Episode One: United We Stand Part One: Edited
Equestria: Castle of Friendship: Two months after Rainbow rocks
Today was a hot one in the land of Equestria as Celestia’s sun decided to go into overdrive for the summer, this had the habit of inconveniencing many a pony who wanted to enjoy the outdoors and thus suffered a bad case of boredom.
For a certain Alicorn Princess however she was nothing if not adaptable, something she had to learn since her first few weeks of coming to the lovely town of ponyville in central Equestria.
Currently she and her friends plus her assistant were in the castle throne room with the map they have to call the “Friendship problem map” and were so far left to their own chores.
Rainbow Dash was busy napping whilst laying across in her throne, she was as usual doing very dash stunts which normally wouldn’t have bothered her but that was before the sun got unbearable. Now she was resting with an ice pack on her forehead provided by Fluttershy and will likely be doing her second favourite activity for the day, sleeping her flank off.
Fluttershy meanwhile was busy providing everypony with ice heaven in the form of ice packs, cold drinks from the castle kitchen and water. Since the castle was more roomy and was much cooler even on days like these Twilight had permitted Flutters to bring many of her animal friends over to ease the burden on her cottage which given the amount of animals that would be there on a normal day would make for a very hot environment, Fluttershy had made sure to remind many of her animals to be on their best behaviour which wasn’t that hard to do given the sun’s ability to sap their energy for activities.
Pinkie Pie despite being Pinkie was also feeling the heat as even as she bounced around to help Fluttershy she had a few ice packs warped around her limbs which crunked loudly as she bounced, still she held that same cheery aura since the day she first saw a rainbow.
Applejack was busy unloading and rolling some barrels of her cold apple cider into the castle, the sun’s rays so hot that even the hard working apples had to stay in the shade for much of the day. Before the sun’s rays could truly take effect AJ managed to get a good sized stockpile to the castle so the Mane six won’t have to risk going out again for a while during the hot day.
Rarity was also on her throne using the map as a place to help her draw some new summer designs, she sadly had been one of the few who were caught outside when the worst of today’s heat hit the land and because of that her neat and well kept coat and mane were stained with dried sweat even after she had used the castle’s showers with Twilight’s permission of course since as Rarity would say “It would be very impolite of me.”
As for the young purple alicorn herself?
She was busy working on the last of some documents before she could truly have the week off, earlier in the day she received a message from Princess Celestia via Spike telling her that she can take the week off until the sun cools as she doesn't want Twilight to hurt herself by overworking in a hot environment.
Ever since she officially became the Princess of Friendship Twilight was told that she’ll be only doing light work in her capacity as a princess, this was due to the fact that for over a thousand years Celestia had been the main head of state doing much of the work that kept the nation together only ever delegating work to ponies who had much more experience in certain fields then the Solar Princess despite her age, however as Luna and later Twilight entered the picture the Solar Princess had to do a lot of reorganising so that the others could have an equal share of the responsibility of governance.
This of course takes time and only recently has Luna begun to fully perform her duties as a princess aside from patrolling the dream world.
As a result Twilight had more free time then she’d expected but was grateful to Celestia all the same.
“Alright y'all! This is the last batch, Pinkie helped with thi-” Applejack said before said pinkie jumping jack banged into one of the barrels on the top of the pile Applejack managed to make with the remaining barrels she brought.
Before the Barrel could hit the ground and lose all that ice cold heaven it was engulfed in a familiar purple aura.
“Pinkie! Be careful you could’ve broke something or worse hurt somepony!” Twilight said as she carefully placed the barrel back on its pile.
“Sorry Twi!” Pinkie said as she got up off the floor with the help of Fluttershy.
“Gota say sugarcube, that was some fine quick drawing you did there.” AJ said as she continued rolling the last few barrels into the kitchen for later whilst the baby dragon Spike came out with an ice pack in claw.
“Yeah but compared to what she did in the past? I’d say her being a U-spirit is not surprising.” Spike said as he walked over to Twilight to grab the completed documents and using his magic dragon breath he sent them to Canterlot.
“YEAH!....What’s a U-spirit?” Pinkie asked which got the rest of the group’s attention.
“Have I never told you guys about that?” Twilight asked right back.
“No darling as far as we’ve known you this is the first time you were mentioned as being this U-spirit thing.” Rarity said.
“Huh” was all Twilight said before she shrugged and started to explain, thinking she might as well whilst she had the chance.
“Well you know how everypony is different in a way right?” Most of either shrugged their shoulders or shook their heads.
“Well to put in a way you could understand a certain Starswirl came up with a theory of how to categorise different beings based on what kind of spirit they have, like Fluttershy for example she has such a kind spirit and thus she would most likely be very kind in a way. The theory itself was actually based using the elements of harmony so it could only account for the “good” kinds of spirits if that makes any sense.”
“Alright..” Applejack said as she came back into the throne room having heard the whole conversation.
“So what does that have to do with this U-spirit thing your supposedly are?” she asked.
“Well to put Starswirl’s theory in another way whilst each being is unique they do fall into a pattern of sorts of how they could behave, U-spirits or Unique Spirits are those who don’t fall under that pattern. But it's not just behaviour that can make a U-spirit as with the case in my entrance exam U-spirits can also have a very strong magical aptitude whether they are Unicorns or not.” Twilight spoke before Spike jumped in.
“Basically Twilight’s a rare kind of pony that most ponies don’t see very often, kinda like in the human world where they have people with…uh what’s that called again Twi?” He asked
“Autism I believe.” Twilight answered before she noticed a familiar book vibrating.
“Speaking of the human world.” Twilight muttered before reading the newest entry in the book.
“Dear Twilight are you doing anything this weekend? Me and the girls are gonna spend it at Flutters house and I wondered if you were free, it would be a good opportunity for you to meet Wallflower, the one who tried to steal our friends' memories? And it probably be the best time to introduce you to my favourite human invention which are CARS. I got one last weekend after passing my drivers test and would love to show you how they work and the history behind them.
Your friend and kinda student Sunset Shimmer.”
“What's a car?” Fluttershy asked after Twilight finished reading the entry.
“Kinda like a moving carriage that humans drive.” Twilight answered as she wrote her reply.
“The Human world sure is strange, but aye wouldn’t mind seeing it to be honest.” Applejack commented.
“Well maybe one day when we find out how to make sure you girls have different appearances when you cross over, like I said two months ago it wouldn’t look normal if two sets of you were in the same place plus I doubt the US government would be okay with that either.” Twilight said as she finished her reply to Sunset and got to gathering her things.
She figured since there wasn’t much room for activities in her world then maybe she’d have the time to spend in the human world, she also did promised to come and see her human friends whenever she got the chance so might as well.
“Wait the who?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“The USA which stands for United States of America or simply the United States or US, it's a human nation like Equestria that took interest in the mirror portal after the Fall formal but really interacted with the girls and I after the Battle of the Bands. To keep a long story short they agreed to leave Canterlot High alone as long as they get to send someone to watch the school and help Sunset and the others over there if anything like the sirens happens again.” Twilight said finishing packing up with the help of Fluttershy and Rarity.
“So I guess we’ll see you in a few days darling?” Rarity asked.
“Yep! Spike send a message to Celestia and while I’m gone and BEHAVE!” Twilight said before she went out of the throne room and headed to the library where the portal was.
“I will!” Spike yelled back.
Before long Twilight would arrive at the library where the Portal room was, opening the door she would trot through the rows and rows of books that Celestia was able to send her after the ones in the Golden Oak Tree Library was destroyed, after find the door in a secluded section of the library Twilight would enter the room before stopping in front of the portal.
“Hmm why do I get the feeling something big is happening?” She thought before she steadied herself after having activated the portal using her book and once it was fully ready she jumped through.
The jump through the portal was instant like the past the few times she came to the human world, only this time she was able to land on her feet.
For a few seconds.
As she tried to stand steady her momentum caused her to tiptoe uncontrollably until she landed in a small patch of flowers right next to the school entrance.
“At least I can get a few metres away from my usual landing spot without falling this time.” Twilight as she tried to get herself up when a familiar hand was offered to her.
“I say 5 out of 10.” Sunset Shimmer said as she pulled Twilight out of the patch before embracing her in a hug which Twilight returned.
Soon enough the rest of her human friends joined in the hug whilst Twilight noticed a seventh person standing near them looking a bit nervous.
“Oh right.” Sunset said noticing Twilight’s gaze, breaking the hug with the others. She walked over to the new girl and put an arm around her shoulder which seemed to ease her a bit.
“Princess Twilight meet Wallflower, the one who nearly cost us everything because of past me but is now a friend like everyone else here.” She said giving Wallflower a playful nuggie.
Twilight smiled before taking Wallflower’s hand in her own gently and said “Nice to finally meet you, Wallflower.”
Wallflower smiled nervously at that before saying “Uh likewise princess?”
Twilight and the others giggled a bit at that.
“So girls, what did you have in mind for this weekend?” Twilight asked as they all headed inside the school.
It was a friday and according to Sunset school was over a few seconds ago so I’d make sense for the girls to grab their things before heading off for the weekend.
“Well first off, why don’t we head to Sugarcube Corner and grab a bite to eat THEN we could talk about what we’ll do for the weekend.” Sunset replied as they walked through the halls to their lockers.
As the girls went to get their things from the lockers which lined the sides of the hallway Twilight patiently waited in the middle before a voice called out to her.
“Ah Twilight! I’m glad to see you could make it this weekend.” Principal Celestia said as she walked towards the group with a man beside her, he had black skin as well as some weight and had a business suit on.
“Glad I could be here Celestia and you are?” Twilight asked as the others finished gathering their things.
“Special Agent William Fowler your majesty, US government DIA.” The man introduced himself.
“Oh! So you're the one who's keeping an eye on things then?” Twilight asked as the others gathered around to see Agent Fowler.
“Pretty much, I wasn't really convinced that the stuff I’m to watch out for was real until I first saw your friends band practice.” Fowler said, chuckling.
“I swear when I saw them grow pony ears and longer hair I thought I was drinking too much.”
Everyone had a good laugh at that.
“Anyway, mind if I join you to go wherever you kids were going after school?” Fowler asked as they all made their way back outside whilst Celestia bide the group farewell for now as she had to tend to some last minute principle work she had to do.
“We’re going to Sugar Cube Corner but are you sure you want to come Mister Fowler?” Sunset asked.
“Well since your dimensional Princess decided to stop by I can’t well leave her unprotected even if she doesn't need it as she qualifies as a foreign ambassador and thus must be escorted. Plus I hear SCC has the best drinks in the city so that’s a plus.” Fowler answered as they exited the school.
“So if we are all in favour I think now would be a great time to show off my new car!” Sunset said gesturing to a yellow and black-striped sports car.
Twilight for a second stood there admiring it, it was one thing to hear and read about it but it was another thing entirely to see it in person.
“Woah, it's amazing Sunset!” She said after a moment
“Thanks so this is a Urbana 500-” Sunset started before Rarity intruded.
“Um darling?”
“Yeah Rares?” Sunset asked, looking at the fashiona.
“You do realise there’s nine of us correct and a car like that could at best hold five people.” Rarity said as Sunset started to piece together the conundrum.
“Uh oops?” Sunset meeped whilst rubbing her head sheepishly.
Walking over to the car Applejack tapped the door a couple of times thinking before saying “Well I think we could fit two more in there if me, Dash, Pinke, Sunset and Rares take the seats and the two others sit in either of our laps.”
Fowler shifted a bit before saying “That won’t be me, I haven't exactly been keeping in shape lately.”
“Fluttershy and Wallflower would be able to sit in our laps but Twilight..” Dash commented before Fowler said.
“I’ll take her with me in my car and we can meet you guys at Sugar Cube Corner.”
The girls except for Wallflower looked unsure for a moment before Twilight cleared her throat.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine girls, you go on ahead and we’ll catch up with you later.” she said as Applejack started to carefully climb into the car followed by the rest of the girls.
Once everyone was in Sunset started the car and once the engine was running she looked at Twilight and said “See ya there Twi! We’ll save you the best!”
Sunset then drove off down the road leaving Twilight and Fowler in the school yard.
“Agent Fowler! Can I talk to you for a moment?” Celestia said coming out of the school at a jog.
Turning towards her Fowler shouted “Sure! Just a second!” Before turning to Twilight and handed her a Car-key.
“Black car over there is mine in front of the red big rig, press this button to unlock it. I’ll see you there after I’ve spoken with the principal.” He said nodding to a black car in front of a large red truck.
“Okay Agent Fowler.” Twilight replied, taking the Car-keys and heading to the black car whilst Fowler went to chat with the principal.
As she approach the car however Twilight felt a slight..buzzing in her head, a feeling of fuzziness that she can faintly relate to when she was using her magic but very distinct like when she was using a new spell for the first time or even when she and her friends first used the rainbow power to banish Triek.
“Strange” Twilight thought as she got closer to the car. “Could this be something magic related?”
As she got closer however she noticed with some uncertainty that the buzzing feeling was coming from the red truck behind Fowler’s car, curious Twilight took a step closer to said human vehicle to see if she gleam something from it.
Standing just a few centimetres away from the door of the truck Twilight could definitely say that whatever was causing the buzzing feeling was coming from this truck, how that was possible was as of yet unknown to the Alicorn Princess because as far as she could see this was just an ordinary Human truck.
Yet aside from the buzzing feeling she was getting Twilight also couldn’t shake the feeling there was more to this truck than meets the eye, it was like she was standing next to a great dragon sleeping, waiting or simply resting.
“What are you?” Twilight wondered as she raised a hand and placed it on the red door of the truck.
She was then bombarded with thousands of feelings, of power, of will, compassion, brotherhood just to name a few and in her mind's eye for just a moment she saw the eyes of a titanic being staring right back at her its eyes a bright blue and looked to be the size of planets which Twilight would assume could go ways to explain the size of the being if it wasn’t in her mind.
As quickly as it came it vanished just in time for Twilight to see the red truck slowly driving away.
She could only look at her hand in shock for but a moment before looking up just in time to see the red truck rounding the corner further up the road and out of sight.
“What. What was that?” Twilight thought as she feared what this could mean.
You don’t just receive visions and odd feelings of magic from any red trucks after all.
“Princess Twilight?” Agent Fowler asked as he came up behind Twilight.
“Y-Yes?” Twilight asked a bit too loudly as she turned to face the US Agent.
“Something wrong?” Fowler asked as he took the keys from Twilight and opened the car for her to get in.
“I,I don’t know Agent Fowler to be honest.” Twilight replied truthfully as she got into the car after Fowler got into the driver’s seat.
“Tell me about it on the way, we'll have at least a few minutes before we get to Sugar Cube Corner.” Fowler said as he started up the car and drove it in the same direction as the red truck had gone.
Unbeknownst to either of them they were being watched by a black and purple drone and two identical Black and Purple Cars who drove after them once they got a head start.
Later
As the two Black cars stalked Fowler’s Car the Agent himself was listening to what Twilight saw before he arrived.
“And you’re sure it was the red and blue truck?” Fowler asked as he kept his eyes on the road.
Twilight meanwhile was in the seat next to him as she tried to explain what had happened “The feeling in my head at the time was becoming stronger as I got close to the truck, I did think it was coming from something or someone inside or maybe even from your car but as I said as soon as I touched the truck that powerful sensation happened along with that brief vision.”
“About that, do you have any idea what that was about?” Fowler asked as he eyed the rear view mirror unbeknownst to Twilight.
“Not really except that I may have gained the attention of something old and very powerful but aside from that I really couldn’t say.” Twilight said.
“So you’ve never seen anything like that before?” Fowler asked as he made a turn after stopping at a red light which went green after a few moments.
“No not that I could remember, maybe there was something in my book collection back in Equestria that might have shed some light on that but I have a very strong feeling that I won’t find anything.” Twilight replied again thinking back to those large eyes, they held the power of something or someone very powerful like that of Faust but in what way she couldn’t say. It was similar to magic or at least it was in the same plane as magic but Twilight was having trouble convincing herself that the vision she had was related to anything magical that originated from Equestria.
“Why’s that?” Fowler asked.
“Because I don’t think what I saw was really Equestrian in origin, let alone magical in origin though I don’t have any solid proof just a gut feeling if you will.”
Silence follows as the car stopped at another red light.
“Um Agent Fowler?” Twilight asked worriedly as she turned to look at him only to see him staring at the rear view mirror.
“What’s wro-“
“We’re being followed.” He simply said as the light turned green and the car slowly moved forwards.
Looking in the rear view mirror as well and then behind her to get a better look Twilight could see two black cars with a purple secondary cruising behind them.
“Who are they?” She asked as their car turned onto the main street of Canterlot city.
“Not sure.” Fowler said keeping one eye on the road and the other on the mirror. “But I doubt it's a coincidence.”
“What should we do?” Twilight asked.
“For now we wait and try to steer them away from your friends.” Fowler said as they began to drive onto the highway and away from the city.
No sooner had they come onto the highway that the two cars took an aggressive stance with one of them increasing speed to ram the rear end of Fowler’s car.
“Shit!” The agent said as he increased his car’s speed to get away from the two cars as they also gained speed.
The chase was now on as the two unknowns try their best to ram the car off the highway, all the while avoiding the traffic at this particular hour of the day.
“This is Agent Fowler DIA to Fort Everest! I am in need of Tier-One assistance, being pursued by two vehicles of unknown affiliation and in escort of a VIP!” Fowler shouted in his phone calling for help first from the police and then the nearby military base of Fort Everest as he continued to drive with one hand whilst avoiding his pursuers' attempts to ram them off the highway.
Twilight for her part was trying desperately to hold on whilst the car veered to the left and right back and forth.
“Dammit! I can’t get through to anyone! They must be jamming us somehow!” Fowler said as he gave up on trying to call for help and instead focused solely on trying to survive the situation they were currently in.
“Anyway I can help!?” Twilight asked as the car shook from the impact of a ram by one of their pursuers.
“Just!...Just let me concentrate-” Fowler started to say before they both heard a police siren further back behind them.
“THIS IS THE POLICE PULL OVER AT ONCE!” Behind the two pursuing cars was a police car with its sirens fully blazing.
Twilight turned in her seat to see the action behind her, her face holding a tinge of hope.
Then next thing she knew it was shattered.
It happened so fast, one moment the police car was hot on the rear end of one of the cars and the next said car JUMPED out of her view.
PHEW!
The sound of energy was all Twilight could recognise before the police car exploded in a fiery inferno, the culprit driving through the flames a second later leaving the car and its former occupants far behind.
“Sweet. Lady. Liberty.” Fowler says they both stared at the scene behind them, Twilight for her part was speechless at how so easily those humans were killed like that. Just who are they!?
As soon as it leaves the flames the car then reveals two gun ports from under its hood, as soon as they begin to glow Fowler realised just in time to say “GET DOWN!” before they ducked into the car as red laser blasts fired just inches above their heads.
Unfortunately as they do so they fail to noticed the other black car to their left as it used the destruction caused by their partner to ram into Fowler’s car sending it crashing to the right and into the barrier of a bridge they were just crossing over.
“BRACE YOURSELF!!” Fowler said as the car fell into a dried man made ravine before blackness took the both of them.
“Uhh” Fowler said as his brain rebooted itself after surviving the crash, shaking his head he realised that his car was upside down and what’s worse he could smell gasoline.
“Oh shit.” He muttered before quickly moving to unbuckle his seatbelt and fell down with a thud.
“Uhhh” Righting himself up and turning to his right he could see Twilight coming into consciousness groaning.
“Princess? Princess!” Fowler shouted as he worked to unbuckle her seatbelt as well whilst the gasoline continued leaking.
“Ahh!” Twilight fell to the upside down roof of the car with another THUD before Fowler began speaking again.
“Princess, can you move? Because we need to get away from this car.” He then began helping Twilight into a crouch position before nudging her to her car door.
“Yeah, Yeah! I can move.” The princess said as she opened the door before crawling out of the car followed by Agent Fowler.
They were able to get a good few feet away from the car when they heard two other engines roaring and turned their heads to the right looking back at the bridge.
From the hole in the barrier they’ve made they could see the flares of the car lights that they are admitting, Fowler knowing they don’t have much time searches their surroundings for an exit.
He found one, a sewer exit just across from them.
“Come on Princess there’s a-” Fowler began to say before the two cars rode off the bridge over them.
And transformed.
It happened so suddenly one moment the cars were flying over their heads the next they changed into some humanoid robots who as soon as they landed pointed one of their arms at the humans which changed from a hand to some sort of energy weapon.
“Get back Princess!” Fowler said, pulling Twilight behind him as he drew his pistol and aimed it at one of the robots.
Just then they could hear more engine noises and turned to see twelve more of those cars driving towards them before they too transformed into robots and aimed their weapons at the trapped humans.
“W-What are they?” Twilight asked not knowing what to do in this situation, in many of the past encounters with danger Twilight and her friends either from Equestria or Earth could rely on their magic to help defeat the villains before them but those were always because they were magical in nature and these robots probably wouldn’t be affected even if Twilight had a way to use her magic now.
“I wish there was a way in this situation.” She thought as the stare down continued.
“Cars that turn into robots…or maybe it's the other way round, either way these guys are definitely not from Earth.” Fowler said as one of the robots began to speak.
“Hand over the female human and we’ll give you fat one a quick death.”
Both Fowler and Twilight were taken aback, Twilight more so than Fowler who was a bit more insulted.
“What do we do?” Twilight asked fear evident in her voice but more out of concern for Fowler than herself.
Fowler was about to speak when a loud horn blew from behind the first two robots, coming at them at full speed was the same red and blue truck that Twilight saw earlier. Before any of them could react the truck slammed into the first two robots sending them flying over the two humans and right into the larger group of jetblack robots.
All eyes present just stared at the newcomer before he too transformed whilst the other robots got back on their feet.
As Twilight watched their saviour changed form she noticed that he’d probably be much larger than the robots opposing him, she was also able to see a bit of his insides through his transformation sequence which showed and told her that he wasn’t some simple robot.
Once he finished transforming the other robots made what Twilight assumed were startled noises before they all yelled.
“OPTIMUS PRIME!?”
“Optimus who?” Twilight and Fowler said in unison as they watched the red and blue robot stare at them for a moment before focusing on the robots in front of him.
“Decepticons! This war is between us and should not involve the people of this young world, leave now and we can both walk away from this unharmed.” “Optimus Prime” said to the other robots his voice deep and authoritative but carrying a tone that Twilight can tell is of a person who wants to avoid fighting if possible.
“Not a chance, Autobot! She has something our master would very much like to get AND we got you outnumbered!” One of the twelve remaining robots said back to Optimus before a green vortex opened behind him.
“Not for long.” He simply said.
Then six other cars came racing out of it before the vortex disappeared and the newcomers also transformed, four of the six were identical to each other with a red paint job and modest builds when compared to “Optimus Prime” whilst the last two were a bulky green robot and a modest but agile built yellow an black robot respectively.
“Who’s ready to rumble!” The bulky green robot shouted as he and the others got into a fighting stance.
“Scrap em!” One of the “Decepticons” shouted and thus battle was joined.
Both sides began firing their arm weapons which were energy based, bolts of energy flew past each other as both sides sought to kill each other.
All the while Twilight and Fowler were running towards the sewer entrance but not before a stray blot blew up Fowler’s car in the process.
“Keep moving!” Fowler said as he led twilight through the gauntlet of blasterfire holding onto her with his right hand whilst he still had his pistol drawn in his left.
They were about halfway to the entrance when suddenly they were both picked up in a giant hand, turning around Twilight saw it was the red robot from before “Optimus Prime”.
He was carrying them in his left hand whilst using his right which turned into a blaster fired blaster blots to his right where the enemy was.
With Prime carrying the two humans they were able to make it to the sewer entrance in record time and safely.
