as I haven't had time yet to finish getting acquainted with this body. Battle Form Armor: Automize! Artemis Prime: Transform!"

All of a sudden, the jetpack disappeared and Artemis' body began to shift and morph and rearrange itself. As Zhū watched with a quirked brow under his helmet, what looked like pieces of armor began to appear on Artemis' body. Roughly fifteen seconds after the transformation began it was finished. And Artemis stood in his new Battle Form Armor at his full height looking just like his mentor.

Kamen Rider Zhū cocked his head. "Might be wise to go with a less reflective form for the moment," he commented dryly. He did notice that nobody would recognize the form at present.

"Sorry, like I said, I'm still figuring out this new body." Artemis said, his voice now a slightly deep rumbling tone reminiscent of his mentor. "But I do have a stealth mode. Visible only to allies that I tag as friendly. I've already tagged you in my IFF beacon as blue, so you'll see me, but the mercs won't." Artemis looked distant for a minute before he looked back at Zhū. "Luckily the stealth mode was already activated during the transformation, so we should be good."

Artemis looked back to the heat sources before he said, "It looks like you were doubly correct. The torches look like a formation to keep the local wildlife away, but I'm detecting several heat sources that are moving around that I see are the mercs, plus three tied up in a tent at the farthest end of the camp from us. Besides the three tied up, I count at least 20 to 25 mercs. Can you confirm?"

Zhu tilted his head, data streaming through the lenses as they shone for a few brief seconds. "Confirmed. Weapons scattered through the camp appear to be standard spears, crossbows, hatchets, and short swords. It's entirely possible there are also weapons we cannot pick up from here. I'd advise destroying whatever weapons they have. It will create more panic, making them less likely to realize our goal in their shortsightedness created by the panic, leaving them vulnerable," he commented, his eyes narrowing.

"Agreed." Artemis said, nodding before his battle mask extended over his mouth. "I'll get closer to the camp and get into position. When you see my eyes flash twice like this," Artemis demonstrated by flashing his eyes twice, "create a distraction for me, that way I'll destroy any and all weapons I find and get the Cutie Mark Crusaders out of there. Think you can manage that?"

A small chuckle escaped Zhu, though that was not his true name. "Oh, that won't be difficult." He rolled his shoulder as he tugged free the FullBottle Buster which resembled a shotgun or grenade launcher.

"Okay, watch for the double flash of blue." Artemis said as he pulled his Ion Blaster Mark VII back out and ran ahead.

Even though his footsteps sounded heavy to him due to the nature of his Battle Form Armor, none of the mercs seemed to notice. He thanked Primus that the stealth mode of his armor worked like Optimus told him it would. When he got to the tree nearest the edge of the camp and a few of the mercs, he peeked his head from behind the tree and listened in to the three mercs he was nearest, his auditory circuits amplifying the sound.

"Hey Cosmic, when are we moving out? The boss wanted these three didn't he? So when are we supposed to meet him?"

"In a few minutes." the leader, now named Cosmic, said. "He did say that we could have a little fun with them before we brought them to him. And he told me which kind of fun too since he was going to kill them." Cosmic and his men all laughed as Artemis' eyes went wide, realizing what they meant by 'fun'. Then his eyes furrowed in righteous anger and fury as he looked back towards where Zhū was waiting and flashed his eyes twice like he said he would.

'Please, let us be here in time,' Artemis prayed.

Zhū's eyes narrowed as he, too, picked up on their words as he slid three FullBottles into the Buster. "Taka! Gatling! Harinezumi! Full Charge!" The Buster declared.

He then pulled the trigger as the energy built up before releasing in several rapid pulses that paused roughly a story and a half above the ground as an orb of bright silvery orange energy. Though the pulses impacted the orb, causing it to swell before detonating in silvery white needles, burning orange feathers, and deep gray bullets all of which detonated in numerous eruptions of sparks and fireballs on impact with the ground, doing quite a bit of damage to the surrounding tents and exposed weapons as panic ensued.

Artemis took that as his cue and leaned from behind the tree he was waiting behind and opened fire on the mercs. He took potshots at the mercs who were clambering around in complete chaos. And even though they tried to fire their crossbows towards him, they horribly failed to land a mark, as his stealth mode held up and they couldn't see where he was firing from. A few of them ran off in fear, hoping to get away with their lives and hopefully not get caught, while the rest were all on the ground, all with holes in them from ion shots.

