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.