Taking point, Fowler climbed out of the hand first and into the sewer tunnel, he then helped Twilight out of the robot’s hand and placed himself between it and her, not fully trusting the giant robot yet.
“Stay here and keep out of sight, I’ll be back shortly.” The robot said before running back to rejoin the battle.
Once he was out of sight Fowler moved ahead of Twilight down the tunnel before saying “Come on princess we need to move.”
“Wait, what why?” Twilight asked.
“Because whilst I’m glad that the red guy and his friends helped us, we don’t know if they’ll win with the odds against them and that’s assuming they are on our side at all. So come on and let's get some distance!” Fowler replied as continued down the tunnel.
Twilight looked back at the fight for a moment before following Fowler away from the battle.
Back at the battle proper Prime had closed in on one of the Decepticons forcing both to go hand to hand.
Ducking under the con’s right hook, Optimus sends a left thrust into the con’s midsection stunning him for a moment that allows the Prime to send a right hook directly to the con’s faceplate.
The punch sent the con flying backwards however another con came behind Prime wrestling with the Autobot leader though the con didn’t get to have five seconds before he was blasted in the back and fell to the ground offlined.
Optimus turned around to see his best scout, the yellow Autobot Bumblebee holding his right blaster up whilst holding a Decepticon in a left-hand headlock.
Nodding to his scout Prime turned to the rest of the battle whilst Bumblebee finished off the Decepticon.
Although he had been worried for the safety of his Autobots going in it was clear that the Cons weren’t expecting them and were thus on the backfoot especially with three of some of the Autobots best fighters added in the mix.
Two of his Autobots were tag teaming one of the Decepticons, giving him two targets to fight simultaneously which a base line Decepticon is simply not made for.
Another bot was taking on two cons with his hands converted into melee weapons whilst the last of his baseline Autobots was on his back clutching his side which was leaking Energon.
A loud CRASH was heard and Prime looked over and saw the green Autobot Bulkhead finishing off the last of the three Decepticons he was previously fighting.
“BULKHEAD! BUMBLEBEE! Help A-236 and A-618! I shall help T-34C!” Optimus ordered as he drawed his axe from his right arm and charged one of the cons attacking the melee welding Autobot.
With a powerful swing he cut a massive gash into the back of the Decepticons, sending him flying away from T-34C and over the wounded Autobot.
Distracted by the appearance of the Autobot Leader the second of the cons attacking T-34C failed to noticed said Autobot thrusting a blade clean through his midsection, Energon leaking and spilling from the impact but the con was able to block the second blade with his own whilst using his free hand to grab T-34C’s head and started squeezing.
T-34C started to scream in pain as his head unit started to compress, small leaks of Energon appearing on the sides and his visor started to crack under the intense pressure.
“Say hi to Primus you stinking Auto-” The con never got to finish his sentence as he forgot the presence of the prime before Optimus buried his axe into his back causing the rest of his body to go limp.
Preying the con’s hands away from his head T-34C gave a nod of thanks to the last of the primes before clutching his head and taking a knee to steady himself after such a near death experience.
“I’m fine sir, check on T-803.” 34C said as Prime tried to help him before nodding and headed towards the downed Autobot.
“Soldier, can you hear me?” Prime asked as he knelt next to T-803 who was still holding onto his wound.
“Yeeeaaah I hear ya.” The bot said slurred clearly out of it judging by the loss of energon.
Optimus could see that 803 would need medical care soon but the damage isn’t too bad enough that he’d reckon the bot would fine for now so there wouldn’t be any immediate need for a medical extract
“All clear!” Bulkhead said as he, Bumblebee, A-236 and A-618 came up to the Prime, weapons still primed and ready.
“Autobots see to our wounded. I will check on the humans.” He said before heading back to the pipe entrance.
When he got there and checked inside however they were nowhere to be found.
“Optimus Prime to base, can you track the cellphones of the humans?” Optimus asked, knowing that with the Decepticons gone the airways should be clear.
“One Oment, Roment,(WHACK) MOMENT! Optimus scanning now.” The Autobot Mini-con Fixit replied on the other end.
“Got wit, tit,(WHACK) IT! They’re about sixty metres south and gaining distance possibly to return to the population section nearby.” Fixit answered a few moments later.
“Thanks Fixit.” Prime replied before looking over to where T-803 was, 618 was performing basic aid but it was clear that more advanced facilities were needed.
“Fixit tell Ratchet to bring his medkit and Groundbridge over to our location, we have a bot down and other needs to be looked at.” Optimus ordered before walking up out of the gully.
“Optimus?” Bulkhead called.
“Bulkhead you’re in charge until Ratchet gets here, keep our wounded safe whilst I search for the humans.” Optimus ordered as he was halfway up the gully.
“You sure that's wise I mean what about not getting the humans involved?” The green Autobot asked.
“Whilst it is true that we shouldn’t have the humans involved in our war we both also know that with Megatron in charge it would be only a matter of time until he had the humans involved though it is unlikely they would be equal allies if Megatron choses to ally with them and more of tools which is something I personally cannot allow. Further more there’s the fact that those Decepticons were specifically after that human female, and we must know why.” Optimus said.
Sighting in defeat and knowing he can’t easily change his commander’s mind Bulkhead simply said “Good luck and be careful boos.”
With that the Prime got up to the top of the gully before transforming and drove away down the highway back to Canterlot.
It was sundown by the time Fowler and Twilight returned to the city through the sewer, fortunately when they got up through the manhole there was nobody around to smell them or complain about how they were in the sewers to begin with.
“Uh I’m definitely gonna have a shower when I get back.” Fowler said as he smelled his arm which still had some bad smells.
Twilight didn’t reply, her face in deep thought about what had just happened today.
“That robot, Optimus Prime…he was the truck I had that vision from. What could it mean? Did he have a similar vision? Why did those other robots want me and how can I stop them?” She thought.
During the few times they saved this world from a threat Twilight and her friends had always used Magic combined with their feelings of friendship and unity to stop them but that was using Equestrian Magic on Equestrian threats in contrast those robots were at the very least not from Equestria so Twilight didn’t know if Equestrian Magic would work on them.
She sighed “I know it’s best tell Princess about this but-”
“Alright the portal isn’t far now your highness” Fowler said suddenly.
“Huh?” Twilight asked as she noticed Canterlot high dead ahead.
“Look Princess, given that those robots can apparently turn into Earth vehicles, there's not much we can do to keep you safe here, at least for tonight anyway. My advice is to head back to Equestria for now until we know more about what’s going on.” Fowler said as they crossed the street before heading towards the mirror portal statue
“What about my friends here?” Twilight asked.
“It's best we keep this between us whilst we figure out what those robots are and what they want.” Fowler replied as got his phone out which thankfully survived the ordeal.
Twilight said nothing as she processed that before saying “What about those in Equestria?”
Fowler stopped for a moment near the statue as Twilight did the same whilst he put his phone to his ear trying to call someone.
“Hmm..at least keep it tight, only your friends and the princesses can know about this. We don’t want to risk a panic in either world.” Fowler said after a moment of trying to call someone.
Putting his phone away from his ear he cursed “Dammit that jamming must have a wider area then I thought, I better get going regardless and you should too your highness-”
“Please, Agent Fowler, you can drop the formalities and just call me Twilight.” Twilight said as she approached the statue.
“Is that an order your highness?” Fowler said with a small smile.
Turning back towards him Twilight replied “Make that a royal decree while your at it won’t you?”
A small round of chuckles came from both of them at the attempt of a joke whether it was bad or not wasn’t the point, it helped relieve some of the tension that was present since they escaped the firefight.
“As you wish Twilight, stay safe. I'll be keeping an eye on the portal and make sure none of the bots know what's here.” With that Fowler headed off Phone once again up against his ear as he tried to get a signal.
Twilight meanwhile simply stood in front of the mirror section of the statue that housed the portal itself contemplating today’s events.
“Optimus Prime………who are you-” She thought to herself before she heard a engine running, knowing Fowler’s car was toast she feared it was one of the robots in its car form but she felt a bit of relief when she recognised the sound the engine was making which was of a truck.
Turning around her suspicions were proven true as the same red and blue truck that started all this pulled up along the road next to the school.
Twilight however was still a bit uneasy as whilst this red truck and his friends saved her and Fowler, it was still unknown and from her experience evil can definitely hide behind a smile.
Still somewhere deep in her heart Twilight believed that this truck “Optimus Prime” can be trusted or at the very least be given the chance to explain himself.
She was broken out of her thoughts however when one of the side doors to the truck opened.
Twilight simply stood and looked at the open door for a few seconds expecting someone to come out of it, when none did however she had a thought.
“Does he want to take me somewhere?” It seemed like the most logical answer as even with it being night time there was a chance that someone could stumble upon them talking and she doubts they both want to draw unwanted attention.
For a moment Twilight was tempted to actually take the truck up on his offer both because she might get some answers and that at least with this Transforming robot she won’t be killed, she actually took a step towards the truck before realisation set in.
“I can’t, at least not tonight. For all I know those robots could be planning on invading Equestria, a far flung idea true but I’d definitely feel better if the Princesses knew of what was going on. Sorry Mr.Prime but hopefully we will meet again soon.”
With that Twilight simply shook her head to the red truck, turned around and jumped through the mirror portal leaving behind a very confused robot in disguise.
Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean
“And she just went through it, like that!?” The white and red Autobot Ratchet asked with disbelief evident in his voice.
Optimus Prime merely nodded standing in the middle of the bridge turned command centre of their starship turned secret base, it was twenty minutes since Prime had last sighted the human female and the last of the primes had many questions in his mind.
“Indeed old friend.” He simply said.
“Perhaps it was an outage,(WHACK) Groundbridge!” Fixit theorised as he was in a section of the Command Centre built for Mini-Cons.
Ratchet snorted at the notion from his station before saying “Please! This planet doesn't even have the resources to make a space bridge like device possible and even if it did the humans themselves lack the right knowledge to produce something even remotely similar to the Space Dimensional Bridge Theory.”
“Perhaps.” The voice of another Autobot was heard as he walked onto the bridge with a black and red Autobot.
“Percepter, Ironhide.” Optimus greeted to both of them which the veteran and science officer nodded before Percepter continued.
“However I don’t believe that what we are dealing with is something modern science can understand, be it human or Cybertroian.”
He then walked over to a computer and began typing “As you all know about an Earth year ago we were all awoken from our stasis by a massive discharge of energy that has so far not been recorded as far as our records claimed.”
“Indeed” Optimus stated “I remember waking so abruptly from stasis that I at first believed the Decepticons had found us.”
“Yeah that was not the best way to wake up from stasis.” Ironhide added as he stood beside Optimus.
“Since then and when the time allows it I've been at work determining what and where that energy is.” Percepter told all present as the screen began showing two wavelengths, one above the other.
“My research has led me to believe that the energy in question is not of our dimension and that it appears that it at least is compatible with the energies of the Matrix not in terms of abilities mind you but in terms of what they represent, which would explain that one human’s episode when she made contact with prime.” The Autobots chief science officer explained as the two wavelengths were highlighted and placed over one another.
“So the reason she had that episode or whatever Prime saw was because…what they’re the same?” Ironhide asked.
“Not quite as I have to do more research but whatever is the source of these energies and the Matrix are best compared to different organic races our ancestors encountered in the past, whilst they were all unique in their own ways they also have many similarities such as the need for oxygen and food to keep their bodies active. Something like a board similarity would be the best way I can describe what the relationship between the Matrix and these energies is.” Preceptor said
Optimus nodded so far following Percepter’s explanation.
“If the humans have access to an energy source not from this dimension then why have we not seen any evidence of it being in use?” An Autobot manning a nearby console asked.
“Because from what my research has revealed it appears the Human nation known as the “United States” has apparently kept the lid on this from preventing those who know about it to talk openly and keeping it out of the human’s internet. Observe.” Percepter said before showing a video on the screen.
It showed Rainbow Dash playing the guitar, ponying up as she did, the sight surprised all who saw it, even Optimus Prime.
“Is this the work of the same energy?” He asked.
“Indeed Optimus and if I wasn’t looking for this particular energy signature I would have dismissed this as merely an edited video outright however.” Percepter then switched the screen to that of a map of the USA.
The map then zoomed in on a familiar location.
“Canterlot city?” Ratchet asked.
“Yes it appears that both the source of that energy wave that awoken us and the video you see before you originated from the same place, there also appears to have been many smaller occurrences of this energy over the course of the past Earth year the largest being around two months old.” Percepter explained.
“All within the same location?” Prime asked, referring to Canterlot City to which Percepter nodded.
“That can’t be a coincidence.” Ironhide commented.
“Indeed old friend it can’t, Fixit is there anything you can tell us about our human Female?” Optimus asked.
“She appears in much of the local media alongside six other humans, one of which had actually heh “brought” Bumblebee.” Fixit said, chuckling at the thought whilst also bringing up a series of images showing Twilight and the Wondercolts plus Sunset in the Rainbooms.
“They appear to be apart of a human band known as the “Rainbooms” which won the local human event known as the Battle of the Bands and appeared to be quite popular in the city’s local high school where much of the censored media came from.” The Mini-Con added.
“What of her name Fixit?” The last of the Primes asked.
After checking his computer for a moment Fixit said “Her name appears to be Twilight Sparkle.”
That gave Percepter a look of curiosity “An odd name for a human if my knowledge of human naming conventions is accurate.”
Optimus Prime had a thoughtful expression for a moment before asking “Where’s Bumblebee now?”
“Last I checked he was on his way back to where the Human last parked him in order to avoid suspicion, Arcee and Bulkhead went with him.” Ratchet explained.
“Can you get in contact with him? I fear Megatron may seek to use those Humans either as bait to draw out our dimensional human friend or try to glean information out of them, or even worse use them as bait to lure us out.” Optimus asked.
“I tried his comms but I think they may be damaged and in the process of rebooting but I also can’t seem to get in touch with Bulkhead or Arcee either.” Ratchet replied.
“Keep trying Ratchet and when you do reach them tell them to watch over the Rainbooms whilst I take watch over the portal.” Prime ordered as he made his way out of the bridge.
“And what happens if she comes back through?” Ironhide asked as he turned to follow his leader and friend.
Turning around Optimus Prime spoke with a defeated tone “Whilst it was my hope that the humans would stay out of this conflict, it has become clear that due to today’s events the Decepticons have targeted Twilight Sparkle and would soon target those who are close to her. Therefore it is our responsibility to protect them at any cost and to do so they must know the full extent of our war.”
With that Prime walked out of the main Bridge.
That same day in Equestria
Back in Equestria meanwhile Twilight had just come through the portal and had spent the first few moments back in Equestria just looking at where she was.
Her mind was still trying to process what had transpired that night, so much so that she didn’t notice the door to the portal room open nor did she hear who entered.
“Something wrong Twilight?”
“Sorry Spike I was-” Twilight started until her brian recognised that it wasn’t Spike speaking.
It was Princess Celestia herself.
“PRINCESS!?” Twilight couldn’t help herself but yell her surprise, it's not everyday that Celestia comes to visit.
“W-What are you doing here?” Twilight asked more calmly this time.
“I was just visiting with Luna who wanted to informally ask Rarity for a new dress for this year’s Galloping Gala.” Celestia responded.
“Oh” Twilight simply said before remembering what happened today and started telling the Princess about it with as much detail as possible.
Celestia for her part simply listened whilst Twilight recounted her tale, her gaze one of concerned intrigue as Twilight told her of the robots that saved her and Fowler.
“Hmm.” Celestia hummed after Twilight finished her tale “The presence of these “Robots” as you call them is indeed a concern and they could very much be a threat to both our worlds if left unchecked.”
Twilight nodded, coming to a similar conclusion “So what should we do then Princes-I mean Celestia?”
“Whilst your duties here in Equestria are important, know that for the time being I will endeavour to make sure you have more time in the human world, if you can stop this threat over there before they could find a way to our world then it would be all the better.” Celestia said.
Twilight nodded again before she yawned, “I’ll head back as soon as I’m able Celestia, first I’m gonna get some shut-eye. It's been a long day.”
Chuckling to herself and smiling a bit, Celestia simply said “Of course my former student get some well deserved rest, you won’t be helping anypony if you end up sleeping during a crisis.”
With that Twilight trotted out of the portal room and headed back towards her bedroom
Once she was out of sight however her small smile dropped before a familiar voice called out. “Was it truly necessary dear sister to lie to her?”
Turning around facing a darkened corner of the room the Princess of the Sun stood face to face with her counterpart Luna the Princess of the Moon who walked slowly out of the shadows.
“Yes Luna and I do wish it wasn’t so but if what he said was true and only she can survive it without endangering the other side… I don’t want to burden her as much as I am already.” Celestia said with a solemn tone.
“I still find this all hard to believe sister, were it not for the fact that SHE was with him I would have not given his warning more than a mere glance. Even then though the fact that all this foreboding news hinges on the chance encounter with young Twilight and this “Last Prime” fills me with utter disbelief.” Luna said trotting up to her sister.
“I know sister and I very very wish I could do…something but.” Celestia started but couldn’t find the words to continue.
Adopting a look of concern on her face Luna then said “But like everything else since my return you took actions that could have very much doomed our subjects if things have played out differently however you also wanted to have faith in our subjects like Young Twilight because of the hidden truths you’ve kept from them after my banishment.”
“The Faith I had in my subjects was to more or less convince myself that I trusted my little ponies and whilst that worked for the past thousand years…but recent events clearly show how arrogant I was in staying my hoof when it was needed.” Celestia said facing her sister directly.
Smiling a bit Luna replied “Well to be fair to you dear sister you DID try to defeat me whilst you were on your way to Ponyvile and you very nearly got me since you’ve Grown a tiny bit stronger over the years, it was just the thought of what your escorts and then your subjects would think when they realised how powerful you were. You were scared of painting yourself as someone who couldn’t be approached, of someone who was far above anypony else when in reality you just wanted be the one who cares for others.”
“What about the other times such as the wedding?” Celestia countered.
Smirking Luna said “Well it’s good to know that my sister can just as easily make mistakes as the next pony, which would be me in this case.”
They both laughed softly at that before Luna spoke more seriously.
“Still sister will you tell Twilight the truth? If not now but in the near future?”
“Only if the worst comes to pass, if what he said doesn’t materialise then I have no reason why I should burden Twilight with the truth of something that does not exist.” Her sister replied.
Sighing Luna began retreating back into the shadows and into the dream realm but not before saying “Very well sister, Sun’s gaze keep you safe.”
Smiling as her sister left Celestia replied “Moon’s light watch over you as well dear Luna”.
Back in the human world high in the skies was a massive warship plowing through the night’s clouds like a shark in the sea.
Its hull is jet black and has angles that give it a very aggressive appearance and posture, to any human eyes that lay on him it would be the largest vessel that ever flown the Earth’s skies. But to its crew it was merely a lighter vessel used in most fleet engagements back in their home system and made up the bulk of the fleet, now though it was the most valuable asset to its crew as not only can it defeat the primitive radars of the humans but it can also deploy multiple away teams across the globe via its onboard Light-Space-Bridge-Generator.
The ship itself is called the Nemesis, once a mere line ship in the Decepticons 4th Armada 7th Fleet 45th Squadron now the mobile Headquarters of Decepticon operations on Earth.
Within the bridge of the Nemesis standing on a raised platform was a Gray and black Cybertronian but not just any Cybertronian, he is considered the dominator, the Conquer, the Destroyer.
This was Megatron, leader of the Decepticons.
“Lord Megatron.” A Decepticon said whilst walking up the walkway that led to the raised platform.
“What?” Megatron asked his voice deep and commanding but with a tone that tells one he doesn’t like to be disturbed for no reason.
Turning around Megatron was surprised to find not only the Decepticon but also his most loyal follower and dare he say friend, Soundwave.
“Soundwave?” The lord of destruction said and Soundwave nodded before projecting a video on his visor.
“Earlier this rotation Soundwave noticed one of the humans interacting with Optimus Prime and from what he saw called a nearby patrol to capture it and ordered me to send backup.” The Decepticon from before reported.
The video on Soundwave’s visor showed an overhead view of Twilight walking towards prime’s vehicle mode and touching him as well as jumping back in shock, it then followed the events from earlier in the day from the chase to the point where Fowler’s car was pushed off the bridge and into the man made ravine.
“It was when we had them cornered that the Autobots ambushed us.” The Decepticon continued as Soundwave showed footage of Optimus and the other Autobots engaging the Decepticon pursuit team.
“Interesting.” Was all Megatron said before another voice interrupted.
“And how would this aid us lord Megatron?” Megatron’s second Starscream asked as he came onto the bridge.
“I fail to see how a simple human could know anything about the Autobots operations and that’s assuming it's even involved with them at all which given who we are talking about here is very unlikely.” The Seeker said coming to stand next to Soundwave.
In response Soundwave then showed a different video on his visor this time showing Twilight standing next to the mirror portal before jumping through it, another video showed the same mirror but this time Twilight stepped out of the mirror.
To say both Megatron and Starscream were surprised by this was an understatement.
“VERY interesting.” Megatron said with a very evil smile whilst Starscream still had a surprised face before it morphed into confusion.
“I didn’t think humans had any technology like that.” He said whilst he looked at the footage which played on repeat
“They don’t nor do I believe this has anything to do with any technology known to us, which means it's imperative that we acquire it to ensure it does not fall into Autobot hands.” Megatron said before addressing Soundwave. “Were you able to track the human?”
The Decepticon Comms Officer shook his head before bringing up a diagram of the energies emanating from the statue.
“The energies are unlike anything you’ve seen and thus can’t get a fix, is that right?” Megatron asked to which Soundwave nodded before he brought up some images and videos on the main screen of the bridge, most were from the human internet whilst a couple were from Soundwave’s Mini-Con LaserBeak though those were snap shots at human phones showing either a Rainboom Ponying up or a freeze shot of the Wondercolts already ponied up.
They ranged from the Fall formal Incident to the more recent Battle of the bands Incident in terms of age and all were shown to have been censored by one of the human governments.
“...How did we miss all this?!” Starscream exclaimed disbelief at both the nature of the evidence present and the fact they are just learning about this now.
“Because we never thought such things could be possible or if they were just merely fabricated via their global network and were more focused on combating the Autobots.” Megatron stated as he looked at a particular video which appeared to be from a government Agent overlooking the Battle of the Bands just in time to see the Sirens being defeated by the Rainbooms.
“Still” Starscream started “How would these humans help us master?”
“Given the events today it is of no doubt that Optimus would most likely keep an eye on these humans and given the Autobots tendencies to protect the weak it's likely that if we make a move on them the Autobots will have to react.” Megatron explained which made Starscream smile sinisterly.
“The perfect bait.” He said to which Megatron nodded.
“Indeed Starscream” Megatron said before explaining further.
“Sooner or later we will come into conflict with the Autobots on a much more massive scale than what we’ve done previously so by taking the initiative and striking first we can gadge Optimus’s strength before the full war can resume and these humans can provide the means of achieving that goal.”
“Then please Lord Megatron let me bring the humans in! I’m just itching to show Decepticon supremacy over these primitives.” Starscream said whilst bowing for elegance.
Megatron looked at his 2IC before nodding whilst saying “Very Starscream but you better not fail me in this simple task like so many others.”
That made Starscream falter a bit before his master continued “And bring Breakdown and Knockout with you to ensure you don’t fail, am I clear Starscream?”
Standing up straight for his master, Starscream said “I will make the necessary arrangements at once, Sargent with me!”
With that he and the Decepticon walked out of the bridge but not before Megatron said “And Starscream! As long as just one of those humans is captured, that will surely be enough bait for our plan.”
Once they were out of sight Megatron turned to Soundwave who nodded and proceeded to exit the bridge leaving his liege to himself.
