More than Meets the Eyeby Jay DavidChaptersThe New GirlIntroductionsAttacked!BackupExplanationsThe New GirlThe early minutes of a day at Canterlot High were always a hectic occasion. Groups of friends chatting about how their weekends had gone, students arriving late and panting for breath with a run, and of course a number of teachers absentmindedly looking over their papers as they made their way to the main building. In the midst of this, Sunset Shimmer, one of the school's more notable students, was herself arriving onto the scene, her eyes down on her phone as she was looking over her planner for the day. "Okay, hand in my essay, meet up with the girls for band practice during lunch, head over to the sushi place after school...yep, that's about everything," she remarked with a smile. But, as he slipped her phone into her pocket, and after taking her first step inside the main doors of the building, she was halted from going any further by a voice from within. "Sunset? A word please." Looking up, the young Equestrian's smile widened as she looked to Principal Celestia, who seemed as happy to see her as usual. "Principal Celestia. Good morning. How was your weekend?" The older woman smiled right back to her. "Quite pleasant, thank you." After allowing Sunset to enter the building fully, she gestured to just behind her. "I realise you have to get to your first class, but I was hoping you could do me a favour today?" Sunset glanced past her, to where she was gesturing, and it was here that she finally noted an unfamiliar face. A girl, about her age, wearing a largely yellow-orange ensemble with her hands clasped in front of her. Her hair was red, tied up into two, short pigtails. But that was by no means her most noticeable feature. No, that honour went to her eyes, which were by far the most piecing blue Sunset had ever seen on a person. The unknown girl smile to her though, so she was sure to put on a friendly face in turn, looking back to her principal. "Sure, what do you need?" Celestia, standing between the two girls, explained. "We have a new student here today, and I was hoping you could show her around?" Sunset nodded, of course having no problem with the request. However, memories of the last time she was asked to do so eventually found themselves at the forefront of her mind, causing a slight chuckle from her. "Sorry, have to ask. But you're not secretly here on some evil mission of world domination, are you?" Celestia stifled a laugh of her own as she heard that in-joke, but the girl simply looked confused, looking to the two before answering. "Um...sorry?" Sunset waved her off. "Nothing. Just a little CHS humour." Not really knowing how to respond to that, the new girl cleared her throat, stepping forward and reaching out her hand. "Well then...Sari Sumdac. Nice to meet you." Sunset took the hand, giving it a good shake, though she made a mental note of how good of a grip this girl had. "Sunset Shimmer. Likewise." Clasping her hands together, Celestia nodded to the situation. "Well then, if there's no further questions, I've got a conference call to attend to. Principal Cadence and I need to discuss the events for the next Friendship Games." Both girls gave her a smile as she walked off, and it was around this time that a number of the other students from outside were starting to enter the building in earnest. Realising that things here were likely going to be very crowded unless they moved off, Sunset gestured to one of the adjacent hallways, and Sari, understanding, began to follow her. Sari took in all around her as they walked together, every face, every sign on the doors they passed, all of it. There was interest and curiosity in her, Sunset could tell, but even so she knew they couldn't walk in silence forever. "So...where are you coming in from?" Fondness crossed Sari's face as she replied. "Detroit. My hometown." A spark on interest flared in Sunset. "Oh really? The city of robots?" Unbeknownst to Sunset, a quick flicker of concern came to Sari's expression, which almost instantly mellowed out into one of understanding and relief. "Oh, you mean...yeah, all the robots for factories and the police force and stuff. We're pretty proud of all that." Another chuckle from Sunset. "I'd imagine so. I hear walking into your neck of the woods is like walking into the future for most people." Then, after a few more steps, a look of thoughtfulness came to the former student of Celestia. Silence fell between them, with Sari looking to her with worry. After a moment, Sunset turned, looking her right in the eye. "Um...pardon me for asking...but you said your name was Sumdac, right?" After seeing Sari nod, she continued. "Are you, by any chance, related to Isaac Sumdac?" Here, Sari blushed, nervously scratching the back of her head. "Well...yeah. He's my Dad." To that, Sunset seemed genuinely impressed. "Wow, the daughter of a famous genius, eh?" she asked. Sari, understandably, buried her face in her hands. "Ugh! I was hoping people wouldn't have recognised me from that! I kinda got enough attention as it is back home." Sunset reached out, patting her on the shoulder. "Hey, no worries. I promise nobody here will treat you any differently because of that. And hey, it's a pretty cool ice-breaker in conversations, right?" Sari rolled her eyes. "As long as nobody calls me the Princess of Robots, I'll be fine." The two shared a laugh together, and after it was over Sunset looked around at the sound of the school bell. All of the other nearby students were making their way to their various classrooms, and Sunset, after sighing, gestured with her thumb to just behind her. "Come on, don't wanna be late." However, Sari started to look just a touch embarrassed. "Um, sorry to do this, but do you mind if I just pop to the little girl's room first?" Sunset nodded, understanding. "Sure." She pointed in a particular direction. "It's just down that way, round the corner, can't miss it." She then pointed in the opposite direction. "Our classroom is 1-B, okay?" Sari nodded, giving her a thankful look before rushing off in the aforementioned direction. Sunset waved her off before resuming her march towards her classroom. However, once she was around said corner and sure she was out of earshot, Sari's smile vanished, replaced by a more serious look. Looking to her immediate vicinity, she made doubly sure nobody was about to see her, then placed her index finger up to her right ear. "It's me...I'm in." Author's Note One of the earliest fics I ever wrote for this site was a crossover between FiM and Transformers Prime. I've always wanted to do another crossover between my two favourite Hasbro franchises, and so I figured why not go for an earlier Transformers this time? And yes, I realise that Transformers Animated is set a bit further into the future than what EqG is supposedly set in, but I'm hoping that difference won't be too much for people to accept Introductions"So, how's the tour going?" Twilight asked with interest. Sunset, after taking a first bite out of her sandwich, looked to her friend with a smile. "It's going well. Usually the people I show around aren't all that interested, but Sari's pretty curious about it all. CHS's history, all that stuff." Rainbow, who herself had just arrived at their shared lunch table, gave a quick chuckle. "Well, can you blame her? We're kind of an awesome school these days." Pinkie giggled to her. "You're not wrong there, Dashie. Especially since the annual baking contest is coming up in the dessert club in a week." "Ooh, are you trying anything new this year, Pinkie?" Fluttershy asked. "Meh, figured I'd go for the Friendship Games winner," Pinkie replied. Rarity arched an eyebrow to her. "The Mona Lisa special, I presume?" "The one and only!" Pinkie answered with a grin. Shaking her head to that, Applejack again looked to Sunset. "Ah ain't met nobody from Detroit before, Sunset. What's this Sari girl say about it?" Sunset sat silently for a tad before responding. "Yeah, she kinda doesn't want to talk about her home life. She was way more interested in our town. You wouldn't believe all the questions she kept asking." Hearing that, Twilight adjusted her glasses. "If I remember right, the last time anyone had that many questions to ask about the area was me when I first arrived here." Sunset nodded solemnly. "I thought so too. But there doesn't seem to be anything suspicious about her. I have a feeling for magic and just bad mojo, Twilight. And I'm getting none of that from