"Zhū, five stragglers headed your way." Artemis said through his comlink. "The area's clear. I'm going in for the Cutie Mark Crusaders, over." After he cut the connection, he ran forward for the furthest tent where the CMC were tied up, quickly tagging them in his IFF beacon as friendly so they would see him.

Artemis burst through the tent, scaring the three fillies. After he cut the ropes binding them together and ungagged them, he knelt down to be eye level with them.

"Are you three okay?" Artemis ask them, trying to sound delicate given what they've just been through.

"We j-just want to go h-home." Sweetie Belle said, crying, the three of them hugging each other and crying.

Artemis felt his Spark sink at the sight as he stood up and held his hands before the three fillies to help them up. "And home is where you shall go. A friend and I are here to rescue you. I promise, stick with me and you will be safe. We will meet up with my friend and we will escort you back to wherever it is you live. You have my word."

The CMC were unsure about this at first. But his voice seemed to soothe their worries as they nodded and grabbed his hands, which Artemis helped them up to their hooves. But then Sweetie Belle faltered and almost fell to her knees before Artemis caught her.

"Are you injured?" Artemis asked, a worried tone in his voice.

"My ankle." Sweetie Belle said, grasping her right ankle. "It hurts. I must've hurt it when those bad guys grabbed us."

Artemis scanned her right ankle, even doing a deep tissue scan as he looked to find any issue. Unfortunately, he found she had a hairline fracture in her right ankle. He looked back to her and shifted her around until he was carrying her in his arms.

"You have a hairline fracture of your right ankle." Artemis said. "You will need immediate medical attention once we get you home." While he held her with one arm, he tapped the side of his head once and said, "Zhū, go on ahead of me to the Friendship Castle and alert Princess Twilight. Tell her that Sweetie Belle has a hairline fracture of her right ankle and I'll carry her back. I'll remain in my current form, as you said, for anonymity. But tell Princess Twilight that Sweetie Belle requires immediate medical assistance. But when you interrogate the stragglers, make sure Princess Twilight and the other Princesses are present. I'll catch up with you at the Friendship Castle, over."

Zhū successfully rendered the stragglers senseless, tagging them with remote teleportation Sigils for retrieval before he tied them hand and foot to prevent escape. His eyes narrowed fractionally as he tugged free a sealed envelope. The seal upon it was not one he recognized. His eyes narrowed as he slid the sealed envelope into a storage case affixed to his belt. "Moving out," he relayed. He exhaled as he removed the cylinder from his belt before shaking it, the lenses igniting red this time. He twisted the ends into locked positions before hooking them into the belt. "Rabbit! Rabbit! Overflow!" the belt invoked as he pushed off, letting the armor attach before he landed, not noticing a single purple eye within an orange furred countenance watching through a tear in the tent nearby.

Without further words, he darted swiftly into the darkness.

"Scootaloo, c'mon!" Applebloom said to her friend, who seemed distracted by something outside the tent.

Scootaloo turned, blinking before she darted over to Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, with Sweetie Belle being carried by their savior due to her injury. She wasn't quite sure what she'd seen, but had the distinct feeling it was something new.

Artemis began to walk out of the camp with the CMC in tow, while the CMC stayed close to Artemis in his Battle Form. Apple Bloom looked up at Artemis and asked, "So what are ya, mister? Ah ain't never seen nothin' like ya before." Artemis contemplated how to reply, but figured the truth would be the best option.

"I am an Autonomous Robotic Organism from the Planet Cybertron, the last of my kind. Also known as an Autobot."

"Yer an alien?! Like from our old friend Spike's comic books?" Scootaloo asked, a little scared.

"The term 'alien' is relative, as we Cybertronians have viewed all life as alien as well." Artemis replied, chuckling. "But we Autobots respect the sanctity of life and have always protected the innocent from those who would otherwise wish to conquer them."

"Who would want ta conquer us?" Apple Bloom asked, a little scared at that piece of info.

"That is a story best left to when we meet up with Princess Twilight, once we get Sweetie Belle here the medical attention she needs for her ankle." Artemis replied. "I give you my word though that it will all become clear once we finish the task at hand of getting your friend medical help."

"Pinkie Promise?" Scootaloo said, looking up at Artemis.

Artemis' Spark sank, knowing that the rest of the Elements were dead from the words of Zhū from earlier. But he still decided to do it, for Pinkie's sake.