“Soon Optimus we shall once again do battle, I hope you haven’t lost your edge.” He muttered to himself as he looked out of the view screen to see thunder clouds gathering.
An ill omen for the things to come.
The scene back on the highway was one of organised chaos as police and firefighters occupied the scene where a police car had suddenly exploded whilst responding to a crime in progress.
“And there was nothing you found that could cause this?” A police inspector asked one of the officers on site.
“We know for certain that someone in the vehicle that our guys were pursuing had a weapon capable of destroying a whole car it’s just we’re not sure what, we also know that whatever destroyed the car was powerful maybe an RPG but unless the guys they were chasing weren’t your run of the mill criminals I can’t see how anyone could acquire something like that.” The officer said as the inspector surveyed the wreckage.
“Chief! Need you over here!” Another officer called out to the first one who looked at the inspector.
“Get going chief, I’ll be here looking at the wreckage more closely.” The inspector said to which the officer nodded and left the inspector alone.
Taking a knee next to a large piece of the ruined police car, the inspector looks around for a moment before taking out his phone and after dialling the number and the call was picked up at the other end he spoke.
“Connect me to Commander Silas, I have something that he may find interest in.”
Next Episode Preview!
”I can’t believe what just happened yesterday!”
(Shows Twilight and Fowler standing before a kneeling Optimus in the Autobot base.)
”But now I have to believe it or otherwise my friends could get into trouble that I don’t think they can get out of of!”
(Shows Starscream, Breakdown and Knockout surrounding the Rainbooms and Wallflower in the dead of night before snapping to scenes of each of them trying to escape the Deceptions.)
”Next Time! United We Stand Part Two!
(Shows Bumblebee in his Robot mode punching Starscream in the face plate
”We can never catch a break can we girls?”
(Shows the Rainbooms plus Twilight being engulfed in a bright light before snapping to the faces of various Cybertronians who all have looks of shock on their faceplates before the preview ends on Optimus Prime’s face who is just as shocked as the rest.)
Author's Note
Here we go guys!
Was having this sort of idea for a while, can’t remember how long though but I do know that it’s gone under a lot of revisions in my head one of which was having Twilight be kidnapped by the Deceptions and Prime rescue her whilst his team was on the cons Warship.
In any case I hope you guys enjoy and until next time
TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT!
Edit 24/10/2023: Made some changes to Prime and Celestia’s dialogue and added some additional dialogue to Perceptor’s explanation dump In response to some comments, wish I could do more but that would mean rewriting whole scenes that right now I don’t have the mental capacity for so yeah.
Edit 12/12/2023: Made some adjustments to the final scene in this chapter.
Edit 11/3/24: Added a new scene at the end.
TRANSFORM AND FULL STEAM AHEAD!
Episode Two: United We Stand Part Two: Edited
Sugar Cube Corner: Late evening
Sugar Cube Corner is one of the most enjoyable places to go for a meal in Canterlot from launch breaks to dinner meals; there's not much that could compare to SCC despite some claims to the contrary.
It is here that the Rainbooms plus Wallflower have chosen to spend the hour before they head to Fluttershy’s for their slumber party however as the minutes ticked by two of their guests have yet to show.
“Wonder what’s keeping them?” Rainbow Dash asks as she looks up at the others from her phone.
They were all sitting at a table next to the windows which was the same one they’d used when Twilight first came back during the debacle with the sirens, RD was sitting right next to the window with Pinkie and Rarity sitting to her left whilst Sunset sat across from her and to Sunny’s right sat Wallflower and Fluttershy whilst Applejack took to standing beside the table.
“Maybe there’s something wrong with the traffic?” Fluttershy offered as she finished her smoothie.
“Nah I doubt the streets had gotten worse at this hour but unless something bad happened I couldn’t give ya a snapping clue.” AJ said as she took both Flutter’s and Pinkie’s cups to the bin.
Sunset for her part was about to reply when her phone rang, taking it out of her pocket she looked at the ID and frowned.
“Fowler?” She thought as it was unusual for the DIA agent to call her instead of Applejack.
“Hello?” Sunset asked as she listened to her phone grabbing the attention of everyone present including AJ who’d just returned.
“Hey Miss Shimmer sorry we’re late but we had an accident on the highway.” Fowler’s voice said over the phone.
“Ah! Is Twilight okay!? What happened, why were you two on the highway!?” Sunset exclaimed as she shot up startling the rest of the girls.
“....Some guys tried to ram us off the road after following us, had to get out of town to ensure you guys didn’t get in the crossfire and Twilight’s okay but the experience shakened her so I’m afraid she had to go back to Equestria for now.” Fowler said as Sunset sat back down and turned her gaze to her left out the window.
“What about those guys that tried to hurt you, did you arrest them?” Sunset asked as she felt like something was off outside.
“...They…are dead.” The way Fowler said it didn’t help lessen the shock Sunset flet at the mention that they were dead.
“How?” She said shaking a bit which made the others nervous but Sunset waved them that everything was okay though she knew that AJ could see right through that lie.
“Better you don’t know kid” Fowler simply said as Sunset continued to look out the window both to see what was it that was making her uneasy and to distract her from the fact that she was told that someone or someones had died and possibly because of her mentor.
“No she wasn’t responsible but I can definitely see something like that shaking her” Sunset thought as Fowler continued.
“In any case you and your friends have a good weekend and don’t worry about the Princess, I’ll do some digging and try to find out who those guys were and who they worked for and get some hands to deal with them should they become a problem in the future.”
“Okay thanks Fowler.” Sunset simply said as she closed her phone and told her friends what Fowler told her, to say they were shakened a bit by how Twilight had a run in with death was an understatement but Sunset quickly went back to trying to find out why she keeps having this off putting feeling, squishing her face against the window she tried to look further to her left up the street past a street lamp.
She’d park her new car just that lamp post but as she continued looking it was almost if-
“OH BUCK NO!” Sunset screamed in her head as she quickly tried to get out of the table causing quite the fuss.
“Woah there sugar cube what's the rush!?” Applejack asked as Sunset pushed past her and ran back outside into the cold air with the others quickly following her.
“MY CAR!!” The bacon haired pony turned human screamed out loud this time into the night sky.
Right where Sunset’s new car was supposed to be was nothing but the pavement, the rest of the Rainbooms quickly saw the cause of Sunset’s outburst or rather what wasn’t there.
“What the heck!?” Rainbow dash was the first voice her thoughts “I thought you locked it Sunny!?”
“She did.” Wallflower said standing behind Sunset.
Rarity was quick to add “But who could or want to sell Sunset’s car?”
“More importantly, how did we not hear an alarm go off?” AJ asked as she gazed up and down the street.
“ARF! ARF!” The Rainbooms turned their heads at the sound of the pitched barking to see Pinkie on all fours and sniffing the ground as if she were a dog, she then straightened her back whilst still on all fours and pointed up the street.
Everyone just stared at Pinkie for a good three seconds before Fluttershy said “Umm Pinkie do you..know where Sunset’s car’s gone?”
“ARF! ARF!” Pinkie barked whilst nodding her head and proceeded to move up the street whilst keeping her head to the ground whilst sniffing.
“How-?” Wallflower begins to ask before RD cuts her off by saying.
“It's just Pinkie being Pinkie, now let's go!” Before RD could get two feet from the rest of the group Applejack grabs her by the arm.
“Woah there Dash you sure that’s the right move?” The farmgirl says as she gets the attention of the rest of the gang.
“I mean wouldn’t it be safer to just tell the police about this?” She added as the girls turned to Sunset since it was her car after all.
For her part Sunset could definitely see AJ’s point about it being the safer option as they don’t know who took the car and even if Pinkie could somehow track it they don’t know how far the thieves have gone.
On the other hand though..
“You right AJ we should be handing this over to the police but…I BOUGHT THE CAR FROM FLIM AND FLAM!” That startled everyone except AJ who was having it worse, Rainbow Dash who already knew and Pinkie who was still sniffing out Sunset’s car.
“FLIM AN-!?” Applejack started before looking sternly at Rainbow Dash.
“H-Hey! I didn’t know they owned the shop I swear! And by the time I did know Sunset was already set on getting the car. I told myself “What’s the worst that could happen” and thought it was money well spent.”
“Until we got to look at the paperwork.” Sunset added with a disgruntled tone.
Whilst AJ gave both of them a look of understanding Wallflower had a confused look on her face.
“Um what exactly did that paperwork involve?” She asked only for AJ to say. “All you should know Wally is that those two care only for making money at any cost and that I despise them with a passion.”
“Then I guess we follow Pinkie then?” Rarity says as she waved a hand towards Pinkie who was still sniffing and getting quite a ways off.
Looking at their friend and then back to the fashionara Applejack took a moment before sighing and then nodded before saying “Guess so but let’s try to be careful okay?”
“Pff knowing our luck AJ if we get into trouble it won’t be our own choice.” Rainbow replies before running after Pinkie with Sunset, Wallflower and Fluttershy right behind her.
Rarity and Applejack just looked on as the others gained some distance before the farmgirl muttered “Maybe not all of us Dash.” And thus the two headed off with the rest of the group.
Unbeknownst to them however, a red sports car sitting in a nearby alleyway was watching their every move before activating its comms and said to its comrades.
“Knockout to Starscream come in Starscream, I’ve got the Human’s compatriots in my optical sights plus one extra. Does that change anything over?”
There was a pause before the Sky Commander replied “No, as long as we acquire any of the six original humans that would serve our master’s plan.”
“What about the bots? Bait isn’t so useful if the prey doesn’t know it's there.” Knockout asked as he slowly moved his vehicle from forwards in pursuit of the girls but just far enough that they couldn't see him in the dark.
“The Human female will eventually return or at least she’ll hear that something has happened to her comrades and return to investigate which will catch the Autobots eye, once they’ve seen us capture her it’ll only be a matter of time before they fall for the bait.” Starscream says as high above far in the dark clouds he was in his vehicle mode circling the city like a shark searching for its next meal.
“And?” Knock asked, figuring that there was something else.
“And in likelihood the Autobots know about the relationship between these humans and the one from the portal and sent someone to protect them thus they will indeed know who had protonapped them so either way the humans will make excellent bait.” Starscream says as he remembers what his lord said about the details of the plan.
“Understood Screamer Knockout knocking out.” The Decepticon Medic said with a grin if it could be seen before continuing to stalk the girls.
“Is this it Pinks?” Rainbow Dash said as Pinkie began entering a scrap yard, it was just outside the city, well out of the way of any prying eyes.
“ARF! ARF!” Pinkie barked before sniffing her way past the gate and into the yard proper.
The others gather near a corner next to the gate ready to go after her before Applejack said “Uh any yall got reception?”
The others were confused by that question before Fluttershy checked her phone and noticed that her’s too had no signal, soon everyone else had checked their phones only to see that their too had no signal.
“Strange we’d haven’t gone that far from the city have we?” Rarity asks as she looks up from her phone.
Sunset was a bit unnerved by how suddenly their phones had lost signal but she put on a brave face for the sake of her friends if nothing else, she then looked around the corner into the scrap yard where she could hear Pinkie still barking but at a faster rate.
“She must have found something.” Sunset thought as she motioned for everyone to head in carefully.
As they moved through the yard Sunset couldn’t help but wonder why there weren't any guards at the entrance.
Any further pondering on that however ceased when she saw where Pinkie is, in the middle of an open area in the centre of the yard the Sugar girl was still sniffing whilst circling the area she was sniffing.
“That’s weird.” She said standing back up on her feet whilst staring at the area where she was just done sniffing.
“Pinkie? Thinking something’s weird?” Rainbow said worryingly, if the girl who could pull acts straight out of a cartoon or could do things that defy all reason says something’s weird then things might get more crazy then they have ever the right to be.
“How so sugar cube?” Applejack asked.
“The trail just stops here.” Pinkie said, looking just as confused as the rest of the girls.
“Whad'ya mean the trail stops here?” AJ ponders as she takes a look at the spot Pinkie was sniffing before.
“I mean what I mean silly!” Pinkie chirped despite the situation.
Sunset also came over beside Applejack to have a look with her phone acting as a flashlight and she noticed something.
On the ground were tracks that suddenly ended in the exact spot where Pinkie was sniffing before, she looked up and pointed her phone up as well but she could see a crane anyway.
“Looks like the car was driving at full speed when it disappeared somehow.” Applejack surmised as she too looked at the spot and sky with her phone’s flashlight feature.
“Do you believe this could be related to magic?” Rarity asks before a flash of light flared up behind them.
“Magic!? Please, I thought you people were past the point of being superstitious.” The voice came from the same place as the lights, a crimson black sports car.
“Who are you!?” AJ asked, putting herself between the car and the girls.
“Just some bot who has an interest in you girls.” Came the reply.
“Some BOT?” Sunset thought as she noticed another vehicle coming from behind them.
Unlike the car this one was a military vehicle of some kind though Applejack noted it bears some similarities to International M1224 MaxxPro MRAP but there were some clear differences.
“Hey Knocks found them first did ya?” Said a voice from inside the vehicle.
“What kind of name is Knocks?” Rainbow Dash thought before frowning “Then again I guess we or I have no right to judge given our names”.
“Well of course I found them first! It’s ME afterall.” Said “Knocks” from inside his car as another car, this one black and purple came around from behind a large scrap pile towards the Rainbooms Surrounding them on three sides.
“W-What do you want from us!?” Wallflower shouted trying to hide herself behind Sunset as the rest of the girls formed a circle.
“Oh nothing much just wanting you fleshies to meet our leader.” Knocks says which further confused the girls not just in what they want but also why he called them fleshies.
“And why would we come with you?!” AJ said definitely.
Suddenly laughter could be heard from the three vehicles.
“Now that’s cute but see kid-” Knocks says before his car did something nobody in the group could expect, it started to shift and change metal and alloy moving in ways not possible for human machines. This was followed by the other two vehicles and Sunset could start to see a form taking shape on Knock’s car, it had two arms, two legs and a head but instead of flesh this form was made of metal.
Once all three had finished transforming the Rainbooms watched in both awe and dread as no longer were three cars surrounding them but three massive and armed robots.
“-we weren’t asking.” Said the robot form of the crimson car who had the same voice as before.
“Knockout, we sure we want all six of them?” The robot which transformed from the second car said as he looked over the scared humans.
“Seven actually.” The robot who transformed from the military vehicle said as he pointed at Wallflower.
Sunset meanwhile was busy trying to come up with a plan, before when they were faced with danger they’d use their magic but even if they could use their magic now (which they couldn’t) they had always used it on threats from Equestria which to some extent or other were magical in nature however these robots clearly weren’t magical at all so using magic was out of the question.
“Well even if we only need one of them to lure that other human female out I could find ways to use the remaining fleshlings.” Knockout said his right hand transforming into a buzzsaw.
“Other human!?” Sunset thought as she tried to figure out who it was these robots were after, it was obviously someone she and her friends knew since apparently they were being used as bait but that only shortened the list.
Her first thought went to Twilight but that was the most obvious and Sunset didn’t know exactly why they were hunting whoever they were hunting in the first place, for all she knew they could be hunting the principal or vice-principal.
“Got ah plan Sugar cube?” Applejack whispered to her as the three robots conversed.
Sunset shook herself out of her thoughts for a moment “Escape now ponder later.” she thought as she took stock of their situation.
There were seven of them and only three of the robots and they wanted her friends alive, so the best plan for the moment would be to run separately in all directions. That way when the robots come after them they can only go after three of them at a time giving the remaining four a chance to come up with a more concrete plan or at the very least escape.
With a plan in mind Sunset got everyone’s attention and whispered “When I give the signal run in the first direction that comes to mind but don’t go together, there’s only three of them so four of us will have a chance to either figure out how to stop them here or at the very least escape-”
“Hey! What’re you fleshings whispering about?” Knockout asks as he knelt down to get a good look at Sunset.
Realising the time was short Sunset said “Ah well I was just-SCATTER!”
With that like a gaggle of chickens the Rainbooms run in separate directions faster than the robots were expecting.
“Breakdown! The gate!” Knockout shouted as he pursued Rainbow dash.
“On it!” Breakdown said as he fired his shoulder mounted weapon at the open gate setting it on fire and cutting off the most easy route to safety.
“Woah nice party cannon!” Turning his head towards the source of the voice, Breakdown saw Pinkie out in the open with a big smile on her face.
Shifting his frame around with a grin, Breakdown powered up his cannon and said “Here! Have a free sample!” before firing it at the pink themed human.
Pinkie however being Pinkie jumped or flipped out of the way of the blast just before it hit, landing inside one of the larger scrap piles.
Turning his right hand into a hammer, Breakdown walked over to the pile and looked it over trying to see if he could find Pinkie.
“I may be no scientist but I do know you organics can’t live without oxygen so you’ll have to come up at some point.” He said, raising his hammer high.
“Like now!?” Pinkie said her head popping up like a mole rat before she ducked her head back under the pile just as the hammer came crashing down.
Raising it back up Breakdown looked to see if he could tell if he got the human or not only for her to pop her head out just a few feet away in the same pile.
“Did you get it this time?!” Pinkie said only for the hammer to come down on her head again and yet again her head appeared in a different spot.
“How about now!?” Another crash from Breakdown's hammer.
“How does transforming your hand into a hammer actually work?” Another crash.
“Can it turn into a party cannon?” And another.
“Does your arm ache when you do that?” And another.
“Can you turn into something other than a car, like a monster truck?” And another.
“Where do you guys come from, are there parties where you’re from?” And another.
“Hammer time!” And another.
“Have you ever heard of whack a mole?” This time Breakdown had enough and instead resorted to just blasting the whole pile with his cannon whilst yelling out his anger.
After a full minute of blasting the Decepticon moved to admire his handiwork with a smile on his face until…
“ANGER MANAGEMENT ISSUES!” Pinkie yelled from breakdown’s right, completely fine and probably more energetic than before.
Turning his head towards her very slowly breakdown said “Oh I’m gonna enjoy, RIPPING YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!”
“Can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbeardman!” Pinkie said before running whilst breakdown chased after her.
Meanwhile Knockout was still chasing Rainbow who was trying to lose him in a maze of squared scrap piles.
“Hey big fella catch!” AJ shouted from Knockout’s left before a trash can filled with junk hit him in the head, dazing him which allowed RD to run around a corner and out of sight.
Once he got his bearings again Knockout noticed that the human he was chasing was gone.
“Oh are we playing that human game? Hide and seek?” He said smiling a bit as he walked through the large maze keeping his optics clear for any sign of movement.
“I prefer search and destroy myself!” Turning his right hand into a buzzsaw again Knockout began cutting the squared piles in the hopes of exposing the humans.
It was during one of these slashes that he’d expose AJ and RD, the buzzsaw separating the two.
Rainbow Dash fear gripping her heart began running away but she didn’t get far before she noticed Knockout was focusing on Applejack whom he had backed into a corner, her face had a look of defiance but also a touch of fear as well.
“Let’s see what’s inside you shall we?” Knockout said, raving up his buzzsaw.
It wasn’t lost on Rainbow of what Knockout was going to do to AJ and that line of thought triggered something in her, she didn’t know what but Dash was never the one for details. She ran straight towards Knockout though much faster than any normal human could manage, with a strong jump she kicked Knockout in the back of his head causing him to fall forwards towards AJ who thankfully got out of the way just in time.
As the Decepticon lay there motionless AJ looked at Rainbow Dash who despite having just ran and jumped kicked a massive robot looked rather okay all things considered.
“How did you do that Dash?” The farmgirl asks RD as she checks herself for injury, likely just as aware how unbelievably that was.
“I uh I don’t know I just saw you about to get robosected and before I knew it was already coming back down from the kick but I did feel something familiar.” Rainbow Dash answered as they both started to get some distance from the creep.
“Familiar how?” AJ says as she takes a peek around the next corner to make sure the coast was clear.
“Like when we pony up or something like that.” Dash said as she came up behind her farmer friend.
Seeing that the coast was clear for now, AJ said “Well we’ll have to put a pin on that whilst we try to find a way out of here.”
“Should we still split up?” Dash asks.
AJ thought about that for a moment before saying “Nah at least we should stick together for now.”
With that the two hurried away from the prone form of Knockout who started to get back on his feet.
Meanwhile Sunset was busy running from the last of the three robots, the second car one. She was able to lead the thing away from Wallflower so she could hopefully found a way out of the scrap yard, still if she didn’t think of something fast then by nature of it being bigger the robot will catch up with Sunset and capture her. Given the lack of…nobility the robots possessed she wouldn’t be surprised if they used her or any of her friends as leverage to round the rest of them up.
Sunset’s older self would’ve argued why she had to risk her life for the others in either case but as she was now for the better downsides or not Sunset wouldn’t trade her friends for anything, which is why she was leading one of the most advanced robots she’d seen far away from Wally and past under a crane hook holding a wrecked car.
Just as the robot passed under it the hook let loose the car and it slammed onto its back.
“Thanks Pinkie!” Sunset shouted as she saw who it was that did the deed, it didn’t matter how Pinkie was able to get up there and operate a crane without training for Sunset had long ago realised that there are some things that Pinkie just does or as they like to call it “Pinkie being Pinkie”.
Pinkie gave a thumbs up from her position in the crane as the Robot who transformed into a military vehicle began shaking the crane in a blind rage, clearly not used to Pinkie antics.
Sunset’s heart shrunk as she saw the crane begin to tilt under the pressure “Get out of there Pinkie!” She shouted but fortunately it was not needed as Pinkie took out a few of her balloons from her hair and tying them around her waist she began to glide back down to the ground much to the anger of the robot.
Sunset risked a moment to analyse the robot’s expressions though maybe robot wasn’t what they were. They were clearly mechanical in nature yet act like humans from making jokes to getting angry, it was something that if she had the time would’ve loved to learn how much more similar these…Synthetics? She didn’t know what else to call them at the moment.
Before she could make it any further away from the downed robot a blade came down tip first into the ground right in front of Sunset, the sudden appearance and the pressure from the impact knocked her off her feet and onto her back.
Looking up Sunset saw a fourth robot, this one different from the rest, its body was thinner and was mostly black with some red but the most obvious difference is that from the wings on its back this robot transformed into an aircraft rather than a car.
Before Sunset could move the new robot snatched her with one of its hands whilst retrieving the sword with the other.
“Time to end this game.” It said before leaping up towards the top of a nearby pile.
“ATTENTION HUMANS! I HAVE ONE OF YOUR OWN! SURRENDER NOW AND I WON’T SQUISH HER LIKE THE ORGANIC PARASITES YOU ARE!” The robot shouted at the top of his..lungs?
Sunset didn’t know and didn’t care as she tried to get herself free from the robot's grip but to no avail.
Soon the rest of the Rainbooms either because they were caught or that they listened to the robot’s threat were herded into an open area in front of the fourth robot through fortunately as Sunset scanned over her friends she couldn’t see Wallflower which meant she was still hiding.
“Bout time you showed up Screamer.” Breakdown said as he put Pinkie down with the rest of the group from his hand.
“Can it Breakdown! We need to move before-” The fourth robot started before a horn was heard.
Looking to the side, Sunset saw a car coming in very fast but it wasn’t just any car.
It was her car!
Before anyone could react Sunset’s car slammed into the fourth robot's torso causing it to fly a bit backwards with a “AHHHH!” and in the process tossed Sunset up in the air, fortunately for her Sunset was caught again in a large hand before she felt a violent shake through it.
Looking around herself to get her bearings she came face to face with the optics of another robot however unlike the others this one had blue eyes and…
Sunset blinked for a moment as she took in the robot’s appearance as best as she could given her position.
“Was this robot…my CAR!?” She thought as said robot aimed a pair of blasters that folded out of his free wrist at the four other robots.