her." The spectacled girl breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that's good. Last we need is another magical evildoer coming along." Rainbow frowned to her. "Speak for yourself, Twi. I've been going stir-crazy in the last few months! We haven't had any action anywhere aside from maybe a few shoplifters here and there." Rarity, having twiddled with her phone for a few moments, looked to Rainbow with some measure of disapproval. "Well, I, for one, appreciate the calm we've had. One cannot fight evil forever, Rainbow." Rainbow looked like she was going to reply to that, only to be stopped when she spotted a new arrival into the cafeteria. "Hey, is that her?" All of the girls turned, and Sunset, looking over to where Rainbow had been talking about, saw that her friend was right on the money. "Yep, that's Sari alright." The new girl was looking around, as if trying to find something specific, which Twilight was sure to comment on. "Um...is she meeting up with someone?" Here, Sunset, gave herself a facepalm. "Shoot! She's probably looking for me! I can't believe I didn't show her to the cafeteria!" Getting up, Sunset waved to Sari, and it was only a moment later when the latter noticed her, smiling and making her way over. Sitting back down, Sunset looked to the other girls. "Hope you don't mind, but I figured it'd be nice to invite her for lunch. Get to know everybody, you know?" Twilight gave an acknowledging nod. "Sure thing. The more the merrier, right?" All the girls turned as Sari approached their table, with Twilight being the one to pull out a chair for her. "Nice to meet you, Sari." Their visitor smiled back to her. "And you...um...?" Twilight giggled slightly before placing a hand upon her own chest. "Twilight Sparkle." She then gestured to the rest of the group. "And this is Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie." All of the girls either nodded or smiled to her in greeting, which Sari was sure to return, after which Twilight gave her full attention to her. "So, how are you liking CHS so far?" Looking around, Sari answered. "I'd say it's pretty good at the moment. It's nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. Also, everyone's really friendly here." Pinkie took on an uncharacteristically smug look after that. "Yeah, not to brag, but we're pretty good at friendship over here." Sari looked to her, then to the rest, before leaning forward slightly. "From what I hear, you girls are pretty much the group to be around. The way I hear tell, everything that's anything around here tends to be about the seven of you." Sunset blushed slightly. "Well...yeah, kinda." Rainbow laughed before looking to Sari. "Stick with us, friend. You'll see some pretty great stuff." But, as soon as she'd said that, she noted the other girls giving her wary looks, after which she backtracked immediately. "Er, I mean, you'll see totally normal stuff that definitely isn't out of the ordinary. Yeah, that." Sunset facepalmed herself, a motion not missed by Sari, who turned to look to her. "You know, I kept hearing some pretty odd stuff about this town before I arrived." Taking a sip of her drink, Sunset started to share Sari's curiosity. "Oh? Like what?" Sari raised an eyebrow. "Like some really weird stuff. The kinds of stuff you'd hear about in tabloid newspapers. Lights in the sky, superheroes..." Her eyes narrowed. "Know anything about that?" Questions like that were definitely red flags for the girls, all of whom shared worried looks. That is, except for Sunset, who kept her gaze fixed squarely on Sari. "Why do you want to know?" Sari opened her mouth, ready to answer, but before she did, there was a loud banging as the doors of the cafeteria were thrown open by the arrival of three younger girls. Everyone turned to look to them, seeing that it was Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Now, them running through the school was nothing out of the ordinary, but here it was different from normal, as all of them had looks of pure terror upon their faces. Naturally, this concerned their siblings, as well as Rainbow Dash, who all got out of their chairs to meet up with them. "Bloom! What's wrong?!" Applejack asked. Reaching her sister, Apple Bloom panted heavily, as did the other girls, and it took almost a minute for her to catch her breath before finally getting her words out. "There...there's somethin' out there! Some...some creature!" There was no lie in her expression, Applejack could tell, and she turned to look at Sunset with sternness. Sunset nodded, understanding, as did the other girls, who all swiftly got out of their chairs and, along with Applejack, rushed towards the exit of the cafeteria. There was lots of excited and fearful murmurs among the rest of the student body, with the exception of Sari, who watched the girls leave intently as she whispered under her breath. "Well...guess things are starting sooner than I expected." Attacked!Barging out of the doors of the school, the seven girls charged forward, looking around in all directions. They'd had enough experience with villains by this point to know that they had to get onto the scene as quickly as possible, and once there, standing right at the front of the building, they stopped, backs to one another, ready for a fight. But no fight came, at least at first. Though they knew the three inside had been terrified, so far there was no sign of what might have spooked them. "So...anyone else see anything?" Rainbow asked. "Nothing this way," Pinkie replied. "Same here," Fluttershy added. Sunset's eyes narrowed. "Keep on-guard all the same. You never know when..." But she was stopped, for right then there was a sound. A screeching, ungodly sound the likes of which the girls had never encountered before. But while it was unknown, the direction was not, and they turned in unison towards the school. Specifically, they looked up, to the roof of the place, and all together their eyes widened with disbelief and horror, with Twilight clasping her hands over her mouth. "Wha...what is that?!" There, standing atop their school, was a creature totally alien to their eyes. It seemed at first glance to be a giant wasp, large enough to rival the size of a truck at least. But where it starkly differed was its head. That was not the head of an insect, but a fish. What seemed to be an anglerfish to be precise, with fins at the side like grotesque ears, and bright red scales going all the way down its back. Its mouth was opened, and vicious fans dripped with saliva as it leered hungrily at the girls. Rainbow, her head snapping at Sunset, looking just as terrified as the rest. "Okay...we're all seeing this, right?!" "I've...I've never seen anything like that!" Sunset remarked. She had little time to comment further, as the bizarre creature bellowed out another screech, causing the girls to wince at the sound of it, before flapping its wings and launching itself high into the air. All eyes were on it, and the girls immediately backed away just in time to have it land with a great thud onto the ground. Many of the other students of the school were gathering at the various windows to see the fight, and all of them knew that this was no cake-walk. Applejack, looking to the utter beastliness of their opponent, frowned before looking over to Sunset. "Ah don' think we got time fer peace talks or doin' things piecemeal today!" Sunset nodded firmly, looking over to the rest of her friends, all of whom seemed to be on the same page, as they all began to touch their variously-placed magical pendants. Within moments, bright flashes of light had engulfed them all, and they had assumed the colourful outfits of their more heroic personas. The beast screeched again, charging forward, and it was here that the girls came together, holding hands and, with their often-used sense of unity and camaraderie, activated their magic. Their light grew and grew, and at its climax it shot out the enormous rainbow blast they were so known for. The creature halted, seeing it come for it, but rather than try to dodge it simply stood there, taking it straight to the face. With the full force of the spell, the area was engulfed in a cloud of dust, and the girls let go of one another to look ahead to what they all felt they knew they were going to see. "Well now, let's see what misguided ruffian we're dealing with this time!" Rarity commented. But something was wrong, and Sunset knew it, as her eyes narrowed to try and peer through the dust. All of their past