While holding Sweetie Belle in his left arm, he looked down at the other two fillies and went through the motions, saying in slightly different words, "Cross my Spark, hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye. You have my word."

"Spark?" Scootaloo asked in confusion.

"For us Cybertronians, it's the same thing as the heart." Artemis said, smiling through his battle mask. "I just changed the word 'heart' to match the life force that beats in me, a Spark."

"Ooooooh." Scootaloo and Apple Bloom said, finally understanding.

"So while we're walking, I don't know much of this planet, as I only recently arrived." Artemis explained. "I already know what happened to your sisters and the other Elements except for Princess Twilight from the friend I mentioned earlier. Where do you three live now?"

"Princess Twilight was kind enough ta take us in, instead of letting us go ta an orphanage." Apple Bloom said, her voice breaking, and some tears falling. "But she won't say a word about what exactly happened ta our sisters or the other Elements."

"She's probably not doing so to protect you three from the traumatic details." Artemis said, sounding crestfallen because of Apple Bloom's sadness. It was breaking his Spark at how much these three were already put through. "I'm sure she has her reasons, so don't fault her for that. I'm sure she'll tell you when you're ready. But don't rush it, it would most certainly do more harm than good if you rushed it."

After he said that, he looked ahead and noticed the Castle of Friendship up ahead, with Princess Twilight standing there with Princess Celestia, Luna, and Candance and Shining Armor as well. Zhū was also waiting there for the four of them.

Artemis stopped before the group and bowed at the waist, being careful of his grip on Sweetie Belle.

"Greetings, Princesses." Artemis said. "My name is Artemis Prime. I mean no harm. But Sweetie Belle here is in need of immediate medical attention due to a hairline fracture of her right ankle. It was caused quite possibly from the foalnappers that were after them. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo are unharmed, but Sweetie Belle is in need of assistance medically."

Zhū tilted his head. "Most of the foalnappers were tagged with Recall Sigils to transport them to secure facilities for interrogation," he commented before he tugged free the cylinder from his belt, the armored segments dissipating into reddish white mist before he tapped a button on a smaller attachment on top of the crank. It immediately barked "Hazard off," before he tugged it free, his dark lacquered armor dissipating into dark mist. It revealed he wore rather wrinkled olive shorts and a white vest. He exhaled softly as he stretched his wings. "The only biotic Bottle I have that mimics my wings in the armor is the Hawk FullBottle. Admittedly, I have noticed that there are some with intriguing potential, though I have yet to purify them," he commented wryly.

Twilight blinked as his armor dissipated. "What sort of magic is that?" She said curiously. "Where did you find it?" She continued.

The stallion smirked slightly. "There are valleys in Neighpon that emit an odd steam that has curious effects on flora, fauna, even the surrounding natural magical aura. We found that they tend to come in 'natural' forms such as animals, which we dubbed as 'Biotic', as well as non living forms, dubbed 'Abiotic'. Curiously, they appear to react in opposing pairs, a 'biotic' and 'abiotic'," he commented wryly. He still hadn't revealed to Artemis his true name.

"That is all very interesting, but what exactly are you?" Luna deadpanned bluntly, her tone wary as she fixed her eyes on Artemis.

"Twilight, take Sweetie Belle, but be careful." Artemis said. "As I said, she has a hairline fracture in her right ankle." When Twilight took Sweetie Belle in her arms. "This is my Battle Form Armor, so it isn't my actual form. But I will show you and explain. Battle Form Deactivation: Automize! Artemis Prime: Transform!"

The same transformation that Zhū witnessed at the assault on the mercs' camp happened, this time in reverse. After 15 seconds, Artemis was back to being in his normal auburn-red earth pony form. He stood at his six-foot-eleven-inch height, his shorts were dark blue, while his shirt was a bright red. After he exhaled, he looked back at Princess Luna.

"As I said, my name is Artemis Prime." Artemis said. "I am an Autonomous Robotic Organism from the Planet Cybertron, also known as an Autobot, though I am the last of my kind."

"Then you're the one he spoke of," Twilight commented, her voice a bit thick with emotion.

"Who?" Artemis asked, a little confused that Twilight already knew of his arrival beforehand.

Twilight took a deep breath before she spoke. "Primus," she said, though to her surprise, she wasn't the only one who spoke.