“YOU COULD’VE SAID THAT THE AUTOBOTS WERE HERE!” Knockout shouted to Starscream as the Decepticons regrouped.
“I WAS ABOUT TO WHEN THEY GOT HERE KNOCKOUT!” Starscream shouted back.
“They?” Sunset thought as the yellow robot gently put her down behind it just as her friends came running towards her.
It was then that two more engine sounds became audible, looking to the side Sunset spotted a green SUV and a dark blue motorcycle diving up to them.
Despite the fact that Sunset has seen it four times she was still surprised that the newcomers transformed and had taken fighting stances towards the original four robots.
“Bumblebee! Keep those Humans safe!” The green robot that transformed from the green SUV said as his hand transformed into blasters and started firing.
“Bumblebee?” Sunset thought again as they began to hide behind some cover whilst their yellow guardian stood nearby, standing guard as instructed as the battle began in earnest.
The green robot went to do battle with Breakdown whilst the blue robot fought Starscream, the remaining robots decided to 2 v 1 Bumblebee as they both started taking pot shots at each other.
“What have I gotten us into?” Sunset thought as she and her friends watched the battle unfold whilst also looking for Wallflower.
“Arcee” Starscream calmly says as he crosses his swords with the Blue Autobot’s wrist blades.
“Why are you after those humans Starscream this is between us!” Arcee shouted as she used her strength to push each other back before locking blades again.
“I don’t have to explain to the likes of Autobots, especially you!” Starscream augured as he traded blows with Arcee.
“Would the Skymasters still approve of what you and the others did?!” Arcee shouted back as she was able to lock one of her wrist blades with one of Starscream’s swords before yanking it away from him.
“Don’t you dare mention them Autobot!” Starscream yelled before launching a missile from his wrist which exploded near Arcee sending dirt scrap and debris all over her and allowing the former Lord Seeker to disengage and rethink his tactics.
Meanwhile Breakdown was facing off with the green Autobot named Bulkhead.
“So you survived the crash huh Bulk? GOOD gives me the pleasure of scraping you myself!” Breakdown said as he swung his hammer at Bulkhead who was able to parry with his own mace.
“Gee Breakdown you're more mad then I remember blown a gas fuse recently?” Bulkhead asked continuing to parry but was caught off guard when Breakdown faltered for just a moment as Bulkhead meant it as an insult; it was far more insulting to the Decepticon because in a way it was the truth.
The unexpected lull in their duel didn’t last half a second before they both began trading blows again.
“You're still mad after all these years for Gavtrix?” Bulkhead asked as he finally landed a hit on Breakdown’s face.
“Ah!...Yeah Why!?” Breakdown asked back.
“Cause I’m pretty sure I gave you memory loss just now!” Bulkhead said, trying to laugh at his bad attempt at both a joke and an insult.
Breakdown didn’t say anything to that, just continued to try and break Bulkhead’s guard.
Back with Bumblebee and the girls the two remaining Decepticons are in a small firefight, all the while the girls are hiding behind cover just behind their protector. Said protector leaned out of his cover and took a risky shot at the unnamed Decepticon which rang true hitting him square in the face and causing him to tumble backwards onto the ground.
“Yeah take that asshole!” Rainbow Dash cheered.
“Language Rainbow!” Rarity scolded RD with a slap to the head as the two continued sheltering from the fight.
Sunset meanwhile was trying to look for Wallflower through given what was going on at the moment she couldn’t just up and go searching for her, out of the corner of her her eye she spotted movement behind another scrap pile.
“Is that?” Sunset thought and looked a little closer, sure enough she could just about see Wallflower’s head peeking out from the other side of the pile.
As she looked back at the fight she could see that Bumblebee had closed the distance with Knockout and was fighting him hand to hand.
Deciding to risk it, Sunset darted from her cover and headed towards Wallflower, waving her over. Wallflower was just about to join Sunset before a large form loomed behind her.
“Gotcha-Ah!” Starscream said before being punched in the face by Bumblebee who was able to scoop Wallflower up in his free hand and with his other hand motions Sunset back.
“It’s time to get serious” Starscream thought as he pulled out a device whilst getting his footing.
“Soundwave! Need a Space Bridge in 80 seconds!” Starscream said before tossing the device.
As Breakdown got some distance from Bulkhead he saw the device and shouted “E-NADE!”
A flash then followed blanketing the area in a brief but bright flash of light, whilst Sunset and friends were blinded by the bright flash its real impact was the disruption of the integrated electronics in both Autobots and Decepticons alike using an electromagnetic pluse.
Seeing his chance Starscream lunged for Bumblebee, knocking him back whilst grabbing Wallflower.
“WALLY!” Sunset shouted seeing her friend in the clutches of Starscream.
The Autobots were about to point their blasters at him before he brought one of his swords to Wallflower’s throat.
“Nah ah ah!” Starscream taunted as a green swirling vortex appeared behind him.
“Next time warn us!” Knockout said coming up to Starscream with Breakdown in tow who was carrying the deceased form of their third party member.
Starscream merely shrugged before jumping into the vortex alongside Knockout.
“NO! Wallflower!” Sunset screamed as she ran towards the vortex just as Breakdown hopped through.
Just as she came just within a few feet the vortex closes.
Sunset just stood there for a moment, her mind trying to catch up with what had just happened.
Eventually just as the rest of the girls came running up to her Sunset collapsed to her knees in tears.
“WALLY!!” She screamed to the high heavens neither she or her friends are sure of what else to do.
Moments later
“Bulkhead to base, Bulkhead to base anyone there?” Bulkhead said with one hand to his head trying to get in contact with their fellow Autobots at their base, Arcee and Bumblebee were with him each also trying to raise the base on their own comms.
Whilst doing so however Bumblebee couldn’t help but glance at the five humans who were clustered around one of their own and the yellow Autobot felt his spark fade.
The human with the red and yellow hair was on her knees crying uncontrollably while the human with the pink hair and light yellow skin hugged and comforted her.
The remaining four humans eyed him and the other Autobots but otherwise focused on their friend though Bumblebee didn’t fault any anger or suspicion they had, because in a way they were the reason that the Cons got away with that one human who was clearly important to these people.
Arcee would probably argue away that point saying something along the lines of “We tried our best” but Bumblebee couldn’t help but feel that this was a failure squarely on him.
If perhaps he had been quicker he could’ve stopped Starscream from taking the human from his hands by harding his electronics, a trick that both Autobots and Decepticons used to great effect to avoid the effects of an EMP Grenade or E-Nade for short.
“Scrap! I can’t get through how about you bee?” Bulkhead asked Bumblebee who shook his head.
“The E-Nade must’ve been set to a high enough setting to interfere with our comms, at least mine are rebooting.” Arcee says matter factly.
“So’s mine but I guess we won’t be getting a Bridge anytime SOON!?” Bulkhead said before recoiling as a sad stricken Sunset Shimmer came running up to Bumblebee and started kicking and punching him to no material effect.
“BRING HER BACK! BRING HER BACK BUCK IT!! SHE’S DONE NOTHING WRONG EXCEPT OUT OF JEALOUSY! IS THAT SUCH A CRIME THAT SHE SHOULD HELD CAPTIVE BY THOSE (sob) THOSE!!!” Sunset cried as she soon stopped kicking but still held her head to Bumblebee’s leg.
“Decepticons.” Arcee said, bringing everyone’s attention to her.
“Who?” Applejack asked as the rest of the girls went to continue comforting Sunset.
“Decepticons” Bulkhead explained “They’re kinda like your planet’s Nations or culture. They’re an organisation that we’ve been at war with for about five thousand years.”
“Six thousand if you count we’ve been in stasis for a thousand.” Arcee adds.
“Wait, how can you guys have been at war for-Wait are you guys aliens!?” Rainbow Dash asks as she came alongside AJ.
“ALIENS!?” Pinkie shouted with RD appearing behind the rainbow haired girl and jumping up and down as she went, though she quickly stopped before turning her attention back to Sunset.
“Well your planet doesn’t have the tech to make people like us so what else could we be?” Bulkhead said sarcastically.
Bumblebee meanwhile had kneeled down and gently placed a hand on Sunset’s shoulder to get her attention, he then spoke though because of events passed he could only speak in binary such as beeps and bobs.
“Human I know what it is like to see friends taken away from you and you couldn’t do anything but watch, I don’t know why the Cons kidnapped Wally but I swear on my Spark as an Autobot of Cybertron that I’ll get her back.”
To Arcee and Bulkhead this was something that they know bee will take to Spark as whilst he was probably one of the best fighting scouts the Autobots have ever seen that ability was driven by a strong desire to do good for others, it's why many within the Autobot ranks referred to Bee as a “little brother” to use a human term.
Sunset however could only look at Bumblebee in confusion “What..What did he say?” Sunset asked.
To the surprise of all however it was Fluttershy who answered for them “He umm said he’ll get Wallflower back Sunset”
The Autobots looked at the shy girl for a moment causing her to hide behind Rainbow Dash then the Bots looked at each other then back to Fluttershy.
“How in Primus were you able to understand him?” Bulkhead asked the obvious question.
“I-uh-well I-” Fluttershy started to answer before Rainbow cut in.
“HEY if anyone should be asking questions it should be us, like for one who or what are you. You apparently call yourselves Autobots and Decepticons but are you guys like the same thing or..”
“We’re called Cybertrians kid, I’m Arcee and that’s Bulkhead.” Arcee said, gesturing to first herself then Bulkhead.
“And he’s Bumblebee.” Sunset added as she gestured to the yellow Autobot as he still had his hand on her shoulder.
“That he is, speaking of which how are you gonna rescue the Hu-I mean Wallflower when we don’t know where the Cons took her?” Arcee said getting the conversation back on topic.
Bumblebee beeped as he stood up and walked over to her before raising his wrist which had a part of it unfold to reveal a screen.
“Uh translation?” Applejack asks Fluttershy as she watches the two Autobots converse.
“He apparently placed a tracker on Wallflower before she was taken, from what I can understand he can’t get an exact location of where Wally is but he knows the general.” Fluttershy replies.
“And he says the signal will get stronger the closer we get.” Arcee adds to which Bumblebee nods.
“Then let’s rol-” Bulkhead starts to say before Sunset suddenly says.
“I’m going with you.”
There was a stunned silence for a moment before Arcee said “Oh Primus no! The last thing you should do is come with us, it's much too dangerous. You all were lucky that you didn’t get hurt.”
“And being at home is safer?” Sunset countered which got the other Rainbooms to look at each other in slow realisation given what they learned tonight.
“Uh yeah I mean it's not like they’d be looking for you right away, sure I wouldn’t put it past the cons to use bait like that but they already got your friend right?” Bulkhead asked not sure where Sunset was going with this.
“Only because they couldn’t get their real targets” Applejack revealed.
“Which is us!” Rainbow added.
That caught the Autobots attention “Wait so the cons were after you before we intervened?” Bulkhead asked.
“That’s right they told us a bit arrogant mind you that they wanted us to lure out a friend of ours.” AJ told the Autobots.
“Scrap!” Arcee muttered “That complicates things, at first we thought they were just caught in the crossfire because Bee had to go and help Prime and left a trail the cons followed but if they are specifically targeting these six” That meant that even if they went home they can’t just wait this out as the cons could very likely track them down, how soon depended on how badly they want this “friend” of these girls.
“And besides” Sunset continued “ What’s to stop us from telling people about you? You obviously want to remain hidden otherwise you wouldn’t be using Earth vehicles, even if the School won’t believe us I’m sure the prospect of advanced alien technology would get some people to ask questions.”
Acree eyed Sunset closely before saying “you trying to blackmail us?”
“Never said that.” Sunset clarified before adding “But I owe Wallflower too much to let her fate be in the hands of some alien robots who I’ve just met” She then looked to Bumblebee “Even if they did save my life and I’m not saying I’m not grateful because I am but she my friend and friends don’t abandon each other.”
“Okay then.” Bulkhead said out of the blue causing the other two to look at him in surprise.
“Bulkhead have you got a screw los-'' Acree whispered before Bulkhead explained.
“I mean the kid’s got a point, they have no reason to trust us with this and the cons could definitely go after them in their homes. Plus its only the six of them so only two of us would have to actually keep an eye on them.”
Arcee stared at Bulkhead for a good long moment before she sighs and speaks loud enough for the girls to hear her “Alright fine they can come along.”
“We can?” Fluttershy asks as the rest of the girls were in similar states of confusion.
“On two conditions.” Arcee stated before holding up a finger.
“One you are to stay with us and not wander off when we aren't in a fight.” She pulled up a second finger “And two you are to do exactly as we say when we say got it?”
Nodding Sunset said “Yeah we got it right girls?”
The rest of the Rainbooms nodded to which Bulkhead says “Alright then! You kids got names? Bit unfair that we told you ours.”
Sunset smiled a bit before the girls introduced themselves.
“Okay let's get moving the sooner we go the sooner we can rescue Wallflower, Rainbow Applejack Pinkie and Rarity you will ride in Bulkhead whilst Sunset and Fluttershy will ride in Bumblebee.” Arcee told the group who nodded before the Autobots transformed into their vehicle modes.
“How’d you think they do that?” Fluttershy asks Sunset as they got into Bumblebee.
“Well I suspect it’ll be awhile so why don’t you ask him?” Sunset replied, patting the steering wheel as she got into the driver’s seat.
Fluttershy looked around Bumblebee for a moment before saying “Maybe um later?”
Sunset smiled at her before they felt Bumblebee move and soon they were out of the scrap yard and onto the road
As they settled in for a long drive Sunset said “Hey Bumblebee? Thanks for saving my life back there and for going to save Wallflower.”
“It's nothing Sunset, just the right thing to do.” Bumble beeped to which Fluttershy translated before Sunset gave a sad smile as she looked out the window over the night sky.
“Hold on Wally we’re coming”
The next Day
Agent Fowler stood nearby the portal Stature keeping a lookout for any of those robot vehicles from last night, his hand holding his phone to his ear whilst he informs his superiors.
“I understand sir if I get a chance I’ll see about getting an audience with this “Prime” fellow and figuring out what we’re dealing with…I know sir but I’d rather deal with the robot who saved us then the ones who tried to hurt us….Yes sir I’ll be in touch.” With that Fowler put his phone away and had a look around.
It was Saturday so CHS was closed but there was the occasional bystander who walked passed the school grounds, still Fowler reasoned that if he did spot any of the robots from yesterday that wouldn’t be TOO many witnesses but given his time in the 75th Rangers Fowler was ready for the worse case scenario.
As he continued his vigil Fowler’s mind began to wander back to those robots who helped him and the young princess, more specifically their leader.
“Optimus Prime” That’s what the other group of robots called it..him…them? Fowler didn’t know, what he did know was that the very least Optimus Prime seemed to not want Humans to get involved in the fighting. Fowler wasn’t sure if Prime cared about other species beyond that but he had to go on the assumption that Prime was willing to talk.
“I have to find them first though” The DIA Agent thought as he watched a car roll past.
A sudden magical noise came from behind Fowler, turning around he was surprised to see Princess Twilight appearing out of the mirror portal.
“Twilight!?” Fowler shouted running towards her as she stood up unevenly.
“Oh hello Agent Fow-” Twilight began to say before Fowler cut her off.
“What in Uncle Sam’s high heavens are you doing here!? Didn’t we agree that it would be best for you to stay in Equestria?”
Twilight looked at Fowler for a moment before saying “Princess Celestia gave me permission to return to help deal with this threat Fowler, given our limited knowledge we shouldn’t assume that even Equestria is safe from these robots and I’d be more help here even if I’m more at risk here.”
Fowler just stared at Twilight for a good long moment before he sighs “I SHOULD say something but it’ll fall deaf ears so best to just live and let live.” Fowler thought before asking.
“So got any ideas Twilight? I was thinking we should try to get in touch with Optimus Prime’s group since they are less likely to kill us and did save our hides last night.”
It was then that Fowler noticed that Twilight was looking past him, turning around the DIA Agent saw a very familiar red truck pulling up near them and like last night the door facing them opened.
“He did this last night.” Twilight told who looked at her for a moment before nodding
“Guess this saves us a lot of time.” Fowler said as the two made their way into the cabin of the truck with Fowler in the driver’s seat and Twilight in the passenger seat next to him.
After looking around the cabin for a moment Fowler was about to say something before a deep voice interrupted him “Greetings humans, my apologies for the lack of communication as I’m sure any onlookers would find it suspicious if a vehicle were to suddenly speak.”
The voice caught the two by surprise though Fowler was able to recover and say “Optimus Prime I assume?”
“Before introductions can be made I believe we should head to a more secure location.” Optimus Prime said as he started to drive down the road.
Soon they were on the highway again and it was then that prime spoke “I would like to apologise first and foremost for getting you involved humans.”
“How so?” Fowler asked.
“Lets just say for now that because of my decision to come to this planet, I have led our war to your home.” Optimus simply said.
It was then that both passengers noticed other cars coming alongside them, unlike the ones that attacked them last yesterday many of these ones have red and gold colouring with some having different colour patterns such as green and blue.
“Friends of yours?” Fowler asked, tensing up a bit.
“Family actually, ” Prime simply says.
“Prime this is portal Squad-361 coming up beside you now.” A voice said over the radio in Prime’s truck cabin.
“Understood 361 maintain formation and keep your optics sharp.” Prime replied before speaking again “Optimus Prime to base we have our visitors abroad ready the Space Bridge.”
Another voice came from the radio just a moment later “Space Bridge vortex opening in 5…4…3…2…1”
Then far ahead of them a large green vortex opened its swirling green energy reminding Twilight of a whirlpool of a sort.
As soon as the vortex opened the escorting cars began speeding away from Prime towards the vortex.
“I would advise you to prepare yourselves humans.” Optimus said as the first car disappeared into the vortex “Whilst this technology hasn’t had an adverse effect on my kind I can not guarantee the same for you.”
Before any of them could ask questions they soon found themselves going through the green vortex before it closed behind them.
Twilight wasn’t sure what to expect when they entered the green vortex, at first she figured it would be similar to how it was going through the mirror portal.
Unfortunately it was not.
As they moved through the swirling green energy of the tunnel Twilight felt her stomach twist and turn as if it were doing backflips, she clamped her hands over her mouth in anticipation of her vomiting up her breakfast but fortunately the horrible sensation faded as Optimus drove out of the tunnel and into a large room.
Several of the robots can be seen standing around and Twilight could see some of them in the middle of transforming from their car modes and some who were just standing around waiting for something.
“Ugh that’s gonna leave a nasty taste in my stomach for a while.” Agent Fowler says as Optimus Prime still in his vehicle mode made his way through the room before ending up in a hallway.
“Welcome to Omega Base Humans.” He said as they drove through the base’s hallways occasionally passing by one or more of the robots who moved to the side and saluted as they passed.
“And where is that?” Twilight asked.
Fowler then said “Princess I don’t think that’s something you can just ask our ride here.”
“It is actually alright, whilst we have only met for some reason I know in my spark that I could trust her. As to your question, Omega Base is in the south-Eastern area of the Pacific ocean.” Optums said.
Later they entered a big room where the front of them was dominated by a wide glass window giving an excellent view of the ocean outside, Prime soon stopped and the doors opened allowing the humans to disembark.
Twilight was the first to get out and she took a moment to take in how large everything was, it was clear that this place was built for beings much larger than her and possibly as large as Dragons.
Fowler was next to get out though he stumbled a bit once his feet hit the deck.
“Yeah definitely not a fan of that green portal thing.” He said as he got his footing as Optimus Prime now not having to worry about accidentally crushing the humans inside his chassis began transforming.
As he did so Twilight had a look around to see that there were a few other robots present, most were like the ones that escorted them here but there were a few who stood out from the rest.
Any further thoughts were interrupted by Optimus finishing transforming and now that Twilight got a good look at him she could see that he didn’t have a mouth much like the other robots but still had eyes which were bright blue
Optimus Prime then knelt down on one knee and said “Now we can properly introduce each other, I am Optimus Prime leader of the Autobots.”
“Autobots..” Twilight thought as Prime gestured to one of the other Autobots in the room, this one had a white and red colour scheme and whilst Twilight couldn’t be sure she suspected that this one transformed into a medical vehicle.
“This is Ratchet.” Optimus introduced “My chief medical officer and close friend.”
“Greetings.” Was all Ratchet said who was looking at some readouts before turning to Optimus “If you won’t mind Optimus I should check back with the medical bay.”
Optimus merely nodded before the white Autobot left the room.
“You have a medic in your command centre?” Fowler asked.
“We’re kinda short on hands human so most of us have to pull double or even triple duty, plus next to me and a few others Prime doesn’t trust anyone else as much as Ratchet.” Another Autobot said this one is primarily black with a red secondary.
“This is Ironhide, officially my second in command and one of my closest friends.” Optimus introduced again before gesturing to another Autobot who had his eyes on Twilight ever since they entered the Command Centre.
“And this is Perceptor, our chief Scientist.” Optimus introduced.
“Greetings human apologies for the long gaze. I just find myself intrigued how you were able to..react to Prime’s energy.” The Autobot Scientist said.
“It’s no problem Perceptor, I’ll be honest I’m also interested in what it could mean.” Twilight said before noticing another Autobot rolling up to her.
Unlike the rest this one was actually closer to the size of humans or even ponies and had a mostly orange colour scheme and instead of legs he had wheels.
“Hello! My name is Fixit.” The small Autobot introduced himself “Nice to eat you-”
“What?” Twilight said as she stared at the Autobot.
“Seat you! (WHACK) MEET YOU!” Fixit said getting looks from both Twilight and Agent Fowler.
“Uh what’s his problem?” Fowler asked.
“Apologies human I have permanent manage, ravage (WHACK) DAMAGE! To my voice box which causes my speech to glitch out from time to time.” Fixit explained.
“Now that you know our names, humans, may we know yours?” Optimus asked, still kneeling near them.
Fowler went first “Name’s Agent William Fowler of the United States DIA.”
“Twilight Sparkle, Fourth Princess of Equestria and Princess of Friendship.” Twilight went next.
“Equestria? I’ve never heard of that Human nation.” Percepter noted.
“That’s a-” Twilight began before risking a glance at Fowler who stared at her thinking for a moment before nodding to her.
“-very long story.” Twilight finished before she began explaining where Equestria actually is, what the mirror portal was and so on.
By the time she finished the Autobots who were present were silent for a while, how could they not? Not only did they find out that another dimension exists but it is also inhabited by species that modern Humans would only find in fairytales, the fact that magic exists in this dimension and that it can interact with their dimension made for some worrying implications in Prime’s mind as he stood up and spoke.
“Well then your highness-”
“Please call me Twilight, I don’t think I can ever get used to the title of Princess.” Twilight interjected for just a moment before letting Prime continue.
“Very well then Twilight, it would seem that stopping the Decepticons was the correct course of action.”
“Decepticons? You mean those other Autobots?” Fowler asked which got Ironhide to chuckle a bit.
“Pff please if anything we couldn’t be more alike, plus if you’d asked them in person I’d reckon they take that as an insult.” He commented.
“We as a species are called Cybertrionians though other organic races had called us Transformers in our past.” Optimus explained.
“Transformers huh?” Fowler stated with a smile before saying “So what separates the Deceptcons from you Autobots?”
“That would require a long explanation should you be willing to hear it.” Optimus said to which Twilight and Fowler nodded before Optimus walked to the centre of the room where a holotable rested.
After pressing a few buttons the holotable sprung to life projecting a hologram of a planet but it was not like anything Twilight had seen, instead of the usual landmasses of either Aurora or Earth this planet appeared to be made completely out of metal. Lights could be seen on the surface but weather that indicated where cities were or were just lights of mechanisms she couldn’t tell.