experience had taught them of what they were going to see here. Some young boy or girl, about their age, emerging from this after having exposed themselves to some ancient Equestrian artefact, or a stray piece of magic. But there was no human figure in that dust, but instead something larger. Something more animalistic. Sunset's eyes snapped open wide, and she ran forward, grabbing Rarity by the wrist and hauling her to one side. "Get down!" Her instincts had been right on the money, for their enemy leapt out from the dust cloud, exactly as it was before. No change, no reversion to an ordinary human, it was completely unfazed by their attack, much to Fluttershy's dismay. "You mean...that's what it really looks like?!" After helping Rarity to her feet, Sunset looked over to her animal-loving friend. "It looks like it!" The creature, as if it felt it was being challenged, began to twitch and convulse where it stood, causing all the girls to step back warily. Then, to further add to their confusion over this whole mess, it began to change shape right before their eyes. It was as if it was, in the blink of an eye, turning inside out and twisting itself in a dozen different ways, and when it was finished it stood taller as a bipedal, though no less disturbing, enemy. The stinger, which had been on its rear as befitting of a wasp-like animal, was now upon its right arm, as though it were a weapon. Turning, the monstrosity narrowed in on Fluttershy, perhaps recognising her as being the least action-oriented at the group, and so pointed that aforementioned stinger at her. The girl froze in terror on the spot, and Rarity, perhaps to try and make up for her earlier near-miss, leapt out to stand in front of her. The creature fired some sort of green goo from its stinger-arm, but Rarity had thankfully erected her diamond shields, preventing the substance from reaching them. What stray drops of the stuff hit the ground soon proved their nature, as they ate through the concreted of the sidewalk with vicious acidity. "Well...that was a close one," Rarity commented. "Never mind that!" Applejack yelled to her. "Just get out o' here!" She looked over to her fellow athlete, nodding firmly. "Rainbow an' ah will take care o' this oversized critter!" Rainbow nodded back, and with a blur of motion she used her own power. Zipping forwards with a speed that rendered her almost invisible to the naked eye, Rainbow pounded the beast with hundreds, if not thousands of punches wherever she could reach. But after almost a solid minute, at least from the perspective of her friends, she stopped, panting furiously. "There's...there's no soft spot on this guy! It's like I'm punching pure metal!" Hearing that, Applejack frowned deeply at their enemy. "Oh yeah? Then let's see how it takes mah punches!" With an almighty leap, Applejack yelled at the top of her lungs while balling her hand into a fist, striking the creature on the side of its leg. But while her magically-enhanced strength did indeed cause it to wobble, it took only a moment for it to reorient itself, looking down to the blonde girl with very clear annoyance. As with Fluttershy, it raised its weapon, causing panic in its attacker. "Oh...shoot!" But then, from out of nowhere, something struck the beast on the side of its head, causing it to actually yelp in pain. Sunset could've sworn that it was a magical bolt of some kind, an assumption helped when it was hit again and again by similar-looking blue shots. She turned, as did everyone else, and they looked on with surprise to find none other than Sari, standing a way away from them, hand outstretched, with a look of confidence upon her face,. "Hey there, ugly! May I have this dance?" BackupSunset's moment of being shocked and confused at Sari's arrival onto the scene was short-lived, as their monstrous enemy's eyes widened with recognition of her, causing it to screech with rage before lunging forward. Sari, in a display of agility and acrobatics the girls hadn't expected of her, leapt up into the air and landed on the beast's head, just as it reached the point where she'd been standing. Once there, she jumped again, spinning around as she did before pointing her hand at the creature. Those same blue bolts from before promptly fired out from her palms, striking it on the top of its head multiple times, leading to a yelp on its part. In response, it leapt high, taking a swipe at Sari with its stinger-gun, but it just missed her. Even so, it was enough of a close call for Sari herself to respond, putting her fingers into her mouth and whistling loudly. Before anyone could react, there was a new sound, and all turned to find, to their further confusion, that a scooter had spend along the road from the front of the school, turning on its own to head straight for the site of the fight, causing a smirk on the new girl's face. "Let's take this fight up a notch, shall we?" Having safely landed back onto the ground, Sari looked the scooter dead-on as it sped towards her, much to the concern of the other girls. But within moments, Sari had grabbed the scooter by its handles and, while its wheels were still spinning, flipped it over her head and straight onto her back, during which time it had begun to change shape, in a manner not unlike what their shared enemy had done shortly before. Now it was, unmistakeably, a jet-pack, whose boosters activated immediately before sending the girl flying off into the skies above. Rainbow, naturally, looked on at this with awe even greater than that of her other friends. "So...cool!" Meanwhile, Sari had lost none of her confidence, looking down from her vantage point to the hybrid below, calling down to it. "What, scared of a little altitude? You've got wings, right? So use them!" Without even once suspecting a trap in her demand, the creature once again transformed, reverting back to its more animalistic form before beginning to buzz its wings loudly. In seconds, it was up in the air, speeding towards the girl that had caused it such frustration, and as Sari saw it draw nearer, her smile widened. "You Cons never learn, do you?" Turning from her pursuer, Sari looked straight up to some clouds above her. "And now let's see what that gets you." Sunset had no idea what her new classmate was up to, but before she even had time to speculate, her ears picked up a new sound. It was like jet engines, but having appeared suddenly, and very close. She and the others craned their necks upwards, and there, they all saw a pair of objects emerging from the cloud layer They were indeed jets, but far smaller than any Sunset and the girls had seen before. One was coloured white and orange while the other had a predominantly blue palette. They sped right past Sari, with the latter looking more than confident in her situation, and then, perhaps unsurprisingly at this point, the two jets also changed shape, taking on more bipedal forms, albeit far more human-like than what the monster had done. And speaking of whom, that beast's eyes widened further as it saw these two newcomers ball their hands into fists and, in a simultaneous motion, punched him right in the face, causing Pinkie to wince. "Ooh! That's gotta hurt!" And hurt it did, as the blow had not only cause some serious denting to the face of the beast, but also sent it hurtling towards the ground. Doubtless it'd leave quite a crater, not to mention a fair few bills for property damage of the Canterlot High grounds. And it seemed that Sari herself knew this, as the descent of the creature caused her to speak out once again. "Alright, Bee! You're up!" The sound of a car revving its engines caused all the girls to turn again, and the road outside their school soon saw a new arrival in the form of a small-yellow car, speeding along like there was no tomorrow. It turned, heading straight onto the school grounds and, like with everything else today, transformed right before their eyes, resulting in yet one more massive, bipedal robot standing among them. One of its arms changed also, becoming a sharper instrument, not unlike the stinger-weapon of the enemy, before becoming electrified, as if lightning coursed through it. The new robot, smirking, aimed its weapon up, right as their foe was getting close to the ground. And as the creature's eyes opened, it did so just as it came within close distance of the new robot, who chose now to give what had to be a pre-prepared one-liner. "Light's out!" From its own stinger, the new robot sent forth a burst of bright