Zhū tilted his head, tapping one of his rear hooves on a rock. It produced a distinctive metallic clang. What he hadn't revealed was that one of the tests they had done in one of those valleys had cost something: both of his legs. His partner had also mysteriously disappeared, though his instincts told him that whatever it was wasn't quite an accidental incident. He didn't miss how both Cadence and Twilight shot him curious looks as if they wanted to know how he knew, though that did raise the question about how Cadence knew. True, it was possible that Twilight had told her, though he doubted it.

"Okay, I'm confused." Artemis said, directing his comment to Twilight. "How do you know about the Creator of all Cybertronians, Twilight?"

"Because he said he'd send somepony... his last remaining child, though born of a different race," she said softly, recalling Primus' words.

Zhū's eyes narrowed fractionally. "He claimed that what we stumbled upon could be used for great good, but also for great harm," he muttered. His true name: Cianán Campbell. He had only identified himself as 'Zhū', which was 'build' in Chinese.

"So Primus knew about me all along before Optimus sent the Matrix to where I found it with my friend in an archaeological dig." Artemis said, looking up while rubbing his chin in thought. Then he looked at Twilight, apparently having not heard Zhū, and said to her, "Tell me everything Primus said to you, Twilight. And spare no details."

"I am sending you someone who can find out what your investigation teams could not. He will have ways of finding out that surpass your guard and police forces combined. But he will do so with honor, humility, and respect for those around him. For though he was born of a different race than those of my children, he will be reborn as one of my own, and he will be the last of my children’s kind. I have watched over your world for a long time, young Twilight. Though your planet's inhabitants are still quite young, you still have much to learn. But I have seen the goodness in your hearts, and am willing to help you find peace with the one who has murdered your friends. Your philosophy on friendship has intrigued me, despite some problems, like Zecora. But you worked through them in the end for the better. All I ask is that you treat my last remaining child with the same care and respect as you would your friends, as I know it is what they would want you to do. Will you do that?” Twilight recounted from memory.

"I see you have an eidetic memory, lass," Zhū commented wryly.

"I see." Artemis said, ignoring Zhū's sarcasm. "Let's get Sweetie Belle that medical attention. We'll put the foalnappers in the dungeons until we can question them. I think we all should get some rest before we question them, since it's getting late."

Zhū tilted his head as they all went inside before the belt he wore crackled, arcing with energy before the holographic inducer faded, revealing that his legs from mid-thigh down were cybernetic. "Not quite sure what that box Primus had was… but it felt… odd, sentient," he muttered. He had a sneaking gut feeling, however, that something wasn't quite right. He discreetly clicked his fingers, a flicker of prismatic flame the only warning as he triggered the Recall Sigils.

—

Artemis was finishing up with the ankle wrapping he wrapped around Sweetie Belle's right ankle under the supervision of Twilight and the other princesses. After he velcroed the end of the ace bandage around her ankle, he applied a splint he was familiar with from before coming to Equestria, but he modified it for the anthro bodies of the ponies of this Equis. After he velcroed the splint together, he looked to Sweetie Belle with a smile.

"Here's a couple of crutches." Artemis said, handing them to Sweetie Belle. "You'll need to stay off of your ankle for at least a month, from how bad the hairline fracture was. Luckily you didn't need a cast. Just make sure you use those crutches and stay off of your ankle for the next month, and change the ace bandage every other day. Other than that, you should be just fine."

Sweetie Belle nodded before throwing her arms around Artemis' neck in a hug, which Artemis smiled and returned the gesture.

"Thank you Mr. Artemis." Sweetie Belle said.

"Please, call me Arty." Artemis said, patting her back. After he laid her back down in her bed, Artemis tucked her in and left the light on on a low setting, figuring she would want a night light on, in case she had a nightmare about what happened today. As Artemis walked out with Twilight and the other princesses, Zhū was already walking up to them. Artemis looked at him with a serious look.

"Did you put them in the dungeons, Zhū?" Artemis asked his ally. "If so, I think now would be the best time to interrogate them, while the three of them are asleep."

"Aye," Zhū deadpanned dryly. "Though if you have an equivalent of sodium pentothal or truth serum, that would help," he deadpanned. His head tilted a bit as he hummed, thinking.

"Sodium pentothal, I think I can manage that." Artemis replied, putting a finger up. "Give me a moment. I'll need to look up the formula for it in my databanks. Shouldn't take too long after that to produce. A minute and a half at most for the total time."

Artemis hummed as his eyes had a faraway look in them like he was searching his databanks, like he said. After that, he closed his eyes, as, out of his chest, a compartment opened up, revealing ten vials of liquid, all labeled 'sodium pentothal'. He opened his eyes and grabbed the ten vials, after which the compartment in his chest closed and was sealed, looking normal again. He hands them over to Zhū.