“This is our homeworld Cybertron.” Optimus began gesturing to the hologram “It’s roughly the size of the planet you call Jupiter and has two Earth sized moons we call Tanis and Paxis respectively.”
Beside the holographic Cybertron various windows popped up, some depicted towering cityscapes whilst others showed majestic buildings that appeared important in some way.
“For many lifetimes it was a peaceful world with colonies across the void and relationships with other races including many organics, but whilst it was peaceful at a distance within there was dissent brewing even before I was born.” Prime said as the windows changed to show either Cybertroians working in some mines and factories or fighting each other in massive arenas.
“At the time our society was based around a caste system where each Cybertronian is given a role based on either their alt-mode or how skilled they were in a specific field, whilst this system has benefited Cybertron in the past by the time I was born the Caste System had long been corrupted by those who knew how to manipulated the system to benefit themselves. These “High Castes” as they would be known turned the system from a simple and well meaninged way of life into a dystopian shadow where they would use the lower castes as pieces in a chess board either against the other lower castes or themselves and it was normally the later as by this point in time the lower castes had no real power to oppose the higher castes.” The entire hologram then changed to show a single window where a silver bulky and angular Cybertronian is operating a drill in a strange cave.
“It was in this environment that one of the main instigators of the conflict rose to prominence.” Optimus said with..regret in his voice? Twilight couldn’t say.
“He was born as D-16 in the mining caste of Tarn drilling for Energon the life blood of all Cybertronians and whilst the conditions for mining castes at the time could have been better he was nevertheless if not happy then content with the status quo.” The Prime said before his voice took a more solemn turn “Until Alpha Zeta came onto the scene.”
The scene in the window changed to show a Blue and Gold Cybertroian with wings on his back, he is seen walking through a cavern with two bodyguards whilst what Twilight assumed to be miners watched with contempt on their faces.
“Alpha Zeta was a senator in the distribution caste, one of the high castes and core member of the high council. During a campaign against a rival in the council Zeta acquired the mine where D-16 had been working to undermine said rival, however in doing so Zeta had also cut the mine off from the industrial network that said rival provided thus the quality of the mine began to degrade.” The window then shows what Twilight presumed to be the mine as it went from being a decent place to work to a place that was more akin to a slave operated mine than anything else.
“Before long the mine had become useless due to Zeta’s mismanagement and his distaste for lower castes in general.” Optimus said as the holographic window changed again, this time showing D-16 and some other miners being rounded up by Cybertronian soldiers.
“Because of this many of the miners were either relocated to other mines or sent to the gladiatorial arenas in the war city of Kaon.” The window changed again, this time showing D-16 in an arena with weapons along with other miners.
“It was during this time that D-16’s resentment towards the high caste grew and with it his ambition to rise above them, so much so that over the course of his many fights he named himself after one of the thirteen original primes.” Optimus said which had caught Twilight’s attention.
“Wait so “Prime” is a title?” She asked.
“Indeed the title of Prime is as old as our myths and legends on the original thirteen primes, they were the first Cybertronians to have walked the surface of our world and had a massive impact on our culture since their time. One of them, Megatronus was the one D-16 had named himself after whilst fighting in the pits of Kaon becoming one of its most famous gladiators.” The window then showed D-16 now known as Megatronus duelling another large gladiator.
“As his fame grew soon so too did his ambitions, in secret he began rallying a vast following mostly made of fellow gladiators and several other low caste Cybertronians. One thing many of them had in common was a vast hatred for the High Castes.” The window then showed Megatronus in a dark room on a raised platform addressing his followers.
“And they would become the Decepticons?” Fowler guessed.
“Not exactly Agent Fowler.” Optimus said. “Whilst the Decepticons can trace their roots back to this following of Megatronus the modern Decepticons as we know them today could trace their full roots back to a political movement known simply as the Reformists.”
The window changed again only this time it showed Megatronus now in a more sleek but aggressive form standing on a platform out in a cybertronian square beside two other Cybertronians. One was red and blue, the same as Optimus Prime whilst the other had a maroon, silver and dark blue colour scheme.
“The movement that would become the Reformists was first started by Alpha Trion a High Caste and head of the Iacon Archives the largest repository on Cybertron who after being introduced to him by his archivist aide Orion Pax brought Megatronus and his followers into the fold and began working to enact reforms to the Cybertronian Caste system.” The prime continued.
Twilight nodded following the story despite the fact that there were many things she didn’t quite get yet but knew that Optimus was probably telling a very abridged version of this story.
“Over time however a rift began to form within the Reformists primarily on the issue of what would come after the current regime was defeated, on one side were those who believe that only the High Castes are to blame for the corruption that ran in Cybertron at the time and wanted to rebuild the caste system from the ground up with one of the changes being that instead of a council there would be a single leader who decides Cybertron’s future.” Twilight then sees two symbols on a black background appear one was red whilst the other was purple.
“It would be these Cybertronians who would later become the Decepticons and Megatronus who would later shorten his name to just Megatron would lead the Decepticons in a war that would tear our planet apart.” Optimus said as the holo window changed again to show Megatron and his Decepticons slaughtering other Cybertronians.
“W-What happened to Orion Pax and Alpha Trion?” Twilight asked.
Here Optimus paused for a moment and Twilight could see some confliction in his eyes, finally he said.
“I don’t know what happened to Alpha Trion in the years since but Orion Pax…he was one of the first casualties of the war. Like many others who would later become the Autobots they believed that the Caste System itself was an obsolete concept, a system that had fulfilled its purpose long ago. Thus did a war the likes of which our people have not seen in millions of years began, one that rages to this very day.”
The holo window once more changed though this time going back to being multiple windows each showing a different picture from the last but all of them were obviously from the war Prime mentioned.
What they all had in common however was that this war was unlike anything Twilight had seen, Fowler on the other hand wasn't as surprised as Twilight as he had both been in a real war as an Army Ranger and read about many of humanity’s wars during his time in boot camp.
“How bad was it?” Fowler asked, ignoring the shocked look Twilight gave him.
“The war would continue for six thousand of your years up to today engulfing our entire system and cost the lives of just under a trillion lives.” Optimus said solemnly
That surprised both Twilight and even Fowler, for the DIA Agent that was because even the most deadly conflict World War 2 only had under a hundred million fatalities overall. That's assuming of course that a Trillion for Cybertronians is the same for humans.
For Twilight however it was not just the number of deaths that disturb her but also the scenes shown in the holos, the scenes of death and carnage done by both sides either intentionally or not was already making her stomach turn again.
“W-Why were the Decepticons after me?” Twilight asked, hoping to change the subject to something that’s less likely to make her sick.
Prime looked at her for a moment before switching off the holotable and said “During a portal I was doing in your area at the time one of the Decepticons named Soundwave who is their communications chief was also in the area watching me, for what purpose I couldn’t say but what I do know is that Soundwave likely saw the energy pulse that our…connection generated and sought to capture you to learn more, and knowing Megatron he’d have likely found a way to weaponize your power to add in his war against us.”
“What caused it?” Fowler asked “The connection I mean.”
Perceptor then spoke up “We don’t know for sure Agent Fowler only that whatever power the Princess possessed reacted to the energies of the Matrix of which Megatron and Soundwave have some knowledge about.”
“The Matrix?” Twilight asked, looking at Optimus.
The Autobot leader hesitated for a moment before nodding and knelt in front of Twilight once more and raised his hands to his chest, with the sounds of moving metal Optimus’s chest opened up revealing a gold object within which had a bright blue crystal in the centre.
“This is the Matrix Of Leadership.” The prime stated as he showed the humans what laid within his spark chamber.
“Since the passing of the original thirteen Primes a line of Primes have been anointed through the possession of this very Matrix though it is not just a symbol but also an item of power and wisdom as it was forged in a time when the laws of the universe were less defined.” Both Fowler and Twilight looked at the Matrix in both awe and wonder respectively.
“Wisdom?” The princess asked.
“Whenever a Prime falls either in peace or in battle the Matrix is passed on to another whom the Matrix deems worthy along with the knowledge and very being of said Prime, thus the Matrix does not only hold great power but also the memories of my predecessors.” Optimus said as he stood back up and Fowler looked at Twilight before asking.
“Any idea about this reactive power you have Twilight?”
“The only “power” that I know of that may have reacted to this Matrix would be my element of harmony but that’s back in Equestria.” Twilight said, trying to think of how she’d provoke a reaction out of the Matrix though she’d wound up thinking back to the vision she had.
“Is it possible that I didn’t provoke a reaction out of the Matrix?” She asked looking at Perceptor who shook his head.
“Whilst analysing Prime’s sensor logs from the time of the incident we could confirm that another energy source was interacting with the Matrix, in what way we couldn’t tell even now only that something about the two attracted each other so it was not just the Matrix. May I ask why?”
Twilight then told the Autobots about the vision she had right after she touched Prime’s vehicle mode.
“Interesting.” Prime commented before adding “Whilst we had known that something happened to you Twilight we could not identify what exactly, it may be possible that it was one of the Primes that you saw Twilight, which one I can’t say but it would make sense for them to be one of the thirteen as like the Matrix they were born in a time when the current laws of our universe were not so set in stone.”
“Maybe.” Twilight muttered not so sure that it was indeed one of the Primes that she saw despite not knowing who else it could’ve been.
“In any event” Prime continued “whilst your capture has been prevented it is unlikely Megatron would simply stop at you, he would most likely try and target those closest to you to draw you out into the open.”
That made Twilight's heart sink not just at the thought of her human friends being captured because of her but also because they still have the magic left behind by her crown and would draw the Decepticons to them regardless.
Despite her best efforts Twilight couldn’t stop her body from going into a slight panic, the thought of her friends ending up like those Transformers in any of the holos was enough to push her mind into a panic.
She began to feel funny, her breath quickening and she soon lost her balance to the intense pressure, fortunately before she could fall over onto the deck a Cybertronian hand caught her mid-fall.
“Woah there you okay?” The voice of the Hand’s owner brought Twilight face to face with another Autobot, this one mainly pure red with two horns on his head.
“Cliffjumper.” Optimus noted keeping his optics on Twilight as Agent Fowler helped steady herself.
“You okay?” He asked despite knowing full well the answer.
“..No not really.” Twilight said “I’m worried about my friends, is there a way to get in touch with them?”
Before Fowler could answer Fixit said “Unfortunately only our comms equipment can work this deep under-falter, -daughter (WHACK) WATER! So your communication devices wouldn’t get a signal and that’s before we get into the shielding we placed around the base to keep us hidden from the Decepticons.
“Well that’s just great.” Twilight muttered
Before she could say anything else however Optimus nodded before saying “Perhaps a tour of the base may calm your mind?”
“I’d be happy to play tour guide!” Cliffjumper said with his hand raised.
“Very well.” Optimus agreed before turning to Twilight again “Well Twilight?”
Despite herself Twilight knew she needed to calm down as panicking won’t do her friends any good and a tour of the base which she knew will be seeing more often sounds like the perfect thing to distract her.
“That’ll be nice, Fowler?” Twilight asked, looking at the DIA Agent.
“I have some questions for the big guy here. You go on ahead and clear your head but meet back here alright?” Fowler said.
Twilight nodded before she was hoisted by Cliffjumper onto his shoulder.
“Don’t want you getting squished now do we?” He said as he strolled out of the command centre with Fowler watching them as they went.
“And Twilight.” Optimus called out getting the attention of the Princess “You have my word as a Prime that we will do all that we can to ensure your friends safety.”
Twilight smiled at that before Cliffjumper continued on his way.
Seeing his chance Ironhide walked up to Optimus and whispered “Orion was the first casualty huh?”
Optimus looked at his old friend for a moment before sighing “I will tell the full truth in time Ironhide but for now I don’t think it wise or at the least necessary to tell them that-”
“Tell us what?” Fowler suddenly asks, catching the two Autobots off guard.
“Nothing important.” Ironhide stated before adding “Especially since you have questions.”
Cliffjumper walked through one of the many hallways of what was once the Ark now named Omega Base, passing by several other Autobots who either nodded or saluted him.
Cliff mostly just nodded in return, not really all that bothered about rank and that.
Twilight for her part was sitting in Cliffjumper’s hand and taking in the sights around her, though she did notice some of the Autobots staring at her which when she thought about it makes sense since many of them had probably never seen a human before at least up close anyway.
“So where are we going first?” She asked Cliffjumper, hoping to break the ice a bit.
“Hmmm I guess the med-bay would be as good a place to start as any.” The red horned Autobot said as they continued through the hallways of the once great spacecraft.
As they did so Cliffjumper took more than one glance at his passenger whilst they moved through the labyrinth of hallways within Omega Base. Her body was a bit stiff and her head was down in deep thought, given what he’d overheard when he walked into the command centre Cliff could in some way understand it.
Deciding to try and break the ice as the humans would say Cliffhumper said “So have you seen death before your high-” He stops mid sentence.
“You scraping idiot! THAT’S your first question!?” Cliffjumper thought to himself hating himself for not fixing his uncanny ability to speak before he thinks.
Twilight for her part just looks at him for a moment before offering a very warily smile but before she could reply Cliffjumper quickly said “Sorry! I probably shouldn’t have asked that!”
Twilight shook her head and said “It’s well alright Cliffjumper…as to your question..” she pauses for a moment considering how to best phrase her answer.
The first time she had actually seen death was during the Canterlot wedding right after the Changelings began their invasion of the city, she remembered the bodies of the Royal Guard as they tried and failed to defend the home of her youth she and her friends were lucky that Changelings didn’t consider them worth the effort to kill and thus were able to ultimately win against Queen Chrysalis by freeing Shining Armour but not without a great cost.
Twilight often wondered what would have happened had they not taken the time to mourn all those who fell, as whilst she and her friends were able to work together during the crisis the feeling of betrayal hadn’t gone away and anger had begun to boil. If it wasn’t for the fact that the memorial service afterwards had given Twilight time to think about the whole affair she might have done something very stupid and irrational.
“Twilight?” Cliffjumper asked, shaking her out of her mind before she could go down memory lane.
“Uh sorry just got lost in thought for a moment there.” Twilight said looking at the Autobot before adding “anyway I did see death before back in Equestria that is.”
Autobot nodded though he still had a shameful look in his eyes “I shouldn’t have asked that though” he said “so I apologise I have a bad habit of speaking before thinking, it's something somebots said was a liability.”
“I don’t think so or at least I haven’t seen how that would be a liability.” Twilight said.
Cliffjumper nodded again but he didn’t seem convinced, it was then that Cliff stopped in front of a door with a sign above it written in strange letters.
“Here it is the med-bay.” Cliff simply said as the doors automatically opened.
The bay was pretty huge by human standards but Twilight could see by doing some math in her head that the bay was probably an above average room for any Cybertronian, at the far side of the room was an isolated section with a Cybertronian sized bed in it.
Aside from that there were six other beds in the room, three on each side and opposite the isolated section to the right of Cliff and Twilight was a cluster of computers and terminals. Ratchet the Autobot medic from the Command Centre was by one of the beds were two identical Autobots lay, unbeknownst to her it was T-34C and T-803 the same Autobots who had helped her yesterday.
“You were lucky 34, any longer under that pressure and you’d need more than a simple visor replacement.” Ratchet said standing next to one of the Autobots laid on one of the beds.
“As long as it's just a replacement Doc.” T-34C said as Ratchet finished attaching said replacement onto the Autobot’s head.
“Hey guys!” Cliffjumper said, getting the three’s attention.
“Hey Cliff!” T-803 said as he sat up on his bed whilst 34C just nodded.
“Cliffjumper” Ratchet says, looking at Cliff before turning to Twilight.
“Twilight Sparkle.” She said realising that Ratchet obviously missed the introductions of her and Fowler.
“Ah yes apologies for leaving so early as a medic I must see that all matters of the crew’s health is my top concern, especially in these times.” The Autobot Medic said before looking over T-803.
“And who are they?” Twilight asked, pointing at the two Autobot troopers.
“These are T-34C and T-803 madam.” Ratchet said gesturing to the two.
“They’re names are a letter and numbers?” Twilight asked.
Ratchet and Cliffjumper looked at each other for a moment before Cliff said “They…don’t have names, at least not yet.”
“What?” Twilight asked but before anyone could say anything T-34C spoke up.
“During the war both us and the cons had to quickly replace the losses we were taking but it soon became apparent that with so many different names coming out of so many foundries at the time both sides start giving most of us got a service number to keep an easier track of who’s who and who’s where, the cons got a head start on that though due to Prime’s reluctance because he’d feared they be striping away our individuality but eventually he acquest to the need of mass producing us.”
Twilight was stunned not only at the fact that these two Autobots were built in factories (at least she thinks so, then again she doesn’t know enough about Cybertronian biology to tell) but that they weren’t even given names and that Optimus allowed it.
Cliffjumper noticed her look and said “It's not like he made it easy, it took quite a while so I’m told until Prime agreed to create Cybertronians in that way.”
“And it sadly cost us.” Ratchet said in a low voice.
Despite her curiosity Twilight resolved to not ask about what Ratchet meant.
“So you two aren’t allowed to have names?” She gestured to 34C and 803 as Cliff sat her on one of the empty beds next to them.
“Unless you're with the Decepticons, yeah.” 803 said “Autobots though, we tend to get names and that after a certain amount of time in the field or basically because we’re just that old enough to have one and sometimes we even get our bodies modified like Cliffjumper here.” He nodded to said Autobot who returned the nod.
“You can change your appearance?” Twilight asked as Ratchet walked over to his computer to check something.
“Yeah but it takes a lot of specialised gear and resources to do so, which we sadly don’t have any more since we’ve gotten to this planet.” Cliff says “doesn’t stop these guys from giving names to themselves and Optimus actually encourages it more often than not.”
“In any case Cliffjumper, might I ask what you’re doing?” Ratchet asked, still looking at the readouts on his computer.
“Just showing our guest around the base Doc.” Cliff said getting a reaction out of the Autobot medic
“Would you stop calling me that!?” Ratchet said but before he could say anything else T-34C interrupted
“Hey Ratchet are we good to at least have a walk around? I for one wouldn’t mind tagging along for the tour.”
“Yeah beats sitting here all cycle” T-803 added.
Still irritated by Cliff’s comment Ratchet still had a look at his computer before saying “You won’t be cleared for active duty but I guess it wouldn’t hurt for you two to have a small walk around with Cliffjumper and the hu-I mean Twilight.”
“Sweet!” 34C said as got off his bed along with 803 “shall we?” he asked as Cliff moved to pick Twilight back up in his hand
“Sure the more the merrier.” Cliff said as the four moved out of the Med-bay.
Twenty minutes later
Back in the Command Centre Fowler was in a conversation with Optimus and Ironhide it was mostly about the Decepticons, how they were organised, how many they are and-
“What would they do if they decided to attack in full force?” Fowler asked.
Ironhide and Optimus shared a look before Ironhide said “Hmm that would be difficult to tell at this point as there’s a lot of options for them.”
“Megatron may be relentless but he is no fool, whilst humanity is wholefully outmatched in Technology the limited numbers available to him mean Megatron will try to avoid a direct confrontation.” Optimus said, turning his gaze to Fowler who nodded.
“It’s something I guess, though I’d imagine Megatron would try to remedy that problem, am I right?” The DIA agent asked.
“The only source of reinforcements that Megs could call upon is from Cybertron and it's been a thousand of your years since we’ve last had contact with any bot there.” Ironhide replies.
“Was the war only on your homeworld?” Fowler asked.
“For the most part? Yeah, we had colonies on other planets but as the war dragged on we lost contact with all of them. So the war was mostly contained within our own star system.” Ironhide again replied.
“So there’s no other place for either you or them to get reinforcements.” Fowler concludes.
“Nope, although the Cons have a fully mobile starship, it lacks the interstellar capability to reach Cybertron and get back.” Ironhide adds.
Fowler raises an eyebrow in surprise “These Cons have a starship?!” he says trying to keep the surprise out of his voice.
“Yeah but it lost most of its guns and its Space Bridge Drive so it's just a flying command centre now, at least that’s what our intel says.” Ironhide adds back.
“Space Bridge Drive? Like you used to get us here?” Fowler asked Prime.
“Indeed Space-” Optimus said before some alerts flashed on the terminals in the Command centre.
Fixit and several Autobots who were on duty immediately began checking the systems on their computers to figure out what’s happening.
“Teletraan-!” Optimus began before Ironhide gave him a look that said “I’ll handle this” to which the Prime sighs before nodding.
“Teletraan 1 Status!” Ironhide barks as the main base’s AI began to comply with the veteran’s orders.
“Incoming transmission.” The deep voice of Teletraan 1 says.
“What’s going on?” Cliffjumper says as he, Twilight and T-34C and T-803 come into the Command Centre whilst Fixit and Teletraan try their best to clean up the incoming signal.
“Teletraan One has just picked up an incoming transition,hichtion,(WHACK) transmission!” Fixit says as he and others noticed the four’s entry.
“Can you patch it though?” Ironhide asks.
“On it sir!” An Autobot says as he and several others work on the consoles trying to clear the signal and get a connection.
“Any idea who’s calling?” Fowler asked as Cliffjumper put Twilight down next to the Agent.
“Most likely one of our patrols that we’ve been trying to contact.” Optimus says “given that they’ve not responded to our calls before I surmise that their comms had been damaged.”
Just then a voice came through an unknown speaker, there was much static but not enough to drown out the words.
“Bulkhead to base! Bulkhead to base! Do you copy?!” Ironhide and Optimus moved to the terminal near Fixit and the Autobot leader tapped a few buttons before saying
“Bulkhead, this is Optimus glad to hear you still function, what’s your status?”
“Me, Arcee and Bumblebee are on the Cons Flagship trying to rescue a human that the cons napped. Me and Cee are giving the Cons a beatdown but we could use some backup plus an exit strategy!” The voice replied
The two Autobots looked at each other “A human in Con custody?” Ironhide wondered out loud before he turned to Twilight who suddenly found her heart racing again.
“Don’t tell us that they got to one of them already?!” Fowler asked, echoing Twilight’s unspoken question.
“If one of my friends is on that ship then the others wouldn’t be that far away.” She said knowing that her friends wouldn’t abandon each other after all they’ve been through.
“Bulkhead, Ironhide here have you rescued the human yet?” Ironhide asks.
“Bumblebee went ahead to rescue her whilst me and Arcee bought him time.” The wrecker said as blaster fire could be heard.
Ironhide looked back at Optimus who both then looked to Twilight, Optimus then took over the spot from Ironhide before saying “Bulkhead this is Optimus, is a human group called the Rainbooms with Bumblebee?”
There was silence over the comms aside from the sounds of battle, then Bulkhead’s voice can be heard again.
“Yeah?”
There was another moment of silence before Optimus spoke again
“We’re on our way Bulkhead keep the Decepticons at bay for as long as you are able and we’ll Bridge right over.”
“Roger that!” Bulkhead replied before the comms were cut.
Optimus then turned to Ironhide.
“Ironhide gather together a response and meet me in the SB-bay, Fixit keep the line between us and Bulkhead open so that we can get a proper fix on him.”
“Understood!” They both said in unison.
Sometime later Optimus, Ironhide, Fowler and Twilight were in a large room where a circular arch stood opposite them, nearby there was a computer station with a Autobot manning it.
“Is everything ready?” Optimus asks Ironhide as he inspects the Autobots that will be accompanying them on the mission.
“As ready as we’ll ever be Prime” The veteran said before Twilight spoke up.
“Are you sure we can’t come? Even if we can’t fight, at least we could help with the others to make sure they’re safe.”