lightning, straight into the monster's face. Naturally, this caused a fair bit of discomfort for the thing, sending it flying upwards again with the force of the blast before landing back with a loud thud upon the ground. It was charred and smouldering from the most recent attack, but aside from that there was no motion from it, having clearly been knocked out cold. The orange and blue robots from before finally landed from their aerial vantage point, and the latter pulled out what looked like handcuffs of some description before placing the object upon the hybrid's wrists. The girls, now with enough courage to take a few steps closer, watched as this quartet of strangers, with Sari among them, surrounded the beast, looking to it with a mix of wariness and confidence. "And that?" Sari began. "That's how Team Earth gets stuff done!" There were cheers abound from these mechanical comrades, with the two flying ones giving each other a high five while the yellow one got to one knee, putting him at eye-level with Sari before giving her a fist-bump. Sunset, having looked to all of this for about as long as she was able, rubbed her temples in a clear sign of stress before finally speaking up what all of them had to be asking themselves at this point. "Okay...will somebody tell me what, in the name of all that's sane, did we just witness?!" Sari turned, then quickly glanced to the monster at her back before nervously scratching the back of her head. "Yeah...I guess you girls do deserve an explanation for all this." "And then some!" Applejack added. Folding her arms, Sari sighed before looking Sunset square in the eye. "Tell me. What do you know...about the Transformers?" ExplanationsSari looked on at the currently-motionless enemy outside, being looked over by her three, much larger cohorts. Things were quiet and stable, at least for now, so for the time being she turned from that sight to the seven concerned-looking girls in the classroom with her. Folding her arms, Sari leaned back against the window before finally breaking the silence between them. "So...what do you want to know?" Sunset, stepping forward, looked to her new classmate warily. "You mentioned...Transformers, right?" Rainbow laughed dryly at that. "Seriously? Like that Saturday morning cartoon all the kids love?" Sari smirked. "Good to know the cover story is doing its job." Rainbow's smile vanished at that remark. "So...big space war between good robots and bad robots...that's all real?!" Sari pointed to her. "You got it. But we figured it'd cause a panic for all of Earth to know about it, so we took some old archive war footage, spliced in some new animation about the good guys playing basketball or whatever, and then boom, anyone who says it's real just gets accused of watching too many cartoons." Rarity seemed aghast by that. "My goodness! You mean to tell me we've just had a war arrive on our doorstep?!" In response, Sari shook her head. "No, it's not as bad as that. The war's pretty much over, since the leader of the Decepticons was captured a while back." Twilight adjusted her glasses. "The Decepti-what?" Sari gestured over her shoulder, to the unconscious creature outside. "The bad robots." Applejack then stepped forward, frowning to her. "If the war's over, then what the heck is that thing comin' over an' causin' trouble fer?" A sigh from the newly-arrived redhead. "Well, not every Con fell into line behind their new Lord. Spend enough time as conquerors and it gets kinda hard to break the habit." She shrugged. "So, you still get some here and there with big plans to carve out some small kingdom of their own, usually in places where they hope the Autobots aren't looking." Fluttershy, who took a brief moment to glance to the unmoving hybrid beyond the window, spoke softly. "But...why here? Why us?" Sari took on a more serious look. "Probably for the same reason I came here." After seeing the girls start to look to her with worry, she elaborated. "We got some strange readings a while back around this area. Big spikes in power levels. These kinds of readings usually mean some undiscovered energon deposit, or possibly an Allspark fragment that hasn't been recovered yet." Pinkie Pie blinked a few times. "...You do know we don't know what those words mean, right?" After a moment of silence, Sari chuckled a bit. "Yeah, sorry. Guess when you spend so much time around Autobots you kinda forget that not everyone knows this stuff." In a move mirroring Sari, Sunset folded her arms. "So...our powers served as some kind of beacon for you and that thing to come snooping about and see what's up?" Sari gave Sunset her full attention. "Pretty much. Wasn't expecting to come here and find straight-up magic though. And that's saying something, given all the weird stuff I've seen over the last few years." Slowly, Sunset narrowed her eyes. "You and these...Autobots of yours. Do you want our power?" Rainbow cracked her knuckles. "Because we'll warn you right now, you're not the first to come here for that!" Immediately, Sari raised both hands. "Whoa there! I'm not here for a fight!" She paused, looking over her shoulder to her fallen opponent, before looking back to the girls with a nervous grin. "Well...I'm not here to fight you anyway." Lowering her hands again, she continued. "Look, we knew some Con or another was gonna come snooping around here for power or whatever else was here, so my team and I were dispatched to come and intercept any who tried it. Oh, and we also needed to scope out what was going on here too of course." She placed her hands upon her hips. "Given that this is something supernatural it's unlikely any Cybertronian can actually use this power, but since not every Con is gonna know that, then you're probably not going to be seeing the last of them anytime soon." She smirked. "At least...not until we get this guy to talk." Sunset, again looking to the hybrid, started to understand what she was talking about. "So...you caught them in the act?" Sari turned completely, looking out of the window. "Hopefully. Part of the peace deal with the new Decepticon Lord was an end to all attacks by them against anyone else. If we can tie this guy to them, the Autobots will have proof they've not kept up their end of the bargain." Rainbow, who perhaps was disappointed at not being able to fight someone right now, slumped her shoulders. "Uuuuuuugh! Why did it have to be politics?!" Sunset patted her on the shoulder, then walked closer to Sari. "Look...don't think us ungrateful. The bottom line here is that a monster attacked us and our school, and that you and your team were the ones who stopped it. If you hadn't it would have probably hurt a lot of people." "Us being foremost among them," Rarity pointed out. "But you have to understand," Sunset continued. "All this talk of aliens and transforming and strange powers is a little...hard to take in." Sari seemed amused by that statement. "What, a battle between good and evil being fought over unknown powers spilling over from one world to another? And you're having a hard time accepting that?" Sunset blinked, even looking a little bit embarrassed, and shortly afterwards Twilight walked alongside her, clearing her throat before whispering to her. "You know...she's got a point there." Pinkie, who was naturally less concerned about the seriousness of the situation as everyone else, walked over to Sari with curiosity brimming in her. "So how'd you get wound up with all these big adventures with a bunch of space robots anyhow?" Sari shrugged. "Well...let's just say we...have a fair bit in common." Nobody said anything, at least not for a while, but after taking time to let those words sink in, Sunset's eyes widened. "You...you mean you're...?" After seeing Sari nod to her to confirm her suspicions, Sunset again looked her over. "Well...you don't look it." A quick laugh from the Autobot girl. "Yeah, trust me, it was a pretty big shock when I found out. But honestly? I wouldn't change anything. I mean, hey, how many people get to say they're half-human with superpowers?" She paused, then looked to the rest of the girls. "Well...aside from all of you, I guess." They all shared a moment of unexpected camaraderie over that, but it was interrupted when they heard a tapping on the window. Turning, they saw that it was the yellow robot from the fight, and so Sari walked over to the window to open it, allowing him to speak to them. "Sorry to interrupt...but our new friend is finally awake." Nodding, Sari's seriousness returned. "Alright then. Let's see who sent him."