"Here." Artemis said. "Think this should be enough?"

"More than enough." Zhū said, smirking. "These ponies, despite being of near human size, have much denser bone structure and musculoskeletal systems than humans, which lends to more bodily weight and by extension, a greater likelihood of resistance to drugging from such things as this. Gryphons, however, have slightly lighter bones in a hollow honeycomb style internally. Their muscles are tightly packed, but seem to create lactic acid faster than humans or ponies," he commented.

"Hence making them more susceptible to methods like this?" Artemis replied with a quirked brow.

Zhu nodded slightly. "Aye," he deadpanned as he turned, not seeming to realize that his voice gained a slightly deeper, gruffer pitch. "And they will talk," he commented.

"Alright, but we do this by the book, agreed?" Artemis said, looking at Zhū with a serious look. "This is technically the Princesses' jurisdiction, so nothing they wouldn't do. We're technically guests on this world, Zhū, so we'll follow whatever the Princesses want us to do once we get the information. Understand?"

Zhū's head tilted. "Much like Kal," he muttered gruffly. His head tilted fractionally before his ears twitched twice before he cocked his eyebrow. "Hmmm. Seems that we aren't the only guests," he commented dryly, noticing the door before them.

Artemis' eyebrows rose in mild surprise at the one person checking the chairs the mercs were in as well as the screen showing a visage he recognized.

"Starfire?" Artemis said in surprise. "I'll admit finding the Matrix of Leadership when the world at large thought it was fictional was one surprise in the ruins in Greece back home. But this? Like an old friend of mine once said, 'Reality is more fucked up than fiction'."

"Apparently, you didn't have much keeping you on your Earth," Zhū commented dryly to which Starfire looked their way with a slight nod.

"Not really for me either." Artemis said. "But I did love my job. I was an archaeologist. I was actually close to a breakthrough on finding the Lost City of Atlantis. The clue led me and my best friend since kindergarten to the Matrix before the Matrix whisked me away to Cybertron."

"In Sparta," Zhū muttered gruffly. He didn't realize that would immediately catch the Cybertronian's attention.

"Okay, what aren't you saying, Zhū?" Artemis looked to his ally with a stern glare. "I never said anything about where in Greece my friend and I found the Matrix of Leadership."

"Take a wild guess. How would I know about that, unless?" Zhū commented dryly, an eyebrow twitching upward. It was rather obvious if he thought about it as there hadn't been many that knew about the journey.

Artemis looked at Zhū with a calculating gaze, as if he was searching for something. When he realized what Zhū said a few seconds ago, Artemis' eyes went wide.

"Cianán?" Artemis said. "Cianán Campbell? But how…?"

"Just because that damn pendulum took my leg and left the other dangling by a few tendons didn't make me dead, boyo," Zhū, now called Cianán, deadpanned, his tone holding a rather harsh brogue abruptly. "How did I survive? I took a bloody flare to cauterize the bloody stumps," he deadpanned.

"I'm sorry." Artemis said, looking down, shedding a few tears, feeling regretful that he left a friend behind that he thought was dead. "I really am. If I had known, I would've had Alex stay behind to look for you while I went ahead."

"Can't change the past, lad. Regrets are simply shit we cannae avoid. I know about regrets all too well. Ain't unlike me meeting McCloud," Cianán sighed.

Everything was silent between the two old friends before Artemis sighed.

"You were there when I made entry into the atmosphere and landed, weren't you?" Artemis sighed, looking with a fierce glare at the mercs. "How long did you know it was me, or that I was on my way here?"

"Turns out that Primus has quite a few higher contacts. But those contacts didn't say specifically you were coming, only that a 'Prime Child' was coming," Cianán sighed. His gaze was fixed on the mercs as well, his eyes narrowing dangerously. He noticed a shift on the screen before he paused upon seeing two he recognized: Victor Stone and Bruce Wayne himself. "Well, shit. Kinda suspected something when we saw Kori, though I didn't expect to see you two," he deadpanned.

Author's Note

Just a note, the reason for other worlds crossing over, despite this primarily being a Transformers/MLP crossover, is because of the Kamen Rider pegasus who will assist Artemis Prime with rescuing the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Starfire, Cyborg, Batman, all of whom the Kamen Rider pegasus met during his travels between dimensions.