Optimus looked at Twilight for a moment before saying “I admire that dedication Twilight but this mission is simply too dangerous for even something that simple, the Decepticons are ruthless to the extreme and it is unlikely they would ignore you should they see you.” He then kneels down in front of her “I know it hurts not being able to see to the safety of those you care about, I too must sometimes leave that in the hands of others. In this case however my presence is needed in case we run into Megatron and to prove to you that we are not you enemies”
“He’s right.” Fowler said, putting a hand on Twilight’s shoulder “Let the professionals handle this.”
“They’re right” Twilight thought “I’d just get in the way and…and yet..”
“Coordantines locked Optimus!” The Autobot manning the terminal said.
“Activate the Space Bridge!” Optimus ordered.
The Autobot pressed a few buttons before the arch began to rotate in place and before long a bright green vortex appeared in the empty space of the Arch.
After a few moments letting the Bridge settle Optimus Prime turned to those on the rescue before saying.
“Autobots ROLL OUT!”
With that he, Ironhide and the rest of the rescue team transformed into their vehicle modes and began speeding towards the vortex.
In those few moments however Twilight was struggling with her emotions, she knew she’d just get in the way of the Autobots but at the same time after watching how brutal their Civil War have been she couldn’t help but fear for the lives of her friends and the fact that strangers are all that stands between them and death all but pounded any semblance of calm she had left.
Without thinking and with speed she didn’t think she had, Twilight leapt out of Fowler’s grasp and ran straight towards the vortex just as the rear end of the last Autobot was going through.
“StupidStupidStupidStupidStupidStupidStupidStupid STUPID!” She thought frantically as she closed in on the portal.
“TWILIGHT!” Fowler yelled, causing the Autobot at the Space Bridge Console to rapidly tap a few buttons to turn off the vortex.
It was too late however as with a jump Twilight leapt into the vortex just as it closed behind her.
There was a moment of silence as Fowler and the Autobot stared at where the portal was.
“Did..Did she make it through!?” Fowler asked, looking up at the Autobot as he looked at his console.
“Most likely.” The bot said as Fowler looked from him back to where the vortex was a few moments ago.
“FUCK!” Was all he said.
Four Hours earlier
“Hey kids, rise and shine!” Bulkhead’s voice rang out through the inside of his vehicle mode, stirring Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash from their sleep.
“Uhh what?” AJ said her voice groggy from her shortish sleep, she and RD were sitting in the front with AJ in the driver’s seat and Pinkie and Rarity sitting in the back.
Looking to the side Applejack could see that the sun was already climbing into the sky, it was pretty hard to go to sleep with everything that just happened but the ride was quite smooth enough for them to get some late sleep especially since they were currently driving through the midwest desert.
“Uhh could you keep it down, I’m trying to get some sleep here!” Rainbow said she was always a very heavy sleeper and not much of a morning riser.
“Well if you wanted THAT much sleep you should’ve stayed behind” Bulkhead joked though Rainbow didn’t see it that way.
“Why you!-” she started but Rarity interjected.
“Now now Rainbow I’m Bulkhead was just playing with you right?”
“Yeah I’m just messing with ya kid.” The green Autobot replied as they continued through the desert.
“So why’d you wake us Bulkhead? We there?” AJ asked.
“Just about, Bee said we were about a few minutes out so I thought I’d wake you kids now.”
“We’re in our late teens.” Rainbow muttered.
“Oh uh sorry?” Bulkhead said “I figured since that’s what human adults called you I’d thought you wouldn’t mind.”
“Some of us don’t” Applejack said looking at RD “Though some of us do.”
Bulkhead for his part just hummed as he drove along the desert of the midwest behind bumblebee with Arcee bringing up the rear of their little convoy.
Meanwhile in Bumblebee Sunset and Fluttershy were in the front seats with Sunset in the driver’s seat though given that her car was actually a sentient lifeform that was probably better a driving then she was Sunset was content to just lay her head on the steering wheel whilst having a downcast expression on her face.
Fluttershy looked at her in concern, Sunset had explained on many occasions how she felt responsible for Wallflower trying to rid the rest of them of their memories of her and she often wondered how many others she had wronged in the same way she had Wally.
“Hey Sunset you okay?” Bumblebee beeped which shook Sunset out of her mood, she sat up looking at the dashboard before looking to Fluttershy for a translation.
“He’s asking if you are okay?” She said.
Sunset looked back at the dashboard for a moment before saying “Oh yeah sure I’m…” she pauses for a moment “...not okay.”
She took another moment to collect herself before she continued “I’m really worried about Wallflower, if the rest of the Decepticons are as bad as the ones from last night then…”
“Sunset” Bumblebee beeped again but before Fluttershy could translate the Autobot continued.
“I know how it feels to lose some bot and feel responsible for them, I also know first hand how the cons “question” their captives so understand this I swear on my spark as an Autobot that we WILL get Wallflower back.”
After Fluttershy finally translated for him Sunset looked at Bumblebee’s dashboard for another moment before sighing “And you're risking yourself for her because..?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do.” Bumblebee beeped.
After Fluttershy translated for him Sunset couldn’t help but smile a bit “Thanks” she whispered.
Then all of a sudden Bumblebee stopped as did Bulkhead and Arcee behind them, they were parked right next to one of those midwest mountains.
“We’re here.” Bumblebee beeped again before he opened his doors and the girls got out.
“Uh we are? I don’t see any Decepticons.” Rainbow asked as hse and the others got out of Bulkhead.
Just then Pinkie notices something and puts her hand to her ear “You guys hear that?”
“Hear what?” Applejack asked before mimicking Pinkie and trying to hear what she was hearing.
“There’s a low humming sound coming from the other side of this.” Pinkie explains gesturing to the mountain beside them.
The Autobots then transformed back into their robot forms and the group moved towards the nearest corner, the group gathered to peek around and the girls gasp at what they saw whilst their Cybertronian friends simply glared in anger at the sight.
It was a large starship, one with hard angles and a very aggressive profile.
The Nemesis.
“Woah.” Rainbow Dash said simply amazed that they were seeing an actual alien spaceship for the first time.
“What in Uncle Sam's?” AJ said in similar awe as she took in the size of the thing.
“Cooool!” Pinkie simply said.
“How has nobody, not even the military, spotted that thing beforehand!?” AJ asks, turning to face Bulkhead.
“That thing is called the"Nemesis ", the cons mobile base of operations here on Earth.” The green Autobot said.
“As for how other humans haven’t detected it yet?” Acree says “It mostly remains high in the sky where human eyes can’t see it and it has stealth tech that even back on Cybertron we weren’t able to crack it.”
“If it mostly stays high up then why is it down here?” Sunset asks before Bulkhead gestures with a hand to the bottom rear of the ship where some sort of elevator can be seen.
“Energon pickup.” He simply says before looking at the mountain where the ship seemingly rested itself against.
“We should be able to board the ship from the top.” He said before Arcee held up a hand and gestured to the girls.
“What about them, I get we agreed to bring them along but do we really have to take them INTO the ship?”
Just then a strange fightercraft came streaking past their hiding place before disappearing behind the large starship.
“Well we can’t leave them here unguarded.” Bulkhead says “And I rather not go into a Con cruiser with just two bots when I could have three, besides things go south before we find Wallflower you and me will just keep the cons busy whilst Bee here takes the girls and goes finds Wallflower.”
Arcee stared at Bulkhead for a moment before sighing “Well when you put it that way, let’s get to climbing then.”
Nemesis Brig
Awareness slowly came back to Wallflower after she had passed out from who knows what and who knows how long ago, as she began to move her body she realised that she was suspended in the air by what appeared to be chains.
That fact alone made her open her eyes with a jolt only to see Knockout’s face in front of her.
“Wakey wakey sleepy head.” The Decepticon says with a grin.
Wallflower for her part couldn’t help but give in to the fear that came with that grin, for something about it scared her and what’s worse she couldn’t tell why.
“Wh-Where-Where am I-I?” She asked shakenly.
“You’re on the Nemesis my dear.” Megatron said as he entered the room from the door behind Knockout with Starscream in tow. “More specifically in one of its many prison cells.”
Knockout then moved to the side letting Wallflower get a good view of the Lord of Destruction which sent shivers down her spine.
“Wh-What do you want from me!?” Wallflower asked clearly not remembering much from last night.
“From you? Nothing.” Megatron said, pacing around his human prisoner.
“But from one of your friends? Information and you plus the other six will make excellent bait.” The lord of destruction smiled, taking in the look of horror upon Wally’s face.
“Lord Megatron if I may?” Knockout said as Megatron and Starscream began to leave the cell.
Megatron paused and turned to the medic.
“Can I perform some…tests on her?” Knockout said holding an electro stick “Never know when you might need that kind of information.”
Megatron considered it for a moment or at least looked like he was before saying “As long as you keep an eye on her and don’t break her Knockout.”
With that he and Starscream made their way out of the cell leaving Wallflower with a grinning Knockout and a glowing electro stick
Later Nemesis hallway
Bumblebee, Arcee, Bulkhead and the Rainbooms were sneaking through one of the ship’s hallways with the girls in Bee’s hands and the bot himself was between the other Autobots.
“My my this place definitely isn’t one for style is it?” Rarity said.
“Style doesn't win battles Rarity.” Arcee said as she peaked around the corner at the end of the hallway.
“Some cons might disagree.” Bumblebee beeped as he followed Arcee around the corner with Bulkhead in tow.
They arrived at a door at the end which opened as they approached, on the other side was a walkway which led over a massive bay where Decepticons mumbled about.
“Woah” Rainbow Dash muttered as they crossed the walkway as quietly as they could.
“This ship could transport a whole battlegroup’s worth of cons, enough to pose a threat to your planet.” Arcee said as was the first of them to make it across and stacked up on the door there.
“How far are the prison cells?” Sunset asked as Bumblebee and Bulkhead came up beside her as the door opened.
“Not far, the hard part is getting there unnoticed.” Bumblebee beeped as they quietly made their way through the next hallway.
“Worst case Bulkhead and I keep them occupied whilst you take the girls and go find Wallflower okay Bee?” Arcee asked to which Bumblebee nodded
As they continued down the hallway Bulkhead was quietly muttering to himself but was loud enough for the others to hear.
“Stealthy Stealthy STEALTHY” It was clear to the girls even before now that Bulkhead wasn’t one for sneaking.
“Would you be quiet Bulkhead? Saying Stealthy isn’t gonna make you any less of a target then you already are” Arcee said as they passed another hallway.
“Hey I can’t help it! It’s not lik-” Bulkhead said but before he could say anything else he noticed his right arm had hit something, turning to his right Bulkhead could see that his arm had accidentally found purchase on a Decepticon’s head.
Removing his right arm Bulkhead and the others watched as the con flopped to the ground offline.
“Oops.” Bulkhead simply said.
The girls for their part and to their credit tried to keep their cool despite seeing Bulkhead kill another moving thinking being even if it was a robotic alien. Fluttershy was taking it the hardest though Sunset was there to put a calming hand on her shoulder.
“You heard something?” A voice came from the other end of the second hallway around the corner.
“Scrap!” Arcee said as she moved to the corner blaster at the ready whilst Bulkhead tried to move the body out of sight.
Sadly the con came running around the corner not three seconds later.
“Wha-Autobots!” He shouted as soon as he saw them transforming his arm into a blaster and immediately started firing down the hall.
“Get back!” Bulkhead shouted as he and Arcee took cover behind the corner bulkheads whilst Bumblebee moved back away a bit.
Soon three more Decepticons added their fire to the mix and the alarms began to sound all over the ship.
“Bumblebee get going!” Bulkhead said as fired a shot hitting a con square in the head. “We’ll keep them busy whilst you get Wally GO!”
The Autobot scout reluctantly nodded before rushing away from the firefight and towards the cell area.
Nemesis Bridge
The alarms continued to blare by the time Megatron and Starscream came onto the bridge only to find the whole crew present in rapid activity.
“What’s going on!?” Starscream demanded.
“We have reports of Autobots on deck 6 Commander Starscream!” A Decepticon manning one of the terminals reported “We have yet to determine how many but at least two were confirmed to be in contact with a patrol in hallway D6E34”
“Prep all hands for combat” Megatron said calmly as he strolled to the centre of the bridge “Have the patrol maintain contact with the intruders but to not destroy them until they are identified and have troops sent to the cell blocks in case the Autobots we see are merely a diversion.”
“Yes lord Megatron!” came the reply before Megatron turned to Starscream.
“Starscream with me! If Optimus is indeed with them then I want to personally see him again” He said with a grin.
A while later Bumblebee is hiding behind a bulkhead whilst a platoon of Decepticons ran past obviously heading to the source of the fighting Arcee and Bulkhead are putting up.
“Let’s move!” One of the Cons said as he ran past “Reports say the bots are heading topside we’ll have them trapped before long!”
“Will they be okay?” Applejack said once the coast was clear.
Bumblebee beeped something before continuing towards the cell block with the girls still in his hands.
“He said they’ll be fine, something about surviving worse?” Fluttershy translated.
“How exactly are we gonna get off this ship once we get Wally?” Rainbow asked mostly to pass the time more than anything.
“Let’s just focus on getting Wally out of this alive.” Sunset said as Bumblebee rounded another corner before stopping.
“What is it Bumblebee?” Fluttershy asked.
“I’m picking up the tracker on Wally, a much stronger signal this time so we must be close” Bumblebee beeped before he began moving again.
“Finally” Sunset said once Fluttershy translated what he said.
Later after dodging another group of cons the gang finally made it to the right cell, Bumblebee sat the girls down by the door and signalled for them to be quiet.
Once they got the message the Scout stood beside the door frame before banging his fist on the door twice.
“Hello? You know the door can be opened from that side right?” The voice of knockout from the other side.
Before anything else could happen Bumblebee kicked the door hard enough to burst into the cell, acting quickly the Autobot scout identified Knockout with an electro stick in his hand. He quickly fired a burst from his right blaster which knocked the stick out of the con’s hand, seizing the initiative Bee rushed forwards tackling the Decepticon to the deck and then proceeded to punch the living optics out of him.
“WALLFLOWER!!” Bumblebee was ready to deliver his fifth punch when he heard the girls screaming, turning around his own optics widened.
Suspended above the deck by chains was the delicute Wallflower bush, quickly getting to his feet Bumblebee removed the chains and gently as he could manage to lay Wally down next to her friends.
“Stay back” Fluttershy says in a tone you wouldn’t normally hear from a shy girl like her as she checks Wallflower’s body for any serious injuries.
“You’re a medic?” Bumblebee asked surprised that such a shy human would have such a skill set
“I know how to check injuries and know what’s life-threatening, fortunately Wally’s okay aside from a burn mark on her chest. We’d best get her somewhere safe right away!” Flutters said.
With a nod Bumblebee transformed back into his car mode and the girls carried Wallflower inside, placing her on the back seats laid across rarity and Applejack as the others find some space.
“Let’s go Bumblebee floor it!” Sunset says from the driver's seat just as a couple of cons appeared in the doorway.
Not wasting any time Bumblebee gunned his engines and bulldozed his way through the cons and sped off down the hallway.
Later: Nemesis roofdeck
The wind was picking at this height when Arcee and Bulkhead emerged from the massive doors leading into the warship, blasters blazing both from and past them
“That's all you got!?” Bulkhead as he smashed a con who got too close with his left mace.
Both he and Arceeran to the far side of the roof to put some distance between them and the cons who took cover near the large hangar doors.
“Bulkhead! Have your coms rebooted!?” Arcee asked as she fired both her blasters in short controlled bursts.
Bulkhead took a moment to scan his HUD and noticed that his coms have indeed rebooted.
“Sure have! I’m calling it in!” The big Autobot said as a few blaster bolts pinged his cover.
“Base this is Bulkhead come in over!” There was static over on the other end.
“Anything!?” Arcee asked as she popped another con though more were arriving by the second.
“Not yet my coms HAVE just rebooted after all” Bulkhead shouted back before he tried again and again.
Then after the tenth try.
“Bulkhead, this is Optimus glad to hear you still function, what’s your status?” Optimus Prime said over the coms as the firefight got more intense.
“Thank Primus!” Bulkhead thought before saying “Me, Arcee and Bumblebee are on the Cons Flagship trying to rescue a human that the cons napped. Me and Cee are giving the Cons a beatdown but we could use some backup plus an exit strategy!”
There was a moment of silence on the other end and Bulkhead used that time to tell Arcee the good news.
“I heard you Bulk!” Arcee said with a smile on her face before Bulkhead could say anything.
“Bulkhead, Ironhide here have you rescued the human yet?” Bulkhead gave Arcee a look before replying
“Bumblebee went ahead to rescue her whilst me and Arcee bought him time.” He said as he leaned out of his cover and fired his blaster hitting three cons but only killing one in that burst.
Then Prime’s voice came over the com “Bulkhead this is Optimus, is a human group called the Rainbooms with Bumblebee?”
That gave Bulkhead pause “How did Prime know about the girls already?”
“Yeah?” Was all he said.
There was another moment of silence on the coms before Prime spoke again.
“We’re on our way Bulkhead , keep the Decepticons at bay for as long as you are able and we’ll Bridge right over.”
“Roger that!” Bulkhead before returning his attention to the fight in front of him.
The cons have been able to push out of their killzone and spread out on the deck, there wasn’t much in the way of cover though that didn’t stop them from trying to advance since unlike the Autobots the Decepticons have the numbers advantage and can afford to take some losses whilst crossing the open ground.
“Help’s on the way cee!” Bulkhead yelled to the female bot across from his cover, she merely nodded before taking a shot at a con trying his luck at running the gauntlet and unfortunately Primus was with him as he dodged the incoming fire and slid into cover before returning fire.
Some time later a space bridge vortex opened behind the two Autobots and Prime, Ironhide and the rest of the rescue team came rushing through as well as Twilight who wasted no time in finding a place to hide.
The new arrivals quickly began to transform back into their main forms and unleashed their firepower on the approaching Decepticons.
“Bulkhead! Have you seen Bumblebee?” Optimus asked as he took cover near the big green Autobot.
“Last I saw him he was still in the ship heading for the cell blocks!” Bulkhead replied as he fired off another salvo causing a con to duck his head back.
Optimus for his part fired a burst off before saying “Very well remain here and keep our exist clear, I shall go-”
“Optimus Prime!” An all too familiar voice boomed over the deck bringing a temporary end to the fight.
Turning towards the source Optimus could see Megatron and Starsreacm coming out of the doorway leading into the ship.
“Megatron” Optimus simply said disdain clear in his voice
Meanwhile Twilight was able to find cover without being noticed by either side and she got a good look at Megatron though she started to wonder if she should have, Megatron is quite big compared to the others around Prime’s height but his form is curved in a way that makes it look like blades giving his body a very aggressive look.
But it was his face that gave Twilight the shivers, though she wasn’t quite sure why aside from his eyes and that smile but she somehow knew that whoever Megatron WAS, he is now someone who was even more evil than the villains from Equestria.
“If I had known you were stopping by I would have tidied up the place.” Megatron said though Twilight could tell that was being sarcastic in the most evil way possible.
“Step. Aside. Megatron.” Optimus said as he walked out ahead of the Autobot firing line.
Smiling Megatron mirrored his rival whilst saying “Or what?”
Optimus didn’t say anything, just narrowed his eyes at Megatron before they both started charging each other whilst Starscream took to the skies and the battle resumed.
As they both closed the distance Optimus was the first to strike by pulling his right arm back and punched Megatron aiming for his head, it was able to connect for a moment before Prime’s fist glanced off whilst Megatron’s right fist hit Prime in the midsection.
Capitalising on it Megatron then grabbed Prime by the shoulders whilst the Autobot leader tried to pray Megatron off him before he could however the Lord of Destruction began ramming his right knee repeatedly into Prime’s midsection.
On the fifth knee jab however Optimus was able to grab Megatron’s shoulders and with as much force as he could muster headbutted the Decepticon leader with enough force to send him back a few steps.
Smiling that humorless smile Megatron then extended a sword from his blaster cannon on his right arm, Optimus then mirrored the action by drawing his two handed axe.
The two Cybertronians then clashed again whilst their forces battled around them.
From her spot away from the action Twilight could clearly see the duel taking place as both Optimus and Megatron hacked and slashed at each other trying to find a weak spot in the other’s defence, eventually their weapons locked together and each tried their hardest to push the other back to gain an opening.
“Tell me something Optimus Prime.” Megatron said as the two continued to grind their weapons against the other. “Why do you fight for these humans? What is there to gain by allying yourself with such weak creatures?”
“Many things Megatron.” Optimus said as the contest of strength continued “But most importantly to keep the Allspark out of your hands!”
It was then that Megatron actually had a look of shock on his face “The Allspark?” he whispered.
Optimus looked at his once beloved friend turned enemy with a similar look of shock “He doesn't know about the Allspark? But then why did he-”
Just then a loud horn blared from the doors leading into the ship and out came Bumblebee in his vehicle mode with Pinkie hanging outside one of the windows and waving whilst the others were still in their seats
“OUT OF THE WAY!” She shouted just as Bumblebee ran over a con or two “Warned ya.” she simply said as she leaned back into Bumblebee’s alt-mode.
As Bumblebee raced across the deck however Starscream landed on the part of the hull above the main doors.
“Not so fast Autobot!” He shouted as he fired one of his missiles.
Both Twilight and Optimus watched in horror as the missile streaked across the battlefield in seconds, hitting the young scout in the rear which launched him a few feet above the deck.
Time seemed to slow down at that moment as whilst he was gliding through the air Bumblebee transformed back into his robot mode causing the Rainbooms to fly out of him, fortunately before they could crash to the deck Bumblebee caught the seven of them in his arm just as they crashed and skidded along the deck.
Starscream then took the chance and landed on Bumblebee’s back as he was still sliding along the deck causing the Rainbooms minus Wallflower to slide out of Bee’s arms and slide further away from him.
“Bumblebee!” Optimus shouted as he saw his scout in danger but before he could do anything Megatron charged him, locking their weapons once more.
“Decepticons! Kill them all let none survive! NONE!” The lord of Destruction yells.
They didn’t know it at the time but at that moment something triggered in both Optimus Prime and Twilight Sparkle though Twilight was the one to act on it.
Rushing from her safe spot away from the battle Twilight rushed to her fallen friends as the battle around her intensified, Optimus out of the corner of his optic spotted her running past but could not turn his attention away from Megatron who was doubling down on his aggressive attacks.
Meanwhile Starscream was still on Bumblebee’s back when he noticed the other Rainbooms struggling to get up.
“Here’s for making fun of us humans!” He shouted as he fired another missile.
As it raced towards them Twilight was almost to her friends whilst Optimus was watching, in that instant the Matrix inside him lit up as did Twilight as she got close to the prone form of Sunset and a second later a bright flash of energy engulfed both the Rainbooms and Twilight as well blinding every bot present once again pausing the battle.
“What?” Prime thought as he looked at the light struggling to keep it out of his eyes.
Meanwhile Twilight couldn’t see where she was, she couldn’t feel her limbs nor could she hear anything.
“Am I…dead?” The thought crushed Twilight like a brick on a bug.
“BUCK! Is this how it ends!? Is trying to save my friends so wrong!?” She wanted to scream but found she couldn’t even talk.
“No it is not” The voice was deep and old and would’ve given Twilight a jolt if she was still in her body right now.
Despite not hearing the voice before Twilight could somehow recognise the owner, the same one whose eyes she saw.
“One of the thirteen?” She asked or thought either way the voice answered.
“Your presence has disrupted much Twilight Sparkle of Equestria” The fact that this voice knew who she was seemed to confirm without a doubt that this being was the same whose eyes she saw.
“Yet fear not for until now our two worlds had never met and because of this the delicate balance of time has shifted whether for better or for worse is for you and they to decide” The voice continued which confused Twilight but before she could ponder that she felt her..essence? Soul? Moving away from the voice and she started to feel again if only a little.