The New GirlThe early minutes of a day at Canterlot High were always a hectic occasion. Groups of friends chatting about how their weekends had gone, students arriving late and panting for breath with a run, and of course a number of teachers absentmindedly looking over their papers as they made their way to the main building. In the midst of this, Sunset Shimmer, one of the school's more notable students, was herself arriving onto the scene, her eyes down on her phone as she was looking over her planner for the day. "Okay, hand in my essay, meet up with the girls for band practice during lunch, head over to the sushi place after school...yep, that's about everything," she remarked with a smile. But, as he slipped her phone into her pocket, and after taking her first step inside the main doors of the building, she was halted from going any further by a voice from within. "Sunset? A word please." Looking up, the young Equestrian's smile widened as she looked to Principal Celestia, who seemed as happy to see her as usual. "Principal Celestia. Good morning. How was your weekend?" The older woman smiled right back to her. "Quite pleasant, thank you." After allowing Sunset to enter the building fully, she gestured to just behind her. "I realise you have to get to your first class, but I was hoping you could do me a favour today?" Sunset glanced past her, to where she was gesturing, and it was here that she finally noted an unfamiliar face. A girl, about her age, wearing a largely yellow-orange ensemble with her hands clasped in front of her. Her hair was red, tied up into two, short pigtails. But that was by no means her most noticeable feature. No, that honour went to her eyes, which were by far the most piecing blue Sunset had ever seen on a person. The unknown girl smile to her though, so she was sure to put on a friendly face in turn, looking back to her principal. "Sure, what do you need?" Celestia, standing between the two girls, explained. "We have a new student here today, and I was hoping you could show her around?" Sunset nodded, of course having no problem with the request. However, memories of the last time she was asked to do so eventually found themselves at the forefront of her mind, causing a slight chuckle from her. "Sorry, have to ask. But you're not secretly here on some evil mission of world domination, are you?" Celestia stifled a laugh of her own as she heard that in-joke, but the girl simply looked confused, looking to the two before answering. "Um...sorry?" Sunset waved her off. "Nothing. Just a little CHS humour." Not really knowing how to respond to that, the new girl cleared her throat, stepping forward and reaching out her hand. "Well then...Sari Sumdac. Nice to meet you." Sunset took the hand, giving it a good shake, though she made a mental note of how good of a grip this girl had. "Sunset Shimmer. Likewise." Clasping her hands together, Celestia nodded to the situation. "Well then, if there's no further questions, I've got a conference call to attend to. Principal Cadence and I need to discuss the events for the next Friendship Games." Both girls gave her a smile as she walked off, and it was around this time that a number of the other students from outside were starting to enter the building in earnest. Realising that things here were likely going to be very crowded unless they moved off, Sunset gestured to one of the adjacent hallways, and Sari, understanding, began to follow her. Sari took in all around her as they walked together, every face, every sign on the doors they passed, all of it. There was interest and curiosity in her, Sunset could tell, but even so she knew they couldn't walk in silence forever. "So...where are you coming in from?" Fondness crossed Sari's face as she replied. "Detroit. My hometown." A spark on interest flared in Sunset. "Oh really? The city of robots?" Unbeknownst to Sunset, a quick flicker of concern came to Sari's expression, which almost instantly mellowed out into one of understanding and relief. "Oh, you mean...yeah, all the robots for factories and the police force and stuff. We're pretty proud of all that." Another chuckle from Sunset. "I'd imagine so. I hear walking into your neck of the woods is like walking into the future for most people." Then, after a few more steps, a look of thoughtfulness came to the former student of Celestia. Silence fell between them, with Sari looking to her with worry. After a moment, Sunset turned, looking her right in the eye. "Um...pardon me for asking...but you said your name was Sumdac, right?" After seeing Sari nod, she continued. "Are you, by any chance, related to Isaac Sumdac?" Here, Sari blushed, nervously scratching the back of her head. "Well...yeah. He's my Dad." To that, Sunset seemed genuinely impressed. "Wow, the daughter of a famous genius, eh?" she asked. Sari, understandably, buried her face in her hands. "Ugh! I was hoping people wouldn't have recognised me from that! I kinda got enough attention as it is back home." Sunset reached out, patting her on the shoulder. "Hey, no worries. I promise nobody here will treat you any differently because of that. And hey, it's a pretty cool ice-breaker in conversations, right?" Sari rolled her eyes. "As long as nobody calls me the Princess of Robots, I'll be fine." The two shared a laugh together, and after it was over Sunset looked around at the sound of the school bell. All of the other nearby students were making their way to their various classrooms, and Sunset, after sighing, gestured with her thumb to just behind her. "Come on, don't wanna be late." However, Sari started to look just a touch embarrassed. "Um, sorry to do this, but do you mind if I just pop to the little girl's room first?" Sunset nodded, understanding. "Sure." She pointed in a particular direction. "It's just down that way, round the corner, can't miss it." She then pointed in the opposite direction. "Our classroom is 1-B, okay?" Sari nodded, giving her a thankful look before rushing off in the aforementioned direction. Sunset waved her off before resuming her march towards her classroom. However, once she was around said corner and sure she was out of earshot, Sari's smile vanished, replaced by a more serious look. Looking to her immediate vicinity, she made doubly sure nobody was about to see her, then placed her index finger up to her right ear. "It's me...I'm in." Author's Note One of the earliest fics I ever wrote for this site was a crossover between FiM and Transformers Prime. I've always wanted to do another crossover between my two favourite Hasbro franchises, and so I figured why not go for an earlier Transformers this time? And yes, I realise that Transformers Animated is set a bit further into the future than what EqG is supposedly set in, but I'm hoping that difference won't be too much for people to accept
Introductions"So, how's the tour going?" Twilight asked with interest. Sunset, after taking a first bite out of her sandwich, looked to her friend with a smile. "It's going well. Usually the people I show around aren't all that interested, but Sari's pretty curious about it all. CHS's history, all that stuff." Rainbow, who herself had just arrived at their shared lunch table, gave a quick chuckle. "Well, can you blame her? We're kind of an awesome school these days." Pinkie giggled to her. "You're not wrong there, Dashie. Especially since the annual baking contest is coming up in the dessert club in a week." "Ooh, are you trying anything new this year, Pinkie?" Fluttershy asked. "Meh, figured I'd go for the Friendship Games winner," Pinkie replied. Rarity arched an eyebrow to her. "The Mona Lisa special, I presume?" "The one and only!" Pinkie answered with a grin. Shaking her head to that, Applejack again looked to Sunset. "Ah ain't met nobody from Detroit before, Sunset. What's this Sari girl say about it?" Sunset sat silently for a tad before responding. "Yeah, she kinda doesn't want to talk about her home life. She was way more interested in our town. You wouldn't believe all the questions she kept asking." Hearing that, Twilight adjusted her glasses. "If I remember right, the last time anyone had that many questions to ask about the area was me when I first arrived here." Sunset nodded solemnly. "I thought so too. But there doesn't seem to be anything suspicious about her. I have a feeling for magic and just bad mojo, Twilight. And I'm getting none of that from her." The spectacled girl breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that's good. Last we need is another magical evildoer coming along." Rainbow frowned to her. "Speak for yourself, Twi. I've been going stir-crazy in the last few months! We haven't had any action anywhere aside from maybe a few shoplifters here and there." Rarity, having twiddled with her phone for a few moments, looked to Rainbow with some measure of disapproval. "Well, I, for one, appreciate the calm we've had. One cannot fight evil forever, Rainbow." Rainbow looked like she was going to reply to that, only to be stopped when she spotted a new arrival into the cafeteria. "Hey, is that her?" All of the girls turned, and Sunset, looking over to where Rainbow had been talking about, saw that her friend was right on the money. "Yep, that's Sari alright." The new girl was looking around, as if trying to find something specific, which Twilight was sure to comment on. "Um...is she meeting up with someone?" Here, Sunset, gave herself a facepalm. "Shoot! She's probably looking for me! I can't believe I didn't show her to the cafeteria!" Getting up, Sunset waved to Sari, and it was only a moment later when the latter noticed her, smiling and making her way over. Sitting back down, Sunset looked to the other girls. "Hope you don't mind, but I figured it'd be nice to invite her for lunch. Get to know everybody, you know?" Twilight gave an acknowledging nod. "Sure thing. The more the merrier, right?" All the girls turned as Sari approached their table, with Twilight being the one to pull out a chair for her. "Nice to meet you, Sari." Their visitor smiled back to her. "And you...um...?" Twilight giggled slightly before placing a hand upon her own chest. "Twilight Sparkle." She then gestured to the rest of the group. "And this is Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie." All of the girls either nodded or smiled to her in greeting, which Sari was sure to return, after which Twilight gave her full attention to her. "So, how are you liking CHS so far?" Looking around, Sari answered. "I'd say it's pretty good at the moment. It's nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the big city. Also, everyone's really friendly here." Pinkie took on an uncharacteristically smug look after that. "Yeah, not to brag, but we're pretty good at friendship over here." Sari looked to her, then to the rest, before leaning forward slightly. "From what I hear, you girls are pretty much the group to be around. The way I hear tell, everything that's anything around here tends to be about the seven of you." Sunset blushed slightly. "Well...yeah, kinda." Rainbow laughed before looking to Sari. "Stick with us, friend. You'll see some pretty great stuff." But, as soon as she'd said that, she noted the other girls giving her wary looks, after which she backtracked immediately. "Er, I mean, you'll see totally normal stuff that definitely isn't out of the ordinary. Yeah, that." Sunset facepalmed herself, a motion not missed by Sari, who turned to look to her. "You know, I kept hearing some pretty odd stuff about this town before I arrived." Taking a sip of her drink, Sunset started to share Sari's curiosity. "Oh? Like what?" Sari raised an eyebrow. "Like some really weird stuff. The kinds of stuff you'd hear about in tabloid newspapers. Lights in the sky, superheroes..." Her eyes narrowed. "Know anything about that?" Questions like that were definitely red flags for the girls, all of whom shared worried looks. That is, except for Sunset, who kept her gaze fixed squarely on Sari. "Why do you want to know?" Sari opened her mouth, ready to answer, but before she did, there was a loud banging as the doors of the cafeteria were thrown open by the arrival of three younger girls. Everyone turned to look to them, seeing that it was Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Now, them running through the school was nothing out of the ordinary, but here it was different from normal, as all of them had looks of pure terror upon their faces. Naturally, this concerned their siblings, as well as Rainbow Dash, who all got out of their chairs to meet up with them. "Bloom! What's wrong?!" Applejack asked. Reaching her sister, Apple Bloom panted heavily, as did the other girls, and it took almost a minute for her to catch her breath before finally getting her words out. "There...there's somethin' out there! Some...some creature!" There was no lie in her expression, Applejack could tell, and she turned to look at Sunset with sternness. Sunset nodded, understanding, as did the other girls, who all swiftly got out of their chairs and, along with Applejack, rushed towards the exit of the cafeteria. There was lots of excited and fearful murmurs among the rest of the student body, with the exception of Sari, who watched the girls leave intently as she whispered under her breath. "Well...guess things are starting sooner than I expected."
Attacked!Barging out of the doors of the school, the seven girls charged forward, looking around in all directions. They'd had enough experience with villains by this point to know that they had to get onto the scene as quickly as possible, and once there, standing right at the front of the building, they stopped, backs to one another, ready for a fight. But no fight came, at least at first. Though they knew the three inside had been terrified, so far there was no sign of what might have spooked them. "So...anyone else see anything?" Rainbow asked. "Nothing this way," Pinkie replied. "Same here," Fluttershy added. Sunset's eyes narrowed. "Keep on-guard all the same. You never know when..." But she was stopped, for right then there was a sound. A screeching, ungodly sound the likes of which the girls had never encountered before. But while it was unknown, the direction was not, and they turned in unison towards the school. Specifically, they looked up, to the roof of the place, and all together their eyes widened with disbelief and horror, with Twilight clasping her hands over her mouth. "Wha...what is that?!" There, standing atop their school, was a creature totally alien to their eyes. It seemed at first glance to be a giant wasp, large enough to rival the size of a truck at least. But where it starkly differed was its head. That was not the head of an insect, but a fish. What seemed to be an anglerfish to be precise, with fins at the side like grotesque ears, and bright red scales going all the way down its back. Its mouth was opened, and vicious fans dripped with saliva as it leered hungrily at the girls. Rainbow, her head snapping at Sunset, looking just as terrified as the rest. "Okay...we're all seeing this, right?!" "I've...I've never seen anything like that!" Sunset remarked. She had little time to comment further, as the bizarre creature bellowed out another screech, causing the girls to wince at the sound of it, before flapping its wings and launching itself high into the air. All eyes were on it, and the girls immediately backed away just in time to have it land with a great thud onto the ground. Many of the other students of the school were gathering at the various windows to see the fight, and all of them knew that this was no cake-walk. Applejack, looking to the utter beastliness of their opponent, frowned before looking over to Sunset. "Ah don' think we got time fer peace talks or doin' things piecemeal today!" Sunset nodded firmly, looking over to the rest of her friends, all of whom seemed to be on the same page, as they all began to touch their variously-placed magical pendants. Within moments, bright flashes of light had engulfed them all, and they had assumed the colourful outfits of their more heroic personas. The beast screeched again, charging forward, and it was here that the girls came together, holding hands and, with their often-used sense of unity and camaraderie, activated their magic. Their light grew and grew, and at its climax it shot out the enormous rainbow blast they were so known for. The creature halted, seeing it come for it, but rather than try to dodge it simply stood there, taking it straight to the face. With the full force of the spell, the area was engulfed in a cloud of dust, and the girls let go of one another to look ahead to what they all felt they knew they were going to see. "Well now, let's see what misguided ruffian we're dealing with this time!" Rarity commented. But something was wrong, and Sunset knew it, as her eyes narrowed to try and peer through the dust. All of their past experience had taught them of what they were