“Until then accept this gift to aid you in your immediate struggle forged through the powers of both our worlds with a touch of the third world, use it well and be ready to face the dark…Till all are one.”
Before she could do anything a surge of energy not unlike the rainbow power surged through Twilight overwhelming what little senses she still had before her limited world went fully white once more.
The bright light seemed to go on forever as both Autobots and Decepticons tried and failed to block out the great ball of light that just seemed to materialise out of thin air, Optimus for his part could feel the energies of the Matrix from the light and given the glow around Twilight he saw if only for second he could at the very suspect that whatever was happening involved Equestrian Magic.
Of course at the moment it was just a theory but given that this has never happened before Prime felt that Twilight’s magic had at least some hand in this event.
“What the scrap!?” Starscream yelled amongst many others who were all just as confused.
Even Megatron was left speechless as he too struggled to keep his optics clear.
Soon the bright light dissipated leaving a small cloud of smoke in its wake, as the cloud began to dissipate they all could see human shapes standing in the cloud and once the smoke dissipated enough they could not believe what they were seeing.
The Rainbooms and Twilight were standing tall but instead of their usual clothes they were wearing some sort of advanced armour that looked awfully Cybertronian in their design.
Twilight for her part couldn’t believe her eyes hidden behind a helmet as they were, the armour she was wearing was unlike anything she has seen the armour itself looked sleek if one were to look at the limbs but was bulker when looking at the main body whilst its colours were white with traces of purple and pink.
The inside of her helm was just as impressive; it appeared to have a Heads Up Display, a radar and other systems that Twilight couldn’t identify.
“Whad in tarnation!?” Applejack exclaimed as Twilight turned to see her friends decked out in similar looking armour except that theirs had their more personal colours then Twilight’s did.
Without thinking Twilight ran up to the person in red and yellow armour who she knew to be Sunset and hugged her.
“You’re alive!” Twilight cried as she hugged Sunset who was just as shocked as to see her mentor figure here of all places.
“Wha-Twilight!? What are-”
“DESTROY THEM!” Megatron roared as the battle resumed
Several of the cons began blasting at the recently transformed Rainbooms and as if on instinet they all began to rocket to the skies before hovering slightly.
“WOAH NELLY!” Applejack exclaimed as she tried to get herself under control as were the rest of the Rainbooms.
“WE HAVE JETPACKS NOW!? AWESOME!!!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she bobbed to avoid a blaster bolt.
“AH! WOAH!” Fluttershy screamed as she dodged two other blaster bolts.
Bumblebee, having knocked off Starscream and picked up Wallflower, used his free hand to blast the two Cons to the ground.
“HUH!? Oh thank you!” Fluttershy shouted to the Autobot scout as he simply nodded before rushing to the safety of the Autobot battleline.
Twilight having gained control of her jetpack first spotted Sunset still trying to gain control of hers and headed towards her as the battle raged below.
“You okay Sunset!?” She shouted over the sounds of battle and blasters occasionally shooting passed, placing her hands on Sunset’s shoulders to help steady herself.
“Yeah YEAH I’m okay, for now.” Sunset said as she got control of her newfound flight. “But Twilight what are you doing here!? I thought you-”
“Later right now we need to-” Twilight didn’t get to finish as the green vortex from before appeared in the same place as before.
“That’s our ride bots!” Ironhide shouted taking charge whilst Prime was indisposed “Teams Alpha and Charlie take covering stances whilst Beta brings the others through the bridge!”
“C'mon kids!” Bulkhead shouted waving to the group of flying humans “It’s either this or a Decepticon cell!”
“Not that I would like to end up like our dear Wally but how-” Rarity began to say before Pinkie Pie blasted past them all clearly having mastered her new means of motion.
“FLY YOU FOOLS!” She simply said before she quickly disappeared in the green vortex.
“Ah screw it!” Applejack swore and tried to fly to the vortex as well but couldn’t manage to keep herself straight for more than a few moments.
Soon the others began to fly towards the green vortex as the Autobots began evacuating.
“NO! STOP THEM!” Megatron yelled as Applejack and Rainbow Dash disappeared into the Space Bridge.
Before he could take another step however Optimus Prime once again stood in his path with fury in his eyes.
“NOT WHILE MY SPARK BURNS MEGATRON!” He yelled in such a volume that caught Megatron off guard for but a second.
Which was all that the Prime needed to launch his attack, Axe at the ready the Prime lunged at Megatron who raised his sword to meet the strike. The two connected but soon they both began to trade blows once again.
During one such blow Prime had left his guard open to which was poised to strike.
Only for a blaster bolt to hit him square in the face, dazing him.
Optimus took a chance and turned to the source only to find Twilight hovering near the Space Bridge, her right arm having transformed into a blaster that was still smoking.
“OPTIMUS! COME ON!” She shouted before she followed her friends into the vortex.
“Dah! You will-!” Megatron began to say before Optimus punched him across the head before grabbing his shoulders.
“Megatron” Optimus began as he spun around building up momentum whilst still holding onto the Lord of Destruction.
“BEGONE!” With that he hurled Megatron at a group of cons knocking over like bowling pins.
“Optimus!” Prime turned to see Ironhide waving at him whilst several other Autobots began entering the portal.
With no words needing to be said Optimus began running towards the Space Bridge just as Megatron began to get back on his feet.
“NO!” He yelled once he saw what was happening “DO NOT LET THEM ESCAPE!”
With that he charged his right arm cannon blazing whilst the rest of the Decepticons began to follow their master’s lead.
Noticing this Optimus stopped short of the portal and drew his blasters and started firing into the tide of Decepticons whilst the remaining Autobots hurried into the portal.
“PRIME!!!” Megatron yelled as he got closer and closer whilst both leaders were unloading everything they had.
Then just as Megatron got close enough to use his blaster mounted sword Optimus jumped back with the kick of his feet, blasters still flaring as he flew into the green vortex before it quickly closed just in time for Megatron to miss the swing of his blade.
As Megatron stood where the Space Bridge was he let out a yell that would’ve shook the sky apart.
“Lord Meg-” One poor con chose the wrong time to speak as Megatron quickly redirected his blade to the soldier cutting him in half down the middle.
Silently and without another word Megatron walked past the stunned and shocked Decepticons as he headed back inside the Nemesis.
Next Episode Preview!
”Well that was certainly not what I was expecting.”
(Shows the Autobots and the Rainbooms appearing in the Autobot side of the space bridge before snapping to a overhead shot of Megatron on a raised platform in the Nemesis Bridge)
”But right all that matters is getting ready for the next time!”
(Shows Twilight and the Rainbooms running through a simulated battlefield in the Autobot base occasionally firing their weapons before snapping to a shot of Optimus and Ironhide in conversation)
”Next time! United We Stand Part three!”
(Shows Sunset and Twilight on a platform firing their blasters back to back at drones and turrets)
”And there will be a next wether we like it or not”
(Shows Bumblebee laying face down before he raises head and then his optics widen with shock)
Author's Note
And here you guys have it! The second episode!
Sorry about not getting this out in January I underestimated many things but it’s out now for your enjoyment.
Comment down below and ROLL OUT!
Edit: 15/2/2024: tweaked some words here and there.
Edit: 2/7/2024: changed the dialogue between Starscream and Arcee.
Episode Three: United We Stand Part Three
To say things didn’t go to plan was…well for many of the Decepticons they weren’t sure if the plan was a success or a failure, on the one hand the whole point was to lure the Autobots out to test their strength and cut it down a size if possible which they have done. On the other hand however they had not only lost more troops then expected but they also unintentionally gave the Autobots new allies with unknown abilities.
For the Lord of Destruction himself who was standing on the Bridge of the Nemesis there were more downsides then upsides to be seen in the aftermath of today’s clash.
“Well that sure as scrap didn’t go to plan.” Breakdown said as he and the other Decepticons were on the bridge with Megatron.
“Gee you don’t say!” Knockout exclaimed frustrated at Breakdown for stating the obvious so bluntly.
Megatron meanwhile ignored the two as he continued to stare out of the Nemesis's view screen. Whilst his face was that of a neutral expression Megatron was seething with rage inside, as he replayed one particular moment he reached a hand to the left side of his face.
He hated Optimus Prime with all his spark but in a way he respected the Autobot leader for being able to keep pace with him for so long, but for some small organic to try and intervene?
“Be warned human” Megatron thought as though he could reach out and send those thoughts directly to that human female. “Nobody interrupts our little game and lives very long”
Nearby Starscream looks at Megatron with questioning concern, it wasn’t that often that he’d be in this particular mood. Even when he lost against Optimus Prime, Megatron's mood wasn’t as…dangerous as it is now, the fact that it was an organic that struck him in his eye was probably one of many reasons why Megatron was in such a mood.
If Starscream was his old self perhaps he could use this to his advantage, now however.
“Lord Megatron?” Starsrceam asked both to get his master’s attention and to prevent a shouting match from developing.
There was a moment of silence before the Lord of Destruction spoke, “Though we were unable to eliminate the autobots as we had hoped, we still gained something.”
“The fact they have a Space-Bridge.” Starscream commented.
“Indeed” Megatron agreed “We can also assume that the Autobots have more numbers then we previously thought given our recent battle”
“Not to rain on the parade as the humans say” Knockout began “But how exactly does that help us?”
It was then that Megatron turned around to face the other high-ranking Decepticons.
“Tell us Knockout, how can the Autobots have a Space Bridge?” He asked.
Knockout opened his mouth but then promptly shut it as he thought about it some more, a Space Bridge wasn’t something that one carries into battle afterall and would require extensive facilities.
And the only way the Autobots would have those would be because…
“Their ship must still be functional.” Knockout said.
“Affirmative.” Megatron said, allowing himself a small smile as he turned to look at Soundwave.
“I trust you can find the right frequency that the Autobots use and locate their crashed ship?” Megatron asked his most loyal lieutenant.
In response Soundwave’s visor began displaying readouts and diagrams which correspond to that of a Space Bridge translation frequency, after the short display was over and he’s visor returned to its black normal self Soundwave nodded which gave Megatron a chance to smile.
“Excellent Soundwave!” He exclaimed, ignoring Starscream’s roll of his eyes.
“If only simply killing Prime would solve our problems” the seeker said.
“Oh don’t you worry Starscream Prime’s death may not guarantee our victory but it will shatter the Autobots' will, even if only for a-” Megatron said before another Decepticon spoke up.
“Lord Megatron! We’re receiving a transmission from mine 667/A priority red” He said.
“Patch it through.” Megatron said as he turned back to the view screen in front of the bridge.
“Lord Megatron” A voice said over the comms “we found something that may require you immediate attention.”
Megatron didn’t say anything for a long moment before finally “Understood we’ll be there soon Megatron out.”
“Priority red?” Breakdown asked Knockout as Megatron walked out of the bridge with Soundwave and Starscream in tow.
“Pretty much means something BIG is happening and that big M is needed.” Knockout explained “Though if it isn’t as bad or important like they say then Megs will make sure they don’t…make that mistake again” To visualise Knockout raised his hand to his throat before slowly sliding it across and making a noise, Breakdown got the gist immediately before Megatron called out to them.
“Knockout! Breakdown! To me!”
“Duty calls.” Breakdown simply said before the two filled out of the bridge.
Mine 667/A is one of the deepest and richest Energon mines that the Decepticons have found so far, the cave entrance was small, barely big enough for the most average Cybertronian to pass through, however it is small enough to go unnoticed by the primitive humans.
As Megatron and the other Decepticons pass through the entrance into the mine itself, they could see several crystalised forms of Energon jutting out from the sides and ceiling of the tunnel they were now heading through towards the central chamber.
There were a few Decepticons manning the mining equipment who paused only for a moment at the appearance of their leader, their gaze turning back to their work before Megatron could see them lacking.
As they crossed the chamber the group came upon a Decepticon who was giving instructions to a couple of miners before noticing Megatron.
“Report.” Megatron said as the Decepticon Foremen bowed before his master.
“We found…” The foremen began before he hesitated.
“Found what?” Megatron asked but the foremen still hesitated.
“Answer your master!” Starscream shouted, drawing one of his blades towards the Decepticon’s throat.
“A GOLDEN AGE SPACE BRIDGE!” The foremen shouted.
There was silence for a very long moment before Megatron spoke again “A space Bridge from the Golden age?”
“Yes! Lord Megatron!” The foremen said before gesturing to a passageway.
They were soon in one of the newer chambers of the mine which was much like the others but for one key difference.
“By Primus” Starscream said in awe as he and the rest of the Decepticons looked on, standing in the far wall across from them was a large halo shaped device its golden exterior faded with time but no less recognisable to those in the know.
“Is it operational?” Megatron asked not taking his eyes off the massive golden age construct.
“We’re not sure about that Lord Megatron but if so then powering it won’t be a problem.” The Decepticon Foremen explained gesturing to the large amount of Energon in the chamber.
“If this were operational..” Starscream began.
“Then we’d be able to reach Cybertron and receive reinforcements, enough to conquer this planet.” Megatron finished.
“If this thing still works.” Knockout commented.
“And if it doesn’t?” Breakdown asked.
“Then at least if or when the Autobots find this they wouldn’t be able to use it either” Megatron said though he would obviously prefer not to hand over this piece of Cybertronian technology over as a matter of pride.
“Soundwave!” Megatron yelled, getting the Decepticon’s attention.
“Whilst the location of the Autobot Base remains the priority, see if you can spare some time to assist in this endeavour.” The lord of destruction ordered to which the comms officer nodded.
“Carry on Foreman ” Megatron said to said Decpticon before walking back out of the chamber.
Omega Base: Moments after the Battle on the Nemesis
“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING YOUR HIGHNESS!?” Fowler shouted as he ran up to Twilight who was standing with her hands to her knees catching her breath.
They were currently back in the Space Bridge bay where several Autobots were currently assisting others and Ratchet tending to a couple of wounded bots.
“I uh” Twilight tried to say but was still very much out of it.
“Agent Fowler.” Optimus Prime said unexpectedly catching the eyes of most within the large room.
“Whilst what Twilight did was indeed reckless, her actions were of the purest intention and to be frank if I were in the same position I would’ve acted no different and it was ultimately her choice as freedom is a right all living beings should have.” Optimus said, surprising both Twilight and Fowler.
“I was sure to get a few words from Optimus but not like this.” Twilight thought and whether through their barely understood connection or not Twilight felt a swell of respect for the Autobot leader.
Fowler for his part just stared at Optimus for a moment before sighing “Best just leave it will” he thought before speaking out loud “With that out of the way anyone care to-”
“TWILIGHT!” Pinkie suddenly shouted tackling said Alicorn turned human to the floor still in her Cybertronian armour.
Soon the others were gathering around Twilight as she was raised back up by Pinkie.
“H-Hi girls-” Twilight started to say before Sunset beat her to it.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE TWILIGHT!?” She shouted whilst grabbing Twilight’s shoulders.
“Huh! Uh Sunset?!” Twilight muttered only to be interrupted again.
“Did these guys have something to do with you!?” Rainbow asked, looking around at the Autobots who were busy with taking care of their own in the aftermath of the battle.
“Umm kinda? Can we take this somewhere else?” Twilight asked looking to Optimus Prime for help.
“I believe that can be arranged.” The Prime said before motioning for the humans to follow him.
Omega base: port observation room
“So let me get this thing straight.” Applejack started once they were all settled in “This whole thing started yesterday because you touched Mr.Prime over here?”
Twilight shifted her weight around a bit, she and the others were on a Cybertronian sized table in the observation room. Sunset, Fluttershy and Wallflower were sitting next to each other with Bumblebee behind them whilst Rainbow, Pinkie, Rarity and Agent Fowler stood to the side. After a quick round of introductions Twilight told the girls everything that happened after they split up yesterday.
“Pretty much AJ” Twilight said.
“Don’t blame her Miss Apple” Fowler said “I was the one who told Twilight that it’d be best if we keep that incident close, though I should’ve known that the cons would’ve tried something to get to her.”
Applejack said nothing but just looked at her arm, her body still inside her new Cybertronian Armour.
“What about our new looks?” She asked.
“You mean our AWESOME new looks!?” Rainbow Dash corrected.
“Well” Twilight started “Right before the missile from Starscream was it? Hit us something…magical? No, I think otherworldly would be the best way to describe it, something otherworldly..connected with me and from what I understand caused a chain reaction which..”
“Which caused the large sphere of energy to appear where you and your friends were.” Optimus added, he and several other Autobots including Ironhide, Bulkhead, Arcee, Bumblebee, Ratchet and Perceptor were also in the observation room.
Twilight nodded before continuing “Next thing I know I was in a white abyss or something and then a voice spoke to me, said that these suits were a gift.”
“A gift?” Sunset said “A gift from who?”
Twilight felt the whole room had their eyes on her as she tried to find the words to explain, she knew that her friends knew nothing about the primes that Optimus mentioned earlier today and she didn’t quite know how best to say it.
Eventually though she just came out and said it “I think it was one of the thirteen primes”
That got a reaction out of all present but more the Cybertronians then the seven new humans.
“The Primes!? THE Primes!?” Bulkhead shouted in surprise followed by the other Autobots with the expectation of Optimus who simply had a look of surprise on his face.
“Uh care to fill us in?” Sunset asked her face, mirroring the other Rainbooms in their confusion.
Optimus Prime then gave a brief lesson on the Thirteen Primes explaining who they are and how they impacted Cybertronian culture, whilst many of the Rainbooms were listening it was Sunset and Twilight who were listening most intently. Twilight especially as whilst she did get the very basics of the Thirteen she was still interested in how these first Cybertronians shaped the course of their world, it was during this however that no one seemed to notice Pinkie stretching out one of her arms.
Which then suddenly turned into a blaster and fired off a burst.
“WOAH!” Bulkhead shouted as the blast pinged his shoulder.
“Hehehehe oops” Pinkie apologised sheepishly.
“Back on topic, is there any way to get these suits off them?” Agent Fowler asked.
At that Rainbow turned to face Fowler “Why would we take these off? Now we can fight those con-guys!”
“You wanna fight those guys again!?” Fowler exclaimed.
“Well..it's not like I wanna go and find them, it's just that now we can defend ourselves!” Rainbow explained.
“She has a point, mister Fowler,” Rarity said, nodding to her fellow Rainboom.
“Considering the fact that the Decepticons have now seen that they are more than meets the eye, the Rainbooms will become a constant target.” Optimus added before suddenly bright lights enveloped the armoured rainbooms with the expectation of Twilight.
After a few moments the lights faded revealing the girls back in their normal attire.
“Uh what just happened?” Rainbow Dash asked with slight disappointment in her voice.
“Given the limited readings I was able to take,” Perceptor said whilst looking at his wrist computer “It would appear that your suits have returned to a pocket dimension of a sort, which was possible through your magic.”
“Pocket dimension?” AJ asks “Is that possible?”
“There have been cases of Cybertronians possessing the ability to access a pocket dimension though such an ability was rare even before we left Cybertron.” Optimus explained.
“So I’m guessing there’s no way to get rid of our cool suits?” Rainbow said in a slightly hopeful voice.
“Not without potentially disastrous consequences.” Percepter said.
Fowler looked at the Autobot for a moment then turned to the Rainbooms and then to Prime before saying “Prime can we talk in private?”
Optimus nodded before addressing the Rainbooms “It would be best if you all stay here for now whilst I talk with Agent Fowler.”
With that the two walked out of the room and into the adjacent hallway
“Answer me this Prime” Fowler said once the two were alone in the hallway.
“Are you really gonna have the girls fight in YOUR war?”
Optimus to his credit looked at Fowler with a neutral expression before giving his answer.
“Whilst I very much agree that this war should stay between my kind Agent Fowler the sad truth is that if the girls wanted to partake of their free will I can’t in good conscience refuse them as I’ve said before freedom is the right of all sentient beings.”
Fowler just looked at the Autobot for a moment before lowering his head and said “But they're just kids.”
Optimus gave a look of sympathy before saying “I am not saying that they’ll be taking part in battle if we can avoid it but know that the Decpticons won’t hesitate to target them if it means to give them an advantage over us.”
Fowler didn’t have a reply to that as he can see the Cons taking advantage of the bot’s own sense of honour by attacking the girls.
“I’m guessing there’s a reason you can’t just have some of your people play bodyguard for them?” He asked.
“Whilst that would have been an acceptable outcome due to the fact that we are few in number and the more simple fact that the Decepticons could strike anywhere on your planet my Autobots will need to be ready to counter whatever plans they have, perhaps simultaneously” Optimus replied
“So all hands on deck huh?” Agent Fowler concludes.
“Unfortunately so” Optimus said with a nod “though given the opportunity I can see if we can’t sort out a rotation of Autobots for them.”
“But not permanent guards right?” Fowler asked.
“That’s about right,” Ironhide said as he came walking up to the two.
“Ironhide? Agent Fowler requested to speak with me alone.” Optimus said surprised that one of his old friends would do something like this, not that he was mad but caught off guard.
Shrugging his shoulders Ironhide said “Just wanted to add my voice to yours Prime” He then look down towards Fowler “I know you don’t like them getting involved Fowler and if our enemy was anyone else they wouldn’t but the Cons will do anything target anyone if it means they can snatch victory from their enemies. At the very least we won’t let them get into the thick of it as much as possible and even if they do we’ll make sure they’re ready.”
Fowler let those words sink in before he replied “You mean to say you’ll train them?”
“Got a problem with that?” Ironhide asked.
Fowler thought for a moment, on the one hand he didn’t like the idea of alien robots training humans to potentially fight in their war no matter how much those aliens wish it would be otherwise. On the other hand however he agreed with Optimus that as long as the Cons were around the Rainbooms were in danger and he can’t bring in Uncle Sam because one he doubt nothing short of a full military detachment could wound let alone kill a Decepticon and two there would undoubtedly be a lot of bureaucratic nonsense that Fowler as a soldier at heart didn’t see as worth it.
So with a sigh he spoke “I don’t like it but if you're absolutely certain there’s no other option.”
Optimus gave Fowler another look of sympathy “I fear that may be so Agent Fowler.”
Back in the observation room the Rainbooms had dispersed to indulge in their own affairs.
Sunset, Fluttershy and Wallflower were talking with Bumblebee with Fluttershy acting as the translator, Rarity and Applejack were having a conversation with Fixit and Rainbow and Pinkie were chatting with Arcee and Bulkhead respectively.
As for Twilight however she was still sitting on the table looking out of the window of the observation deck, she still had her Cybertronian Armour on not because she couldn’t figure out how but rather she didn’t want to yet though she couldn’t say why if you ask her.
So she just sat there watching the marine life outside beyond the observation window.
“Twilight?” Sunset asked as she walked up to her mentor and friend.
Twilight turned her head towards her before replying “What is it Sunset?”
“Are you having trouble getting out of that armour?”
“Ah no it's not that” Twilight started “Well it does have something to do with these suits but..”
“It’s about who gave us them isn’t it?” Sunset concluded.
Twilight nodded before looking back at the window “Along with many other things” She added.
Sunset moved to sit with her joining her in the sightseeing.
“Still can’t believe all that’s happened was because those Decepticons just happened to see you touching Optimus’s truck mode.” Sunset commented “I mean talk about coincidence right?”
“Hehe right.” Twilight agreed.
watched the two ponies turned humans as they sat together whilst Bumblebee looked over her, the young scout then noticed Wallflower looking at him as if to say something.
“You okay?” Bumblebee beeped to which Fluttershy translated.
“Oh yes I..um just wanted to say thank you for rescuing mE” Wally squeaked out the last bit as Bumblebee moved his head down to level with her head.
“Ah it was nothing” The young Autobot beeped and if possible he would’ve smiled.
“So um ah how is it that Fluttershy seems to understand you but the rest can’t?” Wally asked.