going to see here. Some young boy or girl, about their age, emerging from this after having exposed themselves to some ancient Equestrian artefact, or a stray piece of magic. But there was no human figure in that dust, but instead something larger. Something more animalistic. Sunset's eyes snapped open wide, and she ran forward, grabbing Rarity by the wrist and hauling her to one side. "Get down!" Her instincts had been right on the money, for their enemy leapt out from the dust cloud, exactly as it was before. No change, no reversion to an ordinary human, it was completely unfazed by their attack, much to Fluttershy's dismay. "You mean...that's what it really looks like?!" After helping Rarity to her feet, Sunset looked over to her animal-loving friend. "It looks like it!" The creature, as if it felt it was being challenged, began to twitch and convulse where it stood, causing all the girls to step back warily. Then, to further add to their confusion over this whole mess, it began to change shape right before their eyes. It was as if it was, in the blink of an eye, turning inside out and twisting itself in a dozen different ways, and when it was finished it stood taller as a bipedal, though no less disturbing, enemy. The stinger, which had been on its rear as befitting of a wasp-like animal, was now upon its right arm, as though it were a weapon. Turning, the monstrosity narrowed in on Fluttershy, perhaps recognising her as being the least action-oriented at the group, and so pointed that aforementioned stinger at her. The girl froze in terror on the spot, and Rarity, perhaps to try and make up for her earlier near-miss, leapt out to stand in front of her. The creature fired some sort of green goo from its stinger-arm, but Rarity had thankfully erected her diamond shields, preventing the substance from reaching them. What stray drops of the stuff hit the ground soon proved their nature, as they ate through the concreted of the sidewalk with vicious acidity. "Well...that was a close one," Rarity commented. "Never mind that!" Applejack yelled to her. "Just get out o' here!" She looked over to her fellow athlete, nodding firmly. "Rainbow an' ah will take care o' this oversized critter!" Rainbow nodded back, and with a blur of motion she used her own power. Zipping forwards with a speed that rendered her almost invisible to the naked eye, Rainbow pounded the beast with hundreds, if not thousands of punches wherever she could reach. But after almost a solid minute, at least from the perspective of her friends, she stopped, panting furiously. "There's...there's no soft spot on this guy! It's like I'm punching pure metal!" Hearing that, Applejack frowned deeply at their enemy. "Oh yeah? Then let's see how it takes mah punches!" With an almighty leap, Applejack yelled at the top of her lungs while balling her hand into a fist, striking the creature on the side of its leg. But while her magically-enhanced strength did indeed cause it to wobble, it took only a moment for it to reorient itself, looking down to the blonde girl with very clear annoyance. As with Fluttershy, it raised its weapon, causing panic in its attacker. "Oh...shoot!" But then, from out of nowhere, something struck the beast on the side of its head, causing it to actually yelp in pain. Sunset could've sworn that it was a magical bolt of some kind, an assumption helped when it was hit again and again by similar-looking blue shots. She turned, as did everyone else, and they looked on with surprise to find none other than Sari, standing a way away from them, hand outstretched, with a look of confidence upon her face,. "Hey there, ugly! May I have this dance?"
BackupSunset's moment of being shocked and confused at Sari's arrival onto the scene was short-lived, as their monstrous enemy's eyes widened with recognition of her, causing it to screech with rage before lunging forward. Sari, in a display of agility and acrobatics the girls hadn't expected of her, leapt up into the air and landed on the beast's head, just as it reached the point where she'd been standing. Once there, she jumped again, spinning around as she did before pointing her hand at the creature. Those same blue bolts from before promptly fired out from her palms, striking it on the top of its head multiple times, leading to a yelp on its part. In response, it leapt high, taking a swipe at Sari with its stinger-gun, but it just missed her. Even so, it was enough of a close call for Sari herself to respond, putting her fingers into her mouth and whistling loudly. Before anyone could react, there was a new sound, and all turned to find, to their further confusion, that a scooter had spend along the road from the front of the school, turning on its own to head straight for the site of the fight, causing a smirk on the new girl's face. "Let's take this fight up a notch, shall we?" Having safely landed back onto the ground, Sari looked the scooter dead-on as it sped towards her, much to the concern of the other girls. But within moments, Sari had grabbed the scooter by its handles and, while its wheels were still spinning, flipped it over her head and straight onto her back, during which time it had begun to change shape, in a manner not unlike what their shared enemy had done shortly before. Now it was, unmistakeably, a jet-pack, whose boosters activated immediately before sending the girl flying off into the skies above. Rainbow, naturally, looked on at this with awe even greater than that of her other friends. "So...cool!" Meanwhile, Sari had lost none of her confidence, looking down from her vantage point to the hybrid below, calling down to it. "What, scared of a little altitude? You've got wings, right? So use them!" Without even once suspecting a trap in her demand, the creature once again transformed, reverting back to its more animalistic form before beginning to buzz its wings loudly. In seconds, it was up in the air, speeding towards the girl that had caused it such frustration, and as Sari saw it draw nearer, her smile widened. "You Cons never learn, do you?" Turning from her pursuer, Sari looked straight up to some clouds above her. "And now let's see what that gets you." Sunset had no idea what her new classmate was up to, but before she even had time to speculate, her ears picked up a new sound. It was like jet engines, but having appeared suddenly, and very close. She and the others craned their necks upwards, and there, they all saw a pair of objects emerging from the cloud layer They were indeed jets, but far smaller than any Sunset and the girls had seen before. One was coloured white and orange while the other had a predominantly blue palette. They sped right past Sari, with the latter looking more than confident in her situation, and then, perhaps unsurprisingly at this point, the two jets also changed shape, taking on more bipedal forms, albeit far more human-like than what the monster had done. And speaking of whom, that beast's eyes widened further as it saw these two newcomers ball their hands into fists and, in a simultaneous motion, punched him right in the face, causing Pinkie to wince. "Ooh! That's gotta hurt!" And hurt it did, as the blow had not only cause some serious denting to the face of the beast, but also sent it hurtling towards the ground. Doubtless it'd leave quite a crater, not to mention a fair few bills for property damage of the Canterlot High grounds. And it seemed that Sari herself knew this, as the descent of the creature caused her to speak out once again. "Alright, Bee! You're up!" The sound of a car revving its engines caused all the girls to turn again, and the road outside their school soon saw a new arrival in the form of a small-yellow car, speeding along like there was no tomorrow. It turned, heading straight onto the school grounds and, like with everything else today, transformed right before their eyes, resulting in yet one more massive, bipedal robot standing among them. One of its arms changed also, becoming a sharper instrument, not unlike the stinger-weapon of the enemy, before becoming electrified, as if lightning coursed through it. The new robot, smirking, aimed its weapon up, right as their foe was getting close to the ground. And as the creature's eyes opened, it did so just as it came within close distance of the new robot, who chose now to give what had to be a pre-prepared one-liner. "Light's out!" From its own stinger, the new robot sent forth a burst of bright lightning, straight into the monster's face. Naturally, this caused a fair bit of discomfort for the thing, sending it flying upwards again with the force of the blast before landing back with a loud thud upon the ground. It was charred and smouldering from the most recent attack, but aside from that there was no motion from it, having clearly been knocked out cold. The orange and blue robots from before finally landed from their aerial vantage point, and the latter pulled out what looked like handcuffs of some description before placing the object upon the hybrid's wrists. The girls, now with enough courage to take a few steps closer, watched as this quartet of strangers, with Sari among them, surrounded the beast, looking to it with a mix of wariness and confidence. "And that?" Sari began. "That's how Team Earth gets stuff done!" There were cheers abound from these mechanical comrades, with the two flying ones giving each other a high five while the yellow one got to one knee, putting him at eye-level with Sari before giving her a fist-bump. Sunset, having looked to all of this for about as long as she was able, rubbed her temples in a clear sign of stress before finally speaking up what all of them had to be asking themselves at this point. "Okay...will somebody tell me what, in the name of all that's sane, did we just witness?!" Sari turned, then quickly glanced to the monster at her back before nervously scratching the back of her head. "Yeah...I guess you girls do deserve an explanation for all this." "And then some!" Applejack added. Folding her arms, Sari sighed before looking Sunset square in the eye. "Tell me. What do you know...about the Transformers?"
ExplanationsSari looked on at the currently-motionless enemy outside, being looked over by her three, much larger cohorts. Things were quiet and stable, at least for now, so for the time being she turned from that sight to the seven concerned-looking girls in the classroom with her. Folding her arms, Sari leaned back against the window before finally breaking the silence between them. "So...what do you want to know?" Sunset, stepping forward, looked to her new classmate warily. "You mentioned...Transformers, right?" Rainbow laughed dryly at that. "Seriously? Like that Saturday morning cartoon all the kids love?" Sari smirked. "Good to know the cover story is doing its job." Rainbow's smile vanished at that remark. "So...big space war between good robots and bad robots...that's all real?!" Sari pointed to her. "You got it. But we figured it'd cause a panic for all of Earth to know about it, so we took some old archive war footage, spliced in some new animation about the good guys playing basketball or whatever, and then boom, anyone who says it's real just gets accused of watching too many cartoons." Rarity seemed aghast by that. "My goodness! You mean to tell me we've just had a war arrive on our doorstep?!" In response, Sari shook her head. "No, it's not as bad as that. The war's pretty much over, since the leader of the Decepticons was captured a while back." Twilight adjusted her glasses. "The Decepti-what?" Sari gestured over her shoulder, to the unconscious creature outside. "The bad robots." Applejack then stepped forward, frowning to her. "If the war's over, then what the heck is that thing comin' over an' causin' trouble fer?" A sigh from the newly-arrived redhead. "Well, not every Con fell into line behind their new Lord. Spend enough time as conquerors and it gets kinda hard to break the habit." She shrugged. "So, you still get some here and there with big plans to carve out some small kingdom of their own, usually in places where they hope the Autobots aren't looking." Fluttershy, who took a brief moment to glance to the unmoving hybrid beyond the window, spoke softly. "But...why here? Why us?" Sari took on a more serious look. "Probably for the same reason I came here." After seeing the girls start to look to her with worry, she elaborated. "We got some strange readings a while back around this area. Big spikes in power levels. These kinds of readings usually mean some undiscovered energon deposit, or possibly an Allspark fragment that hasn't been recovered yet." Pinkie Pie blinked a few times. "...You do know we don't know what those words mean, right?" After a moment of silence, Sari chuckled a bit. "Yeah, sorry. Guess when you spend so much time around Autobots you kinda forget that not everyone knows this stuff." In a move mirroring Sari, Sunset folded her arms. "So...our powers served as some kind of beacon for you and that thing to come snooping about and see what's up?" Sari gave Sunset her full attention. "Pretty much. Wasn't expecting to come here and find straight-up magic though. And that's saying something, given all the weird stuff I've seen over the last few years." Slowly, Sunset narrowed her eyes. "You and these...Autobots of yours. Do you want our power?" Rainbow cracked her knuckles. "Because we'll warn you right now, you're not the first to come here for that!" Immediately, Sari raised both hands. "Whoa there! I'm not here for a fight!" She paused, looking over her shoulder to her fallen opponent, before looking back to the girls with a nervous grin. "Well...I'm not here to fight you anyway." Lowering her hands again, she continued. "Look, we knew some Con or another was gonna come snooping around here for power or whatever else was here, so my team and I were dispatched to come and intercept any who tried it. Oh, and we also needed to scope out what was going on here too of course." She placed her hands upon her hips. "Given that this is something supernatural it's unlikely any Cybertronian can actually use this power, but since not every Con is gonna know that, then you're probably not going to be seeing the last of them anytime soon." She smirked. "At least...not until we get this guy to talk." Sunset, again looking to the hybrid, started to understand what she was talking about. "So...you caught them in the act?" Sari turned completely, looking out of the window. "Hopefully. Part of the peace deal with the new Decepticon Lord was an end to all attacks by them against anyone else. If we can tie this guy to them, the Autobots will have proof they've not kept up their end of the bargain." Rainbow, who perhaps was disappointed at not being able to fight someone right now, slumped her shoulders. "Uuuuuuugh! Why did it have to be politics?!" Sunset patted her on the shoulder, then walked closer to Sari. "Look...don't think us ungrateful. The bottom line here is that a monster attacked us and our school, and that you and your team were the ones who stopped it. If you hadn't it would have probably hurt a lot of people." "Us being foremost among them," Rarity pointed out. "But you have to understand," Sunset continued. "All this talk of aliens and transforming and strange powers is a little...hard to take in." Sari seemed amused by that statement. "What, a battle between good and evil being fought over unknown powers spilling over from one world to another? And you're having a hard time accepting that?" Sunset blinked, even looking a little bit embarrassed, and shortly afterwards Twilight walked alongside her, clearing her throat before whispering to her. "You know...she's got a point there." Pinkie, who was naturally less concerned about the seriousness of the situation as everyone else, walked over to Sari with curiosity brimming in her. "So how'd you get wound up with all these big adventures with a bunch of space robots anyhow?" Sari shrugged. "Well...let's just say we...have a fair bit in common." Nobody said anything, at least not for a while, but after taking time to let those words sink in, Sunset's eyes widened. "You...you mean you're...?" After seeing Sari nod to her to confirm her suspicions, Sunset again looked her over. "Well...you don't look it." A quick laugh from the Autobot girl. "Yeah, trust me, it was a pretty big shock when I found out. But honestly? I wouldn't change anything. I mean, hey, how many people get to say they're half-human with superpowers?" She paused, then looked to the rest of the girls. "Well...aside from all of you, I guess." They all shared a moment of unexpected camaraderie over that, but it was interrupted when they heard a tapping on the window. Turning, they saw that it was the yellow robot from the fight, and so Sari walked over to the window to open it, allowing him to speak to them. "Sorry to interrupt...but our new friend is finally awake." Nodding, Sari's seriousness returned. "Alright then. Let's see who sent him."