“The Autobots can.” Fluttershy said “Though I’m not sure why I can, with them it makes some sense since their umm…”
She paused to look at Bumblebee again.
“Robots?” The scout beeped.
“Well you don’t act like robots so I um..” Fluttershy tried to argue but couldn’t quite find the words.
To her surprise Bumblebee raised his fist to Flutters to which she bumped her own against his.
“None taken” he beeped.
Just then Optimus, Ironhide and Agent Fowler came back into the room catching the attention of all present.
“Autobots” Optimus started “And humans” he added nodding to the Rainbooms.
“What’s happening yall?” AJ asked.
“As you all know the situation you found yourselves in is in no small part because of me and my fellow Autobots” Optimus began “Because of this regardless of the truth the Decepticons will consider you targets.”
“Th-They will?!” Wallflower said, shuddering.
“Yup unfortunately” Ironhide confirmed.
“Primus I'd be shocked if they DIDN’T” Bulkhead muttered.
“In either case” Optimus continued “Considering your recent abilities Ironhide and I have agreed to give you training.”
“Ah hell yeah so-!” Rainbow cheered only for Optimus to dispel that notion.
“NO! While it is unavoidable that you humans will get caught in the crossfire this training will only be for your self defence, this fight is still our own and it is too early for any of you to commit to it if my understanding of human education systems is accurate.” The Prime said after raising his voice a bit, a very uncommon thing for him to do.
“You mean school and the like?” Applejack asked.
“Indeed Miss Apple.” Optimus replied.
Twilight for her part stared at the Autobot leader for a moment before turning her gaze to her hand, the very same one that transformed into a blaster to save Optimus from a blow from Megatron.
It could have easily gone wrong and Twilight didn’t know how she would cope with hurting or even killing someone who risked their own life to save her friends, what’s more just before she got back to the portal she saw Megatron giving her a brief but hard gaze of rage.
The Decepticons would come for them Twilight knew and whilst she didn’t think the Autobots would leave them to that fate she knew she and her friends would have to learn to fight if only to ensure that they didn’t hurt anyone with their new found abilities.
Twilight then looked back at Optimus Prime for a moment before saying “When do we start?”
One Month Later
“Okay rookies!” Ironhide said from a control room which was connected to a large training room where the Rainbooms would be doing their latest exercise.
“Today we’ll be putting what you’ve learned this past month to practice, several turrets are gonna pop out and attack you. All you have to do is work together to destroy all of them and as an extra bit challenge you are to refrain from using your comms, got it?” Ironhide continued as the Rainbooms were on the far side of the training room getting ready.
There was a chorus of acknowledgement as Optimus walked into the control room and stood next to Ironhide.
“Where’s Fluttershy old friend?” He asked as he surveyed the present Rainbooms.
“Apparently she and Wallflower had scheduled a get together and are just now heading home, Bee’s with them so I’d let it slide especially since out of the seven she’s probably the least capable unless we have more time to train her.” Ironhide replied.
“Time which we may not have.” Optimus stated as he watched Twilight get jumped scared by Pinkie which ended up with the whole group laughing due to the nature of the jump scare.
“Yeah.” Ironhide agreed before addressing the Rainbooms.
“Session starts in 40 seconds, rookies!”
The girls start to get ready, their bodies tense and loaded like springs.
Out of the corner of her eye Twilight spotted Optimus and nodded.
Then out of the ceiling, floor and walls turrets sprang up, just as several platforms began rising from the floor changing the terrain of the room from a straight flat surface to an ever changing landscape.
Instantly the turrets began firing blue bolts of energy at the Rainbooms.
The girls ran forward as soon as the bolts started flying, returning fire as best as they could.
As the girls ran the training gauntlet Ironhide smirked a bit before saying “Why not make it unexpectedly interesting?”
He then tapped a few keys on the main console and moments later the Turrets began better coordinating their fire to try and separate the Rainbooms.
“Woah nelly!” AJ shouted as she and Rainbow dodged a barrage of blaster bolts which had the intended effect of separating them from the others.
“This way AJ” RD said as the two made their way through the largest of the shifting platforms to try and get some cover.
Just then a Turret sprang from the floor.
“Watch it!” Applejack shouted from behind Rainbow as the Farm girl fired a blaster bolt from her arm blaster and smashed the Autobot turret to pieces.
“Jezz it's like Ironhide DOESN’T want us to pass!” Rainbow exclaimed as she and AJ began blasting other Turrets as their cover shifts again to allow them to see each other.
“This isn’t like a school test Dash!” AJ deadpanned as she dove over RD to blast at another turret.
“You know what I mean!” The athlete shouted back as she dodged another blaster bolt.
AJ then looked around before shouting “Have you seen the others!?”
“Uh” Rainbow glanced around the shifting platforms and caught a glimpse of pink “Over there!”
Just before she could take a step towards them however Rainbow jumped back as a blaster bolt nearly hit her.
“Man, he really doesn't want to make this easy for us!” She shouted blasting the offending turret to pieces.
“Gee ya think!?” AJ deadpend as she used her strong legs to roundhouse kick another turret.
Just as another turret zones in on her.
“AJ!” Rainbow shouted as she jumped between her and the blaster blot taking the shot in her chest, sending her flying into a raised platform.
“Dash!” AJ shouted skidding over to the fallen athlete “You okay?”
“I’m gonna feel that in the morning,” Rainbow said as she stood up.
“Then let's move” The Farm girls said as the two Rainbooms continued their way through the ever changing maze of platforms.
“On your right Sunset!”
“On it!” Sunset replied as she blasted a turret before it could blast either of them off the tall platform they forced on top of.
Twilight and Sunset were back to back with each covering each over’s back whilst they shot at any turret that began to fold out of their hiding place.
“You know” Twilight started as she blasted another turret “Despite how this looks and feels this is easy compared to not telling my friends about what’s going on here”
When she’d first told Princess Celestia about how the Autobots will train both her and her human friends the Solar Alicorn advised Twilight to keep quiet about most of the affair, mostly to prevent panic from spreading as whilst her friends could be trusted the same couldn’t be said for those her friends may interact with and if Zecora was any indication the last thing anypony wanted was a fear of a invading army of metal giants coming over to invade Equestria.
Still despite the necessary of it Twilight found it quite hard to keep completely quiet about the situation with the Decepticons and Autobots.
“Seriously Twilight!?” Sunset exclaimed.
“Huh?” Twilight muttered as Sunset blast another turret to dust.
“At least you can give your friends some hints as to what you’re doing here whereas we can’t talk about this at all openly.” Sunset explained as she and Twilight continued blasting turrets back to back.
Twilight for her part couldn’t help but say “Sorry”
That got Sunset to laugh under her helmet “Hey no need to feel bad Twi I was just-JETS!” She shouted the last part as she spotted a rather heavy looking turret firing at their platform.
As one both Ponies turned humans jumped off the platform and activated their jetpacks on their Cybertronian Armours.
“You okay Sunset?!” Twilight called out through their suit’s comms network.
“Yeah! And I can see Rares and Pinks over there!” Sunset replied before an icon popped on Twilight’s HUD.
“Follow me!” She called out as she and Sunset flew through the air on their jetpacks towards Rarity and Pinkie’s location.
“Hi guys!” Pinkie shouted cheerfully as she blasted another turret behind without looking.
Rarity meanwhile used both of her blasters to destroy a couple of other turrets on her end.
“Oh I’m glad you’re safe darlings!” She said after she noticed the two landing next to her and pinkie.
“Where’s AJ and Dash!?” Sunset asked.
“Over here!” AJ shouted as she and Rainbow came running towards them dodging blasters bolts and returning the curtesy via their own arm blasters.
Meanwhile back in the control room Agent Fowler came through the door with Cliffjumper at his side.
“How’s it going today?” The ex-Ranger asked.
The two senior Autobots turned from the ongoing training session to look at Fowler with Optimus kneeling down to look at the human.
“They are improving.” Ironhide said to which Fowler crossed his arms.
“That bad?” He asked plainly.
“Not quite Agent Fowler whilst it is true that they still have much to learn they are indeed getting to the point where they can do battle with a Deception together.” Optimus explained as he stood back to his full hight and turned back to the training room where the Rainbooms have finished off all the remaining turrets.
The girls were still standing but clearly in a state of fatigue, Twilight however gave Optimus a shaky thumbs up.
“I believe that would do for today Ironhide” The Prime said whilst looking at Twilight with a very small smile.
port observation room: Several minutes later
In the month since the Rainbooms have begun their training with the Autobots the Portside Observation Room has become the main human common area on Omega Base.
With help from the Rainbooms themselves the Autobots were able to get the resources and amenities required for the girls to have a safe place to rest without the fear of being harmed by the much larger Cybertronians.
At present the common area was just a place on the Cybertronian sized table where a blanket, a human sized table, a few human chairs and a portable toilet were placed.
Twilight didn’t know if the others wanted something more private and enclosed like a normal house or if they’re fine with just what can amount to a picnic area in a enormous room.
“Something on your mind Twilight Sparkle?” Optimus said as he walked to the place on the table where Twilight sat looking out the observation room’s window.
For her part Twilight didn’t turn to look at the Autobot leader though even before he spoke Twilight knew he was there, it was apparently in part thanks to the connection the two seemed to have formed.
Over the past month when she was over and not doing training Twilight was helping Ratchet and Preceptor in understanding the nature of her’s and Prime’s connection that they formed. So far they’ve concluded to a degree that the positive energies of both the Matrix and Twilight’s magic were attracted to each other and intertwined with one another over the past month, it was unknown what sort of long term effects this connection would have on the two of them but even if in the long term the connection would harmful Preceptor explained that trying to remove it would be just as harmful and so they’ve resolved to learn and observe.
“Just thinking is all Optimus.” Twilight said to him after a moment.
“About the connection we share I take it?” The Prime asked to which Twilight just nodded, another thing about their connection is that their guesses were horrifyingly accurate enough for Preceptor to dismiss the guess work theory entirely.
“It’s wired isn’t it?” Twilight began “That out of possibility hundreds of others we specifically were able to form this connection we now share.”
“Perhaps it is fate” Optimus muttered his eyes having a downcast look to them “fate that we were to meet, for what I do not know still I do not regret having met you Twilight Sparkle.”
At that Twilight turned to Optimus and asked “What do you mean regret? Is this about the war between your people?”
“In a way” He answered before continuing “During the later stages of the war our planet’s core was shutting down halting it production of life giving Energon, in order to restore the core my Autobots and I took this ship in search of the Legendary All-Spark. An ancient relic of Cybertron’s golden age which is said to be the only source other then our planet’s core that is capable of producing Energon, that search lead us here.”
“And Megatron followed you I guess?” Twilight guessed.
Optimus didn’t reply instead he looked away from Twilight and thought back to when he had fought Megatron on the Nemesis. The shocked look on his face when he mentioned the All-Spark all too evident in the memory but that could possibly mean-
“Optimus!” An Autobot soldier who Optimus recognises as A-618 burst into the room startling most present.
“What is it-?” Optimus began to ask before 618 answered for him which took everyone present by storm.
“It’s Fluttershy sir she was injured by Megatron!”
One Hour earlier: American Midwest
On top of one of the Midwest’s large and secluded mountains Soundwave was searching the ground in front of him for signs of more of what he’d just uncovered.
He’d sent a transmission to Lord Megatron as he’d very much like to see it for himself.
As Soundwave continued his scans he brought his right hand up to his face plate, its purple hue seemingly seeping out of the hard and dark purple crystal.
Dark Energon.
During the war back on Cybertron the Decepticons were able to use their life source’s dark counterpart to gain a successful advantage over the Autobots, though it was Megatron who was able master it and to such an extent that it increased his fighting power by large margins.
With this recourse even a single sample Megatron would be able to over power Optimus in a one on one fight.
Speaking of Lord Megatron.
“Soundwave report” Megatron said as he landed near his communication officer.
As per usual Soundwave didn’t speak instead held out the piece of Dark Energon before his Master.
As soon as his optics saw it Megatron stood there for several long moments not moving or making a sound before he gave small but evil smile to Soundwave.
“Well well WELL” He said taking the crystal from Soundwave.
Holding it up high Megatron inspected the Dark Energon sample.
“It would seem Shockwave’s scans were true after all, Dark Energon resides on this very planet and its inhabitants are none the wiser.” Megatron said lowering the sample “With Dark Energon reunited with my spark I may very well be finally able to destroy Optimus Prime once and for all.”
He then places the sample away in an unseen storage compartment “Still the question now becomes, how do I lure Prime out on my own terms?” Megatron wonders out loud.
Soundwave didn’t respond for a moment but just as was about to leave Soundwave’s visor lit up with a live video from LaserBeak his last symbiotic mini-con partner.
The video showed that the mini-con was tailing a familiar yellow Autobot as he sped down a nearby road if the GPS system Soundwave was displaying alongside the video was accurate.
Megatron looked at the video for a moment and was about to say something when the video switched to a thermal view showing the heat sources of two humans inside Bumblebee.
“Soundwave” Megatron began smiling at his most trusted servant “what would I do without you”.
“And then just like that we all got our memories back” Fluttershy said whilst she was in the driver’s seat of Bumblebee’s alt-mode with Wallflower Blush in the seat next to her.
They were currently on their way back to Canterlot city after Bumblebee had agreed to drive Fluttershy to her Grandmother’s place for her birthday, Wallflower had asked to come with mostly to get out and hang out with Fluttershy since the others were at Omega base training with the Autobots.
“Wow so Sunset willingly gave up her memories for you guys? That’s a Autobot moment right there if I heard one.” Bumblebee beeped as he continued to drive along the highway, Fluttershy had just finished telling Bumblebee about the incident with Wallflower and the memory stone she used to have.
“It was very brave of her” Wallflower commented.
“You okay Wally?” Bumblebee beeped to which Fluttershy translated for him.
“I’m okay Bumblebee just trying not to be embarrassed by the whole story.” Wallflower replied.
Bumblebee was about to reply when he noticed in his rear vision a dot in the over wise clear blue Midwest skies.
“Is that?” Bee thought with growing dread as the dot in the sky became more defined and clear.
“BumbleBEE!?” Fluttershy said before the Autobot Scout gunned his engines and sped down the highway with his human charges.
Immediately as Bumblebee sped away blaster bolts began raining down on the highway around the Yellow Autobot.
“W-What’s-“ Wallflower asked only to be interrupted by Bee swaying from side to side on the highway.
“It’s Soundwave!” Bumblebee beeped as he dodged another salvo from the Decepticon whilst activating his comms.
“Bumblebee to base! Bumblebee to Base do you read!?” Static was the only thing following the Scout’s plea.
“Scrap! He’s jamming me” Bumblebee thought as he decided to take a detour taking a hard left off the highway and into the open plains of the Midwest with Soundwave in hot pursuit.
It wasn’t long however till Soundwave began picking up human air craft on scanners via LaserBeak, two to be precise and was about to turn to engage when Megatron cut in.
“Focus on the Autobot Soundwave, I’ll deal with these humans” With that Megatron’s alt-mode a curved and alien looking aircraft sped past Soundwave towards the two Human interlopers.
It wasn’t long before the Lord of destruction had the human fighters in his optics, though to his very rare surprise the craft in question were of a model not seen amongst human forces in the past.
“Perhaps I’ll take this chance to vent my anger on this humans” Megatron thought to himself as he noticed the two craft vectoring in on him as one.
Speeding past the two primitive craft Megatron quickly turned his Alt-Mode around and fired his blaster at the first Human craft.
The shot went wide but that was intentional as the two humans began to separate from each other on instinct, using his superior manoeuvrability Megatron got behind one of the fighters as it sped away trying to outrun the Decepticon leader. Unfortunately for him Megatron was faster both in terms of speed and reflexes for as soon as he got a lock he fired a blast that struck the craft in its engine block completely disintegrating the craft along with its pilot who haven’t even the chance to eject.
Just then Megatron’s sensors detected that he was locked on and two missiles were heading his way.
Having expected and even planned for this Megatron backfliped his Alt-Mode whilst Transforming as soon as it seemed like the missiles were about to hit.
Using his fusion cannon Megatron fired a blast at the last remaining Human craft which struck it in the wing causing the pilot to eject.
Transforming back into his Alt-Mode Megatron aimed himself at the human or rather the lines connecting him to his parachute with predictable results.
“Now for the Autobot” Megatron thought as he varied back towards Soundwave who was still in pursuit of said Autobot.
Bumblebee meanwhile was still dodging Soundwave’s attacks but a few had scored hits on his chassis.
It was then that Bee noticed Soundwave breaking off his next attack run which set off alarm bells in his mind.
“What is it-“ Fluttershy asked before out of nowhere where Megatron swooped down over the Autobot firing his Fusion cannon right in front of Bumblebee causing him to flip over end over end.
Time seemed to slow down for the scout as he transformed whilst souring through the air in an attempt to cushion Wally’s and Flutter’s fall and before Bee knew it his optics went dark.
“On the right 127!”
“Got it!”
“Command this is Alpha Six! Decepticons has the pass I repeat! The Decepti-“
“INCOMING!”
Bumblebee awoke with a start as his HUD and optics came back online, he was face down on the ground and as far as the young bot could tell he wasn’t hurt so bad that he couldn’t move. As he got shakily to his knees he looked around for the girls, Wallflower was laying on her back nearby to the left of the Autobot and aside from a few bruises she seemed unharmed but unconscious. As he searched for Fluttershy however Bumblebee could’ve sworn he was still back in that dream.
There standing just a few feet away was Megatron.
And he was holding Fluttershy in his hand.
“How pathetic” Megatron spat then said as he squeezed ever so slightly and still causing Fluttershy great pain.
“A simple gesture of my hand and you already suffer? Such is the nature of organics I suppose” He said before casually tossing Flutters aside towards Bumblebee who was able to reach for her and pull her under his bulk with Wallflower.
It was then that he noticed a Cybertronian sized Data stick slid to a stop before him.
“Give that to Optimus, he’ll know.” Megatron said before transforming back into his alt-mode and flew away.
Bumblebee just watched the Decepticon leader fly away for a few moments before activating his comms again, this time he actually got a reply.
“Bumblebee!? Thank Primus we’ve been trying to get into contact-“
“No time! I need an immediate space bridge on my location along with a medical team ASAP! Fluttershy and Wallflower are wounded and need immediate attention NOW!” Bumblebee said his beeps erratic and frantic as he scooped the two humans in his arms.
Soon enough a space bridge vortex opened and six Autobots came rushing out with two of them in a white and red colour scheme.
“By Primus.” One of the Autobot medics muttered as he and his partner moved to tend to the trio.
Soon the Autobots were making their way back to the space bridge with the four regular Autobots taking up a security screen around Bumblebee and the medics before they disappeared in the green vortex.
Present
Optimus Prime stared at the data stick Bumblebee had given him completely ignoring the world around for the time being.
He was currently in the medical bay where Ratchet had Fluttershy in one of the Cybertronian sized beds with the Rainbooms and Agent Fowler standing on the same bed near her.
The chief Autobot medic himself was tapping at one of the terminals and looking at its readouts.
“Ahhh scrap” Ratchet said frustrated.
“What?” Sunset asked her voice overflowing with emotion and concern.
“Well aside from the obvious injuries, there are signs here that sadly don’t have an easy Cybertronian equivalent.” Ratchet explained calmly.
“So wait you can’t fix her!?” Rainbow asked almost shouting.
“I’m trained to treat injured Cybertronians not organics let alone humans!” Ratchet deadpanned.
“So you can’t help her Doc?” Agent Fowler asked.
“I can monitor her and check her vitals but without knowing what can and can’t harm her I can’t risk any sort of procedure.” Ratchet explained.
“So you need a Human expert?” Fowler clarified.
Ratchet did a double take before saying “Are any of you knowledgeable in human medicine?”
Fowler shook his head “ but I know someone who does” he said.
That got him looks from most in the med-bay.
“You want to actually bring someone else in?” Arcee asked him.
“Do any of you have any knowledge about human bodies?” Fowler asked.
None of the Autobots said anything in response but whilst the others were talking about how best to get Fowler’s contract here Twilight noticed something.
It felt like a burning sensation one so hot that she guessed it could melt metal but it was contained as if something was doing its very best to stop the flame from bursting out.
Twilight then noticed the sensation moving away and at that moment Twilight looked around to find Optimus but he wasn’t anywhere in the Med-bay.
“Where is-” She thought before noticing the control panel next to the Med-Bay’s door which had a noticeable dent in it.
Optimus Prime with an Ion Blaster mag locked to his back walked down the halls of Omega Base with purpose, so much so that those who happened upon him could feel it in the air.
Prime merely nodded to them as he passed trying not to appear as he felt for he felt rage bowling in his Spark.
It was surprising even to him that he could even feel rage at all let alone rage as violent as his at the moment, still in some twisted and cruel way he was glad that he could feel anger as it also means he could feel joy as well and that meant the war and weight of leadership hasn’t robbed Optimus of his emotions yet.
“Huh oh Optimus!” A voice said as Optimus noticed he was in the Space Bridge Bay.
“What brings you down here?” The voice said again which belonged to an Autobot manning the console which controls the space bridge.
“I need to use the Space Bridge.” Optimus said as he stood in front of the Autobot “Alone” he added.
“Alone?” The Autobot repeated in confusion “As in to the destination?”
“Indeed soldier” Optimus replied holding up the Decepticon data stick for the Autobot to see.
“Isn’t that?”
“Megatron has called me to a Tria-Con duel and I intend to answer.” Optimus replied.
The Autobot despite not having a mouth or eyes recoiled in slight shock at Prime’s declaration.
“Wha-! Optimus with all due respect are you insane!?” The Autobot said placing himself between the controls and Prime.
“Please stand aside.” Optimus said calmly.
“Optimus please at least let the others know first! You’ve got to realise that this is a trap!-“
“I know” Optimus said again in a calm voice before unexpectedly striking with his fist where the stomach would be if the Autobot was a human.
The strike was such that the Autobot lost his balance and would’ve fallen to the ground had Optimus not stepped in and held him down to a resting position by the Space Bridge’s control console.
“Primus forgive me.” Optimus said solemnly as he got to work on the console, before long the SB’s green vortex roared to life and the Autobot leader took a moment before proceeding to and through the portal.
“Optimus?”
The voice of Twilight Sparkle halted Prime in his tracks and he turned to look at the pony turned human with worry in her eyes.
“Where am I going is your question yes?” Optimus said to which Twilight nodded “When Bumblebee returned with Fluttershy and Wallflower he also brought a Data Stick which contained a message from Megatron challenging me to a Tria-Con duel which is different from a normal duel but I doubt Megatron would care if it was actually what he was asking for.”
“Then what is he asking for and more importantly why are you going? This won’t make Fluttershy better and it puts you at risk.” Twilight asks
“Because if I don’t then Megatron may simply find another way and besides” Optimus said turning back to the portal adding “Revenge can just as dangerous if one does not pursue that desire as it is like a fire, even if I don’t say it’s hungry it’ll still cause harm to those around me, I know because it has happened with Megatron before, I’m sorry Twilight but I must do this and this alone”
With that Optimus walked into the green vortex which closed behind him.
Author's Note
And with that the third chapter is Complete!
Sorry about the long wait guys I wanted to take my time and get this as good as I could possibly can whilst also doing some editing on the previous chapters.
Next chapter will see the iconic showdown (You know the one) and after that one more chapter to finish off this little introduction arc, after that I have ideas.
Meaning that much like TFP’s first season most of this story will be episode centric with not much in the way of an overall story but will lay the groundwork for the plot of the sequel (Yes I’m doing a sequel, haven’t gotten around to even drafting it yet as it’s still ideas in my head but it’s definitely featuring a plot) and other things I have planned.
Thanks for sticking around till now and TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT!
